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 CII. I. Of the Gowt. II. Which Condition is most expedient for the acquisition of Wisedom, Riches or Poverty?

THe Gowt, (called Arthritis, or Morbus Articularis) is the general name of all aches of the Joynts caus'd by fluxion, [ I] which gave it the name of Gowt; and is different, according to the divers connexions of the Bones, and the Parts which it af∣flicts, being term'd Podagra in the Feet, Chiragra in the Hand, and the Ischiatick ach (by the vulgar, Schiatica) in the Hip. Nevertheless every Articular Pain is not the Gowt, as appears by Contusions, Luxations, Wounds, and the Pains of Women after Child-birth; in Virgins after their Evacuation; and in Bodies in∣fected with the French Disease: But 'tis a Grief of the Parts in∣du'd with sense which are about the Joynts, accompanied some∣times with swelling, and caus'd by the fluxion of a sharp and se∣rous humour, transmitted out of the Veins and Arteries, into those Parts whose motion it hinders; and because the Feet are most remote from the source of heat, therefore Nature common∣ly drives thither the matter of this Malady, whereunto they are more dispos'd then other Parts, as well by reason of their composition of Nerves, Tendons, Veins, Arteries, Membranes, and Ligaments, spermatick and cold parts; as of their continu∣al motion, which gives occasion to the fluxion: Hence the Gowt begins usually at the Feet, especially at the great Toe, whose motion is greatest; which hinders not but that it begins too in the Hand, Knee, and Hip, and sometimes in the Sides; and if the matter abound, sometimes it seizes upon the Joynts with

such violence as would make Nature succumbe, were the fits continual, and not periodical, as they are; giving to some an interval of a year; to others, of six months, or less, according as there needs time for collecting the humour in those parts. The cause of this vehement pain is the acrimony of the corro∣sive and mordicant humour, which makes a solution of the parts, whose coldness renders this evil almost incurable, and makes it last fourty days; the pain not being appeasable, saving when the cause which produces it is resolv'd, whereunto the coldness of its subject is not proper.

The Second said, That in the Gowt, as in all sorts of Fluxions, four things are to be consider'd; the Matter which flows, the Place whence it comes, the Way by which it passes, and the Parts upon which it falls. As for the first, the Gowt hath some Matter; not being, as some hold, a simple Intemperies, which could not subsist so long, nor cause such pungent pains, much less a tumour, as it happens sometimes in the part afflicted, which cannot proceed but from the affluence of Matter: This Matter some affirm to be Wind, or Flatuosity, with as little reason; for then it might easily be resolv'd, and would cause only a pain of distension. Most hold that 'tis the four Humours, arguing from the diversity of Symptomes of this Disease, and the various manner of curing; some being eas'd by hot Aliments and Medi∣caments, others by cold: And lastly, from the different colour of the tumours, appearing sometimes red, white, or of some other colour, by reason of the blood, phlegm, or other humours which produc'd them: But though a very acute pain may in this malady, as it doth in all others, attract the humours which abound in the body, and so cause a tumour; yet this humour which makes the inflation, cannot be the cause of the Gowt; since at the beginning, and before the parts are inflated, the pains are very great; but cease and diminish upon the appearing of the Tumour. Some have held it to be Blood alone; others, Melancholy; some, Bile, in regard of its mobility and activity; many, following the authority of Fernelius, that 'tis a cold, phlegmatick, and serous humour, and that every Gowt is cold. Mercurialis observing that Blood could not cause such great pains, that Melancholy was too heavy and thick to be active, Bile too subtile to descend, and Phlegm too cold to excite such pungent pains and sudden motions, which cannot proceed from a cold cause; conceiv'd it was Phlegm mingled with Bile, the latter serving as a Vehicle to the former, and that former to precipitate and make this latter descend. Some others, confes∣sing their ignorance, acknowledg, Qu' on n' y void goutte, that they see not a jot in this Matter; referring this Disease to occult and malignant causes, acting by an unknown property, as con∣tagious and venemous diseases do. I conceive it to be a salt hu∣mour, subtile, and picquant, partaking of the nature of Salts, which are all corrosive; which acrimony and mordacity of this

humour is caus'd by the Salt or Tartar contain'd in its sub∣stance, or deriv'd to the Aliments (whereof the humours are produc'd) from the Earth, which is full of such Salt, Nitrous, or Tartareous Spirits, without which it would be unfruitful and barren, as is seen in Earth whence Saltpeter is extracted, which can never produce any thing. This Nitrous Spirit being all drawn out of the Earth by the Plants which serve us for food, and not being tameable by our heat, much less convertible into our substance (for an Animal is nourish'd with what is sweet, and hath had life, wherewith these Mineral Spirits were never pro∣vided) if the natural Faculty be strong, it expells them with the other unprofitable Excrements of the first concoction, and Urine and Sweat; and sometimes forms the Stone in the Kidneys, Blad∣der, or other Parts: But if it happens, either through the weak∣ness of the expulsive Faculty, or the quality of the Matter, or some other defect, that this Tartareous Spirit is not expell'd, then it is carry'd with the Blood into the Parts, and being unfit for nutrition, transpires by the Pores, if it be subtil enough; or else, in case it be thick, and cannot be resolv'd, flows back into the great Vessels, and thence into the Joynts, where sometimes it is coagulated into knots and grits, and turn'd into a hard mat∣ter, like chalk or plaister, (which shews, that the four Humours are not the matter thereof, since the same do not suppurate) ren∣dering then the Gowt incurable, and the Reproach of Physi∣ans, because they find no Cure for it; no more than for that of old Men, those who have a dry Belly, and who live disorderly: But 'tis curable, saith Hippocrates, in young people, in such as have no gritts or hardnesses form'd in the Joints, those who are laborious, obedient, and to whom some great Evacuations ar∣rive, many having been cur'd of it by a Dysenterie. As for the Place where it is form'd, and the Way whereby the Matter which causes this Evil, descends; most, with Fernelius, conceive 'tis the Head, not the internal part of the Brain, whose Excrements are easily voided outwardly by the Nostrils; or inwardly, by the Infundibulum or Tunnel, and other Cavities; but the outward part between the skull and the skin; which being too thick and compact to give issue to the phlegmatick and serous humours there collected, being begotten of the Excrements of the Jugu∣lar Veins, which are expanded over all these Parts, those serous and thin humours glide down between the Skin, and other Fegu∣ments, into the Joints: But the Place of this Nitrous Matter above-mentioned, are the Viscera of the Liver and Spleen, which generate this Matter two ways. 1. By the vitiosity of Ali∣ments impregnated with this Nitrous Spirit, which they plenti∣fully attracted from the Earth; whence it is that Wine, which hath more of this Spirit and Tartar then any other Aliment, is, by consent of all, very hurtful to the Gowt. 2. By their pro∣per vitiosity; namely, a hot and dry Intemperies; whereby, in∣stead of concocting, they adure the Blood, and so fix that salt

serosity, which is the Salt or Tartar extracted out of its sub∣stance: Unless you had rather say, That as in the Kidneys of Persons subject to the Stone, there is a certain arenaceous or la∣pidifick constitution, proper for producing the Stone; so in the Viscera of those who are subject to the Gowt, there is a particular arthritical disposition, apt to beget that tartareous matter which produces it. The Way whereby this Matter is expell'd is the Veins and Arteries; these Vessels manifestly swelling when the fits of the Gowt begin. Moreover, as this Disease unexpectedly invades, by a sudden afflux of the Matter; so it suddenly changes place, especially by means of Refrigerants and Repercussives, which drive the Gowt from one Foot to the other, or into the Hand, and other Parts; which cannot be done but by the Veins and Arteries. Lastly, The Parts upon which this Matter falls, and which are about the articulations, are membranous and sensible, because the Membranes being the first subject of Touch, ought to be also of Pain, a Symptom thereof.

The Third said, That the greatest difficulty was, Why this matter rather falls upon the Joints than other Parts, which are not incommoded therewith, neither the Nerves nor the Veins through which it passes, no more than the Membranes and sensi∣ble Parts; besides those which are about the Joints: The cause whereof may be, That as in health the Parts by a strange proper∣ty attract such humours as are fit for their nutrition; the Lungs, bilious Blood; the Spleen, melancholy Blood; the Kidneys, serous; the other carnous Parts, temperate Blood: so in sickness, and ill constitution of the Body, some of these Parts attract from all the rest certain humours wherewith they have most affinity: So in the new Disease call'd Plica Polonica, the viscous and gluti∣nous humour which produceth it, is chiefly carri'd to the hair, which it knotteth and inta••gleth together; and to the nails of the Hands and Feet, which it makes hard and black: And in the cure of Fracture of Bones, the Stone call'd Osteocolla taken in∣wardly is carried towards the broken Bones, and causes them to re-unite. In like manner, the Humour producing the Gowt hath some affinity with the Bones of the Joints, especially with their Epiphyses.

The Fourth said, That the Gowty have wherewith to com∣fort themselves; not so much for that they foretel the changes of the Air and Seasons, as for that this Disease is a token of health, and an evidence of the strength and vigour of Nature, which from the noble Parts drives the vicious humours upon the Joints. But amongst its antecedent causes, the Air is not to be forgotten; especially the hot and moist Air of the Spring, thaw∣ing the Humours lately congeal'd by the Winter; to the vitio∣sity of which Air, is that popular Gowt to be referr'd of which Athenaeus speaks in the second Book of his Deipnosophists; which lasted twenty years, and afflicted two thirds of Men, Women, and Beasts; although some attributed it to the want of Mul∣berries,

which fail'd during those twenty years, and which, they say, are good against the Gowt, because they loosen the Belly, and correct the heat of the Stomach. Women, as Hippocrates saith, are exempt from the Gowt, saving in the suppression of their Evacuations; Children, before the use of Venery; and Eunuchs, always; although the intemperance and luxury of all of them hath produc'd contrary experiences, as well in this Age as in that of Seneca; which made the Poets say, That the Gowt was the Daughter of Bacchus and Venus; the first, engendring plenty of crude humours; the second, debilitating the heat, and cooling the Body; which being render'd laxe, the humours fall more easily upon the Joints. And to shew the oddness of this Disease; Anger, Fear, and Joy have oftentimes both given and cured it, the Humours being extreamly agitated by those Passions.

Upon the Second Point it was said, That Wisedom being a [ II] Habit mix'd of Science and Virtue, Poverty gives much more disposition to either than Riches; the Mind of a Poor Man be∣ing more capable of Knowledg than that of a Rich; either for that Nature compensates the want of the Goods of Fortune with those of Nature; or because Necessity and Hunger sharpens and renders them more subtile; or else because being free from the cares and pains caus'd by the conservation or acquisition of Riches, they have a more calm Spirit, and more capable of the Sciences, which require quiet and tranquillity of Mind. And as for Virtue, whose paths are so thorny, Poverty hath also many more accesses thereunto than Riches, not only in the Law of Grace, in which our Lord saith, That 'tis easier for a Cammel, or a Cable, to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; whereof nevertheless the gate is the practice of Virtues: but likewise in the moral sense of this present life, in which Poverty and affliction, according to the Scripture, gives Understanding and Prudence, teaches Tem∣perance, Sobriety, and Chastity (its inseparable companion) dis∣ciplines us to Patience, and to suffer couragiously the miseries of Life, the frequency whereof renders the Mind invincible. On the contrary, Riches are amost always accompanied with Vices most repugnant to Wisedom; as, amongst others, with Presum∣ption, Vanity, Voluptuousness, and Delicacy; the first of which is opposite to Science; for Pride proceeds only from Ignorance; the second to Virtue, which the Poet calls masculine and labori∣ous. Moreover, Nature shews us of what quality Riches are; for the sand that produces Gold is always extreamly barren and naked of all sorts of Fruits; and so are the Minds of those that possess it; and 'tis observ'd. That rich Nations, and such as live in a good soil, are the most vicious, lazy, and dull; whereas those who are in an unkind Land, are ordinarily more virtuous addicted to Industry.

The Second said, That as the Goods of Fortune, no less than those of the Body, are referr'd to those of the Mind, as the Means to their End; in like sort, the inconveniences both of Fortune and Body are hinderances in acquiring those Goods of the Soul, which are the perfection of its two principal Faculties, the Understanding and the Will; namely, Knowledg and Vir∣tue: For Knowledg, and the Arts call'd Liberal, require a gene∣rous and liberal, not a sordid and low Soul, like that of a Poor Man (whom Alciat's Embleme very well represents, by a Lad with one hand stretch'd up into the Air, with Wings fastened to it, intimating a desire to fly higher; but the other hand fastened to a heavy Stone, hinders him:) For their Spirit being loaden with misery, thinks of nothing but of the means how to live, and to be deliver'd from the heavy yoak of Necessity, which deprives them of the means of having either living or dumb Teachers; yea, makes them despise all the rigours of Laws, and oft-times abandons them to Rage and Despair, which makes them hate their miserable life, and renders them masters of those of others: Hence not only Mutinies, Seditions and Revolts are commonly made by the Poor and Miserable, lovers of Innova∣tion, wherein they are sure to lose nothing, and may possibly gain; but also are almost the sole Authors of Thefts, Murders, and Sacriledges. Whereas Rich Persons, having from their birth receiv'd such good Instruction as the poor want, are more stay'd in their Actions, and better inclin'd to Honesty and Vir∣tue, which without Fortunes or Estates can never produce any thing great and considerable; whence, in our Language, Riches are justly stiled Means; without assistance whereof, Justice can neither render to every one what belongs to him, nor repel the Enemies of the State by a just War, whereof Money is the Si∣new and principal Strength. Upon this account they are sought after by all the World, and are not only the end of the noblest part of Morality and Oeconomy, (Families, which are the Pillars of a State, not being preserv'd but by the lawful acquisition of Wealth; in which, for this reason, some Politicians place Nobi∣lity; but all agree, that they serve for an Ornament thereunto and heighten its lustre); but those who have parted with them cannot live without them, but are constrained to beg of others. And in Policy, whether Riches be acquired or come by succes∣sion, they are always in esteem; as on the contrary, Poverty is disparag'd with reproach, and is a sign either of baseness of Ex∣traction, or of Negligence and profusion. Hence a Poor Man is as unfit to be trusted with a Publick Charge, as with a sum of Money; and 'tis not without reason, that he who is distress'd with Poverty is extreamly asham'd of it, this defect hindring and being a remora to all his designs: Whereas Riches raise the Cou∣rage, incite to great Attempts, and serve for a spur to Virtue, which thrives by Praise and Glory, but freezes and languishes by the Contempt and Derision inseparable from Poverty; which

indeed hath been commended by the same Sacred Mouth which requires us to turn the other cheek to him that strikes us upon the one; yet this hinders not, but that (speaking naturally, as we do here) 'tis better to defend ones self, than to be beaten patiently.

The Third said, That in matter of Wisedom we ought to refer our selves to the wisest of all Men, Solomon; who prays God to give him neither Riches, for fear of Pride; nor Poverty, for fear of becoming a Thief; but a middle Estate: For, as too great Plenitude and an Atrophy are equally contrary to Health, which consists in a moderation and temper of qualities; so the condi∣tion of Persons extreamly Rich, and that of Begger (the degree here under consideration) is equally an enemy to Wisedom: And if in any case we ought to desire the Golden Mediocrity, 'tis in the acquisition of Wisedom, especially of Virtue, which consists in Mediocrity; either extreme whereof, is the Territory of Vice.

Notes

• Of the Gowt.
• Which Con∣dition is most expedient for the acquisiti∣on of Wise∣dom, Riches or Honour?