they engender and a viscours humidity which they cause are two things which dispose us to be fond of a Woman as we have prov'd at larg in a Dissertation we caus'd to be Printed the last year which has for Title Whether those who Drink Water alone are more amocous than others The Lice which they say Figgs breed in those who use them in excess proceed but from the filth of the Skin and from our excrements which they evacuate by the pores and the evils they cause in us by the Winds they engender proceed but from the ill use we make of them if we eat them with Nuts or Almonds we shall correct all the disorders they can bring us and I can assure you that being so eaten they will be without fault and will do us no hurt still provided that we use them with moderation ART II. Of Nectarins and Peaches I Cannot bear the contempt some Persons have for Nectarins Alberges Brugnons Melicotonys Perses and Peaches nor be satisfied with the reason they bring for blaming them They say among other things that these Fruits are corrupted so easily in the Stomach that it is almost impossible to secure them from it that they produce ill Blood that they cause Fevers that they injure the inward parts that the Persians from whose Country they were brought dare not eat of them by reason of their Malignity and finally that Galen the most knowing of the Greek Physitians always condemn'd them But if it were free for me to explain my self at large thereon and to break off the design which I propos'd to my self I would shew that the ill use which is made of the most excellent things is often the cause that they are despis'd and blam'd Peaches not to speak of the other kinds are a Fruit so excellent and so delicious to the taste that I could freely prefer them before Figgs and Raisins which according to the sentiment of some ought to hold the first rank among Fruits Very far from causing all the evils whereof they are accus'd they cool the Stomach when heated quench the heat of the Liver allay the burning of the Blood during the extremity of the Summer heats and moisten the matter which is then very thick through the drought of the Season If we observe well their praecautions they do not corrupt in the Stomach provided that they are eaten before Meals and that after having eaten them we drink only Water if we find a burning in the Bowels or excellent Wine if we find our selves to have a very moderate heat It is then that they will engender a better Blood than the Herbs we use every day I own that in Persia these sorts of Fruits have Malignant and purgative qualities but since the Trees were transported into Aegypt and have been re-planted in Italy and since cultivated in France they have lost all the Malignity which they had and have retain'd but the purgative Vertue which they have still and which they Communicate to their Fruit. It s this purgative Vertue which causes them to be so much esteem'd of by the Healthy and Valetudinarians who had much rather eat fasting four or five excellent Peaches and drink after them Water or Wine to loosen the Belly than to take a dose of Physick the very name of which raises a horrour in those that take it the most couragiously It s this same property which resides in the Leaves the Flowers and the Fruit of the Peach-tree which kills the Worms in the Bowels which Purges Choler and the Serosities of the Body and stops ev'n Vomitings at Sea as we see written in the Works of Julius of Alexandria If Galen had Liv'd in our days and had tasted Peaches which the Art and Industry of our Gardiners have rendred so recommendable I am certain he would have had quite another opinion of these sorts of Fruit the Peaches which were carryed to Rome in the Time of this Physitian coming by Sea from Sicily or from about Naples were partly rotted before they came thither which made Galen at that time to despise them and to condemn them ev'n as a Food very pernicious for Man Some Persons will correct the ill quality and the great humidity of the Peach by eating it with Bread by exposing it two or three days to the scorching heat of the Sun by eating its Kernel or finally by drinking pure Wine with it True it is experience has taught me that Bread eaten with Fruits which we ought to use before Meals corrects their ill qualities and that by exposing Peaches to the Sun they lose a superfluous humidity which often incommodes us But the same experience has also given me to understand that Peach and Apricock Kernels much charge the Stomach and that besides their great bitterness they are also very difficult to digest that moreover tho' pure Wine be the sole thing which opposes it self to the coldness and humidity of this Fruit nevertheless if we drink much of such as is small or of a mean strength we fall into Vomitings and Loosnesses which sometimes degenerate into a Bloody-Flux Whereas a little of excellent pure Wine corrects by its noble heat the ill qualities of the Peach It s haply this experiment which gave occasion for this Latine Verse Petre quid est Pescha Cum vino nobilis Esca ART III. Of Plums and Apricocks THere are some who prefer the Plum before all other Fruits with Stones and say that there is nothing more delicious to eat than a Black Damson a Great Date or a Perdrigon The Apricock does not come near them it has I know not what of unsavory when it is ripe and of sharpish when it is not so mean while both have very near the same qualities they are both hot in the mean and moist in the second Degree The sweet Plum rejoyces a hot Stomach lenines the Breast Loosen's the Belly and nourishes much more than the Peach provided however that it be eaten before Meals otherwise it corrupts and by moistning too much the superiour Orifice of the Stomach after Meals it makes the Food descend too soon and so causes Crudities which it is difficult afterward to deal with I shall not repeat here the different Maxims which I have laid down in the precedent Discourses concerning the Use of Fruits which ought to be eaten fasting and before Meals I shall only say that its good to cast Plums into fresh Water before they are eaten to the end they may cool and moisten more but provided that they are very ripe and that all have their Stems lest the Water enter there and render them Insipid It s doubtless in order to be more cooled and more moistn'd and to keep the Belly more soluble that some Men eat often Prunes with their Meat and that there are ev'n some who dislike their Pottage if it has not of them If dry'd Plums may be given to sick Persons I do not doubt also but I may be permitted
Peaches being of a substance to be soon digested and to pass off quickly and the Pears of a pretty firm matter requiring more time to Concoct two great inconveniencies follow the first that the Peaches trouble the Belly and make the Food taken at the Meal to descend without being fully digested the second that they hastily drag along with them the Pears which require a longer time for digestion and thus there comes of it but crudities and afterward obstructions which are the cause of some troublesome Disease It is not the same when we eat before Meals Mulberries and Peaches or after Meals Pears and Quinces the two first Fruits and the two last have a matter and qualities near alike the former pass quickly through the Belly by reason of their great humidity and the later digest themselves afterward at leasure by constringing after the Meal the superior Orifice of the Stomach which by this means acquits it self much better of its office CHAP. I. Of Fruits which ought to be eaten before Meals I Say in the first place that good Fruit which are Ripe never do hurt unless we misuse them or commit faults in eating them there are none but ill and unripe Fruit which cause Crudities Indigestions Colicks and Fevers I say much more experience daily teaches us that by the moderate use of them we prevent an infinite number of Diseases and that we Cure as many Our Gardens fail not of Remedies to relieve us and I wonder we go so far into Forrein Countrys to seek for Drogues which are musty or rotten when they are brought to us since we have so excellent at home Our Fruits have many more Vertues and Charms than all those Drogues and there are seen few Persons who refuse Peaches Mulberrys or Pears to appease the burning of the Bowels Whereas we daily see Persons have in horror Tamarinds Cassia Rhubarb and the other Drogues which are brought us from so far Because I am oblig'd to follow the Order which I have prescribed to my self I shall treat in this Chapter of the good use of those Fruits which ought to be eaten at Break-fast or before Meals and I shall begin with Figgs which among all Fruits have always been the most esteem'd ART I. Of Figgs AMong all the Food wherewith Men nourish'd themselves at the beginning of the World there is not one which deserves a greater praise than Figgs The Ancients have made Encomiums on them in many of their Books and the Lacedemonians so far esteem'd them that they would never go to any Feast where they were not provided in a great plenty Also some have compar'd them to Gold nay have esteem'd them far better than this Mettal It s doubtless by reason of their sugary sweetess which is the Symbol of peace that men formerly wisht their Friends a happy year by sending them at the beginning of it Figgs and Honey In truth they have admirable Vertues in Case they are eaten with Bread for Break-fast or before Meals For it is thus that they qualifie the Bowels and that they appease the excess of a troublesome heat They do not fail of producing other good effects they quench drought lenify the Breast and give a more easy respiration They clear the Liver and the Spleen of the Obstructious wherewith they are afflicted They discharge the Reins and the Bladder of their slime and Gravel They loosen the Belly be it never so tardy finally they nourish and fatten both together witness the famous Wrastlers who perform'd most couragiously when they liv'd but of Bread and Figgs Witness also the Keepers of Figg-Gardens who according to the Relation of Galen ate in a manner nought but Figgs and who in the mean while were so fat that a man would have said that nothing was wanting to them in their way of living Figgs also have this peculiar to them that they contribute to the vigour of young People and to the Health of such as are Old so that those who use of them often have no Wrinkles in their Face A better Reason cannot be given than that Figgs by their fat substance engender a Blood which dulcifies much and this same matter being carried to the superficies of the Body is there clear'd as well as the Blood of all its serous and superfluous excrements so that what remains serves as a natural Paint and renders the Face smooth and free from all sorts of Wrinkles After all they have the property of Penetrating Cleansing and Digesting for no man doubts but they are hot in the first degree and moist in the second the great humidity they have make them soon corrupt and obliges us to eat them with Bread before Meals for its the Leaven of the Bread which corrects all the ill qualities It s a Maxim among Physicians That we ought always to begin with the things that are moistest and easiest of digestion when we Dine or when we Sup. And this is also another That after Fruits that are Sweet and Luscious and which withall pass quickly through the Belly we ought rather to Drink pure Water or Water mixt with a little Wine than Wine alone Pure Wine carrys hastily into the Lacteal Veins the matter of the Figgs before it be digested and so causes winds and Indigestions in those who so do Whereas Water is the cause of a slower fermentation by the means of which the Figgs are perfectly digested and make afterward a very laudable Blood which easily becomes our substance They are not proper only for such as are in Health but likewise for those who have a Fever and are costive and I cannot imagine to my self that a Learned Physitian can refuse his Patient a Figg half dryed on the Tree by the heat of the Sun Dry Figgs have much more Vertue than those which we gather we may eat of them ev'n after Meals without offence also they are more penetrating and hotter than the others through the subtilty of their parts but they are not so moist If they are apply'd in the form of a Cataplasm with Bread and a little Vinegar haply they are the quickest and most certain remedy for opening an abscess for killing a Carbuncle or the swelling of the Kings-Evil or lastly to withstand the progress of a Latent Cancer They do much more if we will believe Dioscorides for they tear from the Flesh as we may say a piece of a Bone broken if we mix them with wild Popy Flowers The German Physicians have not found a better remedy in the Small-pox or Measles than the decoction of these Fruits dry experience has shewn them that this decoction by Purging by Urine carrys away all the Malignant serosity which is the cause of those troublesome Diseases But among all the good qualities which these Fruits enjoy there are observ'd some ill they cause Winds which swell the Stomach they breed Lice and makes us fond in caressing Women The Spirits irritated and set in motion by the Winds which
Arabians had none but Apples that were wild acerb and very unpleasant to the taste that the weakness of the Joints the Worms of the Bowels and the Vertigo's are caus'd but by the excesses which are committed with them or by the ill praecautions that are taken in their use On the contrary Apples which are sweet and Luscious Odoriferous and firm exhilerate the Heart and allay the excess of its heat they correct the Gall of the Liver they dilute the Blood which is too thick and gross in a word they cool and moisten the heated Viscera Moreover whatsoever is said they oppose the drying of the Body and the Ptisick and we see but very few of these sorts of evils where Cyder is common For this drink is friendly to the Stomach which it heats in a moderate way it revives the Heart and opens the Obstructions of the Entrals In a word it is of wonderfull use to Melancholick and atrabilarious Persons that which issues the first from Apples squees'd in a Press is not so excellent as the second and the third resembles the Demy-wine of our Peasants If we mix among Apples a little Powder Sugar they make us spit and cool our Breast But they must be us'd with precaution that is to say that they must be eaten after Meals because they are heavy and difficult to digest that they ought to be forbidden Old People unless they find themselves heated or that they are prepar'd as Pears with Powder Sugar Cinnamon and Water and that finally we ought to drink a little of good Pure Wine after having eaten them In the Distempers which are accompanyed with a considerable heat and drought they give a great relief if we eat a little of them Crud or Boyl'd or that we put of them in Water and I wonder that in France we give our selves so much trouble in seeking Oranges and Citrons for our Diseases when we have a short-start Apple or a Spanish Rennet Haply things which cost much and are often difficult to be had are much better than the common and that they much more satisfy the mind of the Diseased for it is this part which we ought often to Cure in those who find themselves ill Finally Apples do not profit us only by taking them at the Mouth they are a sovereign Remedy for Heart-burnings and for the heats of the Stomach if they are outwardly applied for if a Cataplasm be made of Boyl'd Apples and apply'd hot on the Region of the Heart or on the pit of the Stomach haply we may not find an Epithem more Sovereign in those Cases Also experience has shewn us that the pulp of a boyl'd Apple put hot on Blood-shed and inflam'd Eyes is almost the only Remedy for this evil ART III. Of Grafted Quinces IT s a pleasant Medicine to Purge ones self by eating after Meals Portugal Quinces The Fruit which I so call are the Quinces whose Grafts were brought from that Kingdom and which are almost as pleasant to eat and to behold as a Bon-Cretien Pear at least they have an odour more sweet and Luscious they are yellow as Gold and yield in nothing to those Pears in greatness Figure and Beauty Quinces are cold and dry they restringe also manifestly the parts of the Body where they are apply'd and 't is by this astringent quality that constringing the Stomach in the upper part and afterward the Intestines after that they are eaten they squeese and force out all they meet within their cavity be it Excrement Choler or Phlegm Its what happened to an Advocate of Pergamus of whom Galen speaks who was pleasantly Purg'd after having eaten Quinces after a Meal and having walkt a little upon it so that after all the experiments that we have had of them we ought no longer to doubt of their Vertues Mean while the stirring of the Belly which they cause does not happen but to Persons who have the Stomach weak and nice and who have need by reason of this to fortifie it for these Fruits do not work the same effects in a young robust Man and on the other side if they are eaten before Meals being very far from moving the Belly they make it tardy and it is so that those do who have it ordinarily too moist Quinces have also other excellent Vertues if they are eaten Crud Boyl'd or preserv'd with Sugar they give an appetite they stop a Loosness appease Vomiting withstand an old Dysentery and a Bloody-Flux and if wescrape off them Crud and put the pulp of them hot on the Region of the Heart in the form of an Epitheme when a Malignant Fever attacks us they contribute not a little toward the subduing it Their penertrating and sweet odour revives the Heart and the Brain and it has not been heard said hitherto that Quinces corrupt in the Stomach I very much approve the method which some have of making Wine and Water of Quinces These two Drinks have near the same Vertues unless it be that the Water is most proper for those who find themselves much heated and the Wine more meet for those who do not find any praedominant quality and who are old or Phlegmatick The Water of Quinces which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is made after this manner We take in the Month of October fifty or sixty pints of Fountain-Water of Paris Measure which comes near to our Quart we put into it ten or twelve Pounds of Portugal Quinces pared cleans'd and cut in slices they steep there till the Water has a yellow colour like that of Spanish Wine after which we strain this Water and then let it seeth ore a gentle Fire till the fourth part be consum'd scumming it often and after having put it in a Vessel well fill'd and well stopt we preserve it for the Month of March following The Wine is made after this manner we take at Vintage time Ten or Twelve Pounds of Portugal Quinces prepar'd after the same manner as I have said we throw them into fifty or sixty pints of good Claret Must and after that they have wrought for thirty days we strain the Liquor we put it into another Vessel which we stop up close and we preserve it for use These two Drinks produce good effects in Persons who use of them they fortify the inward parts oppose a Loosness and a Dysentery cleanse the Reins of their filth hinder the Vapour of Wine from offending the Head and secure us from Pestilential Vapours Finally they cause so many good effects that I must pass the bounds of an abstract if I would name them all ART IV. Of Medlars and Services THese Fruits are seldom at our Tables and they are eaten most commonly but in a fancy they are not very agreeable and there is but little pleasure taken in eating them Mean while they are not without their use and contribute something to our Health They are both so near ally'd in qualities that a Person will not deceive
himself if he takes the one for the other They are cold and dry when they are hard but when they are softish they acquire a better heat by a sort of Corruption that is to say that they are not so cold after the first way they restringe more and nourish less and they ought to be used as Quinces and to be eaten after Meals soft Crud Rosted Boyl'd in Wine with Powder Sugar and Cinnamon or finally Fryed in fresh Butter which does not render them disagreeable to the taste through the Skill of the Cook But because after all these manners they produce the like effects as Quinces this will oblige me to pass in silence what I have said in the precedent Article I shall only add here that the Stones of Medlars being powdred and then taken by the Mouth to the weight of a Gold Crown in White-wine cleanse the Reins of their Impurities and ev'n drive forth Stones which are small enough to pass through the Vreters and afterward through the Passage of the Urine In reality these Stones are extreamly dry and they have in their matter particles which powerfully penetrate for experience has taught me that the Stones of Fruits and the hardest bones of Beasts and Fishes provoke Urine as specifick Remedies I do not doubt but that which Brassavolus has left us in Writing concerning the Vertues of the Stones of Medlars is true since he proves it by two sick Persons who were Cur'd thereby But we ought not to suffer our selves to be abus'd on this account by the promises of Quacks and Mountebanks who boast to have certain Remedies for breaking the Stone in the Reins or in the Bladder I know not whether the Stones of Medlars have more Vertue in Italy than in France but at least I know by experience and reason that neither the Stones of Medlars nor all other Remedies have the force to break the Stone nor to drive it forth of the Bladder when it is to big too pass forth The chief Vertue of Services is to cool and to restringe as we have said it s through these qualities that they serve for powerful Remedies against moist Diseases against inveterate Loosnesses and against long Dysenteries Perhaps the Learned Bruyerius had not been Cur'd of a Malignant Dysentery which lasted him above a Month if he had not eaten a great many Services so true it is that the presumptuous boldness which we have in trying Remedies in our long Distempers often succeeds much better with us than prudence it self CHAP. III. Of Fruits which may be eaten before or after Meals THere are Fruits which may be eaten at all times because they do not corrupt in our Stomach but through our fault Wherefore we ought to have a peculiar design and different praecautions in using them One Person would only cool and moisten himself And besides this another will have a farther design of rendring the Belly soluble thus there may be need of these Fruits in different occasions ART I. Of Raisins THe most excellent Raisins which our Province furnishes us with and which are ordinarily serv'd at our Table are those which are sweet tasting of Sugar and Amber many prefer them to all other Fruits and they yield us a Liquor which is the most agreeable and richest present that ever God gave to Man If I would extend my self here on the Encomium of Raisins I perswade my self that I should find but too much matter to say fine things of them but because I propos'd to my self to Write only concerning the use of the Fruits of Trees as briefly as possible I must be allow'd to deliver my thoughts in a few words concerning the use of Raisins eaten before or after Meals But before I explain my self thereon I fancy that I ought to establish some general Maxims for well using them without being damnified thereby A Woman who has the Stomach nice and weak must never eat Raisins newly gather'd they puff up the Belly they cause a rumbling and winds and trouble the Concoction of the Stomach moreover she must not eat but of such as are excellent and very ripe and again she must not so much as look on those which have grown in the shade and which the Sun has not heated with its rays To correct the ill quality of Raisins they must be gather'd some days before you will eat them or else you may take such as have been hung up in a Chamber or if at time of Vintage you have an inclination for eating such as are fresh they must be dipt into boyling Water and then into fresh Water and so they must be serv'd to Table Raisins are moist and moderately hot and by these two qualities they are proportionate to the Principles of our Life they nourish much more than other Fruits if we except Figgs they revive the Spirits by their sweet and odoriferous savour they cheer up a Stomach which is languishing and heated through Labour and moisten the Viscera and so correct by their pleasant moisture the drought and which the heat of Autumn has there caus'd Nay there are Physitians who do not deny them to their sick Patients when they begin to amend tho' on condition that they eat them with Bread and throw away the Stones and the Skin as two parts which cannot be digested by a Stomach how robust soever If they are eaten fasting without Bread as they come from the Tree moistned with the Dew of the Night they purge the Belly ev'n of those who have it naturally tardy there is neither Water of Cassia nor Manna which ought to be preferr'd to Raisins so eaten We ought here to remember not to drink Wine unless it be well diluted after having eaten Raisins fasting Nay it would be better not to drink at all or to drink only pure Water pure Wine mixt in the Stomach with the new Juice of the Raisins makes so extraordinary a fermentation that the accidents which arise from it are much greater than you may imagin For the Wine carrys the Chyle and the Juices into the Bowels and into the Reins before they are digested and so causes impurities and indigestions in the Blood whereas Water hindring the great ebullition of the Stomach contributes to a good Concoction it causes the Chyle to become more pure and that we are more refresht and moistn'd by the use of the Raisins We ought not so to do when we eat them after Meals for we may drink a good Glass of pure Wine and not consider so much the Raisins prepar'd as we have said before as the food which we have taken at our Meal Tho the Stones cannot be digested yet we ought not to throw them away when we eat Raisins after Meals For since they are astringent they correct the great humidity which is the cause of the evils which they bring upon us We must chew them therefore very small and reduce them to minute parts betwixt the Teeth that they may contribute to