of Sens in Bourgundie which went 28 years with a dead child in her womb this woman being dead and her belly opened there was found a stone having all the limbs and proportion of a child of 9 months old This was no miracle but an extraordinary work of nature for the child being dead and the slimie matter of its body having an aptitude by the extraordinary heat of the matrix to be hardned might retain the same lineaments which it had before If any wonder how within the soft and liquid humors of the matrix such a hard substance should be ingendred let him as well wonder at the generation of hard bones within soft flesh of hard stones within soft plums Peaches and other fruits of stones and hard thunder-bolts within watrish clouds CHAP. IV. 1. Some without Lungs 2. Impostumes voided in Vrine 3. Worms the cause of many diseases 4. No change of sexes 5. Giants 6. Some without livers 7. Fleshy bladders 8. Stones haires worms c. Begot in our Vrine 9. A woman without a matrix I Have read of divers bodies of men without lungs and I believe it for oftentimes the lungs are putrified and corroded with corrupt and acrimonious matter and wasted with burning heat but hence it will not follow that a man can live without lungs any time seeing the heart stands in need continually of refrigeration yet some do live a great while with half of the lungs after the other half is putrified and spit out II. I finde that when impostumations and corrupted matter in the breast cannot be evacuated by spitting or coughing or vomiting or by Phlebotomy or the stool it is notwithstanding purged out by urine naturally without the help of art by which we see how cunning and industrious nature is to help her self and that she is more carefull to thrust out noxious then to draw in profitable things hence sick mens expiration is stronger then their inspiration and hence also we see that there are many porous and pervious passages unknown to us which doubtless are in our bodies being alive which cannot be found being dead because shut by the cold III. I finde that many Physitians are mistaken in the causes of divers diseases and therefore their remedies prove oftentimes fruitless or hurtfull For I have known Apâ—plexies Convulsions Coughs Consumptions Feavers Cholicks and other Diseases proceed from Wormes which when they have beene voided either dead or alive the sick partys have recovered Nay I have read of some who have had worms crawle out at their navels and some whose organs of voice and speech having been assaulted and hurt by worms have become speechless how carefull then should we be of our diets not to delight so much as we do in sweet meats sauces and drinks or in such food as breeds slâ—my matter whereof worms are ingendred and Physitians should be as carefull to prescribe such things to their patients as may kill and evacuate these enemies of our health and life IV. That maids have become boyes I have read in divers Stories but I have shewed in the former Book that there is no such change in nature because the organs of generation in the two sexes differ both in number form and situation and that therefore such transformations are meant of Hermaphrodites or of such boyes in whom the vessels of generation have not at first appeared outwardly for want of heat and strength which afterwards have thrust them out Dr. Brown admits the change and yet shews that the vessels are different both in form and situation which is a contradiction V. That there have been Giants and men of stupendious stature in all ages is not to be doubted seeing there are so many witnesses extant and the reason of their bigness can be none else but the aboundance of seed and menstruous blood of which they are begot the quality and pliableness of the matter â—apt to be extended the strength also of the heat and formative power and that these men should have rapacious stomachs to devour incredible quantities of meat and drink is not to be wondred at if we consider the bulk of their bodies the capacity of their stomachs and rapacity of their heat VI. Nature is not deficient in necessaries nor abundant in superfluities there is not any one member in our bodies that can be spared for if there be any one defective our life proves short and miserable I have read of some who have been found without Livers but such had a fleshy lump in stead thereof which not being able to sanguifie or turn the Chylus into blood the parties lived but a short while and died of Tympanies or Hydropsies and others whose Livers have been found full of stones have died of the same disease and so have those whose spleen hath been found stony A woman who died of an Hydropsie I saw dissected whose spleen was full of stones of a blewish and green colour VII Not onely are stones of great bigness bred in the bladder by which the passage of the urine is intercepted and so death and many tortures are procured but also there have been found in some bladders great lumps of flesh yea all the internal side of the bladder filled up with fleshy excrescences that there could be no room for the urine but I doubt whether this were true flesh or not seeing no flesh is begot but of blood I think therefore that this was an excrementitious substance resâ—mbling flesh in colour and shape VIII It is manifest that some with their urine evacuate stones gravel matter hairs little crawling creatures of divers shapes which doubtless are begotten of putrifaction according to the disposition of the matter and heat of the bladder or kidneys if the matter be adust and bâ—rned hairs are begot sometimes as big as hogs brissles and sometimes the stones of the kidneys are so big that they stick in the yard and cannot be evacuated without incision upon the stoppage of the urine by these stones malignant vapours ascend from the corrupted urine into the noble parts that convulsions syncopes and other dangerous effects are procreated IX As a man can live without testicles so can a woman without the matrix these being members given by naturâ— not for conversation of the individuals but for continuation of the species Therefore Zacuâ—uâ— speaks of a woman who lived thirty years after her matrix was cut out which by a fall that she had from a high tree had slipt out of its place and could never be again replaced Obs. 76. l. 2. CHAP. V. 1. Strange but not miraculous births 2. Strange and strong imaginations 3. Poison inward and outward 4. Poison of mad Dogs 5. Câ—ntharides 6. Poison how it worketh 7. Why birds not poisoned as men 8. Amphiam Opium Mandrakes 9. The Plague no Hectick nor putrid Fever 10. Epidemical diseases THat a boy of nine years old should beget a child is rarâ— but much morâ— strange it is that a child should be
which did abound in him did not presently spend so long as they continued he lived when they failed he fell down dead IV. What Wierus records in his work of Impostures l. 4. ca. 16. concerning some stones found in the heart of Maximilian the second is not incredible for the same heat of the body that breeds stones in the bladder kidney and joynts can also produce stones in the heart if there be the same matter and disposition for such a production and this may be the work of nature alone without sorcery V. Nor is it incredible what is recorded by divers of worms found in the heart which cause consumptions and strange distempers in our bodies which oftentimes deceive Physitians For the heart is no more priviledged from worms then other members save onely that its substance is hard and solid and by reason of its spirits and heat it is not so much subject to putrifaction as parts more soft and loose and consequently not so often infested with worms and imposthumes as other members are yet it is not altogether exempted For I have read of one whose heart being opened there was found in it a white worm with a sharp beck which being placed on a table and a circle of the juice of Garlick made about it died being overcome with that strong smell by which it is plain that the use of Garlick is wholesome and needful for such as are subject to worms as being their destroyer VI. Fernelius is deceived when he saith that the heart doth not putrifie in us whilest we are alive because it is of a solid and hard substance and is the last that dieth in us but it is not more hard and solid then the bones which notwithstanding putrifie whilest we are alive and it is true that it is the last thing that dieth in us for it doth not totally putrifie till we be dead because all the heat motions and functions thereof cease not till then VII And not onely in the heart but in the braines also worms are ingendred as Avicenna Hollerius and others doe witnesse And I have read of black and round worms that by sneezing powder of Castoreum and Pepper have been voided by the nose and of ear-worms also CHAP. III. 1. Epilepsie 2. Incubus 3 Vertigo 4. Of a stone in the tongue 5. One of nine years old brought to bed 6. Bodies turned to Stones 7. Sleep-walkers 8. Superfetation Ventriloques 9. A strange stone found in the matrix THe Epilepsie and malignant feavers oftentimes end in deafness and this is held a good signe of recovery the reason is because nature thrusts out the malignant humor from the brain into the next passages which are the ears II. Some take the night-mare or Incubus for a spirit but indeed it is a feculent humor adhering to the vitall parts and with its black or melancholy fume troubling the Diaphragma Lungs and Brain and distempering the imagination with horrid shapes III. Nature is very skilfull and provident in helping her self when art faileth for many diseases have been cured by nature which the Physitians have been forced to give off Zacutus Obs. 15. mentioneth one who being every month vexed with a terrible Vertigo which for a time made him stupid and senseless was cured by a flux of blood gushing out of his eyes without any inflammation at all or redness of the eyes by those veins that fed the eyes nature found out a way to ease her self which veines were opened by the violent motion of the spirits in the head and the aboundance of blood pressing into those veins which made an eruption IV. And it is no less strange what he records Obs. 72. of one upon the tip of whose tongue was found a stone as big as a filbert nut which grew there within a swelling caused by a great flux doubtless of slimy matter into that part and baked into that consistence by a preternatural heat for he was much subject to Catharrs V. That is not incredible which is recorded by Iaubert in his Vulgar Errors l. 2. c. 2. of young women who have been brought to bed at nine or ten years of age for nature is more pregnant and forward in some then in others this we see in some trees and other vegitables but these women give off child-bearing betimes to wit about one or two and twenty for quod cito sit cito perit and as we say soon ripe soon rotten for such hasty and precipitate works of nature are not permanent hence it is that women who sooner attain to their growth then men decay sooner then men VI. For stones to be bred in the Lungs which are oftentimes the causes of drie coughs is no great wonder for divers times such stones have been voided by coughing but for a mans body to be converted into a stone as is Recorded in the memorials of Lyons in France is more strange yet not impossible and therefore the conversion of Lots wife into a Salt Pillar is not incredible although this was the sole work of God Neither is that incredible which is written of the lake that turns the sticks cast into it into stones nor that Cave in Scotland where the water-drops are turned to stones I have kept an apple til it grew to that hardness that no wood could be harder for scarce could a knife cut it I wil not say this was a perfect stone into which this body was thus turned but it might be as hard and drie as a stone for the bodies that are found in the sands of Egypt are very dry and hard VII Horstius and others record divers examples of sleep-walkers who do strange things in their sleep but this is also the work of nature for I finde that they are most subject to this infirmity whose animal spirits are most active subtil and fiery and whose imagination is strong so that by the strength of their fantasie and agility of their spirits the muscles are moved though the Will doth not then concur to this motion nor reason make any opposition which it would do if they were naked and not suffer them to undergo such dangers VIII I have read divers Stories of women who have had seaven children and more at a birth and likewse of superfetation both which are credible and possible in nature as I have shewed in the former book c. 13. sect 5. 7. But that the infant should crie in the mothers womb as some have done is more strange seeing it doth not breath neither is there any air in the matrix without which there can be no sound therefore either this crie was imaginary in the party that heard it for sometimes we think we hear a sound when we hear none or else this sound might proceed from wind in the mothers womb which might resemble the crying of a child or else these mothers might be ventriloque IX That may seem a miracle which is recorded by Monsieur Iohn Alibaux a Physitian of a woman
born with all his teeth and another with a long beard yet such have been and these are but the effects of nature which though in her ordinary course â—he observes a timâ— for the growth perfection and decay of things yet sometimes she is furthered and hindred according as the matter is disposed the heat proportioned and her instruments fitted Why should not Nature have the same priviledge that Art hath but we see that hearbs and fruits can be produced and perfected before their time by the Art of man therefore such works are meerly natural not miraculous for sublunary bodies are not like the â—elestial which are not suâ—ject to alteration but â—till keep the same constant tenor II. What force the imagination hath in women to make impressions of the things imagined on the tender infant in the womb is known by many Stories and daily Examples Hence it is that so many children are born with such variety of strange shapes and marks Besides we know how forcible the phantasie is both in curing and procuring of diseases yea oftentimes of death Thus one having eat of a Rabbit pie imagining she had eat of a cat fel a vomiting and died Another having passed over a dangerous bridg in the dark and returning the next day to look upon the place was struck with such an horror that he went home and died A third being in jest made believe that he must lose his head swouned and fel down dead Multitudes of such Examples thâ—re are but the imaginatioâ—s which proceed from hypochondriacal melancholy are most strange whereby one supposeth himself to be dead therefore will not eat Another is perswaded that he hath never a head A third that his breech is made of glass therefore will not fit down for fear of breaking Anothâ—r thinks the heaven will fall upon him therefore must have a Target born over him Another wil not piss for fear he should drown the world And many more such strange conceits are some men troubled with by reason of their imaginations which are distorted by the black and malignant fumes that disturb the animal spirits subservient to the phantasie Such are the imaginations of those who think themselves wolves and therefore run into the woods and bite men and cattel they meet with I have read of one who thought himself to be a cock and therefore fel to crowing And doubtless the Lycanthropie so much spoken of is nothing else but the strength of a distemper'd imagination whatsoe'r Bodin writes to the contrary III. The cause of many extraordinary distempers in us is poyson whether inteâ—nal bred within our selves by the corruption or putrefaction of the seed blood or humors of our bodies by which pestilent and venemous fumes assault the heart and brains or external as the biting of mad dogs or cats or other creatures For I have read of some that never were bitten and yet have beene subject to the same kinde of raging and fury that they arâ— who are bit by mad dogâ— but their fits were milder because the constitution of dogs is more melancholy then that of mans therefore their venom more dangerous and who would think there were such poyson in a mad cock who being angred struck one in the hâ—nd with his beck upon which blow the man fell distracted and died neither could any physick cure him IV. The madness that is caused by the biting of mad dogs is not in all men alike buâ— upon some the poyson worketh sooner upon some later â—ccording to the degree of madness in the dog or the deepness of the wound or disposition of the body wounded for foul bodies melancholick and cholerick constitutions are aptest to receive the venom therefore in some the poyson appeareth quickly in others not in a long time to wit not in a year or more for the malignity doth not presently assault the sâ—irits heart and brains And Capivacceus observes that this poyson is of a fiery quality and hot in the fourth degree as he sheweth by one who was thus bit his body being opened there was found no water in his Pericardium but a part of it was burned up and being touched fell into ashes the ventricles also were dried up and had no blood at all V. It is strange that some do piss blood upon the applying of the Flyes called Cantharides to the neck hands or feet so remoâ—e from the bladder by this we see that the malignant vertue of these flies hath a particular influence upon that member This action of the bladder cannot be by the first or second qualities of the Caâ—tharides â—or then they should work first uâ—on the next members therefore this action must be performed by an occult quality of the specifical form of the flie And much more strange is it that the body of this â—lie should be poyson and the wings thereof a counterpoyson which in the living fly are aâ— concord by reason of the specifical form or soul of the fly ruling all the parts and keeping them in unity but when that is gon in the dead fly the one part destroys the other Who can give exact reasons of Natures secrets VI. And no less stranâ—e is it that Euphorbium and Mustard are equally hot to wit in the fourth degree and yet the one is poyson not the other and Treacle which is hot in the first degree heats more then Pepper which is hot in the fourth degree this shews that the form of the one is not so aâ—â—ive as the form of the other and therefore four times so much heat in the one is not so prevalent as one degree of heat in the other which shewes that poysons do not work by their temper which consist of elementary qualities but by their substance or form whose qualities are occult to us VII Why Napelius or Wolfe-bane Hyosciamus or Henbane and other hearbs which are poyson to man are nutriment to birds can have no other reason but that birds have a greater heat in their stomachs to subdue the malignity of these hearbs to send away the noxious and excrementitious part and to convert the rest into their own substance which substance notwithstanding is not poysonable to man because the poyson was consumed by the heat of the bird Now the heat of mans stomack is more temperate and therefore less able to master such malignant hearbs yet Scaliger Exerc. 175.1 speaks of a man who was fed with poyson from his infancy whose flesh at last became so venomous that the flies which sucked his blood swelled and died VIII That Amphiam or Opium should stir up venery and cause a tickling in the skin and yet stupifie the members and cast them into a dead sleep is not without admiration but doubtless either the Amphiam or Opium are different that being made of the white this of the black Poppies or else in the Opium there be different substances the one being very câ—ld which causeth stupidity the other very hot by causing a tickling in
women oftentimes Nature is wiser in her productions then we are in our conceits and imaginations 2. It overthrowes saith he Gods benediction Be fruitfull and multiply Answ. Gods benediction of multiplication was not pronounced to the beasts and creeping things but the birds and fishes 2. It 's a question whether Vipers and some other poysonous creatures were created before the fall 3. The viper multiplieth fast enough when at one birth she bringeth forth twenty young ones as Aristotle and others affirm there is then no cause to complain when twenty are produced by the losse of one neither is it a greater curse in the Viper to die then in all otheâ— living creatures for all are morrall in their individuals though immortal in their species 4. If the viper had been created before the Fall yet this punishment was not inflicted on her till after for all creatures doe fare the worse by reason of Adams sin who hath made them all subject to vanity Rom. 8.3 To bring forth in sorrow saith he is proper to the woman therefore not to be translated on the Viper Answ. I deny that painfull births are proper to the woman for all animals have some pain more or lesse in their productions I have seen a Hen which with the pain of excluding her Egge fell down gasping for breath as if the pangs of death had bin on her and so she continued till the Egge was excluded Many Bitches and other females have died with pain at the time of their littering Painfull productions then is a punishment of the woman and yet no translation to the Viper for her pain is not thereby eased because the Viper in such a case is killed nor are all women alike tortured some are lesse pained then many other creatures 4. This overthrowes saith he Natures parentall provision for the Dam being destroyed the younglingâ— are left to their own protection Answ. No they are left to the protection of him who is by David called the Saviour both of man and beast and by the same is said to seed the young Ravens when they call upon him And God in Iob long before David sheweth That he fills the appetite of the young Lions and provideth food for the young Ravens when they cry unto God For the Naturalists tell us the old Ravens quite forsake their young ones but God feeds them with Flies and Wormes he sends into their nests The like improvidence and cruelty we find in Ostridges who exclude their Eggs in the sand and so leave them without further care to his providence in whom all things live and move and have their being Therefore God complains in Iob Chap. 39.14 15 16. of the Ostridges astorgie and cruelty in leaving her Eggs in the earth forgetting that the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may break them shee is hardned saith he against her young ones as though they were none of hers The Câ—â—kow also wanteth parentall provision for she layeth her Egge in another birds nest and so leaves it to the mercy of a stranger And no lesse cruelty is there in this young nursling then in the viper for he both destroyeth his Foster-brothers and the mother that brought forth and fed him I read also in AElian of Scorpions begot sometimes in Crocodiles Egges which sting to death the Dam that gave them life The young Scorpions doe use to devour the old I have also read of women who have brought forth monsters to the destruction both of the mother and of the child in her womb therefore what the Ancients have written of the vipers cruelty is not a matter so incredible as the Doctor makes it As for the experiments of some Neotericks who have observed the young vipers excluded without hurt to the parent I answer 1. There is great odds between the Vipers of Africk or other hot Countries and those in cold Climats and so there is in poysonable herbs and Serpents which lose their venome upon transplantation in cold Countries the most fierce cruell and poysonable animals lose these hurtfull qualities 2. The works of Nature in sublunary things are not universally the same but as the â—Philosopher saith◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the most part there is no Ruleso generall but hath some exceptions ordinarily the child comes out with the head forward yet sometimes otherwise ordinarily the child is born at the end of the ninth moneth yet sometimes sooner sometimes later Therefore though ordinarily the young Vipers burst the belly of the Dam yet sometimes they may be excluded without that rupture 3. Education and food doe much alter the nature of creatures these vipers mentioned by Scaliger and others which excluded their young ones or viperels by the passage of generation were kept in bran within boxes or glasses and fed with milk bran and cheese which is not the food of those wild vipers in hot Countries It is no wonder then if the younglings staied out their time in the womb being well sed and tamed by the coldnesse of the climat 4. All the Ancients doe not write that the vipers burst the belly but only the membrans and matrix of the Dam which oftentimes causes theâ—losse of her life and they wanted not reason besides experience for this assertion to wit the fiercenesse of their nature the heat of the countrey and the numerousnesse of their young ones being twenty at a time besides the goodnesse of God who by this means doth not suffer so dangerous a creature to multiply too fast for which cause also he pinches them so in the Winter that they lie hid and benumbed within the earth besides he will let us see his justice in suffering the murther of the Sire to be revenged by his young ones upon the Dam. As for the Doctors exception against Nicanders word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not material for it is a Poeticall expression and what is it to the purpose whether the head be bit or cut off if so be the bite be mortall CHAP. X. 1. Moles see not and the contrary objections answered 2. The opinions of the Ancients concerning divers animals maintained 3. The right and left side defended 4. The true cause of the erection of mans body and the benefit we have thereby 5. Mice and other vermin bred of putrefaction even in mens bodies 6. How men swim naturally the Indian swimmers COncerning Moles the Doctor proves they are not blind Book 3. cap. 8. because they have eyes for we must not assigne the Organ and deny the Office Answ. Scaliger tells us they have not eyes but the form of eyes Pliny lib. 11. cap. 37. saith They have the effigies of eyes under the membrane but no sight being condemned to perpetuall darknesse Aristotle lib. 3. de Animal saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it seems they have eyes under a thin skin and a place for eyes The Prince of Poets calls them Oculis captos Geor. 1. Scaliger Exer. 243. saith They are
aberration of nature for the one sex is no less needfull for procreation then the other 2. The male is hotter then the female because begot of hotter seed and in a hotter place to wit the right side and because the male hath larger vessels and members stronger limbs a more porie skin a more active body a stronger concoction a more couragious minde and for the most part a longer life all which are effects of heat Besides that the bodies of males are sooner articulated and conformed to wit by 10 days in the womb then the females are the motions of the male in the womb are quicker and stronger then of the female The fatness softness and laxaâ—ie of the womans body besides the abundance of blood which cannot be concocted and exhaled for want of heat argue that she is of a dol'der temper then the man She indeed hath a swifter pulse because of the narrowness of the arteries and her proneness to anger and venery argue imbecility of minde and strength of imagination not heat 3. The male groweth flower then the female because he was to live longer therefore nature proceeds the flower as we see in trees and plants a Cherry-Tree groweth up sooner then an Oak and decayeth far sooner Besides the soft and loose flesh of the female is sooner extended then the solid and harder flesh of the male We may then conclude that the male is hotter intensively but the female by reason she hath more blood is hotter extensively II. The seed is no part of the body because the body is not more perfect by its presence nor malmed by its loss or absence nor is it the aliment of the body because then the body would not part with it nor is it properly an excrement peccant in the qualitie but it is the purer part of the blood or quintessence of it unuseful for the body when it is peccant in the quantity 2. Because the blood is in every part of the body and the seed is the quintessence of the blood therefore the seed may be said to be derived from all parts of the body for all parts of the body consume upon much evacuation of seed and as it is from all parts in respect of its material and grosseâ— substance so it is principally from the head heart and liver in regard of its more aerial parts III. Though the menstruous blood may receive corruption by its long suppression or by the moisture of some bad humors yet in sound women it is as pure as any other blood in the body For it is appointed by nature for nutriment of the infant whilst it is in the womb and after birth it is converted into milk neither doth it differ from other blood in its material and efficient causes besides that it is as red and coagulates as soon as the purest blood of the body Neither doth nature send it away because it is peccant in the quality but because it is exuberant in the quantity 2. By reason the menstruous blood is infected with ill humours on which the child in the womb feeds hence it is that there are few or none but one time or other are infected with the small pox which as divers other poisons doth not presently shew it self but lieth a long time lurking in the body And if at the first time the venome of this disease is not thoroughly purged out it returns Hence it is that some have this disease divers times 3. The menstruous blood is not the cause of the small pox whilst it remains in the vessels but when it is converted into the substance of the body hence it is that women whose moneths are stopped are not infected with this malady 4. This blood is evacuated once in a moneth ordinarily at such time as the Moon which hath dominion over humid bodies is most prevalent Nature also observes her own periods and times of evacuation of which we can give no reason But this is certain that if the evacuation of this blood were as frequent as of other excrements there would be no conception IV. The chief uses of the matrix are to draw the seed to it to mingle it with the blood to contain it to excite its faculties and spirits for it is not actually animated till now and so the seed by its spirits is made capable of animation and shortly after being incorporated with the blood of articulation These fore-named functions of the matrix are performed not so much by its heat as by its natural temper V. Oftentimes the vitiosity of the matrix is the cause of monstrous births so likewise is the imagination the defect or exuberance of seed the unlawful permistion of seeds the heat of the body and the formative faculty 2. The false conception called Mola is begot when the seed is faulty weak or deficient and the blood predominant which is known from a true conception because there is no milk in the breasts when there is a false conception neither doth it move after the fourth moneth as the child doth sometimes it is moved by the matrix but not by it self as the child besides it remains after the eleventh moneth which is the time prefixed for the birth of the child CHAP. XIII 1. The Heart liveth first not the Liver 2. The outward membrans first formed by the heat of the matrix 3. Vrachos what 4. The similitude of the parents on the children 5. Twins how begot and why like each other 6. Infants how fed in the matrix 7. Superfetation 8. No respiration in the matrix 9. The childs heart moveth in the matrix I. ARISTOTLE will have the heart to be the first member that lives in us Galen the liver but indeed Aristotle is in the right for how can any thing live till the heart which is the fountain of heat and spirits live and how can the soul frame to her self a fit habitation for exercising of her functions â—ill first she hath framed the heart by whose heat and spirits she may work If it be objected that the heart cannot live without nutrition but nutrition is by blood and this by the liver therefore the liver must first live I answer that there needs no nutrition till the body be compleat and perfected for wee see imperfect creatures can live long without food I have kept a Spider nine moneths alive in a glass without food Again there needs no nutriment but when there is deperdition and wasture of the substance which cannot bee of the heart before the body be perfected And although the body live at first the life of a plant it will not therefore follow that the heart is not first framed for even in plants there is a principle of life which is the root and nature worketh methodically by quickning that first which must quicken the rest II. As the heart is the first member that is framed by the formative faculty so the outward membranes are first formed by the heat or natural temperament
which much troubled the Physitians not knowing the cause thereof till they opened one of the dead bodies in whose brain they found a red worm yet alive This they tried to kill by divers medicaments such as are prescribed against worms but noâ—e of them could kill it At last they boiled some slices of Radish in Malago wine and with this it was killed He shews also that one being cured of the French malady was notwithstanding still tormented with the head-ach till his skull by advice was â—pâ—nâ—d under which upon the Dura mater was found a black woâ—m which being taken out and killed he was cured Brasavola records in 16. Aphoris l. 3. Hippocr that an old man of 82 years by a potion made of Scordium and sea-moss voided five hundred worms which was the more strange in so old a man whose body must needs have been cold and dry yet it seems he wanted not putrified matter enough to breed themâ— Alexander Benedict speaks of a young maid who lay speechless eight days with her eyes open and upon the voiding of forty two worms recovered her health lib. de verit rerum Cardaâ— records that Erasmus saw an Italian who spoke perfect Dutch which he never learned so that he was thought to bee possessed but being rid of his worms recovered not knowing that he ever â—pake Dutch It is not impossible in extasies phrensies and transes for men to speak unknown tongues without witchcraft or inspirationâ— if we consider the excellency and subtilty of the soul beinâ—â— sequestred from corporeal Remora's and so much the rather if with Plato we hold that allâ—onr knowledge is but reminiscency Ambrose Parry lib. 19. c. 3. sheweth that a woman voided out of an imposthume in hâ—r belly a multitude of worms about the bigness of ones finger with sharp heads which had pierced her intestins Forestus l. 7. Obs. 35. tells us of a woman in Delph who in 3 several days voided 3 great worms out of her navel and not long after was delivered of a Boy and then seven days after that another Thad Dunus speaks of a Switzer woman who voided a piece of a worm five ells long without head and tail having scales like a Snake After this she voided another bred in her bowells which was above twenty ells long This poor woman was tortured so long as she was fasting but when she ate she had some ease I â—ould set down here many other stories of Worms voided out of mens bodies some having the shape of Lizards some of Frogs some hairy and full of feet on both sides some voided by the eyes some by the ears some by vomiting some by the stool some by urine some by imposthumes but I will not be tedious these may suffice to let us know of what materials this body of ours which we so much pamper is composed and how little cause vve have to be sollicitous for the back and belly and vvithal let us stand in awe of God vvho vvhen he pleaseth can for our sins plague us vvith vermin in our bodies vvhiles vve are yet alive V. I said before that divers Countries had their peculiar diseases the French sickness as vve now call it vvas peculiar to the Americans and not known to this part of the vvorld but Christopher Columbus brought it from America to Naples Now it is become common and yet no disease more pernicious and vvhich breeds more dangerous symptoms and tortures in the body This is that great scourge with which God whips the wantonnesse of this lascivious age not without cause is this called the Herculean disease so hard to be overcome and the many headed Hydra the poison of it is so subtile that not only it doth wast the noble parts and spoils the skin even to the losse of all the hairs both of head beard and eye-brows besides the many swellings and bunches it causeth it pierceth also into the very bones and rots them as Fernelius fully describes De abdit rer causis l. 2. I have read of some who have been suddenly struck blind with the infection thereof Zacuta mentions one who was so blinded that he could never recover his sight again And another who was troubled with an Ophthalmy the poison of which was so viâ—lent and subtile that it infected the Chyrurgion that cured him Prax. mira l. 2. by which it appears this disease is infectious at a distance There is another peculiar disease in Brasile called the Worm which comes with an itch and inflammation of the fundament if this be taken in time before the Fever comes it is easily cured by washing the place affected with the juice of Lemmons whereof that Countrey abounds but if it be neglected till it come to a Carbuncle it is harder to be cured and not without the juice of Lemmons and Tobacco But if this by carelesnesse be omitted no help will then prevail and so the party dieth with a thirst or fever which is strange Not unlike to this is that disease which Zacuta speaks of one who was tortured with a terrible pain in his Hip and Fundament with a violent Fever upon this he openeth the outward ancle vein out of which gushed scalding blood and with it a living Worm the breadth of ones palm and so the party was cured It seems the poison of this Worm had reached into the Hemorrid veins in the fundament which caused that pain Linschoâ—en in his voiages makes mention of another disease familiar to the Brasilians called Pians proceeding from their letchery it maketh blisters bigger then the joynt of a mans thumb which run over the whole body and face CHAP. III. 1. Centaurs proved what they were 2. Why the sight of a Wolfe causeth obmutescency 3. Pigmies proved Gammadim what 4. Giants proved they are not monsters 5. The strange force of Fascination The sympathies and antipathies of things The Loadstones attraction how hindred Fascination how cured Fascination by words THat there have been Centaurs that is Monsters half Horses and half Men in the world I make no question though Dr. Brown Book 1. c. 4. reckons this among his Vulgar Errors who should have made a distinction between Poetical fictions and real truths For Centaurs are Monsters and aberrations from nature not the common nature of all things which intends and effects Monsters to shew Gods wrath against sin but from the particular nature of those creatures of which they are ingendred Therefore S. Ierome in the life of Paul the Eremite speaks of a Centaur seen by Paul Pliny Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 3. was an eye-witnesse to this truth For he saw in Thessaly a Centaur which was brought out of Egypt to Claudius Caesar. Ambrose Parry l. 15. de Monstris speaks of a Centaur which in the year â—254 was brought forth at Verona there is no doubt then but Centaurs as well as other Monsters are produced partly by the influence of the stars and partly by other causes as the ill disposition of the
body to be more solid so doth the right hand begin to be more agill though I deny not but in some the left hand is more agill but these are few and aberrations from the common course of Nature for we see that in all her works there are some accidentall deviations His other objections are coincident with these two and his discourse of the right and left side of heaven is impertinent to this purpose therefore I will spend no time in refelling it for some make the East some the South the right part of heaven but I will conclude with Aristotle hist. animal 1. c. 15 the right side and left in man consist of the same parts but the left side is every where weaker IV. The end why mans body was made erected was to look up toward heaven whence the soul hath its originall where our hopes should be and our happiness shall be by the contemplation of which we are brought to the knowledge of Gods goodness and wisdom For the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament his handy work Psal. 19. Yet the Doctor book 4. c. 1. will not have this the end of mans erection but out of Galen the exercise of Arts which could not be performed in any other figure Again saith he the eyes of divers fishes regard the heavensâ— birds who have no upper eye-lid have in this the advantage of man So the position of the frog with his eyes above the water serves to behold a great part of the heavens Answ. All these are weak Assertions for the God of Nature created man to enjoy happiness and to glorifie him this is the chief end of his creation Now this happiness is heaven by beholding which our knowledge of God is confirmed our hopes established and our joy and affections to heavenly things are enlarged The invention of Arts then was but a secondary end which it seems Galen that meer naturall man thought to be the chief end And whereas the Doctor saith that by sursum aspicere was not meant to look upward with the eye but to have his thoughts sublime I would know what means so forcible to sublimate the thoughts as the eye All knowledge and affection of and to the object comes by the senses How should Abraham have known the glory and multitude of his posterity had he not looked up as God commanded him to the stars The wise men found Christ in Bethlehem by looking upward to heaven where they saw his star Christ in blessing the bread and in Praying looked up towards heaven should not our eyes be fixed there where our treasure is Our Saviour went up to heaven and we exspect him again to return with the clouds of heaven Our eyes then should be directed thither as well as our thoughts The Philosophers by the knowledge of the first Mobile came to the knowledge of the first mover And though birds some fishes and frogs may have an advantage in looking upward yet this advantage was not given them to look on heaven of which they have neither knowledge hope affection or interest they look upward then not to contemplate heaven but to watch either flies to feed on or kites hawkes and other ravenous fowle to avoid them V. He doubts whether mice can be procreated of putrifaction So he may doubt whether in cheese and timber worms are generated Or if Betels and wasps in cowes dung Or if butterflies locusts grashoppers shel-fish snails eeles and such like be procreated of putrified matter which is apt to receive the form of that creature to which it is by the formative power disposed To question this is to question Reason Sense and Experience If he doubts of this let him go to AEgypt and there he will finde the fields swarming with mice begot of the mud of Nylus to the great calamity of the Inhabitants What will he say to those rats and mice or little beasts resembling mice found generated in the belly of a woman dissected after her death of which Lemnius is a witness who thinks this generation might proceed of some sordid excrement or seminal pollution of those animals with which the womans meat or drink had been infected I have seen one whose belly by drinking of puddle water was swelled to a vast capacity being full of small toads frogs evets and such vermin usually bred in putrified water A toad hath been found in a sound piece of Timber VI. That men swim naturally he cannot assent to because other animals swim as they go but man alters his natural posture as he swims 4. Book c. 6. Answ. This is no reason for man alters his natural posture when he crawls will it follow therefore that this motion is no natural to man But to speak properly swimming is no natural motion neither in man nor beast For if we take natural as it is opposite to animal swimming is an animal motion and if we take natural as it is opposite to artificial then swimming is an artifical motion for there is some Art in it But if we take nature for a propensity facility inclination or disposition then I say these are as well in men as in beasts Therefore Pliny tells us of the Troglodites that they swim like Fishes Lerius Acosta and other Indian Historians write that the American children begin to swim as soon as they begin to walk and that for eight dayes together they can live in the Sea and longer if it were not for feare of the great Fishes so swift and skillfull they are in swimming that they out-swim the Fishes and catch them and so farre they exceed other animals in this motion that they can swim with the left hand onely holding hooks and darts in the right which no other creature can doe If it be objected That swimming is not naturall to man because he learns it I answer That walking and talking are naturall actions to man and yet he learns both when he is a child So I have seen old birds teach their young ones to flye Lastly if it be naturall for beasts to swim because of their posture then it must needs be as naturall to those wilde men who from their infancy were brought up among wild beasts to walk upon all foure having no other posture CHAP. XI 1. The Pictures of the Pelican Dolphin Serpent Adam and Eve Christ Moses Abraham and of the Sybils defended 2. The Pictures of Cleopatra of Alexander of Hector of Caesar with Saddle and Stirrops maintained THe Doctor Book 5. c. 1. quarrels with some pictures as 1. With that of the Pelican opening her breast with her Bill and feeding her young ones with her blood But for this he hath no great reason for Franzius de animalib to whom he is beholding for much of his matter tels him that this and divers other pictures are rather Hieroglyphical and Emblematical then truly Historicall for the Pelican was used as an Emblem of paternall affection among the Gentiles and of Christs love to
meant Gluttons and Drunkards who being buried in sleep and wine are little better then dead carcasses with long necks as this Philoxenus was whose belly was his God of whom it is recorded that when he saw a dish of good meat he would spit upon it that he might enjoy it all alone Yet the Doctor denies this wish upon no other ground but because it was absurd Sure this is no ground at all for it is no unusall thing with Gluttons and Drunkards both to wish and doe absurdly His wish was not so ausurd as that of Midas vvho vvished all he touched might become gold or that of Heliogabalus vvho vvished and longed that he might eat the Phoenix being the onely single bird in the World Again this vvish of Philoxenus was not so absurd as the Doctor thinks for though the Tongue be the organ of tast yet the Oesophagus cannot be altogether tastlesse seeing there is one common membrane which is nervous to it and the Tongue Now the membrane of the Tongue is the medium of tast vvill any man say then There is no tast or pleasure in deglutition We find by experience how unpleasant to the throat is the discent of bitter pills or potions so that I could never yet swallow a bitter pill be it never so small That there is much pleasure in deglutition of sweet meats and drinks is plain by the practice of those vvho to supply the vvant of long necks use to suck their drink out of long small Canes or Quils or glasses with long narrow snouts And others for vvant of these vvill tipple leasurely and let their liquor glide down the throat gently and by degrees therefore doubtlesse Philoxenus knew that a long neck conduced much to the pleasure of eating and drinking which made him vvish for a Cranes neck that he might enjoy for some longer time the relish of his delicate viands which gave the name afterwards to dainties and sweet meats for they vvere termed Placontae Philoâ—eniae Again when he saith That it had been more reasonable if Philoxenus had wished himselfe a Horse because in this animall the appetite is more vehement he is deceived for the vehemency of the appetite is no pleasure but pain there is no pleasure in hunger and thirst but in eating and drinking And indeed there is no reason that he who loved fish and sweet meats so well should with himselfe a Horse vvho must content himselfe vvith Oats and Hay and somtimes vvith dry straw without any sawce he should rather have vvished himself to have been Apuleius his Asse who sometimes filled his belly with good pies and other dainties Lastly when he saith That canorous birds have short necks and that long necked birds are not musicall I answer It is not the length of the neck that hinders medulation but the widenesse thereof For which cause youth before puberty women Eunuchs have more melodious voyces then men whose aâ—pera arteria vvith other vessels are dilated by the heat of the Testicles For therwise we find that the length of the neck is ahelp to singing Hence birds thrust out their necks when they chant which the Poet intimates when he saith Longa canoros dant per colla modos Therefore the proportionable length of wind-instruments doth conduce to modulation CHAP. XV. 1. Heavy bodies swim in the dead sea and the Ancients in this point defended 2. Crassus had reason to laugh at the Ass eating Thisâ—tles Laughter defined in laughter there is sorrow in weeping joy 3. That Christ never laughed proved 4. Fluctus Decumans what THat heavie bodies will not sink in the Lake Asphaltites or dead sea of Sodome is affirmed by Aristotle Solinus Diodorus Iustin Strabo Plutarch Iosephus and others and confirmed by the practice of Vespasian casting into that lake captives bound vvho sloated and sunk not Besides that it stands with reason for salt vvater will support heavie burthens much more will that vvater which is thickned with a forcible ebullition of Sulphur and Biâ—umen yet the Doctor Book 7. c. 15. will not believe but that heavy bodies doe sink there though not so easily as in other waters Therefore rejects Pliny's swimming of Bricks Mandevils Iron and Munsters burning Candle which sinks not there as fabulous yet all this may be true for the ebullition may be so forcible the water so thickned with the Bitumen the sulphurous vapours and spirits â—o violently tending upward that they may waft up Bricks and Iron and not suffer them to sink A greater wonder then this may be seen in those that write of AEtna Vesuvius the burning hills of Island and America whence are belched out and elevated into the air great stones by those fiery vapours which issue out of those Vulcans Within these twenty years Vesuvius cast out great stones above twenty miles distance And therefore it is no such wonder for a burning Candle to swim which being extinguished sinketh for the flame adds levity to it But let us see the Doctors reasons 1. Iosephus saith he affirms that onely living bodies float not peremptorily averring they cannot sink but that they doe not easily descend Answ. The words of Iosephus are these de bel Iud. l. 5. c. 5. The most heavy bodies that are being cast into this Lake float upon it neither can any man be â—asily drowned there though he would Here Iosephus speaks both of living bodies that though they vvould they cannot sink easily they may force themselves perhaps to dive under the water but not vvithout difficulty and he speaks also of the heaviest things in generall Aristotle saith he speaks lightly thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and esteemeth thereof as a Fable Answ. Aristotle speaks not lightly but seriously of this Lake for from the quality of supporting heavy bodies he deduceth one of his prime Arguments to prove the salsedinous quality of the Sea But the Doctor deceiveth himselfe in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if this did still signifie a fabulous relation whereas in that place and elsewhere it signifieth a serious narration So confabulari in Latin doth signifie conference of serious matters for the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to speak not to tell Fables from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word or speech In Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a grave and serious speech made by Agamemnon So in the same Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to speak and discourse The like in Phocylides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be moderat in eating drinking speaking Andrew Thevet saith he saw an Asse cast therein and drowned Answ. So saith Camerarius indeed and I will not question the truth of Thevets narration there may be diuers reasons of this the violent hurling of the Asse with his burden under the vvater 2. His sudden suffocation by the sulphurous exhalations 3. The Lake in all places thereof and at all times hath not the same violent ebullitions but sometimes there is remission The Asse then
no intentions nor remissions the form then being simple and indivisible cannot be made up of two so that two seeds cannot concurre as two efficient causes to make up a third entity For Ex ' duobus entibus per se non fit unum ens per se. Again wee see that trees and plants are generated of one seed without copulation for the earth concurres not by affording another seed to propagate but as the matrix to cherish and foment So in fishes which have no distinct sex there is generation notwithstanding because in them there is seed which is the onely active principle of generation Again that outward shape or form which the Mule hath was not induced by the formative faculty of the females seed for there is none as we have shewed much lesse of the blood for the plastick vertue resideth not in the blood but in the Males seed which of its own particular nature endeavours to form a Horse but finding the Asses blood being united now and coagulated with and by the Horses seed uncapable to receive that form of the Horse is retreated by the superior and generall formative faculty which aiming at the production of a new species for the perfection of the Universe generates a Mule Hence we may inferre that Mules were not the invention of Ana except we will conclude that the world was imperfect till that time which were an injury to God who made the world perfect but perfect it could not be till the production of this species for Perfectum est cui nihil deest The Doctors second Argument Exercit. 34 is taken from the production of the egge which Aristotle holds is generated by the Hen and which hath also vegitation from her Hence he inferres That according to Aristotles mind the Hen is an active principle in generation Answ. From hence it will not follow That the Hen is an active principle in the generation of the Chick because she furnisheth the Egge which is the materials of the chick for so in other animals the female furnisheth blood which is the matter of which the Embryo is made and yet she is not as we have said an efficient cause of generation but the male onely by his seed neither will it follow that vegitation doth still presuppose generation for in many individuals there is a vegitive soul and yet no generation so there is in some species as in Mules in adianthum or capillus veneris which we call Maiden-hair and divers other hearhs which generate not though they have vegitation But when Aristotle saith The egge is generated in the Hen or that the female generates in her self he takes generation in a large sense for any way of production so we say water is generated of air and worms of purrid matter and yet neither the one nor the other is the efficient but the materiall cause onely of generation And though we should yeeld that the Hen were the efficient cause of the egge yet it will not therefore follow that she is the efficient cause of the Chick for that is onely the Cock as Aristotle holds though in the woman there is a working faculty of her blood yet there is no working faculty in her of the child or Embryo that is meerly from the plastick power of the fathers seed II. Now let us see Fernelius his Arguments l. 6. de hom prâ—creat the first whereof is this The womans seed hath no other originall from the testicles and vessels then the males seed hath therefore in her seed there is a procreative faculty Answ. 1. We deny that there is seed in the woman properly so called 2. If it were so that she had seed yet it will not follow that it is prolificall for it must be concocted spirituous because the spirits are the prime instruments of Nature in generation but the the womans seed is crude because that Sex by nature is cold being compared to the man as both Aristotle and Galen affirm and experience doth evince for the woman is much weaker and slower then the man whereas strength and agility argues plenty of spirits and calidity The mans hairs also are more curled stiffe and strong then the womans which shews more heat The womans voyce is weaker and smaller which argues the narrownesse of the vessels and consequently defect of heat and because the woman is lesse hot and dry then the man Hence it is that she abounds much more in blood which in man is dried up Besides the woman is the more imperfect Sex her seed therefore must be imperfect and consequently not fit to be the principall or efficient cause of so noble an animall as man Aristotle observeth that boyes in the mothers womb are more lively and nimbler then maids that they are sooner formed in the matrix and that the woman sooner groweth to her height and sooner decayeth her strength quickly fails her and old age assaults her soonest Secondly he proves That the child drawes 〈◊〉 Gout Stone Epilepsie and other hereditary diseases from the mother who was subject to these her selfe Answ. This will not prove that the mother is an active cause in generation or that the formative faculty â—â— the cause of diseases which rather are to be attributed to the matter of which the similar parts are formed then to the active principle of generation whereas then the woman â—â—rnisâ—â—th blood of which our bodies are made up it is no marvell if with the blood she imparts to the child whatsoever infirmitie is in it and not onely doth the mother by her blood but the father also by his seed communicate diseases to the child for the same seed which is the efficient cause of generation is also the materiall cause of infirmities and diseases Hence many times gowry fathers beget gowty children His third Argument is The child oftentimes resembleth the mother therefore her seed must needs be active Answ. That the child for the most resembleth the mother proceedeth not from any agencie of her seed but from the strength of her imagination for otherwise the child would still resemble the father in whose seed alone resideth the formative faculty which because it is a naturall power depending from the generative and consequently inferior to the imagination which is an animall faculty that giveth place to this This force of the mothers imagination is plain by the divers impressions made on the tender Embryo upon her depraved imaginations by the stories of those women who have conceived children resembling the pictures hanging in their bed-chambers and by the practise of Iacob Gen. 30. in causing his Ewes to bring forth streaked Lambs according to the streaked rods put in their troughes when they drank II. There is no disease that more molests and tortures man then the Cholick which is so called from Colon the great intestine the torment of which hath made some to kil themselvs nor is there any malady that proceeds from more causes or hath more strange and