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AMonges all the thynges that muste be auoyded / somme men do meruayle, why salt is forbiddē to be vsed for the space of this dyete, consyderyng there is other tymes nothynge more holsome for mannes bodye: and they say, that they can nat perceyue, howe any hurte shulde comme therof in this disease. The whiche commeth all together of the
corruption and putrifaction of the bloode, seinge onely salte moste of all thynges pre∣serueth and defendeth from both these. And more ouer the nature of salt is to make fast and drye vppe, to bynde and clense: whiche proprete were thought moste metest and ne∣cessary to be ministred, to plucke vppe this disease by the rotes. Fyrste bycause the bo∣dye infected with the pockes, is loosed and shaken: secondly bycause the humours pro∣cede and flowe out from one mater: Third¦ly, whiche is the chiefe poynt of al, bicause the corrupt and infecte bloode is yet within the bodye vnpourged. For this syckenesse is no other thynge / than a certayne order & state of the body changed through the trou∣ble of the bloode: Euen as it hapneth in a cytie, whan a sedition & partakynge entreth into a commen welthe, and the cōmen peo∣ple be moued in theyr myndes: than are all thynges skattered abrode withoute order, and moued out of theyr places, nothynge hangeth to gether, nothynge standeth, no∣thynge abydeth, no quietnes, no peace, but all ful of trouble, vnto the whiche chaunge of the body, motion of membres, and sha∣kynge of ioyntes, with all suche troubles, there muste come some sadde and wyse fa∣ther,
a man of hygh auctoritie in the comen welth: for his godlynes and good deser∣uynges towarde all men (who as Virgyll sayth) maye gouerne and rule with wordes theyr hartes / and quiete theyr stomakes. So in lyke maner is it in salte / whiche as I sayde, through fastnyng, dryinge, bynding, and purgynge / dothe put to quietnes thyn∣ges, that are moued, dothe vnite and knytte thynges that are broken, doth bynde to ge∣ther thynges that are plucked aparte, doth make caulme and quiete thynges, that are troubled: and bryngeth quietnes and saue∣garde vnto all thynges: yea howe greatte a thynge and howe necessarie thoughte Plinie salte to be, sayinge without salte a mans life can not indure? And therfore say they, how can that hurte in this syckenes / whiche in o∣ther diseases conserueth all thynges? And for as moche as in this cure we muste take hede, that no corrupt humours be abundāt, and salte resolueth and clenseth all fylthye moystnes / and also kepeth down and restray¦neth the flowynge of the body: it is thought we shulde be more plentuous of salte herein than els where. Not withstandynge these reasons / we muste haue an other considera∣tion herein. And fyrste of all as moche as
appertaynethe vnto this disease, howe the sycke muste forbeare salte meates, not all maner, but onely suche as are very sharpe: Lette it be asked of the phisitions, whiche haue longe before tyme prosecuted that mat¦ter to the vttermost: for this tyme, seynge the medicine of Guaiacum is specyally in∣treated of, we may say, that though al phi∣sitions knowe the vse of salte, excepte it be very lyttell, to be noyous and hurtfull in all other passions of the synewes, and in su∣che diseases as sprynge of corrupte bloode, and of yelowe and blacke colour, or salte fleume, for so moche as with his tartnes, it sharpeneth coler, and burneth the bloudde, and with his na••iue dryenes causeth the hu∣mours and nutrimēt of the body to dry vp, and by that meanes distroyeth all thynges, that shulde helpe vnto helthe. Yet neuer the lesse aboute the administration of Guaiacum they forbede vtterly all maner vse of salt, for the same consyderation they forbede all sharpe thynges, and moreouer all thynges penetratiue: and amonges these, spices, and wyne. For so moche as all suche through theyr sharpenes and persynge power, do o∣pen all poores and entreyes / and go depe: whiche violence runnyng through the body,
cum can haue no place to worke. If these re∣sons do not satisfie those mens myndes / I wyll saye vnto them, as the philosophers saye of the stone Magnes, if it be anoynted with garlycke, it draweth not yron to hit, so lykewyse Guaiacum hath a certayne secret vertue / and can n••t tell whither it be as yet knowen, to abhorre specially the vse of salt, and whiche power is loste if salte ones come vnto it. And this haue we spoken of the for∣bearynge of salte in this cure. Nowe wylle we speake of the sklender fedynge and hun∣ger, wherwith the body muste be weakened and made leane, whervppon all the matter of this dyete hangeth.