Another collection of philosophical conferences of the French virtuosi upon questions of all sorts for the improving of natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent. & J. Davies ..., Gent.

CONFERENCE CVII. I. Whether it be good to use Chymical Remedies? II. Whether the Reading of Romances be profitable?

ALL Sublunary Bodies having been created for the health of Man, who is the Rule of their Temperature, and the [ I] Judg and Arbiter of their Goodness; Physick considers them either as Aliments, or Medicaments, or Poysons. Aliments preserve Nature, which assimilates them. Poysons destroy and corrupt it, by communicating their malignant qualities. Medi∣caments are between both; neither being converted into our

substance, as Aliments; nor corrupting it, as Poysons: but ei∣ther evacuating the peccant humours, or altering Nature, to re∣store it to its natural temper, when they are rightly administred, and not otherwise; the former are call'd Purgative, the latter Alterative Remedies. All these Remedies were first found out by Experience, which gave place to the most ancient Sect of Physitians, call'd Emperica, invented by Acron, and afterwards supported by the two general Maxims of the Methodists, of whom Thessalus was Authour; which were, To loosen constipated Bodies; and, To stop the fluxions of others. Lastly, They have been authoriz'd by Reason, joyn'd to Experience; which hath given place to the most authentique Sect call'd the Dogmatists, or Rationalists, and Galenists, from their Author; proceeding upon Hippocrates's Principle, who cur'd Contraries by their Con∣traries; whereas the Chymists (call'd also Hermeticks from Her∣mes Trismegistus, and Spagyricks from the business of their Art, which is to separate and conjoyn Bodies) cure like Maladies by like Medicaments; which they say act by a propriety of their whole substance against Diseases; not by their temperament or various mixture of contrary qualities, which nevertheless are alone active; for no action can be between things perfectly alike, in regard one thing acts upon another only in order to assimilate the same; so that if it be already like, there will not be any acti∣on. Moreover by the reason of Contraries, since Health is pre∣serv'd by things of resembling Nature, it follows, That Disea∣ses must be cur'd by their Contraries. And as Health consists in Mediocrity; so Sickness, either in Excess or Defect: On which account, Physick is defin'd Detraction and Addition, because it retrenches what is superfluous, and supplies what is deficient. Now both Excess and Defect are increas'd by use of things alike. Wherefore the Chymical Principle being overthrown, all the Remedies founded thereupon ought to be suspected.

The Second said, That those two Principles which seem con∣trary one to the other, are not so, if rightly understood: For, when the Chymists say, That Similia curantur similibus, they speak not of Diseases, as the Galenists do, with whom they agree, That the same are augmented by use of resembling things; but of the part diseas'd, which (being the Seat of Affections against Nature) can alone be said to be cur'd, and not the Diseases; which being only a privation, errour, or disorder of the Body, cannot be capable of sanation, but only the parts of the Body; which the Dogmatists, as well as the Chymists, cure by Reme∣dies like in substance to the Nature of those Parts which they strengthen: For whatever is a Friend to Nature, call'd by Hip∣pocrates, Morborum Medicatrix, is also an Enemy to that which is against Nature.

The Third said, Since Remedies are the more excellent, by how much the neerer they come to our Nature; it follows, That Minerals, Metals, and all Fossiles, prescrib'd us by Chymistry,

having malignant and venomous qualities, are much more dangerous than the ordinary Remedies taken from Animals and Plants, which have life as well as we. However prepar'd, they always leave an evil tincture in the noble Parts, and whole Body, against which they act with violence; which they have not only of their own Nature, altogether remote from ours; but also from the Fire, which gives them an extraneous heat, contrary and destructive to ours; any dry heat being an enemy to the natural, which is humid and benign; and although they make use of Medicines extracted from Vegetables, yet 'tis with as lit∣tle success; since their purgative virtue depends on their tempe∣rament, which is wholly destroy'd by their Distillations and Ex∣tractions: Besides that, being all hot, they are unprofitable to all acute Diseases (ordinarily hot, and always the most dange∣rous) and noxious in Fevers, which are generally complicated with most Diseases. Moreover, all Remedies acting by the first, second, and third Qualities, which depend on a Matter temper'd after a particular Matter; therefore Mixts separated from rheir Matter, which serves for a base and foundation to the actions of the Form, lose their former force and virtue, which is more efficacious and sensible in a material and gross subject, as that of ordinary Remedies is, prepar'd by decoction or infusion, in Bolus, Powder, Opiate, Conserve, Lozenges, or such other so∣lid Body; than in an Essence, Spirit, or the like subtil and te∣nuious Body; which freed from its grosser parts, which serv'd to check it, flies like lightning into the Parts of the Body where∣in the Morbifick cause resides, which it can never subdue or eradicate, though its virtue should not presently vanish, but be preserv'd in the Body; which, besides being accustom'd to ma∣terial things, because they conserve and compose it, it often∣times receives great dammage from too subtil things; on which account, the Air of the Supreme Region cannot be attracted by the Lungs.

The Fourth said, That the Characteristical of a Good Medi∣cament being to Cure Speedily, Certainly, and Pleasantly; the Chymical, being such, ought to be not only employ'd, but also preferr'd above others. The speediness of their Effect is from their Forms, which alone are active, especially when depurated and loosned from Matter, a Principle purely passive, and inca∣pable of action. They are also agreeable and sure, as being de∣priv'd of their impurities, malignant qualities, bad smells and tastes, by means of the various degrees of Fire; whieh if it communicate an Empyreuma or Burntness to these Medicines, so it doth, not only to vulgar Remedies prepar'd by Fire, but also to all our Meats and Aliments. Besides, many of these Chymical Remedies are prepar'd with a moderate heat, as that of a Dung∣hill, Ashes, Balneum Mariae, which cannot give them such Em∣pyreuma: And should they all have it, yet being but an extraneous and adventitious heat, 'tis easily separated from them, either of

it self in time, or speedily by ablutions, wherewith even Preci∣pitate Mercury is render'd very gentle, and Antimony void of all malignity. What is objected of the violence wherewith Mine∣ral and Metallick Medicines act, by reason of their disproportion to our Nature, is as little considerable; since Hippocrates, and the ancient Physitians, us'd Euphorbium, Hellebore, Scammony, Turbith, Colocynthis, and such other most violent Remedies, which are still in use; and Galen employ'd Steel, Sandarach, burnt Brass, and the like Medicines, taken from Minerals wholly crude, and without preparation, which was unknown in his time. Rondeletius uses crude Mercury in his Pills against the Ve∣nereous Disease, whereof this Mineral is the true Panacaea: Car∣dan and Matthiolus, crude Antimony; Gesner, Vitriol; Fallopi∣us, Crocus Martis against the Jaundies; almost all Physitians, Sulphur, against the Diseases of the Lungs; and such Patients as cannot be cur'd by ordinary Remedies, they send to Mineral Waters. And since not only Garlick, Onyons, and Mustard, which we use in our Diet; but also the Juices of Lemmons, Ci∣trons, Berberries, and Cantharides, although corrosive, are still in use; why should we not use Chymical Medicines in small quantity, purg'd from their corrosion, and taken with conveni∣ent Waters and Vehicles?

The Fifth said, There is in all natural things a certain fix'd Spirit, the sole principle of their Virtues and Operations; which being separated from them, they remain only Carcasses without Souls: As is seen in Earth, render'd barren by extraction of its ni∣trous Salt; in Wine dead or sowre; and in the insipid phlegm of the same Wine, separated from its Spirit by Chymical distillation, which separates the good from the bad, the pure from the im∣pure, the subtil from the gross, the form from its more crass matter; in a word, the Spirit from its Body; which being im∣pregnated with the virtue of the whole Mixt, reduc'd into a ve∣ry narrow Volume, is very active and proper, not only to serve for Aliment to an Animal, which is nourish'd with this Spirit, the rest being unprofitable, and as such converted into Excre∣ments; but also principally for the curing of Diseases, by repair∣ing and strengthning the fix'd Spirits, which are the true feats of Diseases, as well as of Health; a Disease being nothing but the laesion of the Functions, whereof the Spirits are the Principles; whereas ordinary Physitians, instead of separating the virtues of each Mixt, to oppose the same, as Specifical Remedies to all Diseases, as the Chymists do, stifle and destroy them by the confus'd mixture of abundance of Simples and Drugs, whereof their Medicaments are compounded, which by this means ac∣quire a new temperament and particular virtue, resulting from the ingredients, whose qualities and properties are abated, or rather extinguish'd; in like manner as of the Elements uni∣ted together is made a Compound wholly different from its prin∣ciples. Wherefore we may justly retort against such Remedies,

what they charge upon those of Chymistry; namely, That they are taken from dead Ingredients, corrupted and depriv'd, by the Fire, of their Radical Humidity, wherein, consisted their prime purgative virtue, which is not so easily dissipated; since when a Nurse takes a Purge, the strength of the Physick is convey'd by her Milk to the Child; and we feed she-Goats and Pullen with Purgatives, to render the Milk of the one, and the Flesh of the other such. However, since there, are so many incurable Diseases, whose causes are sufficiently known, but to which no Specifical Remedies are found; Chymistry, which opens the means there∣unto by the solution of all Bodies, ought to be cherish'd, and not condemn'd, as it is by the ignorant or malicious, who must at least acknowledg it one of the members of Physick, as be∣longing to Pharmacy, which consists in the choice and preparati∣on of Medicaments, and is part of the Therapeutical Division. But we say rather, That the three parts of Medicine, or its three ancient Sects, are the three parts of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa; and Chymistry is that new World, lately discover'd, not less rare and admirable than the others, provided it be as carefully cultivated, and rescu'd out of the hands of Barbarians.

Upon the Second Point it was said, That Truth is not the [ II] most powerful thing in the World; since oftentimes Fables and Romances have more attractives, and no fewer followers than Histories; as the Poets meant to signifie by the Fable of Pigmalion, who fell in Love with a Statue. For Romances, which are nothing else but the Images of a phantastick Beauty, are ne∣vertheless lov'd and idolatris'd by abundance of Persons; not only for the Eloquence, whose fairest lines are seen in those fa∣bulous Books; but for the Gracefulness and Gallantry of the actions of their Personages, which may serve for a perfect mo∣del of Virtue; which having never been found compleat in all points in any Illustrious Man, whose Life is always blemish'd with some spot, History cannot give us a perfect example to imi∣tate, unless it be assisted by Romances; without which, Narra∣tions purely Historical, describing a naked fact, are but excar∣nated Sceletons, and like the first lines of a Picture grosly trac'd with a Crayon, and consequently disagreeable, if artifice give them not colour and shadows. Thus Xenophon, and in our times Don Guevara, aiming to draw the Model of a perfect Prince, one in the Person of Cyrus, the other of Marcus Aureli∣us, have heap'd together so many contrarieties to Truth, that they have made rather Romances of them than Histories. Thus Achilles's exploits appear far otherwise in Homer than in Dictys Cretensis; those of Charlemain, in Eginard and Ariosto, than in the Annals: 'Tis to Romances that they owe half their Glory; and if their Example hath given any excitation to the Readers Spirits, 'tis what the Romances aim'd at, not the Histories. The Romancer is the Master and Contriver of his Subject; the Hi∣storian

is the Slave of it. And as by refraction of the visual rays, variously reflected in a triangular Glass, is form'd an Iris of colours, which although not real yet cease not to please; so by the variety of those accidents, variously interwoven with the mixtures of Truth and Fiction, is form'd so agreeable a Medley, that it delights more in its Inventions than the Body of an uni∣form History; from which Romances borrowing the most me∣morable accidents, may be term'd the Essence and Abridgment of the same, re-uniting all the Beauty, Pleasure, and Profit which they afford: For these Books serve not only for delight, but profit; the one never being without the other; since Fair, which is the object of Delight; and Good, of Profit; are reci∣procal and inseparable: And the pleasure we take in any thing is an infallible mark of its goodness and utility; which is so much the greater in Romances, as they instruct with pleasure, artifi∣cially marrying Benefit and Delectation. Under supposed Names they freely tax, without incurring the envy or hatred of those whom they reprehend. Thus the Prophet Nathan by a Pa∣rable drew from David the condemnation of his Crime; which otherwise possibly he would never have own'd, or at least would have excus'd in his own Person. As for the abuse and danger of reading these Books, for the most part fill'd with dishonest Loves 'tis common to them with the best things of the World, that they may be turn'd to a bad use: But if the Love be honest and lawful (as it proves always in conclusion) the Romances deserve no blame for it; if unlawful, the Lovers have always an unhap∣py end; and Vices are never unpunish'd. 'Tis here that Distri∣butive Justice is exactly kept; not by the blind Judgment of Fortune, but by the judicious choice of the Author; that the Good are always rewarded, and the Wicked punish'd. For the object of Romances, as well as of Histories, is the description of humane actions; which being most often bad, by reason of the depravation of Nature, they appear more scandalously in History than in Romances. Why therefore do not their Censors likewise proscribe Histories, so much more dangerous, as they afford us many true examples of Sacriledges, Parricides, Adulte∣ries, and Incests, the Authors whereof have escaped punishment. And not to speak of the dangerous Maxims of Tacitus and Poly∣bius; Who would take the Fables of Herodotus, and the Prodigies of Livie, for more probable things then those of Romances? To omit the contrariety of Historians of the same time; so that we may say, That the truest amongst them is the most likely.

The Second said, If the Platonists saying be true, That there is nothing real in this World; but we perceive only shadows and phantasms in this life, which the Scripture compares to a Dream; there will be little difference, as to realty, between a History and a Romance. And though the one be a meer fiction, yet this will no more infer the despising of it, than it doth of a Comedy, because the Actors are not the very Personages; or of

a Landskip or Perspective well drawn, only because 'tis the In∣vention of the Painter, and not of Nature; whose Works, as excellent as they are, yet yield to those of Art, which we esteem above the true and natural, from which the same are counter∣feited; our minds extreamly delighting in Imitations; whence it is that we so much esteem in their Copies and Representations such things whose Originals are disagreeable to us. But that which augments the glory of Romances is, that their declared enemies have not been able to encounter them but by Romances too; as Plato and Isocrates could not reprehend the Sophisters, but by making use of their Eloquence.

The Third said, That Romances are commonly either of the valorous Exploits of Knights, or of Amorous pass-times. The first are for the most part ridiculous, and full of Knights Errant, who force Enchanted Castles, kill Monsters, Giants, and Men like Flies. The latter are infamous, contrary to Good Manners, and dangerous to young Persons, entertaining them in a loose Idleness, the Mother of all Vices; besides the dangerous impres∣sions those Lies leave in tender Minds, and which remain therein all their life after. But this belongs to all fabulous Discourses, that they denote weakness of Judgment in those addicted to them, and a disorderly Wit in their Authors. And since, accord∣ing to Physitians, the first degree of Folly is to imagine phanta∣stical Opinions; and the second, to tell them to others; the third (in my conceit) will be, to write them.

Notes

• Whether it be good to use Chymical Remedies?
• Whether the reading of Romances be profitable.