Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

De Butiro. cap. 73.

BUtter is called Butirum, & hath that name of Imbuendo, moysting & ham∣ming, as Hugution saith, for by the fat∣nesse thereof and moysture, butter moy∣steth those bodies which he toucheth, for butter is the flower of milke, and is full hot and moyst, with mastry of aire, and therefore it is right fat: for Butter is kindly hot and moyst, gleyming and fat, and nigh according to the complec∣tion of mankinde as Isaac saith, and so Butter ofte eaten maysteth the stomack, and laxeth the wombe, and namely if it be fresh and new. Therefore men in old time, lykned butter to oyle medled with fatnesse: and sayd, that who y^t wold take it, it would helpe him to spet, & cleanse the breast and lungs, and namely if ther be a postume therin, for it ripeth & tem∣pereth and cleanseth the superfluities of the breast, and namely if it be eaten w^t Sugar or with honie: but then it ripeth the lesse, and helpeth the more to recoue∣ring, as he sayth. And he saith ther, that Butter is contrarye to venimme, and maketh the members moyste: and washing thereof softneth the rough∣nesse of the eyen, and purgeth and clean∣seth the eyen, and ripeth and breaketh the postumes, and helpeth wonderfully the wounds of the lunges, and in lyke∣wise the throate and of the breast, and abateth fretting of the guts and of the reynes, and softeneth and slaketh sin∣newes that be astonied or shronke, or destroyed with the Crampe, as he saith. And Auicen sayth, that butter taken in∣to the body, is a singular helpe against venime, if he that is poysoned, melteth butter in hot milke, and drinketh there∣of a great quantitie: for the softnes ther stoppeth y^e waies, so y^t the venims there∣of may not sodainly come to the heart. Also Butter draweth all the venimme to it selfe, and maketh it cleane toge∣thers, and bringeth it out of the body, by perbraking and spewing, as hee sayeth.

Butter is made in this wise, y^e creame is gathered in a cleane vessel, & is long beaten with an instrument of tree,* 1.1 that is made therefore, the which instrument

is round and broad, with an hole there∣in:* 1.2 and the creame is beaten and stirred therewith, and by that stirring, kinde heate is excited and comforted in y^e sub∣staunce of milke, and therby all the fat∣nesse is gathered togethers, and fléeteth aboue, and the whey that is thin & wa∣try, with ch••sie part staketh downe to the ground, as it were giuing the ouer place to the butter, as to the more noble part and worthye, and then the Butter that fleeteth aboue, and is gathered and kept in a cleane vessell, for diuers vses, and needfull: and the more fresh and new the butter is, the better it is: the more sauery it is, the more lyking it is to the tast. Fresh butter is fléeting and softe, but kinde heate hath more maste∣rie ouer the moyst partes, and wasteth them litle and litle, and maketh the but∣ter some deale harde, and butter féedeth well, and nourisheth well, and maketh potage fattie and sauourie, and is there∣fore ofte put therein in stéede of greace and of oyle, and is some deale salted, that it may the better be kept, and that his potentiall moysturs may be tempe∣red with the drinesse of the salte. For it is more lyking to the taste when it is meanly salt. And when butter is olde, the sauour thereof appaireth, and the O∣dour also, and turneth into heauie sauor and smell, and is grieuous to the taste, and is not then worthy to make fat and sauourye, but it is good to diuers medi∣cines and oyntments: for often it hap∣peneth, that thing which accordeth not to the throate, accordeth to some medi∣cines.

(* 1.3Butter is also nourishing, and pro∣fiteth to them, which haue humours su∣perfluous in the breast, or lungs, & lack∣eth riping and cleansing of them, speci∣ally if it be eaten with sugar and honie. If it be well salted, it heateth and clean∣seth the more.)

Notes

• * 1.1

  In a Charne.
• * 1.2

  In some s••••es, they beat y^e creame in a payle vvith the flat of the hand, and to bring it to butter.
• * 1.3

  Additiō