first sprinkled over with some sweet Water have afterwards been very well aired by the fire till such time as that all the smell of the Sope or what other Acquisititious smell soever be quite driven out And I have been confirmed in my Opinion of the dangerousness of applying Fresh Linnen to People in this case both by the common voyce of the People and also by those that have belonged to Pest-houses and such as have otherwise attended upon Persons that have been sick of the Plague the greatest part of whom will not suffer the sick Party to change his Linnen not in this disease onely but in the Small Pox also but will have him either keep on the same or if he do shift he must put on either what himself formerly wore in the time of his health or what have bin worne by some of his Healthfull Freinds and those must be verie well aired too first by the fire It hath also been observed that by Shifting of Linnen I mean of that next the Skin the Courses in Women which in this case are dangerous and the Hemorrhoids in persons that have been otherwise in good health have broken forth Which putting on of Fresh Linnen before the Seventh Day of the Disease how extream Dangerous it is and indeed how Insufferable unless the Party impatient of the Stinking smell about himself will needs shift his Shirt and put on one that had been worn before is most earnestly and seriously pressed by Isbrandus Diemerbrouc in his Observations where he tells us of some that having heedlesly put on Fresh Linnen in this disease within a few hours after they have been taken with a Feavourish Heat a Heaviness of Heart and other the like Symptomes which have grown so strongly upon them as that they haue been brought even to deaths doore none of which things have happened where the Parties have put on such Linnen as had been worne before in which the Smell of the Sope hath been dissipated by the heat of the Body which is much more to be feared then that Stink which comes from Foule Linnen as by most certain Experience hath very often been confirmed To which we ought to give greater credit especially in such matters as concern this so Occult The Stink of Sope is dangerous not onely for those that are Infected but for those that are in health too in the time of the Plague and Dark Disease then to Reason seeing that we know that those that are free from infection and do live in houses that are so too yet by having their Linnen washed with Sope are much more apt to take the Infection of this Pestilentiall Aire then otherwise they would have been if they had not suffered the other to come near them which is so certainly known to be true as that I need not stand here to prove it And to the end that there may be the more sure means used for the Prevention of this most Tyrannical and Raging Disease there ought to be very great care taken for the repairing of the strength of the Patient which is to be endeavored presently after his Sweating and at other set times What Meats are allowed in the Plague by giving him such meats as either his weakness or the Feavorishness of his Temper will require and his Nauseous Stomack will admit Which seeing it is not to be overloaded with Flesh must be cherished up with Broaths Juyces Expressed and Restorative Gellies made thereof to which you may adde some Juyce of Citron or some Verdjuyce And to the end that his Weak Stomack may not cast the same up again he may do well to take a slice of Pome-Citron with the Pill taken off and rouled first in a little Sugar A Broath also made with Verdjuyce Water and one or two Yolks of Eggs and Crums of White Bread is in this case very good into which you may if you please put a little Sugar which notwithstanding is not in this disease very Wholesome as is neither Honey And hence it is that in Lozenges and Conserves that are here of use we put a greater quantity of Powders upon them then is usual and a much less of Sugar except in such cases where the Tast and Strength either of it or the Honey is over-power'd by the Antidotal Medicines and the multitude of Ingredients as it is in Treacle and the iike Compositions It will be also very useful sometimes when the Feavorish Heat is not too great to put into these Broaths four or five spoonfulls of Rhenish Wine And sometimes also the Party may take a julip made of the distilled water of Carduus Benedictus Scabious Sorrel and Borage mixed with the Syrup of the Juyce of Citron and putting into it also a few drops of the juice of Citron and of Oyl of Sulphur or in stead of these he may take some Apozemes made of the like Ingredients And sometimes also he may take Conserve of Hyacinth and other Cordials as likewise the Powder of Pearle Bezoar Stone and of the Shaving of Vnicorn Horn. The Parties Drink must be small Drink clear Ale into which he may now and then put in some few drops of Juyce of Citron or Oyl of Vitrioll or else a smal quantity of the best Verdjuyce and sometimes too when the Feaver and Delirium do not perswade the contrary he may put into his Ale a little Rhenish Wine or some other Smaller Wine If the Party be bound and go not freely to Stoole he may take an Ordinary Suppository or a Clyster of Broath made of Weathers Flesh or the Decoction of Emollient Herbes putting in two raw Yolks of Eggs and of ordinary Salt and Mithridate or Dioscordium of each a Dram. By the taking of which if the Expulsive Faculty be not quickned you may then adde to the same some Ounces of the Syrup of Roses Solut. and of the Oyl of Sweet Almonds for I do not conceave it safe to make use of any more Violent Purgers in this case Neither ought we any whit to fear the Patient in case he should be bound for a day or two together for I have both read and heard of some Persons in this case that have not gone to Stoole in seven days together which yet have done very wel for all that And that this very thing happened to one that was a Tenant of mine in the year 1647 I have been very certainly assured both by the Man himself who is now perfectly recovered and well and by his Wife also I shall not here at all commend Letting of Blood Purgings Bleeding Purging and Vomiting are not here allowed of and Vomitings which in my French Treatise also I have passed by as Suspected and Dangerous Courses For the Agitation of the Spirits and Communication of the Corrupted with the Purer Humors and the Large Diffusion of the same seeing it cannot be without very great loss both of the Parties strength and also of time too which in
tot homines peste interire quòd plerique tardiùs Alexipharmaca usurpant multosque posse servari si ea citius antequam venenum humores corrumpere incipit assumerent Aliquoties enim observavi in pestilentibus constitutionibus quosdam cum se infectos sensissent statim sumptis Alexipharmacis ad sudorem se composuisse postea nihil mali amplius passos esse imò postridie ad consueta negotia rediisse Contrà si curatio protrahitur horae 8 aut 9 jam elapsae sint antequam Medicamentum aliquod propinetur centesimus vix evadit I am of Opinion saith he that the reason why so many die of the Plague is because they differ the time too long before they take any Preservatives and that many might scape if they had but had recourse to the same before the Venom of the disease had begun to corrupt the Humors For I have several times observed that in a Pestilential season some that have found themselves infected presently betaking themselves to Sudorificall Preservatives and sweating thereupon have immediatly freed themselves utterly from the same and the next day after have gone about their business again Whereas on the Contrary where the Endeavors for Cure have been deferred and put off for a matter of eight or nine hours without the taking of any Preservative there is scarsely one of an Hundred that hath scaped Now the Ordinary Dose of this Sudorifical Preservative is A Dram and a half of the Philosophers Egge The Quantity of the Sudorifical Preservative that is to be taken one Scruple of Confection of Hyacinth six Graines of Oriental Bezoar or ten Graines of Bezoar of Peru and five drops of Oyl of Sulphur Mix these together and take it in a Spoonful of Warm Vineger as hath before been shewed and drink upon it three other spoonfulls of Veneger Warmed And in defect of the Philosophers Egge they may take two Drams and a half of Old Treacle and half a Dram of Confection of Hyacinth and in stead of Bezoar Stone where the people are poor they may take some Grains of the Shavings of Vnicorns Horn. Extracts and Salts which are made out of Scordium Rue Carduus Benedictus and Angelica are used by many in this case taken to the quantity of about a Dram. The spirit of Antimony also so prepared as that it may neither cause Vomitings nor Going to Stoole but may provoke Sweating onely is here very much commended in which as in the former Extracts we may have much the greater Confidence if it be given with a little Warme Vineger and a Dram of Old Treacle at the least lest that part of the Medicine which is principally Antidotal as Vipers Flesh is here should be wanting And for this cause I chiefly prefer the aforesaid Preservatives Which also may be administred in a greater quantity where the strength of the Venom requires the same and therefore in this case they may take two Drams of the Philosophers Egge or three Drams of Old Treacle with the other prescribed Ingredients in like manner as Galen himself also and other ancient Authors were wont to prescribe half an Ounce of Treacle and in case that were not sufficient to expel the Poyson then they appointed the same to be repeated prescribing either the same or a less quantity according to the Constitution of the Patient And I know besides that at Gaunt in the year 1647. this Preservative was administred by Mr. Cortreau a Jesuite to another of the same Fraternity who had a Tumor risen under his Left Arme-Pit and two Plague-Sores broke out in other places whom within the space of twenty hours he caused to take an Ounce and a half of Treacle namely the first time he gave him Two Drams and eight hours after half an Ounce and after the space of other eight hours six Drams more drinking after each several Dose a lusty draught or two of Water of Carduus Benedictus and the like with such Syrups as are proper in this case in the mean time not neglecting the reparation of the Parties strength by convenient and proper Meats About the same time during the raging of the Pestilence there a Surgeon belonging to the Pest-house gave to one that was sick of the Plague and that with very good success too half an Ounce of Treacle with Quantity of the said Preservative seems much more proper to be administred at the first where the disease appears Evidently upon the Party then two Drams onely for this quantity may suffice in the beginning of the disease Although I shall not advise any to take so great a quantity nor yet an ordinary one when the Party Affected is very drowzy and given to sleep in which case some other Sudorifical Medicines may be administred And I have also heard from Persons of very good credit that both in this and other diseases too they have caused their Patients to sweat in a very abundant quantity and with very happy success by administring to them half a Dram of the Powder of a Viper which is thus prepared You must take a Viper and put it in whole and alive with its head teeth tailè and bowels too into an Earthen Pot covered at the top in which cover there must be some holes made for Evaporation and thus you are to set it upon live Coals so that it may only be dried not scortched and this being so prepared may as occasion shal require be made into a Powder and be administred as other things are to be and as I have more largely related in my French Treatise with Vineger Warmed And it would not be amiss if one should adde to this a Scruple of Sudorifical Antimony as half a Dram thereof or else some few Graines of Bezoar And where these things are not to be had they may take five Ounces of Wine-Vineger warmed with a Dram of Nutmeg and a Scruple of Saffron and put them into a Bladder half full of warme Water and so apply it to the Lower part of the Belly continuing this Application so long till such time as some other Preservative Medicine that may be able if need be to cause the Party to Sweat in so great a quantity as in necessary may be procured And for as much as where the Patient is to Sweat in so great abundance as in this disease is very requisite his Shirt and his Linnen about him must necessarily be very Wet and therefore Authors conceave and reasonably enough that these being as certain Recaptacles of the Venom ought to be changed that so the Patient may be freed from the filthy Stench wherein he lyes wrapped up yet I advise all people that they should not be too rash in changing the sick Parties Linnen The Patients Shirts and his other Linnen about him is not to be changed unadvisedly but should rather wipe off the Sweat from them with Towels which are not fresh and newly taken out of the Chest but being
annoynt the Part with Oyle of Lillies and Scorpions or with Fresh Butter mixt with a little Treacle over which you may lay a Red Cabbage-Leaf having first soaked the same in Warme Water After this you must apply Cataplasmes made of the Roots of Lilies Mallows or of the Leaves of the same adding thereto some Leaves of Rue and Linseed which being boyled and brought to a due Consistency you must then put into to same some Yolks of Egges Vnguentum Basilicon Turpentine or the like There are some that in this case apply nothing to the Part Affected save Rosted Onyons mixed with Fresh Butter or Oyle of Lillies Many have with very good success made use here of a Hens Fundament having the feathers pulled off and then being rubbed over with Salt and so applied to the part for a good while together and when the first Hen was dead they applied another as long as the Patient was able to endure it and the Bills of the said Hens they held somtime fast shut up When they had thus done they then fell again to make use of the aforesaid Oyntments and Cataplasmes untill such time as that the Tumor being brought to a sufficient Suppuration it might be lanced with an Instrument to let out the Purulent Matter which yet if the Hardness of the Tumor will not admit you must make use of a Caustick to draw it forth And when the Tumor is now broken you must cleanse the Sore with Hony and you may apply unto it as occasion serves either the Yolke of an Egge with a little Turpentine mixed together or else some of the Oyntment called Vnguentum Apostolorum or else that other called Vnguentum Aegyptiacum if need so require And you must cover the part Affected all over either with the plaster called Emplastrum Diachylon with the Oyntment named Basilicon or else with some other plaster of the like Faculty and Vertue In the curing of a Carbuncle or Plague Sore they make use of the like Oyls and Plasters which yet are ordinarily made not quite so strong and drawing least being so strong they might too much exasperate the same And you are afterwards to proceedin the cureof this as of al other Sores til it be perfectly healed up Which Carbuncles or Plague-Sores as well as those of Plague-Tumors must be kept open as long as may be As concerning the Cure of the Tokens as they call them which are Dark Purple Spots or of the like colour appearing upon the Skin in Pestilential Diseases I shall not say anything here having said so much of this point in my French Treatise least by doing the same thing over again I might seem to have troubled my self to no purpose Now while this care is taken for these External Tumors and Spots the Patient is not in the mean time to neglect the taking Inwardly of Sudorifical Preservatives Cordial Confections and Powders and likewise his Julips and Apozemes which he is to take all in their due times in like manner as he must be very exact also in his Diet. And for quenching his Thirst he may sometimes take a little Ale which must be but small and very clear and I have been informed and by persons of very good credit too that they have in this case often given Infected persons a draught of plain Fountain or Well-water and that with very good success Yet that they may not drink too much of it they may now and then sup up two or three spoonfull of smal Ale with some Juyce of Citron mixed with it putting a Brown Toast into it and a little Sugar To which you may adventure to adde a little Rhenish Wine or some other smaller sort of Wine in case a Delirium or else the greatest of the Feavorish Heat he is in hinder not the same Slices also of Pome-Citron with the Pil taken off put into two parts of Water and one of the aforesaid Wine with a little quanti of Sugar may be allowed the Patient for the same purpose and this Composition besides the allaying the Thirst of the party will be also very pleasant to his Palat. Yea the whole Pome-Citron also taken with its Pill and Kernels together both which are also Cordialls and so cut in pieces may very properly be put into his Ordinary Drinks Now how the Impure filthy Stenches of such houses as have been infected are to be cleansed and washed away with Water which would do better if it were mixed with Vineger or with Rue boyled in it and hot also rather then if it be onely faire Water and also ought to be suffocated and overmastered by Fumigations of Juniper Berries Brimstone Gunpowder Vineger and the like things which have been made use of with good success and which are to be diligently observed by such as keep such infected houses and by those also that live near unto infected places and besides that those that have forsaken their houses ought not by any means to return backe to the same again till six Weeks at least are over since that any person died out of their house of the disease or till the last Infected person hath now been recovered and clear from the same and in perfect health for a whole months space as hath been sufficiently asserted both by others and by Mee also in my French Treatise Neither was it my Intention to have here said any thing more touching this so Pestilential and Contagious a Disease save onely to set down what Antidotal Medicines and Preservatives I have found to be most proper for the driving out of the Venom of this disease in the beginning of it through the Outward parts of the body by the right and due administring of which I have always found good success to follow And I had also resolved to have said nothing either of this or the former matters before treated of unless it had seemed both to some others and to my self also a very unreasonable thing if leaving those Epidemial Diseases that usually rage in our Maritime Parts untouched I should here make an end of this Treatise I shall therefore here in the next place say something of the same that so the Malignity of these places being known people may either avoid the coming into them or else may know how to provide for their health by convenient and proper Preservatives THE FIFTH DISCOURSE Wherein is treated concerning those Epidemial Diseases and their Symptomes that in Maritime parts which are commonly called in Dutch Polders do infest the Inhabitants but more especially Strangers that had before been unaccustomed to this Malignant Aire and where are set down also the best Preservatives against the said Diseases THese Diseases are wont to seize upon people about the beginning of Autumn and sometimes also sooner according to the temper of the foregoing Summer whether that had been hotter or cooler they some years rage so violently as that they last the greatest part of the said seasons miserably afflicting people all
gives his advice that where the disease is desperate they should not forbear to try any manner of Experiment for the curing of it And if we will but appeal to Reason in this case we must needs confess that there is much more care and regard to be had to this Flux which immediarely destroyes then to the Vlcer whose cure will admit of more delay Neither is the Indication here taken from the Vlcer when we administer these Clysters cold but from the Flux of Blood which weakens the Patient too much which by this means is repelled and stopped as on the contrary it is drawn downward if the Patient put his foot into warm water as is usually done when a Vein is to be breathed in case of the stopping of Womens Courses As it likewise is seen in Violent Bleeding at the Nose where when the Blood hath issued forth in manner of a swift Torrent the speediest and most certain remedy in this case when all other means have failed hath been to put the Patients feet into VVarm VVater and that if need so require as far as to the very Knees or higher as it hapned to one that was at the very point of death whence by the trial of this Experiment he was happily recovered when both his Legs and Thighs for want of Blood had now grown cold and no marvel for his Blood flying up to his head he had lost no less then Eighteen Pints of it at the Nose as by most exact observations was found But to leave this Digression and to return to my former discourse of the Flux of Blood in a Dysentery I say that wherever I found the strength of my Patient to have been too much weakned by so violent and plentiful Voyding of Blood by stool Letting of Blood is very seldome admitted here I never appointed the breathing of a Vein which yet may heer seem to be proper enough and I have been very sparing also in prescribing it in this Dysenterical Flux and therefore those who object against me that I have sometimes used it too sparingly may hence receive satisfaction if they please but to consider with me that these so frequent goings to stoole especially if the Party voyd Blood do so much debilitate the strength of his body as that Bleeding would be very dangerous neither do I allow of it by any means unless it be in a high Feaver or in a great Voyding of Blood provided it be not in so great a quantity as was said before or in case there be a stoppage of the said Flux as is usuall in the Hemorrhoids or if there be any fear of an Inflammation of the Guts in which cases it seemes to be necessary For the Heat of the Patient is attempered sufficiently by the store of VVhey which he must take which also sufficiently aswages the saltness or Acrimony of the Peccant Humor in so much that I have been so fully perswaded that seeing the Humor it self may easily be purged out if it may conveniently be done and so together with it the disease and all the danger of it may be taken away that therefore there hath been need of no other Evacuation at all so that among sixty Dysenterical Patients I have scarcely let one of them Blood and that with very good success as is declared more at large in my French Treatise where I have spoken largely of this Particular and of the Regiment of Health in this case to be observed advising all persons that are sick of this disease to abstain chiefly from all Motion of the body all Pepper'd and Salt Meats and from all things in general that are either Actually or Potentialy Hot. In an Inveterate Flux too frequent Purges are not to be administred nor so great a quantity of Whey as in those that are but newly begun I also have said there that in an Inveterate Flux you are not to administer so frequent Purges and that these are to be varied according as the disease is and also that you are not to prescribe so great a quantity of VVhey in an Inveterate Flux as in one that is but new-begun yet in case the Gripings continue though they be much abated in the violence of them the taking of VVhey must Proportionably be continued you may also though but in a small quantity administer Red VVine which may be diluted with VVater with a little Cinnamon boyled in it And as in all diseases that have been of any long Continuance the Patient is apt to nauseate at any thing that is given him as well Meat as Drink therefore we are to change his Ordinary Drink What Drinks are to be used according as the disease requires where if the state of it be doubtful or that the Patient will not be confined within any due bounds the Indication must then be taken from such things as are either Good or Hurtful for the sick person yet we are not at all to neglect that which is taken from the Gripings of the Guts which if they should chance to grow Violent again he must then take a greater quantity of VVhey and must give over his taking of Wine And as for Meats I should chiefly commend the use of Eggs with which many sorts of Brothes may be made and chiefly by boyling the Yolks of Eggs together with some crums of White bread which is only of use in this case in Whey They may also take some fresh Broth made of Veale or Mutton The juice also of Chickens or Capons expressed out of them or Restoratives made of them as also a Toast of White bread dipt in Wine mixed with Water and with Sugar sprinkled upon it where the Gripings of the Belly are not Violent may here be admitted And the Party may take things either Actually cold or but luke-warme as I have ordered in my French Treatise where I have also set down some Astringent Medicines which notwithstanding in a Flux newly begun unless there were Extraordinary cause I have scarsely and in an Inveterate one where the Gripings have been very Violent I have but seldom made use of neither yet have I often prescribed those things as I have there said which have a faculty of comforting the spirits and of resisting the Malignancy of the Peccant Humor such as are Terra Sigillata Bole-Armenick Coral burnt Harts-horn and the like And as Astringent Medicines which are commonly used in this case for the stopping of the Flux are of very little force so as I have said is the application of Topical Remedies of much less and among them as there is no trust at all to be put in Oyles so there is very litttle in any other Outward Application And I think it were well if people would consider whether or no some of those Outward Applications which are commonly in use do not hurt rather then do any good Opiates are dangerous therefore seldom to be made use of here And as for Opiates and Stupifying
have been troubled with the Stone in the Kidneys that in diverse after the voyding of the First Stone never any grew there again And indeed lam of opinion that in this case it would do the patient very much good if he took either Cold or Luke-warme Water neither do I doubt but that either of these are very good yea and Hot Water too as I have said in my French Treatise where notwithstanding I have chiefly commended the use of the Cold. And indeed it may be taken without fear of any Crudity which the aforenamed Authors seem to suppose may be caused by drinking Cold Water There are some also who thankfully acknowledging the great benefit they have receaved by this my Counsel do still every meal when they rise adventure to drink a draught of the said Cold Water that without any danger of causing Crudities in the Stomack or of spoiling Digestion nay which is more if at any time they chance either to eat or drink too much they are wont of their own heads though perhaps they are herein too adventurous for this practice cannot possibly be allowed in all Cases to have immediate recourse to this drinking of Cold Water that so they may both presently expel all Crudities Cold Water is good against the Crudity of the Stomack and also prevent Drunkenness And as concerning Crudity I conceave that Cornelius Celsus was also of this opinion when he gives his advise that such as are troubled with raw and belching Stomacks should drink Water Neither will this seem unreasonable to any that shall but consider that this cure which either cannot in any measure at all or not fully be effected by the use of Wine Meats and other Hot things which seems here to be commended upon very good grounds should yet be cured by Accident when as the Stomack being either distended by Wind caused by the weakness of the Heat or else being too much relaxed by the use of moyst and unctuous things begetting Crudities within it is contracted by means of the Cold Water and its Orifices are so closed that the mouth of the Stomack being shut up it hinders the ascending of the Vapours by which meanes it is certain that the Heat must be united and consequently the Crudity hindred and a stronger Appetite excited And hence I conceive it was that Hippocrates called the Water A Devourer Neither is this our Cold Water useful onely taken inwardly in inward diseases but applied Outwardly also it cures the Outward Pains of the Body And indeed it ought not to seem unreasonable to any Putting benumed Hands and Feet into Cold Water recover them if I shall here boldly affirm that when by reason of the violence of Cold in a hard Winter the Feet have been so benummed and frozen as that the Toes through stifness stood out like so many sticks by putting the Feet some certain times into Cold Water and continuing this about the space of half an hour they have again returned to their former state and condition And that this is grounded upon Reason too it may be hence collected because that the Blood being by this other Cold repelled and driven back towards the Bowels and by continuing there some space of time growing thereby more united and knit together acquires the greater strength by which means in its return possessing its self of the extream parts of the Feet it overcometh their Cold Distemper and revives as it were their almost-extinct Native Heat And the effect will so much the more certainly follow if while his Feet are in the Water the party drink a large draught of Wine warmed and spiced with Nutmeg or Cinnamon that so the Blood may with the greater force and vigour make its passage to the Feet whose Recovery is discerned by the Redness of the Blood appearing by little and little as it gets down as on the contrary it is a sign that those parts are mortified which partake not of that tincture of Redness Now this being done the Feet and Thighs must be wiped dry with a linnen cloath and so anointed with ordinary Sope which is done well enough without any fire which for a time he must not come near Cold Water cures that kind of Cramp called Tetanus And thus Hippocrates tells us in his Lib 5. Aphor. 24. that that kind of Cramp also which is called Tetanus may be cured Cold Water is said to have cured those that have been taken with the Palsey And I have heard and that from a person too whom I could not but beleeve that one taken with the Palsey both in the Thigh Arm and Shoulder by the continual application of Cold Water for the space of two or three hours together was perfectly cured the very same day Which experiment notwithstanding I have not as yet made trial of because there are very many that much suspect the same although both in reason and because of the happy success that may be hence expected it seems in some kinds of Resolutions of the parts to be allowable enough seeing that it is most certain that many that have been taken with a Palsey by a suddain Fright have been cured thereof Whence we are to conceave that by this so violent driving back of the Blood inwards the spirits were so chafed and heated as that they were able to make their way through the Back-bone and the obstructed Nervous parts of the side Affected and so by dissolving the Viscous Humors that had obstructed the said parts and quite dispelling the same had restored to the parts his Natural Voluntary Motion And that by the same means many have been cured also of a Quartane Ague A suddain Fright hath driven away a Quartane Ague we have so many late Examples in Story as that wee need not trouble our selves further to prove the same So we likewise read that some who have had their limbs so contracted by reason of Convulsions Some taken with Convulsion have been cured in like manner as that for some years together they have not been able either to go or stand upon their feet being provoked to suddain and most vehement Anger have risen up in an Instant and have followed their flying enemy and so by this means by the forcible breaking forth of the Blood and Spirits toward the Thighs and Legs and other Affected Parts the Humor that was there gathered together being attenuated and discussed they have both recovered and ever after retained their Natural Motion Thus the Son of Croesus as Herodotus tells the story being smitten with a suddain Fear and presently falling into a most violent passion of Anger when he saw a certain Persian that knew not his Father running furiously upon him with an intent to kill him cryed out with a loud voyce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Villain kill not Croesus And thus that which hindered his speech being removed he for ever after continued a Speaking Man to his dying day Whence we may
also observe that a greater effect ought to be produced by the Concurrence of these Passions together namely by the driving of the Blood and Spirits Inwards by a Fright and by driving the same Outward How an Exhalation being close kept in becoms rarified and so causes Lightning by a violent Anger then if the Operation had been by one of these onely We are much rather to wonder at the Impetuosity and Violence of Lightning which is caused by a Hot and Dry Exhalation which by an Antiperistasis while it is straitned and kept close in by a Thick and Cold Cloud is so rarefied that it does service to the Laws of Vniversal Nature which cannot endure either the Penetration of Dimensions least two Bodies should so be in one and the same place or a Vacuum or Emptiness in Nature and at length being kindled it breaks the Clouds with a Horrid Noise Crack and by its violent Eruption and Impetuosity of Motion it rends in pieces and destroys whatever by its hardness makes resistance against it not hurting at all such bodies as are Porous and Yeilding And the like is to be supposed also of Earth-quakes The effect is also the same in Earth-quakes which are caused by a Hot and Dry Exhalation of the Wind. which are caused by a Hot and Dry Exhalation of Wind that hath got within it and sometimes also by the like which is ingendred and shut up within the Cavitie and hollow parts of the same When as this Vapour or Exhalation being tossed and agitated up and down through the bowels of the Earth is at length so rarefied that being forced to raise up part of the so vast body of the earth meerly to avoid the aforesaid Penetration of Dimensions it hath sometimes brought forth Mountaines and on the contrary sometimes also according as the Disposition of the Place and the violence of the Eruption of the Exhalations have been have overturned Vast Buildings yea and have buried whole Cities too in the Cavernes of the Earth For it does not to me seem any whit Probable at all that so horrid a Motion of the Earth should be caused meerly by the Motion of the Wind onely which struggles to recover its proper place unless that to the end that this may be effected there be also a sufficient Rarefaction of the Exhalation And it is most certain that those Earth-quakes are of the largest Extent and withal the most Terrible where there is a Cooperation of Sulphureous and other Mineral Exhalations kindled within the bowels of the Earth In like manner as we see it is in Gun-powder The like is seen in Gun-powder on fire which being shut up in making of Mines within the Earth and there filling but a little place by being afterwards set on fire and requiring then a much larger place then before it blowes up by its force the strongest Walls and Bulwarks and makes such breaches in them as that by this means there is an easie passage laid open to the enemy for his entrance into the besieged place And if we may be permitted to compare small and great things together how unutterable is the Power that is in those Highest Intelligencies I mean the Angels which are also called Spirits That in the Microcosme the Spirits also being agitated produce admirable effects Which said Exhalations seeing they produce such Admirable effects in the Greater World why may they not do the like also in our Microcosme or Lesser World where the Humors are compared to the Elements and our Spirits are in a sufficient Disposition for the admitting of a kinde of Inflammation or Burning as may be perceaved when shutting our Eyes and winking with them something hard we see a certain Animal Spirit in some measure representing the Heavenly Fire and the Light of the Stars But leaving this Digression let us return to our former Discourse touching the exciting and putting into Motion of our Blood and Spirits by Cold Water Strainings Bruises huge Swellings are cured by Cold Water It must seem much more agreeable to Reason if I shall here affirm that all Straining of the joynts and all Contusions either on the same or any other parts of the body as well as any huge Swellings may by the aforesaid bathing of the part in Cold Water be much more safely cured then by any other Remedies whatsoever and that more speedily too and certainly and without any either Cost or Trouble or Loss of Time Thus the Hands and especially the Feet which are most of all subject to these Strainings and the like Accidents may be restored to their former strength and ability in going yea although the said Remedy be not made use of till two or three hours space after the aforementioned accident or the like befel the Party as I have seen with my own eys more then once where by careful and often plying of this bathing the part in Cold VVater the Humor hath been repelled within the space of an hour which to many seemed to have been so far setled as that there could be no hope of repelling it and that by reason of the Bruise and the very great Swelling of the part it was to be brought to Suppuration or else to be dealt withal as with Blood when it is gathered together without its own proper Vessels and yet the Blood here still continuing in the Capillary Veins which are much dilated and swollen together with the Flesh when it cannot be discussed is yet by the use of Cold VVater repelled in case the Application of it hath not bin deferred too long although I am very certain that where no speedy cure hath been taken herein yet the making use of this Cold VVater the next day after continuing it the aforementioned space of time if the Swelling hath not been too great hath perfectly cured the Party Which Mischances seeing they very often befall Carpenters Smiths and Masons and indeed all sorts of Labouring Men they have this most excellent and present remedy always at hand And here I cannot but take notice that it was not in vain that Hippocrates admonisheth us that the Gout in the Feet is cured by a Large Effusion of Cold VVater for it is most certain that by holding the Foot that is affected a long while in the same both the Swelling abateth and the Redness of the part and the pains and asswaged also But seeing that by reason of the Corrupted Blood which may speedily return again to the part the Pain may easily be renewed my judgement is that this Bathing in Cold VVater is to be repeated often for the space of five or six days together And in this sense do I understand that Doctrine of Hippocrates to the great comfort of the Patient when as his pain and the continuance of his Disease shall be so taken off as that he shall now be troubled with it so many days onely as otherwise he should have been weeks Some also that have
been troubled with the Gout in their Feet that they may either utterly avoyd the falling into a Relapse or at least may have but light touches of it make use of this Bathing in Cold VVater every day so long a space of time as a man may be saying over the Lords Prayer But for as much as the Acrimony of the Humor cannot always be so clearly taken away as could be wished nor the Humor it self purged out the same may be farther suppressed by the taking of Cold VVater inwardly and the Humor it self may be evacuated as Occasion shall require either by opening a Vein or by some Purging Medicine proper in this case Neither is this Bathing of the Feet in Cold VVater a Remedy in the Pains of the Leg onely and the joynts thereof but it cures also the Inveterate Pains of the Head and the Continual Catarrhes and Defluxions from thence For it is certain that if the Head be put into Cold VVater as far as the Middle of the Bone of the Hinder part of the Head and to the end of the Nose before so that there be left just so much of the Nose out of the Water as that the Party may have freedom of Breathing onely and that this be done so long as while a man may be saying the Lords Prayer the pain of the Head though it hath been of long continuance wil hereby be removed and the Defluxions stopped as hath often been proved by experience Or else instead of this putting the Head into Cold Water which seems to be very improper for Women you may take a Linnen Cloath dipped in Cold Water and apply the same several times to the Head For seeing that it is not so much the Moysture of the Water that is here requisite as the Peircing Coldness of it I conceive that it would do very much good in this case if we should take a Linnen Cloath that had been dipt in Cold Water and wringing it well we should apply the same to the Head of the Party having first covered it all over with another dry Linnen Cloath and that to be doubled too and applying this to the Head for the space of a Quarter of an Hour together and so repeating the same some certain times And I have been very much confirmed in this opinion of mine by an experiment of it made upon a certain English Knight named Sir Toby Matthews a man no less eminent for Wisdom then fit for Publike Trust This Gentleman having been troubled twenty years together with an intolerable pain on one side of his Head and also with a Continual and violent Defluxion from the Head distilling through his Palate and Nose in so great a quantity as that he could never go without a wet Handkerchief in his pocket he was so happily cured of both these Maladies in the sixtieth year of his age by this Bathing his Head in Cold Water as that till the seventieth year of the same which he hath now passed he hath never had the least touch of either during the said space of time and being now better in health then ever he was in his life before to prevent his falling into the same Infirmities again he useth the said Immersion of his Head in Cold Water all the year long and even in the depth of Winter also And he saith that he received this profitable Advise from a certain English Nobleman who having himself been a long time much tormented with the same Disease had by this means cured both himself and very many others who were alike affected and restored them to their perfect health to the great admiration of all men And that this Practise is grounded upon sound Reason also is confirmed by Constant Experience For it is certain that the Skin of the Head by this means is so hardned and strengthened and fitted to resist the Cold as that it is able to secure the Head against the greatest that can be and against any other External injuries whatsoever and also to mitigate the Hot Distemperature of the Head and the Acrimony of its Humors This Immersion of the Heat into Cold Water as it is grounded upon Reason so it is confirmed also by Testimonies and either to attemperate or repel such Vapors as shall ascend up out of the Stomack Veins and Arteries And it is evident that this may receive some Confirmation by what Cornelius Celsus hath delivered in his Lib. 1. Cap. 4. 5. where he saith thus Eos quibus caput infirmum est assiduis lippitudinibus gravedinibus destillationibus tonsillis laborant nihil frigida aeque prodesse posse caputque per aestatem largo canali aliquandiu quotidie subiiciendum perfundendum esse that is That for those that are subject to Infirmities in their Head and are continually troubled with Sore Eyes Stuffings in the Head Distillations Swelling of the Glandules or Almonds of the Ears nothing is so good as Cold Water where the Head all the Summer long is to be held under a VVater-Spout for a pretty while together every day the VVater all the while running down upon it And hence it is that some that have had Children that have been healthful enough have yet to the end they might continue so suffered them from their very Infancy to go bare-headed and to expose themselves to all External Injuries of the weather and that according to the Doctrine of the same Cornelius Celsus whose Advise it is in the Beginning of his First Book that all persons that are in perfect Health and are at their own disposing should accustom themselves to the aforesaid Hardnesses and not onely so but in the rest of the Regiment of Health also and in their Course of Diet should observe a kinde of Indifferency and Freedom eating and drinking sometimes more and sometimes less then at other times provided that the Exess in these cases be not too great and Extravagant Which seemeth to have been the Opinion also even of Hippocrates himself where he tells us that Bad things that we are accustomed to do hurt less then Better that we are not used to But these things I would not have done rashly or without the Advise of an Able Physician The Tooth-ach is cured by Cold Water The Tooth-ach also hath in like manner many times been cured by applying this Cold VVater to the part Affected and bathing the parts therewith also that lye higher beyond the Temples and repeating the said Application And I know by experience that an Inflammation of the Eyes An Inflammation of the Eys taken betimes may be cured in the same manner taken in the beginning hath been cured by this means by repeating the said Application several times in like manner as I have known and before related that the grievous Pains of the Shoulder and of the whole Arm have also by the same means been removed The Pains of the Shoulder Back and Loyns are cured in the same manner In like
manner also have the most horrid pains of the Shoulder Back and Loynes been cured by my prescribing this Application of Cold VVater as I can testifie from my own certain experience This Application of Cold Water to the parts about the Kidneyes probably may be good against the Stone in the Kidnies And as the Stone is engendred in the Kidneyes and increased also in the same by standing with ones back towards the Fire or if the Parties back be over-heated by lying in a Feather-bed so likewise may the Hot and Dry Distemperature of the same whether proceeding from the aforesaid causes or from any other be in all Probability cured by the Application of a Linnen Cloath dipped in Cold VVater and applied to the part for a pretty while together and so repeating the said Application several times And Children also that through extremity of Pain have not been able to stand upon their Feet by the aforesaid bathing of the Legs as far as to the Knees in Cold Water for a good while together according as I had given direction have often found very much good The Wind-Collick is cured by bathing the Leg In Cold Water By the said continued and often repeated bathing of the Legs in Cold Water and consequently by the repelling of the Blood and Spirits toward the Heart and Liver caused thereby the Wind-Collick hath been discussed although in this case I should rather make use of some other Remedy Neither can I think that any man will refuse to subscribe to the truth of the things before delivered that shall but when occasion is offered make triall himself of the said experiments at least of so many of them as I have said that I my self have proved and found to be true For there are some of them I confess which though being deduced from solid Principles they seem to promise answerable effects and happy success yet for as much as I have not made trial of them my self as where I speak of them I have faithfully confessed I have left them to the further Examination of others Certainly that which at first sight may seem very strange will not yet be found to be dissonant to Reason to any man that shall but seriously consider that this same Cold Water we speak of applied to and part of the body cureth the contrary Diseases of the same as it doth in the aforementioned Benummedness of the Toes and Legs by putting them into Cold VVater whereby the Blood and Spirits being driven back toward the Heart and Liver and after some reasonable long stay thereabout their forces being increased by reason of a doubled Heat in their return they overmaster the Extream Cold distemperature of the Feet and Legs And so again when at another time notwithstanding the Philosophers Axiome which saith that One and the same things so long as it continues the same necessarily produceth one and the same Effect the said Cold VVater being applied to the same part of the body that is Inflamed Bruised and Extreamly Swollen cureth also the Hot Distemperature of the same All which things being considered it was not without some speciall Happy Omen that I fell upon this Perswasion that many kinds of Fresh VVounds Cold Water very safely cures all Green Wounds without any Suppuration at all as well in the Head as in other parts of the body might be perfectly cured in the same manner by the First Intention by reason that by means of this Immersion into or Application of the said Cold VVater the Blood is repelled very far back and its Vessels are by this means closed up and so there is a hinderance of all conflux either of the Blood or of any other Humors to the part Affected which otherwise by reason of its weakness would there be both receaved and through the Heat and Pain of the said part would be also drawn thither and would dispose the same toward the generation of Purulent Matter and sometimes also would cause an Impostumation or an Eryâ—pelas neither of which is at all here to be feared as it often uses to happen when the Periostium or thin Skin that immediately enwrappes the Shin-bone is inflamed by a Wound or Bruise so that the neighboring parts come thereby to Gangrene and putrifie and all life in them being quite extinct and afterwards by degrees all life also throughout the rest of the whole body the Carkasse is in the end brought to the grave And these Accidents which sometims befall young people but old folk very often I have the more largely dilated upon that men might take the better notice of the most evident Danger in this case which yet by so facile and a ready Remedy may easily be avoided For it is very certain that the aforesaid Immersion in Cold Water if it be duly made use of so soon as the Wound is receaved or else within some few hours after it will infallibly and perfectly cure the same And I can assure the Reader that for these three and fifty years space for so long it is since I first lighted upon this way of curing of Wounds receaved upon the Leg which I had never before either read or heard of I have never known any of my Patients to have suffered hereby any great pain much less Death but all things have ever succeeded according to my Wish as I have always by most curious Observation found Thus in Autumn in the year 1674 in a Wound almost all along the whole Leg and that where the Party was very old too after he had by my Presumption bathed his Leg a good while together in Cold Water he had not the least feeling of any pain in his Leg neither was there any Purulent Matter bred in the Wound and that by reason of the so effectual Repulsion of the Blood and the other Humors and Spirits as we have shewed before by the said Cold Water Which least by the Patients too rash venturing upon Motion they should by chance be called down toward the part againe it will be necessary that he keep himself quiet for a while To the end therefore that in these and the like Accidents there may be an orderly and a secure way of Proceeding we must be sure to continue this Immersion at the least for half an hour or rather an hours space till such time as the Part Affected shall be reduced to its proper Temperature or be rather brought down to a Colder Temper then its own Natural is that so the aforesaid dangerous Symptomes may with the greater security be hindered Which being done there is nothing at all to be laid upon the Wound save onely some of that small Film or thin Skin that lies immediately under the Shell of an Egg enwraping the whole Egg about which you must be very carefull that it fall not off or be carelesly pulled off or removed from off the Wound till such time as that having lain there for some days or weeks space
something touching what Meat is in this case to be eaten and what to be forborne In Contagious times therefore people must abstaine from Hogs-Flesh Beefe Of Meat and all other kinds of flesh that are Hard of Digestion as also from all Inwards and Extream Parts of Beasts as Feet Ears And so likewise from all Slimy Fishes all kinde of Pulse Herbs and from all White Meats or things made of Milke Except onely Butter And so on the contrary they are to make choice of all such Meats as are light of Digestion and withal they must abstain from Fish when they eat Flesh which also they are to eat rather Rosted then Boyled and if they will have them boyled in any Liquor or make Broth of the same they may put into it a little Wine Vineger Juyce of Citron Nutmeg Cloves or the like or some Sweet Herbs prepared according to the quality of their Meat which will not onely be very pleasant to their Palate but also do them otherwise very much good Hitherto is to be referred also a certain Sause which I would have them always to have at their table and it is made of Wine-Vineger Nutmeg and Sugar boyled in Broath or in defect of this they may take Wine with Butter in it which yet must be so prepared as that the tast of the Vineger and of the Nutmeg may be above all the rest And in this Sause I would have them to roule all over and lay a soaking all meat whatsoever that they eat or else they may take at the end of their Meale a spoonful or two of it and sup it up Those that are Asthmaticall or Short-breathed or are otherwise Tyssicall and troubled with a Cough must put the lesser quantity of Vineger and the greater of Sugar into this Composition as likewise in using the Contrapestilentiall Vineger they must either decoct or infuse in it some Figs Currance Liquorish or other the like Pectorall Ingredients and if their Cough be very strong upon them instead of Vineger they may then use some other Preservatives in like manner as those that are Hydropicall should every morning drink a good draught of Wormewood-Wine or Rue-Wine rather then a spoonful of Contrapestilentiall Vineger Concerning their Ordinary Drink my Opinion is that they may take the same that they have been accustomed unto Of their Ordinary Drink whether it be Wine or Beer or Ale into which nevertheless I would have them somtimes squeeze in some few drops of Juyce of Citron or of Oyl of Brimstone and the Ale they drink must be cleare and not strong as their Wine also must not be of the richer sort but must be either Rhenish Wine or Ordinary French Wine wherein they may do well to put sometimes a little boyled Water with a small quantity of Citron Pill or Cinnamon And if it so fall out that any one hath either been in company with those that have been infected In the lest suspicion of being infected they must immediatly fly to their Preservatives or that have been with such as have been with such as have been necessitated to attend upon such as have had the disease upon them which can hardly be without a strong suspicion if not a certainty of being infected by this Contagion and especially when he hath not before hand armed himself against it by Preservatives notwithstanding that the Party finde no sign of it at all about himself yet my advise is that he presently betake himself to Sudorifical Medicines and take two Drams of Old Treacle mixed with a spoonful of Wine-Vineger and drinke upon it two or three spoonfulls of the said Vineger warmed Now to the end that people may know where the signs of the Plague do evidently appear whether the Cure of it may be undertaken with any hopes of recovery of the Patient I shall here breifly set down such things as seem chiefly to relate to the Predictions in this case And first of all I conceave Predictions that very good success may be expected if so be the aforemention Preservative be taken at the very beginning of the Disease and that the Party keep it so that he may thereby Sweat lustily in case that any Plague-Sores and Swellings appear before he feels any Feaverish Heat And although this Treacherous Enemy flatter us thus and thus yet that we are by no means to trust him Sad Experience hath too often taught us And if the Party be taken with a Continuall Vomiting and be extreamly Sleepy and have a very Stinking Breath or the Tongue be Black at the beginning of the Disease it is a sign that the danger is very great and so likewise if the Patient have an Intermitting Pulse or Swooning Fits or a Looseness or where there happens a Bleeding at the Nose or an unseasonable Eruption of the Courses and especially if the Party have a Hoarsness or if his Vrine and Excrements and what he throws up by Vomit be black or he be taken with the Hickop or a Trembling in his Limbs or if he spit Blood or pisse Blood are evident signs of Death And if as I have formerly said it is very Necessary that where any one hath but the least suspicion of being infected he should presently have recourse to Sudorifical Preservatives there is no question but such as finde any real sign that they are already Infected ought to fly unto the same as to a Sanctuary and that too at the very Instant that they discover the same seeing the Disease may be over-mastred much easier then the people imagine if it be taken in time lest when these aforesaid Fatall Prognosticks appear there be no hope of Recovery left And this Preservative the Patient is to take with Vineger as hath before been shewed and in his Bed being well covered with Cloathes and with a good fire by him if it may conveniently be had And he is to sweat as long as possibly he can and if the Sweat come not from him in very great Abundance which in this case is very Necessary he must then have a Bladder half filled with Warme Water applied to his Belly in which if there be decocted some leaves of Carduus Benedictus Rue or Angelica Roots or Zedoary there may much the better success be expected And if so be the Party sweat not enough nor grow the better upon it he must presently as soon as he hath something recovered his strength a little fall again to his Sweating the second time yea and sometimes also there is very good reason that he sweat the third time too Which Reiteration of Sweating notwithstanding is very often not at all Necessary in case that the Sudorifical Preservative being taken in the beginning of the disease hath wrought abundantly enough Concerning the Efficacy of which Timely Sweating in the beginning of this Disease Sennertus also hath given us a large Testimony in his Lib. 4. De febribus Cap 6. where he hath these words Existimo