the heart and this saith he liueth first and dyeth last the onely storehouse of spirit the originall of veines arteries and sinewes the principal author of respiration the fountaine and welspring of all heate containing within the ventricles thereof a subtile and refined blood which serueth as a burning cole to kindle and set on fire all the other inferiour and smaller sorts of heate and to bee briefe the onely Sunne of this little world And euen in like sort The heauens and the heart finely compared together as the heauens are the principals whereon depend and rest all other elemental generations and alterations so the hart is the first and principall originall of all the actions and motions of the bodie The heauens bring forth their wonderfull effects by their motions heate and influence the heart by his continuall mouing which ought no lesse to rauish vs then the flowing and ebbing of Euripus and influence of his spirits doth put life into all the other parts endoweth them with this beautiful and vermillionlike colour and maintaineth their naturall heate The mouing and light which are in the superiour bodies are the instruments of the intelligences and of the heauens of the intelligences as being the first cause of mouing in others being themselues immoueable of the heauens as first mouing the other and being themselues moued The mouing of the heart and vitall spirit which distributeth it selfe like vnto light throughout and that as it were in the twinkling of an eye are the instruments of the mind and heart of the minde which is a chiefe and principall mouer and yet not moued of the heart as of a chiefe and principall mouer which is moued of the minde It is therefore the heart according to the doctrine of the Peripatetikes which is the true mansion of the soule the onely prince and gouernour in this so excellent and admirable disposing of all things in the gouernment of the bodie Chrysippus and all the Stoikes haue followed the same opinion and doe beleeue that all that region which containeth the parts which wee call vitall is named of the Grecians and Latines Thorax because it keepeth within it as it were vnder lock this heauenly vnderstanding so called of Anaxagoras this burning heate so called of Zeno replenished with a million of sciences this admirable fire which Prometheus stole out of heauen to put soule and life into mankinde this altering spirit whereof Theocritus made so great account Behold how these Philosophers haue diuersly spoken of the seate of the soule It is not my minde to bestow any time in the particuler examination of all these opinions either is it mine intent in this place to enter into any dispute intending to content my selfe with the simple deliuerie of the trueth That the brain is the principall seate of the soule For I assure my selfe that it shall be strong enough to ouerthrow all these false foundations I say then that the principall seate of the soule is in the braine because the goodliest powers thereof doe lodge and lye there and the most worthie actions of the same doe there most plainly appeare All the instruments of motion sence imagination discourse and memorie are found within the braine or immediatly depending therevpon Anatomie manifesteth vnto our eyes The reasons to proue the same The first how that there issue out from the lower part of the braine seuen great paire of sinewes which serue at a trice to conuey the animall spirit vnto the instrument of the sences and doe not any of them passe out of the head except the sixt paire which stretch out themselues to the mouth of the stomacke We see also that from the hindermost part of the braine where the great and little braine doe meete together doth proceede the admirable taile the beautifull and white spinall marow which the Wiseman in his booke of the Preacher calleth the siluer threed how it is carefully preserued within a sacred chanell as Lactantius calleth it From the same men see that there rise a million of little sinewes which conuey the powers of mouing and feeling vnto all such members as are capable of the same Men doe also perceiue the outward sences placed round about the braine The second which are as the light horsemen and messengers of the vnderstanding the principall part of the soule Philo saith that when men come within the view of a princes guard they thinke himselfe not to bee farre off we see all the guard and seruants of reason as the eyes the eares the nose the tongue to bee situated in the head whereupon by consequent we ought to iudge that this princesse is not farre off Experience also giueth vs to vnderstand that if the braine haue his temperature altered The third as for example if it be too hot as it falleth out in such as are franticke or ouer cold as it falleth out in melancholick men it corrupteth presently the imaginatiue facultie troubleth the iudgement weakeneth the memorie which is not incident in the diseases of the heart as namely either in a hectick feuer or when a man is poysoned The soule saith that diuine Philosopher Plato doth not please and content it selfe with that braine which is too soft The fourth too close and compact or too hard it requireth a good temperature If the proportion of the head be but a little out of square so that it be either too great or too little or too coppeld as that which men reade of Thersites in Homer or altogether round and not flat on the sides as naturally it ought to be men may perceiue all the actions of the soule to be depraued and thereupon doe call such heads foolish without iudgement without wisedome all which ought to make vs as well to beleeue that the braine is as much the organe and instrument of all these actions as the eye is the instrument of sight Furthermore this kind of round shape which is peculiar vnto mankinde The fift this head thus lifted vp to heauen this great quantitie of braine which is almost incredible doth shew very well that man hath something in his head more then other liuing creatures The wise Sages of Egypt haue very well acknowledged the same for they did not sweare by any other thing but by their head they ratified all their couenants by the head and forbad the eating of the braines of liuing creatures for the honour and reuerence sake which they bare to this part I thinke also that the falling sicknes was not for any other reason called sacred of the ancients but because it did assaile the soueraigne and sacred part of the body Let vs then acknowledge the braine to be the principall seate of the soule the originall of mouing and feeling and of all the other most noble functions of the same I know well that some curious spirits will aske me how it can bee the author of so many goodly actions seeing it is cold
muscles and sinewes the instruments of voluntary motion the muscles and nerues for the perfecting of the sences the sences to set before the imaginatiue power of the minde their outward obiects the imagination to carrie along the formes of things voide of substance to be more deeply weighed of reason which thereupon commendeth them to the custodie of memorie her treasuresse Thus euery thing yeelding obedience vnto reason and the braine being the principall seate of reason we must needs affirme that all the parts of the body were made for the braine and must therfore acknowledge it as their chiefe and Soueraigne I will yet adde one other plaine and euident argument which in my iudgement is not common to testifie the excellence of this part which is that it giueth shape and perfection vnto all the rest For it is most certaine that of the shape and quantitie of the braine dependeth the grosnes greatnes smalnes and in a word euery maner of proportion hapning to the head forasmuch as euery containing thing doth conforme it selfe continually vnto the contained as the thing for which it was created and made Ioyntly after the head followeth the backe bone which is framed of foure and twentie vertebres besides the bone called Sacrum and maketh that which men call the truncke of the body If that hole in the head through which the marrow of the backe falleth be great then must also the vertebres bee large Vpon this backe bone doe all the rest of the bones stay and rest themselues as the vpper timbers doe vpon the keele of a ship As by name vpon high the shoulder bones whereunto are fastned the armes aswell on the one side as on the other and the twelue ribs and below the bones of the small guts and hips into whose hollow cauities the heads of the bones of the thighes are inserted so that if all their proportions be duly obserued it will appeare that the greatnes and grosnes thereof is answerable to that of the head and by consequence to that of the braine as the chiefe and principall Vnto the bones are fastned the muscles the ligaments and the most of the other parts of the body doe rest themselues thereupon and within their circuite and compasse are shut and made sure the most noble parts and the bowels In few words the bones impart vnto the whole bodie the shape which themselues haue receiued from the braine This is the same which diuine Hippocrates hath very well obserued in the second booke of his Epidemiques saying that of the greatnes and grosnes of the head a Phisition might iudge of the greatnes of all the other bones and parts also as veines arteries and sinewes Let vs therefore conclude with the trueth that the braine hauing such aduantage against the other parts ought to be esteemed the chiefe and principall seate of the soule CHAP. II. How the outward sences the proper messengers of the soule are only fiue and all placed without the braine SEeing it is most euident that the soule is shut vp within the bodie as it were in a darke dungeon and that it cannot discourse neither yet comprehend anything without the helpe of the sences which are as the obedient seruants and faithfull messengers of the same it was needfull to place the instruments of the sences very neere vnto the seate of reason and round about her royal pallace Now the sences which we call externall are onely fiue Why there are but fiue sences the fight the hearing the smelling the taste and handling of which altogether dependeth our knowledge and nothing as saith the Philosopher can enter into the vnderstanding part of our minde except it passe through one of these fiue doores Some men striuing to shew reason for this number The first reason say that there are but fiue sences because that whatsoeuer is in the whole world is compounded and made of onely fiue simple bodies as the foure elements and the firmament which they call the fift simple nature being much of the nature of the ayre free from all impurities and abounding with shining lights The sight say the Platonists which hath for his instrument these two twinne-borne starres all full of bright straines and heauenly fire which giueth light and burneth not representeth the skie and hath the light for his obiect The hearing which is occupied about nothing but sounds hath for his obiect the beaten ayre and his principall instrument if we beleeue Aristotle is a certaine ayre shut vp within a little labyrinth The smelling participateth the nature of fire for smels haue their being only in a drie qualitie caused through heate and we receiue it for a principle that all sweete smelling things are hot The taste hath moysture for his obiect And handling the earth for his The second Othersome say that there be but fiue sences because that there are but fiue proper sorts of obiects and that all the accidents which are to be found in any natural body may be referred either to colours or sounds or smels or tasts or to those qualities wherabout touching is occupied whether they be those which are principall or those that spring of them The third Some there be which gather the number of the sences to bee such from the consideration of their vses which are their finall ends The sences are made for the benefit of man man is compounded of two parts the body and the soule the sight and hearing serue more for the vse of the soule then of the body the taste and touching more for the body then the soule the smelling for both the twaine indifferently refreshing and purging the spirits which are the principall instruments of the soule But of the fiue sences I say that there are two altogether necessary and required to cause the being and life simply and that the three other serue onely for a happie being and life Those without which one can not be are taste and touching Touching if we will giue credit to natural Philosophers is as the foundation of liuelihood I will vse this word because it expresseth the thing very excellently The taste serueth for the preseruation of the life The sight hearing and smelling serue but for to liue well and pleasantly For the creature may be and continue without them The two first for that they were altogether necessarie haue their meane inward and so ioyned to the member as that it is as a man would say inseparable For in tasting and touching the Phisitions doe make the meane and the member all one The other three haue their meane outward and separated from the instrument as the sight hath the ayre the water and euery such body as is through cleere for his meane Aristotle in the beginning of his third booke of the soule hath plaid the Philosopher in more serious sort then any of all these but yet so darkly as that almost all his interpreters haue found themselues much busied to find out his meaning
bolde quicke of motion and headlong in all their actions colde on the contrarie maketh them fearefull leaden-heelde and not resoluing of any thing All such as are of a colde temperament become fearefull olde folkes ordinarilie are fearefull and so are gelded men also women are alwaies more timerous then men and to be briefe the qualities of the minde doe follow the temperament of the bodie The authors iudgement Loe here here the contrarie opinions of these two great and famous men I thinke they may be reconciled if wee would ioyne these two causes together that is the temperature of the humour as the chiefe and principall and the blacke colour of the Spirits as that which may much further and helpe forward the same The melancholike humour being colde doth not onely coole the braine but also the heart being the feare of this couragious facultie of the Soule which men call the instinct and pronenes of nature vnto anger and rebateth the flames therein hence creepeth out feare the same humour being blacke causeth the animall spirits which ought to be pure subtile cleere and lightsome it maketh them I say grosse darke and as it were all to be smoked But the spirits being the chiefe and principall instrument of the minde if they be blacke and ouercooled also doe trouble her most noble powers and principally the imagination presenting vnto it continually blacke formes and strange visions which may be seene with the eye notwithstanding that they be within This is a deepe reach which no man hitherto it may be hath attayned and it serueth infinitely for the defence of Galen That with our owne eyes we may see something within the same The eye doth not onely see that which is without but it seeth also that which is within howsoeuer it may iudge that same thing to be without Those which haue some small beginnings of a Cataract doe see many bodies flying like to Ants flyes and long haires the same also doe such as are readie to vomite Hippocrates and Galen place amongst the signes adn tokens of a criticall fluxe of blood these false apparitions as when one seeth red bodies hanging in the ayre which yet notwithstanding are not there because that then euery one should see them this is an inward vapour which offereth it selfe vnto the christalline humour in his naturall colour and so if it arise of blood it appeareth red if of choler yellow and wherefore then should not the vapours of the melancholike humour and of the spirits being blacke ordinarilie present themselues and appeare in their naturall colour vnto the eye and so vnto the imagination The melancholike partie may see that which is within his owne braine but vnder another forme because that the spirits and blacke vapours continually passe by the finewes vaines and arteries from the braine vnto the eye which causeth it to see many shadowes and vntrue apparitions in the aire whereupon from the eye the formes thereof are conueyed vnto the imagination which being continuallie serued with the same dish abideth continuallie in feare and terror That which maketh me to ioyne the blacke colour with the temperature is because the braine is very oft of colde distemperature and notwithstanding we finde not the partie troubled either with such feare nor yet such gastlie sights Fleagme is yet more colde then melancholie and notwithstanding it troubleth not the imagination because his whitenes hath some resemblance of the substance of the braine That the melancholike humour is altogether contrarie to our spirits and with the colour and cleerenes of the spirits but the melancholike humour is altogether opposite and enemie vnto the same Our spirits account colde and darkenes to be their enemies feeling the colde they drawn themselues in and as darkenes presseth on more and more so they flie blacke into their fort and castle forsake the vtter parts and procure vs to sleepe the melancholike humour hath both these properties it is colde and darke it ought not therefore to astonish vs if that we see it to molest the most noble and principall powers of the minde seeing it tainteth and brandeth with blackenes the principall instrument thereof which is the spirit which passing from the braine to the eye and from the eye to the braine backe againe is able to moue these blacke sights and to set them vncessantly before the minde Loe heere the first accident which haunteth melancholike persons they are alwaies full of feare for they feare euery thing euen that which is furthest off from feare they are hartlesse they honour their enemies and abuse their friends they conceiue of death as a terrible thing and notwithstanding which is strange they oftentimes desire it yea so eagerlie as that they will not let to destroy themselues but this falleth out then only when feare is turned into dispayre it is true in deede that this happeneth so oft vnto those whom melancholie simply assaileth as vnto those which are mad Mad men doe more oft kill themselues then melancholike perspons Wee haue very few examples of meere melancholike persons which haue slaine themselues but of mad men very many are found and those of great reputation Empedocles Agrigentinus became mad and cast himselfe headlong into the burning flames of the mountaine Aetna Examples Ariax the sonne of Telamon was out of his wits for that he was not thought worthie of Achilles armour but that it was adiudged vnto Vlisses Whereupon he passed ouer some part of his furie in killing all maner of cattell he met withall thinking he had slaine Vlisses and all his companions Cleomenes being likewise out of his wits slew himself with his own sword Orestes hauing slaine his mother Clytemnestra was so furiously outraged that if his deare friend Pylades had not carefully watched ouer him he had destroyed himselfe a hundred times It falleth out therefore more oft vnto mad then to melancholike men to kill themselues Why melancholike persons are sad The second accident which almost neuer leaueth melancholike persons is sadnes they weepe and know not wherefore I beleeue the distemperature of the humour is the cause thereof for as ioy and cheerefulnes proceede from heate and moysture well tempered so heauines and sadnes come from the two contrarie qualities which are found in this humour For the most part of men of sanguine complexion are cheerefull and merrie because they consist of a mixture of moysture and heate cholerike persons are way ward and vnpleasant because their heate is drie and hath as it were an edge set vpon it melancholike persons are sad and peruerse because they bee cold and drie Euen so it befell the sillie Bellerophon who as he is very artificially set out in Homer went wandring through the defart places continually mourning and lamenting And the Ephesian Philosopher named Heraclitus liued in continuall teares because sayth Theophrastus that he was possessed of melancholie and as his writings altogether confused and darkned with obscuritie
the excrements and superfluities of the principall parts Hippocrates hath debated this matter so well in his booke of Glandules as that a man cannot tel how to adde any thing therevnto The skin was by nature made weak to the end it might containe al the superfluities that are frō within whereupon some call it the vniuersall emunctorie Parts may also be weak by some accident as by a fall or blow or some distēperature in what maner soeuer they bee weake it maketh them apt to receiue the refuse of their neighbour parts How the part attracteth the humour to it selfe The last cause is the part his attraction of the humour The Arabians haue acknowledged three causes of this attraction heate paine and the auoyding of vacuitie Heate attracteth of it owne nature because it rarifieth the parts neere about attenuateth and maketh thin the humours and enlargeth the waies and passages for the humour to runne through How paine attracteth Paine doth not attract of his owne nature because it is an affect of feeling but feeling is a patient and no agent and euery one of the sences is executed by taking in of some thing but the humours flow to the pained part by reason of the weakenes of the same as also because the naturall heat thereof is weakened by the paine and cannot well concoct the humour it must needes bee that it should stay in that place They who affirme that the humour floweth vnto the part which feeleth the paine because nature sendeth thither both spirits and blood that she may comfort the same doe deceiue themselues in my judgement and offer great wrong vnto nature for if she knew that such a part stood in need of spirits and blood she would know therewithal that in sending this blood she should profit the part nothing at all but rather hurt it so that paine doth not properly attract and draw The last cause of distillations is imputed to the humour For if it bee thin in substance hot in temperature sharpe and pricking in qualitie it will be a great deale the more apt to flow CHAP. V. A generall order of diet to be obserued for the preuenting and curing of Rheumes and distillations I Will follow the same order and course in the laying downe of this regiment which I haue taken in the other two going before Wee must therefore so dispose of all the sixe things which are called not naturall as that they may not only hinder the engendring of rheumes but also consume and cure the same being alreadie begotten Let euery man therefore make choise for himselfe of such an ayre as is temperate in his actiue qualities and as for the passiue that it bee altogether drie I say that it must be temperate in heate and cold because that a hot ayre resoluing the humours of the braine and a cold pressing them out causeth them to fall downe aboundantly If the ayre bee too cold it may bee corrected with good fires made of Iuniper Rosemarie Bay-tree Oke and Fig-tree if it be exceeding hote it may be cooled with hearbs and flowers that are indued with such propertie There must care be had to auoide the Northerne and Southerne windes because the one filleth the head full and the other presseth it out You must not abide much in the Sunne-beames nor yet in the open ayre The windes which pearce through chinkes and rifts are extreamely dangerous for the rheume The inequalitie of the ayre as Celsus obserueth very well doth mightily further the begetting of rheumes it is called an vnequal aire when it is now hot now cold As concerning the passiue qualities the ayre-must in all maner of distillation incline vnto drines and for that cause it is good to dwell vpon mounted places and such as are farre from riuers In meates three things are to be obserued the quantitie qualitie and manner of vsing them As concerning the quantitie In meats three things are to be obserued all repletion and full gorging is enemie to such complexions as are subiect vnto rheumes we may not at any time eate to the full it is better to rise from the table hungrie and hee cannot but fare the better which cutteth of one meale in a weeke As concerning the qualitie it must bee contrary vnto the disease or the cause thereof the cause of rheumes is a superfluous humour so that it will bee fittest to vse such meates as may dry vp the same All vaporous meates in generall must bee abstained as also meates that are grosse windie full of excrements and hard to disgest In the maner of vsing of these meates there must many rules bee obserued as there must no new meate bee taken into the stomacke before the former bee throughly disgested You must content your selfe to feede vpon one onely dish and that such as is good for varietie filleth all full of cruditie and it mingleth it selfe with the blood in the veines and ministreth rheumatike matter vnto the braine You must vse to eate more at dinner then at supper in as much as sleepe which succeedeth supper within a short time doth send great store of vapours vnto the braine which are afterwards turned into water The bread must bee of good wheate and throughly baked Bread not cleane purged from his branne but retaining a little branne and mixt with some salt it must neuer be eaten hot at the latter end of meate you may eate bisket wherein some Anise and Fennell seede haue been put Rosted meates are much better then boyled Flesh and of them such as doe not abound with humours we allow the vse of Capon Pigeon Partridge young Hare Kid Hart Feasant Quailes Turtle doues and all birds of the mountaines all which maybe interlarded with Sage and Hissope of the mountaines The vse of water-fowles Porke Lambe Mutton and young Veale is forbidden broths and pottage are very ill Fish is exceedingly contrary Fish All sort of milk-meates is an enemie in rheumatike diseases as also all maner of pulse As concerning hearbes Hearbes the Arabians recommend vnto vs Sage Hissope Mints wilde Time Margerome Rosemary Burnet Cheruill Fennell and Costmarie Aetius tolerateth Coleworts and Leekes but he forbiddeth in expresse tearmes Garlick Onions because they send vp many vapours and all cold moyst hearbes as Lettuse Purcelane Sorrell and such like All fruites that abound in moysture Fruites as Apples Plums Melons Cucumbers and Mulberies are forbidden But as for such as haue propertie to drie as Pine apples small nuts Pistaces Almonds Peares Quinces Figs drie Raisines Medlers Ceruisses they may be vsed after meate And thus much concerning meate As concerning drinke Drinke cold water and all maner of licour that is actually cold it is enemie to al such as are subiect to the rheume if so bee that such rheume be not extreame hot pricking and accompanied with an ague Barley water with a little Sugar and Cinamome is very good and fit or a Ptisane or
he would rather iudge thereof by the rule of the temperature and constitution of the bodie for euery man that is cold and drie is he whom I may call old There are very many which become old men at fortie and againe there are an infinit sort which are young men at sixtie there are some constitutions that grow old very speedily and others very slowly They which are of a sanguine complexion grow old very slowly because they haue great store of heate and moysture melancholike men which are cold and drie become old in shorter time Why women grow old sooner then men As for the difference of sexes the female groweth old alwaies sooner then the male Hippocrates hath very well obserued it in his booke intreating of the seuenth moneth childbirth The females males sayth he as they are in their mothers wombe are formed and grow more slowly then males but being once out they come sooner to growth sooner to ripenes of wit and sooner to old age by reason of the weakenes of their bodies and of their manner of liuing Weakenes maketh them to grow vp sooner and to waxe old sooner for euen as trees which are short liued grow vp to their height by and by euen so the bodies which must not long continue come very speedily to the top of their perfection Their manner of liuing also doth make them to waxe old because they liue as it were alwaies in idlenes But there is nothing that hasteneth old age more then idlenes CHAP. III. An order of gouernment for the prolonging of the strong and lustie estate of man SEeing that the naturall and vnauoidable causes of our old age are three as the contrarietie of the principles of our life the waste of radicall heate and moisture and the excrements which are ordinarily ingendred by our nourishment it behoueth vs if wee will keepe our bodies in good plight and preserue them from waxing old so soone so to dispose of and order these three things as that the agreement and vnitie of the elements which is called temperature be throughly prouided for that our heate and moysture which waste euery houre bee well repaired and that the excrements which hide themselues and stay behinde in the bodie bee hunted out We shall obtaine all this very easily by keeping good order of gouernment and diet without hauing need to haue recourse to Phisicke Now this name of Diet as I haue alreadie sayd comprehendeth many things all which may bee referred to sixe The Phisitions call them not naturall because that if they be rightly vsed and that a man know how to make the best maner of seruice of them they doe preserue the health and may bee called naturall But and if a man abuse them if they be vsed either too little or too much though it bee neuer so little they are the causes of many diseases and may be sayd to be contrarie to nature They are these which follow the ayre meat and drinke sleepe and watching labour and rest emptines and fulnes and the passions of the minde which I am about to runne through in order CHAP. IIII. What choise wee must make of the ayre for our longer life as also what ayre is most fit for such persons as are old The necessitie of the ayre AMongst all the causes which may alter our bodies there is not any one more necessary more headlong or which concerneth vs more neerely then the ayre The neede wee haue of it doth sufficiently appeare in sicknesses which abridge and depriue vs of breathing for if it happen that any one of the instruments which are appointed either for the giuing of entrance or receiuing or preparing of the ayre bee greatly impeached the man dyeth by and by strangled in so much as it seemeth hereby that the ayre and life are things inseparable in all such kindes of creatures as are called perfect The naturall heate if wee beleeue Hippocrates is preserued by moderate cold and if you take the ayre away from the fire which is as a continuall bellowes vnto it it is quenched and choked incontinently Our spirits which are the principal instruments of the soule are begotten and nourished by the ayre they doe not vphold nor purge themselues but by the passing of the ayre in and out this is the cause also why all the bodie is porouse and perspirable this is the cause why our arteries doe continually beate and that nature hath made so goodly and wonderfull doores and entrances for the two vessels in such sort as that I dare bee bold to say that the ayre is as needfull for man as life it selfe The quicknes and celeritie of the ayre As for the celeritie and swiftnes which it participateth wee perceiue it euery day In a trice it passeth through the nose to the braine and pressing through a million of streits which are to bee seene in the admirable net it entreth in into the most secret chambers thereof it dispatcheth it selfe downward after that with like incredible celeritie and swiftnes through the mouth vnto the lungs and from thence vnto the heart it pearceth and cannot bee perceiued the pores of the skinne and entreth by the transpiration of the arteries vnto the most deepe and hidden corners of our bodies This is a bodie so common and neere vnto vs that it compasseth vs about continually without forsaking vs any moment yea we must whether we will or no make our daily supping meate thereof Diuine Hippocrates hauing very well perceiued this powerfulnes of the ayre sayth in his Epidemikes and in his second booke of Diet that the whole constitution of our spirits humours and bodie doth depend wholy vpon the ayre Wherefore the chusing of a good ayre and of a fayre and pleasant dwelling place must alwaies in all good order of diet keepe the first and chiefe place Wherein the goodnes of the ayre consisteth The Phisitions take acknowledgement of the goodnesse of the ayre by his substance and qualities By his substance as when it is well purified not hauing any seeds of corruption in it neither yet being infected with any venemous vapours which might rise from dead bodies priuies and filthines of townes or from the putrifaction of standing waters There are also certaine plants which a man must hardly come neere vnto to make his ordinarie lodging because they haue a contrary qualitie vnto the animall spirit as the Nut tree Figge tree Colewort Danewort wilde Rocket Hemlocke and an infinite sort of others The vapour of forges and mines is a very great enemie vnto the hart and causeth as Aristotle obserueth the greatest part of them which labour therein to fall into a consumption How to rectifie the ayre If the ayre bee corrupted and that wee cannot auoide it very quickly wee must purifie it with artificiall fires of Rosemarie Iuniper Cypers Bay tree and with parfumes of the wood of Aloes Saunders Iuniper beries Fusses and such other aromatical things The vapour of
and that the soule can doe nothing without heate But I answere The cause why the braine feeleth not that the braine hath not any particuler feeling for that it being the seate of common sence must iudge of all such obiects as about which sence is occupied But a good iudge ought to bee free from all passions and euery organe sayth Aristotle must bee without qualitie according whereunto agreeth that that the christalline humour hath no colour the care hath no particuler sound nor the tongue any taste But and if it come to passe that any organicall part decline from his nature as if the christalline become yellow all whatsoeuer presenteth it selfe to the sight of that eye will seeme to bee of the same colour As then the braine neither seeth nor heareth nor smelleth nor tasteth any thing and yet notwithstanding iudgeth very rightly of colours sounds smels and tasts so neither was it any reason that it should haue any particuler sence of feeling which should cause it to feele the excesse of those qualities which are tearmed the obiects of feeling and handling it is sufficient for it to haue the knowledge and discerning thereof As touching the other poynt I affirme that the braine is in very deede hot and that it cannot be called cold but as it is compared with the heart It behoued it of necessitie to bee of this temperature that so it might temper the spirits which were of a fierie nature The causes why the braine is of such temperature thereby the better to continue the kindes of liuing creatures and to preserue them long aliue For and if the braine were as hot as the heart there would day by day arise trouble and sedition amidst the noblest powers of the soule all the sences would be straying and wandring all the motions would bee out of square all our discourses mixed with rash headines and our memories very flote and fugitiue euen as betideth vnto franticke ones Let nothing then hinder vs from acknowledging the braine to bee the most noble part of the whole body This is that magnificent and stately turret of the soule this is that goodly royall palace the consecrated house of Pallas this is the impregnable sort enuironed with bones as with strong walles wherein is lodged the soueraigne power of the soule I meane reason which comprehendeth and compasseth as with imbracing armes the whole vniuersall world in a moment without touching of the same which flieth through the ayre soundeth the depths of the sea and surmounteth at the same instant the pauements of the heauens and which walking vpon their stages measuring their distances and communicating with the Angels pearceth in euen vnto the throne of God and at such time as the body is asleepe suffereth it self by a holy flight or delectable and sweete rauishment to be carried euen to the beholding of God according to whose image it was first framed To be short it is all in all as sayth Aristotle for that by the power it hath it possesseth all as being the place wherein I say this great princesse would rest her self as within her castle from thence to commaund the two inferiour regiments to hold in subiection the two lower forces I meane the Irascible and concupiscible which would euery day be ready to fall away and reuolt And yet I dare be bold to adde further and in stead of hauing named it among the chiefe and principall to say that there is not any other part of the body besides the braine which can truly be called noble and soueraigne and that because all the other parts are made for the braine and pay tribute thereunto as to their king Behold here the strength of my argument Most cleere and euident proofe of the excellencie of the braine which in my iudgement is as cleere as the Sunne in his brightest shine Mankinde differeth not from beasts in any thing but reason and the seate of reason is in the braine It is requisite the more commendably to reason and discourse that the imaginatiue part of the minde should set before the vnderstanding part of the same the obiects whereabout they be occupied altogether simple without mixture without matter and freed from all corporall qualities The Imaginatiue part can not conceiue them of it selfe if the outward sences which are his trustie spyes and faithfull reportsmen make not certificate of the same Hence then rise the necessitie of framing the instruments of the sences the eyes the eares the nose tongue and membranes as well inward as outward The sences the better to take acknowledgement of their obiects haue need of a local motion For man if he should not stirre from one place but abide immoueable like an image should not be able to conuey any store of varietie vnto the imagination It is necessary then for the benefit and perfecting of the sences to haue certaine instruments of motion these instruments are two the sinewes and the muscles the sinewes by reason of their continued coniunction and adherence vnto their originall being like vnto that of the Sunne beames with the Sun doe conuey from the braine that mouing power seated in a most subtile bodie namely the animall spirit the muscles after the maner of good subiects obey vnto their commandement and incontinently moue the member either by stretching it forth or bowing it in as the appetite or imagination shall wish and desire The braine then as is manifest commandeth the sinewes carrie the embassage and the muscles obeying thereunto expresse the intent of the minde And euen in like sort as the skilfull horserider manageth the horse with the bridle causing him to turne on the right hand or on the left as best pleaseth him euen so the braine by the sinewes boweth or stretcheth the muscles These two instruments of voluntarie motion should not know either how to be or vndergoe these their offices if they were not fixed vnto some solide and immoueable body Therefore it was behouefull to raise vp pillers such as are the bones and cartilages from whence the muscles doe rise and into which they do insert themselues againe and for that the bones could not bee ioyned or fastned together without ligaments it must needes follow that they should haue their membranouse coates to couer them withall And all these parts for their preseruation stoode in neede of naturall heate and nourishment this heate and nourishment being deriued from elsewhere must needes haue their passages prepared by certaine pipes and those are the veines and arteries the arteries draw their spirits from the hart the fountaine of the same the veines receiue their blood from the common storehouse of the same which is the liuer And thus returning by the same steps by which wee came hither wee shall well perceiue The conclusion that the heart and liuer were not made for any other thing but to nourish the heate of all the parts the bones and cartilages for rests and props vnto the