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 CCXXXI. Whether the King's Evil may be cur'd by the touching of a Seventh Son, and why? (Book 231)

THough this noisom Disease sometime fastens on several parts of the body, yet is there not any more sensible of its malice than the neck, which by reason of its being full of glandules, is extreamly troubled therewith, which happens as well by reason of their thin and spongy constitution, as their nearness to the brain, from which they receive the phlegmatick and excrementitious humours, more conveniently, than any of the other parts can be imagin'd to do, which are at a greater distance from it. And yet these last, notwithstanding that distance, are extremely troubled therewith, nay sometimes to such excess, that, if we may credit Johannes Langius in the first Book of his Medicinal Epistles, a Woman at Florence had the Evil in one of her Thighs, which being got out weigh'd sixty pound; and a Goldsmith of Amberg had another of the same bigness in a manner, neer his Knee. And what is much to be ob∣serv'd, is, that though the Evil seems to be only external, yet is it commonly preceded by the like swellings, which ly hid with∣in, and whereof those without are only the marks: which ob∣servation is confirm'd by the dissections made of those who are troubled with it, in whose bodies, after their death, there are

abundance of these Evils, whereof the Glandules of the Mesen∣terium and the Pancreas, which is the most considerable of any about Man's Body, are full, and which are commonly produc'd by Phlegm, the coldness and viscosity whereof do indeed contribute to their rebellion; but it is very much augmented by the exter∣nal and common Causes, such as are Air, Aliment, and Waters infected with some malignant qualities, which render it Endemi∣ous and peculiar to certain Nations; as for instance, the Inhabi∣tants of the Alps, and the Pyrenean Mountains, especially the Spaniards, who are more infected with this foul disease than any others, which is also communicated by succession, as most of the other diseases, which become hereditary by means of the Spirits, employ'd by the Formative Faculty in Generation, and carrying along with them the Character of the parts and humours of him who engenders, and imprinting them on the foetus. Hence it comes that for the curing of it, there is more requir'd than to administer the remedies commonly us'd in the cure of other tu∣mours, which must be dissolv'd or softened, that so they may be brought to suppuration, unless they can be consum'd and ex∣tirpated; but in this there must be some particular means used. And, not to mention that which is generally known to all, to wit, the touching of those who have this Evil by the King of France, and his Majesty of Great Britain, whom they heal by a miracu∣lous vertue, and a special priviledge granted those two great Monarchs by God himself; it is commonly affirmed, that the seventh Male-child, without any interruption of Females, hath the same advantage of healing this disease, by a favour which Theology calls gratia gratis data, and whereof many affirm, that they have seen the effects. These are attributed to the vertue of the Number Seven, so highly esteem'd by the Platonists, as con∣sisting of the first odd Number, and the first even and square num∣ber, which are Three and Four, and are by them called the Male and Female, whereof they make such account, that, accord∣ing to the Opinion of these Philosophers, the Soul of the world was made up of those two Numbers; and it is by their means that whatever is comprehended in it subsists. It is also for this Reason, that Children born in the seventh month, live as those born in the ninth; whereas such as are born in the eighth die. To this may be added, That the most considerable Changes of Man's Life happen in these several Septenaries, which number does not only contribute to his Conception, which is not perfect till the seventh day, after the Matter hath receiv'd the Virile Sperme, and to his Birth in the seventh month; but also to all the other accidents which happen to him in all the several Septe∣naries. For the Child begins to have some appearance of Teeth in the seventh month; at twice seven months he makes a shift to stand alone; at three times seven his Tongue is so far loos'd, that he speaks with some Articulation; at four times seven he goes steadily and confidently; at the age of seven years he ac∣quires

new forces, and renews his Teeth; at twice seven he is of ripe age, and capable of engendring; at three times seven he gives over growing, but becomes still more and more vigorous, till he hath attain'd to seven times seven, that is, to the forty and ninth year of his age, by some called the little climacterical year, as being the most compleat of any, in regard it consists of a perfect number multiply'd by it self, and in which there always happens some accident proceeding hence, that Nature being not able to forbear the doing of something, when she hath attain'd that sovereign degree of perfection, is forc'd to decline. It is therefore to be attributed to this compleat number, (which is called by the Greeks by a term which signifies Venerable) that the seventh Son cures the Evil, the cause whereof being malig∣nant, and, indeed, having something in it that is obscure, which Hippocrates calls Divine; it is not to be admired, that the curing of it should depend on a Cause equally obscure, and at so great a distance from our knowledge.

The Second said, That without having any recourse to so abstracted a Cause, as that of the vertue of the number Seven, which, being a discrete quantity, is incapable of action, which is reserv'd to such qualities only as are active; Nor yet to the Stars, which are at a greater distance from us; Nor yet to the force of the Imagination, which many think may produce that effect: Waving all recourse to these, I am of Opinion, that it is rather to be referr'd to the Formative Faculty, which producing a Male when the Seeds of the Parents are so dispos'd, as that what is more vigorous and strong hath a predominancy over the other which is less such, that is, when it continues still in the getting of a Male without any interruption to the seventh time, the rea∣son of it is, that these Seeds are still so strong and spirituous, that a Male is gotten instead of a Female, which is the production of those Seeds that are weaker and colder than the Masculine. Now the heat and spirits whereby Males are procreated, may communicate to them some particular vertue, such as may be the Gift of healing the Evil; which may be affirm'd with as good ground, as that the spittle of a Man fasting being well-temper'd, kills Serpents; and that it is held, many have heretofore had such a prerogative for the healing of certain diseases, by some parti∣cular qualities, depending either on those of their Tempera∣ments, or of their whole substance. Thus Vespasian, as Tacitus affirms in the fourth Book of his Histories, restor'd his sight to a blind Man. Adrian, as Aelius Spartianus relates, healed a Man born blind only by touching him. And Pyrrhus, King of the Epirotae, if we may believe Plutarch, in his Life, heal'd all that were troubled with the Spleen in his time, by touching their Spleen with the great Toe of his right Foot; of which Toe there was a far greater Opinion conceiv'd after his death, in that it was found intire, and not consum'd by the fire, as all the rest of his Body was. This vertue of healing thus after an extraordinary manner,

hath been deriv'd into some whole Families. There are to this day many in France, who affirm themselves to be of the Family of Saint Hubert, and have the gift of healing such as are bitten by mad Dogs. In Italy there are others, who make it their boast that they are of the Families of Saint Paul and Saint Catha∣rine: whereof the former are not afraid of Serpents, which, for that reason, they bear in their Coat; no more than these latter are of burning coals, which they handle without burning them∣selves. In Spain also, the Families of the Saludatores and the En∣salmadores, have the gift of healing many incurable diseases only by the Touch. Nay, if we may rely on common Tradition, we have this further to add, that it holds for certain, that those Children who come into the world on Good-Friday have the gift of heal∣ing several sorts of diseases, especially Tertian and Quartan Agues.

The Third said, That if the gift of healing the Evil depend∣ed on the vigour of the Principles of Generation, which meet in the seventh Male-child, it would follow that the eighth or ninth coming into the world consecutively, should more justly pre∣tend to that priviledge; inasmuch as the generative faculty dis∣covers a greater vertue and vigour in that production of a ninth Male-child without interruption, then it might do in that of a seventh. Which being not found true, it were absurd to look for the Causes of it in Nature, whose forces are not able to at∣tain an Effect so transcendent, and so much above her reach. It must therefore be a supernatural gift, which God bestows on certain persons, out of a pure gratuitous favour, and more for the ease and comfort of others, than out of any advantage to those who receive it; as are also the gifts of Prophecy and do∣ing Miracles. For it is a demonstration of God's Omnipotence, not to heal diseases only by ordinary means, the dispensation whereof he hath left to Physicians, who to that end make use of natural remedies, but to do the same thing without any assistance of Nature by extraordinary and supernatural means, in the ap∣plication whereof, he sometimes uses the Ministery of Angels, as in the curing of Tobit, and those sick people who came to the Pool at Jerusalem, after the water had been stirr'd by the Angel; sometimes by the Saints, of whom it is written, that the very shadow of their Bodies hath many times been effectual to that purpose, as was that of Saint Peter; and oftentimes those of other persons, to whom he had communicated the gift for reasons unknown to us; as he granted that of Divination to the Sibyls, though they liv'd in Idolatry.

The Fourth said, That Man was, potentially, all things; and that consisting of a Body exactly temperate, and of such a Soul as is the most perfect of forms, he comprehended in an eminent degree within himself all the vertues of things as well corporeal as animate. Whence comes it then, that he shall not have the vertues and properties which are observable not only in stones,

wherewith he participates Being, but also in Plants which are capable of Vegetation as well as he; Animals, with whom he hath motion, sense, and life; and lastly, in the separated Spirits, as having, answerably to them, certain powers that are spiritual and remov'd from materiality? And so, since the Vertue of healing Diseases is found in most Beings, which are of some nature with Man, it is but reasonable he also should have the same one, such as is the gift of healing the Evil, which happens principally in the Seventh Male-child, by reason of the perfection of his na∣ture, which performs all the most compleat functions in that number, which Hippocrates upon that occasion affirms to be the dispenser of life. Nay if there have been some who have had the Vertue of communicating several Diseases, by their sight and touching, as it is related of the Psylli, Tribales, Illyrians, and other Nations, who bewitch'd those whom they touch'd; and of him, whom Philostratus makes mention of in the life of A∣pollonius, who kill'd with his very aspect, as the Basilisk does; far greater reason is there that there should be some to commu∣nicate health. For though this latter, requiring more prepara∣tions and conditions, is so much the more difficultly transferr'd from one Subject to another then sickness is, yet the reason of con∣traries will have it so, that if the one is, the other may be com∣municated, and that with the greater justice, inasmuch as health, participating of the nature of good, ought to be more communi∣cative from one subject to another then sickness.