to attract well but the Magnet and those things that act by love or hatred do not Electrical Bodies also will not attract if any Bodies be interposed nor will those Bodies that act by love or hatred Lastly the Magnet hath not only its orb of attraction by which it acts within a certain sphere but also its orb of virtue turning itself constantly towards the Pole let the distance be what it will Sympathy agrees with love and hatred specially so called in this that they alter each other and with the Magnet that they act at a distance and equally penetrate close bodies neither are they tied to the laws of Dimensions And moreover they have this peculiar to themselves that one of them being well or ill affected by that with which it agrees or disagrees the other at a distance is affected after the same nature Let this at present suffice to have been said of Sympathy Love and Hatred and Magnetism We now come to examine the opinions concerning acting at a distance And first some to find the cause thereof say that in the exteriour part of Man that is in the Blood and Spirits there is a certain extatick power and this not in Man only but also in Brutes and Vegetables and their parts that wants to be excited from death in regard it is sleepy by an exalted imagination a vehement desire or some such like art as in the sympathetical unguent or Powder an extatick virtue is excited in the Blood spilt upon a stick by the unguent which drives away whatever was hurtful from the lips of the wound from whence the Blood proceeded and that this may be perform'd at a distance they say that there does lye concealed in the Universe a certain Spirit which they call the great Magnale which is the procurer confederate and assistant to the actions of Sympathy and Antipathy and by whose means Magnetism as in a vehicle is conveyed to the distant object which they prove by the Magnetism of the strings of two Lutes being tuned unisones that one being struck upon the same string of the other at a distance will vibrate and the rest be unmoved But to confute this opinion first it is objected that its Defenders suppose entities without any necessity for it is not necessary to the production of such operators to conceit such a Spirit different from Forms which they call their great Magnale And moreover it doth not agree with their principles for they deny that there is a Soul of the World or an universal Form in regard they say that all specifical distinction doth immediately proceed from Forms Also they assert that Forms are Lights and differ in specie and are new created in the instant of Generation by the Father of Lights and again annihilated by accidents and although it should be granted that there was such a Spirit and that it was the procurer of those actions it would be impossible for Vegetables irrational Animals and their parts to send forth these imaginations to so great a distance although we should grant that all things do live and so consequently do participate of some sort of sence and fancy in regard those things which have a more apparent life as Animals and those that have the use of reason cannot extend the power of their fancy to so great a distance neither do they operate as such things can so operate for those things that are endued with the most noble fancy must needs be most operative as is evident in the example of the strings of an Instrument tuned unisones if this were performed by this Magnalian fancy as they pretend it would be perceived at any distance and where-ever one was struck the other unisone string would move in any part of the world which is contrary to manifest reason and experience for it is performed but within a certain distance and beyond that no motion is ever observed but what is said of the fancy of Animals and Vegetables that convert our fancy to be like theirs as a Mad-dog the Tarantula c. doth not infer any thing of the Magnatism of the fancy to very distant places for in all these things is required either the contraction of motion or virtue within a certain sphere but in the mean time it cannot be denied that if a mans fancy be vehemently taken up about a thing mightily desired although the thing may be at a great distance he shall have a sort of view of it as if it were present before him and be as it were transformed into the thing desired but there is no person in his right wits will believe that a fancy extatically raised shall be carried thousands of leagues to the wished-for object And if we should grant that an extatick fancy should be carried to this distance yet nevertheless it could not operate by itself either on Friend or Foe by causing so many different compassions as are performed sympathetically in regard all actions besides those that are proper to Souls proceed from Ferments I should have said more at this time but that it is almost the discourse of every one that fancy of itself doth transmute all things and upon this reason only I thought fit to say something briefly of its actions Others to prove that there is this operation at a distance say first that all Bodies send forth Beams in which the Soul acts by its own presence and communicates a power of acting to them and that these rays are corporeal and contain in them a portion of vital spirits and upon that account live and that their life is the same with that of the Animal whose excrements they were also that there is a kind of concatenation of those rays at every distance though never so great the like also is perform'd between the blood and any other part of the body that is separated from it at never so remote a distance But first we answer if granting these effluviums from blood urine sweat and excrements if they be corporeal it is impossible that they should have a concatenation at any distance for if the greatest body was rarify'd even to invisible Atoms it would not be sufficient to supply effluviums for a thousand Leagues and if it was allowed that it would suffice in regard they allowed them no vehicle they would certainly miss of the right way but if they say this concatenation proceeds from a Soul it must necessarily follow that there is a certain Soul which fills the whole space from Pole to Pole but admitting that there were a Soul that extended itself to all places those corporeal effluviums could not accompany it for the reason before alledged We also see that the Blood and Excrements in a Glass or Box are not diminished which would of necessity be if they were continually sending forth corporeal effluviums to so great a distance Again when they assert that Excrements have life this indeed is true but what Naturalist will be so impious to assert
Remedy and by only one Unction they pretend indifferently to cure all different distempers Secondly here is no natural manner of application for mutual touching whereby the power of the Medicine or Unguent may be conveyed to the affected part as is absolutely necessary § 2. But here is none for the Medicine is not applied to the part affected but to water appropriated to a certain Sympathetick Medicine and the Ointment or Powder is rubb'd on the instrument that gave the wound Thirdly here can be no virtual action or touching It is true indeed that there are various occult proprieties in Nature from whence Sympathy and Antipathy take their original but in this Sympathetical Cure there is no evident reason of a Virtual action The Load-stone attracts Iron by an occult power but not from a too remote place a just distance is required Plants are hurtful mischievous and unlucky to one another and so likewise are Animals but no action is observable at a very remote distance and that Power cannot be diffused to immensity and infinity but when by the power of Sympathetick Cure only by the Urine of sick persons Sweat Vomit or Stool shall be caused by certain Sympathetick Medicines or when we use Water or Sympathetick Powder prepared for the closing up a wound in one travelling or absent twelve twenty or more miles what proportion of distance is here between Agent and Patient But if that wonderful Magnetick and Balsamick Powder be efficacious with things very distant it is objected How I pray can such a power proceed from a quantity of Urine clotted blood and the purulent matter of wounds how can those Balsamick Spirits pass thro so many heaps and folds of intermediate matter break thro a Chest have access to a remote languishing body as also to a wound in a Bed perhaps and a Chamber close shut every way but if when the air is turbulent the Suns beams can scarce exert their powers and extend themselves to our bodies how will those travelling Spirits which are so easily agitated by rough winds reach the body and wound of persons hurt but here is admitted no Vital or Medicinal Spirits operating at great distance § 3. In regard things of this kind do not remain in Urine Blood split and purulent concrete matter but vanish at the first moment for Urine vanishes immediately as also Blood once cooled can no longer exercise any faculty pertaining to life Fourthly whether what is performed be done not by the assistance of any Medicine but by the help of Nature We see that in wounds where Nature cures distempers and endeavours and procures healing and consolidation especially if all obstructions are removed and the wound be carefully lookt after which is done by keeping it clean and washing it twice a day with the Urine of the person who will deny that consolidation to proceed from Nature it self to wit by the internal Balsam of Nature promoting its healing Dogs and other Animals often cure their own wounds by licking of them and why may not something of this kind be expected from Nature In the Fifth place No power can proceed from the Spirit or Soul of the world which is accounted the vehicle of this magnetick faculty for a non entity hath no affection no action in the examination and confutation whereof let us consult other Authors CHAP. VIII Of the Defence of Sympathetick Cure § 1. THere are others who oppose these strenuously undertaking the defence of Sympathetick cure Fracastorius Goclenius Tidicaeus Freigius Helmont c. are of opinion that we ought not altogether to disbelieve it in regard they have proved this cure for so long a time by the certain experience and affirmation not of vain men but of those most worthy of credit they say the matter lies here whether probability and verisimilitude drawn from the secrets of Philosophy and the testimony and approbation of the chiefest Philosophers can add any thing to its reputation they say the foundation of the whole cure is that wunderful and occult consent of natural things as the Loadstone and whatsoever hath acquired a Magnetick Nature in the Mariners Compass in Sun-dyals or Clocks always and infallibly distinguishes the Quarters of the world from the North. So also say they the cure of bodies although very far distant without all doubt may be performed by Medicines that possess a Magnetick quality by a energy arising from thence And in regard that between agent and patient there is required a kind of repassion they assert that something like it is to be found here Mans Urine impregnated with a Sympathetick Medicine acts upon its own body which causes sweat vomitings and stool and without any difficulty or detriment Moreover a weapon sprinkled with humane blood operates on the wound given and the wounded Flesh also operates on the weapon infusing something of it self into it and although that is so small that the degree of its alteration and mutation cannot be perceived by us nevertheless it is so much that the weapon hath contracted a certain cognation affinity and consent with the wound and so similitude which is not the same is as it were the same From thence the Magnetick Oyntment acting upon the whole is as if it acted on the wound it being joyned in a sort of affinity to the weapon The defenders of Magnetick cure endeavour to explain all these things better where amongst other things they produce these A Magnetick virtue is propagated from the weapon anointed to the wound by reason of the Cognation and Continuation of Nature which a successive impulsion follows thro the middle of the air impregnated by the universal and primary Spirit of the world with a Magnetick Vigour and Power There is a Balsamick Spirit in the Unguent Mummy especially being in humane blood This is excited or rather called forth for the producing a particular effect by a like Spirit and Sympathetick to it to wit by the universal Spirit of the world This Spirit that calls forth directs and disposes bodies and tyes things to it self by a mutual knot of Nature is not every Spirit but a determinate one to wit that which being present and touching causes the effect and which failing it ceases Therefore this motion must be acknowledged the first cause in all Sympathetick cares let it be what it will This directs and brings the Sanative power sixt in the Spirit and Balsamick Medicine to the body and the wound itself for these are Sympathetick Spirits and reciprocally desire each other and by reason of this occult yet natural appetite they conspire to a determinate effect so that in the whole it may be truly said the Magnetick cure of diseases as well as wounds is effected by a meer transplanting of virtues which the appetite between the Balsamick Spirit and the Spirit of the World causes and perfects That there is therefore Sympathy in this Cure is sufficiently experienced in which first is to be considered the subject or
Coals that sparkle in the Heaven nor of the invisible body of the Stars in the firmament but every ones proper Star therefore the firmament above does not infuse virtues or secret powers into what is specified below as some conceit that the Stars of the firmament do influence Herbs and Trees but 't is nothing so Every Vegetable and Animal carries its own Heaven and Star about itself and in itself The superior Stars by their motion thro the Zodiack raise up inferior Vegetables supply them with dew rain and wind but don't influence their internal Star they do not furnish them with smell colour or form but all proceed from that occult workman their interior Star and not from without the external Stars do neither incline nor necessitate man § 5. The Motion of the External Firmament with its Constellations is free and governed by nothing so the Motion in the Firmament and Stars in the Microcosm which is not perform'd materially but by the Spirits of bodies with its Constellations is also free and not in the least govern'd by the External Firmament All things are contain'd in Man and he carries all things in himself he carries that whereof he was made in himself he was made of the World and the World he carries in himself and is carried by the World The invisible body of Man from the breath of God or which continues to all future ages is not subjected to the Stars Moreover as the first matter which was confused Essence without form call'd by the Philosophers the Mother of the World or the Chaos was the seed of the great World so the Great World is the seed of Man Therefore Man is the last most Excellent and most Noble Creature because he hath the parts of the Great World and there is nothing in the greater World which is not really to be found in Man himself All things were created out of nothing The great World was the womb of Adam so the womb of the Woman that of all his Sons is the Machine of the whole World The Son in all things is like his Parent If you know the Parent you know the Son also Therefore Man is the most to be admired Extract and Kernel of the four Elements the chief and most finished Workmanship of God Every creature is truly the Example of God because he is the whole World and is alone intituled to this honour to co-operate and converse with them all But I have said enough on this subject it is not my design at this time to demostrate all things from the foundation what cognation a Star hath with Inferior things but to prove some Sympathy and Combination as is sufficiently hinted before CHAP. IV. Of the different way of Curing § 1 I Now come to the method of Curing diseases This is done either by Nature by internal and external Medicines or Sympatheticks Diseases are most principally cured by Nature by Art as she is Natures handmaid by the Physician as the Servant of Art by remedies as they are applyed by the Physician by the direction of Art But some Diseases are subdued by Nature alone others are cured by the co-operation of the Physician No person is preserv'd unless Nature separates the Distemper No body dies unless Nature be overcome for Nature is active as well as passive in the cure of Diseases and those stand in need of no Physician but sometimes by reason of the stubbornness of the Disease Nature is obstructed and languishes then the Physician is forced to lend his helping hand and to finish and perfect the lame and imperfect gifts of Nature by evacuating digesting and corroborating assistances Sometimes the Physician goes beyond Nature as in setting Bones out of joynt and closing up wide gaping wounds which Nature cannot accomplish When a Distemper affects the whole Habit of the body as in an Hectick Fever because there is neither inclination nor aptitude for the parts to return to their natural state this cure cannot proceed from a Natural intrinsick cause that being perform'd only by the unaffected parts the cure therefore of Habitual distempers require the assistance of Physick though the cure cannot be perform'd by Physick only for the aformention'd Medicinal operations cannot be perfected but by the intervening help of Nature for the Setting of limbs out of joynt and closing up wounds is not perfected till Nature strengthen the Joynt and breed new flesh so also to the curing of an Hectic Fever there must be a concurrence of the internal principle Nature and the Physician rectifie all those things in our body that are repugnant to Nature for all Cures are perform'd either by Nature or her servant the Physician When diseases are cured by the help of a Physician they put him in mind of his own duty For a Physician is not only a servant of Nature but ought to be a servant of Art also As therefore Nature moves primarily by its self alone when without remedies it overcomes digests and concocts distempers and drives out the cause restoring the body to its former state but this is to be understood of Diseases that Nature cures spontaneously so Physick and the Physician are not the first movers but by the intervention of helps that are opposite to the disease but when Nature succumbs and hath not strength of it self to rise a Physician chosen by the benignity of God and one to whom almost all distempers are equal for there is such an one who having attain'd to the universal Medicine or Panacea amongst many of the same kind is now no more a Servant but an Interpreter Ruler and absolute Master for t is reported that this universal art of curing was by the Antients ascribed to some Physicians The School of Paracelsus laboured hard after it giving credit to his arrogance whilst he says This universal Medicine is invisible fire devouring some distempers This cures the French Pox Leprosie Dropsie Cholick Apoplexy Cancer Fistula Schirre and all interior maladies To which are added many others Besides a Tincture found out and prepared by Paracelsus is a kind of universal Medicine amongst the Physicians which consumes all distempers just as Fire does Wood. § 2. Besides this Panacea hath an effectual virtue in curing all infirmities beyond all other Medicines for it encreases strength preserves youth keeps the blood free from all putrefaction purges whatsoever is contained in the spirituous parts and preserves all the members of the body But it were to be wished that what Paracelsus and others perhaps were Masters of although many very ingenious Physicians do much question it were vouchsafed to us and others cultivators of the art of Physick for by that means we might perchance cure all diseases with more expedition safety and pleasure What great pains might we save in searching to find out the place affected and prescribing fit Medicine for the part aggrieved the Sex and Age and applying them at proper times and other things necessary to be observ'd in
the art of healing it would then be sufficient only to know that the person was sick the Physician need not be sollicitor after nicer inquiries To what use would it be to study Anatomy so exactly to be well skilled in the several kinds of Minerals and Mettals Plants and Animals of which Medicines are compounded to spend time in finding out the differencâ— of diseases and morbisick causes and the places affected if one universal Medâ—â—cine were an intire cure for all Distemper◠§ 3. Therefore if by divine assistancâ— we may become Masters of that greâ—â— Medicine for I do not in the least question that there are a sort of Medicineâ— as some preparations of Sulphur which will by their sweet particles mightily cherish the vital Spirits yet this is not to be supposed sufficient and that Nature is thereby so corroborated that without any other help and assistance it will remove all the ill that affects it As the vital Spirit is injured by many causes more Medicines than one will be requisite to remove these many obstructions for it is impossible that this Spirit shall be able to expell the Serum in a Dropsie or the foulness of the belly in those troubled with the Iliack passion without Anti-hydropick and Purgative Medicines or dissolve the Stone in the Reins or Bladder or disperse arthritick nodes but by Medicines appropriated to that end Two instruments are required for the right performance of all corporeal actions one common the other proper the common is the vital Spirit the proper some certain parts of the body For to a due digestion of the chyle the vital Spirit is required as the common instrument and a right and just constitution of the Ventricle There is a diversity of proper instruments according to the diversity of Actions to be performed and to every part its peculiar constitution different from all the rest Hence what agrees to one agrees not to another and therefore there cannot be found one Medicine to preserve all particular constitutions or correct all errors Nor will it avail to say as fire consumes all sorts of wood so this universal medicine as an invisible fire devours all distempers for Elementary fire does not destroy all things but those only that will burn and flame it offers no violence to Gold Glass or Earth But if this universal Medicine should be allowed to be fire how comes it to pass that it should only destroy the noxious humours and leave the blood and the other parts of the body untoucht CHAP. V. Of Sympathy Physically considered § 1. BUt before I proceed further it will be necessary that I should treat more copiously of Physic and Sympathetick Magnetick or Diastatick Cure That part of the doctrine of Physick which treats of the Sympathy and Antipathy of natural bodies is full of pleasure and admiration Sympathy is a mutual and natural affection and combination between natural things arising from a peculiar and occult cognation From which affection it proceeds that one body attracts another to it self or being joyned to it is wonderfully assisted either in generation or nutrition in increasing or producing certain powers Others call Sympathy a consent when certain things are joyned together by a mutual marriage as bound in a kind of league one to the another Therefore because amongst all natural bodies there is a consent or dissent confederacy or war we shall now treat of Sympathy and Antipathy in general that if we cannot find one universal cause we may make some essays towards it There are six degrees of Sympathy and Antipathy established amongst natural bodies The first is betwixt Metals and Precious Stones for example between Coral and Gold who amicably conspire together to refresh the heart The other degree is between Plants and Metals as some report of an Hazel twig sprit in two by which the Metallists discover Mines of Gold and Silver therefore they call it the divine Rod the power of which twig encreases and strengthens mineral juices or those that are of a near nature to Metals whose juices this Hazel switch sucks with its roots out of the earth thrown up in an heap and thereby is miraculously nourished and strengthened They carry this Hazel rod at their fingers ends and to which part soever the Rod shall seem to incline there the Miners presume there are Mineral Veins Some deny this virtue to be in the Hazel but others as boldly assert it The third degree of Sympathy is reckoned between Plants and the Sun so the * Sun-flower Heliotrope and its species and also the Tragopodium turn round with the Sun so that at Sun rising it turns its Flowers to the East at Sun setting towards the West The fourth degree of Sympathy is between Herâ—â— themselves as between Rue and the 〈◊〉 tree Rue says Johannes 〈◊〉 a 〈…〉 under a Fig-tree 〈…〉 bark There is likewise a secret confederacy between Garlick Roses and Lillies for the flowers of them both will become more extraordinary fragrant if Garlick be planted near them The Sea Squill makes every thing that is sown near it thrive extreamly All Pot-herbs grow mightily if the Herb Rocket be sown by them The fifth degree is between Plants and Animals Many affirm it will tame a Bull to tye him to a Fig tree The sixth degree is between Animals themselves as between a Lizard and a Man for a Lizard as if he were fore warning a Man against the approach of a Snake will catch at him and overlook him to lick his spittle This is true that a Lizard is a most inoffensive creature to a Man unless it be provoked so that a great many put them into their bosoms without any harm This is also evident that where ever Lizards are there are no Snakes one always avoiding the place where the other is 'T is also manifest that the Lizzard mounts his head when he sees a Man and it is observable that if he be sprinkled with Mans spittle he seems mightily rejoyced and solaced So the Dolphin also is * A Lover of Man φιλανθωπος for inâ—â—â—ting Mulâ—ets the Fishermen make use of Dolphins instead of Dogs who will also suffer themselves to be beaten if they have been out in hunting There is also a mutual love between Storks and Partridges § 2. Antipathy is a natural enmity and repugnancy of natural things or when things disagree from each other by a mischievous secret discord so the Lyon trembles at the Cocks crowing the Elephant hates a Mouse and cannot endure the fodder wherein he hath seen one So the Snake cannot bear the very shade of an Ash tree and amongst Men very often there is a secret natural abhorernce of one another to this disagreement and Antipathy may be referred that if the murderer be present blood will by little and little begin to flow from the wound or nostrils of a Corps lately slain They therefore are mistaken who imagine this very thing to be attributed to Sympathy for the
Medicines so there are two originals of distempers one Natural the other from Heaven The word of the Lord heals those from Heaven and Natural distempers are cured by Natural means CHAP. X. Of the Power of Imagination in Sympathetical Cure § 1. THere are some who affirm that Sympathetick Cure is imaginary so that the Fancy contributes very much upon this occasion I indeed confess that in imaginary distempers the fancy hath a great power I mean the fancy of the sick person not of the Physician The reason is evident because the remedies ought to be proportionable to the Distempers and if the malady be imaginary the remedy ought also to be so But who can believe that a Physician can cure anothers distemper whether it be Natural or Imaginary by his own Fancy The Imagination of a Woman hath no power beyond her own body It is therefore active in the place where it predominates But if it be of any force it is most especially observable in the effects it hath upon Infants that Women are big with who by the power of a strong imagination are affected with many strange accidents by being so closely united to their Mothers with whom they enjoy the same animal life it is not to admired if they have a joynt suffering with them and their tender bodies are affected with the same impressions which their Mothers so strongly conceive especially since the Imagination proceeds from the Animal Faculty which rules in the formation of the Foetus Hence proceeds the different figures various Monsters and for the most part the affections that are in Infants as Parents often tell us for it is common to all Animals in the heat of coition to imprint that image they strongly behold upon their seed Iacob well knew this when he so cunningly found out a way to have his Sheep speckled This is the occasion of those horrid worms which sometimes make a noise in womens wombs as if they were big with child Strong Imagination also extreamly alters the Body So in Fear it contracts the Spirit and in Joy enlarges it These and a great many other things are evident truths which it is not my purpose longer to insist on How this comes to pass Suarez Metaph. Disp. 18. Sect. 8. Art 25. tells us Imagination moves the Body at which motion the humour and the vital Spirits which alter the Body are excited Which cannot be said of any but the own proper body of the Animal which works by Imagination for on the other side it is impossible for any body to be altered by the imagination of another because there was never one instance yet brought that could but in appearance seem to confirm it as also that it is not in the least consonant to Reason which says that Imagination is an immanent act The foundation therefore of using these secret Medicines on any body consists in this that you take care to correct the humane blood very well either by increasing or diminishing it by that means you may perform whatsoever you please and free the body of the decumbent committed to your care from Choler Phlegm and Melancholy but by the assistance of what Medicine this effect is to be wrought I shall at some time discover Galen says that good hope and confidence are beyond Physick For he cures most whom most repose trust in The Philosophers have discovered curious and wonderful things concerning the passions of the Soul and the Physicians have done so likewise § 2. What Medicine is there in the world that heats removes love and creates discord more than Anger what chills more than Fear and comforts and refreshes more than Joy What feeds and nourishes more than good hopes and what is more killing than Despair therefore there is a very great secret mystery contained in the Passions of man If you seriously consider the power of Imagination and the constitution of the Soul you 'll conclude that nothing is more curious more true more pleasant and secure than the effects of a high exalted Imagination how great and how wonderful it is the light of Nature manifestly shews as well in Iacob's Rod related by Moses as in those that are pregnant who mark their Foetus with the thing they long for as was said before The Imagination or Fancy of a man is a Loadstone that will attract beyond thousands of miles nay in its exaltation it attracts to it self whatsoever it pleases out of the four Elements But the Imagination hath no efficacy unless it first draw to it self the thing thought of by its attractive power that it may beget out of itself a Native Spirit the Architect of the Imagination afterwards the Imagination as if it were big makes an impression on it which tho like the wind it cannot be toucht yet it is corporeal Moreover the Fancy or imaginative power of man in respect of its own nature is Magnetick in attracting the fancies of other men as we see by those that yawn A strong Imagination not only changes its own body but also that of another by a certain virtue which the similitude of the thing bears to that to be changed which a strong Imagination moves as is apparent in the numness by gnashing of the Teeth or the rubbing of one piece of Iron against another which nums the Teeth In like manner yawning provokes yawning In these and the aforementioned things consist all the secret of Physick And now Physician set thy self about this matter and be vigilant because you have read that Pythagoras told the Philosophers Be so much the more attentive to his words by how much the Teacher is concise for thereby he instructs you that you ought to understand much of secret things but to say or write little Some seem in this to run beyond their bounds when they imagine they can engrave the description of the Stars upon Gems and Metals but this is very vain Superstitious Quacking ought never to cohabit with true and solid Physick For it is nothing else but the Owl of the Devil invented for the catching of Souls but Physick is truly the gift of the great and good God for the comfort of humane life by which man is led to contemplate the goodness of his Creator and to observe the careful regard he takes of him who by such great store of Medicines hath provided against the variety of calamities that are incident to humane Nature § 3. Learned men are not ignorant when they cure by Signets or Charms that no virtues flow from them but only from the opinion of the Person But that opinion withdraws us from the contemplation of the works of God and teaches us to disdain virtues created by Almighty God and ascribes Powers to things which they are not indued with neither by the supream Diety Nature or Art Wherefore the Author of lyes here easily mixes his poison I have read of an old Woman that was miserably afflicted with the Tooth-ach who earnestly desired a Student in
Physick to give her a Medicinal Spell to hang about her he being ignorant what to do in this matter to avoid the old Womans importunities wrote in a small piece of Paper which he folded up in a piece of fine Linnen and hung it about her Neck the pain immediately ceased Whensoever she found her Teeth to ake again she made use again of this Charm or salutiferous Paper and never without success at last meeting with a person averse to these superstitions he unfolded this mighty Charm found this Sentence wrote in it The Devil break your Neck What I pray could this sentence successfully either act upon or infuse into the Imagination or Body God would have Physick accompanied with Piety and expects himself to be acknowledged and worshipped in the use of it Nevertheless many things lye hid in the bosom of Nature not to be apprehended by humane sence which although by reason of our ignorance they seem superstitious and irrational because their causes are unknown to us yet are very far from being guilty of that crime We read of Q. Fabius Maximus that he was cured of a Quartane Ague by a great slaughter of his Enemies From whence many of Antients superstitiously imagined that a Quartane Ague was curable only by Pollution Democritus was of this opinion But this cure of Fabius certainly happened by a surprize of joy the squalid juice and Foeces of the Quartane being mollified and dispersed and not in the least from pollution In the same manner I think that a perswasion in it self either by Faith or Credibility cannot effect any thing but it causes a sudden motion of the Spirits and Minds in very soft and tender Natures by which the blood is carried about by a various Flux and at once removes the Morbilick causes from the parts aggriev'd by which means the distemper ceases Here is no Superstition unless superstitious persons create it by attributing the effect to other causes So very often there is a more occult virtue in those Amulets that are hung about persons which growing hot by touching the body send forth atoms and little particles and effluviums when we perceive them not and infuse into us efficacious Antidotes which we receive in at the mouth and thro the skin Learned Physicians made use of these formerly out of choice when the Distemper was proof against alteratives and purgatives for there is a congenite propriety of fellowship and discord between some things by which they alter themselves without any apparent touch as Amber attracts Straws the Magnet Iron Galen much commended the power of Piony hung up and the thread wherewith a Viper hath been strangled He writes that Wolfs Dung hung up is a remedy that gives ease in the Cholick he commends the Jasper Omphatites c. for the same virtue so we use the liver of a Wolf the heart of a Hedge-hog the lungs of a Fox the bone in the heart of a Deer Swallows Frogs the liver of a Goat Mans Skull the flesh of a Cuckow the liver of a Kite the ventricle of an Hen the little Hedge-sparrow Trallianus recounts many more such like to cure the Falling Sickness and ease the pain of the Cholick he gives ease in the Gout by such sort of Medicines by the same Art he cures Quotidian and Quartan Agues and mitigates the raging pain of the Stone § 4. I have by often experience observed that the skin of Snakes being applied to a womans belly in hard labour causes her speedily to bring forth this is to be understood when the Foetus is come to maturity and in its natural state These and many other things have a natural cause and therefore may be vindicated from Superstition In ancient times they used Charms-against Hail and against Scalding Caesar used to secure himself a prosperous Journey by thrice repeating a Charm I do not deny that tricks of the Devil had formerly some efficacy but I believe they proceeded from a wicked Author Our Saviour hath taken away all that power from him and restored us Captives to liberty There is something due to Verses sweet Voices and Tunes the internal commotions of the mind are appeased by them and the blood which affects to run out of its due channel very often by this pleasant method is restrained from its exorbitant motion which is the cause of many dangerous diseases as we daily see happen to persons disturbed with passion Therefore the Musician Damon being where a Phrygian Piper was playing to some young men that were drunk and about to act some mad pranks bid him play a Dorick tune and they immediately desisted from their rude enterprizes because that part of the irrational Soul that is subject to the affections is incited and mitigated by irrational motions The Cure that is performed by Cunning is equivalent to all Magick can do for it is a kind of Stratagem in Physick There was a certain person that thought he was nothing but a Soul and upon that account refused all food because said he Souls eat not At last a faithful Physician got a Table to be spread at midnight and the provisions being brought in by naked men that he knew not they sat down with great silence He asked them what they were doing One in a low murmuring voice answered they were eating He presently asked what Countrymen they were answer was made they were Souls But says the sick man Souls eat not Another answers we eat after our own manner not as men do he leaping out of bed said Pray let me partake of your Banquet This being said he sits down and eats and was cured of his distemper Another that supposed he had so great a Nose that it was impossible for him to go through any Gate as he was asleep an ingenious Physician joyns an Oxes gut filled with blood to his Nose when he awoke he made grievous complaints of the largeness of his Nose the Physician asked him whether he would permit him to cut it off extending both his hands he earnestly begs him to do it The Physician cuts the gut and squeezing it hard squirts the blood into the sick mans eyes and so throws away the gut He being struck with this false imagination was freed from his distemper One that imagined he lived without a Head was cured by putting Lead on his Head A woman that fancied she had Frogs in her Belly was cured by giving her a purge and putting Frogs in her excrement And in this age some perswade melancholy men that they are bewitched and cure them by Holy Water who being sprinkled therewith are restored to their former health CHAP. XII Of some Observations and Examples in this Magnetick Cure § 1. BY what hath been said before in this short Treatise although it is not accurately handled you may see that those Battering Rams levelled against me are not able to overthrow my design of Sympathetick Cure but that in this way of Cure I may still make use of
But it will not be useless first to shew the common signs and afterwards descend to the particular The common signs are fear sorrow hatred and aversion to humane society The Signs of Melancholy § 5. The conceits and imaginations of Melancholy persons are very various Some have imagined themselves to be earthen vessels others that they were brute Animals others desire death which they very often procure for themselves and which is very much to be wonder'd at at the same time are much terrified at and afraid of it Some imitating of Democritus always laugh others like Heraclitus are in perpetual mourning There are those also that fancy themselves divinely inspired and believe they can predict things to come But it would be too tedious to recite all their wild fancies in this short Treatise and much more too long to shew all their causes this being a thing of that nature that is accounted amongst impossibilities but if any person pleases to exercise himself in this contemplation he shall have my free leave for it but on this condition that he Philosophically explain himself for Example sake let him demonstrate that Dryness was the cause that made the person believe himself to be an earthen vessel and that Levity was that which induced another to believe that he had no head to cure which an Hat of Lead was made use of the weight whereof soon made him understand that he was not headless But let us proceed to the particular marks Those persons whose whole constitutions are affected with Melancholy are attended with these symptoms they are slender lean have broad Veins are hairy nasty rough black sometimes red but never yellow then they appear melancholy in all circumstances either by reason of their own natural constitution or on account of want of sleep cares anger sorrow their former diet which might burn up the blood and convert it to Melancholy Hypocondriack Melancholy is thus known you 'll first observe all the symptoms of a bad stomach Flatus gurgulations crudities acid belchings a dryness of the belly and a levity perceived by the belching and that the distempered person shall be apprehensive of all the uneasinesses that attend the Hypocondriack The reason of this sorrow and fear is the cloudiness of the Brain and Animal Spirits which of their own nature ought to be clear I will demonstrate it by this example for if external darkness occasions fear and sorrow will not that which is internal more effectually cause them But perhaps you will say are not fear and sorrow passions of the Heart why then do you place their causes in the Brain I answer The aforementioned passions have their original from the opinion of evil but when the spirit is dark and cloudy it will deprave the imagination so as to raise in us an opinion of present and future evil and on this account it affects us with fear and sorrow The Cause of Madness § 6. As for what belongs to the finding out the Cause of these distractions there was never person yet that could please himself much less any body else The Antients were of opinion that Madness did proceed from an Idiopathia by an immoderate heat the Brain being burnt by the Summer Sun or Medicines burning with extraordinary heat being applied to the head or by the excessive use of Spices and strong Wines But this often arises from the depravity of the Matter itself And this Matter is hot for it is either the Blood Yellow Choler or burnt putrid Melancholy Fernelius asserts that Madness proceeds from hot blood Madness is said to proceed from Choler and that for the most part burnt When heat without a Fever shall come to that immoderate height that it shall burn the juice by which means rapid flames are driven about so that what is fluid in the juices is converted into foul soot and burns the rest into black feces Hence arise foul spirits and according to the sierceness of the flame so is the raving more or less for Choler of what sort soever it is by its sharp power doth inrage men The provocations of yellow burnt Choler are very sharp Wherefore in regard Madness doth arise from the vicious juices they can be no other than biting juices and of this sort only are yellow and black Choler Neither can it come from Melancholy unless it is defiled with some putrid matter or roasted by a sharpness which gives it a malignant acrimony Therefore Phlegm is not any way accessory to it Briefly then to run over these matters Madness owes its original either from an intemperate heat of the brain without matter or from matter extreamly burnt that is hot Blood yellow Choler roasted or not duly boiled or putrid or burnt Melancholy Hippocrates says that Madness rages most in Autumn and seizes upon a great many It may be answered that it is for this reason that in Autumn that sharp Choler is suppressed that grew in the Dog days but it corrupts by the power of colder weather for sometimes it turns putrid without adustion as is most evident in a quartane Fever Phrenzy Madness and Melancholy differ by reason they proceed from different causes as I have shewn before Thus they may be discriminated A Phrensy is attended with a vehement Fever and soon destroys a man but Madness is void of a Fever and may continue a long time Melancholy is different from both being quiet free from raving pride tho oftentimes it may break out into Madness and turns fear into audacity The matter of Melancholy is cold I now proceed to the common differences It is indeed a very great malady but yet not incurable though not without great hazard the least degree of Madness being very unsafe Paracelsus and others attribute the chief cause of Madness and Rage to certain Spirits in Nature that wander about which he calls Phantasms and says that they are neither celestial nor infernal yet invisible and follow men about like dogs and insinuate themselves into the minds of men of too copious fancies and make them distracted We shall pass by these notions in regard they exceed our apprehension and would rather with others be content to be ignorant of the real cause than to run the hazard of being mad our selves by endeavouring after enquiries beyond our abilities It is very probable then that something supernatural is the cause of Madness for it is impossible that by nature an humane body for the most part consisting of an icy substance should endure the most severe cold of the winter without being frozen or so much as growing torpid but Mad men are not affected with any such matter but will lye along day and night naked upon the coldest Marble without any harm and if you touch them shall feel them warm and yet we see Animals that are accustomed to the cold and fortified against it with thick hairy Skins or close Feathers cannot endure so much cold without prejudice but require warm Stables Birds either
hide themselves or retire into warmer Countries the wild beasts hide themselves in Dens and Caves Water freezes into Ice Bread Eggs Apples and Flesh freeze so very hard that you cannot cut them and nothing hardly is proof against frost but igneous Spirits as Spirit of Wine Nitre Vitriol Salt Urine c. We also read in the Evangelists of many distempers that proceeded from Spirits as that Lunatick Mark 19. That was sorely afflicted and falling often into the water and fire his distemper was occasioned by a Spirit within him which our Saviour calls a dumb and deaf Spirit and Luke 11. he cast a Spirit out of the dumb man Luke 13. mention is made of a Woman that had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years that had bowed her down that she could not stand straight Why may not diseases proceed from diverse Spirits now in our days and so be partakers of the same original I now go on to the Signs of the Causes § 7. From an intemperate heat void of matter if this be the case the delirious person will be like one drunk and out of their wits and the delirium will be continual without remission and it will encrease by little and little so that there will appear no evident cause that occasioned it If it proceed from yellow Choler not burnt it seizes all on a sudden attended with mighty bragging without sleep and they ll be very studious to do mischief they are thoughtful and diligent for the Choler is movable There are many afflicted with this sort of Madness They are in a continual restlesness by reason of their variety of opinions occasioned by the wandring images that are in their minds whence comes their rambling talk from the swelling juice They are watchful The worst sort of Madness proceeds from yellow burnt Choler These are always prompt to cruel actions full of Pride making a great noise cruel and rash But if it proceed from Melancholy defiled by putrid matter not burnt they are angry and break out into rage with tears and silence But if from burnt Melancholy then they are very angry and will fall upon persons silently with cruel rage and when once they begin to talk never leave off These are very mischievous but not so raging as those whose distemper proceeds from Choler After we have by these signs discovered the Causes of Madness let us now shew by what Remedies it may be relieved And here indeed is occasion for a Physician of sound judgment for Remedies ought speedily to be applied to these Madmen lest the distemper grow too obstinate The particular Cure of Madness § 8. This is the true way to cure Madness Give a Vomit prepared especially out of the Mineral Kingdom Aqua Benedicta is commended but its virtue in this distemper is not very great After the Vomit let the Patient for some days take a decoction of Herbs that are attractive and comforting to the Brain and let it be made without any other addition Let him by no means have Wine Capital Lixiviums are very prejudicial because they close up the pores and so encrease the internal heat beyond it◠just due This being done then bleed In doing of which consider if the body be full every where If so open the common Vein and let out 5 ounces of blood After bleeding the Patient should take my comforting Bolus which by degrees will make him sweat This evacuation being done let him rest three days without taking any Physick The three days being over evacuating Medicines should be given for some days Then I recommend my incomparable Drink for Madmen nay indeed for all Deliriums be they of what sort soever It ought diligently to be observed from the beginning of the cure that in regard the matter always rises upward to apply reducing Medicines The Drink before-mentioned is very necessary in all sorts of Melancholy nay in the very Epilepsie and in short the whole cure in all Deliriums Melancholy and Epilepsie is perform'd by this Drink Practicers have many Remedies as well internal as external Some as the last refuge in this Distemper when other means fail have recourse to applying a strong Caustick to the Head between the Crown and Sagittary Sutures leaving it on till it eat so deep that it looks like an open mouth Then open the Skull with a Trepan and let the place be open for a month This being done they say the Patient will be cured of his Madness After this close up and heal the wound according to art But this method of Cure looks more like an Executioner than an ingenious Physician § 9. By the Blessing of God I have cured above eleven persons of Madness in this City of Culemburg besides what I have done elsewhere Anno 1694. in May a very honourable Matron of Culemburg above fifty years of age whose name upon account of the modesty and prudence that ought to belong to a Physician I forbear a person of extraordinary modesty and courtesie towards all fell into a desperate Jaundice after into a Catharral Fever and so at last was taken mad she raved day and night and continued to roar so loud that it was impossible to procure her any sleep I administred some Narcotick Medicines prepared of Opium but without any effect Afterwards I gave her restoring Medicines evacuating Choler and comforting the Brain and those furious spirits began to diminish then she took my most successful Drink against Madness for eight weeks When she had drank all the Drink her Choler being purged and her Body strengthened she was entirely freed from any symptoms of Madness and continued all the days of her life in good health and in her right sences § 10 One S. L. a man of forty six years old being of a sanguine melancholic◠temper formerly an Assistant to the Judges of this City handsome of tall stature not observing rules of Diet but rather indulging his Appetite he loved Meat partly hot and such as increased Choler partly windy he drank a great deal of Stale Beer and abundance of Wine From this he began to be afflicted in his Brain so that for some months he did not say any thing that was rational In tract of time he fell mad He had for nine years in his own family a person that was reputed infallible for the cure of Madness Anno 94 upon account of some ill affairs returning home he began to break every thing that lay in his way and look very terribly upon all those he met in the house they secured him for if he could have got a Knife or Sword he would have murdered every body His Wife asked my advice what was requisite to be done in this affair I ordered him my Medicines that have been often approved against this distemper After three months he began to be calm and composed And though he was not entirely restored to the perfect use of his Reason yet he is now so well recovered that at this time
operations are diversified according to the diversity of the ferment Thus the Sun hardens mud and softens wax and appears through a window painted of diverse colours sometimes red then blue yellow green and black But in regard in Animals Vegetables and their effects and in dry bones in all things and in all places in the world where ferment is there is a form For there is nothing so dead which doth not partake of some sence of life and consequently of form nor there any place of the world where the operations of the soul are not perceived by vegetation nutrition evident or obscure sence In regard then that nothing which seems to be altogether dead acts The Action doth not wholly proceed from the ferment but from the form by ferment in matter Whence it follows that there are as many degrees of participation of form as there are degrees of things that receive form not that form in it self hath any degrees for it is no accident but on account of the greater or lesser perfection of things as they are disposed by ferments its operations appear sometimes more bright sometimes more obscure for all things which for a long time are not altogether destitute of their ferment are in some measure capable of form as may be observed in some things which seem quite dead yet they have real life and produce their like in specie as Radishes cut in little pieces and put into the ground will yield Radishes c. Also incontradictable experience tells us that those things have very strong sense and imagination which seem dead And in regard every thing loves it self and every part affects to be joyned to its whole that part of ferment received in the Philtre c. affects to be joyned with man whence it comes to pass that it carries away the soul of the receiver as it were so that the soul of both operate the same way in two bodies by reason of one symbolizing ferment and so have a joint feeling So the spirit of the blood of any living person put into a Glass hermetically sealed will shew whether the person whole bloud it was is well or ill though he is very far distant by the alteration of the colour into dull livid clear and red in Fevers Jaundice Melancholy c. So will Vegetables and Minerals situated in their own sphere if their ferments are symbolical and do neither change or destroy each other Antipathy or Aversion proceeds from the contrary and is found amongst those things whose ferments are Assymbolical and will bind up change or destroy each other or differ with respect to the places in which they are made or produce unlike effects And although those things which muttually destroy each other and can have no sympathetical fellow feeling or affect one another in the whole species yet individual particulars which have the greatest Antipathy may be brought to agree together by long custom as is evident in administring purgatives to the brain of any person for they will cease to stir the humours and become common food So many persons by the constant use of Poison can take it without any prejudice and Tygers Bears and Lyons by frequently lapping Womans Milk grow mild and tame But this sort of Sympathy ceases with that very individual and is not further communicated to the whole species but it is very probable that the Sympathy and Antipathy which belongs to all the individuals of a whole species proceed from the Ferments of places continually penetrating and affecting each other before the production of any individual But let this suffice to be said concerning the cause of Love and Hatred amongst those things which act by contraction of Matter or contraction of Virtue in a certain compass We must make a further inquiry into those things which act at a distance the scrutiny whereof hath hither to puzzled the greatest Geniuses calling it a Magnetick Virtue from its similitude to the power of the Loadstone Some are of opinion that it proceeds from sound in a moment equally penetrating close Bodies Others by the emission of Effluviums others say it is a faculty influencing its proper objects by irradiation others by fancy Extatically raised And to conclude others from Atoms I thought fit to set down here the most celebrated opinions that the truth may appear more evident but because there has yet been no true distinction made between Sympathy Love and Hatred and of both of them from Magnetism therefore I shall treat succinctly of them It is evident from all the examples of Sympathy and Antipathy in its different complications they that mutually act upon each other in different ways whether it be by assisting corroborating attracting driving away inclining by aversion destroying and changing either have a determined sphere of their actions or have no boundary between the Poles of the World Those whose actions are determined either operate at a certain distance as the Loadstone draws Iron Amber and Mastick Chaff Straw and Paper and these things that delight in each others Society as the water Lilly and Butter flower Lizards and Men or are aversed to each other as Coleworts and the Vine and so of the rest of that sort or else operate by touching each other only and those either externally touch or else are internally applied as Poison and Antidotes Those whose actions are not circumscribed by any bounds either being afflicted affects the other as in the example of Spirit or Salt of Blood or of Wine growing with that in the Vessel c. or one being affected the other is not as the Magnet and the Pole so e contra c. Therefore all things that agree or disagree do not exert Sympathy or Antipathy properly so called nor can Sympathy be called Magnetism For altho the Magnet acts at a distance both as to its sphere and virtue of attraction as Sympathy does yet are neither the Magnet or the Pole affected with each others affections as was said before Therefore also when Sympathy and Antipathy are called by the names of Love and Hatred that is only a mistake and not strictly and philosophically speaking And this is especially to be observed that that Sympathy which acts at the greatest distance is always between the Parts and the whole Love and Hatred are not always so Lastly briefly to relate the difference between Magnetism and Electricity Love and Hatred Sympathy and Antipathy it is thus Magnetism agrees with Electricity Love and Hatred that it acts within a certain sphere by drawing and repelling and disagrees with Electricity in this that whatsoever it draws or repels it communicates to it some of its own virtue but Electricity does not so But those things that love or hate one another amongst vegetables c. communicate their virtues to each other mutually either by embracing inclining or aversion the power of the Magnet extends itself only to Iron and things composed of Iron and to another Magnet Electrical Bodies want rubbing
Flegm that was so deeply fixt that it could not be removed He had also for 22 years together great pains in his Reins and made bloody water every day He was under my cure for eight weeks but presently felt some abatement of the pain and the tough Flegm began to loosen and he began to fetch his breath with more ease and before being often obliged to take something to keep his Body open he now has 2 or 3 stools a-day and so continues His bloody Urine is likewise altered and tho he move about little or no blood comes from him in his water and the pain in his Reins is quite gone and God be thanked is well in all respects his appetite that was gone increased every day and his digestion is good On the 27th of Iune Mr Iohn Meyer living in St. Katherines near the Tower came to me he had so great a Rheumatism that he could not turn his head and had intolerable pains both in hands and feet by my sympathetick cure in a short time I so recovered him that his pains much abated and he could turn his head and whereas before he was not capable of â—â—â—ng abroad now he is capable of going about his business and has been several times to visit me and to testifie the Cure On the 8th of September Collonel T. Bremer aged about 40 of a melancholy sanguine temper was very much troubled with Ischiatick pains in both hips he had the advice of several learned Physicians been at several Baths in England and drank all the waters yet could find no ease He was resolved to enter into my sympathetick way of cure and presently found some abatement of the pain He continced sweating sympathetically for three weeks and God be praised is so well recovered as to return to his Regiment in Holland On the 22d of August I undertook Brigadeer De Vilate Lieutenant Collonel of the Regiment of Dutch Guards who had been 14 years troubled with a Rheumatism and the Gout which caused much weakness in his feet He had followed the advice of several Practitioners both in England and Holland without any effect by my method of cure he soon found benefit and continuing it for some weeks his strength began more and more to encrease This was performed by sweating and purging him sympathetically On the 4th of September a Servan Maid of Sir Iohn Hubant in Soho-square who had been much afflicted with such violent pains in her breast that she could not rest either night nor day after I had sympathetically sweated purged and sometimes vomited her for some weeks her body was in good order again On the 7th of October I undertook one of the Domesticks of the Lord Marquis of Normanby who was severely troubled with a Rheumatism after he had been a fortnight under my sympathetick cure he recovered On the 9th of November one Mrs Lagoe came to me she had both the Rheumatism and Scurvy to such a degree that shewas not able to stir without a stick in one of her Legs she had sores running with sharp humours She was not only sympathetically cured of her Diseases but also of her sores without other means On the 10th of November Mr Henry Taylor Brazier at the corner of Princes Street near Leicester Fields came to me to be cured being very weak in his Stomach and troubled with a Rheumatism for a long time after a few weeks he recovered On the 1st of December I undertook the wife of Mr Williams Dyer at the Queens-head and Star near Exeter Change who had a Bloody Flux she had made use of the advice of several able Physicians and finding no benefit was cured by sympathy without purging vomiting or sweating Several other cures might be added but to avoid tedious prolixity let these suffice FINIS ERRATA PAge 71. l. 11. dele the bone of At the Kings Arms in Little Britain London may be had these following and most other Chymical Books viz. SIr Geooge Ripleys Works compleat 80. The Works of the Arab. Philos. Gleber in 80. Dickinsons du Quintiscentia Philoso phorum 80. A Philosophical Epitaph with a Catalogue of Chymical Books 80. Secrets revealed Sir K. Digby's Chymical Secrets 80. Hartmanns Chymical Collections 80. Auroforitina Chymica or a Collection of 14 curious Tracts in Chymistry Otto Tachenius his Hippocrates Chymicus in Quarto New light of Alchymy 80. Barbas Art of Metals 80. Simpsons Sherleys and Tompsons pieces in 80. Magick of Kirani King of Persia. Starkey Valentine Eugenes Philalethes c. their Works FINIS