growing hot and which constitutes a distinct kind of continual Feaver is excited from a certain malignant and invenomed Ferment by which when the mass of the Blood is imbued and the Spirits and the Sulphureous part together conceive an heat and their burning is not sooner appeased than that either that malignant matter be consumed and cast forth of doors or else a certain coagulation and as it were putrefaction of the Blood from its corruptive venom is induced by which both circulation is hindered and the Vital Spirit extinguished This malignity is wont to arise either from a certain contagion received from without or from some infection begotten within us according to these ways the malignant Feaver Small-pox Measels and also the Plague draw their beginnings and by their contagion far and near set upon many There are therefore three degrees or manners of growing hot by which the kinds of continual Feavers are determined From the subtil portion of the Blood made hot or the Ebullition of the Spirits the Ephemera arises as also the Synochus of one or more days by the Sulphureous or Oily part of the Blood being too hot and inkindled the putrid Feaver is stirred up then thirdly upon an invenomed taint infecting the Blood and congealing its Liquor malignant Feavers depend In every one of these by the depravation or rather corruption of the Alible Juice fresh carried into the Blood the various fits inequalities and critical motions arise But before I enter upon the several kinds of a continued Feaver it is requisite for me to consider how the growing hot of the Blood in a continual Feaver differs from that other which constitutes Intermitting Feavers I say therefore that the growing hot of the Blood in an Intermitting Feaver depends only upon the commixtion of a certain Fermentative matter and not rightly miscible with the Blood and on its growing up to a fulness of boiling over Because of this heat with the Blood in the Vessels and of the deflagration in the Heart the fit is induced because of its growing cool the intermission follows that in the coming between of the fits neither the Spirits nor Sulphur become outragious but the bond of the mixture being kept whole the Liquor is circulated in the Vessels equally and without trouble on the contrary in a continual Feaver the disorders of the Spirits and of Sulphur of either or both together by their proper Ebullition also without the mixture of any other stir up the Ebullition of the Blood wherefore there are required for an intermission besides the difflation or cooling of the Excrementitious matter a deflagration of the inkindled Blood and a reduction of it to its due Temper The Constitution of the Blood in a continual Feaver is of the same sort as of Wines when they grow hot upon too rich a Lee to wit are mighty in Spirit and grow turgid with exalted Sulphur and therefore they conceive a Fervor and greatly boil up of their own accord without the mixture of any other thing In an Intermitting Feaver the Blood is moved after that manner as Wines when they conceive an heat because of somthing poured to them that is not miscible with them Moreover in this Feaver the disposition of the Blood is of that sort as of Wines when in their decay and declination they become ropy unsavory or acid to wit in which the Spirit is depressed that in the mean time either Salt or Sulphur or both together appear above the rest and infect the whole Liquor with their disorder An Intermitting Feaver for the most part is free from danger because the constitutive parts of the Blood altho they should somwhat change their disposition however keep the bond of mixture and whilst they are in power are circulated equally in the Vessels yea they pervert the nutritious Juice into a matter not altogether besides Nature but rather infesting with its fulness and turgescency In a continual Feaver besides the intemperance the mixture of the Blood and constitution of the Liquor are somwhat loosned and its corruption easily follows wherefore this Disease often ends in death further the nourishing Juice is depraved into a matter wholly vitious and altogether infestous to Nature CHAP. VIII Of the Ephemera or Feaver for a Day I Have said the least degree of heat which induces a continual Feaver is placed in the subtil and Spirituous part of the Blood being too much agitated and heated for this like the Spirit of Wine boils up on every light occasion and conceives a fervor by a too great motion of the Body or perturbation of mind by the ambient heat as of the Sun or vapours by hot things taken inwardly as the drinking of Wine and the eating of peppered meats and being irritated by such like For the Spirits of the Blood easily take fire and being impetuously moved are not presently appeased but they move throughly other Particles of the Blood variously confound and snatch them into a rapid and disorderly motion also from this motion of the Spirits the Sulphur or Oily part of the Blood is more boiled forth somwhat more dissolved and somthing more fully inkindled in the Heart by which means an intense heat is raised up in the whole Body But forasmuch as Sulphur is inkindled and inflamed only by small parts and not in the whole that fervor of the Spirits is quickly appeased and ceases wherefore the Feaver which is excited by this means for the most part is terminated within twenty four hours and therefore is called an Ephemera or a Feaver of a day If that by reason of a greater heat of the Spirituous Blood it is prolonged further it rarely exceeds three days and is called an Ephemera of more days or a Synochus not putrid but if it should happen to be lengthned beyond this time this Feaver easily passes into a putrid viz. from the dayly Ebullition of the Spirituous Blood the more thick Particles of the Sulphur at length begin to take fire and involve the whole mass of Blood in its Effervescency even as the Spirit of Turpentine being shut up in a Cucurbit and being put into a Sand Furnace if it be forced with a moderate heat boils up gently as the Blood in a Feaver of a day but if the heat be made more strong the Liquor grows impetuously hot till it breaks forth into a flame to which the inflamation of the Blood in a putrid Feaver may be very aptly compared The Days Feaver and Synochus simple rarely begin without an evident cause Besides what hath been but now said immoderate Labour Watchings a sudden passion of the mind a constriction of the pores a Surfeit also a Bubo or inflamed Sore a Wound the coming down of the Milk in Child-bearing Women are wont to induce them The procatartic Causes which dispose to this are an hot temper of Body an active habit a sedentary life and difuse of exercise The chief beginnings of this Disease depend upon the
fire grows hot above measure the bond of the mixture for the greatest part is loosed that its Principles are almost wholly drawn away by the Ferment of the Heart and the active Particles being loosned from the mixture break forth as it were into a flame Wherefore the Liquor of the Blood being after this manner rarified in the Heart and as it were inkindled is from thence carried through the Vessels with a most rapid motion and disperses very many Effluvia of heat from its deflagration Hence the whole mass of Blood like water put over the fire continually boiling distends the Vessels pulls the Brain and Nervous parts raises up Convulsions and pains in them very much destroys the Vital Spirits with its heat wasts the Ferments of the Bowels hinders the Offices of concoction and dispensation often depraves the nourishing Juice destinated for the Nervous stock that from thence exceeding great disorders of the Animal Spirits follow yea almost perverts the whole oeconomy of Nature The course of this Disease shews it self after this manner It rarely begins without a procatartic cause or previous disposition to wit the Sulphureous or oily part of the Blood is first too much carried forth and exalted beyond its due tenor which afterwards either of its own accord like Hay not eventilated begins to grow hot or by the coming of an evident cause it is forced into a preternatural heat But when it grows turgid in the first place by reason of the admixtion of a crude Juice with the Blood now a shivering now heat infests which shew themselves unequally like fire which is covered with green wood sends forth now smoak now flame But at length the fire glowing more largely as here the victor fire spreads it self abroad so there sooner than said the whole mass of Blood is inflamed and is urged at once with heat and a most swift motion Nor is this immoderate heat of the Blood appeased before its active particles being loosned from the mixture and then successively inkindled in the Heart are wholly burned out which doth not happen but in the space of many days And then at length this Feaver ceases when the remaining Liquor of the Blood the Spirit and Sulphur being very much consumed being made lifeless and poor is fit only for a weak and small fermentation From this kind of deflagration of the Blood and also of the alible Juice by the same fire burnt out the recrements or little Bodies of torrified matter are heaped up in the Blood which yet do more promote its fervor and ebullition and for a time increase the Feaverish distemper After the Blood hath very much burned forth and these kind of little Bodies are gathered together to a fulness of swelling up the vital Spirit endeavors a separation and tries to concoct and to overcome what it may these adust recrements and then having put a great many of them into a swelling up a Flux being risen strives to shut them wholly out And indeed in the subaction and seclusion of this matter chiefly consists the event of this Disease for if the vital Spirit being strong the Bloody humor when it hath sufficiently burned forth and shall be freed from these adust particles should recover its pristine tenor whereby it is made fit for motion and a due fermentation in the Heart the sick tends towards health but if by a long deflagration and an inextricable confusion of the morbific matter the liquor of the Blood being wanting of Spirits and more pure Sulphur or those same by the impure mixture growing ill being as it were put under the yoak is rendred so lifeless that it is not any longer rarified by the ferment of the Heart or inkindled by degrees its heat and motion together with Life it self decays The procatartick causes which dispose to this Disease are an hot and humid Temper an active habit of Body a youthful Age the Spring time or Summer season a high and rich Dyet besides the often drinking of rich Wines a sedentâ—ry and idle life a Body full of gross humors and stuffed with vitious Juices but above all the rest it appears by observation that the frequent letting of Blood renders men more apt to Feavers wherefore it is commonly said from whom Blood is once drawn that unless they do the same every year they are prone to a Feaver The reason of this is unless I am deceiv'd by the frequent letting of Blood the Sulphur is more copiously gathered together in the mass of Blood in the mean time the Salt which should bridle it and hinder it from raging by this means is drawn away for the Blood the older it grows becomes so much the more Salt the Salt of all the Elements not evaporating But by how much the more the Blood abounds in Salt by so much the less it abounds in Sulphur for Salt eats and consumes the Sulphur and makes it evaporate wherefore they who are lean and abound with a Salt Blood are less prone to Feavers But when by the letting of Blood the ancient Blood is drawn forth in its stead another more rich and more impregnated with Sulphur is substituted so that it becomes less Salt and more Sulphurous Hence it is that those who often let Blood are not only prone to Feavers but also are wont to grow fat because of the Bloods being more impregnated with Sulphureous Juice The evident causes which deduce the latent disposition of this Feaver into act are of the same sort which procure an Ephemeran Feaver and simple Synochus in this rank chiefly come Transpiration being hindred and Surfeiting By reason of the effluvia being restrained the mass of the Blood being increased in bulk grows turgid and conceives a Fervor as it were from a certain ferment inspired anew and cruelly boyls up from thence presently the pores are more obstructed by the infartion of the effluvia and the frame of the Liquor being loosned the particles of the Sulphur exuberating in the Blood leap forth from the mixture and are inflamed by the ferment of the heart as it were by fire put to them and so they enkindle a very intense Feaver But from a Surfeit both an immoderate fermentation is induced in the Blood and also a nitrous Sulphureous matter apt for adustion and an inkindling is conveyed as it were food to the burning Blood In this Feaver four times or seasons are to be observed in which as it were so many posts or spaces its course is performed These are then The Beginning the Augmentation the Height and Declination These are wont to be finished in some sooner in others more slowly or in a longer time The beginning ought to be computed from the time the Blood begins to be made hot and its Sulphur to conceive a burning untill the ardors and burnings are diffused thorow the whole mass of Blood The Increase or Augmentation is from the time that the Blood being made hot and inkindled thorow the whole burns forth
perish Wherefore she institutes new and more firm and lasting Combinations of Spirit Salt and Sulphur For she selects from the whole Substance of the Plant the more noble and highly active Particles and these being gathered together with a little Earth and Water she forms in the Seed as it were the quintessences of every Plant in the mean time the Trunk Leaves Stalks and the other Members of the Plant being almost quite deprived of the active Principles are much depauperated and are of less Efficacy and Virtue About Autumn after the Seeds are framed as it were pledges left in memory of the Plant the Particles of Spirits Salt and Sulphur which remain being now placed in their Strength or Exaltation endeavour a Dissolution and Departing one from another And first of all the Spirits evaporate by degrees with the Watery humour through the Doors set open by the Summer Sun with which the more pure parts of the Sulphur make also their Journey in the mean time the Salt being fixed with the Earth and more thick Sulphur is left behind Wherefore in most the Leaves fall at this time and in those of a tender and light Constitution the Principles are wholly dissipated and the Trunk and Stalk together with the Root wholly die In some after the falling of the Seed with the Leaves the Stalks wither in the mean time the Principles which may renew the Plant in the next Spring are preserved in the Root Also Winter coming on the face of things is wholly changed and the Elements which in the Spring did affect to be Joyned and to Marry one with another seek nothing more than Divorces The Spirits fly away from very many things and wander in the Air in the mean time the Particles of Salt and Sulphur lie as it were benummed and asleep Not only the Bodies of Vegetables but of very many Animals are left as it were dead all the Winter till they are raised again to life by the Spirit returning with the Vernal Sun and as it were animated anew But this little Branch being made concerning the Vegetation of Plants it is now fit that we proceed on our Journey to Fermentation by the Rule of our before established Method to what is to be observed concerning the parts and humours of Living Creatures CHAP. V. Of things to be Observed of Fermentation about Animals IT is so certain that the Bodies of Animals consist of the aforesaid Principles that it wants no proof For they so plentifully swell up with Spirit Salt and Sulphur that their Particles are obvious to the sense Wherefore they are moved with a more swift motion and more excellent senses of Life and Functions of Heat in the Subjects in which they are implanted are inlarged It would be too much labour and tedious here to describe the several manners and processes of Fermentations The first beginnings of Life proceed from the Spirit Fermenting in the Heart as it were in a certain little punct The motion of this is not as in Vegetables slow and insensible and only to be known by their increasing but presently becoming rapid is conspicuous to the Eyes because the Spirit leaping from the Punct as from a Prison being stirred and having obtained the Vehicle of Blood swiftly runs forth and leaping forth it cannot wholy fly away it makes hollow spaces for it self in the thick substance in which it is included for its excursion being compelled some other way backward Lastly being returned to the Heart it Ferments the more wherefore it stretches forth further the spaces of its Excursion and so easily makes an hollow way for its return back and after this manner for the carrying about the Blood Arteries and Veins as Channels and Rivulets are framed through all the parts of the Body and on such a Vicissitude of Motion or Reciprocation depends the life of living Creatures which that Nature might preserve a long while she placed the Ferment in the Heart by whose instinct or endeavour the Blood grows impetuously Hot and as it were inkindled into a Flame by its Deflagration diffuses the effluvia of its Heat round about on every side for by the Fermentation or Accension which the Blood suffers in the Bosome of the Heart very many Particles of Spirit Salt and Sulphur endeavour to break forth from its loosened frame by which being much rarified and like Water boyling over a Fire the moved and boyling Blood is carried through the Vessels not without great Tumult and Turgescency We would speak more in this place both of the Natural Fermentation of the Blood and the Feaverish but that we reserve this Consideration for a peculiar Tract where we Treat of Feavers Besides this Ferment constituted in the Chimny of the Heart upon which the motion and heat of the Blood very much depends there are others laid up every where in the Bowels of a diverse disposition by the help of which both the Chyle which is the Rudiment or Beginning of the Blood and the Animal Spirits its Quintessence are truly framed There are others also which serve for the perfecting the Blood transmuting it into other Liquors and freeing it from Excrementitious Matter It will be too far from our proposed method to wander to insist upon each of these and to reap anothers Harvest Wherefore I will only add in this place some select instances which may illustrate the Doctrine of Fermentation It is commonly received that the Concoction of the Chyle in the Ventricle is made by the means of a certain Acid Ferment That such a thing is the Acid belching in a full Stomach and the want of it in the loss of Stomach in Feaverish and Dysenterical people do testifie c. and its restitution a sign of Health to which may be added this Observation Chalybeat Medicines being taken at the Mouth a little after excite a Sulfureous savour in the Throat as if hard rosted Eggs had been eaten which seems wholly to be made by the Acid Ferment of the Ventricle gnawing the Iron even as Spirit of Vitriol being sprinkled upon the fileings of Steel excites such a stinking and Sulphureous Odor Some say this Ferment is breathed into the Stomach from the Spleen but by what means that may be done doth not yet appear by Anatomical Observation It seems not improbable that this Ferment is implanted in the Ventricle that it is only made by some remains of the perfected Chyle which fixed in the folds of the Ventricle and there growing sowr puts on the Nature of Ferment even as a portion of Dough being fermented or levened and and kept to a sowrness becomes a convenient Ferment or Leven for the making of Bread In like manner this kind of Acid humour being prepared from the Aliments and long carried in the Ventricle promotes the Concoction and subaction or subduing of the Food For Acid things which are full of Salt carried out to a Flux excellently conduce both to the Fermenting and Dissolving of Bodies Wherefore by
the action of this Salt and Sulphur with which eatable things very much abound are broken in the Ventricle and are reduced into very small parts The Chyle being after this manner Fermented acquires a Milky colour by reason that the Sulphureous Particles are dissolved together with the Saline and mixed with the Acid Ferment For if you pour an Acetous humour to any Liquor impregnated with Sulphur and volatile Salt it presently grows white like Milk as may be discerned in the preparing the Milk of Sulphur or the Resinous extracts of Vegetables Yea the Spirits of Harts Horn or Soot being very full of Volatile Salt if they be poured to any Acid Liquor or simple Water acquire a Milky colour Concerning this Ferment hid in the folds of the Ventricle it is observed that it is after various manners and changes the Aliments by a diverse means for tho in a sound Constitution it is indifferently Acid and chiefly owes its force and energie to the Salt being brought to a Flux yet it often declines from this laudable condition and conteins in it self either too much of sowrness or less than it ought to have In the former Case where the Salt hath got too sowr a Dominion all things taken in the Saline Particles being carried forth to a Flux and the rest unduly brought under presently grow sour as most often happens in Hypochondriack Distempers on the other side where the Volatile Principles obtain the first place Fermentation being too hastily made the Sulphureous parts of the Chyle are suddenly and as it were forceably exalted and the unconcocted of the Saline pass into Choler which ordinarily happens to those abounding with bitter Choler They therefore who have the Ventricle affected after this latter manner Sweet and Fat meats being eaten they are troubled with a bitter and bilious Taste Again they who suffer the contrary disposition altho they eat the most simple Food send forth plentifully Acid and Stinking belchings and indeed this seems to come to pass even after the same manner as when a little too much Yest is put to the Batch of Dough it becomes bitter or when too great a Portion of sour Ferment or Leven is put to the same Dough the Bread from thence contracts a mighty sowrness As the Blood in the Heart and appending Vessels the Chyle in the Ventricle so the Animal Spirit is wrought in the Brain whose Original and Motions are very much in the dark Neither doth it plainly appear as to the Animal Spirit by what workman it is prepared nor by what Channels it is carried at a distance quicker than the twinkling of an Eye But it seems to me that the Brain with Scull over it and the appending Nerves represent the little Head or Glassie Alembic with a Spunge laid upon it as we use to do for the highly rectifying of the Spirit of Wine for truly the Blood when Rarified by Heat is carried from the Chimny of the Heart to the Head even as the Spirit of Wine boyling in the Cucurbit and being resolved into Vapour is elevated into the Alembick where the Spunge covering all the opening of the Hole only transmits or suffers to pass through the more penetrating and very subtil Spirits and carries them to the snout of the Alembick in the mean time the more thick Particles are stayed and hindred from passing Not unlike this manner the blood being delated into the Head its spirituous volatil and subtil Particles being restrained within by the Skull and its menynges as by an Alembick are drunk up by the spungy substance of the Brain and there being made more noble or excellent are derived into the Nerves as so many snouts hanging to it In the mean time the more crass or thick Particles of the blood being hindred from entring are carried back by Circulation But the highly agil and subtil Spirits enter the smallest and scarcely at all open pores of the Brain and Nerves and run through them with a wonderful swiftness For there is need only of such Receptacles and Channels for the Animal Spirit in which there are none or at least very small cavities or holes otherwise the blood or excrementitious humours their Followers and Companions would not be excluded Also besides if these Spirits should run about through too open and loose spaces being easily dissipated they would fly away wherefore when there is need of a Pipe for the transmitting of blood or serous water the Spirit of Wine runs rapidly through the secret passages of the Instrument or Leather Neither doth the more strict frame of the Brain and Nerves serve only for the straining of the subtil from the thick and the pure from the impure but also that spirituous and most subtil Liquor being as it were distilled from the blood gets yet a farther perfection in the Brain for there being inspired by a certain Ferment whereby it is yet more volatilised it is made more fit for the performing the offices of motion and sense Because the substance of the Brain is exceeding full of a Volatile Salt which is of great Virtue for the sharpning and subtilising the Spirits therefore the Spirits of Harts Horn or of Soot are far more penetrating than Spirits of Wine The Seminal Vessels and Genital Parts do so swell up with Fermentative Particles that there is nothing more here Spirit Salt and Sulphur being together compacted and highly exalted seem in the Seed to be reduced as it were into a most noble Elixir These kind of active Principles do not only Ferment in the Womb for the forming of the Child or Young ones but also as it were with a living Ferment they inspire through all the Body the whole Mass of blood that it may be more Volatile and more sharply Hot wherefore in women who have the Ferment of the Womb in good order their Face is furnished with a curious and flourishing colour their heat is more lively and copious moreover the Mass of Blood growing too rank there is need of emptying it every Month by the Flux of their Courses but when this Fermentation from the Womb is wanting both Virgins and Women become Pale and as it were without blood short winded and unfit for any motion Also in men from the Seminal Ferment happen abundance of heat great strength a sounding Voice and a manly eruption of Beard and Hair by reason of the defect of this men grow womanish to wit a small Voice weak Heat and want of Beard are caused Since we Treat of Ferments which are found in the Animal Body we may here opportunely inquire what is the use of the Spleen concerning which all good things are said by some that it is as it were another Liver and serves for the making of blood for the Viscera of the lower Belly It is by others reputed to be of a most vile use that it is only the Sink or Jakes into which the Feculencies of the blood are cast By reason of its structure we
make this sort of conjecture because the Arteries do carry the blood to this and the Veins bring it away neither any other thing is carried in or conveyed out and for that its substance is filled with black and stagnating blood it seems that it is as it were a store-house for the receiving of the earthy and muddy part of the blood which afterwards being exalted into the Nature of a Ferment is carried back to the blood for the heating of it Wherefore while the blood being carried by the Arteries enters the Spleen somthing is drawn from it to wit the muddy and terrestrial Particles which are as it were the dregs and Caput Mortuum of the blood that by this means the whole Mass of the Blood might be freed from the Melancholick or Atrabilous Juice which is separated in the Spleen even as the yellow Bile or Choller is in the Liver wherefore for the most part the Spleen is of a black or blewish colour by reason of the Feculencies or dregs there lay'd up But as this Juice deposited in the Milt or Spleen is not altogether unprofitable but by reason of the plenty of fixed Salt is of a very Fermenting Nature it is not presently as the Choler cast into the sink but is farther Cooked in the Spleen and being exalted goes into a Ferment which being lastly committed to the blood promotes its motion and Volatilisation Wherefore as somthing is drawn from the blood entring the Spleen by the Arteries to wit the Crude Juice of Melancholy so somthing is continually added to the same flowing back through the Veins to wit the same Juice concocted and exalted into the Nature of a Ferment Even as Chymists in Distilling that the Liquor may be made better separate the Subtile and Spirituous parts from the Caput Mortuum and then pour them on it again and this work they so often repeat till the Caput Mortuum or dead Head is by frequent Distillation Volatized and the Liquor rightly exalted even in all its Particles That this is the use of the Spleen it is a sign for that this inward being ill affected the blood either ferments too much as in the Scorbutick and Hypochondriack Distempers or if the Spleen be obstructed or beset with a Scirrhous Tumor the blood is destitute of fit Fermentation and causes the Dropsie Cachexie or evil disposition of the Body or the Tympany As we assert the Earth and muddy part of the blood which consists chiefly of Earth and fixed Salt being separated in the Spleen to pass there into a Ferment so it seems not improbable that also the Adust or as it were the fiery part of the blood to wit the Yellow Bile which consists chiefly of Salt and Sulphur being separated in the Liver and from thence transmitted to the intestines serves for some use of Fermentation For this being mixed with the Chyme or Juice fallen from the Ventricle to the intestines makes it there to grow hot and to swell up whereby both the Elementary Particles are more overcome and by reason of the Rarification or swelling up the purer part is wrung forth into the Milky Vessels for the Nutritious Juice We are not only born and nourished by the means of Ferments but we also die Every Disease acts its Tragedies by the strength of some Ferment For either the Sulphureous and Spirituous part of the blood being too much carried forth boils up immoderately in the Vessels like Wine growing hot and from thence Feavers of a divers kind and nature are inkindled or somtimes the Saline part of the blood being too much carried forth suffers a Flux and from thence it being made acid austere and somtimes sharp is apt for various Coagulations from which the Scurvy Dropsie Stone Leprosie and very many Chronical Diseases arise Yea we also endeavor the Cure of Diseases by the help of Fermentation For to the preserving or recovering the Health of man the business of a Physician and a Vintner is almost the same the blood and humors even as Wine ought to be kept in an equal temper and motion of Fermentation wherefore when the blood grows too hot even as Wine it is usual to empty some out of the Vessels and to allay its Fervor with temperat things If any extraneous or heterogeneous thing is mixed with it unless growing hot of its own accord it drives it forth of doors Purging Vomiting and Sweating Medicines by shaking and fusing the blood and humors promote its seclusion when that the blood is depauperated and grows less hot than it should do Cardiacks Digestives and especially Chalybeats or steeled Medicines restore its vigor and Fermentation no otherwise than Wines growing sowr or degenerating into a deadness or want of strength are mixed with more rich Lees whereby they may Purge or grow turgid anew I could easily unfold the Curatory intentions as also the effects and operations of every Medicine according to the Doctrine of Fermentation but I design a particular meditation for this thing for the perfecting of which serious work God willing I have determined to add to the business of Medicine as I hope somthing not unprofitable Having thus far wandered in the spacious field of Nature we have beheld all things full of Fermentation not only in the distinct Provinces of Minerals Vegetables and Animals do we discern the motions and effects of this but also the whole Sublunary world seems as if one and the same substance were planted and very pregnant through the whole with Fermentative Particles which in every Region and Corner of it as little Emmits in a Mole-hill are busied in perpetual motion and agitation they fly about here and there somtimes upwards somtimes downward they are hurried they variously meet one another associate themselves and again depart asunder with a continual Vicissitude they enter into divers Marriages and suffer Divorces on which the beginnings the death and transmutations of things depend These little Bodies do not only very much abound in the bosome of the Earth or in the midst of the waters but they are especially diffused through the whole Atmosphear of the Air in thick heaps It is sufficient that I have noted in this place some examples in a word I have not determined a more full speculation of them here It is time that we proceed from Physical things to the works of Art CHAP. VI. Of Fermentation as it is performed in Artificial things IN the works of Art so various and manifold provision of Fermentation is perceived that it is altogether impossible to enumerate their several Species or to reduce the divers instances of this to certain Classes or Heads of distribution Making use of the thrid of the following method we will subjoyn some examples which have happened to our observation by whose rule many others may be laid open Concerning Fermentation which is made in the Subjects made by hand or human industry these three things are chiefly to be considered First of what Nature and Composition
shall be an Argument that I may Err yea if you please that I have Erred however if I should have rightly traced forth any marks in this at least new search of Truth and shall have incited others who are far better able by this occasion to the full finishing of it it will not repent me altogether of this tho rash beginning OF FEAVERS CHAP. I. The Anatomy of the Blood and its Resolution into five Principles A comparing it with Wine and Milk THE Doctrine of Fermentation being explicated it remains that we handle the chief Instance or Example of it to wit Feavers For it seems that a Feaver is only a Fermentation or immoderate Heat brought into the blood and humors It s name is derived from Februo or Purgament which also is derived from Ferveo to be Hot which word indeed is commodiously put to every Feaver for that the blood in this Disease grows hot and besides by its fervor as working must it is Purged from its filthinesses But that this Fermentation or Feaverish effervescency may be rightly explicated these three things are to be considered First What the Fermenting Liquor is whether only blood or any humors besides Secondly In what Principles in the mixture and in what proportion of them this Liquor consists Thirdly and lastly By what motion and turgescency of those parts or Particles of which the blood is made the Feaverish effervescency is stirred up These being thus premised the Doctrin of Feavers shall be delivered not from the Opinions of others but acccording to the comparisons of Reasons picked tho from ours yet from diligent and frequent observation and confirmed by certain Experiments all which however I willingly submit to the judgment of the more skilful It plainly appears even to the sense that the Blood doth hugely boil up and rage in a Feaver for every one tho rude and unskilful being in a Feaver complains of the blood being distempered and of the same growing hot in the Vessels and as it were put into a fury Also besides the blood raging in the Veins and Arteries it may be lawfully suspected that that juice with which the Brain and Nervous parts are watered is wont oftentimes to be in fault for when this Liquor is seen to be carried back from the blood into the Nervous stock by a constant motion and certain Circulation and from thence through the Lymphatick Vessels into the Bosom of the blood it is probable if by reason of a taint contracted from the blood that humor be depraved in its disposition or is perverted from its equal motion that from thence the Rigor and Pain Convulsion Delirium Phrensie and many more symptoms of the Nervous kind usual in Feavers do arise After the Blood and Nervous Liquor two other humors for that being apt to grow hot fall into our consideration viz. The Chyme or nourishing Juice continually coming to the Mass of Blood and the serous Latex perpetually departing from the same which tho they be the first and last Liquors separated from the Blood and distinct from it yet being confused with it they ought to be esteemed as its associate parts or complements For the nourishable Juice being fresh brought is accounted the crude part of the blood and to be assimilated and the Serum its stale part and to be carried away And after this manner so long as either are Circulated with the blood it self in the Vessels they participate of the heats of the first begotten blood and oftentimes occasionally begin them or increase them being begun but by what means these things come to be done is declared hereafter in their proper places As to the rest of humors which are only the recrements of the Nutritious juice or the blood when they are included either in their proper Receptacles or constrained in the narrow spaces in the Viscera neither wash the several parts of the Body with a continual lustration as the blood or Nervous Liquor or the other humors but now recited are to be exempted from this rank somtimes perhaps they may be the occasional cause that the blood doth conceive an undue Effervescency or that it persists in it longer but it is only the blood with the Nervous Liquor the alible juice and Serum associates which boiling up above measure with its heat and stirred up with a rage through the Vessels diffuses the preternatural heat and induces the formal reason of the Feaver but how this comes to be done is not to be known plainly but by a more near beholding the Nature of Blood and as it were an Anatomy made of its Liquor There are in the Blood as in all Fermentative Liquors Heterogeneous Particles which as they are of a diverse Figure and Energy remain a long while in the mixture by their mutual opposing one another and subaction the motion of Fermentation is continually conserved as is perceived in Wine Beer and other Liquors then if the mixtion of the Liquor be somwhat unlocked by the adding of Ferments the Native Particles being freed from their bonds do yet more swell up and induce Fermentation with a more rapid motion and heat which is seen in a familiar Experiment of the Chymists viz. when fluid Salts are mixed with Saline Liquors of another kind from thence a great heat and ebullition are stirred up Wherefore we ought to inquire concerning the Blood of what Particles it consists that it should be fit to Ferment as Wine Beer and other Liquors of its own Nature then by the help of what kind of Ferments both its Natural and Feaverish heats are performed with warmth and a more quick motion The Mass of the Blood by the opinion of the Antients was thought to consist of four humors to wit Blood Phlegm Choler and Melancholy and it was affirmed that according to the eminency of this or that humor diverse temperaments are formed and that by reason of their fervors or exorbitances almost all Diseases do arise This Opinion tho it flourished from the time of Galen in the Schools of Physicians yet in our Age in which the Circular motion of the Blood and other affections of it were made known before not understood it began to be a little suspected nor to be so generally made use of for the solving the Phaenomenas of Diseases because these sort of humors do not constitute the blood but what are so called except the Blood are only the recrements of the blood which ought continually to be separated from it For in truth the Blood is an only humor not one thing about the Viscera and another in the habit of the Body nor is it moved at one time by Phlegm and another time with Choler or Melancholy as is commonly asserted but the Liquor growing hot in the Vessels is only Blood and wheresoever it is carried through all the parts of the Body it is still the same and like it self But because by reason of the abundance of the implanted heat in some and because of the
smalness of it in others the Coction of the Aliment is now quicker now slower performed in the Bowels and in the Vessels therefore the temper of the Blood tho but one and always the same Liquor becomes diverse and according to the various disposition of this it may be said that men are Choleric Melancholic or of another temperament Besides because whilst the Blood is made in its Circulation in the Vessels some parts continually grow Old and others are supplied anew hence from Crudity or too much Coction there is a necessity that what is excrementitious should be heaped together which notwithstanding by its effervescency as by the working or depuration of Wines it comes to pass it is separated from its Mass viz. the watry humor fixed in the Bowels or solid parts is it which is called Phlegm some Reliques of adust Salt and Sulphur being separated in the Liver and received by the Choleduct Vessels are called Choler the Earthy feculences being laid up in the Spleen are termed Melancholy In the mean time the Blood if rightly purified ought to want Choler Phlegm and Melancholy even as when some Wines or Beer are purified the more light Particles are carried upwards which constitute its Flowers or Head and the dregs are prest down to the bottom which grow together into Feces or Tartar yet none can truly say it Wine or Beer is composed of Froth Tartar and a Vinous Liquor But as these humors commonly so called are made out of the other Principles viz. Choler out of Salt and Sulphur with an admixtion of Spirit and Water and Melancholy out of the same with an addition of Earth and as the blood is immediately forged out of these kind of Principles and is wont to be resolved sensibly into the same I thought best the common acception of humors being laid aside to bring into use these celebrated Principles of the Chymists for the unfolding the Nature of the Blood and its affections There are therefore in the blood as in all Liquors apt to be Fermented very much of Water and Spirit a mean of Salt and Sulphur and a little of Earth The blood being loosned by putrefaction exhibits the same separated and distinct Also in the blood contained in the Vessels or being fresh let out from them we may discover their energies and effects besides when in the Food whereby we are fed by the juice of which the Liquor of the blood is made these same are implanted no man will go about to deny that the blood also is made from them wherefore I will briefly run through these and endeavour to shew by what means the Consistency the Properties and the Affections of the Blood are made by them 1. Spirits which readily obtain the chief place are a subtil and greatly volatile portion of the blood Their Particles always expansed and endeavouring to fly away do move about the more thick little Bodies of the rest wherewith they are involved and continually detein them in the motion of Fermentation The Liquor of the blood continually boils up with their effervescency or growing hot and equal expansion in the Vessels and the rest of the Principles are contained in an orderly motion and within the bond of the exact mixture if any Heterogeneous thing or unagreable to the mixture be poured into the bloody Mass presently the Spirits being disturbed in their motion rage shake the blood and force it to grow hugely hot until what is extraneous and not missible is either subdued and reduced or cast out of doors By the irradiation or rather the irrigation or watering of these the Bodies of the Nerves are inflated the Functions of the Viscera and also the Offices of motion and sensation are performed from the want of Spirits also from their motion being depraved or hindred arise great vices of the Natural oeconomy or Government The more quick motion and effervescency of these in the blood above what is in Wine chiefly depends upon the Ferment of the Heart because whilst the blood passes through the Bosom of the Heart its mixture is very much loosned so that the Spirits together with the Sulphureous Particles being somwhat loosned and as it were inkindled into a flame leap forth and are much expanded and from thence they impart by their deflagration a heat to the whole By reason of this kind of expansion and suffusion of heat there is made a continual expence of Spirits which being rarified as it were inkindled continually fly away and are evaporated forth a doors and as long as we live there is made a continual reparation of these by aliments chiefly the most delicate which contain in themselves very much of Spirit and swelling matter from which juice being drawn by digestion and collated to the blood is assimilated to it and fills up its defects When the Blood of Animals is distilled the Spirits like Aqua Vitae ascend of a limpid colour they are made very sharp and pricking by the adhesion of the Salt yet they are not so easily drawn off as the Spirits of Wine but that there is need of a more intense fire to force them because they are hardly driven from the fellowship of the thicker parts with which they are involved 2. That there is plenty of Sulphur in the blood it is plainly seen because we are chiefly fed with Fat and Sulphureous Aliments also the Nutriment from the blood carried to the solid parts goes into Sulphur and Fatness It is most likely from the dissolution of this that the red Tincture of the Blood doth arise for Sulphureous Bodies before any others impart to the solvent Menstruum a colour highly full of redness and when by reason of too great Crudity the Sulphur is less dissolved the blood becomes watery and pale that it will scarce dye a Linnen ragg red The Mass of blood being impregnated with Sulphur and together with Spirits it becomes very Fermentable which however whilst it enters the Ventricles of the Heart there suffers a greater effervescency or rather accension and on the Particles chiefly Sulphureous being inflamed and thence diffused through the whole the lively and vital heat in us depends When the Sulphureous part is carried forth and doth too much luxuriate in the blood it perverts its disposition from its due state that therefore the blood being either depraved or made more bilous or Cholerick doth not rightly Cook the nourishing juice or being inkindled throughout it conceives heats and ardours such as arise in a continual Feaver For the Sulphur being too much exalted and swelling more than it ought stirs up great heats in the blood and they whose blood is more plentifully impregnated with Sulphur are most obnoxious to Feavers By reason of the Particles of this being incocted with the Nutritious juice and from thence carried to the solid parts fatness softness and tenderness come to our Body From the Flesh or Blood putrefying by reason of the abundance of evaporated Sulphur a most evil stink
breaths forth In the distillation of Blood Sulphur ascends under the form of a blackish Oyl which also by reason of the Empyreuma stinks most wickedly 3. That Salt is in the blood is evinced by the Salt which tho fixed is drawn forth by being eaten from Vegetables and from other eatable things at first less volatile afterwards by the most excellent digestion of Nature and Circulation is highly volatilised that it passes through not only without a remaining Caput Mortuum all the members and parts of our Body but also the blood being exposed to distillation ascends the Alembic and leaves the dead Head as insipid earth If at any time the Saline Particles are not rightly exalted in the Blood by reason of ill digestion but remain crude and for the most part fixed from thence the blood becomes thick and unfit for Circulation so that obstructions are begot in the bowels and solid parts and serous Crudities are every where heaped together But if the Salt be too much carried forth and suffers a Flux the Spirit being depressed or deficient a sour and bitter disposition is given to the blood such as is observed in Scorbutical people and those sick of a Quartan Feaver Also from the Salt for this reason being variously coagulated the Stone Kings-Evil Gout Leprosie and very many other Chronical Diseases arise But when Coction being rightly performed in the bowels and Vessels the Salt is duly exalted and being associated with the Spirit is volatilised then by reason of its mixture the Liquor of the blood more equally ferments also is defended from Putrefaction Stagnation and Coagulation Also the Saline Particles bridle the fiercenesses of the Spirits and especially of Sulphur wherefore those who have their blood well filled with a Volatile Salt are less obnoxious to Feavers also hence those who often are let blood are more apt to Feavers 4. Besides There are in the blood as it is a thick humour and hath a gross consistence many Earthy Particles from hence also it s too great Volatilisation is as it were supported and it s too hasty accension hindered even as Charcoal-dust is added oftentimes to Gun-Powder in a greater proportion that all its parts may not take fire at once and too soon Further from the Terrestrial Particles of the blood and Nutritious Juice the bulk and increase of the Body proceeds Lastly from the distillation of the Blood a light and friable Caput Mortuum is left in great plenty 5. Upon the watery part of the blood depends its fluidness for from hence its stagnation is hindered and the blood is circulated in the Vessels without growing thick or stiff also it s too great conflagration and adustion is restrained and its heat attempered When blood is distilled a clear and insipid water is drawn off at least in a double proportion to the rest for from hence the matter of Urine Sweat and every humid Excrement for the most part proceeds What things were but now asserted concerning the Principles of the blood and the affections to be deduced thence will better appear if we consider consider a little the blood according to its sensible parts and shall compare it with other Liquors which are in dayly use among us Those sort of Liquors which have a very great Analogy with the blood are vâ—z Rich Wine and Milk As to the reasons of Fermentation and growing Hot it is most fitly compared to Wine as to its consistency coagulation and departure of the parts one from another it is likened to Milk In the first place therefore it is observed of Wine that so long as it is shut up in the Vessel or Pipe its subtil and spirituous Particles do perpetually agitate or very much shake others more thick break them and render them fit for an exact mixtion what is heterogeneous and unfit for subaction or mingling is separated by its growing hot In the mean time the purified Liquor greatly fermenting is in perpetual motion whereby all the parts as Atoms variously moved up and down in a beam or streak of light do stretch themselves forth on every side and contend with a constant rowling about from top to bottom and from thence to the top again By the attrition and refraction of the Particles very many Effluvia of Atoms go away from the Liquor which if the Vessel being closely shut they are kept within the Liquor grows too excessively hot and oftentimes causes the containing Vessel to burst in pieces Blood much after the same manner being shut up within the Veins and the Arteries is urged with a constant Circulation The Vital Spirit makes subtil breaks and exactly molds the more thick Particles what is heterogeneous and not mixable it expels forth of doors in the mean time by the refraction and kneading of the parts Effluvia of heat do constantly stream forth and evaporate through the pores which being shut in if transpiration be hindred presently by reason of the too great boyling of the blood a Feaver is inkindled Secondly we will observe concerning Wines that they grow turgid or swell up if any extraneous thing and of a Fermentative Nature be poured to them yea somtimes that they are moved more than ordinary of their own accord For when by a long digestion the Sulphureous part of the Wine is too much exalted it conceives a greater heat than it ought and unless presently appeased perverts the disposition of the whole Liquor with its swelling up It seems to be for the very like reason that the Feaverish heat which is wont to be introduced by reason of the same Causes is stirred up in the blood as shall be shown in the next Chapter where we treat of the Motion and Heat of the blood The third Observation or comparing of the Blood with Wine shall be of this sort Wines as also many other Liquors as for example Beer or Sider have their times of crudity maturation and defection For when they are first made the Spirituous parts are so obvolved by the others more thick that they shew themselves but little and put forth almost nothing of strength or virtue and as the other Particles are not yet subtilised nor truly concocted the whole Liquor remains crude and of an ungrateful tast and if put to distillation not any Spirit ascends From this state it comes by degrees to perfection and when the Spirits being extricated from their intanglements obtain their own right and have subtilized and exalted the more thick Particles of the rest the whole mass of the Liquor becomes Clear Spirituous Sweet and Balsamick Lastly when by a long Fermentation the Spirits are consumed and begin at length to fail the state of defection is induced whereby Wines and other Liquors either pass into a tastlesness or at last the Salt and the Sulphur being too much exalted are made sowr or unsavory In like manner the blood also while it is Circulated in the Vessels may be considered according to this kind of threefold disposition
First in the making or crudity which has relation to the Chyme new made in the Viscera and freshly poured to the blood the Particles of which like to unripe Fruit are crude and undigested Secondly In the perfect state or maturation which belongs to the blood being sufficiently wrought and made Volatile according to all its Particles after it is inspired by Ferments and its inkindling in the heart exalted Thirdly in its defection which respects the blood after it hath burned forth and its Spirituous parts are very much flown away and the rest growing old and poor have need to be removed and so they are either the Reliques of Salt which are with the Serum strained forth continually by the Urine or they are Particles of Salt and Sulphur boyled and baked together which are strained forth by the virtue of the Liver into the choleduct Vessels or lastly they are dregs and earthy recrements of the blood it self which are carried into the Spleen and there as it were a Caput Mortuum exalted by a new digestion go into a Ferment at length to be transmitted to the blood Whilst after this manner the generation of the blood and its due maturation are truly dispatched it is pleasingly circulated within the Vessels neither wanting in motion or heat nor inordinately troubled with them But if either the supplement of the nourishing Juice be not made agreeable with the rest of the blood nor assimilated with it but that either by reason of the defect of Concoction it is washed into a very crude humor or because of its excess it is rosted into a burnt matter or if the blood growing old does not lay aside what it casts off and give way to a new Nutritious humor I say by reason of these kind of Vices concerning Sanguification or the making of blood the blood is variously perverted from its due temper and equal motion and now becomes Watery and Cold now Sharp or Salt now Acid Austere or by some other way degenerate and somtimes obnoxious to stagnations and somimes also to immoderate heats We may observe these kind of degrees of crudity coction and defection in the blood both of the sound and of the sick in healthful persons after a more plentiful repast Surfeit or hard drinking when too much of Serum or of Juice is poured to the blood its whole mass being too much diluted with a crude humor becomes more watery and less spirituous wherefore men are rendered sluggish and unfit for motion or exercise In sick persons the Phlegmatic Constitution of the Body induces such a crudity of the bloody mass as is discerned in the White Dropsie the Dropsie Pica or longing Disease and the Chlorosis or Green-sickness Also the state of this kind of crudity comes in an intermitting Feaver and in truth is the cause of the Feaverish accession viz. by reason of the dyscrasie of the blood the nourishing Juice being heaped up is not assimilated to it but for the most part goes into a crude or otherwise degenerate matter with which when the mass of the blood is filled to a plenitude swelling up it brings on the fit The state of Maturation Concoction being finished happens in healthful persons some hours after Eating especially in the morning to wit when the supplement of the Chyme is spiritualised and as it were enkindled in the whole by reiterated Circulations for then men are made more nimble and lively and more ready for studies or any business The state of Defection is in the blood of sound men after fasting long hard labor and want of Food for then the Vital Spirit being very much evaporated the mass of the blood begins to become as it were lifeless wherefore they presently languish and are made weak Moreover the blood by a too long Coction is burned and grows bilous from whence those accustomed to want Food or fasting for the most part become sad and melancholic Some Diseases habitually induce such a disposition of the blood such are the Scurvy the Yellow Jaundies the Cachexia or evil state of the Body when the nourishing Juice turns to ill humours long Feavers and most Chronical Diseases in which the whole mass of blood passes from from a Spirituous into either a sowr sharp or austere Nature So much for the comparing of Blood with rich Wine what follows being a similitude of it with Milk consists in the diversity of the parts and their setling apart which is chiefly seen in its being let forth from the Veins and grown cold in the dish For when the heat and vital Spirit which conserve all things in the mixture are flown away the remaining parts depart from one another of themselves and a separation of the thin from the thick and of the Serum from the Fibrous blood is made This sort of separation of the parts succeeds almost after the same manner as in the coagulation of Milk There are in Milk Buttery Cheesie parts and Whey The like is in Blood so long as it doth not much recede from its Natural temper for it is good when being let forth of the Veins it grows cold in the Porringer its parts do settle after the same manner to wit the more pure portion and Sulphureous like Cream comes together on the Superficies which in healthful people looks brightly red and this answers to the flowring or head of the Milk under this lies a Purple thick substance which cosists of little Thrids and Fibres joined together and as it were concreted into a clotty substance or parenchyma such as the Liver For the heat being consumed and the bond of the mixture losened the Fibrous parts lay hold on one another and by their weight settle into a more thick Coagulum which answers to the Cheesie part of the Milk In the mean time the Serous or Wheyey parts being thrust forth from the rest get their own Nature and constitute a clear Liquor like water which as it is thinner ascends to the top and swims upon the rest Further as the Whey of Milk is wont to be further coagulated and doth yet contain in it self some parts both Buttery and Cheesie so this Liquor swiming on the blood if it be exposed either to the fire grows thick like the White of an Egg a little rosted or if an Acid Liquor be poured to it will be precipitated into a white Coagulum This being seen some have thought this watery Latex to be the nourishing juice which imparts nourishment to the whole Body from the mass of the blood in the time of its Circulation and that the rest of the blood is only the Vehicle of Heat and Spirits and serves for no other use But to me it seems more likely that in this watery Liquor is contained the nourishing juice which is imployed on the Nerves and the commonly termed Spermatic parts for nourishment is supplyed to the Musculous stock from the Fibrous blood of the Parenchyma or the Liver Lights and Milt After this manner blood being
not much vitiated goes into parts like Milk but if it be exceedingly depraved when it settles it shews a far different disposition and as to its single Contents is allotted into various appearances for the Cream growing together on the top is seen to be somtimes white somtimes green now yellow or of livid or lead colour also it becomes not tender but very viscous or clammy that like a Membrane it can scarce be pulled in pieces When the blood long growing hot with a Feaverish distemper is let forth from the cut Vein in its Superficies instead of a Scarlet Cream there grows together often a white skin or of some other colour the reason of which is because the blood is throughly rosted by too great Ebullition and its more pure portion as it were by a certain elixation is boiled forth from a red and tender substance to a white and tough but if in the mean time the bloody mass be not sufficiently purged from the adust recrements of Salt and Sulphur the colour of this little skin becomes yellow or livid and therefore the water swimming over it is often tinged by the same means Further the Purple Crassament or thick substance is also various viz. somtimes it is of a blackish colour when the blood is scorched too much by a long effervesency When the Fibres are vitiated as in the Liver they grow not together but the Liquor like Beasting Milk remains somwhat thick and yet fluid which indeed argues a great corruption of the blood as uses to happen in a putrid Feaver a very great Cachexy somtimes the watery Latex is wanting as in Hectical people and in too great a Diaphoresis Somtimes it superabounds as in Dropical people neither will the whole go into a white Coagulum by heat In some Cachectical people the blood being made more watery appears like watered flesh I knew one indued with a vicious habit of body that was wont to have blood of a whitish colour and like to Milk when it was let forth and afterwards when he grew better by Chalybiat Medicines his blood was moderately red but concerning the setling of the blood and its appearances there is enough But as blood being emitted from the Vessels by its coagulation and departure of the parts one from another imitates the various substances of congealed Milk so somtimes being shut within the Veins and Arteries like same fused by a Coagulum enters altogether into the like mutation from Morbific causes by reason of which change being hindred in its Circulation or somwhere congealed and fixed according to its portions it produces many distempers for it seems that from hence the Pleurisie the Squinancy the Inflammation of the Lungs the Dysentery take their Original and to this Cause the Pestilent diseases ow chiefly their deadliness as shall be said hereafter in its place It is sufficient that we have hitherto drawn a parallel of the blood from which comparison with Wine and Milk may be gathered what sort of Particles and Substances it comprehends in it self viz. Spirituous and very agil or nimble such as generous or rich Wine has for the heat and motion and besides soft and tender such as are in Milk for the nourishment of the Body Yea also this Analogy of it with Wine and Milk is yet further confirmed by the use of them in our diet out of which the blood is generated forasmuch as Milk is the best and most simple Aliment and with it Infants and Children who have need of a plentiful provision of blood are nourished chiefly But Wine copiously begets vital Spirits before all other things and being weak and fallen excellently restores them wherefore it is wont to be esteemed instead of Nectar for old men or those of ripe years The Nature and Analysis of the blood flowing within the Vessels being opened after this manner the Nutritious Juice deserves yet our consideration being supplyed from the blood and separated out of the mass of blood for the nourishment of the solid parts and cleaving to them whereby it may be the better assimilated like Dew For the Nerves Tendons and the rest of the solid parts of the whole Body are washed with a certain alible juice The Vital Spirits having obtained the Nervous Bodies for a Vehicle of this blow them forth at length and expeditiously execute the actions of Sense also that humor coming upon the solid parts and assimulated with them inlarges their bulk and growth This is not a place to inquire after the Origine Birth and manner of the dispensation of this It shall suffice only that we have noted that it is supplyed from the mass of blood and as it is rendered highly probable by the most Learned Doctor Glisson and Doctor Wharton after it hath past through the Nervous part by a certain Circulation what remains being now made as it were poor and lifeless is sent back by the Lymphatic Vessels to the blood Whilst this Juice being little cocted or purged from dregs is sent from the depraved blood to the Nervous parts t is wont variously to irritate them into Cramps and Convulsive Motions also no few Symptoms in Feavers arise by reason of the depravation and irregular Motion of this Juice as shall be more largely laid open in another place CHAP. II. Of the Motion and Heats of the Blood SO much for the Anatomy of the Blood as to its primary Elements and Constitutive parts into which it is sensibly wont to be resolved also as to its Affections which appear clearly by the comparing it with Wine and Milk it remains for us next to enquire concerning the motion of the Blood both Natural viz. by the help of what Ferment and by what swelling up of parts it is Circulated in a perpetual motion through the Vessels and preternatural viz. for what Causes and what fury of parts when it boils up above measure in the Vessels and conceives Feaverish Effervescences These being rightly unfolded and premised we will enter upon the Doctrine of Feavers Concerning the Natural Motion of the Blood we shall not here enquire of its Circulation viz by what Structure of the Heart and Vessels it is wheeled about after a constant manner as it were in a water Engine but of its Fermentation viz. by what mixtion of parts and mutual action of them together among themselves like Wine fermenting in the Ton it continually boils up And this kind of motion as it were truly an intestine war of the blood depends both on the Heterogeneity of the parts of the blood it self and on the various Ferments which are breathed into the mass of the blood from the Bowels As to the first those things which have altogether like Particles do not ferment wherefore neither distilled waters Chymical Oils Spirits of Wine or other simple Liquors are moved as hath been already observed but I have said that Blood according to the Nature things quickly irritable doth consist of a proportionate mixture of the Elements
Liquor of the blood to boil up and to grow hot with heat and a plentiful emission of Soot just like Spirit of Nitre when it is poured on the Butter of Antimony so that the blood flowing in gently through the Veins being forthwith Rarified into spume and vapour by the ferment of the Heart runs very impetuously through the passages of the Arteries T is almost the same thing whether it be said to be done either by this or by that way for the alteration which the blood receives in the Heart may be equally deduced from a flame or a Nitrous Sulphureous ferment there supposed to be placed Because whilst the blood slides into the Ventricles of the Heart presently the frame of the Liquor is loosned and the active Particles especially the Spirituous and Sulphureous the bond of the mixture being broke do leap forth from the rest and strive to expand themselves on every side but being kept in by the Vessels and being forced together with the remaining Liquor through the open passages of the Arteries they rush with violence and swelling up by the way they can find and by that means diffuse Effluvia of heat through the whole body there is little difference whether this expansion of the Particles of the blood and exertion into the liberty of motion be said to be done by Accension or by Fermentation forasmuch as by either way the frame of the blood may be so unlocked that from thence the Particles of Spirit Salt and especially of Sulphur being incited into motion as it were by an inkindled fire may impart heat to the whole Body But this Rarefaction or Accension of the blood in the Heart very much depends upon the disposition and constitution of the blood it self for if its Liquor be rightly cocted being made volatile and like rich Wine brought to maturity it then Ferments there after its due manner whereby the soluted Particles of the Spirits and Sulphur diffuse an equal and moderate heat to all parts But if the blood by reason of an ill manner of feeding and want of Concoction be crude and watry then it is less inkindled in the Heart and from thence follow a frigid intemperance of the whole difficult breathing and wheesing with a weak pulse and languishing as in Cachectical people those distempered with the Green Sickness and such as are about to die may be perceived but if the blood becomes too luxuriant and apt to grow turgid by reason of plenty of Sulphur being carried forth or of its Effluvia being restrained or of eating hot things either its Accension or Fermentation in the Heart is very much increased so that from thence a Feaverish heat and greater effervescencies than usual are stirred up in the whole This various Fermentation of the blood in the Heart according to the various temper of the same may be illustrated by the example of Wine fresh Must that is yet crude though it be boiled or put on the fire will not burn but this being purified and brought to maturity is easily inkindled but sends forth a small flame and quickly out The same at first growing hot or otherwise warmed if inkindled is greatly inflamed and for the most part is consumed by its burning Whilst the Blood after this manner being rarified or inkindled in the Heart and from thence growing hot through the passages of the Vessels is resolved into minute parts some little bodies depart from its loosned frame which refuse at last to be united and fitted with the rest of the Liquor but these are of a twofold Nature either thin which like smoke from the burning fire or Effluvia from a Fermenting Liquor do evaporate from the Liquor of the Blood by a constant Diaphoresis through the breathing holes of the Body or more thick which like ashes left after burning or the settling dregs after Fermentation ought to be soon strained from the mass of Blood and to be carried forth of doors for otherwise by their confusion they produce notable perturbations in the Blood Whereby the Blood growing more hot is dissolved in the Heart therefore these recrements both Fuliginous and Earthy are more plentifully heaped together and when by reason of too great congestion they cannot be presently subdued and secluded from the mass of Blood they bring forth a swelling up of the Blood and Feaverish Heats Concerning the Motion Heat and Natural Fermentation of the Blood in the equal tenor of which the means of our Health consists what hath hitherto been spoken shall suffice We will treat a little more largely of the preternatural or too great effervescency on which the types and Paroxysms of Feavers depend I call that too much or Preternatural Fermentation when the Blood like a Pot boiling over the fire grows hot above measure and being rarified with a swelling spume distends the Vessels excites a more quick pulse and like a Sulphureous Liquor having taken fire diffuses a burning heat on every side This kind of motion or Fermentation of the Blood will be best of all illustrated by an example of Wines growing hot For Wines besides the gentle and equal Fermentation by which they are at first purified at some times do so remarkably grow hot and boil up that they fly out of the mouth of the Vessel and if they are closely stopped up cause it to burst in pieces After this manner as if struck with fury unless they are immediately drawn away from the Tartar or their Lees into another Vessel they will not cease from growing hot until the Spirit being very much loosned and the Sulphur or Salt too much exalted they are either made unsavory or degenerate into a sowrness Such an Effervescency in wont to be stirred up for two causes chiefly First When any extraneous thing and not miscible is poured into the Ton so some drops of Tallow or Fat being dropped into the Cask will produce this motion or secondly when Wines being enriched with too rich a Lee or Tartar by reason of the Sulphureous parts being above measure exalted conceive heats of their own accord and exceedingly boil up For in whatsoever substance Sulphur abounds and its Particles being loosned from the mixture consociate together and are bound close in one there such immoderate heats are procured After a like tho not wholly the same manner whereby Wines grow hot the boiling up of the Blood is induced to wit either what is forein and not akin to the Blood is mixed with it that when it is not assimilated is wont to cause a Perturbation and growing hot until that Heterogeneous thing is either subdued or cast forth of doors and the Particles of the Blood being confused and troubled are at last shaken forth and that they get again their former place and position in the mixture Or Secondly the Blood grows hot above measure because some Principle or its constitutive Element viz. Spirit or Sulphur is carried forth beyond its Natural temper and becomes enraged whereby indeed the
Particles of this or that being not agreeable to the rest are loosned from the mixture being loosned they become more violent than they ought shake much the Liquor of the Blood and bring forth a heat which is not allayed till the Blood being as it were inflamed burns forth with the long fire of a Feaver By either way whether the Blood grows hot in the Vessels by reason of the pouring in of a thing not miscible or by reason of the rage of the Spirit or Sulphur being carried forth because from thence its frame is more loosned therefore it is more inkindled in the Heart and the active Particles first loosned from the Ferment there implanted do grow exceeding hot leap forth from the mixture and disperse on every side by their motion a strong heat and as it were fiery but yet with this difference that the Effervency which depends upon the mingling of some extraneous thing with the Blood is for the most part short or renewed which when what was Heterogeneous is separated or subdued is quieted of its own accord and the shaken parts of the Blood and put out of order easily return to their Natural site and disposition But the Ebullition which arises from the inordination of the Spirit or Sulphur being enraged is continual to wit here the whole mass of the Blood is so loosned and dissolved from the strict bond of the mixture that as an Oily Liquor having taken fire it ceases not to grow hot or to be inflamed till the Particles of Spirit or Sulphur or the Combustible matter be for the most part burnt out There remains yet a third manner of Preternatural Fervency whereby the Blood is subject to alteration which happens not to Wine but most often to Milk viz. when at any time from a Morbific cause a coagulation of its Liquor is induced so that its substance is poured forth and goes into parts and there is a separation made of the thick and earthy from the thin by which means the Blood is not fitly circulated in the Vessels but that its congealed portions being apt to be fixed in the extream parts or to stand still in the Heart do interrupt the equal motion or grievously hinder it For the sake of the restoring of which Effervency greater are wont to be stirred up in the Blood to wit such as happen ordinarily in a Plurisie the Plague Small-pox or the Venereal Disease CHAP. III. Of Intermitting or Agues Feavers BY the Premises which we have spoken of already concerning the Anatomy Motion and Heats of the Blood there now lies open an easie passage to the handling of Feavers The Notions which are commonly set forth concerning a Feaver out of the force and Etymology of the word I here purposely omit It may be described after this manner that it is An inordinate motion of the Blood and a too great Heat of it with burning and thirst and other Symptoms besides whereby the Natural oeconomy or Government is variously disturbed As we have remarked already concerning the growing hot of the Blood so now we do of a Feaver that indeed its accession is either short and by fits which is therefore termed Intermitting or else great and long protracted which is called a continual Feaver We will first speak of the Intermitting Feaver Tho an Intermitting Feaver in our Popular Idiom is known by a proper Name and is distinguished contrary to a Feaver commonly taken yet because it hath too great Effervency of the Blood joyned to it it is to be called a Feaver It is peculiar to this from a continual Feaver that it hath certain remissions or times of intermission that every fit begins with cold or shaking for the most part and ends in Sweat that the accessions or coming of the fits return at set Periods and certain intervals of times that a Clock is not more exact Wherefore we will first discourse concerning this Feaver in general what sort of heat of the Blood it is which continues its fit and from whence it is raised up Secondly Wherefore the fit appears equally with cold and shaking as with sweat following Thirdly What may be the cause of the Inmission as also of its certain set Periods Fourthly and Lastly Are added some irregularities of Intermitting Feavers as when now cold now heat or sweat is wanting or when the Periods are wandring and uncertain when the Remission or space of Intermission is not equal but now comes sooner now later and somtimes redoubled and I will endeavor to show the reasons of these and of other Phenomena or appearances which variously happen in this Distemper These being laid open we will go on to unfold in the next Chapter the division of an Intermitting Feaver and the kinds of it As to the first The Effervency of the Blood in an Intermitting Feaver or Ague for the time of the fit is as violent and strong as in a continual Feaver wherefore it is concluded that the parts of the Blood among themselves or some Heterogeneous thing being mixed with it do strive together and Ferment above measure But there is required that they may Ferment or too greatly boil up among themselves that some Principle as chiefly Spirit or Sulphur being too much exalted and enraged do appear above the rest which when it cannot be yoaked with them brings in a continual strife and heat but from this cause a continual Feaver draws its rise because such an Ebullition of the Blood being once begun is not suddenly allayed and when it is appeased it does not afterwards presently return Wherefore for an Intermitting Feaver 't is to be supposed that some Heterogeneous thing is mingled with the Blood whose Particles when they are not assimilated make so long an Ebullition of the same till either being kneaded they are rendered miscible or being subtilised are shut forth of doors Wherefore such a matter being brought under or shut forth of doors the fit ceases and when this matter springs again it stirs up a new Ebullition and so a new fit is brought on Concerning this Matter which being mixed with the Blood induces the periodical Heats and the other Symptoms of an Intermitting Feaver 't is very ambiguously and diversly disputed among Physicians where it is generated in what seat or place it lodges and by what means it so exactly observes the times of its Motion and Ebullition But it would be a work of too much labour and tediousness to recount here all the Arguments of the Ancients and Moderns to reduce them into order and to weigh their reasons Wherefore doubting I propose what has come into my mind when I thought deeply of the matter and submit to the judgment of others Of necessity there is somthing which brings in the Heat of the Blood exactly periodical that is generated in our Body at the several periods or accessions of the Feaver always in a set measure and equal proportion and is communicated to the mass of Blood with which when
the Blood is filled to a plenitude it forthwith grows turgid and conceives an heat But this is supposed to be either an Excrementitious humor sliding down into some Mines which by degrees and at a set time being brought to an increase and moved Ferments with the Blood or it is the nutritious Juice supplyed from the matter of Food and delated in weight and measure which when it is not assimilated by reason of a defect in sanguification being heaped up to a fulness for its own expulsion induces a turgency in the Blood The reason of Intermitting Feavers is commonly explicated by the former way and the causes of the Intermission and set times of approach are fetcht from the nature of the Humor and the seat or place where it is cherished The Nest or Mine of this Disease almost by an unanimous consent is fixed on the first shop of the Body and from hence the reason of the Intermission is fetched and the continual difference of an Intermitting Feaver but they affirm the matter to be Choler Phlegm and Melancholy and as these humors are said to putrifie flower or sooner so the Feaverish courses are said to be absolved in the space of one or more days But this Opinion after the Circulation of the Blood hath been made plainly known to all is deservedly rejected For when the Blood never stagnates in the Vessels but washes every place with a perpetual motion and continually carries away their filth it is impossible that the Mine of this Disease should subsist in the Mesaraick Veins where it is commonly asserted to be as to what belongs to the cavities or dens for the heaping up of the humors in the Viscera it neither appears by what means such should be formed without a Tumor or Imposthume nor by what instinct such humors shut up in their Nest do increase are consumed and lastly spring forth again at so exact intervals of times Besides what is affirmed concerning Bile Phlegm and Melancholy and of their periodical motions we hold wholly suspected because these sort of humors are not afforded sincere such as are described in the Schools but the Blood having gotten a various disposition now being hotter now colder its nature imitates the qualities of such humors or in its Circulating it lays aside its Recrements which being deposited in little Chests or Vessels are falsely believed to be Morbific and Preternatural humors Wherefore as the nutritious Juice is the only humor wherewith the mass of Blood is dayly refreshed and its supplements are made still in measure and proportion without doubt the periodical heats of the Blood are to be drawn from the accession and commixtion of this I have already remarked concerning the Particles of the Blood a triple state of crudity maturation and defection to wit the nourishing Juice supplyed from the dayly Food comes crude is mixed with the Blood and being for some time Circulated is assimilated to it and is ripened into a perfect humor afterwards growing stale it goes into parts and is laid aside Whilst after this equal manner the Blood is continually restored and its losses repaired it very quietly Ferments without any trouble or immoderate heat and is Circulated within the Vessels but if the supplement of the nourishing Juice is not as before ripened nor goes into Blood by a perfect digestion its Particles being confused with the Blood remain as it were some Heterogeneous thing and not exactly akin in the mass of Blood with which when it is filled to a plenitude the Blood forthwith grows troubled and conceives a Feaverish heat whereby the fresh supply of this depraved Juice is either overcome or cast forth of doors I say therefore from the first instant in which the nourishing Juice is not assimilated with the Blood its Particles tho mixed with it are as yet Circulated with it without any great tumult or perturbation and so afterwards till the mass of the Blood is filled with them to a turgency but then it quickly boils up and conceives a heat almost after the same manner as new Beer put into Bottles which if they are closely stopped that nothing may evaporate is at first contained in those Vessels without heat or force afterwards when the Effluvia being still restrained the mass of the Liquor swells up notably Ferments and by reason of the force of Fermentation oftentimes makes the Bottles fly in pieces also this happens at a set time and in the space of so mnay hours as in an Intermitting Feaver the Liquor arises to its height of turgescency There yet remains a difficulty for what cause the nutritious Juice being confused with the Blood is not assimilated but degenerates into an Heterogeneous and Fermentative matter I suppose this to be done for the most part not by the default of the Aliments nor yet of the Bowels but by the vice of the Blood it self For the Blood even as Wine somtimes passes from its native and genuine disposition into an acid sowr or austere disposition and because the Blood makes Blood it comes to pass that when it is departed from its due temper it easily perverts the provision of the nutritious Juice by which it should be repaired What that disposition of the Blood is and by what means contracted shall be told hereafter when we speak of the kinds of Intermitting Feavers and of their evident and Procatarctick causes The Heat or Effervescency therefore of the Blood which constitutes the fit of an Intermitting Feaver depends only upon the assimilation of the nourishing Juice being hindered the Particles of this being commixed with the Blood are not as before ripened nor are made into perfect Blood but by the mixture of these the mass of Blood as it were new drink is imbued with little Bodies greatly Fermentative when the which are more thickly heaped together and the Blood is filled with them to a swelling up it presently grows hot and a mighty agitation and strife of the Particles is made by which they break and subtilise one another till at length the vital Spirit getting the dominion and the rest being brought under what is extraneous is thrust forth of doors from the company of which the Blood being freed the remission and intermission of the aguish fit follows but afterwards from a new supply of this Juice a new fit is brought on Secondly As to the shaking or cold preceding the heat in this Distemper I say when the Particles of the nourishing Juice do proceed from a state of crudity towards maturity but do not attain it they contract a notable sowrishness with which they greatly prick and haule the nervous parts and cause the sense of cold even as new Beer which being stopped close in Bottles passes from a sweet into an acid and nitrous tast that for the cuttingness and cold can scarce be swallowed When therefore the Particles of this sort of crude Juice being indued with a Nitrous sowrness do fill the mass of the Blood to a fulness
or to a swelling up and when they being more thickly heaped together begin to enter into a Flux they first of all strike down the Vital Spirits with their sharpness and somwhat overthrow their heat wherefore the Blood becomes colder and is more slowly circulated yea and by reason of the defect of heat the sense of cold is perceived in the whole Body and a pulse very rare exists Moreover when the nervous and solid parts are watered with this sort of acetous Juice for their last nourishment by the Flux of this which happens together with the turgescency of the Blood these sensible parts are pulled and irritated into Tremblings and Convulsions And this without doubt is the true and genuine cause of the cold and shaking which are excited in a fit of the intermitting Feauer to wit the Flux and swelling up of the nourishing Juice degenerated into a Nitrous matter with which the Spirits and Heat being suffused are blunted and the Nervous Bodies being provoked are moved into tremblings But afterwards when these Nitrous Particles being thrust forth from some part into the Superficies of the Body the Blood is somwhat freed from their weight and oppression the Vital Spirits recollect themselves and begin to shine forth but from thence a most intense heat succeeds because both the mass of Blood by reason of the growing hot with the Feaverish matter being loosened and also its mixture being laxed the Sulphureour Particles are more plentifully inkindled in the Heart and because the pores of the skin being possessed by the same matter thrust forth towards the circumference of the Body the vaporous Effluvia are restrained within which do more shake and make hot the Blood that heat persists still in the Blood until that Fermentative matter being wholly burnt out and together with the adust recrements remaining after the burning being fully brought under and subtilised and involved with the Serum insensibly evaporates by sweat or transpiration Thirdly These things being premised it will not be hard to shew the reasons and causes of the intermission as also of the set periods viz. the intermission follows because all the Morbific matter is dispersed in one fit and so till new be substituted there is a necessity that a remission follow But new matter begins to be begot of which the last fit failed to wit the mass of Blood being but now emptied receives the nourishing Juice and perverts it as before by reason of its defect of due making of Blood and of Concoction into a Fermentative matter but its little plenty stirs up little or no trouble or Fermentation but when the Blood is filled to a swelling up it presently ferments and is in Flux even as when new Beer or new Wine shut up a long while in a Vessel at length at a certain time boils up and leapes forth at the mouth of the Vessel But that the Fits or Accessions do for the most part come again at set intervals of times and that so certainly that a Clock is not more exact the reason is because the nourishable Juice is for the most part supplyed from the Viscera to the Blood flowing in the Vessels in an equal measure and manner for tho we do not dayly take exactly so much meat and drink in weight and dimension yet because we for the most part eat at set hours for the satisfying the Appetite from the things eaten and the mass of the Chyme heaped up in the Bowels an equal portion of the nutritious Juice is conveyed to the Blood through the Milky Vessels wherefore if at such hours so much of the nutritious humor is poured into the Blood which increasing to a fulness and swelling up it brings on the fit that day certainly this being finished in the space of the same time sufficient matter is laid up for the following fit But if errors in feeding be committed and that the sick indulging their Appetite eat more plentifully or inordinately the approach of the fit anticipates the wonted hour by reason of the Bloods being filled sooner with the Feaverish matter if that the sick are abstemious and more sparingly take their Food the intermission is drawn out longer If it be yet asked wherefore the periods of intermitting Feavers be not of one kind and of the same distance but that some repeat or come again dayly others on the third or fourth day The cause is the diverse constitution of the Blood to wit whereby it is perverted from its due temper now into a sourish now into an acid or sharp or into an austere or harsh disposition By reason of the diverse evil constitution of this the alible Juice being fresh carried departs more or less from maturation and is perverted into matter apt sooner or later to ferment When the Blood has acquired a sour hot and bilous disposition I suppose that some part of the nourishing Juice is ripened into perfect humor and is assimilated with the Blood and so goes into Food to be carried to the solid parts and is affixed to them but the other part of it from the Blood being too much cocted and depraved is changed into a Feaverish matter and supposing that half of the nutritious Juice is after this manner perverted in double the time in which it is said to have a full Concoction in our Body that is after eight and forty hours this kind of Fermentative matter rises to a plenitude and turgescency and then induces the fit of a Tertian Feaver If that by reason of the austere and pontic nature of the degenerated Blood in which a fixed Salt with an Earthy Faeces is exalted too much and therefore apt to ferment more slowly only a third part of the nutritious Juice is corrupted then in three times the space of the aforesaid time the fit is induced that is after seventy two hours in which the period of a Quartan is wont to be concluded But if by reason of a greater infection of the Blood almost the whole supplement of the nutritious Juice is perverted into a Feaverish matter then in the space of that time in which the plenary coction ought to be absolved in the Vessels and habit of the Body that is after twenty four hours this matter arises up to the motion of turgescency and brings on the Quotidian fit And hence it comes to pass that in a Quartan Feaver strength and courage do not presently fail whilst in a Tertian the sick are wont to become more weak but in a Quotidian Feaver they are sooner brought into languishing and greatest weakness to wit in each as more or less of the nutritious Juice goes into the Food of the Disease so much also is drawn away from the strength and firmness of the Body But more fully of these when we treat of the several kinds of Intermitting Feavers and the Causes of them Against the equal Circuits of these Feavers it is argued that for the most part the fits do anticipate the set time of the
1657. I observed very many affected after this manner for when after an hot and dry Summer about the middle of Autumn an Intermitting Feaver generally raged the sick were wont suddenly to grow very ill in the middle of their hot fit and somtimes also in their sweating and the Sweat being struck in to be taken with Swooning but shortly after when a Choleric Vomiting followed they were eased Not only the signs and symptoms but the Procatartic or more remote Causes of this Disease clearly indicate that it takes its rise from the temper of the Blood being changed because Intermitting Feavers are most frequent in the season and places in which the Blood receives the greatest alteration from the Air viz. either in the Spring when the vernal heat shutting out the Winters cold causes the Blood before benumed and apt to be more slowly moved to begin to flourish and luxuriate in the Vessels and from thence to get a bilous and hot temper or in the Autumn when the Blood being torrified or roasted by the Summers heat and therefore its Spirits very much depressed and Salt and Sulphur exalted acquires now a sharp and Choleric now a binding and austere disposition wherefore at this season Feavers now Tertian now Quartan are frequent besides in some places there is that constitution of the Heaven that on all men whatsoever there comes either a Tertian or more frequently a Quartan Feaver although in the first offices where the Mine of the Disease is commonly believed to be lodged there be no congestion of humors by reason of an ill manner of living or sickly disposition Yea they most easily fall into this Disease who have their inwards firm and strong and who abound with a lively heat on the contrary those who by reason of a weak Concoction heap up Crudities in the first passages continually that they are prone to the Dropsie or Cachexia remain free for the most part from this Distemper to wit the Blood being made more watery like Wine degenerated into a tastless substance is altogether unapt to be fermented No less doth the Cure of Intermitting Feavers seem to prove this our Assertion whether it be Natural and Critical or Artificial and performed by the help of Medicines As to the first Intermitting Feavers are wont to be terminated after a twofold manner The first is when from the fits themselves the temper of the Blood is altered and oft times is reduced into its Natural disposition For when in every coming of the fit very much of Sulphur and adust Salt is burnt out and exhaled by Sweat the Liquor of the Blood by that means becomes more temperate and less torrid wherefore oftentimes this Disease is cured at six or seven periods and of its own accord ceases but if it be longer protracted and that the Blood being somwhat changed from the sharp and bilous temper or disposition is not restored to its Natural temper somtimes it degenerates into an Acid Watery and also Pontic or saltish temper from whence a long Tertian Feaver passes into a Quotidian or a Quartan also oftentimes because the Blood is greatly depraved by the long continuance of this Feaver the Jaundies or the Scurvy or the Cachexia follow The other manner whereby this Disease is terminated is when the change of the Air or the Country brings a notable alteration of the Blood for so Feavers begun at the times of the Equinoxes are ended about the time of the Solstices also the sick traveling into another Region often grow well As to the cure of it by the Institutions of the Medicines it uses to be done two ways viz. Empirically and Dogmatically and in this Disease Empirical remedies sought from Quack-salvers and old Women are more esteemed and oftentimes do more than the prescriptions of Physicians administred after the exact method of cureing Empirical Remedies which are said to cure Intermitting Feavers or Agues are of that sort which drive away the approaching Fit without any Evacuation and are either taken inwardly or are outwardly applyed where the Pulses chiefly beat viz. For the most part they are bound either to the region of the heart or to the hand-wrists or to the soles of the feet these sometimes are so commonly known to help that some have warranted the sudden cure of this Disease by these Remedies under the pain of some Forfeiture Wherefore it is worth our inquiry how these operate and by what way or means they stop the Feaverish accessions It is clear First that those which are outwardly applyed do immediatly impart force and action to the Blood and Spirits and when they drive away the Fit by preventing without the Evacuation of humor or any matter of necessity the reason of this effect consists only in this that by the use of these sort of Medicines the turgescency or swelling up of the Blood with the Feaverish matter and Fermentation are stop'd to wit from the Medicine tyed about the Body certain little Bodys or Effluvia are communicated to the Blood which do very much fix and bind together the particles of it or also as it were precipitate them by fusing and shaking them and by either way the spontaneous growing hot of the Blood is hindred as when cold water is put into a boyling Pot or as when Vinegar or Alum is flung into new and working Beer presently Fermentation ceases and the Liquor acquires a new tast and consistency whereby it becomes fit to be drunk as if it had been kept to ripen a long time But that these Ague-stoppers do work after this manner it is plainly seen because those which are of principal note do excell in a Styptic and binding force or else with a precipitating virtue hence Sea-salt Nitre Sal-gemmae the Juice of Plantan Shepherds-burse any binding Herbs pounded with Vinegar and the like bound to the wrists the root of Yarrow Tormentile also Campher hung about the neck are said to take away this Disease yea those also which are taken inwardly are of the same rank The Juice of Plantan Red-rose water Alum for that they fix and constrain the Blood a decoction of Piper Sal Armoniac or of Wormwood Spirit of Vitrial also a sudden passion of anger or fear forasmuch as they precipitate the Blood by fusing and shaking it do oftentimes hinder the Agues approach even as the Concussion and shaking much any Liquour or the infusion of astringent things into it hinder its spontaneous Effervescency and rage It is usual with some Empiricks for the cure of Agues to tye a little knot in a Linnen rag or a piece of Paper roled up so strickly to the wrists pressing hard upon the beating of the Pulse that the circulation of the Blood is somewhat hindred and by this means the Aguish fit coming on is driven away Very many by this way I have none to be most certainly cured of a tedious sickness the reason of which seems to be that whilst the Blood is hindred from its motion in
another not exactly twenty four hours but either sixteen or thirty hours in a Quotidian and in a Tertian not forty eight but forty or fifty six more or less or thereabouts it comes to pass that every other fits happen before and the others after Noon To which also may be added that the different manner of eating which the sick use very often produces great inequalities of figures that somtimes the fit is redoubled twice in a day as I have often observed in Cachectical men or full of ill humors and living disorderly but it doth not seldom happen that Intermitting Feavers repeat fits which do neither observe the same distance nor bear altogether the figure of the same mode I have many times observed in a Quartan Feaver that besides the set comings or Accessions returning on the fourth day about the same hour some wandring and uncertain fits did infest the sick that somtimes on the day preceeding the wonted fit somtimes on that following it another fit tho lighter was excited anew with shivering Heat and Sweat exactly like the figure of an Intermitting Feaver and nevertheless the primary Accession returned at its accustomed time This for the most part is wont to happen either from diet evilly instituted chiefly from surfeit and drinking of Wine or else from Medicines wrongfully administred The reason of which unless I am deceived consists in this The mass of Blood being wont to be filled to a swelling up with the Fermentative matter at a set time often by reason of some errors in eating and drinking heaps up more matter than can be easily dissipated in one fit and when it unequally Cooks the same Fermentative matter it often happens that it first shakes off its superfluous or more thin part as it were by a certain skirmish in a more light fit but dispels the more thick after the primary Accession as yet remaining in the Blood by a Feaverish Fermentation arising anew And when the fits in an Intermitting Feaver redouble after this manner either become more remiss for that the same matter in either is only divided and eventilated by two accessions Besides when this Fermentative matter or Nutritious Juice depraved in its circulation is continued partly in the Arteries and Veins with the Blood and partly in the Nervous stock and solid parts it may happen that both humors do not ferment at once but a great part of one may be dispersed in one fit and then a great part of the other in another fit CHAP. IV. Of the kinds of Intermitting Feavers and first of a Tertian WE shall easily accommodate to our Hypothesis delivered in the former Chapter concerning the nature and beginning of Intermitting Feavers all the Phaenomena which belong to it and the reasons of them But as those which are of this sort do not observe the same space of Intermission or of return and their figures as to the appearances of their signs and symptoms do not altogether happen after the same manner therefore according to the diversities of these and especially from the distance of the fits the various species and differences of Intermitting Feavers are assigned The chiefest division of them is into Tertian Quotidian and Quartan We shall here remark the chief things worthy of note concerning each of them It is called a Tertian Feaver not which is accomplished at the distance of three days but inclusively from the day in which one Fit begins from thence the other returns on the third In the mean time if the Fits be sometimes longer viz. protracted almost to twenty four hours and the Remissions anticipated also by their accessions or comings of the Fits the space is oftentimes less by a night and a day This Disease is commonly distinguished into exquisite and spurious The exquisite or exact Tertian Feaver is which begins with a vehement shaking to which succeeds a sharp and biting heat which goes off in sweat and its Fit is finished in twelve hours and that the perfect intermission follows In the spurious or bastard Tertian the cold and heat are more remiss but the Fit is often extended beyond twelve hours yea often to eighteen or twenty These differ as to the various disposition of the Blood which is in the former more torrid and sharp therefore perverts the alible Juice from Crudity towards an adustion wherefore a more vehement Effervescency is stirred up but as the matter more equally burns forth it is sooner finished In the latter besides the adustion the Blood abounds with too much serous humidity wherefore the nourishing Juice degenerates into a Crude matter and therefore less apt to be overcome and to burn forth wherefore its Fit is gentler and more unequal but is not finished but in a longer space The Essence therefore of a Tertian Feaver consists in this That the Blood like Beer brew'd with too high dry'd Mault being too sharp and torrid does not rightly subdue and ripen the alible Juice which is taken in from crude things eaten but very much perverts it into a nitrous-sulphurous matter with which when the mass of Blood is filled to a swelling up like new Beer stop'd up in Bottles it conceives an heat From the flux of this nitrous matter which blunts the heat and vital spirits and pulls the nervous parts first the cold with shaking is excited then the vital spirit geting strength again this matter growing hot in the Blood begins to be subdued and inkindled in the heart from whose deflagration an intense heat is diffused thorough the whole body then its reliques being separated and involved with serum are sent away by sweat This torrid Constitution of the Blood consists in this That 't is impregnated more than it ought with particles of Sulphur and Salt wherefore the Procatartick causes which dispose to this Disease are an hot and bilous temperament a youthful age hot dyet as an immoderate use of Wine and spiced Meats but especially in the Spring and autumnal feafons of the year when the Blood as all vegetables is apt to flower and to ferment of its own accord By reason of these occasions the liquor of the Blood is want to be thorowly roasted and to be changed into a cholerick temper and when it departs from its natural Disposition so much that it perverts the nutritious Juice into a matter plainly Fermentative the beginning of this Feaver is induced which sometimes happens from this intemperance being leasurely increased and brought to the height but more frequently an evident cause raises up this disposition into act and we ascribe the origine of this Disease to some notable Accident Wherefore lying on the Ground or taking cold after sweating or transpiration being any ways hindred also a Surfit or a perturbation of the Stomach from any thing inordinately eaten and lastly What things soever stir up an immoderate heat in the Blood bring the lurking disposition of this Disease into act for that from every such occasion the nutritious Juice being heaped in the
Blood and somewhat depraved conceives a Flux and departing from the rest of the Blood ferments with a nitrous sharpness then being inkindled and shaken by the Spirit and vital heat it induces the Fit with a very strong burning A Tertian Feaver is wont to be more frequent in the Spring at which time the Blood is livelier and richer and therefore more fitted for this kind of Feaverish distemper If this Feaver being taken be ended within a moderate time t is commonly said to be a Medicine rather than a Disease which is partly true because by this means the impurities of the Blood burn out the obstructions of the Viscera are discharged and in truth the whole body is ventilated so that 't is wholly freed from every Excrementitious matter and the seminary of growing Diseases But if this Disease be long protracted it becomes the cause of many Sicknesses and of a long want of Health For from hence the mass of the Blood is very much deprived of the vital Spirit and like Wine too much fermented in a manner grows lifeless wherefore the Jaundice Scurvy or Cachexia follow this Feaver being long er'e it be cured For by its frequent Fits the vital Spirit very much evaporates and because it is but little restored by things eaten the Blood therefore becomes weaker and almost without life In the mean time the particles of Salt and Sulphur are carried forth more and exalted from whence the Blood is made sharp and salt and so more unfit for Circulation and Transpiration Moreover This Disease being long protracted oftentimes changes its Figure and from a Tertian Feaver becomes either a Quotidian or sometimes a Quartan then sometimes from either it returns into a Tertian The reason of this is the disposition of the Blood being variously changed which at first being sharp and bilous had perverted the nutritious Juice by that means that it arise to a fulness of swelling up on the third day afterwards by the frequent Deflagration becoming less sharp or in truth more waterish it grows far weaker as to its Constitution so that it doth very little or not at all assimulate the nourishable humor and ripen it and by that means the increase of the Fermentative matter is made sooner and the Fits return daily or else the Blood from a sharp and bilous intemperance the constitution of the Heaven or the year bringing on this alteration is changed into an austere or saltish and therefore more slowly perverts the nourishing Juice and the increase of the Feaverish matter gathering together more slowly it doth not conceive the Fits till on the fourth day but if either by the means of Physick or Dyet the temper of the Blood is reduced from either Dyscrasie towards a bilous the periods also are altered and they resume the figure of a Tertian Certain symptoms are wont to come upon a Tertian Feaver which are commonly esteemed for the Crises of this Disease and in truth sometimes these appearing the Distemper either clearly ceases or begins to abate of its wonted fierceness But these kind of signs are chiefly these three viz. The Erysipelas or an Eruption of pimples in the Lips the yellow Jaundice and an Inflamation or swelling suddenly excited in this or that part of the body very often there happens after three or four Fits to the Sick little ulcers with a crusty scab to break forth about the Lips and altho there be no coming away of any matter in all the body beside yet from hence they presage that the Feaver is about to depart which sometimes the event proves true But indeed sometimes I have observed that the hoped for effect has not succeeded but that the Feaver pertinaciously and for a long while hath afflicted them when their Lips have been broken out But as to what respects this Symptom it seems to arise for that the Blood having got a more free Diaphoresis it not only thrusts forth adoors the more thin and smokie recrements but also the more thick and when the same in other parts more easily exhale thorow the more open Pores they stick in their passage about the Lips by reason of the skin being more strictly bound together and because the vaporous matter abounds in particles of adust Salt and Sulphur being fixed in the skin it there hinders Circulation and therefore induces Pustles and little Ulcers perhaps the more hot breath which is breathed forth from the mouth and nostrils may contribute something to this Distemper forasmuch as it scorches and burns the Blood and Juices flowing thither wherefore it may be said That this eruption of Pustles denotes only a more full Diaphoresis in the whole by which the more thick as well as the thin recrements of the adust Blood evaporate forth of doors For I have known in some from a Tertian Feaver little welks like the small Pox to break out in their whole body that if by this more plentiful Ventilation as it were a purging the Blood be so freed that it recovers its pristine disposition the Feaver is cured But if as sometimes it happens some recrements tho more thick break forth yet others stay within and still cherish the Feaverish disposition those little Ulcers argue only a greater taint of the Blood and pertinacy of the Disease therefore it may be observed when that scabs break out in the lips if the Feaver does not presently abate that it will be more grievous and tedious for the future Sometimes the yellow Jaundice comes upon a Tertian Feaver and cures it which Hippocrates has also taken notice of the reason of which is because when the Blood has got a sharp or bilous disposition that therefore it had perverted the alible Juice and from thence had heaped together excrementitious matter it is oftentimes freed by that Dyscrasie when by a sudden Secretion the recrements of adust Salt and Sulphur are more plentiful purged forth This the Choleduct vessels being irritated by Physick or of their own accord and so pouring out plentifully the Bile from the Blood do often perform because Vomiting Purging and especially a Diarrhea or Lask very much conduce to the cure of this Disease yea sometimes the Blood it self putting forth of its own accord thrusts forth the bilous recrements as its off-scourings and in the circulating puts them forth in the skin and so inducing the yellow Jaundice cures this Feaver When an Inflamation as sometimes t is wont comes upon this Distemper the Ague is commonly said to fall down into the part distempered with the Tumor But that by such a breaking forth this Disease is cured 't is no wonder because the Blood by this means continually lays aside out of his bosom the provision of the degenerate nutritious Juice and transfers it to the distempered part and therefore the degenerate and fermentative matter in the mass of Blood does not easily arise to a fulness of swelling up wherefore the Belly being perpetually loose hath by degrees helped some for that the
distemper and involves men in an unhealthful condition The causes which dispose to this Disease are first the constitution of the Soil and Air because this Distemper is proper to the fall of the Leaf or Autumn that you rarely find this Feaver to begin but about that time also in some places especially about the Sea-coasts this uses to be general or common to the Region and to come upon those living there or Strangers coming thither from elsewhere A declining age which is past its acme or height also a melancholick Temper and which by reason of an ill manner of living is obnoxious to the Hypochondriac Distemper cause this besides long Feavers of another kind and Chronical Diseases often pass into a Quartan Feaver According to these positions and rightly weighed it may be said that a Quartan Feaver even as the other intermitting Feavers depends upon a vitious disposition of the Blood to wit because the nutritious Juice being by degrees delated into the Vessels is perverted into a Fermentative matter and the effervescency of this heaped up even to a fulness of swelling over constitutes the Fit of the Quartan Feaver But as in this Feaver there are some things which are peculiar from the rest we will inquire what kind of Dyscrasie of the Blood it is in this Disease distinct from the others and by what means it excites the very remarkable Symptoms The opinion which is commonly had concerning this thing is very far from truth almost by the consent of all the Essence and beginning of a Quartan Feaver is ascribed to a melancholick humour heaped up somwhere in the first passages and there periodically Putrifying Instead of this we affirm that in this Disease the Liquor of the Blood doth pass from a sweet spirituous and balsamick into an acid and somwhat austere Nature like Wine growing sowre to wit there is too great a want of Spirits and the Terrestrial or Tartareous part of the Blood which consists chiefly of Salt and Earth is too much exalted and being carried forth into a Flux induces the sourness of the mass of Blood Even as Beer being disturbed by Thunder and infected with a troubled lee or dregs grows sour The Blood after this manner degenerated from its native disposition doth not rightly dress the alible Juice and assimilate it to it self but perverts it into an extraneous matter with which when it is satisfied to a fulness in the vessels and the nervous parts are watered by the Juice from thence arising a Flux of this matter and as it were a spontaneous effervency follows by which indeed the Feaverish Fit is induced with shivering and heat as is wont to be in a Tertian In a Quartan Feaver the periods have longer intervals because when the Dyscrasie of the Blood is become sourish and therefore less violent and hot it perverts the alible Juice without strife or tumult wherefore it assimilates some of it and the depravation of the rest does not so far recede from its natural state as in a Tertian and from hence its congestion to a plenitude is made longer and almost in another half of that time in which a Tertian rises up to a Turgescency And therefore those taken with this Feaver are indifferently well and are strong which is a sign that the nutritious Juice is less depraved also the Fits are made without cruel burning because the nutritious humor is perverted into a fermentative matter without great adustion But why this Disease is so hard to be cured and so pertinaciously infests the sick the cause is the melancholic constitution of the Blood which is not easily to be taken away and yields almost to no Remedies The cholerick disposition of the Blood is mended by the frequent Deflagration and ceases often of its own accord even as too rich Wines are depressed by their own growing hot and are wont to be reduced into their due state but this melancholick Dyscrasie of the Blood in which with a want and defect of Spirits Salt and Earth are too much exalted as when Wines grow sour is most hard to be restored and is almost of the same labour and difficulty as to put again life and a vinous Spirit into Vinegar For that the Blood depraved after this manner may be restored it will be needful that its whole mass should be volatilised and as it were made Spiritual anew wherefore in this case evacuations profit not a jot yea by more depauperating the Blood oftentimes the strength is cast down beyond help but they had need to exalt and make volatile what is fixed and to promote a Transpiration or Spiritualisation in the whole mass of Blood From hence it is that in this Disease the change of the Air and Region most often brings help before all other Remedies For the Spring following oftentimes takes away those Quartan Feavers that had arisen the Autumn before which without doubt happens because the changed condition of the Air is wont to alter for the better the evil disposition of the Blood also for the same reason the change of the place most often cures this Distemper inexpugnable to all Physick If it be demanded wherefore this Disease chiefly begins in the Autumn and rarely in the Spring or Summer time I say the Autumnal time doth most fitly produce this kind of Feaverish disposition of the Blood for when very much of the Spirit and Sulphur hath flown away by the Summers heat and that what is left begins to be bound up by the cold the Liquor of the Blood as Wine growing sour by too much heat easily degenerates into a saltish and acidulous or sharp Nature This also the Sea air by infecting the Blood and Spirits with saline Vapours falling on them easily procures yea also the affinity of this Disease with the Scurvy and Hypochondriac distemper plainly shews the evil disposition of the Blood to be in fault whereby it becomes salt and earthy with the want of Spirit Concerning Quartan Feavers the last year was so abundantly fruitful of observations that many might collect by ocular Inspection whatever belong to this Disease for when the most hot Summer was past about the end of it an Epidemical Feaver of which in another place you shall have a description followed then the Autumn coming on when that Disease had ceased a Quartan Feaver began very much to rage that in very many places the fourth part of the people was taken with it neither did it only infest old men splenitick and melancholick men but of every age and temper also Infants Children and young men ordinarily which was clearly a sign that this Distemper had drawn its rise not from a melancholick humour heaped up by the default of the Spleen but from the Dyscrasie of the Blood brought in through the intemperance of the year for the mass of the Blood after too great heats even as Wines after immoderate effervescencies was made fit to grow somwhat sour or to get an austere disposition and
given be first consumed forthwith the Venom repullulates and the old Poyson thought to have been exploded is at length brought into act by the same way when the Blood having gotten a vitious disposition perverts the Alible Juice and whereby it might more rightly expel it heaped together to a fulness conceives Feaverish swellings up this Peruvian Bark being beaten and administred by the Commerce of its Particles so agitates the Blood tho distempered with an evil disposition with a new excited Fermentation and alters it that it in some measure concocts the nourishable Juice and continually evaporates its Recrements that they are not heaped together as before into the matter of a fit But when the Particles of this Remedy are wholly flown away from the company of the Blood and the whole virtue consumed the evil disposition of the Blood before contrancted at length rises up and so the Feaverish fits return after their wonted manner Somtimes perhaps it happens that whilst the Feaverish fits are suppressed by the use of this powder by reason of the season of the year being changed or by the help of another Remedy or by the endeavour of Nature it self that Dyscrasie of the Blood may be mended by degrees and so the Feaver may at length vanish of its own accord This I have known to happen but very rarely because almost with the same certainty by which you expect the Feaverish fits to be suppressed by that powder you may afterwards look for their return As to what appertains to the sensible qualities with which this Bark is noted it appears to abound with bitterness and a certain stipticity that it seems to the tast to have the likeness of Savor which is in most Conterpoysons as the Root of Gentian Serpentary Contrayerva c. for what are bitter in act are strong in excellent virtue for the suppressing the force of preternatural Ferments yea the Root of Gentian which is likest to this Bark was in times past of famous use for the Curing of Quartan Feavers But now altho this Peruvian powder be the only Alexiterion or Counter-poyson as yet found out against a Quartan Feaver to wit that inhibits tho only for a time its fits and of other Intermitting Feavers yet it is not to be doubted but that there are in the world other Medicines extant which are as good Ague-resisters and it is hoped that led by the example of this new invention we may be excited to the finding out the virtues of Herbs almost as yet unknown so whilst we shall insist on the trial of several and the Empirical be joyned to the Rational Medicine without doubt the Cures of the Quartan Ague and of other invincible Diseases may more happily be accomplished which therefore I promise more willingly to this Age or at least to the next when being led by the Analogy of this Book I have found out a Medicine for the profligating of Feavers of use not contemptible it not being long since variously tryed which also I am wont to give to the poorer sort instead of somthing else with good success CHAP. VII Of continual Feavers A Continual Feaver is that whose fit is continued for many days without intermission It hath its times of remission and of more fierceness but never of intermission the burning is now more remiss now more intense but still the sick are in a Feaver until by the temperament or insensible growing well the Disease is wholly Cured Concerning this it behoves us to inquire what Effervescency of the Blood it is which causes a continual Feaver then by what ways and from what causes it is wont to be excited also how it differs from that which is in Intermitting Feavers And these being performed we will descend to the Species of Continual Feavers There are many ways by which the Blood growing hot induces a continual Feavear the chief of which may be reduced to these Heads The first way is when the more spirituous and subtil Portion of the Blood becomes too hot and is distempered with a certain burning which therefore agitates the other parts of the Blood and incites it into a certain rage so that the Sulphur or the Oily part of the Blood is more dissolved and more inkindled in the Heart also for that cause there is among all the Particles of the Blood a certain syncrisis contrariety or perturbation by which in truth being confused and put out of order they are not able quickly to be extricated and reduced into their former posture wherefore a heat and burning more than is wont to be is stirred up in the whole Body but when the Spirits are only in fault their heat and disorder are wont within a short space to be allaied of their own accord therefore this Feaver is often terminated within a day and is rarely continued beyond three and therefore is called an Ephemera or a Feaver of a day or Synochus of more dayr 2. The second manner or degree of growing hot is when the Sulphureous or Oily part of the Blood being too much heated conceives a Fervor for then it both grows immoderately hot in the Vessels and being very much inkindled in the Heart produces by its deflagration a very strong heat in the whole Body Indeed the Blood as to its temper mostly depends on the condition of the Sulphur when by reason of crudity the Sulphur is less dissolved the Blood is made watery and cold and is moved slowly in the Vessels but if the Sulphureous or Oily part of the Blood grows hot beyond its Natural disposition presently it becomes fierce and improportionate with the rest so that almost the whole being acted as it were into a flame by the Ferment of the Heart compels the mass of Blood to grow immoderately hot and to boil up For as when Wines indued with a rich Lee are stirred up into an heat by the too rancid Sulphur or as Hay laid up too wet by reason of the want of Ventilation conceives of its own accord a burning the Particles of the Sulphur being loosned from the mixture in like manner when the Blood is not rightly ventilated but being restrained from Evacuation by reason of the admixtion of some hot thing or a more plentiful sanguification or for some other cause the Particles of the Sulphur begin to be thickly gathered together presently all its Liquor immoderately boils up by the Sulphurs being loosned and inflamed in the Heart and this kind of Feaver is induced which is called a putrid Synochus notwithstanding which appellation tho of many rejected for that the Blood so long as it is in motion doth not putrifie yet forasmuch as in this Feaver the mixture of the Blood is somwhat loosned by the Sulphur being too much exalted and the mass of its Liquor being changed from its Natural disposition tends toward putrefaction therefore the term of a putrid Feaver as hath been anciently used may be still with good reason retained 3. The third degree of
presence of the evident cause for either little Bodies of extraneous heat being confused with the Blood like water boiling over the fire make it to boil up or this Feaver is induced by motion or by reason of transpiration being stopped even as Wines made hot by motion or when too closely stopped in the Ton are put into a Fervor but what way soever an inflamation is first excited presently the Spirits become enraged and being moved hither and thither compel the Blood to boil up and to be inlarged into a greater space with a spumous rarefaction wherefore the Vessels are distended and the membranous parts hauled hence follow pain chiefly in the Head and Loins a spontaneous weariness and as it were an inflation of the whole Body If that with the Spirit of the Blood a certain Sulphureous part be also in some measure inkindled a sharp heat is diffused through the whole the Pulse is vehement and quick the Urine red also thirst watchings and many other symptoms infest the reasons of which are added hereafter Concerning the Solution or Crisis of the Ephemeran Feaver and of the not putrid Synochus three things are chiefly requisite viz. a removing of the evident cause secondly a separation and a scattering of the depraved or excrementitious matter from the mass of Blood Thirdly a quieting of the parts of the Blood and a restitution of them to their natural and equal motion and site According as these succeed now more suddenly now more slowly and difficully this Disease is finished in a shorter or longer time 1. The evident cause which for the most part is extrinsick is easily removed and the sick are wont presently to avoid the presence or assiduity of that thing and do perceive a sense of any thing that is hurtful none taking a Feaver from Wine will still indulge the drinking of it as soon as any one grows more than usually hot in a Bath or the heat of the Sun 't is a trouble to them to stay longer 2. As to the Excrementitious matter which ought to be scattered and separated from the Blood this is either brought from without as when the Blood is infected by surfeit drinking of Wine sitting in the Sun or from a too hot Bath with Effluvia or little dry and Fermentative Bodies or this matter is begotten within as when its Liquor is stuffed with recrements or adust Particles from the deflagration of the Blood Either of these matters ought to be separated from the Blood to be dispersed and either by sweat or insensible breathing forth to be thrust out of doors before the Feaver be appeased wherefore when as the pores are bound up and transpiration hindred the Ephemeran Feaver is longer protracted and somtimes passes from a simple Synochus into a putrid 3. The evident cause being removed and this degenerate matter dispersed there is required for the remission a quieting and reducing into order the parts of the Blood for diverse Particles of the Blood being after this manner confused and by reason of the Feaverish heat carried up and down they do not presently get again the former order of situation and position but it is needful that they be by degrees extricated and by little and little restored to a just mixture Although this Disease after the removing of the evident cause for the most part ceases of its own accord within a while yet some Medicinal Remedies may be administred with good success especially when there is danger lest the Ephemeran Feaver should pass into a putrid The chief intentions should be to suppress the fervor of the Blood and to procure a more free transpiration to the which conduce first a breathing of a Vein a slender diet or rather abstinency cooling drinks and a bringing away the filth of the Belly by Clysters Sleep and Rest greatly help above all the rest which if wanting should be procured in time by Opiats and Anodynes Verily altho the Histories and Observations of those distempered with an Ephemeran Feaver contain in themselves nothing very rare yet I shall subjoin an example or two in this place whereby the delineation or type of this Disease may be illustrated A certain young Gentleman about twenty years of Age endued with a strong habit of Body by the immoderate drinking of strong Wine fell into a Feaverish distemper with thirst heat and with a great burning of his Precordia being let Blood he drank a great quantity of fair water and upon it presently a plentiful sweat following he grew shortly well In this case the more thin portion of the Blood being heated by the Spirits of the Wine fell into a rage caused the whole mass of Blood to be shaken and its frame to be loosned more than t was wont and for that reason that hapned to be more dissolved by the Ferment of the Heart and to be as it were inkindled by the active Particles loosned from the mixture until the Vessels being emptied by Phlebotomy the raging Blood was cooled and by the drinking of the water its fervor was attempered then the hot Effluvia being involved together with the adust matter with a copious Serum and sent away by Sweat the Blood at length recovered its due temper Moreover an ingenious young man of a sedentary life and also very much addicted to the Study of Learning when he had for somtime exercised himself beyond his strength in the hot Sunshine he began to complain of the pain of his head a want of Appetite a heat of his Precordia and of a Feaverish distemper all over to whom for that he was wholly averse to Physick I ordered an abstinence from all things whatsoever unless from Small-Beer and Grewel on the second day and so more on the third the symptoms remitted by little and little on the fourth he went home freed from the Feaver without any Medicine CHAP. IX Of a Putrid Feaver SO much for a Continual Feaver which is raised from the most simple heating of the Blood or its lowest degree of inordinate heat that which depends on a greater degree of heat follows viz. when the Oily or Sulphureous part of the Blood being too much heated swells up above measure and as it were forced into a flame and therefore from the similitude by which humid things putrifying conceive an heat this kind of Ebullition of the Blood because it induces an immoderate heat is called a putrid Feaver which name ought to be retained without injury because that in this Feaver the Synthesis of the Blood as is wont to happen in putrifying Liquors is very much unlocked When the Spirits only grow inraged as in an Ephemera the frame of the Blood is somwhat set open and loosened that it is more dissolved by the Ferment of the Heart than is wont and more Particles than naturally use to do leap forth and diffuse a more intense heat but yet the mixture of the Liquor as to its chief parts is conserved But when the Sulphureous matter taking
at length and recover their health The vice or depauperation which the Blood hath contracted from the Feaverish heat consists in this The Spirit very much evaporates and is lost the Sulphureous part is too much scorched and is much wasted by the deflagration and from its burning the adust matter as it were the Caput Mortuum is left with the Particles of which the mass of Blood is aggravated and debilitated in the mean time the Saline and earthy parts are too much exalted even as is wont to come to pass in Wine or Beer by the use of too much Ferment The Blood by these ways being spoiled evilly assimilates the provision of the Nutritious Juice yea also by reason of the roasting of the Sulphur in the Heart or defect of it not rightly Fermenting or inflamed it untowardly dispenses the Vital Spirit in the mean time from the adust matter and Salt too much exalted it grows more fervent than it should and more wasts it self 1. From a good Crisis the Spirit tho made weaker yet gets the upper hand wherefore what is left of the Feaverish matter it by degrees overcomes and expels and concocts and assimilates so what is brought be thin or slender the Nutritious Juice from thence the mass of Blood is amended anew with Spirit and Sulphur and the Blood which now being Salt and sharp did continually grow hot acquires at length a Sweet and Balsamic Nature and being quickned with a lively motion and heat rightly performs the offices of life and sense 2. From a bad Crisis the business is otherways the Liquor of the Blood like Wine too much Fermented degenerates almost into a vappidness or lifelessness its Spirit is greatly deminished the Reliques which remain are intricated and as it were overwhelmed with the Particles of adust matter from whence there is yet a continual growing hot remaining in the Blood yet without concoction or assimilation of the Alible Juice or separation of the profitable from the unprofitable The benign Sulphur and the Food of the Vital flame is much consumed so that the Blood is less inkindled in the Heart than it ought to be in the mean time from the adust recrements and also the Salt and Earth being too much carried forth it perpetually burns in the Vessels with thirst and heat And because it is dayly depauperated the Spirit and benign Sulphur being wasted and more infected with the Salt and Earthy dregs being too much exalted its Liquor in a short time becomes tastless and is made unfit for circulation and for the inkindling in the Heart for the sustaining the Vital fire wherefore there is a necessity that life be lost even as the flame of a Lamp is extinguished when instead of the wasted Oil a Salt and Muddy Liquor only supplies it 3. From an imperfect and doubtful Crisis when the sick being weakned by a long imbecillity become not well but of a long time the business is after this manner The Spirituous and Sulphureous parts of the Blood are very much consumed by the slow deflagration the remaining Liquor being not Purged from the adust recrements and feculencies is rendred very impure but when there is yet remaining somthing of Oil for the Vital Lamp nor Spirits are altogether wanting for the subduing the Feaverish matter the Blood is still circulated and tho but smally is inkindled in the Heart yea and by little and little the Spirits recollect themselves set upon the matter remaining of the Feaver and what they are able begin to overcome it then by a pertinacious assiduity of coction like a flame wavering and half extinct among green wood at length rise up victorious and restore anew both with heat and motion leisurely renewed a quick and lively Fermentation in the Heart So much in general of the Feaver called Putrid it remains before we descend to the kinds and particular Cases of it that I recount the symptoms and signs chiefly notable in the course of this Feaver and subjoyn the reasons and causes of them and their manner of being done CHAP. X. Of the Symptoms and Signs chiefly to be noted in a Putrid Feaver THE Symptoms coming upon a Putrid Feaver altho they argue the oeconomy of the whole Body to be for the most part depraved and the disposition and functions of some part or Member hurt yet the accidents which a Physician ought chiefly to consider about the Diagnosis of this Disease and its Prognosis to be rightly instituted may be referred to three casses or common places to wit they have respect to the Viscera of Concoction viz. the Ventricle and Intestines with their Appendixes Or secondly to the humours flowing in the Vessels viz. the Blood in the Arteries and Veins and the thin Liquor in the Nervous parts together with the chief springs of either viz. the Heart and Brain or lastly these symptoms respect the habit of the Body with the various constitution of the pores and the extension or emarceration of the solid parts They who would exactly observe the course of this Disease and would fitly draw out Curatory intentions may take notice of these three heads of symptoms and carefully consider what alterations may happen in these as it were distinct Regions according to the different times of the Feaver 1. Troubles and disorders such as nauseousness vomiting want of Appetite indigestion a looseness a scurfiness of the Mouth and Tongue a bitter favour are wont to infest about the Ventricle and first passages in the whole course of this Feaver These for the most part are attributed to the humors first heaped together in the Stomach and there putrifying But besides that the recrements of the Chyle being throughly roasted by too much heat degenerate into an hurtful matter very often these kind of accidents happen for that the Purgings and the filth of the Blood and Nervous Juice whilst they grow hot are carried inward and being deposited in the membranes of the Viscera provoke Convulsions and also make a filthy heap of vitious and very infestous humor I have often observed that about the beginning of the Feaver the Blood growing hot laid aside its recrements even inwardly with a benefit to the sick where altho great molestations did arise about the first passages yet the burning was therefore more mild the Pulse moderate and the Urine laudable and these being after this manner in a Feaver quickly grew well with a slender diet and the use of gentle evacuations But if in this case I should administer a vehement Cathartic for the extirpating the humours that Natural Purging of the Blood being hindred presently the Feaver became strong with a red Urine and troubled a deep Pulse Watchings and other horrid symptoms also oftentimes after the state of the Disease by this kind of interior Lustration or Purging the adust matter and excrementitious is separated from the Blood Hence somtimes a Lask somtimes a scurfie covering of the Mouth and Throat follow Wherefore there is need of caution
symptom coming upon that other Disease of which sort is accounted what depends upon the squinancy plurisie the inflamation or imposthume of the Lungs or any imposthume from a wound or ulcer in a principle part or its neighbourhood of which we think a little otherways viz. That truly no Putrid Feaver is merely Symptomatical perhaps it may arise occasionally from some other Distemper but it is founded immediatly in the Sulphureous part of the Blood being made too hot and as it were inkindled for without a Procatarsis or preceeding indisposition of the Blood the aforesaid Distempers rarely or not at all cause a Putrid Feaver As to what respects the squinancy plurisie the inflamation or imposthume of the Lungs and the like I say that these are the products of the Feaver or Distempers following it but by no means the cause of it for most often the evident cause went before which produced the Feaverish effervescency of the Blood as a taking of cold evacuation being hindered c. then altho the sick do not openly grow presently into a Feaver yet a greater ebullition of the Blood than was wont is stirred up as may be easily conjectured from the Urine Pulse and inquietude of the whole Body After some days â—nhw sooner now later an Inflamation is brought forth in one part or other the reason of which may probable enough be said to be of this sort The Blood by reason of the effluvia being retained which are like ferment is increased in its bulk and grows more turgid than its wont in the Vessels and when for want of Ventilation it is streightned in the space of its circulation it easily springs forth where it can find a passage through the Arteries and being extravasated from the broken thred of Circulation it gathers together into a Tumor and because from this kind of tumor an heat and pain are increased in the part the Blood is more disturbed in its motion and so the Feaver at first inkindled is more aggravated Further in these kind of Distempers we may take notice of a certain aptitude of the Blood to be coagulated whereby it is made less fluid so that it is apt to be congealed in the lesser Vessels even as it is to be perceived in Milk when it begins to sour for then it will not be boiled nor heated over the fire without coagulation and in like manner there is to be suspected in the Blood a certain disposition to growing sour by reason of which it is made more obnoxious to coagulation for it easily appears that in a plurisie a peripneumonia the squinancy and the like Diseases the inflamation or extravasation of the Blood does not always depend on the exuberancy of the Blood and plenitude of the Vessels for oftentimes the Blood is stopped in its motion with a weak pulse and a sinking down of the Vessels and being extravasated in the side or elsewhere causes a most acute pain yea being driven from one part by and by it is fixed in another and somtimes it begins to stagnate in the heart it self and there oftentimes induces a deadly oppression wherefore some pluritical people are wont when the pains are gone to complain of a great burthen and as it were weight fixed about the region of the Heart And when we have opened the dead Bodies of such as have dyed of these kind of Diseases we have seen the Blood to be gathered together in little bits or oblong gobblets in the secret parts of the Heart and round about the cavities of the Vessels But for that these Diseases are wont to be handled apart from the Feaver therefore we shall say no more of them here It only remains that we inquire whether the Feaver which accompanies these Distempers is to be esteemed in the rank of those that are called Putrid or not To which we reply that most often they are simple Feavers in which only a subtil and spirituous part of the Blood is inflamed and therefore it the extravasated Blood may be restored to circulation by a plentiful detraction of the Blood or an emptying the Vessels by sweat presently the growing hot of the Blood is appeased and the Feaver shortly allayed But somtimes when a predisposition as in a Plethora or fulness of good humor or in a great Cacochymie or fulness of evil Juices brings it on together with the same kind of distempers a Putrid Feaver is inkindled wholly from the same cause Among the symptomatick Feavers is reckoned that which is commonly called the slow Feaver they who are sick of this are more than usually hot especially after eating any motion or exercise the Urine for the most part is red the Spirits are feeble and strength cast down as to their appetite and rest they are indifferently well they have neither Cough nor much spitting but they daily like those in Consumptions grow lean without any evident cause The fault for the most part is ascribed to obstructions in some inward as the liver spleen or mesentery by whose default the aliment is not well Cooked nor rightly dispensed But it seems to me that this sort of distemper is immediatly founded in the evil disposition of the Blood by which it is inclined into a too salt and sour temper and therefore is rendred less apt for nutrition and an equal circulation For the Blood in the Heart just like oil in a Lamp if it redounds too much with saline Particles is inkindled not pleasantly and equally but with a noise and great evaporation of the parts whereby indeed it is sooner wasted and exhibits but a languishing and weak flame I opened one somtime since dead of this Disease in whom the Viscera destinated to concoction were well enough but the Lungs were without moisture and dry and beset throughout with a sandy matter like Chaulk Also oftentimes in this Disease the Mesentery is beset the glandules being filled with such a Chaulky matter But whether the Blood being made more saltish doth first bring in these kind of distempers of the Viscera or whether the Dyscrasie or evil disposition of the Viscera first brings it upon the Blood is uncertain it seems probable that either distemper depends upon the other and that the causes of either evil are reciprocal But the Feaver which chiefly deserves to be called Symptomatic is that which is excited in Phthisical persons from an Ulcer or Consumption of the Lungs For the whole Blood whilst it passes thorow the Lungs in its circulation often impresses on this Inward the ideas of very many Diseases and on the other side receives the same from it being evilly affected whatsoever impure thing is conteined in the mass of the Blood as the flowring of New Wine is cast forth by extremities of the Arteries wherefore when Nature being made more weak it cannot transfer its recrements into the superficies of the Body it deposes them by a more near Purgation into the Lungs From hence a Cacochymia or fulness of ill
it was not known whether Nature had begot greater Evils or Remedies As there is great varieties of Poysons so as to their Subjects and ways of hurting there is no less diversity of them for the most Poysons in their whole substance are said to be contrary to us that whatsoever they come to with a burning force and like fierce fire they reduce into ashes yet out of these some being noted for a peculiar raising of hurt do more endammage one part or substance than another The subjects on which the taint of Poyson is next and more immediatly inflicted are twofold to wit the animal Spirits or the spirituous subtil Liquor flowing in the Brain and nervous stock and the Blood flowing in the Vessels and heart when the object is carried only to one or being improportionate at one to either that from thence the disposition of the Liquors or of the containing parts is overthrown whereby the necessary functions for the performing of life and sense are restrained and this done latently and as it were unforeseen these kind of distempers we ascribe to Poyson The nervous bodies with the animal Spirit are not invaded wholly after the same manner by every sort of Poysons for they are tormented now with a Stupor now with Convulsions and those of divers kinds and manners The bile of a Tarantula causes dancing A power sent from the Torpedo by the Angle or lines of the Net stupifies the hand of the Fisher The roots of the wild Parsnip or the seeds of Lolium or Darnel being eaten make men mad Opium Mandrakes Henbane and the like cause deep and somtimes deadly sleep These and many others chiefly impress their Poyson on the spirituous or animal faculty without any great perturbation of the Blood or hurt brought to the heart There are also some Poysons which most of all insinuate their malignity to the mass of Blood wherefore from some Medicines there have been produced a yellow or black Jaundice somtimes a Leprosie or leprous distempers and swellings of the whole body vapours breaking forth from secret hollows of the Earth also from Coals newly inkindled often suffocating the vital Spirits at once congeal the Blood and stop it in its motion whereby the flame of life in the heart could not be continued How much corruption of the mass of Blood is imparted from the pestilent Infection is perspicuous to every one from the spots and Whelks which are as it were the marks of the blasted Blood If the hurt being first inflicted to either viz. The regiment of the Heart or Brain be more lightly made it is for the most part cured without any great offence to either wherefore Convulsive motions Stupifaction Lethargie Melancholy Paralytick distempers do not seldom begin with a laudable Pulse and without an immoderate effervescency of the Blood and then if the distemper does not get strength leisurely end and cease There are other Poysons which often deprave the Blood and by dissolving its mixture corrupt it in the mean time the animal functions remain whole enough But if the ferment of the Poyson be stronger and hath more deeply fixed its roots presently the Poyson is dispersed from one Province to the other for when the nervous parts swell up with a virulent juice a portion of the Poyson is carried with the nervous Latex returning through the Lymphatick Vessels into the veins easily into the bosom of the Blood and infects its mass with the evil with which it was big also from the Blood being grievously impoysoned the juice by which the nerves are watered quickly contract the infection hence mad men are in a Feaver and those taken with a pestilent Feaver are most often tormented with a Delirium or Phrensie Concerning these things we must consider what the alteration is or the impression of hurt which is inflicted from the Poyson to the animal Spirit with the brain and nervous appendex and what also to the Blood with the Heart and the annexed Vessels tho here it is not in the power of humane skill or wit plainly to shew or as it were point out with the finger the manner of its being done yet we may be able to attain to some little knowledge of this thing by reasoning and by comparing it with other distempers Concerning the former we shall observe that the subtil Liquor or animal Spirits wherewith the Nervous Bodies are blown up and by whose expansion sense and motion perform their reciprocal actions are easily perverted from their tensity and equal expansion for as the Nerves are of a soft texture and the Spirits which abound in them of a very subtil substance they cannot endure any strong or vehement objects wherefore when any violent or improportionate thing falls on them they are often compelled from their expansion and excursion into flight and a running backward and not seldom into irregularities of motions wherefore sudden passions of the mind distract them and drive them into Spasms and Convulsions when the Alible Juice by which they are repaired is supplyed too sharp sour or austere they suffer now Palsies and now contractures If that some object more incongruous such as we have affirmed Poyson to be should be offered whose Particles are indued with such fierceness or are of such a kind of configuration that when they grow impetuously hot with the Nervous Liquor they shake or lose here and there its more subtil or spirituous part or wholly drive it away and fix the remaining Liquor either with a styptic force or by ebullition force it into inordinate motions hence of necessity evil distempers of the Brain and Nervous parts arise viz. somtimes a Convulsion Trembling Shivering somtimes loosnings or a stupefaction and other symptoms of more grievous note What things after this manner infect the Nervous Juice with Poyson are now more thick and only when they are applyed in a very Corporeal substance do inflict their hurt now they are thin and being resolved even into a vapour or breath pour forth from a certain little prick the ferment of Poyson through the whole Nervous stock Somtimes the Poyson of some hurtful thing being eaten first begins its Tragedy in the Ventricle more often by a naked touch leaves on the superficies of the Body a virulent taint which easily and quickly with its ferment contaminates the Spirits dispersed through the whole The Infection wherever inflicted either within or without is more largely dispersed from the extremities of the Nerves by their easie passage being from thence brought into consent of the evil by the very many little shoots of the same branch Often a more light touch of an invenomed thing by the finger or extremity of any other member presently communicates to the Brain the received infection and from thence it is retorted into the whole Body and the farthest members the reason of this is that both the Particles of the Nervous Juice and of the same invenomed infection are so light and ready for motion that they
than the same being restrained at the time of suckling the Child are wont to do yea from them being long suppressed in the former condition an as it were envenomed taint is impressed on the mass of Blood which unless it be purged forth by the daily Flux of the Lochia presently after being brought to Bed produces grievous and almost malignant Distempers Wherefore that I may give my opinion of the flowing of the Lochia I say that this bleeding proceeds immediately from the Vessels being broken by which the after-Birth did stick to the Womb and that by this way the excrementitious Blood and humors being partly heaped up about the Womb during the time of being with Child and partly flowing from the whole mass of the Blood are evacuated viz. whilst the Womb at first intumified in its bulk falls down presently after the Birth and is contracted into a lesser space the Blood is plentifully pressed forth from the Vessels opening into it But besides forasmuch as during the suppression of the courses the bloody mass is imbued with very fermentative Particles as soon as after the Birth the mouths of the Vessels are opened forthwith as it were at the instant of a more large Flux of monthly courses the whole Blood grows hot even as Must or new Wine upon the opening the Bottle and indeavours to purge forth the highly fermentative particles out of its bosom by the going away of the Lochia as it were the flowring And therefore besides the Blood which in the first days oftentimes flows pure by reason of the fresh opening of the Vessels afterwards is sifted forth matter very much discoloured viz. livid and green and this very stinking This kind of Flux is wont to continue at least for 14 days yea in some for a month and if that by reason of any error it be stopped before the mass of Blood be throughly purified by such flowring presently a Feaver very dangerous with horrid provisions of symptoms is wont to be induced of which we shall speak anon in its proper place The third consideration previous to the Doctrine of Feavers belonging to Women in Child-bed is chiefly about the Womb it self to wit how it is affected after Child-bearing and what influence it has on other parts of the Body As to the first there are chiefly two accidents upon which the acute Diseases of Women in Child-bed very much depend viz. First The falling down of the Womb or the reduction of it from the bulk of ingravidation to its natural site and magnitude Secondly the solution of the unity within its cavity by reason of the breaking of the connexion or tying to the cake of it or after-Birth When the Child with what wraps it about is put forth presently the sides of the Womb it self before very much amplified or enlarged do mutually close and by the help of the Fibres leisurely contract themselves into a narrower space by reason of this kind of contraction the Blood and Corruptions or matter are plentifully pressed forth from the Vessels and Pores of the Womb and are thrust forth with the Lochia But sometimes it happens by reason of some preternatural things conteined in the Womb as part of the secondine or after Birth a Mole or piece of Flesh clodders of Blood c. also if there happen after a painful Birth a Contusion or great Dilaceration that the Womb cannot rightly draw it self together but by an inverse motion of the Fibres ascends upwards and is lifted up into a bulk also the membranes being affected with a Convulsion it self is still tormented with torments as if it were yet in Travel which kind of Distempers if they long continue by reason of the Orifite of the Womb being tied together with the Convulsive motion the Lochia are oftentimes stopped also from hence grievous symptoms follow and very often the Feaver is either first excited or it happens being for some other cause induced to be rendred far more dangerous Secondly as to the solution of the unity from the cake of the Womb being broken it comes to pass that the Birth either at its just time or precipitous being too much hastened then the secundine is cast forth either whole or being torn or pull'd away part of it being left behind it is cut off as it were in half If the Child be born at its just time and the Birth with what inwraps it comes away from the cavity of the Womb as ripe fruit from a Tree whole and without violence the mouths of the Vessels are somewhat unlocked and the Lochia moderately flow but from hence no grievous symptom is to be feared but if the Child not being yet ripe for the Birth is pulled away or breaks forth as it were by force although the Cake with the membrane is pulled away whole yet the Vessels being torn a greater hemorrhage or bleeding and at length an Ulcerous disposition follows the little mouths of the Vessels spewing forth a stinking matter If that part or the whole secundine sticks to the sides of the Womb after the Birth it there putrifies and sends forth very stinking matter or corruption and stirs up wicked distempers oftentimes the Orifice of the Womb is shut up and retains within gobbets of clodder'd Blood little pieces of Membranes or Flesh which putrifying by reason of the heat impoyson the Blood and humors flowing together to that place by Circulation from the whole body also by a troublesome itching or provocation they stir up the parts of the Womb being so very sensible into Convulsions When therefore hurt is brought to the Womb from Child-bearing after the aforesaid ways the same is quickly communicated to other parts not without trouble to the whole body which thing indeed is wont to be done by a double means For first this happens because the Lochia being hindred from being thrust forth presently restagnate or flow back upon the mass of Blood and infect it as it were with a virulent taint moreover from the contents putrifying in the Womb either the substance it self of the matter or the Particles coming away from the cadaverous substance are mingled with the Blood and nervous juice passing thorow that place and quickly infect their whole liquors Secondly hysterical Distempers are more largely extended by reason of the notable consent which happens between the Womb and the Brain with the Fibres and Membranes of the whole body by the means of the nervous passage for when the extremities of the Nerves planted about the parts of the Womb are driven into Cramps and Convulsive motions by reason of the presence of some hurtful humor the Convulsions there received presently creep more largely upwards by the indeavours and circumduction of the Nerves towards the Brain and so it happens to the Viscera to be successively inflated and cruelly haled together and the Brain it self at length to be pierced and its functions to be as it were overwhelmed hence from the convulsive motions arising about the
ebullition which after this manner comes upon this intermitting Feaver wholly depends upon the confusion of the not miscible matter and its hard secretion from the Blood The Synochus happens like Wine growing hot of its own accord by reason of its richness the other conceives its fury like the same Wine by reason of some heterogeneous thing poured to it wherefore we remark that whilst our Feaver is seen still to be continual it is not cured by sweat or the Flux of the Belly altho they frequently and copiously happen because it depending upon the Blood being depauperated rather than being inflamed it continues long and disposes the sick towards a Cachexie 3. There is a third reason of difference by which this Feaver may be distinguished from the common rank of intermitting Feavers and it is this that it is easily propagated to others by Contagion the reason of which is because here very many bodies are predisposed after the same manner towards the same distemper which happens not at another time wherefore the meer effluvias from a diseased Body are able to excite the like effect in a very fit subject even as some Beams of Flame enkindle Flame in a very combustible matter In the mean time all do not alike contract the Infection of this Feaver but that some being less prepared or fitted for it converse with the sick without harm 4. There is another symptom occurs not constant to this Feaver but only hapning in some places that discriminates it not only from the common but varies its own proper type to wit sometimes it happens this Disease to be accompanied with a Dysenterick distemper in some cholerick Vomits and bilous Stools very much infest and in others Bloody Stools follow with cruel pains and torments of the Belly The former I often observed in our Neigbourhood and the reason of it may be deduced from the highly bilous temper of the Blood For by reason of this the adust matter not to be dissipated by sweat is copiously sifted into the Liver then by reason of the choler-carrying Vessels being filled to a flowing over it is sent away to the Ventricle and Intestines The other Dysenterical distemper was found only in some places and there peculiar rather than common it laid hold only of some sick The origine of it may be referred to the peculiar dispositions of some Bodies or vitious provision also to the site of the place or condition of the Air then the Disease is to be suspected to be thence translated to others not without the communication of a certain Infection There is to be had a double Prognostication concerning this Disease First of the Feaver in General what end it shall have and when what it may threaten to the Land whether it precede not which is commonly feared the Plague or Pestilential Sicknesses Secondly The signs ought to be laid down whereby we are wont to presage health or danger in the various cases of the sick As to the First Because we have shown that the Origine of this distemper is not to be fetched from the Contagion of the Air or its being infected with any venomous Infection nor from any malignant seeds of Vapours diffused through the Air but only from the signal bilous temper or disposition of our Bodies with the Blood being made adust and roasted extremely by reason of the Summer heats I think there is no reason of fear that this Feaver should be carried forth into any thing worse by the vice of the Air or might at length grow to be Malignant or Pestilential But rather that the season of the Year being changed and the alteration of our Blood assuredly to be expected we might fear lest this Feaver which now imitates the way of an intermitting Feaver should afterwards pass into a Quartane the Blood growing into a melancholy temper Which thing indeed I observed to happen to some already and I believe that before the Autumn be fully passed over will happen to many more As to the particular Prognostication the chiefly notable signs which occur in the course of this Feaver and in a manner foretel its condition and event are of this sort if the Disease happens in a firm Body well tempered and easily perspirable if vomiting with ease succeeds and that the Belly be loose if the fit begins with a light shivering and afterwards a moderate heat with sweat concludes it and that the intermission be with some tolerable remission if the Pulse be strong the Urine of a flame colour clear and with a laudable hypostasis we may Predict that the Disease will quickly end without any danger But if this Feaver be excited in a fat Body and or a vitious habit it with troublesome vomiting an intolerable thirst and fierce heat long exercise the sick if to the heat a difficult sweat and partial and often interrupted and between frequent vomitings succeed and that it ends not in a remission we may declare that this Disease may be long and of a dangerous issue But if the sick remain in strength and the Urine shew signs of concoction we need not despair of health especially if after four or five periods the Disease as it is wont to do remits of its wonted fierceness Thirdly we observe if this Disease is excited in an old Body or others broken with sicknesses or debilitated if besides horrid vomitings there happen swoonings faintings Deliriums or Lethargic distempers if after many fits the sick having lost their strength the Disease remits nothing but exerciseth the Blood with a continual effervency and that the Vital Spirits are much destroyed if the appetite be lost wakings pertinacious and that they have Convulsive motions with a weak Pulse and Urine troubled or thick we judg the matter to be full of danger yet is not the sick to be left as desperate because the Disease is not hasty and kills not suddenly and out of hand but is drawn out at length and grants time and occasions to nature of recollecting her self and to the Physician of giving Remedies The Therapeutic Indications which have place in the Cure of this Feaver are chiefly four First That the Blood being now scorched and made too choloric may be reduced to its due temper Secondly That the depravation of the nourishable juice and its alteration into a fermentative matter may be inhibited or at least lessned Thirdly That about the declining of the Disease the Blood depauperated by a frequent deflagration and made more impure by the fusion or pouring into it the morbifick or adust matter may be restored and rendred as it should be volatile Fourthly That the symptoms which chiefly infest in the course of the Disease may be timely helped by fit Remedies that these intentions may be satisfied I counsel that this following method be used About the beginning of the Disease if the bilous or cholorie humor flowing forth of the choler bearing Vessels and being suffused into the Venticle cause the sick to be prone
or straitned in its motion and the effluvias being constrained inwardly could not be sufficiently eventilated or cooled In every year tho temperate it is usual in the Spring and Autumn for some Epidemical Diseases to reign because at this time the Blood being as it were restored flowers anew and therefore intermitting Feavers and sometimes the Small Pox ordinarily spread in this season wherefore 't is no wonder after a great unequal constitution of the year and not natural when in this Spring the Blood boyling up more lively within the Vessels by reason of transpiration being hindred could not be freely circulated and sufficiently eventilated if for that cause great disorders follow and from this most common cause a distemper greatly Epidemical should be excited As to the symptoms joyned with this Disease a feaverish intemperature and whatsoever belongs to this the heat of the Praecordia thirst a spontaneous weariness pain in the Head Loyns and Limbs were induced from the Blood growing hot and not sufficiently eventilated hence in many a part of the thinner Blood being heated and the rest of the Liquor being only driven into confusion a simple Synochus or of more days was induced and this for the most part ceased within a few days But in some endued with a vitious disposition of Blood or evil habit of Body this kind of Feaver arising by reason of the same cause quickly passed into a very dangerous Putrid Feaver and often Mortal The Cough accompanying this Feaver with a Catarrh draws its Origine from a serous humor heaped up together in the Blood by reason of transpiration being hindred for a long time and then an effervescency being risen dropping forth more from the little Arteries gaping within for when the Pores are constrained the superfluous serosities in the Blood being wont to evaporate outwardly are poured forth on the Lungs by a proper castration or cleansing of the Blood wherefore by taking cold as they commonly term it that is from transpiration outwardly being hindred the Cough for the most part is stirred up And for a foregoing cause to this Distemper the flowing forth of the serum into the mass of Blood hath for the most part the chief place for from the long cold hindring the scorching of the Blood or the provision of the bile and prohibiting the breathing forth of the watry humor there was a necessity that very much of the serous humor should be heaped up in the Blood wherefore when the Blood flowring in the Spring conceived an heat the flowing forth of the serum and a pouring of it on the interior parts was wont to cause first the Cough as the proper symptom of this Disease and those whose Blood was more diluted by the mixtion of the serum and who were greatly obnoxious to the Cough and a Rheumatic Distemper were cured with less trouble of the feaverish Distemper the Prognostick of this Disease concerning private persons is for the most part easie that one may deliver the event from the first assault for if this sickness be excited in a strong Body and healthful before and that the feaverish Distemper be moderate and without any grievous and horrid symptom the business is free from danger and the Distemper is to be accounted but of light moment as that commonly is of catching cold neither needs a Physician be consulted nor Remedies unless trivial and ordinary be administred But if this Distemper happens in a weak and sickly Body with an evil provision or that the Feaver being carried into a Putrid Feaver or the Cough growing grievous induces difficult breathing and as it were a tabid or Consumptive disposition the event of the Disease is much to be suspected and often terminates in Death The common Prognostic that was taken from hence concerning the future state of the year conteins nothing to be feared or ominates any great ill by reason of the unequal intemperance of the year the great heats and then excessive cold we might fear Diseases to arise from the Dyscrasie of the Blood yet from the present condition we need neither suspect any noted depravation of the Air or Infection with poysonous breaths that from thence may be had any judgment of the Plague or Malignant Disease to be at hand As to what belongs to the Cure when this Disease is more lightly inflicted its Cure for the most part is left to Nature for this Feaver when it is only a simple Synochus is wont to be cured within a few days by sweat wherefore by a copious sweating for the most part about the third or fourth day the heat and thirst the weariness and heavy pains are allayed then the Cough being somewhat longer protracted by little and little afterwards remits and at length the sick leisurely grow well if this Disease hath rooted it self more deeply there is need of fit Remedies and an exact method of curing the Feaver growing worse is to be healed according to the Rules to be observed in a Putrid Feaver but nevertheless with this difference that because transpiration being hindred and the suffusion of the serous humor on the Lungs are chiefly in fault therefore Diaphoretic Remedies and those called pectoral are of more frequent use for these restrain the flowing forth of the serum from the Vessels within or by opening the Pores convey it forth of doors or precipitating it from the bosom of the Blood send it forth be the urinary passages therefore the method of Medicine for this Disease being brought into the worser state respects both the feaverish intemperance for the sake of curing which you are to be directed according to the intentions shewn in the Putrid Feaver and also the Rheumatic Distemper which however let it be secondary and not every expectorating Remedy or those used against a Cough are to be admitted but of that kind only which do not increase the Feaver the forms of these and the means of curing are to be sought from the precepts delivered generally for the Cure of the Putrid Feaver and of the Cough the helps which now by frequent experience are commonly said to bring Cure chiefly in this Disease are sweating or the provoking of sweat and letting of Blood for the Vessels being emptied by this or that means both the immoderate heat of the Blood and the abundance of the serum are restrained A Description of an Epidemical Feaver arising about the beginning of Autumn 1658. taken the 13th of September THE vernal Feaver but now described did not last longer than six weeks that it plainly was seen that it was only a more light flowring of the Blood which swelling up in the Spring and at the same time streightned in space for want of ventilation most impetuously boyled up like new Wine close shut up in Bottles and then ceased of it self Yet from thence as neither the year so neither our Blood did recover its due temperature and so another tinder or nest for a new Feaver was quickly gathered together
necessary first to publish the Disquisitions of the nature of this Soul and its manner of subsisting and also of its Parts and Powers that from these things rightly known its preternatural Passions may at length be the better discovered But concerning these very hard matters and difficult to be unfolded when I had begun to frame as I think probable and rational Arguments I saw well that they would be looked upon and laughed at by some as unusual things and Paradoxes which indeed it becomes me not to take ill but to let every one freely to enjoy his own sense and to use in all things his own opinion and judgment Among the many things conjecturally proposed by me which I could not avoid two chief Arguments are opposed to wit that I had affirmed that the blood for the continuing of life was inkindled and that the animal Spirits for the motive act were exploded which terms though perhaps they may sound rough and strange to be applied to the animal oeconomy yet if any one shall weigh the Reasons and Arguments which do perswade to the truth of either opinion I doubt not but that there will be none who will not give their assent or easily pardon me for mine In the first place therefore because there are so many opinions concerning the growing hot of the Blood for that some attribute it to an innate heat others to a flame in the Heart some also to a fermentation of the bloody mass and others to its inkindling therefore I shall endeavour more narrowly to introspect the matter and as much as I am able to build upon a more certain Ratiocination its genuine Cause though very abstruse We have formerly discoursed concerning that Soul which is common to the more perfect Beasts with that subordinate or more inferiour of Man and have shewed it to be indeed Corporeal and to consist of two parts the one of these rooted in the blood we called a Flame and the other dwelling in the Brain and nervous stock Light As we shall here only treat of the former I think it will be no difficult matter to make use of the same Reasons and Instances which truly conclude or at least very like truth that in the first place the blood is animate or hath life secondly that this Animation is in its accension or inkindling or consists in an affection most analogical to this 1. Not only the opinions of Philosophers but the undoubted testimony of the Sacred Scripture plainly asserts the animation of the blood to wit the use of blood was forbidden in the Mosaical Law for this reason because the Blood is the Life or Soul which is also apparent by the observation of the most famous Harvey for that its motion is to be observed by the eye shews that it first lives and last dyes For the greater proof of this it is commonly known that Animals only live so long as the blood remains in its due plenty and motion and that they presently dye if either too great a quantity of this be taken away or its motion suppressed But as to the second Proposition to wit that the life or soul of the fervent blood depends upon its inkindling this will appear probable if I shall shew First that the liquor of the blood ought to be very hot in the more perfect living Creatures Secondly that this growing hot can be produced or conserved in the blood by no other means besides accension or inkindling Thirdly that some chief affections as it were proper passions of fire and flame are agreeable to the life only of the blood growing hot Fourthly and lastly these being clearly shewn some other less signal accidents and properties in which common flame and life agree are added and also we will unfold how and in what respect they differ among themselves As to the first we affirm that the blood is perpetually moved in all living Creatures besides in the more perfect it doth estuate or grow hot in act Indeed its undiscontinued motion is required both for the conservation of the disposition of the blood it self whose liquor would otherwise be subject to stagnation and putrefaction as also that being carried about in the whole body it might be able to give a due tribute to all parts For that the offices of the blood at least in the more perfect living Creatures are divers and manifold viz. to instil matter in the Brain and nervous stock for the animal Spirits to dispense the nutritious Juyce into all the solid parts to suggest to the motive parts an elastic Copula and besides to separate all recrements and worn out Particles and to put them aside into convenient Emunctories But although the mere motion of the Blood in less perfect Animals or at least its moderate swelling up such as may be perceived in Wine and other Liquors agitated into Fermentation is able to sustain and perform the oeconomy of Nature to wit for as much as both a crude nutriment is every where received from the river of the blood though cool continually flowing into all parts of the whole Body and that fewer spirits and more thick as it were separated by percolation or straining enter the Brain and nervous stock with that plenty that may suffice for local motion and the Organs of the few senses to be rudely actuated yet the blood watering the bodies of more perfect Animals require offices of a far more excellent kind for it ought not only to be carried about with a continual and more rapid motion but very much to swell up yea actually to grow hot or effervent to wit for that end that its frame or substance being very much loosned it may more copiously send forth the respective Particles of various kinds every where falling off from it and may dispose them here and there for the use and wants of Nature But first for that the animal Spirits are continually to be supplied in great plenty from the mass of blood and that there is need for the elastic Particles requisite for the locomotive function to be thence perpetually poured into all the Muscles it seems very necessary that the liquor from whence these generous and manifold supplements are drawn should be actually hot or rather should burn forth to wit that the aforesaid Particles not sufficiently to be unlocked but by heat or burning should freely run out from the substance or frame of the liquor which truly is manifest because from Wine and also from the same bloody Liquor and all other spirituous things a subtil and spirituous humour is copiously drawn but not to be performed by distillation without heat or fire Yea the sulphureous Particles although they are less apt to be exhaled from any Liquor yet they most readily fly out by inkindling the subject By these there is an apparent necessity of the blood 's growing hot for the perfection of the animal as well as vital function but that it may appear by what means this is done
to wit whether by Accension or by Fermentation or by any other way we shall first in general inquire by what means and for what causes any liquid things are wont to grow hot then we shall consider to which of these the growing hot of the blood ought to be attributed Concerning these we say that there are only three ways or so many kinds of causes by which Liquors conceive a heat viz. first by fire or heat being put to them as when water is made to seeth or boil over the fire or that it grows hot by the heat of the Sun a Bath or Stove or by the dissolution of quick Lime instances of all which are commonly known For the same reason Bath-waters seem to boil For that we may instance in our own Baths to wit they are impregnated neither with Sulphur nor fixed Salt as I have plainly experimented by distilling and evaporating them and by pouring into them precipitating Liquors yea by dissolving them with Sulphur and many other ways They most resemble Lime-water and they as we believe grow hot from a like cause to wit by imbibing the fiery little bodies somewhere hid within the Earth Of these unless it had been superfluous we had here given a fuller description which may perhaps be done at some other time Secondly when saline Corrosives which are of a diverse kind being mingled with themselves or with sulphureous things work mutually one on another with a great strife and agitation of Particles and oftentimes excite heat yea sometimes fume and flame as when the Spirit and Butter of Antimony are poured to or mixed with stygian Water wherein lixivial Salts are melted or with Oyl of Turpentine or other distilled things besides when corrosive Liquors eat metallick Bodies they often grow hot Thirdly and the only way besides as I suppose whereby a liquid thing is made hot is when any humour being very much imbued with Sulphur or Spirit conceives a burning by putting a flame to it and so grows hot by burning forth This is ordinarily seen in oily or very spirituous Liquors being inkindled and inflamed There remain indeed some other ways of Calefaction to wit Fermentation Putrefaction and Attrition whereby more thick Bodies or Solids often conceive a fervour but they produce not such an effect in Liquids whilst the mealy Mass or Dough is fermented the active Particles being stirred up into motion unfold themselves on every side and lift up the bulk or substance of the subject in the mean time for as much as the sulphureous Particles being agitated with them take hold one of another and begin to be combined a certain heat though more remiss is excited in like manner from Putrefaction Dung or wet Hay get an heat to wit for as much as the sulphureous Particles within included are very thickly heaped up together then being combined together they break out in troops yet no Liquors either thin or thick whether they ferment or putrifie do for that reason at any time grow hot For Wines whilst in fermenting they break in pieces the sides of the Tun or overflow the top of the Vessel with a great noise and ebullition do not actually grow hot yea not so much as grow warm The blood being let out of the Body and placed in convenient Glasses either to ferment or putrifie doth not get any actual heat yet in truth we grant the Blood in living Creatures to be fermented and by fermenting to be putrified yea and some other offices of the animal oeconomy to perform the same moreover we have formerly shewed from its Fermentation being hindred or too much increased or otherwise depraâ—ed divers kinds of diseases to be produced yet we deny the heat of the blood to be excited by Fermentation Because neither the blood of more frigid Animals nor Wines nor any other Liquors though agitated with the highest Fermentation are for that reason actually hot And indeed the reason seems evident enough to wit because the sulphureous Particles being raised up in the more thick subjects though they lay hold on one another mutually and being more thickly heaped together raise up heat yet in Liquids the same kind of Particles however stirred up or agitated are immediately disjoyned by the watry coming between and are hindred from their mutual embrace and combination so that they cannot of themselves produce an actual heat For the same reason hard Bodies being rubbed one against another or violently knocked or bruised do not only produce heat but oftentimes fire whenas yet Liquids however shaken and agitated do not grow warm Therefore as there are only three ways whereby actual heat may be begotten in all Liquors we shall inquire to which of these the heat of the Blood may be ascribed First Some say it is the first way from the opinion both of the Ancients and of some of the Moderns the Blood is said to grow hot by reason of some hot thing put to it to wit whilst those affirm an innate heat and these a little flame to be placed in the Heart and to heat the blood passing through it but either of these opinions easily fails from which it is clear that the Heart is a mere Muscle her doth contain in it self any tinder or matter for a flame or heat I know not how implanted fit for their continuance For though it be confessed that on the continual motion of this Bowel which is only animal the Circulation of the Blood doth depend yet the Heart borrows heat altogether from the blood and not the blood from the Heart Secondly As to what respects the second way of making hot a liquid thing to wit whereby a great heat is excited by the mixing of saline Corrosives together or also oily or by corroding a metallick Body I think there is none that will seriously assert that the blood grows hot from such a cause for that its liquor in its natural state is always homogene and although it be stuffed with plenty of Salt it is however with that which is volatile gentle and benign only But there is not to be found either in the Heart or in any other place a saline or any otherwise heterogene Mine whereby the bloody liquor by working or corroding may get or conceive an heat to wit it behoves either such a Mine or the Body to be corroded to be perpetually renewed because the ebullition and heat raised up by the strife of Salts ceases as soon as the Salts are combined or the Body corroded If at any time the saline Particles of the humours in our Body depart from their right temper and become enormous and unbridled for that reason the blood as to heat and motion enters into some irregularities yet it seems impossible that it should originally and perpetually become hot by the congression and strife or corrosion of the Salts Thirdly As to the third way whereby Liquids are made hot though it may seem an uncouth saying That the blood is so inkindled
Symptoms That this happens in those that are hindred from respiration because the vital flame of the blood is wanting of the nitrous food of the Air rather than overthrown by its proper soot or smoke being detained Exper. 41. the most Famous Boyl also by his Experiments hath put it out of doubt for he hath observed that hot living Creatures being put within a glassy Globe and shut up did far sooner expire the air being drawn away from them than the same being left within it though in the former case there was more space left for the receiving the smoke left the retaining of it might constipate the blood yet however if the heat of the blood should arise from Fermentation or the congression of dissimilar Particles or from an ebullition by reason of admitted heat or from any other cause besides accension it is so far that that effect could be inhibited or suppressed by reason of the air being excluded that on the contrary it would rather for that cause become more strong or intense For it appears by a common observation that Liquors chiefly fermentable the more strictly they are kept in the Vessel the more they grow hot and the air being admitted through some vent-hole they presently cease from their fury Moreover Mr. Boyl's Experiments clearly shew that the effervescencies or growing servent stirred up by the ebullition of unlike Particles or by corrosion also the boiling up of hot water in a glassie Sphere are above measure increased after the air is sucked out Experiment Physicom 41 42 43. That most ingenious Tract of the aforesaid Author supplies us with many Experiments whereby it is abundantly manifest that the intestine motions of those Particles and almost of every thing besides fire and life are very much heightned or made strong in the space emptied of air but their act presently after the air is withdrawn is extinguished hence we may conclude the life of a living Creature to be either fire or something analogical to it The like to these is yet more clearly observed by the diggers of Minerals who ordinarily experiment in subterranean Caves where either the Nitre is wanting or is driven away by some strange damp or vapour so that they are in danger of being stifled or smothered at the same time the flame of the Candle is diminished becomes blue and at length expires The second thing requisite to sustain a flame is a constant supply of sulphureous food whereby it may continually be fed which being substracted or by reason of some incongruous mixture depraved the flame is extinguished as is perceived in a Lamp which for want of oyl or water poured in its place expires further as this sulphureous food is more or less suggested sometimes more plentifully sometimes more sparingly the flame being more or less intense is sometimes produced clear sometimes smoaky in the mean time the food being constantly consumed by burning goes away partly into vaporous Effluvia's and partly into ashes which are made up of some Particles of Earth Salt and Sulphur But it is much otherwise in Liquors exposed to Fermentation to which if new Particles be continually administred and the old ones depart the Fermentation is hindred or disturbed In like manner as in Flame the Blood of the hotter Animals and this only in all natural things besides fire requires a constant and copious sulphureous food and that being quickly worn is for the most part consumed in vaporous Effluvia's a Caput mortuum being left of Earth Salt and stinking Sulphur In the mean time from its food consumed by burning it disposes other Particles for other uses That the life or flame of the blood doth continually want aliment there is none but daily finds it in himself For if that be for some time denied the vigor of the blood is diminished yea and consuming the solid parts it snatches into its bosom their remnants and other humours of the Body whereby it may be fed If the nutriment daily suggested from things taken be too thin and watry the fervour of the blood like flame without food uses to be remitted but if the food be very sulphureous and swelling with a vinous Spirit and plentifully taken in the blood is presently inflamed and often breaks out into a Feaver as it were an open burning In the interim out of that food of the blood exhausted or consumed as it seems by accension hot Effluvia's full of soot and vapour go away which according to a just account far exceed all the other excrements of the Body and that their nature is plainly fiery the frequent burning of the mouth and tongue and infecting them with blackness like the soot or smoke of a Chimney witnesses besides from the inflamed blood adust Feces like a Caput mortuum are sent into the Bladder of the Gall Spleen and perhaps into other Emunctories Thirdly That inkindled Flame may for some time continue there is need of continual ventilation to wit that its sooty Effluvia's may still fly away which else being detained and heaped together thereabouts will suffocate the fire because by obstructing the Pores of the inflamed Body they hinder the eruption of the sulphureous matter to be inflamed Although this condition doth often interfere with the other more potent viz. the necessity of nitrous food to be so drawn in from the air that it can scarce be distinguished from it yet we may plainly perceive from the detained soot gathered together about the snuff the light to be put out for which cause a Lamp whose wick is made of plumous Alum or other incombustible matter will not as it promises endure any long time because the soot sticking to the wick hinders the access of the oyl to the flame for this reason blasts of wind from the Air wiping away the sootiness doth not only render the flame more clear that is free from fume and thick vapour but food being sufficiently given to it it becomes more durable Even as Flame the life of the Blood requires also continual ventilation to which end besides the greater breathing places of the Breast innumerable lesser viz. the Pores of the skin gaping every where through the whole Body do send forth Effluvia's departing plentifully from the boiling blood which if it happens to be hindred or too closely shut up the blood will grow excessively hot being as it were beset with fume and vapour besides there is need to shorten its circuit that passing through the Lungs with a more frequent turn it might there as much as it can dispel all its soot or smoak When the Heavens are heated the Air seems as it were immoveable and to stagnate we are wont very much to estuate or grow hot about the Praecordia for that the blood being fed with a more sparing nitrous food doth not burn so clearly but glows with a more suffocating and intrinsick burning further for that the Particles of the Air being less nimble when they are inspired and expired or breathed
viewed and as a certain Latex is found to flow within their Pores and passages presently the blood being rejected that nervous humor is gifted with the title of nutritious but yet by what right and after what manner nutrition is performed shall be our present purpose to inquire And here first of all that we may take the part of the blood it will be easie to shew that there is matter contained in it fit enough for the nourishment of the body and a sufficient store of it For besides the sulphureous substance of the blood which within the fire-place of the Heart with a continual inkindling and by that means deflagration in the Vessels produces life and in the more perfect Animals heat there is found also a certain other humor soft and alible which in the Circulation being distributed through several parts of the Body by increasing them adds nourishment and bulk yea the deflagration it self of the blood plainly as a Kitchin-fire in dressing meat as it were boils and prepares this humor whereby it more easily is assimilated into the substance of every part to be nourished Hence it comes to pass that by reason of a defect of heat in the blood no less than of excess nutrition is often hindered But that this kind of alible Juyce is contained in the bloody mass the Anatomy or spontaneous Analysis of its Latex sufficiently declares for the extravasated blood when it goes into parts of its own accord this liquor being disjoyned from the purple thick part and swimming a top of it appears clear or limpid but by reason of its more thick contents to wit the nutritious Particles like the white of an Egg it is easily made thick and grows white by a gentle heat which thing appears by this familiar Experiment to wit if you shall evaporate a little of it only in a Skillet over the fire the whole liquor will presently grow together into a white Gelly By this liquor as the blood is more or less imbued with it living Creatures grow and become more fleshy or lean for both the blood of younger Animals being loosned from cold is wont to shew much more of this kind of white than more ancient or older Creatures and we may take notice daily at our Tables that very much of this kind of Gelly comes out of the flesh of a Lamb or Calf being boiled or roasted and nothing almost from Mutton or Beef especially if old Therefore we may lawfully suppose that the blood is truly nourishable and that the whole or at least the greatest part of the matter for the adding bulk or substance to every part is dispensed from it but if at any time it be defective in this its office that happens not out of the natural unfitness of it but because its disposition is sometimes depraved and as the Stomach labouring with some vice rejects or perverts the Chyle to be cooked by it But the blood as it is not the only and alone humor which is distributed in the animated Body so neither seems it able to perform alone and of it self the whole office of nutrition For besides that being diffused through the Arteries and Veins another Latex is every where dispensed from the Head through the Nerves which shall be shewn to afford something at least to nourishment As to the first there are many reasons which declare that kind of humor to be in the Brain and nervous stock and to abound in their whole passages For unless the animal Spirits continually flowing out should be founded in such a Latex which is their Vehicle they would not be contiguous or joyned nor able to continue and knit together the Systasis of the sensitive Soul For if Hippocrates did observe long since that Cramps and Convulsive motions were produced from driness and emptiness that perhaps might happen by this means to wit because the humor in the Nerves or Fibres being deficient the Spirits distracted one from another were separated which notwithstanding that they might still retain their mutual embraces and as it were folding of hands bend the containing bodies and very much contract and so force them into Convulsions Besides Wounds and Impostumes of the Tendons and nervous parts seem to witness the diffusion of the nervous Juyce either of which drop forth a thin Ichor and wholly unlike to the mere bloody Excretion no less may be argued from the Ganglia and Evil running Sores In time of sleeping the aforesaid humor is wont to flow more plentifully into the Brain and Nerves and to obstruct their passages and therefore yawnings and stretchings come frequently upon those awaking that its reliques might be shook off Lastly we might readily shew that from the depravation of the nervous humor Melancholy Madness and some wonderful Convulsive distempers proceed But it may be objected that there is no such kind of humor because the Nerves being cut asunder it is not perceived to flow out and that the Nerves being also bound they do not swell above the Ligature as Arteries and Veins But it may be answered That the liquor flowing in the nervous stock is very subtil and spirituous and which by any striving or wrinkling up of those parts when they are roughly handled may easily evaporate and be blown away or dispersed unperceivably Then further 't is observed in the Whelps of some Animals newly litter'd who have as yet that juyce viscous and not easily to be dispersed and that have their Nerves greater if they be bound hard together with cords they will swell above the Ligature Therefore seeing it appears that a certain Humor doth creep through the blind Pipes and passages of the Head and of the Appendix both medullar and nervous it behoves us next of all to inquire from whence that comes thither and whither it tends and lastly of what kind of nature and use it is Concerning these first it appears from what hath been said that the aforesaid Latex serving for a Vehicle of the animal Spirits is perpetually instilled together with them from the blood watering the exterior confines of the Brain and Cerebel which from thence passing through the medullar Trunk is afterwards with a gentle spring poured through the whole frame of the nervous System so that the first fountains of the nervous humor are in the Brain and Cerebel But further to this Juyce conveying the forces of the animal Spirits and supplied only from the Head there joyns a certain other humor as it were auxiliar in the whole passage and restores and refreshes it otherwise about to grow deficient We think that these kind of supplements and subsidies which happen to come from elsewhere to the nervous Juyce flowing from the Head are received and admitted inwardly from the sides and extremities of the medullar and nervous System We have already shewed that an humor as it were secondary is instilled from the blood watering these parts in its whole passage because the Arteries follow not only the medullar Trunk
her head and a frequent Vertigo within a little time after the distemper growing worse she felt tremblings in her whole body with a light shaking of her members which came at certain times though wandring and uncertain afterwards she suffer'd fits plainly Convulsive and those horrid and often infesting a little before the approach of the disease she was afflicted with a short Scotomie or swimming in her head by and by she felt a streightness and great oppression of her Breast whereby all her Praecordia were drawn together then presently gnashing her teeth and giving a great groan she was wont to fall to the ground in the mean time she was sensible but labouring with the great oppression of her heart till that constriction of her breast was loosned she was not able by any means to rise afterwards when the fit was past she was disturbed a good while with a great palpitation of the Heart an heaviness of the senses and a great debility of the animal function After that this Sick maid had liv'd subject to these kinde of fits being very often repeated for about 14. months she at last became Epileptical that as often as the assault of the evill returned being flung prostrat on the Earth she was taken with the insensibility or amazedness of Spirits with the foaming at mouth and other peculiar symptoms of the falling-sickness Neither did this distemper stay here but ere the space of a year was elapsed it degenerated into madness that at last the sick maid having lost the use of her Reason grew sometimes mad with fury and sometimes was plainly stupid and foolish It is plain from the beginning progress and often metamorphosis of this Disease The reason of the aforesaid Case that it at first had its cause and seat in the head near the beginning of the nerves and from thence did dayly unfold more largely its bounds both into the brain and into the nervous System for from the beginning the morbific matter consisting neer the beginnings of the nerves Caused only lighter Spasms or Convulsions of the Viscera and members and shakings with the Vertigo afterwards a portion of it being slidden into the pneumonic nerves and their foldings produced most grievous Convulsions of the Praecordia Diaphragma and Ventricle and also another portion of the same matter invading the Brain and its marrow caused the Insensibility or amazedness and so the fits of the Falling-sicknesse and at length the texture of the spirits being wholly vitiated and their Latex being degenerated into a most sharp and as it were Stygian Liquor the convulsive distempers pass'd into madness Therefore as to the particular reasons both of the disease and symptoms it seems that the aforesaid Virgin by her sedentary Life she being deprived altogether of the exercise of the body and the use of a more free Air but chiefly by her nightly watchings and being frequently interrupted of her sleep she had contracted a vitious disposition of the blood and humours and also a praved and weak constitution of the brain and Nervous stock to which may be added that she did perpetually attend on a master sick of most grievous distempers of Convulsions and by that means had received perchance some contagion or convulsive Infection And first of all indeed the Heterogeneous particles being poured forth together with the nervous juce into the brain and Cerebel and there cleaving to the spirits as it were skirmished with the preliminarie scotomie and vertigenous distemper then the convulsive matter settling upon the beginnings of the wandring pair and intercostal Nerves and the spinal marrow brought in with the Vertigo the leaping of the Viscera and Muscles and their lighter shakings Afterwards when entring more deeply the pipes of the Nerves it was carried into the Cervicall and Cardiac and perhaps intercostal and other unfoldings and embued the spirits performing the office of respiration and the pulse with an explosive Copula they being brought into explosions at every turn together with their superiors inhabiting the nervous origine by reason of fullness or because of irritation excited most horrid Convulsions of the respective parts But the fit growing strong from the pneumonic or breathing Nerves being strictly bound the sudden inordinate systole of the Thorax was stirred up then presently the Diaphragma being suddenly and vehemently drawn back the obstreperous ejulation did succeed Further when by reason of the systole of the Thorax being sometime continued the blood being hindred that it could not move it stagnated altogether in the praecordia therefore during the fit that great oppression of the heart with want of speech and motion afflicted the sick maid But in the mean time while as yet the region of the brain remained free and clear from the explosions of the spirits the sick party remained in her senses or memory but afterwards when the Convulsive matter being dayly increased it was unfolded in the middle or marrowy parts of the debilitated and broken brain to the former passions about the praecordia came also the Insensibility and amazedness of spirits then the Epilepsie and lastly madnesse for the reasons before recited Many medicines and of various kinds being prescribed to this sick maid by many both Physitians and Empericks but confusedly and with an uncertain method being presently changed did her no good Observation 5 A certain fair woman well coloured and well flesh'd from a setled grief fell into a sickly disposition about noon and the evening for the most part she was pretty well but in the morning when she had slept enough and often indulg'd it too much till she became very somnolent and heavy being thorowly awakened presently she was wont to complain of a heavinesse and as it were a stupidness in her whole head with a Vertigo at every motion or stirring about of her head a little after she constantly expected a convulsive fit or the insensible amazedness of the spirits and sometimes this sometimes that was wont to infest her for that after the Vertigo as it were a praevious velitation for the most part she felt in her ventricle and left side an heavy or weighty pain running up and down here and there hence belching a striving to vomit eruptions of blasts also wonderfull distentions of the abdomen and hypochondria did follow and sometimes for many hours did miserably Exercise this woman but sometimes these Symptoms hapned to be wanting and then the distemper more cruelly afflicted her brain for falling into frequent insensible fits she was wont to continue a great while immovable and with her eyes shut without sense or understanding and when her servants had moved her by rubbings and with the fume of Tobacco she came by and by to her self but presently again she fell into the like insensibility and so for four or five times before she could perfectly recover her self and be without expecting to fall into these fits again At length the Tragedy being acted she remained however affected with an
Glandulas on either side of the bottom of it which are called the testicles appeared very small and flaggy without any superfluous or virulent humour contained in them the body of the womb whereever it was dissected equal'd a thumbs breadth in thickness its inward Cavity was no bigger than what would hold a bean within this hollowness as use to be in the Caverns of other Inwards was included a mucous or dreggy matter in a very small quantity but in truth about the womb or its appendix there was nothing to which might be imputed as a morbific cause of the symptoms but now described from whence therefore it may be demonstratively concluded as I at first thought that the passions termed from the womb hysterical are most often excited from some other cause than the fault of the womb The Intestines being removed we found also the reins sound enough but one of them was of an unusual figure viz. It was cleft into many lobes like the Kidney of a Calf The Milt Pancreas and Caul without fault the ventricle was much blown up and its inward Coat was plain without folds or wrincles which certainly hapned by reason of its frequent Vomiting this Inward being almost continually troubled with Convulsions Besides for this reason the tone of the stomach being broken it did neither rightly desire or concoct the food or aliment The Liver very much differ'd from a sound constitution for it was tumid and somewhat hard of a pail colour like rotten wood wholly dry and without blood and this without doubt the frequent use of Cordiall and highly hot liquors had effected The Lungs were of a blewish colour and every where obstructed and stuff'd with a stinking and frothy matter Certainly this Inward and the Liver had been vitiated of a long time wherefore as the blood being degenerate and very much depraved of a long time from its right temper had yielded the first seeds of this sickness so also it afforded a constant cherishment of it But indeed we sought and that not in vain for the chief and as it were originall cause of the disease in the head therefore the skull being taken off the vessells of the Meningae and those creeping about the brain appeared full and distended with blood when in the rest of the body scarce any blood had flowed forth in the cutting of it the thicker meninge being removed thorow the other thin and pellucid one was discerned a clear water filling the enfoldings and crevices of the brain and as it were overflowing its whole substance In truth the serous heap of waters had filled full all the Cavities and inward places of the brain the enfoldings of the choroides or net-like membranes of the brain being a long while immersed in water and as it were boyled were become discolour'd and half rotten nigh to the beginning of the Splanchnick nerves or belonging to the Spleen the water insinuating it self very much had separated the pia mater from the trunk of the oblong marrow or pith for two fingers breadth without doubt the morbific matter descending from the head by the passage of these nerves into the enfolding of the mesentery was the cause of the pains and Convulsions Further the same matter also afflicting the heads of other nerves and paffing thorow their pipes produced afterwards these most cruel distempers in other parts to wit almost every where of the whole body As to the Cure or means of healing used in the passions commonly called Hysterical forasmuch as the symptoms of this disease are very much convulsive The Method of Curlng the hysterical distempers therefore it is fit that anti-spasmodic or anti-convulsive Remedies such as were before described should be chiefly indicated but when these distempers most often happen to the female sex in whom for the most part the menstrual flux and other accidents of the womb do challenge a part in the morbific cause therefore medicines respecting the various dispositions of the womb are to be added to the former and many ways to be compounded with them The Therapeutic or Curatory Indications are either Curatory to be administer'd in the fit or preservatory which are instituted out of the fit that take away the cause of the disease and prevent its comings or accessions 1. As to the first if the fit is wont to be light and without other perturbation of the spirits it may be permitted to pass away of it self Curatory but if it being more heavily troublesome there will be need to bring some help to nature much oppressed this only thing is to be done that the spirits being freed from the Embraces of an heterogeneous Copula they may remit their inordinations and explosions for this purpose it is grown into use to put to the nose stinking and ill smelling things the scents of which compell and repress the too fierce spirits ready to leap forth into their orders and also shake off from them the heterogeneous Copula and often drive it quite away Asafaetida Castor Galbanum being put into fine Linnen and applyed to the nostrills are convenient also burning of Partridg feathers old skins and sulphur Besides the spirits and oyl of sut or of Harts-horn do not seldome help yet I have known these kinde of fumigations being very troublesome to some women to increase the fit it is probable that the same sometimes may too much irritate the spirits and drive them into greater disorders and as stinking things put to the nose so the like poured into the mouth do often bring help wherefore we give often with good success to hysterical people Tinctures of Castor Solutions of Assafaetida and Galbanum spirits of Harts-horn and Sut with proper waters Take of the spirits of Harts-horn from 12. to 15. and 20. drops let them be taken in a little draught of the following Julap Take of the waters of penny Royall and mugwort each ℥ iii. of the water of Briony compound ℥ ii of Castor tyed in a knot and hung in the glass ʒ ss of the whitest sugar ℥ i. mix them Take of the Tincture of Castor ℈ i. to ʒ ss let it be taken ia a little draught of small beer Take of Assafaetida and Galbanumʒ ii let it be dissolved in spirit of wine to the extraction of a red tincture The dose ℈ i. in two or three spoonfulls of featherfew water Riverius very much crys up that of Solenander Take of musk and of dragons-dragons-blood each ℈ i. take more or less of it in water of Lillies of the Valley ℥ iii. or iiii John Anglicus commends parsnip-seeds or the seeds of Penny-royal in wine or other proper Liquor as a most certain Remedy If the fit persisting a long time should cause want of speech or motion the more sharp Clysters as of bryony-Roots and Carminatives boyled in water are to be administred and frictions of the thighs and feet are to be order'd and if they shall yet grow stronger Cupping-glasses are to be applied to
by the blood carried to it by the arteries which being exalted there as it were by digestion and into the nature of a ferment is lastly committed to the blood flowing from it by the veins which inspires or quickens it with a certain leven or fermentation and performs the same thing about its Spirit or making it Spirituous as our ferment commonly called Leven doth being put into a batch of bread or dough for as a certain portion of the unbak'd bread or dough being kept to a sourness preserves the same nature that it doth ferment or leaven other bread or dough and stirs up in it the otherwise sluggish particles into motion so it seems that the blood being laid up in the milt or Spleen and there getting a sourness as it were by stagnation puts on the nature of a ferment whereby indeed the rest of the mass of blood and perhaps the other humours are actuated and as it were Spiritualised into a more lively motion What hath been ingeniously wrote by a late author viz. the most learned Velthusius concerning the use of the Spleen may have relation to this for he hath determined as highly probable a ferment to be contained in this Inward whereby the sluggish particles of the blood are brought into a state of activity Because taking notice that in children and others indued with a sanguine temperament and more fat or dull habit of body even as their manners and disposition of minde were inclined to idleness softness and dulness so their Spleen was ever of a reddish colour and full of florid blood like the Liver from hence he concludes that the spleen doth but little perform its office in these as the gential parts before ripe age or in those of weak loyns but on the contrary forasmuch as men of a middle age and chiefly in those who are of a severe Countenance and of a lean body as in them appear marks of cunning Sagacity fortitude and constancy so their spleen is found to be of a livid or blewish colour and imbued with blood as it were muddy further he argues from hence that the blood being kept long in the spleen as in a Conduit or receptacle turns plainly into ferment by which its remaining mass being from thence inspired is made more subtil and begets more acute Spirits both in the vital and in the Animal Kingdom or Government For he supposes our bodies naturally to abound with too much humidity by which indeed the function of the parts and many of the viscera are very much dull'd but that the spleen doth communicate to the mass of blood solid firm and constant parts and not easily to be dissipated and that those do wipe away that moistness and with it carry away in some measure that softness from the blood and Spirits which is predominate in tender age almost after the same manner as the north-winde or the eastern gales fanning and intimately penetrating the air with the dryness and strength of their parts breathe health or strength to the air and to our Bodies But since I have in another place declared what I have formerly thought concerning the Spleen there will be no need to repeat it in this yet I shall further note that in bodies of living creatures compacted out of a quinarie of elements as the spirits ought to be more strong then the rest so indeed they being intangled with a viscous humidity of Sulphur and water are so hindred that oftentimes they are not able to exercise their strength or powers lively enough hence saline particles for that they are very much fermenting are required for this that the spirituous little bodies almost overwhelmed by the embrace of the others and stupifyed might lie awakened and set at liberty and into motion Wherefore we experience in our selves when the spirits are dull'd by the blood being too much exhal'd that notable help is brought by sharp liquors as chiefly small wines and Cider for these kinde of Remedies sharpen the Spirits and shake off all heaviness Such a kinde of fermenting virtue we easily believe to be continually exercised by the Spleen being in right order towards the blood and nervous Liquor For as this Inward is formed with a threefold sort of vessells viz. with arteries and veins and besides with great enfoldings of the nerves and a most thick Contexture of nervous fibres we think the use of each of them to be set apart for this end to wit by the Arteries the blood is carried to the Spleen hence it lays up its dreggs composed of a fixed Salt and an earthly matter in its passages and porosities and these there layd up as it were by a certain digestion are brought into a juice very fermentive A portion also of which being carried back to the blood by the veins is continually mixed with it and so its whole mass is inspired with those kinde of fermentive particles from the Spleen by which a certain austerity and sharpness with vigour of motion is given unto it so that for that reason the blood it self is carried more lively in the vessells also from thence the nervous juice procreated from the blood being more active supplies the animal regiment But truly the Spleen doth not only by this means mediatly and by the intervention of the blood inspire the brain and nervous stock with a fermentive virtue but it may be lawfully believed that this is done somewhat more immediately by the passage of the nerves dispersed in the spleen for because in this part anatomie discovers a great company of Nerves and nervous enfoldings and of fibres springing from them it may well be doubted for what use they should serve Concerning this it is first to be observ'd that the ventricle and the Spleen have a most intimate Commerce with the brain insomuch that Helmont did place the seat of the Soul in those Inwards but this is possible to be done by no more commodious way than by the aforesaid nerves Wherefore we may here disservedly suspect that not only the animal Spirits are the messengers between the one part and the other but also that the nervous Liquour which is both the food and the ventricle of these spirits doth descend now from the brain towards these Inwards and now being received from these Viscera's by the nerves doth creep thorow towards the head which kinde of spleeny Juice being dilated to the brain sharpens the animal Spirits and raises them up being slothfull and irritates them into quick motions from whence it is commonly said the sharpness and sagacity of the minde doth proceed from the Spleen and Splenetick people are accounted Ingenious But it is probable that the rage and force of the passions being begun by the Spirits inhabiting the brain are carried to the spleen by the passage of the nerves and so the spirits there dwelling are pathetically troubled and the blood flowing thither is moved into a multitude of perturbations for from hence it in some measure falls
I had begun to look more deeply into the matter I perceived I had gotten a far more large Province Because it plainly appeared besides these of Art very many Works of Nature to be not only like but themselves the effects of Fermentation For when for the solving of the Phoenomenas which are met with about the swelling up of the mealy Mass and the working of Wine and of other Liquors I had Composed divers Arguments Reasons and Hypotheses I found at length those first begotten Particles by whose Orgasm or Heat those vulgar preparations do Ferment to beget the Causes of motions and alterations in whatever things they are mix'd with besides wherefore I may be pardoned if I have strayed far from our proposition and have seemed to any one to have heaped together here too plentiful an Harvest of Matter because I was wholly led by the same thrid of Ratiocination and the most conjunct Affinity of things to these various and diverse Concretes If any one shall object that I prostitute the unusual Notions and almost only heard of in the Shops of the Chymists unhandsomly among the works of ordinary people I say these Principles which being brought indeed to perform the self moving motions of Natural things also more easily to represent them to the vulgar capacity and lay them not only before their Eyes but even into their very Hands what of these kind of substances I call Particles men tho rude and unskilful may perceive even by the help of their senses to be in the things besides the names of Sulphur Salt and Spirit and the rest are more familiarly known than Matter and Form or the four Principles of the Peripateticks As to our method and manner of Philosophizing no man can blame me if I should not here describe all things according to Rule and Analytick Patterns because in this Work it chances for me to wander without a Guide or Companion in solitary places and as it were in a solitude trodden by no footsteps where I not only make a Journey but my way also therefore when ever I deviate I cannot be said to err among right Judges of our endeavours who have no Path in which I should Walk nor could find a Track which I might fear to miss ON THE AUTHORS Medical-Philosophical Discourses THE intricate and hidden cause of things Both Peace and Strife by what means Nature brings What various motions Bodies do inspire What mixes with the Waters quenchless Fire What Bonds the Elements together tye Before this happyer Age unfolded lye Things hid to former Ages and unknown The Secrets of the world to all are shown Metals dug from the Bowels of the Earth Tho they from Phoebus boast their Heavenly birth We without light dark and obscure behold And Splendor's found only in burnisht Gold Iron unknown lay hidden without light By Slaves wrought from the Mine grows dazeling bright This to whole Troops confusion doth afford Wit which first fram'd stoops to the Victor Sword We thus of old did Nature search in vain Our Arts did only i th' outward bark remain But now we her hid mysteries unfold And the great secrets of the world behold Better than us herself can hardly tell What Love doth far within high Mountains dwell What flame first gives the Marble Quarry birth To Metals forms blind Rudiments of Earth And the hard child doth to perfection bring Why Earth shows her rich Treasures in the Spring And shines made brave with her own Native flowers What gentle gales and what sweet moistning showers Do on the pregnant Goddess Seed bestow Whilst Heavenly Iris mounts the Cloudy Bow Why Ceres swells with watery Nymphs embrace What Strife what Wars spring from hot Bacchus race What Vulcan doth th' Aetnean Fornace blow What doth soft fires thorow all Bodies throw What Spirit nimbly moves the human frame Whence Milky juice here there a Purple stream Watering the Body whence the Crimson flood And the quick Circulation of the blood What hidden fires in veins and intrals burn Which do the boyling Blood to Feavers turn What mixes freezing cold with parching heat And makes the different Zones together meet Whence comes the Pestilence with Stygian breath Riding on blasting Winds and arm'd with death What Prophesying Humor through the Reins doth pass What colour and what odor in the Glass All things lye open now He did not know So much to whom Prometheus did bestow His stollen fires We now every part Of the whole Earth compass about with Art He 's happy who Causes of things can shew Sacred to Nature and to Phoebus too About his Temples Delphic Laurels spread And flames of lightning ne'r shall blast his head Whom Hermes doth with Sacred Arts imbue Whose Labours Learning out of Darkness drew May all 's days happy be may he shine bright And may he still enjoy Coelestial light May no Disease infect with poysonous breath Him who gains Health from Sickness Life from Death OF FERMENTATION OR THE Inorganical Motion OF NATVRAL BODIES CHAP. I. Of the Principles of Natural things THere is nothing more rarely to be met with in the Vulgar Philosophy where Natural things are unfolded with the vain figments of Forms and Qualities than the word Fermentation but among the more sound especially of later years who respect the Matter and Motion chiefly in Bodies nothing is almost more usual But Fermentation hath its name from Fervescency as Ferment from Ferviment or growing hot The word is well known in making of Bread and in the purgings of new Wine Beer and other potable Liquors thence it is also applyed to other things which are wont to swell or grow turgid after the same manner that at length it signifies whatsoever Effervency or Turgency that is raised up in a Natural Body by particles of that Body variously agitated Bodies of a divers Consistency and Habitude are apt to a Fermenting viz. either Thin or Thick Liquid or Solid Animate or Inanimate Natural or Artificial in all which is found an Heterogeneity of parts or particles to wit there are in them some substances light and always endeavouring to fly away and also there are others thick earthy and more fix'd which intangle the subtil Particles and detein them in their Embraces whilst they endeavour to fly away from the strivings and wrestlings of these two twins in one Womb the motion of Fermentation chiefly proceeds but on the contrary what things do not Ferment for the most part consist of like Particles and are of the same Figure and Conformation which indeed consociat among themselves without any Tumult or Turgescency lye quiet and enjoy a deep peace If Must or new Wine or new Ale or Beer be closely Bottl'd up or put into Vessels of small vent they will grow so very hot that often the Vessels are in danger of breaking But if the same Liquors being Distilled by themselves and then what is seperated shut up from thence no motion or heat will follow Wherefore Distilled
Waters hot Spirits Oyls fixed Salts of Herbs and very many other more simple preparations of the Chymists remain a long while without any alteration or Fermentation Perhaps some of the Particles do evaporate but the rest do not tumultuate In the mean time the juice and blood of Vegetables or Animals as also all Liquors Concreted and compounded of many things quickly Ferment and from thence enter into divers turns of changes The Spirit of Wine being closely shut up in a Phial shews no sign of growing hot but if but a little Oyl of Turpentine be added to this Spirit the Particles of the Liquor will so leap forth that I have seen it break a Glass Hermetically Sealed All Distilled Waters of Herbs so they be kept simply in a Glass will remain incorrupt a long time but if you add to the same Sugar or Syrrup it presently grows soure and is corrupted Wherefore that the Fermentation of Bodies may be rightly unfolded we must inquire what those Particles or Substances are and of what Nature of which mixt things are Compounded and from whose being put together and mutual strivings motions for the most part naturally proceed Altho there be many and divers Opinions of Philosophers concerning the beginnings of Natural things yet there are three chiefly deserve our Assent and Faith before the rest That famous fourfold Chariot of the Peripateticks obtains the chief place which emulous of the four wheel'd Coach of the Sun is hurried by a quick passage through the fictitious Heaven of the first Matter and measures that vast and empty thing with a perpetual reciprocation For they say all things are Constituted out of Water Air Fire and Earth and that out of the divers transposition of these Generation and Corruption as also the changes of all alterations whatsoever do arise In the second place and next stands the Opinion of Democritus and Epicurus which lately also hath been revived in our Age this affirms all Natural effects to depend upon the Conflux of Atoms diversly figured so that in all Bodies there be Particles Round Sharp Foursquare Cylindrical Chequer'd or Streaked or of some other Figure and from the divers changes of these the Subject is of this or that Figure Work or Efficacy The third Opinion of the Origination of Natural Things is introduced by Chymistry which when by an Analysis made by Fire it resolves all Bodies into Particles of Spirit Sulphur Salt Water and Earth affirms by the best right that the same do consist of these Because this Hypothesis determinates Bodies into sensible parts and cutts open things as it were to the life it pleases us before the rest As to the four Elements and first Qualities from thence deduced I must confess that this Opinion doth somthing help for the unfolding the Phaenomena of Nature but after so dark a manner and without any peculiar respect to the more secret recesses of Nature it salves the appearances of things that 't is almost the same thing to say an House consists of Wood and Stone as a Body of four Elements The other Opinion which is only a piece of the Epicurean Philosophy forasmuch as it undertakes Mechanically the unfolding of things and accommodates Nature with Working Tools as it were in the hand of an Artificer and without running to Occult Qualities Sympathy and other refuges of ignorance doth happily and very ingeniously disintangle some difficult Knots of the Sciences and dark Riddles certainly it deserves no light praise but because it rather supposes than demonstrates its Principles and teaches of what Figure those Elements of Bodies may be not what they have been and also induces Notions extremly subtil and remote from the sense and which do not sufficiently Quadrate with the Phaenomena of Nature when we descend to particulars it pleases me to give my sentence for the third Opinion before-mentioned which is of the Chymists and chiefly to insist upon this in the following Tract to wit affirming all Bodies to consist of Spirit Sulphur Salt Water and Earth and from the diverse motion and proportion of these in mixt things the beginnings and endings of things and chiefly the reasons and varieties of Fermentation are to be sought If any one shall object That the Atomical and our Spagyric Principles are altogether subordinate to wit that these tho at the last sensible are resolved into those only to be signified by Conception I shall not much gainsay him so it shews that those Conceptions are real I being dul and purblind leave the more accurate to quick sights being content to be so wise as to perform the business of the outward Sense with Reason for I profess it pleases not me to devise or dream Philosophy But that our Work may more rightly proceed it will be necessary to speak first a few things of these kind of Principles in general and of their Affections I mean by the name of Principles not simple and wholly uncompounded Entities but such kind of Substances only into which Physical things are resolved as it were into parts lastly sensible By the intestine motion and combination of these Bodies are begot and increase by the mutual departure and dissolution of these one from another they are altered and perish In the mean time what Particles are gathered together in the subjects or depart away from them will appear under the form of Spirit Sulphur Salt or of one of the rest CHAP. II. A description of the Principles of Chymists and the Properties and Affections of them 1. SPirits are Substances highly subtil and Aetherial Particles of a more Divine Breathing which our Parent Nature hath hid in this Sublunary World as it were the Instruments of Life and Soul of Motion and Sense of every thing whilst they of their own Nature are always enlarged and endeavouring to fly away lest they should too soon leave their subjects they are bound somtimes with more thick Particles that by entring into them and by subtilizing them and variously unfolding them they dispose the substance to maturity as is to be observed in the Vegetation and Fermentation of Bodies somtimes being restrained within some spaces to wit the Vessels or Bowel of living Creatures they are compelled more often to repeat the same measures of their motions for the performing the works of Life Sense and Motion From the motion of these proceed the animation of Bodies the growth of Plants and the ripening of Fruits Liquors and other preparations they determinate the Form and Figure of every thing prefixed as it were by Divine designation they conserve the bonds of the mixture by their presence and open them by their departure at their pleasure they bridle the irregularities of Sulphur and Salt The perfection and state of every thing consists in the plenty and exaltation of Spirits and the fall and declination in their want and defect As to the Subjects in which the Spirits are Minerals because they are of a more fixed nature wanting Motion and Vegetation
with their coming between and amplifie and enlarge the lineaments of the Body otherwise too short and contracted 4. Water is the chiefest Vehicle of Spirit and Sulphur by whose intervention they consociate one with another and with Salt for the other Principles being dissolved by a watery humor or at least diluted continue in motion without which they grow stiff as congealed things When Water is wanting the active Principles meet together too strictly and mutually rub against and consume themselves and when for this reason the suppliment of food is cut off the Body grows withered If humidity abounds too much these Elements are estranged or dissociated too much one from the other wherefore the subject becomes sluggish and slow and of less efficacy and unapt for motion Besides Bodies too moist are lyable very much to rottenness and Corruption because from too much Humidity the Combination of Spirit and Sulphur and Salt is too loosely effected that they do not mutually embrace one another nor are retained with their embracement in the subject Indeed Water abounding easily evaporates and then the frame of the mixture being loosened and the doors set open Spirit and Sulphur easily break forth the way being made and leave the subject as it were vapid or made sharp with Salt for from hence the infusions of Vegitables Decoctions Juices of Herbs and all Liquid preparations if the quantity of Water be greater than the rest of the Principles and improportionate quickly Corrupt Water is most easily drawn forth out of every thing by Distillation for when Spirit and Sulphur are often intangled with nets of Salt or Earth they hardly let go-their embraces and are not obedient but to a more intense heat and often times require a previous Putrefaction Water most easily and often with no labour is driven out of every Body But most often it snatches in its flying away some more loose Particles of Spirit and Sulphur and carries them with itself forth of doors 5. As the interjection of Water in Liquids so of Earth in Solids fills the empty little Spaces and Vacuities left by the other Principles For these hinder the active Principles from a too streight embrace whereby they should rub against themselves and cleave one to another also by its thickness it retains too Volatile things besides it inlarges the due substance and magnitude in Bodies The more that Earth abounds in any thing it is so much the less active but of longer duration hence Minerals endure a long while then next the greater Trees in the mean time Animals and the more slender Plants are but of short age In Distillations Earth ascends the Alembic almost not at all or but in a very little quantity for the most part it is left with a portion of Salt for a Caput Mortuum or Dead Head therefore it is called Terra Damnata or damned Earth because when the other Principles are freed the Prison being as it were broken this is still detained besides Earth being deprived of the Company of the rest is of no Use nor capable of change or exaltation Thus much for the Elements or Principles of Natural things considered apart and by themselves It follows that some of their Affinities and Conjugations be unfolded because these very strictly cohere with those and very hardly or not at all are joyned with others Out of the mutual Combination of some and disagreement of others various Affections arise the knowledg of which gives no little Light to the Doctrine of Fermentation There is a certain Kindred and Similitude of parts between Spirit and Sulphur which are agil or light and easily to be dissipated in both wherefore Spirit being driven forth of the Body draws abundantly with it Sulphureous Particles as is discerned in Spirituous Liquors Distilled out of any thing to some of which if you mingle Water the Liquor appears as it were troubled with precipitated Sulphur but the Spirit without the Sulphur is undiscernably mixed with the Water which however by reason of is Volatility may be also easily drawn away and separated by Distillation Altho Spirit and Sulphur are Principles very resembling and because of a ready motion either are inflameable yet they are not one and the same as is asserted by some For Sulphur Copiously subsists in Bodies almost destitute of Spirit to wit in common Sulphur Antimony and other Minerals in which its Particles are very fixed and of their own nature almost immoveable which is very far from the Nature of Spirits For they abounding in any mixture never lye idle and always in motion bring various alterations to the Subject where they dwell then if they abound in strength they easily and without tumult carry themselves forth of doors of their own accord But Sulphur altho it abound doth not easily evaporate but hath need of a strong heat or an actual fire that may make a way for it and lastly it breaks forth not without a stink or burning yea if you endeavour to Distil Oyly and Fat things although very Sulphureous with a moderate Fire they are wont to yield a Liquor only Waterish and not inflameable but if we provoke generous Wine which swells with Spirit by the gentle heat of a Bath a most burning Water will Still forth and apt wholly to be inflamed Spirit is not presently joyned with Salt For Sugar and Salts are scarcely dissolved by the rectified Spirit of Wine but are after a manner associated by a long digestion and circulation as is perceived in the Volatile Salt of Animals or Tincture drawn forth from the Salts of Herbs or of Minerals by the Spirit of Wine If that Spirits excel in plenty and virtue they assume to themselves and Volatilise the Saline Particles And therefore the Salt contained in the Juice or Blood of Animals being associated with Spirit is volatilised also the Spirit of Wine being Distilled by many Cohalations with the fixed Salt of Herbs renders it Volatile and makes it pass through the Alembic but if the power of the Salt be greater it tames the Spirit and fixes it Hence the blood being become Salt by means of an ill dyet becomes less Spirituous Fixed Salts and the Oyl of Vitriol fix the Spirits grown too volatile and unbridled and Coagulate the Spirit of Wine it self But Sulphur is a more fit subject of the Spirit by the coming between of which it easily is united with Salt and the other Principles and as Spirit best agrees with Sulphur and Water so Sulphur intimately cleaves to Earth and Salt As to Sulphur besides its affinity with Spirit it hath a great relation with Salt it self to the volatilisation of which it doth not a little help wherefore in Bodies which abound with a volatile Salt there is found plenty of Sulphur as in Amber Soot Hornes and Bones as also in the excrements of living Creatures where Salt and Sulphur are in motion and evaporate from the subject a very stinking smell is sent forth for Sulphur being
loosned even into a Vapour and then kneaded with an Earthy Matter or the moistning of Waters they cause Eruptions of Fountains and Acidulous or Spaw Waters which resemble the disposition of Vitriol Alum Nitre somtimes of Iron or Copper Also the Sulphureous little Bodies being loosned and gathered together inkindle an Heat and somtimes Subterraneous Fires by whose Breaths the Dens and Caverns being made Hot like an Hot-House whilst the Watery humors pass through them they from thence conceive their Heat and supply the Springs of Hot Fountains for Bathes In like manner in this visible and Etherial world Vapours both Sulphureous and Saline and of a diverse Kind and Nature perpetually breath forth and are diffused through the whole Region of Air. From hence the diversity of winds the vicissitudes of Cold and Heat Rain Snow Hail Dew and Hoar Frost and what are of this Nature have their Origine Concerning the particular instances of these the famous Gassendus may be consulted who in his Epicurean Philosophy most aptly deduces the Phaenomena almost of all Meteors and the reasons of them from the Exhalations of Sulphur and Salts either Nitrous Vitriolick Aluminous or Armoniack CHAP. IV. Of Fermentation for as much as is observed in Vegetables IN Vegetables Fermentation is yet more plainly discerned for whilst they Bud forth Grow Flower bear Fruit Ripen Decline and Dye we may observe the divers motions of Particles or Principles their various Habits and Tempers I intend not here to describe the several ways and proceedings of these It will be sufficient for the unfolding the Doctrine of Fermentation to take notice of some chief instances concerning this Subject If is manifest by dayly Experience that all Plants whatsoever exposed to a Spagyrical or Chymical Operation may with little labour be resolved into the aforesaid five-fold Elements But in some there is found a greater plenty of Salt in others of Sulphur in some Spirits abound Water and Earth are in most proportionated according to the Bulk and magnitude of the thing Plants in which Salt abounds with a mean of Sulphur and a little quantity of Spirits are for the most part of long Age somwhat big or flourish all the Winter or tho their Leaves fall they keep a Nutricious Juice under the Bark Of which sort are the Oak Ash Elm Box-Tree and all ponderous Woods and Shrubs In some Sulphur abounds with a little Salt and Spirit as are the Pine the Firr-Tree Cyprus Tree Juniper Ivy Olive Cedar and Myrtle Trees and all resinous Plants which for the most part have a sweet smell and are perpetually Green by reason the juice wherewith they are nourished is viscous and not easily to be dissipated In others besides plenty of Salt and Sulphur Spirits also are found in a greater proportion as are Fruit-bearing Trees and especially the Vine from whose Fruit the Juice being wrung out and purified by Fermentation grows very big with Spirit Of this rank are Plants for the most part Medicinal also such as produce Curious and Odoriferous Flowers But in some Water and Earth luxuriat in too great a quantity above the other Elements as in cold Plants and such as grow in too rank a Soil The Germination of Plants happens after this manner either it is made out of the Seed Root Trunk or of its own Nature from the naked matrix of the Earth First the Spirit being shut up within by the Ambient Heat and Moisture loosening the frame of the mixture being loosned it presently endeavours to fly away But being held back in its flight by the more thick Particles of the rest stretches forth more largely its Den and together with the other Principles with which it is bound thrusts forth on every side into length and breadth even as a little bundle of Silk being contracted into wrincles and folds is opened here and there In the mean time the little Spaces left by the enlargement of the Spirit and as it were made hollow are filled up by the next Matter driven even into the Vacuities And after this manner the Architect Spirit with his Ministers Salt and Sulphur still stretching forth it self like a Snail frames for it self an House whose Inhabitant it is and by dilating it self stretches forth that until at last it hath wrought the Plant into the due Bulk and Figure designed by Nature You may take notice that the times of the year for the Budding Flowring Ripening and decaying of Vegetables are of great Efficacy and Virtue All the Winter the Womb of the Earth as it were shut up is almost barren for the Spirituous Particles which are wont to actuate the rest and as it were to lead the dance of Natural Motions are either chased away by the Winters Cold or being Congealed in their Subjects are fixed Wherefore at this time Germination and Vegetation are very rare unless that some irregular Plants which are composed of plenty of Spirit Salt and Sulphur dare to break forth But in the Spring when the bowels of the Earth begin to be a little warm by the Vicinity of the Sun presently they are impregnated with a wonderful Fecundity and produce the effects of their Seminality Not only the Superficies of the Earth but also the Water and Air every where grow big with Spirituous Particles which as it were raise up from the Dead the little Bodies of Salt and Sulphur and bring them into Motion Therefore besides that the Plants Bud the Juice and Blood of living Creatures is quicker and more apt to abound At this time the Birds and Fishes build their Nests and bring forth Eggs also we may perceive in our selves the Blood to flow high in the Vessels and usually to Ferment too much For all things are then full of this Aetherial Substance and the whole Bulk of Nature as it were inspired by a lively Fermentation is abundantly fruitful of Motions and Generations Yea these our Principles at first separated and dispersed one from another led as it were by an Appetite of Copulation enter into mutual Marriages and being Married together almost with infinit Embraces cause a most ample Seeding and Germination of the Herby State At the beginning of the Summer and perhaps in some sooner in some later when sufficient time hath been granted for the Stature and Magnitude of every Plant and that it is now come to the highth of increase it behoves Nature to perfect her Work and to cook and ripen the Substance as yet rude and undigested Wherefore the active Principles leisurely extricate themselves from the more thick and creep forward towards the top there being placed with a mutual increase they are formed into Flowers and Blossoms from which at length for that they are of a soft and light texture Spirit and Sulphur easily evaporate and the frame of the mixture quickly decays But Nature careful of the perpetuating every thing when it cannot keep for ever the individuum is so provident that the Species may not wholly
those of the Hops the consistency is made more compact and is more full of Fermentative Particles wherefore there is not quickly given any room for the Flux of the Salt But that the Liquor being at first bitter afterwards grows sweet happens for this reason because the Spirituous and Sulphureous parts supplyed by the Meal of the Mault come not so soon to Maturity because of the others mixed with them from the hops being boyled therein but when this happens that they grow to maturity they easily excel all the others and impart a sweetness to the whole Not only Hops being boyled in Beer keep it long from sowring but also many other bitter or sharp things do the same for these forasmuch as they exceed in a Volatile Salt hinder the flowings of other Salt wherefore some are wont to put into the Barrel a piece of Sassafrass Wood the tops of Wormwood Broom the Firr-Tree the rinds of Oringes also Spices in a small quantity by which means the Drink tho of a smaller substance is kept a long while from sowring Thus much concerning the preparation of Beer on the consideration of which as also of Bread we have stayed long because the word Fermentation is chiefly due to these Let us pass next to Wines Excepting the Blood of Animals there are no Liquors that grow hot like Wines there is found in none a greater plenty of Spirits Salt and Sulphur or a more remarkable turgescency or swelling up The Fermentation of Wines and the handling of them Fermenting are wont to be taught among the Vintners or Wine-Coopers as a secret only to their Apprentices or the Adepti of their Art Among them there is delivered a certain Physical Science or Method of Medicine by which means the impurities of Wines are purged forth their heats attempered or also their defect or sickness may be healed There are many ways to be used besides that of sophisticating as a secret by which depauperated and tastless Wines are sold for sound and rich But as to our proposition that the Doctrine of Fermentation might be illustrated these three things ought chiefly to be considered concerning Wines First Their defaecation or cleaning and their going into parts Secondly Their immoderate effervescency or growing hot from what causes it is wont to be stirred up and by what means to be suppressed Thirdly The declination of them when they grow worse and by what remedies they are kept that they do not quickly pass into a tastlesness or Vinegar 1. As to First That Fermentation may begin in the Must there is not as in Beer required the putting to any Ferment for the Juice being expressed from the Grapes doth so greatly swell up with active Particles or Principles that it presently of its own accord grows remarkably hot but it is a usual thing in some regions when the Grapes are trod to besprinkle them with Quick Lime by the provoking of which as a Ferment the Liquor pressed forth grows more fervent and is sooner purged The Must or new Wine is at first put into open Tubs for that they cannot be contained in close Vessels for their great heat or working which so boyls up that water over a Fire grows not more hot when the Wine is a little cooler it is put into more close Vessels in which it is further purged by Fermenting In the purifying the Spirituous and Subtile Particles greatly shake the more thick dregs and dismiss them from themselves on every side that the Mass of the Vinous Liquor being made free from the mixture of the dregs is rendred clear and without dregs The Faeces or Lees of the Wine consist of Salt and Sulphur with a little Spirit and plenty of Earth which whilst the Wines grow hot being separated by degrees either by Coagulating themselves mutually are affixed to the sides of the Vessels under the Species of Tartar or like Lees or Mother settle to the bottom In the mean time the Liquor swimming over them is very clear and exceeding Spirituous Somtimes the defecation or clearing of Wines is hardly brought about as a Vinous Liquor is not easily freed from the mixture of Tartar wherefore Vintners are wont to put to the Wines some Bodies that either clear them or precipitate them so as the Earthy matter swimming in them may sooner settle to the bottom The things which so clarifie Wines are of two sorts for they have either viscous parts as Glew the Whites of Eggs and such like which stick close to the faeculencies of the Wine with laying fast hold on them and carry them with themselves towards the bottom Or else they abound in a precipitatory strength which while they enter into the pores of the Liquor thrust forth the more thick Particles from thence and strike them down to the bottom as are the dust of Alabaster Calcined Flints and such like 2. Wines tho at first they were well cleared yet afterwards they conceive immoderate effervescencies so that the Tartar being stirred up from the bottom it at length mingled with them also the Spirits being loosened now the Sulphureous Particles now the Saline being too much carried forth render the Wines unsavory clammy or sowr We will consider these things from what Causes they come to be so and by what means they are Cured Wines very often contract heats when they are full of Tartar or too rich Lees For Tartar or Lees tho separated from the Liquor of the Wine and depressed to the bottom of the Vessel yet for that they consist of plenty of Salt and Sulphur they still send from themselves Fermentative Particles by the inspiration of which the Wine is kept in an equal motion of Fermentation and as the Wines are leasurely ripened so the Salt and Sulphur which lurk in the Tartar are by little and little exalted until at length being carried forth to a Flux they infect the Vinous Liquor with a troubled feces or dregs and compel it to grow immoderately hot and to boil up Against these too great heats of Wines there is a necessity that they be presently drawn off or rack'd from this too rich Lees and put into another Vessel or else it comes to pass by reason of its too great disturbance the Sulphur being very much exalted that they become unsavory and ropy or the Spirit being lost and the Salt carried forth to a Flux they contract a sowrness and turn to Vinegar Neither doth Wine grow more hot than it should do only from Tartar or too rich Lees but by too great agitation immoderate heat or by an extraneous or strange Body put to it and not miscible or that cannot mingle with it for by these and other ways the Sulphureous part of the Wine grows hot and from thence conceives a fervour and undue boyling up for the setling of which besides the racking or drawing it off from one Vessel into another they use to pour plenty of Milk into the Pipe or Barrel by whose mixture the heats and
tumults of the Wines are presently appeased but as by this means the Spirits of the Wine are very much overcome it cannot keep long but soon after degenerates to Vinegar or without tast therefore the Vintners are necessitated to sell presently the Wines mended by this Artifice and very suddenly to draw them off These kind of heats of Wines tho they be timely appeased before they wholly spoyl the Wines yet they leave some viciousness by which the Vinous Liquor is altered from its due colour and consistency and is made less grateful to the Palate for Wines made hot oftentimes become of a more deep colour viz. they degenerate from a watery and clear colour to a Citron or Red and give to the tast a rankness all which indeed proceed from the Sulphur being too much carried forth and exalted For these kind of distempers of Wines they proceed after this manner for the mending the colour oftentimes simple Milk or boiled with Glew or fine Flour is poured into the Hogshead or Pipe for these procure a certain separation of the exalted Sulphur and with its whiteness give a clearness or restore the colour to a brightness Mucilaginous clammy or ropy Wines are amended by the infusion of burnt Alum quick Lime Gypsum or Plaster of Walls Salt and the like for these cause a new Fermentation that the more thick Particles are thrust forth from the rest and precipitated towards the bottom The unsavouryness is helped by the same means 3. As to the third proposition Wines are depauperated or made poor when by a long effervescency the Spirit and more pure Sulphur being exhaled the Saline Particles begin to be exalted in this case their languishing strength is sustained with certain remedies as it were Cordials As the Spirit and Sulphur being too much carried forth and exalted is cured by the drawing off the Wines from the rich Lees So the same being depressed the remedy is that they be put to a more rich Tartar or Lees wherefore the Vintners are wont to pour the depauperated Wines destitute of plenty of Spirits and Sulphur and which begin to grow sowr by reason of the Salts being carried forth to sound and fresh Lees or Tartar that they might as it were anew inspired with Spirit and Sulphur ferment and recover new strength and vigor besides they make Syrups of generous and rich Wines with Sugar and Spices which they pour among the stale and deadish Wines Further for Wines turning to Vinegar they are said to administer profitably some other remedies Gratarolus praises with many more Lard and Swines flesh salted wrapt in Linnen and put into the Cask and truly it is probable that the Sulphureous odor of this doth restrain the Flux of the sowring Salt for this end the same Author commends Leek-Seed Pine-Nuts blanched Wheat boiled Wine Ashes the shavings of Willow and many others for the Salt readily acts on these kind of Subjects and spends its force even as Virgins sick of the Green-sickness desire greedily to eat such like absurd things that may satisfie the extraneous and for the most part sowrish Ferment of the Ventricle but very hurtful to themselves There remains another kind of Cure whereby small Wines almost corrupted and growing vapid or smachless recover new vigor for a time to wit a portion of Rhenish Wine or others very Fermentable is laid up and hindred from Fermenting from whence it is made a perpetual Must commonly called Stum if a little of this Liquor be poured into a Cask of stale Wine and jogged together it gives a fresh and new Fermentation to the whole so that that Wine will froth and boyl and shut in a Glass will leap forth but the drink mended by this Artifice is accounted very unwholsom for that it is apt to stir up an immoderate Fermentation in our blood wherefore it is prohibited by Edict that the Wine-Coopers or Vintners make not use of this kind of Sophistication It is a usual thing also to stop up close in Stone or Glass Bottles for a time small Wines and new Ale or Beer which being afterwards opened the Liquor ferments so impetuously that being almost all rarified into froth it flies forth of the Bottles which besides contracts such an acrimony or sharp cutting that it can scarce be swallowed The reason of which as it seems is this The turgency or swelling up and the notable acetosity sharpness or quickness of these kind of Liquors proceeds chiefly from the Salt being exalted and having gotten a Flux for when as the Liquor being full of much Tartar and little Spirit is shut up close in a Vessel all the Particles together are forced to be fermented and when they cannot be separated and fly away from one another they do the more trouble one another and break themselves into small bits that by this means the bond of the mixture may be wholly broken but the little bodies loosened one from another and as it were freed by reason of the closeness of the Vessel are forced together wherefore when the Vessel is opened all the Particles at once being ready for flight like Air suddenly rarified break forth with noise and tumult and because the Saline parts having gotten a Flux by reason of the plenty of Tartar are stronger than the Spirit and Sulphur from thence the notable cutting sharpness is caused in the Liquor Cyder comes next to the Nature of Wine to wit of the smaller sort which kind of Liquor is only the Juice pressed from Apples and brought to maturity by Fermentation concerning this kind of Drink it is worth observation that if it be made of Summer Fruit or too much ripened it will not keep in strength but presently degenerates into a deadness but if it be prepared of very unripe and sowr Apples it contracts a bitterness for that the Spirits do not sufficiently arise in this but give place to the Salt having first gotten a Flux but in the other they are not long enough retained but wholly fly away before the mass of the Liquor attains to full Fermentation but there are Fruits and Apples exceeding fit for this business which being indued with a more firm consistency are not quickly corrupted neither do they attain their perfect maturity or softness but of a long time The Juice of these wrung forth and put into a Cask does not grow hot as Beer with a great frothy head but after the manner of Wines with a noise like a Pot boyling over the Fire whilst Fermenting after this manner it is made clear the more light recrements are carried upwards and remain in the Superficies as the flowering but the more thick parts and Tartarous settle plentifully in the bottom but the more solid Crust or Coagulated Tartar is not fixed to the sides of the Vessel which is a sign Cyder is a more wholsom Drink nor so infestous to the nervous stock because it abounds less with a sharp Salt than small Wines The Liquor swimming over these
together disperse a very stinking smell together with these the watery parts flow forth and the frame of the subject breaks or falls down into Earth or a Caput Mortuum This kind of process may be observed both in natural things and also in Subjects prepared by Art Concerning Natural things the disjunction of the Elements and their separation into parts may be seen both in the death of living Bodies or the extinction of life and vegetation and also in the corruption of them being dead and in their reduction to a rottenness As in Vegetables the growth and maturity depend on the combination and mutual cleaving together of the Principles so the decay and death depend on their going asunder and separation in Plants and Fruits being by degrees exalted from a crude and sowr Juice by Spirit and Sulphur they come to maturity to which a sweet tast and smell and a pleasant colour happen then presently the same matter the Spirit and Sulphur and the rest of the Elements leisurely flying away from the subject is soon reduced to a filthiness and rottenness If after the subtil and more pure Particles of Spirits and Sulphur are flown away there still remain plenty of Earth and Salt with some Sulphur the matter does not putrifie but grows dry with an hoariness but if the thick Salt and Sulphur having gotten a Flux break forth from the Subject together with the rest the bond of the mixture being loosened presently the external humidity possesses the spaces left by these and the Body is resolved into rottenness Also all Animals whatsoever have set bounds of their growth and duration For they ascend from their beginning by slow increase to motion and sensation then to the strength and exaltation of Nature in which point they stay not but from thence by equal steps make hast towards their fall If the cause of this kind of limitation be required we say that Mother Nature hath placed in the primigenious seed of every thing such a stock of Spirit Salt and Sulphur which might suffice for the producing the utmost thrids or lineaments of Bodies so that the growth and ascent of the thing to its height or acme is only an evolution or unrowling of that radical matter and protension or stretching it self forth into a greater dimension in the mean time the little spaces and vacuities which are made by the protraction of this matter are filled up by the active Particles supplyed by Nutrition which also by a continual series of motion are ripened exhaled and give place to others succeeding As soon as this seminal matter is unfolded and exalted to the height that it cannot be moved or expanded further the matter is then brought to the state of its perfection from thence some Particles of this Radical substance together with the secondary supplyed from the Nourishment begin to evaporate and others dayly and then others being after this manner consumed both the solid parts by degrees decrease in their substance as also the Nutritious Juice and Blood even decline for the worse till by a long wasting the props of the Body are made dry or withered and the blood so depauperated that it will not suffice for sustenance to the vital fire just as it may be perceived in a Lamp if the Oyl being continually consumed in its place be put water the Liquor is rendered poor and diluted that it is not able any longer to cherish at all the flame of the wick When the Life of Animals perishes either it expires after the aforesaid manner leisurely and like a Candle or Lamp is extinguished the Oyl or Tallow being consumed or it is choaked by a hasty death being snatched away by Fate or the violence of a Disease presently the Spirits with Salt and Sulphur flowing together in the blood and also planted in every part cease from their regular motion and are moved into confusion then they partly exhale from the pores with the vanishing heat and partly being shut up within in the Cavities inordinately Ferment with the remaining Particles and make a swelling up of the inwards and of the whole Body But afterwards the frame of the solid parts being by degrees loosened and the Sulphureous Particles together with the Saline having gotten a Flux begin to evaporate from thence a strong stink and corruption arise The active Principles breaking forth by heaps do often mutually take hold of one another and being combined in the superficies of the Carcase produce Worms at length when they are wholly exhaled from the Subject what remains falls into dust It is a usual thing for Worms to be generated in Vineger when it is corrupted and lost its strength which being exceeding small and somwhat long and smooth like Eels swim in the Liquor and may by the help of Glass be exposed to our Eyes these beeing seen it is commonly said that the sharpness and pricking of the Vineger proceeds from these little Creatures which is a vain thought that deserves not a refutation for they are only to be found in dead Vineger and I pray from whence have they their teeth sufficient for the gnawing of Iron But the whole corrosive force of Vineger is more truly referred to the Salt having gotten a Flux in the mean time those little Creatures seem to be begotten by this means it is sufficiently known that when very many Subjects are brought to putrefaction the active Principles being thrust out of doors yet still affecting their old dwelling remain somwhere about the neighbourhood and being joyned together do often produce living Bodies wherefore when moist things putrifie most often little Worms grow on their Superficies but in Vineger the business is a little different to wit because the Elementary Particles are more fixed therefore when the mixture of the Liquor is wholly dissolved the active Principles although loosened yet breaking very hardly and difficultly from the substance meet together in the bowels of the Subject and there mutually cherishing one another cause those little Creatures in the midst of the waters Also the Bodies of living Creatures being prepared for our Food are disposed towards putrefaction if they are put up for some days till the active Particles are loosened and begin to be in motion tending to exhalation wherefore both the Flesh becomes more flaccid and in eating more tender and soft and if they are kept longer till the Saline and Sulphureous parts being carried forth into a Flux do break out presently a stinking smell and putrefaction is induced There are many ways whereby flesh is wont to be kept from putrefaction the chief of which are that it be pickled with Salt or Spices Things are kept a long time incorrupt and very grateful to the tast with Salt Dead Carkases are imbued with Spices that they may remain a long while in their Sepulchers As to the first Brine or salt Pickle hinders the eruption of the Sulphur and fixes it in the Subject by its embracement and retains it Spices
Inns are able to produce by their eruption an intense and almost fiery heat in the mean time those Saline little Bodies are so loosned by the long familiarity of the fiery and by the embrace of one another and of the strangers that they become Volatile and being diluted with water for the greatest part evaporate with it and the remaining Salt because also Volatile and having suffered almost a divorce from all the rest of the Principles is both sweetish and becomes desirous of Conjunction and astringent and therefore also is of excellent use for plastring of Walls But that Stygian waters being poured upon the Stagmas of fixed Salts produce heat and the same mixed with Iron or the Butter of Antimony stir up a mighty ardor with a blackning smoak the reason seems plain As to the Stygian waters and fixed Salts it may be said that both these Concretes are only Salts having got divers states by the fire and so either being very much stuffed with fiery Particles which are the most minute atoms of Sulphur But they being confused together do forthwith rush into mutual embraces and because the Particles of either are made unlike therefore whereby they may be more strictly united there is made a great attrition of parts and together an excussion of the fiery Particles from whence the great ebullition with a heat is excited when the same Menstrua are poured on Iron or the Ice of Antimo the Salts of either come together and shake forth the fiery Particles and also the Sulphureous Particles before implanted in either Subject which flying away in heaps cause a smoak with a heat but not a flame CHAP. XI Of the motion of Fermentation as it is to be observed in the Precipitation of Bodies WE have hitherto treated of the Solutions of Bodies it remains now that we speak of Precipitation this is performed only in Liquids which when as they are stuffed with Heterogeneous Particles are compelled by a matter Precipitating those Particles to separate one from another and to obtain for their substance divers places and conditions wherefore since in this operation there is an agitation and motion of parts its consideration ought to be referred to the Doctrine of Fermentation Precipitation is performed either in Natural things as chiefly in Milk Blood Urine and perhaps in some others or in Artificial things which are of a diverse Kind and Nature but they may be described and ranked in a certain order according as the Liquor to be Precipitated or Precipitating is either Spirituous Sulphureous Watery or Saline besides according as the Particles separated from the rest are either Elementary viz. either Sulphureous Earthy or Saline or Integral which participate of the Nature of the whole mixture and are only very small portions of it very much broken There are two common and known ways of Precipitation whereby is made from Milk both Cheese and Butter As to the first if any sharp thing be poured into warm Milk the thicker and Cheesie parts presently separate from the serous and thinner and are gathered together into a thick substance The reason of which consists in this Milk has a somwhat thick consistence and its pores and passages are very much beset with the thicker to wit the Cheesie contents wherefore when somthing more subtil and penetrating as is Rennet passes through the Liquor it easily thrusts forth the more thick Particles with which the pores were possessed which then mutually Embrace one another and are separated a part from the thin and Wheyie Liquor When Milk is kept long to a sourness it is Precipitated after the same manner without Rennet by warming it over the fire For in stale Milk its Saline parts get a Flux then being stirred up by the fire supply by their own sourness the turn of Rennet yea it is not improbable that the fluid Salt in the Rennet provokes the Saline Particles of the Milk into a Flux and that for this reason chiefly its Coagulation succeeds for that the Saline parts having gotten of their own accord a Flux so bind the pores of the Liquor that the more thick Contents are willingly exterminated from them wherefore we do say for that reason the same thing happens when a Flux of the same Salt is caused by some thing else put into it But that the Coagulation of Milk happens not only by reason of the passages and pores being possessed by a strange Body the sign is because the Salt of Tartar tho exceeding Precipitatory effects nothing of this and this effect is excited almost only by sour things Sugar hinders the Precipitation of Milk and many other Liquors because it restrains the Flux of the Acetous Salt and as it is easily Soluble and its Particles are soft and blunt they extrude not the former Contents implanted in the Liquor but fill all vacuities that afterwards there is no space whereby another Precipitating Liquor may unfold it self and break into anothers quarters But Country people are wont to make Butter of the Flowers or Cream of Milk kept for the most part to a sourness only by shaking or Churning it The reason of which as it seems to me is this in Cream there is great plenty of Sulphur with which also a mean portion of Salt and Earth is mixed as may be conjectured both by the sourness of the Liquor remaining of the Butter or the Butter-Milk and by its thicker consistency In this mixture the parts both Saline and Sulphureous are in motion and a Flux but as the Liquor is thicker they cannot presently fly away wherefore it remains that if the bond of the mixture be further loosned they will separate into parts and that first the Sulphureous Particles which exceed the others in power are Congregated together with a mutual embrace wherefore these two things the Churning of the Cream performs viz. it brings the Sulphureous parts by their often obvolution together whereby they do the better intangle themselves and mutually ensnare one another besides it breaks their mixture with the rest For this reason in the Winter time when Cream is thinner and abounds less with Sulphur Butter is hardly made Besides the admixtion of Salt or Sugar wholly hinders its making because by the coming between of those little Bodies the Sulphureous parts are hindred from a mutual adhesion The chief Precipitation of the blood which is performed within a living Body is made in the Reins where not without the strength of a certain Coagulum or Rennet the serous matter is separated from the rest of the blood just as Whey from Milk For which reason Diuretical things are of the same Nature as those which bring a Coagulation to Milk and therefore because they more Precipitate the blood by fusing it they cause a large profusion of urine The blood being sent forth of the Vessels separates into various substances by its own disposition whilst it is warm it is variously Precipitated by some Liquors poured to it in like manner
Urine not without a pleasant Spectacle If you pour upon warm blood the spirit of Wine Harts Horn Soot Vitriol or other Liquors chiefly Spirituous or Saline a wonderful Ebullition and heat is stirred up whence we may conjecture after what manner it grows turgid in Feavers But before the rest the Salt of Tartar and a Solution of Alum procure both in Blood and in Urin a great perturbation of the Liquor and falling down of the parts for these disturb all the Contents in the pores and passages of the Liquor and by their astriction very much lock them up for a long time Precipitation in Artificial things is of greater note and use for this for the most part follows Dissolutions and succeeds them as it were by a certain right of Order because this takes out of their Jaws and as it were lays by the prey which all Menstrua take by dissolving According to the diversity of the Menstruum and of the Body dissolved Precipitation also variously happens but in some Subjects there are two chief remarkable things concerning the manner of Precipitation to wit the soluted Particles immersed in the pores and passages of the Menstruum are wont to fall out of them either by reason of the narrowness of the conteining space or else by reason of the Contents being increased in weight and bigness for in some the pores of the Solvent being either leisurely bound up or beset with a strange Body shut forth from their Cells the little Bodies of the thing soluted and send them to the bottom as may be observed in Sulphureous Solutions or such as are made of the whole mixture of integral parts in a thin Liquor which are disturbed and lay away their Contents by external cold simple water or at least by any Acid infusion After this manner resinous Tinctures also of Sulphur Olibanum Benzoin and the infusions and decoctions of Vegetables also Urin Milk and Blood are wont to be Precipitated but in several others besides that the pores and passages of the Menstruum are either leisurely drawn together or possessed by a new guest also somthing new grows to the Particles of the thing soluted from the Precipitating matter whereby being increased in weight and bulk they can be no longer sustained but that they are necessitated to sink to the bottom This is chiefly seen in the Saline Solutions of Minerals which are only Precipitated by the Salts whose Particles presently cleave to the little Bodies of the thing soluted and increase their substance that presently they descend to the bottom by their own weight For in Saline solutions the little Bodies of the thing soluted are strictly bound together by the fluid Menstruum with the Saline Particles and the Particles run hastily and are heaped together into the Embraces of the same fluid Salt from the Precipitating infusion of the fixed Salt wherefore when these three to wit the little Bodies of either Salt and of the soluted matter do cohere together they constitute greater grains than can be contained in the narrow spaces of the Menstruum and therefore being thrust out they fall down towards the bottom That this does truly happen after this manner the great affinity both of the fluid and fixed Salt is a sign that the Particles of both being placed near or mixed together are presently combined in one also because many solutions of Minerals are presently Precipitated by a fixed Salt but not by Vitriol or Alum being put in which do much more bind and stop up the pores of the Liquor Thirdly it appears clearly even to sense because that the matter put for a Precipitate far exceeds the thing soluted in bulk and weight and is impregnated by the fixed Salt adhering to it But these being thus disposed we will descend to the particular cases of Percipitations forasmuch as Precipitation is made manifold to wit according to the diversity of the Menstruum of the soluted matter and the Precipitating infusion Simple water though it do not well sustain the Particles of the mixture which it receives into it self by infusion or Cohesion yet hardly sends them away by Precipitation For the pores of this Menstruum are too open and loose wherefore the Precipitating matter doth not easily strike the little Bodies of the thing soluted in the mean time by reason of the more loose frame of the Menstruum some parts of the soluted Body sink down others of their own accord evaporate from whence that Liquor doth not long keep the Virtues or Tincture with which they are impregnated by another As some more thick parts and Terrestrial may be thrust down to the bottom or otherways separated we put in the Juice of Limons or some acid thing or boil in it the whites of Eggs to wit that whatsoever is thick might cleave to their viscous substance Spirituous and Sulphureous Menstrua being impregnated with the Sulphureous Particles of the thing soluted easily lay by their burthen for they are Precipitated by common or any Distilled water as is seen in Sulphureous and Resinous Tinctures of Sulphur Scammony Benzoin Frankincense and others of that kind prepared by the Spirit of Wine or Oyl of Turpentine which presently grow Milky by Water or Phlegm being infused For in these sort of solutions the pores are wholly possessed that they admit nothing besides the thing soluted and besides both the Liquor and soluted Matter are so thin that they easily give place to any thing else being infused When Menstruas of this kind are filled with Saline Particles as we may observe in the Tinctures of the Salt of Corrals of Tartar and such like Precipitation does not presently succeed from common water but from an Acid Liquor as the Spirit of Vitriol Salt c. Saline Menstruas impregnated by the solutions of Stones or Metals are most easily Precipitated by Saline Particles and scarce by others The chief Precipitatory Liquor is the Salt of Tartar or of Herbs burnt to Ashes deliquated or melted for this strikes back the Particles of every soluted thing whatsoever and sends them headlong to the bottom to wit forasmuch as it passes through every where the little spaces of the solvent and sticking to the Contents increases them in bulk that they more easily fall out of the pores of the Menstruum bound also together with their own weight What fluid Salt as Vinegar Stygian waters c. dissolves the same a fixed Salt precipitates and on the contrary because Salt of Tartar being melted most excellently penetrates common Sulphur and receives the Tincture which then is precipitated by a fluid Salt viz. by the Spirit of Vitriol and the like which indeed does not happen by reason of the disagreeing Particles of the Salts and mutually opposing one another but for that the same are greatly of kin and rush into mutual Embraces for from hence the little grains of the thing soluted by reason of the cohering of both the Salts together being increased in bulk and weight are more
either being put into a Flux are by so strict a marriage joyned together that afterwards they are never to be pulled assunder There are many ways and diverse provisions of Vitrification to wit of Sal Alcali with Sand or a sandy matter fused together by a violent fire common Glass is made which is transparent both by reason of the abundance of Salt and of the clearness of the Sand for if you behold the little Sands of which Glass is made with a Microscope each of their little Globes appear as they were Glassie Gems clear and shining Wherefore Salt promotes the fusion of that clear matter by fire and then is admitted into its most strict embraces being fused Besides Glasses of diverse Colours and Consistences are made of Minium the Calx of Tinn Antimony and some other Minerals when the Sulphureous part doth first fly away fused now by themselves now with Flint or Sandy matter The reason of all which consists in this that Salt and Earth being most smally broken by a violent fusion of fire and being divided as to their least Particles catch hold of one another and so are bound together by the most strict bond of the mixture The Coalition or Coupling of these is never to be dissolved because there is wanting within in the mixture other Principles which might unlock the frame of the Subject yea Salt and Earth being joyned by the mediating fire do so intimately cohere that they affect not divorces of themselves nor suffer them from another The baking of Earthen Pots and Bricks is of kin to Vitrification or making of Glass whereby moist and soft Clay is stifned into a very stony hardness But in these there is greater plenty of Earth and less of Salt wherefore they are less brittle and not transparent Concerning these we say that by the fire mediating and as it were handying the smallest broken and divided Particles of Salt are married to every Particle of the Earthy matter and with them grow hard into as it were a stony substance and that not easily to be resolved Also in these kind of matters prepared by human Industry we imitate indeed with an excellent Artifice the Concretions of Bones and Stones made by Nature in divers Families of Animals Vegetables and Minerals As to what respects Congelation Salts of a diverse kind do often meet together and grow stiff into as it were a new substance But this happens many ways Of these some Salts being mixed together presently grow together into Crystals for the Acid Spirits of Minerals being added to the Salts of Tartar or those made of the incineration of Vegetables turn into a white Coagulum like Snow and with a spumeous or frothy Heat The reason of which is that the Particles of the Salt having gotten a Flux take hold of other Salts in the Spirit Alcalisate by melting but by reason of the first Particles of either being made unlike there arises a strife then from the same consociated in one that white settlement is made Not unlike the same manner these Acetous Spirits to wit of Vitriol Nitre Salt and others being mixed with Metals while they corrode them are Crystallised together with their Saline Particles so the Spirits of Vitriol Nitre also Stygian waters which are only Salts having gotten a Flux are formed into most elegant Crystals in the dissolving of Silver Iron Copper and other things For Salts even as Sulphur being loosned from the mixture dissolve other mixtures and greedily desire to be united with the Homogeneous Particles of the same Subject There is another manner of Congelation when Salts being mixed with some other matter are elevated by Sublimation out of their Subjects and then congeal the Particles of that new matter which they carry away with them and grow together with them like a Meteor on high after this manner the Salts of Vitriol Nitre and Sea-Salt being sublimated with Mercury are congealed as it were into a snowy substance The same being sublimed with Antimony go into a matter like Ice After this manner the Natural Congelations by which some Minerals and chiefly Vitriols and Sulphurs are begot in the Bowels of the Earth may be imitated For of Iron and Copper are prepared factitious Vitriols which are very like the Natural Of Antimony Sulphur is made which answers to an hair our common Sulphur in taking fire colour and smell for example pour Oyl of Vitriol to the height of a fingers breadth upon pulverised Antimony and let it be distilled in a Retort in a Sand Furnace a yellow Sulphur will be sublimed in the Neck of the Retort that cannot be discerned from the common Sulphur which is a sign that the Concretion of Sulphur is made in the Earth when some Sulphureous Mineral is corroded by the Salt of Vitriol whose Sulphureous parts are congealed by the same Salt This also is an Argument that Oyl of Sulphur which is separated by inkindling under a Bell from the Sulphureous matter is nothing else but Vitriolic Salt nor doth any thing differ from Oyl of Vitriol Artificial Congelation concludes instances and examples of Congelations to wit whereby common water or any Liquors being put over the fire or in an Hot House are suddenly congealed into Ice 't is a common way and vulgarly known Salt being mixed with Snow and Ice and agitated or shaken in a Vessel put into water suddenly the water about the sides of the Vessel will be frozen This will be done if you make tryal of it either with common Salt or Sea-Salt Nitre or also with Vitriol Alum Sal Armoniac or Mercury Sublimate For Salt of every kind being put to Snow or Ice loosens their mixtures and sends away the Nitrous and Congelative Particles from the Subjects which presently being immersed in the neighbouring water Congeal it as if they were freshly blown from the North. What is more admirable let a dish with Snow be placed over hot Coals and in the middle of the Snow put a Glass full of water as the Snow is melted by degrees by the fire the water shall be frozen for the Nitrous Particles being driven away by the heat by their departure they are dashed against the neighbouring water and congeal it And thus much for FERMENTATION in general and briefly of its various parts it had been almost an infinite Labour and from our purpose to heap up instances in so diffuse a thing Those hitherto brought however chosen out of Natural Philosophy were fit to wait upon the following Medical dissertation that we may more happily know the Original Progress and State as also the Remedies and Cure of Motions and Mutations in Causes which variously happen to all kind of Bodies and somwhat respecting the Tumults which from thence are begot in the human Body from the blood being irritated and the rest of the humors to which exercise God willing we will now proceed FINIS THE PREFACE To the Friendly Reader TO Institute in this Age a new Doctrine of Feavers
in which Spirits for that they are very nimble continually strive to expand themselves and to fly away but being intangled by the more thick Particles of the rest they are detained in their flight And being detained after this manner they toss about break to pieces and very much subtilise the more thick little Bodies by which they are hindered they volatilise the Salt otherwise fixed by a most minute kneading and by the adhesion of it they perfectly dissolve the Sulphur compacted in it self and not miscible with the rest and boil it in the Serum They break the Earth even to its smallest parts and mingle it with the rest But in the mean time by the striking and molding the Salt and the Sulphur Effluvia's of heat plentifully proceed which being mixed with the rest and on every side diffused increase the motion of the Fermentation And after this manner all being most minutely broken and diluted with watery Particles they constitute the Liquor of the Blood which whilst in the Vessels as Wine shut up in a Pipe continually ferments and according to all its Particles is in perpetual motion But the Fermentation of Wine and of Blood differs in this that in Wine there is no wasting of the old parts and a coming again of new but the Liquor being shut up in the Vessel remains still the same but 't is otherwise in Blood in which some parts are continually destroyed and in their place others are always generated anew In Wine the times of crudity maturation and defection are distinct and are successively performed in the whole In Blood that threefold state is celebrated at the same time and by parts Fermentation being once begun in Wine is continued even to the end but in Blood because it is washed still with crude Juices it ought still to be renewed by which means the Nutritious Particles not of kin are assimilated to the rest of the Latex wherefore for this work besides the Fermentation once begun in the blood there is need of some Ferments which may continue the same otherwise about to leave off That Ferments are required for the making of Blood this is an Argument that when they are wanting by Nature they are with good success supplyed by the work of Art for fixed Salts Alcaly Salt Extracts Digestives Openers and especially Chalybeate Remedies help for this reason that as it were by a certain Ferment they restore anew the weak or almost extinct Ebullition or Boiling of the Blood As to what respects the Natural Ferments very many may certainly be formed and in divers parts or hid in the Bowels for any humor in which the Particles of Salt Sulphur or Spirit being much exalted are contained puts on the Nature of a Ferment after this manner the flowring or dregs of Beer or new Wine being kneaded with Meal and the mass kept to a sowrness come under this rank by which new Beer and the like Liquors as also the mass of Bread are most excellently Fermented In like manner in the Ventricle a sowrish humour participating of exalted Salt there helps concoction and in the Spleen the feculencies of the Blood from Salt and Earth being exalted go into a Ferment How much vigor comes to the Blood from the Womb and Genital parts appears from hence because by the privation or evil disposition of them follow in Maids the Green sickness in men barrenness or loss of virility want of Beard and a shrill voice But the chief Ferment that serves for sanguification is established in the Heart for this is the chief fire-place in which the cruder Particles of the Chyme are as it were inkindled and acquire a volatileness which thing may be confirmed by many reasons but especially by its effects which we suffer in the precordia as often as the Blood ferments more or less than it ought to do for when it is too much inkindled in the Heart it is agitated impetuously as it were by fires put under it the signs of whose immoderate Ebullition are a deep pulse and vehement then almost an intolerable heat in the Precordia with a vehement thirst on the other side when the Fermentation of the blood is lessened in the Heart we are affected with an anhelous and difficult respiration upon any motion as may be perceived in the Dropsie Cachexia and Yellow Jaundice the reason of which is not because the Lungs are stuffed or filled full of a tough or clammy matter but because the blood doth not rightly ferment in that Repository of Fermentation wherefore being fallen into its Bosom it is not presently Rarified nor doth it soon leap forth into the Lungs but being apt to stagnate and remain there causes an oppression of the Heart it self for the helping of which frequent breathing is made that the blood being let forth into the Lungs succour might be brought to it but if by motion or exercise the blood be more provoked into its Ventricle than can be derived by respiration or the pulse into the Pneumonic Vessels there is danger of choaking The like happens in those that are dying when the pulse is very small and the blood being heaped up in the Heart for want of Fermentation begins to stagnate and to clodder we then breath deeply with a noise and elevation of the breast to wit the blood with the ultimate endeavour of Nature and the whole force of the Lungs as long as it is able to be done is emptied forth into the Lungs lest residing in the Heart it should wholly choak it Therefore Motion and Heat in the Blood depend chiefly on two things viz. partly on its own proper disposition and constitution by which it being forged very greatly with active Principles of Spirits Salt and Sulphur of its own accord swells up or grows turgid in the Vessels even as Wine in the Ton and partly on the Ferment implanted in the Heart which very much rarifies the Liquor passing through its Bosom and makes it to leap forth with a frothy heat that the blood which is quietly instilled to the Heart through the Veins running gently like a River from thence leaping forth through the Arteries like a Torrent with noise and rage might be carried forward to all the parts of the whole Body By what means this is done though it is not easie to explicate Mechanically yet the manner and some not improbable reasons of this thing are delivered by most Learned men Ent Cartes and others They suppose indeed as it were a fire to be set in the Chimny of the Heart which presently inkindles the blood infused through the Veins even as a flame put to Wine burns it which being so inkindled by its deflagration like lightning passes most swiftly through the Arteries so that heat a most rapid motion and Effluvia sent by Perspiration are wont to proceed from the accension of the blood in the Heart only Hogelandus affirms that there is a Ferment hid in the Bosom of the Heart that compels the
day by the space of some hours and sometimes also come after it But in truth this objection is taken away if the times of intermission be computed not by days but by hours for so the intervals which but now seemed to be now sooner now longer protracted will appear for the most part equal by this Rule forasmuch as in respect of the day it is said a Tertian Feaver somtimes prevents the wonted time of its accession two three or more hours or comes after it in the mean time every circuit exactly repeats or comes again every time after so many hours Wherefore the chief differences of Intermitting Feavers consist in this only that the time of the accession in one Feaver comes more swiftly and in another more slowly viz. now at twenty four hours distance now at thirty four now at seventy or the like From what hath been said unless I am deceived it clearly appears what the Effervescency of the Blood is which constitutes the fit of an Intermitting Feaver from whence the fore-runners of cold and shaking and lastly what may be the reason of the intermission and of the set periods But that these and many other appearances of this distemper depend upon the evil disposition of the Blood and because of the depravation of the nutritious Juice and not from humor lurking in some mine will yet more manifestly appear from the collation of the signs and symptoms which are to be met with worthy of note in this distemper then secondly from the Procatartic or more remote causes being truly weighed which are wont to induce this distemper and thirdly and lastly from the ways of the Crisis and Cures by which this Disease either ceases of its own accord or is driven away by the help of Medicines First Among the Signs the Pulse and Urine deserve the chief consideration The Pulse the cold fit coming on is very rare and low which clearly argues the Heat and Vital Spirits in the Blood to be as it were overwhelmed by some crude matter not easily combustible just as a fire inkindled on the Hearth and then covered with green wood glows very slowly and flames forth little which afterwards the crude humor being blown away breaks forth into an open and very strong flame so also the Blood the crude matter which is in Flux being somthing overcome or dispersed is very much inkindled and what remains in the Blood is burnt up when fermenting with the Particles of it and induces a most violent heat with thirst wherefore the Blood growing impetuously hot is urged with a vehement and most swift Pulse otherwise it being too much heaped together in the Heart might cause the danger of choaking As to the Urine that is imbued especially in a Tertian Feaver with a deep colour and as it were inflamed also when the Contents are wanting which seems to denote a scorching of the Blood and too adust temper moreover in this Distemper different from others the Urine for the most part is ill when the Patient is pretty well and on the contrary forasmuch as all the time of the intermission it is at a great distance from its natural state it becomes filled with a red colour and thick being exposed to the cold and lays down a plentiful sediment like to Bole-Armoniack which is of necessity to be so done because in the whole interval of the remission the Feaverish matter is circulated with the Blood and there rises to maturity with a secret increase But in the middle of the fit when the heat and burning are at the greatest the Urine is laudable and comes more near to the natural viz. the Fermentative matter being sent to the Circumference of the Body The symptoms preceding the fit confirm the same thing for many hours before the fit begins a perturbation of the humors and blood is perceived an Headach Vertigo sparkling of the Eyes unquiet Sleep c. which plainly shew the Blood first infected with the Fermenting matter and the assault of the fit to be only so long deferred until the mass of the Blood is filled to a swelling up with the same kind of matter The fore-runners of the approach of the fit are now a paleness at the ends of the Fingers or Toes or in the Nails somtimes a Convulsion or numness now a coldness and pain in the Loins and Thighs and somtimes a shivering and trembling invade the whole Body which clearly shew the Blood in the Arteries and Veins and also the thin Liquor in the Nervous parts first to conceive the motion of Fermentation and this Effervescency not to be excited from any other fire-place or mine If it be objected that the sick are most often infested with Vomiting about the time of the fit from whence it may seem to be concluded that the chiefest hurtful matter is established in the Ventricle and in the first passages especially when this distemper is chiefly cured by the timely taking of a Vomit I confess very great Vomitings are somtimes stirred up in the fit of an intermitting Feaver but this more often happens because in the Feaverish shivering the membranes of the whole Body are pulled wherefore the Ventricle also as it is a very Nervous part is distempered with a Convulsion and having from thence contracted a Spasm casts forth upwards whatsoever lurks in its bosom Besides if that the Choler-bearing Vessels swell up with Bile or Choler by the same Convulsion also of the Viscera the Bile is pressed forth into the Duodenum by the Galish passage and is emptied into the Ventricle and there by its fierceness provokes yet to more cruel Vomiting wherefore for the most part the vomiting which is excited for this reason follows the shaking only But that the Choler was not in the Stomach before the fit troubled it but only pressed forth from the Choleduct passage by the Spasm and Convulsive motions of the Viscera and poured forth into the Ventricle appears from hence because if a Vomit be given in the midst of the interval between the two fits little or nothing of bilous matter will be drawn forth besides this bitter humor is of that fierceness that it cannot be long contained in the Ventricle but presently it will procure the pain of the Heart and Vomiting Besides this sort of Vomiting excited in the shaking fit somtimes a Vomiting is provoked in the midst of the burning fit or in the sweat the cause of which is the redundancy of the bilish humor in the Blood of which if there be greater plenty than what diluted with Serum may be sent forth by Sweat a great part of it whilst the Blood is circulated about the crevises of the Liver is laid aside in the Choleduct Vessels which when being filled to a distention exonerate themselves and send away the Choler to the Intestines and Ventricle and there a Convulsion being presently stirred up somtimes Vomiting is provoked and somtimes the Belly becomes loose and the Stools liquid In this Year
any part it grows more tumultuous in the other parts and so by this perturbation stirred up in the whole Blood the spontaneous Effervescency of the Liquor being about to follow is hindred But that the Fit by this or ony other means being once hindred does not afterwards easily return the reason is Because if this Feaverish and depraved matter be contained longer in the Blood it is afterwards cocted and in some measure ripened and therefore the Blood does not as before altogether pervert either this or the provision coming to it anew but begins to digest and assimilate it besides when the Fit is once stop'd its custom is broke by the instinct of which alone Nature oftentimes repeats those her Errors for as when it has once made a fault it is wont more readily to do ill after the same way so when it once omits its fault it more easily accustoms it self to do better The dogmatical cure is instituted for the most part by Vomitory and Purging Medicines also with the letting of Blood with which the sick are miserably tormented and the Disease seldom profligated or driven away that deservedly this Distemper is called the shame of Physicians but Tertian Feavers are sometimes carried away by a Vomit given just before the coming of the Fit which indeed happens as I think for the reason before mentioned For I have said That the cause of a Tertian Feaver is an evil disposition of the Blood whereby it passes into a four and bilous Nature and therefore it doth not rightly assimilate the nutritious Juice brought to it but changes it into a Fermentative matter wherefore if the Bile or Choler be copiously drawn forth of the Blood that Cholerick and hot intemperance is very much taken away and that Fermentative power ceases of it self But Emetick Medicines do chiefly perform this for if they operate-strongly a Convulsion is not only brought to the bottom of the Ventricle but also the Duodenum with an inverse motion is drawn together towards the Pylorus and the Choler by a continual thrusting forward being squees'd forth from the Choleduct passage is poured into the Ventricle which is presently cast out by Vomit which being copiously performed the galish bladder is almost emptied and after that it becomes a receptacle that draws forth and separates the bilous humor or the particles of adust Sulphur and Salt plentifully poured into the Blood the next Fit sometimes is by this means prevented not because the mine of the Disease is extirpated by Vomit but because an Evacuation and motion is excited contrary to the Feaverish motion and for that reason the spontaneous Effervescency of the Blood is prevented Also by this means sometimes the Disease is taken away after the Fit because this way the Blood is fully cleared from the bilous humor It is worthy observation that in a Quartan Feaver Vomits profit nothing and seldom in a Tertian unless administred presently at the beginning whilst the Feaverish disposition is yet light and not fully confirmed Concerning Intermitting Feavers in general there yet remain some Irregulars of them to be explicated which vary from the wonted manner for unless these unusual appearances be solved this our Hypothesis will seem to be defective and to halt in one part First therefore they are wont somtimes to lack the cold or shaking fit This Intermitting Feaver is frequent in Autumn whose fits are wont to exercise the sick only with heat and that most Violent and in many they come with great Vomiting but no Sweat or Cold then after four or five periods upon the coming on of the fit the sick are wont to be chil and presently after to quake and in the declination to sweat The reason of this was because from the very hot Summer the Constitution of the Blood was become sharp and very much burnt Wherefore the Particles of the crude Juice being commixed with it were presently terrified or made hot and scorched that they did not at first like new Beer grow hot with an Acrimony and then afterwards blaze forth but a turgescency being stirred up like dry wood laid upon a fire presently the whole took fire and broke forth into flames but afterwards the Liquor of the Blood being fired by several fits became less torrid that the depraved Alible Juice was not presently torrified but passed into a Nitrous matter and fermenting with a sharpness which at first swelling up induced the sense of cold to the whole Body When the cold fit was begun for the most part Sweat concluded it which indeed hapned because the Blood being made more watery is more easily resolved into vapour with the Feaverish matter even as a watery Liquor is more easily drawn forth by distillation than what is Oily or of a more thick consistency It often happens in the declination of this Disease when the fits begin to lessen that the sense of cold and shaking by little and little are diminished and at length vanish and the fit only troubles the sick with a light burning The reason of which is because at this time the Blood being somwhat restored towards its natural state begins to concoct and ripen the crude juice so that a great part of it is assimilated but some Excrements being heaped together in the Blood bring forth as yet a light burning but when the Feaverish Particles do not participate of the Nitrous Acrimony the Fermentation of the Blood is induced without any shivering by which what was extraneous burns forth is either subdued or carried forth of doors Somtimes also in the declination of this Disease the fits appear without any burning only with a light cold The reason of which is because the Morbific matter being rather Nitrous than Sulphureous when it is in Flux does somwhat blunt the Natural Heat and by that means is dissipated and vanishes without any great deflagration There is yet a great doubt concerning the intervals of the periods which somtimes seem to be double in the same Feaver that the first Accession answers to the third and either perhaps comes in the morning and again the second to the fourth and both happen in the Evening and so forward wherefore the Feaver bearing this figure is wont to be named a double Tertian or Quartan of which it doth not easily appear how they should be done if the fits depend upon the evil disposition of the Blood and from thence on a Congestion to a Turgescency of the depraved Nourishing Juice for which cause they commonly affirm that this double figure is stirred up or draws its original from a double Nest or Mine but to me it seems most likely that in this case somtimes it happens for the Feaver to be simple and of one kind also its types or figures to be alike and all congruous one to another but the error to arise because the interstitia of the periods are not computed by hours but days For when as the beginnings of the fits are distant one from
Blood by this means readily casts forth its burthen now growing low and not having a more full increase yielded to it sometimes also a Deafness suddenly arising the Tertian Feaver has presently ceased to wit by reason of a continual translation of the Feaverish matter from the bosom of the Blood into the head If that the Tertian Feaver within a short time neither by the free accord of Nature declines by degrees that it doth clearly cease within seven or ten periods nor is cured by any of the aforesaid means nor is removed by the help of Medicine but that after ten or twelve Fits the sick are still grievously afflicted it will be a very hard task to cure it because the Blood from the continual heaping of the Feaverish matter and by the frequent burnings becomes at length so depraved that it concocts nothing truly for the nourishment of the Body and for the sustaining its strength neither is it able to shake thorowly out of its bosom the impurities and excrements whereby the Disease may make a Crisis or separation but in truth the same growing in strength every day the Blood besides its Dyscrasie or evil disposition begins to be hurt somewhat in its mixture wherefore more frequent Fits infest them nor does a perfect Remission come between but that the sick being very weak and languishing are almost continually Feaverish with thirst and heat when it is come to this pass unless they are succour'd by remedies from Art or that the change of the Place and Air bring timely help this Disease often ends in death As to its cure the method of healing is commonly directed to this one scope to wit that the mine of the Disease may be extirpated and that the Feaverish matter may be eradicated out of our Body without any cherisher remaining or fear of relapsing wherefore Vomits and Purges are diligently Instituted which when profiting nothing to the cure but that the Patients strength is very much broken the sick are left by the Physicians and the business is wholly committed to Nature The Intentions as it seems to me ought to be of this sort First a restitution of the Blood to its natural Temper Secondly a prevention of the depravation of the nourishing Juice as much as may be Thirdly an Inhibition of the Feaverish Fermentation that the Fit may not be excited And these Indications take place not only in a Tertian Feaver but in any other intermitting Feaver besides which yet are to be performed not by the same ways and remedies but by several according to the diversity of the Disease of the condition of the sick and of the symptoms chiefly urging However in the curing of this Disease there is more to be attributed to Nature and to a good order of Dyet or way of Living than to Physick 1. Concerning the first Intention to wit that the Blood may be reduced to its natural Temper Vomits letting of Blood and Purging are of great use especially if they be celebrated in the beginning of the Disease Vomitories help both for that they Purge the Ventricle that the first Concoction may be better performed and by that means the nourishing Chyme may be more purely supplyed for matter of the Blood but chiefly for that by plentifully pressing forth the Bile from the Choleduct passage they empty the Galish bag as by that means the Bile is poured forth more full from the mass of Blood and so the Blood is purified from the recrements of adust Salt and Sulphur The opening of a Vein cools and ventilates the Blood as by that means t is less torrified or scorched and is circulated more freely in the Vessels without danger of burning Also Purging plentifully draws forth and by provoking expresses or squeeses out the Bile from the galish Vessels and consequently from the mass of Blood For this end to wit the reduction of the Blood Digestives bring help the more temperate Vinegars or Acetous things forasmuch as they fuse and alter the Blood and do attemper its fervor Somtimes also the change of â—he Soil and Air notably amends the evil constitution of the Blood before all other Remedies whatsoever The second Intention is excellently performed by Dyet and an exact manner of living which in this Disease ought to be slender and sparing wherefore it is commonly said Starving is the best Remedy for this Disease and it appears by common experience that by a more spare eating the coming of the Ague fit is very often prolonged beyond its wonted Custom There are especially two things to be observed concerning Eating and Drinking The first that the food be slender that nothing Sulphureous or Spirituous be given for so the Conflagration of the Blood will be lessened then secondly that the Fit approaching or urging nothing of Aliment be taken wherefore in fasting the Fit is lighter and sooner finished As to the third thing proposed the Inhibition of the Feaverish Fit is instituted by Remedies which stay the Fermentation of the Blood But tho this Remedy seems Empirical and unmethodical and very failable to Physicians yet I have found these Feavers to be very often cured by this means when Medicines have profited nothing What they are and by what means without the suspicion of Witchcraft they afford help for the curing this Disease is before noted We shall here only advertise you that the use of these is most profitable after Physick and opening a Vein if there be need of it and unless these be rightly performed before-hand those other rarely stop the Fit But Vomiting Purging and breathing a Vein unless they be presently celebrated after the beginning yield little help yea more often are wont to hinder For whilst the Blood is strong in vital spirit its evil disposition may with easie labour be corrected or amended wherefore if the Bile about the beginning be copiously drawn forth or the Blood eventilated it is reduced to its natural Complexion but afterwards in the progress of this Disease the Spirit being now very much exhausted and the Salt and Sulphur too much exalted if these kind of Evacuations be administred they do more debilitate the disposition of the Blood and therefore it is clear by observation that the Tertian Feaver is rarely or never cured by these Remedies late administred and often passes into a Quotidian I my self have known some in the Spring time being strong in very good health from a more strong Emetick taken for prevention sake causing a violence by the Evacuation to have presently fallen into a Tertian Feaver and others for some time cured of this Feaver when they had taken a strong Purge for the carrying away of the remains of the Feaverish matter upon it to have fallen into a Relapse It may be readily said that the mine of the Disease being before at quiet was stirred up and brought into Act after this manner by the Medicine But if you consider this thing rightly it may rather be said that from the strong
is only a double Tertian and doth arise from a dispersed matter having gotten a twofold Nest to which I cannot assent and I suppose its begining is to be attributed to a peculiar Dyscrasie of the Blood In this the symptoms of cold and heat are more remiss but its fit is longer continued and oftentimes it is wont to last eighteen or twenty hours This Feaver for the most part follows a Tertian for when the Vital Spirit is very much flown away by the frequent deflagration of the Blood and the Feaverish disposition still remaining the Blood is made weaker it doth not concoct the nourishing Juice or ripen it but perverts almost the whole into a Fermentative matter wherefore it comes sooner to its increase and is gathered together to a plenitude of swelling up within double the time than at first But because the congested matter participates equally of crudity and adustion therefore the heat of the burning is lesser and more unequal and like green wood laid on the fire slowly burns for which reason the fit endures longer Somtimes it happens that a Quotidian Feaver doth arise without a Tertian going before viz. when a Feaverish disposition falls upon a Cacochymic Body or full of evil humors and stuffed with depraved Juices for then the Blood being poor in Spirits perverts in a greater measure the nutritious Juice and in a shorter time gathers to a fulness of swelling up But that which begins an every days Ague oftentimes changes its figure and becomes a Tertian just as a Tertian often goes into a Quotidian because between these Feavers and their causes there is a great vicinity and the constitution of the Blood being a little changed it makes a transition from one to another A Quotidian Intermitting Feaver is not so easily cured as a Tertian For whether it comes at first simple or follows upon another Intermitting Feaver it is still excited from a stronger cause and argues a greater dyscrasie of the Blood which will not presently give way to Remedies But also if this Feaver be of long continuance or comes upon another Chronical Disease it has most often adjoyned to it besides the taint of the Blood the infirmities of the inwards to wit the Blood being spoiled easily affixeth its impurities by degrees heaped up on the Viscera whilst it passes through their Meanders from hence it is that in a Quotidian Feaver the weight of the Ventricle an extension of the Hypochondria Obstructions or Tumors now of the Liver now of the Spleen or Mesentery are joyned together but these kind of distempers are not the cause of the Feaver as is commonly believed but only its product Wherefore in this Feaver besides the simple method of Cure which is shown in the Tertian many other intentions or coindications come under consideration to wit that the Ventricle be cleansed from its load of humors the stuffings of the Inwards freed Infirmities corroborated and that together with these the Dyscrasie of the Blood may be mended and the Accessions of the Feaver may be restrained must by all means be endeavoured from whence by reason of these kind of various intentions we come to the Cure by a longer way In this case Vomits if strength will bear them are of benefit before all other Medicines also Purges whereby the assiduous supply of Excrementitious matter may be drawn forth are often to be repeated Besides these digestive Remedies openers of Obstructions such as restore the Ferment of the Viscera and Blood and correct their evil dispositions are frequently to be administred Wherefore the fixed Salts of Herbs and their Extracts Acid Spirits of Minerals and somtimes preparations of Steel do very much help concerning these main things the task will be hard when by reason of the manifold evil many things are to be done together yet by reason of the assiduity of the Feaverish fit there is leisure for the sick to use few only In Distempers so complicated tho the reason of the method requires the impediments to be first removed and then to Cure the Disease yet I have known this kind of Feaver beset with many other distempers in a Body full of humors often Cured without method and by an Empirical way viz. after a light provision of the whole Ague-resisting Remedies being outwardly applyed have at first stopped the Feaverish fit that then there was time for the Curing the other distempers and more happy occasions of healing were granted I lately visited a Noble Lady who being long indued with a Cachectical habit of Body a month after her lying in being weak and languishing was taken with a quotidian Intermitting Feaver after six or seven fits of it her strength was so much cast down that she could scarce rise out of or sit up in her Bed nor able to take never so little Food tho very slender but upon it most grievous molestations were raised up in her stomach besides the Region of her Ventricle and left Hypochondrium was wholly beset with a hard shining tumor and cruelly painful by reason of her strength being mightily cast down there was no place left for Evacuation but the use of Clysters also her Stomach being very weak loathed all other Remedies unless very grateful and only in a very small quantity In this difficult case circumscribed between narrow limits of Curing I counselled these few things to wit that twice in a day she should take this mixture viz. The magisterial water of Earth-worms two Ounces of Elixer Proprietatis twelve drops Moreover I ordered to be applyed to her Ventricle a Fomentation of the Leaves of Sea-Wormwood Centaury Southernwood with the Roots of Gentian boiled in White-Wine in an open Vessel also that after the Fomentation a Cake of Tosted-Bread and dipped in the same Liquor should be worn upon her Stomach besides Ague-resisting Medicines were ordered for her wrists and with these Remedies only she mist her Ague fit on the third day and remained free from it afterwards then by the use of Chalybeat Remedies she became perfectly well within a short time CHAP. VI. Of a Quartan Feaver IN a Quartan Feaver the period is longer than in the rest to wit which is extended to the fourth day inclusively also its continuance uses to be longer and its cure harder because this Disease is protracted for many months yea oftentimes for years and seldom or scarce at all is cured by Medicines The Fit for the most part begins with cold and shaking to which a very troublesome heat succeeds but more remiss than in a Tertian Sweat for the most part concludes the Fit At the first coming of the Disease the Fits are more grievous and very infestous and keep the sick in their Beds yea they make them lose their strength and vigour of Body But afterwards the trouble is more easily born so that the Fits are suffer'd out of Bed and somtimes in a Journy or being about any business If it continue long it induces the Scurvy or Hypochondriac
be profitably taken in distilled Water or Whey also a clear infusion of it the more thick substance being cast away produces the like effect but of shorter durance I have taken care to reduce this powder into Pills with the mucilage of Tragacanth with a little cost to the sick to be given to some after what manner soever it is taken unless to those loathing and abhorring every Medicine it causes no manifest evacuation and takes away the Fit almost from all neither is it only in a Quartan Feaver but in the other kinds of intermitting Feavers to wit in every one where there is any remission coming between given with good success It is commonly ordered that a gentle Purge should be taken before this but in some who are very weak and keep their Beds this powder being taken carefully without any previous Medicine hath procured laudable effects In the mean time I will ingeniously confess that I have not seen an intermitting Feaver quite cured by this Bark once taken nay rather the Fits not only of a Quartan but of a Tertian and Quotidian Feaver wholly overcome easily by other Remedies seeming to be driven away by this powder have constantly return'd after a short time For this Reason they who suppress intermitting Feavers otherways easily curable no necessity urging them by this Medicine for a little while only seem to institute a deceitful Medicine and do no more than those who skin over a rotten Ulcer which will shortly break out again in truth in some cases the use of this will be requisite viz. when by the too great assiduity of the Fits the spirits of the sick are cast down truces are by this means procured by which Nature may recollect her self and afterwards may be more able to fight against this potent Enemy also that a Quartan Feaver during the Autumn and Winter may pass over with little trouble this Bark is profitably administred But those who expect a longer resting time from the assaults of this Feaver are bid to take this powder in greater quantity and more often to wit that they should take two drams three several times one after another whether the Fits return or no by this means they remain longer free yet they retain within the Enemy still tho asleep If it be demanded concerning the Nature of this Bark and the virtue in suppressing the fits of Intermitting Feavers it is not to be dissembled that 't is very difficult to explicate the causes of these kind of effects and the manner of working because there is not found as yet in any Subject besides the like efficacy but from a singular experiment a general Reason is not to be rightly fitted however from the appearances diligently Collated we will deduce some Theses in order which may make at least some steps towards if not obtain the verity of this thing It is to be noted therefore in the first place that this Medicine being inwardly taken especially exerciseth its force and energy on the mass of Blood because it does not at all irritate the Viscera neither causes in them any excretion or trouble besides whilst it communicates its virtue to the Blood it doth not at all put forth Antifeaverish property wherefore not always the next following fit but the second or the third is prevented by the same being taken and for this reason that it may sooner affect the Blood it is a usual thing to drink the Liquor very much impregnated with the same powder for so its Particles are more easily conveyed into the mass of Blood Secondly the virtue of this Bark being impressed on the Blood stays in it for some time and that either shorter or longer according as either a greater or lesser portion of the Medicine was taken inwardly for the Particles of this being confused with the Blood are a long while circulated with it and by how much the longer they stay by so much the more they affect its mass and produce a longer effect for though Aliments and some other things taken in for that they are presently overcome by the native heat put off whatever they have of virtue within some few hours this being then assimilated or sent forth adoors they cease to operate yet some Medicines being taken inwardly because they are not easily tamed nor cast forth of doors presently by an irritation stirred up they remain for many days very active and hold a long time the Juices and the Blood in this or that manner of Fermentation this may be observed of some Medicines also of Poysons and Counterpoysons the once or twice taking of which for some days is wont to affect our Bodies for a longer time for 't is an usual thing with Cathartic Medicines when they work little by Vomit or Stool to break forth after many weeks outwardly in Pustles and Wealks yea if Death be avoided from the drinking of Poyson every body knows that the virulency will lie hid a long time in the Blood and Juices In like manner also this powder and perhaps very many other things inwardly taken altho they seem asleep yet continue to act on the Spirits and Humors Thirdly altho this Medicine acts immediately on the Blood and Humors yet it takes not wholly away the Feaverish Dyscrasie implanted in them for as soon as its force is consumed and all its Particles are flown away from the mixture of the Blood the Distemper being only suppressed for a time at length rises up and repeats its fits after its wonted manner but forasmuch as Nature by the space of this cessation becomes stronger therefore after the Relaps the fits not as before but on the third or fourth day according to the first figure of the Disease are wont to return Fourthly It is remarked that this Remedy does not stop the Feaverish accessions as the ordinary Ague-resisters or Febrifuges by fixing or also by fusing the Blood for then the next fit always and not the second or third following after is prevented According to which positions that we may instead of a Corollary subjoin some things concerning the manner it self of working whereby this Medicine seems to act we say it is most likely that when the Particles proceeding from the same being taken are throughly mixed with the Blood they compel it into a certain new Fermentation by which whilst the Particles of the Blood are continually agitated they are wholly hindered that they cannot heap up any Excrementitious matter or enter into Feaverish turgescencies for as after the biting of a mad dog or stinging of any venemous Creatures the Blood it self and nervous Juice are a long while impoysoned yet lest they should conceive presently great irregularities Counter-poysons being taken do hinder their Liquors by retaining them in another Fermentation the use of which if so long continued whilst the virulent little Bodies are quite flown away no horrid symptom is to be feared from that evil being contracted but if the strength of the Remedy being too sparingly
for some time and its mass is aggravated with the Recrements or burnt Particles which increase the fermentation The state or standing of the Disease is when after the Blood has sufficiently burned forth and its burning now remits the long vexed Blood like a noble wrestler when his adversary is a little yielding recollecting all his strength endeavours a bringing under and a separation of that adust matter with which it is filled to a plenitude and also a Crisis or separation being once or oftner attempted an expulsion of it forth of doors The Declination succeeds after the Crisis or secretion in which the Blood grows less hot with a languishing fire and either the vital Spirit being as yet strong overcomes what is left of that adust and extraneous matter and by degrees puts it forth until it is restored to its former vigour or whilst the same Spirit is too much depressed the liquor of the Blood is still stuffed with adust recrements and therefore becomes troubled and depauperated that it neither assimilates the nourishing Juice nor is made fit for an accension in the heart for the sustaining the lamp of Life 1. When therefore any one is taken with a putrid Feaver the first assault is for the most part accompanied with a shivering or horror for when the Blood begins to grow hot there is a flux made and a swelling up of the crude Juice freshly gathered together in the Vessels even as in the fit of an intermitting Feaver heat and somtimes sweat follow upon the shivering by which the matter of that crude Juice is inkindled and dispersed afterwards a certain remission of the heat follows but yet from the fire still glowing in the Blood a lassitude and perturbation with thirst and waking continually infest A pain arises in the Head or Loins partly from the ebullition of the Blood and partly from the motion of the nervous Juice being hindred also a nauseousness or a vomiting offends the Stomach because the Bile flowing out of the Choleduct Vessels is poured into it and a Convulsion from Vapors and from the sharp Juice brought thorow the Arteries is excited in the Stomach In the mean time altho the heat be more increased and inequal it is not yet strong because the Blood as yet abounding with crude Juices is only inkindled by parts and therefore burns out a little and then ceases and at last returns like a flame that is made by wet and moist straw In this condition for some days the Disease remains the Urine is more red than usual by reason of the Salt and Sulphur being more dissolved and infected with the serum It still retains its Hypostasis or substance because the Coction and assimilation are not altogether depraved it appears greater than ordinary in its sediment which is yet easily separated and falls to the bottom of its own accord At this time they may let Blood and administer Physick by Vomit or Purge so it be done without any great perturbation of the Blood it often happens from these kinds of evacuations timely performed that a greater increase of the Disease is prevented and the Feaver as it were killed in the shell The limits of this stadium or space are variously determined according to the temper of the sick and other accidents of the Disease somtimes the first rudiments of this Feaver are laid in a day or two somtimes the beginning of the Disease is extended to more if in a corpulent Body full of Spirit Juice and hot Blood or it happen in a youthful Age and very hot season if the disposition to a Feaver be potent and the evident cause coming thereupon be strong the Feaverish heat being once begun quickly invades all the Blood and on the second or third day having rooted it self the Disease arises to its increase but if the Feaverish indisposition be begun in a less hot Body a Phlegmatic temper or a melancholy and in old age or a cold season the entrance is longer and scarce exceeds the limits of this first stadium or space before the sixth or seventh day 2. The increase of this Disease is computed from what time the burning of the Feaver hath possest the whole mass of Blood that is the Sulphur or the oily part of the Blood having been long heated and growing fervent in parts at length like Hay laid up wet breaks forth after a long heating all at once into a flame the Blood at this time cruelly boils up and very much inkindled in the Heart by its deflagration diffuses as it were a fiery heat thorow the whole Body and especially in the precordia hence the sick complain of intolerable thirst besides a pain of the head pertinacious wakings and oftentimes a delirium Phrensie and Convulsive motions infest all food whatsoever is loathsom either it is cast up again by Vomit or if retained being baked by too much heat it goes into a Feaverish matter besides there happens a bitterness of the mouth an ingrateful savor a scurfiness of the Tongue a vehement and quick Pulse an Urine highly red and for the most part troubled full of Contents without Hypostasis or laudable sediment when the Blood is at this time almost wholly inkindled by its deflagration it begets great plenty of adust matter as it were ashes remaining after a Fire with which the serum being very much stuffed renders the Urine thick and big with Contents Also the Blood being filled with a load of this to a rising up is irritated into Critical motions by which this Feaverish matter if it may be done being brought under and separated is shut out of doors and indeed this state of the Feaver induces that in which a Judgment is discerned between Nature and the Disease the strife being as it were brought to an aequilibrium and therefore the evacuation which follows from thence is called the Crisis The state therefore or height of a putrid Feaver is that time of the Disease in which Nature endeavors a Crisis or an expulsion of the adust matter remaining after the deflagration of the Blood To this is required in the first place that the Blood hath now for the most part burned forth because in the midst of its burning Nature is not at leisure for a Crisis nor is it ever prosperously endeavored nor in truth procured by Art with good Success Secondly that the spirit of the Blood doth first by some means subdue this adust matter or Caput mortuum separate it from the profitable and render a period to the expulsion for otherways tho a copious evacuation happens Nature will never be free from her burthen Thirdly that this matter be gathered together in such a quantity that by its turgency it may irritate Nature to a Critical expulsion If these rightly concur a perfect Crisis of the Disease for the most part succeeds in which even as in the Fits of intermitting Feavers a Flux being arisen whatsoever extraneous and heterogeneous thing is contained in the bosom
of the Blood is exagitated then being separated and involved with serum it is thrust forth of doors when any thing of these is wanting the Crisis for the most part is in vain and not to be trusted and rarely cures the Disease For if in the midst of the burning before the Blood hath sufficiently burned forth an evacuation happens by Sweat a Lask Bleeding or any other way the adust matter is not all separated or else if for the present it be drawn away for the greatest part the Blood more largely flaming out presently substitutes new and will renew the Feaver again that seemed to be vanquished If that this matter not being yet overcome nor brought to a fulness of rising up be irritated to an expulsion by Nature an imperfect and partial Crisis only follows and when the first indeavor of excretion shall be in vain rarely a perfect and curatory succeeds after that one time The Crisis in a continual Feaver is almost the same thing as the Fit of the intermitting Feavers For as in this when the mass of Blood is filled to a fulness of swelling up with the particles of depraved alible Juice and fitted for maturation there are made a Flux secretion and expulsion out of doors of that matter so in a continual Feaver from the deflagration of the Blood and alible Juice very many little Bodies of adust matter are gathered together with which when the Blood is aggravated and is at leasure a little from the burning it overcomes them by little and little separates them and then a Flux being raised up endeavors to cast them out of doors wherefore as the Fits of intermitting Feavers come not but at a set time and after so many hours so also the Critical motions happen from the fourth day to the fourth or perhaps from the seventh day to the seventh for in this kind of space the Blood being inkindled burns forth and with its burning makes an heap of adust matter as it were ashes which being troublesom to Nature by their irritation induces Critical motions Therefore what some affirm is not true That the Crises depend altogether on the influences of the Moon and Stars and follow their Aspects Quadrations Oppositions or Conjunctions because the Critical evacuations are only determined by the gathering together and the swelling up of the adust matter For as soon as the Blood is at leasure from the deflagration and being filled with the particle of that adust matter is able in some measure to overcome and separate them presently a Flux or swelling up being risen it endeavors to thrust them forth by any way which for that they are easily to be separated from the Blood and the breathing places of the skin are sufficiently open being involved with serum are sent away with sweat And this is the best way of the Crisis which if it rightly succeeds very often wholly and at one time perfectly cures the Disease without danger of relapse To this next follows the Crisis which which is endeavored by the Hemorrhage or bleeding at nose for this matter as it were the flowring being moved with the Blood if it be not cast forth by sweat by reason of a less free transpiration is transferred from the heart into some remote part and frequently is cast into the head by the impetuous rapture of the Blood where if a passage be open from the private holes opening into the nostrils the morbific matter leaps forth of doors with a portion of the Blood But otherways being oftentimes fixed in the Brain brings a phrensie delirium or other grievous and tedious Diseases of the head yea t is to be observed that almost in all continual Feavers whatsoever when they are hardly or imperfectly cured so that the Blood is infected for a long time with the Feaverish matter or adust recrements that from thence the nervous Juice as it seems contracting an infection pertinacious distempers to wit watchings also Deliriums Tremblings Convulsive motions and long adhering weakness of the nervous parts follow Also there are other ways of Crisis by which Nature endeavors not at once and wholly but by little and little and by parts to expel the Feaverish matter now by Urine now by Vomit or Stool now by breakings forth and buboes or biles by what way soever that it may be done with a good event it is required that the deflagration of the Blood be past and that the adust matter be concocted and rendered fit to be separated The state or standing of the Disease is therefore not one and simple nor always happens after the same manner but with a various difference of symptoms and tending to far different events But by a prudent Physician a Prognostication is expedient to be given in what space of time the Disease will come to its height or standing and what end it will have If the Feaver be vehement from the beginning and suddenly invades the whole mass of Blood with a burning if it urges constantly and equally without any remission with a ferocity of symptoms for the most part the Blood will so much burn forth in the space of four days that the adust matter will arise to a fulness of swelling up for the making a Crisis But if its beginnings are more slow and the accension of the Blood often interrupted the Feaver will come to its acme or height about the seventh day If it should begin yet more remiss the standing of the Disease is wont to be drawn out to the Eleventh or Fourteenth day In the mean time it is to be noted that as the Fits of intermitting Feavers return at set times so the Critical motions in continual Feavers but for the most part they observe the fourth day for altho the Crisis may be perfectly prorogued to the fourteenth seventeenth or perhaps the twentieth day because all things requisite to the full curing of the Disease do not sooner concur yet in the time betwixt more light motions happen by which the Feaverish matter arising leisurely to an increase is a little emptied and as it were cut off by parts until Nature may be able to enter upon its more full discussion but when the great provision of the adust matter in the burning Blood is heaped up in the Vessels Nature unless otherways disturbed on every fourth day being tyred with the plenty of matter trys to shake off part of its burthen by a certain swelling up wherefore for the most part the Critical motions happen on the fourth seventh eleventh and fourteenth days not by the direction of the Planets but by reason of the necessity of Nature As to the event whether the Crisis shall be good or not certain foreknowledges are taken from the strength of the sick the Pulse Urine and other signs and concourse of symptoms If the sick appear with some strength the fire of the Feaver urging hath a strong and equal Pulse if the Urine be of a moderate consistency with some sediment with a
separation of the Contents and easily falling to the bottom if the Disease shall make its progress without great Vomiting Watchings Phrensie Convulsive motions and suspition of malignity the standing will be laudable and to be expected with a good Crisis if the contrary to these happen viz. that presently strength is cast down and that the sick is obnoxious to frequent Swoonings Convulsions a delirium with a weak intermitting or unequal Pulse if pertinacious watchings intollerable thirst and Vomiting continually infest if the Urine be thick and troubled without sediment or sinking down of the parts if the burning yet troubling Nature is provoked to critical evacuations a very dangerous state of the Disease is imminent nor may there be hoped for any thing of good from the Crisis Concerning the Crisis of a Putrid Feaver we will here subjoyn a particular Prognostication in which though the things which from the beginning did appear might promise a most desired event a very deadly one is imminent I have often observed in a Putrid Feaver which begins slowly and with a small burning if the Urine be red and when rendred presently troubled and thick which is not precipitated neither by the cold nor of its own accord puts down a sediment and if at the same time the sick lie for many days without sleep tho quiet and that they toss not themselves up and down their condition is in danger and the suspition will be more if in the mean time they are neither troubled with a strong Feaver nor infested with thirst or with a very troublesom heat because those distempered after this manner are incident for the most part about the state of the Disease to a delirium Convulsive motions and oftentimes fall into madness from which they are quickly cast into death and when these symptoms arise the Urine is altered from a thick and red into a thin and more pale Urine It seems in this case the mass of Blood beink taken with the Feaver not to grow turgid so with Sulphur exalted to the height as Wines or Beer are wont in their Effervescencies but the Salt and the terrestrial Lee or Dregs being stirred together with the Sulphur to be affected after the same way as Wines and Beer being suddenly disturbed with Thunder and growing sour wherefore altho the Blood does not presently conceive an immoderate heat from the Feaver yet its disposition being changed it wholly depraves the Juice destinated to the Brain and Nervous parts and therefore about the beginning of the Feaver pertinacious watchings happen then the state growing urgent the oeconomy of the whole Nervous stock is perverted Melancholic persons are most obnoxious to these sort of Feavers in whom the unruliness of the Sulphur are a little restrained by the Salt and Earthy dregs being stirred up with it notwithstanding which all being leisurely carried forth break forth afterwards with a greater slaughter When the Disease shall come to the standing either the business is done at one conflict and from thence with a manifest declination there is made a translation to life or death or there are made frequent skirmishes between Nature and the Disease and critical motions are often attempted before the victory is yielded to either party 1. As to the first If after the Blood hath sufficiently burned forth with a good precursion of signs and symptoms and its burning hath remitted the adust matter being equally brought under and subtilated arises from a full increase to the motion of boiling up and Nature being free from any impediment or depression is strong with able strength enough for the decertation or strife the Feaverish matter for the most part is exterminated at one motion of its flowring or putting forth and the Blood being freed from its fellowship and infection soon recovers its former vigour 2. But if Nature is stirred up to a critical motion before the Blood hath perfectly burnt forth or that adust matter is prepared for excretion altho as to the rest things are in a moderate condition yet from hence but an imperfect Crisis follows by which indeed somthing of the load or burthen with which the Blood is oppressed is drawn away notwithstanding presently another springs up afresh in its place and then at set times perhaps in four or seven days space like the fits of intermitting Feavers the critical motions are repeated the second and perhaps the third time before the strife being ended the matter openly inclines to this or that party 3. But when with the preceeding evil appearance of signs and symptoms the burning of the Blood yet urging the critical motion is provoked without any coction of the Feaverish matter somtimes Nature is overthrown at the first conflict nor doth she recollect herself but yielding her powers overcome by the Disease is precipitated into death Nor is the business much better when the Crisis is at first imperfect and in vain celebrated without any ease to the sick and from thence the next to this succeeds worse and then in another and perhaps another conflict the Disease prevails until the strength being wholly broken and cast down there is a plain end of life Thus much concerning the state and Crisis of the Disease on whose good or improsperous success the event of the Disease depends the declination of the Feaver takes its period of this of which we must speak next 4 Altho the Declining of the Feaver for the most part is taken in the better part that it denotes the condition of the sick growing well of the Disease in which the Blood being almost freed from its Effervency recovers leisurly strength and spirits that were lost and expels what extraneous thing is left remaining in its bosom yet in a genuine enough signification it may be used for that state when from an ill Crisis or in vain the Blood being depauperated and infected with an extraneous and Feaverish mixture still declines for the worse until at length like Wine changed into a lifelessness being made wholly unable for circulation and accension in the Heart it calls on death Therefore in this place the name of declination signifies the condition of the sick and of the Disease which follows the standing whether it tends to life or to death whether the Feaver or life it self of the sick at this time declines As to the times of declination it will be worth our labour to inquire what the temper of the Blood may be and what turns of alterations it has undergone as often as from a good or bad Crisis there has been made a progress of the Disease towards Health or Death To wit first what the disposition or condition of the Blood and Spirits may be from a good Crisis and with what alterations its spoiled Liquor recovers its former vigor Secondly what their temper is from an evil Crisis and by what degrees it still tends to worse and lastly how they are when from a doubtful state and long weakness the sick hardly get up
about the accidents which happen in the first passages lest that whilst we oppose them we should pervert the motion of Nature and lest whilst we fortifie these parts against the course of the Morbific matter we untowardly keep the same shut up in the mass of Blood The Symptom chiefly to be considered about the Bloody mass are an heat diffused through the whole a burning of the Praecordia thirst a disorder of the Pulse a red urine a spontaneous wearisomness a loss of all strength out of which rightly considered these things following may be known viz. what the manner of the heat is or with what tenour the burning Blood flames forth what times of remission or of increase its Effervescency observes in the deflagration whether it retains its Crasis or mixture whole for the burning of it and circulation of it inkindled what strength of the Heart will suffice and what space the Vessels may require so long as the Blood burns what plenty of adust recrements it may heap up by what means it may overcome separate or at lest endeavour to separate the same and lastly what way of a Crisis it endeavours and with what success The accidents which have a respect to the thin Liquor with the Brain and Nervous Appendix are disorders concerning sleep and waking a debility of the whole Body a trembling shivering pains Convulsive motions Cramps of the Viscera Stupifaction Phrensie and the observation of which suggests what the temper and constitution of that thin Liquor may be by what means it waters and influtes the Nervous parts and performs its circutes through them how the Animal Spirits execute the functions of the Viscera what the state of the Brain may be whether it remain free from the incursion of the Feaverish matter or whether it be not in danger of being overwhelmed by reason of its critical metastasis or translation Concerning the habit of the body may be observed what may be the reason of sweating and the manner of it whether only by vaporous Effluvia or by sweats or also by little wealks whether the flesh falls away on the sudden from its wonted bulk Or whether it retains it self a long while What the colour of the Face is And the vigor or habit of the Eyes from these well laid together the course of the Feaver may be best of all measured at what time it will come to its hight or standing Whether Nature will prevail over the Disease or not with what manner of separation and with what success she will endeavor the expulsion of the Feaverish matter also by these signs may be learned by what degrees the Blood growing hot and often congealed doth tend towards Putrefaction or Corruption whether it does any thing concoct the alible Juice poured to it or whether or not it presently casts forth of doors all its provision by sweat as often happens in the declination of this Disease By these symptoms and signs a yet more plentiful Indication may be had if first it be known upon what causes the several species of them depend and by what provision they are wont to be raised up in our Body wherefore I have thought it worth our labour to recount particularly the chief of these and to explicate the reasons of them and their ways of working But the symptoms chiefly to be observed in a putrid Synochus or continual fervor without intermissions are an heat in the whole Body a spontaneous weariness a burning of the Precordia intolerable thirst an ardor and scurfiness of the Tongue or Jawes a pain of the head and loins pertinacious watchings Phrensie Convulsive motions a Syncope Heart-burning Vomiting Nauseousness want of Appetite a Loosness a Flux with which not all at once now with these now with those this Disease is wont to be beset 1. Heat which is felt sharp and biteing in the whole Body depends upon the too great effervency of the Blood and the accension of it in the Heart For the Sulphureous or oily part of the Blood being exalted and taking an heat is inkindled in the heart in a double proportion more than it was wont wherefore it copiously diffuses by its deflagration effluvia of heat thorow the whole Body When the Sulphur is less dissolved and inkindled in the heart as in the green sickness or the white dropsical Disease c. Heat is wanting in the whole but in a Feaver when the Sulphur too much burns forth Heat superabounds For heat depends not only upon the actual inflamation of the Sulphur or the firing of it but an intense heat is excited without fire in many mixtures where the particles of Sulphur are dissolved by corrosion or are more thickly heaped together for want of ventilation wherefore when Iron is corroded by any acid mineral Spirit or when Spirit of Nitre is poured on the butter of Antimony a mighty heat with a fume is produced in like manner when Dung or Hay laid up wet are kept from ventilation grow highly hot it is the same reason why the Blood burns above measure in Feavers to wit the particles of the Sulphur being too much exalted and made hot are more thickly heaped together in the Vessels and are more dissolved and as it were inkindled by the ferment of the Heart wherefore they every way diffuse heat being loosned in the bond of the mixture and every where stretched forth or expansed 2. A spontaneous weariness or lassitude is felt in the whole Body to wit by reason of the Vessels being distented with the boiling Blood also the musculous flesh is very much stuffed with Blood and a copious breath that it is made less fit for motion as they who are sick of an Anasarca have their limbs very unwealdy by reason of the aboundance of serous humor besides in Feavers by reason of the inflamation of the Blood the Juice which is sent for a supply to the nervous stock departs from its due temper that it becomes little fit for the actuating the Body 3. The burning of the Praecordia is made by reason of the Blood being more copiously enkindled in the Chimny of the Heart which from thence boiles forth into the Lungs with great ardency wherefore by how much the neerer this Region is to that fire place of heat it is pierced therefore with the greater burning 4. An almost unquenchable Thirst is caused both from the glowing heat in the Praecordia also by reason of the sharp and hot particles of the Feaverish matter affixed to the ventricle in the circulating of the Blood which indeed desire to be washed even as salted and spiced meats being plentifully eaten or also strong or sour things rouled in the mouth or throat for this kind of distemper calls for a more free swallowing down of Drink as a member too much heated the pouring on of cold water 5. The ardor and scurfiness of the Tongue and Jawes as also oftentimes an accretion of a certain white or yellow or black filth happen without
c. arise somtimes from the Blood being in a rage and so stirring up inordinate motions in the Brain and somtimes also from the nervous Juice being depraved and therefore made improportionate to the regiment of the Animal Spirits But most often these kind of symptoms are frequent in Feavers by reason of the translation of the Feaverish matter from the bosom of the Blood into these parts For the Blood being full of the adust recrements remaining after the deflagration endeavors like the flowring of new Wine to subdue and exclude them from its Company by every manner of way which a Flux being arisen when it cannot expel by Sweat Urine or bleeding it oftentimes transfers to the substance of the Brain and there fixes them and from hence chiefly the aforsaid distempers when they are fixed and firmly rooted draw their original when as the lighter and that are easily moved often proceed from the afore-recited causes 9. Convulsive motions happen in Feavers for divers causes somtimes because of the matter being heaped together in the first passages which there haules the membranous parts with its notable pravity and then by the consent of the nervous stock the Convulsion is presently Communicated to the beginning of the Nerves in the Brain and by that means draws aside now these and now those parts by which means Worms abounding in the Viscera sharp humors being stirred and strong Medicines induce Convulsions or secondly when the Feaver is a partaker of some malignity so in the small Pox Measels or the Plague frequently Convulsions happen to wit because the Blood is altered from its benign and natural temper into a destroying and venomous by which the Nerves and their beginnings are pierced and forced into Convulsions Also oftentimes without the suspition of malignity in a putrid Feaver Convulsive motions are induced by reason of the translation of the Feaverish matter to the Brain as was but now intimated so I have often observed when the Disease is not presently cured with the Crisis the sick ly by it with a tedious sickness and are made obnoxious to tremblings and Convulsive motions Thirdly and lastly for the most part in every Feaver which terminates in Death Convulsive motions are the sad forerunners of it which I think to happen not only from the malignity of the matter with which the nervous stock is pulled and pierced but because the Spirits very much exhausted and debilitated do not sufficiently blow up and distend the Bodies of the Nerves wherefore being released from their wonted extension and tonick motion they are however by a more weak indeavor of the Spirits agitated into a disordered motion 10. A syncope or swooning is wont to be raised up several ways in Feavers but chiefly for these three causes to wit either from the mouth of the Ventricle being distempered which part as it is interwoven with a manifold texture of Nerves is very sensible and because from the same branch of the sixth pare little shoots of Nerves are equally derived to the heart and to the Ventricle of the Orifice of the Ventricle so implanted with Nerves be distempered with any great trouble it is also Communicated to the heart and either the motion is stopped in it or at least an inordinate one is excited whereby the equal Flux of the Spirits and the Blood is interrupted for a time I knew one in an acute Feaver taken with a frequent swooning which distemper wholly ceased after he had cast forth by Vomit a long and smooth Worm Secondly a syncope also is somtimes induced because the invenomed matter is circulated with the Blood which suddenly fixes and extinguishes the vital Spirits and congeals the Blood it self that it is apt to stagnate in the heart as usually happens in the Pest small Pox c. of which we shall speak particularly hereafter Thirdly a syncope is wont to happen by reason of the more rare texture of the Spirits which as they are very tender and subtil are easily unbent by any immoderate motion or pain so I have known some who being quiet in bed have found themselves well enough but being removed from one place to another presently have swooned away 11. The pain of the Heart happens in Feavers when the Ventricle and especially its Orifices by reason of the manifold insertions of Nerves being very sensible are beset with a sharp and bitterish humor or else with an acid and corrosive for hence a pain and trouble arises from the acrimony of the humor after the same manner as when the sphincter of the fundament is afflicted in Cholloric dejections with pain and molestation 12. By reason of the same cause Vomiting and nauseousness are wont to be excited to wit by the Ventricles being beset and irritated to a Convulsion from an extraneous matter and not akin to it self Such an excrementitious matter may be gathered together in the Ventricle by three ways for either the aliments partly by reason of a want of an acid ferment by which they should be rightly Cooked and partly by reason of the burning heat of the Ventricle are roasted into such a Corruption or Secondly this kind of matter is laid up in the Ventricle from the Arteries terminating in its Cavity as uses to happen in the small Pox the Plague and malignant Feavers or Thirdly meer Choler being pressed forth from the Choleduct Vessels into the empty intestine by reason of an inverse motion and as it were Convulsive of that intestine it is poured into the Ventricle want of Appetite also happens by reason of the Ventricles abounding with vitious Juices and because the acid ferment is wholly perverted by the scorching heat These kind of distempers of the Ventricle and Viscera somtimes arise from an excrementitious matter to wit alimentous degenerated in the concoction heaped together a long while before the Feaver in the first passages which not seldom becomes the occasional cause of the Feaver it self but somtimes nauseousness want of Appetite Vomiting pain of the Heart c. are the immediate products of the Feaver for when the day before the sickness those distempered have been well enough in their Stomack as soon as the immoderate heat of the Blood was induced whilst it boiled up above measure both the Effluvia and the recrements being wonted to be evaporated outwardly also the bilous humor flowing out of the Choleduct Vessels are poured into the Ventricle by which its Crasis is overthrown also the Reliques of the Chyle and other contents in the Viscera are egregiously depraved from whence the aforesaid Distempers draw their Original 14. No less frequent a symptom in Feavers is a Diarrhea or Flux of the Belly which somtime happens about the begining of the Disease and arises for the most part either from the Bile flowing forth of the Coleduct Vessels into the Duodenum or from the recrements of the Blood and Nervous Juice poured forth from the Arteries and the passage of the Pancreas into the intestines All the
and goes about this work only when Nature is strong and quiet that she may at once be at leisure for the operation of the Medicine and may have sufficient strength Nor is there less need of circumspection in sweating Medicines and Cordials which if administred in the Feaverish fit do too much strengthen the former violent motion of the Heart and oftentimes break its strength also when the Pulse is very languid if hot and strong Cordials are administred as when a small flame is troubled with a more strong blast of wind life is easily extinguished wherefore t is a vulgar observation that Cordials often accelerate death for that by too much troubling the Blood they sooner beat down strength There is yet the most need of the caution and direction of the Pulse in exhibiting narcoticks for these because they perform their work by extinguishing and fixing the too fierce vital spirits if used in a weak or inconstant Pulse either by diminishing the vital spirits render them wholly insufficient for the Disease or by suffocating them too much cause a perpetual sleep wherefore in a languid unequal or formicating or creeping Pulse opiats are to be shun'd more than a mad Dog or a Snake An unequal and intermitting Pulse has a most evil report from the writings of Physitians yet altho of an ill note does not so certainly portend death as a weak Pulse for I have known many to have recovered tho by those kind of signs condemned to the Grave because the inordination of the Spirits and the Blood may be more certainly and easily composed or allayed than their dejection restored 2. The inspection of Urines in Feavers before all other Diseases whatsoever hath more of certainty and is of greatest use for from hence the conditions of the sick and of the Disease are best known and the medical intentions concerning what is to be done are better directed what observations and rules concerning this thing are vulgarly set forth are so many that it would be almost an infinite labour and tediousness to recount them all it will be sufficient here to note the chief of them Concerning the Urines of persons in Feavers there are chiefly to be considered the colour consistency contents and subsidency or setling The colour of the Urine shews the measure or excess of heat in the Blood which as it is increased and becomes more remiss the Urine also is more or less red the cause of which is the ebullition of the Blood or the effervescency induced from the Feaver to the Blood by reason of which the particles of Salt and Sulphur implanted in the Blood humors and solid parts are more dissolved and incocted with the serum and impart to it a redness even as when Salt of Tartar and common Sulphur being mixed one with another and boiled in water impart a deep red colour to the Liquor The Urines of some are highly red when they are but a little or lightly Feaverish and on the contrary the Urines of others labouring with a Feaverish burning are less coloured Who abound with lively heat and a very hot Blood or are obnoxious to the Scurvy phthifis or hypochondriac distemper when by taking cold condensation surfeit or drinking of Wine they are troubled by any little Feaver they render a Urine strongly red for that the particles of Salt and Sulphur remain exalted in their Blood and before half loosned wherefore there is a necessity that the Feaver urging they are more boiled in the serum on the contrary they who are indued with a cold temper with a faint and weak Pulse being taken with a Feaver with a greater effervescency of the Blood render their Urine less coloured The consistency contents and subsidency of Urines being put as it were upon the same thrid depend all of them on the adust and recrementitious matter which is remaining in the Blood after the Feaverish deflagration if there shall be plenty of this the consistency of the Urine becomes somwhat thicker and after it has stood it is troubled by the cold but if there be a lesser quantity of this or otherways derived than to the Reins to wit by sweat or is called away by a critical translation to this or that part the consistency is made thinner and the Liquor remains clear Also the particles of this matter do inlarge the contents of the Urine which shew themselves diversly according as the nutricious Juice is now somwhat cooked and assimilated by the Blood now altogether perverted and carried into a putrifaction some signs of concoction and assimulation shew themselves in the Urines of Feaverish persons now a laudable Hypostasis now some marks and rudiments of the same A want of Hypostasis and the confusion and perturbation of the Urine denote the concoction vitiated But as this matter is more or less roasted in the Blood the contents are now of a pale now of a red colour like oker By reason that the recrements confounded with the Blood either the Spirit being strong begin to be overcome and separated or the same being depressed too much they are less able to be separated also the contents of the Urine are wont to be more or less sooner or slower separated from the rest of the Liquor and to sink down towards the bottom As to the Prognosticks to be taken from the Urine we may take notice that the colour of the Urine being somwhat more remiss the consistency mean the contents few and the subsiding free or easily collected into a Cloud portend good on the contrary a deep red a thick and troubled consistency thick and cloudy contents which slowly or scarce at all sink to the bottom denote a very great heat plenty of adust matter and its being brought under and secretion difficult or frustrated As to the Medicinal directions the business depends on this that we attend by the frequent inspection of the Urine the motion of Nature and be helpful to the same neither is it to be moved by purge or sweat but when a certain hypostasis of the Urine shews signs of concoction and separation I thought it needless to say any more here concerning this matter because those things are more largly handled elsewhere in a proper place which belong to Urines CHAP. XI Of the Kinds and Cure of a Putrid Synochus or contitinual Feaver ANd thus much for a Putrid Synochus in general in which is described its formal reason according to the accidents and symptoms which are commonly observed in its Figure there are besides I shall not say species but some varieties or irregularities of this Disease in which this Feaver somtimes declines from this common Rule and by reason of some accidental Distempers gets new names and distinctions In the first place therefore a Putrid Synochus is wont to be divided into Symptomatick and essential It is called Symptomatick which draws its beginning from some other Distemper or Disease before excited in the Body so that the Feaver is only a
all things grew worse with most strong wakings heat and thirst on the fifth day by a light sweat the heat somwhat remitted which yet a little before the evening returned with its wonted fierceness The night again was wholly without sleep with a continual tossing up and down of his Body In the morning by a little gentle sweating he felt a little ease in the evening an encrease again of all things more cruelly the night also was very unquiet about the beginning of the next day a sweat as before succeeded and a little more plentifully on this day was a manifest change towards health the heat and thirst was a little less vehement his Urine was less red with some Hypostasis thence for three days the Feaver leisurly declined yet every night he had a certain fit but more remiss than before on the eleventh day he sweated more plentifully and was perfectly Cured all the time of his sickness he used a most spare diet taking truly nothing of Aliment besides small Beer and Posset drink made of it he somtimes took drink and cooling Juleps of boiled Barly and distilled waters dayly if his Belly was not loose of it self an emollient Clyster was administred he used no other Physic besides to wit neither Purge nor Cordial But the Feaver being allayed he was twice Purged and from thence quickly grew well This Feaver was a Putrid Synochus as may be conjectured by the shivering about the beginning and then with continual heat thirst watchings and other symptoms grieviously infesting for many days but forasmuch as its intemperature was exasperated every night it might be called a continued Quotidian This Disease made its first assault without any evident cause because the Blood being little ventilated like Wine growing hot of it self had conceived an ardour from the exalted Sulphur the Choler flowing forth from the Choleduct Vessels and likewise the Purgings of the raging Blood being poured about inwardly as it is wont to do for the most part in Feavers presently stirred up troubles and disorders in the first passages therefore by reason of the excrementitious matter there heaped up there was procured a depletion and soon after the beginning a Vomiting notwithstanding which evacuation and likewise a more strong Purging of the Belly by Stool if administred the Feaver being wholly inkindled because they too much agitate the Blood and disturb greatly the Concoction of the adust Feaverish matter for that reason bring more damage for the most part than benefit to the sick The first station of this Disease viz until the whole Blood was fired was extended to the third day and then from thence when the Blood flaming forth was burthened with adust recrements its greater ebullition with a frequent endeavour of expulsion by sweat followed on the seventh day when the Blood for the greatest part had flamed forth and the adust recrements heaped up in its bosom to a fulness of swelling up began to be troublesom the critical motion was stirred up by which nevertheless that matter not being as yet wholly subdued nor ready for separation the Disease was not perfectly Cured but after another period the same increasing at last being stirred up on the eleventh day brought on that other and perfectly Curing swelling up in the days between because besides the recrements remaining after the deflagration of the Blood and reserved for a Crisis also from the Nutritious Juice not presently taking fire but after a peculiar manner depraved other matter in the bosom of the Blood apt to a swelling up was gathered together therefore from the continual increase and Flux of this there hapned to this Feaver continual fits such as are wont in Intermitting Feavers on set days and hours suffocating Catarrh For this kind of distemper as also the Cough with great spitting arises not for that the watery humor as is commonly said falls from the head into the throat and lungs but because the serous Latex is poured forth now from the pneumonic vessels immediately into the lungs now dropping forth from the Arteries opening into the larynx falls down on the breast on the third day from the same serous humor with a portion of the Blood being fixed in the side the acute pain arose for the Blood beginning to grow fervent when as yet it did contain in it self a crude matter and as it should seem somthing sour from the degenerate alible juice deposed the same because it could not cast it forth of doors by sweat by a proper lustration or purging through the intercostal Arteries into the membrane surrounding the Ribs and there as it is always wont in a Plurisie either by coagulation which may be lawfully suspected or by the shutting up of the vessels the Blood being intangled with the same matter is stopped in its motion then being increased in its bulk by a new coming still of the Blood it causes a break of the union and so an acute pain That in this sick woman the same kind of matter disturbing the mass of Blood with a portion of it extravasated was fixed about the Pleura it from thence hapned because the pain urging the urine was clear and not full of contents then when the vessels by reason of Phlebotomie being emptied they supped up again that matter into its mass before exterminated from the Blood the urine presently became troubled and again big with contents The pulse was unequal and intermitting because of the idiocrasie or proper disposition which she was wont to have in every intemperature for when I cured this woman of a Feaver many years before her pulse being unequal and intermitting had struck a fear in me and others of a sad presage concerning the event of the disease which however at that time as also in this sickness ceased prosperously without any horrid Symptom A strong young man and corpulent after immoderate exercise about the Summer solstice and then a sudden cold coming upon the heat found himself ill At first a want of Appetite nauseousness and cruel pain of the head as also thirst and a more intense heat than usual troubled him on the second day an acute pain invaded him â—n his right side with a Cough and difficult breathing Blood being presently taken plentifully from the Arm of the same side that pain remitted somwhat which yet in the evening returned being made more cruel by a Cough and bloody spittle The night followed without sleep and very unquiet on the third day he was again let blood besides Liniments and fomentations were applyed to his side Moreover pouders Juleps and antipleuretick decoctions being taken inwardly about night the pain almost wholly ceased Then by and by he was afflicted with a cruel headach and a vertigo on the fourth day a stream of Blood fell from his right nostril about two ounces by which the pain of his head clearly ceased and the vertigo but in the Evening the pain in the side before distempered returned with greater fierceness In the mean
pass through most swiftly as the Rays of light through a Diaphanous medium the whole mass of one another 2. As often as the Blood contracts hurt from some Poysonous thing the Poyson is fixed within either slow and of lesser activity which does not presently betray it self nor break forth into cruel symptoms till of a long time after it is ripened by a silent fermentation and hath first infected the whole mass of Blood as may be observed in some Poysons which are said to kill at a distance and not till after some months or years Or the Poysons inspired into the Blood are imbued with a much more acute sting that from their Contagion the Infection contracted presently breaks forth into cruel symptoms and thereupon follows now a Feaverish effervency with Vomiting Thirst and burning of the Precordia now a swelling up of the whole Body a discoloration of the skin oftentimes a breaking forth of whelks and buboes and frequently also a sudden loss of all strength so that sudden death without tumult and almost insensibly steals upon one where by the way it is to be noted If the Spirits of the Blood provoked by the enemy are able to encounter him and to strive for the victory this Feaverish ebullition of the Blood is stirred up from the conflict but if the Particles of the Poyson being far stronger suddenly profligate the Spirits of the Blood and extinguish life presently the Bloody mass is corrupted neither can it be circulated in the Vessels nor rightly inkindled in the heart If it be yet demanded what mutations the Blood infected with Poyson undergoes either in its substance or consistency that for that reason it is rendered unfit for the sustaining of Life I answer after this manner some Poysons fuse the Blood and too much precipitate its serosity such are Medicines which by a strong killing Purging or by a Profluvium of Urine or a discoloration or swelling up of the whole Body or with an eruption of Pustules cause a very great secretion of the serous Latex in the mean time a great ebullition of the mass of Blood is induced whereby the Vital Spirits are greatly destroyed the Particles of Salt and Sulphur too much exalted by the Concoction and are often so roasted that a Yellow or Black Jaundies is caused There are Poysons of another kind far more dangerous which congeal the Blood and by destroying its mixture corrupt it viz. the first induce a congelation to the Bloody mass and then a Putrefaction for when the Spirits of the Blood being overthrown by the contagion of the Poyson are dissipated the equal mixture of the Liquor is loosned wherefore the more thick Particles mutually infold one another and like Milk when Rennet is put to it or growing sowr of it self are coagulated apart hence the Blood curdles in the Vessels that it is less readily circulated in them coagulated portions of this being inwardly diluted into the bosom of the Heart are apt to stagnate there and so to bring forth frequent syncopes and swounings being carried outwardly and in the circulating fixed in the skin somtimes being more plentifully heaped together they induce a suffusion of blackness through the whole somtimes being more sparingly dispersed they cause only spots or Purple marks like black and blew stroaks and other appearances of malignity But the coagulation of the Blood quickly disposes it to putrefaction or corruption as is seen in extravasated Blood which is wont to grow soon black and putrid For the Spirit being exhaled the Particles of Sulphur and Salt remaining in the Blood begin to go apart one from another and to break the bond of the mixture from whence follows Putrefaction These things being thus premised of Poyson in general the reason of the method requires that we enter upon the handling of Feavers which draw their Original altogether from a malignant and invenomed infection and as under this title the Pest or Plague easily obtains the chief place I will begin with its consideration and afterwards I will speak of malignant Feavers Small-pox and Measels in order But yet before I shall propose its definition I will briefly inquire of the pestiferous Poyson what its disposition and Nature may be also from whence it may be born and lastly by what means it is propagated into others by contagion For the expressing the Nature of the Plague Authors are wont to choose some invenomed Bodies and from their names to frame an Elogy of this most wicked Disease wherefore in the definition of the pest are commonly recounted the Nepelline Aconital and Arsenical Poyson the Lethiferous force of which however as it consists in a very thick matter and does not exert or put forth itself but by a Corporal contact doth not truly imitate the essence of the Pestilential Disease for this is founded in a Spiritual and Vaporous infection by which its Effluvia being every way diffused so potently unfold themselves that out of the best seminary or seed plot they quickly propagate a fruitful Crop of death and destruction By reason of its notable activity this infection may deserve to be called as it were a certain quintessence of Poyson the very agil and subtil Particles of this do penetrate all Bodies and inspire them with its ferment for either being dispersed through the Air or hid in a certain tender or cherishing nest tho they strike against the human Body but lightly and as it were through a Casement they easily subdue it for both the Animal Spirits and those of the blood they quickly infect and by that means shortly pour forth the Venomous taint into all the members When a Pestilential Breath or Vapour hath invaded any one and that Poyson hath first laid hold on the Animal Spirits or those of the Blood or both of them at once as hath been already said of Poysons the taint is quickly derived from the subtil and more thin substance of these into a more thick matter because it quickly ferments the whole mass of Blood or of the Nervous Juice and the excrementitious humors every where abounding and from thence is deduced into the solid parts and fixes the evil in them If this Disease first possesses the Animal Spirits presently the hurt is communicated to the Brain and the Nervous stock and especially to the Ventricle forthwith it impoysons the humour growing in these loosens its mixture perverts the regular motion and renderr it wholly incongruous and infestous to the more tender substance of the containing parts by and by from thence Cramps and Convulsive motions cruel Vomitings pains of the Heart also Phrensies deliriums or pertinacious watchings are stirred up about the first assault of the Disease when in the mean time the infection not being yet dispersed through the Blood the sick are not Feaverish nor are troubled with inordinate Pulse or Syncope or appearances of marks which symptoms however arise afterwards as soon as the Blood is infected If when the Spirits of the
reason of ill feeding are full of evil humors and who by reason of fulness have their Blood stuffed with firable Sulphur receive the Pestilential Poyson by the lest blast of the invenomed Air especially if fear or sadness happen which convey inwardly and lead to the Heart as it were by a certain attraction the most light darts of the contagion On the contrary those who have their Viscera clean and the mass of Blood well tempered and are indued with a strong and fearless mind do not so easily receive this infection and somtimes exterminate it soon being received Thus much for the beginning and divulgation of the Pestilence according to its first Fountains and from thence the stream of the infected Air being deduced it remains for us to speak concerning its propagation by contagion forasmuch as it is derived as it were extraduce from some and so to others We understand by Contagion that force or action by which any distemper residing in one Body excites its like in another But as this may happen either immediately by contact as when any one lying in the same bed with another taken with the Plague or mediately and at a distance as when it happens that the infection is transferred from one house to others remote or also if the Plague come upon any one after many days or months perhaps years handling a Garment or house-hold stuff brought from an infected house therefore that the Nature of the Contagion and its diverse modes may be plainly made known we will first weigh what that is which streams from an infected Body Secondly how it bears it self through the Medium of its passage Thirdly by what means it begets a distemper like it self in another Body 1. That from every Body altho of a more fixt Nature Effluvia of Atoms constantly fly away and run forth which round about constitute as it were a Cloud or Halos and as it were cloath it like the down of a Peach is so much received among the more sound Philosophers that nothing can be more But by how much the more any thing consists of active Particles by so much the more it sends from it self little Bodies of more remarkable virtue and energy Hence the Effluvia which fall from Ambers are able to move other Bodies from their place emanations proceed from Sulphureous things which fill the whole neighbourhood with odors And so when the Pestilential venom as hath been already said is from hence any where fixed and tho in the smallest bulk is of great efficacy and operation there is a necessity that some emanations proceed from the Bodies imbued with it which refer the nature or disposition of the same Poyson and malignity and diffuse them on every side according to its sphear of activity But when these little Bodies which retain the contagion of the Pestilence as they stream from one Body are not presently received by another we shall inquire how they carry themselves in respect of their passage through the medium Where we shall presently meet with a difference in those from many others for that the Effluvia which ordinarily evaporate do not long retain the Nature or Disposition of the Body from which they flow but either vanish into Air or being impacted to other Bodies are assimilated to them but those Particles which fall from a Pestilential Infection are not easily supped up by the Air or any other Body so as they may be wholly destroyed but among the various confusions of Atoms and the dashings of other Bodies they keep themselves untouched For this untamed Poyson remains still the same almost and not to be overcome by others and tho it consists of never so little heap of Atoms will not presently vanish but with its ferment imbues the next little Bodies and so acquires new forces and gains strength by going from whence it lurks a long while in some nest and after a long time when it assaults a convenient subject puts forth it self and imparting the taint of its Poyson to another raises up again the Disease of the Pestilence anew which seemed before to be exploded and tho from the smallest seminary sprinkles far and near its deadly Poyson For the Pest brings forth such most sure signs of its contagion that some Authors contend that for this reason it only continues among Mortals and doth never spring up anew but is only conserved from its nest and carried from thence from one Region to another Histories relate that the seeds of this have lain asleep for several years in some Garment or Bedcloaths and that afterwards they being stirred it hath appeared and hath stirred up anew the Disease of the Pestilence increasing with a mighty slaughter of men When by reason of the tinder or cherishing nest the Plague is propagated after this manner at a distance the invenomed little Bodies which remain in the infection being moved presently leap out and unfold its Poyson every way as it were by a certain irradiation if that they strike against an human body presently they lay hold on the Spirits and are by their Vehicle conveyed inwardly and then by an easie labour they infect the Blood and Humors wheresoever flowing in the Vessels with their ferment and quickly bring to them coagulations and putrefaction And after this manner through the most subtil Effluvia is made as it were a certain transmigration of the Pestilential Disease even as when a shoot being cut off from some Tree and laid up for a time and afterwards ingrafted to another Trunk tho from the smallest bud it is able to produce a Tree of the same Kind and Nature CHAP. XIII Of the Plague THus far we have discoursed of Poyson in general also of the Pestilence its beginning and propagation by contagion it now remains that we explicate the description of the Plague its Nature according to its accidents and symptoms most worthy of note then some things shall be added which belong to its Cure The Plague may be described after this manner that it is an Epidemical Disease Contagious highly infestous to human kind taking its beginning from an invenomed Infection received first by the Air and then propagated by Contagion which having hiddenly and largely set upon men causes extinctious of the Spirits coagulations of the Blood blastings mortifications or deadnesses of the solid parts and with the appearances of whelks buboes or carbuncles as also with the horrid provision of other symptoms brings the sick in danger of life Altho the Plague be one kind of Disease and its specifical differences or essential are not found yet by reason of the divers kinds of accidents which come upon it some diversities and irregularities of it are observed which somthing vary the type of the Disease tho they change not the species For first this distemper somtimes is more universal that it rages every where through many Vilages and Cities at once but somtimes it is circumscribed in narrower bounds and only threatens one
Region or Tract of Land Secondly somtimes the Plague comes simple and unmixt with other Diseases wherefore privily and as it were by surprise almost without a Feaver or vehemency of symptoms brings a secret killing of the sick Somtimes it is complicated with a number of other Diseases that the business is carried with tumult and frequent skirmishing between Nature and Death Thirdly the degree of malignity constitutes a great difference for the Plague in some places and times is much more mild that many of the sick escape somtimes it is highly mortal that most taken are killed and that scarce one of an hundred recovers But because this Disease hides its weapons and coming on men unawares kills them suddenly therefore it shall be our work that by some signs as it were watchmen planted we may know the Clandestine coming of this enemy altho we are not able to foresee it from afar Very many signs happen which foretel shortly a Plague about to come to wit if the year keeps not its Temper but has immoderate and very unseasonable excesses either of heat or cold or of dryness or wet if the small-pox or Measles do every where rage if Boils or Buboes accompany reigning Feavers Besides Astrologers are wont from the Aspects of the Stars or appearances of Comets to predict the approaching Plague but this ought rather to be called a vain conjecture than a certain foreknowledge From a preceeding Famine a most certain presage may be taken of a Plague to follow as in the Adage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Plague comes with the Famine For the like Constitution of the year which for the most part by reason of the Corn being blasted brings scarcity is apt also to produce the Plague also an evil way of feeding which people in dearths use eating all unwholsom things without choice disposes their Bodies to the more easie receiving the Infection Yea also earth-quakes fresh openings of Caverns and secret Vaults by the gaping of the Ground by reason of the eruptions of malignant and impoysoned Airs often give beginning to the Pestilence For indeed as there is need of great diligence to foresee as it were from a watch-Tower the approaching Plague so there is no less need of care and diligence to consider or take notice of the same being fresh risen and the shooting of its first darts For oftentimes being too solicitous we dread vulgar Feavers if perchance they end in death for this Disease and somtimes being too secure contemning the Pestilence by reason of its Symptoms like to a common Feaver we apprehend not out danger till too late wherefore for the more full knowledge of this Disease we will subjoyn its Signs and Symptoms both common and Pathognomic or peculiar and briefly describe their causes means and manner of being done Besides the signs already delivered which by a certain demonstration à priori or before-hand bring a suspicion of the Plague about to come there are others the concourse of which plainly shew its presence in the sick body of these some are common to the Plague with a Putrid Feaver some are more proper to this distemper For the impression of the Pestilence most often stirs up an effervency of the Blood and so has frequently a Feaver joyned with it that among some in the definition of the Plague it hath the place of a kind of Feaver wherefore by reason of the ebullition of the Blood and the hurt brought to the Viscera presently there follows a growing hot a spontaneous weariness thirst a burning of the precordia often great Vomitings pains of the Heart torments of the Intestines a scurfiness of the Tongue or a blackness a pain of the head watchings Phrensie palpitation of the Heart swooning and sudden loss of strength tho Feavers are most often beset with these kind of Symptoms yet if at the same time the Plague hath spread in the neighbourhood and a fear of it hath possessed the minds of men hence a greater suspition of this evil is caused especially because whilst the Pestilence reigns other Diseases in any one leave their proper Nature and change into it wherefore if there happens to the distempers but now recited a Communication of the same sickness to many and a frequency of Burials that it becomes every where very deadly and spreads largely even by contagion and if besides Buboes Carbuncles Spots or other marks of the pestiferous infection appear the business is put without doubt and we may with no less faith denounce it the Pestilence than when we see an house flaming with fire breaking through the Raftures we cry out Fire But because here is mention made of Buboes Carbuncles and of other Symptoms of which we have already spoken where we treated of Putrid Feavers it remains that we briefly touch the causes of them and the manner of their being made They are these A Carbuncle a Bubo Whelks Inflamations and malignant Pustles Concerning these in common we say that they are all produced of the Blood and nervous juice touched with the pestiferous Poyson and coagulated in parts in their circuit and distempered variously with putrefaction forasmuch as the Spirits residing in either Liquor especially in the Blood are no sooner profligated by the blast of this malignant Disease but a coagulation is induced to the remaining Liquor even as milk growing sour or when some acid juice is poured to it wherefore portions of it being more grievously touched with the Poyson they soon curdle or grow into gobbets and suffer corruption with blackness like Blood out of the Vessels from whence presently they hinder the motion of the rest of the Blood in the Vessels and in the Heart and by means of its ferment more coagulate it but whatsoever by congelation grows into curdled gobbets unless it be presently cast out of doors causes death quickly by restraining the circulation of the Blood and being thrust forth outwardly towards the superficies of the body ir is stopped in its motion between the narrow windings of the Vessels and being wholly destitute either of Spirit or being struck by a blasting produces its deadness black and blew spots and black or purple marks or by reason of the Salt and Sulphur being exalted by the pestilential ferment and affecting new things grow together into tumors of a various kind A Carbuncle or Fiery Inflamation is a fiery Tumor with most sharp and burning Pustules round about it and infesting the sick with an acute pain which arising in various places severally will not be ripened but creeping more abroad on the superficies burns the skin and at length shakes off the lobes or gobbets of its Corruption and leaves an hollow ulcer as if burnt by an Escharotick or burning Plaster The generation of Plague-sores seem to be made after this manner when Poysonous infections do strike into the Blood in its own nature torrid portions of it congealed are fixed in the superficies of the Body and in that place because the
motion of the Blood is a little hindred a tumour at first small is induced which afterwards by a malignant ferment unfolding it self more largely being leisurely increased creeps into the neighbouring part A suppuration follows not because the matter being extravasated and stagnating is not concocted and digested by a gentle heat but by reason of the particles of the outrageous Sulphur together with the carried forth Salt being heaped up in these Tumors and because of the stagnation they being presently loosened from the mixture a burning is excited as if a Cautery were affixed to the part pieces and lobes of skins eaten as it were from a covered Eschar fall off because the Corrosive venom impacted in the Muscles gnaws not only to the superficies but those that lie transvers through the whole substance wherefore before all the flesh is consumed with the membranes in which the eaten pieces were invalved some piece as it were cut off from the rest falls away A Carbuncle oftentimes but one oftentimes more arise somtimes they are alone somtimes they are accompanied with a Bubo A pestilent Bubo springs forth only in glandulous places into whose substance goes not only the Blood congealed by the Poyson and carried through the Arteries but the nervous juice heaped up there and carried back into the Veins Because this Tumor happens from less torrid juices and in part more frigid therefore it partakes of suppuration For the matter being leisurely heaped together when by reason of the stagnation the vital Spirit being departed it had lost the form of Blood it was by a long concoction converted into matter from the particles of Salt and Sulphur exalted and restrained in the Tumor But that these Tumors only happen in the Glandulas the reason is not that by the destination of Nature the nest or tinder of the Disease is carried to these parts but as the particles of the virulent infection abound every where in the Blood and nervous juice they are more readily gathered together as in a common Family and where the Blood being dilated to the extream parts of the Arteries and is so not readily received and carried back by the veins and also the alible juice to be carried back from the nerves into the veins is deposed either of these as it appears clearly by late observations of Anatomists and by experience are made or done about the Glandulas wherefore when in these parts either humors being stuffed with the pestilent seeds of the contagion come together at once as it were the nest of the malignity because of the virulency here deposed from either is blown up Whelks fiery inflamations and purple spots in respect of the venom are of the same stuff as the Tumors but now described but in these the product of the virulency consists in a lesser substance yet with greater danger by reason of the seeds of the Poyson being more dispersed more small portions of the coagulated Blood being fixed in the skin constitute these lesser appearances wherefore out of these some being increased are ripened into little itching blisters others by reason of a certain blasting or deadness of the corrupted Blood grow into black and blew and purple Spots Altho the Plague by reason of its sudden secret and very swift assault upon sick people hardly gives time or place for a prognostick and when this Disease by reason of the occult manner of hurting contains in it self nothing that is not suspected yet there are some signs that appear in its course by which we are wont to foretel either Life or Death The business is then desperate if the Disease pass presently into an Epidemical distemper and makes violent assaults if that bleeding or only a small sweat follows in the beginning of the Disease if the Urine be thick and troubled the Pulse unequal and weak if a Convulsion or a Phrensie presently follow if the Vomits or Stools are blewish black or highly stinking if the Whelks at first contract a redness afterwards a blewness if the Carbuncles are many if the Buboes at first swelling up disappear if strength be suddenly lost the face horrid or grows black and blew if with a shivering of the outward parts there be an heat of the bowels especially if these or many of them happen in a body full of ill humors or in an unwholsom season On the contrary the sick may be bid to be of good chear if the condition of the Pestilence be lighter and less deadly if the Disease happens in a robust and healthful body with a strong mind if remedies may be timely had before the Disease hath possessed the whole mass of Blood Also if with a continuance of strength high and equal Pulse a suppuration of the Buboes and a large profusion of matter with the absence of more horrid Symptoms the course of the Disease is performed In the mean time altho here we may hope all good yet we are not to be secure because somtimes the snares of life are laid privily with the laudable appearance of signs and we suffer most grievously as from a reconciled Enemy whose fierce threatnings we seemed to have shun'd Concerning the curing of very many sicknesses the business is chiefly committed to Nature to whose necessity Physick is the Midwife and the office and science of a Physician chiefly is busied in these that occasions of giving convenient aids to this labouring be attended but the Plague hath this peculiar that its cure is not at all to be left to Nature but that it is to be endeavoured any way by remedies gathered from Art Nor are we to be solicitous of a more opportune or as it were a gentler time but Medicines are most quickly to be prepared and we must not stay for them some hours no nor minutes But because whilst the Pestilence reigns there is no less need of care that the Contagion may be driven far away than that the Disease being impressed may be cured therefore a double task is incumbent on the Physician to wit that he looks to the prevention of this malignant Disease as well as to the cure To prescribe a method for both these had been a work of too much tediousness and to have given you a dish a thousand times dressed by Authors wherefore we will only touch lightly here some chief Indications and hast to other things Preventive cautions either respect the Republique and belong to the Magistrate or private persons to whom it should be taught what is to be done by all men when the Plague is feared The publique care in the time of the Plague consists chiefly in these that Divine worship be truly observed that all nests of Putrefaction be cut off that filths Dunghils and all stinking things may be removed out of the Streets and all occasion of the Contagion diligently avoided and that an wholsom means of living be constantly observed by the Citizens For which end the use of fruits and of other unwholsom things should be
them very many particles of the invenomed Infection every where dispersed in the Body But these are both Vomitories and Purgers the use of which is more rare and only in the beginning of the Disease also Diaphoreticks or sweating Medicines which at some times may be suffered according as there is strength are to be prescribed in the Plague For these more fully and from the whole body at once evacuate yea and by agitating the Blood defend it from Congelation and as they move from the Center still to the Circumference they drive the empoysoned ferment also the Corruptions of the Blood and humors far from the heart and so chase the Enemy without the Camp But Vomits and Purges evacuate less universally and by Concentrating the malignant matter oftentimes carry it inwardly and fix it to the Bowels But these Medicines whether they operate by purging or sweating ought to be of that kind which have particles rather agreeable to the empoysoned infection than to our Blood or Spirits for such a Medicine will pass through the various windings of our body with its whole forces and unmixt and by reason of the similitude of either more certainly takes hold of the virulent matter of the Disease and carries it forth of doors with it self by the mutual adhesion of the parts which way provoked nature leads Wherefore Medicines whether Catharticks or Sudorificks are commended before others which are prepared out of Mercury Antimony Gold Sulphur Vitriol Arsnick and the like which when they cannot be subjugated by our heat or mastered become the best Remedies against the Poyson of a pestilent Disease for these do not only potently evacuate superfluous things but when as they put forth very strong and untameable particles and explicate them every where in the body dissipate the ferments of the Poyson growing here and there and hinder them from maturation and as these Remedies being of themselves not to be overcome by Nature are necessitated to be carried outwardly through the open passages of the body they carry forth of doors with them whatsoever extraneous or hostile thing is met with As to Poyson-resisting Medicines or Alexiterians which are said to resist the Poyson of this Disease without any sensible evacuation they are for the most part such whose particles are not very much of kin to Nature so as to goe into Aliment nor so diverse as to provoke to an excretion The same being inwardly taken and broken into the smallest pieces inspire the Blood and juices flowing together in the Vessels and Viscera with their little bodies as with a new ferment and by moving the same gently and by keeping them in an equal mixture defend them from Coagulation and Putrefaction dissipate the particles begun to be heaped up one from another by the same gentle agitation and hinder them from maturity and lastly by pre-possessing the Blood and Spirits defend them from the impressions of the pestilent mark Among these some more simple Remedies are commended as Rue Scordium c. but most of all by far are esteemed those that are compounded wherefore Treacle Mithridate and Diascordium some of which are compos'd of no less than fifty simples that 't is esteemed a crime in Medicines so compleat in all numbers to omit one Plant or one Dram of them in their Compositions the reason perchance is because very many things being put together may make a mass whose diverse kinds of particles being exalted by long digestion may stir up the greater fermentation in our Blood and humors Having after this manner ranked the Remedies in which we ought to be instructed for the curing of the Plague now next we should speak of the method of cure viz. What first and then what next should be done in order but that this Disease hath so precipitous a Course that there is neither place for deliberation nor is there frequently any Physician to be gotten for fear of the Contagion wherefore there is no need here of of many prescripts or a long series of Indications this business is to be quickly performed and may be comprehended in a few things Therefore when the pestilence reigning any one is distempered with the Contagion of this Disease the help of the omnipotent God being requested by Prayers presently Remedies are to be flown to If the Plague happens in a body not throughly purged and prone to Vomiting presently let a Vomit be taken whose operation being finished immediatly let a sweat be provoked by taking Diaphoreticks and the same continued as strength can bear it and afterwards be often repeated Besides let Alexipharmicks or Poyson-resisters be used almost every moment until by the eruption of Whelks Inflamations or Buboes all the Venom be wholly driven forth of doors but in the mean time proper and respective Remedies are to be opposed to the most urging Symptoms but especially fit helps are to be sought from Chirurgery for the cure of the Buboes and Plague-sores the whole weight of this business leans on these two Intentions that the pestiferous Poyson may be every way expelled from within and then that the recourse of what is driven forth be with equal diligence prevented Concerning the Plague we cannot so readily write examples and histories of sick persons with exact diaries of the Symptoms because these kind of sicknesses came not every year neither when they spread is it lawful for every Physician that takes care of his own health frequently to visit the sick or to stay long with them whereby he may denote all accidents and diligently consider the reasons of them which task however the renowned Diemerbrochius did so firmly persist in that after him others may lawfully be superseded from this work when somtimes past in this City viz. 1645. the Plague tho not great had spread Doctor Henry Sayer a very learned Physician and happy in his practice many others refusing this province boldly visited all the sick poor as well as rich daily administred to them Physick and handled with his own hands their Buboes and virulent Ulcers and so cured very many sick by his sedulous tho dangerous Labour That he might fortifie himself against the Contagion before he went into the infected houses he was wont only to drink a large draught of Sack and then his perambulation about the borders of Death and the very jaws of the Grave being finished to repeat the same Antidote After he had in this City as if inviolable as to the Plague a long while taken care of the affairs of the Sick without any hurt he was sent for to Wallingford-Castle where this Disease cruelly Raged as another Aesculapius by the Governour of the place But there being so bold as to lye in the same Bed with a certain Captain his intimate Companion who was taken with the Plague he quickly received the Contagion of the same Disease nor were the Arts then profitable to the Master which had been helpful to so many others but there with great sorrow of the
Liquor easily contracts the taint of this from whence it being made improportionate to the Brain and Regiment of the Animal Spirits stirs up great irregularities in them wherefore upon these sort of Feavers come not only spots and whelks but most often a Delirium Phrensie Sleepiness Tremblings of the Limbs Cramps and Convulsive motions I have often observed that in some certain years Malignant Feavers have increased which have shown their virulency without the appearances of marks chiefly about the Nervous stock because in some presently after the beginning has followed a sleepiness with a mighty heaviness of the Head in others strong Watchings a perturbation of mind with Trembling and Convulsive motions but in most either none or only an uncertain Crisis and instead of it a translation of the Feaverish matter to the Brain besides it is observed that these Feavers creep upon others by contagion and that very many are killed by them that therefore they do deserve to be called Malignant But these kind of Feavers are somtimes first begun from a venomous infection and the Blood being touched with the Particles of the venom conceives of it self an Effervescency and is inkindled as when from a contagion or malignant Air being inspired any one hath fallen into a Malignant Feaver without any evident cause or predisposition But somtimes the Feaverish Distemper is induced from a proper cause and then the seeds of the Malignity either lying hid within in the Body exert themselves in the Effervent Blood or they come from another place by the contaminated Air as it were the Food of the flame before inkindled for it appears by frequent observation in the time in which an Epidemical Feaver spreads that others being any way arisen turn into it Malignant Feavers as also Pestilential for the most part are popular and invade many at once but somtimes they are private and not ordinary so that perhaps only one or two are taken in the whole Region in such a case it is to be suspected that they come not from a malignant Air or Epidemical cause but from a morbous provision of the Body for I have often observed that when in the Spring or Autumn a Feaver sufficiently common hath spread in some City or Town of which very many have dyed perhaps some one on whom an evil predisposition and a more strong evident cause hath brought the Feaver hath lain by it with more horrid symptoms and great notes of malignity in which case that malignity is not to be called common to the Feaver but not ordinary and accidental only Altho the greatest reason of the difference by which these kind of Feavers are distinguished from one another and from other Feavers consists in their deadliness and contagion yet somtimes they are noted with a certein peculiar symptom from which they take for that time both the note of malignity and the appellation of the name hence in some years an Epidemical Feaver reigns which induces to most of the sick a Squinancy another time an inflamation of the Lungs a Pleurisie Dysentery or some other distemper and that oftentimes most dangerous and contagious so the seeds of Diseases not only derived from the Parents by traduction excite their fruits as it were by a certain designation in the same part or member but also those received from an Infection commonly spreading produce in all a distemper of the same mode and figure which yet I think to happen not because the seeds of the venomous Infection respect either this or that Region of the Body with a certain peculiar Virtue but these so affect the mass of Blood by a like manner in all that there is a necessity for the sake of washing away this stain that a Crisis be attempted after the same manner in all For when without malignity the Blood by reason of Coagulation or perhaps other causes is apt to be extravasated the usual places in which portions of the same being extravasated are wont to be fixed are the Throat Pleura Lungs and Intestines wherefore 't is no wonder when from a malignant cause the congelation of the Blood and for that reason an extravasation is induced if the Disease is nested in the accustomed cherishing place of Nature Concerning the causes of these kind of Feavers there is not much business they are for the most part deduced in respect of the malignity from the vicious Constitution of the Air in respect of the Feaverish heat from the morbous provision of the Body either of these are easily made clear by what hath been already said concerning a Putrid Feaver and the causes of the Pestilence If the malignity be stronger than the Feaver and hath induced it the impression of it is to be imputed to the inspired Air or to a Contagion received from others if the Feaver be first its inkindling is ascribed to transpiration being hindred to a Surfeit or to some other of the evident causes above enumerated As to the signs besides contagion and destruction these shew the malignity of the Feaver a sudden loss of strength a weak and unequal pulse and evil affection of the Brain and nervous parts being suddenly induced cruel Vomitings blackness of the Tongue a suffusion of darkness through the whole Body but chiefly the appearances of Spots Buboes and of other marks For the cure of Feavers both Pestilential and Malignant there is greater need of Judgment and Circumspection than in any others whatsoever For when there are two primary Indications to wit the Malignity and the Feaverish intemperance and when one can scarcely provide for the one without detriment to the other it is not easily to be discerned which should first be helped or soonest regarded In respect of the Feaver purging opening a Vein and cooling things do chiefly help but whilst these are performed the Malignity for the most part is increased and being neglected spreads abroad more largely its Poyson against the Malignity Poyson-resisting Cordials and Diaphoreticks are required but these extreamly heighten the Feaver they more shake the Blood and Spirits before inkindled as it were with the blast of Bellows and force all as it were into a flame wherefore here is great need of skill that these things be rightly ordered in themselves and where there is most of danger appearing thence the Curative Intentions are to be more immediatly designed but so as whilst one is consulted about the other be not neglected But in these cases besides the private Judgment of every Physician experience may supply the chief means of healing for when as these Feavers first spread every one almost tryes several Remedies and by the success of them collated together it may be easily reckoned what kind of method is to be relyed on till at last by a frequent tryal or the footsteps of those passing before there is made as it were a high and broad Road for the curing of these sorts of distempers bounded both with various observations and warnings Besides these sort
of Feavers which spread on many at once and by reason of the Contagion deadliness and conspicuous notes of virulency deserve to be called Pestilent or Malignant there are some others epidemical or popular which almost every year either in the Spring or Autumn rage in some Countries of which the Inhabitants for the most part of them are wont to be sick and not few especially of the Elder to dye In which notwithstanding no signs of Pestilence or Malignity appear neither does the Disease seem to spread from one and so to another so much by Contagion as to lay hold on many by reason of a predisposition impressed almost on all But these kind of distempers depend chiefly upon the foregoing Constitution of the year for if the season going before was very intemperate by reason of excess of cold or heat of dryness or humidity and so had continued for a long time it changes our Blood very much from its due temperature whereby it is apt afterwards to conceive Feaverish effervescencies and from hence a Feaver now of this Type or Figure now of that is produced which presently becomes Epidemical because it draws its beginning from a common cause wherewith the bodies of all are in a manner affected But such Feavers forasmuch as they depend upon the Blood having gotten a disposition now sharp now austere or of some other kind by reason of the temper of the year for the most part are of the rank of intermitting Feavers yet by a proper provision of Symptoms they are wont to be noted according to the peculiar Constitution of every year These are not able to be comprehended under a certain common rule or formal reason which may quadrat to the nature of each of these because they vary every year according to their several accidents However we will give you the descriptions of these kind of Feavers spreading of late years in this Region had at that time for some specimen of the rest and add it for a conclusion at the end of this Tract There yet remains to be ascribed to the rank of malignant Feavers some other private Feavers and participating of no Contagion of which sort chiefly are those which are wont to happen to Child-bearing women by reason of difficult and hard labour or by reason of the stoppage of their Courses Indeed it sufficiently appears by common observation that these are very dangerous and often mortal for if by the parts of the Womb being hurt or by cold being admitted or perhaps by any other cause the Courses are stopped and the humour which ought to be thrust forth shall be confused with the mass of the Blood it most wickedly infects it as it were with a certain venomous mixture that by that means presently a Feaver is excited which with an evil provision of Symptoms is very much beset viz. with heat and cruel thirst Vomiting pain of the Heart and watchings and for the most part obtains either no Crisis or a very difficult one because unless the wonted way of the flux of the Courses may be at length restored it is wont after the heat of the Blood hath been continued for some days to Communicate the evil to the Brain and nervous stock from whence by and by a Delirium Phrensie Convulsions and other most wicked distempers are most often induced which do not seldom end in Death but these sort of Feavers deserve a peculiar consideration which we have more fully determined to shew hereafter in a particular discourse concerning this business in the mean time we will undertake to propose some instances or examples of the Feavers but now delivered viz. of the Pestilent and Malignant The pestilent Feaver of late years hath more rarely spread in these Regions than the Plague it self of the only one of this kind which fell under our observation I will give you a brief description In the year 1643 when in the coming on of the Spring the Earl of Essex besieged Reading being held for the King in both Armies there began a Disease to arise very Epidemical however they persisting in that work till the besieged were forced to a surrender this Disease grew so grievous that in a short time after either side left off and from that time for many months fought not with the Enemy but with the Disease as if there had not been leisure to turn aside to another kind of Death this deadly Disease increasing they being already overthrown by Fate and as it were falling down before this one Death Essexe's Camp moving to the Thames pitched in the places adjacent where he shortly lost a great part of his men But the King returned to Oxford where at first the Souldiers being disposed in the open Fields then afterwards among the Towns and Villages suffered not much less For his Foot which it chiefly invaded being pact together in close houses when they had filled all things with filthiness and unwholsom nastiness and stinking odors that the very Air seemed to be infected they fell sick by Troops and as it were by Squadrons At length the Feaver now more than a Camp Feaver invaded the unarmed and peaceable Troops to wit the entertainers of the Souldiers and generally all others yet at first the Disease being yet but lightly inflicted tho beset with an heavy and long languishment however many escaped About the Summer Solstice this Feaver began also to increase with worse provision of Symptoms and to lay hold on the Husbandmen and others inhabiting the Country Then afterwards spread through our City and all the Country round for at least Ten miles about In the mean time they who dwelt far from us in other Counties remained free from hurt being as it were without the sphere of the Contagion But here this Disease became so Epidemical that a great part of the people was killed by it and assoon as it had entred an house it run through the same that there was scarce one left well to administer to the sick strangers or such as were sent for to help the sick were presently taken with the Disease that at length for fear of the Contagion those who were sick of this Feaver were avoided by those who were well almost as much as if they had been sick of the Plague Nor indeed did there a less mortality or slaughter of men accompany this Disease because Cachectic and Pthisical old men or otherways unhealthful were killed by it also not a few of Children young men and those of a more mature and robust age I remember in some Villages that almost all the old men dyed this year that there were scarce any left who were able to defend the manners and priviledges of the Parish by the more anciently received Traditions When this Feaver first began it was somthing like the figure of a putrid Synochus but it was harder to be cured and when it seemed to be helped by a sweat or loosness presently it was wont to be renewed again
took Cordial Julaps with Poyson-resisters Vesicatories or blistering Plasters were applyed to his neck and other Plasters to the soles of his feet on the sixth day a little Blood streamed from his nostrils on the seventh without any manifest through Crisis the Feaver very much abated the heat so gentle as to be perceived only by the Touch also the Urine pale thin and without any sediment yet he was much more grieviously troubled with sleepiness and a stupefaction of the Head so that his Urine and the excrements of his Belly came away involuntarily however being called upon he knew the standers by and answered to their questions These distempers notwithstanding the Remedies every day grew worse About the Fourteenth day the sick youth became so stupid as neither to be able to understand nor to speak yet he swallowed still what was put into his mouth tho unknowingly and his pulse was laudable enough about this time he fell into a Flux excited of it self by Nature for four day which at last ceasing a whiteish crust or scurf and as it were Chaulky began to spread over the whole cavity of his Mouth and Throat which being often in a day wiped away new presently broke forth when he had thus for four days more been sick he became better in his intellect and sense so that he was able to know his Parents and Friends to take notice of their words and to do somthing as he was bid but as his sensitive faculty began to be restored so he began to grow worse as to his speech and the Organs of swallowing without doubt the matter being fallen from the Brain into the beginnings of the Nerves a Palsie in the Tongue and Throat had succeeded to the heaviness and stupefaction which distemper in a short time so increased that afterwards the sick person could not swallow at all but that what he took in at the Mouth presently flowed back again neither could any thing go down into the Stomach when besides the cruelty of the Disease there was danger least he should be killed by Famine an Instrument was prepared of a pin of Chalk put into a little pliant wand and on the top of it a little tuft of silk made fit and this being thrust down his Throat opened the closing for a time whereby the Food taken in was suffered to pass after the use of this for a day or two he was able to swallow again and afterwards to take his Food well enough and within a few days he began to speak to discern any thing and becoming wonderful hungry to ask for all day long all sorts of Food and greedily to devour what ever was brought to him In the mean time by reason of his long sickness and the Nervous parts being grievously hurt he was grown so Lean that the Bones scarce sticking to the Skin he represented exactly a living Skeleton But afterwards by the sedulous indefatigable and prudent care of the Mother about his diet he recovered perfect Health and is yet living and well When this child had hardly arived to the height of his sickness his Brother elder about two years on the Ides of January was taken almost after the same manner At first he was troubled with a Torpor and heaviness of the Head then growing Feaverish with a sleepiness and stupidity he began to talk idly in his sleep then being awake hardly to come to himself after four or five days these symptoms grew more grievous he was able to understand little nor scarce to speak articulately and not without stammering His Urine was thick cloudy without Hypostasis or setling of the Contents there appeared as in his Brother red spots small like Flea-bites his Excrements both of his Belly and Bladder came away involuntarily But his Pulse was yet strong and equal his Hypochondria were stretched out and inflated with a tumor of the Abdomen about the eighth day he had a small stream of Blood on the eleventh day of his sickness he fell into a Diarrhaea by which in the space of five hours he cast forth seven times bilous thin and highly stinking stuff from whence there was some hope of his amendment but the next day after the flux of his Belly ceasing pains and torments cruelly infested his Belly that crying out and moaning night and day he sent forth most heavy complaints his Hypochondria and Abdomen were tumid like a Tympany and mightily distended when he could not receive any thing of ease from no remedies the most exquisite skill of many Physicians being tryed on the fourteenth day he died Convulsive in these torments A little after his death viz. on the thirteenth of February his Brother elder than him about eleven years old a youth of great hopes began to be Feaverish and as the others with a Torpor and heaviness of his Head tho less strongly affected but the heat in the Blood was greater which was of a more hot temperament and greater perturbation appeared that for the first six days besides heat and thirst he was troubled with a continual endeavour of excretion now by sweat now by stool His Urine was red and troubled some red spots as in the rest broke forth on the seventh day he had a bleeding about five Ounces which ceasing a great benumedness succeeded that for all that day and the night following he could scarce lift up his Eyes on the eighth day a most plentiful bleeding followed again at the Nose that there was danger lest he should have lost his life together with his Blood the Blood sprang so copiously from his left nostril that being received in a Bason it made little Bladders or bubbles by its fall when he had lost above two pound of Blood and being taken with a cold sweat began to lose his strength remedies were at length administred and the Flux was yet hardly stopped The Haemorrhage being stayed the Youth slept soundly and all that day became sleepy yet often awakning he remained well in his senses and was quick in sense and understanding and being asked of his health he said he was pretty well his Urine which was before red and troubled then appeared pale thin and with a laudable Hypostasis that the sick seemed especial because he wanted thirst or immoderate heat to be perfectly cured and freed from the Feaver on the following morning being the ninth day of the Feaver he remained yet torpid but being raised up he living chearfully and without intemperance seemed to be in a condition of growing well but that he began a little to faulter in his speech in the evening when it was lest suspected the Feaver being again inkindled on a sudden he fell into a Lethargy that he was scarce able to be awakned from sleep and being pulled scarce to know any body or to speak plainly altho so great a loss of Blood had gone before the Pulse was yet quick high and vehement also his Urine red after deriving and withdrawing remedies had been
wherefore children most often escape old men or such as are of years are more in danger viz. in children or young people transpiration is more easie also the habit of the Body more firm and healthful But altho the venomous seeds of this Disease for the most part are wont to be dispersed or blown away at once and with one sickness yet it somtimes happens that a part of the ininfection being still left the sick have fallen into this Disease twice or thrice 2. The evident cause which stirs up these fermentative seeds and most often brings them into act may be said to be threefold viz. The contagion received from some place the disposition of the Air and the immoderate perturbation of the Blood and Humors It is most manifest by daily experience that this Disease doth come upon others and spread abroad by contagion viz. from the infected Body continually flow Effluvia which being received by other Bodies presently like poyson they ferment with the Blood and suscitate or awaken the lurking or sleeping seeds of the same Disease Homogeneous with themselves and dispose them into the figure or Idea of this Disease neither is the infection only communicated by contact but at a distance They who live within the same house or neighbouring to the sick easily receive the infection also it is cherished in Cloaths and dissipated afar off and transferred to more remote places They who are of kin one to another soonest infect each other also they who are fearful and extreamly dread this Disease more readily fall into it For by fear the Particles of the infection are conveyed inwardly from the superficies of the Body At what time the contagion spreads and that the Small-pox are Epidemical all other Diseases almost degenerate into this Secondly a certain peculiar disposition of the Air notably induces the Small-pox hence most often it becomes Popular and rages ordinarily through whole Regions Cities and Villages hence also it more often exists in the Spring and Autumn because at that time especially diverse manners of little Bodies and by that means tumultuating flow about in the Air which we draw in with the vital Air and so various effervescencies of the Blood and Humors and Ideas of Diseases are raised up Neither doth this Disease become only more frequent and Epidemical for these Causes but also it gets a manifold Nature that somtimes the Small-pox are deadly and as it were pestiferous and somtimes they are more mild and benign to wit as they have contracted more or less of malignity from the Air hence also somtimes black and livid Whelks or Pustils appear and have much of the Nature of the Plague Thirdly somtimes tho the tinder of contagion be absent and that no malignant constitution of the Air had gone before yet by reason of the Blood and Humors being immoderately disturbed the Small-pox do arise so I have known some to have fallen into this Disease from a surfeit or immoderate exercise when none besides in the whole Country about hath been sick of it to wit the seeds of this evil lying hid without any previous infection being stirred up by a too great fervor of the Blood and being associated gathering together easily defile and infect the whole mass of the Blood with their ferment 3 So much for the secret leading and evident causes but as to the conjunct cause viz. which is the formal reason of this Disease or the manner of its being made the business seems a little more intricate It is commonly wont to be compared to Must growing hot or Beer when it Purges in the Vat For if you put to these Liquors any thing of ferment as their Particles are Heterogeneous and of wonderful activity presently they diffuse themselves through the whole substance of the Liquor they exagitate the more thick and impure Bodies against which they are dashed beat them asunder and role about them until a flowring being made they drive the same from the intimate embrace or company of the Liquor to the outmost superficies After the like manner the Heterogeneous seeds of this Disease are thought to ferment the Blood and then by a certain eruption of Whelks or Pustles like the flowring purifies it But indeed if we should more strictly consider the business there will appear here a great difference because the infection of the Small-pox is as it were a ferment but corruptive and compels the Blood to grow hot not towards perfection but depravation for when the Particles of this venomous infection strike against the receiving subject they presently raise up little Bodies like to themselves and born with us with which being associated they pass through the whole mass of the Blood and make it to grow highly turgid and to boil up and after some time growing fervent to go into parts and to be coagulated viz. the dispersed seeds of the Poyson dissolve the mixture of the Blood presently profligate the more pure Spirits then they joyn its more thick Particles to themselves and by their adhesion render them as it were congealed The portions being so coagulated together with the infolded seeds of the poyson being left by the rest of the Blood in its circuit between the extremities of the Vessels are affixed to the skin by which means if Nature being strong enough doth cast forth the whole poyson with the congealed Blood the remaining mass of the Blood altho made poorer remains however in a condition to continue life and health but if the Blood being too excessively congealed cannot be purified after this manner or if portions of the Blood growing together with the poyson do not fully break forth or at last do stagnate within they wholly corrupt the Liquor of the Blood or else being affixed to the Viscera and especially to the Heart they destroy their constitution and strength Portions of the congealed Blood with the poyson begin to break forth about the fourth day now sooner now later because coagulation is not presently induced but after some time in which the venom unfolds it self and ferments the Blood with its effervency First light portions of the infected Blood and those but few in number like to Flea-bites are fixed in the skin quickly after more appear and those first broke forth by the accession of new matter and by the continual appulsion of the congealed Blood increase and are elevated into a tumor then these whelks at first red being by degrees increased at length grow white viz. the Blood being thrust forth of the Vessels with the poyson by reason of the heat and stagnation is changed into matter about the seventh day after the eruption the white tumors grow crusty into a dry scab for the more thin part of the matter being evaporated the rest grows hard which then having eaten and broke off the Cuticula or outward thin skin falls away from the flesh or next skin When the infection of the Small-pox is at once impressed on the Blood and
Spirits it very rarely can be blotted out or dissipated by Medicines or blood letting but that its hidden disposition will break forth into act wherefore at first it diffuses it self by little and little and inspires the mass of Blood as it were with a ferment hence an ebullition and growing hot are produced in the whole Body the Vessels are distended the Viscera provoked the membranes pulled until the seeds of the contagion by fusing and coagulating the Blood being at length involved with its congealed portions are thrust forth of doors The essence of this Disease will be better laid open if that I shall recount the signs and symptoms which are to be observed in its whole course and shall add in order the reasons and causes of them on which they depend but they are those which either indicate the Disease being present or that foretel its state and event As to the Diagnosis of this Disease by which it may be known whether any one at first falling sick will have the Small-pox or not at that time are to be considered the force of the contagion and the concourse of the symptoms first appearing for if by reason of the evil constitution of the Air this Disease doth spread abroad every where none then is taken with a Feaver without the suspition of the Small-pox especially if they never had them before in their lives but if this Disease be more rare and without fear of contagion yet its unlooked for assault quickly betrays it self by these sort of signs and symptoms 1. There is a wandring and uncertain Feaver somtimes strong somtimes more remiss observing no reason of increase or growing continually hot so that the sick are now highly hot by and by without any evident cause they are without a Feaver the cause of which is for that the fermentative seeds are not agitated by an equal motion but like fire half choaked now increases more and now are almost quelled and ready to expire until the burning spreading more largly the flame every where breaks forth 2. A pain in the Head and Loins is so peculiar a sign in this Disease that it almost alone in a continual Feaver signifies the approach of the small-pox the reason of which is commonly imputed to the greater Vessels being very much distended by the effervency of the Blood but indeed it appears not wherefore the same trouble is not caused equally in other parts by reason of the like distention of the Vessels and wherefore in the small-pox more than in a burning Feaver or in other Feavers where the Blood grows more hot these kind of pains should increase yea it may be observed that great pains now in the Head now in the Loins do urge when the Blood but little swelling up the Vessels are not amplified viz in the beginning of the Disease when the Feaverish distemper is not yet conspicuous whilst the sick as yet goe abroad and are well in their stomach upon the first coming on of the small-pox they betray themselves by these kind of pains Wherefore the cause of these kind of dolorific pains seems rather to subsist in the nervous stock viz. in the Brain and spinal marrow and that by reason of the membranes and nervous parts being pulled or hauled by the particles of the Poyson these pains do arise For it is most likely that the innate seeds of the small-pox are chiefly hidden in the Spermatick parts and that first of all the Contagion lays hold on for the most part the animal Spirits hence the first effervency is stirred up in the juice wherewith the Brain and nervous parts but especially the Spinal marrow are watered and from thence the evil is Communicated to the mass of Blood wherefore this Disease beginning the Head and Loins are tormented with cruel pain afterwards the venom being translated into the Blood the Feaverish effervescency is stirred up in the whole 3. Great anxiety and unquietness and somtimes a swooning infest the sick viz. by reason of the perturbed motion of the Blood as also its equal mixture beginning to be solved by the Poysonous ferment the Blood from thence being apt to stagnate in the Heart and to be hindred in its Circuit causes these affections to be thus excited 4. Cruel Vomiting also when the Ventricle is free from an impure ballast of humors very often accompanies this Disease the reason of which is because the fermentative seeds being stirred up into motion by the little Arteries gaping into the Coates of the Ventricle are deposed by every appulse of the Blood and raise up Vomiting as if the particles of stibium had been swallowed but afterwards assoon as sweating being procured the Poyson is driven forth outwardly this Symptom ceases and the sick are well in their stomach without any purging forth of the noxious matter 5. With these may be ranked the Symptoms which shew themselves according to the various habitudes of the Body after a diverse manner as heavy sleepiness terrors in sleep deliriums tremblings and convulsions sneezing heat redness a sense of pricking over the whole Body involuntary tears a sparkling and itching of the eyes a tumor or swelling up of the face a vehemency of Symptoms from the beginning that the Disease seems presently to have attained its strength the reason of all which may easily be elucidated if what hath been already said concerning the Symptoms of Feavers be observed with respect to the diverse tempers of the sick their habit and age as also the condition of the year 2. As to the Prognosis of this Disease by the Symtomatick signs it is indicated to be either salutary or mortal or of a doubtful Event 1. The business promises well when this Disease has benign circumstances to wit when it happens in a good constitution of the Air and Year at what time the small-pox are less malignant and pestilential as in the year 1654 at Oxford about Autumn the small-pox spread abundantly yet very many escaped with them but before in the year 1649. this Disease was more rare yet most dyed of it Also there is less danger if it should happen in the age of Childhood or Infancy or in a sanguine temper and good habit of Body or in a Family to whose Ancestors the small-pox have not proved mortal Besides if in the whole course of the Disease the Symptoms prove laudable if in the first assault there be a gentle Feaver without cruel Vomiting Swooning Delirium or other horrid Distempers if the Feaver about the fourth day be allayed with the Symptoms chiefly urging and then some little red spots begin to appear if on the second day of the coming forth of those little red spot they become more conspicuous which afterwards grow together by degrees into little Pimples and are ripened into matter if about the tenth day or thereabouts after the eruption the white tumors begin to scab and by little and little from thence to fall off if after their first coming forth the small-pox
are soft distinct few round sharp pointed lying only towards the skin and not in the inward parts you may be confident the sick will do very well and is in a good condition 2. The appearances which in the small-pox signifie the business to be suspected and full of danger are of this sort if there be a malignant constitution of the Air that this Disease becomes Pestilential and that many die of it if men of more ripe years or middle age be taken with it if it happens in a cold and melancholick temper or in an impure or evil humoured Body where the Blood is not rightly circulated nor transpiration truly performed or if the Hypochondria or Precordia are obstructed some of the Viscera infirm or troubled with an Ulcer or if the habit of the Body be too fat the small-pox happen not without great danger of life nor is it less to be feared when presently after the beginning a great Feaver cruel Vomiting Swooning a dejection of strength Phrensie or Delirium come upon them and that these desist not upon the full coming forth of the small-pox for these signifie a too great perturbation in the Blood and humours also a confusion and contumacy of the morbifick matter which can neither be subdued nor easily separated from the mass of Blood or equally extruded from it if there be an anxiety and great unquietness with an inordinate boyling up and growing hot of the Blood also a great thirst a difficulty of breathing also a flux of the Belly or Dysentery they shew that sweating is hindred and that the malignant humours restagnate towards the inward parts The small-pox breaking forth slowly argue the crudity and untameableness of the matter and the impotency of Nature and t is much more a sign if they come forth double and continued in too excessive a quantity and confusion and also if there be a disordered expulsion and irregular of that matter when not in certain issues but every where undistinguishable The pox being hard signifie the incoction of the same matter being depressed a weak expulsion and they are the worse if in the midst of them appear black spots or if purple spots familiar to the Feaver or the Plague are sprinkled among the pox they indicate a great malignity and putrefaction of the Blood such as is wont to be found in the Pestilence Lastly the pox being black livid or green are of an evil omen because besides the coagulations of the Blood they argue its deadlinesses and corruptions as in a Gangreen or pestilent Plague sore if when the small-pox being come forth they presently grow dry and the swelling of the parts remit it shews a going back of the malignant matter or of the congealed Blood with the Poyson and a restagnation of it to the inward parts from whence unless a more free Diaphoresis or sweating be excited that it may be thrust forth of doors again death for the most part quickly follows For from hence the Blood being more coagulated enters into putrefaction also it is apt to be hindred in its motion and to stagnate in the heart and Vessels If after the coming forth of the small-pox a flux of the Belly or a Bleeding at nose comes upon them it is an evil sign because by this means the Venom driven outwardly is again called back inwardly but somtimes I have observed these Symptoms to have hapned with great ease to the sick viz. Nature being before oppressed and burthened after this manner part of the burthen being as it were detracted she was eased wherefore she buckled her self to the work of sweating and more readily expedited the expulsion of the noxious matter As to the Curative part since the stadium or course of this Disease hath three seasons as it were so many measures distinct one from another the Curative intentions ought to be accommodated to each of these wherefore the Curative method concerning the small-pox teacheth first what is to be done so long as the Blood boyles up and grows hot inwardly with the motion of the fermentative matter and before the small-pox appear which period for the most part is finished in four or five days Secondly what means or manner of Dyet and Physick is to be instituted after the coming forth of the small-pox until the state or standing of the Disease viz. whilst the whelks or pox come to the height and being fully suppurated or ripened begin to dry Thirdly and lastly what we must observe in the declining of the Disease even whilst the small-pox growing dry fall off 1. As to the first let the intention be that we may carry away every impediment of Nature whereby the Blood being infected by the ferment of the Small-pox and apt to be coagulated may yet retain an equal motion in the Heart and without stagnation in the Vessels and growing hot may expel forth of doors the congealed portions with the Poyson in the mean time there must be a caution least the work of fermentation or growing hot be any ways hindred or too much provoked for by this the mass of the Blood is agitated into congealed portions more than it ought to be by that other it is restrained too much in its motion nor are the invenomed Particles sent forth of doors with the congealed Blood Nature in the work of secretion and expulsion is wont to be hindred by too great an heap of excrements in the Viscera or by the abundance of Blood in the Vessels wherefore upon the first assault of the Disease care must be taken that if need be an evacuation by Vomit or Stool be timely procured but only more mild Purges and gentle are to be used which do not too much provoke or disturb the Humors wherefore at this time Purges Emetics or Clysters now these now those take place also the letting of Blood if there be a fulness is performed with good success During this growing hot of the Blood dyet ought to be instituted slender and moderately cooling viz. Barly-Broth or Grewel of Oatmeal Posset-drink Small Beer or the like Flesh and Flesh Broths are to be avoided whereby the Blood by reason of the too great plenty of Sulphureous Food may be inkindled more than it ought also all cold and sharp or acid things are hurtful for these congeal the Blood more and contract the little mouths of the Vessels by their astriction or binding Nature that the Small-pox come forth less freely also hot things and Cordials are cautiously to be administred for by these the Blood and Humors are too much agitated and driven into confusion 2. When the Small-pox begin to appear there are three things which by a constant Rule we prescribe to be performed to every sick person to wit that a soft and gentle Sweat be still continued in the Blood also that the Throat and Eyes may be preserved from a too great eruption of the Small-pox That the Blood lightly growing hot may emit the Small-pox decoctions of Figs
as often as he took going to sleep Diascordium or any other more temperate Cordial for the continuing his sweat tho in a very little quantity the night following he was without sleep and in great disquiet and then in the beginning of the morning a bleeding followed by which means indeed the Small Pox being full come forth the Life of the sick was in great danger by reason of this occasion happening once or twice wherefore when I had found by observation his blood apt to grow immoderately hot by so light a provocation I instituted this method as occasion served All Medicines being let alone he took for the quenching his thirst small beer and simple Almond Drink at his pleasure for his food because he vomited back all Oatmeal Grewel or Barly Broth he eat only apples roasted tender and drest with suggar and rose water often in a day Nature being contented with this slender ordering and being seen to be disturbed with any other thing performed happily its work that the sick person grew well without any grievous symptom afterwards the Small Pox from thence ripening and then of their own accord falling off In the middle of the Autumn of the former Year a Gentile Young Man being indued with a sharp Blood and obnoxious to a frequent bleeding at Nose fell sick of the Small Pox his Blood of its own accord grew immoderately hot that the whealks very quickly broke forth over all his Body Posset Drink with Marigold Flowers and other usual things boyled in it also Juleps or any Cordials tho temperate and gently provoking sweat most certainly stirr'd up a Flux of Blood in this Person wherefore I ordered the like manner of Dyet as in the sick Person before cited by which he found himself better however in the very state or standing of the Disease when the Small Pox being fully come forth by reason of a more difficult transpiration the Feaver is wont to be somewhat renewed in all this sick Man fell into a most plentiful bleeding that after a large profusion of Blood the Small Pox began to flagg or fall After that Remedies very many were tryed in vain for the staying of the Blood at length a little Bag being hung about his Neck in which was a Toad dryed in the Sun and bruised he first and immediately perceived ease tho the bleeding was by this means stayed and not any more returning whilst he constantly wore this peculiar Medicine in his Bosom our sick Man still using a most thin and cooling Dyet grew quite well that indeed from hence it may appear that altho the Blood in this Distemper is apt to be greatly coagulated yet so long as the Vital Spirits being strong and robust are able sufficiently to execute their government they indeavouring by their proper strength or forces do best of all separate and thrust forth the congealed portions of the Blood as it were by a certain skilful separation and this work is most of all hindred when the same spirits are too much irritated by Cordials or more hot food and agitated into confusion But in the Plague it happens otherwise because in this if any delay be granted the Spirits themselves are presently profligated by the venom wherefore here they must fight close and quick when in the Small Pox the Physician does his business better by delay Concerning letting of Blood at the instant breaking out of the Small Pox it is very dubious formerly among our Countrimen this was esteemed a wicked business neither were they wont to admit of Phlebotomy under any pretext of necessity but of late experience having taught us in some cases it is found that to let Blood hath been wholly profitable and necessary which evacuation however if it should be administred indifferently in every constitution or when this need should be it should be performed in too large a quantity by that means oftentimes very great damage arises Some years before I visited a young Gentlewoman of a storid countenance and more hot temperature growing into a Feaver after the fourth month of her being with Child she was troubled with a cruel vomiting a most cruel pain of the Loyns besides with most strong heat and thirst her pulse was swift with a strong and vehement vibration or beating altho the Small Pox had never been in that place yet these symptoms gave no light suspicion of this Disease however its great effervescency indicated that Blood should be taken away wherefore I took away about six ounces presently upon which the heat remitted somwhat yet the vomiting with a cruel pain in the Loyns remained still At the hour of sleep I gave her a Cordial Bolus with half a grain of our Laudanum by which means quiet sleep followed with a pleasant sweat and an allaying of all the symptoms the next morning the Small Pox came forth with which altho the sick Gentlewoman was greatly distempered yet she grew well without any dangerous sickness or fear of miscarrying and went out her full time The last Autumn a strong Man of an active and robust constitution of body yet of a pale countenance and more cold temper fell into a Feaver on the second day he was tormented with heat and thirst and a most cruel pain in his Loyns when I had prescribed Blood to be taken in a small quantity the unskilful Chirurgion who was sent for took from him almost half a pound a little after the sick man began to be all over in a cold sweat on a sudden to loose all strength to be troubled with a shivering a weak Pulse and unequal and frequent swooning At this time being sent for I gave him a temperate Cordial to be taken frequently His Spirits and Pulse being thereby restored the Feaver was renewed which afterwards for some days yea weeks exercised the sick man after a very irregular manner for he was wont for three or four days to grow very hot also to be infested with thirst watchings headach and other symptoms then to be troubled all over with a copious and critical sweat by which indeed for half a days space he found himself better But from thence the Feaver still growing worse heaped together again new matter till it was dispersed by another Crisis and then another After that he had been thus feaverish for at least twenty days irregularly at length the Small Pox began to come forth in several parts of his Body here and there and then the Feaver wholly remitted yet within few days by reason of some errors committed in his Dyet very many of the whealks began to fall down again few of them only being brought to maturity However instead of the subsiding Small Pocks a mighty Bubo grew up behind his right Ear from which being soon ripened and broke a great plenty of matter flowed forth for many days and so at length the corruptions of the Blood unable otherways to be dissipated were carried forth by degrees and the sick Person recovered perfect Health
CHAP. XVI Of Feavers of Child-bearing Women VUlgar Experience abundantly testifies that the Feavers of Women lying in are very dangerous beyond the disposition of other common Feavers also that the same differ very much as to their essence from both a simple and putrid Synochus plainly appears from their signs and symptoms rightly weigh'd wherefore I believe it not to be from the matter to handle after malignant Feavers the acute Diseases of Women lying in being exceeding neer of kin to those for their mortality or perniciousness Yet before I shall enter upon the unfolding these Diseases it behoves us to consider their subjects viz. the Bodies of Women in Child-bed after what manner they are predisposed and by what provision they are made obnoxious to these kind of sicknesses Concerning this the first thing that offers itself is that the Flux of the menstruous Blood is wholly convenient to be suffered by human kind and at this time for Women concerning whose nature and original we shall not inquire in this place but it shall suffice to note that in them the particles of the Blood to be periodically thrust forth are very Permentative which if reteined in the Body beyond the wonted manner of Nature are very often the cause of many Diseases unless only when a Woman conceives with Child For all the time of her being big Bellied the monthly Flowers are stopped without any incommodiousness and in the mean time milk or the alible juice is disposed in great plenty about the parts of the Womb for the nourishment of the Child but after the Birth this daily suppression of the monthly Flowers is recompensed by a copious flowing forth of the Lochia or what comes away after the Birth and the milk within three days having wholly left the Womb springs forth plentifully into the Breasts at which time Women lying in are wont to be troubled with a small Feaver If that the milk be driven away from the Breasts it restagnates again towards the Womb and is thrust forth together with the Lochia under the form of a whitish humour In the mean time the Womb after the Birth becomes subject to various distempers for oftentimes its tone is hurt the unity is dissolved and many other accidents are induced which render Women lying in subject to danger wherefore that their acute Diseases may be rightly unfolded it is convenient for to consider chiefly these three things viz. first the nourishment of the Child or the Generation of Milk both in the Womb and in the Dugs and the metastasis or translation of it from one to another Secondly the purging of the Mothers Blood or the profluvium of the Lochia after a long suppression of the Menstrua Thirdly the condition of the Womb after the Birth and its influence on other parts of the Body And these being premised we will speak of the Feavers of Women lying in viz. both the milkie and the putrid called and that deservedly malignant by reason of its deadliness First the Milk and nourishing humour being heaped up in the parts of the Womb for the nourishment of the Child are of a like nature tho somewhat different in consistency Milk is indeed more thick because it ought to be received in at the mouth and to be kept in the Ventricle and afterwards it more thin portion to be conveyed to the mass of Blood The other alible Juice is more thin and like the water of distilled Milk because 't is immediately poured into the Blood of the Embryo thorow the umbilick Vessels without any previous digestion Either Juice is supposed to come from the Chyle fresh made in the mothers stomach what is reposed or laid up in the Breast is more thick and white by reason of the more thin or open strainer and coction in the greater Glandulas on the contrary it happens in the Womb ootherwise where the Glandulas are smaller and the Straining more close But there is a great disagreement among Authors concerning the passages by which this humor is carried both in the Breasts and into the Cake of the Womb. Some contend that Milk only is begotten of the Blood more plentifully cocted in the Glandulas which yet by reason of the immense dispense of Milk which consists not with the Blood this seems not probable Others affirm that the Chyle or Milkie humor is immediately conveyed from the Viscera of Concoction thorow occult passages without any alteration into either receptacles But in the mean time while these passages lie open it seems indeed to me more likely that from the meat taken into the Mothers Stomach a portion of the Chyle thence made is presently supped up into the Veins which having obtained the vehicle of the Blood before it be assimilated by it is said up in the Glandulas destinated here and there for the receiving of it being carried by the Arteries and lastly separated from the mass of Blood for as it appears that drink being plentifully taken presently passes thorow the whole mass of Blood and is rendered by Urine like water and as old Ulcers by means of the Blood coming between prey upon the nutritious humor from the whole Body and pour it forth under the shape of a putrified matter Why may not the alible Juice in like manner being strained by the Collander of the Glandulas before it has indued the colour of Blood go into a Milkie humour This indeed seems more probable because whilst the Milk is carried from the Womb into the Breasts and on the contrary passing thorow the mass of Blood it is wont to stir up a perturbation thorow the whole with a feaverish intemperance besides in the first days after the Birth when the Glandulas do less rightly perform the office of secretion Beasts who have not the Lochia give a bloody Milk which is drawn forth of their Udders that is mixt with Blood by reason of the plenty of it flowing forth together Secondly As to what belongs to the Menstrua being suppressed in the time of being with Child and the Lochia plentifully coming away after being Delivered we say that after the Conception of the Child the Menstrua ought to be suppressed by Divine Designation for that the flowing of them often causes abortion then because the Vessels are filled by a continual stilling forth of the alible juice into the parts of the Womb the mass of the Blood doth not arise into swellings up to be allayed by the menstruous Flux For the same reason Women for the most part have not their courses so long as they give suck Perhaps in some indued with a more hot Blood the monthly courses flow both whilst they are Big-bellied and in the time of their giving suck but that more rarely and is wont not to happen without trouble yet in the mean time the Menstrua being suppressed during the time of being with Child because much less of the nutritious humor is expended at that time for Milk they much more deprave the Blood
Lungs and also to be apt to grow into clodders and to be coagulated that if yet worse distempers of the Brain and nervous stock follow and the Pulse should become weak and unequal you may pronounce the business almost deplorable but if as sometimes tho it more rarely happens after the Feaver being inkindled and grievously threatning either the Flux of the Lochia returns or a Diarrhea with ease succeeds some hope of health may be admitted tho the same be at the last cast Concerning the Cure of these kind of Feavers there lies a very great task upon the Physitian because any Physick is esteemed with the vulgar not only unprofitable but also hurtful for Women in Child-bed wherefore Physicians are rarely sent for unless when there is no place left for remedies and the opportunity of all profitable means be wholly past If that perchance they should be present about the beginning of the Disease it will not be easie to procure health to the sick by vulgar Remedies but whatever they should attempt unless it should bring help it would be said by the Women and others about the person to be deadly and the only cause of her death that in truth there is wont to happen to us less of profit or more of ignominy about the Cure of no other Disease as in this But the method of curing even as in Contagious Diseases ought to be instituted twofold to wit Prophylactic or Preventive and Therapeutic or Curative The former of these delivers precepts and cautions whereby Women Lying in may he preserved from the assault of Feavers the other suggests Curative intentions whereby the sick if it may be done may at length recover health 1. Although this Feaver be somewhat Malignant it is not caught by Contagion and there is no fear of the sicks receiving outwardly any invenomed taint notwithstanding all Women in Child-bed have an innate mine of virulency and from the evil of this as it were the tinder of most high Malignity they ought to beware wherefore they need an exact ordering to wit whereby after the Birth the impurities of the Blood and humors may be rightly purged forth without danger of a Feaver also that the evil affections of the Womb may be healed and that the strength being broken and debilitated by the Labour may be restored after its due manner For these ends these three things are chiefly to be inculcated for prescripts by Physitians First I judg it necessary that a most exact manner of Dyet be commanded to Women in Child-bed to wit that they be wholly fed with Oatmeal Candle made sometimes of Beer and sometimes of Water and White-wine mixt together also with Panada and other light nourishers for a week at least because they are much emptied therefore it may be lawful for them to sup often but nothing of solid or more strong food is to be given For I have diligently observed that these Feavers have been oftenest induced by the eating too soon flesh or strong Broths or Food Forasmuch as Women Lying in ought to be handled not only as those that are grievously wounded but as those that have got a feaverish indisposition from a disturbed disposition and temper of the Blood For with them the Blood being already too much carried forth and as it were touched with an impure infection most quickly catches Flame by the access or means of any Sulphureous thing Secondly after Dyet the care will be lest the Pores be shut up by the incautiously taking cold from without or that the Lochia should be stopped for upon the least occasion the manner of transpiration being changed the Blood first growing hot conceives disorders also the Womb being touched by the blast of Air contracts it self and shuts up the mouths of the Vessels whereby the Lochia flow forth less wherefore for five days at least after being Delivered I would have Women wholly to keep their Beds I know that 't is a common custom to raise them from Bed on the third day but by that means I have known many that have fallen into Feavers and in truth if we desire to keep Women in Child-bed from all danger the safest means will be that they may be kept long in their Beds Thirdly concerning preservation the intent remains that by causing a gentle provocation of the Blood in Women Lying in the Flux of the Lochia may be continued for this end Midwives are wont if after a difficult Labour they fear that evil to give them Sperma Ceti or powder of Irish Slate or Saffron steeped in white-White-wine Moreover to make them Oat-meal Candle that may more fuse the Blood of Water and White and Rhenish Wine mixed together in which they boyl or in posset drink also Marigold Flowers leaves of Penyroyal or Mugwort there are many other kinds of administrations extant about the ordering Women in Child-bed which being commonly known I willingly pass over here The Cure of the subsequent Feaver of Women in Child-bed is far from the usual method in Putrid Feavers for in this it is not to be expected that the Blood being touched with a feaverish burning should by degrees burn forth and the same should be separated by a Crisis but rather as it is done in a Malignant Feaver as soon as the Blood grows immoderately hot it is convenient for it to be moved by gentle Diaphoretick Remedies and its heterogeneous and impure mixtures to be carried forth of doors wherefore among the common people it is a custom and that not bad to give to feaverish Women Lying in sudorificks presently by this means the Blood being eventilated its effervency is allayed also by reason of its agitation the Lochia apt to be restrained are provoked into a Flux There is great difference among Authors from whence the beginnings of these kind of Feavers ought to be computed viz. whether from the Birth it self or from the first sense of growing feaverish however it matters little whether it be after this or that manner For since this Feaver runs not the usual stadia or courses of the Putrid neither hath a Crisis nor wholly admits the use of Cathartic or Purging Remedies we need not be solicitous so much for the days concerning its period and mensuration But yet as to the Curative indications it will be of use only to distinguish what is to be done in the beginning increase and end of this Disease also what we ought to indeavour whilst there is some strength remaining as also what when 't is oppressed and very much dejected When therefore any Woman in Child-bed is first taken with this Feaver whose assault is known from the milky Feaver because for the most part it begins with a shivering you must presently let it be your work that the more plentiful sustenance may be drawn away from the burning Blood and as I have already admonished that the flesh of living Creatures and Broths made of them be utterly forbidden yet in the mean time all cold
contained in its mass that is heterogeneous and to be sifted forth is layed aside into the distempered part as it were a sink wherefore the corruptions of the Blood that ought to be purged forth by the Womb are derived from thence towards the nest of this Disease which when they cannot be sufficiently purged forth by this way both more remarkably corrupt the Liquor of the Blood and render the particular distemper viz. the Squinancy Pleurisie or any other more hard to be cured For the Cure of these kind of complicated distempers presently from the very beginning it should be endeavoured that the Blood being fixed somewhere and begun to be extravasated may be restored to Circulation that it may not impostumate because very rarely Women Lying in are cured of these Symptomatic Feavers by an Imposthume or spitting forth of the corrupt matter Wherefore internal Remedies which fuse the Blood and free it from Coagulation are to be made use of of which sort are chiefly Diaphoretics full of a volatile Salt as Spirit of Hartshorn Soot Urine also the Salts themselves in like manner Shelly and Bezoartic Powders Lapis Prunellae Decoctions and Juleps of Vegetables provoking Urine or the terms with all which ought to be mixed what by experience are found proper for the distempers of the Womb Besides discussing Remedies which may drive away the impacted matter and disperse it of which sort are Liniments Fomentations and Cataplasms are diligently to be applied In the mean time the more impetuous motion and immoderate effervency of the Blood are to be removed and its purgings by all the ways possible transferred to the inferior parts For this end Frictions Ligatures Epispastics and if need be Scarifying about the Feet and Legs are to be administred if the distemper very much growing worse a taking away of Blood be indicated unless there be a great fulness in the whole Body and a very acute inflamation in the distempered part it will be best to open a Vein in the Foot or to take away Blood from the hemorrhoid Veins by Leeches But if necessity urges it may be done in the Arm it self if after that Letting Blood if another be admitted let it be done in the Leg but you are to be warned that in these cases the opening a Vein is to be ordered very cautiously for unless it brings present help which I have rarely known it to do immediately the Pulse being made more weak the business of the sick becomes much worse The Dysentery takes its rise almost for the like cause with the aforesaid distempers but in this because the extravasated Blood is presently poured forth nor being retained in the Body becomes there troublesome or is any more corrupted and as this Flux makes an excretion near the Womb and does not afterwards dreive it to any other place there is less of danger to be feared from this Disease than from those aforesaid yet oftentimes this Disease is fatal to Women in Child-bed for that indeed the rather because things attempering the Blood and moderately binding are ordered for the Dysentery for these are found too apt to inhibit the Flux of the Lochia wherefore in this case until the Women Lying in are sufficiently purged by a long Flux the Cure of the other Disease is to be omitted and the fierceness of the symptoms is to be allayed only with gentle asswaging things The indications of the Small Pox do not only differ from those above described but indeed they are beset with contraries to themselves for they require as hath been said that the Flux of the Lochia should be moderately staid yet in the mean time that the flowring forth of the Blood and a gentle sweat ought to be continued for when in this Disease the invenomed ferment is twofold and the corrupt Particles of the Blood are carried outwardly in a twofold way you must beware lest that the lesser and straiter part should draw to its door the whole matter or more than it were able to send forth therefore lest the Lochia flowing more plentifully should recall inwardly the venom apt to flower outwardly the manner or way of Dyet is somewhat to be changed and specially those things which have a poyson resisting force and are also astringent as the roots of Tormentil and Bistort are to be boyled in the Broths of the sick also Powders Juleps and Opiats indued with such like virtue are convenient to be administred at due intervals yea in this case by no means Women should be indulged that they might eat flesh or Broth made of it or to rise out of their Bed but the quiet both of mind and Body is to be procured as much as may be and a Dyet to be ordered of those things that move not the Blood and the business almost wholly to be committed to God and Nature What hath already been said concerning the acute Diseases of Women in Child-bed may easily be illustrated with Histories and Observations But examples which may be brought in this thing for the greatest part are mournful and of an ill chance because those Feavers for the most part end in Death But to describe these kind of sicknesses does neither confirm the work of the Physitian nor render approved the method of Medicine altogether taken in them however because the knowledg of these may make for the better discovery of this Disease I shall here propose some singular cases of Women Lying in and variety of symptoms in which altho the forms and means of Cure more sparingly occur yet we may have some rules of precaution of no contemplable use A Gentlewoman in her six and twentieth year of her Age brought forth her sixth Child with very difficult Labour and not without danger of her Life yet presently after she began to be better on the second day she eat a whole Chicken on the third rose out of her Bed and sate in a Chair for four hours the night following she found her self ill at which time her Milk came into her Breasts which by the application of Diaculum Plaisters soon vanished the next morning she complained of a weariness and as it were an ulcerous pain of her whole Body also of a vomiting nauseousness and fulness about the Ventricle and Hypochondria the following night was full of trouble on the fifth day she was plainly in a Feaver she felt now a shivering now a heat every where increasing she nauseated every thing and was troubled at her Stomach moreover being unquiet and without sleep the Lochia flowed little but a whitish humor commonly called the Flux of the Milk came away In the evening she had a weight and as it were a sleepiness about her forehead and temples and began to sleep a little but awaking in half an hour being disturbed with Phantasms she complained of her head as if increased in bulk also of her jaws being set that she could not open her teeth and her fists being strongly clutched she seemed as
if she felt a pricking and stupor or numness in her whole Body her Ventricle and Hypochondria stood still inflated and stretched forth they administred to her Frictions Ligatures Cupping-glasses and other Remedies both inward and outward that might recall the Lochia and drive the recrements of the Blood from the head Her Pulse being weak and disordered would not admit of Letting Blood Powders and Juleps which might gently move sweating and fuse the Blood and nervous juice and hinder them from restagnating were diligently given her yea fomentations now of Wollen Cloaths dipped in emollient Decoctions and now of warm inwards of living Creatures were applied to her Belly in the mean time stinking things such as they use to the Mother Fits were put to her nose which might drive away the impetuousness of the Spirits and Blood carried into the head but these and other things being for several hours carefully performed she seem'd to feel some ease but still she feared to shut her eyes or to settle herself to sleep for her eye lids being closed a thousand Phantasms ran in her mind with noise and tingling in her whole head she continued that night almost without sleep assoon as she had begun to sleep presently being affrighted and feeling a weight in her Precordia she was awaked on the sixth day about noon she was troubled with a great shivering or rather an horror with a strong concussion of the whole Body to which as in the fit of an Ague by and by heat and then sweat copiously followed but from thence nothing of ease accrued to the sick for presently after the sweat the feaverish heat was renewed and convulsive distempers infested her more the night following with the rest of the symptoms growing worse first a Palsie was excited in her tongue and by and by in her throat that she could not speak and scarce swallow at all on the seventh day about the same hour a shivering invaded her again with heat and sweat then her Pulse being much weaker and unequal also a difficult breathing and fetching the breath short and quick with her Breast lifted up she knew not them about her on the eighth day she died There was a manifold occasion of the death of this Gentlewoman predisposed to a Feaver by reason of her Big-belly and which had increased the malignity of the Disease over and above for the hurt received by her hard Labour the sudden exclusion of the Milk from her Breasts the eating of flesh and the rising too soon our of her bed hapning together made as it were a conspiration for the greater evil The Blood being touched with a feaverish burning presently conceived inordinations and snatched into it self the Lochia and perhaps other defilements of the Womb and so by that means acquired a greater infection and plainly venemous disposition the membranes of the Viscera being imbrued with the degenerate nervous juice were struck either with Convulsive motions or with Convulsions continued to them from the Womb for these kind of inflations about the Abdomen and those distentions are the effects of Convulsions For altho the direct Fibres drawing the member do oftentimes press it yet since the Fibres are direct and transverse and others placed in a various site the membranes are pulled together into an hollowness by their coming together the part swells up like a blown bladder into whose vacuity the Air being rarefied secondarily carries it self forward But it is not the Air as is commonly said or a blast there at first heaped up that is the cause of the distention The Blood growing hot in our sick person and being quickly filled with an adust and malignant matter did endeavour to subdue it and being unable to put it forth by sweat forthwith fixed it in the Brain the first suffusion of the same matter into the head by reason of the animal Spirits being half overthrown brought in that sense of her head being much increased in bulk which thing happened by the like means as when the foot being taken with a sleepiness seems as if it felt much bigger than it is But that after some case the distemper grew worse by sleep and closing of her eyes the reason is because waking and the exercise of the senses shake off and remove from them somewhat the matter besieging the Brain and Nerves which notwithstanding being neer and in its precincts sleep creeping on is as it were supped up by them and enters their Bodies more deeply with the alible juice But the Blood altho it had plentifully poured forth its recrements in the Brain yet did not itself become free but being still full with an impure ballast it conceived as it were a critical flowring and attempted to shake off its burthen once or twice as it is wont in a great excretion with a shivering and with heat and sweat following it by which endeavour however nothing was further effected than that the matter sticking to the Brain pierced more deeply into it and becoming fixed in some little shoots of the Nerves took away her speech and swallowing and afterwards her senses and the mass of Blood being by degrees more and more depraved at length became unable to sustain Life A noble Gentlewoman being married a little before she was twenty years of Age and being with Child used during the time an ill dyet and little or no exercise yet falling into Labour and suffering the torments with intermission and frequent case for twelve hours at length was brought to Bed of a Son The Child with the after-birth came away and all things were right about the Womb the first and second day she found her self indifferently well but on the third after a light shivering she began to complain of thirst and heat to which a loosness followed that she had that day four stools the following night she was almost without sleep the feaverish distemper remained after that in the same manner for two days daily she purged three or four time the Lochia as yet flowed moderately when on the sixth day by the persuasion of the Women she had took some astringent thing to moderate the Flux of her Belly the purgings of the Womb were almost wholly stayed at which time the Feaver became more strong and symptoms as it were hysterical appeared for in her Precordia she had great and frequent oppressions and was troubled with a sense of choaking in her throat on the seventh day the heat was yet stronger and her breathing difficult and laborious but then by the prescription of a Physician at that time first sent for Blood was taken from her foot to three ounces by which she was better for four hours for a quiet steep with a plentiful sweat followed upon it and the Lochia appeared again tho in small quantity In the Evening again all things grew worse her strength being very much lost her Pulse weaker and unequal she complained also of a noise and tingling of her ears with a fulness of her
head moreover a leaping up of the tendons in her wrists also she had sudden concussions of her wholy Body yet still her loosness held to her were administred by the prescripts of several Physicians Cordials and other Remedies and kinds of Administrations carefully but nothing profited her Pulse being more weak and her strength leisurely wasting she died on the ninth day after she was delivered This Feaver very much depended upon the vitious provision of the Body as the procatartic cause for I have often observed that it fares ill with Women Lying in who when Big bellied devoured fruit and any unwholsom trash and living without motion or exercise indulged themselves with ease and rest the Blood by reason of the previous Cachexie conceived a burning without any evident cause as it were of its own accord But growing hot laying inwardly still its recrements and impurities caused the Diarrhea neither yet was its mass made more pure by its almost continual excretion yea rather being still more depraved in its mixtion or crasis the Blood at length wholly departed from its proper disposition and became unable to be fermented in the heart whereby heat and breath might be every where dispersed The loosness excited by the motion of Nature was untowardly stopped especially by the use of astringent things for this I have often observed never to be done without paying for it because the Flux of the Belly has cured some that have been ill but in this Lady and in many others as has abundantly appeared to our experience altho it did not take away the Feaver yet it freed her from the more grievous distempers of the Brain and nervous stock from whence this sick person was wholly free from a Delirium nor was struck with Convulsive motions till reduced almost to extremity The Mother of a Family and a Gentlewoman about 36 years of Age or upwards being with Child of her seventeenth Child was troubled and very anxious lest she should die of that Child-bearing But God favouring she was delivered well enough of a Son and for three days after she was very cheerful on the fourth day when she had eaten more than she should do of a Chicken a little before night she fell into a feaverish Distemper with vomiting and a stopping of the Lochia all night she lay restless and without sleep the next morning she had four stools and seemed somewhat eased about Noon about which time I came to her she complained again of heat and thirst as also a palpitation of the heart and of the ascent of some substance in her throat her Pulse was quick and small her Urine red the Lochia scarce appeared I ordered her Juleps Cordials and things to purge the Womb besides a fomentation for the bottom of her Belly also her Legs and Feet to be rubbed often with warm Wollen Cloaths at going to sleep I gave her of Laudanum one grain with Saffron Pouder half a scruple in a spoonful of Treacle-water She slept well and the Lochia came down plentifully and by that means with a slender dyet and continuing to provoke moderately the Flux of the Womb for a few days she became very well The immoderate eating of flesh as an evident and almost only sufficient cause without any great provision or vitious predisposition induced the Feaver The Lochia restagnating into the Blood increased its intemperance and presently brought troubles upon the nervous kind but in the mean time the Blood altho growing hot did not undergo any great corruption but when the recrements heaped up by the Surfeit were sent forth by the loosness and the Blood the Lochia being restored began to be purged forth again after its wonted manner this Feaver wanting a further malignant ferment quickly vanished A noble Lady young and fair was brought to Bed of a second Child and for six days as to the Lochia and other accidents she was well and wholly free from the suspicion of any intemperature she ate flesh daily and rising from her Bed was brisk and chearful in her Chamber on the seventh day without any manifest cause a shivering came upon her with a Feaver and a lessning of the Lochia but not suppressed to the tenth day after her Delivery she was only moderately feaverish whilst the purgings of the Womb yet flowed she remained free from any grievous symptom but then although she was greatly feaverish she was more cheerful than ordinary and seemed more confident of her health at Night she slept little or nothing the morning following at which time I first visited her she clearly raved the Lochia were stopped also her whole Body was shaken with horror the tendons in her wrists were pulled together so that I could hardly distinguish her Pulse which in the mean time was weak unequal and very quick I said she would die quickly unless God should miraculously restore her by his Divine Power however six grains of Oriental Bezoar being given her in a spoonful of Cordial Julep brought upon her a plentiful sweat with a better Pulse then other Cordials being given wiâ—â— due intervals gave some little hopes tho I doubted they would not continue aâ—tâ—r four hours from the time that I came the sick Lady had of her own accord a great Stool and presently her strength wholly failed her and within half an hour she died When there hapned nothing of ill to this Lady as to her Delivery or Womb so pernicious a Feaver and so suddenly Mortal could not happen without a great and malignant procatarsis of the Blood and humors whether a more full Dyet or taking Cold or any other evident cause gave a beginning to this is uncertain because the Women and Nurses helping her knew of no manifest occasion of her sickness The Feaver being inkindled the infection of the Blood could not be wholly carried away by the purging of the Womb tho long continued tho for that reason the more cruel symptoms came not presently upon her yet the evil still lurked within and the Disease being very acute shewing it self with a swift motion on the fourth day when Nature should have indeavoured a Crisis the matter of the Feaver being moved but not overcome as it were in a moment overturned at once the Brain and nervous parts whence Death was to be expected and suddenly followed A Woman well known who had scarce passed the twentieth Year of her Age of a florid countenance and slender Body after her being brought to Bed when the Lochia flowed immoderately made use of some astringent Remedies by the counsel of those about her by which means they were wholly stopped but a Flux of her Belly succeeded which when it had increased for three days the Women gave her other things for the stopping her Loosness nor were they frustrated in the success in the mean time in the place of the former evil they had brought a most dangerous Feaver and distempers as it were hysterical for the unhappy Gentlewoman Lying in was troubled
formal reason of these kind of distempers may somewhat appear Since therefore of late years within a short tract of time three popular Diseases have spread in these Countrys I will add as a Crown to this work the several Descriptions of them made at those times when these Feavers raged A Description of an Epidemical Feaver spreading about Autumn in the Year 1657. taken in the middle of September WHilst we meditate the Description of a Feaver at this time cruelly raging it is fit that following the example of Hippocrates we first consider the foregoing constitution of the Year its intemperance and excess of qualities For Epidemical Diseases and commonly excited among the people are from a common cause such as the habit of the Year and by that means contracted a disposition of the Blood by which many are alike affected But that we may draw the matter from the beginning the last Spring and the time succeeding it even to the end of the Summer was all that half years space extremely dry and hot but especially after the Summer solstice the heats were so intense for many weeks following that day and night there was none that did not complain of the heat of the Air and were almost in a continual sweat and were not able to breath freely About the Calends of July this Feaver at first sporadical or particular began to break forth in some places that perhaps one or two were taken in the same City or Village In many it imitated the likeness of an intermitting Tertian viz. the Fits returned every other day which yet infested the sick with a most intense heat without any cold or shivering going before Vomiting and Choleric Stools plentifully hapned to most sweat succeeding but difficultly and often interrupted whereby the feaverish fit rarely ended in a remission but that all the time between the sick continued languishing and weak with thirst and restlessness in some when the business began to grow better after three or four fits cold and shivering began the fits and the Feaver became an exact intermitting Tertian But in most the Feaver still grew worse and presently became of an evil nature and difficult Cure with a depraved provision of symptoms for when the sick were highly heated in their fits and hardly sweated they were wont to commit errors which daily increased the strength of the Disease because by reason of the inpatience of the sick and the unskilfulness of Servants the sweat being interrupted which should have ended the fit of the Feaver after one fit was scarce finished another presently succeeded and so the Disease was wont to have wandring and uncertain periods without any intermission betweene and afterwards to pass into a kind of continual Feaver The condition of which sometimes being very dangerous with an evil affection of the Brain and nervous stock so that oftentimes a Lethargy or Delirium or not seldom cramps and Convulsive motions were excited About the month of August this Feaver began to spread far and near among the people that in every Region and Village many were sick of it but it was much more frequent in the Country and smaller Villages than in Cities or Towns It was still like an intermitting Feaver unless that it seemed more infestous than that is wont and with more cruel fits and shorter intermissions and therefore was called the new Disease besides it underwent the note of a certain malignity and gave knowledg of its Contagion and Deadliness insomuch that it crept from house to house infected with the same evil most of the same Family and especially those familiarly conversing with the sick yea old Men and Men of ripe Age it ordinarily took away If you respect the nature and essence of the Disease this Feaver properly should be referred to the rank of intermitting Feavers for the fits returned at set times also for the most part they began with cold and shivering and oftenest with vomiting and by and by a most intense heat proceeding they were finished at last with a sweat The Urine in most appeared of a flame colour thin in the fits with some hypostasis without it more thick and with a redish sediment altho with a most copious sweat and often iterated the Disease was not cured which might be expected in a continual Feaver yea the distemper continued exceeding long for many days sometimes months tho much evacuation almost daily hapned by vomit and sweat which we observe frequently in an intermitting Feaver rarely to happen in a continual out of the fit at any time of the Disease a purge was profitably instituted which in a Synochus before the sign of concoction were a wicked thing to attempt besides that this Feaver was of the intermitting kind it seems to appear from hence because very many recovered of it that scarce one of a thousand died which I scarce ever knew in an Epidemical Synochus About the first beginnings of this Disease it appeared very like to an intermitting Tertian altho afterwards in some by reason of the vitious provision of their body and errors committed in Dyet and sweating it seemed to change into a continual for in whom the fits were not rightly concluded nor ended in a remission by reason of the morbific matter not being throughly dispersed their Blood was continually hot from whence it came to pass that the fits sooner returned and continued longer till at length by reason of the plenty of matter and the languishment of Nature the Blood being made weaker endeavoured no longer to swell up and to separate the feaverish matter at set hours but to subdue it by little and little with a continual effervency We are to inquire concerning the causes of this Disease what may be the leading evident and conjunct cause viz. by the means of which it spread so generally and became Epidemical through all England by what means and for what occasion it was wont to be excited in all men and lastly what kind of alteration of the Blood and humors being induced brought forth this kind of Feaver with such a provision of symptoms and conserved it in the Act. I know it is easie to place wholly the cause of this so popular Disease in the malignant constitution of the Air to wit that the Particles of the Air in which we breath were infected by a certain extraneous Infection and not agreeable to our Nature the little bodies of which Infections being admitted within did ferment with the Blood and humors and so in most brought in this Feaver almost with the same appearance of symptoms For who dares deduce the original of a Disease so generally raging from a less public fountain or refer to any other place the received causes of Diseases than to that nest of Vital Air on which every one seeds But whilst I more attentively consider the thing it seems to me that its stem and as it were its first beginnings are to be sought a little deeper To wit that this Feaver is
born not from the Contagion communicated by the Air and immediately fixing its evil on men but rather from a certain feaverish predisposition or nature impressed somewhile before on our Bodies because of the intemperance of the Year which at length having gotten maturity on the least occasion is brought into Act and so breaks not forth into this Feaver so much as it sifts it forth For when about the Calends of July the Air was immoderately hot with a most intense heat for many days is easily altered our Blood towards an hot and bilous intemperance by which as 〈◊〉 â—ine growing more hot than it should do the sweet part and the spirituous was much consumed in the mean time the Saline and Sulphureous was too much carried forth that by that means the Liquor easily contracted a rancor or sourness We have in another place shewn that this kind of disposition of the Blood whereby indeed it turns from a sweet and spirituous temper into a bilous or choleric is most apt for intermitting Feavers Hence the alible juice which is continually carried into the mass of Blood is not rightly concocted nor assimilated into Blood but perverted as it were into an extraneous and fermentative matter which arising to a fulness in the bosom of the Blood it self and growing turgid according to its increase at set periods as we have already shewn induces the fits of the intermitting Feaver when therefore from the great burning heat of this Summer the Blood almost of all men becoming more hot than usual was very much scorched it is no wonder if from thence it should contract a great aptitude for intermitting Feavers But why not whilst the fervor of the Heaven was yet urgent but a little after this Disease spread it self the reason is because this indisposition is not impressed on our Blood at once or at one time but by little and little and not but of a long time and therefore Diseases like Fruits are chiefly ripened in Autumn after the foregoing heat of the Summer This aptitude or feaverish disposition all do not contract alike those whose Blood is of a more hot Nature and abounds more in Sulphur and for that cause is sooner scorched also such who labour or stay long in the heat of the Sun and open Air by reason of their Blood being more remarkably torrified more easily fell into this Disease wherefore at first it chiefly raged among Husbandmen in the Country of these who had acquired an aptitude to this Feaver from the Blood being before scorched some perhaps fell into this of their own accord the feaverish disposition being leisurely carried forth to a maturity others by reason of a light occasion or evident cause which was wont otherways to stir up the feaverish burning as from taking Cold Surfeit drinking of Wine and the like and others fell sick from the Contagion received of others for as the effluvia constantly came away from the sick when they pierced Bodies predisposed to the like distemper they easily excited the hid powers into Act. As to the third Proposition to wit that the conjunct cause of this Disease and its formal Reason may be known we must put you in mind of those things which we have elsewhere delivered concerning the nature of intermitting Feavers for we suppose the retorrid and bilous constitution of the Blood as the basis of this Disease by reason of which the alible juice being supplied daily as it were in a certain measure is not rightly concocted but by the assation or scorching becomes or goes into a fermentative matter not miscible with the Blood When the Blood is filled to a fullness with this matter which happens at set intervals of times because the alible juice is supplied as it were by a set measure it of its own accord conceives a swelling up and the growing hot or effervescency being excited for the carrying away of this matter causes the feaverish fit which so long indures till this feaverish matter being inkindled and as it were burnt in the heart is wholly dissipated with sweat From these things premised it is made plain that in this distemper we now discourse of there are some things happen by a peculiar way from the common kind of intermitting Feavers and therefore it was noted and that not undeservedly with the appellation of a New Feaver which are First That about the beginning of the Disease fits did a long while afflict the sick without cold or shaking but with a most intense heat thirst and cruel vomiting by which the sweat hardly and for the most part partial and often interrupted succeeded whereby the fit was not finished but of a long time The reason of which may be only laid upon the very choleric disposition of the Blood and being above measure scorched For this proceeding from the domineering Sulphur wholly inhibits the wonted sourness of the Blood which follows its turgency or swelling up and is wont to stir up the cold or shivering and by reason of this kind of temper of the Blood too much roasting and as it were burning the alible juice the Blood growing turgid together with that juice and being stirred up into motion is inkindled more than it is wont in the heart and by its deflagration induces a most intense and troublesome heat with thirst to the sick Cholerick vomitings happen not only at the beginning but in the middle of the fit by reason of the abundance of choler with which the Choleduct Vessels being too much filled infuse the intestines which then a Convulsion being stirred up is easily emptied into the Ventricle sweat hardly succeeds because the bile abounds more than the serum wherefore the feaverish matter being burnt it is not easily sifted forth by sweat but being either mingled with the Blood causes the long effervency or being carried towards the intestines produces Vomiting or a Flux Secondly This Feaver differs from the vulgar intermitting Feaver because after the fit was ended there was no full intermission even to a remission but the sick still remained languishing and thirsty and as to appetite sleep and other accidents very ill which indeed hapned because by the intense heat of the fit more of the Blood and feaverish matter is inkindled than that its recrements remaining after its deflagration are able presently to be dissipated especially because the sweat by reason of the dryness of the matter very hardly succeeds nor is the feaverish matter enough diluted with the serous Latex to be sifted forth wherefore the Blood by its Contagion in the time of the fit not being perfectly freed grows hot still neither the fit being ended doth it get any full truce from the Disease In the mean time whilst the Blood is urged after this manner with almost a continual effervency it differs from a Synochus because in this the Sulphureous part of the Blood being too much carried forth and as it were inflamed causes the Feaver by its deflagration but the continual
to vomiting let a more plentiful evacuation be procured by a gentle Emetie in the time of the fit The opening of a Vein and Purging ought not to be administred unless between the fits for whilst the Blood grows mainly hot or is resolved into sweat Nature ought not to be called back from the Work begun nor her endeavours to be disturbed by the prescriptions of Physicians wherefore after the 〈◊〉 being past and the sweat throughly finished a Purging may be instituted by a gentle Cathartic and the same afterwards sometimes repeated on the like occasion for by this method not only the provision of the excrementitious matter is brought away from the first passages but chiefly the choler-bearing Vessels being emptied the choler is copiously drawn forth from the mass of Blood and by that means the Blood is restored to its natural Crasis or disposition The Letting of Blood if it be indicated should be performed presently after the beginning for so its Liquor being too turgent or swelling up is eventilated whereby both the nutritious juice is less perverted and the fit urging it burns forth with a less heat together with the morbifick matter but otherwise if a Vein be opened after a long sickness when the Blood being made poorer and more watry more of the morbific matter is heaped together and does not rightly concoct and sift it forth it detracts much from the strength of Nature and nothing from the power of the Disease In the interval of the fits when there is no place for opening a Vein nor Purging let the Belly be kept loose by the constant use of Clysters also digestive Remedies of acetous or saline Liquors and Powders are to be exhibited of which sort are Cream of Tartar fixed Salts of Herbs Tartar Vitriolate Harts-horn burnt Spirit of Vitriol and Salt c. for these restore the lost or sleepy ferments of the Viscera purifie the Blood by fusing it also separate the morbific matter and as it were precipitate it also at this time between if pertinations waking infest the sick and overthrow their strength it may be lawful to administer anodyne and gentle narcotic Remedies but never in the fit for then they greatly hinder the subduing and sifting forth of the feaverish matter and draw out in length the fit that would end sooner These things are to be done about the interstitia or intervals of the fits but whilst the fit is urgent altho the sick then chiefly send for and call upon Physiicans yet at this time their prescripts are limited to a narrower space If Vomiting notwithstanding an Emetic being given still infest it may be more freely provoked either by simple Posset Drink or with bitter Herbs boyled in it But let the chiefest means of help be in temperating the heat and thirst which most grievously torments the sick in this Feaver For whilst the Blood growing hot with the morbific matter and being inkindled in the Heart leaps forth into the Lungs stirs up there a cruel Inflamation which requires a profusion of a cold humor as it were for the extinguishing the Flame wherefore they greedily desire without any measure drink for want of which the sick are almost killed with too great heat and their Blood being almost wholly rarified into flame and fume the thrid of Circulation is hardly continued wherefore drink ought to be wholly granted to those in Feavers which however if it be taken in too large a quantity it at first more disturbs the estuating Blood and at length brings confusion to the feaverish matter begun to be separated that from thence the Work of subaction and secretion is longer protacted and the fit is made longer also besides large drinking causes troubles in the Ventricle and by disturbing it and often provoking Vomiting hinders the breathing forth and calls inward the sweat breaking forth or perhaps already broke forth wherefore at first the heat of the Feaver being inkindled altho the sick be very thirsty let them only sip a little and abstain from drink as much as they can afterwards when the matter being burnt and subdued begins to be dissipated by sweat they may be more freely indulged as to this for so the sweating is greatly helped and the fit is sooner finished as to the nature of the Drink let them take sometimes Posset Drink sometimes Small Beer or Barly Water and sometimes simple Water or sharpned with the juice of Lemons In this case the use of Sal Prunellae is deservedly praised to be given in every Liquor for this with its nitrosity wonderfully allays the raging Blood and potently moves sweats I have often observed in the midst of a fit the sick wont to fall into a swoon or syncopy to whom presently they give Cordials or hot Waters that much increase the violence of the Feaver and bring forth more troubles than usual that the fit is more difficultly finished But these faintings for the most part happen either from a bilous humor suffused in the Ventricle or by reason of the sweat suddenly breaking forth and against these I always found the most present Remedy that either a feather being put down the throat Vomiting may be provoked or that Liquor being plentifully drunk a sweat may be again raised up also in the whole course of this Feaver I am wont never to give any Cordials or alexiteriums The Dyet in this Feaver ought to be only slender and not nourishing all sorts of Flesh or any thing prepared of them are wholly to be avoided for as these abound with Sulphur they give a more plentiful food as Oyl poured on Flame to the hot or enkindled Blood besides nothing spiritous as strong Waters strong Beer or Wine is to be yielded to but Decoctions or Broths of Oat-meal or Barly altered with cooling Herbs are chiefly to be used also Posset Drink and small Beer or Whey is to be given them at their pleasure for by this means when a very slender and watry nourishing juice is conveyed to the mass of Blood the soluted Particles of Sulphur burn forth sooner and with the less tumult also the recrements of the adust matter are more easily carried from the bosom of the Blood but if on the contrary a more rich or plentiful nourishment be administred the effervency of the Blood is thereby very much augmented and the Blood is more infected by the confusion or pouring in of the adust matter After that the Blood being much burnt forth by frequent fits and the Feaver being in its declination remits of its fervor and fierceness you must take heed lest the sick at length growing well fall not into a Cachexie or Scorbutic Distemper for the disposition of the Viscera being hurt and the Blood very much depauperated the alible juice though not scorched so as at first is not however rightly concocted and ripened into perfect Blood but by reason of the want of transpiration the serous excrements being imbued with a fixed salt are greatly heaped together
and now fixed in the Bowels now in the extreme parts bring forth various Distempers Wherefore in a long languishing of the sick or otherwise for the sake of being sooner well Remedies should be given them which volatilise the Blood or hinder the stuffings of the Viscera or if stuffed may open them and their ferments as if extinct restore for this use those Remedies and Preparations chiefly help which are commonly called Digestives and Antiscorbuticks with which being timely administred I have known very many weak pale and as it were without Blood suddenly to recover a liveliness and vigor The Description of a Catarrhal Feaver Epidemical in the middle of the Spring in the Year 1658. taken the fourth of June AN equally intense Frost followed the next Winter the immoderate heat of the foregoing Summer so that no one living could remember such a Year for either excess both of heat and cold From the Ides of December almost to the vernal Equinox the Earth was covered with snow and the North wind constantly blowing all things without doors were frozen also afterwards from the beginning of the Spring almost to the beginning of June the same Wind still blowing the season was more like Winter than Spring unless now and then a hot day came between During the Winter unless that a Quartan Feaver contracted in Autumn infested some among our Countrimen there was a moderate state of health and freedom from all popular Diseases The Spring coming on an intermitting Tertian as used to do every year before fell upon some About the end of April suddenly a Distemper arose as it sent by some blast of the Stars which laid hold on very many together that in some Towns in the space of a Week above a thousand people fell sick together The particular symptom of this Disease and which first invaded the sick was a troublesome Cough with great spitting also a Catarrh falling down on the palat throat and nostrils also it was accompanied with a feaverish Distemper joyned with heat and thirst want of appetite a spontaneous weariness and a grievous pain in the Back and Limbs which Feaver however was more remiss in some that they could go abroad and follow their affairs in the time of their sickness but complaining in the mean time of want of strength and of languishing a loathing of food a Cough and a Catarrh But in some a very hot Distemper plainly appeared that being thrown into Bed they were troubled with burning thirst waking hoarsness and coughing almost continual somtimes there came upon this a bleeding at Nose and in some a bloody spittle and frequently a Bloody Flux such as were indued with an infirm Body or men of a more declining Age that were taken with this Disease not a few died of it but the more strong and almost all of an healthful constitution recovered those who falling sick of this Disease and died for the most part died by reason of the strength being leisurely wasted and a serous heap more and more gathered together in the Breast with the Feaver being increased and a difficulty of breath like those sick of an Hectic Feaver Concerning this Disease we are to inquire what procatartic cause it had that it should arise in the middle of the Spring suddenly and that the third part of Mankind almost should be distempered with the same in the space of a Month then the signs and symptoms being carefully collated the formal reason of this Disease also its Crisis and way of Cure ought to be assigned That the Northern Wind is most apt to produce Catarrhs besides the testimony of Hippocrates common experience doth make known but why Catarrhs did not spread at least in some peculiar places all the Winter and Spring but only in one months space and then joyned with a Feaver this Distemper should become Epidemical doth not so plainly appear I know many deduce the cause from the unequal temper of the Air at that time which altho for the most part very cold yet the North Wind sometimes lessening there would be a day or two very hot between wherefore from this occasion as from cold taken after the heat men should commonly fall sick But indeed for the exciting the Distemper so suddenly rising and commonly spreading there is required besides such an occasion a great foregoing cause or predisposition tho the other might suffice perhaps for an evident cause for to distemper them with this sickness for we ought to suppose that almost all men were prone to the receiving this Disease otherwise no evident cause could have exercised its power so potently on so many wherefore it seems very likely that this Disease had its Origine from the intemperance and great inordination of the year and as the Autumnal intermitting Feaver before described was the product of the preceding immoderate heat so this Catarrhal Feaver depended altogether upon the following part of the year being so extremely cold For the Blood being now throughly roasted by the very hot Summer and prone to the Feaver before described then being made more sourish by the Autumn urging it and apt for a Quartan Feaver afterwards being a little eventilated by reason of the strong cold of the Winter and hindred from its due perspiration retained yet its Dyscrasie or evil disposition and readily broke forth on the first occasion given wherefore when the Blood in the middle of the Spring as the juice of Vegetables being made more lively and also begun to flower and grow rank by reason of the stoppage being still continued was straitned in its Circulation and easily made prone to a feaverish effervescency and as the serous Water redounding in the Blood could not evaporate outwardly because of the Pores being still straitned by the cold restagnating within and chiefly falling upon the Lungs where it might be moved about instead of an outward breathing forth excited the so frequent and troublesom Cough The Original therefore and formal Reason of this Disease are founded chiefly on two things to wit that there together hapned a greater effervescency of the Blood than usual from the coming on of the Spring season and also a stoppage or great constriction of the Pores excited by the too great cold of the foregoing season that therefore there was not a free space granted to the Blood flowring or luxuriating in the Vessels The business being after the same manner as if Wine begun to grow hot should be put up into close shut Vessels for by this means either the Vessels or the Liquor were in danger to be lost Wherefore that we may contract the thing in short the cause that this Disease begun in the middle of the Spring having presently spread largely seised very many was not the blast of a malignant Air whereby the sick were distempered as if struck with a blasting but that at this time the Blood being inspired by the constitution of the Spring and so luxuriating and apt to grow hot was contracted
Because after the Summer solstice the North wind still blowing a cold season remained for a long while so that the Fruit and Corn this year was feared by the Husbandmen would scarce be throughly ripened but after this a little before the beginning of July a most fierce heat followed for several days and when the Dog days were begun the Air grew most cruelly hot that one could scarce indure the open Air. By reason of this heat and cold in excess the temperature of this year was very unequal wherefore there was a necessity for our Blood to be now fixed and as it were congealed now too much roasted and so perverted from its natural disposition to a scorched and melancholly temper also it came to pass that the Pores of the skin were much altered from their right constitution that by that means an insensible transpiration could not be performed after the wonted manner From the time that the former Feaver ceased almost to the end of the Dog days there was a state of health and free from all popular Diseases but then a few here and there among the Villages and in lesser places first fell sick but afterwards about the end of August a new Feaver suddenly arising began to spread through whole Regions every-where round about us also this as the other which spread the last Autumn raged chiefly in Country Houses and Villages but in the mean time few of the Inhabitants of the greater Towns and Cities fell sick At the same time in other Regions situate at a distance from us yea almost throughout England the Epidemical Feaver was said to rage and in some other places to be far more deadly than it was about our Country Perhaps the Idea of this Feaver now reigning had not the provision of its symptoms alike in all places or was noted wholly with the same appearances and accidents yet whatever it shewed in our parts as to its nature I shall briefly and succinctly add from our own proper observation or what I had learnt being communicated from others About the beginning of this Disease its figure was wandring and very uncertain because in some there was a continual fervor in others it was intermitting being renewed by set fits but at this time it hapned to very many as a pathognomic symptom that they were ill in their brain and nervous stock that presently from the very beginning of this Feaver almost all complained of their head being grievously distempered For a cruel headach infested some and hardness of hearing with a noise in the ears troubled others but to most was wont to happen either a stupidness and heavy sleepiness with a vertiginous Distemper or pertinacious wakings with a delirium and distractions of the animal spirits I have observed in some that on the first or second day of their sickness that little broad and red spots like to the measles have leisurely broke forth in the whole body which being shortly vanished the Feaver presently became stronger and especially the Distempers of the head far more grievous From thence a benumedness of the senses and a sleepiness fell upon some for many days that they lay a long while as if dying without speaking or knowledg of their friends I knew others to have fallen from hence into a Lethargy and others cast into an Apoplexie and some into a Phrensie and Delirium Of these the younger and strong men yet not without a long languishment and doubtful recovery most of them escaped in the mean time old men or other ways weak and sickly generally died Those who fell sick with the Feaver as it were continual with those notes of malignity were more rare and the distempered were only sporadically in some houses only But the sickness which most commonly spread about us fell upon most and tho it cruelly raged it seemed to imitate an intermitting Feaver to wit either a Tertian or a Quotidian for that the sick had fits either every day or which I more often observed every other day which infested them grievously and a long while with cold heat and sweat succeeding in order but these kind of fits as also the course of the whole Disease were wont to be noted with diversity according to the age and temper of the sick and with various concourse of symptoms and accidents Yet this was common to most of I had like to have said all the sick that together with the Feaver they were troubled with Cephalic Distempers When therefore any one was troubled with this Disease whether the sickness was excited from an evident cause or Contagion or without any manifest occasion its coming betrayed it self by a pain in the head and often in the loyns with thirst want of appetite spontaneous weariness and heat tho not strong if it hapned in a young Body of a florid Blood and more hot temper the fits wanted the cold and shivering about its beginning but they were very troublesome and sharp with long heat The sick were often troubled with vomiting and their head aked cruelly for the most part sweat difficulty succeeded which being often partial and quickly broke off rarely cured the fit but when the sweat failed they grew hot again that scarce in 18 or 24 hours the fit was finished in some In the mean time from the Blood being very fervent the phantasie was disturbed that oftentimes a Delirium absurd or idle talking wakings and high inquietudes were stirred up during the fit but the same being finished in the time between still a troublesome thirst a slow heat languor of spirits and great debility of strength with an headach and a vertiginous Distemper for the most part molested them It was rarely found for any to find themselves indifferently well as in a common Tertian between the fits About the beginning of the Disease the feaverish fiercenesses were somewhat more mild which afterwards at every turn leisurely grew worse and then began with cold and shaking to which nevertheless after a long and very troublesome heat sweat very hardly succeeded in most so that the fit rarely ended in its due temper Within six or seven periods the strength of the sick was much cast down that being made languid and weak they had an hard task to struggle with the Disease because unless Nature were succoured by Art the Feaver still prevailed and rarely or never in a short time was it cured by a Crisis or leisurely remitted but it brought the sick into great streights by its long siege and still persisting till the Blood being by its frequent deflagration made very liveless and watery was unable to grow too hot in the Vessels of its own accord or to be inkindled more plentifully in the heart and then oftentimes became so dead and wanting of spirits that being insufficient for the continuing of the Vital Lamp it brought in Death But sometimes the mass of Blood being depraved and made poor by this Disease was able tho hardly to continue the half extinct Vital
juice as well as the Blood by reason of the intemperance of the year was much altered from its due Crasis or Disposition viz. by nature sweet and spirituous and was become now heavy and almost lifeless now sharp and too much pungitive Besides also the mass it self of the Blood very much contributed to this evil for whilst it grew hot the vaporous effluvia which ought to have been dispersed outwardly by reason of the Pores being shut up were poured upon the Brain and membranes of the head and by reason of this kind of stopping impressed almost on all sweat hardly and not but partial and often interrupted succeded in the fits hence also in the height of the Disease a perfect Crisis or spontaneous rarely or never hapned to Cure it but instead of this if the business was committed to Nature the adust matter or recrements gathered together in the Blood were transferred to the head and there raised up now the sleepy evil now Phrensies and those long and stubborn 3. That the fits sometimes begun without cold or shivering but with a troublesome heat and were prolonged with a difficult sweat partial and often interrupted then forasmuch as the same being finished the sick began again to wax hot that the fits were not finished without a long evaporation of a dry breath the cause was the too sharp and bilous disposition of the Blood whereby when it grew turgid it was stuffed rather with adust Salt and Sulphur than a serous juice and presently conceived an inkindling without any previous Flux of nitrous matter and therefore for want of serum and by reason of the Pores being shut up its deflagration was continued for a long time almost only with a dry exhalation and scarce at last ended in a remission And therefore the interstitia of the fits were most troublesome with heat and thirst Head-ach Vertigo and other Distempers because the feaverish matter being heaped up in the Blood was not all dispersed by the several fits but part of it being left after the fit as it were extraneous and not miscible induced almost a continual burning 4. It was observed that those distempered with this Feaver presently lost their strength and flesh that after a fit or two they panted for breath and being very weak were not able to stand or go without being led when it is an usual thing in an intermitting Feaver that is common for the Patient to be very lively and cheerful between the fits the reason of the difference is because in this Feaver the mass of the Blood is both more depraved by the impure mixture of the degenerate juice and especially that the same is more perverted from its natural disposition and therefore when it boyls up less out of the fits it yet ferments not rightly and equally in the bosom of the heart wherefore when by any more quick motion or agitation of the Body the Blood is carried more impetuously into the bosom of the heart because it is not there presently inkindled it both leaps forth of doors and by its stagnation causes the oppression of the heart and great weakning of the Vital Spirits By reason of this kind of dyscrasie of the Blood to wit whereby it is made more unfit for due Fermentation and inkindling in the heart also some Beasts and especially Horses in the Spring time are made hard breathed and very unapt to any rapid motion 5. Lastly We are to inquire concerning this Feaver wherefore it spread chiefly in Villages in lesser Towns and the Country when Cities and greater Towns were less troubled with it It might seem that this Distemper should be excited from marshie Fogs and other hurtful Vapours plentifully heaped together in this or that Tract of the Air but there is a better reason for that the inhabitants of these kind of places being more exposed to the Spring cold and then to the Summer heats might have contracted a greater Dyscrasie of the Blood and so a more apt disposition to this Feaver For in truth the Inhabitants of the Country could scarce go out of their houses but they were exposed to the Sun's Beams or the fervor of the heated Air. Besides Country-men Husbandmen and such as were accustomed to Labours among whom this Feaver chiefly raged from their immoderate toyl in the Sun or open Air also using a bad and sharp Dyet sooner acquired an adust and torrid disposition of the Blood and so more apt for this Disease than Citizens and Townsmen who lived an idle life and enjoyed wholsome food and mostly continued within doors and in refrigerating shades We may believe this assertion for that not only the Epidemical Feaver now raging but also another of the Autumn before excited by reason of the evil disposition of the Blood increased chiefly among the Countrymen and inhabitants of the Country but the popular Feaver which arose in the middle of the Spring depending chiefly upon transpiration being hindred mostly infested Citizens and the Inhabitants of Towns whilst rustical men that were wont by Labour and Exercise to procure a more free breathing forth remained free The general Prognostication of this Disease seems only to ominate or foretel the like evil almost to follow this as followed the Epidemical Feaver of the former Autumn to wit the Augury being taken rather from the intemperance of our Blood than from the evil of the Air not the Pest but a Quartane Feaver might be feared to come upon it As to the particular Indication as Signs that promise Health or Death I shall briefly mention them and they chiefly respect the temper and government either of the Blood with the Vital Spirit or else of the nervous juice with the animal Spirit If it be plainly indicated from the Pulse Urine from Actions less hurt and the appearance of other symptoms that the Blood as to its feaverish disposition is not very much perverted from its natural temper that in the fits it moderately burns forth and in every Combat easily subdues the load of the feaverish matter and wholly shakes it off from its company that after same fits the mass of Blood is somewhat restored towards its due temper that it perverts little the alible juice and sifts forth with a more gentle rising up what is extraneous and not mingleable and that if in the mean time the other spirituous Liquor rightly inspires and waters the Brain and nervous Bodies that sleep waking sensation and motion are performed well or at least indifferently all good is to be hoped concerning the sick But if it appears from the same Fountains of Indications that the Blood hath acquired in this Feaver a disposition far removed from the natural if it perverts much of the alible juice and then from its extraneous and incongruous mixture the Liquor of the Blood is greatly disturbed and the Spirits driven into confusion if in the fits the Blood too strongly and in a long time burns forth yet doth not truly subdue the
with spirit of Vitriol of Salt Tamarinds or with the juice of Oranges or Lemons forms of which choice enough are commonly to be had Also for this end acetous saline and shelly Powders are used to wit prepared out of Tartar Salnitre the fixed Salt of Herbs of burnt Harts-horn also the claws and eyes of Crabs As for example take of Cream of Tartar drams three of Salt of Wormwood dram one and an half the Dose half a dram in an opening Decoction twice in a day out of the fit Or take of Cream of Tartar dram one of the Powder of Crabs eyes dram one of purified Nitre half a dram mingle them let them be taken after the same manner Or take of Harts-horn burnt drams two of the Spirit of Vitriol what the Powder will drink up the Dose is one scruple it is of excellent use when those in Feavers are infested with Worms These kind of Remedies promote the secretion of the feaverish matter and also restore the almost destroyed ferments of the Blood and Viscera The second intention viz. concerning the right handling the fits comprehends more First there ought to be instituted a right order of Dyet whereby the more full heaping up of the degenerate juice for the matter of the fit may be inhibited wherefore they are only to be fed with thin aliments and they must wholly abstain from flesh or broth made of it Eggs strong Drink and all rich meats and food whatsoever and be contented only with Barly Broth or Grewel Panada Whey and small Beer for that a more plentiful aliment is not digested or assimilated but loads the Ventricle and being poured into the Blood disturbs its Liquor and compels it to grow impetuously hot In the beginning of the fit and the time of its duration no food should be taken unless for the allaying of thirst But for the tempering of heat and thirst Juleps and cooling Decoctions and especially small Beer and posset Drink should be granted Secondly a little before the coming of the fit is expected a gentle Medicine may be administred which may drive away the fit by preventing it or make it more easie by procuring a sweat for this use the febrifuge potion of the most learned Riverius serves well of the Water of Carduus with oyl of Sulphur and salt of Wormwood Or take of Cream of Tartar of salt of Wormwood and the seeds of Nettles each one scruple let it be given in the Decoction of the Roots of Sorrel when the Feaver begins to decline and that the fits are a little more remiss proper febrifuges applied outwardly often inhibit the comings of the fits Yet in the mean time so long as the fits of the Feaver return the sick are to be handled so that in every fit the feaverish matter heaped in the Blood may be throughly dispersed wherefore when sweat hardly succeeds it should be a little excited by temperate Medicines Also the sick should be kept in bed with a gentle breathing many hours nor quickly permitted to rise for I have often observed that sick persons have been still worse because impatient of their bed they have put on their cloaths before the vaporous effluvia were sufficiently exhaled Thirdly as to the symptoms and particular accidents wherewith the sick are wont to be infested in this Feaver it is sufficiently provided for most of them with Remedies in the method of Cure hitherto described again thirst the heat of the mouth the scurfiness of the tongue vomiting the loosness fainting swooning may be referred hither very well the prescriptions commonly used in other Feavers but what may seem to require in this Disease a peculiar method of healing are chiefly the Distempers of the head and brain with the nervous stock which not being timely helped may soon put the sick into great danger of life As to the indications of these kind of evils of the head they are of a twofold kind if it appears from a stupefaction or torpor a Sleepiness Vertigo or Head-ach that the nervous juice is become too dull and as it were vapid or lifeless and therefore doth not sufficiently actuate the brain and nervous bodies besides the Remedies already delivered and especially vesicatories Medicines full of a volatile salt do chiefly help wherefore spirits of Harts-horn and of Blood also the salts of them are of excellent use but if the nervous Liquor be too sharp or the effluvia suffused from the estuating Blood drive the Animal Spirits into confusions or distractions Remedies of the same sort of volatile salt are administred with success in a little smaller quantity Besides a frequent letting of Blood and asswaging Medicines against its Fervor help much as Emulsions Whey and simple Water plentifully drunk Opiats are cautiously to be given in this Feaver for the Phrensie being often allayed by them is changed into a Lethargie or a deep stupefaction FINIS FIVE TREATISES VIZ. 1. Of Vrines 2. Of the Accension of the Blood 3. Of Musculary Motion 4. The Anatomy of the Brain 5. The Description and use of the Nerves BY THOMAS WILLIS M.D. LONDON Printed for T. Dring C. Harper J. Leigh and S. Martin MDCLXXXI THE AUTHORS EPISTLE TO Dr BATHURST Worthy Sir THE Inspection of Vrines and from them an investigation of directions concerning the Medicinal practice began to be esteemed among the Ancients even from the first beginning of Medicine for from hence for the making of judgments concerning the Sick and for the chusing the most fit times for Curing the great Hippocrates hath chiefly taken both his praenotions and his precepts so that that famous and to this day approved statute of old Medicine to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to compose Medicine according to digestions cannot be observed without rightly consulting the Vrinal Also this seems consonant to common reason that for as much as we cannot search into the most intimate parts of the sick Body as it were a Vessel shut up judgment is sought from the infused liquor washing all its parts and taking from many some little parcels For neither more certainly do the acidulous or Spaw-waters shew the nature of the hidden Mine through which they are strained than Vrines give testification of the divers manners of dyscrasies of our Bodies and their habitudes Wherefore the Contemplation of this Excrement as vile as it is hath grown to a Science and hath exercised the ingenuities of the most excellent Physicians both Ancient and Modern Concerning this thing there are many Books extant writ with great diligence in which are rehearsed the great differences of Vrines varieties of Colours and diversities of Consistence and their Contents exactly described and distinct precepts are delivered for every excretion of them Which indeed are esteemed by some of so great certitude that from the inspection of the water a signification is sought of any Disease or of the part affected yea of every accident concerning the sick But in this the common people are egregiously deceived and still
and from thence passes thorow the Ureters into the Bladder and so is carryed forth of doors From the origine and lustration of the Serous Latex but now described it plainly appears that the Urine ought to answer to the quantity of the liquids taken in somewhat a lesser proportion perhaps under a third part which plainly shews the disposition and strength of the Viscera serving for Concoction as also the temper and distribution of the Blood it self and after a sort of the nervous juice moreover it carries with it signs of the affections of the Urinary passages The quantity of the Urine declines often from this Rule so that sometimes it superabounds also sometimes is deficient and either for a short time may consist with a disposition not much unhealthful but if these kind of distempers continue long they argue a sickly condition Concerning these we shall speak among the appearances of the Urine in a diseased condition of the Body we shall now next consider the colour of a sound Urine The Urine of Sound People which is rendred after Concoction is finished in the Body is of a Citron colour like Lye a little boyled which without doubt proceeds from the Salt and Sulphur of the nutritious juice and the Blood dissolved in the Concoction and boyled in the Serum This colour doth not arise only from Salt as some would have it because the Liquor impregnated with Salt unless it be evaporated to a certain thickness will not grow yellowish Also Salt of Tartar being dissolved by melting continues still clear What may be objected concerning the Lye of Ashes I say there the whole Sulphur is not consumed by burning but the Citron colour arises from some saline Particles and others Sulphureous burnt and sticking together in the Ashes and then infused or boyled in the liquor Neither doth the Urine of sound people acquire this same colour from Sulphur only because Sulphur in a watry Menstruum is not dissolved unless by the addition of Salt nor will it give any tincture of it self but if Salt of Tartar and common Sulphur be digested together in water or if Antimony be boyled in a saline Menstruum both liquors will by that means grow yellow like Urine after the like manner the saline and sulphureous Particles of Aliments being incocted and most minutely broken in the Serum by a Digestion in the Ventricle and Intestines and by a Circulation with the Blood in the Arteries and Veins impart to it a Citron Colour This kind of dissolution of Salt and Sulphur by whose means the Urines are made of a Citron Colour is first begun in the Bowels and afterwards perfected in the Vessels and very much depends upon the Concoction performed in the Ventricle and the Intestines For here by the help of heat and of ferments the Aliments taken are chiefly subdued the bond of mixture being broken the saline and sulphureous Particles being most smally broken and made small go into a milkie Cream and from thence the Serum remaining after that Concoction and distribution of that milkie juice becomes of a Citron colour after the same manner as when the Salt of Tartar and common Sulphur being dissolved together and mixed with some acid thing indue a milkie colour then the contents being separated by setling the remaining liquor grows yellow like Lye If that the aliments by reason of an evil disposition of the Ventricle are not rightly digested in the first Concoction as in the Longing Disease or Pica the Dropsie and other ill dispositions of the Bowels usually comes to pass the Urine also is rendred crude clear and almost insipid like Fountain water but if by reason of the ferments of the Viscera being more than duly exalted or otherways depraved as in the Scurvy Hypochondriac distemper or Feavourish intemperance the particles of things eaten are too much dissolved in the first Region by that means Urines are rendred red and thick The Serum as hath but now been said being imbued with a lixivial tincture in the first Concoction and confused in the Blood so long as it is circulated with it it is yet further Concocted and acquires a more deep colour for the particles of the Blood being roasted and scorched although for the most part they are laid aside into the Gall bag yet being in a manner boyled in the Serous Latex they heighten its colour hence the Concoction being ended the Urine which is first made is more Pale and that which is last more Red. That which is made after long fasting is yet more high Coloured Where the Blood is more cold as in Cachectical people the colour of the Urine is made less where the Blood grows raging with a feavourish Heat and is roasted the Urine grows highly Red. Concerning the Urines of sound people it is worth observation that which is made after plentiful Drinking hath no tincture but is pale like water of which we shall enquire by what means the Serous Latex so suddenly slides away out of the Ventricle contrary to what is vulgarly believed and passing thorow all the Chyliferous passages then the Veins Arteries the bosom of the Heart it self and the turnings and windings of the Veins and Ureters is put forth of the Body within so short a space moreover how it comes that the Urine being so precipitately made contrary to most other things is not only changed into no Colour in its passage but it also loses its own proper For as the Proverb is Our Drink goes thick in and comes forth thin or We Drink thick Beer and Piss clear Concerning this we say that besides the long wandring of the nourishing juice to wit whereby after some stay in the Ventricle it slides into the Intestines and from thence thorow the milkie Vessels into new passages and thence is carried into the Veins which carrying about cannot be quickly performed it is most likely that there is another nearer passage of the same Nutritious Juce whereby indeed it may be conveyed immediately and without delay to the Mass of Blood and perhaps to the nervous Liquor and therefore after fasting there immediately follows a most quick refection of strength and spirits after Eating and especially after Drinking which indeed cannot be thought to be made by the Spirits and Vapours also from such drinking the Urine is presently rendred and indeed sooner than it can be thought that the Mass of the Chyle can be sent out of the bosom of the Ventricle wherefore it is not improbable that when the Alimentous Liquor is entred the Ventricle presently the more thin portion of it which consists chiefly of Spirit and Water is imbibed by its Spongeous Membranes and from thence being instilled into the little mouths of the Veins it is presently confounded with the Blood flowing back towards the Heart For of this opinion though not very stubbornly I always was That the Chyme was in some measure immediately derived from the Ventricle and Intestines by the branches of the Vena Porta
into the Mass of Blood and as the milkie passages carry it about by a long compass whereby it may be instilled into the descending Trunk of the Vena cava so that it may be carried in a more near way viz. into the ascending Trunk of the same by these Vessels forasmuch as the Blood being made poorer in its Circulation returning from either part before it had entred the Heart it ought to be refreshed with a new juice whereby it might more lively ferment in the bosom of the Heart but forasmuch as the much greater part of the Blood is carryed upwards surely it may seem agreeable to truth that at least some portion of the nourishing Juice may be added to this as it were a sustenance it being before burnt forth and almost lifeless for its new inkindling in the Heart The Arguments that seem to perswade to this not of light moment I could here heap together but I should so divert far from our proposition wherefore that we so suddenly make a waterish Urine after Drinking I esteem to be done after a manner as was but now said therefore the Liquor that is carryed so hastily from the Aliments to the Mass of Blood passing thorow the so narrow windings as are the Membranes of the Viscera being drawn as it were by distillation the more thick matter being rejected consists almost only of Water and Spirit with which indeed it refreshes the vital Spirits and dilutes the Blood about which task when the spirituous part is consumed the watry Latex because of its plenty being heavy and troublesome is continually sent away by the Reins and when it comes from the Ventricle not yet imbued with Salt and Sulphur nor is long circulated with the Blood that it might by that means acquire a lixivial tincture it is rendred thin and clear CHAP. III. Of the Consistence and Contents of the Urine of Sound People SO much for the Quantity and colour of Urines which proceed from a sound Body but as to what belongs to the Contents we must know that there ought to be nothing besides the Hypostasis in a sound Urine but what this is and by what means it sinks down remains to be unfolded in the next place So long as the Mass of Blood being fused with the serous and nourishable humour is continually Circulated in the Vessels from it a certain nutritious juice is made by a perpetual digestion which being put continually to the solid parts goes into nourishment This first of all is digested into a glutinous humour like the white of an Egg afterwards into thin Filaments or Rags which being interwoven in the Pores and little spaces of the solid parts still afford to them an increase of new substance but whilst the Serum being mixed with the Blood washes all the Regions of the Body it sucks up into it self a certain superfluous portion of this last Aliment to be lay'd on the solid parts and carries it forth of dores with it self and this it is that constitutes the Hypostasis or settlement in Urines wherefore so long as this is present it indicates how far Concoction and Nutrition in some measure is performed and is accounted a laudable sign its absence shews Crudity and Cachectical people or a Dyscrasie in Feavours it consisting of small Threads or Filaments is dispersed at first thorow the whole body of the Urine and then is collected into a little Cloud by this means These Filaments or Threads are long and smooth also indued with some sharpnesses like Brier-pricks that from thence being shaken about they easily lay hold of one another and are fastned together even as if into an Urinal full of water you should cast many Hairs and then by shaking about the Vessel the hairs at first swimming dispersedly in a little time would lay hold on one another and be collected into a little bundle after the same manner as it seems the little threads which constitute the Hypostasis or settlement being variously here and there agitated by the colour and spirits implanted in the Urine intangle and thrust upon one another untill they gather into one little Cloud by the mutual knitting of all together and because these Filaments are compacted and more solid than the other Contents of the Urine they sink towards the bottom with their weight It is very likely that these kind of Filaments make the Hypostasis in the Urines of Sound people for that the Blood being well constituted and disposed to nourishment is very much stuffed with Fibres or white Filaments because when a Vein is opened if the Blood let out be received into warm water it will be conspicuous to any one for the red thick substance being diluted with the liquor these smooth and white threads swim in the water wherefore it seems that some of these thin or slender rags being snatch'd away with the serous juce are the matter of this cloud subsiding in the Urine wherefore in Cachectical people by reason of Crudity the Blood being very waterish and unfit for nourishment is destitute of these well labour'd Fibrils also in Dyscrasies when the nutritious humour the Blood being too much scorched is not rightly concocted into these kind of Filaments the Hypostasis in Urines is either wholly wanting or is very confused and disturbed It is said to be a good and laudable Hypostasis which is of a whitish colour of a round and equal figure and sinks towards the bottom to which are required First that that last Aliment be rightly labour'd whereby the Filaments may become white smooth and solid like to slender Fibres Secondly that the Urine be sufficiently strong in spirits which as is beheld in the growing hot of Must or new Wine may agitate and compel here and there all parts Thirdly that the liquor be not too thick nor that its Pores be first possessed by strange bodies whereby the motion of the contents may be hindred but that a sufficient space may be left for the free agitating and tossing about these kind of Particles If the substance be red it is a sign that that last Aliment is scorched and burnt with too much heat wherefore such a sediment for the most part is in the beginning of a Feavour so long as the Coction in the Viscera and Vessels is not wholly perverted if the Hypostasis be broken and unequal it is a sign that the nutriment destinated for the solid parts is not rightly and equally concocted and that its Particles are not homogene and alike in every part wherefore the Filaments do not cohere together but these with those and they with others are entangled apart hence some more thick descend towards the bottom and others more light swim upon the top When the Hypostasis does not wholly sink down but hangs all of it either in the middle or upper Region that happens because that those Filaments are not perfectly laboured nor solid and compact but more rare and spungy or because the liquor is thicker
and more impregnate with Salt and Sulphur and therefore like Lie it sustains some weights which otherwise would sink to the bottom Sometimes the Hypostasis is wholly wanting in sound people after long fasting immoderate labours or copious sweating the matter being wholly consumed into nutriment or evaporated by sweat in Feavours by reason of the very depraved condition of the Blood also in the Pica Cachexie and other Distempers of that kind by reason of the great Crudity Concerning the consistency of the Urine in sound people there is not much worthy consideration to be met with It is wont to be of that sort as midling Beer is being purified by a long Fermentation or Lye a little boyled viz. the watry liquor of the Urine ought to include in its Pores and passages a great many Particles of Salt and Sulphur most smally broken and dissolved and besides a little of earth divided very exceeding small and dispersed thorow the whole body of the Piss if the consistence be thinner than it ought as it is in clear or limpid Urines and watry it is a sign of indigestion and crudity that the Aliments are not fully overcome and Concocted but if the Urine be thicker and closer than it ought it is a sign that the body of the liquor is filled with preternatural Contents But of these elsewhere when we shall speak of the Urines of the Sick Thus far of Urine forasmuch as it is an Excrement and sign of Concoction in a sound body truly performed in the Viscera and in the Vessels the quantity or bulk of which is to be determined by the potulent matter the colour Citron from the dissolved Salt and Sulphur and boyled in the Serum the Hypostasis or Contents depend upon the Filaments elaboured in the Blood for the nourishment of the solid parts the consistency on the Salt and Sulphur together with the Particles of Earth filling the Pores and passages of the serous liquor It next remains that we treat of the Urines of sick people in which also the Quantity Colour Contents Consistence and some accidents besides offer themselves to consideration CHAP. IV. Of the Quantity and Colour in Urines of sick People IN a Morbous provision of Bodies or Sickly estate the quantity of the Urine does not exactly quadrate with the proportion of the liquid things taken for sometimes it wants of its due measure and sometimes exceeds it When the Urine is much less than the drinkable things taken the reason is because the watry Latex either stays somewhere in the Body or is diverted by some other way of Excretion than by Urine if it remains within First it is either heaped up about the Viscera and their Cavities and so is stay'd now in the Ventricle more than it ought to do and induces by the distention of it troubles with spitting but more often it is laid up in the hollowness of the Abdomen and sometimes of the Thorax and head and there is wont to cause Hydropic Diseases Or Secondly the Serum stagnates in the Vessels and so increases the bulk of the Blood and Nervous Liquor and notably perverts its motion whence Catarrhs Rheumatick distempers and often Palsies and Convulsions are caused Or thirdly this watry humour is fixed in the habit of the body and so creates a swelling up of the whole body or of some parts Or fourthly and lastly it is obstructed in the urinary passages by the Stone or thick matter as it were a dam opposing it and causes in those parts pains and Convulsions and a fulness of the Serum in the whole body When the serous water is other ways bestowed the Patients are for the most part prone to frequent and troublesom Sweats or almost to a continual Loosness The distempers therefore which the small quantity of the Urine is wont to indicate are sometimes the swelling up of some of the Viscera and a heaping up of water in them sometimes Catarrhal distempers sometimes evil dispositions of the nervous stock sometimes an Anasarca and watry Tumors and sometimes the stony disposition of the Reins and Bladder And sometimes also the diminution of the Vrine is the effect and sign of some other preternatural evacution viz. an immoderate excretion of Sweat Lask or some other thing To describe here exactly all the subsistences of the serous Latex either in the body or the causes of it other ways excreted and the manner of doing it were to transfer hither almost the whole matter of Pathology for many and divers are the occasions and circumstances whereupon this Serum is heaped up in this or that part and subsisting in the body diminishes the quantity of the Urine but for the most part the principal and most frequent cause of this consists not so much in the fault of the Liver Spleen or Reins as of the blood it self to wit a copious and free making of Urine as also its stay in the body and only made in little quantity depend chiefly on the temper of the blood and either on its kindling or fermentation in the heart for if the blood be strong in rightly exalted principles viz. Spirit Sulphur and Salt it grows very hot in the Vessels and so the frame of the liquor being loose enough it is duly kindled by the ferment of the heart and almost spiritualizes the whole passes through all parts with heat and a rapid motion without stopping and whatsoever is superfluous and volatile evaporates out of doors and whilst the blood is ratified and boiling with heat passes through the Reins what is serous is easily separated either by the strainer of the Reins only or which is most likely by a coagulation and is as it were precipitated from the remaining mass of the blood The same thing almost happens after this manner to the blood as we may observe in Milk viz. whilst it is warmed and grows hot it most easily goes into parts and its Serum is most easily separated by the least drop of Runnet or Coagulum put into it but if you pour much more strong and sour ferment into it when it is cold a precipitation will hardly follow so if the blood becomes through an evil constitution or ill manner of living more cool and watry that being less endued with active Elements it grows but dully hot and is but little kindled in the heart it is circulated very slowly and difficultly in the Vessels passing through the Pores and passages of the Viscera it cleaves a little to them and leaves something behind it whence are begotten every where Obstructions and Tumors also the blood by this means becoming viscous and cool and so unfit for precipitation or percolation lays aside less readily its excrements in the Reins but leaves them every where in the body because it hardly and not without the residence of a certain humor is circulated Wherefore in this state those things that move the blood very much as exercise and a more quick motion or also such as may
rest which as to colour and consistency are pale and thin in healthful persons may be drawn For from the Salt and Sulphur more or less dissolved and boiled in the Serum the appearances of a pale and straw-coloured Urine and of other colours under a Citron colour are excited and by the like means which was said of the watry they may be unfolded There remains another certain kind of Urine more pale than the Citron colour not thin but thick and cloudy and of a whitish colour it appears by common observation that children do often make such water when they are troubled with the Worms The reason of which seems because the matter whereof the worms are made is a certain viscous Phlegm heaped up in the Viscera by reason of the indigestion of the Chyle and a defect of making or generating Spirits which matter at first transmits no tincture to the Urine because of its fixity the same afterwards putrifying is exalted and is in some manner volatilized and then partly by heat and spirit is formed into worms and partly being confused with the passing Chyle and carried into the vessels when 't is made unfit for nourishment it is separated with the Serum from the blood and being mixed with the Urine gives it that white colour Sometimes also in Feavers especially of children the Urine is whitish the reason of which is because the supplement of the nutritious juyce being poured from the Chyle to the mass of blood is not rightly assimilated but degenerates into an excrementitious humor A portion of which being incocted in the Serum imparts to it the thick consistence and milky colour otherwise than in the Feavers of those of riper years where when the heat is stronger the same degenerate juyce impresses on the Serum a red colour Also the Urine is whitish in the flowing of the Whites the Gonorrhoea Ulcers of the Reins and Bladder and of the urinary passages by reason of the confusion or mingling of the filthy matter or the corrupted seed however it be that the colour of the urine be white it is produced from its contents which at last putting down its settlement to the bottom the liquor for the most part becomes of a palish and yellowish colour even as it may be perceived by the making of the Milk of Sulphur where the milky substance sinking down to the bottom the over swimming liquor is of a Citron colour Urines whose colour is deeper than Citron owe their appearance not only to the Salt and Sulphur dissolved more than usual but in some sort to the more thick contents in the liquor The more plentiful dissolution of the Salt and the Sulphur is chiefly performed in the vessels in the mass it self of the blood and from thence the Tincture is impressed on the serous Juyce But this happens to be done for the most part after a double manner viz. either by reason of the feaverish fervour for as much as the blood boiling in the vessels and being more kindled in the Heart is very much loosned in its mixture and so copiously fixes on the Serum the particles of Salt and Sulphur wasted as it were by the boiling Or without a Feaver when these kind of sulphureous and saline little bodies wont to be sent forth at other sinks are restrained and so being by degrees heaped up in the blood are poured into the Serum Of this also there are two chief causes or means for either the excrements of the blood which chiefly participate of adust Sulphur and that ought to be sent away by Choler-carrying vessels are retained and so they impress being suffused on the serous humor a tincture of yellowness or else the Effluvia's which are chiefly of a saline nature and ought to be evaporated by insensible transpiration are restrained and from those the urine is filled with a lixivial tincture The urines of the former kind are proper to people that have the Jaundice but those of this latter are familiar to the Scurvy for in the Scurvy the saline particles of the blood depart from volatilization and get a Flux wherefore by reason of their fixity they will not evaporate and so being more fully heaped together in the blood they more and more pervert its Crasis and very much impregnate the serous humor with a saltness The contents which heighten the colour of the urine are of a twofold kind to wit either adust recrements remaining after the deflagration of the blood or particles of the nutritious juyce degenerated into an extraneous matter Concerning which we shall speak hereafter in their proper place It now remains that we describe particularly the several Colours of Urine more intense or deep than Citron colour 1. The first is a flame-coloured urine which shines with a brightness like the Spirit of Nitre and this is very often seen in an intermitting Tertian Feaver this colour arises from a portion of the thinner yellow Bile mixed with the Serum whilst it is in motion for that in this Feaver there is a sharp and hot intemperature of the blood which burns and scorches all the humors and so plentifully begets Choler But although this for the most part is separated from the mass of blood by the bilary vessels and passages yet when it abounds in the vessels a part of it or which is the same thing some burnt and adust particles of the blood and humors being boiled in the serous water impart to it an high or deep yellowness This urine is thin and shining for that there is in this disease almost a continual breathing forth that thrusts out the recrements of the nutritious Juyce and all the thicker parts of the Serum towards the circumference of the body 2. The Saffron-coloured urine and which dyes Linen with the same colour undoubtedly is a sign of the Jaundice it is tinged after this manner by the yellow Bile or Choler or by the Salt and Sulphur burnt and plentifully mixt with the Serum for the yellow Bile is necessarily begot from the yoked heat and motion of the blood but for this the Gall bag is designed by Nature for the separating it from the mass of the blood its passages being rooted in the Liver But if such a separation be any ways hindred that humor flowing back in the blood and copiously heaped together infects the skin with its yellowness the blood and especially the serous Latex The Saffron-coloured urine differs from the flame-coloured because in this only a certain portion of the more thin Bile is poured into the urine but in that the more thick part and much more plenty besides in the yellow Bile the Sulphur with the Salt being joyned and long circulated is fully dissolved by it that it becomes like paint imparting to every subject a Saffron-coloured tincture as when common Sulphur and Oyl of Tartar are mixed together But what things cause a redness in urines without the restagnation of this Bile happen after the same manner as in the Lye of
they had a urine highly red with a plentiful red sediment In the mean time it did not appear either by the Pulse languishing of the Spirits or Head-aches that the blood grew excessively hot or that they had a Feaver Wherefore I suppose that this kind of distemper doth chiefly consist in the nervous stock and depends on the exorbitances of the saline Principle rather than the sulphureous 4. Also in the confirmed Phthisis or Consumption especially if an Hectick Feaver be joyned with it there is a red Urine the reason of which is if at any time an Ulcer is excited in the Lungs the putrid filth from thence being mingled with the blood sliding by causes in it almost a continual effervescency whereby the sulphureous and saline particles being more plentifully dissolved and boiled in the Serum affect its liquor with redness besides by reason of the blood being defiled after this manner the nourishing Juyce degenerates almost wholly into putrefaction by whose recrements the urine being filled grows more red and is very much stuffed with contents The sign or note of this is that the sick for the most part grow hot after eating and that they are troubled with an heat through their whole body followed with a nightly sweat besides their urines yield a thick and copious sediment to wit when the nourishing Juyce being mixed with the blood is not assimilated it stirs up in it a fervour and being degenerate into an extraneous matter exhales partly by sweat through the Pores of the skin and partly being transmitted to the urine very much heightens its colour and consistency Thus far of a red Urine whose several species but now related have more degrees of intention and remission accordingly as the causes altering the colour and consistence in them are either weaker or stronger 4. As to what belongs to a green and black Urine I confess I have never seen those kind of deep colours exactly like those of Leeks and Ink in any urine but I imagine I may have seen the appearance of a greenish colour from a more deep yellow and of a blackish urine from the same with a cloudy and somewhat a dark mixture and from thence called by Authors a green and black Urine But those urines coloured after that manner are esteemed either signs of the Jaundice or of being distempered with some virulency of the blood if they continue so constantly for some time or such urines as occasion offers are variously changed and are now of this or that and presently of another colour So I have known Hypochondriacks wont to make such urines as it were critically for some time and then afterwards to render them like sound men As to the first when the Jaundice is very great upon them that the adust portions of Sulphur and Salt remain a long time in the mass of blood they acquire by a long incoction a fulness of the yellow colour at first green and afterwards black and impart the same to the Serum For if the yellow Bile being taken out of the bag of the Gall and put into a Cucurbit be exposed to the gentle heat of a Bath the same in a short time will grow green and afterwards appear like the blackest Ink wherefore in the black Jaundice which is only the yellow carried forth into a worse state by its long stay or continuance there is nothing more usual than to make black urines Besides these kind of urines sometimes appear in a malignant Feaver and in the Plague also often from drinking of poyson and in this case it is for the most part a sign of death because it argues the blood greatly corrupted and the spirits profligated and the bond of the mixture loosned as it were the deadly or mortified distemper even as where some part of our body being distempered with an Ulcer is afterward taken with a Gangrene or mortification forthwith the flowing corrupt matter which was at first white waterish or yellow becomes black Wherefore in the forementioned distempers when the urine grows black the Serum and the blood being wholly vitiated the skin also is dyed outwardly with such a colour As to what belongs to urines periodically tinctured with a greenish colour and especially with black which happen often to Hypochondriacks it is most likely that such arise from the melancholick Feculencies laid up in the Spleen and from thence by reason of its congestion too much flowing forth sometimes and confused with the blood for such a matter being often poured into the Ventricle in some men stirs up black Vomitings also in others the same being supp'd up from the blood passing through may impart suffusions of the same colours to the serous Juyce So much for the Colours of Urines of which the more pale arise from too much Crudity almost all the high-coloured either from the Salt and Sulphur plentifully dissolved and sometimes from the adust recrements throughly boiled in the Serum or from the more thick contents of the urine whether they be the Calx and remaining part of the aliment degenerated in the concoction or the wasting or melting of the pining body or some part of it evilly distempered what hath been said may be better understood if the means whereby these kind of dissolved things or contents are able variously to change the colour of the urine be unfolded The causes of the diversity of appearances of colours and their variously changing as also of the cloudiness and clearness in Urines as in all other Liquors depend only on the various incidency and emersion of the beams of light as is hinted in another place in the Tract of Fermentation For if the substance of the liquor be rare and thin with open Pores and passages that the beams of light may easily pass through it is shining and clear like fountain-water but if the Pores of the liquor be filled with contents or little bodies swimming in it so that the luminous beams are broken in their passage but so that at length they may shew themselves according to those various manners of refraction and emission there will appear a Citron a Saffron or red colour in a yet clear liquor If that in the little spaces of the Pores yet more obstructed the light cannot pass through there is a darkness induced but then if the immersed beams be a little or nothing reflected the liquor will appear of a brown or dark colour but if they are beaten back according to the diverse manner of reflection a white ashy or some other kind of appearance is induced From this being supposed according as the liquor of the urine sometimes almost wholly deprived of Salt and Sulphur and other things dissolved easily admits of light sometimes either very much stuffed or else moderately with these kind of contents either distorts the beams falling on them in their passage or wholly imbibes them or lastly beats them back it were easie to explicate all the Phenomena or appearances of colours and their
consistence It often happens that the colour of the same Urine is variously changed for what is made red being exposed to the air becomes white or of a dark colour and then after a long time of a Citron colour the reason of which is this if I am not deceived this kind of urine when it is made is red because the Pores of the Liquor are very full of contents yet so long as they are dilated with heat they transmit the rays of light although variously distorted that they may at length shew themselves or appear but this urine is no sooner exposed to the cold but that the Pores being straitned the site and position of the parts is changed in the contents and by that means the passage of the beams of light is hindred wherefore the liquor presently becomes cloudy and according as those beams are reflected after this or that manner a white or brown or some other kind of colour is induced but at length the contents falling down towards the bottom with their weight the Pores being freed transmit again the rays of light and do not distort them wherefore a clear or a Citron colour appears From these things which have been spoken concerning the Colours of Urines may appear what is the cause of the various consistence of urines For as the particles of Salt and Sulphur of the adust matter or nutritious Juyce depraved in the assimilating are more or less boiled in the Serum urines also get their more thin or thick consistency It remains next that we speak more clearly of the Contents in preternatural Urines whereof we have often made mention CHAP. V. Of the Contents in the Urines of sick People WE suppose the Contents in the Urines of sick people to be twofold viz. either universal which proceed from the mass of Blood and of the nervous Liquor and respect the habit of the whole Body or particular which are the layings aside or excrements of one bowel or part ill affected of which we shall speak anon Those of the former kind which come away from the whole are either natural viz. Filaments or small threads constituting the Hypostasis or settlement as in sound Urines or preternatural which chiefly are particles of the nutritious humour degenerate from assimilation and constitute the more thick bodies of the sediment in Urines and lastly to these if there be a feaverish intemperance the adust matter of the blood after deflagration and diluted in the serous Juyce is added and increases the bulk of the Contents But these Contents both natural and preternatural of Urines represent themselves after a various manner as the blood more or less unduly grows hot also as the aliments in the bowels and vessels are variously concocted and either the superfluities or corruptions of the Chyme from thence made are washed away with the Serum for if the nourishable humour transmitted to the blood is not all perverted but a great portion of it laid upon the solid parts is changed into nourishment some parts of this also rightly made being mixed with the Serum impress yet some marks of an Hypostasis in urines Also from the adust or degenerate matter a preternatural sediment is framed yet little and thin neither doth it wholly blot out the appearances of this natural Wherefore in the beginning and declination of a Feaver sometimes also in a Consumption or a Cachexy an Hypostasis though not so perfect is perceived If that the greater portion of the same Chyme growing hot with the blood by reason of the immoderate heat is perverted into an heterogene matter which afterward is sent away with the Serum as hurtful and unprofitable presently an obscure and imperfect Hypostasis appears and besides it very many contents are seen in the urines which heighten their colour and consistency Such an urine which contains an Hypostasis though imperfect together with other things of the same kind dissolved in it if it be kept in a warm place the Hypostasis will be perceived alone but the rest of the contents comprehended in the pores of the urine dilated by the heat are made wholly inconspicuous or not to be seen yet afterwards the little spaces of the Pores being straitned by cold the same contents are precipitated and by that means they render the site and position changed and the urine troubled and cloudy and blot out the appearance of the Hypostasis These kind of urines in the better state of Feavers in a Catarrh Cough difficulty of perspiration fulness of humours and in the more light Dyscrasies are wont to be made But if in the more grievous state of sickness the Concoction be wholly vitiated and the whole nutritious Juyce changed into a putrefaction these kind of contents also may be perceived in the urine without an Hypostasis and signifies variously in diseases after their various ways of being precipitated and sinking down and constituting a diverse kind of sediment to wit as the separation of the parts succeed soon or late or not at all and as the matter falling down shall be little or much or also of a white red or dark colour I will briefly run through what is most notable and worthy observation concerning this thing 1. This kind of Urine being full of contents is not sometimes at all precipitated unless the substance of the liquor be dissolved by putrefaction a long time after but remains a long while troubled and somewhat cloudy with little bodies swimming through the whole The reason of this is either because these contents are too much incocted in the Serum so that the spirits implanted therein cannot separate the pure from the impure the thick from the thin as may be perceived in brewing Beer if that the Mault be too much boiled the liquor shall never grow clear or else the urine remains troubled because it is wholly destitute of spirits which may compel the parts of the liquor into the motion of Fermentation as it usually comes to pass in Beer growing sour by reason of Thunder or of immoderate heat and being infected with a troubled Feces or Lee will scarce ever be rightly made clear again This kind of urine is perceived for the most part in very dangerous Feavers and sometimes in a desperate Cachexy and always portends evil 2. Sometimes it happens that the Urine is so full of contents that it begins to be troubled whilst it is yet warm I have often observed it after this manner in a slow Feaver whose heat was gentle and more remiss to wit in which the particles of the nutritious crassament or substance are depraved but being a little subdued by heat or boiled in the Serum they easily fall out of its pores as when common Sulphur is boiled in Lye if that before it be perfectly dissolved it be taken from the fire the liquor at first clear and red by reason of the quick precipitation of the dissolved matter becomes presently troubled dark and of a somewhat whitish colour 3.
the stony or an ulcerous distemper or both together planted beyond the emulgent Vessels It is an usual thing for some to void with their water gravel or small find of a red colour in great quantity some of these are obnoxious to the stone in the Reins and are frequently tormented with Nephritick fits I have also known others without pain or other grievous Symptom for a long time to make a sandy water All urines whatsoever if they stand for some time in a leaded or earthy glazed vessel affix this kind of red land to the sides and bottom of the Pot to wit the volatile Salt of the urine is coagulated with the fixed Salt of the Metal so when Sal Armoniac being mixed with the filings of Steel Sea-Salt or Vitriol is sublimated the elevated flours grow notably red wherefore it seems that these kind of little sands are begot in the Reins for that the Salt of the urine is coagulated with the Tartarous feculencies laid up about the windings of the Reins from whence the sandy matter is made which is presently washed away by the serous Juyce passing through Therefore the gravel that is so frequently made are no small parts or fragments of a greater stone as is commonly thought but extemporary products of the blood and Serum washing the winding passages of the Reins By what means little stones are produced in the Bladder or Reins is not to be fully discoursed in this place But without doubt it is done rather by Coagulation than Exsiccation or Excalefaction by drying or heating I have observed some sick of the Stone in the Bladder who after they have made water were wont to void with great striving and pain a thick and viscous Juyce which presently hardned into a scaly matter the smell of this was like Lye and of such a consistence as Lye evaporated to a thickness the liquor of which being made thick presently stiffens into a saline hardness Lesser stones sometimes pass through the urinary passages and are carried out the greater remain unmoved in their Cells The places wherein they are usually begotten are the narrow winding bosoms of the Reins from thence the smaller slide into the Bladder and if not excerned they grow into great stones I once saw many great stones shut up as it were in a Chest about the sides of the Bladder between its Membranes these without doubt being sent from the Reins while smaller remained in the passages of the Ureters creeping between the Coats of the Bladder and there by degrees did increase in bulk A Matron so distempered long before her death cast out of the urinary passage a Membrane thick and broad full of sandy matter which as appeared after her body was opened was part of the interior Tunick of the Bladder worn and broken by the stones there included It is ordinary for Nephritick people or such as are troubled with the Stone frequently to void blood or matter with their Urine for from a greater stone and endued with sharpness the flesh of the Reins is easily worn and the mouths of the Vessels opened whereby blood flowing out tinges the urine and when a solution of unity is caused in this manner in the Reins an Ulcer most commonly follows whereby matter and filthy stuff are poured out with the serous water and constitute a plentiful and stinking sediment in the urine then the sore being more inlarged by the Ulcer more large profusions of blood often follow and the flesh it self of the Reins being worn away and by degrees eaten off is voided with the urine I visited once an ancient Woman who daily voided with her urine for many months pure blood in great quantity besides as often as she made water she used to void in great quantity pieces of flesh great gobbets as it were the little Tubes of the Vessels eaten away that it was suspected one of her Kidneys was all thus cut away from her body yet afterwards by a vulnerary Decoction acidulated with Spirit of Vitriol that bloody water was staid and this Woman lives still well and in health I knew another Matron who used for a long time in making water to void at first blood with a purulent matter and Membranes then the bloody water ceasing for many years she made a waterish urine with a copious sediment and white like snot sinking down to the bottom of the Urinal Afterwards when she began to want that sediment a feaverish intemperance followed with pains wandring here and there with a languishing of strength and other dangerous Symptoms and when this sick Woman was brought into danger of her life a Tumor arising in her left side about her Reins and ripening into a Boil or Sore by reason of the large flowing out of the matter freed her but yet an hollow and sinuous Ulcer pouring out a thin matter remained in that place during her life and being sometimes healed up would presently break out again Scarce two years after this Noble Lady having endured the suppression of her urine for fourteen days became apoplectick and dyed Her body being opened her left Kidney was quite gone in the place of it a membranous substance growing to the Loyns infolding the extremities of the Vessels and Ureter was grown up some prints or marks of the Ureter remained but without any opening into the hollowness of the passage yea a certain ichor or serosity dropping out from the little mouths of the emulgent Artery was carried outwardly into that sinuous Ulcer The other Kidney was very full of sandy matter and small stones besides near the top of the Ureter a stone about the bigness of ones thumb was fixed whose extremity was so fitted and firmly impacted to the passage or cavity of the Ureter that it shut it up just like a Tap and quite hindered the passage of the serous Juyce The purulent matter comes into the urine not only from the Reins but sometimes out of the Bladder and urinary passage distempered with an Ulcer and sometimes also a corrupt seed or white flux or menstruous blood are poured into urines from the Vessels and genital parts and produce in them preternatural settlements 4. In the Urines of sick people are often seen abundance of white Contents composed of most small bodies which when they are setled fill up above half the liquor and make it white and duskish the rest remaining limpid and thin in the upper region of the Urinal this kind of sediment is called Mealy because it is like water imbued with meal Concerning this it is doubtful whether it proceeds from the whole mass of blood or only from the urinary Viscera It appears by observation that the same sort of urine is always made in the stone of the Bladder also sometimes by reason of the Kidney being oppressed with some great stone I never saw such a settlement in urines without a Nephritick distemper wherefore I have thought it almost indubitable to be always a sign of the Stone And
it seems that it should wholly depend on the juyce or humour heaped up about the bulk or substance of the stone For where the stone is fixed in the Kidney or Bladder the nutritious humour is there perverted from assimilation and degenerates into a more thick mucor which uses to be copiously heaped up like Ichor which by reason of a Pea put into an Issue runs out plentifully But this mucor or filth being washed with Serum makes that white sediment CHAP. VI. Of Judgments to be given concerning the Urines of sick People SO much for the Anatomy of Urines wherein are unfolded their Elements and constitutive Principles together with their chief Accidents viz. Colour Consistence and Contents both what ought naturally to be in them per essentiam or essentially and also what are wont to happen to them preternaturally by reason of the body being ill affected It will be easie for any one to accommodate this Hypothesis to practice and to give Judgment on Urines beholding them in the Urinal for from what hath been said it appears of what parts the Diseases are made known by the inspection of the Urines and what the Urine signifies in each of them Concerning this subject there hath been enough said by Authors I shall therefore only touch upon it briefly and lightly pass it over Although the matter of Urine viz. the Serum of the blood washes the whole region of the Body and is circulated with the blood through all the several parts yet it doth not lay open the condition and diseases of them all but only of those to which it owes either the natural perfection and genesis of it self or from which it receives every alteration wherefore in some respect it shews the action and disposition of the Viscera serving to Concoction and besides denotes the temper and motion of the blood and humours in the Vessels but that any one should pretend to know from the Urinal and to divine a pain in the Head an Imposthume in the Throat or any other Disease of any part from whence nothing is communicated to the Serum he shews rather his ignorance than the knowledge of any Disease Urines brought from sick persons sometimes are wholly like those of sound peoples and then they give no light to the disease or distempered part but it may be lawful having inspected them to say something negatively viz. that the Patient is free from a Feaver that as to the Ventricle and Concoction of the food they are indifferently well wherefore unless he be inclining to a Consumption or is sick of an Imposthume or some other disease of the unity being broken whatsoever it be the distemper seems not very dangerous or hard to be cured But in the mean time I would not have him declare any thing rashly nor proceed farther than he can with safety return for I have often observed in some most grievous distempers viz. in a malignant Feaver when with loss of strength a weak and unequal Pulse eruption of Spots and other dangerous Symptoms the Patients have been desperately sick that the urines as to the colour consistence and Hypostasis have been laudable as in sound persons so that in such a case the Physician by only viewing the Urine as to his Prognostication had grievously erred wherefore there is scarce credit to be given to the single testimony of the Urine unless there be other signs agreeable but that it is a lyar in the Plague and malignant Feavers and deceives the reason is that in those diseases the blood is leisurely and as it were silently corrupted sometimes without any great fervour and so although its liquor be infected by Coagulation or by mortification or deadness yet because it doth not burn out much at the same time so as to make an heap of adust matter as of Ashes the Serum is little or nothing altered from its usual disposition or tenour Besides sometimes when in such a sickness the blood grows very hot whatever of excrementitious is heaped up in its mass is presently transferred to the Brain and nervous stock wherefore the serous water being free from preternatural contents remains after its usual manner besides this case when the Urines appear of a deep colour troubled and without any sediment there is no reason why the Piss-prophet should make a Prognostication As often as the Urines of sick people are unlike those of sound either something natural is wanting or what is preternatural is added or it happens both together 1. There may be wanting Colour Consistence Contents and Quantity If the Colour be more remiss than it should and the Liquor paler it indicates Crudity and a defect of making Spirits to wit that the nourishing Juyce is not rightly concocted or exalted either in the Viscera or in the Vessels so that the saline and sulphureous Particles being carried out together following the distribution as it were the distillation of the Serum might throughly stick to the same and impart also to it the tincture wherefore such Urine being viewed from these kind of Symptoms you may unfitly divine that there is a weight in the Ventricle want of Appetite evil Digestion a tension in the Hypochondria an unfitness for motion sleepiness difficult breathing and a frequent palpitation of the Heart upon exercise a pale colour a swelling of the Feet and Belly you may say they are in danger of falling if not already fallen into a Cachexy or Dropsie and if it be a Maid that she is troubled with Longings and the Green-sickness If the Colour of Urines be remitted in a Feaver without a Crisis it is a sign that the fermentative matter or adust recrements of the blood are separated from the bosom of the blood and fixed somewhere which for the most part happens in the Brain and for that cause such Urines use to foretel a Delirium or Phrensie in those troubled with the Stone a sudden alteration of the urine into a pale and watry colour denotes the approach of a Fit A copious and pale Urine often shews the too great resolution or melting of the Salts by reason whereof the serosities are sent away as it were in a flood from the whole body and chiefly from the nervous parts such an Excretion sometimes is healthful and as it were critical when the superfluities happen only to be carried away sometimes it is symptomatick and causes a great debility to wit because the nutritious Juyce and the good humours are purged out If the Consistence be thin and the Liquor pale it argues Crudity want of Spirits or too much Drinking or the Nephritick distemper if it be of a flame-colour it is a sign of an intermitting Tertian Feaver If the Contents be wanting and it be pale want of Concoction is signified and a Cachectick distemper of the body But if it be of a Citron colour and the consistency mean without Hypostasis you may suppose the Patient to have used too much labour or exercise or to be frequently
forth do not so readily convey away the vaporous Effluvia's of the blood hence it is that we fan the Air that it may be made more moveable and carry away more quickly and plentifully the soot or smoke from our Praecordia There yet remain some other smaller Considerations of Fire and Flame respecting indeed not so much the Essence as the production and extinction of either which whether and how far they may agree with the life of the Blood we shall briefly inquire into Fire or Flame is produced two ways viz. either it is kindled from another fire or flame or begot by an intestine motion of sulphureous Particles We have largely shewed the Species of either and the manner of their being made in our Tract of Fermentation only we omitted there that the accession of nitrous food was necessary for the sustaining it even as flame the life also of the hot or warm Blood we have observed to be produced by a twofold way to wit it is either inkindled from another life or soul as in Creatures that bring forth alive or intrinsical Particles predisposed to animation are at length raised up to life with the blood by a long cherishing of external heat as in oviparous or egg-laying Creatures If it be further demanded when and how the vital Flame is kindled first in the Blood I say some small beginnings of it are laid up from the conception it self in the Genital humour to wit when the rudiment of the bodily Soul culled out from the Souls of the Parents as a little spark stricken from those flames is hid in a convenient matter which being from thence raised up by the Mothers heat begins a little to glow and shine and afterwards being daily dilated with the blood brought forth and leisurely increased is equally extended with the Body which it actuates and animates But yet as long as the young one is included in the Egg or Womb the vital fire getting very little or scarce any aery food doth not yet break out into open flame but like a Brands end covered over with ashes burns only slowly and very little and spreads abroad scarce any heat wherefore both the formation and increase of the Embryo depends very much on the Mothers heat or the cherishment of some other analogical thing whereof being destitute it perishes but as soon as the young one is born in due time and begins to breathe the vital fire presently receiving the nitrous food largely unfolds it self and an heat or effervescency being raised up through the whole bloody mass it inkindles a certain flame and because the blood then first rushing into the Lungs having there gotten an accession of Air begins to burn the flesh of that Bowel at first reddish is shortly changed into a whitish colour like burnt ashes and the blood it self undergoes a notable alteration for what did flow of a dark Purple colour into the Pneumonick Vessels from the right side of the Heart returning from thence presently out of the Lungs becomes Crimson and as it were of a flame-colour and so shining passes through the left Ventricle of the Heart and the appending Arteries Indeed that in Creatures new-born the colour of the Lungs is so suddenly changed I think it ought to be attributed to the blood there at first more openly inkindled and their flesh as it were somewhat roasted although the mere inflation of the Lungs in a dead Embryo produces the like effect because the Membranes of the Lungs and the Parenchyma being distended and increased into a greater capacity shake off the stagnating blood and so draw it away into little and scarce to be discerned rivulets As to the Colour of the Blood so variously changed into circulating from a dark purple to a crimson and from this to that I say that the immediate cause of this is the admixtion of the nitrous Air with the Blood which certainly appears because the change into a crimson begins in that place where the blood chiefly gets the access of the Air viz. whilst it is transferred out of the Arteries into the Pneumonick Veins for in those it appears of a dark Purple in these every where florid as the most Learned Doctor Lower hath observed Further it yet farther appears that this alteration of the colour proceeds from the admixture of the Air because that crimson colour follows in the superficies of all blood let out of the Vessels by reason of its meeting or mingling with air and if the flowering or top be taken away another presently arises Besides the blood being let out of a Vein and very much struck with a switch or rod it becomes crimson through all and in like manner the blood of living Creatures shines at first within the Pneumonick Veins to wit presently after the influx of the air by the Wind-pipe and from thence by reason of the same Particles of inkindled air being yet retained it passes through all the Arteries still florid in the mean time from the Nitre of the Air mingled with the sulphureous Particles and burning with them the blood being greatly rarified and in truth expanded into flame impetuously swells up within all the passages of the Pneumonick Vein and the great Artery sending from it self copious breaths and hot Effluvia's but being dilated towards the ends of the Arteries and returning towards the Heart that it may enter more closely into the little mouths of the Veins it lays aside its turgid and burning aery Particles and being presently made more quiet and half extinct and so both its vigour and also its colour being changed it returns through the passages of the Veins that at length running into the Lungs it might renew its burning After this manner that the inkindled blood might flame through the whole Body with a perpetual and equal flame and successively renew its burning in all its Particles it ought to be carried about by a perpetual course from the nest of its accension into all parts and from these to that For this end the Machine or Engine of the Heart was needful as a Pin or Cock which being made with a double bosom might receive in it self from the whole Lungs the blood fresh inkindled that it might presently drive forward whilst burning into every part of the whole Body and might then receive the burnt and half extinguished blood returning from the whole Body which being imbued with new inflammable juyce it might deliver to the Lungs to be re-inkindled In performing this task although the Heart be a mere Muscle and exercised only with an animal motion seems to serve alone for the Circulation of the Blood yet in the mean time it so much helps to moderate the accension of the blood and its burning according to the rage of the passions and to direct other works and uses of the animated Body that we have thought the vital or flamy part of the Soul to have its chief and as it were Imperial seat in the Heart and
Lungs in every distemper or affection as of Grief Joy Fear and the like also in the fits of Diseases the Heart is disposed after a various manner and hence it comes to pass that the blood flowing in fluctuates and is inkindled with a diverse rage of which there will be a more opportune place of discoursing when we shall treat of the Passions Whilst we consider that the burning of the Blood and for that reason the vital or flamy part of the Corporeal Soul doth not appear lively or vigorous in all nor ever after the same manner or measure yet it exists according to the various constitutions of the blood to wit as it is more or less sulphureous spirituous saltish or watry yea and according to the divers constitutions and conformations both of the food with which this flame is nourished as also of the little spiracles or breathing holes by which it is eventilated and further of the Heart it self whereby it is agitated and driven about here and there the accension of blood varies also in every one by means of several other accidents to wit as its flame is sometimes great clear and expanded sometimes small contracted or cloudy sometimes equal and in order sometimes unequal and often interrupted yea and it becomes subject to many other mutations also because the Soul it self having gotten a various nature or disposition it conceives divers affections and manners whereof we shall speak hereafter for as much as it is not a little thing that the disposition of the whole Soul depends upon the temperament of the bloody mass and the degree and manner of its accension or inkindling It clearly appears from what hath been said that Fire and Life do dye or are extinguished alike many ways to wit there is an end of either if the access of nitrous food or the departure of Effluvia's be hindred or if the oily or sulphureous aliment requisite to either be consumed too much withdrawn or perverted from its inflammable disposition of each whereof it is so clearly apparent that there needs no farther explication Thus far we have shewn that the Life of the Blood or that part of the Soul growing therein is a certain kind of Flame let us now see by what means it is disposed to burning and how near it comes to the similitude of a burning Candle or Lamp A common Lamp whether designed to give heat or light for the most part is wont to be made after this manner to wit the Oyl flowing perpetually to the wick gives continual food to the flame wherefore as there is but one fire-place or hearth only of light and heat the action of either is limited only to one place and so as often as there is need of more places at once or divers parts of the same space or body to be illuminated or made warm we place here and there divers lighted Candles or Lamps But if an Instrument made with great artifice such as is truly an animated Body with one liquor only contained in it should be made hot throughout the whole and to be kept always warm it ought not only to be lightly inkindled in the wick but in the whole superficies and derived by fit Tubes or Pipes to all the parts of the Machine then the burning liquor ought to enjoy proportionably to all its parts an access of nitrous Air and to lay aside Effluvia's and other recrements and ought also to have a supply of that constant expence these kind of offices are not to be performed any where up and down but only in some set places therefore the burning liquor ought to be carried about through the whole with a perpetual turn that all its portions might enjoy successively all those priviledges and at once heat the whole capacity of the containing Machine to wit both the inward and outward recesses Indeed such a Bannian or Bathing Engine artificially made might aptly represent the real Divine handy-work of the Circulation of Blood and what burns in it the Life-lamp But it may be objected that the Blood seems not to be inflammable of its own nature further since there is no flame of this heat or effervency to be beheld with the eyes it may well be doubted whether there be such a thing or no. I say first That the Chymical Analysis of the blood shews very many particles of Sulphur and of Spirit yea a plentiful stock of inflammable Oyl which are however mixed with other more thick Elements in a just proportion to bridle their too great inkindling to wit that this liquor might flame out by little and little and only through fewer parts for the constituting of a benign and gentle Lamp of life wherefore the blood being let out of a Vein upon a burning fire doth in some measure burn though it is not like the Spirits of Wine or Oyl of Turpentine turning all into a flame besides the whole mass of blood as the Oyl of a Lamp ought not to be fired yea its burning is instituted for that end that whilst all the Particles of the Mixture being freed some sulphureous and spirituous are consumed by burning others more subtil being sent in Troops might serve for the necessary uses of the animal Regiment and also others more thick or crass and nourishing as it were boiled or roasted might be dispensed for the cherishing all parts besides that all the dead or worn out and excrementitious may be sent away by fit or convenient sinks and others constantly substituted in their places by nourishment But in the interim that the vital Flame which destinated to so many offices we suppose to be inkindled in the Blood otherwise than the common flame which is plainly conspicuous appears not at all a probable reason thereof may be given as it is most thin and burns in the Heart and its depending Vessels as it were shut up in Receptacles it doth not clearly flame out but perhaps remains in the form of smoke or a vapour or breath yea although the blood should openly flame out yet it might be so done that its shining being most thin may not be perceived by our sight as in the clear light of the day we cannot behold a glowing red hot Iron nor shining sparks nor false fires nor rotten wood nor many other things shining by night why then may not the vital fire even thinner than they quite escape our sight Although sometimes hot living Creatures use to send forth a certain fire or flame only conspicuous by night For we have known in some endued with a hot and vaporous blood when they have put off their inner garments at night going to bed near a fire or Candle a very thin and shining flame to have shewn it self which hath possessed the whole inferiour region of the Body The reason of which affection seems wholly the same as when the evaporating fume of a Torch just put out is again inflamed by a light inkindling and manifestly argues that another flame
the root of this extrinsick one lyes hid within the Body For this very cause it is that from the Mains of Horses and the Skins of Cats or other hot Animals being shaken little sparks as it were of fire leap out and often flames only conspicuous in the dark arise Besides we here take notice in a burning Feaver caused by immoderate drinking of Wine or strong Waters that the blood as the flame of it is very much increased doth grow excessively hot and such are wont to emit dry breaths and sharp Effluvia's of heat not like those that proceed from fermenting or boiling Liquor but only inflamed That which some in Feavers have imagined to have seen or observed even burning fires and flame in the eyes argues indeed that the flame of the blood is very strong and also that it penetrates the inclosure of the Brain I knew a certain ingenious Man of a very hot brain who affirmed that after a very plentiful drinking of Wine he was able in the darkest night to read clearly from hence also may be collected how the accension of the blood like that of burning Liquors is to be increased or made stronger viz. by an agitation of the parts and a more plentiful affusion of sulphureous food But that in the hot blood of living Creatures the Properties Affections and many other accidents of Fire or Flame are found without the manifest form or species of it what if we should say the cause to be for that the vital flame of the blood is subjugated or made subordinate to another form viz. to the corporeal Soul Wherefore although it retains the chief qualities and affections of common flame yet it loses the species of flame or fire for in every natural mixture the superiour form exercises a Right and Dominion over all included Particles whatsoever however fierce and untameable they may be in themselves and stripping them of their species ordains and disposes them to peculiar actions in that proper Concrete when the form of fire excels that bright burning that it might propagate largely its ends destroys and consumes all inflammable objects But if the form of the corporeal Soul be induced upon the fire kindled within the blood it burns forth without fulgor or shining or destruction of the subject and is invisible and as it were subjugated flame is ordained for the sustaining of life and its offices but truly the Divine Providence from the very Creation of the World hath seemed to have predestinated Forms to natural Bodies to wit that they might remain as so many Figures or Types according to which every portion of matter framing the Concrete whether animate or inanimate might be modificated so that the Mass according to the virtues of the hidden Seeds being disposed after this or that manner happens to have the form of a Stone a Plant or Brute or of any other kind then the acts and affections appropriate to such a Species follow the form it self When therefore Life or Soul is destinated to these kind of Functions of the more perfect Animals for the performing of which the blood after the manner of burning Liquors ought to be perpetually hot and as it were inkindled what should hinder but that the act of Life or of that corporeal Soul consisting in the motion and agglomeration or heaping together of most subtil and agil Particles may be called a certain Burning or perpetual Fire of the bloody Mass Wherein although the accidents and chief qualities of common fire are implanted yet the form of fire is obscured as being subjugated to a more noble form viz. of the corporeal Soul not much unlike water which being congealed into Ice or Snow lays aside the species of water for a time and may be applied to other uses far distant from fluidity But truly though we affirm that the corporeal Soul doth stick in the Blood yet we do not that it is adequated or limited to it because whilst the more thick portion of it as the Roots of some Tree fixed in the Earth are sowed in the bloody Mass the more noble part of the same Soul as the higher branches are expanded in the Brain and nervous System or as we before hinted when the vital or flamy part of the Soul is contained in the blood the animal or lucid portion of it is contained in the Head and its Appendix by which just limit the Sphere of either may be defined neither may the vital flame impetuously break through the animal Region the substance of the Brain being more cold and also shining or bright is opposed to it as it were an icy or glassie Bar whose interiour frame or substance the small and slender as it were rivers of the blood for the sake of cherishing heat can enter but truly spirituous Particles plentifully flow from its juyce or liquor every where heaped up near the confines of the Brain and there disposed as it were to be stilled forth which being immersed in the Brain and more exalted affords matter out of which the animal Spirits are procreated to be derived through the Nerves into the various Regions of the Body The second Medical and Physical DISCOURSE Of Musculary Motion AS there are two chief or primary Faculties of the Corporeal Soul to wit the Sensitive and Motive we have assigned certain exteriour Powers of either of them which are chiefly acted in the Nervous stock and others interiour the Exercises of which lye within the Brain to wit such as the Imagination Memory Appetite c. What we have publickly discoursed of some time since both concerning internal and external Senses may perhaps hereafter be brought to light and made publick in the mean time because I am opposed concerning both the natural and convulsive Motion I think it fit at present to publish what I had meditated touching the Motive power and what Hypothesis I had conceived of so hard and highly intricate a thing The motive Faculty of the bodily Soul is wont to be exercised with another kind of Action than the sensitive viz. with a diverse aspect and tendency of animal Spirits For that every Sense is a certain passion wherein the Soul or some portion of it being outwardly struck is forced to nod or shake and a wavering of the Spirits being inwardly made to look back towards the Head but on the contrary every Motion is a certain Action wherein the Soul seems to exert it self whole or part of it self and by a declination or fluctuation of Spirits being made to bring forth a Systasis and to extend something as it were its member Further whilst the Soul so exerts it self or some part of it self that the works then designed might be performed an heap of animal Spirits being every where disposed in the motive parts sometimes one sometimes more are raised up by the Soul which by that means being expanded with a certain force and as it were exploded they blow up the containing bodies and so the same being
voluntary function enter oftentimes into spontaneous Contractions unless they be hindred by their Antagonists as it appears for that the Spasm or Cramp of one Muscle comes upon the Palsie of another Contraction and Relaxation are iterated more swiftly in the Heart than in the Muscles of Respiration and so perhaps in these than in several others In those ready to dye the fleshy Pannicle every where trembling clearly shews their changes by innumerable beatings or leapings As to what respects the Humors whereby all the fibres of a Muscle viz. the fleshy tendinous and membranaceous and what lies between them seem to be watered filled or blown up we ought to take notice of them at least two of them to wit the bloody and nervous liquor if not more And in the first place it is clearly manifest to the sense that the blood doth wash all the fleshy and membranaceous fibres which are interwoven with these because if the Spirit of Wine tinctured with Ink be put into an Artery belonging to any Muscle the Vein in the mean time being tyed close the superficies of all the fleshy fibres and transverse fibrils are dyed with blackness the Tendons being then scarcely at all changed in their colour it appears from hence that the blood doth every where outwardly water all the flesh or fleshy fibres and only those We have not yet found by any certain mark whether the blood enters more deeply the fleshy fibres or instils into them the subtil liquor falling from them although this last seems most probable but indeed we affirm that all the fibres viz. the fleshy tendinous and membranaceous are perpetually and plentifully actuated by the implanted and inflowing animal Spirits and constantly imbued with the nervous liquor which is the Vehicle of the Spirits But how far or how much the aforesaid humors conduce to the exercise of the animal Faculties doth not easily appear but because the animal Spirits cannot consist without the nervous liquor and depend very much upon its disposition we may conclude that it doth serve something to the actuating the motive power for that reason also that the continual afflux of the blood is nevertheless necessary an Experiment cited by the Ingenious Steno and proved of late by others plainly confirms He hath observed that in a living Dog the descending great Artery being tyed without any previous cutting off the voluntary motion of all the posterior parts have ceased as often as he tyed the string and as often returned again as he loosned the knot These are the chief Phaenomena to be observed concerning the frame and action of a Muscle in the dissection of Animals both of such as were living as also of the dead and dying From which however placed together and compared among themselves how difficult a thing it is to constitute the Aetiology of the animal motive faculty appears even from hence that the most Ingenious Steno after he had very accurately delivered the Elements of his Myology by himself first invented nevertheless he wholly avoided that Hypothesis which might be founded out of them for that he yet doubted whether the explication of a Muscle by a Rectangle were convenient to Nature in all wherefore when many run to the manner of musculary Contraction by the repletion of the fibres and others from their inanition and some to both he ingenuously professes that the true causes of this thing do not clearly appear to him And as to this abstruse matter although I do not believe that I am able to bring to light or shew any thing more certainly than others yet as in mechanical things when any one would observe the motions of a Clock or Engine he takes the Machine it self to pieces to consider the singular artifice and doth not doubt but he will learn the causes and properties of the Phaenomenon if not all at least the chief In like manner when it is brought before your eyes to behold and consider the structure and parts of a Muscle the conformations of the moving fibres their gests and alterations whilst they are in motion why is it that we should despair to extricate the means or reasons of the motive function either by truths or by what is next to truth Wherefore I think it may be lawful for me here to bring before you our conceptions and notions concerning this thing indeed not rashly taken or to comply with our former Hypothesis or to oppose any other which if they shall not satisfie all may at least excite others to find out better But we shall here repeat what we have mentioned before viz. that the power or virtue by which a Muscle is moved proceeds from the Brain is conveyed through the Nerves and is performed by the fleshy fibres contracted and by that means abbreviated This latter is proved by ocular demonstration yea it appears by it that the motive force doth depend also upon those former and is so transferred by a long passage that the influence of the Spirits being suppressed in their beginning or intercepted in the way for that reason the exercise of the designed motion may be hindred Further we notifie that the motive force is far greater in the Muscle or in the end than in the beginning or middle because the Brain and depending Nerves are made of a tender and fragil substance and can pull or draw nothing strongly but the Muscle putting forth strongly its contractive force seems almost to be equal to the strength of a Post or Crow or of a Pully or Windlace Sometimes the local motion is a compound Action to be performed of many Organs which consist in divers places and as its virtue is far more strong in the end than in the beginning or way we will inquire by what means as it were mechanical the motive force may be so augmented or multiplied in its progress then what is brought to the motion from the several Organs As to the first in Artificial things when for the facilitating of motion and the increasing the moving force many Instruments are invented all of them or at least the chief may be reduced to these two Heads viz. first either the same force or impression may be continued without the addition of any new force from one term or end to the other or from the first mover to the thing moved which notwithstanding may be much increased in the way as the Centers of Gravity are farther off or multiplied for the farther the motion is begun from the first Center of Gravity the stronger it proceeds as is beheld in a Crow or Leaver and in other things reducible to a Leaver Then if other things be disposed beyond the first Center of Gravity successively before the end of the motion as in a circular Wheel the same motive force is wont to be increased very much But to this there is required that the instruments of motion be sufficiently strong and tenacious in their whole tract for otherwise the motive force being
two Tendons are ordained to each of them to wit to the end that the animal Spirits might be carried through short passages from the Tendons into the fleshy fibres and might leap back again because the compounded Muscle doth not always contain more series of moving fibres that it might perform many and divers motions but that it might make the same motion often with the greater strength For as we hinted before as a simple Muscle was as a single leaver or bar the compound seems as if it were many leavers or bars serving for the removing the same body conjunctly Further hence we may observe in some Muscles which are simple and regular that all the fleshy fibres are equal and so all the tendinous of one extreme being put together are equal to all of the other end being put together yet they single where they are shorter in one Tendon are longer in the other and so disposed that the tendinous fibres on either part the top and bottom have their excesses inverse and at once equal to wit that here a long is laid upon a short or the longest upon the shortest and there quite contrary the shortest upon the longest to the end that the motion might be so made every where in this or that side of the Muscle or at the end more strong more plentiful Spirits flow together into those parts from the longer tendinous fibres and on the contrary wherefore in some Muscles less necessary where the part of the flesh growing to the bone either becomes immoveable or only serves for the filling up of empty spaces one Tendon is shorter or lesser and oftentimes degenerates into a bony or cartilaginous hardness Further it is observed as to other strong and greatly moving Muscles that their Tendons are not so disposed as if they were only stays props handles or hanging crooks of the fleshy fibres for so they are only constituted in their extreme ends yet the tendinous fibres that they may be made more apt promptuaries of the animal Spirits being stretched out almost into all parts of the Muscle receive every where both ends of the fleshy which indeed yet more manifestly appears in the compound Muscles for that one Tendon being compounded embraces the extreme flesh and the other enters into the middle of the flesh as hath been already shewn But truly the animal Spirits whilst they leap out of the tendinous into the fleshy fibres are not sufficient of themselves for the wrinkling of them but require another elastick Copula from the blood this may be argued from many reasons First it seems to appear from this that the same Spirits being solitary or by themselves though most thickly planted within the Tendons stir up no Tumor or Contraction whilst they are moved in them wherefore being dilated within the fleshy fibres in a lesser quantity and having got a larger space they would be stretched out unless they met or strove with other Particles much less would they obtain a contractive force Besides when any wound or grievous trouble happens to a Tendon the belly of the Muscle or fleshy part is chiefly troubled with a Tumor or Spasm for the Spirits being irritated not so much within themselves but where they are violently driven among heterogene Particles stir up the greatest tumults and inordinations But further when the fleshy fibres are watered with the sanguineous humor beyond other parts and more than may suffice for their nourishment for what other use should it be assigned unless that it may contribute to the motive function Especially we take notice in lean Bodies which are more sparingly nourished that the Muscles being fused or drenched with more plentiful blood do perform the strongest endeavours of motions moreover it doth not appear by what way besides the expence of the Spirits in a Muscle consumed with continual hard motions or labours should be made up or renewed unless besides the small supplements by the Nerves others sufficiently plentiful should be supplied from the bloody mass Add to these that members destitute of the wonted afflux of blood easily fall into weakness or a Palsie and that from the observation of Doctor Steno in a live Dog the trunk of the descending Artery being tyed all the lower or posterior members were suddenly deprived of motion And though it doth not yet appear plainly to me whether the exclusion of the blood from the spinal Marrow or from the Muscles themselves or from both together be the cause yet however it comes almost to the same thing for as much as the animal Spirits being procreated within the Head and stretched out by the medullary and nervous Appendices into every member without the concourse of the blood they should not be able to perform the loco-motive power Having thus far explained by what means a Muscle being contracted in the fleshy part as to all the fibres at once performs the motive function we shall next inquire what is the reason of the Instinct whereby every motion both regular and irregular is wont to be obeyed or is performed Concerning this in general it first appears that the motions of every regular motion yea and the impulses of some irregular motions being conceived within the Brain or Cerebel are transmitted from thence by the Nerves to every Muscle This as we have elsewhere shewn is most evidently declared by the effects and consequences yet here great difficulties remain to wit how by the same passages fresh forces of animal Spirits are conveyed from the Head to every Muscle and at the same time the old ones exercising the Empire of the Soul besides with what difference and divers carriage of the inflowing Spirits the Nerves perform either of these tasks or both these offices Of these as I conjecture it seems that the animal Spirits which flowing continually from the Head to refresh the forces of the implanted Spirits are carried to the Muscle by the Nerves do move to it quietly and easily and being there presently received by the membranaceous Fibres they go apart into the Tendons which kind of relief although it should be but little in bulk yet because it is carried night and day by a constant course it easily arises to a sufficient provision for the continual filling up of the Tendons But that we suppose the Spirits so brought perpetually to the Muscle to be transferred by the membranaceous Fibres and not by the fleshy to the Tendons the reason is because if they should first enter into these straight running into an elastick Copula they would stir up the Muscle into continual motions more over for that in the Heart and Muscles of Respiration the fleshy Fibres are exercised with a perpetual motion they wait not for the passage of fresh Spirits to the Tendons But as to what respects the Instincts delivered through the Nerves from the Head for the performing or staying or any ways altering of the musculary motion of these we ought first to consider that the moving
considers the wheels curious frame setting together small pins and all the make and provision of a Clock by which invented Machine the course of the Time the orders of the Months the changes of the Planets the flowing and ebbing of the Sea and other things of that kind may be exactly known and measured if that at length when by this his search and consideration he hath profited himself so much he should not acknowledge the Artist to whose Labour and Wit he owes all those things I am sure I am of another mind and opinion who look into the Pandects of Nature as into another Table of the Divine Word and the greater Bible For indeed in either Volume there is no high point which requires not the care or refuses the industry of an Interpreter there is no Page certainly which shews not the Author and his Power Goodness Trust and Wisdom In the mean time there is no right Weigher of things that can lay to our charge as a fault that we have studied these Rolls of Nature because some Atheists may be made thereby which may be objected to the studies of Divines in Sacred Letters that from their provision Hereticks have taken their Arguments and Opinions and turned them against them and Godliness That I may deal freely whoever professes Philosophy and doth not think rightly of God I do judge him not only to have shaken hands with Religion but also with Reason and that he hath at once put off Philosophy as well as Christianity Therefore I desire that all mine may be tryed and approved no less by the demonstration of Piety and Canons of the Church than by the Rule of Experience and Knowledge to which I keep Neither do I intreat and respect only the Mecaenas of humane Arts but also the Primate and chief of Divine whilst I openly profess my self with all due observance YOUR GRACES Most humble and obliged Servant THO. WILLIS The Preface to the Reader THE Romans sometimes promised to themselves an Empire an Eternity by the happy Augury of an humane Head being turned out of the Glebe neither could they perswade themselves that the Capitol should be the Head of the World unless it had been built upon the Skull of a Man I do not think of Empires in Arts nor do I promise to my self Triumphs by overcoming the World of Letters But in the mean time I had wholly frustrated those Illustrious Documents I had long since learned unless with those Auspices I had laboured in Philosophy especially the Natural For the Province which I hold in this Academy requiring that I should Comment on the Offices of the Senses both external and also internal and of the Faculties and Affections of the Soul as also of the Organs and various provisions of all these I had thought of some rational Arguments for that purpose and from the appearances raised some not unlikely Hypotheses which as uses to be in these kind of businesses at length accrued into a certain System of Art and frame of Doctrine But when at last the force of Invention being spent I had handled each again and brought them to a severer test I seemed to my self like a Painter that had delineated the Head of a Man not after the form of a Master but at the will of a bold Fancy and Pencil and had followed not that which was most true but what was most convenient and what was rather desired than what was known Thinking on these things seriously with my self I awaked at length sad as one out of a pleasant dream to wit I was ashamed that I had been so easie hitherto and that I had drawn out for my self and Auditors a certain Poetical Philosophy and Physick neatly wrought with Novity and Conjectures and had made a Fucus as it were with deceits and incantations for either of us Wherefore all delay being laid aside I determined with my self seriously to enter presently upon a new course and to rely on this one thing not to pin my faith on the received Opinions of others nor on the suspicions and guesses of my own mind but for the future to believe Nature and ocular demonstrations Therefore thenceforward I betook my self wholly to the study of Anatomy and as I did chiefly inquire into the offices and uses of the Brain and its nervous Appendix I addicted my self to the opening of Heads especially and of every kind and to inspect as much as I was able frequently and seriously the Contents that after the figures sites processes of the whole and singular parts should be considered with their other bodies respects and habits some truth might at length be drawn forth concerning the exercise defects and irregularities of the Animal Government and so a firm and stable Basis might be laid on which not only a more certain Physiologie than I had gained in the Schools but what I had long thought upon the Pathologie of the Brain and nervous stock might be built But for the more accurate performing this work as I had not leisure and perhaps not wit enough of my self I was not ashamed to require the help of others And here I made use of the Labours of the most Learned Physician and highly skilful Anatomist Doctor Richard Lower for my help and Companion the edge of whose Knife and Wit I willingly acknowledge to have been an help to me for the better searching out both the frame and offices of before hidden Bodies Wherefore having got this help and Companion no day almost past over without some Anatomical administration so that in a short space there was nothing of the Brain and its Appendix within the Skull that seemed not plainly detected and intimately beheld by us After this when we entred upon a far more difficult task viz. the Anatomy of the Nerves then very much appeared the plainly to be admired skill of this Man as also his indefatigable Industry and unwearied Labour For having prosecuted with a most exact search all the divarications wandring on every side of the Nerve how minute or small soever and immersed and variously infolded within other Bodies and so turning over the Labyrinths of the Branches and shoots of every pair far and near diffused he drew out with his own hand the Schemes Images or Draughts of them and also of many passages of the Blood as they appear in this Tract which indeed that they might be faithfully and most exactly shewn without any falsity or errour he caused that no Table might contain scarce any line or the most light passage whose conformation and exact habitude he had not found proved by the marks or inspection of many Animals for that purpose killed Besides the helps brought me by his most skilful dissecting hand it becomes me not to hide how much besides I did receive from these most famous Men Dr. Thomas Millington Doctor in Physick and Dr. Chr. Wren Doctor of Laws and Savill Professor of Astronomy both which were wont frequently to be
Appendices are the less accurately discerned and investigated all which being reduced into an Epitomy are plainly represented more commodiously in the dissection of Beasts Wherefore when the form and composition of the Brain in a Dog Calf Sheep Hog and many other four-footed beasts were little different the magnitude only excepted from the figure of the same and the disposition of the parts in a man I was the more satisfied to compose a certain Anatomy of the Brain by the frequent dissection of all sorts of living Creatures And in this imployment for that I shall shew the communities and differences which the subjected parts obtain in various Animals compared among themselves and with Man certainly from such a compared Anatomy not only the faculties and uses of every Organ but the impressions influences and secret ways of working of the sensitive Soul it self will be discovered Concerning the Heads of living Creatures in the dissection of which it happened for us chiefly to be exercised it was observed as to the chief parts of the Head that there was a notable Analogy between Man and four-footed Beasts also between Birds and Fishes For when the first Inhabitants of the new-made World were produced as one day brought forth Fowl and Fishes at once another in like manner Man and four-footed Beasts so there is in either twin species a like form of the Brain but between that Child of the former and this of the following day there is found a great difference as to those parts For as much therefore as Men and four-footed Beasts have got more perfect Brains and more alike among themselves we have ordered our Observations from their Inspection Then afterwards we shall deliver the Anatomy of the Brain in Fowl and Fishes And here first concerning the Heads of Men and four-footed Beasts as we hinted but now we will propose a Method of Dissection it self or of Anatomical Administration and will at once recite all the parts one after another and as it were in a compendious Catalogue then we will by and by more largely draw out the Particles of the Brain and of its Appendix so shadowed in a short Table and will design their uses and actions for the exercise of every faculty When therefore we had in our hands the Head of a Man or Dog Calf or Sheep it s more outward coverings were taken off concerning which as they are well enough known we are not at all solicitous then the covering of the Skull being divided by a Saw or Instrument and taken away on every side the bones are broken off with a pair of Scissers or a Penknife to the Basis of the Skull that so the Contents might as much as may be be all made plain or open to the Spectators What therefore comes first in view is the hard Meninx including all the rest with a common covering This Membrane outwardly and above is knit to the Skull in divers places especially about the Sutures but indeed about the foot or Basis it most strictly cleaves to the bones so that it cannot easily be pulled away Inwardly or in its hollow superficies it is lax and loose enough unless that nigh all its bosoms by the insertions of the Veins and in the Basis of the Skull by the Arteries and the Nerves it is tyed to the Pia Mater This same Membrane between the Interstitia or division of the Brain and besides of the Cerebel it self insinuating it self deeply on one side and rising up again on the other leaves some duplicatures or infoldings in which being shut up above by the increase of the same Membrane Cavities which they commonly call Bosoms are formed to wit by this means almost the three first bosoms are constituted but the fourth is a smooth and longish and also hollow process of the same Membrane which is sent through the Interstitia of the Brain nigh the end of the callous body even to the pineal Glandula The Cavities of the greater Bosoms are severed in many places as it were into little Cells as it seems for that end that the blood passing so through the various turnings in those ends may be hindred from a more rapid motion Besides this Meninx or Film of the Brain admits two Arteries from either side one conjugation of which arises not far from the Carotick Arteries through the holes of the Cuniform bone but the other from the bone of the Forehead all which indeed being diffused through the exteriour superficies of the Membrane water it but are terminated partly in the Skull especially nigh the Sutures whither they convey the blood and partly in the bosoms where what is superfluous is laid up Moreover these Arteries perforate the hard Meninge in several places on the top of the Brain as Webser observes and impart some shoots to the Pia Mater Lastly the exteriour superficies of this Meninge is no where planted with so many shoots of Veins as Arteries but from its four Bosoms which are the veinous Receptacles of the blood many Veins go out through the interiour superficies of this Membrane which being inserted in the Pia Mater are presently dispersed through its whole compass and the same sliding down on every side from the bosoms meet every where the Arteries ascending from the Basis of the Head and being intermingled with them constitute the manifold infoldings of the Vessels That these may be the better beheld after the Arteries are sufficiently noted let the hard Meninx be cut round near the border of the broken Skull then let whatever of it serves for a covering and partition to the Brain and Cerebel be lifted up that the goings out of the Vessels viz. the Veins and their distributions into the Pia Mater may be considered which being afterwards broken asunder let the Membrane with its bosoms be wholly taken away but the reliques of this Membrane which stick to the bones at the bottom of the Skull should be separated so that the whole frame or substance of the Brain and its Appendix may be somewhat elevated and moved here and there be every where conspicuous and at length taken from the Skull But that these things may be performed you must begin from the anterior or fore part where the bone of the Forehead separates it Therefore if the prow of the Brain hid under this bone be a little lifted up the mammillary processes come presently in sight together with the smelling Nerves hanging to them which being dissected near the insertion there will appear an hollowness in either process These are large and round also full of clear water in Calves but in either smelling Nerve a manifest Cavity is found continued on either side to the anterior Ventricles of the Brain to which if a Pipe be put and blown into presently the whole substance of the Brain will swell Next the smelling Nerves about the Cocks comb two small Arteries are seen to arise from the Skull and to be carried towards the Interstitium of the Brain
themselves seen better and more distinctly if you first squirt into the Carotidick Artery some black liquor The Vessels interwoven within the thin Meninge or Piae Mater are Arteries and Veins The Arteries are four viz. two Carotides and two Vertebrals Out of either side of the Tunnel the ends of the cut off Carotidick Arteries shew themselves the trunks of which ascending upwards are presently diffused from either side into the anterior and posterior or fore and hinder branch Either pair of these inclining one towards the other are mutually conjoyned moreover the posterior branches so joyned are united with the Vertebral branches growing together first into one trunk For the Vertebral Arteries arising from the last hole but one of the Skull fall at first divided through the sides of the oblong Marrow then united in its basis they go into a single chanel which meeting with the hinder branches of the Carotides as it is said it is joyned with them and from that place of the joyning of them together a noted branch ascends on either side under the edge or rim of the Brain which being dilated upon the shanks or stocks of the oblong Marrow is cleft or divided into very many small shoots like hairs some of which ascend to the Glandula's placed behind the Cerebel but the rest make the arterious part of the Choroeidal infoldings The anterior branches of the Carotides before they are united send from themselves on either side a noted branch which creeping upwards like a bounding River distinguishes either Hemisphere of the Brain as it were into two Provinces but after the aforesaid branches are united presently departing again from one another they are carried to the Prow of the Brain and from thence bending back between its Hemispheres they fall upon the callous body All these Arteries before and after their mutual joyning together send forth shoots and little branches on every side which do not only creep through and intimately bind about the utmost compass of its Sphere but its Penetralia and more inward recesses like the young branches of Vines The ramifications or these sorts of branchings both of the Carotides and of the Vertebrals are shewn in the first Table as they are found in a Man and as in a Sheep in the second Table Moreover this thinner Meninx or Pia Mater cloathing the whole Brain and its parts as it receives the Arteries ascending as hath been said from a fourfold Fountain so it is stuffed throughout with Veins sent from four bosoms These Vessels mutually meeting are complicated together and almost every where constitute by their branches derived from both and meeting one the other and variously contorted among themselves the net-like or retiform infoldings which indeed are not only outwardly in the superficies but in the dissection where-ever you may separate one part from another without breaking it these kind of infoldings of the Vessels are to be found Because if you behold this frame taken out of the Skull collecting together the tops of all the turnings and the Interstitia in this Membrane and covering them with the joynings of the Vessels it will make the whole compass or frame of the Encephalon appear like a curious quilted ball But if you go on to cast abroad this Sphere and to separate the cleaving parts knit together of this Membrane one from another you will soon find that this Meninx covers the gapings of the crevices or turning chaps of the Brain binds the Interstitia of either moity or Hemisphere draws together the hinder part of the Brain otherwise being lax and hanging loose and compassing about every border of it as it were with a Welt knits it to the oblong Marrow and what is the chief of all the universal Cortical or shelly substance of the Brain to wit in which the animal Spirits are procreated is covered over with this Membrane planted with most frequent infoldings of the Vessels notwithstanding the interior superficies of the Brain being stretched out which being called the Callous body is altogether medullary and white is not cloathed with this Membrane but instead of it many foldings of Vessels commonly called Choroeides are hung and as it were freely flow within its complicature The reason of which is because as this part to wit the callous body is rather designed for the Circulation than for the generation of Spirits therefore it admits not a more plentiful influx of blood nevertheless for as much as there is need of heat whereby the Spirits may be there more easily circulated the blood being moved within the Vessels hanging there through the empty space might afford heat as it were from a fire kindled within a Stove But within all the other recesses of the Brain and besides within the folds or lappets of the Cerebel yea and the Interstitia or gaps of both these and of the oblong Marrow this Meninx insinuates it self and inserts the distributions of the Vessels In truth the protension or out-stretching of this Membrane seems therefore the more admirable because having no where a peculiar place of its origine it not only binds about the Head or Encephalon with a common covering but also cloaths all its parts with proper coverings and knits together their tops and processes Yea this Meninx seems to enjoy a manifold and diverse original for where-ever the gapings or Interstitia of any parts or processes happen portions of this Membrane there springing forth cover them all and gather them together and reach to them the ramifications or branchings of the Vessels In a moister Brain this Meninx may be easily separated and ample and large portions of it pulled away with the fingers which being drawn away the insertions of the Vessels into the substance of the Brain and its Appendix every where clearly appear Lastly by this means the brain being thus left naked unclothed of its Membranes and Coverings its make or fabrick and the disposition or order of all its parts are next subjected to Anatomical Inspection That the Anatomy of the Brain properly so called might be rightly celebrated I judge we ought not to proceed after the common way of Dissection But whenas the substance of the whole Head taken out of the Skull stands in view first let the hinder partition of the brain where it is knit to the Cerebel and oblong Marrow or Pith the Membranes being every where cut or pulled off be freed as much as it may be from its cleaving to the subjected parts then it will easily appear that the substance of the brain is not united to those bodies but of it self is altogether free and independent of them unless where it is joyned towards the superficies by the knitting of the Membranes Also this keel or hinder part of the brain being divided by this means from the neighbouring parts if the fore part be bent back the shanks of the oblong Marrow will appear wholly naked and distinct from the brain and Cerebel unless where they are in some
are very small and almost even also they appear as the other portion of the oblong marrow of a white colour In a Calf Sheep Horse and many other four-footed Beasts the former protuberances commonly called Nates or Buttocks are remarkably great also outwardly they appear to be of a flesh colour because they are cloathed with the thin Meninx or Pia Mater which contains in it self very many Veins and Arteries which if separated the interior substance of those parts is of a wannish colour and such as is not in all the oblong marrow or pith besides But it plainly appears as in Brutes so in Man the hinder or posterior prominences are Epiphyses or additions of the former and that from these additions or dependences the medullary processes ascend obliquely into the Cerebel near which other processes cutting those descend direct from the Cerebel which seem not to be inserted into the medullary Trunk but going about it do constitute the annulary or ringy protuberance This annulary protuberance is greater in a Man than in any other Creature Besides it is observed that where-ever the superior prominence of the Buttock-form is larger this inferior annulary is very small and so on the contrary Further those medullary processes ascending towards the Cerebel communicate mutually among themselves by the other transverse medullary process and out of this transverse process two small little Nerves arise the fourth pair of those which we have recounted and which are called by us Pathetical Each of these delineated in fit figures the seventh Table shews clear enough Not far from the aforesaid Prominences to wit between these and the Chink which is called the Anus or Arse-hole the Pineal Glandula or Kernel is placed This is put in a Valley which lyes between the Natiform protuberances and those which are the Chambers or Thalami of the Optick Nerves in which place that Glandula or Kernel is fixed sometimes by very many small Fibres and sometimes by two noted medullary roots subjected to the part and besides it is included in a Membrane which is a portion of the Pia Mater as in a Chest and as this Membrane is stuffed with very many Arteries and Veins some small Vessels also enter into this Glandula Under the Prominences but now described as was above hinted a narrow Cavity or Ventricle is stretched out with a long passage which although it obtains some egregious uses yet it self seems to be only secondary and as it were by chance for that the processes of either prominence ought to be conjoyned among themselves and to be distinguished from the under-lying medullary Trunk Two holes lye open into this Trunk one of which is placed in the beginning and the other in the end of it and through the middle of its passage the down-bending aperture tends towards the Tunnel so that the serous humor entring at either hole may presently slide away into the Tunnel Moreover into the same aperture of the Tunnel there lyes open another passage to wit through the first hole which is placed near the roots of the Fornix so that from every quarter of the Head the serosities might be carried into that sink to wit that through the first hole from the infoldings or the anterior Ventricles of the Brain through the second hole the humors which are gathered about the orbicular prominences do come away and through the third hole those which are laid up high the confines of the Cerebel do find a passage These several holes with the distinct ways to the Tunnel are plainly delineated in the seventh Table H. M. T. Above the Pineal Kernel as it were above the Button the infolding of the Choroeides seems to be hung now this infolding is made after this manner out of either side of the oblong marrow where the border of the brain is knit to it two Arteries arising from the posterior branches of the Carotides where they are united to the Vertebrals do directly ascend which being presently divided like many Rivers planted near together are carried towards the pineal Glandula and there seem to be terminated by a mutual meeting and in that place out of the fourth bosom sent down upon the pineal Glandula the veinous branches come out on both sides which in like manner being divided into filaments or small threads meet with the capillary or hairy Arteries and are in many places inoculated into them and variously complicated with them and so these Vessels being Net-like much interwoven among themselves and interserted with the Glandula's do constitute the to be admired infoldings These kind of infoldings of the Vessels as it were with two out-stretched wings are thrust out on either side upon the shanks of the oblong marrow even to the streaked bodies but yet they only lye upon their superficies nor are they more firmly affixed either to the oblong marrow or to the callous body by any insertions of the Vessels so that the blood seems only to be brought to these places and carried away without any afflux of it made into the subjected parts for what uses shall be spoken of hereafter The Choroidal infoldings with the pineal Glandula are drawn out in the seventh Table G. F. E. And thus far concerning the appearances found above the oblong Marrow between the streaked bodies and the Cerebel which indeed are almost constantly after a like manner both in Man and four-footed Beasts unless that they only differ in bigness Within this space in the Pedestal or Basis of the same Marrow many things worth noting occur For besides the ends of the cut off Vessels which are above recited the site and structure of the Infundible or Tunnel deserve consideration For behind the coalition or joyning together of either Optick Nerve between the shanks of the oblong marrow there gaping is sent down a receptacle as it were tubulated or made like a Pipe covered without with a thin Membrane arising from the Pia Mater and defended within with a medullary substance The orifice of this is placed higher between the shanks of the oblong marrow and receives their bending aperture from thence a short Tube or Pipe being sent down is inserted to the pituitary Glandula or Kernel We see this Tube in an Horses brain greater than a Gooses quill also shining and full of clear water that it is not to be doubted but that by this way the serous humors slide away from the brain to the pituitary Glandula but how these humors are carried away from thence shall be afterwards inquired into because they are not carried into the Palate or roof of the mouth as is commonly believed Nigh the lower border of the Tunnel in a Man underneath there are two whitish Glandula's though in Brutes only one but greater is found What is the proper use of this part shall be told hereafter in the mean time whether it be doubled or only one larger it seems to be as it were instead of a bank to defend or preserve the thin Membrane
Carotides in a man having an erected head higher than the rest of the parts and in a Horse in some sort lifting up his face have also the same priviledge to wit that by their more steep ascent only the more pure and volatile blood may ascend to the region of the Brain But in other four-footed beasts who go with a prone or hanging head and who have a more frigid and watry blood which may easily slide into and too much wash the Brain this evil is in some part prevented by the wonderful Net and pituitary Glandula joyned to the Carotides which indeed receive the superfluous humidities of the blood and so make it more pure and free from dregs before it comes to the brain But that the blood may be supplied still in due quantity to wit as it were in weight and measure from the distillatory Vessels stretched about the compass of the Head there is a notable provision made in all the Carotides about the Basis of the Skull because their crooked imbowings and branching into infoldings hinders the too great or too rapid approach of the blood then lest the passage of it should at any time be shut up the mutual ingraftings of all the Vessels on either side do help or provide for After this manner the business of extracting the animal Spirits is performed even as a Chymical Elixir to wit great care is taken in the beginning of that Operation both that choice of matter may be had and that only a due proportion of it be exposed to distillation The blood by this means as it were a Chymical work prepared is carried by the fourfold Chariot of the Arteries to four distinct regions of the Head and as the sanguiferous Vessels being distributed with separate ramifications or branches through the whole compass of the Brain and its Appendix cover all the heights of its compassings about or gyrations and also all its crevices and their gapings and recesses they bring to their doors the matter to be distilled into the Head every where through the whole circumference of the Brain and Cerebel nigh the Cortical substance of either out of which as the Spirits are distilled by this means it is brought about that they are insinuated into the subjected substance of either The blood being carried through the narrow infoldings and divarications of the Vessels as it were as was said through the serpentine chanels of an Alembick is made extremely subtle as much as may be in its liquor in the mean time what is bloody is received by the little shoots of the Veins associates or meeting one another every where and what is serous by the Kernels every where dispersed yet it s more purified and spirituous part being carried on further through the very small shoots sent forth on all sides are instilled more deeply into the very Pores and passages of the Brain and Cerebel which presently flowing from the Cortical substance into the medullary there exercise the gifts of the animal Function What peculiar body and constitutive particles of the Brain it self and Cerebel conduce to the generation and perfection of the animal Spirits within the substance of either shall be shewn hereafter when we treat of the Use of those Parts now shall be taken notice of what we before mentioned to wit that the fluid extillation of the spirituous liquor from the blood about the Pia Mater is performed after a signal manner both from the ambient heat which is stirred up from the blood contained within the bosoms as it were from a Balneo Mariae inriched by the continual flowing of it anew and also from the obduction of the Meninges like an Alembick by which the spirituous Particles apt to fly away are constrained and forced into the parts beneath But indeed though the animal Spirits are procreated wholly from the blood yet the blood watering the Brain and its Appendix is not only bestowed on this work for as to the sanguiferous Vessels which arising out of the Trunks both of the Carotides and the Vertebrals cover over the whole Head and all its parts and processes though many of them yet not all are little distillatory chanels of the animal Spirits For the animal Spirits are not produced in all places to which these Vessels reach for we affirm that these Spirits are only procreated in the Brain and Cerebel which it were easie to prove by the Symptoms which happen in the Apoplexy and Palsie and shall be afterwards clearly shewn and from this double fountain of the animal Spirits they flow out into all the rest of the parts and irradiate by a constant influence the whole nervous stock In the mean time the oblong marrow and its various processes and protuberances are either retreating places or high roads for the animal Spirits procreated in the Brain and Cerebel and flowing from thence But for as much as the Arteries and Veins clothe these parts also with a thick series of shoots and that within the infolding of the Brain the folds called Choroeides are hung slack and loosly these seem to be so made for other reasons viz. both that these parts might be actuated by heat supplied as it were from a continual fire and also that the nourishing Juyce might be bestowed on the Spirits which flow there As to the first that the animal Spirits now perfected may be freely expanded and irradiate the nervous System there seems to be required that the ambient heat being excited by the blood flowing thither might open all the little spaces for their passage and notably dilate or lay open for them ways or roads wherefore we intimated before because the little shoots of the Vessels ought not to be deeply inserted into the callous body for that lest the commerce of the Spirits diverting in this Mart or meeting place should be disturbed by the perpetual influence of the blood therefore the infolding of the Choroeides is hung under its chamber that at least by this nigh situation as by a Stove or Hot-house the heat there might be preserved Besides we intimated another use of this infolding to wit that the blood passing through the very narrow Meanders and convolutions or rollings about of the Vessels might lay aside its serous recrements into the Glandula's or passages of the Veins 2. But secondly That many branches and lesser shoots of the same Vessels which water the Brain and Cerebel cover also the oblong marrow and in some measure enter into its Pores and deeper substance within which the animal Spirits are not begotten but only exercised and expanded I say that this is so made for this other respect to wit that the substance of the oblong marrow might imbibe a constant provision of nourishment from the pouring in of the blood whereof it hath need For whilst the animal Spirits flowing into the nervous stock from the Brain and Cerebel pass through this passage as it were the high road some food he e ought to be administred to
matter apt for explosion is joyned to them For it is not possible that the immense loss of Spirits which happens in hard labours if they were wholly destroyed in so short a time should be able to be restored by supplements coming only through the Nerves We shall discourse more largely of these things if at any time hereafter we shall treat of the Motions of the Muscles The animal Spirits being disposed within the several Muscles according to the series of Fibres seem as it were so many distinct Troops or Companies of Souldiers all which being set as it were in a Watch-tower are ordained as a new impression is carried to them by the Nerves either from the objects outwardly or more inwardly from the Head forthwith into various forms and peculiar orders for the performing of motion or sense of this or that kind The carriage or behaviour of these is worth the seeing in an animal newly killed and its skin taken off For when life perishes and all the force of the Spirits flowing in through the Nerves hath quite ceased yet the Spirits implanted into the whole Body breaking forth from the Muscles still move and shake them and force them into several Convulsions and trembling motions From what hath been said we may gather what the disposition or order of the animal Spirits may be in the whole animal Body to wit those procreated in the cortical substance both of the Brain and Cerebel are congregated into the middles of either as it were into distinct Empories or Marts and an expansion being made in either they cause certain interior powers of the sensitive Soul to be exercised yet the same Spirits affecting more room enter the oblong Marrow as it were the Chest as hath been said of a musical Organ and fill it full within which flowing they carry to and fro the impressions of sensible Things and the Instincts of Motions From the oblong and spinal Marrow the same Spirits unless when they are otherwise busied tending outwardly flow towards the several parts of the whole Body which notwithstanding wandring so out of doors because they pass through very strait ways in their passage to wit the slender bodies of the Nerves they break not forth in heaps or in a thick troop but only contracted orderly and as it were by bands or divisions but they being carried beyond the extremities of the Nerves and there possessing the Membranes Muscles and other sensible parts dilate themselves as it were into a most ample field and with a very diffuse Army they dwell in the Pores and passages of the Fibres planted every where about where also being endowed from the blood with new food they become more lively and more expeditious or ready for the designed offices Here perhaps it may be demanded how the animal Spirits diffused in such numerous troops through the habit of the Body are able to be supplied by so strait chanels of the Nerves To which we reply That those which reside more outwardly do not quickly evaporate nor are remanded back by Circulation wherefore when all the Fibres are filled by an influx of the Spirits made by little and little from the beginning very small supplements suffice to repair their expence For neither are those dwelling more outwardly for that they are repaired by the bloody food much consumed though in frequent action Hence may be noted the difference between the distributions of the blood and animal Spirits That Latex because it is reduced in a circle its Vessels are in the whole passage proportionated as to the bulk of the Trunk and the branchings sent from it to wit so that the branches of the great Artery being carried from the Heart contain at the least so much of the blood as the shoots reaching forth from them into all the parts But because the animal Spirits being once begotten and carried more outwardly subsist longer there and evaporate very slowly and by little and little therefore the Vessels carrying them viz. the Nerves in respect of the Fibres receiving them are made much lesser in proportion lest perhaps by too great a supplement of the animal Spirits and the too thick gathering of the fresh ones still into the nervous parts the Army of the Veterans before instructed should be confounded and so the orders of all being disturbed the exercises of the animal Function should be performed any how For indeed when at any time the Spirits are made too sharp so that being therefore struck as it were with madness they rush upon the nervous System with tumult and impetuosity from thence a great unquietness and continual throwing about of the Members are wont to be excited to which sometimes madness and fury succeed In the order and ordination of the animal Spirits such as was but now described the Hypostasis or the Essence of the sensitive Soul consists to wit which is only a certain Systasis or shadowy subsistence of those Spirits which like Atoms or subtil Particles being chained and adhering mutually one to another are figured together in a certain Species Moreover the faculties of the same Soul depend upon the various Metathesis and gesticulation of those Spirits within the aforesaid Organs of the Head and nervous System But the consideration of this Soul and its powers requires a peculiar Tract which hereafter God willing we intend in the mean time our Method demands of us that according to our weak skill by the cense or numbering of the Nerves being particularly made we should deliver an exact Neurology or Doctrine of the Nerves But for that in the premised general consideration of the Nerves and Fibres there was mention made of the nervous and nutritious Juyce notwithstanding what belongs to their powers and natures hath been neither fully nor clearly enough delivered therefore we will a little divert here and make it our business to inquire what sort of Juyces and Humors are carried into the parts of the animated body for their nourishment and by what ways or passages then this difficulty being removed a plain and easie way leads into the Doctrine of the Nerves CHAP. XX. Of the Nervous Liquor and whether that or the bloody Humor be Nutritious SInce the Circulation of the Blood was made known and it hath been plainly made appear that it did no where stagnate and stand still long but was carried in a reciprocal motion always as in a circle it began to grow doubtful whether its Latex is nutritious or not For besides that the more rapid course of the blood as of a torrent might seem to wear the banks which it flowed between and to carry away some Particles from them rather than to be able to affix any thing to them the substance it self also of the blood for that it is more torrid and uneven is thought to be altogether unfit for nutrition Wherefore that a Juyce may be found more convenient or fit for this office the passages and hidden recesses of the Nerves are to be
but also the greater Trunks of the Nerves in many places and insert into them sanguiferous shoots Besides forasmuch as the animal Spirits flowing within the nervous stock for the performing of sense and motion tend to and fro and so bear a double aspect it is probable also that the liquor watering the Nerves as it most commonly tends forward so sometimes backward and so that the extremities of the Nerves implanted in some parts imbibe from them the humor at least some Effluvia's with which they are satisfied and oftentimes transfer them into the Brain it self Certainly there is no doubt that the Fibres and nervous Filaments or threads which cover the Sensory of taste and the Viscera serving for Concoction do immediately receive some tastes of the taken in food from which supplies are carried to the Brain it self in great hunger and faintness of Spirits Because if at any time the Spirits inhabiting it being exhausted very much with heavy and long labour begin to fail a most swift refection is performed Pectorals or Cordials being scarcely swallowed and long indeed before the alible Juyce can be able to reach to the border of the Brain by the passage of the blood Moreover it is most likely that not only the benign Effluvia's of the aliment are received by the extremities of the Nerves ending about the Viscera but also by this way that oftentimes an infestous matter and in a manner malignant is communicated by the Nerves and their passages to the Head But indeed the preternatural Juyces heaped up about the Hypochondria the Spleen Womb and other Bowels emit vaporous little bodies which not only infect the bloody mass and distemper the Head by that means but they climb to the Brain more immediately by the passage of the Nerves and strike it with an heavy ill For from hence in part it comes that Hypochondriacks and Hysterical people are so cruelly punished through the Symptoms stirred up in the Brain and nervous stock for the faults of the lower Bowels hence it is that little Pills of Opium being scarcely dissolved in the Stomach cause a Torpor or heaviness But here is no place to discourse more largely of these It behoves us to consider what remains the Springs of the nervous Juyce the Auxiliaries but now detected and its Virtues and Influences Concerning the nervous Liquor we shall inquire what that doth in its passage to wit whilst it flows within the Marrows or middles of the Brain and Cerebel the medullar Trunk and the bodies themselves of the Nerves secondly then for what uses it serves when being sliden from the ends of the Nerves it is spread abroad on the secondary parts of the nervous System 1. As to the first whilst that of the nervous Liquor passes through the Head and either of its Appendix its chief office seems to be for a Vehicle of the animal Spirits which indeed it carries along with its diffusion and contains them under the same Systasis Yea this Latex shews various Schemes of the Spirits for the performing of sense and motion even as the humid Particles of the Air pass through the Optick Configurations of the Rays of Light Also moreover the nutrition of the aforesaid parts and accretion or growth into a greater bulk depends in some measure upon the nervous Juyce watering the same as shall be shewed by and by 2. But the greatest question is concerning this Liquor being diffused beyond the ends of the Nerves upon the secondary parts of the nervous System and in the passages of them on the whole Body to wit whether such a Juyce be nourishing of all the solid parts or of some of them by themselves as Authors variously think or to what other office it is destinated Concerning these it first appears that the Brain and Nerves with the Juyce flowing out of them contribute matter or at least some influence to the work of nutrition the which if it should chance to fail a sign of which defect is if the animal Faculty falters in part the nourishment there is wont presently to be hindred or perverted This is plainly seen in the Palsie excited from an evident cause without any previous Dyscrasie of the blood where suddenly an Atrophy follows the privation of motion or sense or of both together Further in the Scurvy where the taint hath corrupted the nervous Juyce when the sick begin to be afflicted with the Vertigo and swimming of the Head and with wandring pains Convulsions and a frequent loosning of the Members the flesh falls presently away as in a Consumption and without any fault of the Lungs the sick wither away as if distempered with a Phthisis It is a vulgar observation That from the immoderate use of Venus also from an inveterate Gonorrhoea from Strumous or running Ulcers and other Impostumes by which much of the nervous Juyce is wasted a leanness or wasting of the whole Body is produced Certainly if I be not deceived there are some Atrophies yea and sorts of breakings out which seem to depend wholly upon the defect or the evil dispensation of the nervous Juyce when the blood as to its quantity and disposition is not much in fault Lastly the consideration of some Diseases and Symptoms so plainly confirms the diffusion of the nervous Liquor and its great influence on all the parts that there is even left no room for doubting Also no less doth the curing of some Diseases and the use of Remedies confirm the same For from hence a reason is taken wherefore Cephalick Plasters oftentimes yield such signal help in the Phthisis not because they stay the Catarrh of the Serum falling down on the Lungs as the common people think but because by corroborating the Brain they restore the disposition of the nervous Juyce before vitiated For this cause it is that some diseases being stirred up by the fault of the nervous Liquor of which sort among others are Cancrous and Strumous Ulcers or such as come of the Kings-Evil are hardest of all to be cured because the morbid tincture of the Brain and of the Latex watering it whether it be innate or acquired is not easily mended yet sometimes when the root of the disease lurking in the Brain or nervous stock is taken away by the help of Nature it self or by Chance by the use of some remedy presently the Symptoms of other parts though neglected in the whole vanish not without the suspicion of a miracle But how much the alteration of the Brain serves for the curing of some most grievous diseases some instances taken from the Farriers Art will clearly shew For when many Medicines and Methods of Administrations are wont to be tryed in vain for the curing the stinking disease in Horses commonly called the Farcy which Helmontius asserts to be like the French Pox and the Author of its Contagion the most certain means of curing which I have very often known to be applied with good success consists in this that some sharp Medicines
of which sort are Hearts-case Water-Pepper Ranunculus or Crowfoot and the like which very much abound in volatile Salt being bruised into a mass and put into the Ears of the diseased Horse and kept there for twenty four hours it is scarce credible by what means all the Ulcers are presently dryed up and the disease healed as it were by Inchantment is quickly profligated in the whole For since this Application is made far from the affected parts without any alteration of the bowels or the blood it should be so healed at a distance certainly the cause of such an Energy must only be that by this kind of Medicine the Dyscrasie or evil disposition of the Brain and nervous Juyce is taken away and so the first root of the sickness being cut off the shoots and fruits presently wither It were worth our labour to try such kind of Experiments also in our Medicines Yea it may be well suspected that such a way ought to be ordered for the common Cure of the Kings-Evil Among our Country-men as delivered from our Ancestors it is thought that the seventh Son or he that is born the seventh one after another in a continued series can cure this disease by stroking it only with his hand and truly I have known many whom no Medicines could help to have been cured in a short time only by that remedy Few doubt but that this disease is wont to be cured often by the Touch of our King The reason of such an effect if it be merely natural ought to be assigned not to any other thing than that in the sick especially those of ripe age the Phantasie and strong Faith of the hoped for Cure induces that alteration or rather strengthning to the Brain whereby the morbid disposition radicated in it is profligated But I shall return from whence I am digressed to inquire what the nervous Juyce contributes to nutrition 2. I say therefore secondly although nutrition depends in some measure upon the influence of the nervous Juyce yet it is highly improbable that all the several parts of the whole Body should be nourished only by this provision For besides that this were to impose upon the Government of the Soul it self and its primary Organs the cooking office of nutrition wholly unworthy the excellency and dignity of those parts it seems also that the nervous Liquor should be altogether unfit for the administring to this Province because when oftentimes immense expences are made of the aliment to be assimilated into the substance of the solid parts especially by immoderate sweat also by continual labour and exercise which Country-men and Labourers daily use it is not possible that such losses should be repaired only by the nourishment supplied or sent through the small passages of the Nerves When I had long and seriously considered with my self concerning this thing what I at length thought I shall tell you freely and without any covering or making any reflection or blaming the Opinions of others It seems first that the nourishing matter of the whole Body is distributed into all parts from the blood through the Arteries yet it may lawfully be thought that the conversion of this matter into nutriment and the assimilation of it into the substance of the part to be nourished is performed by the influence and help of the nervous Juyce as it were of a certain spirituous Ferment As to the first we have already noted that the sanguiferous Vessels do not only follow almost every where the Muscles and Bowels but also the Head and its Appendix yea the Membranes Bones and Nerves themselves and affix to them all thick shoots as so many little chanels for the receiving the nourishment Moreover as there is a purple crassament or thick substance in the blood whose substance stuffs and nourishes the Pores of the Parenchyma of the Muscles so there is a whitish Gelly by which the Membranes and the whiter parts seem to increase Besides it may be observed that the blood it self increasing contains in it self fibres and small threads such as are interwoven in the Muscles and nervous parts and if the same stand long in any Vessel it is presently coagulated into longish white and hard crusts or bits whose substance is plainly fleshy so that the blood produces flesh of it self though the same be rude and unformed wherefore the configuration and the apt disposition of the nourishing matter supplied from it depends on the coming and Energy of the nervous Juyce but after what manner this is done we shall endeavour now to shew After the web or stuff of all the parts is laid it is required then that they be both drawn forth in due proportion and grow in substance and also that the little spaces which are left by reason of the Effluvia's perpetually falling off may be continually filled with the nourishing substance cast in In these two things the business of nutrition chiefly consists for the performing of either of which the blood affords matter and reaches it forth as was said in the circulating to the several parts of the concrete and as it were stands at the doors of the part to be nourished yet that this matter may be rightly disposed and its particles to wit the thick and thin saline and sulphureous and others of a several nature separated one from another may be imployed with some choice to the destinated uses there seems need of a certain directing faculty and as it were plastick virtue got somewhere else than from the blood it self For indeed the blood being destitute of animal Spirits is unfit for the performing these offices Wherefore for that it appears there doth lye hid in the nervous stock a certain juyce and the same being gifted with animal Spirit to be diffused to all parts how can we suppose less but that this subtil and spirituous Liquor every where meeting with the arterious which is duller and thicker actuates and inspires it and as it were ordains it for the performing the designed work of nutrition especially when it plainly appears that by reason of the defect or depravation of this nervous Juyce nutrition is always frustrated or perverted Therefore it may be lawful in the difficult Controversie concerning the Matter and Method of Cure to propose this our Hypothesis though it be a Paradox and very abstruse to wit that the nervous Juyce which we have said was like the male seed is poured out with the nutritious humor copiously suggested from the Arteries as it were the genitive or seed of another Sex every where upon all the parts and that this former being indued with active Elements imbues the more thick matter as with a certain Ferment and impregnates it with animal Spirit and when it so makes it with a mutual entring in or coming together to be dissolved and to go into parts its particles being extricated one from the other the Spirit infused helping they are put upon bodies of the same measure with themselves
and are assimilated into their substances In the mean time because the animal Spirits are poured out in great plenty with the nervous Juyce those which are at leisure from the work of nutrition or remain after that is finished turn aside every where into the Fibres as into proper dwelling-houses and there being ready for the offices of sense and motion stay which offices indeed that those Spirits the Inhabitants of the Fibres may the better perform they acquire from the blood watering the Muscles certain auxiliary forces wherefore they being endued with a certain elastick force are apt to be highly rarified and as it were exploded But indeed we suppose that as the nervous Liquor being turgid with animal Spirit causes the arterious humor to become nutritious so in compensation of this the animal Spirits remaining of the work of nutrition and every where disposed within the Fibres receive from the arterious blood a mixture or certain Copula by whose help and cooperation the same Spirits exert or put forth much more strongly their locomotive force For it seems that little sulphureous bodies are added to the spirituous-saline particles from the watering blood and so when the animal Spirits are furnished with this Copula they being stirred up into motion shake off the borrowed particles which being struck with a certain force like the explosion of Gun-powder suddenly intumifie the Muscles and so by contracting them very much they cause a vehement motive endeavour We shall have an occasion of discoursing more at large of this when we treat of the Motion of the Muscles Yet in the mean time we shall take notice that the Muscles of the whole Body as to their motion have a certain Analogy with the motion of the Heart For indeed the animal Spirits in the Heart flowing within the fibres and nervous threads with which this part is much beset receive plentifully sulphureous little bodies from the inflowing blood distending the sides of either bosom which whilst the same Spirits being filled to a fulness shake off and as it were explode a Systole of the whole Heart its sides being carried with a certain force inwards is brought in or caused whereby the blood from either side the bosom is cast out as it were by the impulse of a Spring or Bolt Truly unless the Spirits inhabiting the Heart should receive food and matter of explosion from the blood it self their stock supplied or sent by the passage of the few and small Nerves would not suffice for the performing of the undiscontinued motion A sign of this is that from a defect or depravation of the blood as well as of the animal Spirits the motion also of the Heart is â—efective or diminished And not much unlike in the Muscles as in the Heart is the business performed the Spirits inhabiting their Fibres receive a sulphureous Copula and apt for explosion from the blood there more plentifully flowing than about the Membranes with which being endued as often as they receive from the Nerve as it were the fiery inkindling or the match the instinct of the motion to be performed they being excited and striking of their Copula very much inflate or blow up the Muscle and intumifie it for performing or compassing the motive endeavour Nor is it much to purpose or makes any great difference that the motion of the Heart stirred up by a perpetual instinct is found always necessary but the Muscles the most of them only occasionally and at the command of the Animal do put forth their motive power for the Diaphragma and some Muscles dedicated to Respiration are urged with a perpetual Systole and Diastole as well as the Heart it self From the aforesaid Hypothesis concerning the offices and uses of the nervous and arterious Juyce Arguments that otherwise determine the work of Nutrition may be easily answered For that the blood is said rather to prey upon the solid parts than to replenish them that ought to be attributed to the Disease and Dyscrasie of it and not to it simply because sometimes the blood is accused for that it too much stuffs the solid parts to wit forasmuch as its mass being waterish and weak it lays aside the alible Juyce which not being truly cook'd is still crude and vicious with very great plenty about the habit of the Body and so induces an Anasarca In the mean time it ought to be granted That as it is the blood that is evil which heaps up too much vicious nutriment so it is the same which being well and right doth laudably perform the office of Nutrition But that it is argued That the nervous is rather the nourishing Juyce because by reason of its defect depravation or too prodigal expence the acts of nutrition are wont to be hindred or perverted it is easie to reply to this That the impediments of the nervous Juyce being made vicious respect the form of nourishment and not the matter of it to wit it sometimes happens that the blood dispenses the alible matter in due plenty and disposition which notwithstanding by the fault of the nervous Juyce is not rightly assimilated When an impotency of motion comes upon a too great distension of the Muscle or Tendon with pain shortly nutrition being hindred a Jelly grows about the distempered part which notwithstanding drops not out of the Nerve as is commonly said but the glutinous humor being poured out of the Arteries for aliment for that it cannot be received by the hurt part is gathered together there nor is it to be thought that Tumors or Strumous Ulcers or the running Sores of the Evil do contain or pour out only a nervous humor since the matter of either is for the most part bloody which by reason of the evil Ferment of the nervous Juyce puts on a strange form and that diversly degenerous This supposition of the twofold Humor for the matter and form of nourishment is taken to be of egregious use for the solving of the most difficult Phaenomena which are met with about the Distempers of the Brain and nervous Juyce yea that Pathology seriously considered seems to infer as a certain necessary consequence that a twofold Juyce is necessary for the work of Nutrition as some other time perhaps we may shew In the mean time leaving this Speculation we shall proceed to the remaining Task of our Anatomy to wit the Neurologie or of the Nerves in particular THE Description and Use OF THE NERVES CHAP. XXI The first four Pair of Nerves arising within the Skull are described THE division or distinction of the Nerves by reason of their various respects is wont to be manifold to wit as they are either soft or hard singular or numerous in their beginnings or that they serve either to the faculty of Sense or Motion or to both together But they are commonly distinguished That some Nerves arising within the Skull proceed from the oblong Marrow and others going out of the joynts of the Vertebrae are derived
altered every minute of an hour almost according to the manifold necessity of the Pulse But indeed the Lungs themselves are they and not the Diaphragma or the Muscles of the Thorax which the blood boiling out of the Heart passes through and continually affects according to its temper and the tenour of the Pulse wherefore from hence it may be concluded That the Lungs themselves do conceive the first instincts of their motions and by the help of the aforesaid Nerves do in some measure exercise themselves and endeavour the Systole and Diastole and design them according to the sense of its proper necessity but when in these Fibres requisite for local motion are wanting therefore the Diaphragma and the Muscles of the Thorax help continually the endeavours of the Lungs and by the cooperation of these compleat breathing is effected And so when Nerves of a twofold kind to wit some from the Spine being inserted into the Muscles of the Diaphragma and the Thorax and others from the wandring pair distributed into the Lungs actuate the Organs of Respiration for that reason it comes to pass that the act it self of Respiration of it self unforced and involuntary may be at our pleasure somewhat restrained interrupted and diversly altered The Sympraxis or joynt action of the Nerves of either kind in the work of Respiration shall be shewed hereafter when we shall speak particularly of the Nerve of the Diaphragma It yet appears more plain that the Lungs are oftentimes the chief in the act of Respiration because they being irritated from strange and improportionate objects presently conceive irregular and violent motions as when a vehement Cough is stirred up for the exclusion of any troublesom thing to which motion the Diaphragma and the Muscles of the Thorax presently obey In like manner in difficult and sighing breathing or any other ways unequal its first instinct for the most part is begun by the Lungs yet sometimes when the exterior Organs of Respiration are excited into irregular motions the Lungs also are compelled to follow their irregularities so when the Diaphragma after a manner begins laughter the Lungs perform the same with a following cackling sound so all the Organs of Respiration intimately conspire and agree among themselves that although one of them do a thing inordinately rather than there shall be a Schism the rest do imitate or follow its irregularity But that the Nerves following the Arteries and Veins through the whole frame of the Lungs do variously bind about and cloath their Trunks with a thick series of shoots the reason seems to be both that the Coats of the Vessels being gifted with a constant influx of animal Spirits might imitate the motion of the Heart and by that means by a continual pulsation of the Arteries and the constriction of the Veins they might easily carry the blood in this its more short lustration through the Lungs and the rather that the pneumonick Vessels being bound about with such Reins of Nerves might moderate the course of the blood according to the forces and instincts of the Passions For whenas the exterior circulation of the blood depends upon this interior as the blood is commanded to pass sooner or slower through the Lungs or to stay there and be hindred the excursion and return of it also from or towards the Heart is wholly performed In Joy or Anger because the Lungs rapidly transfer the blood out of one bosom of the Heart to the other therefore it s swifter and more plentiful flowing out into the outward parts follows In like manner in Fear and Sadness for that the Lungs its Vessels being strained together deliver the blood to the Heart by the Veins and do not then presently carry it back by the Arteries the outmost region of the Body is destitute of its due influx Notwithstanding these kind of pathetick snatches of the blood are in some measure performed because its Vessels are bound about in other places in like manner with the Nerves If at any time Spasmodick Affections should afflict the pneumonick Nerves from a morbific cause so that being twitcht with inordinate motions they should pull or draw together here and there the Arteries and Veins which they embrace for that cause the blood either too much flowing out of the Lungs makes them to flag and to fall together into themselves so that drawing to them copiously the Air they do not easily render it back again or which frequently happens the blood being detained within the Lungs and there stagnating stuffs them up and holds them a long while stiff that they cannot inspire or drawn in the Air. The Symptoms of either kind ordinarily happen in the Hysterick distempers and in some Hypochondriacal Yea sometimes the Bronchia themselves are pulled together by the like Convulsion of the Nerves and are hindred in their motion so that they cannot take in and send forth the Air after its due manner as may be seen in Asthmatical Fits The distempers of which sort are oftentimes produced by the fault of the Nerves without any implanted Dyscrasie or evil disposition of the Lungs I have sometimes observed some Cases of sick people in which when at one time the morbifick matter besieging the Brain had induced Lethargick or Vertiginous Symptoms a little after the same matter occupying or possessing the origines or middle processes of the nerves belonging to the Lungs has suddenly excited a most horrid Asthma without any previous Cough or Catarrh But that out of the same tract of the wandring pair many shoots are distributed into the Lungs and also many others into the Coats of the Oesophagus from hence a reason may be given why a troublesom Cough oftentimes causes Vomiting and a subversion of the Ventricle why also on the other side a perturbation of the Ventricle so frequently induces a troublesom endeavour of Coughing I have known in Hypochondriacks that aliments of ill digestion taken into the Stomach have presently excited a vain and very pertinacious Cough in the mean time that the Lungs were free from any consumptive disposition The cause of either distemper seems to be that when the nerves disseminated in either part are taken with a Convulsion oftentimes those which are of the other part are drawn into a consent of the same distemper Perhaps from hence it happens that sometimes an Asthma is induced by reason of the evil of the Ventricle and that that distemper as Riverius observes is often wont to be cured by an emetick Medicine After so many branches and shoots have been sent from both sides the wandring pair at length its Trunk is divided below the Lungs into two branches viz. the exterior and interior either of which inclining towards the pair of branches on the other side are united to them and after a mutual communication they constitute the two Stomachical branches viz. the superior and the inferior Fig. 9. t. u. w. x. It is worth observing with what wonderful artifice either Trunk of the
may sometimes draw together and constrain the blood-carrying Vessels sometimes open and inlarge them that as occasion serves the Feculencies of the blood may be sometimes more plentifully sometimes more sparingly laid aside out of the Arteries into the Spleen also that more or less of the Ferment preserved in the Spleen may be poured out on the blood according to the requirings of the Passions or of the natural Instinct No Hypochondriack but doth abundantly perceive that some Splenetick nerves do perform motions for those great perturbations which are wont to be excited in the left side as when sometimes Inflations sometimes constrictions of the inward parts and sometimes various concussions are perceived with a wandring pain running here and there they are only Spasms or Convulsions or wrinklings together with which the nerves of the Spleen are ordinarily affected Nor do its nerves taken with a Convulsion stir up tumults only in the neighbourhood of the Spleen but oftentimes further into the Heart it self yea into the whole Body the effects of their inordinations are carried I have known an Hypochondriack who presently upon the Spleen being disturbed seemed to have his Praecordia being drawn downwards to be cruelly prest and bound together so that being very sad and dejected in his mind also complaining of an exceeding great straitness and constriction of his Breast he thought himself almost dead The cause of which kind of distemper was without doubt that when many Fibres going out of the Splenetick infolding are united with other Fibres sent from the farthest end of the wandring pair it easily happens that the former being distempered with the Convulsion do draw together and pull downwards their yoke-fellows and by consequence the Trunk it self of the wandring pair from which the nerves are sent into the Praecordia certainly by the Sympraxis or joynt action of either kind of the aforesaid nerves viz. whereof these respect the Spleen those the Praecordia it is effected that the Trembling Oppression and other grievous Distempers of the Heart as also of the Spleen so ordinarily happen Further forasmuch as the Fermentation of the blood depends on the Spleen according to the influence of this that performs its Circulation sometimes pleasantly sometimes disturbedly Whilst the Spleen is at quiet and free from any perturbation the blood also is quietly moved in Hypochondriacal persons but if the same be moved and exercised as it is wont to be in any passion or violent motion of the Body or by a Medicine presently its nerves being distempered with a Convulsion shake it more with reiterated contractions so that the fermentative Feculencies being shaken out of its bosom flow back more plentifully into the blood which cause its Latex presently to be troubled and as it were muddy and sharpen it with so great acrimony and mordacity that it burns and pricks the Brain and Heart like needles from whence in Splenetick people besides that the Reason is obscured the affections of the Mind especially Sadness Hatred and Anger are very much increased Concerning the Splenetick Nerves by another conjecture we are yet brought to believe that they besides the exercise of the motive Faculty do both instil into the Spleen it s own humor which promotes the fermentative virtue of that Inward and also because the nerves as was shewn already convey the Spirits and sometimes the humors by either way viz. forward and backward the same implanted in the Spleen do often imbibe from it an acetous or Vinegar-like humor and as it were Vitriolick from whose acrimony and notable twitching they are forced into Convulsions But forasmuch as the nervous Infolding respecting the Spleen communicates more nearly with the Ventricle Mesentery Liver and Kidneys and more remotely with the Praecordia and other parts placed at a distance from hence the cause is plain wherefore not only these several Viscera and parts by reason of the fault of the Spleen are folded together but also on the contrary why the Spleen being indisposed by any Disease or trouble raised up in any of those parts is wont to be disturbed so it is not altogether for nothing that the Symptoms every where infesting the cause of them being unknown are ascribed ordinarily to the Spleen because it fixes not only its own inordinations in other parts but also suffers for their peculiar faults which notwithstanding is wrongfully ascribed to Vapours transmitted from this or that part when the formal reason of every Distemper of this kind for the most part consists in the communication made through the Nerves The lower Infolding of the left side seems to be made for the Kidney placed near into which chiefly the bundle of its Fibres is carried Fig. 11. ♃ γ. γ. Certainly that these nerves following the emulgent Vessels do embrace the same and bind them about with a various and frequent complication that is so made for that end that by reason of the Artery being so strained and frequently shaken by the drawings of the nerves the Serum may the more easily be precipitated from the blood wherefore it is observed in very great difficulty or danger when the mind and all the nerves are strained for fear that a frequent and more plentiful making of water and that often painful is wont to be provoked The Renal Infolding receives besides the Nerve common to it with the upper infolding another new and peculiar one from the intercostal nerve or rather that coming between from the spinal Marrow Fig. 11. β. Hence it is that the Loyns have a great consent with the Reins and suffer so ordinarily for their Distempers with a grievous and largely diffusive pain Forasmuch as this infolding communicates with the greatest of the Mesentery the Colick distemper and the Nephritick are much akin and it is often difficult to distinguish their fits one from the other The Mesenterick branch in the right side as well as the left being forked contains two infoldings the upper of these which we call the Hepatick sends forth from it self many little bundles of nervous Fibres the greatest of which being carried towards the Liver cloaths the Hepatick Artery as it were with a Net made of Fibres Fig. 11. ♂ o. The most Learned Glisson observes That the Hepatick Artery is bestowed on the Trunks of the Vessels to wit of the common Chest of the bilary Pore and of the Vena Porta for the watering of which and for the actuating them with heat and nourishing Juyce it carries the arterious Blood to which notwithstanding for the recarrying an associate Vein is wholly wanting wherefore that ought to carry the blood not with a full and free influx but by little and little and always in a constant measure to those membranaceous parts for otherwise there had been danger lest from the bloody Latex plentifully rushing forward for that it could not be still remanded presently through the Veins an Inflammation should be excited or lest from its torrent being transfused beyond its banks the courses
so laid up about the caverns of the Nostrils may be emptied it ought to be carried away or wiped out from thence by a vehement blowing of the Air or breath Wherefore it is observed That whilst the inward parts of the Nostrils being very sensible begin to be wrinkled together from some sharp thing pulling or pricking them and by that means to draw out the watry humor presently by reason of the passage from thence by the branches of the fifth pair into the intercostal Trunk and from thence by the passage of the nerves which are extended from its Cervical infolding into the nerve of the Diaphragma the consent of the same Action or Convulsion is produced even into the cross bound or Midriff so that by the same Act as it were with which the Nostrils are wrinkled the Diaphragma also with the Diastole being stronger and longer draw out is depressed that the Breast being dilated as much as may be the Air may be the more copiously inspired Then as soon as the Spasm or Convulsion of the Membranes drawn together within the Nostrils and fore-part of the Head begins to remit presently the Midriff leaping back with a force causes the inspired Air to be violently exploded or driven out which strongly wipes away and carries forth with it the humor pressed out within the caverns of the Nostrils We yet ought to inquire concerning the Nerve of the Diaphragma what is the reason that it always proceeds from the Brachial nerves and why it doth not rather arise immediately from the spinal Marrow Truly from hence it seems to follow that the motion of the Arms in some sort respects the action of the Diaphragma or on the contrary that this depends on that Indeed between these two a certain respect or habitude happens which easily appears by this Argument The Arms or fore Legs in all Creatures are made for labour and hard exercise because by the force of these men fight and perform the most hard and laborious things and Brutes run and ascend the most steep places with great pains But it is very well known that by too much labour and over-vehement motion of body the act of Respiration is very much increased so that the breath almost fails and is oftentimes in danger to be lost The reason of this is because by great exercise the blood is too much forced into the bosom of the Heart which lest it should suffocate it that it might be emptied into the Lungs very frequent and difficult Respiration is instituted Therefore from hence may be inferred That the exercises of the Body ought to be regulated according to the state of the Praecordia or that the motion of the Arms should observe the action of the Diaphragma viz. lest they being stirred by a violent motion cause the blood to be driven more into the bosoms of the Heart than the Diaphragma instituting a most frequent Respiration can draw from thence into the Lungs That this Rule may be perpetually observed of all living Creatures it is so provided that the nerve of the Diaphragma chiefly conducing to Respiration should be tyed as it were a bridle to the Brachial nerves which are the principal in the motion of the Body and so might timely warn these if unmindful of their duty and as soon as breath fails should command them to desist from further moving the Body Wherefore we observe when at any time labouring Cattle are urged beyond their strength in labour or motion oftentimes either some deadly hurt of the heart follows or else some uncurable disease of the Diaphragma for by such immoderate labour either the Beast languishing quickly dyes when it is commonly said that his heart is broke or else the tone of the Diaphragma being wholly broken Respiration ever after becomes painful and difficult which is wont to happen ordinarily to Horses who are driven into too rapid a course with a full Belly CHAP. XXIX Of the Reason of the difference that happens between the Nerves of the wandring and Intercostal Pair in Man and brute Beasts also of the other Pairs of the Nerves arising both within the Skull and from the Spinal Marrow also something of the Blood-carrying Vessels which belong to the Spinal Marrow THus far we have described all the Nerves stretching out to the Praecordia and Viscera also to most of the other parts which are the Organs of the involuntary Function according to the manner by which they are wrought in man and we have shewn their Offices and Uses and the Reasons of the most noted appearances in all Before we proceed to the other Conjugations of the Nerves it behoves us to shew with what difference the aforesaid Nerves are found in brute Beasts and for what end such a difference is ordained It was already intimated That the Trunk of the wandring pair in four-footed Beasts doth send forth to the Heart and its Appendix more nervous Vessels than in Man The reason of which is obvious because the Cardiack nerves in Brutes proceed almost only from this pair and scarce at all from the intercostal wherefore when they are only of one origination therefore more are required all which not-notwithstanding are much fewer than the same are in Man from a double stock viz. being carried from both the Nerves forasmuch as Beasts want prudence and are not much obnoxious to various and divers Passions therefore there was no need that the Spirits should be derived from the Head into the Praecordia by a double passage viz. that one should be required for the exercise of the vital Function and the other for the reciprocating impressions of the Affections but that it may suffice that all those destinated to every one of their offices may be carried still in the same path In most Brutes the intercostal Nerve goes alone from the Ganglioform infolding of it almost without any branching to its infolding of the Thorax in which passage however it is not always after the same manner in all for in some it is carried single and apart from the Trunk of the wandring pair nor doth it communicate with it in its whole journey unless a little higher by a shoot sent down from the Ganglioform infolding but in many the intercostal Nerve passes presently from its Ganglioform infolding into the neighbouring infolding of the wandring pair Fig. 10. C. where when both the nerves seem to close together from thence both being involved under the same common inclosure as it were one Trunk they are carried together till it comes over against the first Rib and there an infolding being made the intercostal nerve departing from the wandring pair is carried into the infolding of the Thorax and the other nerve also is stretched between this and that infolding which nerves when one is carried under the other above the Artery of the Chanel-bone making as it were an handle straiten its Trunk Fig. 10. g. Although the intercostal Nerve is carried from the Throat to the top of the
fissure or cleft of it where meeting with a shoot of the pair of the other side it is united to the same and from that joyning together the arterious Trunk as it were a common passage and made up of either Vertebral shoot descends into that cleft by the open space of one of the Vertebrae and in that short passage both dispenses little Arteries on either side and also inserts them leaning on the Pia Mater more deeply betwixt the sides of the Marrow and so whereas in the whole tract of the Marrow the chief Trunk of every Artery is carried into the middle cleft it seems at first sight as if the same arterious Trunk were carried under the whole substance of the Marrow from the head to the tail Tab. 13. Fig. 1. Further as by a concourse of several shoots of either side the spinal Artery descends above the cleft of the Marrow so where the Trunks of the Vertebral Arteries joyn together which happens to be done sometimes in the hinder part of the Head above the oblong Marrow and often in the Neck above the spinal an arterious branch somewhat bigger than the rest is stretched out downwards This formerly as we mentioned but now we mistook for the third ascending branch of the Vertebral Artery But I have often taken notice that in Brutes where the Vertebral Arteries have met together with an acute Angle above the medullar Trunk they are presently departing one from another stretched out directly to either brim of the Marrow from whence immediately being bent back they are carried again into a mutual meeting so that between their two joynings together is made the figure Rhomboides as it is in Tab. 13. Fig. 1. C. The reason of which without doubt is this to wit that the more rapid course of the blood going towards the Head might be hindred by its flood being a little space divided The third Branch of either Vertebral Artery being carried into the anterior Cavity of the bony Den and being presently made forked tends to the right and left and is on both sides inoculated to the next shoot of the same side and by the cross process they of either side are united after the same manner and so all the Arteries of this cense or rank receive one another mutually as it were links of a chain in the whole tract of the Spine and are continued in the same bending passage If Ink be cast into the Trunk of the Vertebral Artery and most of the hollownesses of the Aorta all these Arteries dyed with the same will appear a pleasant spectacle like Net-work as may be seen Tab. 13. Fig. 3. The top of this arterious Infolding being carried into the Skull inserts two shoots sent forth straight into the wonderful Net and imparts two others going out side-ways on both sides to the Dura Mater the lower end of the same reaching to the Os Sacrum ends in very small Vessels which serve for the Membrane of the Bones If it should be asked For what end these Arteries being concatenated with such frequent ingraffings are disposed within the Back-bone This seems to be so ordained for three uses viz. First These Vessels as also the passages of the Bosoms are divaricated after this manner with repeated compassing about that a constant heat from the blood being so turned about as it were into frequent Whirlpools might be supplied about the compass of the spinal Marrow as it were by a Balneum Mariae even such a manner of office as the Choroeidal infolding performs within the infolding of the Brain Secondly Care is taken by this means lest the blood destinated for the spinal Marrow might flow thither too plentifully of might be defective in its due influx for the blood being about to flow into the medullar stock plentifully is diverted from the little branches c. d. into these Emissaries e. f. and in its defect the subsidiary provision being called out of the middle infolding through the chanel e. into the Vessels c. d. is derived into the same medullar Trunk Thirdly The use of this arterious infolding seems to be that the blood may be distributed from its passages into the Membranes viz. which is carried every where from them through the Capillary Vessels the reliques of which also are supped back by the little chanels sent out of the bosoms Further from this Store-house if necessity urges a certain provision is had for the wants of the Brain wherefore from hence the small Vessels end in the wonderful Net So much for the Arteries distributed about the Spine or Back-bone the Vessels of the second sort are the Bosoms which come between the Arteries and the Veins for the use of the spinal Marrow no less than of the Head it self and are here ordained with a more curious implication But the reason why bosoms are required to these more noble parts and scarce to any in the whole Body besides is this to wit that about these bodies all manner of extravasation or any stagnation of the blood might be hindered but sometimes the Veins are not sufficiently emptied that they may presently receive from the Arteries the deposited blood and so may prohibit any flowing out of it wherefore the bosoms as more fit receivers are destinated to that office for that their receptacles are larger and soon emptied and for that reason they may more conveniently derive the blood from either medullar substance lest it should overflow it in the Head or Spine As to the Figure of the Vertebral Bosom its passages being conform to the arterious infolding are put under it in the whole tract of the Spine for after a like manner in either bosom which is extended within the cavity of the bony Den from the hinder part of the Head to the Os Sacrum there is one receiving Vessel by whose twofold chanels presently the blood is brought back from either superficies of the Marrow into the bosom and another carrying back by whose passage the same is exported into the Veins Moreover in many Animals though not in all the bosoms on either side seem to be knit together upon the knots between the Vertebrae by the cross processes and so communicate between themselves either bosom in its top is continued into the lateral bosoms of the Head further from it on both sides a passage lyes open into the Jugular Vein and into the Vertebral Tab. 13. Fig. 4. What the use of the aforesaid Bosom is in general was but now intimated to wit that the blood deposited from the Arteries in the spinal Marrow might be presently emptied from thence and be retained within the more large Cavities of the Bosoms till it may be transferred into the Veins being made more empty But the reason of the divers sorts of implications and the frequent ingraffings which is found about their little chanels seems to be that the blood if by chance it being plentifully heaped up within some part of the bosom should there stagnate or be apt
rigor through his whole body and forthwith a Concussion arising made him to quake for a good space But in truth albeit we grant the irritations of the Nervous parts not seldom to serve the turn of the evident Cause and further that sometimes this solitary Cause produces more light and transient spasms nevertheless that the more grievious paroxisms of this Disease and their frequent repetitions by turns may be duly unfolded it behoves us to investigate or search out other and deeper Causes to wit the Conjunct and procatartick Cause Forasmuch as spasms never happen but in a living Body where the Nervous parts are blown up and grow turgid with the animal Spirit we may readily Conjecture that those animal Spirits themselves are as in regular motion so also in the Convulsive the next Instrument of Action to wit so long as they are imbued with a fit and moderate explosive Copula and are moved to that striking forth only by the Command of the Appetite or instinct of Nature they bring forth motions altogether regular but if the same Spirits get to themselves an heterogeneous Copula and too much Elastick or if they are snatched into their Actions more impetuously and vehemently than they should be they even like unbridled Horses pricked forward with Spurs leap forth inordinately or throw off or explode violently their Copula although genuine and natural and so they carry away the containing parts as it were a Chariot tied to them together with themselves with a fierce and perverse motion There is a double Cause and two kinds of Spasms Irritation When therefore as aforesaid the Convulsive motions are chiefly stired up for two Causes hence as many Species of them are ordained For first it happens that a Convulsion is induced without a procatartick Cause or heterogeneous Copula first acquired only from a solitary evident Cause For so a vehement passion impressed on the brain a dissolution of the parts hapning somewhere in the Nervous stock a spasmodick passion is suddenly brought upon some whose brain and Nerves are of a more weak Constitution for that the animal spirits do trouble the containing parts the improportionate Object flying from them and by striking vehemently their Copula though very agreeing it blows them up and so they pull others annexed to them Spasms being after this manner excited because the natural Copula of the spirits in them is stricken more vehemently they are after a manner explosive which notwithstanding quickly leave off and very often pass away with moving of the viscera or Members only with a trembling and some horror into a fainting of the spirits But Secondly Convulsions whose paroxisms are more grevious and stay longer or are oftener repeated seem altogether to depend on a procatartick Cause or a previous disposition and to arise from some other Conjunct Cause besides Irritation And therefore in this Case we suppose A preternatural explosive Copula that the heterogeneous and greatly explosive particles do increase with the spirits acting in this or that region of the Body then from this wicked Combination and restless Collision of this kinde of matter and the Spirits frequent and vehement explosions being brought forth the spasmodick Paroxisms are induced But besides the Elastick Copula which every where happens to the Spirits from the arterous Blood and from whose orderly explosion the motive force is performed according to the Beck of the Appetite or instinct of Nature in all the Nervous parts as we have elsewhere declared also sometimes other kinde of little bodys of a fierce nature or rather like Gun-powder or Nitre come to the Spirits and intimately adhere to them when frequent and suddain divorces of this matter from the Embraces of the Spirits happen from the mutual striking together of the particles the conteining Bodys are variously blown up and so are thrown into Convulsive motions In truth as often as the Spasmodick Affection becoms habitual that the Convulsive Paroxisms arise not rarely on their own accord and without any evident cause but still on every light occasion the procatartick Cause of such a disease consists in the evill disposition of such a sort of animal Spirits For neither is the Serous filth or other less sharp humours although deposited in the very ventricles of the Brain or about the origine of the nerves sufficient to stir up such a sickness For that I have seen in the heads of dead people oftentimes the middle part of the brain and the very beginings of the Nerves wholly covered with a limpid water who whilst they were alive had neither the Epilepsie nor Convulsive Motions But to the producing or these motions very active Bodys are required such as are Saline and Sulphereous which being combined with the Spirits and then on a sudden breaking from them they imitate the combinations and violent explosions of particular mineralls For indeed if in regular and ordinary motion as we have intimated the Muscles cannot get a motive force and elastick strength unless a certain explosion of the animal Spirits be supposed certainly much more lawfully may we assert that epileptick fits and other admirable Convulsions which still happen to be excited complications of the same Spirits with other very firce particles and vehement elisions or strikings of these one against another are required But as to this kind of Sposmodic Copula because it differs from the natural and ordinary which we have elsewhere shewn to be in regular motion and to be supplyed from the blood it behooves us to inquire from whence it comes and by what means and in what places it is wont to get to the Spirits As to the first it is to be observed that Spasmodick explosions do every way happen not only in the muscles to which only they are limited which effect the regular motion but also in the membranes to wit the ventricle mesenterie and other parts almost without blood besides that the explosions themselves in the Convulsive Affection though they are excited contrary to the will of the Appetite and the manner of Nature are far more vehement and do longer continue than in the regular motion out of which it seems to be manifest that the Explosive Spasmodick Copula doth come from some other place than the Effectrice of Regular motion And indeed it is probable that that flows not as this from the arterous blood running every where among the musculous fibres but descends from the Braine with the Liquore watring the Nerves The explosive Spasmodic Copula not immediatly from the Blood but from the Brain and so is heaped up about their beginnings middle processes enfoldings and Extremities as it were the mine of the Convulsive disease Indeed nothing appears more evident than that the Spasmodick Disease doth most often arise by reason of the evill first fixed in the Brain and from thence is transmitted into various parts of the Nervous System for it happens from hence that a vehement Passion as of
fear or Anger or of Sadness of spirit affecting the inhabitants of the Encephalon the passion called Hysteric and Hypochondriac doth so often arise Further that in the evill Crises of Feavours when the adust recrements of the blood are transfer'd into the head Convulsions do generally succeed Moreover and this is the reason why the Vertigo the inflation of the head torpor of the minde and other accidents of the Supreme Region are wont to be the proamium of Spasmes presently following in the Inwards and not seldom in the whole Body Wherefore it is not to be doubted but that the heterogeneous and explosive particles are instilled from the Blood together with the nervous juice into the Brain which afterwards being thrust forth into the nervous stock do there grow to the Spirits and with them bring on a Convulsive disposition In truth the Spasmodick distempers which are either universal or at least occupie many parts of the body at once arise for the most part by this only means But in the mean time we will not deny but that particular Spasms which contain themselves within Certain places the Head being no ways affected are induced sometimes by other means For if the nerves imbibe their humour from either end to wit the root and the extream fragments which both the learned Glisson maintains to be most likely and by us is shewed in our Neurologie not without great probabillity it may be from hence inferr'd that the Spasmodick particles are broght inwardly not only from the beginning of the Nerves but somewhat also by their extremities Therefore that perhaps appears clear and plain enough Sometimes received from the ends of the Nerves that from the spleen being evilly affected Spasms arising about its region do not seldom affect the Hypochondria and Praecordia I have known some from a tumour or ulcer existing in the Mesenterie womb and other inwards were wont to have Convulsions both in the grieved part and also all about it the reason of which seems to be no other than that the heterogeneous particles being more plentifully heaped up in the affected place Creeping also into the nervous fibres planted nigh thereunto supply them with matter for Convulsive motions like to fired gunpowder But indeed Spasms arising from such a cause are not wont to diffuse themselves far about nor always to ascend to the Head These things being thus premised concerning the inward and next Cause of the Spasmodic Distemper which we affirm to arise chiefly and most often from the head it self and in some respect also from the extremities of the Nerves it now remains that we more particularly declare the Various remoter Causes in either Kinde The more remote Causes of Spasms and the manifold provision of this disease The Convulsive Disease therefore for the most part takes its original from the head to wit as often as the heterogeneous and explosive particles being diffused from the blood into the Brain or its medullarie Appendix are afterwards derived to the nervous stock and there grow together with the Spirits But this happens to come to pass from various causes for there are very many ways and means whereby the morbifick matter is admitted into the head and very many also whereby it is deduced into this or that region of the nervous System and according to the various translations of this kind of morbifick matter the divers kinds of Convulsive motions are constituted 1 The mortifick matter is heaped up within the Head by the default both of the blood send-it Therefore that the Heterogeneous and Spasmodick particles are admitted into the Encephalon it is to be imputed to the fault both of the blood sending and of the Brain receiving it 1. When the Blood powrs upon the Head the morbifick matter either all its whole mass is depraved as it frequently happens in malignant feavours also in the Scorbutick cacochymick and chiefly in an originally corrupt Distemper or the Blood of it self innocent and incorrupt receives elsewhere malignant little bodys and afterwards fixes them on the brain so in great impurities of the Inwards and chiefly when any parts are affected with an Inflamation or virulent ulcer or hurtfull ferment for from such mines the taint of the disease the noxious particles bubble up into the blood and afterwards in its passage are laid up in the Brain So by reason that the spleen womb and other inwards being evilly affected Convulsive Diseases are excited which notwithstanding depend more immediatly upon the Brain receiving the corruption of those parts through the commerce of the Blood And also of the brain receiving it 2. But in the second place the Blood however vitious it should be and impregnated with the morbid seed it could not easily leave its Infection on the head unless there were some fault in the Constitution of the brain and its Appendix as long as these parts are well made and are full of vigour they defend themselves and what belongs to them and the doors being shut they admit nothing but an unmixt spirituous Liquour destinated for their use but if either the passages and pores of the Brain are too lax or the door-keeping Spirits leave or are called off from their watches an heterogeneous and morsific matter creeps in together with the nervous juice and unfolds its malignity in the animal government As to the evil disposition of the Brain it self The evil disposition of the brain is either hereditary it is sometimes hereditary So those sprung from parents obnoxious to the Epilepsie or Convulsions are themselves for the most part prone to the same Distempers and indeed the Constitution of the brain may several ways become vitious from the birth for either its temperature is more moist or more dry than it should be or it may be faulty by the excess or defect of either Quallity Sometimes the pores are more lax or its consistency is too soft or too hard and also the Conformation of the parts of the Brain Or acquired and its Appendix may be after an undue manner But sometimes the disposition of the Brain and Nerves originally whole and firm is vitiated by accident and acquires a morbid inclination long Intemperance may enervate these parts as also malignant feavours and chronical Diseases very much debillitate them besides outward accidents as the excess of heat or cold an ulcer or a blow oftentimes perverts their Crases and renders them more incident to the impressions of Diseases But as to the Constitution or irregularities of the animal Spirits by reason of which the heterogeneous and Spasmodick particles enter the brain without any repulse and more easily cleave to it it is to be observed that the animal Spirits are in some more tender and easily dissipable from their very birth so that indeed they are not able to suffer any thing very strong or vehement to be brought to the sense or Imagination but strait they fly into confusions For this Reason women
Why Epilepticks fall down with violence do not fall as those that are apoplectick or have swounding fits but are rather stricken down with violence against the Earth or any other bodys that are by chance opposite to them as if they were smitten down by some wicked Spirit so that very often some part of the head or face is hurt with the violent fall And those so distempered even like the Daemonaicks in the Gospel are frequently flung into the fire or the water but it may be here declared that the Epilepticks become obnoxious to these kinde of evills for that the fit coming upon them all knowledge or providence is taken from them and further the nerves neighbouring to the head being strongly contracted the whole bulk of the Body is carried away headlong but in the Syncope and Apoplexie the fall of the distemperd Body seems as the ruines of a building which happens by reason that its props are taken away but indeed in the falling Sicknesse it is no otherwise than if a house were overthrown by the blowing up of Gunpowder which is removed much from the place where it stood 2ly It is commonly esteemed a great pathognomick From whence the Foam at the mouth of these troubled with the falling sickness comes or peculiar Symtom of the Epilepsie if when the diseased being fallen to the earth and suffering most horrid Convulsions there flows from the mouth a spumous Spittle or foam which indeed is thought to be pressed from the Brain being strongly contracted into the palate But in truth though it be granted that this flux of spume be very often a signe of the falling Sicknesse yet it is not so appropriated to this disease but that the same sometimes happens in the Apoplexie in deep sleep in hysterical distempers and other convulsive diseases Besides this kinde of Foam does not descend from the Brain for there is no passage open by which it may pass but from the Lungs being inflated and elevated even to the Larinx or the top of the sharp arterie from whence spittle foams forth with a certain fervency and ebullition For the fit of the falling evill growing urgent when most of the nerves in the whole Body are drawn together those also that serve for the motions of the Lungs and Diaphragma suffer most cruel convulsions and lifting up all the praecordia upwards continue them almost immovable in a long Systole so that the breathing and pulse cannot be at all perceived In the mean time because the blood straitned within the bosom of the heart distends it and also almost choakes it the Lungs however hindred that they cannot be moved after their wonted and natural manner perform what they can with a thick and hasty agitation whereby the blood may be drawn forth from the Heart by which endeavour of theirs the shaking aire by the frequent or thick respiration raises the viscous or clammy humidity into froth like the shaking of the white of an egg by and by it lifts it upwards towards the Cavity of the mouth and so at last drives it out of doors wherefore a foam or spumous spittle does often succeed in other distempers where the pneumonic or breathing nerves are either contracted or are hindred from performing their Function Why some in the Falling knock their Breasts 3ly Moreover from the same reason it comes to passe that some Epilepticks being fallen to the ground beat most greviously their Breasts with their Hands and are hardly to be held from it for when the Praecordia being troubled with the Spasm and hindred that they cannot move themselves after their wonted manner and the blood stagnating in them not without a great oppression of the heart threatens a suffocation of Life then it is that the sick strikes their Breast to wit that the praecordia so shaken and as it were moved up and down might renew their motions and so the blood might be relieved from its stagnation and the heart from its heavy oppression and this is done after the same manner as when some that are sleeping being tickled or bit by a flea unknown to themselves presently rub or scratch the affected place The prognostication of the Disease As to the Prognostication of the disease we have already declared that it is of very difficult Cure which difficultly consists in this that the middle of the Brain in which is the chief spring and fountain of the animal Spirits is very much debilitated not only by the morbifick cause but also by its effects to wit the several fits and its pores loosened so that they ly open for the entrance of every heterogeneous matter and so the morbid disposition it self being confirmed by the repeated Paroxisms and taking deeper root it is hardly taken away But it is to be observ'd that the Epilepsie sometimes terminates of it self and is sometimes overcome by the help of medicines which happens about the age of puberty and then only so that who are not cured that time being elapsed that is before the twenty fifth year of age they scarce ever after recover their health for about the time of ripe age there is a twofold alteration of the humane Body and therefore there often happens a Solution or loosing of the falling sicknesse or of any other disease deeply rooted For first at that time the genital humour begins to be heaped together in the spermatick Vessells from whence it follows that the Spiritious particles and what are wont to grow to them nitro-sulphureous and morbifick particles are layd up not only in the brain but also in the testicles wherefore if this heterogenious Copula of the Spirits be more plentifully caryed to that new storehouse from thence the brain becoming free often leaves the epileptical or otherways morbid disposition 2. About the time of ripe age as the Blood pours forth something before destinated for the brain through the Spermatic Arteries to the genitals so also it receives as a recompense a certain ferment from those parts through the veins to wit certain particles imbued with a seminal tincture are caryed back into the bloody mass which makes it vigorous and inspire into it a new and lively virtue wherefore at that time the gifts both of the Body and minde chiefly shew themselves Hairs break out the voyce becomes greater the courses of women flow and other accidents happen whereby it is plain that both the blood and nervous Juce are impregnated with a certain fresh ferment wherefore the morbific ferments or seeds unlesse they be overcome by this new natural firment they afterwards continue untameable even to Death But that the Epilepsie is sometimes cured by the help of medicines Experience doth testifie we shall anon discourse of the method of healing and shew the reasons of the most famous medicines in the mean time as to what further belongs to the prognostication of this Disease if it end not about the time of ripe age neither can be driven away
of it self untameable and not to be overcome by any Remedies From this observation that a Cautery accidentally and by chance being made on this sick party freed her from the fits of the Disease it may be inferr'd that fontanells or Issues may be profitably administerd in the Cure of the Epilepsie for wheresoever an emissary is opened for the constant carying away of the serous water both from the blood and nervous juce there very many heterogeneous and morbifick particles flow out with it that therefore the brain might remain free The Daughter of a Brewer of Oxford had been very obnoxious to a Rheume Observation 2 falling into her eyes from her Infancy otherwise strong and sound enough also accustomed dayly to hard labour about the 14th year of her age she began to be tormented with Epileptick sits of which she suffered neer the greater changes of the moon especially then returning Being asked to endeavour her Cute I gave her a Vomit of precipitate Solar and orderâ—d it to be renewed three days before every new and full moon besides that she should take at every turne for four days after the Vomit twice in a day a dram of male-Paeonic root in powder with a draught of black Cherry water By these remedies the fits so long intermitted that the Disease seem'd to be Cured Afterwards when they returned again she was again recovered by the use of those medicines and then the menstruous flux breaking forth and observing its true periods she remained for the future free from that disease The Therapeutic or Curatory Method IN the Curing of the Epilepsie I judg it fit to begin with a Cathartick and if the sick can easily bear vomiting first let an Emetick be administred and for several months let it be repeated four days before the full of the Moon For infants and youths may be prescribed wine of Squills mixed with fresh Oyle of Sweet Almonds or also of Salt of Vitriol from half a Scruple to 1. Scruple For those of riper years and of a stronger Constitution may be prescribed the following forms of Medicines Vomitories Take of Crocus mettalorum or of Mercurius vitae gr iiii to vi of Mercurius Dulcis grain xvi ℈ i. let them be brused together in a mortar mix it with the pap of a rosted Apple or of Conserve of Burage â„¥ i. make a Bolus or you may take an Infusion of Crocus Mettalorum or Mercurius Vitae made in Spanish wine from â„¥ ss to â„¥ i ss or take of Emetick Tartar of Mynsicht gr iv to vi who are of a tenderer constitution let them take of the Salt of Vitriol ℈ i. to Ê’ ss and half an hour after let them drink severall pints of posset drink then with a feather or finger put down the throat let vomiting be provoked iterate it often The day following the vomiting unless any thing shall prohibit let blood be taken out of the Arm or from the haemorhod veins with a Leech then the next day after let a purging medicine be taken which afterwards may be repeated constantly four days before every new Moon Purger Take Refine of Jalop ℈ ss Mercurius Dulcis ℈ i. of Castor gr iii. of Conserve of the Flowers of Paeony â„¥ i. make it into a Bolus Take pill faetida the greater ℈ ii of Hysterica what will suffice make thereof v. pills Take of the strings of black hellebore macerated in Vinegar dry'd and powder'd â„¥ ss of Ginger ℈ ss of the Salt of Wormwood gr xii of the Oyl of Amber drops ii make a powder let it be given in the pap of an Apple Take of the powder of Hermodactils compound â„¥ i. of humane Scull prepar'd gr vi make a powder let it be given in a draught of the decoction of Hyssop or Sage On those days that they do not purge especially about the time of the changing of the Moon let there be administred Specifick Remedies morning and evening which are said to cure this Disease wirh 〈◊〉 certain innate and secret virtue of these there are extant a very great company and are prescribed in various forms of Compositions Specificks The most simple Medicines which Experience hath found to be very Efficacious are the root of the male Paeony and the seeds of the same Take of the Root of the Male Paeony dryed and powder'd â„¥ i. to ii or iii. let it be given twice a day in the following Tincture Take of the leave of Messletow of the Oak â„¥ ii of the root of Paeony slic'd â„¥ ss of Castor â„¥ i. let them be put into a close Vessel with simple water of Betony or Paeony and white-wine Each lb i. of the Salt of Missletow of the Oake or the Common Missletow â„¥ ii let them digest close in hot sand for ii days let them take â„¥ iii. with a dose of the aforesaid powder Poor people may take of the aforesaid powder in a decoction of Hysop or Castor made with fair water and white-wine At the same time let the Root of Paeony be cut into little bits and being strung upon a thrid hung about the neck Also let the Roots being fryed in a pan or boyled tender be eaten dayly with their meat Take of the Roots and Seeds of the male Paeony each â„¥ ii of Missletow of the Oake of the hoof of ElkÊ’i each let them be fliced and brused and put into a thin silk bag and hang at the pit of the Stomack Among the spicificks this powder is greatly commended by many Authors Powders Take of Castor Opoponax Dragons blood Antimony and the seed of Paeony each alike make a powder of which may be taken â„¥ ss to â„¥ i. every morning with wine or some proper decoction or with black Cherry water Take of a mans Skull prepar'd â„¥ i. of Missletow of the Oake of Counterfeit Cinaber of an Elks Claw each â„¥ ss so mingle them The dose is ℈ ss to ℈ i. If the form of powder be distastful to any one or if it should become loathsome by the long use of it Electuaries Pills Troches Spirits and Elixirs each of which agree with specifick medicines are wont to be prescribed Take of the Conserve of the male Paeony of the Lilly of the Valley each â„¥ iii. Electuaries of the seed and root of the male Paeony powder'd each Ê’ ii prepared CorallÊ’ i. of the powder of Pearls and of humane Skull prepared each ℈ ii of the salt of Missletow of the OakeÊ’ i ss with what will suffice of the Syrop of Corall make an Electuary let them take of it morning and evening the quantity of a Nutmeg Take of the powder of the root of the male Paeony â„¥ i. of the seeds of the same â„¥ ss of Missletow of the Oake of an Elks claw of humane Skull prepared each Ê’ ii of the roots of Angelica Contrayerva Verginian Snakeweed each Ê’ i. of the whitest Amber of Calcined Corall each Ê’ i. of the Common Salt of Missletow
afore-prescribed Remedies Or the aforesaid Ingredients excepting the Liquoris and Raysons may be boyled in vi pints of Hydromel or water and hony or meath to the Consumption of the third part The dose â„¥ iiii to vi If that the aforesaid Method consisting in the use of Catharticks and Specificks being for some time tryed and altogether in vain you must come to Remedies of another kinde Great Remedies and chiefly to those called Great or Notable In this rank are placed Diaphoreticks Salivation Bathes and Spaws Alphonsus Ferrius affirms that he had cured many Epileptical people with a decoction of simple Guaicum being prescribed twice in a day and taken to vi or viii ounces and its second decoction drunk as in the cure of the Pox instead of ordinary drink If to such a decoction the roots of Paeony and other specificks should be added perhaps it would be more efficatious It seems probable that a Salivation strongly excited from Mercurie and afterwards a sudoriferous or Sweating-Diet following might certainly cure this Disease What Baths or Spaw-waters are able to do I have not observ'd either by my own or others experience Perhaps I have made tryall that our Artificial Spaws sometimes have been available in Curing the Epilepsie to wit both those impregnated with Iron and also with Antimony and taken in a great quantity for many days CHAPTER IV. Of other kinds of Convulsions and first of the Convulsive Motions of Children AFter the Epilepsie as it were the principal Spasm in the chief place excited to wit within the middle part of the brain the other Kindes of Convulsions come to be treated of in order The differences of those are best taken from a twofold kinde of cause and the various manners and accidents of either We have already shown that all Spasmodic distempers do flow either from the meer irritation of the spirits or from their explosion by reason of the cleaving of an Elastick Copula to them or jointly from both together wherefore the manifold Ideas of Spasms may be distinguished and distributed into certain Classes as it happens for this or that cause or either together to remain in the various places of the Encephalon or the nervous Appendix For indeed the Spasmodic matter or the explosive Copula of the Spirits finding a passage chiefly and most often thorow the Brain and sometimes in some measure thorow the extremities of the nerves subsists either about the origine of the nerves or their middle processes or their outmost ends or abounds in their whole passages as shall be by and by more particularly declared Further an irritation stiring up Convulsions by it self or with a previous remote cause although it be made every where in the nervous stock yet it chiefly and more frequently produces such an effect about the beginings middle processes and foldings or ends of the Nerves But the same Kinde of Cause and effects are after one manner in Infants and children and another in youths and those of riper age Since therefore we have determined particularly to consider all the kindes of Convulsions we will first discourse of the Convulsive motions of Infants and Children Infants and children happen so ordinarily and frequently to be tormented with Spasmodick Distempers that this is reconed the chief and almost the only Kinde of Convulsions for the Symptoms of this kinde in other more ripe people are wont to be called by other known Names and referred to the Epilepsie hysterick hypochondriac Collie passions or also to the Scurvie but in children they are called as it were by way of Excellency Convulsions As to this we must observe that children are found to be greatly obnoxious to Convulsions chiefly about two seasons to wit within the first month after they are born or about their breeding of Teeth Although it often happens that the assaults of this Disease may come also at other times and from certain other Causes In the first place therefore it very often happens that children newly born or at least er'e they are two months old are afflicted at every turn with Spasms excited in divers parts for that inversions of the eyes distortions of the cheeks and Lipps or tremblings yea Contractions of the Tendons and frequent jerkings or leapings forth of the members and sudden shakings of the whole Body infest them and that the same effect likewise sometimes afflicts the praecordia appears plain enough because whilst the Spasms busie the Limbs and outward members also the face becomes now pale now of a livid or dead Colour from the blood stagnating in the heart and the Lungs being at that time contracted As therefore Spasms are wont to infest three Regions of the Body in children to wit the parts of the head and face the outward members and Limbs and the Praecordia and viscera we observe now these regions now those now two or all together to be possessed by the morbific Cause to wit as it is fixed either about the beginings or ends of the nerves and when the former of these happens as the superior part of the oblong pith the middle or the lowest part of the spinal marrow is touch'd one or more parts together are assaulted by the morbifick Cause As to the other Causes of this Distemper to wit the procataric and evident those of the former Kinde do chiefly consist in two things first that all the parts of the Head in infants are very weak and abound with a viscous humidity to wit the Brain less firm and the tone of the nerves very loose so that they are not able to bear the more light force of every matter but the Spirits inhabiting them are easily incited into irregular motions or Spasms by the proper liquour wherewith those parts are watered if it flows never so little immoderately or at least more plentifully than for the measure of so little strength But in the second place because it appears by observation that children not only nor all who are of a more tender Constitution are found to be prone to this Disease therefore this ought to be rather accounted for a reason of the more remote morbid Cause that the Blood and nervous Juce are originally vicious in some Infants by reason of evills contracted from the womb For that the sanguineous mass wanting eventilation for many months past becomes impure in children newly born wherefore broad and Red puttings forth like the small pocks shew themselves through the whole skin in most children soon after they are born to which sort of wealks or efflorescences if they are hindred or repressed oftentimes dangerous exulcerations about the parts of the mouth follow Hence we may deservedly suspect such impurities of the blood sometimes to be poured forth into the brain and nervous stock considering their debility and for that reason Spasmodic Distempers to arise to wit whilst the blood being vitious from the womb endeavours to purifie it self it transfers its faeculencies into the head which were wont to be
as yet included within the scarce hollow gums hence the blood being hindred in its Circulation causes a tumour and so presses the nerves and also pours on them the more sharp particles of the Serum by which being notably pulled or hauled they are tormented with Corrugations and painfull Spasms Therefore when so cruel pains happen to children from their breeding Teeth it is no wonder if a feavour and also Convulsive motions sometimes follow the former of these happens both for as much as the blood being hindred about the pained part is not circulated with its wonted and equall course wherefore it becomes inordinatly moved in the whole Body and besides because Spasms being stirred up somewhere in the nervous stock the corrugated and contracted nerves presse together and pull the Arteries and by that reason stir up irregular and feavourish fluctuations in the Blood But sometimes Couvulsions happen in breeding Teeth both because the blood growing hot sends forth heterogeneous particles to the animal government and so stirs up the spirits into explosions and besides also when this acute pain and as it were a Lancing follows upon the teeth being about to cut it communicates a very troublesome and irritative sense from the affected parts to the first sensorie presently from thence the motion of the rage is retorted by the same or other neighbour nerves which by reason of a praevious disposition doth not rarely become convulsive Besides these two occasions of Convulsions which are wont to be chiefly and more often in children to wit the times of Infancy and breeding Teeth this Distemper also is excited at other Times very often and for other Causes For in whom the Seeds of the Spasmodick Disposition is sown they sometimes unsold themselves presently after the birth and are ripened into morbid fruit or else lying hid for a while they now come before the breeding of Teeth and follow a long time after it and by reason of other evident causes to wit either external or Internal of which sort are a sickly or breeding nurse milk Coagulated in the stomack or degenerating into an acid or bitter putrifection a feavourish distemperature of the head Ulcers or wealks of other parts suddenly vanishing the Changes of the aire the Conjunctions oppositions and aspects of the Sun and moon and such like they at length break forth into Act from an uncertain event Concerning these there is no need that we should particularly discourse When all the Children of a man dwelling in the neighbourhood dyed of Convulsions within the space of three months at length to prevent that fatal event they sought for remedies for a child newly born I being sent for a few days after the being brought to bed first advised the making an Issue in the nape of the neck then that the next day after a leech being applyed to the jugular veine of each side two ounces of blood should be taken away besides that about every conjunction or opposite aspect of the Sun and moon about five grains of the following powder should be given in a spoonfull of Julap for three days morning and evening Take of humane Skull prepared of the root of the male Paeonie each ʒ i. of the powder of Pearls ʒ ss of white sugar ʒ i. mingle them and make a very fine powder Take of the waters of Black Cherries ℥ iii. of the antiepileptic of Langius ℥ i. of the Syrrop of the flowers of the male Paeonie ʒ vi mingle them also I order'd that the nurse at the same times should take a draught of whey or posset drink in which were boyled the seeds and roots of the male Paeonie and the leaves of the Lilly of the Vally the Infant for about four months was well but then began to be troubled with Convulsions at which time the same Remedies being administred both to the child and to the nurse in a larger dose vesicatories also were applyed behind the eares and blood was taken by the sucking of a Leech from the jugular veins within two or three days the child grew well afterwards whenever within four or five months the Convulsions return'd it was cured again by the use of the same Remedies After half a year the Convulsive motions wholly ceased but a painfull Tumour arose about the lower part of the Spinae dorsi or back-bone from which proceeded a certain distortion of the Vertebrae or joynts of the back bone and a weakness of the legs and at length a Palsie It seems in this case that the Spasmodic or Convulsive matter being wont to come upon the brain first and beginings of the nerves entring at last the Spinal marrow and being thrust out at its further end it wholly stopt up the heads of the appending nerves and shut out the passage of the Spirits to wit because other narcotick and more thick had joyned themselves to the explosive particles The Curatory Method against the Convulsive Distempers in Children IT is to be endeavour'd either to prevent the Convulsive passions threatning Children and Infants or to cure them being already begun For if the former children of the same parent were obnoxious or lyable to Convulsions that evill ought to be prevented timely The Preservation of Infants from Convulsions by the use of Remedies to those born after It is usuall for this end to put into the mouth of the child newly born some antispasmodick Remedy assoon as it begins to breath from hence some are wont to give them some drops of the purest hony others a Spoonfull of Canary sweetned with Sugar and some again oyl of Sweet Almonds fresh drawn to some may be given half a Spoonfull of epileptic water or one drop of oyle of Amber Besides these first things given to Infants which certainly seem to be of some moment certain other Remedies and means of Administrations ought to be used to wit let one spoonfull of Liquor proper to this distemper be drunk twice a day as for example Take of the water of black Cherry and of Rue each ℥ i ss of the Antiepileptic of Langius ℥ i. of the Syrrup of Corall ʒ vi of prepared Pearl gr xv mix them in a Viol. On the third or fourth day after the birth let an Issue be made in the nape of the neck then if it be of a fresh Countenance let a little blood to about ℥ i ss or ii ounces be taken by the sucking of Leeches from the jugular veins having a care lest the blood should flow out too plentifully in its sleep let the temples and the hinder part of the neck be gently rub'd with such a like oyntment Take of oyle of nutmegs by expression ʒ ii of Capive ʒiii of Amber ℈ i. Let an Amulet be hung about the neck of the roots and seeds of the greater Paeonie a little of the hoof of an Elke being added to it Moreover antispasmodick Remedies should be dayly given to the Nurse The Method of Curing to be used to the Nurses Let her
hysterical water what will suffice to make 16. pills Let 4. of them be taken every sixth or Seventh day Take of the Roots of Polypodia of the Oak of sharp pointed-docks prepared of chervill cach ʒ vi of the male Paeony ʒ iii. of the leaves of Betony germander Chamipits Vervine the male Betony each i. handfull of the seeds of Cardamums and burdock each ʒ iii. let them be boyled in 4. pints of Spring water till half be consumed Let it be strained into a matrace to which put of the leaves of the best Senna ℥ i. of Rhubarb ʒ vi of Turbith gummed ℥ ss of Epithimum of yellow-Sanders each ʒ ii of the Salt of wormwood and Scurvy-grass each ʒ i. the yellow rine of the Orangeʒ ii let them digest close shut in hot Sand for 12. hours let the straining be kept for use sweeten it if there be need with what will suffice of the Augustan Syrrop or of Succory with Rubarb The Dose ℥ vi once or twice in a week Every day in which purges are not taken Remedies strengthning the brain and also the animal Spirits for the taking away the heterogeneous Copula or for the hindring them from running into explosions Remedies for a more hot temperament are to be administred which indeed ought to be prescribed and chosen according to the Constitution and habit of the Body and temperament of the sick for too lean bodys and such as being indued with a more hot blood medicines less hot and which do not trouble the bloud above measure ought to be given On the Contrary for phlegmatick and fat people whose urine is thin and watery and whose Blood is Circulated more heavily and Viscera's stuffed more hot Remedies and notably apt to ferment the humours are designed In the former Case let it be prescribed after this manner Coroborating medicines and specificks Take of the Conserve of the Flowers of Betony Tamarisk the male-Paeonie each ℥ ii of the Species of Diamargerit frigidaʒ iss of the powder of the Root of Paeonie and of the seeds of the same each ʒ 1. of red-Corall prepared ʒ ii of vitriol of steel ℈ ii of the Salt of Wormwood ʒ ii with what will suffice of the juce of Oranges make an Electuary take of it twice or thrice in a day drinking after it a little draught of the Julap hereafter prescribed Powders Take of Corall Red with the juce of Oranges beaten together in a glass or marble mortar and dry'd ℥ ss of the powder of misletow of the oake of the root of the male Paeonieʒ ii of perled sugar ʒ iii. make a powder the dose from ℈ i. to ʒss twice or thrice in a day Take of the Species of Diamargarit frigidaʒ ii of the Salt of wormwood ʒ iii. of the root of Cocowpint powderd ʒ i. mix them make a powder let it be divided into xx parts take a dose in the morning and at four in the afternoon Distilled waters and Julaps Take of the Roots of Butterbur ℥ i. dose ʒss to ʒ i. twice in a day Take of the Leaves of Burdock and Cocowpint each vi handfulls let them be cut and mixed together and so distilled The dose ʒ ii to iii twice or thrice a day after a dose of Electuary or powder Take of this water distilled ii pints of our steel prepared ʒ ii mix them in a Vial let it be taken after the same manner Take of the Simple water of walnuts and of black-Cherries each half a pint of Snalesʒ iii. of the Syrrop of the flowers of the male Paeonie ℥ ii the dose ℥ iss to two after the same manner Take of the shavings of Ivory and harts-horn each iii. drams of the roots of Chervill burdock Valerian each half an ounce of the leaves of Betony Chamepits harts-tongue the tops of Tamarisk each one handfull of the barks of Tamarisk and of the woody nightshade each half an ounce let them be boyled in two quarts of spring water to the consumption of the third part add to it of white-wine eight ounces strain it into a pitcher to which put of the leaves of brook-lime and Cardamine each one handfull make an Infusion warm and close for four hours Let the colature be kept close in glasses The dose ℥ vi twice in a day after a dose of some solid Medicine sometimes such an Apozme may be mixed with ʒ ii of our steel and taken in the same manner In the Summer time the use of spaw-waters is convenient and for want of them our Artificial ones may be taken Remedies in a more cold temperament If that for the reasons above-recited more hot Medicines are to be prescribed you may proceed according to the following method Take of the Conserves of Rosemary of the yellow of Oranges and Lemmons each ℥ ii Electuaries of Lignum aloes of yellow-sanders of the roots of snake-weed Contrayerva Angelica Cocowpint each ʒ i. of the vitriol of steel or of steel prepared ℈ iiii of the salt of wormwood and Scurvy-grass each ʒ i. with what will suffice of candied Wallnutts make an Electuary Let it be taken twice in a day to the quantity of a nutmeg drinking after it a dose of appropriate Liquor Take of the Roots of male-Paeony Angellica and red Coral prepared each ʒ ii Tablets of Sugar dissolved in the water of Snales boyled to the consistency of Tablets ℥ vi of the oyle of Amber lightly rectified ʒ ss make a sufficient quantity of Lozenges each weighing about half a dram take one or two twice or thrice a day drinking after it a dose of proper Liquor Take of the Roots of Virginian Snake-weed Contrayerva Valerian each ʒ ii Pills of red Coral and prepared Pearl each ʒ i. of winteran Bark and of the root of Cretian Dittany each ʒ i. of the Vitriol of Steel and Salt of wormwood each ʒ iss of the extract of Centauryʒ ii of Ammoniacum dissolved in histerical water what will suffice to make a pillulary mass of which take four pills in the morning and at four in the afternoon Take of the Spirits of harts-horn or Sut or humane Blood or of Sal ammoniack Spirits what will suffice take of them from 10. to 12. drops morning and evening in a spoonfull of Julap drinking a little draught of the same after it Take of the Leaves of Betony Vervine Sage Lady-smocks Cocowpint Burdock Distill'd waters each two hand-fulls of green wallnuts number 20. the rinds of six Oranges and of 4. Lemons of Cardamums and Cubebbs each ℥ i. being cut and brused pour on them of whey made of Cider or white wine six pints let them be distilled according to Art The dose ℥ ii or iii. twice in a day after a dose of a solid medicine Add to i. quart of this liquor ii drams of our Steel Take of the Water of Snailes and of earth-worms each ℥ vi walnuts simple ℥ iiii of Radish Compound ℥ ii of
that sense of choaking in the Throat so often excited in the convulsive fits did proceed But there will be a more fit place to speak of this when we shall particularly handle the convulsive diseases and symptoms We shall now endeavour to search into what remains of the last kind of Convulsions of which we made mention above to wit which relies on the nervous Liquor being infected thorow its whole mass with heterogenous and explosive particles and for that reason irritateing the whole processes of the Nerves and the nervous bodies into universal Spasms or Convulsions and those either continual or intermitting CHAPTER VII Of Convulsive Motions arising from the Liquor watering the nervous Bodies and irritating their whole processes into Convulsions THat Convulsive distempers do sometimes wander thorow the whole nervous stock and infest now these parts now those now many together is so noted and obvious almost to dayly experience that nothing can be more we may therefore take notice in these that the tendons of the Muscles do every where leap up and are drawn together with spasms in others some exterior members are bended or stretch'd forth with various flections and contortions here and there after divers manners we have seen some forced by the unbridled and untamed force of the spirits as if struck with madness to run or leap about or strongly to smite with their feet or fists the earth or any objects which if they should not do forthwith they would fall into swooning fits and horrid Ecclips of spirits It would be too tedious to enumerate all the cases of universal Convulsions wandring thorow the whole nervous stock But the symptoms of this kind Chiefly three kinds of causes of universall Convulsions tho they are various and manifold may be reduced nevertheless to three chief Heads to wit forasmuch as they depend chiefly upon three kindes of causes for indeed in these wandring Convulsions we ought to suppose the whole nervous Liquor to the vitiated and the animal spirits flowing every where in the same to be adulterated and for that reason to be allmost perpetually exploded Take notice then that this kinde of Infection is most commonly impressed on the nervous juce and the spirits every where flowing in it by one of these three ways viz. 1st By Poysons or witchcraft 2dly From malignant or ill-cured feavours in which the morbific matter is poured forth on the Brain or nervous stock Or 3ly when the nervous Liquor by a long tract of time by reason of the scorbutic or otherwise vitious distemper doth degenerate from its due constitution into sour or acid or any otherwise praeternatural and Convulsive Liquor we will here consider of each of the aforesaid cases and first of all of the fits of Convulsion which are produced by poysons or Sorceries From poysons and sorceries First therefore it is somewhere shown by us that some poysons do act rather on the nervous Liquor than on the blood which depraving it most strongly induce Convulsive distempers And it appears clearly from the eating of Hemlock From poysons of the rank of vegitables the laughing-Parsly man-drakes the furious nightshade wild Parsnips and other hurtfull herbs how soon after horrid Contractions of the Ventricle numbness delirium Convulsions twitches of the tendons in the whole body were wont to follow From a mad Dog Besides those kinde of Convulsions follow upon the biting of a mad Dog and other venomous beasts where the Virulent infection being received by the nervous juice and lurking a long while in it at last puts it self forth and infects and poysons the whole mass of Liquor in which it was involved with its ferment But what doth yet more illustrate it are the admirable Symptoms the truly painfull Convulsions and unweariable dancing which Authors have related to follow upon the biting of the Tarantula and indeed might seem fabulous unless that the truth of the Thing were asserted by many men of good Credit both ancient and modern For besides Mathiolus and Epiphanius Ferdinand Gassendus and Kircher add that themselves were eye-witnesses of this distemper yea it is said 't is a known thing in Apulia and found almost by dayly experience that in that part of the Country there are Phalangii or a certain kinde of Spider which is called Tarantula from Tarenta an ancient City of Apulia This little Animal being very frequent in the Summer often bites the heedless Countryman and infects him with its Venemous stroke from whence presently succeed a pain in the hurt part with a Tumor and itching by and by in various parts of the body a numbness and Trembling also Convulsions and loosnings of the members and other Convulsive Symptoms with a great loss of strength as may be collected from Mathiolus Ferdinand and others relating the wonderfull effects of this Disease But truly what these Authors say concerning the cure of this Distemper and is practis'd commonly thorow the whole Country is worthy of great admiration for those stung with a Tarantula as very sick as they are as soon as they hear musical Instruments presently they are eased of their pains and leaping into the middle of the room they begin to dance and jump about and so continue it a long while as if they were well and ailed nothing but if it happen that the Fidlers leave off never so little a while they straitways fall to the ground and return to their former pains unless by the incessant musick they dance and leap till the poyson be wholly shaken off For this end therefore Musitioners are hired and are changed by turns that without intermission of the noise those who are bitten may dance so long till they are quite cured Thus saith Mathiolus to which Ferdinand adds that poor people do expend almost all their substance in these fidlers and musitians who wander up and down all that Province and by playing to these Tarantulasized people make much benifit they dance or leap about in the villages and publick streets and fields some one day some one week and others more To these Authours the most learned men Gassendus and Kircherus agree both of which have related it from their own observation that they have known such affected and they assert that they are not affected or excited indifferently with any musick but with certain kinds of Tune and that they dance to some measures before others Let us inquire a little further into the Reasons of these aforesaid Accidents The reason of the symptoms of those bitten by a Tarantula if we may follow our conjecture in this first place 't is without doubt that a certain venemous infection is fixed on the humane body from the bite of this little creature which tho it being less infestous to the blood and vital spirit as soon as ever it passes from it into the nervous Liquor it presently unfolds it self thorow its whole mass like leaven and infects the animal spirits flowing every where in it
least four of the strongest men But if in the case of any one that is sick there arise a suspition of witchcraft or fascination Which argue witchcraft there are chiefly two kinds of Motions that are wont to create and cherish this opinion viz. 1. If the patient doth perform the contortions or gesticulations of his members or of his whole body after that manner which no sound man nor mimick or any tumbler can imitate Then 2dly If such strength be shown that surpasses all humane force to which if the avoiding of monstrous things happen as when bundles as Henry van Heer 's relates are cast forth by vomit or a live Eel as Cornelius Gamma tells voided by stool without doubt it may be believed that the devill has and doth perform his parts in this Tragedy It were easie to heap together very many and indeed admirable histories of persons of every Age and Sex affected after a stupendious and as it were supernatural manner with the manifest suspition of witchcraft for such are every where extant among Authors both Physitians and Phylosophers and because vulgar rumour noyses about diseases caused by witchcraft to happen often in allmost every Country but because these kinde of cases are full of Imposture or allways increased by the fictious lies of the relators to create admiration and for that they rarely fall under the medicall cure I will here purposely omit them what remains is that I proceed to unfold the next kinde of universal Convulsions to wit which comes upon malignant or otherwise irrigular or ill-cured Feavours CHAPTER VIII Of Vniversal Convulsions which are wont to be excited in Malignant ill-cured and some irregular Feavours THat Convulsions sometimes happen to persons sick of Feavours Vniversal Convulsions hapning in Feavours almost every ordinary body understands and from thence takes a remarkable Prognostication of Death or perill For in malignant Feavours also sometimes in the ordinary ill-handled as the Virtego or Delirium arise from the morbific matter being layd up in the Brain from the Blood so from the same being slidden down into the nervous stock Contractures and twitches of the muscles and tendons also sudden shakings of the members and Limbs and sometimes most horrid stiffnesses in the whole Body succeed The reason of which kinde of Symptoms seems to consist in this that the Liquor watering the nervous parts The reason of the symptoms abounds every where with heterogeneous particles irritating the Spirits for by that means the Spirits inhabiting and influencing being disturbed in their just Influence and emanation are incited into continual explosions as it were a crackling noyse not much unlike as when the flame of a Lamp being imbued with drossy and salted oyl ascends with a noyse and sparkling which kinde of Convulsive distempers for the most part happen about the height of feavours when the morbific matter being first layd up in the blood is from thence transfer'd to the Brain and that being pass'd thorow and also infected it is caried into the System of the nerves and from thence stirs up Convulsive passions with or without a Delirium But indeed it is sometimes observ'd that besides these kinde of Convulsive distempers coming upon Feavours and secondarily excited in a malignant constitution of the air also from the breath of a Pestilent Contagion the nervous Liquor hath been infected before the blood or else apart from it and therefore a Delirium or Convulsions have gone before a feavourish Distemper Further I have often observed that some irregular Feavours have arose in which the blood has been hardly seen to boyl up or grow hot above measure but the beginnings of this slow and very dangerous feavour were layd chiefly in the nervous humour which being by degrees brought to maturity did induce Convulsive Distempers with a Delirium or madness and other wastings or exorbitances of the Animal Spirits For the sick never complained of heat or thirst being soon made feeble and as it were strengthless they were presently obnoxions to frequent giddiness also to rremblings of the Limbs and as it were leapings forth besides to twitches or jumpings of the muscles and tendons and to contractures and pains wandring about here and there This kinde of sickness by some Physitians because it seem'd to consist in the solid parts rather than in the blood is called a malignant hectick feavour when indeed the same being fixed chiefly in the nervous humour may be better called the Convulsive nervous Pestilence A description of a convulsive disease of Hassia sometimes epidemicall There is mention made by Gregory Horstius of a Convulsive and malignant Disease which was sometime past Epidemical in Hassia Westphalia and the neighbouring Countrys they being taken therewith without a feavourish heat immoderate effervescency of blood whilst they were imployed about their familiar occasions hardly perceiving themselves to be sick were wont to have about their hands or feet and sometimes in both a sense of tingling with a numbness running up and down then by and by their fingers together with their Arms and thighs were now strictly drawn together now most strongly stretched forth as if they were frozen Those kinde of Contractions and extentions rendred themselves by turns and then changed places that now the distemper resided in one part then presently in another But as it often hapned if the Disease at once invaded the whole Brain Universal Convulsions and oftentimes epileptical Fits infested the sick besides those labouring with it were obnoxious at some turns to a Delirium madness and sometimes a Lethargie This sickness continued a long time without any Crisis or sound solution and could scarcely be so perfectly Cured but that the Disposition of the Brain and nervous parts remained evill all their Life after The reason of the symptoms As to the Reasons of this Disease and Symptoms it is obvious enough that the same depends altogether upon the vice and notable depravation of the nervous juce That pricking or tingling for the most part at the first coming of the disease was procured for this Reason because that Liquor beginning to be poysoned and loosned in its mixtion by the malignant Infection presently it oppressed the animal Spirits abounding therein and inhibited them from their wonted aâ—… free expansion wherefore they being half overwhelmed and constrained to creep as it were among bryers or things that catch'd hold of them or held them back they excited the sense as it were of tinglings running about but then because this disease growing worse the nervous Liquor was yet more perverted in its Crisis or disposition the heterogeneous particles which were brought together in it cleaving to the Spirits caused them to be moved hither and thither and to be unduly exploded for which Reason the Contractions and horrid distentions in the members and the tumults and great inordinations in the head were raised up But that in this feavour of the nerves a solution or difficult Crisis or none
with abundance of spitle and thick was excited this hapned in some about the declination of the disease to wit whilst the confines of the brain were serene as it were the clowds sent from thence to the thorax a great Catarrh suddenly rained down upon the Lungs But in others who especially had little infection of the disease in the head presently after the beginning of the feavour a cruell cough and a stinking spitting with a consumptive disposition grew upon them and suddenly and unthought of precipitated the sick into a Pthisis from which nevertheless they recovered by the timely use of Remedies often beyond hope It was observ'd in some that after a long ecclips of the sensitive facultie and oppression of the brain from the morbific matter at length tumors did follow in the glandula's neer the hinder part of the neck out of which being hardly ripened and broke a thin and stinking ichor or matter ran for a long time and brought help I have also seen watery pustles excited in other parts of the body which pass'd into hollow ulcers and hardly curable sometimes little spots and petechiales appeared here and there yet I never heard that any more broad or blew of these kinde were seen in the sick Notwithstanding tho this feavour was not remarkable for very many malignant spots yet it was not free from Contagion For that in the same Family it invaded almost all the Children and youths successively yea not rarely those of more ripe years and at mens estate who looking to the sick were familiarly conversant in their Chambers or about their beds were infected with the same infection But indeed there was not so much cause of suspition that for it the friends of the sick should be wholly interdicted from commerce with or visiting of them Altho the course of this disease unless when it intimately settled in the brain did appear so gentle and continued without any horrid Symptome yet its cure being always difficult succeeded not under a long time For the sick rarely grew well within three or four weeks yea for the most part scarce in so many months If this disease fell upon men of a broken Age or strength especially those who were before obnoxious to cephalic distempers as the Lethargie Appoplexie or Convulsion it oftentimes kill'd them in a short space but if there was any hope of recovering it could be but slowly procured all Remedies whatsoever scarce bringing any sensible help so that the sick did no sooner come out of the sphear of this disease than they fell into the confines of a Consumption The reason of them If the formal reason and courses of this aforesaid sickness be demanded it here easily appears the watering Liquor of the brain and nervous stock for the most part both together with the blood to be in fault and the immediate cause especially of the troublesome Symptoms to wit forasmuch as this water presently after the first assault of the disease was grown more poor then usuall and as it were lifeless therefore a Languishing and enervation with a spontaneous weariness and impotency to motion hapned in the whole body and with a sudden wasting of the body in the sick Further forasmuch as the same Liquor was stuffed with heterogeneous particles viz. partly narcotick partly explosive therefore a numbness a sense of pricking leapings up of the tendons and muscles and contractures also the Virtego giddinesse and other more grievous Cephalick distempers did arise Moreover forasmuch as by reason of the evil of the nervous juice being not quickly or hardly to be mended the cure or healing of the disease became so hard and lingring But for that the fault of this Latex necessarily depended on the discrasie or evill disposition of the blood also of the depraved constitution of the brain what their morbid dispositions were and by what means they brought forth the beginning or tinder of the Symptom of the feavour but now described let us now see As to the former it seems that at this season by reason of the hot and humi'd constitution of the year and no blast from the north the little bodies of which imbue the blood and juices of our body as it were with a nitrous seasoning and by agitating them defend them against putrefaction the blood in most men and chiefly in children youths and women became like standing-water that so contracts a setling very impure stuff't with heterogeneous particles and turning to a clammyness and watrishness in which the more pure spirit and sulphur being somewhat depress'd the watery particles being carried forth with the impure salt and sulphur were too much exalted Wherefore the blood both by reason of its Crisis or constitution being vitiated also by reason of heterogeneous particles being heaped up more plentifully in its bosome was made more fit either of its own accord or occasionally or because of the contagion to receive a feavourish Effervescency so that from thence very many fell at this time into feavours But the blood growing hot from the feavourish taint being received did not presently burn with an open flame but like green wood laid on the fire with a flame as it were suppressed and much incumbred with smoke Wherefore the morbific matter being heaped within its mass was not wont as in a regular feavour to be consumed by the burning and its reliques at the set time to be exterminated by the Crisis but yet a little after the beginning of the feavour a great portion of this matter being powred into the head at Thorax or into both at once and afterwards being continually supplied in those parts it induced either the aforesaid distempers of the brain and nervous stock or a cough with a consumptive disposition or both together and for this reason about the beginning of this disease when a pulse quicker than it ought to be and a high colour'd urine and full of contents did show the blood to grow hot with a feavourish distemper the sick did not complain of heat or thirst because the blood growing hot did lay up its impurities and recrements forthwith into the provision of the nervous Liquor or into the Lungs wherefore within these receptacles the Symptoms presently became worse but afterwards the disease growing on a somewhat sharp heat with scurfness of the tongue was wont to be troublesome to some yea in all a slow and as it were hectick feavour continued throughout which neither by sweat nor by insensible transpiration could be so wholly removed but that it was daily renued chiefly after eating tho never so small which thing truly seem'd to happen because the nervous juice being full of the feculencies brought from the blood did not afterwards receive them in so great plenty but that these recrements together with the nutritious humour and for that this was not consumed by nourishing the solid particles remaining within the bloody mass caused it then to grow feavourishly hot 2ly Besides this morbid disposition of
the blood contracted from the intemperance of the year it seems that the brain also from the same occasion was made prone to the aforesaid passions For when for a long tract of time the southern winds did continually blow with a moist constitution of the Air from thence the passages and pores of the brain being very much loosned and opened and its connexion too much dissolved they gave an easie passage to serous humours and for all sorts of heterogeneous particles wherefore the blood being very feculent and watery as soon as it began to grow hot from the feavour carried its serous recrements and filths presently thorow the too open doors into the head for whosoever he was who did not complain of his head being too much stuffed with a moist air and numbness of spirits on the contrary his pores being bound together by an intense cold or dryer air all his senses and faculties remained more quick and lively These things being thus premised concerning the morbid provision of the brain and humours to wit of the blood and nervous humour by reason of the constitution of the year whereby indeed very many at that time sell into a slow unequal and long continuing feavour surrounded with Cephalick and Convulsive symptoms and hardly curable hence also it will be easie to unfold the reasons of the rest of the symptoms and accidents chiefly to be noted in this disease Why this disease chiefly invaded children women and phlegmatick men For first of all that this irregular Feavour raged chiefly among Children young men women and phlegmatick men the reason was because in those kinde of bodies the blood was apt to be more waterish and less perspicable and from thence to gather a serous Colluvies or watry humour and heterogeneous feculencies and also the brain being more humid and weak easily received any recrements of the bloud Wherefore it may be observed that those sort of persons were found more prone to Convulsions arising by reason of any other occasions The reason of the Atrophie coming upon this feavour Secondly the noted Atrophie or leanness came so suddenly upon this feavour because by reason of the depravation of the nervous juice the officies of nourishment depending upon it which as we have elsewhere shown are highly active presently failed For although we do not grant the nervous humour to be only nutritious but to dispense thorow the Arteries a matter destinated to the nourishable parts prepared in the bloody mass yet it may be lawfull to think that the Liquor watering the brain and nervous stock by means of an efficient cause doth conduce very much to alimentation for this growing turgid with animal spirit actuates and invigorates the nutritious juice brought to every part by the blood and admitting it into the passages and most intimate receptacles of the body to be nourished and as it were leading it in assimilates or resembles it Wherefore when this houshold Liquor is so depraved that it doth not rightly supply the animal spirits requisite about the work of nutrition all the members and parts of the stomach vitiated in its tone either spues back whatsoever nourishment is brought or cannot receive it to its proper use wherefore truly in this disease the bulk or habit of the body however fuller or fatter was more sooner pull'd down then in a continuall Feavour where it might much more evaporate by the intense heat or copious sweats The reason of which is because in a burning feavour altho the blood growing very hot exhales more plentifully yet in the mean time it continually affords something of nourishment which the severall parts help'd by the benefit of the nervous juice easily received and assimilated but in this nervous pestilence altho the nutritive matter was sufficiently provided yet by the defect of the Nourishment of the spirits the nourishment was altogether inhibited Why this feavour was hardly cureable 3. For the aforesaid reasons also this feavour being a long while protracted was wont scarce ever to be critically helped and difficulty cured by the help of allmost any medicines For the feavourish matter creeping presently from the beginning of the disease into the nervous Liquor could hardly afterwards and not but of a long time be exterminated from its bosome for that this water with a slow motion and flowing leasurely in the streight vessells does not as the blood conceive of its own accord a purifying effervescency or fermentation neither can the forces of medicines reach to it so easily and unmixed but either they are first hindred by other parts or because they are heterogeneous they are wholly excluded from the brain casting back whatever is incongruous In truth for this reason all distempers of the brain and nerves as it were making a mock at Medicines are most difficulty cured Therefore in this feavour if the evill impressed on the brain and nervous stock was taken away either a cruell cough with plentifull spitting ot tumours or an Impostum in the neck did follow to wit the morbifick matter being supped back by the blood and again deposited setled either in the Thorax or in the Glandula's and emunctories nigh the hinder part of the neck But this disease was the more contumacious because the discrasie or evill constitution of the blood was not easily mended for altho from the beginning its Latex the recrements being poured forth even into the nervous Liquor grew but little and sluggishly hot yet afterwards these receptacles being filled and the morbific feculencies and besides the nutritious matter not imployed in nourishing the parts being resident even in the blood did aggravate it and for the exclusion of this trouble not to be mixed with it did induce an Effervescency such as is wont to be in an hectick feavour either almost continuall or presently apt to come again For I have often observed in this feavour from grewell barly-broth and other slender diet no less ebulition of the blood to be stirred up than from broth made of flesh whether indeed the nourishing juice supplying the blood from the chyle because it was not imployed in the work of nutrition carried something heterogeneous and not rightly miscible as a trouble to the blood and by reason of the particles of this superfluous juice being copiously sent away with the serum the urine became very thick red and very full of contents Also for the same reason the belly was for the most part loose forasmuch as the blood filled full of the nutritious juice did suck forth a lesser portion of the chile from the bowells and did pour back again part of that which had been brought to it on the intestines the feavourish distemper did likewise stick so long in the blood because till the animal regiment being restored nutrition was rightly performed that superfluous matter was carried into the mass of blood We deliver the example and the Aetiology or rational account of this aforesaid feavour more largely for this reason because the
same disease did fall upon our Countrey men here and there also at other times for that of late in this City all the younger people of a certain family were sick of it yea I remember that some time past very many laboured with such a feavour Out of the many histories and examples of sick people which it rendred when it was epidemical I will here propose one or two A strong and lively young man about the beginning of the spring 1661 falling Observation 1 sick without any evident cause without any great heat or thirst he became suddenly weak and as if enervated with a dejected appetite and languor of spirits Cathartick Remedies Antipyretics or allaying of heat digestives and also antiscorbuticks and others of various kindes administred by the prescriptions of the most famous Physitians availed nothing But notwithstanding the sick man hitherto languishing with a slow and wandring feavour with a quick and feeble pulse a deep-colour'd urine had kept his bed a fortnight besides being reduced to the greatest leanness he complained of a giddiness and as it were the fluctuation of a sound in his head and a tingling noyse in his ears Altho he was troubled with a great stupor yet his sleeps were mightily troubled and broken with delirious fables After four days when the feavour was not yet declined it was thought good to take away four or five ounces of blood by Leeches from the sedal veins from hence the feavour began to be much exasperated for a great intense heat with thirst watchings and almost continual tossing of the body also the tongue dry and scurfy appeared then quickly a troublesome cough with abundance of discoloured spittle followed to him were administred almond and barly-drinks with temperate bechicks or things to stop coughing boyled in them water of milk distill'd with snails and pectoral herbs the shelly-powders prepared nitre and often Cordial opiats which notwithstanding scarce giving any help the sick man still became more weak when in this manner being sick above two months space the feavourish distemperature and cough also dayly growing worse he seemed near death at length a voluntary sweating arising so that every night or every other night he sweat abundantly and from thence finding himself better using then the aforesaid Remedies he grew well within six weeks Till I had seen many sick people after the same manner I suspected this disease to be alltogether an hectick feavour with a consumptive disposition of the Lungs but when I saw many others at that time fall sick ordinarily after the like manner I easily instituted the Aetiologie or national account of this feavour such as I have already described to wit that the blood because of the intemperature of the year and perhaps from errors in dyet The reason of it had contracted a vitious procatarxis or remote cause Then it growing feavourishly hot and presently carrying its impurities to the brain and so depraving the juice watering it and the nervous stock induced the vertiginous distempers with a stupor a languishing of spirits and an atrophy of the whole body but so long as the blood did transfer its recrements from its own bosom into the brain and nervous appendix the feavourish heat continued more gentle and milde But afterwards when the tending downwards of the morbific matter by the opening of the hemorhoid veins was drawn away from the brain the same being first retained within the bloody mass increased the feavour then being poured on the Lungs excited the cruel cough with plentifull spittle but forasmuch as the flesh of the Lungs remained free from putrefaction as soon as the serous water was sent away by a more plentifull sweating the sick man became free both from the feavour and phthisis or Consumption that seemed so deplorable Observation 2 In the mean time whilst he lay sick I visited another about 12. years of age after the like manner affected But this when I was firâ—t sent for having been sick above a month was reduced to the leanness of a Skelliton besides he was troubled with a vertigo with a noise in his ears and deafness and also with a violent cough with yellow and as it were consumptive spittle his pulse was quick and feeble his urine red and thick his appetite much dejected his spirits so languid and his strength so cast down that he could not keep out of his bed I gave this youth to drink often in a day water distill'd from milk with snails and temperate herbs besides I ordered him an open decoction such as is in use for the Rickets to be daily taken instead of his ordinary drink by the help of which Remedies he was restored to his health in a months space At this time I was sent for to many other people of every age and sex distemper'd by the same disease now clearly Epidemical for it running thorow whole families not only in this City and the neighbouring parts but in the Countries at a great distance as I heard from Physitians dwelling in other places increased very much Those for the most part labouring with this feavour so be they were otherwise whole grew well by the fit use and order of medicine and dyet but it hapned very often but ill to those who were indued with a weakly constitution of brain and nervous stock or broken with age but not seldom the case of the sick became dangerous because the Physitians were not wont to be sent for presently after the beginning of the disease yea scarcely before it had more deeply spread abroad its roots and the opportunity of healing was past Observation 3 For that reason this feavour became very deadly in the family of a certain Noble man among his children originally obnoxious to Cephalic distempers About the vernal Aequinox a Boy of about eleven years of Age began to be sick At first without any vehement heat or thirst a dejection of appetite and want of strength came upon him Besides an almost continual giddiness did trouble him with a frequent danger of fainting that he often thought he was just dying By the advice of a certain woman attending him they dayly gave him Clisters then when from the foulness of the mouth and Tongue manifest signes of a Feavour appeared this Emperick on the fifth day gave him a vomit of the Infusion of Crocus metallorum and on the seaventh day a Cordial powder being administred she incited the sick youth covered with blankets to sweat his skin hardly began to be moist but presently he began to talk idly complained that his Cap was fallen into the water by and by becoming speechless within four hours whilst I was sent for he expir'd before I came Observation 4 A little while after the same disease fell upon his yonger Sister whose sickness however because it was accompanied with a frequent and humid Cough was thought at first to be only a taking of Cold but within a few days this Cough became plainly Convulsive so that
then when the evident causes daily fixing the infection more on the bloud and humours did happen upon this remote hereditary cause for there were many chances and unfortunate accidents which continually brought sadness and melancholly upon this Gentleman indeed therefore the nervous Liquor being imbued above measure with a fixed and Scorbutic salt became highly sharp and irritative like aqua fortis or the Stagma's of Vitriol and so continually incited the Spirits and the bodys containing them into Corrugations and contractions just as the aforesaid Liquors when poured upon worms do the same thing Why this Distemper grew worse by the use of the Baths But that this disease leasurly at first increasing was quickly brought into a much worse condition by the use of the hot Bathes the reason easily appears It is known by experience that the hot Bathes do very much exalt and quickly bring to the hight the Sulphureous-saline particles in the humane body and otherwise morbid which abound in the Bowells and humours viz. do render them more fierce by agitating them throughly and force them from their first passages into the blood and from thence into the Brain and nervous stock yea and joyn together those that were before seperate and idle and incite them into a certain fermentation wherefore those who are hereditarily obnoxious to the Gout or Stone and have not as yet suffer'd any fits of those distempers very often feel the fruit of either disease in themselves to grow ripe soon by the use of the Bathes When therefore in this sick person both the blood and Liquor watering the Brain and nerves were imbued both with narcotick or stupifying and convulsive particles and also when they did degenerate from their sweet and balsamy Disposition that towards a saltish and this into a sour Ciaemul of a Stagma of Vitriol the use of the hot minerall waters was so far from bringing help that on the contrary these evills for that very cause presently grew all very much worse and the Disease proceeding from the humors being so depraved as to their temper and mixture could never be cured by any medicines no easier than vinegar may be reduced into wine When this Gentlemans body being at last dead of the Phthisis or Consumption was opened by me we could finde but very few foot-steps of these kinde of most grievous Symptoms Hence as it appear'd the Palsie and Convulsion did not depend so much on a thick and copious matter heaped together somewhere in mines as of an evill affection of the animal Spirits who are subtle and Invisible I will lay forth what was worthy taking notice of in the anatomy of this person Things worthy to be noted in the body being dissected The Abdomen being opened the Caule as is wont to be in most who dye of a Consumption and other Chronical Diseases was putrified and almost consumed In the mean time the Ventricle Intestines Pancreas and Mesentery were well enough to wit the membranes were firm well coulour'd and free from any ulcer or hard swelling There grew to the greater Intestines certain excrescencies like to the ears of a mouse for that there were very many of these kinde of things out of either side of the Colon and right intestine they shewed like twins at certain distances like the branches of Trees The like I formerly found in a Consumptive person The Reason of this seems to be that the nourishment in Consumptive people though it be deficient about the more solid and outward parts yet sometimes within neer the fountains of the nourishing juice performs more than it ought and for that cause superfluous and unnaturall additions grow forth The milt or Spleen which always is thought ill of and of most Physitians condemned for being the Principal cause of the Scurvy and of all other distempers appear altogether blameless and free from any fault For as in most sound people we observed it was of a darkish Colour soft and of an equal superficies free from any obstruction or swelling indued with vessells and fibres distinct and firm enough out of its substance flowed black biood when it was cut The Liver which indeed might be wondred at was indifferently well neither was it from so long and grievous a sickness become harder then usuall or scirrhous or planted with little whelks but it was somewhat big and of a darkish colour The Kidnys though free from any ulcer or gravell were not however free from fault for in the middle of the right Kidney was seen a great cavity distinct from the Tunell and much greater then it full of clear water the like I have very often found in hydropical people But indeed this perhaps arose from the serum deposited in that kidny that could not easily be strained thorow its passages and pores for that the serum subsisting therein had in the beginning made for it self a little den which afterwards by degres was inlarged and when for this Reason the secretion of the serum and its passing forth by the ureter were something hindred its Latex restagnating into the blood brought in the grievous trouble to the head which indeed was the rather to be suspected because also the left Kidny being mightily extenuated and consumed contained many Cisterns and Cavities full of clear water The Lungs growing on every side to the Sternum or part of the breast where the ribs meet sides and Diaphragma seem'd without any distinction of Lobes of one substance only of putrid spongy flesh staâ—fed throughout with a frothy or ichorous matter without doubt the sick man had not contracted this evill so long before to wit when he was not able to perform any exercise of the Body nor stay in bed that it might breathe out any thing more freely the faeculencies and recrements of the blood which were wont to evaporate thorow the skin being layd up in the Lungs were the cause that they grew together among themselves and with other parts and did vitiate their tone and conformation wholly so that a Consumption being at last arisen was the effect and product and not the cause of the rest of the distempers wherewith he had bin a long while miserably afflicted In either ventricle of the heart blood was concreted into a solid whitish substance and bak'd like flesh which being formed neer the Cavities and processes of the vessells of the Heart resembled the figure of a Serpent with a manifold divided tail than which indeed nothing is more usual in many dead People after long sickness The reason of which is that the Blood being without life from long sickness and from thence circulated slowly about the Praecordia begins to stand or stagnate in the heart and depending vessells and by that means is congealed leasurely into this kinde of fleshy Concrete When the Skull was opened we sought among its contents the chief Cause of the Disease The first thing that occurr'd was the bulk of the brain was less than it should be
and folded into fewer folds from whence we suspected that the Animal Spirits were not plentifully enough brought forth Further the whole substance of the head was more moist than it ought to be and wholly immersed in a wet watery humour that its Covering viz. the whole meninges were pulled asunder and the compassing or crevices and all the ventricles run over with clear water 'T is probable that this deluge of the Brain had lately hapned to wit forasmuch as by reason perspiration being hindred and the Secretion of urine being but little the serosities gathered together in the bloody mass were carried to the head and therefore the substance of the Brain and especially the chancelled or chequer'd bodies were so wholly wetted and soked that being cut their substance could scarce remain compacted but that it would flow away somewhat after the manner of thick Liquids within the bosoms overlying and inserted to the brain and its Appendix and the vessells coming from them the blood had concreted into little round hard and as it were fleshy balls just like those within the ventricles of the heart and the vessells hanging to them which also lately when the Bloud circulated slowly we thought might happen for the same reason for which the blood was coagulated within the Praecordia The trunk of the Spinal marrow being drowned in clear water was very much extenuated that it could scarce fill half of the bony cavity or hollowness which we thought to be effected by the deluge of salt Serum in which it was as it were boyled The Nature and the manner of the continued convulsive distemper being made So much concerning universal Convulsions which being very much conjoyned with the Paralytick Distemper are excited dividedly in many parts at once There remains others which we call'd continued because being suddenly translated from some parts to others they mutually relieve one another and compell the members now these now those and often the whole body to be involuntarily moved and diversly bended or agitated In these Cases the Animal Spirits not only those implanted in private corners and mines get to themselves an explosive Copula and being some how satisfied or irritated strike it off by certain turns but when the whole mass of the nervous Liquor abundantly abounds with elastick particles they then every where cleaving to both the Spirits implanted and flowing in for that reason stir them up into Continuall Convulsions But forasmuch as not all the Spirits at once are not able however predisposed to be exploded because within the nervous passages there is not room large enough for their so great agitations therefore the explosive force arising in these or those parts is by and by transfer'd from thence unto others and so to others and so like fire-draks or wild-fire it runs wandringly here and there most swiftly creeping from these Limbs to those and then presently from all into the Praecordia or Viscera and back again That the Image of those kinde of distempers may be known we will here propose some more rare Cases of sick persons whom sometime past I endeavoured to Cure Observation 1 A very fine and religious maid tall and slender begot of a Father sickly and obnoxious to most grievous Distempers of the nervous kinde about the 20th year of her Age was afflicted for many days with an head-ach very Cruell and periodical at length at the time of the winter folstice 1656. the pain of her head ceased but instead of it a mighty Catarrh followed with a thin and Copious spitting also an ulcerous distemper of the nose and throat when she had for some time endured this trouble at length by the prescript of a certain Woman receiving the fume of Amber by a tunnell into her mouth she was suddenly cured to wit the Catarrh or violent Rhume ceas'd suddenly but from thence she complained of a notable Vertigo with a pain in the head and of the tingling noise of the ears on the Third day the tendons of the hinder part of her neck were pulled together that her head was bended now forward now backward and now of one side sometime it continued stiff and unmoveable a little after this the same kinde of Convulsive Distemper invaded the outward members and Limbs of the whole body her arms and hands were wonderfully turned about that no jugler or tumbler could imitate their bendings and rollings about she was necessitated to spread abroad her leggs and feet here and there to strike them against one another and to transpose or cross them by turns After this manner either sitting in a Chair or lying in a Bed she was perpetually afflicted with these Convulsive motions unless when overwhelmed with sleep and when she did a little restrain her members from the great labour of the Muscles presently she was taken with a difficult and short-breathing with a sense of Choaking but in the mean time her eyes jaws mouth and lower bowells remained free from any Convulsion neither was she troubled with vomiting belching nor any inflation of the belly and hypochondria Besides she was still her self and had truly the use of her memory understanding and phantasie she did nor said any thing madly or foolishly but in these wonderfull evills she shewâ—d an admirable example of Christian fortitude and patienee even with godly and discreet speeches her appetite was soon lost so that she took any meat or aliment very unwillingly thirst continually troubled her and her strength was grown so feeble that she could not stand or walk her urine was of a Citron colour very full of saltness on whose superficies grew little tararous skins When I was sent for to this Gentlewoman on the Sixth day of her sickness I framed the Aetiology of this kinde of admirable distemper For the consideration of her father who at that time was sick in the same house with most grievous Convulsive passions kept me that I did not with many others refer all things to the delusions of witches wherefore that I might seek out the natural Causes of these Symptoms it was in the first place plainly to be suspected that this Gentlewoman had contracted hereditarily the seeds of Convulsive Distempers which at length about the flower of her age broke forth into this kinde of fruit for when her blood was very much imbued with heterogeneous and explosive particles they at length as is wont in such a disposition began to be poured into the head and there to be fixed being therefore first deposited in the Meningae they induced the huge periodicall head-ach then afterwards the same matter having accidentally shifted its place falling down into the sinks of the throat and mouth changed the Cephalage or head-ach into a Catarrh or Rhume and when lastly by an untimely use of the administred Remedy the defluxion stop'd the morbifick matter flowing back into the brain brought the Vertigo and then being thrust forth on the nervous stock it excited the aforesaid Convulsive Affections As to
the formal Reason or the means of generation The reason of the aforesaid case whereby the Convulsive matter falling down into the nervous stock did produce these admirable Symptomes we may lawfully suppose that the same being thrust forth from the Confines of the head being yet more firm into the spinal marrow and its Appendix and being like a malignant firment it first infected with heterogeneous and highly explosive particles these parts of the juce watering the whole mass which cleaving to the spirits every where disposed thorow their whole series and agitating them as it were with a certain fury did stir them up into continuall explosions When in truth the nervous juice as is said was so fermented by the inflowing of the Convulsive matter that which did other ways water the containing parts with a gentle falling on them and through the same did pass over the animal spirits with an equal Expansion now the same did torment the nervous fibres with various contractions and Corrugations or shrinkings up and did hinder both the spirits flowing in being too much burthened with an heterogeneous Copula from their due irradiation and also variously moving those implanted in every part did incite them as it were with a diabolical Inspiration so that no more obeying the Empire of the will they ran into inordinate motions and did renew them translated rapidly here ahd there with a perpetuall reciprocation But altho the heterogeneous particles being poured forth with the blood into the brain and thence thrust forth into the nervous stock did not enter rightly the beginnings of all the nerves but chiefly and almost only the spinal marrow and its nervous shoots so that the internal Viscera also the parts of the eyes mouth and face remained free from any Convulsion yet that same explosive force being hindred by some violence whereby it entred less in the outward members presently like wild-fire a way being found it was wont to run into the praecordia and bowells of the lower belly viz. because the inflowing spirits being struck with a certain fury and requiring a larger space in which they might exercise their madness being excluded from one place presently enter another somewhere open wherefore if that fury had been repulsed both from the members and the viscera no doubt but it would have flown back on the brain and brought thither madness or as it were an Epileptical Insensibleness which Symptoms indeed hapned to be wanting for that the brain of this most ingenious Gentlewoman being indued with a more firm Constitution did take from the nervous Liquor freshly instilled whatsoever was congruous and spiritous for its proper food and enjoy'd it In the mean time it did depress all the morbific particles into the spinal marrow by which the involuntary motions of the members were excited after that manner as we said but now Being requested to undertake the Cure of this worthy Virgin first The Curatory Method Observed in this case a light preparation of her body being made I gave her a solutive potion of the Infusion of Senna and Rhubarb with yellow Sanders and salt of Wormwood added to it by which she was purged 12 times with great ease the next day I took viii ounces of blood from her left Arm every evening I gave her an opiate of the water and Syrrop of the flowers of Lungwort with the powder of pearls besides once within vi hours I prescrib'd her to take a dose of the spirits of Harts-horn in a draught of the following Julap Take of the waters of black Cherries Walnuts and the flowers of Paeony each ℥ iii. of the Antipeleptic of Langius ℥ ii of the Syrrop of the flowers of the male-paeony ℥ ii of the powder of pearls ℈ i. mix it and make a Julap because she could not endure much purging Clysters with Sugar'd-milk were made use of frequently besides antispasmodic oyntments being applyed to the hinder part of her neck and the back-bone we order'd often rubbing of the distemper'd members with warm woollen Cloaths wetted in proper oyl By the use of these the sick person within 6 days seem'd to be very much helped for the Convulsive motions allmost wholly ceased and she could contain her members quietly in their due position only her head sometimes by a lighter Contraction was compelled to bend gently this way and that way further she was able to stand a little and rise out of her chair but when she went to step forward she went not rightly but obliquely on one side At this time going away I left her much better and in a manifest state of growing well But after another week when the North-winde being high and arisen in Night time the window not being fast shut blew very much upon the sick person being in Bed she presently taking cold relapsed into that kinde of Condition that she became obnoxious not only to Convulsive passions but to an universal periodical palsie for after that she was forced to move about turn and winde variously all her limbs successively with her head and members by turns bent and thrown about here and there as before from morning to night till at night these kinde of motions wholly ceasing a resolution of her members or palsie succeeded so that she was not able to stir either hand or foot or any other part of her body besides or to exereise any motive bending of the body lying in her bed allmost immovable like a stone but being a little refresh'd with sleep about morning as she recovered some little strength or virtue of the regular motive faculty by bending tho but weakly here and there her arms and legs so also the involuntary and Convulsive motions did constantly return enduring from that time all the day which again at the Evening were changed into these resolutions of the Limbs By these it appears clearly that the sick Gentlewoman laboured with a two-fold disease viz. a Palsie and Convulsion and that the materiall Cause of either was somewhat distinct For it seems that the animal spirits every where abounding being burdened with narcotick particles were almost continually bound besides that in the time of sleeping together with the nervous juiee the Convulsive particles plentifully flowing in clove also to the spirits for the explosions of which the spirits being incited produced the involuntary motions but also at that time the narcotic Copula being somewhat shaken off they were then able in some sort to perform the voluntary or regular also Besides the Remedies but now recited they did carefully administer very many others allmost of every kinde viz. Antiscorbuticks antiparaleticks Decoctions sudorificks or sweating medicines distilled waters spirits Elixirs Tincture Baths Liniments with many others by the use of which the Symptoms were something remitted but yet the disease was not wholly cured the universal palsie soon ceased that she was able at any time to move her Limbs and to bend them here and there and also the involuntary motions did trouble
the belly and groin yea also let them be often provoked to sneezing it is convenient to give some in the middle of the fit a draught of simple cold water or in which Champhir had been dissolved Preservatory 2. The preservatory Indication comprehends these three Intentions viz. In the first place to take away or to derive to some other place the impurities of the blood apt to be poured forth on the brain and nervous stock Secondly to fortifie the brain and so to strengthen the indwelling spirits that they may either not at all receive or may easily shake off the heterogeneous Copula Thirdly to amend whatsoever is enormous in the womb and contributes to the convulsive disposition 1. The first Intention is performed by purging and phlebotomy and other common ways of purifying and purging the blood and humours If there be opportunity for an emetic I judge it best allways to begin with it especially in Cacochymicks or bodies full of evill humors in the longing disease and Pica and in such whose great load of viscous phlegm stuffed within the folds and coats of the ventricle hinders the virtues of other medicines The next day after the Vomit unless any thing bids the contrary let blood be taken in women of a hotter temper presently from the Arm and afterwards if need be from the foot or from the sedal veins with Leeches but in bodies troubled with obstructions and less hot let blood be taken more sparingly and more rarely and only in places scituate below the womb After these Evacuations if they are to be ordered rightly performed once within six or seven days a purge is to be prescribed according to the following forms Take of pill-fetida major Ê’ i ss of the resine of Julap xii grains of Tartar Vitriolat and Castor each ℈ i. of ammoniac dissolved in hysterical water what will suffice to make xii pills for iii. doses Or take of the resine of Jalap gr xviii of CalomelausÊ’ i. of Castor ℈ i. make a powder let it be divided into iii. parts for iii. doses let it be given in the pap of a roasted apple or in Conserves of Borage so those induced with a more hot temperament a dose of extract or our solutive syrrop may conveniently be administred for the revulsion of the morbific matter from the head Issues made in the calf of the leg or thigh and sometimes vesicatories legatures and painfull rubbings are wont to be administred But not only a purging of the blood and a revulsion of its recrements from the head but an alteration of its Liquor and reduction of it to its due temperament have here a place Wherefore in some hysterical people steel Medicines help in others the use of Spaw-waters or whay in others the baths are wont to be signally profitable The second Intention to wit the rectification of the brain and animal spirits is performed with Cephalic and properly anti-convulsive medicines which indeed ate to be diligently exhibited almost every day when they do not purge or bleed since there are various species of such like Remedies and several manners of administrations we will here add some of the more choice forms Take of the Lees of bryony Assa fetida Castor each Ê’ i. of the Salt of Coral Amber Tin each Ê’ ss of Galbanum dissolved in hysterical water what will suffice to make a Mass dose half a scruple to ℈ i. morning and evening drinking after it a dose of proper liquors Or Take of the seeds of Wilde-parsnips of nettles each Ê’ ii of vitriol of SteelÊ’ i. of the extract of Gentium featherfew each Ê’ i ss with what will suffice of the syrrop of Mugwort make a mass let half a dram be taken after the same manner If the form of a powder pleases better Take of the Roots of Virginian snakeweed and Contrayerva each Ê’ i ss of Coral prepared of Pearls of white-Amber each Ê’ i. mingle them make a powder Dose ℈ i. to half a dram morning and evening with an appropriat Liquor Opiats are Composed after this manner Take of the Conserves of the flowers of the Lilly Convallis of the male-paeony of betony each â„¥ ii of the seeds of Paeony of red Coral prepared each Ê’ ii of the powder of Cretic DittanyÊ’ i ss of the salt of wormwoodÊ’ ii with what will suffice of the syrrop of the rinds of Citrons make an Electuary The dose morning and evening the quantity of a nutmeg After the same manner may be given to poor people Conserves of the Tree of Life or of the leaves of Rue twice in a day The Liquors appropriat against the hysterical affections and to be drunk after the aforesaid Medicines are either distilled waters which are to be taken by themselves or with other things in form of a Julap or decoctions or tinctures and Infusions Take of the water of Mugwort and of penny Royal each half a pint of histerical water â„¥ iiii of the Tincture of Castor â„¥ ss of the Syrrop of Coralls â„¥ i ss mix them The dose from â„¥ i to â„¥ i ss with any of the medicines afore described Take of the leaves of Penneroyall of Fetherfew of either Southernwood of Calaminth of Nep and of either Horehound each i handfull of the Roots of Bryonie â„¥ iiii of the seeds of Parsnips â„¥ ii cut and brused put them into white-wine or Cider six pints and so distill them according to art Take of the Root of the male Peony Angelica Valerian each â„¥ ss of the leaves of mugwort ground Pine Calaminth Peneroyal and Missletow of the Oak each i handfull of the Seeds of either wilde Parsneps eacâ—Ê’ iii of Raifins i. handfull let them be boyled in 4 pints of Spring-water to the half add to it of white-wine lib i ss strain it and keep it in close vessells The dose â„¥ iii or 4 twice in a day Take of the wild-Parsnep Seeds brused â„¥ ii of Castor â„¥ i let them be put into a Glass with i quart of white wine The dose â„¥ ii twice in a day 3. As to the third Intention which inhibiting the disorders of the womb doth promote the cure of the passion called hysterical I say first of all what in times past was believed concerning the Cause and scope of curing the disease that the womb did ascend therefore that it ought to be reduced into its right place is altogether fictitious as we have elsewhere shown The falling down of the womb or its coming forth oftentimes happens but rarely or never produces the hysterical Distempers Besides the dislocation of the womb in childbearing Women sometimes happens presently after their bringing forth to wit when the body of the womb being made Capacious and newly emptied doth not sink down or fall within the Tunnel in its right place but upwards inclines now to the right side now to the left and there being drawn together like a purse is folded into a great bulk which kinde of bulk remaining long nigh
the side of the groin is wont to give a suspition of another child or the secondine or afterbirth to be left behinde or also of some hard swelling tumor there increasing but afterwards when the menstruum coming plentifully away the womb is reduced to its due magnitude that tumor by degrees vanishes but while it there remaineth unless for that reason the Lochia or menstrua were stopp'd it doth not produce the hysterical passions For the reducing of this part the sooner into its due position fomentations Liniments and Plaisters are convenient But most times that Symptom passes over of it self without any further harm To what other distempers the womb is obnoxious in child-bearing and by what method to be helped we have fully shown in another place As to the other vices of that part which happen to some women not bearing children we declare that they chiefly are either a disease of the womb made by the breaking of the unity viz. which is either some ulcer or Tumor or an inhibition of some wonted excretion or putting forth to wit a suppression either of the menstruous blood or the whites or the seminal humour Moreover because of the menstrua being retained the heterogeneous particles being often poured forth into the head bring in the Convulsive passions in like manner when the whites are stopped the excrementitious matter being supped up by the blood is deliver'd to the brain and nervous stock yea when an usual evacuation of the seed is hindred the superfluities of the nervous humour flow back upon the brain and infect its indwelling Spirits with an explosive and morbific tincture There is no need here to discourse more largely or particularly of those Peculiar distempers of the womb but to compound medicines and intricate administrations proper for womens diseases with anticonvulsive Remedies CHAPTER XI Of the Distempers commonly called Hypochondriack which is shown to be for the most part Convulsive briefly also of Chalybeats or Steel-Medicines IN the foregoing Chapters we have clearly shown that the Passions called hysterical do not allways proceed from the womb yea more often from the head being distemper'd next we shall inquire concerning the hypochondriacal Distempers of what original and nature they are and upon the fault of what parts they chiefly depend The vulgar opinion is that the symptoms wont to accompany this disease are wholly produced from the spleen wherefore they are ascribed very much to vapours arising from this inward and variously running up and down here and there when in truth these sicknesses for the most part are convulsions and contractions of the nervous parts but that it might appear by what causes they are wont to be excited we ought to consider first the Symptoms themselves and to place them into some order or rank A description of the hypochâ—ndriaca Affections As to the Distempers therefore which are vulgarly termed hypochondriac it is observable that they happen chiefly to men of a melancholly temperament with a dark aspect and more lean habit of body it is rarely that this disease troubles fair people with a fresh Countenance or also those indued with a too Phlegmatic complection It betrays it self in manifest fignes about the hight or midest of their Age men are found to be more frequently obnoxious to this than women being made habitual in either it is very hardly or not at all to be cured in women by reason of their weaker Constitution it is accompanied with a great many more Convulsive Distmpers wherefore Commonly it is said in this Sex the hysterical to be joyned with the hypochondriacal Passion The Symptoms which are imputed to this Disease are commonly very manifold and are of a divers nature neither do they observe in all the like beginning or the same mutual dependency among themselves for they seem in these most to affect the Inwards of the lower belly in those the Praecordia in others the Confines of the Brain and in most though not in all the ventricle labours much concerning the appetite it is often too much but presently burthened with what it hath taken in and when the food staying longer in it by reason of slowness of Concoction their Saline particles being carried forth into a flux pervert the whole mass of the Chyle into a pulse or pottage now Sour or austere now salt or sharp from hence pains of the heart great breakings forth of blasts rumbling of winde and often vomiting succeed and because of a pneumatick defect or of Spirits the Chyme or juice is not wholly made volatile and carried forth of doors but that the ballast of the Viscous or Slimy matter sticking to the coats of the ventricle is left behinde an almost continual Spitting infests them a distention in the hypochondrium and often there and under the ventricle a cruell pulsation is felt also there pains ordinarily arise which run about here and there and for many hours miserably torment with a certain lancing In the mean time from the Contractures of the Membranes and from the fluctuation of winds stirred up by that means rumbling and murmurs are produced Also in the Thorax oftentimes there is a great constriction and straitness that the respiration becomes difficult and troublesome upon any motion also most grievous asthmatical fits fall upon some moreover the sick are wont to complain of a trembling and palpitation of the heart with a noted oppression of the same also a sinking down or melting away of the Spirits and frequent fear of a trance comes upon them that the sick think Death is always seising them In this Region about the membranes and chiefly the mediastinum or that divides the middle of the belly an accute pain which is now Circumscrib'd to one part now extended to the shoulders is a familiar Symptom of this Disease But indeed in the head an Iliad of evills doth for the most part disturb hypochondriacal people to wit most cruell pains returning at set times do arise also the swimming of the head and frequent Vertigoes long watchings a Sea and most troublesome fluctuation of thoughts an uncertainty of minde a disturbed fancy a fear and suspition of every thing an imaginary possession of diseases from which they are free also very many other distractions of Spirits yea sometimes Melancholly and madness accompany this sickness besides these interior Regions of the Body beseiged by this Disease wandring pains also Convulsions and numbness with a sense of pricking invade almost all the outward parts nightly Sweats flushings of the Blood in the face and the palms of the hands eratick feavours and many other Symptoms of an uncertain original do every where arise concerning which forasmuch as the genuine Causes and the manner of their coming to pass could not be readily determined presently all the fault is cast upon the Spleen and Physitians accuse that as if it were the chief author of every irregular Distemper but by what right or authority by and by shall be sought into In
out that in anger sadness and other distempers of the minde according as the ferment if the Spleen being more or less moved is inspired to the blood its liquor diversly boyls up Further for this reason it happens that great inflations and Commotions of the left hypocondrium come upon splenitic people from every violent passion The reasons of the hypochondriacal Symptoms laid open These things being thus premised concerning the use of the spleen it will be easie according to our hypothesis to lay open very many of the symptoms belonging to the hypochondriac Distemper and to give reasons for each of them For when the Spleen is wanting in its office that is when it doth not strain forth the melancholly recrements of the blood nor cook them into a fermentative matter as we but now observed in children and others of a sanguine Complexion or too phlegmatick to happen often the disposition of the minde is made duller the body grows fat with idleness yea and the blood being more sluggish than it ought to be is apt to stand still within its vessells or at least to be less lively circulated But on the Contrary where the fermenting power of the spleen is too much axalted or perverted the blood by that means being more sharp than usual or made more sour it runs about rapidly here and there and conceives irregular motions yea and the nervous juice falling away from its right temper imbues the animal Spirits with an heterogenious and an explosive Copula and so irritates them as it were with goads into frequent Convulsions as that not wholly undeservedly many kindes of diseases may be imputed to the Spleen being out of order But the ways or means of affecting whereby the Spleen being evilly disposed doth produce the symptoms of the hypochondriack passion or at least contributes to the rise of them are chiefly these following The Influences of the Spleen in producing the symptoms unfolded First it sometimes happens that the spongie substance of the spleen from the faeces of the blood being too much impacted in its pores and stagnating is very much stuffed and obstructed that from thence it doth not sufficently receive the recrements of the bloody mass but the same being carried thither but not received do flow back into the neighbouring branches of the Caeliack Artery from whence they are presently carried into the membranes of the ventricle the Caule the mesenterie and other nigh parts and are wont to be affixed to them hence the tone of those viscera are so much spoyled that they do not rightly perform their due offices about the concoction of the Chyle and the membranes planted every way about being much imbued with heterogeneous and irritative particles for that they are almost continually pulled by convulsions here and there stirred up they are grievously obnoxious to wandring pains contractions distentions and the encrease of Windes by reason of this kinde of regurgitation of the blood from the Spleen being obstructed it is likely that the pulsation which is felt by hypochondriacks under the Ventricle is excited 2. When the faeculencies of the blood are excluded from the Spleens being obstructed being fixed as was said to its neighbouring parts they bring forth the sickly distemper of the left hypochondrium but though indeed that Inward sufficently receives the melancholly or atrabilious juice carried to it from the blood by the Arteries yet oftentimes it does not rightly Cook it but the Salt being too much excited it changes it into a too sharp or acid austeer or sour or some other kinde of vitious humour whereby when as the whole mass of blood and the nourishable Juice contained in its bosome are almost wholly infected the fruits of the hypochondriack seeds bud forth thorow the whole body the blood grows unduely hot is in some places impetuously moved and again in others is apt to stagnate or stand still from hence it is familiar with Spleenetick people presently after eating to grow red in the face to have the palms of their hands hot their hypochondria to swell oppressions of the heart and noted variations of the pulse to succeed But these fermentative particles being translated from the blood every where into the solid parts wandring pains runng up and down here and there and a sense of pricking are stirred up in many members of the Body moreover from this Infection of the blood for that its mass is changed from a benign and balsamick temper into a salt and tartareous a lean habit of body with a black and dark Countenance is induced 3. From the blood being so depraved by the fault of the Spleen oftentimes the taint is carried to the animal government for heterogeneous and Convulsive Particles are poured frequently into the brain and from thence into the nervous stock so that the animal Spirits dwelling in either province conceive various irtegularities by reason of the evill being impressed on the head hypochondriacks use to be troubled with various phantasms with an heap and fluctuations of thoughts besides to them happen frequent Vertigoes Scotomies headaches and often parlytical Distempers then forasmuch as the morbific matter flides down from the head into the nervous stock Convulsive Diseases are excited in very many parts of the body but chiefly about the Praecordia and Viscera of the lower belly for when the Spirits flowing within the nerves which respect those parts are greatly disturb'd by reason of the distemper of the minde the Convulsive particles the more readily enter into those pipes and more easily impress on those Spirits a Convulsive Disposition Therefore partly by reason of the infection mediatly transmitted to the Brain and partly by reason of the hurt as hath been shown immediatly Communicated from the Spleen the Palpitation of the heart trembling and frequent swooning Constrictions of the Breast impediments of breathing Pains of the stomach belching Vomiting and many other accidents in those Inwards happen to hypochondriacks 4. Besides these inordinations which are wont to be derived by the passage of the blood from the Spleen into the humours and sollid parts and to the brain it self and nervous stock there are other farther evills which seem to arise from this Inward also by the passage of the nerves Because as we have shown their extreme branches and the nervous fibres themselves interwoven in the Viscera do drink in with their outward most little mouths a certain humor and convey it sometimes upwards it is highly probable that the nervous fibres distributed to the Spleen of which as we but now hinted there is a mighty Guard do receive its most sharp juice which Creeping higher thorow the nervous pipes becomes a Cause of Convulsive motions In truth that there may be those intimate Commerces between the brain and the Spleen to wit far sooner than what can be made by the compassing about of the blood it may be lawfull to believe that the nerves of the wandring pair and the intercostal to be the
neerest means of the passage whereby these parts Communicate one with the other and mutually affect themselves For it seems that when the black bile or melanchollic tumor in the Spleen grows turgid or swells up of its own accord or is moved by some evident cause its particles enter the nervous fibres thickly distributed to the same which disturb the animal Spirits flowing in them into explosions or at least into some disorder then the Spirits being so distrubed infect those next to them and they others till by their continued series the passion begun within the Spleen is propagated even to the brain and there produces inordinate Phantasms such as happen to hypochondriacks also on the other side when a grievous distemper of the minde occasionally excited within the brain doth disturb the Spirits inhabiting it the impression being carried to the Phantasie by the series of the Spirits planted within the nerves of the wandring pair and the Intercostals and successive affection it is brought even to the Spleen hence its ferment being put more into commotion stirs up Convulsions both in that Inward and in the whole neighbourhood of fibres and membranes and besides forces the blood into ebbings and flowings and into various aestuations or vehement motions yea and reflects the perturbations of the Spirits upon the brain From this kinde of reciprocal affection of the brain and Spleen it comes to pass that hypochondriacks are so unquiet unstable and fluctuating at every thing that 's proposed as if according to the Poet Ten mindes strove in them at once A certain noble Gentleman of a melanchollic temper and always accounted Observation 1 for a Splenetic man very much complained of a pain and inflation of his left hypochondrium with a frequent rumbling noyse and sour belching a so of a trembling of the heart of an assiduous vertigo too much waking and a disturbed phansie About the 35th year of his age the disease growing worse he began hardly to sleep and yet more rarely to get it at night and to be molested in the day time with a world of fluctuating thoughts to have in suspition all things and persons and greatly to be afraid of every object his Praecordia seemed to be very much bound and straitened and to sink down to the bottom as if the heart it self were depressed even into the belly which Symptom troubling him he became very sad and dejected in minde yet afterwards those distempers of the minde remitting he felt with it his heart to be a little lifted up and also his Praecordia to be loosened and stretch'd forth besides he very often sustained pains and Contractions variously excited about the muscles of the Viscera and Members and running up and down here and there As to the nature of the disease it is plain that it is this kinde of Distemper which is commonly called hypochondriacall but as to what respects the Causes of these to be admired Symptoms we may suppose the mass of blood being degenerate and stuffed with melanchollic or atrabilarie faeculencies to administer or continually to suggest its adust recrements to the head from whence the Liquor watering the brain and nerves being made sharp and improportionate to the Spirits did stir up the containing Bodies into painfull Corrugations or wrinklings and Contractures Further when this Infection is chiefly derived from the head into the Nerves of the wandring pair and the intercostall the brain and the Praecordia are very much punished by the malady from thence raised up But that the Blood is depraved by that means it seems to be imputed to the vice of the Spleen forasmuch as this Inward being amiss it did not rightly strain forth the atrabilarie dreggs from the blood but rather did more pervert whatsoever recrements it received from it and the same being exalted into an hurtfull ferment sent it back to the blood and so very much infected its mass and imbued it with a plainly acetous and vitriolick evill Disposition It is plain to be understood that those symptoms troubling the Head viz. too much waking the vertigo a disturbed phantasie with many others did proceed from the heterogeneous particles poured forth from the Blood into the brain As to that straitness of the Breast and falling down of the heart with great fear and sadness it may be thought that the nervous fibres inserted to the heart and chiefly to the Pericordium being moved into Convulsions and wrinklings do binde hard those parts and pull them downwards wherefore there is perceived in the whole breast as it were a certain constriction and the heart it self seems to be depressed Further forasmuch the Praecordia being so streitened and depressed the blood within the bosom of the heart is stop'd and compell'd as it were to stagnate both the vital and the sensitive Soul is much hindred from its wonted expansion and irradiation and for that Cause being lessened and shortened in its constitution those Cruell distempers of fear and sadness arise but when the Convulsions remitting that constriction of the heart and its appendix is released the Soul also as a flame more expansed or enlarged endeavours by little and little to shake off the Chains of those Passions For the Cure of these Distempers he had for a long time tried very many remedies and medical Administrations but without much benifit at last he was somewhat eased by the use of Spaw-waters and from thence by degrees finding himself better he became free from those grievous Symptoms however he still liv'd obnoxious to the hypochondriac Distemper Observation 2 A Certain young Academic originally of a Sanguine temper fair of a florishing Countenance excellent disposition and mild by reason of immoderate and untimely Studies in the mean time exercise and good order of dyet being wholly neglected had contracted an obstruction of the Spleen or some other morbid distemper of that Inward For he had almost continually infesting him an inflation and tumor of the left hypochondrium with a most heavy Pain After he had laboured with this sort of Distemper about half a year he began to complain of a frequent giddiness a blindness of his eyes an unquietness of his minde and of disturbed sleeps Which Symptoms were then plainly imputed to vapours arising from the Spleen but after that followed a trembling of the heart with a frequent deliquium of the Spirits a pulsation of the hypochondrium and at length pains and Contractions in the outward members with a frequent stupor and a sense of pricking running up and down here and there and last of all being broken with a world of evills contrary to his genius and native Disposition he became greatly hypochondriacall That I may dispatch the Pathologie of this Case in a word it appears here plain enough that the Spleen was first of all in fault by whose fault when the bloody mass was depraved the taint creeping from thence into the humour watring the brain and nervous stock and infecting it did induce the
little quantity the tinctures of Antimony and of Corrall also of Steel with the Spirit of wine the body being first dissolved by a proper menstrum and reduced to a Calx are convenient as aso the Spirits of Sut of blood or of harts-horn to be taken twice a day with a proper liquor to 12. drops more or less are of known benefit above any other medicine that I know of moreover the often drinking of Coffee also that made of the Infusion of the leaves of Thea gives ease to some If that the fervor of the blood and too fermenting with the trouble of the Spleen and unquietness of the minde be joyned to the hypochondriac Distemper Take of the Conserves of hyps or Conaradine â„¥ vi or of the flowers of Tamarisk and the leaves of wood-Sorrel each â„¥ iii. of the Species of Diarrodon Abbatis of the confection of Alkermis each Ê’i of the powder ofi IvoryÊ’iss of PearlsÊ’ss of the Salt of Tamarisk and wormwood each Ê’i with what will suffice of the Syrrop of green Citrons or Clove-Gilliflowers make an Opiate to be taken twice in a day the quantity of a nutmeg Take of the powder of Ivory Ê’ii of the Powder of Pearls Ê’i of the Species of diarrhodon Abbatis of Diamagarit frigida each Ê’iss make a fine powder add of white Sugar dissolved in Baume-water and boyled to the consistency of Tablets â„¥ vi make thereof according to Art Lozenges or little cakes take Ê’iss or Ê’ii twice a day To these and other medicines of this nature may be joyned the use of Spaw-waters which indeed in either yea in all cases of hypochondriac Melancholly are almost always taken with good success For want of those waters our artificiall Spaw-waters may be conveniently ordered yea and whey and if any notable atrophie be let Asses milk be dayly taken Besides these inward Remedies and other outward Applications before-recited Phlebotomie or the taking away of blood with Leeches from the sedal veines may be of use frequently yea sometimes it may be convenient to open the Salvatella Vein according to the prescript of the Ancients Besides Cauteries or Issues which may continually carry forth the adust recrements of the blood and by degrees excern them are wont to be benificiall almost to all 4. The fourth Indication respecting the affections of the brain and nervous stock or the Convulsive Symptoms having relation to or coming upon the former is rarely in use of it self and apart from the others but that Remedies destinated to this end are complicated with those abovesaid Liquors indued with a volatile Salt or an armoniac as Spirits of Harts-horn and Sut are highly necessary for this Intention as also the rest but now recitied wherefore such Remedies unless any thing shall shew the contrary may be dayly given at fit hours Further when Spaw-waters are drunk let tablets or pills such as are above-prescribed for the Convulsive distempers be taken at least twice in a day In the frequent turning and giddiness also in the passions of the heart the sinking down of the Spirits with dread and as it were a fear of Death just seizing on one I have known very often great help to be had by the use of Chalibeat or steel Medicines Since we have made mention so often of Chalibiat or steel-medicins The preparations and effects of Steel Medicines unfolded it will be worth our while to inquire into their various preparations and for that reason their divers manners of effects which they are wont to produce in the humane body that it may from hence appear by what means and for what respects these or those preparations of Iron are greatly profitable to some hypochondriacks and to others as much hurtfull The virtue and operation of Chalybeat or steel'd mecicines depends upon the porticles of the concerts being after a various manner dissolved unfolded and brought forth into act For steel or Iron consists chiefly of a Salt Sulphur and Earth and but slenderly indued with Spirits and water But the particles of the former Elements chiefly the Sulphureous and saline being in their mixture combined together with the Earth remain altogether fixed and sluggish but being soluted and pulled one from another they come to be of a very efficacious Energy The aforesaid particles are dissolved in a twofold manner and set into the Liberty of acting viz. either by Art whilst medicins are prepared or by Nature after they are taken inwardly for the metallic Body is wont to be dissolved and eaten by the ferment of the ventricle just like a Chymical menstrum we will consider the several Species of either and their manner of being made that it may appear what alteration is impressed on the steeled medicine in the preparation and what effects every preparation of it doth impresse on mans Body The most simple way of preparing Iron is a division of its body into little integral parts with a file which resemble the nature of the whole mixture and contain both little sulpureous bodies and saline combined among themselves and with other terrestrial The filings of Iron being inwardly taken is dissolved by the ferment of the ventricle as it were by an acid menstrum the signes of which are both a sulphureous and unsavorie belching as from the eating of hard eggs also the blackness of the ordure from steel being dissolved within the Viscera of Concoction active particles both Sulphureous and Saline Plentifully sally forth and being involved with the nutritious juice are carried into the blood which as they excell in a divers virtue do often conspire as it were with the joynt forces of either to bring benefit to the sick The Sulphureous little bodies being brought to the blood add to it a new and more plentifull Provision of Sulphur wherefore its mass if before it was poor and liveless doth nimbly ferment within its vessells and being inkindled farther in the heart acquires a more intense heat yea and a deeper colour for it is so observed in many affected with the dropsy arising from white phlegm the Pica or evill longings or green-sickness to have a pale countenance cold bloud and waterish but by the use of steel the countenance soon to be more florid and the blood to be imbued with a more intense tincture and heat moreover from the filing of iron dissolved in the ventricle also Saline particles are brought forth and often they bestow a more plentifull fruit or increase both on the solid parts and on the humors for since their natures are vitriolick and stiptic or binding they bind together and strengthen the too lax and weakned fibres of the Viscera and so restore the broken tone Besides these Saline particles inhibit the force of the blood repress it from too much heat and boyling up and froth and retain it in an equall circulation Besides which is their chief virtue they contract and straiten the too loose open and gaping little mouths of the Arteries that for that reason neither
where there is a predominancy of adust Sulphur and in wandring effervescencies in scorbutical and unequall heats both of the blood and nervous stock by it self or mixed with other medicines as an enforcement but yet in more tender Constitutions 't is dangerous lest the tone and fibres of the ventricle should be hurt by its acrimony and too great constriction or astringency 6. In the last place follows the astringent Crocus Martis or the Crocus of Steel prepared by fire through a long Calcination viz. The filings the off-scourings or thin plates of Iron should be so placed in a reverberating fornace that they may be continually heated by a most strong flame The filing being thus exposed to the naked fire first of all it grows reddish and runs together into little hard round balls but after 3. or 4. days swelling up suddenly into an higher heap it becomes extream light impalpable and of a most curious purple Colour In this preparation the Sulphureous and saline particles whilst by the force of the fire they begin to come away from the concreet do mutually take hold one of another and so being combined together grow into little balls but afterwards those particles both Saline and Sulphureous being wholly profligated and fiery particles succeeding in their place the whole mass swelling up into a bulk and made as it were spungie becomes most light A Medicine thus prepared in some Cases is of most excellent use and second to none of the Chalybeats to wit almost in all extravasations or too great eruptions of the Serum and blood as in outward haemorrhages or in inward bleedings in the Diarrhaea the Diabatis and in a vehement Catarrh also I have known no remedy better than this in the Ascitis or in the beginning of a Dropsie and this also I have heard to be highly approved of lately by a most famous and expert Physitian of our own Country Concerning which medicine notwithstanding since it is wholly destitute both of Saline and sulphureous Particles and consists almost only of earthly and fiery particles it is very ambiguous by what faculty it operates and produces so praise-worthy an effect in man's body for there seems to be in this left no more Caput mortuum or dead head or terra damnata then in vitriol or in any of the other mettalls distilled be a most intense fire As to this if I may Conjecture it seems first that to this preparation some Activity is due whereby it exerts it self and unfolds its virtues either by shutting up obstructions or by binding together the Vessells or nervous fibres of the Viscera from the fiery particles shut up in the most fixed earth and from them breaking forth within the body But the chiefest reason of helping consists in this that the earthy particles the Saline by which they were strickly held being wholly gone desire greedily to be reunited to them or such like Wherefore this Crocus martis being immersed in our Bodies snatches to it self whatsoever Salts it meets with and intimately binds them and so while it sucks up like a sponge very many saline particles it takes away many enormities arising chiefly from the flux of the Salts By this means Burnt harts-horn Spodium and Antimony Diaphoretic when they bring help exert or put forth their virtues CHAPTER XII Of the Convulsive Cough and Asthma An example of a Cough meerly Convulsive THe history before related doth clearly manifest that sometimes a Cough may be caused without any great fault of the Lungs by reason of the sliding down of the morbific matter upon the pneumonick nerves or those belonging to respiration to wit where it was shown in the Case of the noble Virgin labouring with Convulsive fits and also with a grievous and continual giddiness that when by the prescript of the Physitian a fomentation of Cephalic Decoction was applyed to her head presently the Giddiness ceas'd and in its place follow'd a great Cough without any Spitting but night and day almost perpetually troubling her which without doubt hapned by reason of the Convulsive matter being driven from the brain into the beginnings of the nerves This kinde of example of a Cough meerly Convulsive more rarely happens in persons of ripe years as the like distemper I have not often seen But in children 't is usual This distemper frequent enough in children also sometimes I have known it in Men for a cough to arise from a serous Colluvies overflowing the Lungs which when at first it was Simple and moderate afterwards it became vehement and Convulsive so that in Coughing the Diaphragma being drawn upwards and held in a long Systole or frequently repeated the Lungs being greatly straitned were much hindred in their motion In the mean time by reason of the breathing being hindred and the blood being restrained within the Praecordia and for that cause stagnating in other places the sick were in danger of being choaked and often acquired a livid or dead countenance But in this Case besides the Convulsions raised up about the Praecordia by the force of Coughing the Ventricle also being often brought Into a consent cast forth by vomit whatever it contained in its bosom yea and I know in some tender ones after this manner affected the Disease wandring from thence into other parts did raise up Convulsive motions in the Face eyes and limbs and at length became deadly This kinde of Convulsive Cough is very frequent among children and some years lays hold on so many that it seems to be plainly Epidemical when it roots it self it is very difficult to be cured by Remedies yea often being long protracted it is hardly otherwise to be cured but by the state of the year being changed If the causes of the aforesaid Case be inquired into it will be so plain The reason of it to refer the procatartic or more remote cause to the redundancy of the Serous humour in the bloody mass and in some sort in the whole body a portion of which matter dropping forth from the little mouths of the Arteries on the Lungs creates the ordinary Cough afterwards when the serous Colluvies or heap of waters yet exuberateing in the Blood and stuffed with Convulsive particles is also heaped up within the head the same entring the pneumonic nerves increases the simple into a Convulsive Cough For when those nerves being irritated first about their extremities are exercised above measure for that reason they more easily imbibe the Convulsive matter laid up nigh their beginnings and so when at length they are driven into irregular motions in two places to wit in the head and at the tale and that for two distinct causes viz. from the irritation of the Spirits and from their explosion it is no wonder if the Cough at first Common being afterwards brought into this evill state becomes so cruel and Convulsive Moreover when it sometimes happens that the same matter heaped up in the head does enter some other nerve
aforesaid Cases those fits of the Asthma did wholly depend on the Convulsive matter being fallen into the nerves serving to the stretching forth of the Lungs which cleaving to the Spirits and being by them struct off or explosed by reason of plentitude or irritation caused the Praecordia to be lifted uywards and as it were inflated and by that means hindred from its reciprocal motion An Asthma sometimes exciteed by reason of the Bronchia being Convulsively affected Moreover we suppose that such a kinde of Convulsive Dyspnaea or difficult breathing is sometimes excited by reason of the bronchia of the Trachea or the sharp arteries of the Throat being too much streightned and often almost drawn together we have shown in our discourse of the Nerves that very many branches of nervous fibres and of the nerves do every where embrace all the ramifications of the asper Arterie and bind them about which nerves if it happen that they being possessed by the morbific matter should be irritated into frequent Convulsions for that reason it follows that the channells or passages which they compass about must be greatly bound together and in some places wholly shut up There was a very choyce Virgin of a tender constitution and of a flourishing Observation 3 countenance scarce past the second lustre of her Age i e. about 12. years old that began to be grievously tormented with Asthma fits and before she was entrusted to my cure she had liv'd obnoxious to them at least 4. years sometimes she remained free from any fit of this disease for two or three months yet oftentimes by reason of errors in Diet or the great mutations of the year or the air she fell into most cruel fits of the Dyspnaea or difficult breathing So that her Lungs being inflated and carried upwards towards her throat and there held almost in a continual Diastole she could hardly nay not at all breathe in the mean time for that respiration might be somehow made the Diaphragma and the muscles of the breast were exercised with repeated endeavours of motions This kinde of fit by degrees remitting within 7 or 8. hours at length gave over but then after a week or two it was wont to come again either of it self or from any the least occasion after that the force of the Disease its matter being bestow'd on very many of these kinde of fits pass'd away this excellent virgin was well enough for many weeks yea sometimes months after and breath'd freely without any fault of the Thorax For this person I instituted this following method Spring and fall and now it is more than two years since she has had any fit of this Distemper Take of our Sulphur of Antimony gr vi of Cream of tartar vi grains mix them Let it be given in the pap of a rosted apple with this medicine she was wont to vomit 4. or 5. times four days after she took this cathartic which was wont to be repeated twice after 6. or 7. days between Take Calomelun xii grains of the Resin of Jolop v. grains of castor gr iiii with what will suffice of Ammoniac dissolved make iii. pills every day besides she took morning and evening of the tincture of Antimony grains xii in a Spoonfull of the following Julap drinking after it 6. or 7. Spoonfulls of the same Take of the water of Snailes â„¥ vi of earth-worms â„¥ iiii of water of penny-royal and rue each â„¥ iii. of hysterical water â„¥ iii. of Castor tyed in a knot and hung in the glass Ê’ss of white-sugar â„¥ i. mix them in the glass and make a Julap About the Autumn of the last year another noble Virgin being sick after the same manner viz. with a Periodical Asthma I was sent for to cure her Observation 4 who received great help by the aforesaid Remedies being used in a little lesser dose and the same repeated at the first of the Spring In these Cases also nothing seems to appear more clearly than that the cause of the Disease without any phlegm or viscous humour being impacted in the Lungs as is commonly beleeved doth subsist within the nervous stock and that this kind of Dyspnaea or difficult breathing meerly convulsive is excited by reason of the Pneumonic nervs being possessed by the Convulsive Distemper The verity of this may be yet more clearly evinced by an anatomical observation An Anatical Observation lately Comunicated to me by the learned Physitian Doctor Walter Needham That most famous man told me that he knew a Butcher of Wallsallen in the County of Stafford who when he had been long sick of a periodical Asthma returning within 14. or 20 days at farthest at length he dyed in a fit The Body being opened all his Viscera appeared sound chiefly his Lungs neither were there to be seen any signes either of excrement gathered together in the Bronchia or of the blood restagnating in the veins this only hapned besides nature that the bladder of the gall contained in it many stones But added he the causes unknown to us certainly not Conspicuous to our eyes were to be attributed to the nervous stock being affected Sometime past I was consulted with about a noble child Anoiher Anatomical Observation who being about 12. months old was grieviously afflicted with Convulsion fits and as it were Epileptic of which he quickly dyed I often observed that whilest the Convulsion of the outward parts intermitted he was taken with a cruel sobbing or hooping Cough from whence I suspected that the morbific matter was no less fixed in the breast than in the brain But after its Death the body being opened the Lungs well furnish'd appeared clear from any fault that it clearly appeared that this cough meerly Convulsive was excited by reason of the Distemper of the nervous stock As to what respects the Remedies and curatory means which ought to be used in the aforesaid cases when that convulsive Symptoms come upon the Cough or difficulty of breathing first excited from the default of the Lungs and so by reason of the taint communicated to the brain it must be carefully heeded that Convulsive medicines be aptly compounded with those respecting all the Intentions of the Thorax Yea that sometimes these sometimes those being given by themselves may between whiles fill up the times of curing it will not be needfull in this place to bring the bechic or Pneumonic medicines and forms of them since an immense company of them are extant every where among Physical Authors It will be sufficient for our purpose to add a method of medicine also some more select Remedies convenient for the Cough and Asthma meerly Convulsive The cure of the Convulsive Cough As to the former Distemper which is most familiar to children the cure is difficult and for the most part not to be performed but of a long time The chief Indications will be to purge forth both the serous and sharp humours from the blood and Viscera that
joyning together Concatenated Joyned tyed or fastned together Conflagration A burning out or being in a flame as in great Feavers Conformation The framing fashioning or disposition of a thing Congelation A freezing or gathering together into an hard substance as Ice of Water Congeled Frozen stifned Congestion An heaping or gathering together Conjugation A yoking together a derivation of things of one kind Consistency Thickness or substance as a Jelly Convolutions Roulings about or together a twisting together Contexture A weaving together or a framing or composition Copula A joyning or fastning together fettering Corollary Addition vantage or overplus Corrosive Knawing eating corroding Corrugations Wrinkling together Cortex The bark shell or piel or rind Cortical Belonging to the bark or rind or piel of a thing Crasis The disposition complexion temperature or mixture of natural humors Crass Thick Crassament A thickness or thick setling as of dregs Cribrous Sivelike or that hath holes like a Sive Crude Raw undigested Crudities Raw and undigested humors or rawness or indigestion of any thing Crisis Is the time of the turn of the disease when it either increases or diminishes always observed by the Physitians Critical To the Crisis or such time belonging Cremasteral Muscles belonging to the Testicles Crural Belonging to the Leg. Crucible An earthen Vessel used to melt Metals with Cucurbite A Glass-body with a great Belly used in distillations Cuneform Wedg-like or in form of a Wedg a bone so shap'd Cutaneous Belonging to the skin or skinny Culinarie Belonging to the Kitchin Cuticula The little thin skin under the Cutis or the upper skin Cutis The upper or outward skin of the Body D Dead head The same with Caput mortuum Decapulation A pouring off Defection A failing weakness or infirmity Decoction A boyling or seething Defecated Made free from dregs Deflagration A flaming or burning forth Deliquium As of the salt of Tartar a clear draining also a swooning away or a failing of the senses Delirium A raving madness as in Feavers Deltoides A muscie in the top of the Arm having the figure of a Delta the Greek D. Demersed Drowned Depauperated Made poor or wasted Depraved Corrupted or marred Depurated Cleansed from dregs Depuration A cleansing or making pure Desultory Leaping wavering or inconstant Diabetes The Pissing evil a disease that causeth the party troubled therewith almost continually to piss and in a great quantity a clear and sweetish water Diacodium A Syrup to procure sleep made of the tops of Poppy Diagnosis Dilucidation or Knowledg Diagridium See Scammony Diaphoresis Evaporation as by sweating Diaphoretic That causeth Evaporation or sweating forth of humors Diaphanous Clear and splendid Diaphragma The Midriff that separateth the Heart and Lights from the stomach Diapneon A breathing forth Diapnoe A breathing forth Diarrhaea A loosness of the Belly without inflammation a Lask Diascordium A Cordial medicine made of Scorum and other Ingredients Diastole The rising up of the Heart or Artery the contrary motion of Systole Diathesis The affection or disposition Diluted Rinsed or washed Dilucidation An explaning or clearing Dioptric Belonging to the Perspective or a Mathematical Instrument thorow which they look to take the height of a thing Divarications A varying or severing into parts running up and down as the Veins and Nerves Diversory A diverting place or a place to turn of one side out of the way Diuresis Evacuation by Vrin Diuretick A Medicine that causeth evacuation by Vrin Dogmatic Stiff in Opinion Duodenum The first Gut or Intestine of twelve fingers long Dura mater The hard membrane or tunicle that encompasseth the Brain next the skull Dyscrasie Intemperature as some humor or quality abounding in the Body Dysentery A flux of the Belly that corrodes the Bowels and often causes blood called then the Bloudy flux Dyspathy A contrariety of affection Dyspnoea A pursiness or shortness of breathing and a stopping of the Conduits of the Lights E Ebullition A boiling up Eccentric Without Centre Eccathartic Not purging Eccritic Not critical Edulcorated Made sweet Effervency A being very hot or inflamed Effervescency A being very hot or inflamed Effluvia Things that flow out of the Body as steam and breath thorow the pores of the skin Egestion A casting forth as ordure from the Body or any excrementitious humor Egritude Sickness or not being well Elastick That goeth off with a force like Gun-powder or spreads forcibly forth with a jerk Elaterium A violent strong purging Medicine Elixation A boyling Elixir An Arabian word for Quintessence high Cordials so called Elogie A report in praise or dispraise of a thing Emanations Things that flow or proceed from the Body or its parts flowing forth Embryo The Child before it hath perfect shape in the Mothers womb Emissaries Places that sends forth any thing as the sinks of the Body Empirical Belonging to an Empirick or of knowledg in Physick got by practice only Empiric Such a Physitian who hath no judgment but has all his skill from practice or by experiments Empyema An Imposthume or collection of corrupt matter with inflammation between the breast and the Lungs Empyreuma A smatch or taste of the fire as burnt too or as in most waters newly drawn off by distillation Emulgent Vessels or Arteries or Veins two large Arteries so called springing out of the great Artery which being carried near to the back-bone are inserted into the Reins Also two large Veins which springing out of the Vena Cava under the Ventricle are carried into the Kidneys Emulging Vessels or Arteries or Veins two large Arteries so called springing out of the great Artery which being carried near to the back-bone are inserted into the Reins Also two large Veins which springing out of the Vena Cava under the Ventricle are carried into the Kidneys Emunctories Sinks or cleansing places for the Body Encephalon The head and all its parts Enema A Clister Energy The force or operation or virtue of a thing Enervation Vnnerving or a loosing of the strength a weakning or making feeble Enthymiama Medicines used to express the flowing of the Blood or other humors to any place Enthymeta Medicines used to express the flowing of the Blood or other humors to any place Ephemera Things of a days lasting a short Feaver of a day Epidemical General universal publick Ephidrosis A sudden sweat beginning about the head and breast passing over the Body unprofitable and of small use for that Evacuation of the disease sometimes taken for sweating Epigastric Belonging to the Epigastrium Epigastrium The same with Abdomen or the outward part of the Belly from the Navil to the privy members Epilepsie The Disease called the Falling-sickness Epiphysis Is an addition of some bone of a different description to the true bone to which it is annexed an addition or augmentation Epispasticks Certain Medicines used for the drawing forth of ulcerous matter Epithema Moist Medicines used to bathe or foment the parts affected Epithymum Dodder of Time used to purge
Melancholy Equinox When the day and night are of an equal length about the twelfth of March and the twelfth of September Eradicated Rooted out Erratic Creeping wandring or straying Escharotic A Plaister or Salve to heal up a wound and to bring it to a Crust Etymologie The true Exposition or interpretation of a thing Evident Plain clear manifest Eventilated Fannowed or that receives wind Euphorbium The Gum of a certain Tree so called Excandescency A growing very hot and burning Excern Thrust out to purge or sift forth Excrementitious Belonging to Excrements filthy polluted Excretion Avoiding the Excrements or superfluities of the Body Excretory To such a thing belonging that puts forth the excrements of the Body Excrescences Things that grow forth out of the Body or any other thing besides the Body or thing as Warts or pieces of flesh Exert To shew or put forth Exitition A sparkling boiling bubling or leaping up or forth Exonerate To disburden or discharge to purge forth Expansion A stretching forth spreading abroad or inlarging Expansed Spread out at large or stretched forth Expatiated A running forth or about enlarged Explosion A driving forth with violence Exploded Thrust forth or driven out Extravasated Put or let forth of the Vessels as Blood out of the Veins Extraneous Strange or of another kind Extirpated Rooted out or plucked up by the Roots Extricated Delivered or unintangled Exuberances Swellings forth or risings up in the flesh or other parts F Foeces Dregs Foeculencies Dregs or settlements Farciments Stuffings or fillings of any thing Fermentation A fermenting or working like leaven Fibrils Little small strings of Fibres or of the Nerves or Veins Fibres The hairy strings of the Nerves and Veins Fibrated That has small and hairy strings Filaments Little thin slender Rags like threds such as appear in Vrin Filter To strain A Strainer Fissures Clefts chaps or divisions Fistulous Belonging to a Fistula or sore running Boil Flatulent Windy or full of wind Flatuous Windy or full of wind Fluor A Flux Fluid Flowing or running Fluidity Apt to flow flowing or wetness Fornix An hollow place in the Brain bending like an Arch. Forum A place in Rome where Judgments were given and Causes decided Friable That may be rub'd to pouder between the Fingers Frictions Rubbings Fuliginous Sooty or belonging to Soot Functions The Exercises or discharging of some Offices Fuse To melt as Metals Fused Melted or running as Metals made liquid Fusion A pouring forth also a melting of Metals or other things G Ganglia Things like the heads of Mushrumps in the Body Ganglioform Of the shame of Ganglias or the heads of Mushrumps Galen An ancient learned Physitian Gargarisms Medicines to cleanse the mouth and throat and to wash them from filth Genesis Beginning Nativity or Generation Genuine True or natural Germination A springing or budding or sprouting forth as of Trees in the Spring Gesticulation A wanton moving up and down of the Legs and Arms or other parts of the Body like a Tumbler or Mimick Glandulas Are little round Kirnels every where up and down in the flesh and other parts Glutaei Muscles of the Thigh Gonorrhea The running of the Reins a flux of seed or matter at the privy parts of man or woman Grumous Clottery like blood when congealed H Haemorrage An excessive flux of Blood at the nose or elsewhere Halos A Circle about the moon or stars Hellebore The root of an herb used in Physick two sorts white and black Hepatic Belonging to the Liver and a Medicine proper to cure the diseases of the Liver Hermodactils Or Mercuries finger white and red used in Medicines Heterogeneous Of an other kind or Genus strange not agreeing Homogeneous Of the same kind or Genus agreeable and sorting Horizon The Circle of the Firmament terminating our sight Humid Moist wet Hydropic That hath the Dropsy or belonging to the Dropsy Hydrotic A Medicine evacuating watery humors Hydragogues Medicines that will draw forth the watery humor of those who have the Dropsy Hyoeides A forked bone like the letter Y so called of the Anatomists consisting of divers small bones which are the ground or foundation of the muscles of the Larynx and the Tongue and helps to breathing and swallowing down meat and drink Hypercatharsis Over-purging or in extream Hypochondria The Praecordia the forepart of the Belly and sides about the short Ribs and above the Navel under which lieth the Liver and the spleen Hypochondriac A windy melancholy bred in the Hypochondria from whence a black phlegm arises that infects and troubles the mind one troubled with such melancholy Hypnotic A medicine that causes sleep Hypogastrium The lower part of the Belly which reaches from the Navel downwards to the privy parts Hippocrates A learned ancient Physitian and the first methodizer of Physick and made it Artificial Hippocrates sleeve A long woollen straining-bag sharp at the bottom so called being almost in fashion of a sleeve or Dublet Hypothesis An argument or matter about which one may dispute Hypostasis A substance or settlement such as is in the bottom of an Vrin Hysterical Belonging to the womb or mother or troubled with the disease called the Mother I Jalap A purging Drug Ichor The matter or corruption running forth of a sore or Vlcer Idiocrasie The proper disposition or temperament of a thing or Body Idiosyncrasie The property of the temperament of Bodies Idiopathic Belonging to the proper passion of a disease thing or body Idiopathy The proper passion of a disease Idea The form and figure of a thing conceived in the Imagination Ilion The third Gut from the Ventricle wherein the digested food or Chyle waxing thicker begins to rest the thin Gut or small Gut Iliack Belonging to the Colick the Colick in extremity Iliack passion Imbecillity Weakness feebleness Impervious That cannot be passed or gone thorow Impetigo A certain kind of dry Itch or scurf like the Leprosy Impetuous Violently or with force as it were rushing upon a thing Impregnated Filled full with the vertue of a thing as when any thing is infused in a liquid body communicating its vertue to it Inanition Emptiness Incitement A stirring up or provoking Indication A shewing or manifesting by sign Indomitable Vntamable that cannot be subdued Inflated Blown or puffed up as a Bladder with wind Ingestion A putting or pouring into a thing as meat and drink into the stomach Inguinal Belonging to the Groin Inordinations Disorderings irregularities or out of order Insipid Without taste or smack Inspiration A blowing in or a drawing in of the breath Intense Strong violent great Intercostals Between the Ribs Nerves so called because descending from the Brain they run between the Ribs and so descend to the Inwards Internodia Between the joynts or knots as the spaces in a Ratoon Cane between the joynts or knots Internuncius A Messenger that goes between Interstitia The spaces between other distances as the spaces between the Ribs or the joyntings of the back-bone Intestines The Entrails
of the belly just above the privie member Os Sacrum Or the sacred bone is the great bone upon which the end of the ridge or back-bone resteth Oviparous Egg-bearing Creatures or that lays Eggs. P. Panacea All-heal or a plaister or medicine to heal all things Pancreas Called in an Hog the Sweet-bread It is a remarkable kirnel placed below the Ventricle and serves for a division of the Vena porta as also to defend the Ventricle from touching the back Papillary Belonging to the Teats or like paps or teats of a dug Papillae Little paps or little pieces of flesh in the body so called of the shape of paps Paracentisis Is an incision made to draw forth the water from those swelled with the Dropsie vulgarly called a Tapping Paracelsus A famous Dutch Emperick Paradox A thing contrary to the common opinion Paralytick That is troubled with the Palsie Parallel Equal alike like a line drawn to write by another Parenchyma The substance of the Liver Spleen and Lights supposed to be made up of congealed thick blood therefore so called Parotida The two chief Arteries and Veins on the right and left side the throat going up towards the ears Parotides The two chief Arteries and Veins on the right and left side the throat going up towards the ears Parotid To them belonging Particles Little parts or portions of any thing Paroxisms Fits or the returns of fits as of an Ague or Feavour Pathetic To passion belonging Nerves so called by Dr. Willis Pathologie The doctrine of the passions also as Aetiologie Pathognomic That moveth the affections or that properly belongs to the thing Pathognotic That moveth the affections or that properly belongs to the thing Pepasmus A kind of a concoction of the humors in the disease Percolation A straining thorow Pericardium The thin skin or membrane covering the whole heart like a case Peritonaeum The inner skin or rim of the belly joyned to the Caul wherewith all the Intrails are covered called by the Anatomists Siphach Peripneumonia An Inflammation or Impostum of the Lungs with a shortness of breath Peristaltick Motion a certain motion compassing about as in certain Convulsions Perspiration Breathing thorow as sweat through the pores of the body Perturbations Disturbings vexing troubles disturbances Pervious That many be passed through or that has a passage or way through it Peruvian Belonging to the Country of Perue as Peruvian Balsom thence brought Pharmacy The Medicines of the Apothecaries or the art of making them up Pharmaceuticks The part of Physick that cureth with Medicines Phaenomena Appearances of things Philonium A Confection made of many ingredients compounded together Philtre A potion to cause Love or poysonous Medicines that operate magically or not naturally Phlebotomie Letting blood or opening of a Vein Phlegmon An Inflammation of the blood with a red swelling Phlegosis The like Inflammation fiery red Phthisis The Consumption of the Lungs with a wasting away Phthisic Belonging to that disease or that has it Physiologie The reasoning of the Nature of a thing or the searching it out Pia Mater The thinner inward soft skin that inwrappeth the pith and marrow of the brain and is every were joyned to it called the thinner and soft Meuinx Pica The longing disease of Women with Child Pineal Kirnel in the brain in form of a Pine-apple called also Conarium Pituitous Snotty thick phlegmatick matter Plastic Formative or that worketh and formeth Plenitude Fulness or store Plethora A fulness or plenty of humors in the body good or bad Pleura A skin or membrane which clotheth the ribs on the inside which being inflamed by the blood causeth the Disease called the Pleurisie Pneumatic Windy or belonging to wind or breath Pneumonic One sick of the disease of the Lungs Polypus A filthy disease in the nose breeding stinking and ulcerous flesh within the nostrils Pontic Belonging to the Sea or to the Country of Pontus Porta Vena Is a Vein that hath many small roots fastened to the Liver from whence arising grow into one trunk or stock which going forth from between two eminent lobes of the Liver passes into the Gall Ventricle Spleen Mesentery and Caul and other parts of the body Pores Are the little small holes or breathing places in the skin of the body through which heat and moisture insensibly breath continually Porous Full of such like holes or pores Praxis Practice or action Praecipitation A casting down used by the Chy for a certain way of distillation when the matter is thrown back into the Receiver Praeternatural Besides or more than natural not natural or besides nature Praeceding Going before Praevious That went before Praecordia The parts about the heart as the Diaphragma or midriff separating the heart from the other bowels Praemised Sent before or before made known Praepollency Of very great force strength excellency or virtue Priapismus Is a disease in the Yard that causeth it always to be stretch'd forth and extended without any thing provoking it Primigenious The first original not having its beginning or birth of another Procatartic Remoet not next cause of a disease Processes The parts of a bone or other parts that exceed the natural height or posture and are yet dependences of the bone and parts and proceed or go out from it as also some Nerves going forth of other Nerves being still parts of the main stock Profusions A pouring forth or running or spreading abroad Profluvium A flowing of humors a gushing forth in abundance a flood Profligated Driven away or overthrown discomfited Prognosis The praescience or fore-knowledge or Prognostication of the event of the disease Promptuary A Store-house or place where any thing is laid up Prominences Bunchings forth those parts that notably shew themselves above the rest as a hill in a plain Prophasis The appearing or shewing of a thing Prophylactic That part of Physick that preventeth and preserveth from diseases Prostatae Kernels in the Groyn or about the privie-members Protension A stretching forth at length Protraction A drawing forth at length also a prolonging Protuberance A bunching forth above the rest Protrusion A thrusting forward Psoa A great muscle beginning at the 11th rib and going through the bowels to the privie-members Psora The scabbado or scabbiness with pustles Ptyalismus Salivation or a great flux of spitting Ptisan Decocted Barly with other ingredients Puretology The doctrine or a discourse of Feavors Pungitive Pricking like needles Purulent Full of matter or filthy corruption as a Bile or Impostum Pubis That part of the privy parts where the hair grows Pulsific That strikes as the Pulse or beating of the Arterie or that causes such striking or pulse Pylorus Is the lower mouth of the stomach or ventricle whereby the meat being digested is transmitted into the Stomach-gut or Maw-gut Pyramidical Of the shape or form of a Pyramide broad at bottom and sharp at the top Pyretology The doctrine of Feavers or of fire Q. Quotidian Daily or every day an Ague
that comes every day Quartan Every fourth day an Ague that has two days of intermission and comes on the fourth day again R. Ramifications Branchings forth like the Veins Arteries and Nerves up and down the body resembling the small twigs and branchings of Trees Rarefaction A making of any thing rare or thin Ratiocination Reasoning debating or arguing of a thing or the faculty of reasoning Reciprocation A returning back or a mutual partaking of a thing or depending on another by a mutual consequence Recrement Any superfluous matter or thing in the blood or body or any of the parts Redundancy Superfluity overflowing too much of a thing Recesses The private and hidden parts of the body or any hid place Refection A repast of meat and drink a refreshing Refraction A breaking off or rebounding back Reflexion A bonding back or rebounding Refrigerate To make cool or to refresh with cooling as fanning one in great heat Regurgitate To swallow up again or to sup up again what it before had parted with Regulus The dross of metals Renal Belonging to the Reins Reiterated Repeated or the same thing done or performed again Remora A stop let or stay to any thing a figurative speech taken from a little fish so called which is said by cleaving to the keel of a ship to stay it in its course Repletion A fulness or filling full or abounding Repullulate To bud or spring forth again as trees in the spring Resine A Chymical extraction of several druggs so called being in substance like to Rosine or Resine Respiration A breathing forth or a venting Resolution A dissolving or unbinding a loosning Retort A Chymical Vessel Reverberatory A furnace by which matter is calcined or consumed with the flame Rhomboides A Geometrical figure with unequal sides Rhombus A Geometrical figure with equal sides but not right angl'd like a quarry of glass Rhubarb A root brought out of the East-Indies almost like a dock-root used to purge choler Risibility Laughter or the faculty of laughing Riverius A famous Physician Rotation A going round like a wheel a moving round Rudiments The first beginnings and principles of things S. Saline Saltish or belonging to Salt Salt-peter Or Salt of the Rock A Salt got out of the Earth contracted from several dungs of Fowls or other Creatures as Pigeons Poultrey and Cattel and from the Vrines of Beasts and is one of the Ingredients of which they make Gun-powder much used in Chymistry Sal-prunella A Salt made out of Salt-peter Sal-ammoniacus A Salt of the Earth found among the Sands in Lybia Sal-alcali Salt of ashes made of the herb Kali but used also for the salt of other herbs burnt to ashes and so extracted Salvatella Vein Is a branch which springing out of a Cephalick Vrin in the outside of the Cubit stretcheth above the wrist and extream part of the hand between the Ring-finger and the little finger Salivate To spit or cause one to void much spittle Salivation A great flux of spitting or avoiding of spittle more than ordinary at the mouth Sanguineous Bloody or belonging to the blood Sanguification The making of blood or the changing the nourishment into blood Sanguiducts The Vessels that carry the blood through the body as the Veins and Arteries Sarsaparilla A drug brought from the West-Indies used in many decoctions Sagapenum A kind of Gum or Rosin that runs forth of the shrub called Ferula Scammony The juice of an herb which violently purgeth choler it is also called Diagridium Scapular Muscle a muscle belonging to the shoulders and serves for the moving of them Scheam Is a figure or draught of a thing also taken for an Astrological Table of the 12. Houses Schirri Are hard swellings in the flesh without pain but hardly curable Scirri Are hard swellings in the flesh without pain but hardly curable Schirrous Full of such hard swellings Sclerotick That is troubled with some tumor in the third panicle of the eye called the Cornea membrana or somewhere thereabouts Scorbutick That is troubled with the disease called the Scorbute or Scurvey Scordium A useful herb in Physick having leaves almost like Germander Scotomies Turnings round a disease in the head when all things seem to turn round Scotomie Turnings round a disease in the head when all things seem to turn round Scrotum The outward skin of the Cods where the hair grows Scutiform In the form of a Shield or Buckler Sedal Veins the Veins in the Fundament Seclusion A thrusting forth or out Secundine The After-birth or that which inwraps the Child which follows after the Birth of the Child vulgarly called the After-burthen of Anatomists the 4th membrane of the eye called Chorion and that first clotheth the optic sinew is called the Secundine Secretion A separation or putting apart Secreted Separated apart Senna Or Sena the leaves of a Plant that Purgeth Phlegm Choler and Melancholy Sensory The orgain of feeling or of discriminating by the senses the common sensory or seat of such organ placed in the brain Septic That hath the force of corrupting or putrifying or that maketh rotten or ripe the matter in a soar Series An order course or succession of things a row or course of things orderly one after another Serous Humor the whey or watery humor that accompanieth the blood and which makes it fluid and is separated and put off from the blood into the parts of the body Serosities Such serous humours abounding Serum The whey or watery humor of the blood the substance of the serous humor Sinus A bosom or a hollow turning or outlet of waters or an inlet or arm of the Sea Soldanella Is the Sea-colewort or Folefoot Solitive Loosening or that maketh the body loose Solstices Are two the Summer and the Winter solstice the first is about the twelfth of June when the Sun is nearest to us and makes with us the longest day the last is about the 12. of December when the Sun is at its greatest distance from us and makes with us the shortest day Solving Loosening or unbinding Solution A loosning or weakning as of the Nerves or joynts Solvent That which dissolveth or openeth the parts of the matter to be wrought upon Spagiric Belonging to Alchymie or to the Chymical art Spasms Cramps or Convulsions of the Nerves Spasmodic Belonging to the Cramp or Convulsion or hauling of the sinews Spasmology The doctrine of the Convulsion or Cramp of the sinews Speculative Contemplative or notional Speculation A seeing or discovering a thing by contemplation Species A kind more particular than Genus and may be communicated to more generals as a Cow and an Horse are of a different species but both Animals or Beasts Spermatic Belonging to the sperm or seed Sphacelismus A blasting or a mortification of a part Sphincter Is the round muscle that encompasses the mouth of the Arse gut which keeps the excrements from an involuntary coming forth Spine The back-bone or long-joynted bone that goes down the back Spina dorsi The
Valves A part of the brain made like folding doors so called Van Helmont A Famous Dutch Doctor Vapid Dead decay'd without tast or smack Vegetation A growing or putting forth or flourishing as a Plant. Vegetal Belonging to such a growing or flourishing Vegetable That which hath life and groweth but not sense as herbs and trees Vehicle That which carrieth or beareth another thing as the blood is of the animal spirits Vena Porta See Porta Vena Vena Cava See Cava Vena Venous Belonging or appertaining to a Vein Ventricle Is the stomach or that part which receives the meat and drink being swallowed down and which hath in it self the virtue of digestion Ventricles Of the heart two notable little hollows caverns on each side of the heart Ventricles Of the Brain several notable caverns therein Vermiculations Creeping like a Worm or motions like the creeping of a Worm Vernal Belonging to the Spring or in the time of the Spring Verberation A beating or striking Vertigo A diziness giddiness and turning round within the head A certain disease which causeth a turning within the head Vertebral Belonging to the joynts of the back-bone Vertebrae Those several joyntings and knittings of the back-bone or chine so called of Anatomists Vesicatories Medicines that raise or cause Blisters where applied Veterans Old Soldiers or any thing that hath served long in a place Viaticum Voyage provisions as meat and drink upon a journey Vibration A shaking striking or quavering Vicinity Neighbourhood or nearness of dwelling or being Viscid Clammy or sticking like Bird-lime Viscosity A clamminess or glewiness Viscera Are the chief Entrals or Inwards as Heart Liver Lungs Spleen the Bowels c. Vitriol Copperas a certain Mineral found in several Countreys used in Medicines Vitriolic Belonging or appertaining to Vitriol Umbilic Belonging to the Navel or of the likeness or shape of the Navel Undulation A wavering like the waters where one follows upon the heels of the others Unctuosity An oyliness or juiciness Unctuous Oylie or juicy Volatile That easily flies away or that is apt to flie or vanish Ureters The pipes or passages by which the Vrine passes from the Reins to the Bladder Urinary Belonging to the Vrine or the passages of the Vrine Uterine Belonging or appertaining to the Womb. Uvea The fourth thin membrane of the eye called also Chorion W. Wezand The Windpipe or Throat X. Xeroeus Wine A Spanish Wine so called I suppose they mean Tent. Here ends the Table of hard names THE FIRST INDEX or TABLE WHEREIN IS Alphabetically digested the principal matters contained in the Treatises of Fermentation and Feavers A. AGues Of Agues Page 68. The reason of the Ague fits 69 70 71. The signs of the Disease 72. Of the Cure of the Ague 74. Of the double Tertian or Quartan 75 Of a Tertian Ague or Feaver 77 Some symptoms of the Disease 78 Its Cure 79 80 Histories of the Disease 81 82 Of Quotidian Agues 82 Their Cure 83 Of a Quartan Ague 84 Causes of it 84 Why it usually begins in Autumn 85 Its Cure 86 Aurum fulminans What it is 40. B. Beer How made by Fermentation 20 Blood The Blood Anatomiz'd 57 58 Compared with Wines 61 The motions and heats of the Blood 64 The difference of the Fermentation of Wine and the Blood 64 The difference of the Blood growing hot in Feavers 90 Of the inkindling of the Blood in a burning Feaver 109 How the Blood is infected by Poysons 121 and its several mutations thereby ibid. Of the great heat of the Blood in malignant Feavers 131 Of Blood-letting in the Small-pox 146 Blood Menstruous see Menstruous Blood Bread How made by Fermentation 20 Buboes In the Plague 126 127 C. Carbuncles Of Carbuncles in the Plague 126 127 Catarrhal Epidemical Feavers see Feavers Causon Or Burning Feavers 109 Cautions Concerning putrid Feavers 110 111 Concerning the Plague 128 Chrystilisation Of Salts how made 49 Chyle The Concoction of the Chyle in the Ventricle is made by Fermentation 14 Coagulation What it is 49 Congelation What it is 49 A second manner of Congelation 51 Of artificial Congelation ibid. Crisis Of a continual Feaver 91 Of a putrid Feavor 96 Cure Of Agues 74 79 80 83 86. Of putrid Feavers of every kind 110 Of the Plague 128 Of Pestilential Feavers 133 134 The Cure of the Small-pox 143 144 145 Of the Milkey feaver 151 Of the Malignant feaver of lying in Women 154 155 Of the Symptomatic feaver of Women in Child-bed 157 Of Epidemical feavers 167 168 171 176 177 178. Cyder How made by Fermentation 24 D. Death And Putrefaction of Bodies 26 Diarrhea Of a Diarrhea in Feavers 1â—4 Dysenterie Of a Dysenterie in Feavors 104 Of a Dysenterie in Child-bed Women 157 E. Earth Of the Chymists what it is 5 Ephemera Or a Feaver of a days continuance 91 Epidemical Feavers see Feavers Essential Putrid Synochus what it is 109 F. Feavers Of Feavers in general 57 Of Intermitting Feavers or Agues see Agues 68 Of continual Feavers 89 What causes continual Feavers 89 The several kinds of continual Feavers 91 Of the Feaver for a day ibid. The cause of it and of its Crisis ibid. An History of such a Feaver 92 Of a putrid Feaver 93 Four seasons to be observed in it 94 The causes of it ibid. A Prognostication of the Disease 97 Of the Crisis of a putrid Feaver ibid. The symptoms and signs of putrid Feavers 99 100 Of the putrid Synochus or continual Feaver 107 Of the symptomatic putrid Feaver ibid. Of the slow Feaver 108 Of the symptomatical Feaver from an Vlcer or a Consumption of the Lungs ibid. Of an Essential putrid Synochus 109 Of the Causon or Burning feaver ibid. The Cures of putrid Feavers of every kind 110 Histories of several putrid Feavers 112 113 114 115 116 117 118. Of a Pestilential or Malignant Feaver in general 119 Of a malignant Feaver in specie 131 How it differs from the Pestilence ibid. A description of malignant Feavers ibid. A difference of them 133 Causes of them ibid. The Cure of them 133 134 Of Feavers Epidemical of another sort 134 An History of a Pestilential Feaver 134 135 An History of a Malignant Feaver 136 137 Of the Feavers of Child-bearing Women 147 Of the Milkey Feaver 150 The causes of it 151 Its Cure ibid. Of a putrid Feaver in Women lying In 151 A figure of the Disease 152 153 The causes of it ibid. It s Cure 154 155 Of Symptomatic Feavers of Women in Childbed 156 The general reason of them ibid. The Cure of them 157 Histories of acute Feavers in Women lying In 158 159 160 161. Epidemical Feavers 163 A description of an Epidemical Feaver in the year 1657. ibid. The causes of it 164 The differenee of it from other Feavers 166 A Prognostication of it ibid. Of the Cure of it 167 A description of a Catarrhal Epidemical Feaver in the year 1658 169 The causes of it 170 The symptoms of it and the cure of it
171 A description of an Epidemical Feaver arising in the Autumn of the year 1658 171 The nature and formal reason of it 174 A Prognostication of it 175 The Cure of it 176 177 178 Fermentation What it is Page 1 What in Minerals 10 What it is in Vegitables 11 Of Fermentation in Animals 13 Instances to illustrate the doctrine of Fermentation 14 Of the Ferment in the Ventricle 14 Of Fermentation in Artificial things 17 What Bodies are fit for Fermentation ibid. What promotes Fermentation ibid. The end and effect of Fermentation 18 19. Of Fermentation that tends to perfection 19 Of Fermentation that tends to the dissolution of Bodies 26 30. Of Fermentation in the precipitation of Bodies 45 Of Fermentation in Coagulation and Congelation 49 Of Fermentation of the Blood in Feavers 57 Fire What it is and its nature 36 Flux Of the Flux in Feavers 104 G. Glass See Vitrification Gunpowder The nature of it and how made 41 H. Habit Of the Body in putrid Feavers 100 Head Pained in Feavers 103 Heart Pained in Feavers 104 Life proceeds first from the heart 13 Heat What it is 38 Histories Of Agues 81 82 Of an Ephemera or Feaver for a day 92 Of putrid Feavers 112 113 114 115 116 117 118. Of the Plague 130 131. Of a Pestilent Feaver 134 135. Of another Epidemical Pestilent Feaver 136 137. Of the Small-pox 145 146. Of acute Feavers of Women lying In 158 159 160 161. Of several Epidemical Feavers from 163 to 171 Hysterical Fits why Women more subject to them than Men 152. I. Indications Concerning putrid Feavers 110 Inflamation Of the Lungs an effect of the putrid Synochus 107 Inflamations in the Plague 127 Intentions For the Cure of a Tertian Ague 80 For curing the Ephemera 92 Intentions for the cure of every sort of putrid Feavers 110 For the curing Epidemical Feavers 176 177 178. Judgment Or Prognosticks of the event of a putrid Feaver 197 L. Life First proceeds from the fermenting of the spirit in the heart 13 Light What it is and how made 39 Lochia What they are and their use 148 M. Measles Of the Measles 144 What they are ibid. Malignant Feavers see Feavers Mault How made by Fermentation 21 Menstrua The two chief for the dissolution of bodies fire and water 30 Menstruas of several sorts 32 33. Menstruas for Gold and Silver 34 Menstruous Blood its use and why it flows not in Women with Child 147 Meteors What they be 10 Milk In the Breasts how made 147 148. Minerals How they ferment 10 Moldiness Whence it is made 28 Mustiness Whence it comes 29 N. Nitre What it is 40 O. Opinions Of Philosophers concerning the principles of things 2 P. Peruvean Bark used to cure Agues 86 Pest See Plague Pestilential Feaver see Feavers Plants How they germinate 12 Plurisie An effect of the putrid Synochus 107 Plague Its nature 122 Whence its rise 123 Of its propagation by Contagion 124 Its description 125 Of its signs and symptoms 126 Its Prognosticks 127 128. It s Cure 128 129 130. History of it 131 Pox See Small-pox Powder Of the Jesuites a peruvean Bark and its nature 86 87. How it operates 87 88. Poysons How they distemper the body 119 How they work on the Animal spirits and nervous liquor 120 Their various properties ibid. Precipitation What it is and how made 45 Principles Of natural things 1 What he means by principles 3 The principles of the Chymists ibid. Prognostications In the Plague 127 128. In the Small-pox 142 Prognostications of Epidemical Diseases 166 175. Prognostications from the Pulse 105 106. From Vrins 107 Pulse To be considered in a putrid Feaver 105 Prognostications from it 105 106. Purple Spots in the Plague 127 Putrefaction How made 26 Putrid Feaver its description 93 S. Salt A principle of the Chymists what it is 5 Salt in the Blood 60 Salt-nitre What it is 40 Salts How Chrystallised and the reason of the operation 49 50. Signes Or symptoms of life and death in a putrid Feaver 98 Signs and symptoms of the Plague 126 Signs of a Pestilential or Malignant Feaver 133 Signs of the Small-pox 141 Small-pox The causes of them 139 140. Signs and symptoms of the Small-pox 141 Prognostications of the disease 142 Its Cure 143 144 145. Histories of it 145 146 Indications of the Small-pox in Child-bed Women 157 Spirits Of the Chymists what they are 3 Spirits in the Brain wrought by Fermentation 16 Spirits of the Blood 59 Spots In the Plague 127 Squinancy An effect of the putrid Synochus 107 Sulphur A Chymical principle what it is 4 Of common Sulphur 40 Sulphur in the Blood 59 Swooning In Feavers 103 Symptomatick Feavers what they are 107 108. Symptoms And signs chiefly to be noted in a putrid Feaver 99 Symptoms to be observed in a putrid Synochus 100 Synochus Putrid its chief symptoms 100 Its kinds and cure 107 T. Tongue Why covered with a white crustiness in Feavers 102 V. Vitrification Of Vitrification or the making of Glass 50 Vomiting Of Vomiting in Feavers 106 Urines Of Vrines in Feavers 106 Prognosticks from Vrines in Feavers 107 W. Water A principle of the Chymists what it is 6 Wind The North-wind apt to produce Catarrhs 169 Wines How made by Fermentation 22 Womb Of the falling down of the Womb in Women lying In 149 Of the distempers of the Womb at that time ibid. THE SECOND INDEX or TABLE WHEREIN IS Alphabetically digested the principal matters contained in the Treatises 1. Of Urines 2. Of the Accension of the Blood 3. Of musculary motion 4. Of the Anatomy of the Brain and 5. Of the description and use of the Nerves A. ACcidentes Of Vrine Page 1 2. Aire Stuffed with nitrous particles 27 More nitrous in Winter than in Summer ibid. Anatomy Of the Brain 55 Anatomy of Vrine 1 Animal Spirits see Spirits Appetite How stir'd up 91 Arteries Of the Carotidic Artery 71 Of its ascension into the skull 72 Experiments of injecting Liquors into the Carotidic Arteries 72 Of the Carotidic Artery in Fowls and Fishes 76 77. The reason of the joyning together of the Arteries ascending into the Brain 82 The difference of the passage of the Artery passing through the skull in Man and Beast 84 Of the Arteries Carotides in an Horse 85 Of the Vertebral Artery 87 Why the Carotides Arteries differ in a Man and Horse from other Beasts 88 How the Nerves like Reins bind the Trunk of the Hepatic Artery 168 Of the Arteries belonging to the Spine or Back-bone 179 180. B. Blood Of the inkindling of the Blood 24 Several opinions of the heat of the Blood 26 27. Blood the life of the soul 25 The Blood very hot in living Creatures and for what reason ibid. How the Blood cometh by its heat 27 Effluvia of the Blood like the soot of flame 29 The Blood requires Ventilation ibid. How the Vital flame is inkindled in the Blood 30 The reason of the change of the colour of the
the act of smelling 139 The Fibres in the Eyes the cause of the act of seeing 140 Figures Of the Muscles explained 49 Figures of the brain explained 62 63. The third Figure of the brain explained 69 The fourth Figure of the brain explained 70 The fifth and sixth Figures concerning the skull explained 73 74. The Figure of a Mans brain 60 61. The Figure of the brains of Fish and Fowl 75 Figures of the Nerves explained 144 145. Figures of the Nerves in Tables from 182 to 192 Figures of the Carotidick Arteries the wonderful net pituitary kirnel and the lateral bosom explained 86 Figures of a Sheeps brain and all its inwards explained 94 The Figure of the oblong marrow 101 The Figure of the marrowy part of the brain of a Sheep explained 105 Fire Why it burns fiercer in cold than in moist and hot weather 27 Why the Sun beams put out the Fire ibid. Why Fire seems to leap forth in the night from the mains of Horses skins of Cats and other hot Animals 32 Fishes Why they want the crankling turnings in their brain as in Man and Beasts 92 Of the optic Nerves in Fishes 104 Of the chamfered bodies in Fishes brains and their difference from other Creatures 103 Flame How made 27 Why flame shut up from the air goes out 28 Why the flame of a Candle burns blew in the Mines 29 How the Vital Flame is inkindled in the blood 30 Why the Vital Flame is not seen 32 The reason of a shining Flame sometimes seen about persons indued with an hot nitrous blood ibid. The reason of Flames proceeding from the eyes of people in burning Feavers 33 Forms Predestinated to natural bodies 33 Fowls Brains why they want the turnings and windings as are in Men and Beasts 92 Their difference from Beasts ibid. G. Genital How made 173 Glandula Of the petuitory Glandula in the brain of a Man and a Beast 71 H. Hands Why the Hands and Arms of Men conspire so readily with the affections of the brain and heart 174 Head-aches Great from the distemper of the Pia Mater 90 An History of Head-aches 110 Hearing How made 144 Of the species of hearing 119 The difference of the hearing Nerves in a Man and in a Beast 120 Heart Its office as to the Blood 31 The heart a meer Muscle ibid. Of the Nerves going to the Heart 150 Whether the pulse of the Heart depends upon the influence of the animal spirits 152 Histories Of one troubled with a Tenanism or Cram 46 47. Of one that died with a Scirrhus or hard swelling of the Mesentery 82 83. Of Head-aches 100 Horse Of the Tube or pipe in a Horses brain 66 Of the Carotidick Arteries in a Horse 85 Why different from other Beasts 88 Humours Of the humours in a Muscle 38 A double humour contributes to the making of the animal spirits 99 How the serous humour is sent from the brain 98 99. Of the use of the Nervous humour 128 133. Of the Nervous and Nutritious humors 130 131. Whether the bloody humor be Nutricious 130 How the genital humor is made 173 I. Imagination What it is 91 Infoldings Of the Nerves 140 Of the Gunglioform Infolding 157 Of the Mesenteric Infoldings 158 Of the Hepatic Infolding ibid. Of the Nervous Infolding of the Spleen 167 Of the Renal Infolding 168 Inspection Of Vrines useful 20 Instinct Of Motion what it is 43 44 45. Of natural Instincts 115 Involuntary Function what it is Of the Nerves serving to the Involuntary Function 116 117. Juices Of the Juices nervous and nutritious 130 Judgments How to be given of the Vrine 17 18. The Ignorance of some in the Judgment of Vrines 18 Judgment of Vrines wanting colour consistence contents and quantity ibid. Judgment of Vrines having praeternatural contents 19 K. Kings-evil Why Cured by stroaking 134 Kissing Why it irritates Love 143 L. Laughing Why proper to Man 117 Caused by the fifth Conjugation of the Nerves 143 How made 160 Life A kind of flame 27 Life and fire many ways extinguish'd alike 31 Liquors How they receive heat 26 Love Why admitted by the eyes 143 Why provoked by kissing ibid. Lungs Why the colour of the Lungs is suddenly changed in new-born Creatures 30 M. Mamillary Processes what they are and their use 137 138. Marrow Of the oblong Marrow and its uses 101 102. How joyned to the spinal Marrow 124 Of the spinal Marrow 124 Of the Nerves from the spinal Marrow 178 Of the blood-carrying Vessels from the spinal Marrow 179 Man A curious Machine 162 Meninges See dura mater and pia mater Memory How made 96 Mesentery Of the Infoldings of the Mesentery 158 Why so many Infoldings of the Nerves are about the Mesentery 164 Monkie Dissected 162 Why it is so crafty and mimical a Creature ibid. Motion What it is 34 Three things to be considered in every motion ibid. Of spontaneous and voluntary motion ibid. Of involuntary motion ibid. Of the motion and sense of the pia mater 90 The Vehicle of the Instinct of Motion what it is 34 Of local Motion ibid. Of the increase of the force of Motion in Artificial things 39 4â— How the Motion of the Muscles is made 42 How the instinct of Motion is performed 43 44. Of the Motions of the animal spirits 95 How the Motion of the Muscles correspond with the Motion of the Heart 136 Of the irregular Motion of the Diaphragma 175 Vpon what the peristaltic Motion depends 169 The use of intestine Motions in the belly 165 How the Motion of Hypochondriacal pains is made from the right to the left side and so contrary 169 Of the Motion of the Muscles see Muscles and Musculary motion Muscles Of the formation of a Muscle 35 Of the opposite Tendons in every Muscle ibid. A Muscle described 35 36. Of the simple and compound Muscle 36 Of the membranous covering of a Muscle 37 Of the action of a Muscle 37 38. Several experiments of cutting a Muscle 38 Of contraction and relaxation in a Muscle ibid. Of the humors in a Muscle ibid. Ax experiment of a living Dog concerning the voluntary motions of the Muscles 39 How a Muscle is moved ibid. Of the traction of a Muscle 40 Elastick particulars contained in a Muscle ibid. Of the trembling of the Musculous flesh of a Beast after its head is off and heart taken out 40 41. How the animal spirits blow up the fleshy fibres in a Muscle 41 Experiments of intumifying a Muscle 42 Of the nature of the animal spirits coming from the brain into the Muscles ibid. Of the fresh supplies of the animal spirits for the motions of the Muscles 44 Of the little hairy fibrils of a Muscle 45 Of the irregular and convulsive motions of the Muscles ibid. Explanations of the figures of the Muscles 49 That the motions of the Muscles have an analogy with the heart 135 136. Muscular Motion how it is made 42 Of the Muscular motion 34 The blood affords
juices and many Chronical Diseases end in a Consumption in like manner when the flesh of the Lungs wasts or abounding with an Ulcerous matter becomes half putrid the Blood passing through it is infected with the purulent matter or tabid infection and for that cause is stirred up into a continual Effervescency by reason of the confusion of somthing not miscible and wherefore it induces an assiduous Feaver and wholly perverts the Alible Juice The same reason is of Feavers form an Ulcer or Imposthume oftentimes raised up in other parts for these even as the tabid constitution of the Lungs cause oftentimes a Consumption and Hectick Feaver The full consideration of these are not for this place wherefore we will return whence we have digressed to a Putrid Feaver properly called or essential The Essential Putrid Synochus is wont to be divided into a Putrid such as is already described into a Causon or hot burning Feaver and besides into a Quotidian Tertian and Quartan The Putrid Synochus but now delineated ought to be the rule or square of the rest to whose type most Feavers which are of this kind are to be composed As to the rest but now mentioned according as they vary their kind I shall briefly subjoyn The Causon or Burning Feaver is that which performs its course with a greater heat almost intolerable thirst and other symptoms arguing a greater inflamation of the Blood The formal reason of it by which it is differenced from the rest consists in this that the temper of the Blood is hotter that is abounds more with fireable Sulphur therefore when it grows fervent it is inkindled in a greater plenty and with its deflagration diffuses the Effluvia of a most intense heat through the whole Body its motion is acute and quickly comes to its standing it is compassed about with more horrid symptoms hath a difficult Crisis and an even full of danger But as to what respects those periods or fits in which a Putrid Feaver somtimes is wont to be more cruel at a set time and as if intermitting now every day now every third or fourth day repeats as it were the Feaverish fit the reason of this seems not easily to be explicated especially if we reject from this cense the fewer humors to the spontaneous motion of which this distemper is commonly ascribed concerning this matter what seems most likely to me I shall doubtingly propose In a continual Feaver there are two chief things as we have already noted which for the most part induce the Effervency of the Blood to wit the exaltation and inkindling of the Sulphureous part of the Blood then consequently an heaping together of the adust matter and remaining after the burning of the Blood to a swelling up upon the former the continuance of the Feaver upon the other its standing and critical perturbations depend to these some times a certain third thing happens to wit a fulness and swelling up of the crude Juice from the Aliments newly taken which in a continual Feaver as in the fits of Intermitting Feavers induces a greater Effervency at set intervals of times But why this does not always happen nor wholly after the same manner the reason is this when the Putrid Synochus is very acute and the whole Blood almost is quickly inflamed and highly rages whatsoever of Nutritious Juice is poured to the Blood is presently burnt and consumed by the fire wherefore little or nothing of it is conteined in the mass of Blood for the matter of a fit But if this Feaver be less acute and the Blood only flames forth moderately and in parts the supplement of the crude Juice is not wholly consumed by the burning but is perverted by a more gentle fire into a Fermentative matter which when it arises in the Vessels to a fulness of swelling up conceives a Flux and by its Effervency makes stronger the Feaverish heat before glowing in the Blood as it were by the coming of new fewel The flowring of this matter doth not seldom begin with a light shivering or cold and somtimes end with sweat but for the most part it is exhaled by insensible transpiration In every fit besides the provision of the degenerate Nutritious Juice somthing from the adust and burnt matter of the Blood evaporates wherefore the Crisis of the Disease is drawn forth longer that t is hardly cured under eleven or fourteen days yea for the most part in this sort of Feaver with fits and remissions coming between the perfect Cure of the Disease happens scarcely within twenty days and somtimes leisurely without any through Crisis it remits and then by a long declination it is ended in Death or Health But that this kind of remission and acerbation or growing more violent are varied according to the type of an Intermitting Feaver that they repeat their turns now every day now every other day and somtimes not but within four days the reason of this is to be sought from the Doctrine before delivered of Intermitting Feavers to wit that according as the Dyscrasie of the Blood diversly appears the suppliment of the degenerate Nutritious Juice arises to the fulness of swelling up either sooner or later and for that reason its Effervency causes now more frequent now more rare fits in this Feaver Concerning the Cure of Putrid Feavers of every kind there are four general intentions on which the whole stress of the matter depends First that the Blood if it may be done may be defended from burning and the flame or fire inkindled in its Sulphureous part be wholly suppressed which about the first beginning of this Disease happens to be often brought about Secondly that when the Blood having taken fire cannot be presently extinguished that at least it may perform its burning more mildly and with lesser hurt Thirdly the deflagration being ended that the Liquor of the Blood be freed from the recrements of the adust and burnt matter and afterwards restored to its Natural temper and vigor Fourthly that the symptoms chiefly troubling may be timely helped the which unless taken away will frustrate the work both of Nature and Medicine As to particular Remedies with which these intentions may be served there are various prescriptions and forms of Medicines not only among Physicians but also among old women and Emperies ordinarily in use from which however like a Sword in a blind mans hand used without difference and exact method of healing more hurt than good most often accrues to the sick There will be no need here to repeat the forms of Purges Cordials and of other Medicines eligantly enough delivered among many Authors I will add in few words some chief indications and Medical Cautions which ought to be observed in the course of this Feaver according to its various times and divers symptoms 1. At the first beginning of this Disease the business will be that the Feaver may be presently suppressed and the inflamation of the heated Sulphur may be inhibited to which
Blood are first possessed with the impoysoned infection either drawn in with the Air or attracted through the pores its ferment is presently dissipated through the whole mass of the Blood the infested portions immediately begin to be loosned from their equal mixture to go into parts and to be coagulated and the same being delated into the bosom of the Heart are wont there to stagnate and so to induce a Syncopy Swoonings and often sudden Death also being carried outwardly fixed about the skin to cause Buboes inflamed risings and other marks of Poyson in the mean time the sick appear well in mind nor are they troubled with Delirium nor Convulsive motions If that from a more strong cause the hurt is inflicted to both parts at once the course of the Disease is performed with a more horrid provision of symptoms and especially with a Syncopy and Phrensie at once infesting As to what appertains to its rise when the Plague first arises in any Region or Country there is attributed a twofold cause of it viz. Primary or Metaphysical also Secondary or Natural subordinate to that The very Heathens did acknowledg this Disease wherever it raged sent first of all from God for the castigation of the wickednesses of men and therefore for its extirpation they equally made use of Prayers and Sacrifices as of Medicines As to what belongs to the Natutal cause there are divers opinions Some will that the Pestilence newly arisen be derived from the Heavens and influences of the Stars only on the contrary others have affirmed it only to arise from the internal putrefaction of the humors of our Body but these endeavour to deduce the cause of this sickness too far off and these more near than it ought We will walk in the middle way and what Reason persuades and what very many Authors assert we will place the chief and first seminary or seed plot of this Poyson in the Air because it seems consonant to Reason that from the same Fountain from which the common food of life is had the beginnings of death no less diffusive are to be sought There is the same necessity for our breathing in the Air as of Fishes living in the Water wherefore as to waters infected by Poyson the murrain of Fishes dying in heaps is ascribed so men dying of an Epidemical slaughter without any manifest cause nothing could kill besides the infection of the commonly inspired Air. For the Air which we necessarily draw in for the continuance of Life consists of an heap of vapors and fumes which are perpetually breathed forth from the Earth in which the exhalations of Salt and Sulphur being mingled with the atomical vaporous little Bodies constitute here as it were a thick cloud the motions of these are swift and unquiet they are of a manifold figure and very much diverse wherefore some continually meet against others and according to their various configurations they cohere with these and are mutually combined one with another and from those they are driven and fly away from hence the reasons of the Sympathy and Antipathy of every thing depend From the diverse agitations of these kind of Atoms near the superficies of the Earth this or that tract of the Air enters into diverse alterations by which Bodies chiefly the living are variously affected because the intestine motion of the Particles of every Animal depends very much upon the motion and temper of the Particles of the Air forasmuch as these perpetually exagitate those raise up those lying asleep repair the loss of those flying away shake the vital flame with their Nitrosity and supply it with a Nitrous-Sulphureous Food eventilates it being inkindled by continual turns of access and recess and carry away the Soot and Fumes So long as an apt contemperation happens in either for motion and configuration living Creatures injoy perfect health and life but if the little Bodies swiming in the Air be of that sort of figure and power that are plainly adverse to the Spirits implanted in living Creatures they loose the mixtures of these from the rest from whose Elements they are collected and pervert their motions hence the dispositions of things are destroyed life profligated and the same being scarce extinct the Bodies undergoe putrefaction hence the tops of Trees or of Corn being struck with a blast suddenly grow dry or wither hence among Cattel the murrain often rages which kills at once whole Flocks by reason of this kind of cause the Seeds of the Pestilence first put themselves forth and attempt the slaughter of human kind for as invenomed Bodies in the bowels of the Earth or concreted on its superficies produce the Arsenical or Aconital mixtures so these being even resolved into vapour and heaped together in the Air create most pernitious Airs from which Malignant and Pestilential Diseases arise the infection which after this manner Contaminates the Air the most ingenious Diemerbrochius a searcher of this Disease contends that is only sent as the wrath of angry Apollo immediately from the angry right hand of God but this were to multiply without any pretext of necessity I will not say beings but miracles and in every Plague to assert a Creation of new substance when in the mean time the virulent product of Minerals and Vegitable which dayly appear and of as quite adverse Nature to us as the Plague clearly testifie that there lives hid in the Bowels of the Earth plenty of invenomed matter sufficiently fitted for this business For the little Bodys which being roled about with earthy matter do constitute the Poysonous mixtures in the bosom of the Earth the same being resolved into vapours will be no less hurtful afterwards and impress a pestiferous blast to the Air which they wander through wherefore by the leave of so Learned a man I should say that it seems not improbable that the things which first of all affix the seed plot of the Pestilence to any tract of Air be the Poysonous Effluvia of fierce Salts and Sulphurs and by the Divine Will instigating breathing forth from the bowels of the Earth which somtimes being a long time before shut up are leisurely exhaled out of Dens and Caverns somtimes by reason of the motion of the Earth or Earthquake or a gaping of the Earth they break forth in heaps also of the same kind are those which ordinarily are breathed forth from the filth of Souldiers in their nasty Camps or from unburied Carcases or from places beset with standing and stinking Mud but the little Bodies after this manner exhaled obtain their wonderful height properties and abilities by a long putrefaction that therefore they are incongruous and heterogeneous to all others whatsoever and so being received into the Air ferment it as it were a mass of Liquor and pervert it from a wholsom and benign into a most pernicious and wicked Nature Some Bodies more easily others not so readily receive the malignant tincture of the Pestilent Air. Those who by