THE JUDGMENT OF Vrines By Robert Record Doctor of Physick Whereunto is added an ingenious Treatise concerning Physicians Apothecaries and Chirurgeons Set forth by an Eminent Physitian in Queen Elizabeths dayes With a Translation of Papius Ahalsossa concerning Apothecaries Confecting their Medicines Worthy perusing and imitating LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Peter Parker at the Leg and Star in Cornhil against the Royal Exchange 1679. To the Reader IF either the corruption or abuse of things might deprive us of this lawfull and necessary use of them even the sacred Scriptures our laws our provisions of life and clothing might fall under declension if not abolition It is true from the inspection of Urine some have presumed to pretend a larger judgement and indication then may justly be drawn or conjectured out of it yet it is generally concluded by Physitians both ancient and moderne that both Urine and Pulse are so necessary that without them all knowledge of Physick besides is doubtfull obscure and uncertaine whereof the first sheweth the estate of the liver and veines the second of the heart and arteries The Urine because with the blood it is conveâ—ed into all parts of the body and from thence returneth back again in the veines to the liver and urinall vessels bringeth with it some indicature of the state and disposition of all those parts from whence it commeth and who shall please to peruse that exact peice of Daniel Becherus shall finde observable peices both concerning the urine and divers experimented medicines made with it Concerning the judgement of the Pulse who shall please to peruse Doctor May upon Pennant shall finde the Pulses motion not so certain an indicature because in some diseases there is cessation or none or small appearance to conjecture by Concerning the Author he was one of the first who labour'd to reduce the tractate thereof unto order and method and hath been seconded by laborious Fletcher to whom our English Nation oweth much for their labours The antiquity and paines of the Author hath caused it to be presented again to the Presse hoping with judicious men it shall receive the acceptance is desired and studied By the well-wisher of your health R. R. The PREFACE The good use of a covetous example THough the unsatiable greedines of covetous men doe many and sundrie waies hurt yet some wayes it may do no lesse good if men will not disdain as they ought not to use it in such sort as I shall shew you But because that unsaciableness is never satisfied but beside thousand of means invented already to quench the unquenchable greedines it seeketh and findeth daily new and new means innumerable so that it were an infinite labour to declare them all I will wittingly and purposedly passe them over only taking one general sentence which shall be in stead of all the rest Vespasian one of the great schoolmasters of avarice which could pick out profit of every thing yea even of mens urine taught his Scholers I meane the whole court of covetous persons this lesson ensuing Lucri bonus odor 〈◊〉 qualibet Lucre is sweet and hath a good savour Though it come of Vrine dirt or Ordure This sentence if it be withdrawn from the filthy lucre of unsatiable covetousnesse wherein it is detestable and imployed rather to the due lucre of mans sustenance then it becomes tolerable But if it bee referred to the necessarie lucre of mans health then is it greatly commendable If there can be then any commodity for mans health gathered out of urine as there may be much men should not be negligent in seeking of that thing which should do good both to themselves and others seeing the covetous are so diligent in seeking for that thing which shall profit neither themselves nor others And the negligence is so much the greater if men be more remisse in seeking after so necessary a thing in a matter so commendable then the covetous in a bad thing But in as much as this thing by reason it is not plainly set forth is with no lesse difficulty to be studied on then it is necessary to be used the ignorant may have some excuse I therefore in the name of many other have taken this pains on me to set forth this thing so plainly Ignorance set aside that ignorance can have no excuse But that no man should doubt of the truth of this Treatise or of mine intent Why this Book is written in putting forth the same rather in this our English tongue then any other I shall briefly shew reasons of both First for the truth of it The first reason I will boldly speak knowing for certain that no man that can judge it will say or thinke otherwise but that it is as true as mans knowledge can devise it And it is the opinion of the most excellent writers of Physick both Greeks and Latine namely Hippocrates Galen Aetius Aeginâ—ta Philotheus Theophilus Actuarius also Cornelius Celsus Plinius Constantinus Africanus and Clementius Clementinus with others more conferring also with these Avicenna Egidius Polidamus and such like But with what temperance and moderation they that are learned may perceive These have I followed chiefly in this judgement of Urines And in the use of medicine and diseases touching urine I have joyned with them Dioscorides Quintus Serenus Columela Sextus Platonicus and divers others Now if there be any man that doubteth of the truth of those writers in this thing I am not here to force beleef upon them The inter of the Author But now as touching mine intent in writing this Treatise in English though this cause might seem sufficient to satisfie many men that I am an English man and therefore may most easily and plainly write in my native tongue rather then in any other yet unto them that know the hardness of the matter this answer should seem unlikely considering that it is harder to translate into such a tongue wherein the Art hath not been written before then to write in those tongues in which the terms of the Art are better expressed Now to shew briefly the causes moving me thereunto I am sure there are but few that ever sought counsell for their health but they know that the common trade to attain to the knowledge of the disease is by the judgement of the urine though not alone yet as the principall Likewise as there is not any thing so good but the abuse of it may cause harm to ensue therupon So this judgment of urines though it be a thing highly to be regarded yet if it be used rashly without foregoing signs it may cause as it doth often some error in the judgment of the Physitian though he were right excellently learned not so much by the ignorance of the Physitian as by want of knowledge in the patient which should instruct the Physitian in such questions as hee needed to demand of him and not to look that the Physitian should
all â—ther signs be good Pale light saffron Pale and light saffron as you have heaâ— before are the best colours and most tempâ—rate which betoken exact concoction Golden saffron But golden and saffron colour declare eâ—cess of heat Claret red Crimson Purple Green oily Claret is next and then red after it crimson and then purple then green and lâ— of them is oily urine which as they goe in oâ—der so they declare greater and greater heâ— with increase not only of the qualitie bâ— also of the matter containing the same Blew ash-colour But now of the other side blew urine anâ— ash colour are tokens of excessive cold sometime with matter and sometime with out and so likewise of black urine howbeit it cometh sometime of excess of heat But how you may know the difference both of it and all the other now will I shew in order with the rest of their significations White White urine if it come in great quantity in a whole man it betokeneth much drinking of thin wine But if it be mean in quantity with a due ground it declareth cold distemperance of the liver The urine doth appear white with a dis-form and unconcocted ground in them that have the dropsie But in old men white â—rine is no great evill sign as you may perâ—eive by that I said before of Ages how â—hey alter urine But in yong men and such â—s are of freshest age it is a worse sign and â—pecially if it have either no contents or else evill contents And if urine continue â—ong time white without changing it betokeneth painfull beating of the head daselling of the eies and giddiness and also the falâ—ing evill lothsomness of good meats and â—usting sometime after evill meats greedie hunger pain in limbs and painfull moving of the sinewes and divers griefes of the head and reines and also pain in the fundament and great weakness by sickness for all these doe follow continually lack of concoction either cold or stopping of the urines and conduct or transposing of the humours But the differences of these cannot easily bee known of every man yet such as are learned may gather certain distinctions of them by the accidents which follow diseases Milk white hornwhite gray Dark white colours as milk white white white like horn and grey If they appear in the beginning of Agues and in the increase of them they doe betoken much pain But in the decrease of Agues they declare he especially if it come plentifully Pale flaxen Pale urine and flaxen do not lightly pear in Agues except they be easie Agâ— and short as those which continue but day but if that it do follow after buâ— Agues it declareth that they be fully dâ—ved Pale saffron As for pale and light saffron they are 〈◊〉 I said before the best and most perfect â—lours namely in young men and fâ— youth But in old men women and childâ— whose urine as I have said declineth â—ward white and pale it doth betoken tâ— their bodie is too hot either by reasonâ— their diet or else of their exercise Buâ— as much as it is but mean excesse it declareâ— but small grief Golden saffron colour Golden and saffron coloured urine if be either somewhat thin or very thick â—ther it hath no ground or else very few aâ— dark contents But in this they differ thâ— golden urine declareth excess of heat aâ— matter also by reason of meats sharp medâ—cines chafing of the bloud through angeâ— heat of the bowels or else heat of the timâ— of the yeer But saffron colour appeareth rather witâ— default of matter through some affection oâ— the mind watching heat of the sun labour and such like things which increase thin and yellow choller and diminish naturall heat â—o that the cause of this colour is choler it self increased either in quantity or else in qualitie But in old men and women and â—uch other there is some greater cause that occasioneth it for it signifieth an Ague comâ—eth of saffronly choler dispersed through the whole body after which there followeth commonly giddiness headach bitterness of â—he mouth lothsomeness of meat thirstiness Also in yong men such urine is caused through much exercise and use of hot meats Of Claret and red Vrine Claret urine CLaret and red urine is coloured either of the mixture of red choler or else of the corruption of bloud such urine oftentimes goeth before Agues For when the blood doth so abound that it cannot be duly laboured nor can take no ayre there is engendred a certain corruption which as it is red of colour it self so it causeth the urine to be red in colour if it be much else it maketh only claret colour But if it be exact red lik grain it betokeneth that bloud issueth into it out of some veins nigh to the reins which either are broken or other waies â—pened But how it may be known frâ— whence it commeth and how there are â—ny means to search but because they areâ— light to perceive I will reserve them for Pâ—sicians that are learned This colour oâ— self is no great evill sign namely in yoâ— men for it betokeneth excess of bloud whâ— may well bee born of them But in old mâ— it is a very evill sign for it betokeneth â—ther long sickness or else death sith naâ— is so weak that it cannot keep in her natuâ— humour And if that red colour comeâ— red choler as it doth in young men for 〈◊〉 most part and not of blood which thing learned Physician may conjecture partly 〈◊〉 the former diet and other signs more tâ— accidents shal be the more troublous hoâ—beit yet not so evill as when it commeth 〈◊〉 saffron or golden choler for this cause greater thirst and more troublous sleep thâ— the other Of Crimson colour Crimson colour CRimson colour is a token that the gooâ— humours of the bodie are burned anâ— turned into red or black choler which cauâ— worse griefs then the other howbeit if 〈◊〉 have a good ground the grief is the more moderate But if it have either no contents for a space or else evill contents and the urine appear like a thick myste but somewhat glistering light it is a sign that nature needeth such strength to recover her selfe to her own state Notwithstanding such urine is caused sometime in whole folk by reason of much labour and long journying and then it hath some good signs therewith But in them that have a sharp Ague such crimson colour of urine doth betoken that corrupt blood doth abound and that it doth putrifie and turn into choler And commonly they that make such urine doe thirst much and are dry in their mouth and are troubled in their sleep and feel sharp Agues and are half distract and feel pain of the liver with coughing Howbeit yet these signs may be sometimes as well good as bad according as the colours do change to better or worse Of Purple Colour
are like bran there is one sort smaller and another grosser the smaller sort is like the bran of Wheat that is finely ground and those may I call fine bran The grosser is like bran of Barley or of evill ground wheat and may therefore be called gross bran Fine bran Gross bran for it is thrice as big as the other Scales The third sort which is like Scales hath no notable thicknesse but onely breadth and length These three doe betoken waste of the strongest parts of the bodie but yet not all alike as Hippocrates doth declare in the second Book of his Prognosticks Howbeit because that place of Hippocrates is so difficult that scarcely the great learned men can agree thereon I will not now meddle therewith but will write Actuarius mind of those three Fine bran When the Ague saith he is grounded in the bottome of the veins then there appeareth such fine bran Howbeit sometimes it is a token of the onely grief of the bladder being scabbed as witnesseth Hypocrates 4. Aphor. 77. But then hath the Patient no Ague and again there doth appear tokens of concoction in the urine But when it cometh of the whole body this is the cause thereof The Ague getting power and prevailing unto the hard parts of the body as in those Agues which are called Fevers hectike then in the striving between those parts and the Ague the Ague having the masterie doth by his violence raise of such brannie scurffe For the nature of fire whose operation the Ague hath is to work according as the matter is that it findeth either to melt it if it be a liquid and unctuous thing either else to scale it and fret it if it be hard and unpliant and the harder that the matter is the greater scales it fretteth off which thing you may see by daily experience how fire melteth wax and tallow and such like turning them into liquids whereas of iron and of other metals Scales it maketh scales and not liquor But when the Ague hath attained and overset not onely the substance of the veins but also the strong parts of the body and doth melt and waste them then doth there appear in the urine scales broad and thin which you shall know to come 〈◊〉 the whole body as I said of the other before if the Pacient have an Ague or theâ— appear default of concoction in the urine â— else if these two be absent it may come oâ— the blistering of the bladder as Hippocrateâ— writeth 4. Aphor. 81. and namely if therâ— be in the urine an evill savour withall Gross bran Now to speak of the great and grosse bran which as it is much greater then the other so doth it declare a greater strength of the Ague and that in the whole body and all the parts of it enflaming and burning the whole substance thereof and therefore is it not only the worst of them all but is nigh unto a deadly sign Note and that either by the waste and consuming of the great and strongest parts of the body or else by the burning or drying up of the bloud Which two things you may discern asunder by the colour of them For if they be red then come they of the burning of the bloud but if they be white then come they of the wast of the strongest parts of the body Hippoc. 7. Aphor. 31. Of this kind of contents speaketh Hippocrates saying In whatsoever Agues there doth appear grounds like unto grosse bran it is a token that the sickness shall continue long Which saying Galen doth understand so to be true If the Patient have sufficient strength to continue with such sickness else it may be a sign rather of short life then of long sickness For as that token is commonly deadly so those few that doe escape do recover hardly and not without the long sufferance of the violence of that cruell Ague Now as touching the foreknowledge of it whether the patient may endure with it or no that shall you gather of the multitude order and stableness or unstableness of it For if they be many in number and proceed to worse and worse then it is an evill and mortall sign and doth declare that nature is wearied and doth quite faint thorow the waste and decay of the whole constitution of the body But contrariwise if they appear few and do alter continually unto lesse evill tokens then is there good hope of health And this shall suffice as touching these Ragged scraps Now to speak of the rest of the ragged scraps hairs and other like First you shall understand that sometime a good ground is coupled with certain evill and unconcted fragments of all sorts of humours for sometime there appeareth with the contents certain ragged scraps enclining in colour toward a yellow or a white â— else some such like if those appear in greâ— quantitie they declare the matter to be haâ— unconcoct and that the humour who scraps they are doth abound in the depth â— the body and is as dust or burned but if theâ— bee few then declare they the malice â— the humour to be milder and that the â— of evill meats doth cause them the greatâ— that such ragged scraps are the lesser aduâ—on of humours they declare to be in tâ— veins and the lesser they be the greater he they do betoken For the cause of sucâ— ragged scraps is excessive heat which do turn those humors into a thickness and as â— were a bony nature by reason that they haâ— remained long in certain veins and weâ— neither dissolved nor extenuated nor yeâ— quickly expelled by urine Hairs Besides these there are hairs of sundrâ— lengths some an inch and some an handfuâ— long some longer and some shorter anâ— these are in colour whitely and do betokeâ— grief of the reins These are ingendred in thâ— water-pipes which go from the reins tâ— the bladder so that as long as those water-pipes are in length so long may those hair also be which are a gross and baked humor wrought in form of a hair Of those speaketh Hippocrates saying 4. Aph. 76. In whose Vrine soever there doth appear little peeces of flesh either as it were hairs those same come from the reins namely if the urine be thick Howbeit these are sometimes seen in such mens urines as feel no grief in the reines but only have fed some continuing space on flegmatick meats which will prepare matter to such diseases as they do also to many other griefs of which to speak in this place it is meet But to go on with this thing that wee have in hand beside such ragged scraps and hairs as I have spoken of there appear sometimes in the ground of the urine and also dis-parkled abroad in the urine it self sundry and divers kinds of motes as it were which do declare that there is grief dispersed in sundry parts of the body Motes The places of
green doth Dioscorides mean when hee doth say of divers herbs that their leaves be black and sometime when he noteth white-lines to be in herbs he meaneth a light green though he other times understandeth thereby a certain horiness of which thing in mine Herball you shall read more exactly Oylie Oylie colours differ from green oylie in their lightness of hue and thinness of substance in the urine where they appear The light oyly is somewhat lighter Light or rather brighter and more glittering then light green Stark So is the stark oylie brighter then the stark green Dark and the dark oylie then the dark green which all cometh through the thinness of substance in the urine Ash-colour Ash-colour is darker then blew and is made of the same sort that blew is save that it requireth more of the black by twofold This is the colour of lead which is much darker then the inner part though indeed both are one colour and differ onely in brightness and darkness which ought rather to be called the hue of colours then colour Black Now as for black I need not to speak any whit for as all men do know it so these very letters do shew it which though of all other it be most deadly yet is it surely of all the most mightie for it overcommeth all colours and none can change it so that well it may be called the colour of death For as death overcometh all bodies so black doth damp all colours beside that it is the messenger and token of death which is the end of all things and black the end of colours The Exposition of certain VVords NOw for because I was inforced to use some though but few terms in this Book which be not wel known of the most sort of men though a great number know them well enough by often talking with Physitians I thought it good here to declare some certain of them for the aid of the most simple sort Ages Because that in the judgement of urines the differences of ages ought to be considered you shall understand that the chief differences of them are four that is to say Childhood Childhood Youth Manhood and Old-age for though there be commonly 7. Ages reckoned yet these be four principall and the other three be comprehended under these four childhood endureth from the hour of birth till the end of 14. yeers of age and is of complexion hot and moist At the end of 14. yeers beginneth youth Youth and lasteth till the 25. yeer and this age of all other is in complexion the most temperate From 25. untill 35. yeers Manhood is the flourishing of manhood but yet that manhood lasteth though not in full freshness until 50. yeers of age and this age is of complexion hot and dry From 50. yeers forward is the time of age peculiarly called Age. in which time mans nature is cold and dry and not moist as many doe falsely thinke Alterative Active q. Brightness Active qualities see the title of qualities Alterative vertue see in the title of vertues Brightness in urine must be marked for a several thing from cleerness For the brightnesse betokeneth the orientness and the beauty of the colour with a certain glistring And cleerness is referred to the substance of urine Clearness and is ever annexed with thinness of it Yet is it a divers qualitie from thinness So may an urine be cleer in substance by the reason of his thinness and yet not bright in colour and not cleer in substance but this would be well pondered lest this necessarie distinction cause a negligent confusion Criticall dayes Criticall dayes be such dayes on which there is or may be perceived some certain token and great alteration in the sick body either to health or death or continuance of sickness What these be more at large I will hereafter God willing declare in a Book peculiarly because it requireth more largeness of words then is meet for this place But one thing I must tell you that the same dayes also be called Judiciall Judiciall dayes but not Indiciall for the Indiciall daies are of another kind but yet associate to these other Cruditie Cruditie is the rawness of the meat in the stomack when the naturall operation of it cannot duely digest the meat which it hath received and therefore the urine which declareth default of such digestion is called a crude raw and unconcoct urine Cupping Cupping is commonly known that â— needeth no declaration Cloddie urine A cloddie urine is that which hath in it clods of bloud or other crude matter or any clusterings of difform contents Dark ground is not meant of the darkness of colour but rather of the slenderness of substance so that it can scarcely bee discerned to be any ground by reason that it is so neer in shape and substance to the rest of the urine Dulness Dulness of colour is contrary to brightness so that when the colour lacketh all brightness then is it clean dulled and whatsoever thing causeth decay of such brightnesse that thing dulleth urine Divers Those contents be called divers which have neither their own right form nor any other certain but are altogether disordered and out of form rather seeming to be many then to be one Duly knit Duly knit is a property of due contents when they are not tattered ragged nor jagged nor flittering asunder nor yet are not so clammed together as tough fleam or any such thing but are in a moderate mean between both these A gathering A gathering sore is that sore that is caused of the excessive recourse of humours into any part of the body as a bile or any other like Harvest Harvest seek times of the yeer Judiciall dayes Judiciall daies seek Criticall dayes Inequalitie Inequalitie of substance in urine doth appear to be the difforments and disagreeing of the parts of it together as when it is thin in one part and thick in another Howbeit it is as well used for the alteration from a mean substance to thicknesse or thinnesse or other wayes unnaturall Obstruction Obstruction is a stopping commonly of the veins and such great conduits which convey blood or any other humour so that the thing which they should convey cannot freely pass as it ought But if the like stopping happen in the pores of the skin I mean those unsensible holes by which sweat passeth out so that neither sweat nor any like excrement may pass that wayes then is it most named Oppilation Howbeit Oppilation as these words be sometimes used the one for the other so they be applied also to other sundry parts of the body but evermore they betoken such stopping in that part that natures work is hindered thereby Principall members Principall members as to our purpose now are these 3. the brain the heart and the liver Passive
thus into water then doth it drop down and gathereth together and so runneth out as it can finde or prepare way As long therefore as there is hollownes in that place with such sort of coldnesse and none other let the Spring of water shalâ— never cease But if the way by any mean be stopped then the water turmoileth and laboureth either to expell that let or to make a new way The causes of diversity in tast of Water Now this water being thus ingendred of the air which hath no taste is also naturally without all taste but the tast that it hath is the taste of the vaines of earth or mettall by which it doth run And that is the cause that some waters are sweet and some soure some fresh and some salt and otherwise diversly tasted some also are hot and some cold and with other like qualities endued according to the ground whereby it passeth But of this I will not now speak because I have appointed for it a peculiar Treatise if God grant me time Only this I say now that a man that is expert can by the colour tast and other qualities of the water which he seeth tell what vains of earth or mettals is in that place whence that water cometh though he see it not And this water is expelled out of his first place as unprofitable there to remain and yet when it is come forth thence it is good for divers and sundry uses The generation of urine Thus may we thinke of the generation and use of urine or mans water Three Concoctions It shall not need that I here reckon exactly the places causes and the order of the three concoctions which go before the generation of urine but it shall suffice to teâ— briefly that of the meat and drink togetheâ— concocted in the stomack is made rudâ— blood if I may so call it which rude blooâ— is wrought again and made more perfectâ— in the liver and thirdly yet more purified in the hollow vein where the urine iâ— separate from it as whey from milk but yeâ— may not exactly be called urine till it comâ— into the reins or kidnies which draw it ouâ— of the hollow vein by a certain natural power resting in them And then doth the reins or kidnies alter it perfectly into urine us the coldnes of the ground turneth air into water But you must take this comparison oâ— similitude to be spoken of the alteration it self and not of the cause Now when Urine is thus made like to that fashion of water as I said then as the water passeth forth from his first place by issues outward so doth the urine descend from the reins by certain veins as it were called Water pipes and runneth into the bladder from whence at due times it is expelled forth if the way be not let So that you may compare the reins to the head of a conduit the water pipes to the conduit pipes the bladder to the conduit and the shaft to the rock of the conduit And further as the water doth declare by â—aste and colour the qualities of the earth or â—eins of mettall whereby it runneth and â—rom whence it commeth so the urine by â—olour and other wayes declareth of what â—ort the places that it cometh thorow and humors that it commeth from are affected And yet not only serveth for this but also â—s the water though it depart from the earth as superfluous in that place yet in other places and to other purposes it is greatly profitable So the urine though it be expelled as a superfluous excrement yet beside the commodity of judgement which it giveth of the parts that it cometh from it doth also serve for divers uses in medicine and other good commodities Of both which I will anon orderly write after I have declared certain things appertaining to the due judgement of it Of the Instrument and parts by which Vrine is engendred and passeth mark this Figure following A. Is the liver B. The hollow vein C. Veins by which the reins do draw the urine and therefore be called sucking veins D. The reins E. The water Pipes F. Is the Bladder G. The spout of the yard All the other parts beside appertain to Generation and seed CHAP. III. What Vrine is and what tokens it giveth in generall YOu have heard now how urine is ingendred from whence it cometh and â—y what places it passeth which things all â—o the intent that you may the better keep â—n minde you shall note this short definitiâ—n The definition of urine Urine is the superfluity or wheyie substance â—f the bloud into a hollow vein conveyed by â—he reins and water pipes into the bladder â—o that hereby you may plainly perceive â—hat if the bloud be pure and clean and none 〈◊〉 grief in the reins Water-pipes Bladâ—er nor Shaft then shall the urine so declare â—t being also perfect and pure in substance â—nd colour and all other tokens according â—o the same But if there bee any grief in â—ny of those parts or the blood corrupt by â—ny means then shall the urine declare cerâ—ain tokens of the same as I shall anon partiâ—ularly expresse But first it shall be necessary to instruct â—ou of the vessel place and time meet to â—udge urine and of the manner of receiving CHAP. IIII. Of the form of the Vrinall and of the pâ— and time meet to judge urine and how it should be received THat urine should be kept to see whâ— is first made after midnight common or namely when the patient hath slept loâ— but you must take heed whether the patiâ— be man or woman The order to receive urine that they make not thâ— urine in another vessel first as many use do and then pour it into the urinall whâ— it is setled for that causeth much deâ— and error in the judgement of it And that the Patient cannot well make it in 〈◊〉 urinall either by weaknesse or any otâ— cause then let them make it in another vâ—sel but see that it be clean and dry and soon as the water is made pour it forth pâ—sently into the Urinall altogether and leaâ—â— no part of it out as some curious folkâ— use to put the clear part only into the urinâ— and cast away the dregs as though it stoâ— not with their modesty to bring such foâ— gear to the Physitian others of such like foâ—lish mind Pour it therefore in wholly anâ— let not the urinall stand open namely industy place but stop it close with a glove 〈◊〉 other leather and not with cloth paper nor â—ay and let it be brought to the Physitian within six hours at the furthest for after that â—ime it cannot well be judged The Urinal Now as touching the Urinall it should be of pure cleer glasse not thick nor green in colour without blots or spots in it not â—at in the bottome nor too wide in the neck out widest in the midle and narrow still
contrarie waies and of contrary causes cometh small quantitie of urine For it cometh sometime of lack of drinke or dry meats and then is the colour light saffron with a smal ground but yet somewhat gross Also both meats and medicines that are clammie and apt to stop the water-pipes do cause little urine but then is the ground also little and thin Besides these much sege causeth urine to be lesser for if the one excrement be greater then nature would the other must needs be lesse if the body be healthful In this urine as you may partly know the cause of it by the knowledge of the excessive sege so will the urine it self be thinner and the ground very dark thin and not duely knit And thâ— many waies may this alteration appear in healthfull body Much urine in a sick body Now in a sick person much urine eitheâ— betokeneth the dropsie and then is it likâ— water with a raw and diverse ground or else if it be white thin and withoâ— ground then doth it betoken the pissing â—vill And this urine as witnesseth Galen â— in his first Book of Judicials is the worst â— any other of like sort Diabete I mean which declaâ— lack of concoction for it declareth the decayâ— yea I may say the utter extinction of twâ— naturall powers that is the retentive power and the alterative power also Much urine in colour fierie and light saffron or of any like colour is to be feared namely if it be coupled with evill contents But if it be of crimson or purple colour and so proceed especially if no concoctioâ— went before it then doth it encline to evill and betokeneth a certain mortifying and wasting of the whole composition of the body But if much urine come in an Ague namely toward the end and that there went before it little urine thick and ruddie then is that a good token 4. Aph 69. as witnesseth Hypocrates for it betokeneth the Ague to be at an end And this Urine will bee white and thin moderately and will have a mean ground Little urine in a sick body Now little quantity of urine with a grosse ground unduly knit and unconcoct is an evill token for it betokeneth the weakness of the alterative power which is not able to extenuate concoct neither alter the matter and therefore doth it with much difficulty pass forth in such grossnes Howbeit if there follow after it a more thinner urine with the ground well and duly knit and stable then is it without fear For this latter urine as you heard before is a token that the cause of the other is overcome and vanquished This little quantitie of urine cometh sometime in vehement Agues and then is the violent heat cause thereof Sometime also it cometh of the stopping of the water-pipes not only through clammy meats and drinks but also of some disease or grief in them And this now shall suffice for an Introduction as touching the substance colours and quantitie of urine Contents It followeth next to speak of the contents which so greatly help to the right judgement of urine that Hippocrates in his second book of Prognostications doth by them only yea and that by one of them I mean the ground pronounce the judgement of a perfect urine saying That that is the best Vrine Sediment which hath his sediment or ground white duly knit and stable and that continually all the time of the sickness Now seeing this great Clerk and Father of Physick doth thus esteem the ground it shall not seem unmeet that I orderly doe write briefly of those principall things that are to be considered as touching the contents and first of all of the ground which hath alteration as you have heard both in substance colour and quantitie But now as touching the substance then is it only mean when the third concoction in the veins is perfect For the ground is the excrement as you might say of that third concoction and is like in forme to matter save that it is more duly knit together then is matter and doth not smell so evill as it or else you may liken it to thin steam Grosse ground This Ground is then gross when the veins are replenished with raw humors Howbeit this grosseness or thickness is not alwayes an evill token for sometime it is a sign that nature hath prevailed against the crude humours which caused diseases and doth expell such superfluous excrements And that shall you discerne by the goodness of the colour and also if it come in the declining of the sickness for if it come at the beginning either in the increase of the sickness then are they to be suspected as evill especially if they bring with them evill colours Thin ground A thin ground being also pure and so cleaving to the bottom of the Urinal that it will not lightly rise though the urinall be shaked it is a token of great weakness of nature in the third concoction and such a ground appeareth most in white and watrie urine Howbeit sometime a thin ground cometh by the reason that the raw humors are extenuate through naturall heat which getting new strength doth extenuate and disperse all grossness of raw humors within the veins For the propertie of heat is to knit and bind together thin things and to extenuate and disperse grosse and raw things Colour of the grounâ— Now as touching the colours of the ground the perfect ground is neither exceeding white neither yet pale but mean between both for if there appear any such excessive white then is it some rag of phlegmatick matter or else matter extreamly concocted which commeth from some inward member being sore and that you may discern as I said before by the toughnes and by the savour And if any man be desirous to know the cause why the ground is white of colour let him remember that the ground is the superfluous excrement of the bloud being perfectly concocted in the veins Now that the bloud it self when it is exactly concocted is turned into a white or at least a party white colour you may conjecture by the generation of milke and also the seed of man yea and of matter which all three are nothing else but bloud exactly concocted save that matter cometh of evill bloud Pale Flaxen And therefore whensoever the ground hath in it any other colour then white it is no good token As first if it be pale and flaxen coloured then it is swarved from his right and commendable colour Howbeit yet it may be born as but meanly evill because that that colour commeth of small excess of choler Saffron Actuarius But if it be more higher coloured by choler so that it be saffron coloured then is it an evill token as Actuarius saith for it declareth that choler is excessively increased either by the order of diet or else by the corruption of bloud or some other wayes 7. Aph.
32. Howbeit Hippocrates in his Aphorisms seemeth to say the contrary for he saith That when the ground is so coloured of choler especially if at the beginning of the sicknesse it were waterie to sight then doth it betoken a quicke sickness that is to say as Philotheus expoundeth it Philotheus a sicknesse that will shortly be ended and so it may justly be called a good sign Notwithstanding as in this point it is a good token in that it signifieth that the disease is nigh the end so it may be called as Actuarius calleth it an evill sign because it doth betoken a cholerick sickness and that choler doth unnaturally abound Antonius Musa And if this answer do not content you though it content Antonius Musa then may you say more better as I thinke thus That if the ground be at the beginning of the sickness coloured with choller and so increase as Actuarius seemeth to mean then is it an evil token indeed for it declareth both the abundance and also the encrease of choler But if the ground at the beginning of a cholerick disease were warry that is white and thin and afterward turn to saffron colour which is the exact colour of choler or else to a yellow colour which is somewhat lesse cholerick then is it a token that the cholerick matter which before lay lurking in the body doth now begin to avoid and so the cause of sicknesse thus by nature expelled health must neeâ— follow As contrariwise if after yellow or saâ—fron colour it change unto whiter and the be no certain token of concoction then it an evill sign and a token of phrensie Howbeit if there be any token of certain concoction then is the same a good sign that if you take heed you may perceivâ— here what a necessary thing it is to observâ— order in the alteration of urine of whicâ— I have partly spoken before Claret colour Red. Bloudie Now therefore to goe oâ—n If thâ— ground bee of claret colour either red oâ— blew the token is not good For these bloody colours come either of too much abundance of bloud or else by reason that the retentive power is so feeble that it cannoâ— keep in the good humors but suffreth them to run out Claret red Claret colour and red doe betoken a certain default of concoction in the veins and that through the excess of red choler Buâ— yet this default is but mean and without danger seeing that the hurt is only by quantity whereas some other do hurt both by quantitie and qualitie also Bloudie Bloodie grounds are altogether worse then red though they be better then ash-coloured and black for they betoken that the bloud is nothing duely wrought especially if their quantitie be much withall for then the quantity of matter doth let the powers to work which thing yet as it may be born so it declareth need of long time to recover health But if this doe come through weakness of the powers in themselves then is it an extream evill sign for it betokeneth that the powers are overcome with weariness in working and be not able to keep in the good and profitable humors Which thing to discern more exactly you shall take artificiall conjectures by other circumstances which give also tokens of judgement namely as by the age of the person by his order of dyet and such like Blew Ash-colour Black Now to make an end with the other colours which are of a dark hew as blew-ash-colour and black These of all other are the worst and most envious to nature and the nearer they cleave to the bottome of the urinall the worse they are These colours come of a black melancholy humour being ingendred within the veins or else coming from some other part into them or else it betokeneth deadly mortifying But sometimes it cometh of sore bruising and stripes and generally cometh namely the black either of exceâ—sive cold or excessive heat And now for a conclusion whatsoever have said of the ground you shall undeâ—stand the same to bee spoken of the swiâ— and the cloud for they are in kinde but oâ— thing save that they differ in lightness anâ—heft and therefore also in places But thâ— judgement of their substance and colour â— much after one rate though some difference there be as you shall hear hereafter Quantitie And likewise of their quantity whicâ— as it is then only commendable when it iâ— mean so if it be greater then a mean it dotâ— declare some alteration in man though noâ— alwayes extreamly evill for sometime it iâ— a token of fatting or growing to a corporateness Great and that it doth signifie if nonâ— other evill sign be coupled with it Foâ— though the person feed much on nourishing meats and that with rest and an idle life yeâ— naturall heat appeareth so strong that she can easily concoct such meats According to this saith Galen in his Judicials that the plenty of the ground in urine betokeneth certain and exact with concoction And that as the body is repleat with crude humours so it declareth that those same be in expelling out at that present time And for this cause saith he in all children commonly and in men also which feed much or bee of some other cause replete with humors their urine hath a great ground Also oftentimes it chanceth the pores of the skin to be stopped so that such excrements as were wont to pass out by them are inforced to seek a new passage which they find most readiest by the urine and thereof are the contents and namely the ground oftentimes encreased And all these waies chance in health But in sickness it chanceth many and grosse superfluities do appear in the urine as often as the naturall powers namely the alterative or concoctive power being weakned such crude humours pass out undefied So doth it chance as witnesseth Alexander Trallianus That the urine of them which have the Collick Tral 2. cap. 33. is flegmatick and hath a great ground But if the contents be either great or gross in the beginning or in the augmenting of sickness namely if the Patient have any notable Ague it argueth abundance of humours to the concoction of the which there needeth both strength of naturall powers with time and good speed Little Contents And now contrary wayes must you judgâ— of the smalness of the contents for they becaused either of great labour long fasting stopping or obstruction of the veins and such like parts or else of slacknesse of concoction Gal. 2. pres Hip. 26. And as Galen saith when the body is replete with crude and raw humours then is the ground great but if the body be replenished with cholerick humors then is there in the urine either little ground or none at all but in such case it is well if there be any sublimation or swim Urine without ground Now seemeth the place most meet to speak of such urines as
bladder onely by some blister or sore in it and that most certainly when the stinch is very great and there appeareth also scales in the urine and matter But if there be matter in the urine and the stinking savour but mean then doth it declare the sore to be in some other part of the body But this ever is true that matter in urine is a token of a sore And if in continuance of time the matter and stinch doe abate it is a good token but if the other continue or increase it is an evill sign If the urine doe stinke and there appear no matter in it then is it a token of some mortifying For if there be in the urine mean tokens of concoction then is the mortification in some one part of the body but if the other signs in the urine be evill then is that mortification rather of the whole body then of any one part of it And thus have I over-run briefly the chief things to be considered in urine which I say are appertaining or annexed to the urine it self Howbeit two other things there are which though they be more plainer then these other yet may they be overpassed no more then the other that is to say blood coming forth with the urine and gravell expelled therewith also Blood Blood coming forth with urine doth declare some sore to be in the reins or bladder as Hippocrates writeth in his Aphorisms or else some vein to be broken about the reins namely if it come suddenly and without manifest cause Howbeit as Galen Oribasius and divers others do declare and reason also with experience doth consent there may appear blood in the urine also iâ— that there be such a sore in the liver or in tâ— shaft But in any of these cases the pain feâ— in the place and part will utter from whence the blood commeth Gravell Now to speak of gravell Hypocrates saith In whose urine there appeareth graveâ— in the bottome they have the stone in the bladder or else in the reins as Galen addeth but commonly if the stone be in the reins the gravell will be red as Hypocrateâ— declareth in his sixt Book of his Epidemies And thus now will I make an end of the judicial of urine CHAP. XI Of the Commodities and Medicines of Vrine THe greatest commodity of urine is already declared that is That it doth declare unto man the manifold diseases which happen unto him and thereby doth not only give him knowledge of the cause and so consequently of the cure of the same but also warneth him before of the grief to come whereby he may take an occasion to eschew it if he will be diligent Now as this is the greatest commoditie of urin so it hath many other as well in use of medicine as other waies of which I will write some though not all And first out of Plinie Plinie which reciteth strange operations of the urine of a Hedge-hog and of a Beast that the Greeks call Leontophon and moreover of the Beast Lynx which I omit now with many other but this will I not omit Urine of man that Hosthanes saith That if a man let his own urine drop upon his feet in the morning it is good against all evill And that it is good for the gout we may perceive by Fullers which never have the gout by reason that their feet are so often washed with it Ostrich urine The same Plinie writeth That the Vrine of an Ostrich will do away blots and moles of Inke Also that if Urine be tempered with water of like quantitie and so powred at the roots of the trees it will both nourish them as many men say and also drive all noyance from them Bees The urine also of men or oxen tempered with hony and given to Bees will cure them that are poysoned with the flower of the Cormier or Cornoiller tree Beans And likewise if Beans be steeped in urine and water three daies before they bee sowed Dioscorides Stinging of Adders c. some judge that they will increase exceedingly Dioscorides saith That a mans own urine is good to be drunk for stinging of Adders and against poison and also against the dropsie when it doth begin And for the stinging of the sea-Adders of scorpions and dragons it is good to soke the stinged part withall Dogs urine The urine of Dogs is good to soke the place that is bitten with a Dog and to cleanse manginess and itchinesse if salt peter be added thereto And that that is old will more strongly cleanse scales scurff scabs and hot pushes Also it stayeth fretting sores namely on the privie members Furthermore it stincheth mattering eares if it be dropped thereinto and if it be sod in the rind of a Pomegranate it expelleth worms out of the ears Childes urine The urine of a child under 14. yeers of age doth cure the toughness of breath if it bee drunken If it be sod in a brazen vessell with honey it healeth creythes and also the web and the tey in the eie There is made of it and copper good soulder for gold Dregs of urine The dregs of urine is good for Saint Anthonies evill if it be nointed thereon so that as Galen doth wisely add the sore be cooled first with some other thing and bee not burning If it be heated with oyle of privet and laid to the womb of a woman it will asswage the grief of the mother and cureth also the rising of the same It cleanseth the eie-lids and the creythes in the eyes Oxe stale Oxe stale being tempered with myrrh and dropped into sore eares healeth the pain of them The urine of a wild Bore Wild bore is of the same vertue if it be kept as Sextus Platonicus writeth in a glasse and dropped warm into them but it hath a more peculiar property in breaking of the stone and to expell the same if it be drunke Goats urine Goats urine drunke every day with Spikenard and three ounces of water is good for the dropsie for it expelleth urine by the sege and it cureth pain of the ears if it be dropped into them Asse pisse Asse pisse as it is written is good for the grief of the reins if it be drunke Mules stale Mules stale as Paulus Aegineta saith is good to heal pain in the joynts Camels and goats stale The stale of Camels and Goats also doth provoke sege and therefore is good for them that have the dropsie Sextus Platonicus Sextus Platonicus saith That Goats urine if it be drunke doth provoke womans terms and cureth pain in the eares being droped into them Paulus Aegineta and being mixed with mulset wine and so dropped into the earâ— it draweth out matter if there be any Wild Bore The urine of the wild Bore with mulse vineger is good for the falling evill if it be drunke Dogs pisse A Dogs
piss tempered with dust and lâ— in wool will heal corns marveilously anâ— destroy warts Childes urine A childs urine will heal the stinging of Bee Waspe and Hornet if the place be washed therewith Mans urine A mans urine will cleanse the freckleâ— and spots in the face And if a woman caâ—not be delivered of the after burden let he drinke mans urine and she shall be delivered straight Collumella Collumella saith that the best dunging fâ— yong shots of trees is mans urine namely which hath stood half a yeer For if yoâ— water vines or apple-trees with it there no dung that will cause so much fruit as â— will doe Sheeps urin and not only that but it causeâ— also the savour and the taste both of the apples and of the wine to be much the better Constantinus Affricanus Constantinus Affricanus saith That the urine of a Sheep or an Oxe with some hot oil is good for the grief in the ears that cometh of cold Vitalis Urine as Vitalis de Furno saith fretteth dryeth and burneth and is good for the grief of the spleen if it be drunk as Gentilis writeth Asse stale The Urine of a male Asse as the same Vitalis saith tempered with Nardus doth increase and preserve hair M. Virgilius And as some say by the writing of Marcellus Virgilius Vrine is of no smal nourishment for divers folk in the time of dearth have been preserved by the onely use and drinking of it Marcellus Also Marcellus the Practitioner in the 27. Chapter doth witnesse That the Vrine of a man is good for divers diseases of the wombe and bowels and namely for the Collick because that partly with provoking of vomit and partly by occasion of seges it expelleth strongly all noysome humours and for the same cause doth common Practitioners keep it still in daily use Vldericus Huttenus Vlderick Hutten also witnesseth That he did drive away the Ague above 8. times with the only drinking of his own Vrine at the beginning of his sickness And many still doe use the same practise and it proveth well Likewise Marsilius Ficinus writeth that Many men doe use to drink urine for the Pestilence Marsilius Ficinus which thing did Galen write long before him and also Paulus Aegineta and doe testifie also that it preserved them thaâ— dranke it at the least way as they thought Galen All urine as Galen writeth is hot iâ— vertue and sharp as saith Aegineta howbeit it differeth according to them that makâ— it For the hotter they are that make it the hotter is it also and likewise the colder urine cometh of a colder body Mens urine is the weakest of all otheâ— except tame barrow hoggs for they in verâ— many points agree with man but the urinâ— of wild Bores is stronger Mans urine Mens urine is of as strong cleansing vertuâ— as any thing else and therefore doe Fulleâ— use it to scoure and cleanse their cloth Anâ— in cure of griefs also for the same reason it is used to soke and wash maunginess anâ— scabbedness and running sores that are fulâ— of corruption and filth and specially if they have in them putrified matter and for sucâ— sores on the privie members it is good anâ— for mattering eares and for scales and scurfâ— if the head be washed in it I have healed with it many times sores on the toes namely which came of bruises and were without inflammation and that in servants and husbandmen which had a journey to goe and no Physitian with them bidding them to wet a small clout with it and to put into the sores and then to bind a cloth about it and as often as they listed to make water to let it fall on their sore toes and not to take the cloth away till it were quite whole Chrisocola That medicine which is made of childes urine called of some men in Greek Chrysocola that is to say gold soulder because men use to soulder gold This I say is exceeding good for sores that are hard to heal For this medicine doe I use for the chiefest mixing it with such other things as are good for such like sores In the time of Pestilence in Syria many did drinke Childrens urine and mens also and thought that they were preserved by it Alchumists Of urine also do Alchumysts make divers things as salt and other things moe And many other commodities there bee of urine as for washing and scouring and other like which for briefness I over-passe and the rather because they are commonly known of all folk Of the Diseases touching Vrines and the Remedies for the same NOw to come to that I promised as touching the griefs which hinder urine or expell it disorderly either in time oftner then is meet or in qualitie with other fashions then is agreeable to it or like other sorts I will briefly write not intending to teach the art of curing them which would require a longer Treatise and a meeter place but onely to name certain of the most common diseases and to set after them such simple and uncompound medicines only which cure those griefs Stopping of urine The stone First therefore touching the hinderance or stopping of urine it is not unknown that one common cause is the stone which sometimes is in the reins and sometime in the bladder I shewed you before that commonly you may discern those two asunder by the colour of the gravel but the more sure token is the grief in the sick part Now for the cure of the same doth these medicines serve which follow But as I have alwaies said you shal use them with the counsell of some learned Physitian for there is great difference both of the grief and of the medicines Medicines for the stone both in the Reins and Bladder Astra Bacca Ameos Angle toches sod Betony Bryony root Bylgrum Chamamel Capers Bark namely of the root Claret seed Clot seed Dock root Fenel seed and root Goats blood Gladian Gromell Gum of Plumtree and Cherry tree A hedge Sparrow Harebell Kneholm root and Berries Madder root High Mallows seed and Root Mugwort Parseley Pelliter of Spain Pyony Berries which are black Radish Sampere S. Johns Wort. Sperage Scholm Swines Fenell Sothern Wood-seed Sour Almonds Tent-wort Tutsan Berries Water Plantine Winter Gilli-flower And beside these there are divers others Also the Stone it selfe that came from a man being braid and drunken will breake and expell that other within him Beside the stone also it causeth the urine to be clean stopped by reason of weakness of the expulsive vertue and sometimes through clodds of blood which rest in the shaft Sometimes also through tough and clammie humours and sometime through some swelling within the yard and divers other wayes also of which the declaration is too long for this place and time but another time I intend to write of them at large and of all other griefs of