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THat the Diseases of this present Age are of another nature than they were in former times, is (I suppose) a matter out of question; but lest any should question, I will prove it;
and if that be once proved, then it can∣not be denied, that we must proceed by other definitions of their Nature, and indagations of their Causes, and invent other Remedies, and Reasons and Rules of Curation, than what have been deli∣vered by the Ancients; and not confine our selves to their Conceptions, Apho∣risms, and Inventions, more than they did themselves to the Dictates of those Physitians that were elder than they. It was a liberty which Hippocrates him∣self took, by strength of Reason, to judg and condemn the Opinions and Practi∣ses of such as went before him, and frame a Body of Physick of his own: He may be called the Father of the Four Ele∣ments, and of the Four Phantsies called Humours, which our Hippocrates (as some call him) Dr Harvey * 1.1 aproves not, and allows but one. The like freedom was used by his great Com∣mentator Galen, who made it his busi∣ness not only to trample and triumph over all other Sects at Rome (having the Emperour Antoninus, and his Son Com∣modus to Friend) but took a liberty to censure also the Oracle Hippocrates, and the succeeding Physitians, and, when he
pleased, to cashire them. In the 6. De Morb. vulg. Comm. 2. he saith, All things are to be examined by Reason and Experi∣ence, and calls those Physitians Slaves which are sworn to Authors. And in his second Book De Meth. Medendi, he calls their Learning tyrannical, which is im∣posed by Masters and Dictators. And in that Book of his, which he wrote on purpose to leave us a Catalogue of his own quarrelsom Works, he reprehends such Physitians as pin themselves on the sleeve of any one or more Doctors, say∣ing, I am of Praxagoras; or, I am of Hip∣pocrates: but being of a free temper, he explained, amended, altered, and added many things, and spoiled most, sparing neither Hippocrates, nor Plato, nor Chry∣sippus, nor Aristotle, nor any that were before him: Wherefore it was but rea∣son, that the learned Sanctorius, after he had shewn how foul this man fell upon Hippocrates's Aphorisms, should take the same license to set down his Errours, (as Avicenna, Averroes, and many others, have done likewise in a plentiful man∣ner): And now, that after so many Er∣rours of him and Hippocrates have been detected, and that it hath been made ap∣pear
by Vesalius, and others, that they erred, not only in their Administrations and Descriptions of the Fabrick of hu∣mane Bodies, but in the very principles of that Philosophy, which they settled, and others most pedantically have insi∣sted on ever since, and do insist on, as the foundation of Physick, and of whole Colledges of the profession in Europe; I cannot but with a kind of indignation break out into the language of Langius, present Publick Professor in the Univer∣sity of Lipsick, who in his Preface before the Book of that learned Jesuit Kirche∣rus, lately published, De Peste, declares, How exceedingly it hath troubled him to see his Brethren of the Faculty dwell only upon Commentaries (so most of them have spent their time since the days of Galen) and through a proneness to subscribe to the dictates of the Ancients, have been so sluggish as to acquiesce in them, and accord∣ing to their rude dogmatical Positions, to make enquiry after the Causes and Essences of Things Natural, and of Diseases, and Medicines, and deliver them over as sa∣cred to their Disciples. What is this (saith he) but to strangle Truth, and extinguish the vigour of mens Wits with meer Autho∣rities;
which should rather be fitted for great Things, and led on to more eminent searches into the Secrets of Nature? Let me tell them, as long as they are carried with this vain opinion of Authority, and so earnestly yield up themselves and their Followers Vassals to Authors, doubtless they do a great injury even to the Ancients themselves, seeing it never enter'd into the minds of Hippocrates, Galen, Aristotle, or the other old Sages of Natural Science, to consecrate their Works to Posterity, with such an intent as to count it necessary that men should presently be content with them only, and rest wholly therein; but rather, that they should remember to em∣ploy their Endeavors to search and proceed further, and produce somewhat of their own: For, as our Ancestors did abundant∣ly labour to add to their own Inventions, with as great exactness as might be, to the Inventions of such as went before them, and perform'd their utmost, by learned Ob∣servations, to illustrate such things as to them seemed difficult and obscure; so it is our duty so to reverence the fair Monu∣ments and Inventions of good Authors, and so apply our selves to the Inventors, as an Inheritance belonging to many; and
acquit our selves in such a manner as good Fathers of Families use to do, who study how to enlarge and encrease what they have received, and transmit that Inheritance from themselves to their Posterity, much augmented, that so, I say, we may look on those who are gone before us with so many illustrious examples of their Industry, not as our Lords and Masters, but Leaders, reckoning with Seneca, That there yet re∣mains much work to be done; and that very much is like to remain always; and that after a thousand Ages more, men will not want occasion to make new Discoveries and Additions.
Mens not being perswaded of this, is the great occasion of the little progress that hath been made in all other Scien∣ces, as well as that of Physick; and the incomparable Lord Bacon, among the several Causes of the non-advancement of all manner of Sciences, reckons this for one, An extream Affection to Anti∣quity. * 1.2 Truly (as he saith) Antiquity de∣serves that men should make a stay a while, and stand thereupon, and look about to discover which is the best way; but when the discovery is well taken, then not to rest there, but chearfully to make progression.
Indeed, to speak truly, Antiquitas Seculi, Juventus Mundi; Antiquity of Time is the Youth of the World. Certainly, our Times are the ancient Times, when the World is now ancient; and not those which we count ancient, ordine retrogrado, by a computation backward from our own Times; and yet so much credit (as he saith) hath been given to old Authors, as to invest them with the power of Dictators, that their words should stand, rather than admit them as Consuls to give Advice. And this kept Physick, till of late years, as well as other Sciences, low, at a stay, and very heartless, without any notable Growth or Advancement; and upon this account (as the same Lord saith) the Liberal Sciences have fared far worse than the Arts Mechanical, which always have been, and are continually much improved; whereas in this of Physick and Philoso∣phy, men have formerly thought it wis∣dom not to budg an inch from the foot∣ing of the first Masters; insomuch that when Chymistry first came in play, the Professors and Operators were thought to be Mad-men; but afterwards (when they gained some ground and entertain∣ment in the World) the Aristotelians and
Galenists, seeing that reproach and con∣tempt would not do the work, began to raise a fierce persecution, by stirring up Princes and Magistrates against them, as a pack of Magicians, Mountebanks, Rogues, Cheats, Vagabonds, and I know not what; and procured Laws and Sta∣tutes to be made against them as such, till the excellency of the Art it self, and its grand Atchievements, opened the eyes of Governours, and stopp'd the mouths of gainsayers; and even the common people came to see, that it was the Interest of the Collegiate Corpora∣tions of Physitians, who lived in ease and splendor, practising with old Maxims and Medicines, not to permit a new labori∣ous Sect of Philosophers, working Know∣ledg out of the Fire, by their Industry and Successes, to bring a reproach upon them for their Idleness, and superstitious devotion to their old heathenish Au∣thors; of whom the same most excellent Lord and Philosopher saith thus in his Preface, I dare confidently avouch, that the Wisdom we have extracted chiefly from the Grecians, seems to be a Child-hood of Knowledg, and to participate that which is proper to Children, namely, That it is
apt for Talk, but impotent and immature for Propagation; for, it is of Controversies rank and fertile, but of Works barren and fruitless; the truth of which never so signally appears, as when two or three of the dogmatical Admirers of that Learning, and of the usual Medicines, come at any time to meet in a Consulta∣tion; after which, if no good be done by them, it frequently comes to pass, when all is desperate, that some noble Medicine (lying without the Road of their Method, and a Pharmacopeia) which they may please to call Emperical, through the goodness of God performs a Cure; and yet he that administred it, be he otherwise never so Learned and Rational, if he be not a Drone of the old Methodical Hive, is sure to be calum∣niated, and mark'd with a black Coal, though themselves only have deserved it.
Now this were a thing to be admired at, but that we find it hath always fared thus with the Beaux Esprits, those brave Spirits in all Ages, who have advanced Learning beyond the brains of Titular Doctors and Philosophers, and above those antiquated Notions which are the
Idols of such as are too proud and idle to go to School again to learn new; though I must tell them, 'Tis no shame for any to be a Learner in the School of Nature, whose Mysteries are sublime, her Treasures inexhaustible; and he who will study, could he live (as Seneca saith) a thousand Ages, would even then find matter and occasion for new Enquiry and Discovery: But the misery is, that other ways have been taken by too many, though of late years they have been shamed out of it by the Industry of their Juniors.
I remember Dr Hackwel, in the Pre∣face to his Apology, gives an account at large, what ill entertainment new In∣ventors and Inventions have always found amongst the present Masters of se∣veral Professions. Should I tell how ill Paracelsus was receiv'd, some would say, 'Twas but what he deserved, because he hath an ill Name among those that either do not or will not take pains to under∣stand him, and have not good nature enough to pass by his Extravagances; yet one that was Physitian to the Empe∣rour, and other Princes of Germany, stiles him, Verè celsus Paracelsus, Most
sublime Paracelsus. And the truth is, he had the honour to open the eyes of man∣kind in the most excellent part of Phy∣sick; and (setting aside some whimseys) it may be truly said, He did much, and gave such hints of more, that all the World hath been beholden to him ever since; And others in after-times, taking example by him, have not only brought rare Medicines to light, but shewn the vanity of that Logick and Philosophy which hath been deliver'd to us by Hea∣thens, and which 'tis a shame the Schools of Christendom should yet retain, as if they contained Principles conducible to the Attainment of Physick, when as that great Chancellor of the Commonwealth * 1.3 of Learning (as a learned French-man calls him) and the profound Helmont, and the most ingenious Des Cartes, have abundantly made manifest the insuffici∣ency of both; and they are fallen now so low, that the most excellent Sr Kenelm Digby, and that noble Philosopher Mr Boyle, and others not so tall as they, do not only look over but far beyond them; for, to say no more at present, the Lord * 1.4 Bacon hath shewn of how little use that Logick is, and that the Physicks were cor∣rupted
by their being accommodated there∣to; which makes that searching Wit and learned Head Dr Henry More of * 1.5 Cambridge, the Ornament of that Uni∣versity, in a Latine Epistolary Discourse of his very newly published, concerning the Cartesian Philosophy, vouchsafe Ari∣stotle no greater title than this, Argutus ille Graeculus, in comparison of the Phi∣losophers of latter Times; yet he rode a long while upon the shoulders of the blind World, while others have walked a foot (and well they could do so too) or have been laid by the heels, or been glad to be take themselves to their heels from the places where they resided; Persecu∣tion having been practised in all Times on the account of Philosophy and Phy∣sick.
The Noble Descent of Tycho Brahe might be a protection to him when he first broached that Position, which pul∣led the Sphears out of Heaven, and re∣duced their supposed solid Bodies to be fluid as Air; but Galilaeus fared worse, being sent to Gaol for seeing more than others could, by the help of his Optick Tube, losing (as Dr More saith) his own Liberty in a Prison, for giving the Earth
liberty to fetch a Round about the Sun. And as for Des Cartes, Peter Boreel, one of the King of France's Physitians, at the end of his Centuries of Observations, gives this Account, That when that sub∣lime Philosopher liv'd at Ʋtrecht in Hol∣land, the Aristotelian Professors of that University became so inflamed with en∣vy at him, that their Scholars rais'd the Rabble of the City, at the sound of a Bell, to drive him out of Town, who was and ever will be thought worthy the admiration of the greatest Princes and Scholars. But to see the fate of things, it hath been this mans luck to triumph even in that University where so much contempt was poured upon him; for, Henricus Regius, who now lives there with the honour (which he highly de∣serves) of being Publick Professor of Physick, in a short time after did him right, by publishing a Book of Natural Philosophy, agreeable to the Principles and Design of Des Cartes; and not only so, but in pursuance thereof he hath de∣clared, That if a new Philosophy be in∣troduced, more suitable to the Phoeno∣mena and Operations of Nature, there ought also to be laid new Foundations
of Physick, free from the intanglement of those Disputes and meer Opinions, which serve only to perplex and amaze men, rather than afford any solid Instru∣ction: This had been attempted by ma∣ny men before him, men of excellent good parts; but by their leave (saith he) * 1.6 they were able to effect little, because of their reasoning in the old obscure way of Philosophy; but now that it hath pleased God to illuminate the World with a greater light of Philosophy, in this happy Age of ours, by clear and easie Principles, every where obvious to the Ʋnderstanding, and more accurately fitted for use, I have reduced the whole Art of Physick to these two Points, viz. the Knowledg and the Curation of Diseases, which are the only duties of a Physitian; and * 1.7 cashiered the common Doctrine of Elements, Tempe∣raments, Parts, Spirits, Humours, Facul∣ties, and Function, which have no Being but in the brains of the vulgar, that so I might render all the Mysteries of our Pro∣fession, even the most abstruse and difficult, plain and easie. Thus far he of himself; and this he hath (to say truth) well per∣formed, by improving the Cartesian Prin∣ciples, in such a manner as hath put to
silence that peevish Spirit of Contradi∣ction which was so high before.
I might tell you what hard Quarter was given likewise to Van Helmont at his first appearance, being reviled as an En∣thusiast and a Mad-man, though I must tell you, the Hypotheses by him set down to find out the essences of Diseases, and proper means to cure them, shew him to be one of great reason and insight into things natural; and I, who have taken pains (as pains must be taken) to under∣stand him, though his Medicines cannot be understood, can say (by experience) his Doctrine is such as by frequent re∣course to it will enable a man to design aright the Cure of Diseases, more than all that hath been said in the World to that purpose before; and therefore be∣ing lately turned all into English, it had been better if Dr Charlton, who transla∣ted some parts of him, had taken pains about the whole, that others might have be taken themselves to the study of an Author, which some, that would be no little men of Learning, are frighted from reading, because of his novelty and difficulty; when as others of high State, and who have given the Age high
proof of their Learning, do admire him; witness the character given him by Zwel∣fer, Physitian to the present Emperour, in his most learned elaborate Notes on the * 1.8 Pharmacopeia Augustana, where he entitles him Acutissimum illum Philoso∣phum Helmontium; That most acute Philo∣sopher Helmont. And Oswald Grembs, a very learned Physitian belonging to the Duke of Saxony, who hath endeavour'd to give us an Abridgment of the large Works of that Author, and joyns toge∣ther both the Galenick and Helmontian way of curing Diseases, doth notwith∣standing in fine give his vote for Hel∣mont, telling us in plain terms, * 1.9 His main intent is no other than to perswade Physitians, that the Foundations laid by Galen do not correspond with the practise of Physick, but that it may be better ac∣commodated by the Foundations of Hel∣mont. Yet this was the man cryed out on by many wise men in the begin∣ning, and now by none but such as are Otherwise.
The same fate befel also our incom∣parable Dr Harvey, when he first laid open the Bloods Circulation; and he him∣self, in that Treatise De motu Cordis,
makes sad complaint what ill usage he had, because in that business he departed from the sense of all Anatomists that went before him: but what would those men have said, had they liv'd to see what later Anatomists have done? not only departing from the Ancients, but jang∣ling and jarring with each other, touch∣ing the use of every part and particle of Mans Body, as may be seen by the Writings of Bartholinus, Walaeus, the new Schenkius, Rolfinckius, Hornius, Syl∣vius de le Boe, and divers others, too m••∣ny to reckon up, besides others of our own Nation; the latter of which, have taken pains to reckon up the differing Opinions, the consideration whereof hath, through their endless variety, given me, and some other touchy Heads like mine, occasion to pry into one point be∣yond them, viz. Whether in the practise of Physick there need be the hundredth part of this ado about Anatomy; especi∣ally seeing that when the Body is out of order by Diseases, the Blood and Hu∣mours have other vagaries than in the usual Channels; and * 1.10 Fernelius himself spake but lightly of Anatomy, and was
of opinion, our Brethren might better spend their time in making Observations on the Sick; to which give me leave to add an exhortation to labour with their own hands in amending, refining, invent∣ing, and compounding of Medicines, that we may be delivered from the bon∣dage and terrour of those many fulsom Compositions, borrowed from the Greeks and Arabians, who were Persons in their Time to be applauded, and of such ingenuity, that were they now liv∣ing to see what improvement the Art hath received of late in a few years, would doubtless admire the dotage of those men who live lazing upon the lit∣tle Knowledg that comes by Tradition, and the Name they have acquired by Time, and timely courting of Women and Nurses; and be the first in throwing most of their own old Medicines out of the Dispensatory and the Shops.
I could inlarge on this subject by innu∣merable Instances, to shew how here, and in other Nations, those worthy Per∣sons who have made it their business to advance the Profession of Physick by new Inventions, and Principles, have
from time to time been unhandsomly treated, till Time and Experience taught others to approve and admire them. But you will say, To what end is all this Discourse about these things? 'Tis only to plead for a freedom for such as labour in the secrets of Nature, and that no discouragement be given to such laborious and ingenious Inquirers, who have too long suffered under the imperious Censures of such as partly by their Rules, partly by their course of Practise, would tie men to the old heavy Compounds, and by virtue of Seniority impose upon others, and dictate in all Meetings called Consultations about the Sick; and, like the Chineses, keep all others at a distance that are not of their own number or extraction; and some∣times, like the Ottoman Emperors, stran∣gle all their Brethren, or those that are too active to live under their Empire and Jurisdiction. The truth whereof, and the great Inconveniences thence likely to ensue, will the better appear, if I set before you two (omitting many other) very remarkable Instances, which I shall here give, because the persons concerned
in the Relation were men beyond all ex∣ception, and renown'd for Physick in the Kingdoms of England and France, and (like Augustus) did not only conquer all their Opposites, but out-live them, and all their slanders: The Persons were, Sir Theodore de Mayern; and his Friend, the famous Quercetan: this latter known now by his Learned Works to all the World, and followed; the other not so known in print, because his numerous Writings, Memorials, and Consultati∣ons (which have been sufficiently talked of by such as saw them) have not yet been published; but he was otherwise known to purpose in both Nations, for his many performances of Cure among the greatest Princes and Persons; yet these two Men, when they first began to shew themselves at Paris, and went out of the ordinary Dog-road of Phy∣sick, felt a grievous storm fall upon them from the then meer Galenick Dons of the Colledg of Paris, they having em∣ploy'd one of their own number to write a Book in Latine, the Title whereof in English is, * 1.11 An Apology for the Physick of Hippocrates and Galen, against Querce∣tan,
&c. in whose defence Mayern writing also an Apology, they to this Book subjoyn'd an Answer to the Libellous Apo∣logy (as they term'd it) of Turquetus, (so they thought fit to term him, instead of Mayern); for though he never was asha∣med of his name Turquet, yet because (in French) it signifies a little dog, the witty Champion of the Colledg chose rather to mention him by that Name, as a subject that would better serve (as he thought) for matter of quibble and re∣flection, though his Father was known to be a Gentleman of good Descent and Scholarship, and the Title de Mayern denoted a Lordship within the Territory of Geneva, which gave name to the Family. That Book was set forth by the Colledg, Anno 1603. but they rested not here, but went a step further to no end, summoning all the Peers of the Fa∣culty to a Solemn Assembly, where their Doctorships (in perpetuum rei scandalum) passed Sentence of Damnation upon them both, within the space of four Months, as may be seen by the Censures themselves, which I have here set down, and translated them word for word as they printed them.
Scholae Parisiensis Judicium, de Alchy∣mia Quercetani.
COllegium Medicorum in Academiâ Parisiensi legitimè congregatum, audita renunciatione Censorum, quibus demanda∣ta erat provincia examinandi librum Jo∣sephi Quercetani, de materia, & praestan∣tia veteris Medicinae; non tantum Quer∣cetani libros spagyricos damnat unanimi consensu, sed etiam Artem ipsam spagyri∣cam: Omnesque Medicos qui ubiquè gen∣tium & locorum Medicinam exercent hor∣tatur, ut ex Hippocratis & Galeni doctri∣nâ faciant Medicinam. Quinetiam pro∣hibet, nequis ex hoc Medicorum Parisien∣sium ordine, cum Quercetano, aliisve spagy∣rieis, aut à facultate non probatis consilia Medica ineat: qui secus fecerit, Scholae emolumentis, & Academiae privilegiis privabitur, & ex Medicorum regentium albo expungetur. Datum Lutetiae, in Scho∣lis superioribus, die 9. Septembris, Anno Salutis, 1603.
G. Heron, Decanus.
THe Colledg of Physitians in the Ʋni∣versity of Paris being lawfully con∣gregated, having heard the Report made by the Censors, to whom the business of ex∣amining the Book of Joseph Quercetan, De Materia & praestantia veteris Medi∣cinae, was committed, do with unanimous consent condemn, not only the Chymical Books of Quercetan, but also the Art of Chymistry itself; and do exhort all Physi∣tians which profess Physick in any Nations or Places whatsoever, that they will con∣tinue to practise Physick according to the Doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. Moreover, they forbid all men that are of this Society of the Physitians of Paris, that they do not admit of a Consultation with Quercetan, or any other Chymists, or any Persons not approved by License. Whosoever shall presume to do contrary, shall be deprived of all Advantages of the Colledg, and Priviledges of the Ʋniversity, and be blotted out of the Register of Re∣gent Physitians. Given at Paris, in the Ʋpper Schools, the ninth day of Septem∣ber, Anno Salutis, 1603.
G. Heron, Dean of the Colledg.
Concerning Mayern.
COllegium Medicorum in Academiâ Parisiensi legitimè congregatum, au∣dita renuntiatione Censorum, quibus de∣mandata erat provincia examinandi Apo∣logiam, sub nomine Mayernii Turqueti edi∣tam, ipsam unanimi consensu damnat, tan∣quam famosum libellum, mendacibus con∣vitiis & impudentibus calumniis refer∣tum, quae non nisi ab homine imperito, im∣pudente, temulento, & furioso profieisci potuerunt. Ipsum Turquetum indignum judicat qui usquam Medicinam faciat, pro∣pter temeritatem, impudentiam, & verae Medicinae ignorationem. Omnes verò Me∣dicos, qui ubique gentium & locorum Me∣dicinam exercent hortatur, ut ipsum Tur∣quetum, similiaque hominum & opinionum portenta, à se suisque finibus arceant, & in Hippocratis & Galeni doctrina constanter permaneant. Sed & prohibet ne quis ex hoc Medicorum Parisiensium ordine cum Turqueto ejusque similibus Medica consilia ineat. Qui secus fecerit, Scholae ornamen∣tis, honoribus, emolumentis, & Academiae privilegiis privabitur, & de Medicorum
G. Heron, Decanus.
THe Colledg of Physitians in the Ʋni∣versity of Paris being lawfully con∣gregated, having heard the Report made by the Censors, to whom the business of ex∣amining the Apology, published under the name of Turquet de Mayern, was com∣mitted; do with unanimous consent con∣demn the same, as an infamous Libel, stuff'd with lying Reproaches, and impu∣dent Calumnies, which could not have proceeded from any but an unlearned, im∣pudent, drunken, mad Fellow: And do judg the said Turquet unworthy to pra∣ctise Physick in any place, because of his rashness, impudence, and ignorance of true Physick: But do exhort all Physitians, which practise Physick in any Nations or places whatsoever, That they will drive the said Turquet, and such like Mon∣sters of Men and Opinions, out of their company, and Coasts; and that they will constantly continue in the Doctrine of
G. Heron, Dean of the Colledg.
It would be to little purpose for me to animadvert upon these dreadful Bulls, thundred out against two persons of so great worth; let it serve for their justification, That, for all this, the for∣mer became famous in France, the Kings Physitian, and lived to see the Colledg repent of their folly, and their Succes∣sors become Admirers of those Chymi∣cal Books and Remedies which had been so rashly damned. The other became Physitian to two Kings of France, and two of England, and left a Name of
great honour and wealth behind him. Only this is published, that it may serve for a warning to great persons, and others, that they dote not in any Nati∣on too much upon the Names Doctor and Colledg, when Publick Good is at stake, seeing they may be deceived, and be apt to deceive others, if the like idle Spirit of Pride, Interest, and Envy, should at any time possess them, to cry down Persons and Things, which once in seven years themselves may think fit to follow under-hand, and by stealth practise; but not be seen to do it, for fear of losing their Credit. It may serve likewise to evince, That seeing men of greatest Learning and Abilities in the Profession, have judged the old Philoso∣phy and Physick insufficient, and there∣upon receded from it. And whereas in this prying, laborious Age, wherein new discoveries of Medicine are every day wrought out of the Fire, and other ways, and more like to be discovered, for the benefit of man-kind, afflicted more than ever with monstrous Disea∣ses (such as the ordinary Remedies of the Shops will not reach); and seeing, if
any Society of men be armed with pow∣er to regulate, censure, or suppress whom and what they please, the most ingeni∣ous Labourers must be left to the mercy of others less laborious, and be discou∣raged, or condemned, as others have been before them, if it please the Infal∣lible Masters: Therefore doubtless any rational man will be of opinion, That it is the concernment of Nations to admit a greater latitude in the Profession and Practise of Philosophy and Physick, than the Interest (and many times the ig∣norance) of some men of the same Pro∣fession would be willing to allow: Which was the thing I had a mind to shew.
Now let me, in the next place, proceed to manifest how great a difference there is betwixt the old state of Diseases, and the new; and this as briefly as I can.
BEcause I cannot stand to run over every particular Disease, let it suffice to instance only in some, and leave you to observe and reason out the rest in others.
First, 'tis observable, That Agues, which of all other Diseases give the greatest baffle to Physitians, are exceed∣ingly alter'd. Look upon the definiti∣ons and descriptions of the Ancients concerning the Quotidian, Tertian, Quar∣tan, &c. and see how little they suit with the Types and Formalities of Agues appearing in this Age, being distem∣pers of quite another nature; insomuch that the old Rules and Remedies of cu∣ring them are quite out of doors, seldom
doing any good, but generally hurt; as for instance, Blood-letting, which should we in these days administer in all putrid Fevers (as b 3.1 Galen directs, and too many follow) we should make mad work with our Patients; especially, if we should admit that to be Gospel which another Prince of the Profession, by name c 3.2 Avi∣cen, gives order for, viz. That if the Patient's Urine be thick and red, then be sure to draw Blood; whereas I have observed generally in former years, (and particularly this Spring), That Bodies either ill-habited, or Scorbutically in∣clined, being phlebotomised for Agues, have grown very much worse upon it, and either totally lost the habit of Body, or been precipitated into another sort of Ague, of a worse nature and condition; as for instance, from an Ague-Tertian to a Quotidian, or to a tedious Quartan; and yet such Bodies generally have their Urines intensely thick and red. The truth is, where one Ague falls out now upon the old simple account, at least fourty to one do start abroad, which must be put upon a new: d 3.3 Sennertus is plain in the point, Plurimae febres quae
hîc aegros infestant, omnes not as Febrium à Graecis & Arabibus descriptas non obti∣nent; Most Agues which infest men in this Age, do not agree with the descriptions of Agues made by the Greeks and Arabians: Nay, a man may truly say, They are mightily alter'd in the course of these thirty years last past; for I remember when I was first a Student in this Facul∣ty, they were generally more slight, and easily curable by old common Reme∣dies; whereas now the most of them ap∣pear with different and more dangerous Symptoms, which every where confute and defy the whole Herd of vulgar Me∣thodists, and their Medicines; yea, more than this, 'tis to be observed, That some∣times a current of three or four years, sometimes every year, produceth a new sort of Ague, in the fashion of a Tertian, Quotidian, or a Quartan, the like where∣of was never seen before; and Continual Fevers also, wholly new in all their Symptoms and Circumstances: In the year 1662. a new sort of Quartan reigned about London, and other parts, which had in it all the tokens of Malig∣nity; and from most that I my self had
in cure, I brought away abundance of Worms, and then they presently mend∣ed. The like course I took with that Continual Fever, which raged in the Country, 1661. and procured plenti∣ful excretions of Worms out of the Bo∣dies of young and old, from Children to persons of seventy years of Age; yea, and what I could hardly believe, when I first read the Observations of Schen∣kius, and others, I that year found very true in a young man and old woman, that Worms will make their own way into the World, through the Bowels and Sides of the persons that breed them, and this without dammage, no∣thing being used but a little fresh Butter to the Orifice, to make all whole again. He is but a dull Practiser that doth not yearly see Agues and Fevers appearing in new forms; and you may particular∣ly remember what the state of those Diseases was in the Autumnal Quarter of the year 1657. and both the Spring and Fall of the year 1658. and how wonderfully the Agues and Fevers vari∣ed in that short revolution of time; the ground of which marvellous change in
the World, both in respect of Agues, and other Diseases, I may give you a full account of before the conclusion of this Treatise, and thereupon let you see cause to apprehend the usefulness of what I now publish to the World, to dis∣cover those two secret Enemies which now run in a blood (more or less) through all the generations of Mankind, and have transform'd the whole Scene of Diseases.
I might next insist on several Diseases of the Female Sex, grown more severe than they were in the days of their great Grandames, who, could they now rise out of their Graves again, would won∣der to see the miserable state of poor Women, and the tyranny of those di∣stempers which were in their time less frequent, and more calm and curable, (for, the same Remedies now will do little good towards a Cure); but I for∣bear particulars, seeing, for Modesties sake, they are not to be exposed to every Reader.
That the Disease called the French Pox is extraordinarily varied, appears by the account given of it at its first appearance
in the World, compared with what we see at this day. If you consult Fracasto∣rius and Benivenius, you will find, It, in the beginning brake forth in odious Pustles of several kinds upon the Privi∣ties, the Head, the Face, the Neck, the Brest, the Arms, and generally the whole Body. Some also it disfigured after the rate of a Leprosie; others had a kind of scurf, which scaling off, discover'd the skin underneath to be black or blew: Upon some, filthy ichorous sores were continually running. And besides all this, they had in the inward parts great tormenting Exulcerations, as in the Mouth, the Throat, the Nostrils, the urinary and spermatick Passages, which did eat off the Yard, the Palate, the Lips, the Nose, in despight of all Medi∣cines; so that men being affected with the Disease, their Friends were frighted from looking upon them, and shunned them as if they had been visited with the Pestilence: These things being consi∣dered, with the horrid pains that rack'd them, it was rightly termed by a certain Author, Miserabile Scortatorum Flagel∣lum; The miserable Scourge of Whore-ma∣sters.
But though it was thus with the Disease then, yet Fernelius, who was born almost twenty years before it was discovered in Europe, and lived to seven∣ty two years of Age, saw it very much changed in the space of thirty or fourty years, insomuch that he tells us, in his time it was much altered, * 3.4 not defa∣cing the Bodies of men with Pustles, Scurffs, and virulent Ulcers, but torment∣ing them more with intolerable pains; which though they might be encreased by the ignorant and preposterous ways of curing then used, yet the Disease it self also changed continually, and seem∣ed to decline and grow old; Adeò ut Lues quae nunc grassatur, vix illius gene∣ris esse putetur; Insomuch (saith he) that the Pox which now reigns, hardly seems to be of the same kind with the former: And certainly this was but a short tract of time wherein it received so great an alteration; but yet Fracastorius tells us, it was altered much within twenty years, a lesser time; and that after this, another mutation was made within six years time, the Disease not raging, as be∣fore, in the external parts; from whence
he also was in hope, that it would in time wear it self out of the World, as many other new and monstrous Diseases have done, after they had reigned for a sea∣son; but he is mightily deceived; for it yet continues, not in that open hosti∣lity it exercised before, but more trea∣cherously and slily insinuates it self into the internal and fundamental parts of the Body, sporting it self under several disguises to afflict the Sons of Men.
Another change likewise hath been made of this Disease, in that where one person gets this Disease by the beastliness of Venery, many hundreds have it by Traduction: For, it is most true which Sennertus saith, The French Disease is nom become Hereditary, being derived from Pa∣rents * 3.5 to their Posterity by Generation, and communicated from infected persons to others by kissing, by sucking, by clothes, and the like. Now all the venereal distem∣pers either of these ways contracted, do extreamly differ from that which is usu∣ally gotten by unlawful Contact; for, they usually appear in the form of other Maladies; as is evident not only by re∣port of all the best Authors, but I find
it in my dayly Practise; forasmuch as abundance of people grow sickly, and languish under the appearance (it may be) of a Consumption, a Gout, a Drop∣sie, and Ague, a slow Fever, and some∣times an acute one, Sore-eyes, Green∣sickness, and indeed of all manner of Diseases, which (when the other ordi∣nary means have been long used in vain) have at length been relieved by an or∣derly use of such Anti-venereous Reme∣dies as I have on purpose invented, the nature whereof is, to fight against Hu∣mours both great and small, in old or young, which have been any way touch∣ed with the Venereal Tincture, either through their own default, or by sigil∣lation of those seminal Principles, which contribute towards the Being of Man∣kind in the Act of Generation; which whosoever takes not into consideration, in curing the Diseases of this Age (now that the Families of Mankind are tinctu∣red all, more or less) will miss of his aim; and 'tis the main reason why so few are throughly cured, because few Physiti∣ans proceed upon an improvement of this Notion, or the inventing of such
Remedies as are of a large reach, and properly conducing thereunto. But of this Subject I shall have occasion to dis∣course more copiously ere long.
In the mean while, let me have leave to insist upon another sore Evil under the Sun, called the Scurvy, which, like the former, is very much alter'd also from what it was in former days, and become every jot as Universal. I find it is a Disease of no very long standing, much about the Age of its Cousin-german the Pox; for I have read, that when Dr Mar∣tin Dorp, a Divine of Lovain, (one much esteemed by Erasmus, and Sir Tho∣mas More) was afflicted with it, the Phy∣sitians of that University were amazed at it, as a new and unknown Disease; and not knowing what to do towards a Cure, he died under their hands: So that whatever others talk, and would fain reduce it to the old Stomacace and Sceletyrbe, i. e. the Sore Mouth and Sore Legs of Pliny, yet questionless 'tis but of a late standing in the World; and of late years 'tis grown so much another thing, that 'tis in a manner wholly new. The Authors which write of it give this
account, That at its first appearance it brake forth in Sores and stinking Ulcers in the Mouth and Legs, loosness and fal∣ling out of Teeth, rotting of the Gums, debility of Legs and all the Limbs, Spots of all Colours upon the Skin, acting very much of the same kind of Tyran∣ny with Scabs, Scurffs, and Ulcers of a malignant nature, as the French Pox did, which were not to be cured by old usual Remedies, but only by Specificks of a new invention. And as the Pox is said to have been discovered at first among the French (which yet Rondele∣tius * 3.6 and other French Writers deny, and would cast the original upon the Itali∣ans) so this is father'd upon the Nations which lie Northerly, upon the Sea-coast of Denmark, Norway, Holland, and other parts of the Low-Countries, where it fell foul upon Seafaring people, who carried it thence, together with Com∣modities of Trade, to other places, till it crept up into the Continent, especially among such as lived upon ill Diet, like that of Sea-men, as salt Meats, salt Fish, &c. and in places watery and fenny and of a foggy Air. In this
form it raged at first, in such places, and varied but little till it got more ground in the World. It was long ere it got in∣to the warmer Climats of France, Spain, and Italy, in which Countries 'tis * 3.7 rare to be seen at this day, as may be observed in Forestus, Fonseca, Piso, Riverius, and others; yet among them it is increasing, though it is never like to arrive at such a height there, as it is with us, the Ger∣mans, the Flemings, and others nearer the Pole, because their Blood is not so abounding with that Serosa Colluvies, which contributes so much towards the production of this Disease among us, and other Northerly people; but that which is most observable in every Country is, That now it but rarely discovers it self in its first garb of Symptoms external, but having gotten dominion inwardly, plays most of its pranks in the more no∣ble parts of the Body; the reason where∣of is doubtless this, because now it arises not only from ill Diet, bad Air, contagion by Contact, and the like Causes of corru∣ption, as it did at first, but walks pari passu as the Pox did, stealing upon Mankind by way of seminal traduction from Father
to Son, and is become hereditary; so that being as it were individually radi∣cated in the very Principles of mens Bodies, it hath conspired with the Semi∣nalities of the Pox, and both have joyn'd their Malignant Forces, to bring a strange Metamorphosis upon the whole Frame of Nature in Mankind, and all the diseases thereto belonging: But of this I shall say more anon; In the interim, let it suf∣fice to know, that it rambles about also in the habit of other distempers; so that if an odd-humor'd disease happen, it con∣cerns the Physitian, if he will be dextrous in curing, to exercise his skill first in disco∣vering, whether such a disease have in it a Tincture of the Pox, or the Scurvy, or both; and then secondly, to invent such Remedies to have in readiness, as may hit either of these; but certainly such Remedies are best as have a power to strike at both, because (as Eugalenus in his Epistle to the Prince of Orange well observes) the Symptoms * 3.8 of both have so near a resemblance, that few Physi∣tians are able to distinguish betwixt them. And as touching the great alte∣ration of this Disease from its first Na∣ture
and Condition, because I would not be tedious, I shall give you only one Testimony, and but one Instance, the matter being obvious enough of it self. Hochstetterus, an Eminent Phy∣sitian of Ausburgh in Germany, in an Epistle of his to the Famous Horstius, shews how the Scurvy altered, as it got footing and time; for, it was so much another thing in High Germany from what it had been in the Lower, and other Parts more North, that in his dayes it was hardly so much as a * 3.9 shadow of what it had been among those Northern Men, ac∣cording to the Description of Eugalenus, Wierus, Ronseus, Forestus; yea, and of Platerus, who did but transcribe out of them what he writes of this Particular, though he deliver it as his own. The Instance is but short, and 'tis taken out of the Bils of Mortality, which shew both the increase of the Scurvy, and the Malignity of it; for, if you look back on former dayes about 30 years agoe, the number reckoned to dye of that Disease was but small, and year after year ever since it hath encreased gradu∣ally. In the year 1630. the number
was but 5. In 1631. 7.—1632. 9.—1636. 25.—Afterward, in the year 1647. the Account came up to 32.—In the year 1652. to 43.—In 1655. to 44.—In 1656. to 103.—And in the years ever since, they are numbred sometimes above 70, some∣times above 80, sometimes above 90, which signifieth, that the Disease is very much alter'd, being grown to a higher pitch of Malignity and Mortality than in former time. But you are to conceive withall, that the numbers so set down were onely of such as dyed with ma∣nifest Tokens of the Scurvy, whereas many hundreds have dyed, and do die every year of Maladies, which radically and in the main are Scorbutick; yet because they are not discernible by vulgar Physitians, and others, have their lot to be registred under the Names of other Diseases; as will be further made evident before I end this Chapter.
My next Observation shall be of the Rickets, which is a Disease of a very late Original; for, Mr John Graunt, an ingenious Citizen of London, who lately wrote an excellent short Treatise
of Observations upon the Weekly Bils of Mortality, hath observed, that we find in them no Mention of Rickets till the year 1634: which agrees much with the time of its Original, set down by the Learned * 3.10 Dr Glisson, who saith, it was discover'd first in the West-parts of England, viz. in the Counties of Dor∣set, and Somerset, about 30 years agoe, from whence it soon found the way to London, from whence it is now spread through all parts of England. About 20 or 25 years agoe, though it were a grievous disease, yet not what it is now; It manifested it self by an over-growing of the Liver and Spleen, with a crooked∣ness of the Legs, a bending in of the Hams, knotting of the Joynts, over∣growth of the Head, a sinking of the Back-bone, a narrowness of the Chest, and a general failing of the strength of all the Limbs: but in these dayes the Case is alter'd; sometimes some of these Symptoms appear, but not so frequent as formerly, and these cannot be repu∣ted the onely Pathognomical Signs of the disease, because it also, as well as the Pox and Scurvy, marcheth under
the Colours of most other diseases; as the Hydrocephalus intra Cranium, i. e. the Water in the Head, difficulty of Teeth∣ing; the Asthma, or difficulty of Breath∣ing; the Convulsion, Falling Sickness, Con∣sumption, Hectick Fever, Malignant Fever, Slow Fever, Ague, Dropsie, Kings Evil, and many more at present, and more like to be hereafter, when it shall by Tract of time arrive to be hereditary, (as it be∣gins to be already) and joyn force with those Enemies which are the Seminal Products of Venereous and Scorbutick Agents. However, the Disease is even so much changed both in Symptoms and the effects of them, that it doth more and more mischief, by making greater destruction of Infants one year after an other: For, Mr Graunt hath shewn out of the yearly Bils, that the Rickets were never more numerous than now, and they are like to encrease; for, in the year 1630. there dyed but 12 of it. In the year 1649. there dyed 190, the next year 260, next after that 329, and so forwards, with some little starting backward in some years, until the year 1660, which produced the greatest
number of all, viz. 521. which is a great Advance in so few years from Number 12. But it is not to be attributed onely to this, that the Disease is more spred abroad, but that it is also very much alter'd in its own Nature, to a more de∣structive condition: And being enter'd into a complication already with the Pox & the Scurvy, (as * 3.11 Dr Glisson acknowledg∣eth) it is in vain to attempt the curing of it with such Remedies and Rules as were used thirty or twenty years agoe; because by experience we find they will not reach the Disease now, which points out to us, that mens brains ought to be working out new Notions and Medi∣cines, as the onely means (with Gods blessing) to lessen the number of those little Innocents which are yearly snatch'd away by an untimely death.
Next, let us note the Consumpti∣on: which in the Bils of Mortality ap∣pears to be exceedingly encreased, far beyond the proportion of the numbers of Inhabitants which have been added to this great City, the truth whereof will be clear to any that will take pains to compare the Bils since the year 1629.
So that the extraordinary increase of this Malady must be attribured also to some other Cause than the increase of People; and what can that be, but the change of the Disease it self to be of another nature than heretofore? For it (for the most part) contemns all those large Pectoral Swils, long Syrups, and Ele∣ctuaries, which were supposed to work wonders heretofore; the Phthisis is ano∣ther kind of Phthisis; the Atrophie another kind of Atrophie; and the Hectick another manner of Hectick, than was in former dayes; and these three Species of a Con∣sumption spring generally in this Age from one Root, which is in plain Terms no other but the Pox and Scurvy, either Hereditary or Adventitious; and those wastings of the Body to a Sceleton, are u∣ually the Effects and Monuments of their Treachery and Tyranny; so that he who will now a dayes cure a Consump∣tion must strike at the Root, as well as regard the Circumstances, wherein little good is to be done likewise by the ordi∣nary Anti-venereal Means and Courses, forasmuch as the usual Decoctions, Sweatings, &c. do rather exasperate the Disease than militate against it.
From the same Root likewise most commonly springs that Disease, which the Vulgar calls a Stopping of the Sto∣mack, and it advanceth to a height in the same manner, both as to the se∣verity wherewith it handles men and women, and the number which it kills: for, whereas it seems to be somewhat that is new, because we hear no News of it in our Bils till the year 1636. (as Mr Graunt reckons) and then but of 6. for that year, it in the year 1655. came to be 145.; and Anno 1657. it was rai∣sed to 277. In 1660. to 314. Which Proportions (saith he) exceed the dif∣ference of proportion generally arising from the encrease of Inhabitants, and from the resort of Advenae to the City.
There is another Disease which the people term the Rising of the Lights, and I am of his Opinion, that it is the same with that they call Hysterica Pas∣sio or the Mother, because it seizeth up∣on women (though men too sometimes have somewhat like it;) and it is evi∣dent enough, since * 3.12 Dr Highmore (a very industrious Learned Man) hath sufficiently shewn, that the Lungs are
the Part principally affected with that which hitherto hath been called a Fit of the Mother. But (saith Graunt) be these Risings what they will, they have much increased beyond the general pro∣portion; for in the year 1629. there died but 44. and in the year, 1660, 249. viz. almost six times as many; and whereas the Rickets, the Stoppings, and Rising (so called) have all increased to∣gether, and in some kind of correspon∣dent Proportions, it seems to me (saith he) that they depend upon one another. And I say, any man in reason will con∣clude as much; and that they are all three but Pullulations of the Scurvy, and its most Scurvy Companion, if we consider that all Authors de Scorbuto reckon a difficulty of breathing and straitning of the breast, to be one of its most constant Symptoms: And me thinks, what Sennertus hath * 3.13 written doth very much illustrate this; for vi∣tious and malignant vapors being raised in the lower Belly, especially about the Spleen, in the Stomack, and about the Midriff, and in the Cavity of the Omen∣tum, must needs, while they continue
there, hinder that free motion of the Midriff which is necessary for Respira∣tion: In like manner also, vitious humors distending the Spleen and the Parts ad∣joyning, may compress the Midriff, just as persons hydropick, and women with child, or others that are from any cause tun-bellied, are brought to a strait∣ness and a difficulty of breathing, while in the mean time the Patients complain not at all of the Breast, but point out the place affected under the Midriff about the region of the Stomack, as is evident by the Report of Eugalenus, and by every days experience; which is enough to evince, from whence that Malady which they term a stopping of the Stomack, hath its original viz. ei∣ther from the Scorbutick humors, or va∣pors.—But Sennertus goes on, and gives us some light to derive the other, called a Rising of the Lights, from the like playing of Scorbutick malignant va∣pors up through the Veins and Arteries to the Lungs, and by communication thence to the Heart, and this upon the least commotion or unusual motion of the mind or body: which being the cause
also of that Distemper which hath been hitherto supposed to be seated in the Mother, it is evident enough, that the encrease of the Scurvy hath made a change also of these Distempers, as it hath done by divers other, and conse∣quently that the old Remedies respect∣ing the Lungs, the Stomack, and the Mother, will do little good in these Ca∣ses; and that is the reason why so ma∣ny Physicians are mistaken in what they prescribe, and so their Patients lose both their Cost and their Labour.
The Convulsion also is a Disease now of another nature than formerly; In former years, it slew its half hundreds of children, now its many Hundreds in a year; for the Bils tell you that Anno 1629. there died but 52. which in 1636. grew to 709. keeping about that stay till 1659. though sometimes rising to about 1000, as the Estimate is made by the same ingenious Observator: to which I may add, that in the year 1662. they rose to 1053. and in the year 1663. they fell back, and were only 1011. which great encreases cannot be attribu∣ted to the encrease of children (who are
the parties most afflicted with it) because the numbers of New Comers into the world are not advanced in any conside∣rable proportion to answer so great an Increase of the Mortality; but it must be ascribed rather to the great Alteration of the Disease it self, which requires other Notions to proceed by, and other things than old Methods and Means to cure this so general a Destroyer.
The Small Pox and Measels must not be judged by the Bils, as the rest are, be∣cause in some years they become epidemi∣cal, and then the slaughter they make fals out (more or less) according to the malig∣nity of the particular seasons: but the ob∣servation to be made of them is when they are sporadical, here and there sprinkled up and down among the peo∣ple, in those years which have not any such general Malignity above other years; and then consider, that as they seize but upon a few people, so of those few there die many more, and those of them that escape do much more hardly escape, than in former times, both those Diseases being attended with more dreadful and more dangerous Symptoms:
which being obvious to every Nurse, it is needless to insist further thereupon than to let you know, that most of those which miscarry, die partly for want of some more generous Remedies than the Shops yield; and partly through the inad∣vertency of Physitians, who do not calcu∣late their Prescriptions to meet with that Serosa Colluvies of Saline, and acid hu∣mors, with which the blood of Man-kind (especially in these North-parts of the world) is both by propagation and by intemperance of Diet and Luxury ex∣ceedingly tainted: the extraordinary active Fermentation and Ebullition whereof, when corrupted, is the Cause why Agues, Fevers, Small-Pox, Measels, and all that hath any thing of Fever in it, proves so difficult, or so deadly. In the dayes of Hippocrates and Galen, the Small-Pox and Measels were either alto∣gether unknown, or else so light and easie, that they were never reckoned as particular diseases among the Greci∣ans, but look't on as Accidents only, and Critical Eruptions supervening putrid and Malignant Fevers: And in after-time we hear no such News of
them, till the Arabians began to describe the Small Pox as a Disease distinct from others; but then they were very gentle, and thus continued till about 40. years agoe, and less. Just so, Riverius tells us, it was in the West-Indies till the Spa∣niards arrived there, and then it hapned that a Black Slave sickning of the Small Pox with Pestilential Symptoms, the maligne and venomous quality thereof being communicated by contagion to others, the Distemper began to rage at such a height, that a great part of the Indians were destroyed by it, though so milde before, that it was not reputed worth the Trouble of Physick or Physi∣cians.
I might swell a Discourse up to a Volume, should I insist upon every Dis∣ease; as the Arthritis Vaga Scorbutica, which being sprung up of late years, a Consequent of the Scurvy, is called by the people the Running Gout, and grows ••••orse and worse continually: I might touch upon its elder Brother the Gout, which though not so frequently knotty a formerly, hath made an exchange 〈◊〉〈◊〉 other Symptoms, and seizeth a
greater part of Men than heretofore, not sparing young Men more than old: Also the Rheumatism, which is a quite different thing from that which is de∣scribed by Galen; so likewise are most of our Palsies; to say nothing of our common Coughs, Catarrhs, Tooth-Ach, and many other Diseases, which are very much alter'd to the worse, so that the vulgar Remedies avail little against them. But I am willing to make an end of this Subject here, that which I had a mind to prove being manifest enough, viz. That all manner of Diseases are al∣ter'd from their old State, and become almost wholly new; forasmuch as I shall in the next Chapter convey more light into the Truth of this Position.
THis Subject not having been hand∣led to purpose by any that I know of, and there being but a short hint given in the former Chapter, that the French Pox and the Scurvy, by their Invasions made upon the Universality of Mankind, have been the two Main Causes of the Alteration; it will be worth the while to make a Scrutiny into the certainty of the thing. It is a matter that I suppose may, at first, sound harsh in the Ears of some people, because of the good opini∣on they have of Themselves, their Fami∣lies and Progenitors; and therefore they will be loth to admit it probable, that any Tincture of such a nature should be gotten into their Blood; but, by that time I have done this Chapter, I believe I shall give them ground to apprehend all this may come about, and yet with
a Salvo to their honesty. The only per∣son before me in Print that touched this double Cause of the Alteration of Diseases, was one * 3.14 Doctor John Wynel, whose design in writing was not so much to particularise the manner how so great an Alteration is come about, but he aims only at the description of the Pox, a new way of Cure for it, and lastly how many secret wayes it may be com∣municated or spred abroad; which last part of his Discourse tends to illustrate the truth of what I purpose to make out, viz. the new Specification or change of nature, which it hath bestowed upon all other Diseases: Only in his Preface he hath a few Hints concerning this, but very short, the Body of his Discourse bending to another End; but he saith withall, that the consideration of this general mischief wrought by the Pox, was one reason which induced him to write of the nature of it, &c. I shall here transcribe the words of his Preface, because they make much to my purpose. One occasion of my Writing (saith he) was my observing the stupendious growth and spreading of two depopulating Diseases, the
Venereous and the Scurvy; and enqui∣ring thereupon into their effects, in the yearly Bils of Mortality, I found them so benigne, that it gave me occasion to ad∣mire the mystery of concealment: I obser∣ved the Consumption to have slain its Thousands, and the Venereous Disease scarce its Hundreds: I concluded there∣upon, that Dolus latet in generalibus, Consumption's Back is broad enough to bear such Mocks: I perceived also, that the Scurvy had scarce a constant name in the killing Catalogue, though it destroy more than any Ten of its Fellows; but the Dropsie, Fevers of many kinds, &c. have great numbers dead at their Feet. I con∣cluded thence, Filiae devorârunt Matrem. I observed also the Mortality and pining of Families, their Generations gasping, and soon run out, one treading on the heels of another, which made me to enquire what should be the occasion; I accused their pam∣pering diet, effeminate education, pre∣mature marriage, and indiscreet covetous∣ness in taking a weak, crooked, or rickety Woman (for her Portion) to be Mater-familias. But my thoughts reasoning against the sufficiency of this enumeration,
as not of sufficient consideration, they carried me with greatest reason to contem∣plate their Diseases; and finding the Ve∣nereous Disease amongst them, I was strong in my conjecture, that this Malady, traduced in the Seed of Parents, and Milk of Nurses, hindring Nature from accom∣plishing her intent of perfection, hath brought this calamity upon Families, Hae∣ret Semini lethalis Arundo.
I observed further, that hereby one principal end of Marriage, to propagate a strong, healthy, and numerous posterity, sit to traduce the being, name, and memory of Parents, to such an eternity as their mortal condition is capable of, was much made void: For, in this wanton, painting, patching, perfuming, Issuing Age, a man knows not whom or what he takes to him∣self or his Son in Marriage, a Blessing, or a Curse, whereby not only our own Bodies are indanger'd and damnified, but Posterity primarily, fundamentally corrupted, ex∣tirpated, hearts of yoak-fellows alienated, Jealousie let in, and indeed an uncomfort∣able life together, because they cannot get a-sunder, like two Dogs in a Chain ever snarling, and all because the abuseful de∣ceit
in Marriage manet altâ mente re∣postum.
I observed also, that all Pretenders to Physick gave out a more than ordinary Skill in the Venereous Cure; yet scarce one Patient of Ten went off from them sound, as by relapses it too ordinarily ap∣pears. I was therefore led to believe, that either the ignorance of the Disease, or shame∣facedness to discover it, made them carry it about them too long; or else the ignorance of such as they applyed themselves to, or the impatience of the Patients to bear a Cure, gave the Disease this advantage: For, though by Palliation the dolorous Symptoms were baffled, yet the virulent Cause was left behind in the dark, deep in their Spirits and Bones, to make future work for the Physitian. Hereby their Patients are deceived, who not being able to judge, think better of their Discovery than is meet and safe, and find by sad ex∣perience, that (the next evoking Season) the Disease having gotten strength by lying in Trenches, breaks forth more dangerous than it was at its first On-set. My Scope therefore in publishing this Treatise, is, to present a good office to the world, by
entring the Lists with this Champion. And since this Enemy playes small Game also, and is come down so low as the Spinster, I have therefore made him speak plain English, (not without due respect to Modesty and better Ʋnderstandings) that ordinary Capacities may be able to judge of their own Condition by their own light, and in season look out for relief, before cap∣tivity, and the further Enervation of their own Bodies. For, though people of both Sexes may be privy to their own personal integrity, yet what lurks in their humours from Parents Seed, or Nurses Milk, they are ignorant of: And, however no present Symptoms thereof discover it to them∣selves, much less to others; yet the Fomes of it oft and long lying obscure, doth tra∣duce a present defilement in Generation to Posterity.
I have read many Authors on this Sub∣ject, and found satisfaction in none. I perceive, that on this, as on other Sub∣jects, they too much tread in the steps of their Ancestors, and rest in their Dictates without further Inquiry, swelling their Volumes with Transcriptions into their own Methods, which serve to fill men's Libra∣ries
with much paper, and but few Books. Thus far He concerning the Pox; whereby it appears, I am not single in my conceptions touching the Alteration that it hath made in other Diseases. He there tells us also, that he had the same thoughts touching the Scurvy, and promised to write the like Treatise concerning It, which I perceive he hath not yet performed, though doubtless very much might have been said to purpose by so learned and inge∣nious a Pen. It shall be my part there∣fore to inlarge upon that Hint which he gave in his Preface, touching the In∣fluence which the Seminalities of the Pox have by intermixture with other Maladies; and likewise to supply what he hath yet forborn to write, touching the like ••nfluence of the Scurvy. In or∣der whereunto, I shall reduce my Discourse to several Heads, and shew, that both the Venereal and Scorbutick Miasma have gain'd ground in the world five several Wayes, viz. 1. By Carnal Contact, 2. By ill Cures, 3. By acciden∣tal Contagion, 4. by Hereditary Propa∣gation, 5. By Lactation.
1. By Carnal Contact. This being a matter evident by every dayes obser∣vation, that the Mutual Attrition of Bodies in that Bestial Act, is the ready common Road of communicating the Pox from one to another, I suppose it were time lost to insist upon it, and it may with more purpose be spent to ma∣nifest a Truth of much importance to be laid open for the security of Mankind, which it concerns all men to take notice of; and it is this: That after the com∣mitting of that Folly with an unwhol∣som Person, though there appear no Sign nor Symptom of a Disease for the present, yet it may be latent and lurk∣king within the Body, many years, be∣fore it make any discovery of it self ei∣ther in its own nature, or in the disguise of other Diseases. This may be proved many ways; for, it is frequently ob∣served, that Common Women who have long lived in that wicked course of Prostitution, have many years continu∣ed without any manifest effect of the Malignity of that Disease upon their own Bodies, and yet the Disease lurk∣ing within hath inabled them to infect
(it may be) some Hundreds of others. And the like hath been observed of men infecting women, yet those men not privy to the sense or knowledg of any Infecti∣on actually resident within themselves, though otherwise they know they have sufficiently deserved it: which one would think should be sad News to all the Strikers of both Sexes, to hear that even in this world there can be no secu∣rity from the punishment of this Sin; 'tis commonly but Touch and Take; and if any offend, though but once, they may be surprized by the venom; and if they should perhaps scape free from the Taint, yet 'tis rare; and here lies the misery, they are not sure that they are so. But that you may not wonder how this can come about, that some are made sad examples of the Infection, and others not; and that some that practise wickedness most of their dayes seem sound even to old Age, while upon others, after but one Coition, the Disease breaks out with violence; or why some Sinners seeming sound o themselves, are yet infectious to their Copes-mates; I tell you in the language
of Dr Wynel, it may be ascribed to many Causes.
1. To the various Dispositions of Bodies; for, some are more prone to this, or that Disease, and therefore take it sooner, because Nature makes less resistance: which also is the reason that they who have any part of their bodies weaker than other, do receive a Disease sooner in that part: For example, let a man that hath the Gout be venereously infected, and he shall find it more to prevail and afflict him in his Feet. So on him that hath weak eyes, if this Pocky Disease supervene, his eyes are sooner and more afflicted than other parts: And the Truth is, the more in∣firm any person is in the Spermatick Ves∣sels and Members of Generation, the more easily the Infection makes its way to the Blood, Humours, Spirits, and Parts of the Body, and the whole Body suffers under its Tyranny; but if the Body be strong, then the Venom is kept under in a lurking state, till the vigor of nature decaying either by intemperance, or either by Time, or by the invasion of some other Diseases, it takes thereupon
an opportunity to break loose, and shew it self in its own Colours, or the disguise of some other Malady that joyns Issue with it.
2. Carelesness, Sordidness in neglect∣ing their own Bodies, is another Cause; * 3.15 Qui enim post Coitum, ab Inquinamentis & Sordibus, rationabiliter & more de∣bito seipsos mundificant, vel sciunt hoc ritè peragere, rariùs hoc morbo capiuntur; quum alii, se negligentes, vel modum hujus operis ignorantes, dum Illuviem adhaerere permitttunt, citiùs & immaniùs correpti poenas luunt: Indeed, though an internal Taint (more or less) be scarce ever avoi∣ded by any, yet cleanliness ex post facto is a great means to prevent the virulent eruptions of a Gonorrhaea, Exulcerations, and other sad effects in and about the Genitals.
3. In congressu carnali di•• ac multùm immorari, ad virulentam Infectionem & violentam plurimùm conducit; qui enim impuris corporibus immersi detinentur, & post S••tietatem, proprer libidinis E••stasin multùm instammantur, unicâ saliem Coi∣tionis vice peract•• contagium suscipiunt; qui verò statim abscedunt, minùs inflam∣mati,
haud ità facilè coinquinantur.
4. Quo flagrantiùs libidine exardescunt, &, equorum instar, igneo Spermate stimu∣lati remferociùs affectant, eo citiùs homi∣nes labem contrahunt, & crudelitas morbi per Signa manifestior evadit; at{que} inde est, quòd tot è Juniorum censu tam subitò infecti redeant; quoniam ob victum nimis liberalem & Spermaticum turgentiores facti, juventutis Ardoribus ac Libidi∣nis unà coeuntibus, magna flamma accen∣ditur, adeò ut de majori & magis Ʋrente parùm solliciti, minimè timeant. At{que} idem dictum sit de ijs etiam, qui Veneris palaestrâ minùs exercitati fuerint, qui si∣quando rem obtineant, impetu vehementi∣ore properantes celeriùs inquinantur, eò quod Spiritibus fervidioribus ad genita∣lia copiosè confluentibus, ardore eorum ac violentiâ Ductus Spermatici plurim••m dilatentur, ut patentior fiat via veneno.
5. In a word; This Disease takes and breaks forth with some more than others, either because it finds weak Bo∣dies full of corrupt humors, bodies pas∣sively disposed, and hereby it hath op∣portunity to domineer most; or else the Disease is a Relapse, and finds Nature
yielding, and renewed and ingemina∣ted Diseases ever appear worst: Or sometimes other Diseases fallen in are joyned with it, one Disease drawing on another congenerous; and Diseases the more complicate, so much the worse they are. Besides, the new Disease falls in when Nature is weak, low, and languishing, so that its expulsive Facul∣ty cannot keep out, nor drive off the Diseases new or old. This Disease falls sometimes but gently on the Hair, some∣times on the Nerves, and causes all man∣ner of Palsies, Cramps, Convulsions, Tooth-ach, Pains in the Limbs, Gouts of all sorts, Lamenesses, general Debi∣lity, &c. Sometimes on the Bones, some∣times on the fleshy parts, whence come Leprosies, Scurfs, Scabs, Ulcers, knotty Swellings, and the like: Sometimes on the Brain, whence come Sore Eyes, Rheumes, Catarrhs, Epilepsies, &c. Some∣times on the Lungs, whence come Asthmaes, Coughs, Phthisical Consumpti∣ons, &c. and so, many other Diseases, too long to describe; And all this varie∣ty, because the several Parts respective∣ly are more disposed and propense to re∣ceive
the impression of the Disease, or because they do less repel it.—Thus that which Physitians say of the Fever, that sometimes it falls on the Humors, sometimes on the Spirits, and sometimes on the Solid Parts, as they are more dis∣posed to Inflammation, or do less resist that Flame, may as truly be said of this Disease.
6. You may observe, that Men of Drier, Harder, and Colder Bodies, are less subject to this Disease, as labouring men, poor men, and old men. I have read it observed, that the Venom doth not often discover it self upon the Turks; and the reason suggested is, for that their Bodies are more Hard and Dry, and consequently their Genitals.
7. There is Cause arising likewise from particular Constitutions, why this Disease is so various; and (to speak in the Galenick phrase, because that pas∣seth best to common Capacities) I ob∣serve the Cholerick are soonest touched; the Melancholick most afflicted; the Sanguine make best resistance to Infecti∣on, and are best cured; and the Phleg∣matick have it lurking longest in their
humors: which suits exactly with the Saying of * 3.16 Forestus, who tells us, The Disease is one thing when 'tis in a San∣guine person; another, when 'tis in a Cholerick; another thing when 'tis in a Melancholick; and so men are more speedily or more rarely made Examples of its cruelty: which is no more than what was said also by * 3.17 Fernelius before him, as you may read at large. And as this is true in reference to Constituti∣ons in general, so 'tis observed, that people who are near of a Constitution, infect one another the more quickly and dangerously. This also Fernelius shews in the same Chapter, Veluti si Biliosus cum Biliosâ concubuerit: And as * 3.18 Sennertus is large upon this Point, so he gives a Reason of it; for, saith he, You are to consider the Body infecting and infected, and there is required in all Contagion, a likeness betwixt the Contagious Body and that which receives the Contagion; and he intimates, that where such a like∣ness is not, there the Body that is in hazard operates Antipathetically by its natural vigor against the other that would infect it; but in what thing either
this Antipathy, or this Likeness doth consist, no man (saith he) can declare in a satisfactory manner; because those occult qualities of Bodies, and the essential Forms from which they flow, are not discoverable by •••• in this dark state of Man-kind, nor any way to be discerned but by their effects. Now that the Effect is really so betwixt Sinners of a Complexion, will easily be observed by those Many that have op∣portunity to observe things, in their loose way of Conversation and Licentious Li∣ving. Zacutus Lusitanus, that Learned Jew, hath said as much as any to the same purpose; but goes further than others, and undertakes to shew wayes whereby Infection may be prevented. [ * 3.19 Sed si hoc negotium attentius expendatur, inve∣niemus p••••res Cautiones, & Auxilia; quorum benesicio quispiam post concubitum, à Gallico veneno immunis evadat. Primò ergo, oportet ut post Venerem, in quâ non multùm immoretur, abluat totum puden∣dum aquâ calidâ, denudato praeputio, & hoc per octavam horae partem saciendum, idque manè & serò, bidui spatio. Hoc praesidio superstites à tantâ labe persaepe e••a∣dunt Mulieres, panniculos ex gosrypio in
calida aqua abundè madidos immittentes. Quòd si haec praestò non sint, protinus geni∣talia urina lavabis. Balneum toti corpori adhibitum summopere prodest, maximè si cum infecto vel necessitate coactus, vel inscius quis cubaverit. Vinum etiam ca∣lidum in hunc usum mirificè confert. Ve∣rùm Aqua aliis liquoribus est praestantior; resolvit enim, ardorem temperat, mitigat dolorem, & non exsiccat.] The English of which is to be lock'd up from the eyes of common Readers, partly for mo∣desties sake, and partly because such Cautions may prove an encouragement to wickedness; though I believe them (for the most part) ineffectual; and he himself doth as good as acknowledge it in the same Page: for * 3.20 (saith he), In the Venereal Congress, the heat being ex∣cited by Motion, a great ebullition of Spi∣rits and Humors following thereupon, and the Passages of the Body being made more open, it is in a manner impossible, that any means should be found out, that may totally break and repress the force of the Conta∣gion, so as to hinder its being communica∣ted to the neighboring vessels, or its passing on to the other Parts: So that if his Di∣rections
and Cautions should at any time prevail, to prevent present Inconveni∣ences usually befalling the Genitals, and the Spermatick and Urinary Vessels, yet the Venom may steal on insensibly, and seat it self in the most hidden and sub∣stantial parts, to act its part, by way of Sally and Surprize, in the form of some other Diseases in the future. And the same Author hardly grants any possibili∣ty of Women-strikers escaping, because they are the Receivers of Impurity; and though their Menstrual Purgations may carry off part of the peccant Humors, and so relieve them in part, yet their Bodies being more feeble, and lyable to more Diseases than Men, miserable Con∣sequents are frequently seen to afflict them; and that is the reason why those other Diseases that are peculiar to the Sex, which were cōmonly curable here∣tofore, do now defie all the old Courses and Remedies of Physick, so that the non-consideration of the Causes of this great Change, and the not fitting of Medicines agreeable thereto, is the main Cause why they are become the Shame of our Profession. I might be much
more copious; but this is enough to shew, how slily this Infection many times steals into the Body, and how silently it may lodg there, without any manifestation of its Venom in the person, and yet that person may by Carnal Coition im∣part it to another, who may be otherwise affected, and have visible Symptoms breaking out; and to say truth, these are more happy, because they are alarmed to look out for a Cure, while the other through security neglect it, and so the Disease becomes naturalized in them, working it self into the whole habit of the Body; and then what Dis∣eases soever the Body is most inclinable to, in the form of those Diseases it usual∣ly appears: And so, since the time that the universality of Men have been infe∣cted, Diseases generally are alter'd, and are rarely cured without Remedies that will meet with them in the Point of their Origination, and reach the root of the Matter.
Now, as it fares thus with Mankind by the Pox, so in every respect also by the Scurvy, which is a Disease every jot as much propagated by carnal Contact,
as the other, though it be a matter less taken notice of: For, all * 3.21 Authors that write of it, reckon it in the number of Infectious Diseases: They all agree like∣wise, that it may be, and is, transmit∣ted hereditarily from Fathers to Chil∣dren, or by clothes, or by kissing, or other ordinary ways of Conversation; and if it may pass by such slight means, then the Argument holds à fortiori, that its Infection may pass much sooner and more fully by Venereal Intermixture. in the clearing of which Assertion, I shall be more punctual by and by. In the mean while, it is evident enough, that this Disease passeth by the mutual Act of Male and Female, even from this one Observation, that where-ever either of the Mates is scorbutically tainted, the other never scapes, but catches the Taint more or less, and so, like the Pox, disco∣vers it self more or less according to the variety of the Tempers and Distempers of the Bodies on which it seizeth; or else not at all, till through decay of nature, or by some other Accident, it hath op∣portunity to shew it self in its own Co∣lours, or in the garb of other Diseases.
If any think he hath reason to gainsay this, let him first observe the Course of things, before he oppose it.
II. The Venereous and Scorbutick Taint hath gotten much ground in the world, through ill management of Cures, or insufficient wayes of Curati∣on: As for the Pox, the Custom hath been to run to any Pretender for a Cure of it; and those Physicians that do meddle with it, do (most of them) handle it as ill as the rest, because they make use of the common Scope and Remedies in curing, so that they both mistake the way, and have not means wherewith to carry the Patient safe to his Journies end, forasmuch as the pretended Cure very often proves worse than the Di∣sease, destroys the Constitution, and creates or exasperates some other Di∣sease, either which was not in being there before, or which was but begin∣ning, if it had a being.
Some of the common wayes are men∣tioned by the fore-said Dr to be these:
1. The cheap-poor-whore-Cure, by Fontanels or Issues, taken up from the practice of the poorer Spaniards,
amongst whom it is in common use, whereby nature finds some ease, disbur∣thening part of the purulent matter, but the Fomes is left within, to render their condition the more deplorable; And here one thing is to be observed, that Issues prevailed not much in the practise of Physick, until this Disease brake into Europe.
2. By Mercurial Ʋnguent, which may serve for Carriers, and Porters, and other robustious Bodies; and yet, even in them the Consequents render it perilous, if not pernicious. I know, some are so ignorant and audacious, that they make it their ordinary Cham∣pion, setting upon every Venereous Patient with this dreadful Remedy, as if no cure could be dispatched without it; the effects of whose boldness many have mournfully carried to their graves. What this Ʋnguent is, I need not ex∣press; its Composition is better known than trusted to, or delighted in, by Ar∣tists: for, this Unguent rubbed on the Palms of the Hands and the Plants of the Feet, &c. is speedily carried to the Head, as appears by the Floods of Sali∣vation,
with other dreadful Symptoms, that follow the use of it.
3. By Mercurial Cinabar-Fume, which is yet more formidable, and to such as have pectoral Diseases, short Breath, ill-affected Lungs, Distillations, weak Bowels, Colick Pains, and Dysenteries, it is pernicious; for, use what care you c••n, the Mercurial Air will get into the Chest. And though great Preten∣ders may promise security in its use, yet it is no wisdom to adventure your person, upon every one's bold rash and ignorant confidence: Fierce Accidents will fall in; bold Undertakers will pro∣mise much, and perform little, and ad∣venture upon what they cannot go∣vern, therefore must needs abuse them∣selves and their Patients. I say not this to decry the right use of Mercury; for, take away Mercury, Antimony, and Vi∣triol, and you leave the Armory of Physick reproachfully weak.
4. By Salivation procured by Medi∣cins inwardly taken, which, though it be the best of all the ordinary wayes, yet as it is managed by most Chirurgi∣ans, and others, generally it is attend∣ed
with Symptoms almost as ill as any of the other; and all for want of such Medicins as will do the work of Sali∣vation, without those tedious and in∣tolerable afflictions of swoln Head, loose Teeth, sore and swoln Mouth, Tongue, and Throat, &c. and the Malign Impressions thereby left when the work is over, which very few claw off all their Dayes after.
The committing of persons to be cured of this Disease by common and ignorant persons, is that which Dr * 3.22 Primrose cries out upon, among the Vulgar Errors, Credit being given to any that will brag, and promise to make a Cure within 10. or 12. dayes, and yet allow men their liberty; which draws men in, especially such as have Business to follow; and when all is done, instead of a through-Cure, they gain no more but a Palliation of their Pains and other ill Symptoms, for a season, when as the Minera of the Disease re∣mains still within, the more deeply rooted, and in time brings forth the bit∣ter Fruits of sorrow, repentance, the old Disease, and new Ones to attend
it. Therefore that the common sort of Receipt-mongers should under∣take the Management of this Cure, and that the wealthier sort of men should so readily venture their Bo∣dies into their Hands, shews the blind Boldness of the one, and the marvellous Indiscretion of the other. I will graunt, 'tis possible an ordinary man may, by Tradition from his Master or a Friend, be acquainted with a Me∣thod very good and sufficient in ge∣ral against this Disease, and he may do some Cures with it, as we see is done sometimes in Hospitals, where they have one Customary way of Cure for all Comers (which it concerns the Over∣seers of those places to rectifie) but that such a man should think himself fit, with such a Traditional Method, and the Credit of having cured some by it, to undertake the Cure in all Cases, is terrible to consider, since every ratio∣nal Practiser knows, there is so great a variety in the Pox it self, respecting the nature of the Venom, and other Qualifications of the Body in which 'tis seated, that in a Thousand Bodies infected
you shall not find two that are alike Circumstantiated, or that yield Con∣currents so alike, as that there will arise thence the like Indication for Cure in the one, as in the other; or that the same Method and Medicines may be used to one as to another, without pre∣judice and damage; which frequently happens to be so great, that instead of curing the Pox, they exasperate it, and often precipitate Mens Bodies in this de∣licate Age, into other destoying Diseases, be it pocky Consumption, or what other name you please to give unto a lingring wasting Malady; the truth of which is evident by every dayes observation upon nice and weakly Bodies, when they come under these Traditional Cu∣rers and Cures; whereas the ill Conse∣quence of a Cure not rightly Calculated to the particular condition of a Patient, is not so often manifested, where the Patient is of a robust Body and strong Constitution; for such a one cannot easily be undone by an Error, but makes a shift to run all hazards through the hard Chapter of any ordinary means, and car∣ry away somewhat like a Cure. I might be copious in Instances to confirm this
from my own Observation; but that not being fit to be done, you may s••e enough in the Observations of Horstius, Zacutus, Riverius, and others, in whom you will find (as we say in our English Proverb) What is one Man's Meat, may be another Man's Poyson what cured one of the Pox was destructive to another; those w•••• Men ever varying the way and means of curing, according to the nature of the Person and Disease that they were to deal with: The want of which Know∣ledge and Prudence is a Cause why the Pox, instead of being cured, hath been only palliated, and under disguise gain∣ed such footing in the world, that it pas∣eth every where with the name of other Diseases.
Nor do that Common Sort of Under∣takers err only in their pretended way of curing the Pox, when 'tis inveterate and confirmed, but they stumble and do as much mischief in the very beginning, when 'tis but a Clap (as they call it) a virulent running of the Reins, &c. For, at first taking, the Disease lodgeth in the out-parts, viz. the Urinary and Sper∣matick Vessels, and doubtless ought to be sent back the same way that it came
in, as is evident by the immediate cure that some, as soon as they have been clap't, have procured to Themselves, by repeated Coitions with sound Wo∣men; and some I have known to glory in this Vilany of debauching that Sex in order to a Cure; and therefore doubtless such Medicines are most pro∣per as work in Analogie hereto, clensing the Ureters and Vessels destined to Ge∣neration, rather than those iterated Purgations which emptying the more internal parts, make room for the Ve∣nom, and so relieve the wayes of Urine and Sperm, by drawing it thence up into the Body, to take its walk through the Blood and Bowels; and this being the common way of proceeding, then when Men reckon they are relieved from the Clap, the Disease is but translated to other Places, where it in time im∣proves the possession it so gets, and at length seizeth the most abstruse and so∣lid parts, vitiating the whole habit of the Body, and putting on the Visor of such other Diseases as the person is most inclinable to; yea, and very mysteri∣ously running in a Blood afterward from
Generation to Generation: So that it appears, the Common Undertakers do more mischief in their pretended curing of Claps, than they can do in attempt∣ing the Disease when 'tis become invete∣rate, and deserves the name of Pox. Let me conclude this therefore with the Sense of * 3.23 Dr Primrose, who observes the Error of the People, to think, that Physitians are not so proper Artists for the Cure of this Disease, and upon sup∣posal of this, they commit themselves to the ignorance and odd Medicines of common men, that will promise them cure in a few dayes without hindrance of business or pleasure, as if this Subtile Enemy were a Disease so sleight, that it might be cured without observation of rule in Eating, Drinking, Exercise, or Recreation; whereas there are no Re∣medies in Nature that will worm out this Disease without regular abstinence and observance; for otherwise, the force of Medicines will be broken. Moreover, we are here, as in other Ails, to have a respect to the variety of Mens Bodies, and of the Age and Nature of the Ve∣nom, in proportion whereto a choice
ought to be made of Remedies, or else 'tis no wonder, if so many Patients are undone instead of being cured; this Serpentine Evil in the mean time insinu∣ating it self into the Blood, Liquors, Spirits, Ferments, and most abstruse parts of the Body, where it becomes quasi Altera Natura, as it were Another Nature, altering All, and bestowing a kind of new Specification upon every thing within the little world of Man; so that 'tis no wonder, if Diseases and all things else become new. I might be larger in shewing how much the ill Cures that are in use have contributed toward the Universal spreading of the Pox in its various Seminalities and Disguises; but a word to the wise is enough.
I have a word also touching the ill Cures of the Scurvy in common use.
1. Against Phlebotomie. This Disease also walks abroad in so concealed a manner, that it is not discernable by any but a judicious eye, and letting of Blood is grown so common, that too many by this French Mode of Blooding make it like the Prologue to the Tragedy, the ne∣cessary Praeludium of Cure in most Cases
that come under their Hands; and so, seeing there are but few Cases wherein there is not somwhat of Scorbuticism mixt, I could willingly write a Trea••ise touch∣ing the mischiefs done by bleeding in most Diseases, in these North-parts of the world, as well as Agues and Fevers; in the mean time, I say, the frequent o∣pening of Veins is the Bane of our own Nation, and that it ought not to be ad∣mitted, unless it be in some few Cases of Urgency, but not in every Case of Tur∣gencie; which is too frequently done, and is too wide a Subject here to inlarge upon, otherwise you should have Rea∣sons enough for my Assertion. At pre∣sent, take this hint only, that if it be true, (since the Liver is turned out of the office of Sanguification) that Sanguis Sanguificat, Blood makes Blood of the Chyle, and doth it▪ ad modum Tincturae, then if the Blood be so degenerous, flat and weak, as it is in some Scorbutick Bodies, or extream Acid, or Salty, as it is in other Scorbuticks, that it cannot give a true generous impregnating Tin∣cture to the Chyle, so as to render it good Blood, it follows then that every addi∣tion
of new Chyle, receives a vitious Tincture, and doth, instead of Blood, furnish the Veins with Humors, either Vapid, Acid, or Saline; and so if by opening a Vein, that Crimson liquor, which gives the sanguifying qualification and Tincture, be diminished, the conse∣quence must needs be most pernicious in such Bodies as the aforesaid, because in them the Crimson liquor is but little, and the other exotick humors are abun∣dant, and though much of these may be let out by Blood-letting, yet that will not compensate the loss of a very little of the other, because the other is that which hath in it self the vital power of sanguifying the Chyle, as it passeth along the Vessels, and seeing upon it the work depends, it must needs be, that when any part of the little is drawn forth, that which remains behind is more apt to be diluted with the peccant Hu∣mors which accompany it, than able to transmute the Chyle, which through want of being made good Blood, de∣generates, and so every day adds more to the heap of those Scorbutick Hu∣mors, because they being most abun∣dant
and prevalent, turn all into their own acid, vapid, or salty Nature; even as a Vessel of Vinegar makes Vinegar of the best Wine, or a Vessel of dead Wine makes bad the best Wine that can be added to it; and thus the whole Habit of the Body comes to be mortified, ra∣ther than nourished and invigorated, which is so much the more to be lament∣ed, since the inconvenience and damage done by Blooding such Persons seems irrepairable, and yet nothing more com∣monly practised than Bleeding, by ver∣tue of the old Doctrins and Directions; which are almost quite out of doors in this new State of Mankind.
2. Nor doth the Scorbutick Adver∣sary gain ground only by Bleeding but as much also by improper means of Pur∣gation, among which may be reckoned the Pills, Electuaries, Powders, and Infusions, reputed Classical and Authentick, which work by offensive irritation of Nature, rather than an amicable Close with her, as may be seen by Aristotle's Description of the manner of Purgative Operation; for, as in his days, they had no other Purgers,
so the great Masters of the Faculty which have been ever since, have very little mended the Matter as may be seen by the several Pharmacopeia's Authorised in the world, out of all which I do profess I cannot pick one Composition proper to purge Scorbutical Humors in so gentle and effectual a manner as they ought to be, but instead of being eva∣cuated, they are the more exasperated thereby, and contract the greater acri∣mony—. Nor is it thus only with the Shop-purgers, but even by the ordinary Diet-Drinks used in Families Spring and Fall, much mischief is done, because people rest upon them, and instead of clearing the body of Scorbutick Hu∣mors, they drain the best Juices down through the common Sink-hole, not be∣ing of power enough to enter into the secret Closets of the remote and solid Parts, thence to sollicit away the of∣fending Fomes of the Malady by Stool, and give part of it (which ought to be done at the same time also) a transpira∣tion or Breathing through the Skin; but 'tis not any of the common Medi∣cins that will act both these Intenti∣ons—.The
like error also is commit∣ed by men's running to the Wells: not that I condemn the use of the Wells ab∣solutely in Scorbutick Cases, especially such as have a Mine of Iron to feed them, whose water (as that of Tun∣bridge) hath in such Cases done much good; but I blame the customary re∣course to the other which have not so good a Mine, which in many Constitu∣tions I have known exceedingly to fret and exasperate the salty and acid parts of the blood and humors of men so con∣stituted, and so they return thence with more work for a Physician, whose ad∣vice they had better have taken before they went to those places. The truth is, though Purgation be necessary to be used in this Cure, yet it must be gentle, and performed by Specificks, which are but few good Ones in use; and the main of the Cure must be managed by such Alteratives as will dulcifie the Blood; and they must respect likewise the Semi∣nals of the Pox as well as the Scurvy, else little good will be done, these two being inseparably combined in their Principles, as hath been signified al∣ready
in the foregoing part of this Book.
3. The Scurvy many times appears so exceeding like the Pox in all its Sym∣ptoms, that they are hard to be distin∣guisht: Hereupon, the common sort of Physicians and others, presuming it is so, and Patients being perhaps guilty enough to deserve it, make confession, and both by comparing Notes agree upon a Cure; which is usually managed by Diet-Drinks, ill p••epared Pills, and other Ceremonies of the Rack due to Sinners; which are wont to mount the Scorbutick Dominion to such a height, that for the future there is no escaping the Tyranny, it being confirm'd by this means in the Body, and entailed upon them and their Heirs for ever: which one confideration might be enough to deterr men, from adventuring their Carcases in∣to the hand of any Tormenter, that may mistake the one for the other. For, there must be one way to cure the Scur∣vy when 'tis simple and single; and another to cure it, when 'tis in compli∣cation with a Pocky Ferment; and that which cures it, when it proceeds from a
vitious Habit of Body, will not cure it in a Body that hath been vitiated by Contagion through Inheritance, or any other way of adventitious Communica∣tion from another.
4. Much mischief is often done by the use of such Medicins as in the Com∣mon Opinion have a Pasport every where to be employed against the Scurvy, as Scurvigrass, Water-Cress, and the like; which, where the Disease is lodged in a Blood and Humors full of Acidity or Acrimony, & abounding with a vitious volatile Salt, are eminently de∣structive, and render the salient Particles of all sorts, the more capering, turgid, and unruly within the Veins, and send them a gadding thence about the habit of the Body; by which means a Foun∣dation is laid for Agues of all sorts, Fe∣vers, Vertigoes, running Pains, Stitches, Head-Aches, Cramps, Convulsions, Gripings of the Guts, Short Breath∣ings, straitness of the Chest, Whites, Fluxes of all sorts, Gouts of all sorts, Hypochondriack, and Hysterical Pas∣ssions, Inflammations, Pleurisies, and all the Diseases of the Lungs. Some one
or other of these mischiefs usually fol∣lows the common Scurvy-Diet-Drinks and Barrels made Spring and Fall, un∣less the Persons using them have healthy Bodies (for they will bear out any thing) but the weaker and sickly do assuredly suffer, unless their Bodies be so consti∣tuted, that such kind of Drinks do by chance fit them, and hit the Distemper; but that is only by chance, and who then will adventure without good Advice? for, I say again, that in Bodies which abound with Acidity, Acrimony, or a vi∣tious volatile Salt (which in this Age is ve∣ry frequent) or which have a Blood and Humors apt to ferment and frisk, there Scurvy-Grass, Water-Cress, Common Wormwood, Water-mint, Hors-radish, and the rest of that sort, do a world of mischief, whereas they are very proper in Bodies whose Maladies lie in a fix't Salt that needs a Resolvent volatilising power to remove it; or that abound with dull, insipid, flat, dead Humors, like decayed depauperated wines, which will never be restored to any tolerable State, unless you seek to cure them by adding such Ingredients as will
make them ferment anew within the vessel. To such persons as these they may be of advantage, provided always there be no other Circumstance to contra-indicate the use of them: which must be left to the Judgment of some Physician, that is so indeed rather than Title.
5. The Scorbutick Ferment makes its way in the world with less controll, in regard Physicians do not distinguish, or will not understand a difference, be∣twixt that Scurvy which comes by ones own default, through ill Diet, Courses, &c. and that which comes by inheritance from Parents, or by Con∣tagion from others, and so proportion not their Cures accordingly. The Scurvy of the first kind requires a Cure peculiar to it Self; so doth the Scor∣butick Tang or Tincture of the Blood by Contagion; which is the less curable, because it stealing insensibly into the Bo∣dy, is usually confirmed, before people either take notice of it, or look abroad for a Cure: But that which comes by Generation is incurable, because insepe∣rable from the Principles of the Body,
being ingrained in the very Blood, co∣essentiated with all that is within us, and connatural to us, so that it mingles it self with all that is ours, yea, with our very Diseases, and under their names it pas∣seth, and so necessitates a laying aside the old Notions and Maxims, and the introducing of new Hypotheses and Spe∣culations, and a laying of new Founda∣tions (other than that of a narrow Col∣ledge, and old Piles of Books) whereon to raise a Body of Physick fit for our Age and Climate; and yet 'tis a shame to con∣sider how little hath been done that is new by any Man but our worthy Dr Wil∣lis, & some others that have lighted their Tapers at the Torch of Helmont. Now here give me leave to note what I forgot before in proper place, That as the Scurvy passeth these 3. wayes, so also the Pox, and the not making distinction propor∣tionably in cure of it, is one of the Causes why it also hath gone on to make so great Triumph over Humane Nature: And though the Hereditary Species of both these Diseases be not to be extin∣guished, yet the Evils thence arising may be qualified, and the Diseases with
which they are clothed be the better dealt with, if Physicians will take pains, to form right Notions and Conceptions there-anent, for rectifying and regulating the way of practise, and invent such Medi∣cines as have a reach & power agreeable thereunto: For, in a word, the World is grown to such a pass, there's scarce a Malady which is not mystically compli∣cated with one or both those Master-Maladies; which, like Original Cor∣ruption, run universally through the loyns of the Sons and Daughters of Adam, and are as it were Elements in the mixt Frame or Composition of other Distempers.
III. The Venereous and Scorbutick Taint hath made great progress by Ac∣cidental Contagion; which being the most curious and mysterious way of communication, is not so readily assented to by common Readers; but the thing is no new Doctrine, both these Diseases having been alwayes reckoned among the Contagious. Nor let people be so fond as to think themselves free, because they know themselves and their Parents honest; that will not secure them from
Contagion, which is a thing of a Spiri∣tuous Nature, carried through the Air to make impression upon such Bodies as come in its way. Fracastorius, a grave Author, makes a three-fold Contagion; 1. By Contact; 2. The Second, by that which he calls Fomes Morbi; 3. The Third, at distance, which by * 3.24 Senner∣tus is abridged to two sorts, viz. Conta∣gion Mediate, or Immediate: Contagion Immediate is that which is communicated by the gross Contact of a Diseased Body, as when one lies with a Leprous, a Scab∣by, or a Venereous Person; this every one grants may be done: Contagion Medi∣ate, is, when one is infected by the me∣diation of some certain Body, though he touch not the Body of any Infectious Person; which mediating Body most commonly is the Air, it being the vehicle that conveyes those Effluviums, Corpus∣cles, or Invisible Atoms, as it were small shot, to do Execution upon persons at a distance. This fine way of Communi∣cation suits not with the Conceit of a Brain, that measures every thing by the gross Philosophy which Aristotle ties men to in the Schools: Wherefore 'tis a wonder to me, why so Learned a
Man as Fernelius, Sennertus, & others, who in express Terms allow the Pestilence to seize Men thus at a distance, by the me∣diation of contagious Effluxes or Atoms; and do grant this a Truth, not onely in the case of that most dreadful Disease, but al∣so in lesser Diseases as the Chine-Coughs, Common-Coughs, Catarrhs, Fluxes, the Phthisis or Consumption, the Lippitudo or sore Eyes, Measles, and other Distempers, which do many times run through whole Families, yea, Towns and Villages, as the Consequents of meer Conversation, or co-habitation within the same Air and House. But Fracastorius is clear of opini∣on, that it ranges abroad from Person to Person, after the rate of other contagious Diseases, without any Contact or Com∣merce corporal (such as Men commonly count Corporall:) The Truth is, the ordinary gross Conceit of the world concerning Corporiety, tying it up for the main to visible and tractable sub∣stances, is that which rendreth Do∣ctrine of this kind very difficult to ap∣prehend; but he who reads the finer Philosophy of this wiser Age, and doth not take measure of it by the Beards of our Ancestors, but hath digested the de∣licates
of the Magnetick or Sympathe∣tick Doctrine of our Noble Digby, and others treating of that Subject (too large for me here to dilate upon) of the Truth of which daily experiments are a sufficient Testimony, will soon agree upon the probability (yea the certainty) of people being seizable at a distance, by virtue of the continual Effluxes of Atomical Corpuscles, (which one may call Bodikins instead of Bodies) where∣by the grosser Substances, usually termed Bodies, are tangible by each other, and hold communication with each other at remote distances, and so do operate upon each other by Infection or Qua∣lification, as well as if they did touch after the gross manner of Tangibility, as when visible Bodies do touch one another in such sort that we behold it with our Eyes. Agreeably to this, the same * 3.25 Fracastorius and Nicolaus Leoni∣cenus, two learned Italians, do both con∣tend, that the French Pox rambles after the manner of contagious Diseases, which are Epidemical, seizing folk that never had any carnal mixture with unclean persons; only, here is the difference betwixt it and the Disease caught by
carnal Commerce, that this is usually more visible in its dire effects upon the Body, by Gonorrhaea's, Buboes, Ul∣cers, &c. the other which comes by Con∣tagion at distance, is of a finer Nature, and dives not so deep presently into the Blood and Humors, as it insinuates into the Spirits and Ferments of the Body, and acts by time and by strategem, lying still till it hath an Opportunity: Not but that the other many times lurks some years also; but this more curious way of Contagion (for the most part) after it hath made entry, proceeds leisurely and gradually to debauch the whole Habit of the Body, and seldom playes the Tyrant till it hath made a full and final Usurpation, which it seldom ac∣complisheth without a Revolution of many years; and then perhaps it appears not like it self, but it may be in the shape of some other one, or more Diseases. Now here, because 'tis very necessary, this Poynt should be a little cleared, give me leave to inlarge: This Contagion (saith * 3.26 Sennertus) when it is received into the Body, doth not stand still, but af∣ter the manner of other Venoms, creeps in∣to the inmost and most hidden parts of the
Body, and sometimes it quickly shews it self; at other times it lurks long. And Fernelius writes positively, * 3.27 That it will lurk thirty years together before it discovers it self; and thus, many (both Men and Women) that think themselves free from all Infection, and never had Sense of the evil upon their own Bodies, counting themselves absolutely sound, do nevertheless infect others that lie with them, and beget Children infected with that Disease. And this holds true, whe∣ther it be taken by fleshly Coition, or by Contagion, onely it more frequently discovers it self after Coition. Our Wynel, * 3.28 Charlton, Helmont, do report, after Fernelius, Forestus, Horstius, Sen∣nertus, and others, all in the Sense of Hippocrates, that Venom may lurk in the Body, without shewing it self, and 'tis instanced particularly in the Venom proceeding from the Bite of a Mad Dog; yet neither Hippocrates, nor these, nor any other of his Followers to this day, can give any reason why it should lurk some moneths or years without any sign discovering it: So this Disease the Pox may lurk, but the manner how, with the reason why, we can onely guess at,
and that is when it comes by Coition. Then (saith Wynel) the Proluvies of it being viscous, tenaciously adheres to the Bowels, and is mingled with the Humors and Spirits; but because evi∣dence of its presence cannot clearly, and by manifest effects be shewed but on so∣lid Bodies; therefore while this venere∣ous Illuvies doth find Bowels so strongly Spirited, as they make great resistance and refuse it, and obtrude it into the By-Cavities of the Body, (where it lies fermenting) the Disease resideth especi∣ally in this Venereous Illuvies, and is not communicated to the outward Parts: So that when, how, and where this Dis∣ease begins, acts, and creeps on, is not perceived. There are Workings, and Al∣terations, and Morbifick Sensations in the Body, which are not at all in strong Constitutions perceived by their proper Causes, and are oftentimes attributed to other than their own; so that if you put together the time wherein the Bow∣els resist the Venereous Poyson, and the time wherein it worketh insensibly, to∣gether with the time of the Bodies State Neutral, it may amount to many years before the Effects, Symptoms, and
Evidences, do discover the Disease un∣doubtedly present; and yet that 'tis privately setled in the Body, often ap∣pears by such a person's infecting another: Thus you have in Avicen a Story of a young woman nourished up by degrees with a poysonous Diet, who was never poysoned her Self, yet poysoned all that had carnal use of her. I remember also, * 3.29 Fallopius hath a Story of twelve Scho∣lars that had to do with one woman, yet onely three appeared to be infected, the rest seeming sound; which is to be look'd on only as a Reprieve from pre∣sent Execution. Indeed, I the less wonder at the cessation of this Venereal Poyson in the Body, when I hear it avowed by such as have Commerce with the East-Indies, that they have such kind of Poysons there as do neither kill, nor so much as operate presently: but after the time of a week, a month, a half-year, or a year or two, as it pleases the Artist to order the Matter; and thus divers of our English have there unawares re∣ceived Poyson at departure, which ne∣ver wrought with them till their return into Europe: But we need not go so far as the Indies for Instances of that Na∣ture;
the Artists of Spain, and the Vir∣tuosi of Italy, are dextrous enough in contriving the like Doses, whose Ma∣lignant Force shall lurk in the body, and at length, though slowly, yet surely do the Business. It is written by Piso (as Mr Boyle cites him, Experimen. Phi∣los. pag. 267.) who learned of the Brasi∣lians divers of their detestable Secrets, That some of them are so skilful in the cursed Art of tempering and allaying their Poysons, that they will often hin∣der them from disclosing their deleteri∣ous Nature for so long a time, that the subtile Murtherers do, as unex∣pectedly, as fatally, execute their ma∣lice and revenge. Nor can it be at all difficult to any man to apprehend the possibility of a Pocky or Scorbutick Ferments lurking long in the body, seeing the same thing is granted touching the Measels and the Small Pox, whose semi∣nal Principles and Causes are said to be brought along with us out of our Mo∣ther's Wombs into the world, and yet so to lurk within us as not to discover their venemous and contagious effects till after years; in some sooner, in some la∣ter, after 20. 30. 40. years, &c.
no man doth so much as scruple at, nor that the Seminalities of other Diseases, as the Gout, the Stone, the Consumption, &c. should associate with us from the very loins of our Parents, and not ap∣pear till 20. 30. 40. or 60. years are past. We see also, that for many years, divers Diseases break out in men Spring and Fall, which in the Intervals are quiet; yet all the while their Seminals are in being, never shewing themselves in Act but at those various Turns of the year. I would fain therefore see some reason alledged, why 'tis not as possible for the Seminals of the Pocky Lues to be lurking, as well as the Taints and Fer∣ments of other Diseases. * 3.30 Gregorius Horstius, as grave a Writer as any, had a Case propounded to him concerning one of the Emperor's Counsellers that had an Ulcer in the Reins, which had baffled all the Physicians for many Moneths together, who dream't not of that which was indeed the Cause, be∣cause the Patient being a grave States∣man, was past the suspicion of wench∣ing, and so they proceeded to cure it as a Malady arising ab acri & adustâ Materiâ from sharp and adust Matter:
But Horstius advised them to look fur∣ther, telling them in plain Terms, That the stubbornness of the Disease did presup∣pose some Malignant Reliques of the Pocky Lues, deeply impressed without Sense or Pain at first upon the whole Mass of Blood, where it lay invisible for many years; and that they might apply what Medicines they pleased, all would be to no purpose, till the Patient be prescribed a Course of such Remedies as are proper for the said Pocky Lues, to correct the whole habit of the Body; which being neglected, it is no wonder, if that Malignant Disease, having by its noxious qualities tainted the Blood, did after many years lurking, take its op∣portunity to seize upon so weak, a part as the Reins and Bladder, and send ill Hu∣mors that way, and elude all those Medi∣caments applied for the Cure; therefore he advised them rather to go to work with Sweating Decoctions, Bezoard. Min., Liquor Mercurii, and such like as are used in Cure of the Pox: For, saith he, I had the like Case about six years ago in an old man, a Citizen of this Common-wealth, who had an ill-condition'd Ʋlcer in the whole Leg of long continuance, it having afflicted him many years, and grew the
worse for all the Applications that had been made to it. As soon as I came to him, I suspected it an effect of some Touch gotten in his Youth, which had been then but su∣perficially cured; Wherefore after inquiry made into many Circumstances of his younger dayes, I found cause to deal with him with Minerals proper for that Lues, and well prepared; which being done, that Ʋlcer which had hitherto resisted all Remedies, and was look'd on as desperate, did consolidate of its self, after which the old man married a Wife, and never com∣plained more: Quod autem in hoc, & in sexcentis aliis observatur: And this (he saith) is no more than what hath been ob∣served in six hundred other Patients, viz. That the lurking Lues breaks out, &c. And he referrs you to many Histories more of his own, shewing the Pranks of the Pockie Ferment, in Internal as well as External Maladies; for, it will appear in the shape of the one as well as the other. And in the same place, this Au∣thor saith as much also for the Scurvy, which will lurk as long, and shew it self in various sorts of Ʋlcers, &c. In the Cure of which he alwayes found the common Remedies to be vain, unless
the Scurvy were first pluckt up by the roots by other Medicines, and the Scor∣butick Ferment driven out of the Body.
And in his 7th Book de Morbis Con∣tag. Observ. 9. He tells a Story of a Smith by him cured, that had the Lues lurking in him divers years, and at length it put on the Disguise of a Head-ach, in which Form it continued, till at last plain Symptoms of the Pocky Lues appeared, and then he turned him into the publick Hospital to be cured. And because this Disease may lurk in this manner, Zacu∣tus Lusitanus * 3.31 gives ground for exceed∣ing Caution to be used by people about their Marriages, especially with such as are in the state of Widowhood: He bids men take heed of such Widows as have the Disease called Fluor Albus, it being many times part of the Dowry left them by their former Husbands; and though they appear never so sound, yet there's no security, if their Hus∣bands formerly were Cocks of the Game; toward the resolution of which doubt∣ful Point, he saith the Counsel of a Phy∣sician is very requisite. The like Cau∣tion (say I) ought Women to use in marrying such men as have themselves
been Gamesters, or that have had Gamesters to their former Wives: For, this Author fully demonstrates the strange lurking nature of this Pocky Contagion; for, if it so happen (saith he) that there be no visible Token of it in the Body yet the venom is not idle, nor doth it rest, but works by little and little, till it change the solid parts of the Body, and overthrow their Natural Temper. Thus when the constitution of any part is alter'd throughly, then Nature being irritated drives the venom thence to some more noble part; and so, grievous Symptoms begin to arise. But herein no certain time can be fixt; for, some persons fall sooner, some later, and some very late, into this Di∣stemper, who before seemed to be sound and to have no Taint within them; the cause of which, as he supposeth, doth de∣pend upon the stronger or weaker Faculty of the Agent, and the Disposition of the Pa∣tient, without which Aristotle saith, no∣thing can act under the cope of heaven. All which, Zacutus saith, is consenta∣neous to the Doctrins of Hippocrates, and Galen, as appears by his Comments up∣on Hippocrates, viz. 3. Epid. Sect. 3. Com. 75. Prorhet. l. 1. Sect. 2. Com. 17.
and 1. de Diff. Feb. cap. 6. Now there∣fore, after so many other Evidences, let me close this matter with the words of Fernelius; * 3.32 The Force and Efficacy of this venom lurks for a time, and in time disco∣vers its self by manifest Signs and Tokens, even as the Poyson which comes by the Bite of a mad Dog, or the sting of a Scorpion, lurks a while, and creeps by little and little through the Body; which when it hath seized, then it tyranniseth after the manner of other Contagious Diseases.
And yet it would not sink into the head of this Author, that it hath power of seizing by Contagion at a Distance; which seems strange to me, that men should allow it to be Contagious, and all other Priviledges belonging to Contagious Diseases, and deny it this one, of infecting at Rovers. But that this Point, being of so great Concern to be proved, may not pass without due evidence; if I make it appear, that this Lues is armed with all those Arrows which are said to be in the Quiver of other Contagious Maladies, then I doubt not but it will be past Dispute, that this can shoot, strike, and seize men at a distance, as well as the rest of its Fel∣lows.
For the better understanding of my Design, know that all the notional Discourses about Contagion may be re∣duced to these two Heads; either that which ariseth from the mutual Contact of two or more gross bodies, or that which comes by the efflux of finer or more sub∣til Bodies, striking or darting themselves into grosser Bodies by assistance of the Intermedial Air; and thus all Bodies in the world are liable to an intercourse with each other, and Diseased living Bodies especially to operate upon sound Bodies ad modum Fermentationis i. e. af∣ter the manner of Fermentation; for the mor subtile Effluviums, Particles, or fine little invisible Bodikins (call them what you please) carrying somewhat of the nature of the corrupted gross Bodies from whence they flow, and so insinu∣ating themselves into the Pores and other imperceptible passages of such other gross Bodies as they meet with in their way, do there fasten and settle somewhat of their own Nature, Tincture, or Leven, which leveneth these Bodies, and induceth such an alteration in them, as by degrees disposeth them to be unsound or qualified with the same
corruptive qualities which were in those diseased Bodies, from whence at first they came; which that it holds true betwixt contagiously diseased of the same Species or Kind, I suppose none will deny, that seeth Pestilential Di∣seases also among Men, and Murrens among Cattel, and other Diseases also among both, to fly at a distance from one to another, within the compass of their respective kinds: and all by the efflux of those little Fermentative Par∣ticles which make the impression. But that I may not seem to speak without Authority, this is no more than what is said by the grave Author * 3.33 Sennertus, who declared all Contagion at a di∣stance flowing from diseased Bodies to sound ones, to be wrought by a kind of Fermentation: For, that the vertue of a Ferment or Leven is very great, appears by the little that fermenteth or leveneth a great loaf of Bread, and a little yest that causeth the working of Beer; and 'tis re∣markable, in how short a space of time, a very small portion of these Ferments doth change the Fermentescible Bodies into a Nature like their own: And that he ties not this Transmutative effect of Fer∣mentation
only to the actual mixture and contact of gross Bodies with each other, is apparent by what he says presently after, when he tels us, that the * 3.34 foresaid Con∣tagion acts after the manner of a Ferment, which being received in a Body of the same Nature, induceth to it the like Disposition. It, being a small portion or particle of Conta∣gious Matter sent forth of a diseased Body, lights upon a sound Body, where being re∣ceived, it acts upon it by a certain hidden power, and à totâ substantiâ as they call it. And in page 689: he saith, that in these sickly Effluviums or flying Particles which are communicated thus to sound Bodies, the Contagious Cause is so powerful, that it needs not a mutual contact of Bo∣dies, but sends forth from it self somewhat of a * 3.35 Subtil and Spiritual Nature, by which the Bodies that entertain it are infected, and contract the like Labes or Tincture.
And the same Author more largely explains these things in his * 3.36 Practise. He shews, that according to the com∣mon Rule, Accidens non migrare de Sub∣jecto in Subjectum, if that which the common Logicians call an Accident can∣not shift from Subject to Subject, then that which passeth from a diseased Per∣son
to another person by way of Con∣tagion, cannot be an Accident, but it must be a Substance; now Substance is divided into Spirit and Body: A Spiri∣tual Substance it cannot be, according to the sense of common Philosophers; therefore it is a Body, of a fine invisible Nature, flowing out from the diseased Person, after the manner of * Atoms; which Atoms (saith he) a Modern Writer * 3.37 calls Corpuscula little Bodies, and Contagi∣on is multiplied by these little Bodies, which like Seed, comprehend within themselves the whole Essence of the Disease. From which Discourse of this most learned Author, it is evident, that though the gross Bo∣dies of Venereous Persons do not touch another, yet the finer little Bodies which fly like Atoms from this or that Person may touch and seize another, & so much the sooner make a Seizure by that in∣visible Touch, by how much the more fine and subtil the said Atoms or Bodi∣kins are, and consequently more apt to make an entrance; and then when they are lodged, though they be but as it were little Nothings in respect of quan∣tity, yet in quality they have a mighty force, and as a little Ferment altereth
and leveneth the whole Lump, so these being a kind of Ferment, (or as the Greeks call it, a Miasma, and the La∣tins Seminium, Inquinamentum, Semi∣narium) the said Ferment being received into the Body, changeth it wholly, and alters it by qualification like to it self. And no wonder, seeing (as our learned Dr * 3.38 Willis saith) the force of a venemous Miasma is so great, and the contamina∣ting particles of it so agile and expeditious in motion, that they will very quickly make way through the Mass of any Body, like beams of light through glass, or any Di∣aphanous Body. And lest any should think this improbable, because many persons who converse with the venereously in∣fected, feel no Inconvenience, give me leave to apply what he saith there of Malign Fevers, to these venemous Ma∣ladies, the French Pox and Scurvy; for, saith he, as often as the Blood receives a Taint from any thing that is venemous, whose venom is slow and of little activity, it doth not discover it self presently, nor break forth into direful Symptoms, until it be ripened by long time, and a Fer∣mentation, that the whole Mass of blood be tainted throughout, as is to be seen in
some Venoms which are communicated at a distance, yet have not their effect till after some monthes, or years. And as to the manner of Contagious Operation, his Description is much the same with that of Sennertus, it is managed by those Ef∣fluviums which are sent out continually from an infected Body, which being enter∣tained by other Bodies, do presently, like Venom, ferment with the Blood, and work upon whatsoever they find Homogeneous, or easily convertible into their own na∣ture, till they dispose it into the Idea of the same Disease; and the Miasma is com∣municated not only by Contact, but at a distance. Thus He: But that I may not want Evidence of all sorts, let me introduce also the Learned Jesuit Kircherus, to confirm this Doctrine of Contagious Operation at distance by means of those little Particles floating in the Air, which Philosophers call Atoms, Effluviums, Corpuscles, i. e. Bodikins, &c. In his seventh Chapter De Peste, he saith thus, Every Natural Mixt Body sends forth certain Effluviums or Effluxes of its own Power, which are not to be taken for meer qualities, or Accidents propagated from a Subject through a Medium, but they
are truly and properly very little Bodies, not to be discerned by the power of Sight, but * 3.39 are the vehicles of Accidents and Proper∣ties proceeding from a Subject, of the same Nature with the whole Subject from whence they flow; and so those which flow out of a Virulent Body, being of a foul and de∣praved Disposition, do by a kind of contra∣riety to nature, overthrow the inward Oeconomie or Constitution of the Body. I value the words of this Jesuit the more, because his Book is so highly commend∣ed by two of the most Eminent Physici∣ans of Italy now living in Rome, known to all the world, viz. Sinibaldus, Author of that Learned Piece, Entituled, Gene∣anthropia, and Paulus Zacchias, whose Quaestiones Medico-Legales are a Monu∣ment of his profound and various Learn∣ing. And this Communication of Con∣tagion at distance, Kircherus saith is wrought after a Magnetick manner, even as the Load-stone works at a distance; which leads me to our Famous Coun∣try-man Sir Kenelm Digby, who in his Discourse at Montpelier, hath sufficient∣ly set forth the Doctrine of Operations at a distance, which who-ever denyes, must first deny his own Senses; and
they are performed, he saith, by those small Bodies called Atoms, * 3.40 and that which we call our Air, is no other than a mixture or confusion of such Atoms, where∣in the Aërial parts do predominate; which he Learnedly proves by several sensible Instances; one is very familiar, and 'tis this; * 3.41 I would entertain you (saith he) with the strange subtilty of little Bodies which issue forth from living Bodies, by means whereof our Dogs in England, will pursue the scent of a Man's steps, or of a Beast, many miles. To this I may add what I have seen, that Dog called a Blood-hound, will in a Forest lead a Keeper to find out a Deer-stealer, without laying his Nose to the ground to scent the steps, but only by holding up his Nose in the Air, snuffing up and taking in those Effluviums which flow from the person that is under pursuit. But leaving that which is obvious to every Hunts-man and Falconer, Sir Ken∣elm goes on, and saith, That when any Hot Body (much more a living Body, * 3.42 say ••) attracts the Air, and that which •••• within the Air, if it happens that within ••hat Air there be found some dispersed Ato•••• of the same nature with the Body
which draws them, the attraction of such Atoms is made more powerfully than if they were Bodies of a different nature, and these Atoms do stay, stick, and mingle with more willingness, with the Body which draws them: the reason hereof is the re∣semblance and Sympathy which they have with each other. Within a living Body, such as is Man's, the interne Spirits do contribute much facility to the Spirits that are without. And page 116. he saith, The Source of those Spirits, or of the Bodies which attract them, draw likewise after them that which accompanies them, as also that which is united unto them. Seeing then, that Humane Bodies have this power of communicating to and fro each other, because of their likeness, let no Man be so sottish as to deny the com∣munication of Diseases contagious at a distance. We allow it in those Diseases, the Consumption, sore Eyes, Coughs, Catarrhs, Fluxes, Pleurisies, and many other which have little of Venom in them, and yet we are shie of granting it in the Pox and Scurvy, whose Miasmata, Seminaries, and Ferments, include a far greater Venenosity. We see what is done at a distance by the Sympathetick
Powder, and the Weapon-Salve by sounds upon the Ear, by Odours upon the Nose many miles, by Onions upon the Eyes, by the Load-stone upon Iron, by Amber upon Straw, by a Torpedo upon the Touch, by a Remora upon a Ship, by Thunder upon Ale, by the Al∣teration of Air and Seasons of the years upon divers Fermentative Liquors, the wondrous penetration of Quick-silver, the mighty force of Gun-powder, the Cures by Sympathy, the destructions by Antipathy, and all at a distance; sometimes by forced darting of these Corpuscula or Atoms from one Body to another, and sometimes by one Bodies attracting them from another, as things may happen to fall out; and if Men did not perceive these effects by their Sen∣ces, they would be as hard to believe them possible, because 'tis hard to shew the manner how they are done, as some may be to allow of the Assertion which I endeavour to make good, and which the Experience of future Ages and Men shall make good, let the present say what they please, out of prejudice or humor. There is in Diseases that which Hippocrates calls 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, quid divinum,
which I translate somewhat of a more oc∣cult nature, of a more sublime, Spirituous, subtile, finer consideration, than what comes from Discourse upon Tempers and distempers arising from First and Se∣cond Qualities, and from Mens grosser Conceits touching the Affects and Com∣munications of Humane Bodies; the Evidence whereof is to be sought by Observation of Experience, in the Sym∣pathy and Antipathy of things, rather than by Reason. Me-thinks the Learned Vallesius speaks very pertinently to our purpose, * 3.43 There are many Sympathies, besides those which Galen taught, which seem not to be effected by the transmission or privation of any thing, but rather by some occult Cause or Property, or whatever else you please to call it. And a little after he saith, We are to reckon, that there are in things some occult powers, and certain Incorporeal Qualities, that penetrate through Bodies, which because we are ig∣norant of, we are apt to err in resolving difficult Poynts and Problems, and every Man dotes about every thing. We must pardon this Gentleman for not speaking out, because he lived in an Age that doted upon Aristotelian Philosophy;
wherein though he saw more than his Fellows, yet he wanted apt Terms whereby to express himself, and so calls those things, Incorporeal Qualities, which our later Philosophers more fitly term Effluvia, Corpuscula, Atoms, or little in∣divisible invisible particles of Bodies, which flow from place to place, after an inexpressible quick and secret man∣ner.
But much more is said to the purpose by our Learned Country-man Dr Robert Flud in his Mosaick Philosophy, a Man of a notable Brain; and though he had many Phantsies, yet you have with them mingled many most excel∣lent Notions, of which this is one: * 3.44 As it is certain (saith he) that like doth naturally affect his like, (for, Nature doth rejoyce at the presence of its Nature, and Nature doth correct and corroborate its Nature, if it be sound, and full of vivifying wholsome Spirits) so also Nature, if it be infected by a Poysonous and Ve∣nomous Nature, will, by uniting it self unto a sound and wholsome Nature, quickly inquinate and corrupt it, and so by such a kind of abortive and depraved union, An∣tipathie is placed instead of Sympathie. Now
how this is possible in Nature, I will in few words relate to you. As Nature doth mag∣netically affect and allure unto her self her like; so if that like, which it sucketh unto it self, be inquinated or tainted with Corruption, the said attracting Spirit, be it never so sound, will quickly taste of the Bitter with the Sweet, namely, of the Venom, and so will also be corrupt, equally with that Spirit which is Homogeneous, or of kin to it, in which the Infection dwells, being forced to entertain Strife, Dissension, and Antipathie into his Tabernacle una∣wares; even as we see a sound Spirit in the Animal, which thirsting after his like Spiritual celestial Food, which hovereth occultly in the Air, to be refreshed by it, doth unawares draw in an Enemy with it, namely, a pestilent and corrupt Fume, whereby it is oppressed and inflamed with a Putredinous Fire; so that it was not the appetite or desire of the sound Spirit to draw in that Poyson unto it, but the Spirit like it self that was poysoned. And again, each Spirit which is encumber'd with any unnatural and Antipathetical Accident, desireth to shake off contentious Antipathie, and to re-assume that peaceful Sympathie which it enjoyed before, but finding it self
unable, it is apt to cleave and adhere unto good and sound Spirits for its relief, and if more sound Spirits of his like were joyned unto it, then might it the more easily conquer and expel his Antipathetical Adversary; so also we see, that one Blear∣eyed person, by darting his infectious Beams for relief at a reasonable distance, becom∣eth a Flame, which setteth on fire the sound Spirit unto which it applyeth; for, spiri∣tual Poysons are like secret Flames of Ma∣lignant Fire. Wherefore as Spirits are by union joyned together and multiplyed, like Oyle added to Oyle, so doth the infectious Flame encrease, and feed equally upon them both: For, as the sound Spirit desireth the society of his like to comfort it, and the corrupted Spirit so desired, doth also covet the sound Spirit to assist it against his Ene∣my; so Corruption is sucked in by them both, and Antipathy is forced to roost amongst them, and forsaketh them not, till it hath penetrated and gnawed even into their bowels, and poysoned their very En∣trails. And thus you see, those Sym∣pathetick and Antipathetick Operations at a distance, which Vallesius saith are transacted by Incorporeal Qualities, and our late Writers, by the Efflux of little
Particles of Bodies, Dr Flud assigneth to the Action and re-Action of Contagi∣ous Spirits, or Infectious Beams radi∣ating from one Body to another, yet they all mean but one and the same thing; viz. that there are wonderful, se∣cret, subtil Communications from Conta∣gious Bodies, which imprint their own Nature upon sound Bodies, and render them like themselves, by an invisible Contact, through the mediation of finer Bodies flowing from the grosser, as effectually as if those grosser Bodies were united by visible and immediate Contact.
Nay * 3.45 Horstius seems to be plain enough to this sence concerning the French Disease; It cannot be denyed, (saith he) that sometimes the Venereous Lues is communicated by venemous vapor, as well as by impure Contact; and that it and the Leprosie, and the like distem∣pers, are contagious by venemous expira∣tions; and, he concludes the Question with declaring this difference in Conta∣gions betwixt the French Pest and the grand one, only that the Venom of this doth not send abroad its infection at so great a distance as the grand Pestilence doth.
And Fernelius, though his wit, in many other things divine, flie so low a pitch concerning the Contagiousness of this Disease, as to place it onely in hu∣mor and dull Contact, yet in one * 3.46 place he speaks out to our Sence, and saith, Truly very many Men are deceived by a captious and vain way of reasoning about this and the other Venemous Dis∣eases, because while they see all the Symp∣toms of it to insult with a corruption of some Humor, do think of nothing but Humor, conceive no greater matter in their Mind, and make no further enquiry with the acuter part of their Ʋnderstanding; whether any other thing prevail in the Hu∣mor, wherein the chief Cause of the Distem∣per doth consist; which doubtless, if we discern not by Sence, we ought certainly to comprehend by Reason and Intelligence, or else to be wrapt in an ignorance of the greatest Concerns. Therefore that power of the Venom, being very fine, and almost incorporeal, and beyond the reach of our Senses, is inherent either in a Humor, or in some other Body, which Subject is as it were the Vehiculum only of that malig∣nant venemous faculty which affects us. For, how is it possible, that a meer incorporeal
power should execute force upon our Bodies? So that this acute man (you see) was puzled by adhering to the gross Conceits of old Philosophy; yet fain would he shake them off, and come up to our sense concerning the Nature of Vene∣reous Contagion, and doth in effect say, that it, as well as other Contagions is conveyable to sound persons, by the ef∣flux of those delicate little Particles or invisible Corpuscles, which pass from other persons that are diseased, and are as it were vehicles of the Infection.
* 3.47 Aurelius Minadous likewise saith the Venereous Lues ought not to be defined by Quality, but by name of a Bodily Substance, and that it so passeth from Body to Body by Contact,
Tangere enim, & tangi, nisi Corpus, nulla potestres;but what kind of Contact he means, is evident by what he saith afterward in his 30th Chapter, as he is cited by * 3.48 Sen∣nertus, where the Bodily Substance wherein this Disease is contained, is by him called a fine Vapor or Spirit, or Spi∣rituous Substance, endued with an occult
pernicious quality and power, able to in∣fect and corrupt all the parts of the Body, ond turn them to its own l••keness, which may be done by a slight kiss, or putting on another mans garment: But he needed not have instanced the Passage of a Kiss, for, though it be but a slight Contact, yet 'tis a gross one of two gross Bodies, and what need of so much as that to∣ward an Infection? when as the same Author saith, the Vehicle of the Vene∣reous Lues may be a Spirit or Spirituous Substance, a thing of so subtil and pene∣trating a nature, that it can make its own way upon and through Bodies, without the help of immediate Contact: And this, Sennertus, in the same Chap∣ter justifies him in, saying, that it may be resolved into Vapors and smallest Cor∣puscles containing the whole Essence of the Disease with power of diffusing it to others, destructive to the Natural Spirits by the impression of its Venom, which is of an inexpressible occult nature and condition. And yet after all this, Sennertus, in other places of his Book, is so gross as to deny its being communicable at a distance, as other Contagions are, by the efflux of those virulent particles
which flow from diseased Bodies, but ties up the Infection to immediate Con∣tact, either by Coition, Clothes, Sweat∣ing, Kissing, or the like; which is rea∣dily granted, but all I contend for is, that the men of his opinion, who grant that fine way of Intercourse betwixt Bodies which I have been thus long de∣lineating, and the notable Operations and Effects thence ensuing, would pro∣duce some tolerable reason why they deny it in reference to the Pockie Conta∣gion. All the reason I ever yet met with in him and other Authors is, be∣cause the Disease (they say) is lodged in a slow, dull, viscous matter, which though in most Cases it be false (for, I have known many infected with so active a Venom, as hath set them all in a Flame, and almost blown them up in three days) yet admit it were always lodged in so dull a matter, neverthe∣less he and they all agree, that from the dullest and grossest Bodies there arise fine vapors and spirituous Substances, which in other places of their works are better termed Particles, Bodikins, A∣toms, Ferments, and I know what little invisible Matters, containing Virulen∣cies
and Infections, which have power to alter into their own likeness, what Bodies soever they meet with that are capable of the impression: which having been confessed also in other parts of their Works, and being consentaneous to the sense of our best Modern Philo∣sophers, it matters not what their private Phantsie be in one place touching a par∣ticular Disease, when in so many other Places, they concur with the publick sense of other the best Authors concern∣ing the general nature of Contagion, and the spiritual delicate manner of its conveyance from one Body to another: For, thus they touch one another; though not visibly, after the manner of common Contact, yet every jot as ef∣fectually, by the intercourse of those Corpuscles which pass to and fro be∣twixt rhem. And thus, I suppose, it is clear enough how the Pockie Lues may be propagated by accidental Contagion, even to innocent persons: But you will say, if this be so, who then can be safe? I answer, there is no Assurance for any one; only I determine, according to the sense of all Authors, that some per∣sons being naturally of more weak En∣trals,
Constitution, and Spirits, and more luxurious or loose in Conversation than others, because less able to resist the influence of Contagious Corpuscles and Ferments, which are continually float∣ing up and down in the Ambient Air, ready to assail all persons that come in their way.
Now all that hath been manifested in the past Discourse in reference to the Pox, is, by the same force of Reason, applicable also to the Scurvy, which is reckoned by all Writers among Conta∣gious Diseases, and so must needs have its Rambles and Rencounters at the same rate, and may take up its residence at pleasure, and become Joint-Tenant with the other in any Earthly Tabernacle. Therefore taking it for a grantable Point, I will not be tedious to confirm it; let it suffice that * 3.49 Sennertus is very positive, and saith, the Scurvy may be contracted not only by ill Diet, bad Air, by Contact, by Conversation, by drink∣ing in the same Cup, by breathings of the infected, by sweating, by kissing, by lying with a Scorbutick Woman, or with one that hath the Disease called Flu∣or Albus. But how to make out the
reason of the communicability of this Disease by Contagion, he cannot tell; only he saith, there seems to be the * 3.50 same reason in this as in the French Pox: For, as that Contagion may be admitted by di∣vers Parts of the body, and being once ad∣mitted, doth by little and little penetrate into the whole, and not only taints the spirits and humors, but imprints the like Disposition upon the solid Parts; so also the Scorbutick Contagion, which way soever it be admitted into the Body, infects and taints the Blood, and imprints the like Disposition upon the Bowels ordained to Nutrition, and weakens them so, that they are not able in the future to generate good blood, but that which is vitious and Scorbutick. The learned Horstius like∣wise declares it a Contagious Disease, * 3.51 and that the Contagion may be pro∣pagated by infecting the Spirits, which are the Authors of all Action.
Thus having shewn in part, that both the Pox and Scurvy are unavoidably propagated from one to others by the finer and more mysterious way of Con∣tagion, it's to be conceived, that if this be so, then it holds a fortiori, to oblige our belief, that these infectious Diseases
may be propagated by the more visible and gross ways of Contagion. Horstius, in the place before-cited, inveighs so against the common Complement of kissing among us Northern people, that 'tis no wonder if the wiser Nations have excluded it. In Holland (he saith) 'tis no marvel that the Scurvy gets ground so among them, where they have as ma∣ny kisses as salutations of Women, which not only the younger sort expect, but those that are old and wrinkled, if they be not complemented with a kiss, do take it as a Contempt and Injury done them. He shews also, how in Saxony it is encreased by tipling in the same Cup. In the Centu∣ries of * 3.52 Fabricius Hildanus I read of one infected with the French Disease on∣ly by the garment of another. Molen∣broccius, a late German Writer, in his Book de Arthrit. Scorbuticâ, p. 15. saith the Scurvy is contagious as well as the French Lues, which is the reason that divers who never used an ill Diet that might incline them to the Scurvy, yet being infected by a Scorbutick person, they suffer the same Symptoms. The rea∣son of this we may pick out of our re∣nowned * 3.53 Dr Harvey, who saith, that
Contagion being impressed upon any par∣ticle, is carried along with the Blood as it returns to the heart, and thereupon it afterward taints either the whole Body, or corrupts some particular parts which are most liable to receive the Venom.
Zacutus Lusitanus in his * 3.54 Praxis Ad∣miranda, saith thus; after I had pub∣lished my First Book de Med. Princ. Hist. where, in the 73. History I have proved, that the French Pox is contagious at a distance; by chance I met with a very rare example of a Disease in the eyes called Op∣thalmia Gallica, that is to say, Inflam∣mation and Soreness of the eyes pro∣ceeding from a Venereous Cause: The Servant which attended the Patient, and only brought him Clothes to wipe himself after Sweating, and victuals to eat, was taken with the very same Disease, and could not be cured by any other means than Mer∣cury; let none doubt therefore (saith he) but the Contagion of the French Pox will work at a distance. He that doubts, let him read Minadous de Lue Ven. cap. 5. This example of his some perhaps may believe, but what is this to those that never come near the Chambers and beds of infected persons? I answer, this In∣fection
is not limited to such a Circum∣stance only, though he instance it, but walks abroad in the open Air also, which is likewise the sense of Zacutus in his 73. Hist. before-mentioned; where, having proved against Mercurialis, this Disease to be contagious at a distance, he con∣cludes the Natural Spirits may carry Con∣tagion through the Air from one to another. He saith it is so even in Cutaneous Disea∣ses, and * 3.55 Avicen acknowledgeth it in leprous Cases, for that people were kept from coming near the Air where such persons were. Therefore Paulus, l. 4. c. 1. adviseth to send them far remote from Towns and Cities, to the very utmost bounds of the Country, lest they infect others. Thus among Zacutus his Coun∣trimen the Jews, they were shut up without the Camp from the rest of the Congregation: whereupon he determi∣neth, that if in Cutaneous Cases of Le∣prosies, Scabs, Scurfs, Itches, &c. and if in other Distempers, as sore Eyes, Ca∣tarrhs, &c. Contagion do fly at a distance through the Air, it must needs be so likewise in Pocky Communications, see∣ing (saith he) they have all the Conditi∣ons requisite unto Contagion, as * 3.56 Fra∣castorius
shews out of Aristotle, 7. Pro∣blem. 7. And for this cause he adviseth people to be very wary what persons they converse with. What need I then, if this be so, insist further upon the gros∣ser ways of Infection? which, after all this evidence, will doubtless the more easily be allowed. I might run over the whole Bead-row of Stories told by Authors, as how * 3.57 Forestus tells of a young Girl that was pockily infected by one that gave her only a kiss as she was dancing. And Horstius tells of another b 3.58 Girl that was infected by being Bed∣fellow to the Concubine of a certain Gentleman; but they generally agree it may be done by Kissing, by the same Bed, the same Close-stool, by Meats and Drinks, by Sweat, by Breathing, by the same Hot-house, by Linen, by Clothes, by the same Cup, by putting on ano∣thers Glove or Stockin, and indeed by all the ways of Conversation. And what in these respects is said of the Pox, is ob∣served likewise, and avowed of the Scurvy.
IV. The fourth way of Contagion is that which runs by Hereditary Propaga∣tion, and by this Course also both these
Diseases gain footing in the world. He∣reditary Diseases (saith * 3.59 Horstius) do pass as it were by Transplantation, because the Seeds of them are propagated from Pa∣rents to Children, from whence it follows that they have Tinctures very strong and constant. Hence it appears what kind of Diseases especially are Hereditary, to wit, Tartareous Diseases, which have roots deep∣ly fixed, and hard to be eradicated, as are the Stone, the Gout, the Leprosie, (to which let me add the French Pox and Scurvy) whereas on the contrary, other Diseases, which they call Sulphureous and Mercurial, to wit, Fevers, Inflammati∣ons, Catarrhs, and the like, are not easily propagated to Children, because the roots of them are more moveable, fluxile, and sooner tend to a Resolution. Therefore seeing Experience sheweth, that there are no Affects more rootedly fixt than the Pox and its Comrade, when they have once seized themselves of the Bo∣dy; it is no marvel, if they so con∣stantly run in a Generation. * 3.60 Senner∣tus tells the manner how the Pox be∣comes an Hereditary Disease, and saith, it is done by being transferred with the Seed and Menstrual Blood from Parents
into the young one: For, when the Blood, out of which the Seed is generated, is infe∣cted and vitious, then the Seed becomes like it, and diseased; also the Mothers Blood being impure, with which the Child in her womb is nourished, infects it, which Infection, after Children are born, breaks forth upon them sooner or later, according to the greater or lesser force of Virulency: Which Discourse of his is the general Sense of all Men, and confirmed by frequent Experience in the practice of Physick, as may be seen by the Histories of such as have left their Observations upon Record; and truly, that Physician hath known little in this great City, who hath not seen what miserable Spectacles are frequently brought forth into the world upon this Account, many of which have passed out of the world again as if they had been afflicted with other Diseases; and others that lived have languished miserably as incurable, till some wiser than some, have had recourse to Antivenereal Remedies. * 3.61 Zacutus treating of the Hereditariness of this Disease, saith, That there is a depraved and diseased excretion in the Seed, or a certain occult quality infecting the Seed
and inherent in it, which impresseth the like Tincture upon the Off-Spring; For, the diseased defects of Parents are derived by force of the Seed of Generation, yea, and many secret Marks and Characters; yea, and Children for the most part re∣semble their behaviour, their gate, and countenance. The truth hereof is evident, because that Children, not only after they are born, become Heirs of the French Pox, but likewise bring it along with them out of the womb.
Mercatus, the Learned Spaniard, hath among his Works, a little Treatise of Hereditary Diseases, wherein he signifies the same thing to the full; but because some are apt to object, that if it pass thus Hereditarily, then it would alwayes be so; whereas others by Experience have found, that some Children of the same Generation are infected, and some not, and sometimes all a Man's Children scape free, yet it falls foul upon his Grand-Children. This latter is avowed by Mercatus, and * 3.62 Zacutus hath formed it into a Question, and resolved it, Ʋtrum Morbus Gallicus, illaesis filiis, tran∣seat in Nepotes? that is to say, Whether the French Pox may, without touching a
Man's Children, seize upon his Grand-Children, and so passing from the Grand-Father, as it were skip a Generation? It seems hard (saith he) to conceive in this Case, how the Children should seem free themselves, yet beget others infected; for, a corrupted Seed derived from a cor∣rupted Body, seems to import a necessity of corrupting the young one begotten, and that this Corruption ought to be propagated to the Second and Third Generation, seeing these Generations draw their Original from one Beginning only. The Cause of this Event (saith he), is because the vis Formatrix, the Formative Power, though it hath the Idea's of all belonging to the Father, yet it is not equally excited by them all unto operation, but by some more, by others less, or not at all. From which it comes to pass, that sometimes it is not excited to form a Member diseased, and by consequence the Son will become sound in that part; but sometimes it may beget a distemper of the Father in the like Member of the Son, and produce a Son diseased, and like to the Father; which the Formative Power may effect in the Grand-Children in a contrary manner. But me-thinks yet, there is more may be said to the Business, and
what is to be said of this Disease relates also to the Scurvy; for, in the fore-going part of this Treatise I have made it ap∣pear, that Venemous and Contagious Diseases are of a strange lurking Nature, and though the Grand-Father be infe∣cted, yet his Son may seem free, yet not really be so, because the infection may be as it were in some By-Cavity or Dor∣mitory in the Body, taking a nap, by the influence which through some Acci∣dental Advantages befalling his Body, the vigorous Constitution thereof may have over it, so as to quell and com∣mand it, and make it lie still and quiet, that it give no disturbance to him; Ne∣vertheless the Seminality or Ferment of the Disease, being lodged in the Seed, and con-naturalized therewith, may in∣sensibly pass from him with entire force, to do execution upon the Grand-Chil∣dren, because perhaps, they may be of Spirits less strong, of life less tempe∣rate, and of Constitution of Body less able to resist the Power of the Venom, and keep it under, after it is transferred unto them. Besides, it is observable, that there is a great difference which may arise from the Constitution of Mo∣thers;
for, the Grand-Father's Wife may be of so excellent a Constitution, as that what she contributes in mixture, may serve sometimes to correct the ill Fer∣ment gotten into his Seed; but the con∣trary may fall out in the Son's Wife, and so the ill Ferment in the Son's Seed comes to prevail over the Grand-Chil∣dren; which mystery is thus described by the Learned Horstius in his Medical Institutions, De Causis Morborum Inter∣nis, Quaest. 1. And in his Dissertation, De Anatomiâ Vitali & Mortuâ, he saith, the Stone will thus run from Grand-Sire to Grand-Child, and skip the Son, the reason whereof he assigneth to the dif∣ferent Constitution of the wombs of the Mothers, which (saith he) I have more fully handled in my Tract concerning the Scurvy, and other places. And in his 12th Paragraph of the first Section of that Tract touching the Scurvy, among other Causes which hinder the appearance of an Hereditary Disease, he reckoneth this, That sometimes by the power of the Natural Balsam of the womb, the strange Rudiments or Ferments of Diseases are sub∣dued and overcome. And in the Second Section and first Paragraph, he speaks
more fully, That sometimes the Grand-Sire infected with the Scurvy, propagates this Disease, not upon his Son, but upon the Grand-Child, the Son in the mean while being free; because it may so fall out, that he may have a Sigillation or Character impressed upon him from the Grand-Father, the active power whereof is obliterated by the excellency of the Mothers Seed and Blood; which nevertheless breaks forth again in the Grand-Child, in case he hath a Mother of Constitution weaker than was the Grand-Moiher. The illustration of which Truth, he saith, is more amply set forth in Mercatus. By the like propor∣tion of Reason it may come to pass also, that Brothers and Sisters of the same Fa∣ther and Mother, may happen to have some more some less Tokens of these Contagious Diseases upon them, and some none at all, because the Bodies of their Parents may at sometimes, be in better temper, their Seeds more vigo∣rous and flourishing, and consequently, have less of the Contagious Ferment im∣pressed on them, than at other times, according as their Bodies come to be more or less altered by the accidental Emergencies and Extravagancies of
Life.—But enough of this; let it suf∣fice, that the great Increase of the Pox and Scurvy, and of other Diseases also not so Contagious, by Hereditary Pro∣pagation, is a Matter that the world is very well convinced of, therefore I shorten this Discourse.
V. The last way of Propagation to be insisted on, is that of Lactation, or by suckling of Infants. It would make ones heart bleed, to see what a world of these Innocents die every year in this great City; some under the form of the Rickets, Teeth, Consumption, Convulsion, Griping of the Guts, and others of other nameless wasting Diseases, and not one Physician of a hundred that considers the Seminals and Ferments of the French Disease, and the Scurvy, which so many bring into the world with them that are begotten by the honestest of Parents, and others contract them afterward by suck∣ing their Nurses, perhaps as honest as the Parents; and if they chance to con∣sider aright the root of the Disease, 'tis a thousand to one, whether they have a fine little Remedy fit to strike at it in so tender Bodies, and which are so touchy and peevish, or weak, that they will
hardly take any thing; for, the Medi∣cines, used in the common Trade-way of practise, will not reach it.
* 3.63 Sennertus saith of the Scurvy, à nu∣trice cum lacte instillari, that it is instilled into Infants with the Milk from their Nur∣ses. The like of the French Disease, That it is * 3.64 communicated to Infants with their nourishment and Milk from corrupt Nurses: which (saith he) is the most powerful manner of Infection, seeing that when the Milk they suck is changed into Blood, and this Blood becomes the Nutri∣ment of the whole Body, the Venom is by this means dispersed throughout the whole, and most deeply insinuates it self thereinto, and therefore those that are this way in∣fected, are rarely and very difficultly cured.
* 3.65 Forestus also saith, That Children by the Milk which they suck, contract the Ve∣nereous Contagion with their Mouths; and that Nurses themselves also by giving suck to Infected Children, contract this Disease from them by their Nipples, the first Sign whereof is when they have Ʋlcers breaking forth upon their breasts; which is a thing (saith he) that I have often seen. But in the same Second Observati∣on,
he gives us also the Story in parti∣culars, saying; A certain Man in the Hague married a fair young Woman, whom he infected, yet she conceiving by him, brought forth a Child, which Child being infected from the womb, and put out to an honest poor Woman to Nurse, the Nurse also became infected; and the Contagion was so active, that it seized two more of the poor Nurse's little ones, and a girl of hers also that was six years of Age. These were all under his Hand together for Cure. The like Case almost is related by Amatus in his Centuries, Cent. 1. Curat. 49. And that Nurses may thus suffer from Chil∣dren, Sennertus affirms in his fore-cited Chapter, and gives this Reason of it, because by the Infants sucking, the Nipples are heated, and so the Pores of them are the more opened, whereupon they the more easily take in the virulency. The like is affirmed likewise by * 3.66 Zacutus, that when the Children take it of the Nurses, it discovers it self usually about the Mouth or Headfirst: But if the Nurses take the vi∣rulency from the Children, then their Breasts and Nipples are affected; and the virulent humor creeping thence more deep∣ly
into the Body, the whole is afterwards contaminated by the Contagion. These things hold true alike, both of the foul Disease and the Scurvy, as you may see in * 3.67 Molenbroccius, who likewise de∣clares, That the Infection may come from the Milk of the Mother, or of the Nurse. But in so plain a Case as this, the Reason whereof is so obvious, the Experience so common, and which (I think) no Body will deny, I list not to be tedious; I shall turn my Discourse therefore into Advice, that such Mothers as are to be suspected of either of these Infirmities, be perswaded to transplant their Children into the Arms and care of other Wo∣men sounder than themselves, and that they have a special regard to the finding out of such, and not to take for a Nurse the Wife of any Man, (be she never so honest, or seem she outwardly never so sound) that is either an idle Husband, or Luxurious Company-keeper; for, they seldom bring any good home; and though they perhaps do not stray in Ve∣nery, yet they converse too often with such as do; Besides, their intemperate drinking, & extravagancies fill them with such ill Humors as serve sufficiently to
give ill Tinctures to their own Bodies, and consequently to their Wives, by that close Communion of Bodies, and thereby a grand intercourse and com∣munication of Spirits, which they have with each other; so that a marvellous Alteration is wrought in the Milk, by the least ill Ferment injected into the Womb of the Nurses; which is easily apprehended by such as understand the quick Intercourses and Sympathies that pass betwixt the Womb and the Papps, by the mediation of particular Vessels, and otherwise. Have a special care therefore, what Woman you chuse for a Nurse; for, I have seen many a Child undone in its Constitution, by putting it abroad to Nurse; for though the Woman may be careful, yet all may not be right with her; and on the other side, where Prudence hath been used, I have seen many a weakly Child, wholly altered for the better in its Constition; and the Seminal ill Impressions derived from the Parent have been so far sub∣dued and altered, that the Child hath gained as it were a new Nature, and put on the good Constitution of its Nurse.
The most acute noble Helmont (whose Doctrin, so much of it, as I have laboured to understand, I cannot but admire) in his brief Discourse de Nu∣tritione Infantum of the Nursing of In∣fants, penetrates into the bottom of the business, and stretches the Advice yet further; and is for nursing of children up by Hand, rather than by Suckling; for, after he hath told how many ways the Milk comes to do mischief, as first upon the soul of the Child, the Seeds of ill Morals and Natures (which * 3.68 Plu∣tarch also shews) streaming along with the Milk, do implant within it all the Vices, Imperfections, and lewd or un∣generous Dispositions of the Nurse: so also upon the Body; for, the best Milk too often causeth cruel Distempers, by souring and curdling in the Stomack, through a vitious Ferment there lodged which corrupts it, and from thence come so many Vomitings, Worms, Gripings, Fevers, Fluxes, Epileptick and Convulsive Fits, with many other unthought of occasions of death. Some∣times likewise the Milk is of a Cadave∣rous Nature, as when the Nurse either proves with child again, or grows Fe∣verish,
or is under grief; or some oc∣cult Disease, or cause, lurks within, whereby various Impressions are fixt up∣on the Milk. But this is not all; he shews, there are strange defaults by Milk trans∣planted into children, after the manner of hereditary Diseases, as the Leprosie, and other Pests of that Nature, Hectick Fevers, the French Pox, and other Con∣tagious Maladies, which by that way as effectually seize them in the Cradle, as by Seminal Tincture in the Mother's Womb.
But you will say then, what would you have us do to bring up our Chil∣dren? Is not Milk the Food ordained for them by God in the Course of Na∣ture? and can any thing be more proper than what is most natural? I answer, that nothing is more natural and proper, provided that the Milk do not stream from a Corrupt Fountain; but since that in this Venereous and Scorbutick Age, the Frame of Nature for the most part appears corrupted, and that even in Country-Cottages, which lie remote from the Contagion and Converse of the greater Towns and Cities, and partake not of the excesses of Lust and Diet, it it
is a hard matter to find out a Woman in puris naturalibus a Nurse untainted, and requires a curious head and eye to dis∣cern her: and seeing when all is done, there can be no certainty, because ei∣ther her Husband may be some way Tainted, or her Parents that begat her; and the Seminals of that Taint tra∣duced from them or one of them, to her by generation, may be latent in the blood, and she sound only in sense as to herself, and but in outward appearance to others; therefore She that useth good judgment in chusing a Nurse for her Child doth well, and may continue it there two or three Months for necessi∣ties sake, till the Child come to some strength; but She doth better that re∣moves it from the breast as soon a She can, and be takes her self wholly to the breeding of it up by hand; for so, a harmless Sustenance may be prepared, not so easily corruptible in the Stomack as Milk is, and secure from those ill Im∣pressions and Tinctures which may come along with the Milk from the Nurse, notwithstanding all the care and discre∣tion that hath been used in chusing her. I am the more large in discoursing this,
because 'tis grievous to see how many thousands of healthy children do suffer by Nursing with Womans Milk; when as very few who are bred up by hand do miscarry, or suffer such strange di∣stempers and afflictions as everywhere befall the other; Nay, in the same Fa∣mily, it hath been often observed, that when the children nurst by such Milk have two or three in number successive∣ly been miserable sickly; the rest born afterwards being bred up by hand, have meerly by this alteration of the manner of Nursing, proved sound and lively. If it were needful to instance in a matter, that, by observing, you may see with your own eyes, I might inlarge; only I tell you, Helmont hath a Story of an Earl, whose Fourth Son he so ordered in breeding up by hand, that he became more sound, strong, tall, ingenious, and valiant, than the rest of his Brothers.
And thus, having run through those Five ways, whereby the Contagious Se∣minals of the French Pox and the Scurvy have been propagated in the world, I suppose there are no persons breathing, but have cause enough to suspect the possibility of their own being tainted
one way or other, and to believe, that this Taint, like Original Sin, hath overspred the whole Face of Mankind, and by tract of time, one way or other, introduced an universal Alteration and Depravation of Nature, and conse∣quently an Alteration of the Na∣ture of all Diseases from their ancient State and Condition, it being now qua∣si Altera Natura, become as it were another Nature unto us.
COncerning the French Lues, Forestus saith, sensim in universum orbem est disseminaat, it spred it self by little and lit∣tle over the wholeworld: Eustachius Rudius, as Sennertus cites him, saith, Maxima pars mortalium eo infecta, the greatest part of
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men were infected with it; which in the very same words is affirmed by * 3.69 Fra∣castorius, and that it was become gene∣ral throughout Spain, Italy, France, Ger∣many, and almost all Seythia. Wherefore, if so many years ago as the days of those Authors, this Disease was become so universal, what a footing then may we imagine it hath gotten, in the revoluti∣of so many more years as have passed since their time? It is now from the first beginning of it in Europe about 170. years, as all Authors agree, it not being known here till the year of Christ 1493. so that it hath had a fair time to take possession of the little world of man; And though * 3.70 Rudius, in his time was of of opinion it might have been utterly ex∣tirpated by help of Physick, had some one Prince had the government of the great world that would have used his Authori∣ty to regulate men, and had there been an unanimous Consent of many to conspire against this Disease; yet (by the leave of so grave an Author) I look upon this Conceit of his as but a meer Phantsie, and utterly impractible, not only in re∣spect of the impossibility of getting men to be of a mind about it, but even in
regard of the Nature of the thing it self, it being a Disease rooted in Contagion, and by all the ways of Contagion, secretly and unavoidably growing upon Mankind; and that it did so, appears by this, that both * 3.71 Fra∣castorius, and Leonicenus, and Minado∣us, perceiving how exceedingly it had spred in a short time, and so many suf∣fering by it that were honest people, and that it was impossible it should spread at that vast rate by one only way of Coition or Lechery, though all the people in the world had turned Whores and Whore-masters, concluded, That it was a Disease, not only Endemial among the Indians, but really Epidemical in the Nations of Europe, and did make its own way among them, flying from place to place, after the mysterious manner of the Pestilence and other Epidemical Contagious Diseases: For, as it is noted by Fracastorius, it brake forth upon ma∣ny of it self, without the concurrence of common corporal Infection, which is re∣corded also by the laborious * 3.72 Zacutus; and it serves to confirm (what I have sufficiently proved in the former Chap∣ter) not only that it ever was contagi∣ous
at a distance, but that by the con∣tinued Succession, Multiplication, and Concentration of so many Millions of Contagious Ferments, as have since been floating and flying up and down, it must needs be co-essentially tinctured and combined with the very Blood, Hu∣mors, Spirits, and, by consequence, u∣niversally complicated, more or less, in all men, with all manner of Diseases. And what is said of this, relates also to its Compeer the Scurvy.
Most pat and pertinent to our pur∣pose are those Passages of the profound Helmont, which I shall here insert, to manifest how much Diseases are alter'd by the said Complication. They are grown more mystical and spiritual, than in former Ages, consisting less in matter, and more in Ferment, which Ferment is as it were the finer, the more subtile, sublimated, and exalted part of Mor∣bifick Matter, of a volatile, penetrative, communicative, and diffusive Nature, stealing abroad insensibly, by flight from one to another, and so lays hold on and seats it self in any Bodies, whose Natural Spirits and Faculties are weak, and therefore unable to make good
their station against it. * 3.73 Oswald Grembs, that learned Helmontian, saith, this Fer∣ment is the very same with Hippocrates his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, quid divinum, somewhat of a spiritual Nature in Diseases, and pas∣seth inconceivably after the manner of a Spirit. Therefore, Helmont himself, in one of his little * 3.74 Tracts, affirms, That Diseases lead out their Armies against us, and act their Forces upon us per ignorata seminaria, & initia invisi∣bilia, by unknown Seminaries, and invi∣sible Beginnings. And in the next page, he saith, we have of later times had new Diseases started up in the world, and the old ones do little suit with the names and descriptions given them by the Antients, because they have put on other strange Sym∣ptoms and Properties, * 3.75 with which they walk disguised, and deceive such Physici∣ans as think to cure Diseases by following the Directions and Precepts of the Anti∣ents. Their Age is rather to be envied than imitated; the happiness was so great in their days, that as Diseases were but few, so they were more simple, calm and gentle, were more easily tractable and curable, having none of those odd Mixtures, Complications, and
Disguises, which latter Ages have seen, and yet we are so sottish and pedaneous, as to tread only in their steps, and con∣fine our selves to such Definitions, No∣tions, and Medicins, as they have left us. * 3.76 In those days (saith he) the natures of men were more strong to resist Diseases; but now I find the Seeds (or Ferments) of Diseases gather strength every day, fall on more fierce, and become more hot and active, and that our Nature, the farther it goes, and the more disorder'd it grows, the less it is obedient to remedies. Our Plagues increase daily, because our Impie∣ties are multiplied. Indeed, Diseases are changed, disguised, increased, and do de∣generate, by reason of somewhat that is complicated with them; I am of opinion, that the French Pox having changed other diseases, and brought them under its own Command, will have an Influence likewise upon the Pestilence; yea, it is Tinctued by it already; Nor do old Diseases answer any more to the Desciptions of old Authors, nor yield obedience to their Remedies. And page 847. he saith, It hath infected eve∣ry Corner of the world, and by its effect plainly shews, that it is creeping to a fur∣ther scope, as yet unknown to the vulgar.
It is not a Disease consisting of Matter, but is only a Venemous Ferment, affixed, like a subtile Scent or Odor, either to the solid, or liquid parts of our Bodies, and so (in a way peculiar to it self) it incorporates not only with the Substantial Parts, but with the Excrements also, or Matters of other Diseases, which it toucheth, because it af∣fects them, and is mingled with them. Hence it comes to pass, that what persons soever are either manifestly weak, or oc∣cultly inclined to Diseases, they are easily seized by this Disease, and so it by Asso∣ciation transforms it self into the various shapes of those Diseases. Wherefore Dis∣eases being thus degenerated since the time that the French Pox brake forth in the world, they do for the most part appear to have in them somewhat of a Venemous Na∣ture; and no Man hath as yet sufficiently investigated the Causes of them, (as now constituted) so that by this means most Diseases are become Contagious, more cruel, more frequent, and more slowly and difficultly to be expelled, than in former times. Thus plainly He: I wish his Language had been as plain in all other Particulars
Moreover, Zacutus putting the Que∣stion,
* 3.77 Whether the French Disease may be complicated with all other Diseases? re∣solves it in the Affirmative: For (saith he) if it be an Ʋniversal Evil, we cannot deny, but it may be joyned with All, and it may happen many wayes; for, Distempers do unite with this Lues, either through likeness of the Matter, or in some other particular, as the Gout called Arthritis, pains of the limbs and outward parts, moist and cold Livers, Distempers of the Stomack and Spleen, from whence come Pains, Ob∣structions, and very grievous Diseases, as the Dropsie, Falling-Sickness, Stupor, Palsies, and others as tedious. Oftentimes also, this dreadful Lues is complicated with Acute Diseases, as Fevers, Internal Inflamma∣tions, and the like.—To the same sense he speaks also in his other * 3.78 Volume, That divers other Diseases may be compli∣cated with the French, is, besides daily and long experience, affirmed by John de Vigo in his Treatise of it, and after him by that Learned Spaniard Ludovicus Mercatus, l. 2. De Morb. Gall. who have both of them very elegantly taught, that all sorts of Dis∣eases, as well Acute as Chronical, may be complicated with the French, of which some have dyed quickly, others, in a lingring
manner, according to the Nature of this cruel Disease. Many also have exchanged Life for Death, by violent Fevers, and In∣ternal Inflammations, contracted only upon this Account, and other very Acute Distem∣pers, springing from this Root, as from their first Original. To which give me leave to add, what I by Experience know, that as this is the condition of most of the Fe∣vers in this Age, by the Intermixture of the Pockie Ferment, or the Scurvy, or both united; so if a Physician hath not in his Head a right Notion of the knack of the Distemper in its complication, and admit he should have a Judgement or right understanding of it, yet if he be not provided of neat Remedies fit for such a Case, or knows not how to invent, there's an End of the Patient; for, the Fever shall not budge one foot, for all the Juleps and Cordials, till you hit him in the Root upon which he grows. So that I think, in our Discourse concern∣ing the variety of Complications, it may may do well if we lead the Van with Testimonies touching Fevers. * 3.79 Sen∣nertus saith, that if a Fever be compli∣cate therewith, the Cure becomes difficult. Also, Helmont, in the place before cited,
speaks home to this Point, shewing how the French Ferment is complicated with that grand Fever the Pestilence, and attributes the frequency of the Pesti∣lence to the frequency of the other. Without doubt (saith he) the Pestilence is now more frequent than in former Ages; it seizeth us upon the least occasion, cruelly persueth, and more easily spreads it self, be∣cause of its being associated with this new Venom or Poyson.
Yea, he referrs to this the Original of the many strange Malignant Fevers of this latter Age, so different from those that were of old, which have arisen not only in Towns, but Field-Armies, and Sieges. For, of old great Armies were led up and down in Europe, Asia, and Africk, without any notable Contagion, and their Musters were commonly not much di∣minished; but now, no sooner is a Siege begun, but immediately the Besieged die within, and the Besiegers also without, by some strange popular Pest; and when the Siege is over, hardly a Company, or Troop, marches forth, but there follow Wagons la∣den with sick men. Not long since, a Camp-Fever brake forth in an Army of ours, of a profound Contagion, killing men without
Thirst or Heat, which some would have at∣tributed to the Impurities and Nastinesses of Camps, Marish grounds, Houses, together with the necessities of the Souldiers, as the Causes of such unusual sicknesses; and so upon this supposal, Physicians manage the whole business of Curing; as if Camps had been more cleanlily kept of old, when such strange Pests and unusual Fevers were not seen among them. But I know, that as often as any Fever of the old stock doth be∣fall a Body, that is actually under infecti∣on of the French Disease, or that formerly hath had it, but was ill cured; immediate∣ly the Fever associates it self with the Ve∣nemous Reliques (or lurking Ferments) of that French Lues, and from it borroweth Poysons, which produce that Fever called the Malignant and Camp-Fever; after which, the Contagion propagates it self, even upon such persons as are free from the said French Lues; and having the Fever as it were for its Father, and the Lues for its Mother, the new-born Monster being a Mongrel begotten of two distinct Diseases, starts up a Third Thing different from both its Parents. Hence it comes to pass, that as well Fevers as Pestilences, march dis∣guised
and unknown; for, the Lues being lock'd within the feverish Chaos, goes on to spread it self along with it, and becomes Epidemical, to wit, this unluckie Monster of the Lues, being unlike both its Parents, and a treacherous Venom, becomes like a Pest, and renders the Pestilence it self, by adding a new putredinous Ferment, more cruel than it was wont to be.
Certainly, never was more substantial Truth delivered by an Author in so few words; for, though this Nation (through Gods blessing) hath not been of late years punished with the Pesti∣lence, as formerly; yet the Armies that have been marching throughout the late Wars, have sufficiently felt the Fury of Malignant Fevers, of so different a Nature, that Fevers arising in some years have alwayes varied in Symptoms from those that fell out in other years: Nor was it thus of late only in our Armies, but in our Towns, Cities, and Villages, and hath been ever since; yea, these 3. years last past, though no great numbers, com∣pared with former years have been cast down by Fevers, yet those that have been (both Fevers and Small Pox) have
been odd kind of Distempers, not re∣ducible to any old Class of Fevers, and have alwayes puzled Physicians to deal with them. But this is no more than what agrees with the Account that is given of them by * 3.80 Sennertus, who saith, They especially do perish, who are seized by those Malignant Fevers, called Febres Gallicae, French Fevers, so termed, because they are complicated with the French Pox; for, the Venereous Virulency corrupting the Humors, puts upon them a malignant qua∣lity, rendreth the Fever the more grievous, and debilitates also the Natural Heat, so that neither the Fever, nor that Maligne Disease, can be overcome by Nature.
Nor is it with these dreadful Fevers alone that it is complicated, but with Hectick Fevers also. So saith that Au∣thor in the same place; For, the Vene∣reous Virulency it self, and the Pains, want of Sleep, and other Symptoms, debilitate the Natural Heat, and hurt the Instruments of Nutrition, so that a Consumption of the whole Body follows, conjoyned with a slow putrid Fever caused by vitious corrupted Humors. And upon this File you may hang most of those that are reckoned (as Mr Graunt saith) to die of a Con∣sumption,
in the Weekly Bils of Mor∣tality. And I remember, that Septalius, in his Animadversions for the Cure of such persons, prescribes a Broth made of Veal and Sarsaparilla: a reasonable Re∣medy, because founded upon a right Notion, but alass too too short of power to reach the Business now. I could (if I list) be copious in Allegations out of Authors touching this French Hectick, but I am willing to shorten.
This French Sprite, called Lues Vene∣rea, haunts not only the Inward Parts of Men, but the Outward also, appearing in the form of Ʋlcers, (as Helmont shews) * 3.81 Pustles, hard Bumps in the Flesh, Inflamed Tumors, purulent Apostems; as also renders wounds hard to be cured, insomuch that the best Chirurgians do complain, with ad∣miration, that of late even the sleighter wounds will hardly yield to the usual Reme∣dies, so that there is need of a new Foun∣dation for Surgery as well as Physick. 'Tis too true of wounds, but especially of Ulcers in the main Body, yea and trivial red pimples in the Face, (as I have fre∣quently observed) that the old Medi∣cines will do no good on them, by reason of either the Venereous, or the Scorbutick
Ferment, or both, latent in them. At this Instant, while I am writing, I have a Pa∣tient with an Ulcer, that was before handled by one in the old way, to no purpose, nor do I reckon I shall do any good with it but by Anti-scorbutick Re∣medies. In the year 1661. I my self had a hot fiery Impetigo, which ran through my Beard round like a red Half-Moon from one Ear to the other; and, after all man∣ner of Unguents, Waters, Lotions, &c. used for 12. months in vain, I devised a Scorbutick Liquor, & infused in it a cer∣tain Mercurial Powder; which, only by wetting the part therewith sleightly with the top of my Finger, twice a day, took it instantly away; and I use that Infusion with the like success to other People ever since, who cannot be cured by any other means but such a one as this, which opposeth and strangleth those ill Ferments in the Cutaneous Parts, where∣ever it finds them. The like may be made for Washes, to recover the flourishing co∣lour of the Face, and restore Hair on the Head in the room of that which is fallen; a Blemish to which both Men & Women are too subject in this Venereous Scor∣butick Age. To such Outward Maladies,
Helmont adds also Inward, and saith, This French P. hath brought forth also new Pal∣sies, * 3.82 new Gouts, Jaundies, Dropsies, and many more. And this deceived Paracelsus, who thought the French P. was of it self no Disease, because in his dayes he found it united with other Diseases.
* 3.83 Sennertus likewise reckons up a great many of Diseases that it passeth under; as besides the External, the Internal, viz. when it puts on a form of those Diseases which befall the Heart; then it quickly kills people; in those of the Brain, it is slower; in those of other Parts, it is slow∣est; and the Venom will lurk there (he saith) and, though it seem extinct, will shew it self after thirty years time. It will act all the Diseases of Stomack, Liver, and Spleen. It will appear in a Head-ach, Ver∣tigo, Falling-sickness, Catarrhs and Distil∣lations of all sorts, strange Arthritical pains, the Diseases of the Lungs, and of the Womb, and all manner of Fluxes. So far He. And his Testimony is Instar om∣nium, because he is a Collector of the Sense of most other Authors of Note, to which he hath added his own Know∣ledge and Experience.
Nor doth it fare thus with Diseases in
regard of the Pox only, but the like pranks are played also by the Scurvy. Helmont * 3.84 tells us, that this Disease hath had a stroke likewise in Production of the strange Fevers both in Camps and Cities; and that such a Contagious Ma∣lady brake forth in the Low-Countries, the very same year that the Scurvy first appeared in the world. His Abbrevia∣tor, * 3.85 Oswald Grembs, saith likewise of the Hectick Fever, that it is united with the Scurvy, it arising frequently from Scorbutick Matter, and so requires ano∣ther manner of Cure, than the Consump∣tive Hectick of the Ancients, And quite contrary thereto; that is to say, not with Moistning Remedies, but rather such as will cut and attenuate the Offending Mat∣ter, and consume the putrid Exhalations. This I see confirmed by daily Expe∣rience.
* 3.86 Sennertus in his Tract de Scorbuto con∣cerning the Scurvy, shews how it is gotten into all manner of Fevers, and Agues, from the Camp to the Cottage; so that, he saith, he who will cure them in this Age, must not have recourse to the Doctrins and Symptoms set down by old Authors, nor make a Judgment of them
from the number of Days and Fits, but by the propriety of their Signs: For both in respect of Heat, Cold, Duration, and the rare Evils and Symptoms attending them, which are not to be heard of among the An∣tients, there is a vast difference betwixt these and the old Fevers and Agues. He is very large in this; but I must make haste, and only tell you that * 3.87 Horstius saith the like, also Forestus, and Eugale∣nus; this last man first opened the eyes of the world about this matter, and all agree, that new wayes of Cure must be found out for most Diseases, because of the Scorbutick Complication, as well as the Venereous. Yea * 3.88 Horstius saith thus, Eugalenus Scorbutum omnium Morborum quasi Materiam Primam esse contendit, i. e. Eugalenus affirms the Scurvy to be as it were the Materia Prima of all Diseases; & the same (saith Horstius) is by Hercules Saxonia, in his Lectures and Consultations, avowed concerning the French Pox; so that the world since the days of those Authors, (some of which lived near 100. years ago) must needs be brought by this time to a fine Pass. Those Two prodigious Maladies com∣bining together to complicate them∣selves
with all other Diseases, have now, in process of time, by reason of their contagious quality, so insinuated them∣selves, that they are become universal, a part of our Humane Nature, and con∣sequently inseparable from us, as well as from our Diseases. Yea more than this, they have so ordered the matter, that they have quite lost themselves within us; these two are become other things than they were when they first started up, in the appearance of Simple Pox and Simple Scurvy; but since that time, by being Compounded with each other, they lose their own primitive simplici∣ty, and a Third Monster is started out of them, which we know not what to call; but, like the old Serpent, it hath twined it self with our corrupted Na∣ture, and winding and turning it self in various Forms, it stings many to death invisibly, and poysons the rest of the world with new Ferments, working up one after another, and producing strange unheard of Infirmities, year after year: so that the Pox and Scurvy thus propa∣gated, are not wont to appear in their own Colours, nor with the common Symptoms, which follow the one when
'tis contracted by Coition, and the other when 'tis gotten by ill Diet, ill Drinks, ill Airs, &c. Alledge not, that you have no∣thing of the Pox, none of the Pockie Ferment within you, because you never had the usual Signs, as a Gonorrhaea, Bu∣bo's, Ulcers, and the like, which are the usual Formalities of the Pox; nor be you over-confident, that you have nothing of the Scurvy, none of the Scor∣butick Ferment, because you have no loose Teeth, nor rotten Gums, &c. which are the common reputed Signs; Alas, these two Ferments, whether they go joyntly or separately, do put on other Formalities, and disguise themselves in the habit of other Diseases, according to the inclinations of such weakly Bodies as they light upon. Guil. Romanus, a German Doctor, in an Epistle of his re∣corded by * 3.89 Horstius, reproves another Doctor, that advised with him about the Case of a certain Patient, because he would not allow the Case to be Scorbu∣tick, willing him not to be misled by the low Notions of common Practisers, who alledging that the Patient had no sore Mouth, no loosness of Teeth, no rot∣ting of Gums, nor Spots in the Body,
nor loss of lively ruddy Countenance, therefore concluded the Disease was not the Scurvy; this suits * 3.90 (saith he) with the vain Conceits of vulgar Physicians; and he there shews, the Case may be Scorbutick, and yet not one of the common Symptoms of the Scurvy ap∣pear in the Business—.In a word, for the right understanding of my Drift in this Disourse, consider, that I distinguish betwixt the Tinctures or Ferments of those two grand Diseases, and the Di∣seases themselves: The Diseases some∣times appear like themselves, when they are gotten in the common way; but when the Ferments propagate them∣selves, either by Lactation, or Heredita∣ry Propagation, or by Contagion, they seldom or never appear like branches of such a Stock; but being Tinctured in the Blood and Humors of Bodies do pass in∣to the Forms of such Diseases, as those Bodies which receive them are most in∣clinable to; and such Diseases, what∣ever they in common sense and outward appearance seem to be, are never cured by the Medicins usually applied against them, but by such Remedies only, as ei∣ther totally alter or extirpate the Fer∣ments,
which are complicated with, or Tinctured in them. And therefore, 'tis well noted by * 3.91 Sennertus in his Advi∣so's about the Pox, that when 'tis got∣ten in the usual way of Coition, it is the more easily cured; but very hardly when 'tis gotten by Suckling, or by He∣reditary Propagation; for then, 'tis not so much the Pox, as a Pockie Ferment, and (as he saith) is hardest of all to be cured. The like holds also concerning the Scurvy and the Scorbutick Ferment. And thus I have been as plain in my style and language as I could be, in de∣scribing so mysterious and abstruse a Matter.
I might enlarge by naming particular Diseases, to manifest the vast extent of the Scurvy's Complication with all other Maladies, and make Inferences thereupon of the necessity of new No∣tions and new Medicins; but that being done to my hand by the long Catalogues of Scorbutick Diseases, recorded by Sennertus, and before him by Horstius, and before him by Eugalenus; I think fit to referr you to the Authors themselves, this Treatise being already mounted to a greater Size than I intended. The
commonness of such a Complication will hardly be denied by any man that is a Physician; therefore I think 'tis enough that I have touched upon the manner of it, and made it (I conceive) a little more easie to be understood and believed, than hath been done by any one before me.
THat Worms are, and may be gene∣rated of some bigness, and of se∣veral shapes, not only in the Bowels, but in every other part of the Bodie, is a matter so obvious in every Author of Note, and by continual Observation, that I suppose, none will deny it: and that they are in these days more frequently appearing in all manner of Fevers, and other Diseases, than in former time, is by experience seen, and there is reason
for it, because by the intermixture of Pockie and Scorbutick Ferments, humors are more vitiated, and a more poyso∣nous putredinous Disposition or Cor∣ruption is introduced into mens Bodies, than was wont to be in elder time. In the years 1660. and 1661. (as I have hinted in my second Chapter) there raged in the Country a Malign Fever, and I my self found worms coming from all people of all Ages from two years old to 70. of both Sexes; for I so ordered Juleps and other means, that I still min∣gled such Remedies with them, as might kill Worms, or alter the Wormatick matter which abounded within the sick every where; This I then began to do, and have done it ever since; not only in Fevers, but I mingle such Remedies constantly in all other Cases, and do find Worms frequently brought away from People in years, as well as the younger Fry: Therefore this Scope I continually propound to my self, and commend to others that they strike at Worms, and be continually devising Remedies which may suit with the main Disease, (let it be what it will); and withall alter the Wormatick Matter, if
there should be no Worms to kill; for, this I find, that though the matter do not sometimes breed the Animals, yet as long as the Wormatick Cadave∣rous Humor and Matter remains in be∣ing, within the Body, so long the Body languisheth, and sometimes will have all the Symptoms that attend Worms actu∣ally existent; and no cure of the Main Disease, with which 'tis complicated, will go forward, till that Verminous Humor or Matter be extinguished or re∣moved: which being done, and the Cure wrought by mingling Anti-vermi∣nous Medicins with the other, I there∣upon conclude, a matter near of kin to the Worms was A Con-cause (if not the only Cause many times) of the Disease, though I see no Worms actually come away.
This is a Course that had its rise first from my own private Speculation; for, though others have written of a Com∣plication of Worms with other Mala∣dies, yet none ever took notice of it as so general a Business. And if others will take to the putting of it in practise, by providing themselves with various
Remedies of that Nature, fit to be mingled with other, in Diseases either Acute or Chronical, they will find the success exceed their expectation.
But since the time that I first enter∣tained this Conception, I have met with a Book, which, though it cannot confirm me more in Judgement, than I am confirmed already by my own Practise; yet it pleaseth me to see a Notion concerning Worms more finely improved, than e∣ver I thought of before: The Author of it is * 3.92 Kircherus, the Famous Jesuite, now living at Rome, and 'tis highly commended by the two greatest Physi∣cians of Italy, (as I intimated in one of the foregoing Chapters) by Name Sini∣baldi, present Publick Professor of Phy∣sick in the University at Rome, and Paul Zacchias, now chief Physician to the Pope and his Court, with whom the Learned Jesuit communicated his Pa∣pers before he put them in Print, and they revised them; so that what is said in that Book, is the Sense of three Men, known by their Learned Works throughout Europe. I find by the Date of the Epistle Dedicatory to the Pope,
that it was written in the year 1658. and was since Printed at Leipsick, an University in the Elector of Saxonie's Country, with a Preface to it prefixed by Christianus Langius, Publick Profes∣sor of Physick in that University, whose Name I have once before had occasion to mention; but the Book came not to my Hand till last year. He exhorts the Physicians of Leipsick to follow the ex∣ample of Kircherus, by aspiring after No∣tions more sublime, than what are to be found in the common Doctrines of Phi∣losophy and Physick, and saith, There∣upon they will acknowledge that Man born to open the Eyes of Philosophers and Physi∣cians, who err and go astray.
The Design of this Book is, to treat of the Pestilence, its Original, Causes, Signes, and Cure; The occasion of his writing was the strange Nature of the Pestilence which raged at Naples and Ge∣noa, Anno 1656. and from thence flew to Rome; the Symptoms whereof were such as agreed not with the old Descriptions, and baffled all the old Antidotes and Cordials, and puzled the Physicians in all their Consultations about the Causes
and Cure of it: Which Kircherus con∣sidering, and pondering various Causes, at length he pitched upon those Effluviums, Atoms, Corpuscles, or Ferments, which (in the same sense that I have described them in the Third Chapter) do conti∣nually flow forth of all gross Bodies through the Air, whereby even the said gross Bodies do touch and take with one another, according as they are capable to receive Impressions from each other, through the working and counter-work∣ing of these Intermedial flitting Atoms or Bodikins, which when they issue from Contagious Bodies, impart somewhat of their own Natural Venom, and improve it, wheresoever they fix; and He there∣upon concluded, that some such little in∣visible contagious bodies as these, carried through the Air, and insinuating them∣selves into the Bodies of Men, did, by their pernicious Ferment, induce a pu∣tredinous pestilent disposition in the Hu∣mors, and consequently, the Pestilence it self, where Nature had not strength enough to oppose and hinder the ope∣ration of its Fermental Force and Power.
This is no other Doctrine than what I have asserted before, in maintaining the like manner of propagation of the Pockie and Scorbutick Ferment; and there is a parity of reason for the like propagating of these Contagions, as for the Pestilen∣tial, because the Ferments of Diseases are by Helmont, Horstius, Sennertus, and others, rightly termed, Seminia, Semi∣nalia, Seminaria, Seminaries and Semi∣nals, in regard they carry along with them the Seeds of the Infection of those Infected Bodies from whence they flow; and, wheresoever they lodge, they are like seeds sown, which hath in it a hidden power to produce its own like, and so they beget a Disease of the same kind with that which was their own Original, be it either Pestilential, Pockie, or Scor∣butick.—But that which most remark∣ably touches the Point in hand, is, that he introduceth a new Paradox, (as him∣self calls it) into the world, viz. That the Contagion of the Pestilence was at that time conveyed abroad, not only by the volatility of such Effluviums, Atoms, and Corpuscles, as are Inanimate, but by such also as were Animated, living Crea∣tures,
and were a sort of Invisible Worms or Vermicles. This might seem strange at the first Report, and not to be belie∣lieved, unless that which is not to be perceived commonly by Sight, may by help of Art be prsented to the Eye, and then there is no disputing against Sense. This that Author undertakes to do, (of which more by and by) and saith, * 3.93 That these Animated Effluviums are constituted of indiscernable Animated Corpuscles, it doth appear by the multitude of Worms which are wont to issue out of one and the same Body; of which some are so big that they are presently seen, the rest remain in an undiscernable state of Magnitude, yet multiplyed in so great a number, as the num∣berless Corpuscles or Particles are, of which the Effluvium doth consist; and being ex∣ceeding subtile, thin, and light, they plie to and fro, no otherwise than Atoms do, with the least puff or motion of the Air: And he saith, These Worms are so fine, that they insinuate themselves, not only into Clothes, Ropes, and Linen, but into other Bodies less Porous, as Cork, Wood, Bones; yea, into those which are least Porous and most compact, as metals, money, &c. Of
this he in * 3.94 another place tells us, they had daily Experience in the Plague-time, at Naples and Rome, where no money was received in Payment, but what was first well soaked and washed in Vinegar, if it came from any Infected Place; and he believed, nothing could resist the pene∣tration but Diamonds only, because of their polished Superficies, and unconquerable hardness. By such Animated Effluviums * 3.95 as these, Cardan saith, the great Plague that fell out in his time at Milan was raised, which unpeopled that great Ci∣ty, not only the Air being filled with them, * 3.96 but the very dust of the Earth animated into such kind of Vermicles.
Georgius Agricola tells, that in his time, a Plague came by eating of Fruits, Pears, Prunes, &c. so that the eaters dyed in few dayes after; which Fruits swarmed with multitudes of indiscernable Worms: which were no other than the Animated Corpuscles or Particles flowing from Contagious Car∣cases, and fastning upon Trees and Plants, being carried thither through the Air. In the late Pest likewise at Naples, many were infected and dyed presently after eat∣ing of Fruits: The use whereof must
needs be hazardous in Infectious Seasons, especially such Fruits as are corruptible of their own ac∣cord.
He is much more copious in Discourse about this, but I will contract him, as well as I can. Some will object, that if this were so, then by these Animated Efflu∣viums or Vermicles, being blown by winds from one place to another, the whole world would soon be ruined by Contagion. I an∣swer; that this is not wont to be, by reason of the divers and disproportionate Situations of Countries, with their various Natures, Tempers, and Properties, and the divers Constitution of winds and Airs prevailing within them.
Thus we see, in the same City or Country, the Pest usually declines with the Season of the year, because of the Alteration of the Air, &c. In cooler Airs, these Animated Effluviums or Vermicles, can neither swarm nor live. But if you would know, how these Vermicles come to be made visible, which are of so minute a Magnitude, and so subtil a Substance; the same Author tells us, the visibiliy is attained
by the Instrument called a * 3.97 Microscope. These things (saith he) may perhaps seem Paradoxes to the Reader, but when he shall, as I have done, by Experiments made the space of many years, by the help of most exquisite Microscopes, throughly see with his own Eyes, then I suppose, he will not only believe these things to be so, but in∣structed by Experience, be ready to attest the Truth of what I have said.
Now, as the certainty of these things is by him alledged, in reference to the propagation of that grand Evil the Pestilence, there can no Reason be given why we should not have an Eye upon a Verminous Disposition in all manner of Diseases whatsoever: If invisible Cor∣puscles, Atoms, or Particles, may be vivified on this manner, and be convey∣ed at a distance from place to place, and from a sick person to a sound, or from putrid Carcases to living and lusty, so as to beget a Verminous Disposition within them, I suppose 'tis more easie to con∣ceive, that within the same Body, where∣in (be it through intemperance, or by any sort of Contagion) a putredinons Matter (Blood or Humor) is prepared,
not onely the grosser part of the Matter may be enlivened into the greater sort of Worms, but also the Salient Corpuscles, frisking Atoms, or active Particles therein contained, may be very often (if not continually) quickned into such Invisi∣ble Animals or Vermicles; and, as such, lurk in the Blood and Humors of the Body, and become the occasion of many strange Diseases both Acute and Chro∣nical, which we are wont to attribute unto some other Cause.
The learned Author gives so much Light to this as hath convinced me, by manifold Experiments, which because they are the best kind of Arguments; and the clearing of this being of very great importance to the practice of Physick, I will set down all, but make them as short as I can. Before he comes to Experiments, he lays down this for a Position; Omne Putridum, exse & suâ Naturâ generare Vermes: i. e. That every thing which is Putrid, doth of it self, and by its own Nature, generate Worms: whereupon he thus reasoneth. Whereas all generation consssts in what is hot and moist, according to the Philosopher's deter∣mination,
a twofold Corruption may here be considered; the one Natural, the other specially adventitious or beside Nature, which properly is wont to be called Putre∣faction. I say therefore, that there is no living thing which is not lyable to Putre∣faction, even as the * Philosopher himself * 3.98 affirms. For the understanding whereof, it is to be noted, that no living thing can be generated out of what is formally Putrid. But whenas that which is putrefied, being a mixt Body, is, by separation of impure parts from the pure, resolved into its own Elements, and whereas the pure Parts na∣tural to the mixt Body being mingled with the putrid, are agitated by heat; and for∣asmuch as Nature always intends the best, hence it comes to pass, that the external heat works the prepared matter, not into any thing that is of an Excrementitious Nature, but thrusts forth the purer Parts of the Mixt Body into somewhat that is animated; and this is the only Cause of the Original of Animals out of Putrefacti∣on. Moreover, whereas Philosophers are wont commonly to say, that some Animals are generated out of meer Putrefaction alone, that is true, if we conceive the
whole putrefaction of a mixt Body to be per∣formed under one Action, but because no mixt Body is so corrupted, but that some of the purer Parts natural to it do remain; therefore when these purer Parts become Tinctured with in an ill fuliginous quality through the putrefying of the Excrementi∣tious Parts, hence it falls out, that the said purer Parts being agitated by external heat, do thrust forth an Off-spring of Animals, of the same Nature with the Excrementitious Parts which gave the Tincture. So much for his Philosophy of the Business: Now for the Experiments.
We see, that the Earth, out of I know not what Putredinous Matter in its own Bowels, doth produce not only Insects of all sorts, but also various Monsters of Venemous Creatures, as Serpents, Toads, Dragons, in Dens and Caves of Moun∣tains, which have their original from moisture and a various mixture of viru∣lent Dregs and Slime; and the like are produced out of Ponds, Lakes, and Ma∣rishes, by the heat of the ambient Air working upon a Conflux of Terrestrial Parts. Yea, Water it self kept in a close Vessel, and exposed to the Sun, is quick∣ly
animated into Worms, as is seen by daily Experience, both in Voyages at Sea, and within the walls of our own private Houses. Who knows not, that Worms arise from putrefaction out of corrupted Nutriment within the bowels of Men's Bodies? And the like from corrupt humors creeping betwixt the skin, so that the whole Body be∣comes animated by little and little, as in the Lousie Disease called Phthiriasis?
Again, there is no kind of Plant which doth not out of slime or mucous Matter, generate a certain Worm peculiar to it self; which secret is in these last Times discovered by the Microscope, and will be more experimented. Yea, Vinegar, Milk, the Blood of men in Fevers, are perceived to be full of Worms, although not to be discerned by an eye that is not armed with that Instrument.
In the Carcases of Men and Brutes, that wonderful Efficacy of Putrefaction in generating Worms doth very much appear: which being taught abundantly by Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Pliny, * 3.99 and known to the Vulgar, I shall not insist upon.
Moreover, Water elevated by Va∣por, Air, Hail, and Snow, are full of Worms. Pliny saith so of Snow, in his Book de Divinis Nat. Charact. And Cor∣nelius Gemma of Hail in lib. de Arte Metallicâ. As much is said of Air by Georgius Agricola; and the sudden ge∣neration of Worms, Frogs, and Insects (which have come down with rain upon the earth) doth confirm it. There is also scarce a Stick, or Fruit, or any other mixt Body, which doth not pro∣duce some Animal which disposeth that to Destruction which begat it, according to that of Lucretius,
—obnoxia cuncta putrori Corpora, putrores Insecta animata se∣quuntur.All Bodies are subject to Putrefaction, and out of Putrefaction spring Animals. And that Worms of bigness visible arise out of putrid Bodies, is a matter known to All; but that all putrid Bodies should abound with an innumerable Swarm of Worms not to be perceived by the eye of it self, is a matter that
was never known till the admired In∣vention of the Microscope: which I my self could never have believed, unless I had found it true by many years expe∣rience. Therefore, that the Reader may more fully behold the admi∣rable power of Nature, what hath been hitherto said, may be manifested by irrefragable Experiments, as fol∣loweth.
Take a Piece of Flesh, and expose it by night to the moisture of the Moon till early the next morning, then view it diligently with a Microscope, and you shall find, that all the Putrefaction con∣tracted by the Moon is degenerated into innumerable Vermicles differing in big∣ness, but when you remove the Mi∣croscope, you cannot discern any by the quickest of your eyes, unless perhaps some few be among them that are grown to a sensible magnitude. You may try the same in Cheese, Milk, Vi∣negar, and the like Bodies abounding with Putrefaction. Yet think not 'tis to
be done by every slight Microscope, but one made by a diligent and skilful hand; such a one as I have, which re∣presents Objects a thousand times big∣ger than they are in themselves.
If you take a Serpent cut into small pieces, and putting it into rain-water, expose it for some days to the Sun, then bury it in the Earth for the space of a day and night, and afterwards taking out the parts grown flaccid with putre∣faction, shall examine them with a Mi∣croscope, you will sind all that's putrefi∣ed swarming with so great a Multitude of little springing Serpents, that no man, though he have the eyes of Lyn∣ceus, can number them: which Experi∣ments may be performed with all kinds of Serpents; and sometimes in dead pu∣trefied Serpents you will find some of them discernible by the Eye alone.
Matthiolus, Fuchsius, and many other Herbarists, declare, that Sage unwash't is very hurtful to such as eat it; yea, Mizaldus saith, that some by eating it have immediately fallen down dead: The Cause they impute to I know not what Toads poysoning the roots with their breath. But as for me, I have discovered another Cause of this Mat∣ter; for, while I examined more curi∣ously the constitution of this Plant, by the help of my Microscope, at length I observed in those leaves which were more rough than the rest, that their whole Superficies was covered with somewhat like a Spider's Web, within which appear'd Animals exceeding small, and which were perpetually at work therein, and certain round Things as it were Eggs were spred upon the Su∣perficies, which as it is doubtless a certain Breed or Spawn of that sort of petit Ani∣mals, so by their virulent humor they may do a man a deal of mischief: But wipe a leaf with your finger, or wash it with water, and they allpresently disappear;
from whence I collect the true cause of the pernicious quality of Sage that is not washed—. Moreover, if you make Experiment in other Herbs, you will to your very great admiration find, there is no Herb, out of whose moisture or putrid Mucor some Inf••ct doth not spring, which shews it self at first in the form of a very little worm, a little after it ac∣quires wings, and is transformed into a Butterfly, or some other flying Infect, according to the condltion of the Herb or Plant; all which I having found true by frequent Experiment, others also may be satisfied that will make trial of the matter.
If with the Microscope you examine the powder of any rotten wood what∣soever, you will find a prodigious num∣ber of Vermicles, some armed with Horns, some set out as it were with Wings, and others not unlike those Worms that have many Feet; their Eyes also you will discern like black Points, and that they have a long
Snout; so that it may appear, Almighty God hath manifested his own wonder∣ful Power, not only in the greatest Bo∣dies of the World, but in the smallest, even in those Animals that are not to be discerned by the sharpest sight, having furnished every one of them with such Members, as without which they could neither move themselves, nor exercise any vital Actions. What a little Liver, little Stomack, little Heart, little Nerves, and Gristles, must there go to the making of such invisible Cor∣puscles! The least Creature that we can see without the the help of Art, is a Mite, it resembling a little white Punctum or Point, but view it with a Microscope, and it appears to us a rough hairy Creature, like a Bear.
Take a Glass-Vial half-filled with Water, into which sprinkle some dust of the Earth, which will presently sink to the bottom; and so exposing the Vial to the Sun in the Summer time for some dayes, let it rest without shaking, until
the Water begin to putrifie; and when the Water doth begin to putrifie, ob∣serve the bottome of the Vial, there will arise out of the setling of the water or in∣jected dust, certain little round bubbles, every one of which in the following dayes will be animated into very little Worms or Vermicles, which will strangely frisk and sport up and down in the midst of the Water; and being come to Maturity, at length they be take themselves to the top of the Water, and there being in great numbers transform∣ed into winged Gnats, they commit themselves to the Air, and become as troublesome to Men and Beasts in the Summer, especially by night, as others use to be.
Every Living Creature out of its own putrefaction educeth some kind of Animal, agreeable to its own Nature, and different from all others, which as I have by Experiment found true in se∣veral sorts of Herbs, and may be seen by Corn animated into winged Animals;
so it holds most certain in Animals, as well perfect as imperfect. The Carcase of an Ox becomes animated into Bees; Horses, both living and dead, generate Wasps and Scarabees. Men do breed Nits, Lice, Fleas; the like do some Brutes also. Man's rotten Carcase be∣comes a Seminary of Worms. Infects putrefied generate Animals of Nature like unto themselves. Nature is so sol∣licitous about promoting the Generati∣ons of Things, that wheresoever She finds a Disposition, that is, heat with a due proportion of moisture, there She immediately thrusts forth an Animal. I could here produce innumerable In∣stances from all sorts of Living Things, but because these are enough for the proof of what I intend, I shall no longer insist on them. Only this one thing I avow, that all Putrefaction hath cer∣tain Seminals or Seeds within it self for the Generation of Animals, which be∣ing excited by external and convenient Heat, do break forth into the aforesaid Colluvies of Worms, so much the more pernicious as the putrefaction is more vi∣rulent.
From this new Doctrine, established by Demonstration of irrefragable Ex∣periments, it clearly appears, that most of the odd Diseases of a Malignant Na∣ture, and which Physicans know not what to make of, do for the most part depend upon a certain virulent and strange putrefaction, which being ani∣mated by time, as it degenerates into a certain verminous and indiscernable Ge∣neration of Worms, so also they occa∣sion a strange Catastasis of unusual Exot∣ick Symptoms, the Causes whereof Physicians cannot assign: For, as there is no sort of Meat which is not subject to such a wormatick production; so in the Body of Man there is no Vessel be∣longing to Vital Operation, which is not sometimes affected therewith. Hol∣lerius tels us of a Scorpion bred in the Brain; also of a Man whom he dissected after Death, and found a world of Worms in his Liver, which were the Cause of his unknown Disease. Turn over the Volumes which give us the Hi∣storical
Part of Physick, and you will find Examples of Worms, not only in the principal Parts of Man's Body, as the Heart, Liver, Brain, Lungs, Reins, Spleen, Bladder, Stomack, &c. but in those Chanels of the Blood, the Veins, and Arteries. For, whereas, by the unanimous Consent of Physicians, the Cause of all Diseases is said to be a cer∣tain putrefaction secretly lurking among the hidden recesses of the Humors; and whereas all putrefaction upon the next opportunity produceth Worms not to be discerned by the Senses; and see∣ing that according to the various di∣stemper of Humors, Putrefaction ac∣quireth Venoms of divers Natures, and divers powers in working, according to the various manner of combinati∣on of Malignant Humors, even such a variety of Powers also the Animals from thence springing must needs ac∣quire, and become so much the more pernicious, by how much a Poyson or Venom that is Animated is more violent than that which is Inanimate: And so it falls out, that this Anima∣ted or Wormatick Venom being dis∣seminated
by little and little, first infects the Mass of Humors, then creeping on gnaws the Bowels, and dispersing its Poyson through the in∣most Fibres of the Body, doth, with most horrible Fits and Symptoms, dispose a man by degrees toward his long Home. Hence it is, that Physi∣cians perceiving such effects fall out beside the Course of Nature, as are little less than prodigious, in the exot∣ick constitution of some Diseases, they admire what the Matter is, and try all Experiments; and so the A∣pothecarie's Shops are well nigh emp∣tied of Medicins, and yet no hope of procuring health, whereas if they did rightly apprehend the nature of the lurking Enemy, perhaps they might by appropriate Remedies restore the Patient: But few do imagine, that we carry about with us an Off-sping of Animals begotten out of our own Blood and Bowels, of so great a contumacy, that if you overthrow their Auxiliary Forces in one place, you will find them immediatly recruited in ano∣ther.
Moreover, that there may be a more full evidence of this Truth, so necessary to be known, the aforesaid Author saith, * 3.100 he hath with his Microscope examined the bloud of men sick of Fevers, which hath satisfied him over and over of the business; for, viewing the blood an hour or two after the opening of veins, I have (saith he) found it so full of Worms, that it made me almost astonished, and I have ever since been convinced, that man, as well living as dead, may abound with innumerable ver∣micles though undiscernible by the eye; so that well may we take up the saying of Job, I said to Corruption, Thou art my fa∣ther, and to the Worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. These Things perhaps may seem Paradoxes to some Physicians, but let such know, * 3.101 that many things lie hid in the nature of things which were un∣known to the Antients, and to such also as have lived of late years, which the extra∣ordinary Sagacity of the present times hath discovered by the benefit of the Mi∣croscope, and laid before our eyes.
The Result of all I have brought here is this: That the Bodies of men are ly∣able to be wrought on by each other at a distance, by the efflux and intervention
of certain Atoms, Corpuscles, or Parti∣cles; and that these Particles sometimes are Inanimate, and sometimes Animated into little invisible Worms (as in the Case of Pestilential Infection;) but howsoever, be th••y the one or the other, it is certain 〈◊〉〈◊〉 they carry along with them a power able to corrupt Bodies which receive them, and turn them into the same nature and bad condition with Themselves. So much therefore to shew, that such indis∣cernible Vermicles may be generated within us by secret corruptive Causes coming from without us, because those Corpuscles carry along with them Fer∣ments, which have a power Alterative lodged in them, able to work upon Bodies of the same kind in especial manner, and by Fermentation convert both bloud and humors into their own ill Nature, even as a very little leven leveneth a whole Tub of Meal. But admit this could not be, yet the Case concerning our new Hypo∣thesis touching Worms (great or small, visible or invisible) to be considered in the constitution of all or most Diseases, be∣cause somwhat of Putrefaction attends all humane Bodies, is plain enough from Corruptive Causes lurking within us.
But it may be objected, Men in all times have had Putrefaction, and so doubtless Vermicles latent in them, in Ages past as well now, though they had no Microscope to discover them, and yet they had not such strange prodigious Distempers at∣tending their Diseases as you talk of, by reason of such Worms or Vermicles; why then do you insist so much upon Worms now, as a main Cause of the un∣usual Symptoms and Alterations in almost all Diseases, more than in former times? I answer, 'tis true, such Worms (no doubt) in respect of magnitude (or rather little∣ness) have lurked in the parts, bloud, and humors of men in all Ages, because of Putrefaction, and have been Causes of so much mischief as the force of their nature could extend to; but consider, 1. That in old time, even the great Worms were not so frequently attendant upon other Diseases, as now we find them; for in read∣ing of Hippocrates & Galen, and their follow∣ers, little is said of Worms in any other Dis∣ease but Fevers; but now a days we find them much more frequently in Fevers, yea and in Diseases of the Lungs, Liver, Splene, Heart, Brain, Reins, Bladder, and in the Co∣lick, and Pains of the sides; and of the
back, &c. which have all vanished upon the avoidance of Worms, effected by mixing Anti-verminous Medicines with other: which being a matter rare to be heard of till this latter Age, is an evi∣dence, that now Bodies of men have usu∣ally more Putrefaction in them, for which many common Causes drawn from the latitude of Luxury in latter times, may be assigned, but I wave them as needless: only let me observe here, that in those greater, as well as the lesser Worms, the Symptoms are more strange and violent than heretofore. I had a gentlewoman not long since afflicted with a Pain in the region of the Liver; after other reme∣dies used in vain, I gave her a gentle Pur∣gative mixt with somewhat against Worms: It brought a great one from her, and after once or twice more using the same remedy, the Pain went away. Ano∣ther, a gentlewoman of quality, now in Southwark, who the last year had a great pain in her stomack, a Cough, a great In∣flation or Tumefaction in the region of the Liver; She ran all the Round of Physici∣ans and Remedies, and her Body was wasted to the lowest ebb of a Consump∣tive state; but by Advice of a great Lord,
who supposed wind to be a Cause, She chawed Tobacco, by which means vo∣miting (a little too violently for so weak a Body) She threw up 7. or 8. Worms; whereupon the pain went immediately away, all other terrible Symptoms were at an end, and She soon recovered to a per∣fect state, without any other means. This week, wherein I now write, an Elderly wo∣man, long afflicted with all the imaginable Symptoms which are wont to attend Hy∣pochondriack Melancholy, and which nothing else would ease, by giving her Pills which are wont to work out Worms, many strange ones came from her, day af∣ter day. I could run out at large in In∣stances of this nature; but that were more fit for a particular Treatise about it. If the great Worms do mischief thus, what may we expect from the little ones, that are in the more abstruse and solid parts, and in the very bloud and hu∣mors?
2. Consider, that as Putrefaction is more frequent, so it is more virulent, ha∣ving in it a greater degree of Venom than in olden time: For, you may remember what is noted before, That according to the various distemper of humors, Putrefaction
acquires venoms or virulencies of various Natures, and divers powers in working, ac∣cording to the various manner of combina∣tion of Malignant Humors; and so if the invisible Animals or Vermicles thence ge∣nerated, arise now from a combination of humors, of condition more virulent and malignant than was known heretofore, 'tis no wonder, if Diseases be more often caused by them, and become more dread∣ful in their effects and Symptoms. Now, if you enquire, how the humors of men's Bodies, which are the Subject of Putre∣faction, come to be more malignant and Poysonous than formerly, I, to avoid a te∣dious repetition of things, referr you to the foregoing Chapters of this Discourse, which sufficiently point out the new Pa∣rents of Putrefaction and Malignancy, viz. the Pox and the Scurvy, by which I have manifested what a marvelous Change hath been wrought in the whole Frame of the little world of man; so that the exotick Ferments being propagated and sublima∣ted to a great height of venom, in their combination with our Bloud and Humors, the venemous Product of putrefaction thence arising must needs induce a Malig∣nancie in every malady, and consequently
in Worms; not only in the visible ones of all sorts, but (which is of more sad and serious consideration) even in those petty Vermicles, which (whether they come into us from abroad, or breed within us) do the most frequent and greatest mis∣chiefs, because the Parts and Liquors of our Bodies are rarely free from them, yet few or no Physicians take notice of them, or have remedies that will reach them; and so these invisible Vermin being neg∣lected, as well as the greater, render most Cases incurable, because being of a nature more poysonous and penetrative than in former Ages, they are now, by an active exerting and diffusing their virulency within the Body, become more able to Taint it, and more apt than ever to rage, and do prodigious executions.
But because many are swayed in their Judgements, more by the concurrence of Testimonies, than any other Evidence, give me leave therefore to conclude this Chapter with the opinion of Langius, pre∣sent publick Professor in the University of Leipsick (whom I have occasion to menti∣on once or twice before;) He, in his Pre∣face before Kircherus declares himself a∣bundantly satisfied about these things, and
names one Dr. Hauptman, another Ger∣man Physician, who affirms the same in a Book entituled De vivâ Mortis imagine. I shall not (saith he) insist upon those many most faithful Experiments made by Kirche∣rus, and others both Physicians and Chirur∣gians, who have abundantly proved with the Microscope, that upon the opening of Buboes and Tumors, they have been found full of in∣numerable Vermicles undiscernible by the eye. The like may be said of Wounds and Ul∣cers which so frequently puzzle such as en∣devor the Cure of them. But he goes on, and discourses of that terrible Disease the Purples, which so frequently befalls wo∣men within the month after child-delive∣ry, for, it having baffled the greatest Physicians and their most pretious Cordi∣als, thereupon he and Hauptman laid their heads together, and concluded the Principal and Immediate Cause of that roughness of the Skin in that Disease, must be from some extraordinary Putrefaction within; and so examining the matter with the Microscope, they found those petty Vermi∣cles, spred upon the whole Superficies in the rough parts of the Skin; by which means you have here an Infallible experiment, touch∣ing the Original of that most Malignant
disease the Purples; which is further confir∣med by this, that after the using of all the Bezoardicks, Diaphoreticks, and Cordials commonly so called, without any success, he be took himself to the use of such remedies as have a power to kill and mortifie the putrid seminaries of worms, by mingling them with such other remedies as were proper in the Case.
From hence he bids us, with the like prudence to collect the causes and cures of di∣stempers in the Measels, Small Pox, and Spot∣ted Fevers, &c. and if you follow his example close, he saith, you will not err from the suc∣cesful way of curing: And he knows no rea∣son why he should not, in all and singular dis∣eases which have any thing in them of a no∣table putrefaction or Fermentation of vitious humours, resolutely assert, that they spring from such a vevminous seminary of Animals, see∣ing he hath seldom failed of a prosperous suc∣cess by such a course of Cure: For, as I af∣firm (saith he) that Inveterate head-Aches, Pleurisies, accompanied with intolerable pain, Pains and Gnawings of the Stomack, Tor∣ments, Gripes, or Wringings of the Bowels, Epileptick Convulsions, Arthritical Tortures, and other the like distempers, do arise from Effluviums and Exhalations quickned into
Animals, which, as being exceeding slimy, very easily adhering to the Nervous and Membranous parts, doe, by twitching and lan∣cing, affect them with very cruel pricking and shooting pains perpetually; So also by administring such remedies as are specifical∣ly destructive to Worms, and which have a strong power to precipitate them, all pains have been removed out of the body. Thus he; and in pursuance of this Doctrine, he promiseth ere long to publish a Treatise with the Title of Pathologia Animata.
Now lest any should object it a matter impossible, that there should be so quick and ready a transmission of those little Ani∣mals along with the Liquors of the Body from one part to another; let me have leave to add one Testimony to illustrate this; and it is that of the ingenious Au∣thor de Ratione Motus Musculorum lately printed, who, page 9. after he hath shewn that all the Membranes of the body, as well as the Muscles, are filled with a subtile spirituous Liquor, which perpetually passeth through all their Fibres, and keeps them in a due Tone, saith, No man can think this too much to be granted, who considers those very very little Animals which are furnished with all their appertinences, and yet are less than the smal∣lest
of those Fibres. And truly if this be so, tis no hard matter to conceive, but they may pass along through the Fibres, w••th celerity, as well as the said Liquor. But enough of this for the present, seeing it may serve to give some light, how much Diseases are altered from their old state, in reference to Vermination; and to stir up the wits and spirits of ingenious men, to make further inquiry into this, and many other Particulars, touching which we have no relief from the anti∣quated Doctrines and Medicines of former Physicians.
IF my Premises be true, certainly the Conclusion will naturally follow: If all manner of Diseases are grown more rebel∣lious, or more mortal than formerly; if they are all altered from their ancient
State and Condition; if the Causes of this Alteration were never known to the old Founders of Physick, nor taken notice of by any that succeeded them, nor by any in this last Age so fully, as the matter re∣quires; If also through the marvellous alte∣ration by them wrought, there be introdu∣ced as it were another Nature both in men and Diseases; then it clearly follows, that the former Rules and Doctrines calculated for Curation from a consideration of other Causes, or from Causes less important, are almost, if not quite out of dores; and that the old Medicines, the invention of which was grounded upon such Doctrinal Hypo∣theses or Suppositions, as in these days of ours are least considerable, must needs be in difficult cases useless, and in most cases insufficient; and that all manner of En∣couragement ought to be given to such men as labour to establish new Doctrines, new Methods, and Rules of Curation agree∣able to the new frame of humane nature, and to the new Phaenomena of Diseases; and that my Brethren ought to apply them∣selves with all industry thereto, and in∣stead of dwelling upon old Notions and Remedies, be take themselves to the In∣vention of new, more rational, and less
lothsom, and which may more effectually meet with Diseases in their very Root and Original.
This is a hard Chapter to be read by men that have taken up their rest, would lie a bed, because their names are up, and mean no more to go to School: but let such know tis no shame to learn; Ars lon∣ga, vita brev is; the Age of Methuselah is too short a time to run a round to any pur∣pose in the Field of Nature; could I live 1000 years, I might always find work in a Laboratory and a Study, for the ad∣vancement of Physick both in Theory and Practise. The Maxims of our Profession are not like those of the Spanish Monar∣chy, which, Monsieur de Balzac saith, are e∣ternal; and he gives this Character of the great Dons of Spain, that they and their Kings have them annexed to their Birth-rights, being bequeathed to them by their Fathers, and conveyed down to them by Inheritance; and tis said, they are so pre∣cise in the observation of those Maxims, that they will hardly recede a moment from them, though it were to save the Monarchy. Perhaps there may be some∣what of Hyperbole in this: but however, it will become Physicians not to take up so
pertinacious a stately Humor, either when a Life lies at stake, or in their ordinary Course of practise, as to tye themselves to old Methods and Aphorisms, remem∣bring what prudent Celsus (the great Pla∣giary of Hippocrates) saith, Vix ulla perpe∣tua praecepta Ars Medicinalis recipit, Scarce any of the Precepts of the Art of Physick are perpetual; and truly, by stiff adherence to them, many a person hath been lost, but the Thing may be justified, because he died by Rule and Sccundùm Ar∣tem.
This is pretty tartly touched by that noble and industrious person Mr. Boyle, in his * 3.102 Experimental Philosophy. There was a while since (saith he) a witty Doctor, who being asked by an Acquaintance of mine of the same Profession, why he would not give such a Patient more generous reme∣dies, seeing he grew so much worse under the use of common languid ones, to which he had been confined, alleging, that at last he must needs die with them in his mouth: He briskly answered, Let him die, if he will, so he die Secundùm Artem. I hope there are but few of this man's T••mper; but it were to be wished there were fewer men that think that a Physician hath done enough, when he hath
learnedly discoursed of the Seat and Nature of the Disease, and methodically employed a company of safe, but languid remedies, as unable to cure the Patient, as unlikely to kill him: For, by such an unprofitable way of proceeding, to which some lazie, or opiniona∣ted Practisers of Physick, have, under pre∣tence of its being safe, consined themselves, they have rendered their whole Profession ob∣noxious to the Cavils of Empericks. So Monsieur de Balzac (in his witty French Discourse of the Court) hath a story of a Phy∣sician of Milan, that he knew at Padna, who being content with a possession of his Science, and (as he termed it) the Enjoyment of the Truth, did not only not particularly inquire into the Cure of Diseases, but boasted that he had killed a man with the fairest Method in the world.
It were to he wished they would rightly apprehend the nature of Diseases in this Age, and their Causes, before they lay so much stress upon old Methods and Means, and tie up men to their Forms: For (as it is well observed by the same * 3.103 learned man of honor) they cannot agree yet about the Nature and Causes, and therefore no mar∣vel they that would be thought the ex∣actest Methodists, do miss so often of a
right Method. Tis not (saith he) that I am an enemy to Method, or an undervaluer of it, but I fear the generality of Physicians have as yet but an imperfect Method, and have, by the narrow Principles they were taught in the Schools, been perswaded to frame their Method, rather to the barren Notions of the P••ripatetick School, than to the full am∣plitude of Nature. Nor do I find, that Phy∣sicians have yet done so fit a thing, as seriously (and with such attention as the importance of the thing deserves) on the one side, to enume∣rate and distinguish the several Causes, which may any whit probably be assigned, how the Phaenomena of that disorder'd state of mans Body, which we call a Disease, or its Symp∣toms, may be produced; and on the other side, by how many, and how differing waies the Phaenomena may be removed, or the Dis∣eases they belong to may be destroyed. And if this were Analytically and carefully done I little doubt but that men's knowledge of the Nature and Causes of Diseases, and the ways of Curing them, would be less circum∣scribed, and more effectual than it was wont to be. And I am apt to think, that even Me∣thodists themselves would find, that there are divers probable, if not promising Methods (proper to divers Cases) which waies they yet
over-look: And though in a right sence it be true, that the Physician is but Nature's Mini∣ster, and is to comply with her, who aims al∣waies at the best; yet if we take them in the Sence wherein those Expressions are vulgar∣ly used, I may elswhere acquaint you with my Exceptions at them. In the mean time, I confess to you, that I know not whether they have not done harm, and hindred the Ad∣vancement of Physick, fascinating the minds of men, and keeping them from those effectu∣al Courses, whereby they might potently alter the Engine of the Body, and prevent or cure divers stubborn Diseases, more happily than the vulgar Methodists are wont to do. And indeed, 'tis scarce to be expected, that till men have a righter knowledge of the Prin∣ciples of Natural Philosophy, without which tis hard to arive at a more compr••hensive Theorie of the various possible Causes of Dis∣eases, and of the Contrivance and Uses of the Parts of the Bodie, the Method which suppo∣seth this knowledge, should be other than in many things defective, and in some errone∣ous, as I am apt to think the v••lgar Method may be shewn to be as to some particular Dis∣eases. To be short, how much esteem so ever we have for Method, yet since that it self, and the Theories whereon men ground it, are, as to
divers Diseases, so hotly disputed of, even a∣mong eminent Physicians, that in many Cases a man may discern more probability in the success of the remedy, than of the truth of the received Notion of the Disease. In such abstruse Cases, methinks it were not amiss to reflect upon that reasoning of the antient Empericks (though upon a somewhat differing occasion) which is thus somewhere expressed by Celsus, * 3.104 Neque se dicere consilio medicum non egere, & irrationabile Animal hanc Artem posse praestare, sed has latentium rerum Conjecturas ad rem non pertinere; quia non intersit quid Morbum faciat, sed quid tollat. And as the controverted Method in the above∣mentioned Diseases, is not yet establish'd or agreed on in the Schools themselves, so divers persons that are wholy strangers to the Schools, do yet by the help of Experience and good Spe∣cificks, and the Method which their Mother∣wit, according to Emergencies, doth prompt them to take, perform considerable Cures.
This Testimonie of so worthy a person I have set down at large, that I might de∣liver my own Sence, in the language of one well-known to the world for Suffici∣encie, by reason of the great expence of time that he hath made in Medicinal Inqui∣ries, continual Converse with Physicians
of all sorts, and observations of Practise both Rational and Emperical. But lest you should think, that I like this Distinction in the common use of it, let me tell you, that I, who for many years have conver∣sed with such Professors of Physick, as some in scorn term Empericks, and obser∣ved their various waies, and thought it no shame to make Collections from them, and from all the Old women I could meet with, which pretended to any thing of Physick, could seldom find any of them so irratio∣nal, as not to give some tolerable reason, and so much as satisfied me, that for the most part they had reason for what they did; and though perhaps their Discourse came not from them, cloathed with such delicate Terms of Art, as pass current a∣mong the Schools, yet giving them some grains of Allowance, I concluded they spake reason, and that their Method was right, because it was fitted to the Medi∣cins they used, and both Method and Me∣dicins so well agreed as to make Cures in many desperate Cases, left as incurable by others: And I must profess, that by ob∣serving the Practises of these, I have had opportunities to see more of Nature in her naked appearances and operations (as to
the condition wherein she now stands in this present Age) than ever I could disco∣ver in all the Volumes that I have read. Therefore call men Empericks, or what you will, because they are neither gradu∣ated nor incorporated, I shall ever esteem such to be most Rational, as make Art to follow Nature, rather then strain Nature and her Anomalies to general Rules of Art, and who seeing Nature degenerated into Extravagancies never known heretofore, do endev••r to find out new waies and Re∣medies to deal with her: which he that ad∣heres to that old Philosophy, which is us∣ually made the entrance into Physick, will never be able to do; for (as it is well no∣ted by the same Gentleman * 3.105) indeed the Physiology wherewith Physicians, as well as others, are wont to be imbued in the Schools, hath done them no small disservice, by ac∣customing them to gross apprehensions of Na∣tures waies of working. And I find, that those Apprehensions commonly arise from Preconceptions grounded upon some ge∣neral Aphorisms and Conclusions deliver∣ed by Authors, who (as my Lord Bacon notes) never took the right way towards an attainment of Science in things Natural, which ought not to be founded upon what
we conceive in our Brains, but rather upon sensible Objects and Experiments, and so, through an enumeration of particular Ex∣periments, we may by way of Induction rise up to a power of establishing general Conclusions; but for want of this, men have made too much haste in setting down Principles of Sciences. * 3.106 For, they use commonly to take a Prospect of Nature, as from some high Turret, and to view her afarr off; and are too much taken up with Genera∣lities, whereas if they would vouchsafe to de∣scend, and approach nearer to Particulars, and more exactly and considerately look into things Themselves, there might be made a more true and profitable discovery and com∣prehension. Now the remedy of this Error, is not alone this, to quicken or strengthen the Or∣gan, but withall to go nearer to the Object: And therefore there is no doubt but if Phy∣sicians, letting Generalities go for a while, and suspending their Assent thereto, would make their approaches to Nature, they might be∣come Masters of that Art, whereof the Poet speaks,
* 3.107Et quoniam variant Morbi, variabimus Artes; Mille Mali Species, mille Salutis ••runt.
Because Diseases vary, therefore we Will varie Arts of Cure; and though there be A Thousand sorts of strange Distempers steal On us, wee'll have a Thousand waies to heal.Which (as the same noble Philosopher and Lord tells us) they ought the rather to ende∣vour, because the Philosophies themselves, upon which Physicians, whether they be Me∣thodists or Chymists, do rely, are indeed very slight and superficial. Wherefore, if too wide Generalities, though true, have this defect, that they do not well bring men home to Acti∣on, certainly there is greater danger in those Generals which are in themselves false, and instead of directing to Truth, mislead the mind into the By-paths of Error. Medi∣cine therefore (as we have seen) hath been such hitherto, as hath been more professed than labored, and yet more labored than ad∣vanced, seeing the pains hestowed thereon hath been, rather in Circle than in Progressi∣on: For, I find much Iteration, but small Addition in Writers of that Faculty. Thus He. And the Truth is, he might well say
there had been but little Advancement made in the Profession of Physick, for, I may safely say, that there hath been more of importance done to that End, since the time of his writing that Book, than ever was done in the world before; for, in former time, men contented themselves with the little Science that was left them by others, and made no Progress, but ran the Round of Comments upon the Greeks and Arabians, as the Oracles of Physick; and usually one Commentator steals out of another, so that you have but the same Dish of Crambe new cook't; and if you have one of the most voluminous, you have in a manner All: look but fifty or sixty years back, and see what a poor Case Physick was in to what it is now; nay, look but twenty years back, and you will say, never had any other Science or Art in the world such an Advance and Al∣teration in so short a time; insomuch that our Dogmatical Methodists can now vouchsafe to use commonly such Medica∣ments, as were startled at before, and with some patience hear of such Doctrins, Methods, and other things, as they were wont, at the very first mention, to rant against heretofore. To speak truth, we
are all of us too apt to prize what we have in possession, and to believe it so perfect, that nothing can be added to it; or else we would have others believe so, and when we grow lazie and stately, it is our Inte∣rest to have it so, and to perswade all men of any Interest that it should be so.
But truly, tis much more honourable to acknowledge, that the greatest part of what we do know, is the least part of what we doe not know, and thereupon to give all man∣ner of encouragement to searching heads to make further inquiry, and not straiten the hands of any whose industry and ex∣periments may contribute toward the compleating of our Art; the Harvest is great, and the Labourers but few; what vast crops are appearing in the spatious Field of Nature, to find work for Ages to fetch them forth! therefore it were well, if all men were invited to the Pro∣fession and Practise of Physick and Medi∣cinal Researches, in all Countreys of the world; especially the Nobility and Gen∣try, who by reason of their Estates and Interests, would be more able, and attain greater opportunities than other men, to enquire, and invent, and spend their time in Practise, especially among the Poor:
which in former time (as we read) hath been the imployment of the greatest Princes. I (for my part) cannot but think highly of so brave a Latitude, and so meanly of my self, as to set my self to learn of the meanest persons (though my education hath not been inferiour to o∣thers) rather than scorn or oppress them; but if I would trample on any, it should be upon the self-conceited, and the proud, and that I would do to purpose, calcare su∣perbiam majore cum superbiâ, and afterwards descend to confer with the lowest of this profession, to gain an understanding of his Notions about Nature, his way of practise, and the Reasons of it, and his Observations; and what I have already gained by colle∣ctions thus made, perhaps you may have an account of in publick hereafter.
In the mean time know, Hippocrates him∣self gives it in command in his Book en∣tituled Praeceptiones, that you count it no disparagement to learn of the most Con∣temptible persons, Ne cuncteris, etiam ab Idiotis inquirere & discere, si quid ad meden∣di occasionem facere videatur; Be not slack (saith he) to inquire and learn even from Idiots, if they have any thing that seems to promote a Cure upon occasion. Of this ge∣nerous
teachable temper Mr. Boyl himself is a noble example, who (I hear) disdains not to learn and collect from any person: And in one place * 3.108 he noteth it was the custom also of Henricus ab Heer a great ob∣servator at the Spaw, who in his Book en∣tituled Observationes oppidò rarae, shews that he thought it not beneath his dignity to record divers receipts that he had from Mountebanks, yea, and from Gypsies. I re∣member also, that the late great Collector Riverius tells, in his Book of Observati∣ons, of his learning of a Beggar-woman to cure the Haemorrhoids with Millefoil infu∣sed in fair water, and drunk for a moneth together, which usually took effect with all that used it; and a Chirurgians wife and another woman are named, that were so cured. And the learned Gentleman above named thinks it no shame, to learn from the experiments and practise of * 3.109 Farriers, Grasiers, and Shepherds, who deal with Brutes, how to make Additions to the Art of curing the Diseases of men; ma∣ny such things (saith he) may serve, either to enrich or illustrate the way of curing humane Bodies: Their ignorance, and their Credu∣lousness, together with the liberty and mean∣ness of those Creatures which they Physick,
gives them leave to vent ure on any thing, it having made them try upon Horses and Cat∣tel, many such things as Physicians dare not try upon Men and Women. And among those many extraordinary things, some, as it often happens, have succeeded so prosper∣ously, as to deserve to be considered by the skil∣fullest Physicians, some of whom might, with∣out disparagement to their Profession, doe an useful Piece of service, if they would be plea∣sed to collect and digest all the approved ex∣periments ond Practises of the Farriers, Grasiers, Butchers, and the like; which the Antients did not despise, but honoured with the Titles of Hippiatrica and Veterinaria; and among which, if I had leisure, I might take notice of divers things, that may serve to illustrate the Method of Curing.
* 3.110 Dr. Primrose also, in that very inge∣nious piece of his, Entituled of Vulgar Er∣rours, maintaining that our faculty or Phy∣sick being an Art Mechanical, and that it is ill done to separate the Physick of Men from the Physick of Brutes, saith, The wound of a Horse differs not in specie from the wound of a Man; they have the same Causes, the same Indications of Cure; the Physician is the Mi∣nister, be it of a Horse, an Ox, or a Man. A Fever Continual, and Intermittent, is a
disease common to Horses, Dogs, Kine, and Men; the Remedies also are common, as Bleeding, Clysters, Purgations, made of Me∣dicaments Simple or Compound. The Phy∣sick of men hath nothing proper to it, which the Physick of Brutes may not chalenge to it self; that they who have written of the Physick of Brutes, among the English (for whose sakes this Book is written) of which Markham is one, and another an Italian (whose name I have forgotten) as also those Antients who have written of that sort of Physick, doe use the same Remedies, and that with very great reason; for, Medicaments doe not work upon man as he is a Rational Creature or a Man, but as he is a mixt Body. This is not on∣ly * 3.111 his Opinion, but Aristotle's also, in his Metaphysicks; and in his second Chapter of Rhetorick to his Scholar Alexander: yea Zabarel, and Piccolamini, reprove such Physicians as make mans Body alone to be the Subject of Medicine; seeing this Art extends it self further. Nor was it in an∣cient time thought any discredit for Phy∣sicians to observe the ways of curing Brutes, which have been taken notice of, and recorded by Columella, Cato, Varro, Pellagonius and Vegetius, all of them most noble Authors. Yea, Alphonsus King of Arragon retained in Pension two Doctors
of Physick, with a large Fee of Allowance to cure his Horses and Dogs; and enjoy∣ned them to inquire and try, what Reme∣dies, and what manner of Cure did best a∣gree with every Disease of Beasts; which having done, they set forth a very profi∣table Book about these things. The same * 3.112 Cornelius Agricola tells us, was done, in his time by Joannes Ruellius at Paris, a man of great learning, and a prin∣cipal Physician, who wrote a Book to the same purpose, with Collections concerning Diseases and Remedies of Brutes, out of Apsirchus, Hierocles, Theomnestus, Pellago∣nius, Anatolius, Tiberius, Eumelus, Archi∣damus, Hippocrates, Hemerius, Africanus, and out of Aemilius Hispanus, and Litorius of Benevento; which turned to the great Advantage of the Publick, and the Ad∣vancement of the Commonwealth of Physick; in the compiling of which Books, these noble Authors thought it no matter of scorn, to consult all manner of Grooms, Herds-men, and other keep∣ers of Cattel, and Farriers; from whose ruder Speculations and Practise, I my self many times have had occasion to ex∣cogitate ways and Remedies for cure of Men, with notable success in the appli∣cation;
and would men lay aside the stately humor, and inquire among all sorts of Practisers, both upon Man and Beast, and improve inquiries of this nature, a far greater Amplitude would thereby ac∣crue to the Body of Physick, than ever can be expected from the most diligent Read∣ers, or the most lofty Speculators; all that hath been done in Physick hitherto, being of but little value to what may be.
Enter into such an humble course of Inquiry and Observation, and the more knowing you become, the more you will know, that there is abundant cause we should despise no body. As Mr. Boyle saith of such as cure Beasts, much may be learnt among them, because they venture with any thing upon those creatures; so I find much may be learnt among such as some are pleased to call Mountebanks, Quacks, and Empericks, especially in Chronick difficult Cases; for, usually they are the poorer sort of people that have recourse to them, upon whom ha∣ving most liberty to try notable Medi∣cines, and having often tried them with success, they goe on, and are not (I per∣ceive) so void of reason, but they know how
to improve them in their practise, and can from a Parity of Reason (which the Schools call Analogismus) invent new ones of the like powerful Nature, and which may give you, or me, or any other Physi∣cian, (by converse with them) occasion to endeavour to invent such, or better: now, the like opportunities are not to be had a∣mong Physicians of higher port, who at∣tending the better sort of Patients, con∣tent themselves for the most part with the use of such Remedies, as their Bills upon the File, and the Apothecary will witness to be Authorised Medicins, and Safe; though I must tell them, other Medicins are now by time and experience seen to be every jot as Safe, but much more Effectu∣al, which were damned by Bookmen when they were first invented, and do now pass with as much credit and Authority, as if they had never been cried down or con∣tradicted; and doubtless, he is a very Wicked Practiser that will administer any Medicin, which he knows not whether it be safe or no; and a very Ignorant one, that is not able to judge certainly, if he doe invent a new Medicin, whether it be fit or no, or who dares not venture it first upon his own Body, yet shall presume to
give it to another: He that can analy se natural Bodies, and resolve them into their Principles, is Scholar enough to under∣stand a Medicin. This is not spoken therefore to countenance any person so au∣daciously Emperical, as will at adventure be trying of Practises, though they have neither Reason nor Experience to guide them; but rather to encourage good wits (both great and small) seeing Diseases are altered, and doe still alter, and many of them prove incurable by old methods and means, that they will not be so precise as to judge of mens Insufficiency in curing, by their skill in old learning, but rather by their knowledge of the Principles or parts of mixt Bodies, and the ordering of them for Medicin, their acquaintance with the present Phaenomena of mans nature and of Diseases, and by their Indu∣stry in making Experiments and Reme∣dies proportionate thereunto. How many in this great City have I seen excel∣lent at this, who never saw an University! Therefore hear again what Mr. Boyl saith, * and very excellently to the purpose, * 3.113 that as Physick hath owed its beginning to Experiment, so those that practise it must in∣large and rectifie their Principles, according
to the new Discoveries which are made from time to time, of the Operations and power of the Productions, whether of Nature or Art. Celsus in his excellent Preface, speaking in the sence of the old Empericks, of the origi∣nal of Physick, saith, that Remedies being first found out, Men began to discourse of the Reasons of them; and that Medicin was not invented after Reason, but Rea∣son was inquired into after the Invention of Medicin. And lest the mistaken name of Emperick should make you undervalue so useful a consideration, which not the nature of their Sect, but that of the thing, sugge∣sted to them, I shall add in favor of experi∣enced, though otherwise unlikely Remedies, that tis a Sentence ascribed to Aristotle (and in my opinion one of the best that is ascribed to him) Ubi res constat, si opinio adverse∣tur rei, quaerendam rationem, non rem ignorandam; Where a thing is manifest, if Opinion be against the thing, then the reason of it is to be inquired after, but the Thing it self ought not to be disowned. And certainly, though there be scarce any sort of men, whose credulity may do the world more mischief than that of Physicians; yet perhaps neither Nature nor mankind is much beholden to those, that too rigidly or
narrowly circumscribe, or confine the opera∣tions of Nature, and will not so much as al∣low themselves, or others, to try whether it be possible for Nature, excited and menaged by Art, to perform divers things which they ne∣ver yet saw done, by divers waies, differing from any, which by the common Principles that are yet taught in the Schools, they are able to give a satisfactory Account of. Thus he.
And truly, the reason why I drive this Nail so home, is not, that I think that noble person a Friend to unlearned Empericks; nor that he, who hath so great a portion of Learning, would be reckoned an enemy to Learning and Learned men; only, I per∣ceive he is of my mind in another part of his Book, where he implieth, there is no such need of Learning (commonly so re∣puted) to make a good Physician; for, * 3.114 he by conversation with eminent Physicians ha∣ving found, that the learnedst of them disa∣gree so much about the Nature and Causes of Diseases, admits, that a man may prosperous∣ly practise. Physick, that is either ignorant of, or dissents from the received Doctrines of the Schools concerning the Causes of Diseases, and some other Pathological Particulars, provided he hath a Mediocrity or competent measure of knowledge in Anatomie, and the Nature of
Diseases and their Symptoms, &c. Nor do I cite this, as if I my self were of the Spi∣rit of Hercules Bovio, (the noted Italian Emperick, contemporary with Fracastorius and Fumanellus) who wrote a Book Enti∣tuled Il Flagello di Medici Rationali, the Scourge of Rational Physicians (which I have read translated, though not printed in English;) but I believe an old way of Pro∣fession of any Art to be very irrational, when the Subject matter of it is alter'd and become new (as I suppose I have proved that of Physick to be,) and I am * 3.115 of Cra∣to's mind, who allows a man that hath ex∣pert Medicins, to practice them, if he be so rational as with reason to administer them, For (saith he) though a Physician should consi∣der the Cause, and the Part affected, and think that ought more to be insisted on than extraordinary Receipts of Medicins, yet I question not but an expert Medicin admini∣stred with reason, may avail more than that which is sometimes suddenly devised with great reason by a most learned Physician: And upon this account (saith he) I agree with Hip∣pocrates, that even the Rational Physicians ought to give place to the Empericks. 'Tis not vast reading and learning of other men's speculations that makes a Physician, but a
near Approach unto Nature (as my Lord Bacon calls it;) a strict and constant obser∣ving of her Motions and manner of Opera∣tions, is that which gives a man light how to trace her in the darkness of obscure Causes, when she is out of order, and to reduce her into order; and an observing of the various effects, or non-effects, and operations of all sorts of Medicaments, both old and new, together with a man's own manual operation in making them, will inlighten him and conduct him so far, as to perceive Causes more evidently, and take off a great patt of that Scandal hi∣therto imputed unto our Profession, that it is but Ars Conjecturalis, a meer Conjectural Art, and the best part of the Professors but good ghessers, and of little use, seeing that men have been too apt to argue like the Empericks in Celsus; that as long as the Causes of Diseases and of Natural Actions, were obscure, it was to no purpose to inquire into them, because their Nature was incom∣prehensible, and thereupon they have been as apt also to conclude, Ergo No need of a Physician. Neque enim credunt posse eum scire, quomodo morbos curare conveniat, qui unde hi sint, ignoret; They will not believe he can know how to cure Diseases, who knows not
from whence they proceed. And (saith the same Author) oftentimes new kinds of Dis∣eases fall out in which Experience never yet gave any light: It is necessary therefore to con∣sider how they began, without which no mortal man can understand, why he should use one thing more than another: And therefore the Em∣pericks had reason to plead, that they ought to have as much liberty to practise, as others, while Causes remain'd obscure, because all Parties were in the dark alike in respect of Causes: And if I by this pre∣sent Treatise have (as I believe I have) dis∣cover'd more plainly the most important Causes, latent in most Diseases of this lat∣ter Age, than hath been done by any one man before me, and made the matter easie to be understood by the meanest Capaci∣ty, certainly all being alike instructed, other men as well as Scholars, little reason is to be given why all Professors should not have liberty alike to practise, as well those they term Empericks as others, so rational and new a Foundation being here laid to deal with our Diseases, which are proved to be in a manner wholy new; and truly there is great reason these they call Empericks should be pleaded for, because by prying into their Experiments and Practises, I
was confirmed in my Apprehensions about this matter when I first entertained them in my mind, and have since been quicken∣ed by continual observation, to adventure upon this Undertaking, for the publick Good of Physicians and their Pati∣ents.
Wherefore from this plain Discourse of mine, it being certain, that Diseases are be∣come new, and it being evident withall, what the Causes are, why their present state and qualification is (for the most part) different from the old; and seeing a more certain way of Practise doth thence now a∣rise, if Remedies be found out to oppose and conquer them in their new Qualificati∣ons; What remains then, but that all Professors do set their Wits on Work a∣bout the inventing of proper Remedies? in the mean while, till that be done, it is of publick concern that they be encouraged, and perswaded so to order some of the Medicaments which are already in use, that they may be fitted for the purpose. 'Tis incredible how much a good wit may do this way, by fitting some ordinary Medi∣cins to strike at those Causes, which I have labored to explain in the foregoing Chapters. What then might be done by
more generous remedies? Therefore I hope men will be excited to set them∣selves on work, and in working proceed upon the Principles here mentioned, to∣ward the inventing of higher and more noble Medicins, which may be of so large an extent and reach, as to pursue and over∣take those causes wheresoever they be, and of so comprehensive a nature as to cope and contest with them, be they ei∣ther complicated (as for the most part they are) or single; for, these being now known to be the main Constituents in most diseases (especially such as formerly seem'd to be most occult and difficult) then, if it be true, that when the causes are known, Cures are half done, I suppose every Practisers Mother-wit may instruct him, being a man of good parts, how to form up a Method for his own use, by fitting it not only to the Nature and com∣plication of those general causes, which are (more or less) concerned and preva∣lent in the strange and stubborn maladies of this Age, but also to the nature of such Medicaments as he is master of: For, a particular Method may be useful and ef∣fectual, being joyned with the use of some Medicins, which will do little or no good
in the use of other Medicins; as I have fre∣quently seen.
Vain therefore is that Learning which ties men up to a general set Method in curing, and inables them to excuse them∣selves for any thing they do, if they can but produce an od Aphorism, or Text of Hippocrates or Galen, for a justification, and thereby prove (as Balzac's Italian Doctor did at Padua) that the Patient died with the fairest Method in the world; whereas that ancient Prince of the Faculty, and Galen the Usurper, being no Prophets, and little able to divine what Alterations of things would fall out in our days, could ne∣ver foresee how to frame Precepts and Rules to guide Us in our Concernments. There are many things admitted and en∣joyned by them in the Methodus Medendi, which may by no means be allowed in ours, as the Case now stands: It will not be amiss therefore if I give you here an Essay (as brief as I can) in making inquiry what things for the future ought to be ex∣cluded out of the Profession of Physick as unnecessary or false, and what to be ad∣mitted; what old Foundations and Build∣ings are to be demolished, and what new ones established.
To doe this fully, by excurring into all Particulars, would require the compiling of vast volume; but I shall content my self with some of the most considerable.
SYlvius de le Boe, present Professor of Physick in the University of Leyden, begins one of his disputations thus: * 3.116 I cannot but wonder (saith he) that some Phy∣sicians, who are eminent for learning, should be so absurd, as not to be ashamed even now openly to profess, that all things which may make for the perfection of Physick, were known to any one or more of the Antients, al∣though they are discovered to be false by every days experience. Yea, some are so fond as to urge, that in the institutions of Phy∣sick, we ought still to tread close in the steps of the Antients, in the training of Students to the Profession. But tis too late now to insist upon blind obedience
about things Natural: especially seeing many of the Galenists have been so inge∣nious, as to declare their Judgement, that many things received as previous to Phy∣sick are unnecessary. My Lord Bacon in the 31. Aphorism of his Novum Organon, saith, tis in vain to expect any Advance∣ment in Science, by super-inducing or graft∣ing new things upon old; but an Instauration is to be made from the very lowest Foundati∣ons. Give me leave therefore to strike at the very Foundation of our faculty: and here I have one leading me the way, who (I suppose) of a pure Galenist, is the quaintest person that hath written, next after the most delicate Fernelius; I mean Heurnius the Hollander, who was Physician to old William Prince of Orange. In his Comment upon the Book of Hippo∣crates de Natura hominis; he in order to the study of Physick, cashiers the com∣mon Doctrine of the four Elements, and saith, To what purpose is it, in order to Phy∣sick, to search into the Nature of Elements? truly it is sufficient if we inquire into the powers and operations of Nature, so far as she hath an influence in the mutation of Bo∣dies. In another place he saith, we ought to trust our sences rather than the opinions
of Philosophers; for, it was one good saying of Aristotle, Nihil est in Intellectu quod non priùs fuit in sensu; and my Lord Bacon * 3.117 makes Sence the surest guide for our Understanding in discovering the se∣crets of Nature, and proves at large, that if we will have any sound knowledge of Nature, there is a necessity of deriving Philosophy from Sensible Experiments; we must use our own Industry, and trust our own eyes, and observations, because these produce to us somewhat that is cer∣tain; whereas a Philosophy and Physick formed up of Intellectual Conceptions, digested into Conclusions and Aphorisms, (since the Intellect of man is naturally full of Idols and Phantasies, and various in every man) must needs be but the eva∣poration of Phantsie; and it tends to the introducing of Opinions without end, in∣stead of establishing Truth, which always is but One and the Same. Therefore the noble des Cartes took a more commenda∣ble course; for, as Boreel tells us in his Life, percieving that a knowledge of the Truth was not to be found among men, or Books, he laid them all aside, and be∣took himself wholly to a contemplation of the Book of the world; and that he
might be at liberty to sound the depths of Nature, he quitted the Conversation of men, and retired to a little Village near Egmont in Holland, where leading a soli∣tary life for 25. years together, without a Library, he spent his time wholly in Ex∣periments, whereby he discovered many things worthy admiration, for the benefit of mankind, and formed unto himself a new Philosophy to lead men to Physick; such a one as hath drawn many persons of high parts to follow him, and lay new foundations of Medicin, more consenta∣neous to the operations of Nature, than the Book-learning that was in fashion be∣fore it. But none hath made a business of it so exactly as Regius the Professor of Utrecht, who (as I told you in the first Chapter) hath turned off all the Doctrine of the Elements, Humors, Temperaments, &c. and such other old Notions, as he reckons to be but mere Chimeraes; and I think tis no shame to follow so worthy a Leader.
But as it hath been my design, all along this Treatise, to say little but what is in the language of the best Writers of this latter Age, or agreeable to their Sence; give me leave now to make use of one
who is (I may well say) the Ornament of our Nation next to immortal Harvey, by name Dr. Willis, Professor of Natural Phi∣losophy in the University of Oxon; one that hath made himself a Physician in∣deed and Philosopher by Fire, and given a good account why he departs from the Doctrine of the Antients touching Fevers as well as other things. In the Preface he saith, That if he do recede from the common Judgement, he is not the first that hath swimm'd against the stream of a received Opinion: That in matters belonging to Phy∣sick, those things that pleased men formerly, will not pass now, because the Antients, rest∣ing upon a false Supposition about the Motion of the Bloud, did very fouly and dangerously err. That the Art of Physick ought to be wholly renewed, and the old Props failing, Posterity is concerned to take care that the Fabrick be re-built from the very ground. That seeing we have now gotten new lights, and a knowledge of the Causes of things for∣merly unknown, it becomes not prudent men, and such as profess Philosophy, to hold their eyes shut still. That though the Doctrines of the Antients be yet openly maintained in Uni∣versities, yet he cannot believe, but that most Physicians of a deeper In-sight, doe from
their own Reasonings form unto themselves new Hypotheses to proceed by. That Phy∣sick was at first Emperical, and Remedies were invented by frequent trial of particu∣lars, and not by general Precepts or Analo∣gy; and if, after the example of Hippocra∣tes, his Successors had be taken themselves to Observations only, and Experiments, with∣out doubt the Art of Physick had been advan∣ced to a greater perfection and fineness, and with much more advantage to the sick. But that which presently shut out the light which had been at first set up, and dimmed the eyes of posterity, was the preposterous endeavour of those men, who hastily, and in a manner af∣ter their own Phantasie, framed the Art of Physick into a general Method, after the fa∣shion of some Speculative Science; and so by this means, a copious form of Doctrin, specious enough, but fallacious and instable, was built, before firm foundations were laid. Thus much you have from one of our University-Professors; and it were well if the Universities would wholly follow his example, and cleanse the Schools throughly from the Cobwebs of old Heathenish Philosophy and Phy∣sick.
Much pains hath been already taken
by the most acute and profound Helmont, the reading of whom I can never suffici∣ently commend to our Countrymen, now that he is printed in English; but know, 'tis not a flight reading will serve the turn: Ten times over is too little, though a man should have the help of a Tutor to direct him. Were I worthy to under∣take such a work, I could never do the world the like service any other way, as I might in this, by Methodizing the seve∣ral pieces of him into some better order, rendring his most subtile Conceptions more familiar and easie. And truly, the more regard is to be had to what he writes, because, as he was a noble Philo∣sopher by Fire, so before he be took him∣self wholly to this new course of Study, he had been an indefatigable Student in the old; having read over the tedious Works of Galen twice, Hippocrates once, (getting his Aphorisms without-book) and all Avicen he read, and all the Greeks as well as Arabians, with many modern Authors, no less than six hundred, and collected Notes out of them all; but af∣ter all (he saith) counting what cost he had been at, he found he had gained No∣thing, but repented of his Pains, and the
spending of so many years to little pur∣pose. * 3.118 The blame of all he lays upon Galen, the great Corrupter of so much as was tolerable in Hippocrates, and of the Schools, with Phantsies: This Galen arro∣gating to himself the glory of such as went before him, inlarged the Art of Physick, which before was contained in a few Rules, unto vast Volumes. He was plea∣sed forsooth to determine, according to Hippocrates, that all Bodies were made up of four Elements; and parallel to these he establ••shed four Qualities, and so many simple Complexions, and then as many Couples of complex Qualities, and thence he confirmed also four Humors to make up our Constitutions; which were devices that others had dreamt of before him: And then, out of the strife and disagreement of these, as well simple, as complicate with ficti∣tious humors, he would needs derive al∣most all Diseases, with the Scopes and In∣dications of Cure; as on the other side he concluded Health to arise from their Agreement and Proportion with each other. Moreover, every Disease he de∣clared to be but a mere Disposition in qua∣lity; and that Contraries were to be cured by Contraries. His knowledge in Herbs
was so little, that the vertues of Simples he transcribed out of Dioscorides, with the Elementary degrees of them as to Heat, Cold, &c. altogether neglecting the Se∣minal and Specifick powers of them, be∣cause he was ignorant of them. By which easie road of Art propounded to the world, he procured to himself the Soveraignty of Physick, and Posterity being drawn in by so compendious a Course, a deep Lethargy crept in upon the Schools, through the Dores of Sloth and Idleness; and so it hath continued till this last Age of Industry and Inqu••••y. This Prince of the faculty (as some would make him) made it his business to rail at others that were before him, as Herostratus, Asclepiades, Protagoras, E••••∣sistratus, Herophilus, and many more; yea, he spared not his own Master Quintius▪ who was of the Sect Emperical. Lacuna an Italian, who hath taken pains to Epito∣mise him, intimates, that his scolding ••u∣mor came to him by kind, his Mother ha∣ving been such another perpetual Clack to his Father, as X••ntippe was to Socrates; n••r did he himself * 3.119 spare his own Mother, but gives the like Account of her in one of his Books: No wonder then, that he swells
up his volumes with so many impertinent digressions to abuse others, which being taken away by his Epitomizer, all his Do∣ctrin is reduced but to one volume, not very big, though tis said the number of what he wrote was 400. volumes; and the same person saith, he collected out of them whatever he found of Substance. He was so quarrelsom at Rome at his first coming, that the City was too little to hold him and the other Physicians; which made him retire out of it for a season; but having gained the opinion of the Emperor Antoninus, and cured his two Sons Commo∣dus and Sextus, of sl••hgt Fevers, the Empress Faustina cried him up to the sky, being taken with the saccess; thereupon he be∣gan to grow insolent, and made a shift to infinuate so at Court, as to establish him∣self a Faction, which enabled him to tri∣umph over all other Physicians, and by the countenance of Imperial Majesty give Laws to all the world in Point of Phy∣sick; wherein the Students of this facul∣ty have most supinely acquiesced till this latter Age.
'Tis high time therefore now for us, to shake off that yoak of Phantsies, under which men have so long been held in a
pedantick Compliance; in order where∣unto, give me leave to set down what Principles and Particulars hitherto recei∣ved, ought to be exploded out of the Do∣ctrine and Practise of Physick.
I. Away with the frigid Notion of four * 3.120 Elements, which he, out of Aristotle, makes to be the Principles of all mixt Bodies, and frames Conceptions about this, agreeable to the Sence of Hippocrates in that very vain Book Entituled De Principiis. There is a very short, but sufficient Character gi∣ven of this opinion by Dr. Willis in the first Chapter De Fermentatione. As touching the Four Elements, and the First Qualities thence to be deduced, I must confess (saith he) that this opinion doth in some sort conduce to∣ward an explaining of the Phaeaomen of Nature, but in so gross a manner doth it solve the Appearances of things, and without any peculiar respect to the more secret Recesses of Nature, that it is almost the same thing to say a House doth consist of Wood and Stones, as a Body of four Elements. Instead of these the Doctor introduceth Five Principles of mixt Bodies, viz. Spirit, Sulphur, Salt, Wa∣ter, and Earth, affirming, that according to their diverse motion and proportion in Bo∣dies, the reasons and varieties of the Ge∣neration
and Corruption of things, especi∣ally of Fermentation, are to be consider∣ed. These Principles he doth not set down as most simple Beings altogether uncom∣pounded, but as such Substances onely, in∣to which Things Natural and sensible are finally resolved as into Parts. By the com∣bination and intestine Motion of these, Bodies are generated and do augment; by the mutual seperation of them from one another, and dissolution, they are alter'd and perish. In the mean while, those Particles which are added to the Subjects, or that come from them, appear under the Form of Spirit, Sulphur, Salt, or one of the other two: And that these Particulars, be∣ing real, are much more subserving than the other, to gratifie mans Intellect with a right Apprehension touching the nature of mix't Bodies, is evident to the eye of e∣v••ry one that takes pains to Analyse them by fire, and resolve them into their Prin∣ciples. This suits exactly with my Lord Bacon's design, of raising a Philosophy from sensible experiments, if we would have it certain, and really conducible to an un∣derstanding of the Nature of man and of Diseases. Concerning the various Affe∣ctions and Combinations of these Prin∣ciples
in Bodies, the said Doctor in his * 3.121 second Chapter, gives a very notable and Demonstrative Account: to which Scho∣lars are referred. But that the English Rea∣der may clearly understand what is meant by these five Principles, I referr him to Monsieur ie Febure the Kings Chymist, in the first part of his Book, entituled A Com∣pleat Body of Chymistry, newly Printed for Octavian Pulleyn Junior; which will easily inform the Ignorant, satisfie the Doubting, and convince others.
II. After the four Elements, away also with the four Qualities which are attribu∣ted thereto; I remember, the noble Lord and Philosopher * 3.122 before-mentioned, will not so much as allow the Term Quality to be a tolerable Notion, in order to the un∣derstanding of the Concernments and Ope∣rations of Nature, and he totally excludes the Notions of Humidum and Siccum, Moist and Dry. And Helmont, * 3.123 Pag. 316. shews what mischief the admitting of these cau∣seth in the cure of Diseases: In Page 136. he saith, Moisture and Drieness are not to be understood to be Qualities in Abstracto, but they are rather Bodies qualified; and there∣fore (by the leave of the Schools) they are not acquired by Parts and Degrees, after the man∣ner
of Qualities. Water never dries, though it seem so to the eyes by vanishing: And Drie sounds nothing else properly but to be without moisture, and so conteins nothing but a Nega∣tion of Moist. It is a wonderous piece of Folly then, to dream, that Moisture comes on by degrees, and a remission also of Moisture and Drieness in Elements; and so tis a mon∣strous whimsie to have introduced such kind of stupid Dreams into the Nature of Diseases, and Rules of Curing, and thereupon to have laid the whole Foundation of Physick, by ma∣king divers marriages of Moist Drie, Hot and Cold, with each other; and all this, to up∣hold the vain doctrin of Temperaments; not considering that in Nature there is no pe∣netration of Moist with Dry, no radical union or commixtion or Temper possible be∣twixt them. Then as for the other Quali∣ties (so called) Hot and Cold, Helmont * 3.124 cites the saying of * Hippocrates to cashire them; That neither Hot, nor Cold, nor Moist, nor * 3.125 Drie, are to be reputed Causes of Diseases; but rather that which is Acid, or Bitter, or Sharp, or Saltish. To this purpose also Hippocrates, in his Book De Veteri Medicina, speaking of a Fever, menrious the nature of it much otherwise then Galen; saying, that men in a Fever have it not absolutely
from Heat (as the other is pleased to define it) but you are to consider Bitter, Acid, and Saltish, joyn'd with the H••at, and innume∣rable the like; and so in like manner, not to consider Cold of it self, but as it is consocia∣ted with those Faculties. He lays not the stress of the nature of Diseases upon Qua∣lities, but upon the other Particulars, though Galen be so bold as herein to leave his Leader; but Heurnius, upon the fore-going Text, a more sober Commentator, is very plain, and saith, Calidum & Frigi∣dum principatum non obtinent inter Morbifi∣cas Causas, nec Medicam manum valdè im∣plorant, Hot and Cold have no preheminence among Causes of Diseases, * 3.126 nor do they much require the hand of a Physician: And if these be so little to be regarded, what will become then of most of Galen's Doctrin, and his Medicins, and the Doctrin and Medicins of his successors, and of the Shops at this day, which are all proporti∣oned (for the most part) according to the Notions and Degrees of Heat and Cold? In another Text of the same Book also, Hippocrates was so prudent, as to advise us to have a regard to that in man which is Bitter, and Saltish, and Sweet, and Acid, and Austere or sour, and Insp••d, and Infinit other
things having all manner of Faculties, power, and strength: which is one of the best Say∣ings to be found in that Author. And two or three Texts before that, he saith, Non enim Calidum est quod eximiam per se vim habet; Inter cunctas autem facultates, lan∣guidissimam esse existimo Frigiditatem & Ca∣liditatem; that is to say, Heat hath not of it self any considerable force, but among all the Faculties, I think Cold and Heat to be the most languid; and yet the Frame of Ga∣lenick Physick seems (for the most part) to be built upon Hot and Cold, and a•• attem∣peration of these with Motst and Drie, therefore both the Method and Medicins devised in proportion to those Conceits, must needs be erroneous and insufficient, while the Schools do (as * 3.127 Helmont saith) per∣versly traduce the Seminal and Specifick pow∣ers of Things into Elementary Qualities, from whence they raise their Doctrin of Tem∣peraments, and to these they unadvisedly re∣ferr and ascribe the Vital and Seminal Facul∣ties of Things. By such narrow poor Con∣ceptions as these, Galen corrupted the Art of Physick, and the Arabians imitated him; so that (as I said) a Method of Cu∣ring, and of Composition of Med••cins, hath been founded upon a mere mingling,
confounding, and jumbling of pretended Contraries, to bring them to agreement and concord, as it were by Mathematical Rule of proportion: That is to say, the whole Fabrick of Natural Science hath hi∣ther to stood upon mere opinions obtruded on us by gross Heathens, upon whom it is a shame to hear what high Elogies are be∣stowed by some of their Christian Com∣mentators, calling them Divine, Divine Hippocrates, Divine Galen, and I know not how many more Titles more fit for God than men; whereas these Masters extend∣ed their knowledge and their searches after it, no farther than the external shadows of things, seldom looking intra Corticem, to the Ferments, the Digestions, Seminals, and other Particulars of high moment, but placed all the energy of Nature in Ficti∣ons about the Disagreements, the Oppo∣sitions, the Velitations, the Contrarieties of Heat and Cold, Moist and Drie. By this means the idle sort of Gownmen that have imitated them ever since, lazing in their Studies over the P••gan Books of Institu∣tions, seeing the Road open and easie be∣fore them, and that they might this way quickly get to their Journeys end of Scar∣let, and Worship, and Profit, without so
much as wetting, or smutching, or burning a Finger, have made very little Advance of the Art they profess, but studied their own ease, never diving farther into the Depths of Nature, the Differences, the Causes, and the Proprieties of Bodies, which it is impossible to attain without an Insight into Pyrotechnie, that is, working a knowledge of things Natural out of the Fire.
This is it which (Mr. Boyle * 3.128 well saith) may, as the Handmaid to Physiology, not a little contribute to clear up the nature of Di∣gestions, and the Deficiencies or Aberrations in them, which produce a great part of Dis∣eases. Indeed, since the Liquors contained in the Bodie abound, divers of them, with Sa∣line or Sulphureous Parts, he that hath by Chymistry been taught the nature of the seve∣ral Salts and Sulphurs, and both beheld and considered their various Actions one upon ano∣ther, and upon other bodies, seems to have a considerable help to discourse groundedly of the Changes and operations of the Humors or Juices contained in mans bodie; which he hath not that never had Vulcan for his In∣structer. And Page 30. 31. he saith, the Explications of a skilful Naturalist may add much to what he hath hitherto been commonly
taught, concerning the nature and origin of Qualities in Physicians Schools; and that a little comparing of the vulgar Doctrin, with those various Phaenomena to be met with among Natural things, will easily manifest it to you. Much more likely explications, than those which were applauded some Ages since, of divers things that happen as well within as without the Body, have been given by later Naturalists both Philosophers and Physicians. The Theory concerning that disease the Stone, and of many other diseases which hath been given us by those many Phy∣sicians, that would needs deduce all the Phae∣nomena of diseases from Heat, Cold, and other Elementary Qualities, is inferior to the account given us of them by those inge∣nious Moderns that have applied themselves to divers Inquiries, together with some of the more known Chymical Experi∣ments.
But that ingenious person, Monsieur le Febure, Royal Professor in Chymistry to his Majesty, and Apothecary in ordi∣nary to his Houshold, having (as I hinted before) lately published a Book Entituled A Compleat Body of Chymistry, dedicated to the King, is somewhat more plain, and noteth * 3.129 such Galenists to be only Physicians
in name, who after they have perused some University Writings, do perswade men, that Physick is nothing else but an Art of discern∣ing Heat and Cold, and immediately take upon themselves the Practise, and fill their discourses with nothing else but Notions of Heat and Cold; and all their skill tends to speak more or less of these Qualities. But the learned Fernelius, who was the Or∣nament of his Age, doth confess and evi∣dence, after having acknowledged this Er∣ror, that besides these first Qualities, there are many other powers hidden in mixt Bo∣dyes, which he plainly signifieth toward the latter end of his second Book de Abditis re∣rum Causis, where he plainly teacheth how the Seminal Vertue contained in Compounds, and which really is the Seat of all their acti∣vity, must be extracted. Moreover, in his Preliminary discourse before that Book, he saith, tis a very difficult matter for any to attain the exact knowledge of Natural Things, without the previous guidance of Chymistry, and a being acquainted with all its Parts; neither can any be reckoned a perfect Physician without the help of Herme∣tick Philosophy, since it is the truest Ground of Physick, without which no Practitioner can deserve any other Title than that of Empe∣rick:
For, it is not a Gown, or Degrees ta∣ken in Ʋniversities, which constitute the Physician, but a solid Knowledge of Nature, grounded upon sound Reason and mature Judgement, improved by Practise and Ex∣perience. The rare Prescriptions of Chymi∣stry have their Remedies grounded, not up∣on the actings of first and second Qualities, but upon the Specifical and Internal ver∣tues of their Principles. Doubtless there may under a Gown, and in an University, be as great a Knowledge of things Natu∣ral, as there is in a Royal City; and this the excellent Dr. Willis hath sufficiently shewn, as some others his Compeers have also done, by their own personal worth and Industry; but then, the means to attain it, is not in the old lazie way, and by the old dull Principles; for, here lies the Bane of our Profession, that be∣cause a Book-knowledge of Hippocrates, Galen, and the rest that are counted Clas∣sick, is admitted in the Universities as a sufficient Test, to try a mans fitness to become a Doctor of Physick, therefore the less ingenious spirits content them∣selves with that sort of Learning, and sel∣dom seek after the other; or if they do, they rest in a superficial Acquaintance
with the use of some common Chymick Remedies which are to be had at the A∣pothecaries; whereas the case would be otherwise, and much more for the Ad∣vantage of mankind, and of the Art of Physick it Self, if the world were divi∣ded betwixt Galen and Helmont; that is, that they who take degrees in the faculty, should by publick Constitution be Ob∣liged, to give a Proof of their Sufficien∣cy, in the Doctrin of the One as well as the other; and in the Analytick Opera∣tions of Chymistry, as well as in the Pe∣ripatetick Speculations and Maxims of Galenism; for, though these cannot ren∣der one the better Physician to cure, yet they make him the more accomplished, because he is acquainted with the ways both old and new: which very well a∣grees with that saying of the prudent Celsus, who tells us, tis true, that as to * 3.130 the Art of Curing nothing avails more than Experiment; and although there be many things not properly appertaining to an Art it self, yet it may by those things be ad∣vanced in quickning the wit of the Artist. Therefore also, that contemplation of the Nature of things, although it make not a man a more apt Physician, yet it renders
him the more compleat for the Profession: That is to say, in plain English, a Doctor bred up in the Contemplative Philosophy of the Schools, may be a Scholar and a very fine Gentleman; but what is that to the Curing of a Disease, or the rousing of a Heart-sick Man from his bed of Languishment? This is to be expected rather from one that is qualified for the work by acquaintance with Mechanick and Experimental Philosophy. Therefore very much to the purpose is that other saying of the same Author, who, though he appear to favor the Sect of the old Empericks, yet hath, for his gra∣vity and great Sufficiency, gained this Ac∣knowledgment from many Admirers of the old Learning, that he is to be ranked next to Hippocrates: his words are to this Sence: * 3.131 It is not so much matter, what moves the Arteries, as what all kinds of Motion doe signifie: but those things are to be known by Experiments; and in all kind of Speculations men may dispute Pro and Con; and so a good wit and quaint Dis∣course may overcome; but know that Diseases are not cured with Eloquence, but by Reme∣dies: Which if any man that is an Experi∣mental Practiser come to know, though he be
slow of Tongue, he will become a much greater Physician, than he that without such an Ex∣perimental Course, shall seek to adorn him∣self with an eloquent Tongue. And truly, this is the most considerable qualification that a man may arrive to by Galenick Philosophy; i. e. to manage a discourse a∣bout fruitless Notions with Elegancy. With this weapon the Tongue, tis likely Galen himself prevailed over all the other Physicians in the Court of the Emperor Antoninus; for, he that writes his life de∣scribes him to be a very eloquent person, and that is a grand advantage to any man in the Courts of Princes. And yet for all his height of Eloquence, we see his Principles to be but streight and shallow; particularly, these concerning Elements and Qualities, which Hippocrates spake but faintly for, and Celsus doth not vouchsafe once to mention. And Mr. Boyl saith, well, that * 3.132 he seeth not how from those nar∣row and barren Principles of the four Ele∣ments, and the four first Qualities, the four Humours (and the like) any ordinary effects can satisfactorily be deduced: And if so, then certainly the Scholastick Method and Medicins erected upon such Schola∣stick Foundations, cannot in reason stand
any longer, but ought to be turned up as Insufficient, and of little use, in an Age wherein better things are known. So much for Qualities: And yet let me have one fling more at them, which is this: That the admitting two of them, viz. the Notions of Heat and Cold, into the Doctrin touching Fevers, is a Cause why at least a third part of the Sick doe run a strange hazard every year of losing their lives; or else miserably languish and lose the habit of their Bodies, by the ill handling of them and Agues.
III. The common Figment of Quali∣ties being cashired, the Galenick Doctrin also concerning Temperaments falls to the ground of Course, because it depends thereupon; and so I slightly pass it, as not only useless, but dangerous, because it casts many a Mist before the eyes of men, about the regulation of Diet, as well as the Curation of Diseases.
IV. After Elements, Qualities, and Tem∣peraments, the next Considerable is the old Notion of four humors, which they reckon to be Ingredients in the Constitution of the Bodies of Animals: This Conceit, as vain as the rest, passeth yet among the vulgar, both Physicians and others, who
conclude that the humors floating in the Masse, ought to be acknowledged by the Names of Bloud, Choler, Phlegme, and Melancholy; and from these they derive four Complexions, viz. The Sanguine, the Cholerick, the Phlegmatick, and the Me∣lancholick; and out of these they fain also as many Complicated Complexions, ac∣cording to the predominancy of one hu∣mor over another; which are too frivo∣lous to be named. Therefore I pass them by; and the rather, because * 3.133 Dr. Harvey, whose Excellency lay most in Physiological discourses, puts a slur upon this Principle of four Humors, saying, If these things be so, then there is a necessity that the maintainers of this opinion must set down two kinds of Bloud, viz. the whole Mass to∣gether in the Veins, composed of those four Humors, and a fourth part of it more pure, more florid, and more spirituous, which in the stricter sence they name Bloud, and which some affirm is contained apart in the Arte∣ries, and therefore seperated from the rest for other uses: the ridiculousness of which conceit concerning two kinds of Bloud, is plain enough from the received doctrin of the Blouds Circulation, seeing it is one and the same Mass of Bloud, which
fetches its Round, flowing out from the Ventricles of the heart, by the Arteries, unto all parts of the Body, and from thence back again through the Veins to the Ventricles of the Heart; which recipro∣cal Motion being continual, it is not to be imagined, that any one part of Bloud distinct from the other, can be contained in the Arteries, but that it is the entire Masse which flows in that Circulatory Motion; and as it passeth along, it purgeth it self of its Feculencies by the common Emunctories of the Body, which Feculen∣cies being diversified in colour and Con∣sistence, according to the variety of their nature and condition, have gotten the Ap∣pellation of four distinct humors, as if they were so many parts, and sometimes, as if they were so many Excrements of the Mass of Bloud; And so according to these gross Conceptions, the Galenists have formed all their Notions about Pharma∣cy, aiming at an evacuation, or else a contemperation of supposed Humors, and Excrements; but there being no such matters as they Phantsie to be In∣gredient in the nature of Diseases, tis no Marvel if they miss the Curing of any Disease, which is not curable by Strength
of Nature, and Length of Time.
As for Melancholy (as they call it) the Receptacle which they bestowed upon it was the Splene, pretending that its office is to seperate the Drossie part of the Bloud, which cannot be elaborated by the Liver, which Vessel they destinated to the purer part of Sanguification; but both these Opinions have of late been sufficiently disproved by the ingeny and industry of some searching heads, who determine the Liver not to be the office or Storehouse of Sanguification; and the Splene to a nobler use than to receive drossie Bloud, it appearing rather to be an Elaborator and Fermentator of the noblest Juyce, viz. the Arterial Bloud, by reason of that grand Intertexture of Ar∣teries, by which it holds a near Commu∣nication with the vital Parts of the Body. Concerning which read Bartholinus, Wa∣laeus, and our most ingenious Dr. High∣more, and others, who have well impro∣ved the hints that are given by Helmont.
As for Choler or Bile, they have hither∣to reckoned it also to be an Humor; and nothing hath been more talked of than Bilious or Cholerick Complexions and Diseases, till Helmont opened the eyes
of the world, and shewed, that Bile, which the Galeuists make the parent of almost all active Diseases, is not an Excrement, but rather a Condiment, and Balsamick Pre∣servative of the bloud in its due vigor and activity; and that the fetid Cadaverous yellow excrement, which we find frequent∣ly avoided in Evacuations upward, or downward, is sometimes a good Juice or humor, vitiated, and tinctured yellow, and drawn out of the Bodie, by common ill natur'd Purgers; and sometimes a part of the Chyle corrupted, which comes forth either yellow or Sea-green, being Tinctu∣red so, more or less, according to the De∣gree of that Corruption which hath sei∣zed it.
Agreeable to this Doctrin of Helmont, the Learned * 3.134 Grembs hath determined the nature of Bile, and of that corrupted Juice which resembles it; and of late, Sylvius de le Boe, in his Disputations at Leyden in Holland, shews that the Liquor or Bile contained in the Gall is not what Physicians commonly have defined it, but that it is * 3.135 a part of that noblest Liquor, the Arterial Bloud, conveyed by the Cystick Arteries into that little thin receptacle the Gall; and that for the main, it consists of a Lixi∣vious
Salt, mingled with a mean quantity of Sulphur or Oyl, and a volatile Spirit, by which it is endued with a notable power of penetration, so that it effects wonderful operations within the Bodie, and keeps it from corruption; having in it self the na∣ture of a Ferment, by vertue whereof the blood is maintained in an active state of Circulation, the work of the several Di∣gestions is promoted, and the respective Ferments of every part and Vessel of the Bodie invigorated and quickned. Vain therefore are the old Speculations touch∣ing those many Diseases which have hither∣to been owned, as proceeding from a re∣dundance of Bile; and all the Remedies founded upon this Figment of a Bilious Humor, are either pernicious, or else use∣less to the end for which they are admini∣stred. The truth is, the Fabricators of the Four Humors may as well make them up seven or eight, by adding the Liquor Ner∣vosus, the Serum, the Urin, and the lim∣pid liquor of the Lymphaeducts; and I see no reason but they may as well add Spittle, Snivel, and Tears (for they are all of a dif∣ferent appearance;) however they may do well to add Tears of repentance, rather than fool the world any longer with such
Phantsies, the admitting whereof runs the Precious lives and healths of men into ma∣ny a hazard.
To be brief therefore upon this subject, I will say little more, as from my self; but seeing Doctor * 3.136 Willis hath very excellently truss'd up all that is considerable in a narrow compass, I will render it as plain as I can to the English Reader. Though this opinion of the Four Humors hath ever since the daies of Galen prevailed in the Schools of Physick, yet in our Age men begin to suspect it; nor is it so commonly made use of to solve the Phaeno∣mena of Diseases; because such kind of Hu∣mors do not constitute Bloud, but those that are called so are (excepting the Bloud) only excre∣ments of the cruentous gore, which ought to be separated from it: For, the bloud is in truth one only humor, nor is it one thing about the Bowels, and another in the habit of the Bodie; nor is Phlegm moved at one time, and Bile at another, or Melancholy (as the vulgar talk) but the Liquor boyling within the vessels is only Bloud, and whither soever it is carried through the several parts of the bodie, it is still the same, and like it self. But because in some persons, by reason of the abundance of Natural heat, and through want of the same in others, the concoction of Aliment is some∣times
more effectually, sometimes more remis∣ly, performed both in the Bowels and in the Vessels, therefore there followeth a diverse Temperature of the Bloud, although it be one and the same liquor, and according to its con∣stitution, it may be said that men are either Cholerick, Melancholick, or of some other Temper. Moreover, because while the Bloud circulates within the vessels, some parts of it continually grow old and stale, and others are supplied a new, hence it is, that from crudity, or too much coction, somewhat excrementiti∣ous must needs be heaped together: which ne∣vertheless is by effervescencie separated from its Masse, even as it happens in the efflores∣cence or depuration of Wines; and so the Bloud being after the same manner depurated, ought to be of it self without that which they call Bile, Phlegme, and Melancholie. And whereas those humors vulgarly so called do con∣sist of other Principles, viz. that which they term Bile or Choler, of Salt and Sulphur, with an admixtion of Spirit and Water; and that which they term Melancholie, of the same, with an Addition of Earth; and seeing that of such Principles as these the Blood doth im∣mediately consist, and is wont to be sensibly re∣solved into the same, I judge it better to lay a∣side the vulgar acceptation of Humors, and
to take into use these celebrated Principles of the Chymists, for explaining the nature of the Bloud and of its Distempers. There are therefore in the Bloud, as in all other Liquors which are apt to Ferment, very much of Wa∣ter and Spirit, a Mediocrity of Salt and Sulphur, and some little of Earth: and when the Bloud is resolved by putrefaction, it yields the same Principles separate, and Di∣stinct.
And because tis necessary, the Reader should have a little prospect into the na∣ture and meaning of these Five Principles, he saith, that Spirit is a subtile and most vo∣latile portion of the Bloud. By the offerves∣cencie * 3.137 of this it is, that the Bloud is kept in a continuall Ebullition and Motion, and puri∣fied from whatsoever happens to be mingled with it which is Heterogeneous or unapt for mixture, or else the Spirit being thereby di∣sturbed in its Motion, there follow•• an exagi∣tation of the Bloud, and a Distemper, wh••ch never ceaseth, till the Heterogeneous matter be either subdued and reduced, or else evacua∣ted. This Spirit, in destilling the Bloud of Animals, becomes visible, ascending of a clear limpid colour, like Aqua Vitae, and by the adhesion of Salt it becomes very sharp and pricking.
That Sulphur also abounds in the Bloud, * 3.138 appears, in regard we feed chiefly upon fat Aliments and such as have Sulphur in them; yea the Nutriment accruing to the solid parts from the Bloud, turns into Sulphur and Fat; and it is probable, that from the dissolution of this it receives its red Tincture: Hence it is, that the bloud being impregnated with Sul∣phur, as well as Spirit, the whole Masse is very apt to Ferment; and it passing through the Heart, receives there a greater efferves∣cencie or accession, to maintain vital heat in the whole Bodie. And when this Sulphureous part is exalted, and becomes luxuriant in the Bloud, it perverts the Temper thereof from its due state, rendring it bilious or Cholerick (as we call it) or corrupt, so that it cannot concoct the Nutritive Juice; or inslaming the Bloud, it puts it into Heats and Burnings, as in Continual Fevers; and hence it is, that the more of Sulphur any one hath in the bloud, the more apt he is to fall into Fevers,
That a Salt also is in the Bloud is evident by Taste: That which is the Fixed Salt comes * 3.139 by feeding upon Vegetables; and the lesse vo∣latile Salt from other kinds of Food, which by a good Digestion of Nature, and by circula∣tion, attains to be Volatile. Now if it so hap∣Pen
in the Bloud, that by reason of ill Dige∣stion, the Salty or Saline particles thereof are not rightly exalted, but remain crude, and for the most part Fixt, thereupon the bloud be∣comes thick, and unfit for Circulation; from whence come Obstructions in the Bowels and solid Parts, and an encrease of serous Cru∣dities; But if by a Depression, or through defect of Spirit, the Salt becomes too much exalted, and fluid, the state of the bloud be∣come acid and austere, as is observed in the Scurvy and Quartan Agues, yea and va∣rious Coagulations of Salt hapning upon this account, thence arise all manner of Arthri∣tick Diseases, the Scrophula, Nephritick Di∣stempers, Leprous Dispositions, and almost all Chronick Diseases: But when the Salt, after concoction well performed in the bowels and and vessels, is duly exalted, and by associati∣on with the Spirit made volatile, then, by reason of its mixture, the Liquor of the bloud ferments the more equally, and is vindicated also from Puirefaction, and from Stagnation, (that is to say, defect of motion) and from Coagulation: For, the Saline particles do re∣strain the exorbitances of the Spirits, and es∣pecially of Sulphur: wherefore they who have a bloud well saturated with volatile Salt, are the less subject to Fevers: and from hence is
is, that they who frequently let bloud, are the more inclinable to Fevers.
That Earth or terrestrial Particles abound * 3.140 in the bloud, appears by the grosness of its humor, and thickness of its Consistence. This serves to keep the bloud from becoming too volatile, and from being too soon inflamed; even as in the ordering and making of Gun-powder, Coals are many times added in grea∣ter proportion, that its parts may not all at once and too soon take fire. And that there is such an Earth, appears also in the Distilla∣tion of Bloud, after which you will find good store of that the Chymists call Caput Mor∣tuum, a light Earthy substance apt to crumble.
Lastly, that there is a Water or Watery part of the Bloud, is seen by its Fluid nature; * 3.141 for, by this it is kept from being Stagnant or without Motion, and is circulated in the Ves∣sels without thickning, and withheld from too much Conflagration and Adustion, and the Heat is preserved in good Temper. This also is made manifest in the Distillation of Bloud, whereby there is educed a Water limpid and insipid, of at least a double proportion in re∣spect of the rest. From hence the matter of Urine, Sweat, and of any of the other moist Excrements, doth for the most part proceed.
Now this being so, what remains, but that the ingenious Reader should lay these two Doctrins together to compare them, and thereupon judge which is most likely to direct men in understanding the nature of man's Bloud, and of Diseases arising from its Distemper; whether that old Fiction of Four Humors, which I have shewn to be frivolous; or whether this new Notion of the noblest Sect of Philo∣sophers and Physicians, setting forth Five Principles in the Bloud, which are demon∣strable to the eye, therefore most apt to inform a Physician how to apprehend the Causes of every Distemper, as they arise from true and genuine Fundamentals of hu∣mane Bodies, and consequently how to in∣vent Remedies to quell those Causes, and remove them.
And as to the invention of Remedies also, it is not to be imagined which way men can go rightly to work, without a like consi∣deration of the same Five Principles, which are as demonstrable also to Sence, in re∣solving mixt Bodies, whether Animal, Ve∣getable, or Mineral, into their ultimate In∣gredients or Parts, by Pyrotechnie and help of the Fire. For, as Monsieur le Fe∣bure (the Royal Professor of Chymistry)
well saith, After that the Artist hath perfor∣med the Chymical resolution of Bodies, he doth find at last Five Substances, which Chy∣mistry admits for the Principles or Elements of Natural Bodies, whereupon are founded the Grounds of its Doctrin, because in either of th••se nothing Heterogeneous can be found; and they are, 1. The watery part, which they term Phlegm. 2. The Spirit, termed also Mercury. 3. Sulphur, or Oyle. 4. The Salt. 5. The Earth. Some give them other Names, and tis free for every body to put what name they please, provided they agree in the Things or Substances. Three of these substances offer themselves to our sight in a Liquid Form, viz. the * 3.142 Water, the Spirit, and the Oyle: the two other, in the form of a solid Bodie, viz. Salt, and Earth. The use of the substance called Water is, to be as a curb and bridle to the Spirit, to dull and take off its acute∣ness; and to dissolve the Salt and weaken its corrosive acrimonie; also to hinder the Inflammation of Sulphur, and unite the Earth with the Salt; for these two last substances, being brittle and dry, would give but little firmness and consistencie to a mixt bodie, without the help of the Water.
The next considerable thing drawn by fire out of the Composition of Mixt Bo∣dies being the Spirit, observe that the na∣ture of it is very penetrating, and the use of it is, to cut, open, and attenuate the most solid and fixt substances; it excites heat in Fermentation, untieth the Bonds of Salt and Sulphur, and makes them sepe∣rable, resists Corruption and Putrefaction, yet by accident may be the cause of it; de∣voureth the Salt, and seizeth so greedily on it, that it can scarce be parted from it, but by extreme violence of the Fire: It is possessed of its own heat and cold (so ap∣pearing accidentally by its effects) for it doth not act by the common Elementary, but by its own proper Specifick Qualities. This same Spirit communicates several noble Qualities to the Water, preserves it from corruption, makes it penetrative, and endoweth it with almost all its own activity: And in requital, the Water doth soften and bridle the fury of the Spirit, and makes it so tractable, that it may become useful a thousand wayes: It is very ser∣viceable while it remains in a due Harmo∣nie, hindring the growth of excrementiti∣ous matter in mixt Bodies, multiplying the substance, and strengthning the Facul∣ties
and Powers both in Animals, Vege∣tables, and Minerals. But if it exceed the condition of the mixt wherein it is, it al∣ters the whole Frame of it, and becomes a Principle of destruction.
The third thing visible in the artificial resolution of Mixt Bodies is Sulphur, ap∣pearing in the form of Oyle; and because it is an Oleaginous substance, it easily takes Fire: It swims above the Water and the Spirit, because it is lighter and more Ethe∣rael: It resists Cold, and never congeles, being the Principle of Heat: It never suf∣fers Corruption, but preserves from it such things as are immersed in it, preventing the penetration of Air: It sweetens the Acrimonie of the Salt, by whose help it is fixed and coagulated: It powerfully blunts the sharpness of Spirits: Its office is, to bind and temper the Earth with the Salt in the frame of M••xt Bodies: It cau∣seth also a strict union of the other Prin∣ciples, moderating the too great driness of Salt, and the Fluidity of Spirit; and finally, by its means the other Principles do cement each other, and enter into a re∣nacious compacted substance.
The Fourth Principle educed by Pyro∣technie is the Salt. Without this and the Earth, the three foregoing Principles be∣ing volatile (as appears in Chymical opera∣tion by their flying the Fire) would be un∣able to indue the M••xt Body with a solidity requisit for its duration. The Salt being se∣parated from the rest, offers it self to our Senses in a drie crumbling brittle Bodie, easily reducible to Pouder, a sign of its external Drieness; but it is endued also with an internal Moisture, as is witnessed by its Fusibility. It is fixt, and incom∣bustible, resisting the Fire, wherein it grows purer, suffers no putrefaction, and is as it were eternal, being able to preserve it self without alteration. It is easily dissolvible in Moisture, and being dissolved bears up the Sulphur, and joyns it to it self by the assistance of the Spirit. The use of it is, to hinder Fire from consuming hastily the Oyle: but if it exceed, or grow exorbi∣tant, it corrodes and destroys with its acri∣monie whatsoever the other Principles or substances can produce, or would pre∣serve.
The last of Principles is the Earth, a naked substance, devested of all manifest qualities, except Driness and Astringencie.
It's usefulness in Mixt Bodies is, by union with the Salt to cause Corporiety, and compactedness, taking in to it's assistance so much of the liquid Principles as is neces∣sary for the Composition. By this Descrip∣tion of these Five Principles, you may perceive, that you are not to understand common Water, nor Spirit, nor Sulphur, nor Salt, nor Earth, in the ordinary ac∣ceptation, as if the Sulphur and Salt, &c. were the same that are every day in Dome∣stick use; but only in an Analagous Sence, in regard of the likeness and corresponden∣cy which they have with those common substances from which they are denomina∣ted; for, upon this account only those names are taken up.
Upon the whole matter therefore, it is evident, that the Bloud and Body of man, and of other Animals, and the Bodies of those Vegetables and Minerals, &c. of which Remedies are made, have one and the same substantial Principles whereof they are constituted, and into which they are to be resolved only by the Art of Chy∣mistry, and the knowledge of them can∣not be sensibly manifested by any other means; therefore seeing the new Doctri∣nal Principles of the Helmontians or Chy∣mists,
are exactly consenting with those substantial Principles of Bodies, which by Artare made obvious to our Sences, and manifestly one and the same, it is left to any indifferent man to judge, which of the two sorts of Principles are most conducible to the Practise of Physick; whether the old ones, founded upon Four humors, which are no Parts of us: or the new Ones here enumerated, which our Sences, by the help of Chymistry, Demonstrate to us, to be Parts really ingredient in the Composi∣tion of our Bodies.
And as touching the Invention of Me∣dicins proper for the Case of every Pati∣ent, certainly he who is able, by acquain∣tance with the operations of Nature, to comprehend the Phaenomena which usually follow the Excesses and Defects, the Ex∣altations and Depressions, Fixations and Volatilisings, Digestions, Fermentations, Meteorisms, and other Motions (exorbi∣tant, or regular) of any of the Principles here laid down, must not only best under∣stand the Constitutional state of a man's Body, and his Disease in the Causes of it, but likewise the Constitution and power of every Drug, Mineral, Herb, or Root, &c. that is to be made use of for remedy; and
so by seperating those of the Five Prin∣ciples which are unfit to be continued in the preparation of any Plants, or Minerals, &c. or by altering and meliorating them in the Process, a Medicin and Method of using it, may be properly accommodated and suited, according to the exorbitancie, or Malignan••ie of all or any of the said Five Principles, which contribute to the causa∣tion and continuance of the Disease. For want of this looking to the Internal Prin∣ciples and Proprieties, both of Diseases and Medicins, it is, that so many have been long in Physicians Hands as incurable; for, the old Dronish Stationary Method of Au∣thors leads them to look after supposed Humors, and Hot, or Cold Cookeries of the Shops for Draining them, and a Qua∣lifying or attempering of Qualities, by the damnable Rule of Contraries, which is de∣structive in innumerable Cases, and in∣effectual in the rest that are of any difficul∣ty; And as for the more facile Cases, which arise either from accidental Discra∣sies and Disorders, or from the intestine Motions of Particles in the Mass of Bloud, at or about the Equinoctial and Solstitial Returns of the year, or through variations of Weather (wherein most of the Galenists
desire most to deal) that saying of Hippo∣crates may very well be applied to them, Naturae sunt Morborum Medicatrices, strength of Nature, a good Nurse, and Kitchin-Physick, after an Evacuation or two, and a little patience, sets the Distemper pack∣ing out of good-habited Bodies, but in others the Chronick Disease only retires till another Season; and so, the Incomes of a double Harvest (Spring and Fall) upon this Account, out of most great Fam••lies, are very much for the advantage of their learned Worships. In the mean while, they have little leisure, or lust, to enter upon a course for examining old Principles, a rectifying, or cashiering old Methods, and an accommodating the Profession with new, and new and better Medicaments, by Analysing the Bodies of Minerals, and making another kind of Scrutinie into the Natures of Plants and other Vegetables, than by considering out-side Qualities, as Hot, Cold. &c. For, tis a shame to see how little is known of the Inward Essences and Proprieties of Herbs, or hath been done a∣bout discovering the Faculties of the other Medicaments, for these two thousand years past: yet the Learned (so called) have been content, to let matters go as
they are; and were it not, that God hath given an Industrious Spirit of Inquirie to others, whom they upon all occasions brand, and seek to suppress, little Ad∣vancement would be made of the Art of Physick in the future; and we should be to seek of Noble Remedies, which are now every day in a Course of Improvement, and the perfecting of them is exceedingly wanted, for the quelling of those Exotick Venemous Ferments, which get ground apace, and are the Parents of those Mon∣strous rebellious Diseases, which start up in new Disguises almost every year. So much then for Demolishing the old, and receiving new Fundamentals in the Pro∣fession of Physick.
NOw lest any should yet object; this discourse against old things doth not sufficiently establish things new in their place; If we give over the Notions about Elements, Qualities, Temperaments, Hu∣mors, and Complexions, in the Bodies of men, and in Diseases and Remedies, we would have somewhat else that is solid whereon to ground a proceeding in Cure, let me (besides the five Principles already mentioned,) offer unto you such other Particulars as will very much subserve al∣so to the purpose: In the description whereof I shall be but brief, though a great Volume would be little enough to lay them out, in a due proportion to the worth and weight of the matters.
1. There is to be consider'd in every Thing (Diseases as well as other things) a Seminal, and Specifick Power, whereby it
hath a subsistence, and peculiar Properties and Operations, which distinguish it from others, and qualifie it, either for a produ∣cing its Like, or for exerting its vigour and activity in or upon others; This is the Root, and those that the Schools call Qualities are the Flourishes, and indeed but accidental Effects and Products of its force, not manifestations of its nature; for, an effect which we call Hot or Cold, is many times wrought by a thing which is not properly either, but rather as to outward appearance seems to be of a na∣ture contrary thereto, as might be made evident by numerous Instances: To this it is which Physicians ought to have re∣spect in the inventing of every Remedy, and the Calculating of every Case of Curation that comes before them; and the not knowing, or else the not applying themselves to this, is the reason, why re∣lying upon other Notions, they so often miss the mark, spending their Inventions in the Culin••ry Conceits of Heating and Cooling, &c. while in the mean time they dig not to the root of the matter, but neglect the Essential Q••••ddities both of Remedies and Diseases; And hence it is, that so few Diseases are cured, besides
those which Nature * 3.143 her self is able to cure, with the help of a little Customary Evacuation, and a few Doctoral Visits, and Chips in Pottage, and Time; which in the common Cases (as I have told you) will do All with the help of such stuff as is usually dispensed in the Shops, be∣cause abundance of Diseases there are latent in the Body as to their Seminal Causes, which break out, some of course at certain Seasons of the year, others up∣on certain Occasional Accidental Causes, as Alteration of Weather, Diet, Drink∣ing, and some one or other disorder of Living: and such Diseases do for the most part, with a little patience, and help of Nurses, without that wicked way of Bleeding, and other excarnifications, re∣tire of their own Accord, and of their own Accord return again at the like Sea∣sons, or upon accidental Motion of the like Occasional Causes, because Physici∣ans seldom design, or if they would, sel∣dom know how to prescribe Remedies of a Fundamental Nature, such as are able to penetrate and pursue a Disease into its darkest Centre of retirement, and there extinguish his Seminal Power, that he may grow no more upon the Body: And
hence it is, that the Scholastick Road of Practise is in tough Chronick Diseases but mere Practise, and a running of the Round, to the great dishonour of so noble an Art: And were it not that other men who are too often in contempt term'd Empericks, have had notable successes in Curing innumerable Cases, which others had turned off as incurable, the Credit of our Profession had long since fallen to the ground.—The difference betwixt the Scholastick men and Us, is shortly this; Their Doctrin is founded upon Elements, Qualities, Contrarieties, Mixtures, Humors, and old Medicins; We insist upon the Internal Seminal Principles of Diseases, the manner of their Production, their Cau∣ses of Adaptation, their Affinities, Consents, Diversifications, and proprieties, with a per∣petual Improvement of Medicinal Inven∣tions, by the Preparations, Exaltations, and Appropriations of the Sublimer and more refined sort of Remedies; because they may be administred, and do their work, without respect to Qualities and Contrarieties, aiming at the very Quiddi∣ties of Diseases, as they flow from their immediate Essential Causes. It were endless to reckon up the Non Successes
of the common Methods and Medicins which are proportioned to the Conceit of first and second Qualities and Tempe∣raments; Witness their Fumes and dri∣ers for Catarrhs; their Issues, their Heat∣ers in Epilepsies, Convulsions, and Verti∣goes; their Humectators and Coolers in Hecticks; their Analepticks, Nutritive Messes, Lick-pots, and Pectorals, destru∣ctive in most Consumptions; their Drai∣ners in Dropsies; their Bleeding in Agues, Gouts, and in many other Cases; their Binders in Fluxes; not to name any more, by which the greatest part of Patients are very little relieved, or else made much worse. And if it were convenient, a large Catalogue of Per∣sons might here be inserted to confirm it: but the weekly miscarriages upon this Account call aloud for other Me∣thods and Medicins, and another kind of Philosophy or knowledge in things Na∣tural, than the Scholastick ones which have been received of old, to reach the new diseases of this Age in the very Centre of their Proprieties and Essen∣tials, and to discern them through all their strange Phaenomena or Appearan∣ces.
2. Consider also, that whereas the * 3.144 Schools assign but three sorts of Concoction, or Digestion of Aliment; the First in the Stomack; the Second in the Liver; the Third in each part and particle of the Bo∣die; they are neither copious enough in the number, nor distinct in the Descrip∣tion; for, we cannot but (with Helmont) enlarge the Digestions as to Number, and specifie them in other Terms. The First Digestion therefore we say is in the Sto∣mach; the second in the First Gut called Duo∣denum, where the Felleous liquor of the Gall mingling with the Chyle, changeth the acidity which was bestowed on it by the Ferment of the Stomack, into another Substance full of Volatile Salt, whereby it is fitted for a further Process. The next Digestion or Concoction, the old Stagers will needs have to be in the Veines of the Mesenterie as preparatory to Bloud, and in the Liver as the Finisher of it; and to this, Helmont agrees, but the latter Experi∣ments of Anatomists shew, that the Liver hath no share in that work; and there is cause to beleeve, that the third Concocti∣on is elaborated in the common Receptacle invented by Pecquet, which is seated at the Root of the Mesenterie near the Loynes;
after which it is conveyed by the Ductus Chyliferi, near the Back-bone, through the Chest, up to the Subclavian Branches of the Vena Cava, where it mixeth with the Bloud, and with its stream passeth to the Heart; and there being impregnated with the noble Ferment of that Vessel, it becomes Bloud, and puts on the Principles of Vital Power, which I may call the Fourth Concoction. The Fifth Concoction is in the Arteries, where its Spiritualisation and vitality is perfected. Then in course, according to Helmont, follows the sixth Digestion or Concoction, performed in all the Members, which the Galenists made to be the Third; but neither of these opi∣nions may pass for current, because before the Bloud is distributed to each Part or particle, it passeth under more operations and Elaborations, as it circulates through other Vessels, which I look upon as so many additional Digestions and Fermen∣tations. The Anatomists pretty well a∣gree upon this general Circulation; and tis but reason; but in what order, it circu∣lateth, it matters not to our Purpose; it sufficeth me to observe, that first or last it visits every Vessel, as the Lungs, the Brain, the Liver, the Splene, the Reins, and the
Testicles, as well as the other aforenamed; and in every one of these it is impregnated with some one power or other, which none of the other could bestow; and so out of all these Digestions in the several Vessels, there results as it were a conspira∣tion of Powers, which become all united in one Point of Vitality within the Mass of Bloud, for the maintenance of a vigorous state of health within the Bodie. Now that which occasioneth a great Defect in the Practise of Physick is, that Physicians are too narrow and short in their thoughts about Digestions, and do not consider the nature of Diseases, as they spring out of the Enormities, or the Defects, which are incident to every Digestion respectively; which is a subject too large to be insisted on in this Place, but might be very well worth the Discussing, by any that would ingage his Pen, for Digesting a new Bodie of Physick in a just Volume; than which there is not a more necessary Work under Heaven.
3. Great regard likewise is to be had to those Energetical powers which God hath * 3.145 implanted in every Vessel, whereby the work of Digestion in each of them is ac∣complished; and these Powers or Facul∣ties
we call Ferments or Levens, because though a Ferment be but (as it were) indi∣visibile Quid, a very small Thing, of a Spi∣rituous and almost incorporeous Nature, yet it is able to leven, that is, alter and qualifie with a peculiar Tincture whatever is brought to it for that purpose, by the appointment of Nature. Thus the Fer∣ment or Leven of the Stomack, mysteri∣riously seated in that part, hath a peculiar Power of Chylification, and may be cal∣led the Master Ferment, because it prepares All for the other; and the supreme Mo∣derator of the other Ferments, because it hath an Influence for Good or Ill upon them All; for, if this be infirm, the rest are im∣mediately languishing throughout the Bo∣dy; which made Helmont assign the Sto∣mack to be the principal seat of the Soul; and we see, that in sicknesses, it is the first that is out of order, and the last that is re∣covered. If it sends away the Chyle im∣perfectly digested, the next offices that receive it one after another, cannot make their Successive Digestions so compleat as they otherwise might (for, the latter Di∣gestions amend not the errors of the For∣mer) and thereby Crudities or Excre∣ments are still heaped up, to the weakning
even of the Ferments themselves, so long, till being tired out with labor in vain, they can do no more service to the Bodie; and then by degrees it draws on to death: And thus many times the sicknesses which are felt in remote Parts, the Stomack is pri∣marily in fault of; and the Ferment of it being rectified, the other Ferments also under its command share in the good of its recovery, and make a shift (if not too far evigorated) to recover of themselves. In like manner, on the other hand, if the subserving Ferments be at any time faulty, they recoyl upon the Stomack: Thus, if in the second Digestion, the Duodenum fail in his Duty, through want of the Felleous liquor to assist it, or through any other Cause, many times it regurgitates, and putting the Pylorus into a Fury, it crucifies the Stomack, causing Nauseousness, Eructa∣tions, Pains, Vomitings, &c. The like may be said from the other, till you come to the Heart, where the observation of its Ferment, when debilitated, evidenceth its power of reflection upon the Stomack; for, be it debilitated or disordered, either by excess of Joy, or Fear, or Sorrow, or Venery, or any thing that causeth a dul∣ling, or dissipation of its Native Ferment,
you see it enjoys not it self, but loseth its Appetite. Nor do they hurt the Stomack onely, but prejudice likewise one ano∣ther, there being a marvelous Consent be∣twixt them All, as there is betwixt the Wheels of a Watch or a Clock, because they set one another a going, and if any one be out of order, the rest are at a stand, and rather hinder than advance the Motion of their fellows. These are they, which abounding with an exalted Salt, Sulphur, and Spirit, are exceeding active, and con∣tinually busied in Fermental Action, for car∣rying on the Works of Sanguification, Nu∣trition, and Vegetation, for a conservati∣on of the Archeus in its Vital Function in every Part and Particle: And thus those Noble Operations, which Aristotle, Galen, Avicen, and their Followers attrib••••e to Heats implanted in the several Parts and Vessels, are the effects of these Spiritu∣ous active substances called Ferments, which never cease from their activity, but bestow their Energie upon the Alimentary Juice, as it passeth through all the Shops or Offi∣ces of Digestion, by making it of a Vola∣tile Nature, fit for the eliciting and gene∣ration of Spirits, and of that generous Li∣quor with which the Nervous and Muscu∣lous
parts are irrigated and enlivened: To this agrees that of a learned and ingenious Author of our own, in his Anonymous Treatise lately published De Ratione Motus Musculorum; who in his sixth page, treat∣ing of those Spirituous Liquors, with which every part and particle of the Body doth a∣bound, saith they are elaborated out of the Alimentary Juice as it passeth through the several Offices, and so become endued with various and distinct Natures, pro varid cujusque partis Temperie, ac Fermenti in ipsd peculiaris ratione, that is to say, according to the various Temper of every Part, and the nature of the Ferment which is peculiar there∣to. From whence it necessarily follows, that if any of the Ferments be out of Or∣der, the Body grows Spiritless, dull, tire∣some, or unapt for Motion; Or if they be defunct, that they cannot at all perform the Duty of their respective Digestions, then all runs to ruine by an ill Habit or Consumptive Atrophy, because the nature of the Archeus and of those Ferments which attend it, in the solid parts, is such, that if the Alimentary Juice hath not been elaborated as it ought to be in every shop, as it passeth from one to another, it comes to the last Digestion so imperfect, that in∣stead
of being assimilated to the Solid Parts, Nature rejects it as useless, and so it turns to vitious Excrement; whereup∣on the Ferments implanted also in the solid parts, wanting fit Matter to work upon for a good purpose, and not knowing how to be idle, begin to take ill Courses, and by reason of their restless activity, do prey up∣on the several Parts wherein they dwell, and so by degrees consume the whole Bo∣dy to a Sceleton; which too often falls out now a days, because of the Universality of Scorbutick and Venereous Ferments among the Sons of men, than which nothing is to be imagined more destructive of the Na∣tive Ferments and Digestions of the Bodie.
In such Cases as these, when the re∣spective Ferments are languid, and cannot digest the Alimentary Juice as they ought, the more Nutritive the Food is which men eat, the more mischief they run into, be∣cause it affords more Nourishable Matter than the Ferments are able to impregnate or make Volatile, to be assimilated unto the Solid Parts; and so the more men lade the Body with the best meats, the more of Excrementious matters are stored up in every Part, and so much the more pernici∣ous,
because the Corruption of the best is the worst; by which means nature is rather oppressed, or suffocated, than comforted. Hence it is, that so many persons, in Con∣sumptions especially, are even killed by the Kindness (or rather Folly) of their Physi∣cians and Friends, who never think they do well, longer than they are prescribing and giving them high Nourishing D••stil∣lations, Broths, Jellys, and I know not what Messes, besides the Pectoral Syrups, Electuaries, and the like, which advance the Disease, and Patients toward a final Destruction, under pretence of Restaura∣tives; whereas they ought in that and many other Diseases, to lay aside these things, and their Notion of Cure g••ounded upon Contrarieties, that Inanition indicates Repletion, an Emaciated body a rich Feed∣ing; and to mind rather in the first place a reviving of decayed Ferments and Dige∣stions; which being effected by proper Re∣medies, and by subtracting so much Ali∣ment, as would otherwise clog them, and cloy the Shops of Digestion, then Feed∣ing falls in properly, forasmuch as Nature having recovered her Fermental Force, knows how to make use of the Alimentary juice again, and improve it; which she
will do of course, if she be prudently (i. e. gradually) supplied, and will immediately repair the losse of Flesh, and of the rorid Succulencies, in the Bodie. Thus much of Ferments in general: For, to treat of them in particular, with their several Seats, and the mutual Dependencies and Consents which they have with each other, and what Doctrins may thence arise, for Direction in the practise of Physick, is a Design too copious for this Time and place: only, let me observe, what Mr. Boyle saith, * 3.146 That he who throughly understands the nature of Ferments and Fermentations, stall probably be much better able than he that ignores them, to give a fair Account of divers Phaenomena of several Diseases (as well Fevers, as others) which will perhaps never be throughly under∣stood, without an Insight in the Doctrin about Ferments. The truth is, scarce any Dis∣ease is to be understood without it; and therefore the Doctrin of the Schools ha∣ving been unacqu••inted with it, must needs be insufficient also in respect of this; and their Remedies useless, because they reach not beyond Humors and Qualities, and are not able to penetrate so deep, as to relieve Nature in such profound and myste∣rious Desiciencies, as we here speak of: Nor
did any of the old Authors, in their Dis∣courses about the Method of Curing, aim at any thing like it.
4. I might assert also that Doctrin ne∣ver * 3.147 Dream'd of by the Schools in former daies, touching the Notion of Diseases in general; for, they make a Disease to be no more but a mere Distemper in excess of Quality; whereas Helmont, and Grembs, make it appear to be a real substantial thing, inherent in that which they call the Archeus or Vital Spirit, where it first hath its be∣ginning, and by this means the first be∣ginnings of Diseases are undiscernible, be∣cause they are actuated in and from so fine and subtile a Principle as that which we call Spirit; and that is the reason why Physi∣cians so seldom Cure any Disease, which Nature with a little time cures not of her self, because they look not to the Spiri∣tuous original, be it either Hereditary, or Adventitious, but ground their Indicati∣ons of Cure upon the mere Products and Effects of the Disease, rather than the Disease it self, or at the highest only upon Occasional Causes, which have no affinity to the essence of a Disease. Upon this Ac∣count, I have seen them Purge a Patient, and Bleed him (I know not how many
times) over and over, supposing forsooth, that by this means they drain away much of the inward Cause, which such Remedies can never reach in its intimate recess; and suppose they could, yet they would rather exasperate than pacifie the Archeus or Vi∣tal Spirit, wherein all Chronick Diseases are radically seated. And truly, in this matter, Hippocrates was wiser than his Suc∣cessors, in aiming at the essence of Dis∣eases, while he ascribes so much to that which he calls Spiritus Impetum Faciens, or the Active forcible Spirit, as including the essentials of a Disease; for, in that Vital Spirit (which we call the Archeus) implan∣ted in any part of the Body, lurk the diffi∣cult sort of Diseases; and till that Spirit be pacified, or rectified, by a proper Re∣medy, or by some extraordinary benignity of Nature, it is, in such Cases impossible to attain a recovery;—And the truth is, a Cure of this kind is not to be effected by any Remedy, which is not invented and wrought by Rules, out of the best and most powerful Materials, which are wont to be made use of for producing the Noblest Ar∣cana; that is to say, Medicins of as com∣prehensive and universal a Nature, as may
by the help of humane Art and Industry be devised.
And yet tis not to be denied, that there are many Diseases happen to be difficult and dangerous, which having been at first irritated by Occasional Causes, are remo∣ved upon altering or removing those Causes, by which the irritation or offence was first given to the Vital Spirit. Thus those things which Hippocrates calls Acre, Amarum, Ponticum, Acidum, Salsum, i. e. Acrimonius, Bitter, Austere, Acid, or Salt∣ish, becoming the Occasional Causes of Diseases, it is the Physicians part to in∣quire into these, and to provide suitable remedies; which though they be not of the Upper Form of A••canaes to reach the Archeus, yet may allay his fury at a di∣stance, when these Occasions of offence are taken out of the way. And certainly, such considerations touching Diseases in general, are in order to the Invention of Medicins, more necessary to be entertain∣ed in this Age, wherein most mysterious Maladies are naturalised within our Vi∣tals, than the poor Notions so much do∣ted on, which lead not men beyond the thought of Qualities, Temperaments, and
Humors: for, these serve only against such distempers as are apt to wear off of themselves: And thus (as Grembs saith) * 3.148 Diseases sometimes are cured by Accident (that is, as we in English say, more by good hap than cunning) if they be inclina∣ble to be consumed and resolved of their own Accord; but those which have fixed roots doe elude and scorn Galenick Remedies, where∣upon through want of Remedy they become incurable Diseases; for, a Remedy ought to respect that Instrument of the Soul called the Archeus, or vital Spirit, which * 3.149 Hel∣mont saith nothing can doe but the more Mysterious Medicins, which are of such a comprehensive Latitude as is little less than Universal: Or which may be so dee∣med, at least in a Comparative Sense, by comparing them with the dull Recipes of an inferiour vertue.
5. I may spend time also in explain∣ing the Qualifications and Effects of that * 3.150 Vital Spirit called the Archeus, and prove, that there is such a thing diffused through every Part and Particle of the Body, as director general of all the works of Gene∣ration, yea and Corruption also; the great Exciter of all Motions, being (as one describes it) a Thing very delicate to
be conceived, but is * 3.151 Medium quid inter Vitam & Corpus, & veluti Aura Nitens splendens{que} a kind of Middle thing betwixt Spirituous and Corporeous, as it were a Luminous Air: But for the more accurate description thereof, I refer you to Hel∣mont himself. Yet because tis the Refor∣mation of the Galenists which I aim at, I shall not omit to shew, it was a thing ap∣prehended by one of their own Authors, and indeed the wisest of their number, I mean the quaint Fernelius. * 3.152 He begins thus, The proper signification of Spirit is Wind, in all Languages; and whereas Wind is very powerful, and effecteth wonderfull things, and is not to be seen by our eyes, it hath so fallen out through a kind of affinity and similitude, that the name of Spirit is transferr'd unto every thing which falls not under our sight, whether it be corporeal, or Incorporeal. Hence it is, that the substance which is in Us, very like to subtile Air, un∣dergoes the Appellation of Spirit. But it is somewhat of a nature differing from Body and Humors, which Hippocrates called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or Incitans, somewhat of an im∣petuous force, not from the tenuity of its sub∣stance, but because it hath a great power of incursion, like Wind. So far therefore as it
excites those impetuous Motions, it is under∣stood to have some affinity with the Nature of a Body; but in asmuch as it cannot be seen, it draws near to an Incorporeal Sub∣stance; whereby it comes to pass, that it is of a middle nature betwixt them, and partakes of both. This Spirit is the Vehicle and pro∣per seat of the Soul and all its faculties, which perhaps you may properly call their Body: for so the Platonists of old said, that a certain Body of an excellent nature, Perlucid and Ethereal, is subserving to the Soul and its fa∣culties, to the end that they may be United with the Earthy and gross Body. Yea, and as if he meant to paint our Archeus to the Life, he a little beneath saith, Na∣ture which is in that Spirit, hath obtained a condition more excellent and more divine than that of Spirit. And presently after he adds, it must needs be a Thing different from the Temperament of the body, and be constituted above the nature of a Tempera∣ment, seeing it is the Author of life and all the Functions. The heat which is in this Spirit is not of the common sort, (he saith) but plainly Divine and Heavenly, like the light or heat of the Sun. By this you see, his description of the Archeus or Vital Spirit, exactly agrees with that which
is set down by Helmont and his follow∣ers.
Add to this also the sence of Heurnius in the beginning of his * 3.153 Institutions, whom (of all the Galenists) I reckon the man that saw most, next to Fernelius, who de∣fineth this Spirit to be a kind of Ethereal Body, elaborated out of the purest part of the bloud, and changed into the Substance of a very subtile Air, and it is the prime Instru∣ment of the Soul, for performance of all its Functions. To which I may add also, that it is the Creator of the greatest di∣stempers: for, the same * 3.154 Author saith, that before Galen, that which we now call the Causa Continens of a Disease was ascri∣bed to this Spirit by Herophilus and his followers; because when this Spirit in any part is extravagant, then a Disease a∣rises, but when it returns to good order, then the Disease is at an end. And the same Author, cap. 5. cites the Authority of Plato in Charmide, Ubi eleganter demon∣strat omnes morbos ex animo nasci, where he elegantly demonstrates, that all Diseases have their original in this Animus, this Wind, this subtile Ethereal Air, this Im∣petum Faciens of Hippocrates, this Spirit, or call it what you please; it matters not
what the Name be, if we agree about the Thing; Either the occasional irritation, or the spontaneous exorbitancy of this, which we call the Archeus, is the prime Cause of every distemper. And in his sixth Book, cap. 1. he saith, that Argente∣rius, a learned writer of the same Tribe, endeavours his utmost to prove, that a Disease first hurts the Faculty, afterwards the Action or Function. Now consider, that the Faculty is one and the same with the Archeus or Vital Spirit, and to be separa∣ted by the conception of the mind only; Facultatem nihil aliud esse intelligimus, quàm substantiam partium animatarum, By a Faculty (saith he) we understand nothing else but the substance of the parts which are animated; that is, in truth (say I) the Ar∣cheus or Vital Spirit implanted in every part, which Fernelius before calls a very subtile Aerous Substance, endued with faculty to put in execution this or that Function for the service of the Body; but when it is infested, or enraged, then to raise Tumults, Discrasies, and Disor∣ders, to the detriment of the Body: which exactly suits with the Notion of Helmont: And the use of it is very great; viz. in all our Scopes about Curation
of Diseases, especially difficult ones, that we should raise our thoughts above the common Notions of Qualities, Tempera∣ments, Humors, and the like, and bend our Brains to a course of Medicaments that are of a reach beyond those low con∣ceits, and which will extend their power to a rectification, and pacification of the Archeus, in any of the Parts affected. * 3.155 Vix tu sanè possis numerando percensere fun∣ctionum genera quae supra elementorum vi∣res sunt, & quae nequaquam ad illorum tem∣peraturam pertinent. It is (saith Fernelius) a hard matter to number up the sorts of Fun∣ctions (or Operations) which are beyond the powers of Elements, and which doe in no wise belong unto their Temperaments.
The consequence whereof therefore must be this, that we ought to look after Causes more high, concealed hitherto from vulgar understandings, which the lazy Doctors of the Schools heretofore never inquired into, but with ease referred all that was beyond the common Doctri∣nals, to that grand Refuge of Ignorance termed Occult Qualities, Proprieties, and Occult Diseases, for which no reason (as they said) was to be given, because they had none to give of their own, nor could
find any in their out-worn Authors, and therefore thought they had no reason to beat their Brains about the Business, as long as they could do their own business without it. But enough of this, seeing it hath pleased God so to illuminate this Age, by the Industry of some few, after whose example some others are perpetu∣ally engaging themselves in discovery of things, as to their Essences and Causes, which heretofore had been lockt up and kept occult, in the dark Chaos of Pride, Ignorance, and Idleness; yet with a pre∣tence of Learning.
6. I might insist also upon the Doctrin of Ideaes, how far they contribute toward the Causation of Diseases, by their Influ∣ence upon the Archeus; as also how Dis∣eases are causable and curable by the force of Imagination; and what effects are pro∣duceable by Sympathy and Antipathy; and make reflections likewise upon the whole Doctrin of Magnetism; all which carry us above the usual gross Speculations be∣longing to our Profession; but lest I should in such discourses appear too Platonick, or Fanatick, in the opinion of such as consider not, that all the Effects and Ope∣rations in this visible world have a depen∣dence
upon the invisible, I forbear an In∣largement upon these particulars; though I must tell them, they are of excellent use, and without any Superstition, in the curing of Maladies, and doe only conduct us out of the common Road into the In∣ner Closets of Philosophy and Physick: For, that Diseases are caused, and may be cured as well as caught, per radios invisi∣biles, by invisible radiations or Influen∣ces, or by intermediation of Corpuscles, Atoms, Effluviums, or flying particles, after an undiscernable manner, is a mat∣ter now so far out of question, that he who will deny it must first renounce his own knowledge of visible effects, and run cross to the Observations of the wiser part of the world, and against the more Sublime Conceptions of this Inquisitive Age.
The last Thing that I might insist upon in order to the practise of Physick, is that which I had first in my Intention when I fell upon the penning of this Book; and tis this Position, That there is in this Age somewhat of a venemous disposition, or Malignancy (more or less) in all manner of Diseases, not known to former Ages, which touching the work in general of Curing, is of a consideration paramount
to the old Notions, about which there hath been so great a scuffle in the Schools: So that there was never so much cause as now, for men to consider Hippocrates his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which * 3.156 Fernelius translates not quid Divinum as properly so, but quid Admirabile, somwhat that is admi∣rable or extraordinary in Diseases, as proceeding from a more hidden Cause, whith is (saith he) above the condition of Elements; and works not upon the Temperament, but upon the whole Habit of the Body. But what this Extraordina∣ry thing is, I forbear to repeat in this place, because it is sufficiently described in several of the foregoing Chapters, which discourse of the Marvelous Change that is wrought in all manner of Dis∣eases, by the intervention of Verminous, Venereous, and Scorbutick Ferments.
HAving with good Authority examin∣ed, and upon good ground rejected the old Scholastick Principles of Physick, and substituted better in their places, as much more conducible to the Art of Cu∣ring, tis now time to proceed to an exami∣nation of the other Particulars, which more immediately concern the Methods and Practises of those that would be reputed the only Methodical Physicians; and here we shall have occasion to throw out divers other Doctrinals which have been hither∣to received, and Abuses which have crept into the Profession.
1. Let us cashiere the Hypercritical Do∣ctrin about Critical Daies; as childish a Conceit as ever was owned by any Long Beards called the Children of men; for, truly it is like the Children's game called
Ludere Par Impar, Even and odd, and yet the Antients all are very grave at it, reckon∣ing much upon even daies and odd daies, except only Celsus, of whose opinion you shall have an Account by and by. In the mean while know, that a Crisis * 3.157 is a chang∣ing of the Disease to a contrary state, that is to say, either to better or worse, to life or to death; and the daies to which such Mu∣tations are ascribed are called Critical daies. The establishment of them was by Hippo∣crates in his Aphorisms and Prognosticks; and from him, Galen, and all the rest of the Commentators have borrowed the Phant∣sie. They are supposed to be of most use in the Curing of Fevers, and other Acute Diseases; yet some are so vain as to ex∣tend them to the Hundredth, and the Two hundredth day, when Diseases from Acute become Chronical; yea and they would yet spin out the Patience and Purse of a Patient further than this, in expectation of a Critical solution of a Disease by the be∣nefit of Nature; which Doctrin being admitted, serves for two purposes very well; First, to cloak the Ignorance and In∣sufficiency of such, who sticking to old Rules of practise, have Authority to hold Patients so many daies in hand without re∣leef,
and yet be reputed never the worse Physicians; Secondly to hide the Insuffi∣ciency of the old Art it self, and of those Medicins that belong to it, that Patients may be trained on to take more, and lay the blame of all upon a supposed rebellion of the Disease, rather than an impotence of the Course of Remedies; which if it cure not, yet must it be thought necessary to be continued, in expectation of the day of Judgment, otherwise called a Judica∣tory day of Crisis: In the mean time, the Apothecaries and the Nurses are bound to say Amen to the Business, and impute the delay to the great Caution and Care of the Physician, who is said to watch Natures Motions, but oftentimes lies gaping for the Motion of Nature so long, till for want of being roused by some noble Remedy, she fall asleep for ever.
But to go on; let me give you the sum of Hippocrates in his Prognosticks about this matter: There are in Acute and Fe∣verish Diseases, which are reckoned by daies, some daies called Decretory or Cri∣tical, in which Nature of her own accord, without help of Medicin, doth upon an odd day make excretion of such noxious Hu∣mors asare separated by Digestion: Other
daies there are, called Indiciarie or Signifi∣cative, which are supposed to signifie, by some precedent sign, the coming of the Crisis upon a Septenary; as for example, they say the Fourth day signifies what will fall out on the Seventh, and so you are to reckon by Fours and Septenaries, till you arive (if there be occasion) at an Hundred. Thus, Hippocrates dividing the week into two Parts, hath digested it into Quaterna∣ries or Fours, which in making the Account are alwaies Significative of the Septena∣ries. In short, some daies are reckoned by an odd number, others by an even number. In his fourth Book De Morbis, he saith, tis deadly to administer a Purgative upon an odd day (which by many Instances and Ob∣servations I know to be most false, and that in all probability Patients must have ei∣ther Died, or been the more difficultly Cu∣red, had they not been purged, or vomi∣ted upon such a day;) but upon even daies he gives leave of Purgation; yet con∣fesseth, that the Physicians before him did not think fit to observe these things: but concerning this, see more in * 3.158 Joannes Langius his Epistles.
The Commentator upon Celsus, a Hot man for Hippocrates, having reckoned up
these for Critical dayes in Acute Diseases, viz. 4. 7. 11. 14. 17. 20. 24. and 27. stops not here, but goes on to 31. 34 37. and 40. But let them reckon as they list, tis a shame to think, that the world in two thousand years time should be no better improved, in some men's opinion, than to admit of such Conceits as these; that they can keep a Patient in an ordinary Fever twenty one daies without releef, till Nature her self, by her own strength, or her great Enemy Death, come to give a release; and yet it shall be thought a wise peece of Art so to carry the matter, and the Physi∣cians learned enough, though they be not Masters of so much as one noble Remedie, to give a Turn to the Disease, but the Pa∣tient shall be learnedly left to languish, and nothing be done, for fear forsooth of an∣ticipating, or impeding a Crisis; whereas if a right course were taken with proper potent Remedies, the neck of a Fever might be broken long before it be spun out to the 21. or the 40. day, yea the sting of the Disease might be taken out in the very beginning. I must confess, that what * 3.159 Grembs saith of Helmont is very much; that he undertook, without Blooding, and with allowing the Patient Wine, to remove a
Fever in F••ur days time, by the help of Dia∣phoretick Preparations; and that he thought any man unworthy the name of a Physici∣an that cannot do the like. As for Bloud∣ing, I have seen enough of the wicked∣ness of that practise in Fevers, and the Folly of fearing to relieve the Patient with a little Wine now and then, to support the Spirits; but it is not for any man to be posi∣tive in the number of Four daies, who is not Master of such noble Medicaments as Helmont was, that can incide, attenuate, resolve, and take away the Occasional Cause in what places soever it may lurk; yet I know, that by the time that the Fe∣ver arives at the first pretended Critical day, which in common computation is the seventh, there are Medicins to be had, with which the height and Fury of that dreadful Disease shall be either taken off, or else a Judgement shall be pronoun∣ced what the Event of the Disease is like to be.
Which being considered, it cannot but Nauseate any ingenious man, to read the Superstitious Fooleries of Authors, and to see how they puzzle one another with pet∣ty quarrels about the Doctrinal part of this
sort of Criticisms; and tis like to be good, when they cannot agree about the Causes of them, or any thing else that concerns them; and truly, the Consequent of it is miserable, because that one single pretence of waiting for Critical solutions of Acute Diseases, hath in all times, been an occasi∣on of slaying at least two parts of that part of mankind that hath died of Fevers; for 'its a Fundamental principle with some, that you are to deal with such a Patient only with Languid remedies (chips in pottage) and leave Nature to shift of her own Ac∣cord to cure him, if she can: And yet these are called Safe Doctors, though they do just nothing, and can hardly make a step beyond Gascoins Pouder, Magisterie of Perle, Bezoar (which is generally counterfeit) Treacle-water, the cool Water of Sax: a few Syrups, and one or two more Shop-Magistrals, w••th a Clyster; which the Boys can tell the road of Administring, as well as themselves; and therfore tis but reason that the Master Apothecaries undertake to practise without us, and (to save the Pa∣tients Purse) seldom send for us till needs must, and even then also the Apothecary might proceed as well alone; for, he knows the Summa, Totalis at the Tail of all
(as well as vulgar Mr. Doctor) to be but Blistring, Cupping, and Pigeons, and the like Cordials as before; and so there's an end of the story; but it concerns him to palliate all that hath been done, by late sending for a Doctor, who when he comes, doth just no more; and what more can be done for the poor Patient after this, but to leave him to his own good Nature, and Gods blessing, by some happy Crisis to res∣cue him from the power of the Grave? whereas all this hazard might have been prevented at first, by other kind of Medi∣cins and Methods: with which, ere long, a Course will be taken to furnish the Na∣tion.
In the mean while, it will be very neces∣sary, * 3.160 for the information of our Countri∣men, to descend a little to a view of the odd Conceits of the great even and odd gamsters about Critical daies. Hippocrates himself was wiser than his Followers, in this one thing, that he would not venture to assign the Causes of such daies; onely he gives notice, that he in his own experi∣ence had observed them to fall out so, and thereupon concluded there was an innate propriety in these daies to produce such effects more than other daies. And Avi∣cen
saith, he did well in this business, to content himself only with Experience; but it is as lawful to object Exprieence against it, that in our Age all things fall out as well upon the other daies, as upon those that he calls Critical. Nevertheless, let us see his ground for his opinion: its no other than this, that he supposeth a kind of Charm in the Number Seven, and in a Computation by Septenaries, saying, that a * 3.161 Septenary is as it were the Law of Nature, after the example whereof all things are dis∣pensed; which suits just as well with the Law of Nature, as the Conceit of ano∣ther Naturalist doth with his, viz. Aristotle, who trips up Hippocrates his opinion with a Trez or Trey (as we pronounce it) saying, * 3.162 that a Ternary is as it were the Law of Na∣ture, whereby all natural things are disposed. Nevertheless, Hippocrates carries it with his Successors, who in the afore-cited Book saith, man's life is dispensed by sevens. But it is to be observed, that whereas in his Epistle to his Son Thessalus, he gives no reason for this but the necessity of Nature; so in his Book de Aevo, having promised, that he would in time give other Reason by particular explanation, he wholly neglect∣ed the performance, and tamely resolves
the whole evidence of the matter into his own observation and experience.
Now though the grand Leader was so shie and timorous to venture upon giving a Reason, yet the Followers have been more hardy: some have assigned one Cause, some another, and so 'tis like to come to some∣what, when the prime Dictators can agree upon Nothing. The Followers of Pytha∣goras referred the Cause of Critical daies to the mysterious power of the Number seven, which odd number (they say) is more potent than an even number: For (they tell us) although number be not a sub∣stance, yet it hath a substantial effect upon things from a cause unknown to us: that is, ignotum per ignotius decernere, to determine an unknown thing by a thing more un∣known; which Doctrin of theirs, touching number, is repeated by Galen * 3.163, and by him well enough refuted.
But he lapseth afterward himself as fondly as the Pythagoreans, and falls in with the Astrologers, ascribing the Critical daies to the Motion of the Stars, especially of the Moon, as their principal Cause. To which I say no more but this in short; If it were so, then the Squares and Weeks of the Moon would alwaies concurr with the
Quaternious and Weeks of the Disease; but this very rarely falls out. Moreover Fracastorius, in a particular Treatise which he set forth upon this Subject, saith, If the Moon hath any Power, it must be by rea∣son of her celestial Light and Heat; but her Light doth not send forth Heat on one day more than another, but only as it is more or less reflected upon the earth; which happens in the Sun, when he is near∣er, or his beams more direct; in the Moon, when she receives more Light from the Sun, which falls out when she is more re∣more from the Sun. If this be true, it follows then, that seeing she is on the eighth day more remote than on the seventh, and consequently hath more Light and Heat, we ought to conceive the Eighth day more likely to be Critical than the Seventh.
And yet Fracastorius, who in this argu∣eth sufficiently again Galen, committs as gross an Error himself, while he assigneth the Causes of Critical daies to the Mo∣tion of the Melancholick Humor, which (ac∣cording to the old Phantsie) is supposed to have its Motion every Fourth day by a pe∣culiar propriety. Upon this, as the Anti∣ents vainly grounded the Circuits of Quar∣tan
Agues; so he supposed it might serve his Turn to establish a reason thereup∣on, why the Fourth day is said to be Cri∣tical. But suppose (as we have before pro∣ved) that there is no such Humor in the Body of man as that which is termed Me∣lancholy; what then becomes of his Con∣ceit about the Motion of it? And admit there were such a Humor, it would be hard to prove the Motion, none of the old Gre∣cian Writers having ventured to give any account for it but their own Word and Au∣thority. Therefore he might have done better to assign no new Cause at all, when he contradicted Galen, but to have been silent, and to have labored rather to ex∣cuse Galen, as * 3.164 Zacutus (the great Gale∣nick Jew) hath endevoured; for, to save the credit of Galen for falling in with the Astrologers about this matter, he saith there are so many things in that Book wherein Galen is supposed to deliver that opinion, which are vain, false, and unwor∣thy the wit of Galen, that he cannot but conclude it to be none of his, but altogether Spurious and Illegitimate.
But the most ridiculous of all is that of * 3.165 Amatus, and Cartagena, de sign. dier. De∣cret. c. 18. who both of them had recourse
to Musical Notions, the Concent, and propor∣tions of numbers; and as among those Num∣bers some are Dissonant, and others Conso∣nant, so (say they) it happens in daies of sickness; therefore the daies D••ssonant from the first day, by reason of the cause of dis∣agreement which they have therewith do stir up Nature to a Contention; but the daies Consonant to the First day, by reason of the likeness which they have therewith, are dispo∣sed to quiet, and so do not provoke Nature to a Contest, and by consequence do not stirr up a Crisis. Which is an odd kind of Riddle, to say no more. But this confirms what hath ever been observed, that one Absurdi∣ty begets a Thousand. That one Phantsie of Hippocrates about Critical daies hath set all his Followers a madding to give Rea∣sons for them; and so they are all lost in a Fog.
Therefore Asclepiades warily consider∣ing the matter, said it was a vanity to seek after a Cause of Critical daies, supposing them a mere Figment; and he derided Hippocrates, for making some daies Indica∣tory, other days Judicatory or Critical: For, in no day (saith he) because it is even or odd, is there any danger more or less. This Judg∣ment of Asclepiades is seconded very much
to purpose by Celsus, whom Heurnius and other notable Galenists reckon not infer∣rior to Hippocrates. The truth is, he hath ta∣ken out of Hippocrates whatever is of mo∣ment, and digested it in his own Book, but he leaves him to himself in the business of Critical daies and expectations. And though * 3.166 Zacutus would fain perswade us, that what Celsus declares against Critical daies, is not according to his own mind, but that he relates it only as the Sence of Asclepiades, yet (by his Favor) tis no such matter; for, Celsus is very plain and po∣sitive in the Case, as will appear to any Reader, and I shall here translate the place Verbatim, * 3.167 where you shall see he ap∣proves Asclepiades his Judgement in cast∣ing off such daies, and saith jure repudia∣vit, he did well in repudiating them. The words are these: Hippocrates, if a Fever abated upon any day b••sides a Critical, was wont to fear a Return or Relapse. But * 3.168 As∣clepiades did justly repudiate this as vain, and said, there is in no day, because it is even or odd, any danger, more or less. For, some∣times the odd daies become the worser. Some∣times also in the Disease it self the Course of daies is changed, and that day becomes more grievous which was wont to be the calmer:
Moreover, the Fourteenth day it self is an even day, upon which the Antients did lay so great a stress. Who when they contended that the eighth day hath the same Nature with the First day, so that the Second Septenary or Number Seven ought to begin from thence, did thereby contradict themselves, in not reckoning the Eighth, nor the Tenth, nor the Twelfth day, as the more powerful; for, they attributed more to the Ninth, and the Eleventh. Which when they had done with∣out any probable reason, they passed from the Eleventh, not to the Thirteenth, but to the Fourteenth. We find also in Hippocrates, that the Fourth day is reckoned most grievous when the Patient is like to have his Critical Deliverance on the Seventh. So also he saith, that upon an odd day, the Fever may be both more grievous, and a certain sign of what is to come. And in another place, he appre∣hends every Fourth day as most efficacious in both respects, that is to say, the Fourth, the Seventh, the Eleventh, the Fourteenth, and the Seventeenth, whereby he passeth from odd to the account of Even. And yet here he holds not firm to himself, forasmuch as the Ele∣venth day computed from the Seventh, is not the Fourth day but the Fifth. So it appears, that which way soever we count upon number,
there is nothing of reason to be found in that Author. And what (I pray you now) could be utter'd by so grave an Author as Celsus, with more Tartness against Hip∣pocrates his Phantsies about Critical daies? So that I fear Zacutus his eyes were not his own when he read this P••ssage; but Baldwin Ronsseus in his Comment, saith plainly, that Celsus is clearly of one and the same opinion with Asclepiades, about this Business.
I might to these add a large Account of the Quarrels among Authors, about the time from whence the computation of daies is to begin, but I wave it: some∣times a Patient (as we often see) becomes Feverish for two or three daies, and then it abates for three or four daies more; and a few daies after, the Fever comes on in good earnest: Now, in such a Case, it were well if any could assign a right time from whence the Computation should begin. Besides, admit a right time be pitch'd upon from whence to compute, yet to what purpose is it to reckon onward in expectation of a Crisis, whenas every small circumstance will alter the Motion of the Masse of Bloud, and the Pe∣pasmus or Concoction of the Morbifick
matter, upon which the Crisis is supposed to depend? so that it shall not come to pass on the Set-day according to expectation, and perhaps not at all: For, I have often observed, that sometimes a Purgation, sometimes want of Sleep, sometimes a little Broth, sometimes a little Cold, sometimes a slender Invasion of Ill News, Grief, or Fear, and divers other Acci∣dents, have wrought a marvelous sudden alteration in a Patient, so that all things being out of order, what orderly Crisis (if any such Thing be now in Nature) can in reason be expected? The Truth is, there are so many probable Rubs in the way to hinder the process of the Pepasmus, that it is a wonder, if in the North-parts of the world, where our bloud is not so fine and brisk, nor the Air so benign, as in warmer Climates, if ever we see in twen∣ty years practise so much as one complete Critical Solution: For (as Doctor Willis * 3.169 well observes) if any thing fall out which is not clearly conducing thereto, the Crisis (if any be) proves vain and treacherous, seldom putting an end to the Disease. For, admitt that the Moon or other Stars did by their Influence in part regulate the Critical motion (as Galen would have it
wholy) yet the same Doctor well notes, the critical evacuations are determined only by a turgescencie of the adust matter; and that he shews may, pro re natâ, fall out sooner or later, so that there can be no certain time: And many times, I have observed a cruel Disease spend it self, without any the least sign of a Crisis; es∣pecially when the Physician hath furnish∣ed his Patient with some commanding Remedies; for, these either immediatly accelerate some Mutation that is like a Crisis, or else they need not the assistance of any such violent excretions as use to attend a Crisis, to put an end to the Dis∣ease; which they are wont to dissolve af∣ter a more easie and less perceivable man∣ner, little, being to be observed besides gentle Sweating. And as touching the uncertainty of Critical daies, Vallesius * 3.170 also is very positive, and saith, if the Moon and the Stars do not govern them, they must needs vary, either by a change of the quantity of the Matter, or through an encrease or diminution of the Patients strength: For, if in a Disease which ought to be determined on the seventh day, you draw away, or add but a little matter, you may cause the Crisis to fall on the sixth or eigth
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day: Wherefore seeing proportion may be al∣ter'd in each Constitution, or in any Disease, it is impossible to six the same Critical daies for all Fevers, and Natures, and Countries, and Ages, and Seasons. And if so, then the certainty of such daies, and all the Do∣ctrin about them, falls quite to the ground. To the very same Sence also speaks * 3.171 Langius in his Epistles, where he brings in Galen himself, confessing that Critical daies are uncertain, because of the various Concerns of the Morbifick matter, through Accidents, &c.
This being so, it is very well done of Regius present Professor at Utrecht, to free our Profession from such a parcel of perplexing Notions to no purpose, as were left us in old Authors, touching this Critical Doctrin; For in the new Foun∣dations of Physick by him laid, he takes but slight notice of it, and presently con∣cludes in these words: In these Countries, Crises do seldom fall out, both because of the Coldness of our Air, and because our Physicians being furnished with more benign Purgers, do happily drain away the matter of the Disease per Epicrasin, i. e. by gradua•• gentle Purgation, and so they ca••ry off the Cause of the Crisis.
But of all others, I find Helmont most positive and powerful in the discussing of this Point, in his Treatise De Tempore, where, after some other Discourse about it, he adds this: I have alwaies observed (saith he) with diligence, that there is never any Crisis at all, where the Physician being Master of his Art, knows how to take away the Disease before the usual time of the Crisis is come: For, as nature enjoyeth ordinary Motions, and is accustomed to them, and is readily governed by the unity of the Motive Faculty, so when the whole Business of a Dis∣ease rests only upon her shoulders, she endea∣vors at some times to stir up a Crisis, which otherwise the goodness, or the badness of a Medicin or manner of curing doth anticipate, retard, or destroy. By this means fo••sooth sometimes the Crisi•• that was expected on the Fourteenth day is prolonged till the Fortieth. It is the part therefore of a good and faithfull Physician, not to give any regard to Crises; and it were better for the Patient to have been without a Physician, if he be cu••ed by a Crisis; and so much the more, if his Crisis were slow∣er. But to what purpose is so great a Cata∣logue of Critical daies? s••eing it behoves a Physician to be so armed, as to be able to ••ame a dangerous Disease, and shorten a long one;
that is, extirpate it betimes, that it may not be delayed in expectation of a Crisis. And the same Author, in his book concerning Fevers * 3.172, adds more to the same purpose: A good Physician ought n••t to regard Crises, but rather to prevent them. For, Nature ne∣ver intends a Crisis, unless it be when she is left to shift for her self, and to bear the whole burthen alone. Therefore a true Physician ought to overcome the Disease before the usu∣all Time of Crisis, and so he neither expects, nor desires it. The Consequence then is, that it must needs be very pernicious to hold up the pretence of Critical daies in the Profession of Physick, because the Physician is thereby inabled to justifie himself, although he do leave Nature to her self to struggle with the Disease, while he laz••ly looks on, and with his for∣mal visits only keeps Count of daies, and orders the common feeble Medicins, which have little power to effect any thing considerable towards a speedy extirpation of the Disease; so that of course the Patient ought to lie languishing, till time, rather than the Physician, brings on a delivery. But of this I have said enough before, as the great occasion of ruin in Acute Dis∣eases; and a Cloak to the Ignorance of old
Pedantick Practisers; besides that it strangulates all thoughts of devising more potent Medicins, or of introducing other Methods more agreeable to them, and much more rational, than those which depend upon the Superstitious Fictions of old heathenish Authors.
II. The next thing to be considered is * 3.173 the Doctrin of Pulses; which ought in part to be cashiered also, and in part to be retained. I remember, when I first stu∣died Physick, I spent much time to un∣derstand the tedious Descriptions and Schemes or Tables of different Pulses enu∣merated by Galen; but they serving for no end but vexation of the Brain, ostentation of pretended Science, and to impose up∣on the world, it is meet to reduce the use∣ful part to a narrow Compass, that Stu∣dents may not be confounded about it in the future. The First that attempted this (if I mistake not, for I have not the Book at hand) was the grave Spaniard Per••da. Since him, * 3.174 Horstius, as grave an Author as he, hath done the like, and he brings in also one reputed the gravest of them All, viz. Petrus Aponensis the Conci∣liator, who shews how endless a matter it is to spin out so many Notions as Galen hath
done about Pulses; for, (saith he) after the same rate of Magis and Minùs, they may be infinite; therefore he reduceth them to Ten in number; and that this is sufficient, they both of them demonstrate thus: In every motion are to be consider∣ed, 1. The Space by which the Motion is made, 2. The Time which is consumed in the passage of the Space, 3. The Quiet or Pause which followeth both the Moti∣ons, 4. The Efficient Cause of the Pulse, 5. The Instrument whereby it is effected. From whence arise Ten simple Pulses.
1. In respect of Space, or distension and contraction in the Space, a Pulse is great, or little.
2. In respect of Time, to which the quality doth answer, it is Swift, or Slow.
3. In respect of the Quiet or Pause, it is Frequent, or Rare.
4. In respect of the Mover or Cause Efficient, it is Weak, or Vehement.
5. In respect of the Place or Instrument whereby it is effected, it is Soft, or Hard. And so these make Ten Primary Differen∣ces of Pulses. But if you consider (or ra∣ther Phantsie) divers Particulars in any one Pulse, or compare and mingle the
Pulses with each other, then you may proceed in Infinitum; and there he turns us off to Galen; and thither you may go, if you delight in Quirks and Quillets, or have any time to throw away; where you shall find I know not what delicacies of the Touch in distinguishing Pulses, so that you had need have a Finger more delicate than ever was employed in the Touch of a Lute. There you have that which is ter∣med Pulsus Dicrotus, Caprisans, Inter∣ruptus, Undosus, Vermiculans, Formicans, Vibrans, Convulsivus, Serrinus, Impar cita∣tus, Arythmus, Ecrythmus, Heterorythmus, and I know not how many hard words more; which Modern Writers have been sick to think of; and Heurnius, in his In∣stitutions, having reckoned up some of them, counts it but time lost to insist up∣on more; For (saith he) reliquas Pulsuum Differentias prudens omitto, I think it pru∣dence to omit the rest. And Regius, in his new Fundamentals of Physick thinks not * 3.175 the before-mentioned worth the deliver∣ing, because (saith he) they are in a manner inobservable, and the nature of Pulses may be understood well enough without them. The same prudence (no doubt) hath guided his Brother Sylvius de le Boe, Professor at
Leyden, in his * 3.176 Disputations lately publi∣shed, to reduce the Doctrin of Pulses to a short rational State, just after the same manner, as is done before by Horstius and the Conciliator. And truly it was high time to reduce them, for the sakes of young Students, seeing Galen and his Ad∣mirers (as Dr. * 3.177 Primrose observes) had mounted them to above two Thousand dif∣ferences. The very Names of which alone (saith he) if many should hear them, they would immediately renounce the touching of Pulses; for, they would amaze and terrifie the ignorant, no less than if they were so many Magical Spels.
And when all is done, regulate the Doctrin of Pulses as well as you can, tis fit I should tell the world, there is little certainty of Judgment to be made by them of a Patients case, seeing every small Circumstance of * 3.178 Hope, Fear, Grief, Diet, Drink, sudden Approach of the Physician, Friends, or other Company, want of Sleep, and the like Accidents, will induce a notable Alteration, so that I am resolved as little to credit my own Sence of the Pulse, as a wise man would a Gypsie that crosseth his hand to tell him his Fortune; and I would build a Prog∣nostick
upon the one, almost as soon as I would upon the other: which will be the less wondered at, when you shall find, that even those Pulses which are reputed Mortal, may be felt many times when the Patient, (though in the heighth of a Distemper) hath been far enough from Death. Therefore it makes me wonder, when I see how wondrous wise some would make people believe they are, that will from a touch of the Wrist deli∣ver Oracles, and from thence pronounce Reasons to argue a Necessity of Bleeding, and other Proceedings, when as nothing is more fallacious than the Pulse, next to Urines; and yet neither of them are wholly to be neglected, but to be repu∣ted only Accessaries, not Principals, in the great work of Curation. Whoso∣ever conceives otherwise, and to put his Conceit in practise, ventures to prescribe Remedies accordingly, shall always put the Patient to hazard, and kill more than he cures.
3. Nothing needs a Rectification and * 3.179 Improvement more than the Doctrin about Urines; for, besides the animad∣verting upon ordinary Abuses of Inspecti∣on, and pronouncing Judgement thereup∣on,
little hath been done heretofore to procure a Reformation, whereas it is the old Doctrin it self that hath need to be reform'd, and no man ever yet attempted it to purpose, except Dr. Willis, who finding that the Observations which concern the practise of that Doctrin, were (as he saith) * 3.180 either ill made, or not well digested into Method, that Method which is deliver'd by most, seeming more Emperical than Rati∣onal, did therefore undertake the Task, and hath excellently well performed it. Of old, the differences of Urines were recited barely, as they are wont to be variously di∣stinguished, according to their Colour, Con∣sistence, and Contents: Then, to the seve∣ral kinds of these they affix Pathological sig∣nifications, collected only out of more ra•••• Observations; while in the mean ti••e the causes of the Phaenomena, or Preternatural Alterations in Urines, are not assigned a•• they ought to have been; nor is the significa∣tion of Urines, applied to the Causes of Dis∣eases, but only to the Disease, or the Symp∣tom, and therefore is oftentimes fallaciou•• and uncertain; because the same Morbisick Cause, as also the signification of the sam•• Urine, may at once mediately respect dive•••• Diseases and Symptoms. And therefore ••••
is necessary, that a Doctrin or Method about Urines be instituted, above the vulgar Noti∣ons of Philosophy.
He chuses therefore another way to go to work, to give Us an Understanding of Urines: he first thinks fit to anatomise them, by resolving them into the same Chymical Principles, of which our sences tell us that other mixt Bodies do consist.
1. Salt or Saltiness in Urines, which is per∣cieved by Tast and Touch, and is either Fixt or Volatile.
2. Sulphur, which is sufficiently te∣stified by their Putrefaction and Stench.
3. Spirit; for according to the divers plenty or prevalency of Spirits, Urines do vary in their Hypostasis and Set∣lings, and do Putrefie sooner or la∣ter.
4. Water, or the watery part of the Urine; which though it abound more than the other Principles (at least six to one) yet it cannot be so drawn away by distillation, but that some particles of the Salt and Sulphur doe ascend with it and bestow on it an unpleasing Scent.
5. Earth and slimy dregs; as is suffi∣ciently apparent either by Distillation or Evaporation of Urine; For, when the other parts are exhaled, the Earth, like a Caput Mortuum remains in the bot∣tom.
These are the Principles which consti∣tute the body of Urine, into which it is by Chymical Analysis easily resolved: And it is out of the divers combinations and contemperation of these, that the Accidents of Urine do arise, viz. the Quantity, the Colour, the Consistence, and the Contents, which according to Sence are the most remarkable things a∣bout it, and the principal objects of Judgement by Urine. And besides these things there is nothing else considerable in Urines.
After this he proceeds to shew how the Colours of Urines are to be considered and estimated, according to the different ingrediency of the said five Chymical Prin∣ciples; which being dispatched in a very delicate and particular manner, he sums up the whole in general thus, in reference to Colour; that the paler Urines do all for the most part arise from too much crudity; and most of the high colour'd
Urines from Salt and Sulphur dissolved more plentifully, and sometimes from adust recrements cocted in the Serum, or from the grosser contents of the Urine. And yet the Colours notwithstanding may sometimes by accident be altered, and appear otherwise than they ought to be expected from the lesser or greater in∣grediency of these Principles; but by these we are directed to a much more probable way of Judgement than former∣ly, as from Colours.
Then, in order to a right knowledge of the Contents of Urines, he that will be a curious Inquirer, ought to resolve them into Parts, by which means he will attain Medical directions of no little moment: For, in divers Chronical Diseases, it is of great concern to inquire into the di∣stempers of the Bloud exactly, that the proportion of Salt and Sulphur therein contained, and the temperature, may be rightly investigated. To this end, it is convenient sometimes to evaporate U∣rines, or expose them to distillation; and sometimes to Precipitate the Contents of them, or resolve them by Putrefaction. As Evaporation and Distillation subserve much to the manifestation of the Salty Principle;
so Precipitation and Putrefaction do shew the grosser Contents of Urines, both as to weight and measure; only Putrefaction is wont to shew the several particles of every kind somwhat more distinct, and as seperated from one another; for, if you let the Urine stand still several days in an Urinal, it will be very much al∣tered both in the Colour, Scent, and Con∣sistence.
Thus much I thought necessary for gi∣ving the Reader a Taste of this new Do∣ctrin about Urines; which certainly is much more agreeable to Reason, than any thing that ever was said before upon that Subject, and must needs be abundantly more conducible to the practise of Phy∣sick, seeing it directs our Judgment, not by mere outward Appearances, and bare Observations, as of old, but by an ac∣commodation of our Understanding to the real Principles which are in Urines, the same as in Men's Bodies: from whence doubtless a more certain way of Judge∣ment must needs arise, than can be ima∣gined by any other course that may be taken, to judge by Urines concerning the State of the Bloud and its Diseases. I cannot therefore but commend that tract
of Urines to ingenious Practisers, as a more sure guide than any that they can meet with in former Authors; and ex∣hort them, by manifold Observations and Experiments in their way of Practise, to follow the example given them, for the improvement of that Doctrin, and the setling of a right Method in this part of Physical practise, for time to come: And I hope it shall not be the less acceptable, as other new things have been, because it requires more care and trouble, than the lazie formal sort of Professors are willing to bestow; For, I have seen, that the knowledge which comes by it will a∣bundantly recompence the labor, by dis∣covering the Morbifick Causes in parti∣cular persons.
4. The reputed Oracles of our Pro∣fession, Hippocrates and Galen, are in the * 3.181 next place to be inquired into; whom though we ought not to reject, but to al∣low them the honor due to them, be∣cause they were men famous in their ge∣nerations, yet know they were but men, albeit, some have endeavoured to make Gods of them; and truly, but children in the Art, such as lived in the nonage of true Philosophy and Physick, if they
be compared with the learned of this lat∣ter Age. I would not detract from them, because for some things we are beholden to them, especially to Hippocrates; but tis necessary to be a little brisk in expression, because the world is apt to dote upon old Authors, especially when they hear of honors little less than Divine given to these Erroneous Heathens: And some that speak lowest of them, say, they were infallible in the Things which they have left us. I remember Jo. Langius, in one of his Epistles, saith as much of Hippocra∣tes, that he was fallere ac falli nescius, one that could not deceive nor be deceived; which saying he borrowed out of Macro∣bius. But it is the humor of many men, upon the credit of other men to fall a commending what perhaps they never saw, or did never understand, and so the Commendation passeth Customary and current from one to another, till the ge∣nerality even of the learned come to give up their belief to what others have said; and so men happen to become famous Authors, as other men many times have the good fortune to grow rich, though they never deserved it. And yet we cannot but acknowledge these two were
witty men, learned and able as the times went then, and I do belive they were Ma∣sters of so much wit, that could they now revive, and see what an Advance and al∣teration hath been made in the state of Physick, they would by common ingenui∣ty be induced to quit their own Principles, as very rude and insufficient, if compared with others: wherefore we have reason with thankfulness to own what we find approvable in them, but not to lie down sub magni nominis umbrâ, under the shadow of a great name, and make an Idol of it; We should rather reject what runs to su∣perstition, and not pin the Faith of man∣kind upon the sleeve of Hippocrates, be∣cause others have done so; And yet some there are who have been so bold, as to sift, and note, and upon occasion reject him.
The most Oraculous parts of him are * 3.182 supposed to be his Aphorisms, and his Prognosticks. As for the Aphorisms, we find him tripping there at every three or four steps, when he comes to Points of moment: the rest, which are true, do for the most part fall under the observation of every Nurse, and so in such common things every She may be as Divine as He.
To clear this, it will be worth the while to take a brief view of them.—The First Book of Aphorisms contains only Rules which concern the Physician himself, what Caution he ought to use in prescribing Diet, and Purgation. The five first Apho∣risms are of some moment, also, the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth are good, which forbid feeding a Patient at the time of a Paroxysm, and in the heighth of a Disease, which certainly neither the Patient himself will do, nor any body else that hath com∣mon reason permit, if he would, or could feed, being in such a condition. The 22. is false in many Cases, and destructive in others; for, it commands us to delay purging, till Crudities be cocted; and the greatest part of them are incapable of Coction, especially in the Diseases of this Age. The 24. which allows us but sel∣dom to Purge in the beginning of a Dis∣ease, and that with great Caution, is also very destructive; for, if ever it be lawful to Purge boldly, then is the time, because the Orgasmus or fury of redundant hu∣mors commenceth, and the Patient is then most able to bear the Remedy. But the less regard is to be given to this Aphorism, because it is directly contradictory to ano∣ther
in his second Book, viz. the 29. which is indeed more rational; where he injoyns us to Purge, if at all, in the begin∣ing of a Disease, because (as Heurnius well saith upon the Text) it gives a Revulsion to the raging Humors, and takes off their Fury: And this is all that is considerable to be noted on the First Book.
In the second Book the First Aphorism of Note is the 10. which commands us, be∣fore we Purge, to render the Passages passable. This concerns not us so much in this Age, who have such noble reme∣dies as will unlock the Passages, as well as draw away the Humors, at one and the same time, and both these with much kind∣ness they will do: But it is very necessary to be observed by such as still use the old Purgers, which are (more or less) of a violent and Malignant nature; so that if the bad Humors cannot stir, the good Humors are forced, and being more fine, run away like a Torrent, to the great im∣pairing of the Body.—The 20. hath nothing of certainty in it; which saith, that young men whose Bodies are laxative grow costive when they are in Age, and è contra.—The 23. which saith that A∣cute Diseases come to a Crisis in fourteen
daies time; and the twenty fourth, which pretends to describe a certainty of Critical Motions, are fond and false, as I have al∣ready proved the whole Doctrin to be which concerns Crises and Critical daies. And truly, he before in his ninteenth Apho∣rism confesseth enough to overthrow all that Doctrin, saying, that the Predictions of the Events of Acute Diseases are un∣certain.—The 36. saith, that Purgati∣ons in healthy Bodies, and in Bodies a∣bounding with ill Juices, are impairing of the strength and vigor: which is a kind of Riddle that none of the Commentators can solve; for, if in both these Cases a Purge be pernicious, when (I pray you) shall it be administred? But this may well enough suit with most of the old Purga∣tives, which will sufficiently afflict bodies, be they Sound or Sick; though God now hath furnished us with such, as either in Sound or Diseased bodies, will operate with facility and pleasure.—The 37. agrees with the former. The 41. saith, they which are subject to Swoundings or Faintings, die suddenly: which every daies experience proves manifestly false; for, no Affl••ctions are more ordinary and common than these, yet without any such
consequent at the Heels of them.—The rest in that Book are most of them agree∣able to the common Dictates of every man's Mother-wit, that hath seen any com∣mon Accidents and Circumstances con∣cerning the Sick.
In the third Book, the three first are little considerable; and from the Third to the twenty fourth Aphorism, you have nothing but common Notions and Prog∣nosticks about the effects of the various Turns of weather, and of the several Sea∣sons of the year, in causing Diseases; some of which Particulars are false, others frivolous, the rest are & Lippis & Tonsori∣bus not a, obvious to every one; and the whole is more fit for an Almanack than the great Monument of Physick. The other which follow to the end of the Book, onely tell us what we all know, i. e. what Diseases are wont to befall Children and old People.
In the fourth Book, he begins with great-bellied Women, and saith, if you purge them, it may be done in the fourth month till the seventh; but not in the First months, nor in the last. This might be an useful Caution in those daies when they had none but violent Purgers; but
what is that to us now, on whom God hath bestowed more Delicate Means? Why is it, that Physicians permit women all the time of their Childing, many times to labor and languish under a Load of tur∣gent Humors, and very few of them think it fit to venture a Purging? I do here pro∣fess, that I have in the first months both Vomited and Purged them frequently with Success, and so likewise Purged (but not Vomited) them after the seventh to the very last of their Child-bearing, and never did I find any Inconvenience there∣in. And doubtless, others may do the same, if they please to take pains in fit∣ting remedies of their own for the pur∣pose, and by this means free women from those sorrows which (many of them) in∣dure for want of such a neat Assistance. But be sure to do it onely with Remedies of your own preparing, which a good Phy∣sician should alwaies have ready at hand.—The 4. Aphorism saith, Winter is for Purg∣ing, and that Vomiting ought to be pre∣scribed in the Summer. Till we have some good Reason for this saying, know that either of them may be done either in Summer or Winter, with good Medicins.—The 5. bids us not Purge before, nor in
the Dog-daies.—The 6. and 7. relate to the same Business: But know this, that delicate Vomitories and Purgatives may be given at any Season of the year: yea more than this, I upon occasion plentiful∣ly Purge my Patients in the Winter, though they keep Shop, or go abroad a∣bout their Business: But this is not to be done by any one that is not Master of the like Remedies. Far be it from me to mention this in ostentation; but I cite every daies experience, to shew the fri∣volousness and uselesness of old Maxims and Medicins.—The 8. forbids Vomit∣ing in a Consumption. But this holds not; in som Consumptions, which are attend∣ed with a recourse of Serous Matter to the Lungs, nothing is better than such a re∣medy.—The 1••. saith, that to Vomit persons in the Winter that have the Flux called Lienteria, is dangerous: And this perhaps might hold true still, if we had no other Vomitories than what he had, such as white Hellebore, &c. but know this, that in all Fluxes, nothing brings more ad∣vantage, both in regard of Revulsion and other Reasons, than a good conditioned Vomit doth in the beginning of Fluxes, at any time of the year: but such violent
Vomits as by Hellebore and the like Medi∣caments, of which he speaks afterward in the 13. 14. 15. and 16. Aphorisms, are not for the work.—The 18. which saith if the Patient's pain be above the Midriff, he is to be Vomited; if beneath, then he ought to be Purged, is very fallacious; and particularly, I avow it in the case of Pleurisies, in which most Physicians do ob∣serve the Rule of this Aphorism. The 38. the 39. and the 41. deliver vain Things. One saith, in what part soever most Sweat doth appear, there is the seat of the Disease. Another, that the part where cold or heat is first perceived, is the seat of the Disease. Another, that if Cold and Heat by Turns, fre∣quently invade the body, it argues the Disease will be of long continuance: than all which particulars, our constant experience tells us nothing can be more fallacious.—The rest of the Aphorisms to the 69. deliver observations about Fevers, which suit with the Fevers of this Age, as ill as my old Shoes would fit a Colossus; and some of them relate to Crises and Critical daies, which we have already thrown out of doors; and certainly with good rea∣son are these things to be slighted now, because the whole Scene of Fevers (as
hath been already shewn) is exceedingly alter'd; and therefore those Aphorisms which were calculated for the Meridian of an Age so long since past, may come in fashion again hereafter, when the Platonick year shall, in its revolution, reduce all things to their antient state. And yet some of these are in part true; but they are those Aphorisms only which deliver the Signes and Tokens of approaching Death, which will be one and the same, for the most part, to the end of the world.—From the 69. Aphorism to the end of this Book, they give Judgment upon Urines; and so are very uncertain, as might be made sufficiently to appear, could I insist upon every Particular. But this being enough, to have run through the four first Books of Aphorisms, I suppose the Rea∣der is by this time sufficiently convinced of their uselesness, and informed what to guess of the three other Books (for, they are seven in all;) therefore I avoid them, that I may not be tedious, but do affirm them like the other.
Now lest men should turn tail at me, as a person singular and saucy, because I presume with reason, to pass my Judge∣ment upon that which hath been accoun∣ted
the most creditable Piece of an Au∣thor so admired as Hippocrates; therefore to shew that I am not alone, and that others before me have taken the boldness to censure him, I will bring in the learned Sanctorius, who hath spent one * 3.183 Chapter to shew, that the Aphorisms are not of such verity as men have cried them up to be. He takes notice of the 41. Aphorism of the fifth Book, which saith, that if a wo∣man take honey'd water, going to bed, and find wringing pains thereupon in her Belly; it is an Argument that she hath conceived with Child: If no pains, then, that she is not with Child: which though Galen endeavors to justifie by giving reason for it, yet my Au∣thor proveth his pretence of reason to be of no value, and blames Avicen for pre∣tending the like. And besides Avicen, he tells of others that have labored hard to save the credit of Hippocrates about this Aphorism; yet (saith he) I have often tried the Experiment, but could not observe any such Pains ensuing. He tells us also, He denies that an odoriferous Fume received by the genitals of a woman, will, if she be not with child, always penetrate up inwardly to the Nose; which is avow'd in one of the Aphorisms; because the passages of the Womb
may be closed not only by a Conception, but by a false Conception, by suppressed Menstru∣als, by Fat, by Tumors, and by six hundred other Causes, as we know by Experience.—He reproacheth also that Aphorism which * 3.184 saith, if a woman with child hath conceived a Male, She is lively coloured in the face, if a Female, then ill-coloured: For, who (saith he) can defend this Aphorism to be alwaies true? How many women have we seen ill-coloured, being great with a Male, and well-colour'd with a Female? In the 31. Apho∣rism likewise of the sixth Book, if a woman with Child be taken with an acute Disease, it is deadly; who can defend this to me, who have seen women sometimes seized with a∣cute, and very acute Diseases, and yet they have escaped? Moreover, in the 79. Aph. of the fourth book, it is said, that sandy set∣lings of urine be token the Stone in the blad∣der: No man of understanding would main∣tain this, seeing such urines have been very often observed, without suspicion of the Stone. In like manner in the 70. Aphorism of the fourth Book, it is said, They whose urines appear troubled like the urines of Beasts, either have pains in the head, or shall have; and yet we have seen many sick have such urines, who never had a pain in the head throughout
all the time of their sickness. Ecce quàm Hippocratis sententiae sunt aeternae verita∣tis! Lo (saith he) how the sentences of Hip∣pocrates are of eternal verity! Galen there∣fore, to save the credit of his Leader, would have it thus understood, that though they be not all, yet they are for the most part true; and this excuse of his is recorded in his Comment on the 58. Aphorism of the sixth Book, which saith, that if the Omen∣tum the Kall slip out, it necessarily putrefies; where he slubbers over the matter, saying, though it fall out otherwise, yet it is in a great part true. But (saith Sanctorius) consider the words of Galen well which follow, who saith, when this Aphorism and the rest of them are said to be of eternal verily, it is to be understood in a Figurative form of speech that they are so, though the very things do not come to pass: which is as much as to say, that only in a Figurative Sence they are true, but in a real Sence they are not so. And what is this (I pray you) but to give away the Cause, and the credit of the Aphorisms in a fine way of speaking? Therefore I cannot but wonder how Galen, who first cast this Figure in favor of Hippo∣crates, hath been able ever since to con∣jure all posterity quite out of their Sences
into an admiration of those Aphorisms, which may (many of them) like the Oracle of old, be taken in both constructions, Pro or Con,
(Aio te Aeacidem Romanos vincere posse)for, men have been exceeding tender of touching them, and mighty careful to save the reputation of them, because they were his, who had the luck to be cried up for Prince of the Profession, and it hath been the business of Commentators ever since to hold him up; as if the credit of Physick must needs fall to the ground, if that man were detected of Error, who in an ignorant Age, imposed upon the world his own Dreams, as matters of Eternal Verily. I must profess I would not willing∣ly detract from the Antients; Amicus Hippocrates, Amicus Galenus, sed Magis Amica Veritas; we ought to have a grea∣ter value of Truth than of Hippocrates, or Galen, especially when tis clear, that the holding up a reverence to them is a Pre∣judice to Truth, and hath been the main Remora to the advancement of so noble an Art as that of Physick. Agitur de Corio Humano; Men's precious lives are at
stake in the business, and it is the general interest of mankind that I have a regard to in this liberty that I take, which ought to be preferr'd before the Interest of any particular Corporation, or Sect of Physi∣cians whatsoever. In my younger daies, I came at first to the reading of these Aphorisms with as reverend a regard as any of them, and since that, made it my business to * 3.185 say them by heart; by which means being inabled to produce them, or ken them to my self, upon any occasion, I have had the greater opportu∣nity to observe the uncertainty and falla∣ciousness of them: nor do I find less Frail∣ty in those other Works of his which are counted the most legitimate.
As for the three Books of Prognosticks, so much as is true in them, is of no higher a * 3.186 nature, than what falls under the obser∣vation of the meanest persons that have to do about the sick: which makes me won∣der, that so wise a man as Heurnius, should bestow these Flowers to adorn them; that they are most absolute, and full of Di∣vine Oracles, and never reprehended in the current of so many Ages; And yet now for all this, they ought not to be used more kindly than they deserve: For, perceiving
in the course of Practise, that many of them, and of the Coacae P••aenotiones, did fail me, I could not, at first, tell what to think of the rest; but afterwards, having the summ of them reduced into order under certain Heads Alphabetically, after the manner of Common Places, ready to be produced, I began to compare them upon occasion in observing the Sick, and by this means I am the better able to advise o∣thers to be wary how they trust them, because they have so often deceived me.
In the First Book, the First noteth the Posture of the Face in Acute D••seases; If Nose be sharp, Eyes hollow, Temples fallen, Ears cold and contracted, Skin dried, Colour * 3.187 pale, black, or leaden, it is a dangerous state, and pray you who is ignorant of this Truth? Not an old woman in all the Town but will seal to it. And yet out of this state men daily recover, and are apt to fall into it upon every light occasion, as by over-Watching, Fasting, and immo∣derate Fluxes; which he himself in the very next Text admitteth; and to those might have added also excess of Venery, * 3.188 Traveling, Study, and the like; either of which will presently bring a man's coun∣tenance
to be the picture of this Facies Hippocratica; but of these he takes no no∣tice, but records onely the other three to be consider'd by the Physician upon his first access to the Patient.—The fourth Text makes Observations upon the Eyes, and pronounceth them deadly; to which I say, though the Eye be the Index of the Soul, and gives us, in many Cases, a no∣table guess at the inward state, yet the Judgments grounded according to his de∣scriptions touching the Eye, are every jot as fallacious, as are the common Progno∣sticks upon Urines; yet upon these and the Eye-lids he bestows two Texts more.—From thence to the 17. Text, he dwells upon the Postures of lying in Bed, and ge∣stures of the Hands; and the summ of all he saith is, that those postures and gestures are best which are most like the usual po∣stures of men in health: Et è contra. Such Oracles as these are obvious, and are de∣livered at the fire-side by every old wo∣man that attends the Sick. And yet let me tell you, he that ventures his credit in Prognosticating upon postures and gestures, shall assuredly give cause ever and anon to be laughed at.—The 17. and the 18. tell us, that in acute Diseases a cold Breath is
deadly; and that easie breathing portends good, but short breathing, and great breath∣ing, pain and inflammation in the Brest, and a Delirium at hand; which sometimes may be so, but more often it is not so, as we all well know; and I should be loth to be guided by such Phaenomena as these in the ordering of a Patient, seeing they fall out often, where there is neither Pain, nor In∣flammation, nor a Delirium subsequent: Especially in Scorbutick Fevers, as most of the Fevers now extant are. The 18. and 19. are about Sweats, and tell us, those Sweats are best which abate the Fever, and that cold Sweats, and partial or imperfect Sweats, are bad: Thus you see all along, that what in these Prognosticks is true is but very ordinary stuff.—From the 19. to the end of this First Book, he treats of Abscesses or Tumors in the Hypochon∣ders, in Fevers; which in acute ones are seldom seen, but in other Fevers, and Agues, they sometimes happen, and but sometimes; and then usually when the bodie's habit is vitiated by preposterous waies of Curation.
In the second Book of Prognosticks, af∣ter three Texts spent about Dropsies (the second whereof is Oraculous, because a
Riddle) He tells us in the fourth, that if the Head, Hands, and Feet grow cold, while the middle parts burn, tis ill, and that it is best, that the whole Bodie should be warm and soft.—The 6. saith, blue or livid Hands and Feet be token Death, and that it is not so bad, if they be black, which two Texts every body will grant, and preach on as well as the best Doctor; but the conclusion of the latter, which saith, that if the Patient happen to escape with life, yet the parts blackish will gangrene, is most false.—The 5. is com∣mon stuff, which saith, tis good, if the Pa∣tient can turn and rouse himself cheerfully; but dangerous, if he be sluggish.—In the 7. he is very common likewise in his Progno∣stications touching sleep.—From thence to the 20. he treats of Stools, and out of the close-stool Pan he delivers Oracles, which are some true, and none of them alwaies true; yea the best of them about Stools are not frequently true; but it may be so, and it may more often not be so; for, tis very often to be seen, that the worser the Stools are which pass from the Patient, the more relief he receives, and the more spee∣dily he recovers, Nature carrying off that way the Malignant matter of the Disease.—From thence to the 34. he plaies the
Pisse-Prophet, and undertakes to progno∣sticate from the Urinal, quasi vitro magico * 3.189 divinare, to divine as it were by a Magical glass (it is Dr. Willis his expression) and I hope those sentences shall not be admit∣ted for Oracles. The residue of this Book toucheth upon Vomitings, Spittings, Expectorations, and Purulencies; of which it is certain, that to judge so positively of a Patients condition by Colours and Consistencies of Vomits and Spittles, is a very idle thing, seeing those which ap∣pear worst do (as we find) very often tend to the best: And as for Purulent Persons, it was the Impotency of the old Physici∣ans, which in Diseases of the Chest, could not so mannage a Cure of them (I instance a Pleurisie for one) as to pre∣vent a termination of them in Puru∣lency.
In the third Book, the four first Texts discourse of Crises and Critical days; of which I have already eased the Reader.—The 5. and 6. determine upon what Terms you are to expect an eruption of Bloud by the Nose after the 20 day of a Fever. But of what use is this now? when some of us are ashamed to see how long people are held in Fevers under
cure, not only till the 20. day, but long after; whereas in fewer days a hopefull account may be given, if at all, except error be committed by the Patient, or his Attendants.—From thence to the 16. treating of Exulcerations of the Mouth and Throat, and Quinsies, his Doctrin is good.—The 16. relates to Critical days, and so is not worth the noting.—From thence to the 24. he treats of Ab∣scesses or Tumors at the Tail of long Fevers and Agues; which are very rare to be seen in our days, only in some few they so fall out.—From thence to the 30. he treats of Head-ach in Fevers, and saith, If the Disease begin with Head-ach, the Patient becomes more afflicted the 4. day than on the 5. but is better again on the 7. Again, if the Head begin to ake on the third day of the Fever, then the Patient will be most affli∣cted on the 5. but will be freed from the Dis∣ease on the 9, or on the 11. day. Again, if the Head begin to ake on the 5. day then ex∣pect a Crisis on the 14. all which, he saith, holds good in Continual Fevers, and Ex∣quisite Tertians: But let the Reader ob∣serve these Fevers, and he shall generally find all this to be fallacious and frivolous. And yet he concludes his Books of Prog∣nosticks
with this Magisterial Assertion; that they will be found to prove true in Libya, that is to say in the hottest Coun∣try; and in Delos, i. e. in a temperate Country; and in Scythia, i. e. the coldest Country; which is as much as to say, they will hold certain in all Times and Places, having been so Calculated for the Meridian of Greece, his native Country, that they will serve indifferently for all Climates and Nations in the world: And this the Commentators will not stick to swear on the behalf of their great Master; though they cannot be ignorant, that things seldom fall out so: but the Tra∣ding upon old Notions must be held up, and there is the Business; If we recede from old Things, and suffer a reformati∣on in any (said the Council of Trent) it will take off all reverence to the rest: I shall not apply it to the Concernments of Physick, but leave impartial men to judge, whether some Professors Interests, and Ignorance also, may not lie in the way of so necessary a work, as reforming and redeeming of so Noble a Profession; and what Credit is to be given to one that contradicts himself, I mean this our great Master, who forgot that the 19. Aphorism of his second Book consutes all
that he delivers here as certain about Acute Diseases; for there he saith, that the Predictions concerning such Diseases are uncertain. And whereas he hath so im∣periously said, that his Prognosticks will hold certain in all Countrys, I note it clearly contradicts the reason of his * 3.190 se∣cond Aphorism, which bids us in Evacua∣tions of the Body, have respect to the dif∣ference of Countries, in regard the same Effects cannot be expected in all alike, be∣cause (as Heurnius, who hath collected the sense of the best Commentators up∣on the Text, saith) according as a Country is hot, cold, moist, dry, or windy, and ac∣cording to the manner of feeding used there∣in, ità variis succis circumfluent corpora, so mens bodies will abound with various Juices; from whence I argue, that if the Bloud of mens Bodies differ according to their respective Countries, then by a pa∣rity of reason it follows, the Motions of it, and Operations, and Effects thereupon depending, must needs be different; and so tis impossible that the same Events in reference to spontaneous Evacuations should fall out alike; in several Countries & tis much less to be expected they should so in regard Nature doth so particularly ob∣serve
the Climate (as is implied in that se∣cond Aphorism) that you cannot without prejudice force her by Art, to any Evacua∣tion, or excretion, which is not agreeable to her in the particular Country where she is. What then (I pray you) can ye think of one general Uniform Rule of Prog∣nostication, touching the Phaenomena, and the Events of Diseases, in all the Coun∣tries of the World? I am sory I have grated so hard upon this business, but it cannot be avoided: It is no more than what some of the more ingenious sort of men have been aiming at before; only, because in those days it was not conveni∣ent to discredit the old Learning, when they had no better to substitute in the room of it, therefore they endeavoured to salve all sores, and touch them very tenderly; but I say,
—Immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum est.—There is no redeeming of our Faculty, but (as my Lord Bacon's expression is) by attempting an Instauration ab imis fun∣damentis, * 3.191 from the very foundations, and by taking off in the first place, that su∣perstitious
reverence which hath been so long paid to the antiquated Masters of the Profession.
Thus much then for Hippocrates, touch∣ing whom I could spin out a volume by insisting upon other Works of his; but let it suffice, that * 3.192 Sanctorius gives one Caution touching his Sentences, that sometimes they are not true; and many of them have been detected by the industry of this latter Age. Mr. Boyl also is loth to speak out, because he hath (he saith) * 3.193 a great respect for Hippocrates; and were it not for that, he should venture to say, that some of those rigid Laws of Draco (whose severity made men say they were written in Bloud) did perhaps cost fewer persons their lives, than that one Aphorism of Hippocrates, which saith, that if a Teeming woman be let bloud, She will miscarry; for, it hath for divers Ages prevailed with great numbers of Phy∣sicians, to suffer multitudes of their Female Patients to die under their hands, who might probably have been rescued by a discreet Phlebotomy, which Experience hath assured us (whatever the close of the * 3.194 Aphorism saith to the contrary) to have been sometimes not only safely, but usefully employed, even when the Infant is grown pretty big. By neglect of this, numbers of Teeming women
have been sufler'd to perish, who might pro∣bably, by a seasonable loss of some of their bloud, have prevented that of their Lives. And the same noble person having ven∣tured to say thus much, goes yet a little further, and shews the great inconveni∣ence of resting upon Prognosticks, and what mischief it doth in the practise of Physick, because upon the credit of them many times a Patient is judged incurable, and so left, when as it is no such matter: For (saith he) * 3.195 That in Acute Diseases, Persons given over by Physicians may reco∣ver, the more judicious even of those Gale∣nists that are of a despondent temper will not deny: For, not only Celsus gives us this sober admonition, * 3.196 that Physicians ought not to be ignorant, that even in Acute Diseases the Signs both of life and death are fallacious; but even Hippocrates him∣self, who was so skilful in Prognosticks con∣fesseth, that the Predictions in Acute Diseases are not wholly certain as to life and death. And even in Chronical Dis∣eases, where Events are wont much better to answer Physcians Predictions, there are sometimes such Cures performed, as may encourage humane industry, and keep a sick mans Friends from forsaking the Cure of
him. For, it hath been often seen, that di∣vers persons given over by some Physicians, have been cured by others, perchance more lucky than more skilful, by the use of extra∣ordinary, powerful, and especially Chymical Physick. Which discourse falls in very pat with what the same learned Gentle∣man saith in another place, * 3.197 viz. That the Prognosticks hitherto current in Authors, and commonly made by Physicians, do suppose the use of the Received Remedies, and of the Dogmatical Method of Physick; but if there were discovered such generous comman∣ding Medicins, as by powerfully assisting Na∣ture, or by nimbly proscribing the Morbifick Matter, might enable Nature to hinder the Disease from continuing its Course, and act∣ing its Tragedies in the Body, then Physici∣ans would not need in Acute Diseases to wait so long for a Crisis to instruct their Progno∣sticks.
Thus he: Which is indeed as much as I would say, and all that I intended when I d••d set Pen to Paper against Hippo∣crates his Aphorisms and Prognosticks, viz. to shew, that a precise regard to them doth but puzzle a Physician in his work of Curing, and dispose him to commit many errors, supposing such and such
signs will produce such effects, and have such events as those books of Prognosticks do tell him; and that therefore his main work is only to watch the motions of Na∣ture, and wait for Critical Solutions and Excretions, and do just nothing, or what is as good as nothing, administer faint, lan∣guid remedies, which are of no force ei∣ther to forward Nature or to hinder her; whereas if he were Master of more noble Remedies, there needed not this expecta∣tion to the 14. or the 20. day in Acute Diseases, but the Course of them might be cut off betimes; and in Chronick Dis∣eases, they would not be so frequently led aside, to use this or that Method and Re∣medie, which they suppose, upon the cre∣dit of old Aphorisms and Prognosticks, fit to be used, when as perhaps it is quite contrary to the nature of the Disease, and pernicious to the Patient. In a word; the Maxims and Predictions of this Au∣thor, and the Determinations of other old Authors, might (so far as they have any thing of Truth in them) be of some use, if we had no better Remedies than those of the Shops to relie on; or if Dis∣eases themselves were not so exceedingly alter'd from what they were when those
Authors were living. But the Case be∣ing alter'd, a new state of things requires new Medicins, and new Methods, with other Aphorisms and Prognosticks more agreeable thereunto.
Thus, the greatest stress of reputation lying upon Hippocrates, I have inlarged so much upon him, that I shall need to say the less of his Commentator Galen, be∣cause he writes after him; but somtimes he * 3.198 contradicts him; as when Hippocrates forbids the giving of Food to Patients before Paroxysms or Fits, the other saith it is not alwaies good, for that Cholerick Persons, if they be not fed in the begin∣ning of a Fit, are apt to fall into a Maras∣mus. Lo then (saith * 3.199 Sanctorius) how those Medical precepts are often apt to deceive us, if they be not discreetly heeded! As for Galen Himself, the same learned man hath taken good pains to wean us from our Superstiti∣ous devotion also towards him, having rec∣kon'd up at least 31. of his Errors, spending upon him four or five Chapters to that purpose: And whereas Galen seems most to triumph in his Book concerning the Use of the parts of man's bodie, that Excel∣lent Anatomist Vesalius shews him to have been very ignorant of Anatomie, and that
he never performed one Anatomical Dis∣section, so that it is supposed he took things upon Trust, and transcribed out of other men's works; for, he proves him to have erred in one Hundred and Sixteen Particulars touching Parts.
Therefore, the more regard is to be gi∣ven to what Sanctorius saith, that seeing Galen hath erred, if he speak contrary to our * 3.200 Sences, why should we not reject him? and forasmuch as he is neither an Allie, nor Kins∣man of mine, nor Uncle to any of my An∣cestors, that I know of, nor Canonised in the catalogue of Saints, as one that had been by Divine power inspired, I see no reason (saith he) why we may not all honorably re∣linquish him. Wherefore, after he hath reckoned up his Errors, he tells us, that yet there are many men of no mean reputati∣on, who had rather derogate from their own Sences, than from Aristotle or Galen, and who mortally hate and rail against such as would debate things mith freedom. And of this Temper (he saith) Jacobus Sylvius was against Vesalius, calling him, in allusion to his name, Vesanus, that is to say, mad, or not right in his Wits, and his most ex∣cellent Book of Anatomie he calls a filthy Sink, a rude indigested heap of stuff, and
thereupon exhorts the Readers to tear it, stamp it under foot, and throw it in the fire. At length, after all the bitter In∣vectives that he could make, he humbly besought the Emperor, to punish Vesa∣lius, as a Monster of ignorance, ingratitude, and arrogance; and this for no other cause, but that he relied more upon his own Sen∣ces than the Authority of Galen. Indeed Sylvius was a very learned man (as his nu∣merous Writings do shew) but a little too Hot-headed with zeal for his Master; as most Galenists use to be, against any that would Dethrone him from the Infal∣lible Chair, and the Principality of Phy∣sick.
And yet I must needs desire a little more of their patience, to hear how he who made it his business to contradict, and trample down all the Physicians of his time, became guilty at last of contradict∣ing himself; and thus it will alwaies be when men write with vain glorious pride and choler.
About the beginning of his Book De Tremore & P••lpitatione, he saith, Trembling is an involuntary Motion of the parts; yet a little after he adds, that Tremblers have
not Motion without the Command of the Will.
In his second Book De Febr. Diff. cap. 1. he saith, a Semitertian is of the number of Continual Fevers. The same in effect he saith in Comm. 2. in lib. 6. Epid. cap. 22. and yet in his Book De Typis he affirms, that a Semitertian is not alwaies Continual, but somtimes Intermitting.
In 13. Method. Med. and in many other places, he saith, the Splene is nourished with the grossest blood, much more gross than that with which the Liver is nourished: which he directly contradicteth in lib. 4. De usu Part. saying, that the bodie of the Splene being finer than the Liver, and thicker than the Lungs, it is deservedly nourished with the finer part of the bloud.
In that little Tract of his, wherein he discusseth the Point of Purgation, he saith, that Serous and thin humors you are to purge in the beginning, but in gross and viscous humors you are to expect concoction. But note that he saith also, that all thin humors * 3.201 are crude; which Assertion he in many pla∣ces opposeth, saying, that all crude humors ought to be concocted before they be evacua∣ted; which he before limited only to gross humors.
In his 2. Commentary upon the Prog∣nosticks, cap. 36. he saith, Children concoct all things very speedily, by reason of the strength of the Alterative power, which is stronger in them than in young men. The like he de∣clares Comm. 3. in lib. 6. Epid. cap. 15. and in his 3. Comment. in Prognost. cap. 34. But all these places he contradicts in his Comment upon the 27. Aphorism, lib. 3. where he saith, that the Dispositions of Chil∣dren are very quickly alter'd, as well through the moistness of their Bodies, as by reason of the weakness of their natural Power.
In his Comment 1. in lib. 6. Epid. cap. 1. he saith, that the Nerves are not Hollow: which he contradicts in lib. 1. de Symptom. Caus. Also in his book De Dissectione Ner∣vorum, and in the 8. 10. & 16. De usu Partium; and his fourth book De Locis Affectis, cap. 1.
In his Comment on the 23. Aph. lib. 3. he saith, no man can stop his own breath∣ing; which is as much as if he should say, the work of Respiration is not voluntary but perpetual: which is plainly contrary to what he saith in his second Book De Motu Musculorum, where he asserts the work of Respiration to be an Act voluntary, and at the arbitration of the soul: For proof
of he produceth an Instance touching a Slave, who being vehemently stirr'd with anger, resolved to die, and lying along on on the ground, held his Breath till he died, &c.
In his 1. Book De Simpl. Med. Fac. cap. 8. & 29. he saith, that Water doth cool and extinguish thirst, because of its Cold and Moist Nature. But he pronounceth the quite contrary Comm. 5. in lib. De Rat. Vict. in Morb. acut. cap. 40. where treating of Water, he saith it doth neither quench Thirst, nor Moisten. And in his Comment, on Aph. 13. lib. 4. he affirms, that water is, neither inwardly taken, nor outwardly applied, apt to moisten the so∣lid Parts.
In his Comment 1. in lib. De Rat. Vict. in Morb. Acut. cap. 22. he saith, that Ho∣ney'd Water, and Wine, do moisten more than Water can: yet in lib. 1. De Simpl, Med. Fac. cap. 30. he writes, that of all moist things Water doth moisten most, and that nothing is more moistning than Water.
In his third Comment on the same Book, cap. 40. he saith, that Water turns to Bile in such persons as have Bowels Tumesied, and that it is corrupted in a
Bilious Stomack. But in lib. 9. Meth. Med. he professeth, that a true Erysipelas settled in any Bowel, is not to be cured otherwise than by drinking cold Water. Also, in his Book De Arte Cur. ad Glauc. he adviseth, that in very hot burning Fe∣vers, such as arise from yellow Bile, that the Patient should drink water boldly.
In several places, and especially at the end of his Book De Opt. Sectâ, he saith, a Phlegmon is a preternatural Tumor with pain, not apt to be compressed, but hard, and hot. Quite contrary to which he writes in Com∣ment. 1. in lib. 6. Epid. cap. 29. Hard things grow hard by being dried through Cold; and that a Phlegmon doth not cause a hard Tumor, but that it yields to compression, af∣ter the manner of skins or bladders fild with water or wind.
In lib. 6. de Locis Affect. cap. 2. And in Comment. in Aph. 10. lib. 7. and in Comm. 2. lib. 3. Epid. cap. 6. And in Comment in Aph. 44. & lib. 6. And in this third Book also concerning the Natural Faculties, he saith, that persons seized with that Disease called the Iliack Passion, do void their Or∣dure upwards by vomit. Which directly thwarts what he saith in his Comment on Aph. 12. lib. 4. where he declars, that
nothing contained in the guts can be voided by vomiting.
A man might proceed a great way fur∣ther at this Rate, if it were worth the while; but this is enough to tire the Rea∣der, and (I think) to instruct any man, that neither he nor Hippocrates are much to be relied on in the practise of Physick. And if I ever have a more fit occasion hereafter, I shall be more copious: But here now I intend brevity, and give only a Taste, to excite ingenious men to a more strict enquiry, and a shaking off that yoak of bondage, under which we have been detained in a superstitious adoration of poor Heathens, for so many Ages. And yet not so, as to cast them off wholy; for there is use of them in a degree, and of their Commentators, as there is of old Posts and Stones, though it be but to shew where the old Road was, and how we may be take our selves to better waies, by comparing it with the new.
V. The next thing to be brought un∣der examination is Phlebotomy or Blood-let∣ting: a thing very much practised, but how agreeable the Course is in these North-parts of the world, I shall Dis∣cuss by and by: In the mean while know,
I do not reject it where there is urgent Cause; but tis so seldom that there is a tolerable cause for it in our Climate, that I cannot but admire at the boldness of ma∣ny Physicians, who make it (as I have of∣ten said) like the Prologue to the Play, a matter of Course and Custom in most Cases that come before them; though truly, in most Cases, nothing can be of worse consequence to the Body.
In order to the more handsom Discus∣sion of this so important a Point, give me leave to set down certain Particulars, as Prolegomena, i. e. preliminary and intro∣ductory to the Discourse.
1. We shall take for granted, because it hath been abundantly proved, that the Disease called the Scurvy or rather a Scor∣butick state of Body is more or less to be considered, as befalling men generally in these Northern Nations. If so, then it is to be considered also, what kind of bloud usually flows in the Veins of persons Scor∣butically disposed: And here, in this mat∣ter, let me use the Authority of that grave Collector Sennertus, who in his Tract concerning the Scurvy * 3.202 saith, the Bloud of persons touched with a Scorbu∣tick Tincture becomes of the nature of
Vinegar, and such also is the Bloud of all Melancholick persons, as say * 3.203 Hippocra∣tes and Galen, whereas in its right state in sound persons it is compared to generous Wine; and he intimateth, that the Scor∣butick humor is generated after the same manner as Vinegar out of Wine. And as there are many other things by him de∣scribed, which as Causes contribute to the turning of Wine to Vinegar; so a∣mong the rest he tells us, it may be done by casting a little Ferment, that is leven or leavened bread, into it, which by degrees turns the Wine into its own acrimonious acid Nature. The same also is done, when an ill Scorbutick Ferment comes any way into that generous liquor the Bloud, and turns it to an acid ichorous acrimonious state and condition: for a vitious Ferment, as well as crude and sharp humors, will corrupt the Mass of Bloud. Moreover, if by any Accident, as Heat, or other∣wise, Wine happen to lose its Sulphur, that is, its Sulphureous or Balsamick part (it being apt to evaporate) then it turns likewise to Vinegar: After the same manner also it fares with the Bloud when its Balsamy Part is evaporated by Fevers, immoderate Heats, Sorrows, Studies,
Watchings, Exercises, or Venery, the corrosive Salty parts left behind predomi∣nate, and so pervert the Mass into such a sharp condition, that it can be compa∣red to nothing more fitly than to Vine∣gar.
As a further confirmation of this, take in also the Judgment of another grave Author, Greg. Horstius, who shews like∣wise, what the state of the bloud is in Scorbutick persons; and first he speaks * 3.204 as a Galenist, and saith, their blood is crude and Ichorous, apt to taint and corrupt all the Alimentary Juice which is daily added to it, and turn it into its own soure vitious Na∣ture. After this again, he speaks much to the purpose as a Chymist, and saith, that the blood becomes thus Crude and Icho∣rous, and Nature is not able in Scorbutick dispositions to restore it, to its Balsamick state, because of an impure Tartar, endued with Vitriolate and Aluminous qualities, di∣luted and united with the Mass of bloud: which turns it into an acid state.
This acid state of the blood, as to the manner of its generation, is very well il∣lustrated by our learned Countriman Do∣ctor Willis, in several places of his Book De Ferment. & Febr. And, which is as
considerable to our purpose, he sets forth also the manner of its degenerating into a vapid flat state, like Wine or Vinegar that is corrupted and become flat or dead; which I shall take in also by and by, be∣cause upon both these considerations I ground divers of my following Argu∣ments. This man, in his Book concern∣ing Fevers, Chap. 1. & 6. agreeth with Sennertus, that in Scorbutick persons the bloud is acid, even as it is in persons Hy∣pochondriacal, or that are seized with a Quartan, wherein he saith that the liquor of the Bloud in naturam Ponticam & aci∣diusculam degenerat, degenerates into a sour austere acid nature. And a little before he describes it thus, Sanguinis liquor à na∣tu••â dulci, spirituosâ, & balsamicâ, in aci∣dam & nonnihil austeram, instar vini aces∣centis, transit, i. e. the liquor of the Bloud passeth from a sweet, Spirituous and balsa∣mick Nature, into an acid and somewhat austere, like Wine degenerating into Vine∣gar.
2. In the second place, I would have this agreed on also; that the main cause of this acid state of the Bloud is an abate∣ment, or a decay of its Sulphur and Spirit: This appears by * 3.205 Sennertus, who saith,
that generous liquor, Wine, is wont to become acid, when that principle the Sulphur is for the most part gone from the Salt, either by evaporation or otherwise, and so that principle the Salt which be∣fore was Volatile, and friendly, becomes fixt, and acrimonious or acid: which is the true cause of Vinegar: which appears plain enough by putting flame to Vinegar, for, it will not burn, because the Sulphur is absent, and the Winy Spirit extinct, or depressed. This is seconded by the afore∣mentioned Doctor, * 3.206 who saith, that the evaporation of the Sulphur and Spirit out of mens bloud, occasioned through the heat of the Summer, is one reason why men in Autumn have that acid state of bloud, which renders them lyable to Quartan Agues, and the Scurvy; which is not to be restored by any other means, than by dulcifying it; that is, by altering it with such Medicins and Meats, as may impregnate it anew with an amicable Vola∣tile Salt, and a Balsamick Sulphur and Spirit: Just so as Wines, when they are growing acid, or flat and vapid, are not to be restored any other way, than by feed∣ing them with Flesh, and rich Syrups, and fresh Lees, or other things that
abound with a Sulphureous and Spirituous nature.
3. That as the Blood in Persons of∣ten contracts an acid state, so likewise in Scorbutick and other ill-affected bo∣dies, it at length, after the manner of Wine, degenerates so far, as to grow vapid, flat and dead, being devested of its Balsamick Sulphureous and Spirituous part, in a further degree. This is illustrated al∣so by the same industrious Doctor in his Book De Ferment. * 3.207 where he shews, that the more of the Spirits and Sulphur of Wine is lost, the nearer it draws down and is impoverished to a vapid condition; which is more deplorable than the former; for there, part of the Winy Spirits are re∣maining, though depressed, but here they are almost, or else quite drawn off and fled away, so that the Wine is with marvelous difficulty, or not at all, to be recovered: And just so it fares with man's bloud; it is, when it is once come to that vapid pass, very rarely revived and Spirited again, but being crude and watery, by degrees de∣stroys the vital heat, and the Ferments of the parts, and becomes unapt for motion or Circulation.
4. That the Bloud many times may, af∣ter the manner of Milk, by some Cause or other be coagulated; in which Case the Doctor saith * 3.208, the Mass is divided into parts, the more gross and terrestrial from the thinner part; by which means the bloud is not so well circulated in the Ves∣sels, but that its congeled parts (or porti∣ons of it like gelly) being apt to settle in the extremities of the Limbs, or to be∣come stagnant in the heart, do interrupt its even Motion, or exceedingly hinder it; for the restauration whereof, Ebullitions greater than ordinary are raised in the bloud; as in the Pleurisie, pestilent Fevers, small Pox, and all venemous Diseases: to which Sence he speaks also in * 3.209 other pla∣ces, and enumerates other Diseases caused thereby, as the Quinsie, Inflammation of the Lungs, Dysenterie, as well as maligne and pestilent Diseases. And that this Coagu∣lation or Congelation be falling the bloud is no new doctrin (though some have smiled at it) may be seen by Hippocrates his Book De Morbis (I mean the First Book, for, the other three are accounted Spurious) where you shall find the Notion in divers Texts; as in the 112, 129. and 145, &c.
5. That the work of Sanguisication or bloud-making is performed by the Bloud; that is to say, the Chyle being mingled in the Vena Cava with the stream of bloud, and passing along with it through the heart into the Arteries becomes Bloud, and as it passeth afterward through all the Instru∣ments or Parts, doth from the Ferment of every one receive somwhat that tends to its further Elaboration and perfection. For the clearing of this, * 3.210 Doctor Charl∣ton hath well collected the Sence of the later and best Anatomists; which is, that the Chyle being imported into the Subclavian Veines, and from them into the Vena Cava, and thence immediately disembogued into the right Ventricle of the heart, is there con∣verted into a liquor of a different Nature, viz. Bloud, by a kind of exaltation of its Nature, or an advance of those natural Spirits which it containeth, into vital or more sublimed and active ones. By this, the Liver (he saith) is deposed from the office of Sanguifi∣cation; and Dr. * 3.211 Harvey concludes, that the Liver borroweth its heat and colour from the Bloud; but not the Bloud from the Liver. And a little after, to set forth the manner of the Chyle's being Tinctured by Bloud into the same Nature and Crimson co∣lour,
he saith, the Chyle makes but a short stay in the heart, but remains constantly com∣mixed with the Bloud, untill it be thereto per∣fectly assimilated. The bloud flowing in the heart, Arteries, and Veines, doth in quanti∣ty at least ten times exceed the Chyle of one Meal, and in strength or activity an hundred (for, what is more potent than that Spirit which enliveneth the whole Bodie; what more soft, gentle, and more easily superable than Chyle?) and therefore no doubt but the Bloud doth easily obtain Victory over the Chyle, and over-run it with his own nature.
To this agreeth that of Doctor Willis * 3.212, who saith, that the Alimentary Juice (or Chyle) which is supplied out of our daily Food, comes crude; but being commixed with the Bloud, and circulated with it, is as∣similated thereto: Indeed, of late yeers, this Doctrin hath prevailed among the most learned, that the Liver is not the office of Sanguification, as was supposed, but that the work is performed by other Means, and after another manner. Of this number is Andreas Caesalpinus, Con∣ringius, Thomas Bartholinus, Vesalius, and Doctor Harvey, with others: and tis que∣stionless the very Truth.
Now these five Particulars being con∣firmed as Preliminary, let me have leave to argue thereupon.
I. That we ought to be very wary of drawing bloud in our Climate, in regard of the universal spreading of the Scorbu∣tick Tincture: For, I am perswaded, more than half of the Sick do suffer upon this Account, in these Northerly Nations; as is cleared pretty well in the foregoing part of this Book, it being an undoubted Truth, that the Scurvy is predominating in most of our Diseases, and consequent∣ly that we have much more of a crude acid Serum floating in the Mass of Bloud, than is usual in the more delicate Climates, where that Disease is but rarely found; and this, because, besides the considerati∣on of Adventitious Causes, our blood is in its own nature much more Dilute and Serous. This you have well Discoursed by an eminent Professor of one of the Uni∣versities of Germany, by name Augustinus Thonerus, one that I find to have been in great esteem with Greg. Horstius, and with all the famous Physicians of that time; who having declared his own * 3.213 Judgement against bleeding in the Fevers of the Northern Climates, adds to his own also
the Testimony of Zacutus Lus. in these words: It cannot be amiss here to recite what is said by Zacutus in his Observations touching the Bloud of the Spaniards, and of the Germans, which is most worthy to be known and noted, viz. That in the bodies of Spaniards there abounds a bloud thick, suc∣culent, and compact, so that if they be seized by a Continual Fever, they all die, unless there intervene a large letting out of bloud. On the contrary, the bodies of the Germans are filled with bloud crude, watery, and not very firm or compact. If in Fevers the bloud which is drawn from a Spaniard be fluid and watery, so that it do not thicken with stand∣ing, it is an undoubted sign, known even to Idiots, that they all die, because the Fibres of the bloud are corrupt and dissolved: But in Germany, not only in malignant Fevers, but even in the lesser Diseases, and sickly per∣sons, the bloud, though fluid and watery, be∣tokeneth no danger. Hereupon it comes to pass, that the Germans do hardly bear bloud-letting, especially if it be large, because their bloud is less Spirituous; as is evident by ex∣perience, in regard, that if we in health be let bloud, merely for prevention of a Disease, we very often fall into grievous Faintings, even while the blood is flowing: Much more
then is it to be feared in Continual Fevers. The nature of the Iralians differs not much from the constitution of the Spaniards; and the complexion of the French is firy, so that they may have greater need of eventilation by bleeding. Wherefore, things thus standing, it were (saith he) a Physicians best course to use providence and caution in this matter, and to accommodate his counsel according to the diversity of Countries, Reason and Ex∣perience shewing him the way.
If this be the state of the bloud of the Germans, from whom we English are ex∣tracted, and who live in a Northern Clime not much different from theirs, certainly what is true in this case of them, must needs very much concern us: The bloud of us both is much alike, as to the Spi∣rituous part, because most of the Sick in both Countries have their souls even drowned in a Floud of Serous and Scor∣butick humors within the Veins, whose acidity and acrimony shews, after the manner of Vinegar, that the Spirits there∣in contained are either very few, or very much depressed. I would fain know then, whether in opening Veins that contain so much of an acid Serum, and so little of the noble Crimson liquor, it be not a great
hazard to let out so great a part of the Crimson as appears in every Phlebotomy, because in it the Vital Spirits abound, and it is as it were the balsam of the bloud, so that the subtracting of but a little must of necessity leave the rest behind much more lyable to dilution and corruption, by rea∣son of the superabundance of the Serous acid Humors, and therefore the less able to give a Tincture and nature of bloud to the new Chyle which succeeds; where∣upon, it not being duly assimilated and Sanguified, instead of being converted into good bloud, doth degenerate, and add to the Floud of Crudities and Acidi∣ties, to the further disabling of the bodie at present, and a disposing it for the future to worse Diseases, and a languishing life, which is worse than Death. How many every year are seen upon this Account, ex∣ceedingly to suffer! when Physicians up∣on every slight Motion or Ebullition of Humors, are immediately for opening a Vein, the consequence whereof is, for the most part, a disposing of the Limbs to Numbedness, and Stiches, Aches, Prick∣ings, Arthritick and Nephritick pains, and Agues and Fevers, debility of Stomack, and of all the Bowels, Gravel and wind-Colick,
all manner of Hypochondri∣ack passions, and the hastning on of old Age, through the continual heaping up of Crudities, because Nature, losing much of Vital power in every opening of a Sluce (on which power the validity of all the Ferments of the Parts and Vessels (which are the great Elaborators) the work of Concoction doth solely depend) is not able to give the Succeeding Chyle and Bloud its due Digestion and Vitality. Tis to be granted, that at the first, our Scor∣butick Patients seem to come off with re∣lief, the diminution and eventilation of the liquor by Phlebotomy, putting a stop to the high boyling, and so there follows a Pacification, and hence it is that the Physi∣cian seems to deserve praise for it; but alas the relief is but fraudulent and temporary, the body pays for it afterward, being there∣by exposed to greater exasperations and e∣bullitions, upon the access of every extra∣neous Adventitious heat, and exotick ir∣ritating Spirit, when the Natural Heat and Spirits are by loss of Bloud made weak and low: the truth of which is abun∣dantly seen in the less Vegete, or the Va∣letudinary state of Bodies, especially if they abound with those acid and acrimo∣nious
Juices. What a horrid thing is it to see, how freely many times bloud is drawn in the beginning of Agues, Fevers, and Arthritick Distempers, &c. upon a pre∣tence of quelling the immoderate Fer∣mentation of the Mass, whenas there are so many other waies to the Wood? but admit there were not, yet certainly hand∣some purgation by Specificks might be much more proper in such habited Bodies; for, even this, if the Medicin be right, gives as present relief, and without the like hazard; it drains the ill humors, with∣out diminishing the Crimson Balsam and Vital Spirit, which departs and vanisheth (more or less) upon every Section of the Veins and Eventation of the Bloud (as some do call it.) Methinks, as of all the Galenists I most admire Fernelius, so doubtless his determination is excellent in this Case * 3.214, Venae Sectio fortasse vitiosum humorem qui consistit in venis, at non since∣rum evacuat, sed Sanguine & utili humore permistum: Purgatio verò id solum quod vi∣tiosum est & qualitate peccat, utilirelicto, nisi fortè immoderatiùs efferatur. The opening of a Vein (saith he) doth perhaps empty that vitious humor which is in the Veins, yet not sincere or mere, but mingled
with the bloud and the profitable humor: But Purgation empties that only which is vitious and offends in quality, leaving the profitable behind in the Veines, unless perchance it work too immoderately. To which let me add also, unless the Physician be destitute of such neat Purgers as are fit for the pur∣pose. Now I know, there are many Cita∣tions brought out of Hippocrates and Galen to the contrary, preferring Phlebotomy as a more safe remedy than Purging. To which I say, whatever Hippocrates might do in Greece, or Galen who practised in Greece and Rome, by way of bleeding, is no example for us, not only in regard of the difference of Climates, but in respect also of the Alteration of Time and Dis∣eases themselves: And there is this likewise considerable in the Case, that Hippocrates was acquainted with no evacu∣ators but Hellebore and such like violent stuff; and Galen knew only the like, and ill-corrected Scammoniates, sharp and firy, such as set Nature upon the rack; and therefore they had some reason, practising in so delicate Climates, in a less Tainted Age, to preferr Bleeding as a more safe remedy than purging; but what is that to us in the Northern world, at this time,
where the states of men and Diseases, as well as Climates, are quite other things, and on whom God hath bestowed a better Furniture of Remedies? Truly, besides these reasons, there is so much the less Cause to heed what Galen saith about this matter, because as in many other things, so in this he hath the luck to be self-con∣tradictory, as all heady quarelsom ambi∣tious Writers are wont to be; for, in his Comment on 2. Aph. 19. he extolls Blooding as a safe remedy before Purging; and on the contrary 2. Acut. 11. He mag∣nifies Purgation before Bleeding: There∣fore, if in those Countries and Times it was a measuring Cast, that he could not readily conclude which to side with as best and safest, then the preference of Purga∣tion is to be admitted without question by us now, having so many new measures of Reason to preponderate and invalidate the old. What a marvelous hazard then must we needs run by longer relying upon Ga∣lenick Doctrin, and exotick practises learn't abroad, and brought home by some pretending Doctors? who return perchance with little more than a Diploma and forein Twattle, to trie Conclusions upon our Countrimen by strange Notions
and Customs, not at all agreeable to the Constitutions of our Bodies; especially by the bold way of bleeding, which Thou∣sands of Familes are bound to curse; and this Custom is the more confidently owned by Travellers, because besides their Observations beyond-Sea, their Phantsies are heightned with old Galenick Authorities; especially in Fevers and all acute Diseases promiscuously; For, in Fe∣vers, and most Agues, bloud is drawn of course, because * 3.215 Galen saith, where any thing of Putredo is in Fevers, you are to draw bloud, even to Fainting; and the whole stream of Authors run a madding after him, except only * 3.216 Averroes, the most judicious Author among the Arabians. But this manner of Practise will appear so much the more intolerable, if we go to sensible experiment; for, in bloud-let∣ting, suppose that Ten ounces be drawn, you will have sometimes 4.5. or perhaps 7. ounces of Humors, the residue good bloud; now the loss of but a little good bloud more concerns the Body as to damage, than the evacuation of the concurrent hu∣mors by Phlebotomy can advantage it, be∣cause the more Cacochymy or ill juice is contained in the Veins, so much the
more reason there is, not to part with any part of the Crimson liquor, though never so small, because in it the Vital power is lodged to carry on the work of future Sanguification; and the Diminution of any part of it is but a disabling of what remains behind. Now in Purgation, the Case is much otherwise; for, though Helmont say Purgatives do but corrupt the Bloud and Humors into that stinking state, and then draw them away, yet he must be understood of those deleterious venemous Purgers in common use; whereas new ones are found, and more may be found out, which will drain the Veins of their vitious humors in an amicable manner, and leave the bloud behind purified from its own impurities, and untainted with any exotick Ferment contracted from the Me∣dicin: which work being done without straining or offensive irritation of Nature, the Fermentation or Ebullition in Acute Diseases ceaseth of its self without any more ado. But if Purgation will not do, there are next to be used other means to pacifie, with much more effect and secu∣rity than by Phlebotomy, which alwaies rids away a portion of the Sulphur, the Balsamick and Spirituous part of the
bloud; which if kept within the Body, would conduce to a more quick over-ru∣ling and pacifying of the abundance of Sa∣line acid Humors, which are floating in the Veines of most persons that are ill-habited, or Scorbutically inclined For,
2. If it be true (as I have before shewn) that a decay of the Sulphur and Spirituous part of any liquor, is the cause of its be∣coming crude and acid, and if thereupon also the Salty part become extravagant for want of the Spirit and Sulphur to re∣strain and attemper it; it is plain likewise in the bloud, that the Balsamick Sulphur and Spirituous part thereof being but little, and less in our Northern Bodies than those of other Climates, it must be a pernicious course that shall offer to make it less; for (as I have hinted already) every little part drawn away leaves the remainder in the Veins less able to allay or sweeten the acrimony of those acid and Saline Humors which are associated therewith. This is the Cause, why Fevers, and Agues, in these parts of the world, usually fare ill upon bleeding; for, though for some hours after perhaps there seem to be some abatement, yet commonly presently the Disease becomes thereby more fierce and
difficulty curable; the strength Spirits and Balsam (which should help to qualifie and conquer the Morbifick matter) being more abated than the Feverish Cause, or its Distemper.
To second this necessary truth, give me leave to introduce the same learned Au∣thor, whom I mentioned before, viz. Tho∣nerus the German Professor, whose Judg∣ment concerning Continual Fevers is back't with Reason, Experience, and good Authorities; so that it cannot be amiss to cite him here at large. * 3.217 That drawing of Bloud is (saith he) dangerous, and for the most part deadly, is evident in Reason: For, whereas the Source of those Fevers springs not from a Plethorie or Fulness, but from ill Juices, and that which feeds or kindles the Disease exists in a putrefaction and corrup∣tion of serous and pituitous Humors, fre∣quently mingled with such as are ichorous and bilious; if then Bloud be let, the Humors become the more unruly and confused, and natural strength is cast down by a resolution of the vital Spirits, which not being strong before in an ill-habited body, must needs be unable afterward to encounter with the Dis∣ease and conquer it.
Add moreover (saith he) that the Seminary of those Fevers being for the most part setled in the M••seraick Veins and the lesser vessels more distant from the heart, it falls out there∣upon, that a Vein being opened, the more lau∣dable bloud flows out first; afterward follows that which is much worse, and so by reason of vacuity, to preserve a continuation of the stream, the vitious humors being called away from the remoter or remotest parts, and brought nearer to the heart, cause much detri∣ment and danger. And when there is Ma∣lignity in those Fevers, they have much more need of good Cordials so fitted as to infringe it, and discuss the Miasma or Malign Inqui∣nation of blood and humors. It is wit∣nessed by Experience, that many persons who have drawn bloud to prevent Fevers, have by that means been seized thereby, some ex∣amples whereof you will find in my Observa∣tions; and Philip Hochstetterus Physician of Aubsburgh, relateth in his observati∣ons, that he knew divers of the Nobility and Gentry, who having no Sence of any Disease likely to come on them, would needs be let bloud for security, but within few daies after fell into a Fever, and died. For my own part (saith he) I have by long experience found, that many persons seized by those Fe∣vers,
from whom bloud hath been drawn by advice of principal Physicians, have thereby been sent packing to their Graves, although their bodies, as to outward appearance, have seemed Sanguine and Plethorick. Thereupon, I being afraid to follow their steps, do very rare∣ly give order for or encourage the opening of a Vein. And it hath very often been no small matter of wonder to me, that forein Physici∣ans, both Italian, French, and Spanish, are so profuse in letting bloud, in all Continual Fevers without distinction. Of late, four Germans, of which three were Barons, be∣ing at Paris, fell into a Fever, and were blouded several times, after the fashion of that place; the three Barons died, but the fourth man escaped, though less strong of con∣stitution than the other. So farr this grave Author; some of whose Expressions though I approve not, yet as to the main about the sond custom of Bleeding, he speaks Reason, and his own Experi∣ence in a Climate little differing from ours.
The like also may be said concerning those Intermittent Fevers called Agues, for the Cure of which (especially in the Spring) tis a common course to Vomit, Purge, and Bleed, This (as Doctor Willis
saith, is * 3.218 Curatio Dogmatica, the common Dogmatical way of curing Tertians, by which the Sick are miserably tormented, and the Disease seldom removed, so that this Dis∣ease is deservedly called Oppobrium Medi∣corum, the shame and Reproach of Physicians. Here, though he seem to disallow Vomi∣tories and Purgatives, it must needs be understood of those Medicaments which are commonly used by such as practise the Dogmatical Galenick way, which usually infect the bloud with an ill Tincture, and by irritation put it into a more fierce Fer∣mentation, and worse disorder than be∣fore; but other Evacuators may be had whereby that Inconvenience is avoidable; and a little after, the same Doctor grants, that even by an ordinary Vomitory given a little before the Fit, the Ague is some∣times taken away. But that which makes against Bloud-letting is, that he saith there, that the Cause of Tertians is an ill disposition of bloud, acrimonious, and bilious, * 3.219 so that it doth not rightly transmute and assimilate the new Chyle or Nutrimental Juice which is continually supplied, so as to make good bloud of it, but turns it into an ill Fermentative matter: From whence I argue, that if the state of the bloud be
acrimonius, and (as he calls it) bilious, that is to say saturated with an adust degenera∣ted Sulphur, as well as a sharp acidity (as it usually is in all Agues, but remarkably in Tertians) certainly in the drawing forth of such bloud out of the Veins, the loss of the Balsamick genuine Sulphur and Spirit contained therein, which alwaies issueth out mixt with the other liquors, must needs be very mischievous, because the remaining liquors become the more prevalent within the Veins, and turn the succeeding Aliment for the most part into their own vitious Nature, instead of Bloud: So that tis no wonder, if every thing grows worse with a Tertian Ague after Phlebotomy. And if this be true touch∣ing Tertians, then the Reason holds a For∣tiori touching the other sorts of Agues, because the rest are more commonly at∣tended with a Bloud much more vitious, either crude, acid, or acrimonious. Hence it is, that the usual consequence of open∣ing a Vein is, that the state of the bloud growing more degenerous, through the loss of its Sulphur and Spirit, is changed from its active, spirituous, sweet, balsa∣mick condition, either into a flat and va∣pid, or else into an acid austere condition;
and so for these three years past, I have observed, especially in bodies Scorbuti∣cally inclined, that Tertians in the Spring, after Bleeding, and other Dogmatical Dotages about Cure, have in a short time been converted into Quotidians, and be∣fore Autumn into Quartans: others have become Double-Tertians; and in time wearing away the body after the fashion of a slow continual Fever, have made it be∣come Hectick, and wasted it to an incu∣rable Marasmus. And those robust bo∣dies that escape best, though the errors of Curation have not been able to sink them, yet usually they come off with a habit of body much impaired, being (most of them) all their daies after lyable to Drop∣sie, Gout, unwieldiness of body, Scurvy, Hypochondriack Melancholy, ill Con∣coctions, Obstructions, and all those Chro∣nick Diseases that are the Concomitants, or Consequents, of Crudity and Acidity; among which are various Arthritical pains, pains of the Loynes, Gravel, Stone, Scro∣phulous Tumors. Leprous, Scabby, Itchy, and Ulcerous Dispositions. And as these great Mischiefs the bodies of men remain lyable to, after Bleeding, and other irra∣tional Means and Scholastick Methods of
handling Agues; so the usual practise of Bleeding, upon pretence of Curing any of those Chronick Diseases before-men∣tioned, which proceed from a crude, icho∣rous, acid, acrimonious qualification of bloud, though it seem to cure at present, yet the truce given by the Disease is but like Fides Punica, very treacherous, be∣cause the Crimson balsamick liquor having lost part of its Sulphur and Spirit, hath less of a Vital Sanguifying power than it had before, and so every addition of Nu∣triment serves but to advance the Heap of Crudities and Acidities, and the Saltish principle, grown exorbitant for want of the native Spirit and Sulphur to restrain it, is exalted to a condition much more corro∣sive, and destructive: So that upon the least Accident, either by Change of wea∣ther, ill Diet, &c. or a Turn of the Sea∣sons of the year, the palliated Diseases, return with more severity than before; and yet after this, I have seen men so mad as to attempt a cure again by Bleeding, which procures perhaps a new P••iliation, till after many Repetitions of the same wicked Course, the habit of the Body and the state of the bloud becomes so depau∣perated, that its Vital principle being ex∣hausted,
there remains no more room for the like palliatory proceeding. Which leads me to a disquisition upon the third Preliminary Point; and that is the va∣pid, flat, insipid, dead state of the Bloud.
3. Now if there be such a flat, vapid, Spiritless state of Bloud (as we suppose, may be) that is to say, not absolutely such, but in an analogical Comparative Sence, (for, so it may be said to be, if compared with that florid Vegete vigorous condition which ought to be;) then surely it will be yielded, that in such a Case, letting bloud must needs be exceeding pernicious: For, the less of the nobler vital bloud is in the Mass, the more mischievous it is to part with any part of that little, forasmuch as in all openings of Veins a considerable pro∣portion of the Crimson liquor comes along with the other, and leaves the remaining Mass the more Spiritless and destitute. In any liquor, as the loss of the Sulphur, and a depression of the Spirits, causeth it grow acid and acrimonious; so a diminution, evaporation, destitution or deprivation of Spirits, causeth it to grow vapid, or (as we call it in English) flat and dead. This holds true likewise in the Liquor of the Veines: It may be concluded therefore, that when
it is brought to such a Pass, or in any per∣sons that lead a Course of life which must of necessity bring it to that pass, we ought to be very careful to avoid the breathing of a Vein (as they call it) or rather the brea∣thing out of the Spirituous liquor, which is that which gives life and vigor to the whole Mass, so farr as it is capable thereof.
The persons usually reduced to such a Pass as this are these,
Such Scorbutick persons, and the Pocky, as have much of those Ferments either He∣reditary, or else long setled and inveterated within them through ill Diet, or by ways of Contagion Mediate or Immediate long contracted; for, nothing eclypseth the lu∣minous Ethereal Vital Spirit, and by that means depauperates the bloud more than the poysonous Ferments of these Master-Maladies; and this is visible enough in those so Tainted, that have not by nature so strong a constitution of Body to resist the operative power and influence of the same Ferments, as some other Tainted persons have; for, in the weighing of all these Reasons you are to add a grain of Salt, that is, you are to give some allow∣ance, according to the condition of the Patients; but be it what it will, Bleeding
doth alwaies bring detriment; and by fre∣quent repetition of it, the Venom lodged in the other parts of the Mass gains the greater opportunity to shew it self, and by such errors, it at length acquires a Dominion, even in the strongest persons, over the whole habit of the Body; and then they are reduced to the same visible Inconveniences and damages, which are wont to ensue the bleeding of those other Tainted persons that are by nature of a more weakly Frame. But the sum of this Business is, that in these Cases, where any thing of those Contagious or Vene∣mous Ferments lurks, Bleeding doth hurt more or less, though sensibly and present∣ly in some more than in others; and this I observe, that when persons Tainted are seized with quick Agues, or Fevers, or o∣ther acute Diseases, which ever bring the strongest Constitutions down to a weakly state, the drawing of bloud draws a miser∣able Train of Consequents after it. Which hath brought me to this Resolution, and I hope it will work upon others, seeing the Venereous, and Scorbutick Ferments are grown so universal, never to open a Vein but when there is a very great urgency, or else a necessity for immediate saving of a
life, or upon some other extraordinary occasions; which are apprehended well enough by judicious Physicians, and it is not proper to my designe, who affect bre∣vity, here to recite them, and who have taken upon me, only to discover the vani∣ty of comprising Phlebotomy within the compass of a common Formal Method, as it was of old, in order to the curation of most Diseases; whenas all Constitutions of men and Diseases in this Age do (as I have pretty well manifested) participate more or less of the aforementioned Fer∣ments, and their Blouds are by the Fer∣mental Venoms contained in them, more or less vapid, dis-spirited and impoverish∣ed, or apt to be so upon any small Acci∣dent that way tending.
Next to the persons Scorbutically and Venereously Tainted, I may reckon those that are immoderate in the exercise of Simple Venery; for, excess this way wonderfully exhausteth the Spirits, and car∣ries away as it were the Flower, and most balsamick part of the Alimentary Juice, to the defrauding of the Mass of bloud of its noblest supply; so that it soon grows acid and acrimonious, and by degrees Spi∣ritless, Vapid, and Insipid. Such persons
as these are very lyable to Fevers; and if they happen to be seized therewith, or any other Disease, the opening of a Veine brings such damage as is scarce to be re∣paired.
It is to be observed likewise, that per∣sons given to excess of Wine, or strong Waters, or other Tiplings, do in tract of time lose the noble native Heat of the body, and the Spirituous Balsamick part of the bloud comes to evaporate and spend it Self, by being infested with an extraneous preternatural Heat, and with Crudities; and so the Mass becomes as vapid by this way of intemperance as any other.
The like may be said concerning people of a sorrowful Frame of Heart, or that are broken in their Fortunes, who are usually sick in mind rather then Body, and the mind disorders the body. Be their Disease what it will, I never saw them prosper with bleeding; or with the o∣ther Evacuations upward, or down∣ward, if violent, or frequent.
To these add also persons who are of little or no appetite to Feeding, or that have an ill Concoction; for, their liquor within the Veines must needs be very live∣less,
crude and vapid, seeing the Chyle comes to them imperfectly cocted; This is very well noted also by Doctor Willis * 3.220, who saith, that in men seemingly sound, after the more plentiful feeding and play∣ing the gluttons, perpetual Tiplings and large drinking Bouts, too great a quantity of Serum or juice is infused into the Bloud, so that its whole Mass being too much diluted with crude Humor, becomes more watery, and the less Spirituous; by which means men are rendred sluggish, and unapt for motion or ex∣ercise. But none have a more defective state of-bloud, than those that are worn and wasted by a long course of abstinence, hard labors, and Studies, Fastings, and Watchings; For, the same Doctor well saith, that in such Cases as these, the vi∣tal Spirit being very much evaporated, the Mass of bloud doth begin as it were to grow vapid, flat or dead. He saith also, * 3.221 that Diseases many times induce such a Disposition of bloud habitually; as do the Scurvy, Jaun∣dies, ill habit of Body, long Fevers and Agues, and the greatest part of Chronick Diseases; in which the whole Mass of bloud, passeth from a Spirituous nature into a sharp, acid, or austere.—Now in all these Cases and Constitutions, to venture upon draw∣ing
of bloud, unless in case of extreme necessity, is a thing so contrary to reason, as, not to be answered before God or man, seeing that after the detracting of any portion from the Mass, the slorid vi∣vacious part which comes forth, though never so little, is not to be made up again, where there is a redundance of crude, wa∣tery, Spiritless liquor in the Veines, to drown and pervert all the succeeding Ali∣mentary Juice, that should be made use of and improved towards the reparation of the loss.
4. Moreover, if there be at other times such a state of the bloud, as that which Hippocrates of old, and Doctor Willis of late, calls coagulated and congeled, certain∣ly wherever this state of bloud is found, the reason holds very strong here likewise against the opening of a Veine. Now doubtless, in all those Scorbutick Dispositi∣ons which proceed from a fixed Salt, it is obvious enough, that the bloud not ha∣ving the Spirit, and native Sulphur, suffi∣cient to attemper and exalt the Saline principle to its due state, it doth by its co∣agulating nature render the Mass of Bloud the more thick, and unapt for Circulati∣on; and in this Case, it being in reason
to be supposed, that the Circulation which is, is performed by the most Spirituous and noblest part of the Mass, what can be said but that when a Veine is opened, the noble and more sprightly Juice is let forth, and the vitious left behind, to do mischief sevensold more than ever it could do before?
Nor is it thus hazardous only in the common Chronick Scorbutick Dispositions; for, Coagulations of some parts of the Mass of bloud do happen upon many other Accounts also of Acute Diseases, particu∣larly in Continual Fevers. And very per∣tinent to our purpose, for the explanation of this particular, is that other place of the same learned Doctor, where he saith, that the bloud, after the manner of Milk, is subject to many mutations within the Veines, and among the rest, to be coagu∣lated, congeled or curdled, by the accession of acid Humors, and the like, that have a power to separate and curdle some part of the Mass. His words are these; * 3.222 as upon the opening of a Veine, the Bloud that is drawn forth, doth by a spontaneous Coagu∣lation, and separation of the parts from each other, imitate the various substances of Curded or Turnd Milk; so sometimes while
it is contained within the Veines and Arte∣ries, it undergoes just such another mutation by Morbifick Causes, as Milk doth when it is imbued with the Runnet; by which means the bloud being Clogged or Hindred in its cir∣culation, or in some places congeled and set∣led by parcels, produceth manifold Distem∣pers; among which, he reckons also Ma∣ligne and Pestilential Fevers. And to this also may be ascribed many Distempers of the Heart, and Lungs, while so ill-con∣ditioned a Bloud passeth through them in its circuit, and besides an ill Tincture, leaves behind it some curdled portions, or else congeled Clodders, sometimes to the suffocating, but often to the obsessing and distressing of those two most noble Vital Instruments of the Body. To the like purpose he speaks very well also toward the latter end of his second Chapter, which I have mentioned also before, Sometimes (saith he) there happens a preternatural manner of effervescency or Ebullition of Bloud, which induceth such an Alteration of it as befalls Milk; that is to say, sometimes there is induced a coagulation of that Crim∣son liquor by a Morbifick Cause, so that its substance being turn'd, separateth it Self into parts, and a secretion is made of the gross
and earthy part from the thin: by which means the bloud is not so readily circulaeed in the Vessels, but that portions of it like gelly, will be stagnant and clogging in the way, to the causation of divers Maligne and pestilent Distempers.
In his seventh Chapter, he saith the same, that è Miasmate venenato Sangui∣nem inficiente, ej úsque liquorem congelante, Febres Malignae dependent, from a vene∣mous Miasma or Inquination infecting the bloud, and congeling its liquor, Malig∣nant Fevers do depend. And in his four∣teenth Chapter, which treats particularly of Maligne Feavers, he saith, that the Ma∣ligne Ferment causeth a coagulation of the bloud by parts, which congeled portions cause a Necrosis or inward Mortification, with a Syncope or dejection of Spirits. Which he repeats again in his 15. Chapter touch∣ing the small Pox and the Measels; and a little afterwards saith, that the bloud being Tainted with the Ferment of the small Pox is apt to coagulate; and that the prime In∣tention in curing them is, that the motion of the bloud should be preserved from Stagnancy, and that the congeled or gellied venemous portions of it be driven out toward the skin; in which respect I cannot but wonder that
so learned a man, after he hath said thus much, should allow bleeding, if there be a Plethorie, as he doth express himself in the same place; whereas reason must needs hold very strong against it, because if there be in the small Pox and Measels (as he saith) a venemous or Malignant Mias∣ma, and an aptness in the bloud to coagu∣late, and if the venom cannot be drawn away by bleeding in any Malignant Dis∣ease (as he signifies sufficiently in the fore-going Chapters) nor the congeled porti∣ons of the Mass of bloud be let forth (which in other places he grants;) I say if these things be so, I would sain know then, whether that which is emitted from the Vein be not purior pars Sanguinis, the most florid Vital part of the bloud, and whe∣ther it being drained out of the Body, it be not in reason to be expected afterward, that Nature being debilitated by its loss, the venom having less of good juice with∣in the Veines to control it, must needs grow the more tyrannous, and the gelli∣ed por••ions become the less conquerable, and the circulatory motion much more slow, and less equal, when that vital and more sprightly juice whith should subdue, and quicken them to motion, and drive
them forth toward the Skin, is separated from them? In such case, certainly a pre∣tence of Plethorie is not passable, be∣cause Plethorie properly is but a Simple Fulness; but in these Diseases, the most cogent Indications are to be taken from the Malignity or venenosity of the Mias∣ma, and from the obstinacy of the mat∣ter; that is to say, of those congeled or gellied portions, which exasperate Nature, and hinder the purification of the Mass, and deprive it of its regular equal Motion throughout the Body. Therefore I sup∣pose at this time, the worthy Doctor (who I perceive is not very fond of Bleed∣ing) might be carried aside a little with the stream of Practisers; whose common Hypothesis hath been heretofore, that Na∣ture being by Bleeding eased of part of t••e hurden of Morbifick matter, is by that means the more inabled to deal with the Remainder: But as in these Malignant Diseases, Bleed∣ing carries not away the Malignity; so where the offending matter within the Veins is grown grumous, curdled, or gel∣lied, tis not to be imagined that the Prick of a Lancet can let it forth, but it will make way rather for a loss of the fluid and more lively part.
No marvel therefore, that we in these North parts of the world, whose Blouds are more naturally abounding with crude, serous, acrimonious Humors, and conse∣quently more inclinable to those Coagula∣tions, do by experience find it so exceed∣ingly destructive to draw bloud in Fevers (which are most of them Malignant) and in many other Diseases (there being Ma∣lignancy and acidity almost in all). And for Fevers, 'tis intolerable to see how custom∣ary this course continues among us, it be∣ing a matter of cou••se, insomuch that if a Patient die which hath not bled for a Fe∣ver, many of the better sort, taken with Forein Fashions, are apt to think it is for want of Bleeding. Tis not to be denied but cases extraordinary may happen to indicate it necessary, but then it should be admitted only upon such occasions, and not practised as a matter of course in our Climate: And the more suspicion there is of any Malig∣nity, the more it is to be avoided.
Hear therefore what our grave German Author Thonerus saith further about this matter. And it is not by vertue of his own opinion only, that he was against the opening of a Veine in his Climate, which is of so near a nature to ours; but he
* 3.223 brings in the Suffrages of other most eminent German Physicians, as Joannes Agricola an excellent Chymist and Practi∣tioner, who in his Book entituled Parva Chirurgia, saith, that letting of Bloud in a Malignant Fever is deadly, especially if it be delayed twenty four hours after the first seisure made by the Disease; and that he had observed above a hundred destroyed by Bleed∣ing. To him agreeth also that famous Practitioner Rulandus, who plainly pro∣fesseth, that he alwaies found it pernicious, and that though the Veines have been opened at the very first, yet the Fevers were thereby the more exasperated, and the more grievous Symptoms followed; for, (saith he) the Fe∣verish Fomes doth not consist in a Plethorie, but in a Cacochymie. Add to these also the learned Italian Fracastorius * 3.224, who saith, that when those Malignant Fevers which shewed themselves with spots, began first to spread in Italy, the Physicians pur∣sued the old course of Bleeding, and though they began the cure with it, yet they all died that had a Vein opened. And if the Course proved so destructive even in Italy, in a Disease that had Malignancy in it, what shall we think then of it in our Climate, and in this Age, where not only Fevers,
but most other Diseases have a Malignant and Contagious Ferment rooted in them?
And notwithstanding what slip'd be∣fore, I find Doctor Willis also (who hath had the honor of opening the eyes of the world, more than any before him, about the nature of Fevers) very positive against Bleeding: For in his ninth Chapter he saith, it is found by observation, that fre∣quent letting of Bloud renders men more apt to Fevers, wherefore it is commonly said, that those who once let bloud are inclined to a Fever, unless they do the same every year. And in his fourteenth Chapter, that where Malignity is, there, upon evacuation by Catharticks, or by Bleeding, Malignitas plerúmque augetur, it is for the most part encreased, and, if not heeded, more largely diffuseth its venom. And how can it be otherwise? seeing the Cause of the Dis∣ease is many times so seated, that a strong Purge will not easily reach the place, much less will Bleeding be a means to eva∣cuate any thing from thence: For, the Doctor and the best part of Authors do determine, that Maligne Fevers for the most part * 3.225 are seated in the Animal Spirits, or in that Spirituous subtile liquor which is abounding in the Brain, the Nerves, and all
the Nervous parts; and their venom takes impression the more profoundly, if the Patients have been oppressed either with Fears, or Griefs: These things the Doctor takes notice of as a great matter in the producing and qualification of those Fe∣vers: To which give me leave to add my own observation; that I never saw any person so oppressed, that hath been seized with any Fever, but the Disease grew worse after Bloud-letting, and the Cure much more difficult; but in Maligne Fe∣vers all things have proved so bad after it, that very few have escaped, but have im∣mediately visibly drawn on toward De∣struction. And the like may be said of persons that have been much delighted with, or debilitated by venereous exercises, Watchings, hard Studies, &c. or any Course of life that brings on a dissipation and po∣verty of Spirit, though otherwise their habit of body may seem never so Pletho∣rick, fleshy, or Sanguine.—But to re∣turn to the main; if it be so in Fevers of a Maligne Nature, that the labes of their venom usually lurks in the Animal Spi∣rits, and in the Spirituous liquor where∣with the Nerves and Nervous parts are ir∣rigated and stored; and seeing it is in the
nature of every Venom and Contagion whatsoever that befalls the Body, to take the course toward the Brain and the Ner∣vous parts and liquors, and there seat themselves, as is evident in all Pocky and Scorbutick Malignities, I would fain know which way Bleeding, which drains onely the Venal Bloud, should be of use to re∣lieve a Disease seated in so abstruse and re∣mote passages as the Nerves; and what the evacuation of bloud can contribute to the amending of a default contained in a nobler and more Spirituous liquor; and whether it be not a dangerous mistake, to aim at an eventilation and an allaying of ebullitions and Fervors of bloud, when the Fever is caused and continued by an effervescence and exagitation of the other Liquor aforesaid; and what a madness it is, in such Fevers to consider a putredi∣nous state in the Humors of the Mass of bloud, whenas the Disease mainly consists in Spirit? Moreover, seeing the Pocky, and Scorbutick Ferments are so rise and general in this Age, that they get more or less into all Diseases, and induce a Malignity in them (as hath been already shewn) it is worthy the care and study of Physicians to consider, whether Fevers in general have
not a Touch of Malignity in our Age, up∣on that account, as (I have shewn you) Helmont doth wisely determine; and con∣sequently whether in our daies, Fevers by the direction of those Maligne and Conta∣gious Fermenss, have not changed their usual Quarters in the Veins, Arteries, and Bowels, and taken up new ones in the Nervosum genus, the Brain and Nervous parts; and so whether the main battel in contending against them ought not to be maintained by Alexipharmacal Remedies, others than those in common use, and such as are more appropriate to the Nature of those Fermental Venoms, rather than by Bleeding and other evacuations? He who observes in these daies, almost in every Fever, yea and in Agues, what little Spasms, Vellications, Convulsive Moti∣ons, Tremblings, Stupors, Rigors, Tor∣pors, drowsie and delirious Symptoms, and the like distempers incident to the Nervous parts, are attending, and much more frequently than in former time, will easily grant, that Fevers do for the most part settle in the liquor of the Brain, and of its Nervous Appendants; and so that Bloud-letting, serving only to debilitate persons, because it cannot reach the
offending Cause, must needs be out of Doors, together with the ordinary lan∣guid Julips and Cordials of the Shops. To say no more of this, I have been very much confirmed in my Judgement, by observing the Practise of one who is no Academian, but an antient Practiser, of a good Insight into Nature, and exceeding dextrous and Successful in curing Fevers (a grand multitude daily flocking to him) and yet he draws no bloud, and very sel∣dom useth other evacuation than by breathing Sweats, procured by the use of Alexipharmacal means, such as oppose Malignity, and by dissolving, or discussing the coagulated or gellied portions of the Mass of bloud, do restore the bloud into a due course of Circulation, and preserve it so, till the Malignity be subdued, and dissipated per Diaphoresin, that is to say in English, by a breathing forth or transpi∣ration through the Skin. And what is said here against Blooding in Fevers, &c. is by a parity of Reason applicable to di∣vers other Acute Diseases; yea and much more to those that are Chronical, seeing the Coagulations and Congelations here de∣scribed are most frequent in them, by reason of the acrimonious Crudities and
Acidities which in these daies are in Vogue among them. Nevertheless, where Customary evacuations of bloud by Menstruals, Haemorrhoids, and the like, are suppressed; or if Patients have been of∣ten used to Bloud-letting for their Di∣stempers, somewhat may, in such cases, be indulged to necessity and custom, but not without the good consideration and care of a wise wary Physician.
5. If it be true, which the most learn∣ed and industrious Inquirers of this Age do now hold, that in the work of Sangui∣fication, it is the Bloud which makes Bloud; viz. that the power of conver∣ting the Chyle or Alimentary Juice into new Bloud, depends upon the goodness and the validity of the old Mass, which is supposed to give it the true Tincture and Transmutation, then the drawing forth of the Crimson liquor in all the Cases be∣fore-mentioned, wherein either the Spi∣rits are decayed, or the Mass is vitiated, doth but disable Nature from making a new supply, as I have before endeavored to illustrate; and so thereupon ariseth a just exception in innumerable Cases against Bloud-letting. Therefore it will be very much to the purpose also, here to cite
what is delivered by the same Doctor in several places, to shew, that such a state of Blood is prevalent in the causation of most Fevers, and thereupon to argue a∣gainst Bleeding in that case. In his first Chapter * 3.226 he saith thus: If the supply of the Alimentary Juice be not congenerous with the bloud nor assimilated to it, but, by reason of a defect of coction, is wholy diluted into a crude humor, it is a principal cause of perverting the Mass, and rendring it some∣times waterish and cold, sometimes sharp or Salt, and sometimes acid, austere, and de∣generated from its natural state after one manner or another, and becomes lyable to be stagnant, i. e. defective in motion, or subject to Feverish Ebullitions, and is a cause of Paroxysms or Fits in Agues and Fevers. This he confirms also in his third Chapter, saying, that the Esservescence of bloud in Agues, which constitutes the Fit, depends only upon the non assimilation of the Alimen∣tary Juice to the Bloud; and that the said Juice daily supplied out of our daily Food, not being duly digested and Sanguified by mixtion with the old Mass, doth degenerate into watery crude humor, which Nature not being able to subdue, is provoked to that Feverish disturbance, which we call a Fit;
and the Returns of it are not taken off, till the offending Juice be removed out of the Body. To this Sence is much of that Chapter, and he repeats it in his sixth Chapter when he comes to treat of Quar∣tan Agues; which may be applied also to most other Agues, because though they have another Type and Formality, yet they have much of the Nature of a Quar∣tan, by reason of the Scorbutick Acidi∣ties predominant in them more than here∣tofore, and that is the main reason why they are all become as difficult to be cured now, as Quartans were of old; so that drawing of Bloud and other Evacuations are as little to be allowed in them, as in the Quartans; wherein the learned Do∣ctor saith, Evacuators do not procure one jot of advantage, but rather by depauperating the Bloud, destroy the strength; whereas the right way to cure is, to reduce the Mass from its crude acid state, by such reme∣dies as will new Spirit the bloud, and volati∣lize it.
In a word, there is this to be said tou∣ching the different effects of Bleeding be∣twixt the Northern and the finer parts of the world; They bear it much better, because their bloud is endued naturally
with a greater plenty of Spirits, than ours, and hath less of that Serosa Colluvies with which the Northern men do abound; so that in the more delicate Countries when Bloud is drawn, those Spirits which are lost thereby are, because of their plenty, better spared, and sooner repaired; partly by the benignity of the Na••ive Air, and partly (yea especially) by the notable power of Assimilation which is in their Bloud, much beyond others; which quickly supplies them with Bloud again, because there is not in their Veins such a Floud of acid and vapid Serosities to drown and pervert the new Chyle, so as thereby to hinder the work of Assimilating it to the stock of Bloud which remains be∣hind; and therefore it is, that as they bear the loss better, in regard of a greater store of Spirits, so the reparation of the stock of Bloud and Spirits is much quicker, in regard of the more sure and speedy dis∣patch of Sanguification. Now in the Northern Climates, especially in a cloudy dripping Island, as ours is, where the Air is not so impregnated with clear luminous Ethereal and Spirituous Atoms, as theirs is, and consequently not so near of kin to the Spirit of man; as it cannot be ex∣pected
here should be so great a plenty of Spirits in our bloud; so likewise it is but reasonable (which is observed by Writers) that our Mass of bloud should be floated with a greater quantity of Crude Serosi∣ties, and consequently that we should be not so able to bear Bleeding, because of the paucity of Spirits; nor so likely to re∣pair what Bloud is lost, because the Re∣mainder hath less power to assimilate and Sanguifie the succeeding Alimentary Juice or Chyle. So that consider the different flate of the generality of men in the va∣rious Climates and Countries, and we see there is reason why they should generally approve Bleeding, and be relieved; and why we should have a general Aversation to it, so as not to permit the practise of it to be so general and customary, as in more delicate Airs and Countries, when we daily see it so destructive in our own. Away then with those Maxims and Methods of the Antients about Phlebotomy, which were calculated for the practise of another Climate: And yet I deny not but some particular Cases may require it here; only the Customariness and commonness of the thing ought to be exploded. For the il∣lustration and confirmation of our D••s∣course
about this matter, methinks that that of Heurnius is very pertinent, setting forth the nature of our Northern bloud and Spirits, that they are qualified accor∣ding to the Air; * 3.227 The Spirits of men (saith he) are variously affected by Aliments, and by the external Air; from whence it comes to pass, that those people which inhabit the cold parts of the world, by reason of their Dense or gross Spirits, which flow from a thick Bloud, are stout and formidable, and fearless of danger, &c. The Asiaticks and such other finer Nations, have a finer bloud and Spirits, &c. They have finer, and more Spirits, but more easily dissipable by Action, and by the fineness of their Air, and of their Bloud, the sooner repairable after Act on. On the other side, we ha∣ving more gross Spirits, by reason of the thickness and fogginess of our Air, and of our Bloud, those Spirits of ours are not so easily dissipated, and remain strong even after action; but because when we lose our bloud and Spirits together by Bleeding, they are not so easily or sud∣denly repairable, in regard of the abun∣dance of Serous (yea and gross) Crudities which alwaies float in the Mass, more than in warmer and clearer Countries;
therefore it is, that though we be more stout and valiant in Acting, and will fight in bloud to the last, when others shrink and fail, yet afterwards we generally feel more damage by loss of Bloud, than the other are wont to do.—But yet after all this, 'tis reported of the Turks, that though they live in those delicate Quarters of the Earth, they use not Bleeding, but are cured of their Diseases without it: which causeth wonder, that other Nati∣ons (as the French, Italians, Spaniards, and Portugals) breathing in the like Climates, should hold it so necessary, as that they seem not, in most sicknesses, to hope for any relief without it.
I might to these reasons of my own add here also the Reasonings of Helmont; but they are too large, and I have already dri∣ven out this Treatise to a greater length than I intended; only tis fit you take no∣tice of what is said by his Epitomiser * 3.228 Grembs, who after he hath reckoned up the several Arguments, concludes the Discourse about Fevers thus; That the opening of a Vein is a Fraudulent Remedy, and that by it no man can with any assurance promise health: And whereas Nature is the Curer of Diseases, by how much the stronger she
is maintained, so much the more happy she is in doing her work; and whereas in the course of the Disease she is sufficiently weakned by fast∣ing, want of sleep, and other Accidents, it can∣not be convenient to add weaking to weank∣ness by letting of Bloud. And he further signifies in the same Chapter, that bloud-letting hath hitherto been tolerated, only up∣on this Account, that Physicians have not been Masters of such powerful Medicins as might be effectual without it, and that it would be no longer tolerable to continue the Custom, if such Remedies were invented: wherefore, if ignorance of nobler Medica∣ments in antient time, first brought it in∣to practise, in Countries where it might be better tolerated than in ours, then cer∣tainly in this Age and Climate, where so many Reasons lie against it, and where God hath given a heart and wisdom to some laborious Students to find out bet∣ter Medicins and Methods, it is intolerable to see so many of our Countrimen nurst up in an opinion, that hardly any Cure can be wrought without it.
And as it tends not upon good account, towards the curation of those many Dis∣eases, in which tis commonly reputed ne∣cessary; so the same Author saith also it is
pernicious being used under pretence of preservation; * 3.229 prava ista consuetudo, &c. that ill custom of opening a Vein is no small cause of shortning a man's life; so that tis a wonder to see, that there is scarce a House in the City, wherein they use it not twice a year; so prodigal they are of wasting the Treasure of life! Yea more (saith he) I have known very many persons, very inclinable to an ill habit of body, and weaknesses of the Liver, and yet were so bold as to draw bloud every year, and so 'tis no wonder they were after∣wards snatch't away by untimely death. And in the same place he adds this, Hanc ma∣lam comsuetudinem non praepediunt Chirurgi & Tonsores, blaming such Chirurgians and Barbers as do not hinder this wicked Custom, which preyeth upon our Vital parts, cuts off the thred of life, accelerates an early death, and is in cause that even the strongest men have no long life; as is witnessed by experi∣ence. Thus He.
And so this is all that at this time I shall communicate upon this Sub∣ject of Phlebotomy; intending a more copious Discourse hereafter, if there shall be occasion.
VI. The last Particular that I mean now to insist on, is an examination of the state of Medicin, in respect of Medica∣ments, the old Scholastick Recipes or Compositions, which have been continu∣ed hitherto in the practise of Physick. I have in part shewn you before, by many Inferences made upon the parts of my discourse in the several Chapters, how in∣sufficient those Medicins must needs be which are in the reason of them grounded upon wrong Suppositions: For, as I told you, Mr. Boyle * 3.230 hath very well shewn, that the Doctrinals, and the Dogmatical Method, and the common Remedies, have a dependence upon each other. Indeed, if you keep to the Doctrin, you must hold to the Medicins; and if you use the Medicins, you must proceed in the Method, according to that Heathenish Galenick Doctrin. For, tis true, that An error in the Foun∣dation cannot be amended in the Superstru∣cture: If the trifling Notions of Elements, Qualities, Temperaments, Complexions, &c. be out of doors, what remains then, but to pray, that the crude, sulsom, ill-condi∣tioned Messes and Mixtures, and Liquors, which are fitted to those Notions, may be thrown out of doors also? And if
there be so great an Alteration of Diseases (as I have proved) and they proceeding (for the most part) from new Causes un∣known to the Antients, and of a much more mysterious Nature than formerly, (great Alterations having fallen out in the narrow Compass of twenty years past) what remains but that we ought to think also of another way of Pharmacie, for ma∣king of new Medicins; and not to destroy Apothecaries, but to rectifie and encou∣rage them? As the Case now stands with them, they are under a miserable drudge∣ry (and I have heard some of them sigh at it) that Custom prevailing for the use of so many Horrid Electuaries, Lohocs, strange contrived Pills, crude Drossie Sy∣rups, endless varieties of unguents, and Plasters, most of which are useless (and were they meliorated would yet be of lit∣tle use) they are obliged to drudge and toil to have all these things in readiness, or else they must lose their Customers; and if they have not Customers enough to take them off, they must stand and perish upon their hands; whereas if these were mended by preparation, and reduced to a very small number; or rather if the stream of their employment were turned,
by putting them upon a Materia Medica formed for the most part in the noble way of Chymical Preparation, they might, without that great ado which is made eve∣ry year, provide themselves in one year for seven or more years, of Medicins not lyable to corruption, and in the usage, of much more advantage and pleasure to their Patients. In the mean while, 'tis pitty to see so many ingenious men as are of that Profession, one of the worthy Companies of this great City, condem∣ned as it were to a Trade much like the Confectioners; the greatest part of which are, as things now stand, exposed to a Temptation to exceed their usual Bounds, and to relieve themselves, renounce o∣bedience to their Galenick Masters; in which course, it is humbly submitted to better Judgement, whether they do right to their Friends and Countrimen, or not; and whether a Toleration may not be gi∣ven them to preserve themselves from ruine, till there be more proper Do∣ctrins and Medicins instituted, in order to the practise of Physick; for, what use can there be of that piece of state the mere Scholastick Doctor, when the Apothecary sometimes must direct him, and at all
times, as well, if not better, under∣stands the Medicins, than he that seldom hath seen the making of a Medicin? or why should the sick be put to a double Charge for their cure, when as a common knowledge of the use of common Medi∣cins is likely to render them more effectual in the hands of an Apothecary, that useth them in such a Method as his own experi∣ence and Mother-wit will direct him, than in the hands or by the Prescript of such a Ti∣tular Doctor, as follows only that erroneous Method hitherto commended by the Schools? For my part, were I in a sick condition, and ignorant of the Art of Physick, and were there a necessity that I must submit to a Cure in the old way of means, I would rather commit my self into the hands of a prudent Apothecary, or of any prudent Practiser that is no Scholar, than venture my life at the dis∣pose of any other Practiser that pedantical∣ly pins himself up to the old Scholastick Learning and Medicins; because he that is no formal Doctor will probably follow his own observation and experience, as he finds things alter'd in the Age and Cli∣mate wherein he lives, and so may hit on a cure, because he projects to himself such
Means and Method, as seem agreeable to suuh Alteration; whereas a Doctor that is inspired with the Divinity of Hippocrates and Galen, having heard them boast in their Books, that their Maxims and Re∣medies are little less than infallible, and will hold so, in all Ages and Countries, to the end of the world, usually comes with those narrow antiquated Notions to the management of a Cure, and so must needs miss the mark, because things are otherwise now (though he will not believe it) than they were in the daies of old, or in the Countries of Greece, Italy, and Ara∣bia, from whence the common Oracles and Compositions are transmitted to us. Therefore doubtless the Apothecaries have reason to desire Favor in order to their Support and Maintenance; and the Sick, in many Cases, may with reason make use of the one, as well as, or without the other: And, admitt there be a necessi∣ty (as there seems to be) of other Do∣ctrins and Medicins in this Age and Quar∣ter of the world, then certainly if the Dogmatick Physicians will not be con∣verted, the Apothecaries have reason to leave them, and betake themselves more fully to the Study of Chymical Philoso∣phy,
and Chymical Preparations; and tis advisable for them to fall upon this course betimes, if they mean to preserve their Trade, because now adaies Princes, and Nobles generally apprehend the useful∣ness, gentleness, pleasantness and mighty power of Medicins so prepared, and what a Fulsomness and Insufficiency there is in the other: So that while it gains ground every day among the ingenious part of men, it is easie to foresee what the state of Physick will be after twenty years more are past, when Death shall have disposed of some few Practitioners, that are (as they think) too old and wise to learn better things.
Tis not to be presumed I can be an ene∣my to a company of men so considerable, and of so great ingenuity as the Apothe∣caries, because I wish a Reformation of their Shops, that they may be eased of that yoak that is imposed upon them, and furnish themselves with finer and less bul∣kie Medicins, such as may invite Physici∣ans of the new and nobler way to employ them; which cannot be expected, till they have laid aside the other Medica∣ments: For otherwise, necessity will con∣strain Physicians to erect Laboratories,
and take to the making of such Prepara∣tions within the compass of their own Houses, as will better fit and furnish them, for a finer and more delicate course of Practise. And if this Advice will not be hearkned to from me, they may do well to give ear to a learned and most inge∣nious Member of their own Profession, I mean Monsieur Le Febure, the Kings Royal Professor in Chymistry, and Apothecary in ordinary to the Houshold, who having dedicated to his Majesty the Book called A Complete Body of Chymistry, directs also an Epistle Entituled To the Apothecaries of England, wherein he tells them, that he hath, and alwaies shall have the same Ten∣derness for them, as he hath had for his own Countrimen the French Apothecaries: That the end of his endeavors in his undertaking is, to advance the dignity of Pharmacy, that is to say, the Art of the Apothecary, which now lies bending toward its ruine, if it be not upheld by its true Arches and Pil∣lars, the faithful learned experienced and curious Physicians; and that you may per∣ceive he doth not mean the Galenick Do∣ctors, he names those notable Chymists of the French Nation, Doctor Duhan, late publick Professor at Sedan, Doctor Clos of
Paris, who (as he saith) did him the favor to correct his Defaults, and lead him by the hand through all his endeavors; and Doctor Val∣lot the French Kings chief Physician at present, under whom he served as that Kings Apothecary, to perform operations by his direction for a true course of Pharmacy, which is Chymistry; so that you see the chiefest Physicians of our neighbor King∣dom have for some time been laboring to settle the Profession of Apothecaries up∣on a new and better, viz. the Chymical Foundation: For a little after he saith, He gives nothing in his Book to the Apothecaries but what he first received from the Physicians, so that it is to them only that they owe the ob∣ligation. And he invites the Apotheca∣ries to a falling to a more true and legiti∣mate course of Preparation than formerly, as the only means to attain better Reme∣dies and Compositions; and tells them, that he hath undertaken this labor for their sakes, because he never yet found one that hath taken the pains or care, to shew and dis∣cover punctually the manner of operating upon things to preserve their vertue and cor∣rect their defaults; and that they may ob∣serve the difference there is in the correction of those Medicaments which are made accor∣ding
to the opinions and directions of antient Pharmacie, with that which is directed and commanded by the Modern, viz. the Chymi∣cal; and that they may observe likewise the Envy and Malice of those that carp at and rail against Chymistry, whilst they through ignorance exclaim, that this admirable Art is not employed by its followers, save only on Poysons, whereas they will find Chymical Pre∣parations of Animals and Vegetables, as well as of other things.
Now other Apothecaries perceiving, not only by the words of this Apothecarie Royal, but by the current of the stream of Practise running every day in other Nati∣ons and our own also, toward this new and more safe, as well as delicate way of preparation of Medicins, grounded upon a new and more certain Philosophy than the Scholastick, must needs be at a great stand what to do; for, in regard that the pedantick Galenists, and the Semi-Chymists of the Town, know not how to attempt a cure, but by prescribing the old stuff, in pursuance of the old Dogmatical Learn∣ing, therefore the Apothecaries must have that stuff in readiness, or else they lose the benefit of that sort of Practise: and where∣as on the other hand, the later and more
excellent Brood of Physicians do every day run under the Wings of Chymistry, and addict themselves only to Experimen∣tal and more rational Learning, and to the inventing and using of more noble Medicaments than the Shops as yet afford, there is a necessity lying on these Physici∣ans, for the good of their Country, as well their own honor and content in the dis∣charge of a good Conscience, to decline the use of that old fulsom (and for the most part) unwholsom stuff (the best of it being but dull languid, and of little effi∣cacy to encounter the strange Hydraes of Diseases in this Age, or so much as to reach them in their lurking Dens and Cen∣tres of residence or retirement) and so not finding in the Shops what is agreeable to the new, they instead of sending Bils thither (as the fashion is) are constrained either to make Preparations in their own Houses, or else borrow and buy of one another what they know to be right and fit for their purpose: by which means most of the Apothecaries are strangers to them, and lose the greatest part of advantage, which otherwise might accrue to their So∣ciety by this new and nobler way of pra∣ctise. What remains then for remedy
and support to so worthy a Society as the Apothecaries, but that they should for present maintenance be indulged to make use of their own Medicins, at their own Discretion, among the Sick, seeing the prudent part of them understand the na∣ture of them, and the old road of practise belonging to them, as well as (if not bet∣ter than) the Galenists? For, unless nume∣rous Families be impoverished, there seems to be a kind of necessity of such in∣dulgence, till the old Galenick Formalities be reformed, or laid to sleep, and a more useful state of Pharmacie, and of Physical learning, can by degrees be admitted and settled in their place, that so the Shops and the Physicians may mutually corres∣pond again, and flourish in due time, by being established upon more sure Founda∣tions, and upon a more rational course of Practise, than ever can be attained to by a pursuance of the old Scholastick Precepts, Methods and Medicins; which appear eve∣ry year more fruitless and Worm-eaten than formerly, and a very few years ex∣perience more will give them a Pass∣port.
For, most excellently speaks Fernelius in this, as in many other things, who though he died a Galenist, it must be im∣puted to the time wherein he lived, rather than his own default; for, though the noble Art of Chymical Experimental Philosophy and Physick lay then very much in the dark, yet the notable brain of that man had formed to himself many more sublime Notions touching Nature and her operations, than the common Crambe of the Schools afforded; as may be seen by that refined Piece of his De Abditis Rerum Causis, concerning the hidden Causes of Things; which whoever reads will find he had so much good Philosophy in his head, as had he lived in this Age to see what we see, would quickly have brought him off to an imbracement of the profession of Chymical Physick. For, he saw well enough, that Diseases in his daies began to alter, and gives us to understand, that if there be an Alteration of the state of them, it must be also in the state of Medicin.
In his 17. Chapter * 3.231 treating of the occult powers of Medicaments, and of occult Diseases, he shews, that neither of them are to be consider'd according to the ordi∣nary
way of calculation upon Qualities, Temperaments, and the like. By occult Diseases he means such as do not lie in a distemper of Elements and Qualities, but have a higher and more secret Cause, which is termed à tot â substantiâ destructive of Nature. By occult powers of Medica∣ments, he means such as have a higher and more secret Faculty or power prove∣nient à tot â substantiâ, to oppose and con∣quer those occult Diseases, without con∣sideration of Temper or Distemper ari∣sing from Qualities, &c. In a word, by oc∣cult Diseases are to be understood such new ones as have a Malignity in them, which render them not definable by the common Schemes of Galenick Philosophy; and oc∣cult Medicaments are to be apprehended such, as by a specifick or peculiar power oppose and subdue Diseases, rather than by contrary Qualities and Tempers. But take him in his own Expressions, and he saith thus: I have (saith he) already shewn, that there are those occult silent and secret Powers in things, and that they are contain∣ed within the limits of Nature: For, * 3.232 if occult Diseases at any time arise, there is a necessity that there should be occult reme∣dies contrary to them. There is nothing in
this whole world, to which Nature hath not produced somwhat that is like (or agreeable) and somwhat that is contrary, although it cannot be found out by our diligence. There∣fore, as against Diseases proceeding from Distemper, we oppose vertues which are of a Distemper contrary; and against Diseases proceeding from matter, contrary faculties of matter; and against instrumentary Dis∣eases, the second powers or vertues of Medica∣ment, which arise from the powers of the Temperament and of the matter mixt to∣gether: So truly in occult Diseases à totâ substantiâ, it is necessary that nature should provide contrary powers, which are them∣selves also occult, and by disagreement à to∣tâ substantiâ contrary to them. For, shall we think such strange Diseases should lie as incurable and destitute of proper remedies? or that nature should be so exceedingly de∣fective, as not to afford us things necessary for life? Therefore in the nature of those Faculties and Qualities, which slow à totâ substantiâ, many orders or degrees are to be placed, whose extremes are contrary: Of these some are disagreeable, and wholy enemies to us; on the contrary, others are totâ substan∣tiâ both friendly and familiar, and as it were preservative of our life. These are they
which are customarily called the occult Pro∣prieties of Medicaments. Thus farr he; the result of which Discourse is, that if a new and occult nature of Diseases doth at any time start up, there must be occult new and noble Arcanaes made use of to cure them. To which Testimony of Fer∣nelius, let me add also that of the best of the old Physicians, I mean the prudent Celsus, who tells us in his Preface, that there do often happen new kinds of Diseases, of which no Account can be given by common experience. And therefore it in such case is necessary to consider upon what account they began; without which no mortal man can understand, why he should use one Remedy ra∣ther than another. Now to apply this to our present business; seeing I have made it in some measure apparent, what the Reasons and Causes are of the strange Newness that is in all manner of Diseases; and the new Causes being known how it began; and Celsus affirming the Reme∣dies must be proportionate to their Na∣ture, and consequently new; and Fer∣nelius avowing, that occult and mysterious Diseases must have mysterious Medicins to cure them; and the Medicins of the Shops not reaching the mysterious nature
of the Maladies of this Age, but being the best of them but languid, because most of them proportionated only to the exterior Phaenomena of Diseases, and not aiming at their internal central natures or essences, but being devised to answer and qualifie obvious Qualities and Tempera∣ments in the main of Medical practise, and of the Compositions thereto belonging, the use of them is to be left to such as nei∣ther know nor seek after better, if they can get the Sick to submit to them any longer. Petet autem Medicus novum Con∣silium, non à rebus latentibus (istae enim du∣biae & incertae sunt) sed ab his quae explorari possunt. When the world is at this pass, then (saith Celsus) it concerns the Physici∣an to entertain new Counsel, not deriving it from things latent (for those are dubious and uncertain) but from such as may by inquiry be made manifest: and this pru∣dent Admonition (I say) should excite all Physicians in this Age of Wonders in Diseases, to entertain new Counsels for the invention of Medicins which may suit with the variation of Diseases. What fulsom odious violent stuff was in use in the daies of Galen! which if a man should now use, he had need have a Farriers
Horn to force it down the throats of his Patients. Afterward, when the state of Medicaments was amended by the Arabi∣ans, they being (as * 3.233 Langius observes) Medicamentis Graecorum Medicis opulenti∣ores, stored better with Medicins than the Greek Physicians, though the use of Rhubarb, Senna, Cassia, Manna, and other fine things, was brought on, and better Compositions invented; yet they re∣mained still mighty lothsom and ill-condi∣tioned: And last of all, when Chymistry be∣gan to shew it self, and held forth a greater purity of Medicin, after the Hot Heads of the Galenists then ruling had been coo∣led in their Graves, and their Reproaches buried with them, their Successors by de∣grees began to refine their Practise, and meliorate the Shop-Compositions, and what they did of that nature was done by vertue of Notions borrowed from such as they in scorn termed Paracelsians: and yet after all that they have done to this day, though they cannot so amend the old Slops and Messes, as to make them friend∣ly to nature, and acceptable to the Stom∣ack, they still retain them, because they are loath to take pains to learn new and better means of practise; for, as Monsieur
Le Febure well saith, * 3.234 they think it becomes not them to set their hands to work, to attain a true knowledge of mixt Bodies by Chymical Anatomy. They, and their Sectators, ima∣gin they should wrong their Gravity and Doctoral state, to desile and fully their hands with the blackness of Coals; to which say∣ing of his, let me add, that it is much more ease and profit, to lie a bed when the name is up, or instead of viewing old Books to spend their time in Studying old Nurses, and Midwives, with the Creatures, the Humors, and the Inte∣rests of Families: this is quickly done with a Diploma in a mans Pocket to au∣thorise a Doctor. But (that I may con∣tinue the words of that ingenious French∣man) the Course of Chymical Philoso∣phers and Physicians hath been quite con∣trary; their learning lies not in Philoso∣phical Maxims raised by contemplation, but are perswaded that operation ought to be joyned to it, to attain full delight and satis∣faction, and lay firm and sure Foundations to their Reasonings; being unwilling to build upon the quick sands of vain, frivolous, and fantastical opinions: which makes them willing to undergo the charges, Toil, and la∣bor of practical Chymistry, and not be dis∣couraged
by watchings and ill scents and sa∣vors, that they may the sooner attain to a so∣lid and delightful knowledge of the works of Nature, and find out by the several experi∣ments of their works and Processes, the ab∣struse Causes of her wonderful effects. For, it is a very difficult matter for any to attain to the exact knowledge of things Natural, without the previous guidance of Chymistry, and an acquaintance therewith; neither can any be reckoned a perfect Physician without the help of Hermetick Philosophy, since it is the truest ground of Physick, without which no Practitioner can deserve any other Title than that of Emperick. It is not a Gown, nor a Degree taken in Universities, which makes a man a Physician, but a solid know∣ledge of Nature: To which I may add, that it is not a crossing the Sea, to buy that Degree abroad in Forein parts, and a returning home swoln with Title and con∣fidence. But there is a Theorie belonging to Chymistry, as well as a manual opera∣tion. The Theorie directs to a knowledge of the real parts and principles of mixt Bodies; and he who is not acquainted with them is a mere Emperick, though perhaps pufft up with Scholastick Learn∣ing, seeing he is altogether ignorant of the
internal Principles of the Bodies of men and Living creatures, and of Vegetables and Minerals, and is therefore unable, ei∣ther to invent a proper Medicin, or to give true Physical reasons why he doth admi∣nister such or such a remedy for such or such a Disease, because he considers not things real, as the Chymical Physicians do; and he knows not, that the rare Prescrip∣tions of Chymistry have their Medicins grounded, not upon the actions of First and Second Qualities (which the Galenists are wont to mind) but upon the internal Specifical vertues of their Chymical Prin∣ciples. Thus farr then I inlarge in the Sence of this most ingenious Artist: by whom it is sufficiently intimated, that the Medicaments of the Galenists imposed upon the poor Apothecaries, being groun∣ded upon the low Notions of Qualities and Temperaments, cannot reach to the Centre of any considerable Disease. But that they are so grounded, you shall not take my word only for it, but have it ac∣knowledged by one of the best of the Galenists themselves, I mean Langius, who in his time was chief Physician to five Princes Palatine of the Empire; and after he hath found fault with the vain Compo∣sitions
used in Shops, concludes thus, * 3.235 Nec Medicamentorum Compositiones rectè Methodo concinnatas despuo, quas cum con∣trarietatis proportione oporteat morbo esse analogas. Remediorum igitur & Medica∣mentorum compositionis esse easdem Indica∣tiones Galenus asserit, & recta curandi mor∣bos ratio quae contrariis constat, exigit.
I do not despise such Compositions of Medicins as are made according to a right Method, which ought to an∣swer a Disease by a proportioning of Contraries. Galen affirms, and the right Method of curing Diseases, which consists in Contraries, doth re∣quire, that there should be the same In∣dications of Remedies, and of the com∣position of Medicaments.Then he goes on, and shews what Galen's conceit is touching a Disease; a Disease he makes to consist in Diathesi, an ill Disposition; and what is this ill Disposition? he makes it to consist in a preter-natural state of Hot, Cold, Moist, Dry, &c. (as Helmont in many places throughout his work doth sufficiently mention, and confute it as a Phantsie); and so according to the Ga∣lenick determination, not only the pub∣like Medicaments of the Shops, but the
private Bils and Prescripts of the Galenists, are framed to this day; as may be seen upon the File in the Shop of any Apothe∣carie; for, as in their Definitions of Dis∣eases, they consider the ill Dispositions in Qualities as Diseases, whenas they are indeed but the Products and Consequents of Diseases; so in order to the work of curing, they generally proportion the Compositions of Medicins by the old Rule of Contraries, pretending thereby so to temper Ingredients which are of a nature contrary to each other, that out of their strife or contrariety, there may result a Medicin of such or such a Temperament, ••s they phantsie may be proper to encoun∣ter such or such a Distemper or ill Dispo∣sition of the Sick; and thus they trifle about the Shel, but never touch the Ker∣nel, never reach at the essential part of a Disease; whereas the Chymical Physicians, neglecting qualified Dispositions and Temperaments, consider the real Principles of humane Bodies, as they do either in excess or defect, or any other enormous state whatsoever, contribute to the form∣ing of a Disease; and accordingly in their analysing of mixt Bodies ordained for Me∣dicine, they make an examen of the very
same principles contained in them, and so order the Principles in the framing of a Medicament, that there may be in it a proportion of them, answerable to the same Principles in the body of man, and fitted to restrain, rectifie, or encounter them when they in any wise are exorbi∣tant, or peccant: So that in this way of curing, there is an accommodating of real Principles in Medicaments to the very same Principles in mans body, as grown irregular, and by consequence causative of Diseases. Now,
Utrum horum Mavis, accipe,chuse which you please, and let the world judge, which Sect of Physicians is most likely to understand the nature of Diseases, and the fitting of Medicaments to cure them; whether the Galenists, whose way is not to acquaint themselves with those Constituent principles, which are visible in the Chymical anatomising of mixt Bo∣dies, but rest in mere Traditional Do∣ctrins and phantastick opinions, wrap't up in general Conclusions and Definitions of pretended Principles, and of Diseases, the mere Products of wit and opinion, than
which, as my Lord Bacon saith, there is nothing more Polydaedalous, various and un∣certain (the Brain of man being a won∣drous winding Labyrinth of Conceptions); or whether the Chymists, who build their Philosophy or knowledge of Nature in man, and in Medicaments, and in Dis∣eases, upon real operations and producti∣ons of things natural, which they see, feel, and handle?
Nor are we to consider the Medica∣ments of the Shops only, as devised upon an Insufficient Foundation of reason, as to the principles consider'd by their Au∣thors in the Devising of them; but to look upon the very Frame of them, and observe what want there is of due cor∣rection of Ingredients, and how both Pure and Impure go all together in the Mass; and then it is considerable what an endless number of Kinreds and contraries are jumbled into a Body, whose Vertues strangulating one another, a Vertue diffe∣rent arising from them all, is supposed to be the curative power inherent in the whole Composition; and all that they can say for their Treacles, Electuaries, and their other Trumpery, is this, That they have by experience been found good for
this or that Distemper; and who then I pray you are the Empericks? Are not they that make Medicins by jumbling Ingredi∣ents at adventure, and then plead expe∣rience that they have done good, though the Mass be so made that the maker hath no rational ground to assure him it is good for this or that purpose? And shall not those men be reputed much more the Ra∣tional Physicians, who from their know∣ledge of the essential Principles of things do so form their Medicaments, that they have a certain ground wherefore they put in this or that, and prepare things thus or thus, from solid reason leading them by the hand towards the accomplishment of their work? One years proceeding at this rate in a Laboratory by a knowing Artist, shall produce Medicins of true nobility and worth, both Catharticks, Cordials, &c. such as will in vertue (not to men∣tion pleasure) weigh down all the bulky stuff that hath been since the daies of Hippocrates, or that can by assistance of the Galenick way be invented to the end of the world.
Nor let men think that I am without Authority for what I say, even from the most learned and ingenuous of the Galenists
themselves, who thought there was great need of a Reformation of the Medica∣ments of the Shops, and accordingly have complained in their Writings: But I shall cite only one, and that is the afore-men∣tioned Langius, in the same place of his Epistles; where he falls heavy upon the Apothecaries, and makes such Practisers also to be no better than the meanest Em∣pericks, who by an ambitious and vain * 3.236 ostentation of a Plurality and great Bodies of Remedies, suppose those Medicaments to be the better, which are without Method made up of a world of Succedaneums, Roots, Stones, Metalls, Herbs, and Flowers. And then he goes on thus, Nostri Logiatri om∣nia ad inanem ostentationem, in unum phar∣macum numerosum, veluti in confusum Chaos conglomerare solent; quibus Pharma∣copolas magis locupletant quàm aegros alle∣viant; that is to say, our mere Talkative Physicians are wont, out of a vain ostenta∣tion, to heap together all things into one nu∣merous Medicament, as it were into a con∣fused Chaos; by which they inrich the Apo∣thecaries rather than ease the Sick. This is very much condemned by Plutarch in his Symposiacks, * 3.237 and derided by him, and he brings in the Testimony of Erasistratus,
a Physician in request before Galen, and of a better Temper, upon the ruine of whose reputation Galen endevors to raise much of his own.
But though Langius speak so hardly of Apothecaries, it ought not to be charged upon all; the Fault is not in them, but in their Galenick Masters that impose on them a continuation of such Medicins, and hold the people (as well as they can) in an opinion of them, for the carrying on of their own dull dilatory way of Practise, which of all things under Heaven cries loudest for a Reformation; and the more ingenious sort of Apothecaries, which are not in confederacy with them, would re∣joyce in it as much as any, as a very great Deliverance. For, the stuffing of Bils with abundance of Ingredients is that which they sigh at as much as any. There∣fore Mr. Boyle would perswade Physicians out of this Humor; they should * 3.238 be per∣swaded (saith he) to decline that more fre∣quent than commendable custom, of stuffing each Recipe with a multitude of Ingredi∣ents: For, I think Physicians may well be more sparing, as to the number of the things prescribed, than most of them use to be, both to save charges to their Patients, and for
other Considerations. The addition of need∣less Ingredients to the Bulk of the Medicin makes it but the more troublesom to be taken, and the more apt to clogg the stomack; be∣sides, oftentimes the efficacy of the more use∣ful Ingredients, as well as their quantity in each Dose, is much abated by their being yoked with those that are less appropriate, or less operative. Besides, it seems a great im∣pediment to the further discovery of the ver∣tues of Simples, to confound so many of them in Compositions. For, in a mixture of a great number of Ingredients, tis so hard to know what is the operation of each, or any of them, that I fear there will scarce in a long time, be any great progress made in the dis∣covery of the vertues of simple Drugs, till they be either oftner employed singly, or be but few of them employed in one Remedy. And besides all this, whereas when one of these Mixtures is administred, the Physician ex∣pects * 3.239 but such operation as is suitable to the Quality which he conceives will be predomi∣nant in the whole Compound, several of the Ingredients may have particular Qualities that he dreams not of; which working upon a Body that the Physician considers as sub∣ject only to the Sickness that he endeavors to ••••re, may therein excite divers latent seeds
of other Distempers, and make new and un∣expected Commotions in the Body. And a little after, the learned Gentleman hath these words; I fear, that when a multitude of simples are heaped together into one com∣pound Medicin, though there may result a new Crasis, yet tis very hard for Physicians to know beforehand what that will be; and it may sometimes prove rather hurtful than good; or at least, by the Coalition, the ver∣tues of the chief Ingredients may be impair∣ed rather than improved; as we see that crude Mercury, crude Nitre, and crude Salt, may be either of them safely enough taken into the body in a good quantity; where∣as of Sublimate, which consists of those three Ingredients, a few grains may be rank Poyson.
And to shew what a poor esteem he hath of the best reputed Medicaments of the Galenists, he proceeds thus: As for those fam'd Compositions, Mithridate, Tre∣acle, and the like, though I cannot well com∣mend the skill of those that first devised them; and though I think that when two or three simples may answer the same Indicati∣ons, they may be more safely employed, yet I would by no means discommend the use of those Mixtures, because long experience hath
manifested them good in several Cases. And in a word, though I had not the respect that I have for Matthiolus, and other famous Do∣ctors that devised the Compositions, wherein∣to Ingredients are thrown by scores, if not by Hundreds, yet however I should not reject an effectual Remedy, because I thought it proved so rather by Chance, than by any skill in the Contriver: And I think a wise man may use a Remedy that scarce any but a Fool would bave devised. By which words of his, though couched as tenderly as may be, you may see what pittiful stuff he rec∣kons those Antidotes to be, which have till of late been held in so great estimati∣on, but are daily growing out of date, because Diseases being alter'd, they are of Service only in the slighter sort of Ma∣ladies which consist in Distemper; and though he handsomly brings it in, yet he doth as good as say the Authors made a business of them by chance, and that there was nothing of a sure Principle that guided them in the Contrivance.
Certainly then, it is high time to look towards other Principles to direct us in the inventing of Medicins proper for the Age wherein we live; nor are we to look only to Principles, and the state of Dis∣eases
in this Age, but we are also to have regard to the Climate, and Country where we live, if in the framing of Medicins we will fit them right for the purpose to which we intend them; for, what will cure in one Climate or Country, may either kill, or make the Sick much worse in another Country, there being a kind of Crasis Tem∣per or nature in one soil, and under one Sky, both as to Men and Things, which is different from those in other parts even of the same Country, much more in the re∣moter parts of the world; and therefore I do not see how we can, even for this cause, conceive that Medicaments, and Methods of using them, borrowed from Greeks, and Arabians, and other Quarters of the earth, can with reason be relied on, with so much Authority and confidence, as our ruling Galenists would perswade us at this day. I remember what prudent Celsus saith * 3.240, differre quoque pro naturâ lo∣corum genera Medicinae, & aliud opus esse Romae, aliud in Aegypto, aliud in Gallia; that is to say, the Kinds of Medicin ought to differ according to the nature of places, and that the work of curing is one thing at Rome, another in Egypt, and another in France. And that there is a different or
less efficacious effect in one and the same thing used in different Countries, appears by a Drug now grown into common use in England, I mean Coffee, which Prosper Alptnus * 3.241 relates to have abundance of vertues in that Country of Egypt, of which we find no effect in England, save that it serves to make a Liquor harmless enough in rhumatick Bodies, for ordinary conver∣sation, like other Drink, but not for any considerable peculiar uses of Medicin, as in Egypt; where it is not only common Tipple, as here, but a noted Medicament also in many occasions of Sickness, though as to the same purposes here, it be wholy ineffectual. Besides, somewhat of diffe∣rence is to be attributed likewise to the different manner of Life, Customs, Diet, and other Circumstances, which make people ••ven of the same Country differ from one another, much more people of divers Countries; which no Body will deny that considers the various effects of the same Medicaments administred in the North, and in the South of England; or to Gentlemen, Citizens, and Clowns: And therefore, I remember, Langius, in his fore-cited Epistle, commends to us the consideration of Domestick Medicins,
calculated with an agreeableness to our own Country, Natures, and Cases; and the use-of them, rather than the Medi∣cins devised by Foreiners. Indeed tis a wonder to see, how a few Authors of one or two particular Countries, have, through the ignorance of mankind, for many Ages, imposed Medicins, as of universal use for all the world.
By Domestick Medicins, I mean not such only as are growing at home in our own Fields and Gardens, but such Artifi∣cial Medicins also as are fitted to that which the Greeks call Idiosyncrasia the pe∣culiar Temper of our Bodies as we are Englishmen, and to the condition of the Diseases of our Country, there being as great a difference in the proprieties of the Diseases of distinct Countries, as there is in the Natures of the people. It were to be wished, that Simples of the growth of our own Country were more used, and the knowledge of their Vertues better improved; and then certainly much more might be effected by them than yet we see; especially, were our Diet and Drinks more Simple and less Luxurious, and people more temperate, doubtless mere Simples might be of much more efficacy, because
our Diseases would be more Simple, and much less Complicate than they are seen to be. But seeing we live in an Age, where∣in there is a conjunction of numerous Lux∣uries, which men acquaint their Bodies with in their manner of living, there is no relying upon Simples in the greater Dis∣eases; but there is a necessity of using Art to the utmost, till there be a more Temperate world; and all I contend for is, that in making use of Artificial Prepa∣rations, we should not rely upon devices of Foreiners, nor suffer them to be im∣posed upon us (as they have been of old to this day) as the only things to be rested on in case of Sickness, and upon that ac∣count up-held by Physicians for common use unto the People: but when we have occasion to make use of Medicins, the only way is to seek out such as are by our own Countrimen devised, with a regard to the peculiar condition of Nature in our own people, and to the alter'd state of Diseases among us. Upon such conside∣ration as this it was, that Hadrianus à Min∣sicht quitted the Prescripts of the ordina∣ry Dispensatories, and framed a store of Medicaments for his own Practise more suitable to the Country where he lived,
and much more pleasant than those Tor∣ments (meaning the common publick Me∣dicaments) * 3.242 which (he saith) are so nause∣ous, lothsom, and abominable, that they are neither easily taken, nor held; yea rather, men are miserably crucified, the whole body put violently out of order, the Ferment of the Stomack perverted, the native heat of∣tentimes mortified, and the natural strength and vigor much abated: which are the usu∣all effects, especially of their Pils, Electu∣aries, &c. In the room of which, he tells us, he had devised such Medicaments as were fitted to these times, the places, and the people where he lived; being new in respect of Method, and so new, that the newness of Diseases, which in this most frigid old age of the world, and as it were new Age of ma∣ladies (ever and anon starting up and increa∣sing, and which were utterly unknown to the Antients) doth seem not so much to perswade, as to exact and command this newness also of Remedies. For, if it was commendable in the Antients, yea and in the Physicians of all Ages, rather than blameable, that they in their Compositions and Prescripts of Physick, had every one a respect to their own Air or Sky, and their own people, both Greeks, Ara∣bians, Spaniards, Italians, French, &c. who
who will blame me, or take it amiss, that I in my Prescripts do accommodate my self to our Countrimen, and these Northern Parts, especially the Inhabitants of the Lower Sax∣ony, and of the Baltick Sea? Thus plain∣ly He. And truly, if his example were followed by some of the surly stately Sirs of the Faculty, sometimes to handle Coales and the Bellows, sometimes the Pestle and Mortar, and ever and anon to be sifting and observing the new natures of Diseases, and the nature of our own peo∣ple, and not look upon them through the false Perspectives of old Authors, the Na∣tion had not been now to seek of remedies proper to its condition, nor would so ma∣ny every day run away from their unprofit∣able Recipes, grounded upon old Forein Gallimafries, to seek, after tedious pati∣ence and expences, a remedy from the hands of such as they disdain by the name of Quacks and Empericks; which Title better becomes some of those that would be thought the Learned, in whom the Title of Learner would at this time be much more honorable and commendable than that of Doctor, till Practise be me∣liorated, and the People sensibly find that the old unprofitable Learning be laid a∣side,
and the pride which belongs to it, by having Diseases better understood, and more speedily and effectually removed. We every year see, the common Custom of the Sick is (especially if they be purs∣ful, and desirous to be cured in state) to run the round of all the Galenick Mes∣ses, and after that a Methodical solution hath been given to the Purse-strings, with Phlebotomies enough to the Purse as well as the Bodie, then when tis a shame to hold people in hand any longer, they are even turned off to the blessing of Tunbridge, or Epsam, or some such place, where if they be not cured by the Chymistry of Nature in those Mineral-waters, then, to the ho∣nor of those Physicians be it spoken, who are scandalously term'd Empericks, into their hands they fall as the last Refuge, where the world seeth how often they re∣ceive a Cure; and tis observable to rec∣kon what numbers of people have been ready to attest the Truth of this, when the ruling Galenists have to no purpose endea∣vor'd to vex the Practitioners.
Here therefore it cannot be amiss to repeat what is said by Monsieur Le Febure concerning the Galenists: they buz in the ears of the weaker and more timorous
persons, and Sex, that they are to take heed of Chymical Physicians and Medicins, as dangerous, because they deal in Mine∣rals, and so are but pleasant Poysons; * It is confessed (saith he) that many Reme∣dies * 3.243 in Chymistry are taken from the Fa∣mily of Minerals: but for all this, it must not, nor can it be granted, that they are Ven∣emous, or contrary to the nature of man's bodie; and to affirm it, is the height of Ig∣norance: For, if antient Physicians have used them crude and raw, as they were, with∣out any preparation, as may be seen in Dios∣corides, Galen, Pliny, and several other Authors; If some of the modern Galenists also have made use of them, as Rondeletius of crude Mercury in his Pills against the Pox; and Matthiolus, who put Antimony in practise, calling it by way of Excellency the Hand of God; and if Gesnerus hath done the like with Vitriol; Fallopius, with the Filings of Steel; and Riolanus, and many others, with Brimstone, for Diseases of the Lungs, why should Chymical Physicians be debarred from the same Remedies, after they have by separating Purity from Impurity, pre∣pared, corrected, and devested them from the malignity and venom which they did con∣tain? which is a much better way than the
pretended correction which Galenists give to their Medicins, who pretend to mitigate the vices and malignity of their Medicaments, by the addition of some other substance, which usually hath in its self some particular vice and impurity; as is obvious in the Prepara∣tions of their * 3.244 Hellebore, Spurge, Scam∣mony, Coloquintida, Agarick, and some others which they pretend to correct by a simple addition of Mastick, Cinamon, Cloves, gum Drag: Ginger, and the like. But I cannot better resemble the difference between their way of correction and that of the Chy∣mists, than by using a vulgar comparison touching an unskilful Cook, that in dressing of Tripes should think it enough to boyl them with sweet Herbs, and never wash or clense them from their inward impu∣rity.
However the matter stands in D••spute in words, yet in very deed many of the Galenists seeing their own old Remedies very insufficient, and less pleasing, cast half an eye upon Chymistry, and are con∣tent to use such common Medicins of that sort as they can get from the Shops, but then * 3.245 most of them (as Le Febure saith) do it by stealth; and those among them that would be thought quainter in practise
than their Fellows, though they retain their old Learning, yet come on so farr as to be Semi-chymists in the use of Medi∣cins, dividing their practise betwixt the Laboratories and the Shops; and truly so farr they do well, and they want but little of true conversion, seeing the only thing that remains to be done is a throwing aside of the old Principles and Methods, which no more agree with the right order and Institutions of Chymical Practise, than the Laws of these Parts of the world do with the Government of Turky, which bear as great a disproportion to each other as can be: to which they must likewise add a casting off the old Definitions and Descriptions of Diseases, and consider the Diseases of this Age under other notions and qualifications than they had of old. Therefore to stop the mouths of the Galenists fully (saith the ingenious * 3.246 Le Febure) take notice that they use in their Practise, though Emperically, Chymical Remedies, whether they be Natural or Artificial; as for example, do they not make use of crude Steel and Mercury, and many more natural mixt Bodies without preparation? Do they not use Spirit of Vitriol, Spirit of Sulphur, Mine∣ral Crystall, Cremor and Crystalls of
Tartar, Crocus Martis Aperitive and A∣stringent, Salt of Vitriol, Sugar of Lead? And though most of them be unacquainted with Antimony, and the true time and Me∣thod of exhibiting that admirable Remedy, yet nevertheless they venture by stealth to give it their Patients, disguising it oftentimes with some Infusion of Senna, or some por∣tion of their ordinary Pils; for, they mix Antimonial Wine in their Infusions, and Mercurius Vitae in their Pils. But that which is yet more to be noted and consider'd is; that when the Galenists, by the obstinacy of a Disease, are at a stand, and can no longer find in their Method a Remedy to cure, and eradicate the evil of it, because they ne∣ver attained to a perfect knowledge of it, they use to send their Patients to Baths and Mine∣rals, as to the last Refuge; which practise of theirs makes them tacitly to confess, that there is in Minerals a more potent, penetrative and active vertue than in any other of those Remedies which they did put in pract••se be∣fore. This Truth is further confrmed by those remedies which are daily used by Chi∣rurgians with very good success, being for the most part compounded of Metalls and Minerals; but those especially which do work with most efficacy.
It is true, that Chymists do also send their Patients to Mineral Waters, and injoyn them the use of them; but there is this difference betwixt them and the Ga∣lenists; that the * 3.247 Chymi∣cal Physicians are distinct∣ly acquainted with the Sul∣phur, Salt, or Spirit, which predominates in the Waters by them prescribed; which the other Physicians do not, having but a confused and superficial knowledge of the vertue residing and hidden in these waters, and prescribing them only because others have used them be∣fore, not being able to give a Reason for the effects by them produced, much less to give an account of the efficient internal Cau∣ses of the same, since it belongs properly to the inquiry of Chymists, whose pecu∣liar work it is to anatomise Mineral Waters, and demonstrate what Fire or Volatile sub∣stances are contained in them: And if the ingeni••us Artist finds not himself fully satis∣fied with the examining the Waters, he may further extend his inquiry in working upon the Earths adjacent to these Mineral Spirits, and endeavor to discover what Metal most abounds in the Marc••sites growing about that
place; which being done, it will be easie for him to find what Salt, or what Spirit, is the most likely to dissolve that Metal, and to mix and unite it so indivisibly as it is with the Water: and being thus instructed, he can never fail to assign pertinent and demonstra∣tive Reasons, both of the effects and cause of the vertue and efficacy of those Mineral Wa∣ters. If it be answered, that Galenists do also give reasons for those effects, and assign them to the Salt, Sulphur, or Spirit predo∣minant in the Waters; I reply, that they can never fully satisfie a curious Inquisitor and searcher of truth in Nature, by Reasons taken from the Doctrin of the Schools; but what light they have must be borrowed from Chymical Authors, and so farr they are no more a Galenical Doctrin, since they reason only by the Principles and Organs of Herme∣tick Philosophy. Let us then conclude in the behalf of Chymical Remedies, and say, that they are the true weapons wherewith a Physici∣an must arm himself, to conquer and extirpate the most stubborn and rebellious Diseases, even such as are held incurable by the ordinary Remedies of Galenical Physick.
And yet for all this, the Galenists will not part with their old Scholastick Methods and Principles, though many of them come
off so farr as to make use of some of the ordinary Chymical Remedies, which prove the less effectual, because the use of them requires other Notions to manage them with advantage, even when they are best prepared. But that which is most consi∣derable, and which brings a scandal upon Chymical Medicaments, as well as grie∣vance many times to Patients, is, that the Galenists venturing to use them as they find them in the Shops, do too often light upon unlucky Preparations, such as are Crem Tartari adulterated with Alum; Calomelanos, the Emetick Powder called Merc. Vitae, and divers other Medicaments, which being made beyond-Sea by halves, or unskilfully, are bought at low rates, and brought in many times by Druggists and others trading in such Commodities, of whom Country-Practitioners and some Apothecaries do buy them, or else of mean Mercenary and unskilful persons who live in Corners, and venture upon the making of these edged Tools at lower rates than others; whereas the most in∣dustrious and ingenious sort of Apotheca∣ries do, and the rest ought to make them carefully with their own hands, and to seek an amendment of those Preparations:
but in the mean while, the fine fingred Ga∣lenist, whose fair hand is made only for feeling of Pulses, and so dares not fully them by raking in Cinders, leaves the validity of those Medicaments to the cre∣dit of others, and so the Patient is left to a miserable hazard; for, put case that one of the Ambulatory Doctors hath occasion to write Bils for several Patients in a day, and in them hath occasion to prescribe those or the like operative Chymical Re∣medies which are in common use, perhaps the Patients live at several Ends of the Town, and so usually the Bils are sent to several Apothecaries, whom perhaps the Doctor never saw, much less knows whe∣ther they be honest careful men, or whe∣ther those their Medicaments be rightly prepared, what assurance can there be for the poor Patients? or what recom∣pence be made them, if mischief be done by such a careless way of Practise?
Besides, it is another error in practise, that in the most urgent and important Ca∣ses, when a Patient is upon the Vertical Point of life or death, as in extreme Case of Fevers, and the like, the common Road-Practiser is not furnished with some noble Remedies of his own, to interpose at such
Critical Minutes, upon the efficacy where∣of he might of his own knowledge surely rely, rather than leave the Patient to the cure of the Common-Cordials of the Shops, which (if they were of any power∣ful efficacy in their own nature, yet) do ex∣ceedingly differ in force and goodness, ac∣cording to the various Preparations in the honest or dishonest, skilful or unskilful, di∣ligent or careless hands through which they pass; yet Master Doctors Bils go to every Shop alike; that is, the Patient is ventured upon the reputation of any Shop he please to chuse, or which the Doctor may commend, whereas in such Cases of extremity he should think it the best way to trust none but himself, and relie upon no remedies but his own, which every good and knowing Physician ought, in discharge of conscience, to have in readi∣ness upon occasion, seeing the least excess, or defect in the nature of a Medicin, may at such a time, being relied on, be the de∣struction of the Sick.
Hence it is, that the less literate and more Emperical Practisers, do oftentimes perform Cures in desperate Cases, when the Medicins prescribed by the learned Bils will do no good; the Reason where∣of
I cannot so readily ascribe to any thing else, as to this, that they are (for the most part) Masters of good Specificks of their own Preparation, to encounter Diseases in the most difficult plunging Cases, whose vertues they are sure of, & know that they may rest upon the use of them with safety. Which Sence of mine touching this mat∣ter I the more willingly to express, be∣cause it jumps just with the observation of Mr. Boyle in his * 3.248 Experimental Philosophy; where, after he hath told us out of Vare∣nius and Almeida, how well Physick thrives among the Chineses, and the Japo∣nians, where the unlearned Doctors use no bloud-letting in their practise, and with reputation manage it, without that and o∣ther evacuations so frequently made here by Potions, and Issues, &c. wisheth that we had some of their Physick books to set our European Physicians to learn again: And having told us also, how the Art of Physick might be improved, if Physicians were a little more curious, to take notice of the observations and experiments, suggested partly by the practise of Midwives, Barbers, old Women, Empericks, and other illiterate persons, He saith, where the Practitioners of Physick are altogether illiterate, there often∣times
Specificks may be best met with, because such persons being wont, for want of skill in Physick, and particularly in the art of mixing Simples, and in that of varying their Reme∣dies according to circumstances, do almost wholy rely upon Specificks, whose vertues from their practise, may sometimes be better gathered, than from that of * 3.249 skilful Physi∣cians, in regard that those Empericks (be∣sides that they assist not with any skil in the Methodus medendi the vertues of their re∣medies) are wont to try to the uttermost of the effects of their few Specificks: And the na∣ture of their Medicins may be the better known, in regard they are not wont to blend them, as Learned men but too often doe, with many other Ingredients, whose mixture ei∣ther alters their nature, or makes it difficult to determine, whether the effect be to be a∣scribed to what is given for the Specifick, or to some other of the Ingredients, or to the whole Compounds as such.
And pag. 223, 224. the same noble person adds, that we should not d••sdain the Remedies of illiterate Practisers, only because of their being unacquainted with our Theory of Physick: nor should we by too great reli∣ance on the Galenical, or other ancient Opi∣nions, neglect useful Remedies, because pre∣sented
by persons that ignore them, and per∣haps too hold opinions contrary to them; there∣fore I leave you to consider what is in the person of that Emperical Sect, represented by Celsus, where having spoken of the darkness of the Causes of things, and the uncertainty of the Theorems of Physick, he saith, * 3.250 that
those speculations are of no concern at all to Physick, appears by this, in regard that those Physicians who differ in opini∣on from others about these things, have notwithstanding restored men to one and the same health. And this they have been able to effect, because they calcula∣ted their ways of curing, not from ob∣scure causes, nor from natural Actions, which were diversly apprehended by them; but from Experiments, accor∣ding as they conceived they might an∣swer every ones Case: And truly, in the beginning, Medicin was not deduced from Speculative Notions and Questi∣ons, but from Experiments, &c.For though this Sentence ascribes too little to Rea∣son, yet there is something in it that deserves to be consider'd; especially since we observe not, that the late Anatomical discoveries of the Motion of the Chyle, the Lym∣phatick Liquor, &c. by formerly unknown
ways, in newly detected Vessels, hath yet made men cure diseases much better than before; not that I think that Anatomical and Pa∣thological discoveries will not in process of time (when the Historia facti shall be fully and indisputably made out, and the Theories there∣by suggested clearly established) highly conduce to the Curative part of Physick; but yet this observation may make it the more reasona∣ble, to beware of relying so much upon the yet disputable Opinions of Physicians, as to despise such practises, though usually succes∣ful, as agree not with them. Thus far from Mr. Boyl, out of whose Learned and Ingenious Book, I have already inserted divers passages of like nature, in the fore-going Chapters, and among the rest this, That he thinks it were no ill piece of service to mankind, if a severe Collection were made of the Cures of such persons as have recover'd after a having been judged irrecoverable by the Doctors; which I am sure would redound unto no small repu∣tation of such as they have scorned as il∣literate, and unworthy of their conversa∣tion.
But that which pleads highest in com∣mendation of the meaner sort of Practi∣sers, and which, if any thing, bespeaks it
as the publick Interest to connive at them, is, that without them, not only the rich many times remain uncured, but the poorer sort of people would be totally at a loss; For, Mr. Boyl well saith, * 3.251 that though to cure cheaply be not properly and in strictness any part of the end of the art of Physick, which considers mens health, and not their purse; yet it ought in Charity, if not also in Equity, to be the endeavour of the Phy∣sician, especially when he dealeth with Pati∣ents that are not rich; for, not now to say any thing of the Fees of Physicians, which in some places are not very moderate, tis certain that the Bills of Apothecaries, especi∣ally in Chronical Diseases, do often prove so chargeable, that even when the Remedies succeed, by that time a poor Patient is re∣cover'd, he is undone, and pays for the pro∣longation of his Life that which should have been his livelyhood: Whence it comes to pass, that the more necessitous sort of people are either fain to languish unrelieved, for wa••t of being able to purchase health at the Apothecari's rates, or are deterred from ap∣plying themselves to a Doctor, till their Diseases have taken too deep root to be easi∣ly, if at all eradicated; And this oftentimes, not more through the fault of the Apothecary
than of the Doctor, who in his prescriptions might, for the most part, easily direct things that would be much more cheap, without be∣ing much less efficacious. If this be so, I say the meaner sort of people were at a miserable pass, if they should be left with∣out remedy, by the assistance of other Physicians, or be forced to wait the leisure of our Galenick Masters, till their Charity be greater.
I for my part, am for Learning as much as any man, and have reason to be so, having been bred up in the Schools, and know it is of excellent use where it is rightly employed; but as for that which is commonly counted Learning in the Schools in order to Physick (which I doubt not ere long our Universities will reject) I conceive it not only useless, but destructive, misleading Practisers upon mistaken Principles, shallow Notions, and a wrong Method, to deal with the Dis∣eases of this Age; and though the most ingenious part of those which follow the old Method, cannot but see the vanity of it, and of the old Definitions of Diseases, yet as long as Interest prevails, and the knot is not dissolved, expect no Reforma∣tion; For, Mr. Boyle saith plainly, * 3.252 that
divers of the Eminentest Methodists them∣selves have more than once ingenuously ac∣knowledged to him, and seriously deplored with him the incompleatness of their Art; and since about divers particular Diseases, we have observed the Method of some of the most reputed Doctors in England (which yet I think is at this day as well stored with Learn∣ed men of that Profession, as any part of Europe) not only very differing, but repug∣nant to each other, I suppose we may without disrespect to their Profession, dissent from the most of them about those Cases, about which they are reduced to disagree so much among themselves. And it would be worth an impartial disquisition, whether since the Methodus Medendi ought to be grounded on and accommodated to the Doctrin of Dis∣eases, the New Anatomical discoveries late∣ly known, and others not yet published, do not by innovating divers things in Pathology, require some Alterations and Amendments in the Methodus Medendi.
To this I answer, that perhaps they may; but let me add also, that the alte∣ration of Diseases themselves, according to the description which I have made of its Causes in this Treatise, is that which cries aloud for an alteration, not only of
the old Method, but of the state and composure of Medicaments also. As for the Method, it was never of a greater height of reputation, than in the days of Fernelius; and yet that excellent wit was not satisfied with it, but saw the vanity of it, and yet could not find in his heart to speak otherwise than tenderly against it; I cannot remember the Chapter where, but can recite the words, and they are these, Qui Methodum, scilicet Scholasticam, in omnibus nimiùm pertinaciter exquirit, pariter cum Morbo hominem de Medio tollit: which is, that he who in all points too per∣tinaciously insists upon the Scholastick Me∣thod, doth together with the Disease remove the man out of the world. And if he in his days saw there was a necessity of being loose from it, is it not a miserable thing to see, that men learned, and of reputati∣on in the world, should tie themselves (for the most part) to it in this new state of Diseases? I remember, Oswald Grembs doth tax them for it tartly, in the Pre∣face of his second Book, that though they make use often of Chymical Medicaments, yet they administer them according to the Galenick Method; but though in this (saith he) they would seem very Metho∣dical,
yet in truth they are no better than Empericks, while they give Chymical Reme∣dies, but are ignorant from what ground they have their operation; for (saith he) if they know not from what cause Spirit of Sulphur gives relief in Fevers, not because tis cold, not because tis hot, not because it cuts and at∣tenuates, but because it extinguisheth the hot Fermenting Alkali, which is the occasional, internal, and continent Cause of Fevers, then they cannot be called truly Methodical Physicians, because ignorance of the true cause renders them Empericks, and because if they perform a Cure with those Remedies, they know not why, or what they do.
And yet truly, they are to be com∣mended, rather than derided in the use of them, because though they be ignorant of the true Method of using Chymical Re∣medies, in regard they are unacquainted with the Nature and Reasons of the pre∣paration of them, yet much good may be done in the administring by their hands, forasmuch as the excellency of the Medi∣cins doth very often produce a good effect, notwithstanding a defect of Method in the application of them. And this also Mr. Boyl observes, * 3.253 that the unusual effica∣cies of new Remedies, may probably make
the Method of curing more compendious, be∣cause one Medicin may be so richly qualified, as to answer several Intentions, which in the common way require diversity of helps and Remedies. Thus for Instance, in the cure of the Kings. Evil, by the received Method the Physi••ian must propose to himself several Scopes (suited to several Indications) yet one single Medicin, without any sensible Evacua∣tion, hath wasted the peccant humor, appea∣sed the pains (which before were very great) discussed the unbroken Tumors, and healed the broken ones.—Thus according to the known Method, the great remedy in Pleuri∣sies is copious Blood letting, which is strictly prescribed even to aged persons, and Teeming women, by the famousest of our Practitioners, and, I confess, not irrationally, where the Physician is furnished but with vulgar Reme∣dies: and yet by some Helmontian Medicins we have known pleurisies cured, even in young men without Phlebotomy, and I some while since made a succesful Trial.
Also, that new and more generous Re∣medies may so far alter the received Me∣thodus Medendi, as to make divers of its Prescriptions unnecessary, he gives a not∣able Instance of the Rickets, one of the new and abstruse Diseases, by a slight pre∣paration * 3.254
of Colcothar, experimented in divers children, which Remedie performs its work almost insensibly, save that in many Bodies it is (especially at first) Dia∣phoretick. Hereupon he saith, we may consider, that oftentimes the peccant Mat∣ter, * 3.255 though very offensive by its qualities, is much lesser than is supposed in quantity, and migbt, if we were but Masters of Specifick Remedies, either be breathed out by insensible Transpiration, or carried off by Sweat or Urine, without tormenting, or weakning the Patient, by those other copious Evacuations of grosser matter, viz. Bleeding, Purging, Vomiting, Issues, &c. which are alwaies troublesom and painful enough, though not alwaies effectual. Nay that even in Chirur∣gery it self, if those that practise it were as knowing as Nature is bountiful, there would not be so often a necessity, as tis commonly supposed there is, of multilating or torment∣ing the Patient to recover him. For certain it is (as he saith in * 3.256 another place) that the Charges and Trouble of taking Physick may be very much lessened; and that if we did look after a deeper insight into Nature, we might by discovering the true Causes and Seats of Diseases, find out such generous and effectual Remedies (whether Specificks, or more Uni∣versal
Arcana) as by quickly freeing the Pa∣tient from his Disease, may exempt him from needing either much Physick from the Apothecary, or many chargeable visits from the Doctor.
And that this is to be done no other way so likely as that of Chymistry, he a * 3.257 little after affirms, that by this very means, if men want not curiosity, and industry to vary and prosecute experiments, there must necessarily arise such a store of new and active Medicins, that in all probabilty many of them will be found endowed with such vertues as have not been, at least in that degree, met with in the usual Medicins, whether simple or Compound, to be found in the Apothecaries Shops.
Indeed, there are (saith he in * 3.258 ano∣ther place) certain Preparations and Compositions so lucky, and whose success doth so much exceed expectation, and the efficacy of common Compositions, that the same Phy∣sician, whose they are, may upon several oc∣casions, prescribe an hundred others, each of which he may think as rational as any of those, which nevertheless shall all of them be inferior thereunto; and for instance, he makes mention of Sir Theodore de Mayern's pecu∣liar way of preparing Salt of Steel, which
he used with great success in many obsti∣nate Diseases.
Now my end in reciting all these Passa∣ges, is, to give some countenance to my own Conceptions, and the Judgement of others, who long for a renouncing of the antient Methods and Medicins, while I express their Sence in the language of so noble an Author, who is so far from ap∣proving that piteous pedantick Humor, which causeth the whole Drove of Gale∣nists to lie down, take their ease, and set up their Rest in a supposed sufficiency and perfection of those old Traditional Noti∣ons and Remedies, that he by his own in∣dustrious example of working, as well as writing, labors to excite others to higher Inquiries, and greater Atchievements, by Chymical operation. And whereas ma∣ny of the Galenists, being by tract of time convinced of the safety and efficacy of Chymical Remedies, have wheeled off in part, and in the use of them are become parcel Chymists, he concludes his Book with Advice to them, that they should not, by those common Chymical Reme∣dies which are sold in the Shops, make a Judgement of those higher and more noble ones which may be produced, accor∣ding
as the Art of preparing Materials shall be promoted. Nor are they to rest upon the use of those Common Chymi∣stries only; for (he saith) * 3.259 I must take li∣berty to add (and that upon serious considera∣tion) that the Chymical Preparations hither∣to common in Dispensatories, are, as to the generality of them, sarr enough from being the most dextrous, or noble, that can be de∣vised. For, our vulgar Chymistry (to which the Shops owe their venal Spagyrick remedies) is as yet very incompleat, affording us rather a Collection of loose scatter'd (and many of them but casual) Experiments, than an Art duly superstructed upon Principles and Noti∣ons, emergent from severe and competent Inductions. And therefore till the Princi∣ples of Chymistry be better known, and more solidly establish'd, we must expect no other, than that very few vulgar Chymical Reme∣dies should be of the noblest sort; and that in the preparation of many other, considerable Errors should pass unheeded, and Faults gross enough be apt to be mistakenly commit∣ted.
And in * 3.260 another place he saith, he must particularly inculcate this, that if we had but a few petent Menstruums to unlock Bo∣dies, or Alkahestick Liquors which can re∣solve
a great variety of Concretes, without having their vertues, I say not impaired, but destroyed thereby, I scarce know what might not be done in Chymistry.
But whereas the Cry of the Galenists is, that though the Chymical Physicians boast high of the vertues of their Remedies, yet they fall short of their Promises, Let me advertise you (saith the * 3.261 same learned Gentleman) that if divers Chymical Reme∣dies have seemed upon Trial less effectual than indeed they are, it is because they have been tried by such Physicians, as weaken their efficacy by not administring them as they should: For, some Physicians will never exhi∣bit a Chymical Remedy, till the Patients strength hath been almost tired, if not quite spent with the unprosperous use of divers o∣ther clogging and debilitating Medicins. Others are so difsident of Chymical Remedies, that they never dare exhibit them in a full Dose, nor by themselves, but will blend a small quantity of a Chymical Medicin with other Ingredients, which either constitute with it a M••dicin of new Qualities resulting from that Mixture, or at least much clogg or enervate the activity and vertue of the Chy∣mical Ingredients; by which, even in so in∣considerable a Dese, these distrustful Docto••s
dare yet require that great matters should b•• performed. And another sort of Physicians there is, * 3.262 who are of so despondent, or rather partial an humor, that if a Chymical Reme∣dy or Specifick, do not presently perform the hoped for cure, though they find that even upon their disadvantageous manner of ad∣ministring it, it doth good, yet they will quickly desist from the use of it: And because it doth not do wonders, they will not scruple to affirm that they have tried it, and found it do no∣thing; whereas they are wont to continue their own Courses of Physick without Discourage∣ment, though it be usually some weeks before the Patient find any good by them, and often∣times the Patient is, by the tedious course of Physick he hath gone through, very little bet∣ter'd, if not much impaired, as numbers of the Printed Observations, as well as daily ex∣periences, do testifie. Which (saith he) I speak, not with an intention to disparage Physicians in general, the most learned and ingenious of them being free enough from the partiality which I here take notice of, but to keep good Remedies from being disparaged by the Envious or unskilful Trials of bad Ad∣ministrers (as, say I, most of the Semi-Chymical Galenists use to be.) And though indeed some Chymists are so vain-glorious, or
unwary, as to promise, that the operation of their Remedies shall be as well sudden, as ef∣fectual, yet if the Medicins themselves be found available, although not swiftly so, that slowness ought to make us but condemn the Boastings of the man, not reject the use of the Remedies. For (as he saith * 3.263 a little after) sometimes the Patients Constitution makes the Medicin prescribed by the Receipt unfit to be administred; and sometimes too, the Dis∣ease for which the Receipt is proper, is in the Patient complicated with some other distem∣per, which may be as much encreased by the Specifick, as the other Disease may be lessened. Of which he gives some Instances there, too large to repeat.
Another Trick of the Pedantick sort of Galenists, and a very common one, is, that if Chymical Medicins be administred, though they be of the noblest, the safest, and best prepared sort, and much more gentle and efficacious (as generally the meanest of them which have due Prepara∣tions are) than any they can pretend to out of the common stuff of the Shops, yet if the Patient prove not curable by them, but draws down to death, and if the Fore-run∣ners of death be, as in many Cases they are, great Pains and other dire Symptoms,
then knowing that the more ignorant and fearful sort of people are, even by the ma∣lice, or ignorance of such Physicians, as well as by their own Phantsies, made pre∣judicate against the name of Chymistry, those Physicians craftily take occasion from thence to work upon peoples weak∣ness, and buz into their ears that those af∣flictive Conflicts of Nature and the Dis∣ease are caused by the Chymical Reme∣dies, than which (I say) rightly prepared, there are not safer Remedies in the world. Upon this account it is, and by such sub∣tile Insinuations (which are the Arts they have leisure to study, and little else to do, because all their Do lies in a Pen and Ink∣horn and a Recipe) that they hold some part of the people in bondage to this day, though the greatest part are by time and observation grown too wise now to be bug-bear'd by them any longer. When Chymistry first began to open the eyes of the world, Oh then there was nothing but Fire and Fagot against it, because the Ga∣lenick Masters were disturbed by the Lift that it gave to old Ignorance and Error; whole Colleges began to ring against it as a new Art of poysoning the world, yea and no less than an Invention of the Devil,
as the many Books they then set forth a∣gainst it, do shew, and among the rest, none is more fierce than that which was published by the College of Paris against Sir Theodore Mayern and the famous Quer∣cetan; and the numerous bitter railing In∣vectives contained therein against Chymi∣cal Remedies, I might here insert, were they not too tedious. Let it suffice to know, that they railed against things they under∣stood as little as some of ours do at this day, being such Remedies as made those two persons men famous in their generati∣on all over Europe, and yet Galenick Igno∣rance and Envy was so bold, as to condemn them by publike sentence (touching which you have had an account in the first Chap. of this Treatise) and not only them, but the whole Art of Chymistry it self. And yet it was not long after, that these angry men the Galenists began to cool a little in consi∣deration of the harmless and noble effects of some of the Medicins, the meanest of which they saw were able to effect greater Feats in curing, than the best of their old ones; so that after they had grumbled and gazed and repin'd and paus'd a while, they began to venture to use some of the more common sort of them. Oh, what, Mer∣cury
and Antimony! they were not once to be touched so much as with a pair of Tongs: But at length they did venture both upon Mercurial and Antimonial pre∣parations (to their praise be it spoken) and these they are even to this day so fix't upon (I mean the more common prepara∣tions which they have setled the use of in the Shops) that most of them rest there, and care not to budge an inch from them, to busy themselves either in Meliorating them, or inventing higher and nobler Me∣dicaments of that kind; nor doe some of them willingly afford a good thought or word for any that are invented, or that are put upon improvement and advance by the industry of the more laborious Chymical Physicians; to whom (next un∣der God) this new Age of Diseases is be∣holden for their Cures in most of the Chronick and most obstinate Cases; as every days experience doth now abun∣dantly manifest.
And therefore that advice of Mr. Boyl falls in very pat here, when he tells us, * 3.264 We must not be so timid as to suffer our selves to be perswaded, that if a Patient miscarry after the use of those Remedies, the fault must necessarily belong to the exhibited Me∣dicin.
For oftentimes Nature will in de∣spight of Remedies make a Metastasis of the peccant matter, and thereby impair the con∣dition of the Patient; and much oftner before Death, the Conflict of strugling Nature and the conquering Disease, doth manifest it self in horrid and dreadful Symptoms, which some envious or ignorant Doctors (for the more learned are wont to be more equitable and less partial) do injuriously impute to the Chymical Remedy given before the appear∣ing of those Symptoms, not considering that the like Accidents are wont to attend dange∣rous Diseases, and dying Persons, where Galenick Remedies only, and no Chymi∣cal ones at all have been administred. And that divers of the most Eminent and Metho∣dical of our Modern Physicians, scruple not now to use frequently both Crocus Metallo∣rum, Mercurius Dulcis, and some other Chymical Remedies, and to impute the miscarrying of the Patients that use them to their Diseases, rather than the Medicins; though not many years since, all the frightful Symptoms accompanying the dying Persons to whom they had been exhibited, were consi∣dently imputed to those Medicins. Thus he. To which let me add, that as it is nothing but Pride, Laziness, and Covetousness,
which hinders some men of this Professi∣on from being a means by their Interest and Authority to beget a more general esteem of Chymistry, as is due; and from giving a good example by industry unto others, to promote the invention of no∣bler Remedies, more fit for the occasions of this Age, than the common ones; and from owning truer Principles of Philoso∣phy conducible thereto; so there is no question, but a little more Observation and Experience of the people, touching the truth of these things, will in the revo∣lution of a very few years, inable the meanest to make a Judgement between things and Persons that differ, and totally disable Calumniators in their old Practise, not only of Physick, but of scandalizing the more rational Practise, and the more excellent Remedies of other Phy∣sicians.
And yet truly, I would not be mista∣ken, I am not so much for the use of Chy∣mical Preparations, that the Fabrick of Curation should rest wholy upon them, exclusive of the use of Simple and Single Specificks, which Nature her self hath pre∣pared for us; I have collected such store of them by conversation with the mean∣er
Persons and Practisers, which the Learned (as they would be counted) are wont to scorn, and of so great efficacy have I found them, that I have no reason but to applaud rather than exclude them, and admire the wisdom and mighty power of the Creator, that hath endowed plain things with extraordinary ver∣tues.
Nor am I (as the same noble Gentle∣man * 3.265 speaks) of the humor of some Chymists (for there are faults on all hands) and of others that practise Physick, who so dote up∣on the Productions of their Furnaces, that they will scarce go about to cure a cut finger, with less than some Spagyrick Oyl or Balsam, and in slight distempers have recourse to Chy∣mical, and perhaps to Mineral Remedies, which being for the most part such as vehe∣mently alter the body, they do oftentimes more harm than good, when employed in common cases that need not such active Medicins. And methinks those that practise, as if na∣ture presented us nothing worth the accepting, unless it be cookt and perfected by Vulcan, might consider, that Paracelsus himself often employeth Simples for the cure even of for∣midable Diseases. And though for parti∣cular
reasons, I be inclinable enough to think that such searching and commanding Reme∣dies as may be so much of kin to the Univer∣sal Medicin, as to cure great numbers of dif∣fering Diseases, will hardly be obtained without the help of Chymical Preparations, and those perhaps of Minerals; yet as to most particular Diseases, especially when not yet arrived to a deplorable height, I am apt to think, that Simples, or other unelaborate mixtures, may furnish us with Specificks, that may perform much more than some Chymists are wont to think, and possibly be preferrable to many of their costly Magisteries, Quintes∣sences, and Elixirs. Helmont himself, a person more knowing and experienced in his Art, than almost any of the Chymists, scru∣ples not to make this ingenuous confession, * 3.266 I believe (saith he) that Simples, in their Simplicity, are sufficient for the cu∣ring of all Diseases. And he elsewhere truly affirms, that there may be sometimes greater vertue in a Simple, such as Nature affords it us, than in any thing that the fire can separate from it. And certainly, the Specifick properties of divers, if not most Simples, are confounded and lost by those Preparations, &c. And as for the long and
tedious Processes of some Chymical Pre∣parations, he spends two * 3.267 or three Pages to shew, that less elaborate and more skil∣ful ones would procure Medicins of much greater efficacy. For (saith he) * 3.268 it is not the elaborateness, but the skilfulness of Pre∣parations, that produceth the noble Remedies; and a few Teeming principles well known and applied, will inable a man with ease to make better Remedies, than a great many fur∣naces and Glasses, though never so well con∣trived, and though very useful in their kind: And of this he gives an instance in the pre∣paration of Opium, which in the Shops is imperfectly done by adding Saff••on, Cina∣mon, and other Aromatical Drugs to make it into a Laudanum, whereas (he saith) the correction is better performed by a digestion of the Opium in wine that is im∣pregnated with an equal weight of the Salt of Tartar; the great power of which Salt, to correct the most violent as well as Narcotick Ingredients, may be seen by that Pil called Matthews his Pil (the Invention whereof is now claimed by an other Artist in Chymistry) wherein there is a great quantity of white Helle∣bor as well as Opium, and the grand cor∣rector
is that Salt of Tartar. The truth is, a good Mother-wit, that can reason out the Nature of mixt Bodies, whether Vegetables or Minerals, by examining those Chymical Principles of which (we see) they are composed, may do very much with the Simples both Vegetable and Mineral, without much straining by long preparations; I know it experimen∣tally, only by making Mixtures, and In∣fusions, & Fermentations, without the con∣currence of Fire, or Furnaces; & how much I have atchieved by this plain way, I may give an account of hereafter; and particu∣larly in the examination of Roots and Plants, some by Incineration, but most by Infusion in several Menstruums, and many times by Mixtion of the Juices with each other, & with other Liquers also, and some∣times by mere single putrefaction of the Plants themselves; which courses who e∣ver will follow, may find a way to give a better account of the nature of Herbs, and other Vegetables, than the world is yet ac∣quainted with; very little having been known of Herbs since the days of Dios∣corides, but what came by meer chance; for, the Herbalists have but written after
his copy, and transcribed out of one ano∣thers Books; and the Galenick Masters (have for the most part) considered only the outside qualities of hot, cold, moist, dry, &c. and by estimate of these endeavoured to pry into their Natures, so that they still rest in the dark Chaos of unknown vertues, or hidden Qualities; whereas if they would take that Bunch of Keys, the sublimer Notions of the Principles of Chymical Philosophy, and use them, they might even by common little wayes of Operation and Experiment, unlock the Simples, and look into the more essential part of their Natures; for even Vegetables may come to be understood this way, as well as the parts or Principles of Minerals come to be Analysed and Apprehended by the help of Fire, and more elaborate operations.
And truly, this course of handling Vegetables, I take to be every jot as Chy∣mical, as if they were examined only by Fire, like the Minerals, and ought to be Characterized by the name of Chymical Remedies, because he who makes the inquiry to invent them, is guided therein by reasoning according to the Principles
of the Chymists. Nevertheless, this is not said to lessen the repute of that good way of examining and improving Vegeta∣bles, as well as Minerals, by the help of Fire and Furnaces; for nothing is more necessary than that helps in every way be made use of, for discovering the nature and vertues of all mixt Bodies; and hi∣therto we have been beholden (for the most part) to the fire for our discoveries, and are like to be; so that the hinting and offering of a new way of discovery can be no prejudice thereto, but all courses ought to be taken to improve the know∣ledge of the vertues of Vegetables as well as Minerals, because Vegetables are most for ordinary use, and when they will not doe, then Minerals are often of most con∣cern in the more desperate and deplorable Diseases. Therefore, tis a great mistake in the common sort of people to think, that Chymical Physicians deal only in Mi∣nerals; and that mistake of theirs hath given occasion to Scandalizers to work upon their Phantsies an aversation from the Chymists, whereas none deal more in Vegetables and parts of Animals than they do, for the making of Medicins; only Mi∣neral
Medicaments are used upon occasi∣on, and may be with as much safety as the other, at the discretion of such Phy∣sicians as take care of the prepara∣tion.
And certainly, one may easily conclude, that their Knowledg and Discretion is most to be relied on, who are best acquainted with the Phaenomena, the operations and Mutations of Nature in Natural Bodies▪ and according to them are able to consider and make a due estimate both of things natural and proper in the Frame of Medi∣caments, and of things preternatural and exotick in Diseases, and from the consi∣deration of real Principles, prevailing in the one, and pec••ant in the other, propor∣tion their means and Methods of Curati∣on accordingly: this prudent and most na∣tural Course is that, which guides the lear∣ned Chymical Physicians in their Inventions of Medicins, and in the application of them. For Chymistry is without Dispute the truest Handmaid (as Mr. * 3.269 Boyle calls it) to Physiologie, and will not a little contribute to clear up the nature of Digestions, and of those Deficiencies or Aberrations in them, which produce a great part of Diseases. And
truly, though Chymistry should never have brought to light any considerable Medicin for the use of men, yet it is praise-worthy, and to be encouraged even upon this Account, that besides the unlocking of parts and principles in mixt Bodies, the operations thereto belonging are made use of by learned men now adaies, to illustrate the Doctrin of Diseases. For, let me once more cite what Mr. Boyle saith, * 3.270 that since the Liquors contained in mans body a∣bound, divers of them, with Saline or Sul∣phureous Parts, He that hath been by Chy∣mistry taught the nature of the several sorts of Salts and Sulphurs, and both beheld and consider'd their various actions upon one ano∣ther, and upon other Bodies, seems to have a considerable help to discourse groundedly of the Changes and Operations of the Humors, and other Juices of the Body.
Thus the present learned Professor of Leyden, Francis de Le Boe in his Medical Disputations, illustrates the Alterations and Secretions of Juices and Humors in the Body by the operations of Chymistry; and when he comes to that part which con∣••erus the * 3.271 Process of the Chyle both in the Stomack and the Bowels, Let me (saith
he) for the manifestation of that Process, which hath hitherto lain hid quasi in Demo∣criti puteo, call in to my counsel and assist∣ance, Chymistry, an Art which produceth things admirable and stupendious every day, and is certainly of principal use in the disco∣very of natural Mutations, and in some Par∣ticulars, if I may speak it, exceeding Na∣ture her self; the most profitable and only necessary Means, for the constituting of Na∣tural Science, and a solid Body of Physick. And in * 3.272 another place, I shall not (saith he) as others have done hitherto, consider the nature of Diseases according to the Etymologi∣cal definitions, whereby the Essences of them are very ill explained, and the sick worse cu∣red, men resting in former time upon a dubi∣ous, barren, and sometimes mischievous Grammatical Disquisition of Terms in the Art of Physick; but my principal care is a∣bout the laying of such a solid Foundation of the Art of Physick, as may be fit for the bet∣ter sort of Practisers, who desire to contend with Diseases, not wrangle about Phantsies; and therefore is ought to be, by the help of Sence and Reason, derived from the true Fountains of things Natural and Medicinal, that we may, by a Chain of Reasonings there∣upon,
be led to a finding out the true Causes of any Distempers whatsoever, and the right way of curing them. In prosecution of his purpose, he hath (as Doctor Willis did be∣fore him) from the Fermentations and ef∣fervescencies, alterations, and quietatious of External Liquors, endeavor'd to illu••••••ate the like of the liquors in the Body of man, as to the causation & curation of M••ladies.
It is of great use to observe the alterati∣ons befalling these two B••••ds (or as it were Ligaments) of the P••••ts of mixt Bo∣dies, the Salt and the Sulphur. It is the Principle of Water which dissolves that of Salt (as may be seen in Hydropick Bodies;) which that Principle called Sulphur (the oyly part) cannot do, but submits to the Fire, which the Salt will not do: and if while the Principle of Sulphur is added to Fire, the vapors thence elevated have not free egress to spend themselves ••••••o••d, they are ready to extinguish the Fire, and enervate its operation. Just so it fares many times in man's Body, when the Vi∣tal Flame thereof by some accident is hin∣dred from making a due dissipation of an abounding Balsamick Sulphur in the Bloud: For, even as a Candle burns, so
doth the Lamp of life, by a convenient vicissitudinary supply and dissipation of oy∣ly matter, viz. of that Sulphureous Bal∣samick Alimentary Juice which is added every day. It were too tedious to Philo∣sophise at large upon these two Principles in reference to Sanity and Sickness; there∣fore I cut short.
Hitherto, Spittle hath been look'd on as almost a mere Excrement; but he who considers, that if the Spittle be either de∣fective or vitious, the work of Concocti∣on goes not right on in the Stomack, will admit it to be an useful Ferment, consisting principally in a proportion of Water, Salt, and Spirit; and when the Stomack through its default is put out of order, he that at∣tempts to cure it without a Notion of these things, may possibly by some lucky Stomachick Medicins relieve and assist the Stomack, but never throughly amend the Causal Default, unless it be by mere Chance.
Bile also hath, till Helmont opened the eyes of this Age, been thought an Excre∣ment, but now men begin to be of his o∣pinion, that it is one of the noblest Fer∣ments of the Body, separated from the Ar∣terial
blood, and serving for many uses, and particularly subserving to the motion of the Chyle, after it is passed from the Stomack to the Intestines, by promoting the Peristaltick Motion of the Guts; and that the Chyle being a Substance impreg∣nated with a Volatile Spirit, a Lixivious Salt, and an acid Spirit, by the Fermental Action of the Stomack, becomes in the Duodenum impregnated by a farr greater quantity of Lixivious Salt, and somewhat more of a Sulphur, or oyly nature, and of a Volatile Spirit, than it had before, in or∣der to its further Process in the Milky Veins and in the Heart, till it put on the rudi∣mental Form of Bloud; which Chymical Notions whoever is ignorant of, will hard∣ly be able to understand the Nature of those many Diseases called Bilious, with other Distempers incident to the Stomack and Bowels, and consequently be less able to apply such Medicaments as may meet with them, according to the predominan∣cie or exorbitancie of either of those Prin∣ciples, ingredient either in the Chyle, or in the Bile; from whence arise abundance of fretful and frightful Diseases, especially in Children. As for Instance, when the
Ferment of the Stomack, or the Bile, grown extravagant through the over acidi∣ty of the Spirit, or through excess or adu∣stion of the Lixivious Salt, causeth Frets in Children, or Torments of Belly in el∣der people, then the Galenick Medicins usually given to lenifie, dulcifie, and alter the matter, and pacifie the Bowels, prove for the most ineffectual, whereas other Medicins administred by the hand of a Chymical Physician, which are severe in appearance, but having in them a power of strangulating those Saltinesses and Acidi∣ties which cause the Distemper, do imme∣diatly put an end to it. After this man∣ner have I seen that severe corrosive Li∣quor called Oyl of Vitriol by addition of the Acid Oyl of Tartar, or of the Salt of Tartar, lose that Corrosive acidity which it had before. Not that I would have Oyls of Vitriol and Tartar used by any to do the like, in such Cases, within the Bo∣die; but I mention the Experiment, only to illustrate my Discourse, and convince the Reader, that a learned Chymical Physi∣cian, who understands these things, and thereupon knows immediately, from sure and rational Principles, how to form a
Medicin, is the man more surely to be re∣lied on for Cure, than the common Ga∣lenists, who rest upon old Notions, and general Shop-Medicins; and are usually strangers to the Properties of things, as they are discoverable by the genuine Prin∣ciples and Operations of Nature. Thus those Acidities abounding in Quartans are often cured by Liquefactions of Sandivere, or of common Salt after its being calcined, a convenient number of Drops being duly exhibited in some proper Vehicle. And if those Acidities or Acrimonies be dealt with by Medicaments abounding with a Volatile Salt, they are immediatly lenifi∣ed: Just as Spirit of Wine being cohoba∣ted with Spirit of Salt, they so attemper each other, that the one loseth its Fer∣vor, and the other its acrimonious Aci∣dity.
Thus in the many frequent Distempers, which arise from Ebullitions of sharp and acid Liquors in Scorbutick Bodies, in which Cases the common Galenists present∣ly are for blouding to allay them, a learn∣ed Chymical Physician, being Master of such Medicaments, as have power imme∣diately to alter, pacifie, or precipitate
those Acrimonies and Acidities, performs the work, without any such damageable diminution of Bloud, which is the grand Vehicle of vitality; and the draining of it in such Cases, brings the Bodies of Pati∣ents to such a Pass, that after once or twice relieving them by it, the most dangerous Consequent is this, that when they fall ill again, they look for it, and (Custom proving Another Nature) can have no re∣lief without it, till the habit of the Bo∣dy being destroyed by Iterated Phleboto∣mies, there remains no more place for the practise of that, or any other Remedie whatsoever.
It is not above a Fortnight since, that a youth lying in a very Feverish state, with an ill Cough, I perceiving it came from a Wormatick Cause in the Bowels, order'd him a Cordial impregnated with such Al∣kalisate Salts as might alter the matter, kill the Worms, and abate the Feverish Heat, all in one; which a certain Doctor being brought in by some of the Friends to view the sick, having tasted, he said there was strong water in it, and 'twas too Hot, and sharp, and no more to be used, &c. because little considering the Worms in the Case,
and that when that Cause was removed, the Fever and Cough would end of it self, he concluded from the heat it was a Hectick Fever, and so ought to be plied with cool∣ing Pectorals; but the Boy two or three daies after, avoiding a Worm, immediate∣ly recovered, without more ado. I had not mentioned this, but to shew, how apt such Physicians, though otherwise learned, are to be mistaken by the outward consi∣deration of Hot and Sharp, and other First and Second Qualities, when they go no fur∣ther to ground a Judgement concerning the nature either of Diseases, or Medicins.
But what saith noble Mr. Boyle upon this subject? * 3.273 He that finds (saith he) that there may be acid Juices in the Stomack, and in other parts (as is frequently evident in the sharp Liquors which many Stomacks cast up) and that there are also Sulphureous Salts in the Body, as is apparent in Bloud and Urine, which abound with such: He that observes how acid Liquors lose their Acidity, by wor∣king upon some Bodies, as Spirit of Vinegar grows almost insipid upon the Coral it hath corroded: and how those Saline Liquors, by working upon certain Bodies, degenerate into Salts of another nature, as we have some∣times
observed in Oyle of Vitriol working up∣on the Fourth part of its weight in Quick-sil∣ver; and how the contrariety of Acid and Sul∣phureous Salts makes them sometimes dis∣arm, sometimes, after some ebullition, Pre∣cipitate each other, and sometimes unite in∣to a Third substance of a differing nature from either of those from whose Coalition it results, as we see in Tartar Vitriolate, and (as I have observed) in a Salt which I some∣times make to emerge from a due proportion of Oyle of Vitriol and Spirit of Urine, freed, after conjunction, from their Aqueous Moi∣sture: And he, in a word, that hath careful∣ly Analysed and made Trials on many Parts both of the Macrocosm and Microcosm, and heedfully applied his Experiments made on the former, for illustration of the Changes ob∣servable in the latter, shall be likely to explicate divers particulars in Pathology, more intelli∣gibly than he that is a stranger to Chymistry. And so from some observations of his own he concludes, That the generality of fermer Physicians have ascribed too much to the Hu∣mors, under the notion of their being Hot, and Dry, Cold, and Moist, or endowed with such other Elementary Qualities, and have taken a great deal too little notice of the Sa∣line
and Sulphureous properties of things. And that is the reason (I say) why the old Scholastick Learning is not sufficient to furnish us with any tolerable account, touching the Nature of Diseases, and the curing of them: But he who is able, be∣ing instructed by Chymistry, to reason out things according to the real Appearances made in the Operations of Nature, and who to the consideration of other substan∣tial Notions joyns also this, That all Fix't things may be made Volatile by the help of the Volatile Spirit alone, and that by the vo∣latilisation of what is Fix't, and a Fixation of what is Volatile, many wonderful incre∣dible Tinctures and Mutations of Humors and Liquors, may arise within, as well as without the Body of man, shall be able to apprehend the condition and cure of most of the Diseases hitherto accounted incur∣able by Galenical Physick.
And truly tis great Pity, that none of the Chymical Physicians have yet taken the Task upon them, to write of the several Diseases incident to the Body of man in such a manner, as from Chapter to Chap∣ter, to Philosophise at large upon each Dis∣ease and the waies of Remedy, by the
mediation of Chymick Principles, Processes, Alterations, and Productions: For hither∣to, the useful Notions of this kind that have been published, lie scatter'd in seve∣ral Authors, and call aloud for a Collecti∣on by the hand of some learned Chymist, who may be able to improve them in Dis∣course from his own knowledge and expe∣rience, and be ready to take in also the Counsel and Contributions of the ablest Brethren of the Faculty, toward the ac∣complishment of so needful a work. And if the Hints which I have here given, touch∣ing the influence or concurrence of Vene∣reous, Verminous, and Scorbutick Ferments, in the Maladies of this Age, be of any value in mens eyes, I hope the admitting of them as Hypotheses will be of use to o∣thers, as they have been to me, in the cu∣ration of Diseases; for, the great Reme∣dies that I relie on are so fitted to those three, that be the Disease what it will, Acute or Chronick, they shall reach at it, and the three, All in one: And if at any time I have had success more than ordinary in the curing of any, whether Infants or others, I ascribe it (next the blessing of God) to the putting of this Notion in
practise; and the effects following there∣upon have in time assured me, that I am in the right, therefore cannot but recom∣mend it to others, that they may (if they please) ex propriâ Minervâ form unto themselves such Medicins and Methods, as may answer the Designe of this Dis∣course.
Oswald Grembs, lib. 1. cap. 1. De Cor∣dis affectibus.Si Galenicorum Remedia Secundam, & Tertiam Digestionem non attingant, multo minùs Quartam, & Quintam.
De gen. Anim. ex∣ercit. 52.
Advance of Learn. li. 1. cap. 5.
L. Bacon.
In his Nov. Org.
Tantun∣dem sci∣visse Car∣tesium sta∣tuere opor∣tet, in in∣vestigandis Naturae Causis quantum ignoravit Aristoteles.
In his Epi∣stle Dedi∣catory to the Magi∣strates of Ʋtrecht.
This Helmont did also be∣fore him.
Pag. 409.
Lib. 2. c. 1. sect. 4. De Morbis Lienls.
Plantius in the life of Ferne∣lius, tells his mind more at large.
Printed at Paris, An. 1603.
11 Meth. 15.
Lib. 4. Fen. 1. Tr. 2. cap. 39.
Pract. li. 3. part. 5. sect. 2.
De Lue Ven. cap. 2.
Pract. li. 6. part. 4. cap. 5.
Rondele∣tius, De Morbo Ita∣lico.
See Ri∣ver. ••. Cent. Obs. 85.
Cum morbo Gallico paribus Passibus certare vi∣detur, & Symptomae∣tum vdric∣tate & si∣militu∣dine.
Vix um∣bram ba∣here no∣strum Scor∣butum cum Septentri∣onalium, intelligo.
De Rachitide.
Do Ra∣chitide, cap. 20.
De Hy∣sterica pas∣sion••.
Pract. l. 3. part. 5. Sect. 2. c. 4.
The Title of the Trea∣tise, is, Lues Vene∣rea, pub∣lished. An∣no 1659.
For Mode∣sties sake these pas∣sages are put in Latine
De Lue Ven. l. 32. Obs. 3.
De Morb Con∣tag. l. 2. c. 14.
Pract. l. 6. part. 3. cap. 3.
Z••cut. Prax. Hist. l. 2. c. 1. p. 6••.
Veluti Impossibile est, posse inveniri remedium quod Con∣tagii vim ex toto resrin∣gat, &c.
Horsti∣us, Sen∣nertus. Re••j••erus, Forestus, and the rest.
De Vulgi Erroribus, l. 1. cap. 16.
Ʋbi supra.
Pract. l. 6. Part. 3. c. 3.
De Morbo Gal. l. 7.
De Lue Ven. cap. 4.
De Ab∣dit. rer. Caus. l. 2. Cap. 14.
Patho∣logic. Ex∣ercit. p. 177.
De Morbo Gal. cap. 22.
l. 4. de Morbis in∣simi Ven∣tris, Obs. 43.
Prax. Hist. l. 2. cap. 1.
De Abd. rer. Caus. cap. 14.
De Febr. l. 4: cap. 2.
Habet se Contagi∣um antea dictum Fermenti instar, &c.
Subtile Spiritale aliq••id de se emit∣tit.
Pract. l. 6. Part. 3. c. 3.
Proculdu∣biò Ato∣morum more, è corpore infecto ef∣fluens.
De Febr. cap. 12.
Sunt au∣t••m hujus∣modi Cor∣puscula nil aliud nisi Spirabiles quaedam mixti Por∣tiunculae, ejusdem cum Toto Proprieta∣tis & Na∣turae, Ibid.
Pag. 34, 35.
Pag. 50.
Pag 6••.
Contro∣vers. Med. & Philo∣soph. lib. 5. cap. 6.
Mos. Phil. l. 3. sec. 2. cap. 3.
Instit. Med. Disp. Quaest. 15.
De Morb. Contag. cap. 14.
De Vi∣rulentia Venerea.
Pract. l. 6. Part. 4. Cap. 3. de Lue Ven.
De Scorb. c. 3.
Videtur eadem esse ratio quae in Lue Ve∣nerea.
De Morb. Contag. P. 373.
Cent. 2. Obs.
Exercit. de Motu Cordis, p. 61.
l. 2. Obs. 134.
3. 4. Tract. 3. cap. 1.
l. 1. De Contag. ult.
De Lue Ven. Scho∣lia in Obs. 2.
De Morb. Contag. Observ. 3.
Dissert. De Ana∣tom. Vit. & Mort.
De Lue Ven. cap. 4.
Prax Hist. Cap. 1. De Morb. Gal. p. 268.
Ubi supra.
Cap. 3. De Scorb.
De Lue Ven. cap.
De Lue Ven. Schol. in Obs. 2.
Prax. Hist. l. 2. cap. 1. De Morbo Gall.
De Arthrit. Vagâ Scorbuti∣câ, p. 29. 3 1 See Oswald Grembs, l. 1. cap. 8. de usu part, Sect. 3. p. 77.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
De Morb. Gal. c. 7.
Si unus esset Mun∣di Prin∣ceps, &c. lib. 5. de Morb. oc∣cult. c. 11.
l. 2. de Contag.
De Med. Pri••. l. ••. Hist ••▪
Lib. 2. cap. 1 de Morbis in genere. pag. 162.
Ign••tus Hospes Morbus, p. 405.
Quihus larvati incedunt.
Tumulus Pestis, p. 844, 845.
Prax. Histor. c. 1. De Morbo Gal. p. ••66.
Med. Princ. Hist. lib. 1. Quaest. 35. p. 126.
De Lue Ven. cap. 7.
De Lue Ven. cap. 7.
P. 845. 847.
P. 847.
De Lue Ven. cap. 7.
P. 84••.
Lib. 2. cap. 2. De Febr. Naturâ.
Cap. 4.
l. 7. de Morb. Contag. p. 374.
Ibid. p. 387.
l. 7. de Morb. Contag. p. 394.
Nugae sunt, & ineptiae vulgarium.
Cap. 7.
De Peste
P. 81.
Pag. 250.
Lib. D•• Venen.
P. 85.
i. e. An Instrument so made, and fitted with glasses at each end, as that the smallest thing will be repre∣sented by it in so consi∣derable a bigness; that the frame and com∣posure of its Parts may be discerned.
Arist. 2. de Hist. A∣nim.
Arist. 4. de gen. c. 26. Theophr. l. •• l 4. c. 27. Plin. l. 11. c. 34.
Pag. 240.
Pag. 241.
Put. ••. Essay. 5.
Ch. 1••.
I have read it in the Preface of Celsus.
Part. 2. Pag. 237.
Bacon, Advance of Learn. l. 4. p. 189. 190.
Orid, Re∣med Am. ••. 2.
Part. 2. ••. 301.
p. 234, 235.
Lib. 1. chap. 18.
Lib? 4. chap. 2.
Cap. 87.
Pag. 286, 287.
Pag. 395.
He was Physician to three Emperors. Consil. 322.
Disput. Med. Thes. 1.
Presace to the ad∣vancement of Lear••∣ing.
Vide Promissa Helmontii, Pag 8.
De co••∣••o••cend•••• 〈…〉〈…〉, ••f∣f••ct 〈◊〉〈◊〉.
That ought to be exclu∣ded out of the Faculty of Physic••.
D•• Fer∣mentatione.
Novum O••ganon, Aphorism. 15.
In the La∣tin Copy.
P••••ura.
pag. 320
Nec M••∣dicimanum v••ldè im∣plorant.
P••g ••39.
Experi∣ment. Phi∣los. part. 1. 35. 36.
Pag. 108.
In Prae∣sat.
Celsus in Pre.
Experim. Philos. p. 281. part 2.
De Ge∣ner. Ani∣mal. Exer∣cit. 52.
L••b. 1. ca. 8.
Dispu••. Med. 6.
De Febr. Cap. 1.
Spirit.
Sulphur.
Salt.
Earth.
Water.
The Nature and use of the five Principles.
Naturae sunt Mor∣borum Me∣d••catrices. Hippoc.
Of Digesti∣ons.
Of Fer∣ments.
Experim. ph••••os. pa••••. ••. p. 44.
Of Diseases in general.
Lib 2. ca. 1. De Mor∣bis in gene∣re.
Ortus Imag. Mor∣bos. p. 44.
Of the Ar∣ch. us.
Grembs de Ortu Rerum, l. 1. cap. 7.
De Ah∣d••t. rer. Caus. l. 2. cap. 7.
Lib. 3. cap. 1.
Lib 7 cap. 7. Eu••q. Spiritum Causam Continen∣tem dixere.
Fernel. de Abd. rer. Caus. lib 2. Cap. 8.
De Ab••∣rer. Caus. lib 2. Cap. 10.
H••urnius in Hippoc. Progn. l. 3.
Epist. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 2. cap. 60.
Lib. 2 ed▪ ••, de Febr, na••u••â.
Of Critical days.
Hippocr. lib. de Car∣nibus.
Aristor. lib. 1. de ••••lo, cap. 1.
3. d•• die∣bus Decre∣tor••is cap. 8. & 11.
Med. Princ. hist. lib. 6. q. 11.
Tract. de Dieb. De∣cret.
Med. Pri. Hist. l. 6. Quaest 11. p. 979.
Celsus, de Re 〈◊〉〈◊〉. cap. 4.
Asclepi∣ades lived in the time of Pompey the great.
De Febr. cap. 9.
Contra∣vers. M••d. & Philo∣soph. l••b. 10. cap. 2.
Lib. 1. Epist. 35.
Cap. 11.
Of Pulses.
Greg. Horst. I••∣stit. Med. Disput. 13. Quaest 1. Conciliator D••ff••r 82.
Funda∣menta Med. cap. 5.
Disput. Med. 8.
De vulgi Erroribus, l. 1. c. 15.
Pulsus autem ra∣tione aeta∣ti••, s••xus, Tempera∣menti, de∣loris, & af∣fectuum a nimi mag∣nopere va∣riatur. So saith Hen∣ricus Re∣gius.
Of Urines.
In Epist. ante disser. de Urinis.
A brief censure of Hippocra∣tes and Galen.
A Censure of the A∣phorisms of Hippocr.
Meth. vi∣tand. Error l. 1. cap 31.
Lib. 5. Aph. 42.
For ease to the me∣mory, Ralph Winter∣ton of Cambridg pub••ished them in verse both Greek and Latine. An. 1633.
A Censure of the Prog∣nosticks of Hippocr.
Text, 3.
Text, 4.
In Epistolae ante librum de Fermen.
Lib. 1.
Novum Or∣gan. Aph. 31.
De vi∣••ndis er∣ror. lib 15. cap. 11.
Exper. Phil. part 1. pag. 6.
Hippocr. Aph. 31. lib. 5.
Ibid p. 73.
Neq. ig∣norare o∣porte••, in acutis mor∣bis sallaces notas esse & Salutis & Mortis.
Ibid Es∣say, 3. p. 66.
8 Meth. 2.
De vitan. err. l. 15. cap. 11.
Lib. 3. c. 15.
Ex Com∣ment. 1. in lib. 1. Epid. cap. ••4.
Cap. 3.
Hippocr. De V••ct. Rat. in Morb. ac T. 38. Ga∣len, 3. De Sympt. Caus. ca. 2.
De Mo••b. Contag. lib. 7. Sect. 1. Sect. 10. & 11.
Ubi su∣pra.
Willis de Febr. ca 6.
Cap. 7.
De Febr. cap. 2.
Cap. 1. de Febr. & ca. 3. & 7.
Oeconom. Anim. Ex∣ercit. 4.
Dr Gener. Anim. Ex∣ercit. 51. sub finem.
Lib. De Febr. ca. 3.
Med. Ob∣ser. lib. 1. Obs. 33.
Metb. Med. l 3. cap. 1.
1. Aph. 23. 11. Me∣thod c 3 & cap 14. 15.
7 Collig. cap. 8.
Observ. Med. lib 1. Obs. 33.
De Febr. cap. 3.
Ubi suprà.
De F••br. Cap. 1.
Ubi su∣pra.
••bi su∣pra, circa finem.
Thone∣rus, observ. Med. ubi suprà.
Lib. De Morb. Con∣tag.
Chap. 1••.
D•• F••br.
Institut. Med. lib 3. cap. 8.
D•• Febr. lib. 2. cap. 2
〈◊〉〈◊〉. 3. de ••••••vitate vitae huma∣nae, cap. 1.
Exper. Phil. part. 1. p. 66.
De Abd. ••er. Causis.
Si occulti Morbi, ne∣cesse est & contraria illis, occul∣táque re∣media, exi∣stere.
Epist. Med. lib. 2. Ep. 2.
In his Prelimina∣ry Dis∣cou••se.
Epist. Med. 76.
Langii Epist. Ubi suprà.
〈◊〉〈◊〉. l. 4.
Exp••r. Phi••. Part. 1. p. 239.
Pag. ••39. ••40.
In prae∣sat.
De Me∣diciná Ae∣gypt.
In Prae∣sat. ante The sau∣rum Me∣dico-Chy∣micum.
Part. 2. Book 2. p. ••••.110.
Th••s Ve∣getables are every jot an malignant, being crude as any Mi∣neral what∣soever.
Pag. 111.
Ubi su∣prà, p. 110▪ 111.
A prudent Clymical Physi∣ci••n knowing the nature of the several Waters, is able by skil, in his Study, even with common Water to make a preparation of Water e∣quivalent to any of the Min∣eral Waters which are in u••e, that th••y who cannot go to the Wi••lis may be furnish'd ••••••••me.
Part. ••. p. 220. & 221
Id est. Whose skill lies in old Book Learning, and the old Methodus Medendi.
In P••af.
Pag. 138.
Pag. ••03, 204.
Pag▪ 204, 205.
Ubi Suprà.
Pag. 206.
Pag. 1••4.
Pag. 196.
Pag 405.
Pag 186, 187.
Pag. ••96, 197.
Pag. 394.
Pag. 394.
Pag. 296.
Pag. 390, 391.
Pag. 1••••, 159.
Helmont Pharmac••. & dispen∣sat. Nov. p. 458.
Pag. 160, 161, 162.
Pag. 187.
Part 2. p. 35.
Ubi su∣pr••.
Dispu••. ••.
Disput 3.
Part. 2. p. 28, 29.