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IT was the Opinion of Hippocrates alwaies to pre∣pare the Body with hot and cutting Syrups before the purging Medicine be given, with this Proviso, That the matter be not so hot that it be thrust into the Veins and cause Feavers.
If your Purge must be strong, take some lenitive Purge, or else a Clyster before you take it, lest the passages being not opened, the matter being violent∣ly expelled be stopped in its passage, and so either Chollicks, or vehement Belly-ach, or worse mis∣chief follow.
Let it be two hours ere you drink, and four or five ere you eat after you have taken a Purge, and let your Stomach be empty when you take them.
1. Lest being mixed with the nourishment they lose their force, and so Nature convert them into nourishment, thereby corrupting the Blood.
2. All Purges are enemies to Nature, and if you mix them with food, Nature detains them the lon∣ger, and by consequence is the more prejudiced by them.
3. It is very unfitting to molest Dame Nature with two several motions at one time, viz. To ex∣pel the Purge and the obnoxious humor with it, and also at the same time to nourish the Body.
As for Lenitives or gentle Purges, and many Pills, they may safely be taken at night, as you were taught in the first part of my Directory, to which I refer you for Directions in all Purges, and I shall have a word or two to say concerning Vomits before I have done this Book: I refer it here therefore to its pro∣per place.
I shall here conclude with this Caveat, Never take sweet things after Purges, because the Liver draws them so greedily that they soon turn the Purge to ali∣ment, which if any thing will bring mischiefs more than enough to the Body, this will.