Pharmacopœia Londinensis, or, The London dispensatory further adorned by the studies and collections of the Fellows, now living of the said colledg ... / by Nich. Culpeper, Gent.

CHAP. 3. Of Medicines apropriated to the Heart.

THese are they that are generally given under the notion of Cordials, take them under that name here.

The Heart is the seat of the vital Spirit, the foun∣tain of life, the original of infused heat, and of the natural affections of man.

So then these Two Things are proper to the Heart.

• 1. By its heat to cherish life thorow out the Bo∣dy.
• 2. To add vigor to the Affections.

And if these be proper to the Heart, you will easi∣ly grant me, that it is the property of Cordials to ad∣minister to the Heart in these Particulars.

Of Cordials, some cheare the Mind, some streng∣then the Heart, and refresh the Spirits thereof, be∣ing decayed.

Those which checr the Mind are not one and the same; for as the Heart is variously disturbed, ei∣ther by Anger, Love, Fear, Hatred, Sadness, &c. So such things as flatter Lovers, or appease the An∣gry, or comfort the Fearful, or please the Hateful, may well be called Cordials; for the Heart, seeing it is placed in the middle between the Brain and the Liver, is wrought upon by Reason, aswell as by Di∣gestion; yet these, because they are not Medicines, are beside my present scope.

And altough it is true, That Mirth, Love, &c. are actions, or motions of the Mind, not of the Bo∣dy; yet many have bin induced to think such Affe∣ctions may be wrought in the Body by Medicines, which some hold is done by an hidden property (the old Bush ignorant Physitians have run into) Others that denied any hidden quality in Medicines, held it to be done by Enchantment, and that is the only way of a thousand to lead people in ignorance, viz.

To tell them (when they cannot give, nor will not study a reason of a thing) It is Diabolical, and done by Sorcery. I could give a Reason of the former, if it were my present scope to speak of hidden proper∣ties; a very short time will discover the latter to be the greatest of Falshoods. But to return to my pur∣pose.

The Heart is chiefly afflicted by too much heat, by Poyson, and by stinking Vapors, and these are re∣medied by the second sort of Cordials, and indeed chicfly belong to our present scope.

According to these Three Afflictions, viz.

• 1. Excessive heat.
• 2. Poyson.
• 3. Melancholly vapors.

Are Three kinds of Remedies which succor the afflicted Heart:

Such as

• 1. By their cooling Nature mitigate the heat of Feavers.
• 2. Resist Poyson.
• 3. Cherish the vital Spirits when they 〈◊〉〈◊〉.

All these are called Cordials.

• 1. Such as cool the Heart in Feavers, yet is not every thing that cooleth Cordial, for Lead is colder than Gold, yet is not Lead Cordial as Gold is, some hold it Cordial by hidden Quality, others by Rea∣son, Because it cheers a mans heart to see he hath gotten Money, an Apish Reason, unbeseeming a Scho∣ler; for Pearls, taken inwardly, cool the heart, and cheer it exceedingly, and such a frigid Reason will no waies hold in that, what Medicines do by hidden Quality is not my task at present, it may be here∣after, only here let it suffice, that cool Cordials are such Medicines as are apropriated to the Heart, and let the Heart be afflicted with heat, else take them not, for fear of Cordials they prove ruptures, for the Heart is maintained by heat, and not by cold.
• 2. Such as resist Poyson, There is a two-fold re∣sisting of Poyson.

• 1. By an Antipathy between the Medicine and the Poyson.
• 2. By a Sympathy between the Medicine and the Heart.
• ...

  Of the First we shall speak anon, in a Chapter by it self. The latter belongs to this Chapter, and they are such Medicines, whose nature is to strengthen the Heart, and fortifie it against the Poyson, as Rue, Angelica, &c. For as the operation of the former is upon the Poyson, which afflicteth the Heart, so the operation of the latter is upon the Heart afflicted by the Poyson.

  To this Classis may be referred all such Medicines, as strengthen the Heart, either by Astral influence, or by likeness of substance, if there be such a like∣ness in Medicines, for a Bullocks heart is of like sub∣stanceto a Mans, yet I question whether it be Cor∣dial or not.

• 3. And lastly, Such as refresh the Spirits, and make them lively and active, both because they are apropriated to that Office, and also because they drive stinking and Melancholly vapors from the Heart, for as the Animal spirits be refreshed by fragant smels, and the Natural Spirits by Spices; so are the vital Spirits refreshed by al such Medicins as keep back Me∣lancholly vapors from the Heart, as Borrage, Bugloss, Rosemary, Citron Pills, the Compositions of them, and many others, which this Treatise will amply fur∣nish you with.