Sleep want of it 33 Snake 117 121 Soil 57 Sparrows 139 151 Spike Celtick 97 Spikenard 146 Spitting 32 Stagg's heart its bone 21 70 76 Strength its infirmity 34 Succinum 155 Sulphur 79 Sun 59 Sweat 61 116 145 T TAst â—7 Tavern-haunters 113 Terra Sigillata 28 Toil of Body and Mind 3 Touching of cold things 79 Treacle 122 Tree of knowledge 111 Trifera 79 85 V VApors 38 Veal 150 Vegetables 56 Venus 78 102 Viper 21 its preparation 114 1â—5 its property 115 116 when and how to be taken 117 118 its number of teeth description conception and birth 120 121 Virgin 99 100 101 109 110 111 Virtue may be separated from its body 17 18 Vnction 61 Vnderstanding when rational 40 Vsefulness of the Treatise 134 W WAshing 79 Water 78 Water-Melons 91 Wax 125 Wheat 78 Wine 54,57,103,104,105,106,107,112 Wiping 79 World its age 1 6 Worts 140 X XYloaloe 145 Y YOuth how preserved 95 how recovered ibid. THE CURE OF Old Age c. CHAP. I. Of the Causes of Old Age. AS the a World waxeth old b Men grow old with it not by reason of the Age of the World but because of the great Increase of living Creatures which infect the very Air that every way encompasseth us and Through our c Negligence in ordering our Lives and That great d Ignorance of the Properties which are in things conducing to Health which might help a disordered way of Living and might supply the defect of due Government From these three things namely Infection Negligence and Ignorance the Natural Heat after the time of Manhood is past begins to diminish and its Diminution and Intemperature doth more and more hasten on Whence the Heat by little and little decreasing the Accidents of Old Age come on which Accidents in the very Flower of Age may be taken away and after that time may be retarded as also may that â—wift Course which hurries a Man from Manhood to Age from Age to Old Age from Old Age to the broken strength of decrepit Age be restrained For the Circle of a Man's Age grows more in one day after Age to Old Age than in three days after Youth to Age and is sooner turned from Old Age to decrepit Age than from Age to Old Age. Which Weakness and Intemperature of Heat is caused two ways by the Decay of Natural Moisture and By the Increase of Extraneous Moisture For the Heat exists in the Native Moisture and is extinguished by external and strange moistness which flows from weakness of Digestion as Avicenna in his first Book in his Chapter Of Complexions affirms Now the Causes of the dissolution of the Internal Moisture and of the External's abounding whence the Innate Heat grows cool are many as I shall here show First of all the Dissolution of the Natural happens from two Causes One whereof is the circumambient Air which dries up the Matter And the Innate Heat which is inward very much helps towards the same For it is the Cause of extinguishing it self by reason it consumes the matter wherein it subsists as the Flame of a Lamp is extinguished when the Oyl exhausted by the Heat is spent The second Cause is the toil proceeding from the Motions of Body and Mind which otherwise are necessary in Life To these accrue Weakness and Defect of Nature which easily sinks under so great Evils as Avicenna witnesseth in his first Book Of Complexions of Ages not resisting those imperfections that invade it Now The Motions of the Mind are called Animal when the Soul especially is exercised The Motions of the Body are when our Bodies are tossed and stirred of necessary Causes ill proportioned External Moisture increaseth two ways either from The use of Meat and other things that breed an unnatural and strange Moisture especially Phlegmatick whereof I shall discourse hereafter or from Bad Concoction whence a feculent and putrid Humour differing from the nature of the Body is propagated For Digestion is the Root of the Generation of unnatural and natural Moisture which when it is good breeds good Moisture when bad a bad one as Avicenna saith in his fourth Canon of his Chapter Of things which hinder grey Hairs For from wholesome Food ill digested an evil Humour doth flow and of poysonous Meats and such as naturally breed a bad Humour iâ— well digested sometime comes a good one But it is to be observed that not only Phlegm is called an extraneous Humour but whatever other Humour is putrid Yet Phlegm is worse than the other external Humours in that it helps to extinguish the Innate Heat two ways either By choaking it or By Cold resisting its Power and Quality so Rasy in his Chapter Of the benefits of Purging Which Phlegm proceeds from faults in Meats negligence of Diet and intemperature of Body so that this sort of external Moisture increasing and the Native Moisture being either changed in Qualities or decayed in Quantity Man grows old either In the accustomed course of Nature by little and little and successively when after the time of Manhood that is after forty or at most fifty Years the Natural Heat begins to diminish Or Through evil Thoughts and anxious Care of Mind wherewith sometimes Men are hurt For Sickness and such like evil Accidents dissolve and dry up the Natural Moisture which is the Fewel of Heat and that being hurt the force and edge of the Heat is made dull The Heat being cooled the Digestive Vertue is weakned and this not performing its Office the crude and inconcocted Meat putrefies on the Stomach Whereupon the external and remote parts of the Body being deprived of their Nourishment do languish wither and dye because they are not nourished So Isaac in his Book Of Fevers in the Chapter Of the Consumption doth teach But it may be queried What this Moisture is and in what place it is seated whereby the Natural Heat is nourished and which is its Fewel Some say that it is in the Hollow of the e Heart and in the Veins and Arteries thereof as Isaac in his Book Of Fevers in the Chapter Of the Hectick But there are Moistures of divers kinds in the Members which are prepared for Nourishing and to moisten the Joints Of which Humours may be that is one which is in the Veins and that another which like Dew is reposed on the Members as Avicenna saith in his fourth Book in the Chapter Of the Hectick Whence perhaps the Wise do understand that all these Moistures are Fewel to the Native Heat But especially that which is in the Heart and its Veins and Arteries which is restored when from Meats and Drinks good Juices are supplyled and is made more excellent by outward Medicines such as Anointings and Bathings NOTES on CHAP. I. a This Year 1682. with the Astrologers is celebrated the Climacterick grand Conjunction of the highest Planets And Divines after St. Peter's Chronology do reckon that the Sabbatical Millenary is not far off nor without great reason
in the Air four Drachms of the Medicine whose Mine is the Plant of India two Drachms a little Musk and Saffron In a Cold Season and Complexion hot Spices may be added as Cloves and h h Amber But in a hot Season and Complexion you may add two Drachms of Violets Then make it into an Electuary prepared with Syrup of Violets or reduce it into Powder and the Weight of Sugar equal to all the things aforesaid is to be added This Medicine may he used in Meat or after Meat as the Old Man pleaseth Any one may use this Powder in Summer and Winter both in a hot and a cold Complexion as well as Country with the Medicine which is i i cast out of the Sea without Violets if it be put in strong Wine so that its Vertue may be dissolved and that being dissolved it be drunk with a mixture of most pure Spring Water For the Water takes away the dryness of the aforesaid things and recalls the Vertue of the said Medicine to Heat and Moisture and makes it temperate But several among the Antients do not agree in the Composition of this Medicine For some put in the Medicine whose Mine is the Plant of India and that which is cast out of the Sea leaving out the Violets and Seeds of Lettuce and Porcellane But others say You must take of that Medicine which lives in the Air four Drachms and of that whose Mine is the Plant of India two Drachms and of Violets one Drachm and a little Saffron and Musk to these reduced to Powder they add the weight of Sugar equal to all the rest And thus ordered this is to be taken in Wine in a hot Season by Old Men troubled with superfluous Heat But they taught that it was to be taken without the Violets in a cold Season and by a Phlegmatick Old Man The second k k Medicine is that which disperseth and purgeth all the Humors by an insensible and occult way namely Choler by Sweat Phlegm by Lice Melancholy by Excoriation and Scabs when it is prepared and taken as we said before according to the Directions of Physicians Take some Cloves Nutmeg Zedoary Galangale Citron-Rind Vipers Flesh and a little Musk mix them with Wine and make them up into Rolls and Trochises If you would strengthen the Senses and all the Parts add the weight of Xyloaloes of India equal to all the rest If you would drive out Phlegm and Melancholy add of that Medicine which lives in the Air an equal quantity to all the rest If you desire to remove any Disease add Spices which are Enemies to that Disease and let the Bulk of them be as great as of all the rest And you may add other things which may easily drive away such Diseases as Sage is against Softness of the Nerves Spikenard to provoke Womens Terms to help the Obstruction of the Gall and Liver Cinnamon for the Tympany Cardamome for Men troubled with the Epilepsie Sciaâ—ica Phrensie and long Coughing Pepper is good for it drys the Breast and Lungs flowing with gross Humors Or Take of Vipers Flesh Zedoary Citron-Rind Galangale Cloves and a little Musk and mix them with Wine then make Trochises And when there shall be occasion you that are Old take hereof one part and twenty parts of some Spice hot in the first Degree such as is Spikenard of some hot in the second Degree fifteen parts and one paâ—t of Trochises of Nutmegs This dissolves the Swelling of the Liver and Spleen and refreshes them There is another Medicine for Old Men which hinders Putrefaction helps the Natural Moisture that it does not so easily waste and dissolve makes the Blood of the Heart more pure and thin repells the Leprosie and Trembling of the Heart makes men of good Courage bold and free purgeth and casts out that abundance of Phlegm that oppresseth the Native Heat and it ought to be such Take l l of the Medicine which is hid in the Bowels of the Earth artificially m m prepared so that it may easily be powdered four Drachms of that which lies hid in the Sea two Drachms of the Medicine whose Mine is the Heart of the long-living Animal one Drachm grind all these very finely together so that they may easily be blown away and dispersed with the force of the Wind then a little Saffron and Musk must be added Moreover those Spices are to be added which are Odoriferous and Cordial that the Medicine may be reduced to a Temper respect being had to the Season Age and Complexion Let Old Men take this Medicine greedily in some such Liquor as being digested may easily pass to the very Heart and inner parts and go through the Capillary Veins Several take this Medicine with some savoury Meat when Hunger is come upon them Others drink it in the Morning mixt with Pomegranate-Wine Others in an Electuary Fasting Others take it in a â—ear Egg when they rise in the Morning For you must know that those Liquors are the best Vehicles for any Medicine that are most agreeable to a Man's Nature But the Simple n n Medicine which restores and strengthens the Native Heat when wasted and weakned is that which is likened to the Complexion of a healthy Young Man Whence in Conclusion it is made manifest that Mirth Singing Looking on Humane Beauty and Comeliness Spices Electuaries warm Water Bathings some things lying in the Bowels of the Earth others lying hid among the Waves of the Sea some living in the Air others taken from the Noble Animal well tempered and prepared and many more such things are Remedies whereby the Accidents of Age iâ— Young Men the Infirmities of Old Age in Old Men the Weaknesses and Diseases of Decrepit Age in very Old Age may be restrained retarded and driven away NOTES on CHAP. XVI a Chap. VII b Chap. VIII c Chap. X. d Chap. IX e Chap. XIII f Chap. XII g Chap. XI h Chap. XIV i Chap. XV. k Chap. III V VI. and the latter Part of this Chapter l Besides the well Leavening of Bread or Raising it with Yeast it must be made of the best Grain which is Wheat The Flower should have a little Bran for if it be very fine it breeds a viscid Humor but the Bran hinders it from being Obstructive as in Destilling of Gummous and Resinous Bodies we add Sand or Pieces of Brick to keep them from clotting The Bread must be baked in an Oven with a moderate Heat for what is baked on a Gridiron or before the Fire because of the inequality of Heat is one part Dough another part burnt and never well soked It must be knodden with Water not Milk as some Bakers do to make their Course Bread look White for Milk makes it exceeding Obstructive It must not be stale the newer the better so it be cold from the Oven m It is the Opinion of Physicians that Chickens are a proper Food both for sick and well People nor can a more
harmless Meat be eaten They breed Blood neither too thick nor too thin They are very good for the Valetudinary the Idle and Persons who use little Exercise n Kids should not be very young for then their Flesh is over moist nor too old for then they savour of the Goat but about two Months old Juvenal describes them well in Satyr 11. De Tiburtino veniet pinguissimus agro Hoedulus toto grege mollior inscius herbae Necdum ausus virgas humilis mordere salicti Qui plus habet Lactis quà m Sanguinis A fat little Kid The softest of the Herd near Tibur't was Bred in rich Grounds yet neither eat the Grass Nor brouz'd upon the Willow's humble Wood But more participates of Milk than Blood o Veal if it be very young is clammy and mucous Therefore the elder the Cast is so it suck the firmer and sweeter the Veal will be p Young Geese when they have only a downy Coat in Spring Time are a wholesome Dish for then their Flesh is not hard but something fat and tender and seems to melt in ones Mouth q Lamb must be elder than Kid and not killed before they be weaned for Milk makes their Flesh more moist and mucous They must graze on dry Pasture where hot Herbs grow and then they are a wholsome Food r Partridge if it be kept a day or two is very tender and brittle affords good Blood and is easy of Concoction The younger the better s Pheasant is much of the Hens Nature but is more grateful to the Palate easy of Concoction and affords good Blood Great Cooks of old used for the greater Delicacy to boyl them in the Steam of hot Water So saith S. Hierome in Epist. 83. to Oceanus Non ut Phasidis aves lentis vaporibus coquat qui ad offa perveniant superficiem carnis non dissolvant artifici Temperamento Not to boyl Pheasants in gentle Steams which by an artificial Temperament may reach the Bones and not break the Surface of the Flesh. t The Sparrow is a very Salacious Bird for which reason Sappho the Poetess feigned Venus the light Goddess her Chariot to be drawn by Sparrows And they are reckoned by all Physicians to excite Lust extremely Wherefore the Mauritanian Physicians whom our Author much follows forbad Sparrows all Men's Tables especially then should Old Men abstain from such Incentives u Beef powdered and a Year Old is good to cleanse the Stomach of Phlegm eaten in a small Quantity it makes a good Salt Bit for great Drinkers especially if hanged and dryed in the Smoak But frequent eating of it any way produceth Melancholy w The Ancients thought that Goats were always sick of a Fever because of the hot and rank smell which continually exhales from them Therefore their Flesh could not be wholesome But it is very certain they grow fat upon Hellebore Hemlock and such noxious Herbs so no wonder if they afford but bad Nutriment x Several upon eating of Mushromes have fallen into Colick Pains Epilepsie and Apoplexy For they yield a cold thick and as some think a Poisonous Iuice They have been very infamous for the Death of Claudius the Emperour but most men think the fault lay there in Agrippina's dressing for Nero in his merry Humor used to call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meat for the Gods amongst whom his Predecessor was canonized for one Pliny thinks them dangerous For if a Nail or any rusty Iron or a rotten Rag be near where they grow the Mushromes turn all their Iuice to Poison as also they do if a Serpent have his Hole near them or if any venomous Creature breath upon them or touch them And many have been strangled by them y Mulberries are reckoned among the Fructus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fugaces which if they be eaten on a full or foul Stomach corrupt presently and sometimes prove of a deleterious Quality z Melons also are very corruptible if taken unseasonably and cause Vomiting and Looseness Johannes Cuspinianus in the Life of Frederick the Third writes how four Emperours dyed of eating Melons a a And Cucumbers are as bad For it seems the immoderate Vse of Cucumbers and Melons brought so many Patients to a French Physician of Lions that he built him a stately House with this Inscription in Letters of Gold Les Concombres les Melons M'ont fait bastir cette Maison Cucumbers cold did build this Hall Musk-Melons crude did furnish all b b Here are good Directions for the Vse of the Bath and the London Balneo c c Fish that lye and feed on a stony Bottom are of soft and brittle Substance and digest well Whereas they that live in Mud are fat and slimy and hard of Digestion d d This man I think was too profuse of the Vital Liquor for the Reason following assigned by Avicenna and as superstitious in his choice of the Veins since Learned Harvey hath found the Blood circulates e e The Learned Bishop Wilkins in his Secret and Swift Messenger tells us The Antients did veil the Secrets of their Religion and Philosophy counting it a prophane thing to prostitute the hidden Matters of either unto vulgar Apprehension For the Gods and Nature would not themselves have hidden so many things from us if they had intended them for common Vnderstandings or that others should treat of them after an easie and perspicuous Way Hence was it that the Learned Men of former times were so generally inclined to involve all their Learning in obscure mysterious Expressions Thus did the Egyptian Priests the Pythagoreans Platonicks and almost all other Sects and Professions In which Treatise that excellent Person shows the various Means the Ancients used in their secret expressions But above all Men the Chymists have affected this mystick Cabalistical Way of unfolding their Arcana which puzzles most of their Readers So that had not Gunpowder shown the effect of Chymistry more frequently than matter of fact hath confirmed the Chrysopoietick Art it would have sounded more incredible that a Pound or two of that Chymical Composition should equal if not surpass Thunder and Lightning in Expedition Noise and Mischief than that a Grain or two of the Philosophick Tincture could transmute an Ounce of Lead into an Ounce of purest Gold Though it must be acknowledged these Hermetick Sphynges have baffled a multitude of Vulgar Capacities to one Oedipus that hath as yet unriddled them Now our Author being a great Master in Chymistry uses here a Chymical abstruse Style not out of any Envy to Good and Learned Men but out of Fear lest the Ignorant and Vnworthy should make bad Vse of a more free Communication f f As they are chargeable Medicines and therefore only fit for the Rich to take so moreover they are very operative and therefore not to be administred but with good Advice lest misapplyed they produce Effects contrary to their excellent Natures With this Precaution therefore we withdraw the Veil
a Horny Hardness The best is easily known for being cast into Water it easily sinks to the Bottom The Medicine which lives h in the Air hath a Property of Strengthning Dissolving Attenuating Cleansing and Consuming It strengthens the Heart and all the principal Parts it dissolves attenuates cleanses and consumes superfluous Phlegm and Melancholy wheresoever it abounds in Mans Body but especially if it be in the Stomach and Brain Whence it is said to have an unspeakable Vertue against the Passions and Troubles of Old Age whether it be taken in Meat or in Drink or in an Electuary It is read in some Book of the Latins that a certain Queen wrote to another that this was good against Old Age that it did help the Melancholick and Persons troubled with the Passions of the Heart Also an Indian King wrote to another Prince that he had no Treasure within the Confines of his Kingdom preferable to this Plant. Of it is made an Oyl most profitable for the Sight and most adverse to the Accidents of Old Age. It is said to live in the Air because without the Air it receives not Nourishment This is manifest in i Roses which in the Spring are bent back under Ground and may be kept to Mid-Winter The Property of its Flower doth not abide above a Year As the Moon encreaseth its Flowers encrease and indeed as the Moon decreaseth its Flowers decrease In Spring Time at the encrease of the Moon its Flowers are to be gathered and in this Plant there are Ten Properties or Vertues The Medicine which lyes hid in the Sea agrees with and may be mixt these aforesaid for it is of admirable Vertue and Efficacy against those Passions of Age and Old Age as Experience shews It is hot and dry in the Second Degree as Isaac affirms it strengthens the Stomach the Senses and all the inner Parts It very much helps against Fainting and the Falling-Sickness if it be given to the Patients in the Winter or Spring-Time so long as it doth keep The Use of the aforesaid Medicines will not do so much good in a hot Season k and Complexion unless as much of a cold and moist thing be mixt with them to temper their Heat and Dryness also a little Saffron must be added We have done with the things which purge and waste those Humours whence do flow all the Accidents of Old Age. NOTES on CHAP. X. a Here this great Chymist shews himself as great a Rationalist as Galen himself and he proceeds in the readiest Method and with the choicest Medicines that the most famous Physicians whether Greeks Latins or Arabians could furnish him withal b There be three kinds of Rue i. e. Garden-Rue Wall-Rue and Goats Rue all of them Herbs of great Efficacy and Vse in Physick But perhaps our Author means principally Garden-Rue which is of two kinds narrow and broad-leaved c The Seeds of Citrulls or Water-Melons are Diuretick Opening and take away the Sharpness of Humours they cleanse the Reins and Bladder and lay the Effervescency of Blood and Choler d Here the Panchymagoga Pills and Elixirs of our Quacks and e Here their general Directions for such their Trash are sufficiently exploded For it requires the deliberate and particular Consideration of the best Physician whether to purge his Patient at all and if requisite with what sort of Physick and where to terminate the Dose Of how many Murders then must they be guilty that let fly their poysonous ill-prepared and worse proportioned Doses at a venture among the Multitude upon their own and their poor deluded Patients small Discretion when and how to take them f Iron consists of a more crude Mercury and Sulphur than Gold doth but comes very near Gold if well prepared For as when the Body of Gold is opened it becomes Aurum fulminans so Filings of Iron or Steel dissolved in Aqua Fortis and precipitated with Oyl of Tartar become Ferrum fulminans and opening as the other is And without doubt well prepared Chalybeates cautiously administred are very advantageous to many Patients g This is the Antients Agallochum the Moderns Lignum Aloes It is a Wood that is brought from India and Arabia speckled of a sweet Smell in Tast astringent with some Bitterness it is cloathed with a Skin more truly than with a Bark a little particoloured But Garzias will have it a Tree like an Olive-Tree sometimes less which grows no where but in India There are several sorts but our Authour gives you the Marks of the best h Some think here is meant Rosemary others a kind of Silk Both which especially the former all Physicians account great Revivers of the Spirits i Our Authour seems here to intimate something of a Christmas Rose which to him was a Work of Nature to the Monks a Miracle Like the Rose of Jericho or S. Mary which the Monks will have to be a Rose But is indeed a sort of Treacle-Mustard Their Argument taken from Ecclesiastic 24. 14. As a Rose-Plant in Jericho is false For this Plant grows not about Jericho but in Arabiâ Desertâ on the Shore of the Red Sea And that Place in Apocrypha must be understood of Red or Crimson Roses And then its Effect is a Cheat. For Women use it out of an Opinion that at the Time of Travel it will shew the hour of Birth Seeing as they are verily perswaded if it be put in Water it opens not before the Child begins to be born and doth open the inner Orifice of the Womb. But this supposititious Rose put in Water at any Time openeth it self and not only on Christmas-Eve and at the Time of Birth Nay it hath opened it self when the Child has been dead in the Womb. O wonderful that such◠Superstitions should prevail amongst People called Christians and yet it hath crept into the hearts of silly Women That a Rose of Jericho especially if consecrated by the Pope can do more than the Divine Power Bellonius Obs. l. 2. c. 86. p. 338. elegantly describes it The Plants which grow on this Plain call to mind a certain little Plant which some Impostor Monks have named the Rose of Jericho whose Root being put in Water because the Plant doth open they have taken some tolerable pretext for their Imposture And to cause Admiration in the Spectators they affirm that it only opens on Christmas-Eve and when a Woman is in Labour And they that know not the Nature of it think it can open at no time else but they are deceived And Cornutus c. 45. De Pl. Canad p. 114. gives the Reason why it opens it self Nor doth Water this in green Plants only but in the dry also which we may see in the Rose of Jericho thirty years after it is pulled up whose Root if you wet with Water the Plant which had its Branches wound on a heap shrivel'd dry and dead presently its Arms do revive and the contracted Flowers expand themselves by a certain stupendous
Miracle of Nature whereby Midwives impose on poor teeming Women when they affirm that this therefore happens because the time of Birth is at hand But it is a Story for the same happens at any time if it have Moisture Now by what reason Water applied fresh to the dry Rose of Jericho causeth it to bud and blossome by as great reason may the new-admitted Air revive the Rose-bud buried in the Earth some Months before For Nature the main Impediment removed will proceed on her Work and may begin to perfect that in December where She left off being stopt by Art in March or April before And by such artificial Methods I believe were those sudden but reputed Magick or Miraculous Productions of Plants and Animals procured which have characterized so many Devils or Saints to the less-considering part of Mankind but in reality were only the Casts of the subtil Artists Skill in Nature k This great Physician here intimates to us that one Salve will not serve every Sore but that all Indicantia are to be considered before the most curious Analeptick be given And then according to the Temper of the Season and the Patient he orders other Simples to be mixt with it to qualifie any Excess Which is one great Reason why Physicians compound their Medicines CHAP. XI Of those things which preserve Youth and cause Grey Hairs to fall and Black or Youthful ones to come in their room ALL hot Oyls preserve Youth so far as they hinder the Falling and Greyness of the Hair Oyl of Gith especially doth this and Oyl of Costus as Avicenna saith in his Treatise Of Oyls and of things that keep back Grey Hairs Oyl of Costus taken in Drink hinders Old Age as Rasy saith in his Book to Almansor Oyl of unripe wild Olives preserves the Hair if it be used daily as is said in his second Canon in the Chapter Of Olives Likewise washing with Water and Oyl hinders hoariness as Aristotle saith in the End of his Book Of Animals And if all hot Oyls do this we may reckon into the number Oyl of Balm Oleum Benedictum and that which by Art is made of Bricks These things preserve the Hair But something must be said of those things that a root out the Grey Heirs and bring new and youthful ones For Abohaly speaks of these things in his fourth Book in the Chapter Of things that hinder Grey Hairs Now amongst the things that Men have experienced before our Time and do experience in these very Times of ours these are some Red Dragantum and Albalcae of each one drachm for they strip off the Grey Hairs and in their stead do plant Black and Youthful ones Nevertheless no Man is able to bear or endure this but he that hath a strong and moist Body And moreover we must see to administer it after the giving of some other Medicine that cleanses and moistens the Lungs Now Isaac saith that if men drink Borage boiled with Water and Sugar or Honey it doth excellently cleanse the Pipes of the Lungâ— Also Celtick Spike drunk with Wine frequently doth render the Breast and Lungs clean and many other things that are delivered in the Books of Physicians effect this As A b certain Herb like unto Marjoram whose Leaves are of a Blue or Sky Colour and round as a Penny Which increaseth as the Moon increaseth and decreaseth as she decreaseth It grows on Mountains and Rocks of Rivers it hath one Leaf successively after another sometime it remains bare its Flowers are of an Orange Colour as is there said If any one shall take of this Plant to the weight of a Pease and as much of the Cuttle-fish and stop it up close in a Vessel three Days and drink it for some days with Cows Milk instead of Food the Grey Hairs will shed and Black ones come in their room and the Man will become more juvenile I have not tryed these things But this Accident may be removed for a time and how it may be done is found in Physick Books NOTES on CHAP. XI a How to do this is now well known lippis tonsoribus and to all Peruke-makers and Instruments of Luxury in Europe b Some think this to be the Wonderworking Moon-wort of the Chymists or the Moon-rue of the Germans It grows in high Woods it hath a round Stalk and only one Leaf dissected with five or seven Gashes on each side almost like Rue with a great deal of small Seed on the top of the Stalk The Root hath a great many Fibres like Broadleaved Plantain It is to be found in July and not after It is called Moon-wort because as some say it increases and decreases with the Moon and how many days the Moon is above the Earth into so many Gashes is its Leaf indented Others would have it to be Bolbonac But this it cannot be for the Fruit not the Leaf of Bolbonac is round nor doth this encrease and decrease with the Moon as Moon-wort is said to do CHAP. XII Of things which restore and strengthen the Natural Heat weakned by the Course of Nature that is by Dissolution of the Native Moisture and Augmentation of an Extraneous one I Have read many Volumes of the Wise I find few things in Physick which restore the Natural Heat weakned by Dissolution of the Innate Moisture or Increase of a foreign one But certain Wise Men have tacitly made Mention of some Medicine which is a likened to that which goes out of the Mine of the Noble Animal They affirm that in it there is a Force and Vertue which restores and encreases the Natural Heat As to its Disposition they say it is like b Youth it self and contains an equal and temperate Complexion And the Signs of a temperate Complexion in Men are when their Colour is made up of e White and Red when the Hair is Yellow inclining to d Redness and Curling According to Pliny when the e Flesh is moderate both in Quality and Quantity when a Mans f Dreams are delightful his Countenance g chearful and pleasant and when his h Appetite of eating and drinking is moderate This Medicine indeed is like to such a Complexion For it is of a temperate Heat it s i Fume is temperate and sweet and grateful to the k Smell When it departs from this Temperature it departs so far from its Vertue and Goodness This Medicine doth therefore temperately heat because it is temperately hot It therefore l heals because it is whole When it is sick it makes a Man sick When it is distempered it m breeds Distempers and changeth the Body to its own Disposition because of the Similitude it hath with the Body For the Infirmity of a Brute Animal rarely passeth into Man but into another Animal of the same kind But the Infirmity of a Man passeth into Man and so doth n Health because of Likeness Know most Gracious Prince that in this there is a great Secret For Galen saith that
whatever is dissolved from any thing it must of necessity be assimilated to that thing As is manifest in Diseases passing from one to another such is Weakness of the Eyes and Pestilential Diseases This thing hath an admirable Property for it doth not only render Humane Bodies harmless from Corruption but it defends also the Bodies of Plants from Putrefaction This thing is seldome found and although sometime it be found yet it cannnot commodiously be had of all Men. And instead of it the Wise do use that Medicine which is in the Bowels of the Earth complete and prepared and that which swims in the Sea and that which is in the Square Stone of the Noble Animal so that every part may be free from the infection of another But if that Stone cannot be acquired let other Elements separated divided and purified be made use of Now when this thing is like to Youth that is of temperate Complexion it hath good Operations If its Temperature be better it produceth better Effects Sometimes it is even in the highest Degree of its perfection and then it operates best and then there is that Property whereof we have spoken before This differs from other Medicines and Nutriments which heat and moisten after a certain temperate manner and are good for Old Men. For other Medicines principally heat and moisten the Body and secondarily they strengthen the Native Heat But this doth principally strengthen the Native Heat and after that o refreshes the Body by moistening and heating it For it reduces this Heat in Old Men who have it but weakly and deficient to a certain stronger and more vehement Power If a p Plaster be made hereof and applied to the Stomach it will help very much for it will refresh the Stomach it self and excite an Appetite it will very much recreate an Old Man and change him to a kind of Youth and will make Complexions by what means soever depraved or corrupted better Many Wise Men have spoken but little of this thing they have indeed laid down another thing like it as Galen in his fifth Book Of Simple Medicines and Iohannes Damascenus in his Aphorisms But it is to be observed that q Venus doth weaken and diminish the Power and Virtue of this thing And it is very likely that the Son of the Prince in his second Canon Of the Operations of Simple Medicines spoke of this thing where he saith that there is a certain Medicine concealed by Wise Men lest the r Incontinent should offend their Creator There is such a Heat in this thing as is in Young Men of a Sound Complexion and if I durst declare the Properties of this Heat this most hidden Secret should presently be revealed For this Heat doth help the Palsical it restores and preserves the wasted Strength of the Native Heat causeth it to flourish in all the Members and gently revives the Aged In like manner because of Similitude let the Square Stone of the Noble Animal the Mineral Sun and the Matter which swims in the Sea be made use of These three things well prepared are assimilated to the Native Heat of a healthy Man The Antient Sages have also reported that there is another kind of Medicine which is able to perform this namely s Wine artificially mixt and prepared whereof there are five Properties as Galen saith Wine mixt with Water 1. Heats the whole Body 2. As it were pierceth the Members 3. Tempers the Humors 4. Excites Natural Heat 5. Chears the Heart which I think is to be imputed to the Wine not the Water And it must be understood of that Wine which is t strong and is found in Syria Also Royal Haly in his Chapter Of Old Age where he discourses of Drink speaks thus If any one use it according to the Measure and at the Time he ought it will strengthen the Native Heat and diffuse it through the whole Body it will disperse Cholerick Humors and temper them by purging by Sweat and Urine it will make a hard Nature softer and will moisten when through too violent Labour Dryness doth happen It begets Chearfulness and Joy and mitigates Melancholy It is said also that the white and subtil should be drunk with a great deal of Water especially when the ripe Age of Man and the time of full growth is come But Sowre and Old Wines are to be avoided If Men be of necessity forced to drink such Wines let them be dashed with sweet Water and Warm and before they be drunk let them stand mixt for six Hours For Isaac doth thus speak of strong Wine mixt Wine mixt doth cool hot Bodies moisten the dry make dry the moist and produce contrary Operations Whence the Antients likened it to the great Treacle because one may see two contrary Vertues latent in it We would have all understood of strong Wine mixt wherein are five Properties u Colour Smell Tast Substance Age. A Man ought to drink that Wine which is yellowish Haly affirms that Wine should be drunk whose Colour enclines to Redness Avicenna saith Red is most eligible which is clear of Substance in Tast neither bitter nor sweet but Pontick But if it seem too Vinous it ought to be mixt with Spring-Water where there is no extraneous Vapor Royal Haly saith that Old and Sowre Wine should be avoided Isaac thinks that after a Year is over the Goodness and Strength of the Wine doth begin None almost do speak of the space of Time wherein this Mixture should be made except Royal Haly who seems to have spoken well in his foresaid Canon Of Old Wine For unless Wine remain for some Time mixt the Wine by Digestion in the Stomach will be separated from the Water For the hot and fiery part ascends and the Earthy will remain in the Bottom of the Stomach as appears by a Glass-Vessel full of Red Wine so that if Water be poured upon it and the Vessel closed that no Air can get in you shall see the Water sink to the Bottom But this Clashing of the Wise about the Colour and Season of Wine is not worthy so great Admiration seeing that diversity of Soils doth often cause it For the Vertue of Plants is various according to the Variety of Places and Provinces as Haly saith upon Galen's Regiment where he speaks of the Correction of Medicine Aristotle Of the Secrets of Secrets affirms That Wine should be drunk by Old Men and them that plentifully flow with Phlegm he thinks it hurtful for the Young and Hot. Red Wine encreases Blood more than White and is in some measure better than all Wine and more agreeable to Mens Complexions such namely as grows on a Soil enclosed between Hills and Dales whose Clusters are of a good Sweetness and Maturity in a subtil and pure Air and which are not gathered before the Force of their Substance be rebated their Colour become Golden namely a Mean between Red and Yellow their Tast sharp pungent and delectable and