shall anon particularly expresse But first it shall be necessary to instruct you of the vessel place and time meet to judge urine and of the manner of receiving it CHAP. IIII. Of the form of the Vrinall and of the place and time meet to judge urine and how it should be received THat urine should be kept to see which is first made after midnight commonly or namely when the patient hath slept long but you must take heed whether the patient be man or woman The order to receive urine that they make not their urine in another vessel first as many use to do and then pour it into the urinall when it is setled for that causeth much deceit and error in the judgement of it And if that the Patient cannot well make it in the urinall either by weaknesse or any other cause then let them make it in another vessel but see that it be clean and dry and as soon as the water is made pour it forth presently into the Urinall altogether and leave no part of it out as some curious folk do use to put the clear part only into the urinall and cast away the dregs as though it stood not with their modesty to bring such foul gear to the Physitian others of such like foolish mind Pour it therefore in wholly and let not the urinall stand open namely in a dusty place but stop it close with a glove or other leather and not with cloth paper nor hay and let it be brought to the Physitian within six hours at the furthest for after that time 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 flat in the bottome nor too wide in the neck but widest in the midle and narrow still toward both the ends like the fashion commonly of an egg or of a very bladder being measurably blown for the Vrinall should represent the bladder of a man and so shall every thing be seen in his due place and colour If neither the grossenes of the Vrinall neither the colour nor spots shall let the true sight of the colour and substance of the urine and the contents of it neither the deform fashion of the urinall shall alter the regions or rooms of the urine Likewise concerning the place meet to behold urines The place you must look that it be neither too dark so that your sight should not discern perfectly either the colour substance or contents for lack of light neither yet that your fight be likewise deceived if the place be too light as in open light or beams of the sun The time Besides this also you must mark the time due to behold urines but because there can no one time be assigned certain and exact to judge all parts of it I will briefly shew the order of the things to be considered in their time First when the urine is made while it is yet somewhat hot you shall consider the colour of it for that may best bee discerned then and likewise the thickness of the substance of it which if it be mean shall then be best seen All other things as the bubbles and the contents shall be best judged somewhat after when the urine is somewhat cooled and they be duly setled in their proper places CHAP. V. How many things are to be considered in Vrine NOw leaving this as a brief instruction of the generation of the Water or Urine Four things to be considered in Urine viz. Substance Colour Quantitie Contents and of the manner of receiving it in vessels due with time and place meet to consider it I will particually declare how many things are to be considered in it which are commonly named four that is the Substance the Colour the Quantity and the Contents and the Savour thereto may be added as the fift to the which fift if you shall joyn stableness and order as two accidents common to the first four things but yet no lesse to be considered then they then shall you judge the more certainly Stablenes is called Stableness when the urine continueth certain daies together of one sort And if it alter every day Unstableness Order then is that called unstableness or changeableness to which thing order doth appertain For order is the following of one thing after another as black coloured urine after white green or pale I mean not because that so it ought to follow but only that you must observe how it doth follow For black Urine doth not signifie the same if it follow after green urine as it doth if it follow after white urine so that the order ought also to be marked But now to return to the four first things Substance is called in urine Substance the urine it self in respect of the thickness or thinness of it So that there are 3. Three sorts of substance in urine sorts of substance in urine thick thin and mean Thin substance is called Thin when you may perceive well the joynts of your fingers through the urine Thick And contrariwise it is called thick when you cannot well see your fingers through it and that is in the middle between extream thick and extream thin Mean Colours is called mean Colours are divers but the principall are these six white pale flaxen yellow red and black And all the other colours are contained under these six Light white as Chrystallse snowie As under white ate contained clear as chrystal white as snow and pure as water which three are light whites Waterie Dark white as milke-white horny gray pale flaxen yellow Then are there other three more darker as milk white cleer like horn and grey After white followeth pale colour and then flaxen after it followeth pale and then yellow which may be called golden for it is the colour of pure gold Light saffron saffron colour Claret Red. Crimson Purple Blew Green After it followeth light saffron and then saffron then claret colour and then red after it crimson and then purple and then blue Then is there green of divers kinds as light green green as grasse stark green and dark green There are also oil colours that is popingay green of three sorts as of green light oily Oylie stark oily and dark oily Ash colour After these is there Ash colour like unto lead and after it as last of all cometh black And these be the chief colours Black Now as touching quantity it is also in three sorts much little and mean Quantity Much. Then it is called much quantity when it exceedeth the measure of a mans drinking And then is it called little Little when a man pisseth lesse then he drinketh And that is mean Mean when a mans pissing and his drinking is of like quantity All this must be considered by due proportion The contents are
if there be any Physitian so arrogant that he will take upon him to tell all things alone and will not hear the Patient speak specially not knowing the party before neither seeing other signes but only the urine as I dare boldly pronounce That such a man is unworthy to be called a Physitian So it shall be good for all men not to trust to the judgement of such a one for by such mis-use in this thing not only much harme befalls the patients so that it hath been the occasion of many mens death but also very much reproach hath ensued to the whole estate and order of Physitians and hath caused that excellent and most necessary art to bee contemned derided and little set by To avoid the more this inconvenience I have written this little Treatise to all men in common The use of this Book that they may learn to have some knowledge in their own urines and thereby may be the better able to instruct the Physitian at the least what sort of urine they have made from time to time from the beginning of their sicknes and somewhat before And also what fort of water they were soure or bitter and such like Yea beyond all this he requireth in every man the knowledge of his own pulse which is a thing harder then the judgement of urines Now if you require Examples the whole world is full of them They that wrote in Greek Examples of Writers in the Vulgar tongue wrote in their own vulgar tongue and so did they that wrote in Latine write in their own common speech Besides that have we not infinite examples of Learned men in Germany France and Spain which wrote of Physick in their own tongue Yea Is not our own England full of Examples How many Books of Practises how many Herbals and other like Books of Physick hath there been put forth many yeers past And yet unto this day doe not learned wits sleepe How much is all England bound to that Worthy and Learned Knight Sir Thomas Eliot Sir Thomas Eliots Castle of Health which took the pains to build a Castle of Health for all English men besides many other learned Books that he hath put forth in the Vulgar tongue whereby a man may learn both to govern himself so that though he escape not all sicknesses quite yet he shall eschew the great dangers of them England may rejoyce of such a Knight yea England hath too few that followeth such example But if England had as many well willing doers as she hath cruell and spitefull disdainers then were England the Flower of all Realmes in the world Now will I leave this and draw nearer to my purpose and will desire all men that shall read this Book patiently to bear with my boldness and thankfully to receive my good minde And if there shall bee found in this Book or in any other that I shall put forth a small error or oversight for greater errors I dare say there shall be none I shall desire all them that shall find any to advertise me thereof by word or writing and I shall be ready not onely to render condign thanks but also to amend duely that shall be thought amisse or else to yeeld a reason for the proof of the same An exhortation to the Reader And now to make an end I will desire every man soberly and discreetly to use this my Book not using it to the taunting or checking of other men nor to trust in their own knowledge further then they ought And likewise I shall exhort all men not to mock and jest with any Physitian as some light wits do tempting them with Beans stale in stead of mens urine others bringing to them mens water for womens and such other like things For in this doing they deceive not the Physitian but themselves For a mans water to be like a womans it need seem no strange thing Howbeit again there is a notable difference insomuch that that water which in a man declareth health if it were a womans might declare some disease and likewise that which in a woman signifieth health if it were a mans water it might betoken sicknesse And if a mans water and womans be like and betoken both diseases those diseases may be divers and not one Yea two mens waters being both alike shall not declare alwaies one grief except they agree also in age diet exercise and other like things Also that a Beasts Water may be like a Mans the Mans sicknesse being thereafter Hypocrates witnesseth and experience teacheth as I shall declare hereafter Therefore if you seek the Patients health look that you receive the urine diligently and as soon as you can present it to the Physitian and be diligent to instruct him in all things that you can and that he shall not have need to aske And so no doubt you shall receive great commodity of that Art to the health of man and the glory of God which hath given such knowledge unto man THE URINALL OF PHYSICK CHAP. I. Of the Division and Order of this Book BEcause that nothing done confusedly can be well understood of the Readers for every thing the better order it hath the better it may be understood and is much more easily remembred when the order of it is well and certainly known The sum of this Book I have therefore digested this Book orderly as I shall here set forth to the intent that you may read as it were in grosse the whole Book and thereby keep it the better in remembrance First therefore I will declare the nature of urine what it is and how it is ingendred within man and how it passeth forth from man Secondly of the order of receiving it in a convenient vessell And of the time and place meet to consider it Thirdly how many things are to bee considered in urine and how many wayes they may be altered in a healthfull man Fourthly what significations and tokens may be gathered of urine concerning any alteration in man past present or to come Fiftly to what use in medicine urine may serve and of other good uses of it to mans commodity And last of all I wil declare certain diseases touching urine which either let it or cause it to void unwillingly with the Medicines and remedies meet for the same CHAP. II. How Vrine is ingendred in Man and how it passeth forth AS unto them that are learned and know by the Art of Anatomy the scituation of the parts of man and the naturall office of every part it is easie enough to perceive the originall generation and cause of urine without any example so unto them that neither know the scituation nor offices no neither yet the names of the parts of mans body it is scarce possible to make them to perceive the generation of urine without some sensible example But because it is very hard to find an artificiall example which can alone duely expresse this work
of nature I will use therefore an example of a natural work which shall expresse in many points this thing though not in all for such can there none be but the thing it self And in as much as this example is not easie to be understood of all men though the most part do now a daies partly know it by experience of finding springs of waters I will first propose an artificiall example to make both the other to be the better perceived An example of Stilling It is daily seen in distilling of Waters that the temperate heat of the fire doth separate the purest part of the juice from the herbs and also from the grosser juice This by naturall lightness is drawn into the head of the Stillatorie where by the coldness of the helmet it is made somewhat grosser and so through naturall heat descendeth and passeth forth by the Pipe of the Stillatorie The Originall And as the Art of man useth to make this water so doth nature use to make the water of springs whereof come all rivers streams and floods except the sea For seeing the earth is not perfectly sound and thick of substance Cause of springs as stones and some woods appeareth to be but it is hollow and full of holes as you see that cork is so that the air which by his subtleness pierceth into never so little a hole entreth and filleth this hollowness nature so leading to it because no place should be emptie In which place by the coldness of the earth the air is turned into water as you may see in walls and pillars or stone namely of marble how the coldness of the stone turneth the air into water and hangeth full of drops which sometimes trickle down apace as if they did swear So when the earth hath turned the air 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 or coldnesse and none other let the Spring of water shall never cease But if the way by any means 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 Is shall not need that I here reckon exactly the places causes Three Concoctions and the order of the three concoctions which go before the generation of urine but it shall suffice to tell briefly that of the meat and drink together concocted in the stomack is made rude blood if I may so call it which rude blood is wrought again and made more perfecter in the liver and thirdly yet more purified in the hollow vein where the urine is separate from it as whey from milk but yet may not exactly be called urine till it come into the reins or kidnies which draw it out of the hollow vein by a certain naturall power resting in them And then doth the reins or kidnies alter it perfectly into urine as the coldnes of the ground turneth air into water But you must take this comparison or 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 taste and colour the qualities of the earth or veins of mettall whereby it runneth and from whence it commeth so the urine by colour and other wayes declareth of what sort the places that it cometh thorow and humors that it commeth from are affected And yet not only serveth for this but also as 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 by what places it passeth which things all to the intent that you may the better keep in minde you shall note this short definition The definition of urine Urine is the superfluity or wheyie substance of the bloud into a hollow vein conveyed by the reins and water pipes into the bladder So that hereby you may plainly perceive that if the bloud be pure and clean and none other grief in the reins Water-pipes Bladder nor Shaft then shall the urine so declare it being also perfect and pure in substance and colour and all other tokens according to the same But if there bee any grief in any of those parts or the blood corrupt by any means then shall the urine declare certain tokens of the same as I
the grief of the stone it declareth that the grief shall be turned into the strangurie Thick and green Thick urine and green namely in Agues is a token of the yellow Jawnders either present or ready to come Thick and ash coloured Thick urine and ash coloured if it appear in Agues and do not settle it is a sign of madnesse But in the burning Ague it betokeneth that the strangurie will come shortly Thick and black But if a black colour appear in thick urine it betokeneth sometime well as in the end of the Fever Quarten and of melancholike madness for it betokeneth that the melancholike matter which caused the diseases doth avoid out But sometimes it is an evill token for it signifieth that either the blood is burned through exceeding heat or else that naturall heat is clean quenched through deadly cold and therefore is commonly called a deadly sign namely in sharp Agues if it have an evill savour And so meaneth Galen when he saith that he marked The thicker that a black water is the worse it is and moreover That he never saw any escape which made such Vrine And thus have you heard of the significations of thin and thick urine with such colours as may be coupled therewith Now will I write a littler of the colours alone and of such tokens as come chiefly of them rather then of the substance or any other part of the urine Colours of urine The colours of urine declare commonly how heat and cold do reign in the body so that the white the urine is the greater is the cold and natural heat lesse and the higher coloured that the urine is the greater is the heat But to speak particularly White that you may perceive it the better If the urine be white it is a sign that concoction faileth quite and the lighter coloured the worse Pale colour in better somewhat Pale though it also declare lack of natural heat and strength And flaxen colour Flaxen though it betokeneth beginning of concoction yet it is not perfect howbeit it may be well taken if all other signs be good Pale light saffron Pale and light saffron as you have heard before are the best colours and most temperate which betoken exact concoction Golden saffron But golden and saffron colour declare excess of heat Claret red Crimson Purple Green oily Claret is next and then red after it crimson and then purple then green and last of them is oily urine which as they goe in order so they declare greater and greater heat with increase not only of the qualitie but also of the matter containing the same Blew ash-colour But now of the other side blew urine and ash colour are tokens of excessive cold sometime with matter and sometime without and so like wise of black urine howbeit it cometh sometime of excess of heat But how you may know the differences both of it and all the other now will I shew in order with the rest of their significations White urine White 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 urine is no great evill sign as you may perceive by that I said before of Ages how they alter urine But in yong men and such as are of freshest age it is a worse sign and specially if it have either no contents or else evill contents And if urine continue long time white without changing it betokeneth painfull beating of the head daselling of the eies and giddiness and also the falling evill lothsomness of good meats and lusting 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 horn white 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 especially if it come plentifully Pale flaxen Pale urine and flaxen do not lightly appear in Agues except they be easie Agues and short as those which continue but one day but if that it do follow after burning Agues it declareth that they be fully dissolved Pale saffron As for pale and light saffron they are as I said before the best and most perfect colours namely in young men and fresh youth But in old men women and children whose urine as I have said declineth toward white and pale it doth betoken that their bodie is too hot either by reason of their diet or else of their exercise But in as much as it is but mean excesse it declareth but small grief Golden and saffron coloured urine if it be either somewhat thin Golden saffron colour or very thick either it hath no ground or else very few and dark contents But in this they differ that golden urine declareth excess of heat and matter also by reason of meats sharp medicines chafing of the bloud through anger heat of the bowels or else heat of the time of the yeer But saffron colour appeareth rather with default of matter through some affection of the mind watching heat of the sun labour and such like things which increase thin and yellow choller and diminish naturall heat so 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 such other there is some greater cause that occasioneth it for it signifieth an Ague cometh of saffronly choler dispersed through the whole body after which there followeth commonly giddiness headach bitterness of the 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 great 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 opened But how it may be known from whence it commeth and how there are many means to search but because they are not light to perceive I will reserve them for Physicians that are learned This colour of it self is no great evill sign namely in young men for it betokeneth excess of bloud which may well bee born of them But in old men it is a very evill sign for it betokeneth either long sickness or else death sith nature is so weak that it cannot keep in her natural humour And if that red colour come of red choler as it doth in young men for the most part and not of blood which thing a learned Physician may conjecture partly by the former diet and other signs more the accidents shal be the more troublous howbeit yet not so evill as when it commeth of saffron or golden choler for this causeth greater thirst and more troublous sleep then the other Of Crimson colour Crimson colour CRimson colour is a token that the good humours of the bodie are burned and turned into red or black choler which cause worse griefs then the other howbeit if it 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 Purple colour PUrple colour declareth need of much strength before it can be altered to a good urine This urine is a sign of burning choler And if it do continue very long it is a token of the yellow Jaunders with abundance of gross and corrupt choller gathered in the liver And at the beginning there goeth with it some spices and grudgings of the Ague with a little thirstiness but unless there bee discretion used in the diet of such a Patient it may turn to a much worse disease Of Green Vrines Green colour GReen colour is an evill and a dangerous token for it needeth not only long time but also cotinual strength to bring it again to a good trade The higher that this colour is the more it declareth that choller exceedeth the other humours which if it be any more burned will cause black urine of which I will anon speak But if green colour come of wasting of the fat then is it somewhat like to oylie colour or popinjay green but if it come of abundance of purpelish colour and through increase of his qualitie then doth the colour incline more toward black and glistereth with shadowie green drawing very nigh unto black After green choler followeth madness parbreaking and avoiding of choler sometimes with matter or else burned and also continuall thirstiness and burning heat of the tongue straightness about the stomack And like other things But if the patient continue strong and the colour of the urine do waxe lighter there is good hope else there is great fear least of the dryness and burning there do follow contraction of the sinews which will kill the patient Of Oilie Vrine or Popinjay Green Oilie urine popinjay green OYlie Urine is of three sorts as I said in the first Chapter that is light oylie stark oylie and ddark oylie Oylie urines are a token of unnatural heat and the higher that the colour is the greater is the heat And also they betoken melting of the fat within a man for of it are they so coloured But at the beginning when there is a little fat melted the urine is light oylie For if it look stark oylie then it signifieth that the disease increaseth But if it come once to dark oylie then is the disease sore increased Hippocrates in the seventh Book of his Aphorisms speaking of fatness in urine saith thus Who so maketh urine with fatty flotes comming much and fast they have sharp pains in the reins Which sentence though it seem more to appertain to the contents then to the colour yet doth not onely Galen but also Aetius Actuarius and also another Grecian whose name I know not expound it amongst colours and by it declare the difference to know whether that wast or melting of fat be in the reins it self or in other parts of the body For if it come fast together as Hippocrates saith then commeth it from the reins it self and betokneth the wasting to be in them But if it come softly and increase by little and little then doth it declare that the whole body is overcome with unnaturall heat and that the fat of it doth wast it doth betoken as Act. witnesseth a wasting Ague consuming the body Of blew Vrine Ash colour and Black BLew colour Ash-colour and Black do differ only in lightness and darkness For ash-colour is darker then blew and black is darker then any of them both Blew colour Blew colour sometime cometh of moderate melancholy and then is the urine somewhat thin in substance And sometime it commeth of great cold and then it is thick in substance And sometime it is a token of mortifying of some part Yea and sometime even of whole nature namely if the colour change to worse and worse and there went before no token of concoction Ash-colour Ash coloured urine commeth of like causes and betokeneth like things Howbeit it is so coloured many times when the party that made it hath been fore beaten an bruised But in this you need not the help of urine for you may see the walts and tokens of the stripes in his body Black urine Urine which is extream black sometime betokeneth extream heat and sometime extream cold the which both you may distinctly discerne if you doe observe order of alteration in the colours of the urine that the patient made last before For if his urine before were green or like thereto then doth the black urine which follows it betoken extream heat But if it were last before blew or ash coloured then doth it signifie extream cold This black colour though it be commonly an evill and deadly sign as I said before speaking of thick urine and black yet sometime it is a good token For in all diseases lightly that come of melancholy matter it betokeneth that the
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 ground 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 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 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 Pale Flaxen 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 But if it be more higher coloured by choler so that it be saffron coloured Saffron Actuarius 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 Howbeit Hippocrates in his Aphorisms 7. Aph. 32. 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 And if this answer do not content you though it content Antonius Musa than may you say more better as I thinke thus Antonius Musa 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 watry that is white and thin and afterward turn to saffron colour which is the exact colour of choler or elso 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 needs follow As contrariwise if after yellow or saffron colour it change unto whiter and there be no certain token of concoction then it is an evill sign and a token of phrensie Howbeit if there be any token of certain concoction then is the same a good sign so that if you take heed you may perceive here what a necessary thing it is to observe order in the alteration of urine of which I have partly spoken before Claret colour Red. Bloudie Now therefore to goe oâ—n If the ground bee of claret colour either red or 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 cannot 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 But 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 Bloodie grounds are altogether worse then red though they be better then ash-coloured Bloudie 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 it cometh namely the black either of excessive cold or excessive heat And now for a conclusion whatsoever I have said of the ground you shall understand the same to bee spoken of the swim and the cloud for they are in kinde but one thing save that they differ in lightness and heft and therefore also in places But the judgement of their substance and colour is much after one rate though some difference there be as you shall hear hereafter And likewise of their quantity Quantitie which as it is then only commendable when it is mean so if it be greater then a mean it doth declare some alteration in man though not alwayes extreamly evill for sometime it is a token of fatting or growing to a corporateness Great and that
it doth signifie if none other evill sign be coupled with it For though the person seed much on nourishing meats and that with rest and an idle life yet 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 inch 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 judge of the smalness of the contents for they be caused either of great labour long fasting stopping or obstruction of the veins and such like parts or else of slacknesse of concoction And as Galen saith when the body is replete with crude and raw humours Gal. 2. pres Hip. 26. 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 have no ground at all nor other orderly content and that will I doe by the order of the colours of the urine according as Actuarius proceedeth The urine that is very white and exceeding thin and so lacketh the ground doth betoken either some notable obstruction either immoderate cold or else cruditie and lack of concoction And as these tokens may be greater or lesser so shall the things which they betoken bee judged in like rate either more or lesser But if the urine bee pale coloured or flaxen and then lacketh contents as it doth declare lesser obstruction so it doth signifie as great cruditie as the other before And so shall you judge of urine that is yellow or flaxen coloured For in them it appeared that naturall heat doth prevail Notwithstanding such things I mean the default of the ground with those colours may chance as often they doe through vehement pain immoderate labour long watching and also default of matter But such urines as be higher coloured then these that I have named by their colours they declare the qualities of the humours which doc prevail and also betoken a certain putrefaction and cruditie in the veins It chanceth also sometimes that some gathering sore being in some of the principall members by his unnaturall heat withdraw thither the matter even as it were by cupping and so doth cause the urine to have no ground And though indeed it is never a good token to lack the ground in a urine yet it is lesse to be complained of if the colour and substance draw nigh to a mean for in such a case it betokeneth that though nature be somewhat slack yet will shee shortly gather strength so that there shall appear a ground in the urine Now to shew you the reason why it chanceth no ground to appear in the urine First in case of cruditie when there wanteth perfect concoction there must needs want also the contents in the urine for they are the excrements as you might say and the superfluities of the third concoction Likewise though concoction be perfect enough yet may there want the contents if there be any notable obstruction or stopping of the veins namely seeing the contents are somewhat gross of substance and therefore unable to pass if the way be any thing stopt After the same sort shall you judge of long fasting and default of meat and moreover of such meats as are unapt to concoct For in all such cases there can be ingendred few or no contents And contrariwise though nature doe work many superfluities yet if the wombe be so loose that it yeeldeth many seges then as the urine shall be the lesser so shall the contents be few or none for nature then doth expel by sege those superfluities which should cause the contents And likewise when there is in any part of the bodie an inflammation or excessive heat which doth draw matter to it either that any of those parts are weak unto which nature is wont to expell such superfluities for in all such cases there may want the ground and the other contents in the urine And as for some of them I mean cruditie and opilation they may be well enough born withal unles their continuance be long But now again there is great difference touching the time of the sickness in which it chanceth for in the beginning and increase of sharp Agues if the ground be lacking it betokeneth great weaknesse of naturall strength which if not prevented may continue unto the chief strength of the sicknesse And after such an urine there doth follow much waking and disquietness halfe madness and trouble of mind and all those shall bee according to the greatness of the Ague either extream or mild And sometime it is a token that there shall bee a gathering sore in some part of the body namely if other agreeable causes come therewith as a winterly disposition of the aire with an uncertain state of sickness and unconstant alteration and mean weakness of the Patients power But in the declination of the sickness such urine ought not greatly to be blamed for then hath nature escaped the brunt of sickness though she be yet weak Yea and in the chief strength of sicknes as well as in the declination it may seem no orange thing if nature as though already she had the over-hand do gather her power together and draw a little nourishment to her self and thereby causeth little or no ground to appear But afterward when shee is somewhat refreshed and doth more liberally nourish the body then doth shee shew forth contents in the urine And lightly the order of the contents is such
expresse a thing dissolved by concoction and say it is neither boyled nor roasted Of which kind peradventure Elixir might first get his name A Quintescence presupposeth four other things If they reckon up the four Element this Quintescence will be some divine thing which is false seeing from a corruptible Elementarie bodie a divine thing is not made being different in the whole kind perpetuall light some and endued with a circular motion and seeing they are separated also by a most long distance of places Neither is Mercurie it self so inconstant and mutable as they are in defining their Mercurie and Sulphur they have often affirmed to my face that by these terms they have meant a Quintescence From all which it is most apparent that great wrong hath been done to the Galenists 1. Whilest the Paracelsians object and obtrude ignorance unto them of preparation of their Medicines and impudently arrogate the knowledge of their preparation to themselves onely 2. Whilest Quercetan ascribes onely to himselfe by his New Phamcopea the knowledge and skill of this Art in which notwithstanding he hath brought in or innovated nothing at all hee hath discussed nothing by their cause answerable to a wise mans judgement he hath exposed or set forth nothing of his own invention of any worth or moment what he received or got from the Germans in his travell he venteth it forth for his own inventions and hath propounded and set many things forth of divers kindes false and idle and which are not pertinent to the Apothecaries trade and profession And contrarily he hath left out and omitted better ancient Medicines and hath thrust worse in the place of them and very many manners and wayes of preparations which chiefly the Art pf compounding and making up of Medicines requires For which severall causes this Pharmacopea doth rather deserve to bee stiled A Bundle without Method of certain Medicines to blind and deceive men ignorant and unskillfull in the Art of Physick that the selfe-conceited they may learne to calumniate the truth brag and vaunt forth their vanities and smokes despise true wisedome by spreading forth very gainfull Flowers of Hermeticall Flateries An Universal Table for Judicials of Urine THe commoditie of judgement by it The manner and order of generation of Vrine When the Vrine should be taken What Vrinall is best to this use What light is best to see an Vrine How long it may be kept before it be seen That it ought not to be shaken before it be judged That it must be kept wholly and not a part of it only These things hinder judgement Much shaking of it Darkness of light Over-bright light The beams of the Sun Cold and Winde A thicks or green Vrinall and also if the Vrinall bee not due in fashion These alter the Urine Diversitie of kind Man Woman Distinction of Ages Childhood Youth Manhood Ages Complexion Sanguine Cholerick Melancholy Phlegmatick Diversitie of Countries Times of the yeer Spring Summer Harvest Winter Meat and drink Medicines namely Purgations Exercise and rest Much fasting Surfeting and drunkennesse Much watching Long sleep Anger Fear Company with Wemen Gleat solubleness Strong costiveness Much Vomit These are to be considered in Urine 1. The Substance Thick Mean Thin 2. The Quantity Much. Mean Little 3. Cleernesse and darknesse 4. The savour 5. The manner of pissing With pain Willing Vnwilling With ease Willing Vnwilling 6. Colours Light white Christallie Snowie Waterie Dark white Milk white Hornie Grey Plale Flaxen Yellow or gold colour Saffron Light saffron Full saffron Claret Red. Crimson Purple Blew Green Light green Green as grasse Stark green Dark green Oylie Light oylie Stark oylie Dark oylie Ash-colour Black 7. Contents The Sediment or ground The sublimation or swim The Cloud 8. The Crown or Circle 9. Bubbles 10. Fatness 11. Difform contents Hairs like red Fatches Branny Gross Fine Scales Ragged scraps Motes Matter Bloud Gravell or Stones Seed 12. The Regions Highest Middle Lowest 13. The Order 14. Continuance and Alteration These in generall be the things meet to be considered in Vrine of which particularly in this Book you may read as much as to this time and purpose serveth The Contents of the Chapters of this BOOK OF the Division and Order of this Book folio 1 How Vrine is ingendred in man and how it passeth forth folio 2 What Vrine is and what tokens it giveth in generall folio 9 Of the form of the Vrinall and of the place and time meet to judge Vrine and how it should be receive folio 10 How many things are to be considered in Vrine folio 12 What a perfect Vrine is and also how many wayes all parts of the Vrine may be altered in a healthfull man folio 18 The difference of Vrine by age in men folio 20 Of the Vrine of Women by age ibid. The diversitie of Vrines according to the times of the yeer folio 21 What bee the generall qualities that alter the parts of Vrine folio 26 The Significations of the parts of Vrine particularly folio 31 Of Claret and Red Vrine folio 43 Of Crimson Colour folio 44 Of Purple Colour folio 45 Of Green Vrines folio 46 Of Oilie Vrine or Popinjay green folio 47 Of Blew Vrine Ash-colour and Black folio 48 Of Difform Contents folio 66 Of the Garland and other like things folio 81 Of the Commodities and Medicines of Vrine folio 86 Of the Diseases touching Vrines and the Romedies for the same folio 94 Of the Diversities of Colours and of the making of them folio 100 The Exposition of certain dark Words appertaining to the Art of Physiks used in this Book folio 104 A Detection of Vnskilfull Physitians folio 123 Of Ignorant Apothecaries folio 151 Of the Boldnesse and Ignorant of divers Chirurgions folio 159 A Translation of Papius concerning Apothecaries folio 185 FINIS