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IF the Patient be in good plight of body, fat and corpulent, the first thing wee doe, we must let him bleed, in the Hepa∣tica in the right arme, such a proportio∣nable quantity of blood, as shal be thought convenient both for his disease, complex∣ion;
and strength of body; as wee have al∣ready shewed in the Chapter of Preven∣tion of Love-Melancholy, Because that, as the Schoole of Salernes hath it,
Exhilarat tristes; iratos placat; Amantes, Ne sint Amentes, Phlebotomia facit.
Phlebotomy makes those that are sad, Mer∣ry: appeaseth those that are Angry: and keepes Lovers from running Mad.
But if the disease bee growne to that ripenesse, as that the party affected hath his Iudgement and Fancy perverted, I would then advise to open the Median, or Common veine, (which Rhasis, & Al∣mansor call, Ʋena Matrix, seu Cardiaca; as Valleriola also counselleth: alwaies observing this rule, that if the blood runne black, grosse, and very thick, we may then take away a good quantity of it: but if it be of a good colour, thin, and cleare; wee must then presently stop the Veine; accor∣ding to the prescriptions of Galen, Avi∣cen, and their Sectaries.
After this generall Evacuation of blood hath been performed, for the correcting
of the Intemperature of the Liver, & the spending of some part of the Melancholy blood: I come next of all to the opening of the Saphena, or Ankle Veine, especially in Women, who in this disease are com∣monly troubled also with the Suffocation of the Matrix, or the Vterine Fury: be∣cause that by this meanes there will bee the greater and more easy Revulsion of the Humours. For it is Hippocrates his ad∣vise, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: Revellen∣da ea sunt, quae, quò non oportet, vergunt. Besides, those parts that are situate be∣low the Kidneyes, have greater Affinity, (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) & Correspondence with the Veines of the Hamme, or Ankle, then they have with those of the Arme.
Some Physitians will have some blood to be taken from the Veines in the Fore∣head, either with an Instrument, or else with Horseleeches. But I should rather preferre the opening of the Salvatella in the left Arme: which I have found by ex∣perience to have beene very good for the Cure of any disease, proceeding from Me∣lancholy.
Or else I would provoke the Fluxe of
the Haemorrhoids, as being a very sure re∣medy, and very necessary also in the cure of all Hypochondriacall Melancholy: be∣cause that by this Fluxe, the Spleen, and Mesentery discharge themselves of all grosse, and earthy Humours, that cause ob∣structions in those parts. And this course is commended unto us both by Hippocra∣tes in his Aphorismes, and Epidemicks, & also by Galen, in his Tract de Mania, and in his Comment upon the 25. Aphorisme of Hippocrates, lib. 4. the words whereof are these: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The opening of the Hae∣morrhoids is the surest remedy both for the Cure, and the Prevention of any Me∣lancholy disease.
The Varices have almost the same ver∣tue, that the Haemoroids have, if they chance to happen in this disease of Love-Melancholy; by reason that the Melancho∣ly Flatuosities are conveighed away from the Privy parts, where they would other∣wise provoke a desire to Venery; and are derived to the Veines in the Thighs, and other Varicall Veines: according to the
opinion both of Aristotle, and all our Mo∣derne Physitians.
But I must needs confesse, for my own part, that I have found the Ʋarices to bee of very litle, or no force at all in this case. And therefore I should rather substitute instead thereof, as Arnaldus also adviseth, Couping-glasses, applyed on the Legs, or Thighs, with sufficient scarification: or else apply to the same parts, one, or two Potentiall Cauteries. But if the Clitoris, by reason of its length, be the cause of this Furious Desire, as it very often happens so to be, it must then be taken shorter, accor∣ding to the manner prescribed by Mos∣chio, and Albucasis: unto whom I must referre you, because I desire to avoid Te∣diousnesse.
And in case these Remedies availe not, and the disease still growes stronger, in so much that it may be feared, that without some speedy redresse, the Patient will grow Wolfe-mad: you must then open the Arme Veines, and let them bleed, till the party is ready to fall downe for faint∣nesse, and losse of blood: and you must also apply an Actuall Cautery, if the party can
endure it: otherwise you must be content with a Potentiall Cautery applyed to the Forehead; as both Aegineta, Oribafius, Avicen, and other Authors of good note informe us, in their severall Tracts de Ly∣canthropia, Lycaone, Lycano, Alchatrab, and Alcutubut, into which disease this of Love-Melancholy doth many times dege∣nerate: as Avicen affirmes, in his Chapter de Ilisco, sive de Amore.