IN Sadness the Heat and Spirits retire and by their sudden surrounding and possession of the Heart all at once do many times cause suffocation They being likewise by uniting encreased do violently consume the moisture of the Body and so beget drowth and leanness Hence saith Solomon A joyful heart causeth good Health but a sorrowful mind drieth the Bones like the moth in a Garment or a worm in the Tree so is sadness to the Heart It likewise takes away Appetite over-heats the Heart and Lungs decays the complexion unfits us for our Business and employments and shortens our daies The Remedies are diverse as the cause is only in general consider that what is without thy power to help ought not to afflict thee for 't is utterly vain if it be within thy power then greive not but help thy self Thou art likewise to fortifie thy self against all accidents before they come by frequent reading and rightly understanding the Scriptures and other Religious and * Moral Writings that are full fraught with good Instructions to arm thy mind against the day of need that so when affliction comes thou mayest be provided for it for our Sadness is generally falsly grounded upon mistake and mis-apprehension wch may by this means be prevented Without this Help thou shalt be hardly able in the day of thy streight to take good advice though it given thee In the Scriptures and other good Books thou shalt find sound advice that will enable thee to bear the Ingratitude of a Friend the loss of nearest Friends of goods or office a Repulse in thy desire of preferment and all other casual accidents with which the World is replete and which do frequently befall us Another Remedy there is and that is to give our Sadness vent for so it spends it self and the sooner forsakes us whereas cooped up and stifled it takes deeper hold upon us For that purpose discover the causes and take the advice of a Bosome Friend restrain not thy tears but give them way and it will ease thee If Pain begets thy grief take thy Liberty to Cry and Roar neither should thy Freinds restrain thee for that if it do not totally remedy yet will it revell and somewhat divert thy pain But lastly If Distemper of Body be the cause of thy Sadness and thy very Temperature dispose thee thereunto Then avoid all things that be noyous in sight smelling hearing and embrace all things that are Honest and Delectable Fly Darkness much Watching and business of mind over much Venery the use of things in excess Hot and Dry often or violent Purgations immoderate Exercise Thirst and Abstinence dry Winds and very Cold Meats of Hard Digestion such as are very Dry and Salt that are Old Tough or Clammy Cheese Hares flesh Venison Salt-Fish Wine and Spice except very seldom and in small quantities Prepare now and then when Sadness most oppresses thee one of these following drinks which upon long experience I have found very recreative and quickning the Spirits Rec. Waters of Carduus and Wood-sorrel of each 4. Ounces Syrup of Violets 2. Ounces and a half The best Canary 3. Ounces Spirit of Vitrioll 12. drops Mix them and drink it at thrice at ten in the fore-noone and four in the afternoon Take a large sound Pippin and cut out the Core and in its place put a little Saffron viz. Three grains dryed and beaten very fine cover it with the Top and rost it to Pap then put to it half a pint of Claret Wine damasked sweeten it well with fine Sugar and make Lambs-wooll and so drink it Take the first of these when thou artCostive the last when thou art loose or goest orderly to stool But in this case it is expedient that thou take further advice of thy Physician Of Joy THere is no great Fear of the Immoderation of this Passion the present condition of the World hardly affords cause for it and man hath generally lost his Chearfulness with his Innocency 'T is now in Fits and Flushes not solid and constant The effects of it are very good for by Dilating and sending forth the Spirits to the outward parts it enlivens them and keeps them fresh and active it Beautifies the Complexion it fattens the Body by assisting the Distribution of Nourishment to every part 'T is that doubtless which God intended should be the Portion of every man he therefore made the World so full of delightful objects for every sense and plentifully furnished it in every place with all things necessary for the solace and contentation of Mankind But we unhappily have distracted our own Lives and multiplyed the occasions of Hatred Oppression Jealousy difficulty of gaining a very competency doubts of loosing endeavours of supplanting one another Envying Law-Suits Wars and a thousand other Engines we have contrived to destroy our Contentment and multiply our sorrows and afflictions Insomuch that very Wise and good men have much ado to preserve that chearfulnes which is the reward and Recompence of their Vertue I wish I could here propose Remedies Some I have but the World is not able to bear and must yet longer by its Miseries and sufferings be chastised into Repentance and Amendment These Passions are the Principal that have Influence upon the body others have not or very little I shall therefore pass them over with this generall Caution relating to them all that as we expect to keep them in due subjection and not to become Slaves to our Affections let us lead a Temperate and Continent Life for all Disorder and Excess especially in Meat Drink Venery makes us their Slaves and gives them heat and spirit to Lord it over us and renders us impotent to withstand their Temptations and Assaults And so I have done desiring that what I have said may be fairly accepted and Interpreted by all as intended for every mans good and is but a preparatory to much more that I have in my Thoughts Beseeching Almighty God to give his blessing to it that it may prove effectual at least in some measure to preserve every man and woman in Health and Vertue FINIS Health what it is Bonum constat ex Integris By the orderly use of what things Health is preserved Of Custom Customs how to be altered Cautions in using Physical Helps Whether Customary Physicking is to be continued Physick worst for the Healthful Which the best Aire in general Which to each Particular Helps against Bad Aire Of sharp Aires Corruption of Aire Change of Aires by winds What Smells best Of Native Aires Sudden alterations Cautions about Aire Of Hunger Of Thirst Of Quantity in Meats Arguments against Intemperance Much feeding hinders nourishment growth 1. Digestion 2. Growth or Augmentation Greatest Pleasure in Temperance Plutar. Praecep Sanit The Bounds of Temperance 1 Rule of Temperance 2. Rule of Temperance Error in Feeding 2. Error 1. Caution Of Feasting True end of Feasting 2. Caution Respect had to the Nature of Meats To the Constitution of the Person To the Season Times of Feeding Best Time when Hungry No Break-fasts Large Supper best Rules for drinking Order of Feeding The Commodities of Exercise Discommodities of a Sitting Life Caution to Women and Maids History Pro. 31. When Exercise is to be forborn Exercise for the Fat and Lean. Exercise when Best When Bad. Place bad for exercise Violent Exercise bad Drinking cold Drink after Excercise bad Drinking Sack and hot Spirits bad Kinds of Labor Cause of Sleep Commodities of Rest * Sleeping The Evils of Immoderate Sleep Large Sleep best for whom Sleep after Dinner Form of Lying The benefits of Continency The incommodities of Incontinency Of the Excrements of the Belly It s proportion to the Aliment Of Looseness Divination by Urin a deceit When to be avoided When to be used Caution Helps to Sweat Why Sleep causes Sweat Too long violent Bad. Of Spitting Excrements of the Brain * Chewing In the Ears and Nostrils Its incommodities Remedies against Anger Three kinds of Love God-like 2. Humane 3. Conjugall Caution concerning the third Of Lust Of Dotage Evils of Sadness Pro. 17. 22. Remedies against Sadness * Chaâ—on of Humane Wisdom Seneca Plutarchs Morals and Lives 1. Drink againsh Melancholly 2. Drink against Melancholly Effects of Joy
Inspection Thou art also to know the Operations of the Soul as it is distributed in and makes use of several parts of the Body whether they be Nutritive Generative Vital Animal Sensitive Motive The particulars contained in the Diaetetical part thou hast in this Treatise Thou art likewise to have exact knowledg of all diseases of the whole Body and of every Part Their Nature Causes Differences Symptoms or concomitant Accidents and Signs as well to know them by as also to fore-know their issues and events Their usual Mutations Duplications sudden and many times frightful Alterations which will distract the Practitioner who to save his credit will then also venter but with extreamest danger to the Patient But above all and that which is most necessary is right knowledge of the manner and method of Curing which comprehends all the operations in Physick and Surgery which are exceeding numerous and require a large Discourse but to reckon up and explain And as one requisite hereunto thou oughtest to be furnished with the Knowledge of all Plants and Trees at least that are in use in Physick Their Roots Stems Barks Leaves Flowers Berries Fruits Seeds excresences to know all Forraign Drugs Gums Rozens juyces liquid and inspissated all medicinal Animals their parts and Excrements Whatsoever the Sea affords for Medecine or the bowels of the Earth as Mettals and Minerals All these ought well to be known both how to choose them to prepare mix and compound them To make of them distilled Waters Simple and Compound Conserves Syrups Loches Powders Electuaries Pills Trochisks Diet Drinks Apozems Potions of all sorts proper to each body part disease Vomits Iuleps Ptisans Opiats Epithems Lotions Fomentations Baths Liniments Oyntments Cataplasmes Cerats Plaisters Vesicatories Colliries for the Eyes Caps for the Head Gargarismes for the Mouth and Throat Dentifrices for the Teeth Errhina for the Nose Sneezing-powders Suffiments Pessaries Suppositories Clysters and Injections These of diverse kinds with many more which for brevity sake I omit a Physician ought to be well seen in and acquainted with but principally to know the proper time and season of using them which is not to be done but with much study education therein great helps and experience and yet without that all Medicines though in themselves they be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as the hand of God to cure diseases prove like a sword in a mad mans hand by which instead of doing the Physicians work Work is made for the Physician I intend not by this to affright any from the acquisition of the Medicinal Art but rather to let the World see what is requisite thereunto that it may understand how far short of being Physicians such men are who upon the bare stock of a few Receipts and knowing how churlishly to Purge and Vomit with three or four more common Operations in Physick presently and with confidence fall to the practise therefore As if a man should boast himself a good Painter because he knows how to mix Colours but knows not what belongs to Symmetry and Proportion Sed quo non mortalia pectora cogit Auri Sacra Fames It were better their need or Avarice did prompt them to venter upon some other subject then the body of man Thus much I thought good to insert in this place to shew the difference between what is requisite to the preserving preserving thy Health and restoring it The first is properly thy own work the last is the Physicians unless thou givest thy time to make thy self such But to return from whence I doubt I have too long digressed They who resolve to continue their course of life without care or consideration of their Health guided by their appetite and not their understandings will receive little or no benefit by this Treatise however Liberavi animam meam I have done my duty and therein receive satisfaction Others who are more careful of themselves will I question not hence gain some light and benefit to whom I offer this but not impose it prefer it in my own understanding as best but submit it to theirs and wish them to be perswaded as the reason thereof proves efficacious all that I desire is that they would not be prejudiced by Custom and long received opinion wch in some places it thwarts but preseinding from that give their understandings leave clearly to examine and so judge and Practise It is like my attempt herein may set others at work I shall be glad of that also and of whatsoever else may tend to the Helath and Commodity of Mankind Studious whereof is Thy Friend and Servant H. Brook From my Study in More-Feilds this 16. of April 1650. To my Freind the Author a Truly Learned and Expert Physician WHat mean you Sir This will undo Physicians and Surgeons too They live by Sickness not by Health Disorder brings them all their Wealth If this take place you ne'r will ride On foot cloth with a Groom by your side This is as if a Draper should Invent a neat spun cloth that would Seven Ages last and after be Fresh and fit for Livery Pray timely think on 't and Recall This Book that will undo us all You rather should excess invite And raise decayed Appetite Cry down all Rules and Freedom praise The Rich t' Apicius Diet raise Teach Curious Sauces and advance The Mysteries of Intemperance Make Rabelaies in our English shine Erect a School for Aretine That to encrease Physicians gain The Rich mans Gout and P may raign Catarrhes and Palsies and the new Disease that lately scapt so few Or think you that egregious Race Of Leeches that yet spring apace From every Trade will find you more Work then diseases did before Or then those Books which teach new skill How with good Medicines men to kill But your diffusive Soul that still Studies the World with truth to fill And useful Knowledge shews a way Would mankind but your Rules obey To scape those Quick sands and live free From need of Drug or Surgery Reader THis little Manuel will prove A House Physician that in Love To each mans Health will ready stay Without his Fee and every day Councel sound and plain impart Drawn from surest Rules of Art Where by an undisturbed Health Thou mayst enjoy the Crown of Wealth But I detain you from a Feast At which you long to be a Guest Read and Practise so you 'l find In a Sound Body a Sound Mind Sam. Blaicklock Chirurgus The Table OF Aire 55 Which the best Aire ibid. Helps against bad Aire 58 Sharp Aires 60 Corruption of Aire 62 Change of Aire by Winds 63 Of Native Aires 71 Sudden alteration of Aire bad 72 Caution about Aire 74 Of Anger 237 Its Discommodities ibid. Remedies against Anger 228 B. No Breakfast 123 C. Benefits of Continency 185 Costiveness to be prevented 52 Of Custom 34 Customs how to be altered 35 D. Rules for Drink 133 Effects of Drunkenness 136 Of Dotage 240. E. Of
the Excrements 182 Excrements of the Belly 189 Their proportion to the Aliment 191 Excrements of the Brain 217 Of the Ears and Nostrils 218 Commodity of Exercise 143 Exercise when to be forborn 159 What best for the Fat and Lean. 160 When best ibid. Places bad for Exercise 161 Violent Exercise bad 162 Drinking cold beer after Exercise bad 165 Also drinking Sack and strong waters 166 Kinds of Exercise 167 F. Errors in Feeding 104 Cautions about Feeding Respect in Feeding to the nature of meats 114 To the Constitution of the Person 115 To the season of the Year 116 Best times of Feeding 118 Order of Feeding 139 Of Feasting 110 Of Frications 171 H. Health what it is 15 By the orderly use of what things Health is preserved 21 Of Hunger I. Intemperance 85 It hinders nourishment and growth 90 Of Joy 251 Effects of Joy 252 Incommodities of Incontinency 187 L. Of Love 236 Three kinds of Love 236 Godlike ibid. Humane 237 Conjugall 238 Of Looseness 192 Of Lust 238 M. Of Motion and Rest 143 Of Meat and Drink 77 Due quantity of Meat 84 Drink against Melancholy 249 P. Whether Physick be necessary for the preserving of Health 44 Cautions in using Physicall Helps 47 Whether customary Physick be to be continued 49 Physick worse for the Healthful 51 Of the Passions 220 R. Commodities of Rest 176 S. Discommodities of a sitting Life 144 Of Sleep and Wakefulness 174 Cause of Sleep ibid. Evils of immoderate Sleep 176 Long Sleeps for whom best 178 Sleep after Dinner 180 Form of lying in Sleep 181 Of Sweat 210 When Sweating to be avoided 211 When to be provoked 212 Helps to Sweat 214 Why Sleep causes Sweat 215 Long and Violent Sweating bad 216 What Smels best 70 Of Spitting 217 Of Sadness 243 Remedies against Sadness 244 Larger Supper 127 T. The Bounds of Temperance 100 Gaeatest pleasure in Temperance 95 1. Rule of of Temperance 102 2. Rule of Temperance 103 Of Thirst 80 V. Of the Vrin 193 Divination by Vrin a deceit 194 A Conservatory of HEALTH IT is as much the Duty of a Physitian to endeavour the Preserving of Health as the restoring it and so much the more carefull he ought to be by how much the more neglectfull People are of themselves This is indeed a charge that we are not so much obliged to by Gain as by Conscience For there are few or none that come to the Physitian to keep themselves wel but only when they are forc't thither by the importunity of Sickness It becomes us therefore who have the Charge of Bodies to send our Councell abroad and though that may be a means to lessen our Practice yet will it much quiet our Minds in the discharge of a necessary part of our duty It is much easier to prevent Diseases then expell them It may be done with small care and less expence our Diseases cost us dear not only in the Cure but in the purchase being for the most part the off-springs of Intemperance Incontinency Disorder and other very costly Vices Temperance therefore brings a double Commodity with it the preserving of Health and the Saving of Expence all which notwithstanding so indulgent is the generality of Mankind to their appetites and the present enjoyment of their loose and inordinate desires that they utterly cast off the consideration of events and consequences never duly prizing Health till they have lost it preferring a sickly wearish and momentany Delight before a full perfectly contentfull durable A customary saying they have That he lives miserably who lives Physically and that they who observe Rules look palest are most frequently sick and in Physick of Lean and consumed Bodies whereas the good Fellow that regards not what he eats or how much he drinks is usually plump and Ruddy seldome sick though happily they live not so long yet are their lives more pleasurable which makes good amends for the shortness For better is a short life and Happy then a long and Dolorous And therefore let us say they give the Reins to our Appetites let us loose no time Let us eat and drink and if we die to morrow let us have our penny worths out to day For to what end are all delicious things given us if not to enjoy Thus pleads the Intemperate As if he were born for his Belly and all the noble Faculties of his Soul the exquisite operations of his Senses and other Habiliments of his Body ought to be subservient thereunto As if he lived to Eat and did not eat to Live making that the main end of his Creation which is but an unavoidable Consequent occasioned by Necessity for Preservation Eating and drinking and other sensuall pleasures are indeed below the Dignity of the Soul In which Beasts are our Equals and for the doing whereof it was necessary to furnish us with parts of exactest Sense for the incitation of Desire and Appetite least otherwise wee should neglect those operations needfull for preserving the Individuall and Kind out of a contempt to the Homeliness of the Works themsleves or out of a more earnest intention upon more excellent worthy Actions But besides all this They consider not those frequent Headaches Catarrhes Qualms Gripings Swimmings in the Head Dimness in the Eys flushing Heats Dropsies Gouts Palsies and other more irksome and ignominious Diseases they that indulge their Appetites and Desires are overtaken withall besides the decay of Memory slackness of Understanding loss of Time and Reputation All which God Almighty both to deterr and punish us hath made the inseparable Concomitants of Intemperance and Incontinency that whom the foreknowledge thereof will not affright the sting and punishment may justly Recompence and happily Reclaim Others there are who avoiding the extremities of those Vices Pride themselvs therein and think they are carefull enough and do in that as much as is needfull for the preservation of Health These are affrighted with the variety and multiplicity of Rules and Cautions which they say Physitians have purposely invented to make their very Healths Tributary unto them that scrupulosity in Diet and Order keeps the Mind too intent thereupon and hinders the enjoyment of Health by the fears of Sickness unto wch the very imagination enclines us upon every Default and omission of what is prescribed To these I shall say that I intend the reducing them not so much to what Art directs as Nature from whose ordinary safe prescripts the generality of Mankind are swerved and thereupon faln into many strange and complicate Diseases which except in Countries of equall Luxury and Intemperance with our own are not to this day so much as heard of Mine shall not be Rules of Niceness but Necessity such as every Mans Reason shall approve and Experience confirm I intend no burdens or Fetters no Farrago of Recipes with which the Understanding is rather distracted then directed but to revive those unhappily exploded Rules of Temperance and due Order in
our Lives by observation whereof Life may be prolonged and Diseases avoided The Benefits of this Temperance I shall not need to reckon they being so largely and plainly recited in two excellent Treatises The one of Learned Lessïus Entituled The right course of preserving Health The other of Cornaro Of Temperance and Sobriety both which are almost at every Booksellers to be had in English That therefore I may the more methodically and so the more beneficially proceed I shall observe this Order 1. I shall declare wherein Health consists 2. By the due and regular Observation of what things it is preserved 3. The right Order and Course to be observed in the use of those Things and by the way I shall handle those practicall and familiar Questions which occasionally shall offer themselves whereby either popular errors may be Rectified or wilfull neglects amended by a recital of the prejudices thence arising Of Health HEalth consists in a good and well tempered Constitution of the Blood and Spirits and of all the Similary Parts as also in a legitimate and proportionable Structure of All the parts Organicall comprehended in their just Magnitude Number Scituation Passage and Confirmation their Union likewise and Continuity Health is then known to be when all the Actions of the Body viz. Naturall Vitall and Animall are in their Integrity But when there is a defect in any one it is no longer Health for as in Morals that action only is truly good which is so both in its Nature End and all its Circumstances in which there is not the least Mixture of Evill So in Naturals that Man cannot be truly said to be in Health who is not intirely so in all and every particular requisite thereunto Hence may we conclude that though Sickness admits a Latitude Health doth not and that the Neutrall Constitution maintained by Fernelius and others and the common Saying of People that they are neither Well nor Ill is not in Reason allowable but must be comprehended within the Sickly Constitution In the beginnings whereof though Sicknes doth not so eminently and visibly appear yet there she is in her degrees and gives Testimony of her Self by the depravation of some Action as want of Digestion of Nutrition Immoderation or Irregularity of Pulse imbecility of the Senses Motion or Respiration c. in the Perfection and Integrity of which and all others that flow from Man is Health comprized In this sense a Heathfull man is hardly found every one having his Constitution more or less depraved by a desertion of Natures Rules and prescripts in the Regulation and Order of Lives The difficulty therefore is to finde out the exactness of those Rules that so we may gradually return from the perversness of Custome which by continuance of time is seated in Natures Chair and usurps her Offices though wee smart for the change to those Safe Wholesome and Preservative Rules which begets us long Life and happy Dayes Certainly wee are Recoverable and God hath placed it within the Comprehension of Reason to finde out our Defects and amend them Our Infirmities lie not upon us from any Necessity but our neglect Neither did the Almighty Create our Diseases with us they are like Insects the off-spring of Corruption of our Disorder and Luxury and consequently may by due care and circumspection be very much avoided Yea those diseases which are Epidemicall as Pestilentiall Feavers Catarrhes small Pox the present Flux c. do much easier seize upon such as by contracting an evill Habit of Body have rendred themselves more obnoxious and disposed thereunto in whom likewise they are more difficultly curable but to proceed In the next place we are to consider the Subject Matter of our Health and what those particulars are which are essentially necessary to its preservation and they are six 1. Aire 2. Meat and Drink 3. Motion and Rest 4. Sleep and Wakefulness 5. The due Excretion of those things which are to be Excreted and the Retention of those things which are to be Retained 6. The Passions of the Mind The abuse of these six Things destroy Health The right use and ordering them preserves it They are therefore usually by Physitians termed Indifferentia Things in themselves indifferent the care where of God hath referred to us and hath endowed us with understanding requisite to make the best use thereof Our selves therefore we are most to blame for our Maladies whose unhappy disorders they inseparably follow as the Shadow doth the Body Of these six things we wil severally Treat with all circumstances relating thereunto as the Measure Manner Season not only abstractively as in themselves but with all the concomitants of Age Sex Temperament their Diversities and Changes and withall the Method and Order of using the foresaid six things so as that Life may be with least Sickness extended to its utmost possibility But before I come to particulars I shall touch upon two Questions The 1. Whether Health is alwaies to be preserved by Meats and Drinks of like Quality and Temperament with the body Taking them This though a Fundamentall in Physick which saith that Diseases are expelled by Contraries Health preserved by Similaries Yet is it oppugned by many Arguments As 1. Children Youths of Nature Hot are forbidden Wine and with old men that are cold of Temperament do hot things best agree Hence say we Vinum est Lac Senum Wine is the old Mans Milk agreeable to which is that of Hippocrates Epidemiôn 6to They that are Cholerick must use bathing and much rest they must drink Water for Wine Mustard Garlick Leekes Onions and spiced Meats are to such very hurtfull This is confirmed by every daies experience Therefore ought that Traditionall Foundation in Physick to be no longer trusted to being so detrimentall to our Healths For the Decision of the Question we must Note 1. That the Instances to be given ought to be in cases of Health Sound Constitution and not of Distemper and Sicknes for then the other part of the Maxime takes place That they are to be helped by Contraries 2. Note That the Assimilation is not to be understood in a large Sense but strictly with reference not to the Quality in generall but to the proper and individuall degree thereof As for Instance The true Temperament of Man is when all the Qualities pertinent to his Composition are well mixt and moderated only his Heat and Moisture are somewhat predominant it is now therefore to be preserved by such things as are of like Temper and Qualification Hence must we not infer that whatsoever is Hot though in never so intense a degree is proper and nutritive but that which is so in the same degree and constitution with himself 3. Those things are truly said to be alike in Temperament which are of equal distance from the Mean For instance those things which are hot in the second degree are preserved by Aliments of the same degree but those
Resistance that is made in the Stomack and that is most done by Dissimilaries For Inter Symbola facilis est transitus Those things that are of nearest similitude do easiest pass one into another I plead not here for bad Customs but for the best way of Removing them desiring this Inference rather may be made there-from that since Evil things becoming Customary are so difficulty removable we be very careful to enure our selves only to those things that are good wholsom of easy charge and preparation Whether Physick be Necessary for the preservation of Health If the due Course and Order of Nature were observed there would be very little or no need at all of Medicinal Helps for we see those that live nearest thereunto continue longest and most free from sickness as Country-men and those who observe a Strict Diet the last by an extraordinary temperance prevent the generation of those Crudities and Corrupt Humors which are the matter and Fuel of Diseases The other though they feed heartily and plentifully yet is their Diet but simple and at all times much alike their Appetites fresh and urgent their Concoction strong and constant and the accumulation of evil Humors prevented by their hard and Customary Labor These want little or no Physical helps But those that are subject to many Disorders as the most part of Mankind is stand in much need of Preservatives Preventives Hence hath come in the Custom of bleeding purging at Spring Fall and with some Monthly the now frequent Regurgitations after every feeding the use of Fontanels the frequenting of the Wells the entring into Diets and Courses of Physick Nor do we usually after Restauration become Wiser or more wary and orderly in the Regulation of our lives but recover strength only for the new more able exercise of our Intemperance so continue the Necessity of customary preventives In these cases therefore they are to be allowed for the avoiding of greater Evils only with these Cautions That strong and violent means be not used when gentle and more familiar helps wil serve nor many Remedies when few are sufficient that we prefer Alteratives and Correctives before Purgatives and likewise Minoratives and benigne Medicines before Churlish and Scammoniate bleeding or purging before an Issue for that is Medicamentum Continuatum a being as it were in Continual Physick which is also frequently liable to pain and irksome prickings upon the change of weather and other accidents But then though gentle means be to be preferred it must be with a great probability of effecting the ends intended 2. Though Imminency-of Diseas do beget a Necessity of observing the Seasons for Physick yet that Custom need not be continued but when there is a likelihood of the same Imminency as suppose a Turgency of Humors heaviness and wearisomness of the Limbs want of appetite c. hath for these six years every Spring signified a Necessity of Dieting and Purgation and that they have to good purpose been used accordingly yet if the same man do by observing a better order in Diet and a greater Temperance so behave himself for the following year as not to have the same Symptomes and Indications neither is it necessary that he continue by Custom of Physick but may the next Spring without danger leave it off or at least wise lessen it as occasion requires For in these cases the Indication is not to be taken from Custom but the Imminency of Sickness 3. Though Customary means be needfull for prevention of Imminent Sicknesses yet they are not therefore to be used Out of Wantonness and when there is no appearance or likelihood of an ensuing Malady for by that means as Celsus well saith We consume in our Healths the Remedies of our Sickness and dispose our selves many times by so weakning our Bodies to those sicknesses we had before no propension unto for that they worst of all endure Medicines that are of sound Constitution who have nothing for Physick to work upon but the good Humors and Habit of the Body it self 4. They who either naturally or by the excessive feeding upon hot and dry meats have slow bellies and are constantly costive must prevent the inconveniences which will thence ensue as extream putrefaction of Excrements hot Vapours in the Brain heaviness and pain in the Head Inappetency palpitation of the Heart windiness in the Stomack the Cholick c. they must prevent I say these Inconveniences by the use of some gentle Lenitive and such order as is requisite for keeping the body loose and laxative as eating roast Apples or stewed Prunes half an houre before Dinner drinking a good Draught in the Mornings forbearing dry Meats using Cassia Manna Pulp of Tamarinds Syrup of Roses Pilulae ante Cibum loosening Clisters Whey with Fumitery Senna or Epithymum c. Milk or the Waters in the Summer and the like proper to facilitate the Belly prevent those obstructions which are the Fountain and Nurse of most Diseases and all this may be done familiarly without much ado and beget no disturbance to the Body Of Aire AIre we attract by Inspiration and Perspiration by the Windpipe and by the Pores and that to repair our continual loss of Spirits and contemperate the heat of the Heart and Blood The goodness of Aire is considered either as it is in it self or with Relation to this or that Body In it self that is best wch is pure serene not mingled with any noysome smell as of Carrion Iaxes places where they repose their Dung standing and corrupted Waters thick Foggs and Vapors c but is naturally pure and void of all inquination Considered with Relation to this or that Body that is best which by its similitude is most proper to preserve Health or by its contrariety most efficacious to expel diseases as over moist bodies live most Healthfully in Dry Aires and over dry in Moist so that 't is a mistake to think the clearest and sharpest Aire is best for every body since Distempered and depraved Constitutions do as necessarily require a contrariety in Aire and consequently somtimes moist and thick Aires as in Meats and Drinks I have lately known two sickly bodies who heretofore were hardly ever out of Physick and yet for that time since they lived in Lambeth-Marsh a place that no one would choose for the pureness and Clarity of the Aire have enjoyed a sound and uninterrupted Health and one of them hath lived there for these 3. or 4. years Sound Bodies and healthful endure well almost any Aire but Crazy Persons must if they have the Conveniency make choise of such Aires as are opposite to their Distempers But when want of Means and Conveniency necessitates any to those Aires that are most repugnant to their Healths all the help that remains is by proper meats and drinks and other means to repair what may be that defect as if the Aire be hot and the Body inclined
to hot Distempers to use cooling aliments to drink VVater in stead of VVine to frequent Bathing where it may be had to Rest much and forbear Violent Motions To have little Cisterns of Water always running such as are commonly made of Peuter to hang up Wet clothes to strew the pavement with Roses Rushes Vine-leaves Water-Lillies and other Cooling Hearbs which may likewise be sprinkled with Rose-water and Vinegar On the contrary cold and moist Aires may be much helped by Large Fires Bath-stoves Warming-stones and agreeably provisions may be made in other cases I purpose not to insist upon every consideration that relates to Aire but passing by those that are speculative I shall touch only upon such as are useful and practical and from which most men may derive some Commodity to themselves Mountanous Aires are esteemed wholsomer then in the Valley because more perflated and cleansed by the Winds whereas the others are stagnant like standing Waters But I doubt the truth hereof for that I see not how one part of the Aire can be moved without the other its motion and impulsion being so easy that we see the very voice moves and makes it give way at a very great Distance and then again if to some bodies more gross and stagnant Aires are not so wholsom for instance to the slaggy and corpulent to others they are most agreeable and the thin sharp and Penetrative most inconvenient namely to thin spare and emaciated Bodies What the inconveniences of Metalline Vapors are I shall not need to recite neither yet what helps there are against them because living not where they are we are not subject thereunto The Causes whereby Aire is Corrupted that are within our Ken and which may by us be Remedied are especially three 1. Great Standing Waters never Refreshed 2. Carrion lying long above ground 3. Much People in small Roome living uncleanly and sluttishly The Aire Changes its qualities from the Diversity of Winds By those from the North 't is cold and dry they do confirm and strengthen such bodies which are able to bear them From the South they are hot and moist and so loosen and dissolve the West is more Temperate but the East apt to blastings The South Wind without rains continuing long disposes to Feavors andthe Pestilence and generally so do stagnant Airs without Winds Rain and Thunder It is observed that from the North there arises with the Dogg-star certain Winds called Ethesiae which do not only contemperate the Heat of the Aire but Purg it from putrefaction and pestilential Infections and have thence got the name of Scoparij because they do as it were Brush and Clense the Aire In Consumptions and for Restauration after long Sicknesses the best Aires are in dry Champaignes where there is much Timber-Shade and Forrest Beach Trees and Groves of Bayes where likewise grow odoriferous Plants as Wild Time Wild Marjerom Penny-royal Camomil Calamint Juniper and the like and where the Brier-Rose smells like Musk-Roses Helpful whereunto is likewise the Steam of new ploughed grounds and for such as have not strength to walk a Fresh Turf of Earth every Morning with a little Vinegar poured upon it However 't is best for them that are any thing Healthful not to be over-solicitous in the choise of Aire or to judg that they cannot have their healths except in some few Places of best and excellent Aire for they do thereby very much deject Nature and opinionate themselves into Sickness Such Imaginations the mind in continuall doubts perplexities and make us sickly out of a fear of being sick We see that many men and those not of the strongest and most healthful constitutions live long and without sickness amidst noysom and unpleasant Smells as Oyl-men Sope-boylers Tallow-Chandlers and divers others besides those that are conversant about Dung cleanfing of Common-shores and Jaxes and though Custom in these cases may be urged because of the familiarity that by long use is begotten between such Smells and their Natures yet is it thence clearly evincible that health and noysom smells are not inconsistible which is a clear argument that we need not be over nice and solicitous in the election of Aires as if in this City of London amidst thick fumes Sulphurious Vapors from the Sea-coal we could not enjoy our Health In these cases Opinion is more our Mistris then Reason which whilst we are pleading for we can content our selves with the Smoak of Narcotick Tobacco not only surround our selves therewith in a close Room and in hot weather too but suck it in and let it sometimes descend-into our Stomacks and sometimes ascend into our Nostrils and so into the very Brain it self In some cases therefore we are scrupulously exact in others supinely negligent a middle between both were best as not to think but that health is preservable in Aires not exquisitely serene and penetrative and on the other side to avoid choaking hot and too exiccative Fumes which in time parch the Lungs and dry up the Brain For Odors those are best which neither by their super-abundance of Heat Strength and Crassitude of Spirits do overcome us but which by their rarity and quickness do refresh us But they also are good only sometimes and the bodies infirmity requiring it for otherwise no Smell is best but that which is almost insensible in the Aire it self It is observed that the Aire we are born in tends much to the Restauration of Health Something may be allowed to 't because of its Sympathy with the innate Spirits of the Body which remain in some measure from our generation to our Dissolution Although I conceive when we go into our Native Countries to repair our Health after long Sickness the principal means thereof is vacancy from care and business the wholsomness and simplicity of Country Feeding the enjoyment of friends merriment and pleasant pastime which is usuall and which ought indeed to be especially intended in such Journies But above all sudden alterations in Aire from extream to extream is very dangerous Such as usually falls out in March April and somtimes in May as also in September October the change is usuall too in severall parts of the same day the Mornings and Evenings extream cold the mid day excessive Hot In these cases the surest way is for them that are crazy to go warm clothed till the uncertainty of the weather is over the Proverb speaks well though homely Till May be out Leave not off a Clout We must not like the unexperienced Marriner believe the Stormy Season to be past because of a fit of Sun-shine If we err t is better do it on the safe hand and not run the hazard of a sickness for fear of an unhansome Nick-name This Caution concerns those only that are any thing infirm and sickly as indeed most are the youthful and robust can bear all Weathers and in the thinnest apparel though there is a Proverb
the expence how sad is their Condition when the Means and Store-house thereof is by any casuality wasted to an infinite Number whereof God hath subjected us How much better is it to copy the Picture of a Vertuous Woman wch Solomon in his last Chapter hath so lively delineated and for every good Woman to endeavor the being like Her In whom the heart of Her Husband may Trust and by whose Industry he shall have no need of Spoile But I digress too far and happily may incur a censure for my boldness in this point However with the Vertuous I hope to find excuse since my fault if it be any hath proceeded only from my Love and fair Respects to that Sex Be pleased that I may add some few Arguments to press the Necessity of Labor and Exercise I have urged before how much the want thereof enclines you to diseases and puts you to a continuall need of Physick that it decays your Colours and Complexions that particularly it disposes you to Obstructions of the Liver Spleen Womb and Breast One more and that a grievous Inconvenience it produces viz. Long Travel difficulty and danger in Childing The Hebrew-Women saies the Egyptian Midwives are lively and are delivered ere the Midwife comes to them The Irish Women because of their stirring and active Lives are Streight Tall full grown quick in Delivery The German-Women are also observed to be such here in England also the poor and laboring Women in City and Country are very quick at their Labors and allow themselves hardly a Weeks Retirement So that in this particular also which is of no small concernment the active and stirring Life is of greatest advantage 2. They that Lead Sedentary Lives usually bear Weak and Sickly Children and so beget themselves much sorrow double care and charge in their Education besides the Injury they thereby do the Common-wealth 3. The mind for want of convenient business to employ it becomes either dulled and unacquainted with humane accidents and so not fitted and prepared to bear them or otherwise misguided and depraved 4. It is necessary that Parents and they that have the Charge in Education timely take care in this particular for that their Children being at first bred up restively acquire a habit thereby and cannot afterwards when they or their Parents see the inconveniences thereof change their course their Joynts and Limbs are so stiff and unweildly and their obstructions so great Insomuch that by endeavouring an alteration they incur many times grevious diseases So that Parents ought to lay this particular very much to heart in time and to order the Education of their Children accordingly for which they will afterwards be more beholding to them then for their Portions as of more reall benefit and behoof unto them For what is Wealth without Health yea how much better is a mean fortune with a Sound and Healthful Constitution then Large possessions when the Body is Crazy and unapt to enjoy them But if through neglect or inanimadvertency this at first be over-slipt the old Custom must not all at once be left nor the Body suddenly be innur'd to Labor but by degrees using at the same time convenient Helps such drinks as do powerfully clear obstructions and remove shortness and difficulty of Breathing And so I have done with that Particular I shall add one or two Considerations more concerning Motion and Rest and so Leave it When the Body is very foul replete with ill humors exercise must be forborn till it be conveniently cleansed for that otherwise it will work disperse them into the Habit of the Body it Self and occasion thereby some long and hardly curable Disease In this case 't is best to avoid fool-hardiness venienti occurrere Morbo remember that to prevent is far easier then to Cure They that are Lean should exercise only ad Ruborem till the Body and Spirits are gently heated for that will help to satten them They that are fat may Exercise ad Sudorem till they Sweat that will extenuate them Exercise is best before Meals for it clears the Stomack and prepares the Appetite but a little time must be allowed again to settle the body before we eat Too soon after meals 't is very bad for it subverts the Stomack and forces the Victuals thence raw and indigested and so disperses it into the Veins and Habit of the Body whereby putrid Feavours Head-aches Weakness of the Eyes and a general Cacochymy or depraved Constitution is engendred Avoid exercising in damp and noysom places for that the Lungs being opened and Respiration encreased much aire is drawn in and the brain thereby filled and the Lungs corrupted This Caution is to be observed by all but especially by those that are Pthisical and Rheumatick Lastly too Violent Exercise is very bad for it too much dries the Body it engenders the Stone Gout especially towards old age when it is discontinued Let not therefore Pleasure and a too earnest Intention at our sports make us so much our own Enemies as to convert that which ought to be used only to refresh the Mind to Strengthen and keep healthfull the Body into the means of its Infirmity Sickness and decay especially knowing that exercise is then only pleasant when the Body is fresh Vigorous and very well able and without toil and pain to undergo the same Besides that too constant a use and intention upon Sports corrupts the Mind and distracts it in the midst of all affairs and business and begets a Dotage thereupon wherein there is not true Pleasure and contentment but a wâ—arish and impotent giving up of the Spirits and Faculties thereunto a convenient mixture of Labor and Excercise is best so as that the first do far exceed the last and that the last be indeed but as a Refreshment and quickning of the Spirit and Body for the better and more Pleasant undergoing of the first Lastly If it be too much or too violent it is no friend to Prolongation of Life for it over-heats the Spirits and renders them easily evaporable 2. It consumes too much the Moisture of the Body 3. It wasts the inward Parts which delight most in and are conserved best by Rest We see by this the inconveniences of Excess and Defect Via Media via Tuta the middle way is best and wholsomest A usual error is the drinking cold beere after Violent Exercise and in our Sweat to which Heat and Thirst intises us but the effects are 1. Damping and almost exstinguishing the small remainder of heat that is left in the inward parts 2. Surfetting the Body by Mixing cold Drink with the fat which is at that time melted and floating in the Body Let that inconvenient custom be therefore carefully left Another is to Drink Sack or strong-Strong-Water when we have spent and wearied our selves with hard Labor or Exercise which is done as for avoiding