dissolue and to bring metallick bodies into waters as is knowne to euery one I say that by this dissolution we may beâ—â—ld the 〈◊〉 simpathy of these Salts with the metallick nature For because they are like they wil be wel mingled together conioyned and vnited dissoluing his like and associating himselfe to his like For strong waters doe neuer worke vpon wood or vpon any oâ—her matter which is not of metallick nature As it was most truly said of a certaine great Phylosopher Nature loueth her like and delighteth in her owne nature And by another wittily thus spoken Easie is the passage of things one into the other which are one in likenesse Sulphur and other things which are of an oyle like nature are sooner and better dissolued with oyles as with the oyles of Terebinth and of Flaxe or Linsede which is most swâ—â—te then with that great force and most violent sharpnesse of strong waters which are nothing else but the spirits of Salts and by consequent doe disagrée with Sulphur which is a beginning contrary to the said spirits Here iâ— offered large occasion of 〈…〉 iâ— time and place would serue but I omit it Let vs returne to our Salt the which if I shal shew that it may be moulten and dissolued no lesse then gold and siluer with the force of fire and being cold againe may be congealed into a masse as metalls be then no doubt it wil euidently appeare that Salt is of a meâ—allick nature And this I say is to be doâ—e not onely in Salt which is sound in mines and in caues of the earth but also in the very Salt of the Sea But for so much as the same is better knowne to them that haue but meane skil in metalls then that I shal néede at this time to spend much labour about it I cease to speake any word more thereof Hereby it doth appeare very euidently that this opioâ—e of Aristotle is false where he saith that cold dissolueth the things which are congealed with heate and that those things which are coagulated by cold are dissolued by heate The which notwithstanding we grant to be true on the one part for that wée knowe well that Salt which is coagulated or congealed by the heate of the Sunne is dissolued in cold water But it must bée confessed also to be true that Salt by the vehemencie of the heat of fier is to be dissolued moulten and made fluxible and to be cast into a moulten lumpe as easily as metalls be Moreouer Salts may be extracted out of all calcined metals which are to be dissolued filtred and coagulated after the same manner as are other salts whether they be common and not moulten or whether they be moulten by the force of heate For it is known to a Chymist of smal practise that out of one pound of calcined lead tenne or twelue ounces of Salt may be extracted All which things doe sufficiently demonstrate and proue that the nature of Salt is metallick and that therefore metall is nothing else but a certaine â—uâ—il Salt By that which hath bene spoken it may easily appeare how Salt is animal vegetal and mineral and that it agreeth with that which all the Phylosophers haue decréed with one consent concerning the matter and subiect of the vniuersal Medicine And hereunto tend all other signes whereby they describe their foresaid matter albeit most abscurely All which things to agrée with the nature of Saltâ— as that 〈◊〉 is of smal estimation that it is to be found in euery thing 〈…〉 our selues the which is most plaine for so much as there is nothing compounded in vniuersal world out of the which and at all times Salt cannot be extracted CHAP. II. The three principles of all things are contained in Salt extracted out of the earth BVt to shewe now more particularly those things whereof we haue spoken generally namely that Salt doe participate with the animal vegetal and mineral nature wée wil vse a common example the which notwithstanding being exactly and diligently waighed and considered by a true Phylosopher is a notable mistery The which albeit it bee taken from out of the earth yet it may lift vp our eyes to heauen I meane to speake of Niter which men commonly cal Salt-Peeter I let passe the detestable and pernicious vse thereof inuented for the destruction of men And yet I must confesse that it deserueth great admiration in that it sheweth forth so great and incredible effects when as we being in these lower parts it representeth thundrings and lightenings as if they were in the aire aloft But it we should consider what it is and of what quality in his owne nature and composition what diuers faculties and qualities and effects there are in a thing so vile and so common it would no doubt make vs to wonder out of measure Niter is made and compounded of earth his mother which bringeth forth the same or it is taken out of old rubbish grâ—unds or out of places where stables for beasts haue bene or out of such kind of groundes which haue bene replenished with salt liquor or with the vrine of beastes rather then out of a leane hungry land washed with raine or by some such like occasion depriued of that radical humour It is most plentifully extracted from the ground where doue-houses are seated and out of Pigeons dung and this is the best Niter of all others the which is worthy the noting Whereby it appeareth that Niter doth participate with the excrements and vrines of liuing creatures For vrines are nothing else but a superfluous seperation of the Salt of vegetables by which liuing creatures are nourished and doe liue Whereby it euidently appeare how the foresaid Salt doth in kind participate with the nature animal and vegetable For as touching that which pertaineth to the mineral it is not much pertinent to our purpose to speake thereof sauing that wée thinke good to adde thus much that it is extracted out of the earth which is the reason why it is called Salt-Péeter when as more properly it should be called the salt of the earth But let vs goe forward Nature ministereth matter to Art whereof Salt-Péeter is compounded Art cannot make by it selfe no more then nature can make Salt-Péeter-pure and seperated from all terrestrilie and heterogeneal or vnkindly substance For that it may produce the same effects which the other produceth it must be prepared by the industry of workemen For these make choyse of conuenient earth and out of fit places to them well knowne and being filtered or strained with hote common water againe and againe through the same earth as lyes are vsually made with ashes it commeth to passe that a saltnesse or brinish taste is mingled therewith which is proper to all salts Of the which like or water so distreined if two thirds or theraboutes be vapored away by séething at the fire and then let coole the salt will be thickened into an
albeit this is true yet God hath appointed Nature as a meanes to fulfill his will the which Nature hee hauing 〈◊〉 with the vertues of working he by the same beginneth furthereth and perfiteth all things Therefore the second cause is called Nature because by the same as by a vital instrument God who is the first cause worketh all things For thus God féedeth men with bread the which he hath indued with a natural faculty of nourishing that the nature of bread may be said to féede and nourish whereto he hath predestinated the same by the forme of natural bread Thus therefore these things are to be reconciled that we acknowledge God to bee the first cause of working in all other causes because hée hath made the causes and hath giuen power of working and doth himselfe worke together with them and that we belieue that hée stirreth vppe prouoketh directeth and moderateth Nature by the power force and vnitie which hée hath giuen to her to doe all things by her proper motions So that we must séeke the cause and forme of all natural actions in Nature which God hath made potent with spiritual vertues by which it acteth and worketh in the matter for that nothing can procéede from the matter it selfe being dead which is Vital or indued with the faculties of working CHAP. IIII THis word Beginning extendeth very farre For as Artes and Sciences so also all other things haue their proper and set beginnings Plato intreating of Beginnings one while appointeth three namely God Patterne and Matter another while he appointeth two onely that is to say that which is infinite and that which is terminable and to be limited By the word Infinite he meaneth Matter and by the word Terminable he meaneth Forme as bringing a thing within a certaine compasse and restraining a matter excurrent within bondes and limits Aristotle varyed not much from the opinion and sentence of his Maister albeit he declared the same in other wordes calling that Forme which Plato named Terminable And that which Plato called Infinite Aristotle nameth Matter appointing Priuation by it selfe for a third beginning Let it not therefore séeme absurde to any that we appoint thrée beginnings of all things Salt Sulphur and Mercurie as if it were thereby intended to ouerthrowe by our constitution the beginnings of the ancient Phylosophers whereas we ioyne and agrée with them For if wée grant to Aristotle his beginnings what difference will there be betwéene him and vs. Wée admit if you please the distinction by which he diuideth his beginnings namely into the first matter into the simple matter and into that which is remote enduring all alterations of formes or wherein there is power to bée made subiect to all formes and in two contraryes to wit Forme and Priuation the which habilitie of taking forme is in the subiect Wée graunt that these beginnings of all other are the more parciptible in vnderstanding than in sense As therefore our beginnings which we appoint out of which al mixt things are compounded and be cannot by the Aristotelian Philosophers be ouerthrowen so in like Aristotelian beginnings cannot by ours be destroyed For all this whole world is diuided into two Globes to wit into the inferior Heauen which is Aetheriall and Airie and into the inferior Globe which comprehendeth Water and Earth The superior which is Aetheriall hath in it Fire lightning and brightnesse and this firery Heauen is a formall and essentiall Element What things soeuer are comprehended in these foure bodyes which are the Elements and receptacles of all things are eyther simple things or bodyes mixed and compounded of them They are simple which are without mixture existing apart and seuerall by themselues of the which all things are made and into the which all things are resolued They are compound or corporeat which both are made of simples and into simples And simples may be distinguished into those things which are simple formes and into those which are simple matters or into those things which are simply formals and into those which are simply materials So bodyes are diuided into materiall bodyes and into bodyes formall Those things which are simply formall are astrall and spirituall the Elements are formall Seedes are formall and the three beginnings are formall that is to say so spirituall that they come not within the compasse of our 〈◊〉 But the formal Elements whereof we speakâ— are they in wâ—ose closet the astral séedes oâ— things and the formal beginnings are defused and layd vp as in their proper recâ—â—â—â—cles in the which simple and spiritual Elements of seedes and spiritual beginnings the 〈◊〉 and quickening Sciences properties and rootes of propagating 〈◊〉 increase of al things lye hid wherein also all habites 〈◊〉 and figures qualities quantities and dimentions sauours â—dours and coolours are included which doe budde 〈◊〉 and florish out of their bosome in their due time by opertune maturitie And these simple Elements or beginnings doe imbrace the spiritual seedes with so great simphathy and friendship and doe render to the Elements and beginnings mutual reciprocation of loue that being brought by the parents into some particular kinde or forme they neuer make an ende by the recordation of their vnion with the simple Elements but that at the last againe the predestination and 〈◊〉 of the natural bodies being consummated they returne backe againe to their graundfathers and great graundfathers and doe rest there euen as the floods passing and issuing out of their Element of the sea running in their course hither and thither leauing at the length euery where behinde them their generation or their wombe eâ—oâ—erated they returne to their beginning againe wherupon by mutuall copulation they receiue new force and strength to increase their issue And this is the perpetuall circulation by which the heauen is marryed to the Earth and the inferior Elements doe conioyne with the superior For the continuall vapours arising from the center of the earth being expulsed into waters and being caryed from waters into ayre by the attraction of the Coelestiall Starres and also by the force and appetite of the inferior Elements to bring forth issue and to conceiue from heauen the séedes passing too and againe at the last the Elements returne to their parents full and impregnated with Celestiall formes and doe there nourish their séedes vntill at the length they bring foorth in due season and doe exclude their generation The which impregnation commeth from no other than from those astrall séedes and those thrée seuerall beginnings Mercurie Sulphur and Salt furnished and fulfilled with all science properties vertues and tinctures and doe borrowe and fitte to themselues out of their spirituall body a materiall and doe animate and adorne it with their properties For it belongeth vnto Mercurie to giue life vnto the partes to Sulphur to giue increase of body and to Salt to compact those two together and to conioyne them into one firme body GOD the Creator of all things
more grosse elements to come into a perfect mixture of one thing which neuer after can be diâ—â—des Wherevpon the Indiuidualls or simples which cannot be diuided doe borrow from Heauen from no other all those forces faculties and properties which they haue no shewe foorth Herevpon it commeth that the proper qualitie of that essence is neither drye nor moiste nor colde nor hote For it is a far more simple thing that is to say a most simple and pure essence extracted out of the more simple and more subtil beginnings and elements which maketh a most simple most pure most thinne and most swifte body indued with the greatest force of generating nourishing increasing and perfecting which commeth so néere vnto the nature of fier that in very déede the Heauen is no other thing but a pure and ethereal fiâ—r neither is the pure fire any thing els but Heauen which the more it ouercometh the principles and elements the more it obtaineth the more potent perfect pure and simple forces and vertues 〈…〉 into all things and furnisheth euery thing with his formes and vertues It appeareth therefore by Moses that there is no other fiery Element but Heauen which hath the place of the fourth element or which is rather a fourth essence extracted out of the more subtil matter and forme of the three elements which is no other thing but a pure ethereal and most simple fier most perfect and most for different from the thrée elements as imperfite which fier is the author of all formes powers and actions in all the inferior things of nature as the first cause and carrying it selfe like the pâ—â—ent toward his ofspring which fier by his winde carryeth conueyeth his séedes into the belly of the earth wherby the generation or fruite is nourished fostered groweth and is at the last thrust foorth out of the lappe or bosome of the elements This Heauen albeit in it selfe it is no complexion that is to say neither hote nor cold nor moyst nor drie yet by his knowledge and predestination it yéeldeth to all things heate and colde moystnesse and drynesse forsomuch as there are starres which haue their most colde and moyst spirites as the Saturnails and Lunaries others most hote and drie as the Solarie and Martialls others hote and moyst as the Ioâ—ialls who by their vertues and complexion wherwith euery Starre and Planet is indued do informe fashion a impregnat all these inferior things in suche wise that some indiuidualls are of this condition and complexion which they haue borrowed and taken from their informing or fashioning planet or starre other some of that which they haue obtained from other Planets and Starres For God hath giuen to Heauen most simple and perfect séedes such as are the Starres and Planets which hauing in them Vitall faculties and complexions do powre them foorth into the lappe of the inferior Elements and do animate and forme them Neyther doth the Heauenâ—casse â—casse from his working nor the Astrall seedes therof because their vertues are neuer exhausted neyther do they suffer alteration or diminution of faculties wherby they may 〈◊〉 from procreating or forming albeit that sometime they do make more or lesse frutefull then at other some Herevpon commeth that perpetuall Circulation by the benefite whereof the séedes of the Elements or theyr matter are coupled with the séedes of the Starres setting and putting their contayned into the maternall lappe that it may forme and bring foorth a kindly sprout For as Heauen is sayde to woorke vppon the Earth so also the inferior Elements do yéelde and bestowe their actions and motions but not after one manner for that Heauen in acting suffereth nothing so farre foorth as it is equalled being of a Hemogeniall and most perfect nature and therefore is incorruptible and Immutable vnto the predestinated ende of things created But these inferior things do suffer in their action because they haue theyr formall beginnings mixed with their materialls subiect to chaunge and destruction whereuppon also it commeth to passe that those things which procéede from them do in continuance of time decay and perish These things knowen to a true Phisitian and Philosopher hée séeketh to restore decayed health and to preserue the same by the extraction of celestiall Essences and Formes and the elementarie separation of the beginnings and materialls from those thrée formall and spirituall beginnings the which heâ—â—seth alone separated from the others which are Heterogeniall or of another kinde that he may worke wonderful effects without any impediment And this is the vniuersal Balsamick medecine wherin all the partes are Homogeneal or of one kinde most pure most simple and most spirituall And being in such simplicitie and most thoroughly clensed and purged from all grosse Feces and incorrupt it is called a Quintessence but more truly and properly a Quartessence and the celestial stone of the Philosophers But let no man thinke here that when I name the Philosophers stone that is to say that vniuersal medicine that I meane the transmutation of metalls as if such transmutation were the chéefe medicine of mans body but knowe rather that in Man which is a little world there lye hidde the mynes of Imperfect metals from whence so many diseases do growe which by a good faithful and skilful Phisitian must be brought to Golde and Siluer that is to say vnto perfect purification by the vertue of so excellent a medicine if we wil haue good and prosperous health The Phisitian therefore must diligently consider two things that is to saye that Nature may be disquieted both by an inward and also by an outward enemie But this more especially he must foresée that Nature be not formented with the outward enemie which then commeth to passe when a medecine is ministred and giuen which is crude impure and venimous and therefore contrary to our nature and spirites Then on the other side he must haue care that the â—omesticall enemies which are within mans body be dryuen out with conuenient and fitte weapons For if a remedy be applyed which is vnfitte then Nature is assayled by two enemies that is to say by the externall medicine and by the inwarde impuritie which remaining long in the body turneth into poyson if spéedy remedy be not had CHAP. XII Moses in his Genesis sheweth the three beginnings Philosophicall which are in euery thing created WE holde by Moses doctrine that GOD in the beginning made of nothing a Chaos or Déepe or Waters if wée please so to call it From the which Chaos Déepe or waters animated with the Spirite of God God as the great workemaister and Creator separated first of all Light from Darkenesse and this Aethereall Heauen which wee beholde as a fifth Essence or most pure Spirite or most simple spirituall body Then hee diuided Waters from Waters that is to say the more subtill Aiery and Mercuriall liquor from the more Thicke Clamâ—y and Oylely or Sulphurous liquor After that he extracted and brought
and comfort the same So the Salt of Guaiacine is by a speciall propertie solutiue as the mercurie thereof by his tartnesse doth testifie and the oyle or Sulphur thereof hath a purging force Out of the which thrée beginnings if the first two spirituall and more simple that is to say Mercury and Sulphur be extracted and according to arte and the fixed which is salt be also extracted and seperated and be after that brought into one bodie which the Arabians call Elixir it will be ioyntly together a medicine prouoking sweate altering concocting and purging Which tryple motion and operation commeth from one and the same essence of thrée vnited in one giuing most assured helpe in stéed of quicke-siluer against the veneril sicknesse or French disease The salt of Tartar is of the same kinde that they be which sharply do vite the tongue being also oily and sulphurus yea it is more sharpe than any other neuertheles if it be mingled with the spirit or sharpe oile of vitriole it can so moderate and correct his sharpenesse and byting spirit that of them both there may be made Ielly and thereof a swéete most pleasing delicate sirup which auayleth much against the gnawing and heate of the stomach and to ease al paines of the collicke All such Mercuries Sulphur and Saltes of Vegetables doe grow and arise from the mercurial and sulphurus spirits of the earth and from metallick substances but they are farre better swéeter and of more noble condition than their parents from whence they take their original There wil be no ende of writing if particularly should bée prosecuted the difference of all beginnings and their properties and faculties which the sea and the earth doth procreate That which is already declared may suffice to stirre vp the moâ—e noble wits to search out the Mysteries of nature and to follow the study of such excellent Philosophy Thus it is made manifest that these thrée biginnings are in Heauen in the Elements as in Ayre Water and in Earth and in bodies elementated as wel of Minerals as of Vegetables And now it resteth that it be shewed how the same be in Animals CHAP. XIIII Wherein is shewed that those three first beginnings are to be found in all liuing Creatures FIrst we wil beginne with Fowles whose first beginning is at the Egge For in Egges there are more plaine testimonies of the nature of Birdes than in any other thing The white declareth the ethereal Mercurie wherein is the séed and the etherial spirit the author of generation hauing in the prolifying power whereof chiefly the Bird is begotten For this cause it is marueilous that so many and so great dissoluing and attenuating vertues and faculties doe lye hid in the white of an Egge as in the ethereal Mercurie The yeolke of the Egge the nourishment of the Bird is the true Sulphur But the thinne skinne and the shell doe not onely conteyne a certaine portion of Salt but also their whole substance is salt and the same the most fixed and constant of al other salts of nature so as the same being brought vnto blacknesse and freed from his combustible sulphur but calcination it will indure and abide all force of fyer which is a propertie belonging to the most fixed salts and a token of their assured and most constant fixion This salt daily prepared is very fit to dissolue and breake the Stone and to auoyd it As these thrée principles are in the Egge so they passe into the bird For Mercury is in the blood and flesh Sulphur in the fat and salt is in the ligaments sinewes bones more in solid parts And the same beginnings are more subtil and aierie in birds than in fishes and terrestrials As for example the Sulphur or oily substance of birds is alwayes of more thinne parts thâ—â— that of fishes or of beastes The same may be sayd of Fishes which albeit they be procreated and nourished in the cold water yet doe they not want their hote and burning fatnesse apt to burne And that they haue in them Mercury and Salt no man well aduised will denie All terrestriall liuing creatures doe consist in like sort of these thrée beginnings but in a more noble degrée of perfection than in vegetable things they doe appeare in them For the vegetable things which the beastes doe féede vpon being more crude are conâ—â—cted in them and are turned into their substance wherby they are made more perfect and of greater efficacie In Vegetables there were onely those Vegetatiues which in beastes beside the vegetation which they retaine they become also sensatiue and therefore of more noble and better nature The Sulphur appeareth in them by their grease tallow and by their vnctuous oily marrow and fatnesse apt to burne Their Salts are represented by their bones and more solid and hard parts euen as their Mercuries doe appeare in their blood and in their other humors and vaporous substances All which those singular partes are not therefore called Mercurie Sulphurs and Salts because they consist of animal Mercurie of animal Sulphur and of Animal Salt without the coniunction of the beginnings But in Mercurals Mercurie in Sulphurus Sulphur in the Saltish salt doth rule and dominéere Out of the which thrée beginnings of beasts oyles diuers liquours and salts apt for mans vse both to nourish and also to heale and cure may by Chymicall art be extracted CHAP. XV. Concerning Man and the liuely Anathomie of all his parts and humours with the vertues and properties of his three beginnings NOw it remaineth that we séeke out and search in man those things in whom they shall be found to be so much the more subtill and perfect by how much he excelleth all other creatures in subtiltie and excellency For in him as in a little world are contained these thrée beginnings as diuers and manifold as in the great world but more spirituous and farre better For Pholâ—sophers cal man the compendiment or abridgement of the greater world And Gregory Nazianzene in the beginning of his booke concerning the making of man saith that God therfore made man after all other things that he might expresse in man as in a small table all that he had made before at large For as the vniuersal frame of this world is diuided into these thrée parts namely intellectual and elementarie the meane betwéene which is the celestial which doth couple the other two not onely most diuers but also cleane contrary that is to say that supreme intellectual wholy formal and spiritual and the elementary material and corporeat so in man the like triple world is to be considered as it is distributed into thrée parts notwithstanding most straightly knit together and vnited that is to say the Head the Brest and the Belly beneath The which lower belly compreheÌ„deth those parts which are appointed for generations and nourishment which is correspondent to the lower elementarie world The middle part which is the brest where the heart
moysture And as all Phylosopers doe write with one consent it is an vniuersal medicinable body whereunto all the particularities of medicines are reduced and infused For this cause it is as it were a fineth nature or essence a most thinne soule most purgatiue much resisting for a very long time putrifaction or corruption freed from al mortal concretion a celestial and simple substance of the Elements brought to to this spiritual nature by Chymical sublimation And yet for al this we affirme not that this medicine is altogether incorruptible for as much as it is made and consisteth of natural things Neuerthelesse it is brought to that subtiltie thinnesse and simplicitie spiritual that it séemeth to containe nothing in it that is Heterogenial or vnkindely whereby it may be corrupted whereby also it commeth to passe that being giuen to the sicke it preserueth them a long time in health And for this cause the Philosophers haue had this in so great estéeme and haue wholy addicted themselues to seeke and search out the same not to make themselues rich by turning imperfect metals into gold and siluer when as many of them willingly embraced pouertie but rather to heale the diseases and sicknesses of men and to defende and preserue their liues in long health without griefe vnto the time which God hath appointed But leauing this great mysterie which very fewe attaine vnto I wil in charitie and good wil deliuer here vnto thee an easie prescription how to make certaine waters of great vertue which I found written in the Latine tongue in an auncient coppy seruing to kéepe the body in health and to deliuer it from many infirmities which I thought good here to insert as very pertinent so this Treatise which concerneth as you haue heard the vertue of Minerals Take of Aqua vitae distilled with red Wine lib. 4. Of burnt Salt lib. 2. Of dead Sulphur lib. 2. Of white Tartar z. 2. Of the coales of Flaxe which groweth in Abella a Towne of Campania in Italie z. 3. Of Salt Peter z. 4. Beate al these into fine pouder seare them and being mingled together powre on them the aforesaid Aqua vitae and so put the whole masse to distillation The Vertues of the Distillation THe first Distilation hath vertue of a Balsam to conserue both flesh and Fish from putrifaction It clenseth the face from all freckles and spots clearing the skinne and making if fairer It cleanseth the body from Itch and Scabbes and dryeth vp the teares and watrinesse of the eyes The second distillation expelleth impostumations and superfluities of the body fasteneth the téeth which are loose and taketh away the windinesse of the Liuer The third taketh away a stinking breath and purgeth tough flegme out of the Stomach and whatsoeuer is not wel digested The fourth expelleth blood which is congealed in the body The fifth healeth and taketh away from man the faling sicknesse The sixt distillation helpeth al paines about the throate The seuenth cureth the paine of the Goute The eight is an excellent Balsam which sée thou kéepe well The ninth distillation comforteth and preserueth the Liuer if a little gold be dissolued therein After euery of the former distillations the feces must be beaten and searced as in the beginning Another Water by which a Phisitian may worke wonders TAke the fylings of Siluer of Brasse of Iron of Leade of Steele of Gold the summe or froth of Golde and of Siluer and of Storax so much of all these as the abilitie of the man can wel affoorde put these the first day in the vrine of seuen yeares of age the second day in white Wine made hote the third day into the Iuice of Fennel the fourth day into the white of an Egge the fifth day into womans milke which giueth a boy sucke the sixth day into red wine the seuenth day in seuen whites of Egges Then put all this into a cupel and distil it with a soft and gentle fyer That which is distilled kéepe in a Siluer or golden vessel There cannot bée spoken enough in the praise of this water It cureth all sortes of Leprosie and wonderfully clenseth the body It maketh youth to continue long Vse it to thy comfort and to the good of thy neighbour CHAP. XVIII Shewing by what remedies sicknesses are to be cured IT is alleaged out of the authoritie of Hypocrates and Galen that contraries are cured by contraries But hée which affirmeth that contraries are cured by contraries hée shall neuer easily finde out a remedie for sicknesse neither was this Hypocrates meaning as shall bée shewed anon It is out of question that sicknesses doe arise from the disagrement of the beginnings and so often as those beginnings doe decline from their temper which is then called a distemperature and the one being seperated from the consort of the other taking vp his standing by himselfe procureth sicknesse For when it is not in mixture with the other which being ioyned together do maintaine concord they then make warre vpon the body without any stoppe or let I speake not here of simple and bare qualities but of the very essences wherein are those powers and faculties whereof Hypocrates speaketh which preserue the health of their Balsam or to restore it when it is lost Seing therefore the séedes and properties both of health and of sicknesses lye hid in the essences it followeth that they are to be cherished with essences and not with qualities The which essences forsomuch as they are méere acting spirits they are to be repelled with spirits not with bodyes which are not like them or which are contrary to them But it is obiected that al things consist of Elements therefore our bodies also If then the Element of ayer do suffer and be out of course in vs shal the same be holpen with the Element of earth Why then haue Phisitians so fewe remedies against the pestilence Is it because there are none at al I confesse when God wil punish hée taketh away the vertue from remedies and medicines That is not the cause I meane the want of remedies but because ignorant Phisitians know not the causes of the pestilence and therefore dâ—e not rightly prouide to preuent the same For séeing they oppose against the pestilence comming of the corruption of the Ayer a medicine taken from earth water or ayer or from the earth hauing a watery original what maruayle is it if there follow no effect thereof when as they doe not driue away those things which are to bée mixed together but those things which doe easily agrée and are gathered together For how can the heauen and the earth bée mingled together to helpe the distemperature of the Heauen betwéene the which there is so great distance as there is betwéen diuisible and indiuisible as Plato spake Therefore celestiall things are to be mingled with celestial things waterie with waterie and earthie with earthie and not contrariwise otherwise there can be no agréement Consider wel