The workes of that famous chirurgion Ambrose Parey translated out of Latin and compared with the French. by Tho: Johnson. Whereunto are added three tractates our of Adrianus Spigelius of the veines, arteries, & nerves, with large figures. Also a table of the bookes and chapters.

CHAP. III. The differences of simples in their qualities and effects.

ALL the mentioned sorts of simples are endued with one or more of the four faculties, whereof I now purpose to treat.

The first faculty common to all the rest, and as it were their foundation, flows from the four first qualities of the prime bodies or elements, that is heat, coldness, driness and moisture; and this either simple or compound, as one or two of these prime qualities exceed in the temper of the medicine, as may appear by this following.

The simple quality is either to Heat, Cool, Humect, or Drie.

The compound, arising from two joyned qualities, either heats and dries, Heats and moistens, Cools and dries, Cools and moistens.

Heat moderate, Heats, Attenuates, Rarifies, Opens the passages, Digests, Suppurates, Immode∣rate, Inflames and burns, Bites, whence follows Violent attraction, Rubrification, Consumption, Colliquation, An eschar, Mortification.

Cold moderate, Cooleth, Condenseth, Obstructeth, Immoderate, Congeals, Stupifies, Mor∣tifies.

Moisture moderate, Humects, Lubricates, Levigates and mitigates, Glues. Immoderate, Ob∣structs, lifts up into a flatulent tumor, especially if it be a vaporous humidity.

Driness moderate, Dries, Ratifies, Attenuates. Immoderate, Bindes, Contracts or shrinks, Cau∣seth chops and scails.

The effect of these qualities is distinguished, and as Galen observes, digested into these orders,* 1.1 which we term Degrees, so that by a certain proportion and measure, they may serve to oppugn diseases, as the same Galen affirms. For to a disease (for example) hot in the second degree, no o∣ther medicine must be used then that which is cold in the like degree: Wherefore all simple me∣dicines are Hot, Cold, Moist, or Drie; in the beginning, middle, or extreme, of the first, second, third, or fourth degree.

The Heat, Coldness, Moisture, Driness, of the first, second, third, fourth degree; is either Ob∣scure, Manifest, Vehement or Excessive.

An example of heat distinguished thus by degrees, may be thus; Warm water is temperate;* 1.2 that which is a little hotter, is the first degree of heat; if manifestly hot, it is in the second degree; but if it heat more vehemently, it may be thought to come to the third; but it scald, then we know that it hath arrived to the fourth degree of heat. Such also is the distinction of coldness, moisture, and driness by degrees. Wherefore it will be worth our labour, to give you examples of

certain in medicines, distinguished in their order and degree, by which you may the more easily give conjecture of the rest.

Simple Medicines hot in the

First degree. Absinthium. Althaea. Amygdala dulcia. Beta. Brassica. Chamaemelum. Ladanum. Semen Lini. Saccarum. Ervum, sive Orebus, Vinum novum: For old is judged hot in the second or third degree, as it is more or less years old.

Second degree. Ammoniacum. Artemisia. Anethum. Foenugraecum. Mastiche. Salvia. Marrubi∣um. Mel••ssa. Aplum. Chamaepytis. Crocus. ••icus. Thus. Myrrha. Mel. Nux moschata. Pix utraque, tum arida corp••ribus particulisque solidioribus aptior, tum liquida delicatioribas. Scylla. Sarcocolla. Bryonia. Sal. Opopanax. Ammi.

Third degree. Abrotanum. Agnus castus. Anisum. Asarum. Aristolichia. Chamaedrys. Sabina. Calamin∣tha. Cinnamonum. Iris. Juniperus Hyssopus. Origanum Sagapenum. Chelidonium majus. Ruta sativa.

Fourth degree. Allum. Caepa. Euphorbium. Nasturtium. Pyrethrum. Sinapi. Tithymalli. Anacardi. Chelid••nium mi••us, Galeno. Yet outs, by reason of the gentleness of the air, and moisture of our soil, is not so acrid. Ruta sylvestris. This, as all wilde and not cultivated things, becomes more strong and acrid then the Garden-Rue.

Simples cold in the

First degree. Atriplex. Hordeum. Cydonia mala. Malva▪ Pyra. Pruna. Rosa. Viola.

Second degree. Acacia. Cucurbita. Cucumis. Mala granata acida, dulcia enim temperata sunt potius. Plantago. Polyganum. Solanum hortense; nam id quod somniferum dicitus, vi refrigerandi ad papaver accedit.

Third degree. Hyoscyamus. Solanum somniferum. Portulaca. Sempervivum. Mandragora.

Fourth degree. Cicuta. Papaveris genera omnia, excepto Corniculato; huic enim incidendi & abster∣gendi vim attribuit Gal. Certe nitrosum & salsum gustu percipitur, quo fit ut calidae & siccae sit naturae. Opium

Simples moist in the

First degree. Bugl••ssum Viola. Malva Rapum. Spinacia.

Second degree. Ammoniacum. Lactuca. Cucurbita. Cucumis. Melones. Portulaca.

Simples drie in the

First degree. Thus. Chamaemelon. Brassica. Sarcocolla. Crecus. Faba. Faenugraecum. Hordeum integrum.

Second degree. Artemesia. Pix arida. Orobus. Plantago. Balaustia. Nux moschata. Lens. Mastiche. Mel. Sal. Anethum. Myrrha.

Third degree. Abrotonum ustum. Absinthium. Myrtus. Acetum. Aloe. Milium. Cuminum. Sanguis dracon••s. Galla. Sabina.

Fourth degree. Piper. Allium. Nasturtium. Sinapi. Euphorbium.

* 1.3Those we have mentioned have of themselves and their own nature all such qualities; yet do they pr••••••e far other effects by accident, and besides their own nature in our bodies, by reason of which they are termed accidental causes. This shall be made manifest by the following ex∣amples.

External heat by accident refrigerates the body within, because it opens the passage•• and potes, and calls forth the internal heat, together with the spirits and humors by sweats: whence it fol∣lows, that the digestion is worse, and the ••ppetite is diminished. The same encompassing heat also humects by accident, whilest it diffuses the humors concrete with cold: for thus Venery is thought to humect.

The like may be said of Cold, for that it heats, not by its proper and native, but by an adven∣titious force: whereof you may make trial in Winter, when as the ambient cold, by shutting the pores of the body, hinders the breathing fo••th and dissipation of the native heat. Whence it is inwardly doubled, and the concoction better performed, and the appetite strengthned. This same Cold also drie; by accident, when as it by accident repercusses the humor that was ready to flow down into any part, and whilst it concretes that which is gathered in the part: for thus, by the im∣moderate use of repercussers, an oedematous tumor proceeding from gross and viscid phlegm, de∣generates into a schirrus.

Driness and Moisture, because they are more passive qualities, shew their effects by not so ma∣nifest operations, as heat and cold do; but in comparison of them they are rather to be judged as matter, or a subject.

Notes

• * 1.1

  5. simp. & 1. de aliment.
• * 1.2

  Examples of the degrees of heat.
• * 1.3

  The effects of the first qual••∣ties by acci∣dent.