against the lawes of nature neither could it being so smal containe the greatnes no nor yet the shape of great mountaines whereupon we must needes conclude that we see by sending forth something Behold here all the faire and goodly forces on this side which I am now about to pitch and plant in the plaine field and now let vs goe to view the squadrons on the contrary side The contrary opinions of such as hold that we see by taking in something Chiefe captaine and generall of the same is Aristotle whose followers be the whole band of the Peripatetikes as also Auerrhoes Alexander Themistius and an infinite number of others All these hold that wee see by receiuing something into the eye and that there doth nothing goe out of the eye which may helpe vs to see but that either the obiect or the forme there of doth come vnto the eye The foundation and maine reason is cleane contrary vnto that of the Platonists for Plato was verilie perswaded that the eye was all full of fire and Aristotle maintaineth that the eye is all full of water and this he demonstrateth most excellently and therefore accordingly I will doe my endeuour to set it out most plainely A cleere and plaine proofe that the eye is all of water The instrument of the sight must be thorough cleere and transparent that is to say cleere as christal to the end there may be some likenes betwixt the obiect and the instrument and that there maybe some equality betwixt the thing doing and the thing suffering This principle is cleerely agreed vpon in naturall Philosophie But of the things which are christal-like cleere some are of subtile and thin bodies and othersome are more compact and thicke The eye was not to be made christal-like cleere and thin because that so it could not haue retained his formes they would haue speedely past away not finding any resting place as doe the bodies which are in the ayre and the glasse it selfe which is in looking glasses would neuer make shew of any picture or resemblance if it were not steeled or leaded on the backeside Whereupon it followeth that the eye must be christallike cleere and thicke Now of all the elements there is no one that is so cleare and thicke besides the water for the ayre and fire are in deede cleere but therewithall thin it followeth therefore that the eye is of the nature of the water This firme and demonstratiue argument is vnderpropped by another which cannot be gainesayd Another plains and strong proofe The chiefe part of the eye is the christallike humor which is nothing else but a congealed water which hath before it the waterish humor and behinde it the vitreous which doth feede and nourish it if you pearce the eye you shall not perceiue any other thing to come forth but water so that we must rather beleeue that the eye is of the nature of water then of fire Reasons prouing that we see by taking in something This foundation thus laid it will be easie to make sure the rest of the building and to maintaine that we see by receiuing of some thing into the eye and the rather because it is the propertie of moist things to receiue and take in Loe here the chiefest reasons of this sect as they follow The action of euery sence is a suffering and to doe the office of any of the sences is nothing else but to suffer The first euery action therefore of the sences is accomplished by receiuing and not by sending forth of anything which is an action as for example the eare heareth by receiuing of sounds smelling by receiuing of odours taste by receiuing of tastes and feeling The second by receiuing of such qualities as may be felt and then why should the eye be debarred of this receite Aristotle saith that they which haue their eyes very moyst doe seeme to see things bigger then in deede they bee which argueth that the formes of things are receiued into and as it were grauen in the christalline humor for bodies seeme alwaies to exceede themselues in greatnes being within the water Euery obiect exceeding in his qualitie The third doth destroy his sence as an exceeding great whitenes doth dimme and dasle the sight then it must follow that it is violently receiued Aristotle in his Problemes moueth a question The fourth which may be of some force in this place as wherefore the right hand is ordinarilie more nimble and strong then the left and not one care giuen to heare more readilie then the other Whose answer is that the facultie which causeth the hands to moue setteth it selfe on worke and that that which causeth sight and hearing is set on worke in such sort as that the eyes and cares may equally receiue and suffer Olde men commonly doe see things a farre off The fift better then those which are at hand and this cannot happen of any fierie streames or light going out of the eye because that those in them are of small quantitie and greatly delayed with darkenes the cause must needes be referred to the forme which comming from a thing farre remoued becommeth more fine and subtile and lesse participating of materiall substance and by consequent no more fit to be receiued The sixt In winter if the weather be calme and faire the Starres are often seene at midday which neuer hapneth in summer which is because in winter the ayre being more grosse and thicke the formes thereof doe consist and abide more permanently as also in greater number in the ayre but in summer by reason of the thinnes and subtilenes of the ayre their saide formes haue no staide abode or meanes to multiplie and this sheweth that we see by receiuing in and not sending forth of any thing Finally the eye is like vnto the looking glasse The seuenth and this receiueth all such shapes as are brought vnto it without sending any thing of it owne vnto the obiect They differ onely in this that the looking glasse hath no power to recommend his formes and shapes vnto their iudge as the eye doth vnto the common sence by the nerue opticke Loe here the two battels orderly in array and right ouer one against the other I could wish my selfe able to agree them being the same that Galen hath attempted but in deede there is little likeliehoode For the trueth cannot vphold and defend two things The Author his opinion contrary one to the other I will therefore set in foote with the stronger side and maintaine with Aristotle that wee see by receiuing only and that there goeth nothing out of the eye which may serue for the making of vs to see I will vse for my first incounter this reason which as it seemeth me is sharpe enough If there goe any thing out of the eye it is either some fine and subtile bodie Arguments plainly conuincing the Platonists as the animall spirit
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
in such maner as that he may seeme to haue gone about to hide the secrets of nature and mysteries of his Philosophie not with the vaile of fained fables as doe the Poets neither yet with any superstitious conceit of numbers as Pithagoras his sect were wont to doe but by an obscure breuitie resembling the cuttle fish which to the end that she may not fall into the hand of the fisher casteth vp a blackish water and so hideth her selfe The fourth The sences sayth Aristotle are but fiue because the meanes by which they worke cannot be altered any moe then fiue wayes Aristotle his proofe for the number of the sences The meanes by which we haue the vse of our sences are onely two the one is outward the other is inward the outward is the ayre or the water the inward is the flesh or the membranes The ayre and water do receiue the obiects that are outward either as they are transparent and then they serue the sight or as they are moueable and thin bodies and then they serue the hearing or as moist ones doe receiue and embrace that which is drie and then they be the subiects of smelling The flesh or membranes may be considered of two maner of wayes either according to the temperature of the foure elementall qualities and then they bee the subiects of feeling or els according to the mixture of the qualities drie and moyst and then they are the subiects of relishes for the taste But howsoeuer the case standeth for the reason of this number we see there are but fiue externall sences which are all placed without the braine These are the proper posts and messengers of the soule these are the windowes by which wee see cleerely round about vs. These are the watch or doore keepers which make vs way into their most priuie closet if they performe their faithfull seruice vnto reason then do they set before her a million of delightsome obiects whereof she frameth marueilous discourses But alas and woe is me how oft doe they betray her Oh how many dangers do they inwrap her in and how subiect are they vnto corruption The sences become the cutthrotes of reason It is not without cause that this thrice renowmed Mercurie doth call the sences tyrants and the cutthrotes of reason for oftentimes doe they make captiue the same vnto the two inferiour powers they make her of a mistresse a seruant and of a free woman a drudge and thrall to all slauerie She may well commaund but she shall be obeyed all one as lawes and Magistrates are in an estate troubled with ciuill dissentions Yea tell me how many soules haue lost their libertie through the sight of the eyes How that the sences steale away and rob reason of her libertie Doe not men say that that little wanton that blind archer doth enter into our hearts by this doore and that loue is shaped by the glittering glimces which issue out of the eyes or rather by certaine subtile and thin spirits which passe from the heart to the eye through a straite and narrow way very secretly and hauing deceiued this porter doe place loue within which by little and little doth make it selfe Lord of the house and casteth reason out of the doores How oft is reason bewitched by the eare If thou giue thine eare to hearken vnto these craftie tongues and cogging speeches vnto these cunning discourses full of honie and a thousand other baits doubt not but that thy reason wil be surprised for the scout watch being fallen asleepe the enemie stealeth vpon them softly and becommeth master of the fort The wise Vlisses did not he stop the eares of his companions fearing least they should bee bewitched and besotted with the melodious tunes and sweete songs of the Syrens The licorishnes of the taste surfetting and drunkennes haue they not spoyled many great personages And the sence of feeling which nature hath giuen to liuing creatures for the preseruation of their kinde being the grossest and most earthly of all the rest and so by consequent the most delicate of al the rest doth it not oftentimes cause vs to become beasts Reason then is neuer ouertaken but through the false and treacherous dealing of these doore keepers no man can at any time come within her pallace but by the priuitie of these watchmen for that as I haue sayd in the beginning of this chapter the soule being fast shut vp within the bodie cannot doe any thing hut by the aide and assistance of the sences CHAP. III. That the sight is the noblest of all the rest of the sences AMongst all the sences that of the sight in the common iudgement of all the Philosophers hath been accounted the most noble perfect and admirable Foure things prouing the excellencie of the sight The excellencie thereof is to be perceiued in an infinite sort of things but most principally in foure as first in respect of the varietie of the obiects which it representeth vnto the soule secondly in respect of the meanes of his operation which is as it were altogether spirituall thirdly in respect of his particular obiect which is the light which is the most noble and perfect qualitie that euer God created and lastly in respect of the certaintie of his action First therefore it is out of all doubt The first that the sight causeth vs to know greater varietie and more differences of things then any of the rest of the sences For all naturall bodies are visible and may bee seene but all of them cannot bee felt neither doe they all affoord smels tasts or sounds the heauen the worlds ornament and most noble substance amongst all the rest will not suffer vs to touch the same neither can we heare the sweete harmonie which proceedeth of the concords and agreements of so many diuerse motions There is nothing but the sight which acquainteth vs therewithall soft bodies make no sound neither is there any taste in the earth or fire and yet euery one of these may bee seene The sight besides his owne proper obiect which is colour hath an infinit sort of others as greatnes number proportion motion rest situation and distances And this is the cause why the Philosopher in his Metaphysiques calleth it the sence of inuention as for that by the meanes thereof all the goodliest Sciences and Arts haue been inuented and found out By the meanes of this noble sence it came first to passe that man should begin to play the Philosopher for Philosophie was not begot but by admiring of things and admiratiō sprung not from elswhere then from the sight of pleasant and beautifull things Whereupon the minde raising it selfe on hie toward heauen and rauished with the consideration of so many marueilous things was desirous to know the cause of them and thereupon began to play the Philosopher And yet I will say further that the sight is the sence of our blessednes For the chiefe felicitie
to the eye certaine glandules or kerneis which water the eye as also drinke vp like a spunge the moysture falling vpon them from the braine CHAP. X. How we see as namely whether it be by the sending foorth of spirits or by taking in of the formes of things I Thinke my selfe by this time to haue deciphered exactly enough the whole workemanship of the eye and of all his parts let vs now looke about and see how it dischargeth his function which is sight and how it is accomplished The things necessarie to make vs see All Philosophers haue well agreed in this one poynt that there are three things necessary for to make the sight perfect that is to say the instrument which is the eye the obiect which is the colour and the meanes inlightned which is the aire or the water or some other thorough-cleare and christal-like thing but when it should come to passe that they should ioyne these three together and shew the maner of this action which is the liueliest and briefest of all the other sences they iarre among themselues and cannot agree Some of them would haue that there should issue out of the eye bright beames or a certaine light which should reach vnto the obiect and thereby cause vs to see it other some would haue it that the obiect commeth vnto the eye and that nothing goeth out of the eye the first doe hold that we see by emission or hauing something going forth of the eye the latter by reception or receiuing of the obiect into the eye The former sect doe ordinarily alleage Plato as their prince and chiefe pillar Plato his opinion how that we see sending forth of some thing one of his princip all foundations standeth vpon this that the eye is all full of light and of the nature of fire not such as vseth to burne and giue light together neither yet that which burneth but giueth no light but such as giueth light and burneth not like vnto the celestiall fire This foundation seemeth to rest vpon some shew of trueth The found tion of this opinion for the eye being rubbed yea though it be when it is most darke doth cast forth some bright streames and commonly wee see the eyes of such as are angrie all fierce and fierie Reasons to proue the eye to be of the nature of fire Plinie hath obserued that Tyberius Casar did make afraid many souldiers with his onely looke it was so quicke and full of light Aristotle reporteth that one Antipho a yong man did alwaies see his owne image by the reflexe of the bright straines which came forth of his eyes Galen telleth of a souldier who becomming blinde by little and little perceiued euery day as it were a light to come forth of his eyes and returned not againe And doe we not in the night perceiue the Cat the Woolfe and many other liuing creatures to haue shining eyes Moreouer the more then credible readines and nimblenes of the eye the performance of his actions in a moment and without local motion his steeple-like shape doe all euidently testifie that it is of a subtile nature and full of fire the eye also is neuer seene to quake through colde although it be in the colde because it selfe is all on a flame Finally it cannot bee denied but that the instrument must bee sutable to his obiect the obiect of sight is colour and auncient writers haue defined colour to bee a flame going out of bodies it is of necessitie therefore that the instrument should be of the same nature If this be true I meane that the eye is full of fire and sparkling streames we shal be forced to beleeue that the eye seeth by emission This is also the most common receiued opinion and that which hath drawen manie great learned Clerkes after it as Pithagoras Empedocles Hipparcus Democritus Leucippus Epicurus Chrysippus Plato and in a maner all others which haue written of the eyes And now take a viewe of their principal reasons Reasons to proue that we see by sending foorth something The Basiliske by his sight poy soneth all them which looke vpon him women hauing their natural courses infect the looking-glasses vpon which they cast their eyes Some report that if a Woolfe doe first see a man that then such a man will become hoarse The first Men of olde time haue thought that with the looke one might be bewitched and inchanted according to the complaint of the Poet I know not what eye hath bewitched my tender lambes The second If a man come neere to one that hath enflamed eyes and behold him earnestly which hath red eyes without all peraduenture he shall bee troubled with the same disease all which sheweth that there commeth something out of the eye Whereupon is it that a great whitenes doth hurt the sight but onely for that it wasteth the spirits which come forth of the eye Wherefore should the eye grow weake with looking The third but because there commeth out of it too much light and that all the spirits vanish and fade away The fourth Whence commeth it that such as would see a very little thing a far off do claspe their eyes halfe close their eyelids It is not that so they may vnite the beames and ioyne together the spirits The fift to the end that afterward they may cast them out more forcibly cibly and directly Go not the Cats on hunting in the night and then do they cast out some glittering streames The sixt Furthermore if we should not see by sending something foorth of the eye it should seeme vnnecessary that the eye should turne it selfe vnto his obiect the forme thereof should offer it selfe sufficiently to vs yea we should see in not seeing The seuenth If we should see onely by taking and receiuing something into our eyes then great eyes should see better then small ones because they are the more capable and so also such eyes as haue large apples should see better then those which haue small ones which is quite contrary to trueth a small thing should be assoone seene as a great The eight and it would be as easie to see a farre off as neere if the formes be al in the aire Looke wel say they which write of the eyes vpon a small needle which hath his point standing vp yet at the first cast thou shalt not disceme the point but afterward hauing turned thine eye on the one side and the other thou shalt see it because that by such turning some one bright straine or other will haue met with it of the same reason and nature is that which happeneth in smal things that are on the earth The ninth a man cannot tell how to behaue himselfe to see them at the first dash Finally if we see by taking something into the eye the eye should containe at one and the same instant two contrarie things which is
doe sufficiently witnesse the same Why they be suspicious The accident of suspition followeth the two former hard and close at the heeles the melancholike party is euermore suspicious if he see three or foure talking together he thinketh that it is of him The cause of such suspition riseth of the former feare and of a corrupt kinde of reasoning for being alwaies in feare he thinketh verely that one or other doeth lie in wait for him and that some doe purpose to slay him Melancholike men sayth Aristotle doe deceiue themselues commonly in matters which depend vpon choice for that they oftentimes forget the generall propositions wherein honestie consisteth and chuse rather to follow the motions of their foolish imaginations The cause of their restlesnes They are neuer at rest either in their bodies or in their spirits they can make no answere to such questions as are propounded them they oftentimes change from one kinde to another This disquieting and distracting of themselues ariseth of the diuersitie of matters which they propound and set before themselues for receiuing all maner of formes and stamping them with the print of dislike they are constrained oftentimes to change and to find out new things which being no more acceptable to them then the first doe still continue them in these restles distractions The cause of their sighing Melancholike folke are commonly giuen to sigh because the minde being possessed with great varietie and store of foolish apparitions doth not remember or suffer the partie to bee at leisure to breathe according to the necessitie of nature whereupon she is constrained at once to sup vp as much ayre as otherwise would serue for two or three times and this great draught of breath is called by the name of sighing which is as it were a reduplicating of the ordinary manner of breathing In this order it falleth out with louers and all those which are very busily occupied in some deepe contemplation Sillie fooles likewise which fall into a wonder at the sight of any beautifull and goodly picture are constrained to giue a great sight their will which is the efficient cause of breathing being altogether distracted and wholly possessed with the sight of the image Why they watch and can not sleepe There is yet another accident which is very tedious and euen consumeth these poore melancholike men euen continuall watchings I haue seene some that haue abode three whole moneths without sleepe The causes of sleepe Now the causes of such watchings are easie enough to vnderstand if wee know what it is which causeth vs to sleepe Men are giuen to obserue in sleepe the materiall formall finall and instrumentall cause The materiall is a pleasant vapour which is cast vp from the first and second concoction which whē it commeth to slacken and stop all the sinewes by his moysture it causeth all sence and motion for to cease The finall cause is the repayre of spirits and the rest of all the animall powers which hauing been wearied by continuall labour doe craue a little reliefe and recreation this end cannot be obtained if so bee the minde which setteth all the powers of the bodie on worke be not vouchsafed some maner of peaceable rest in this sort the sillie Dido all ouer whelmed with musing pensiuenes could not espie the approach of night to the shutting vp of her mournfull eyes or easing of her oppressed heart The formall cause of sleepe consisteth in the withdrawing of the spirits and naturall heate from the outward parts to the inward and from all the circumference vnto the center The instrumentall cause is the braine which must be of good temperature for if it be too hot as in frenticke folkes or drie as in old folkes the sleepe will neuer be with peace and quietnes The causes of all that watchfulnes which is in melancholike persons In melancholike persons the materiall is wanting the minde is not at rest the braine is distempered the matter is a melancholike humour drie as ashes from whence cannot arise any pleasant and delightsome vapour the braine is distempered and greatly ouerdried the minde is in continuall restlesnes for the feare that is in them doth continually set before them tedious grieuous things which so gnaw and pinch them as that they hinder them from sleeping But if at one time or other it fall out that they be ouertaken with a little slumber it is then but a troublesome sleepe accompanied with a thousand of false and fearefull apparitions and dreames so dreadfull as that it were better for them to be awake The causes of all these dreames are to bee referred to the propertie of the humour The causes of all their fearefull dreames for as the phlegmatike partre dreameth commonly of riuers of water and the cholerike of flaming fire so the melancholike person dreameth of nothing but dead men graues and all other such mournfull and vnpleasant things because he exerciseth his imaginations with formes altogether like vnto the humour which beareth sway in him vpon which occasion the memorie beginneth to stirre and rouse vp her selfe or else because that the spirits being growne as it were wilde and altogether blacke ranging the braine throughout and bending themselues to the eye doe set before the iamgination all manner of darke and obscure things The cause why they loue darknes Melancholike men are also enemies to the Sunne and shunne the light because that their spirits and humours are altogether contrary to the light The Sunne is bright and warme the melancholike humour is blacke and colde They desire solitarines because they vsing to bee busie and earnestly following their imagination doe feare to bee drawne away by others their presence and therefore doe auoide it but the cause of such their vncessant perseuerance in their imaginations is because their spirits are grosse and as it were immoueable They haue their eyes fixed and as it were set fast by reason of the cold and drines of the instrument they haue a hissing in their cares and oftentimes are troubled with swimmering or giddinesse Why they loue to be silent and as Galen obserueth they loue silence out of measure and oftentimen cannot speake not for any defect of the tongue but rather because of I cannot tell what maner of conceitednes finally they inuent continually some one or other strange imagination and haue in a maner all of them one speciall obiect from which they cannot be weined till time haue worne it out CHAP. VI. Whence it commeth that melancholike persons haue all of them their particular and altogether diuers obiects whereupon they dote THe imagination of melancholike men bringeth forth such diuersitie of effects according to the difference of the matters where about it is occupied as that a man shall searse finde fiue of sixe among then thousand which dote after one and the same maner Whereupon ancient writers haue compared this humour to wine for as wine according
attempted by all the skilfull meanes in the world to take from him this foolish conceite he hath been shewed the description of the oyntment to put him out of doubt that there goeth no dangerous thing to the making of it he knoweth it and is of the same minde but yet this conceite is so deepely printed in him as that hitherto no man hath attayned to know how to displace it The twelfth Aretaeus in his first booke of long diseases saith that he hath seene a melancholike man who hath imagined himselfe to be of bricke and would not drinke therefore fearing least thereby he should haue been dissolued The thirteenth Another imagined that his feete were made of glasse and durst not walke least he should haue broke them The foureteenth A Baker had conceiued that he was made of butter and no man could make him come neere either the fire or his ouen he was so much a fraide of being melted The fifteenth The pleasantest dotage that euer I read was of one Sienois a Gentleman who had resolued with himselfe not to pisse but to dye rather and that because he imagined that when he first pissed all his towne would be drowned The Phisitions shewing him that all his bodie and ten thousand moe such as his were not able to containe so much as might drowne the least house in the towne could not change his minde from this foolish imagination In the end they seeing his obstinacie and in what danger he put his life found out a pleasant inuention They caused the next house to be set on fire all the bells in the town to ring they perswaded diuerse seruants to crie to the fire to the sire therewithall send of those of the best account in the town to craue helpe and shew the Gentleman that there is but one way to saue the towne and that it was that he should pisse quickelie and quench the sire Then this sillie melancholike man which abstained from pissing for feare of loosing his towne taking it for graunted that it was now in great hazard pissed and emptied his bladder of all that was in it and was himselfe by that meanes preserued As concerning those which thinke themselues Kings Emperours Popes Cardinals and such like seeing that such foolish conceits are common enough I haue purposed onely to name those which are most rare And thus much for melancholie which hath his seate in the braine which is caused of a colde and drie distemperature either simple or mixt with matter It followeth sometimes the hote sickenesses of the braine as frensies and burning feauers and then the face appearethred Auicen obserueth that stammerers and such as haue rowling eyes and such as are hairie and blacke such also as haue great veines and thicke lippes are most incident to this kinde of melancholie sadnes feare deepe muses the vse of grosse and melancholike meates doe oftentimes cause this disease CHAP. VIII An order of diet for such as haue this melancholike disease in the braine How greatly good order of dyet doth auaile and profit in olde diseases IT seemeth to me that I haue read some where in Aretine that in olde diseases which haue gotten some certaine habit the maner of liuing is to more purpose then whatsoeuer can be drawne out of the most precious boxes of the Apothecarie Auicen the chiefe prince of the Arabians doth teach vs that the maner of liuing being neglected may corrupt the best state and constitution in the world and contrary wise being carefully obserued may amend the worst And therefore I will begin the cure of these melancholike men by setting downe the way to order and gouerne themselues The ayre They must make choyse of such an ayre as is temperate in his actiue qualities and which is moyst concerning the passiue It may be made such by art casting abroad in your chamber good store of flowers of Roses Violets and water Lyllies Or else you may haue a great vessell full of warme water which will keepe the ayre moyst continually It will be needefull to perfume the chamber with Orange flowers Citron pilles and a little Storax the chamber must be lightsome and standing toward the East A grosse darke gloomish stinking ayre is very contrarie howsoeuer such persons doe desire the same altogether It is good to accustome them to beholde redde yellow greene and white colours As concerning their meats all such as are grosse slimie windie Meats melancholike and of hard digestion doe hurt exceedingly They must haue their bread of good wheate which is pure Bread and purged from bran without fault and which is if possiblie it may be knodden with raine or fountaine water Their flesh must be very young for that is the best Flesh as for example among the rest that which is of a calfe kid mutton pullet partridge and contrarilie that which is olde and maketh a grosse nourishment as is beefe porke hare waterfowles and all wilde beastes as the wilde Bore Harts are very bad Galen forbiddeth the flesh of hee-goates Buls Asses Dogs Camels and Foxes but he might haue spared this his inhibition for their daintines is not such as that men should delight in much lesse doate vpon them The Arabians commend the braines of things to be good against melancholie by I cannot tell what propertie but in my iudgement they be not very proper and fit seeing they are enemies vnto the stomacke and I take them to haue been too superstitious in a great number of things The fishes that liue in standing waters as also those of the Sea Fish which haue a grosse and melancholike flesh as the Tunnie Dolphine Whale Seale and all such as haue scales are euill and not to be vsed in this disease one may eate of the fishes which liue in cleere and bright waters and running streames Salted or powdred fish is starke naught Egges that are new soft and potched and eaten with vineger or veriuce are very good The vse of pottage and brothes is very good and necessarie Pottage because this humour being drie must be moystned The hearbes ordinarilie to be vsed in them are Borage Buglosse Burnet Endiue Succorie Hoppes and a little Balme there must great heede be taken that there come not any Cole Blites Rocket Cresses Turneps Leekes or very bitter and biting hearbes in them husked Barlie blanched Almonds and gruell doe serue very excellentlie well to send vp pleasant vapours vnto the braine There must care be had to abstaine from all maner of pulse Pulse as peason beanes and fetches As concerning fruites Fruites wee will allow Plumbes Peares sweete Pomegranats Almonds Raisins Pine apples Citrons Melons and especially those apples which haue a merueilous propertie in curing melancholie we forbid drie Figs Medlers Ceruises Chesnuts Nuts Artichoakes Thistles and old cheefe As concerning drinke Drinke there is some disagreement amongst Phisitions for some doe allow and othersforbid wine
it hath with the marrow in the hollow parts of other bones for it serueth not for nourishment vnto the skull it melteth not with fire nor consumeth his originall is more excellent for it is made with the other parts that are of the purest and finest portion of the two seeds The temperature of the braine must be cold Why the temperature of the braine is cold thereby to temper the spirits of sence and motion to resist their aptnes to be wasted and spent and to keepe that this noble member which is commonly imployed about so many worthie actions should not set it selfe on fire and make our discourses and talke rash and headie and our motions out of order as it befalleth them which are frenticke It hath oft astonished me to thinke how that great Philosopher Aristotle Aristotle his error durst say that the braine was made cold onely to coole the heart not acknowledging any other vse of this his temperature If the time and place would permit me to confute his errour I would make it appeare that the heele hath more force to coole the heart then the braine but fearing to wander too wide out of my way I will referre the reader vnto that which Galen hath written in his eight booke of the vse of parts I will follow the leuelling line of my discourse and say that the braine being of a soft substance and of a cold and moyst temperature being compared with the rest of the parts of the bodie doth beget many excrements That the brain doth beget great store of excrements of it selfe and for that it is nourished with a cold and raw blood there must needes remaine great surplussages and so it cannot but beget great store of superfluities in such sort as that of it selfe and of it owne proper nature it is continually disposed to beget and containe water It be getteth much also in respect of his shape and situation His forme which is round hollow and long after the manner of a cupping glasse draweth vnto it from all the parts of the bodie their exhalations His situation which is aloft doth easily receiue them so that these hote vapours falling into a part or member that is more cold doe grow thicke and turne into water As wee see the vapours rising vpon the fire kindled in the parts about the short ribs when they come to the skinne which is more cold to congeale and turne to sweate Or a s exhalations drawne vp by the heate of the Sunne doe thicken in the middle region of the ayre and turne into raine haile and snow See then how the braine both of it selfe as also by accident is apt to ingender excrements and how in euery liuing thing it may be called the principall seate of cold and moysture but chiefly in man for as much as according to the varietie of the animall functions which he executeth he aboundeth with greater quantitie of braine then any other liuing thing doth besides Two sorts of excrements But these excrements if wee beleeue Hippocrates and Galen are of two sorts the one grosse and the other refined The subtile and refined doe breathe out by insensible vapours the grosse doe stand in need of troughs and channels for to rid them by Conuciances for the emptying of the sayd excrements Nature hath so prouidently forecast for them both as that no man can but marueile at her industrious paines taken therein for to helpe and further the exhalation of the thinner and refined she hath pearced the skull and made all those seames which wee see therein which stand in like stead to the bodie as a chimney or breathing place doth to a house and for the grosse excrements she hath framed two conueiances and particular water draughts by which all the water-poole doth emptie it selfe the one of which betaketh it self vnto the nose and the other vnto the roofe of the mouth That in the palate is the more common of the two The conueyance vnto the palate of the mouth and it riseth from the third ventricle of the braine it is wide aboue and growth narrower and narrower like a funnel and that is the cause why the Anathomists doe call it Infundibulum By this channell all the waterie substance of the vpper ventricles doe purge themselues and betake themselues to a certaine glandule called the spitting kernell which drinketh vp like a little spunge all their water and after suffereth it to glide away very smoothly through many pretie little clefts which are to be seene by the side of the feate of the bone called Sphenoides and so from thence betake themselues to the palate The conueyance caried vnto the nose The other channell is led along to the nose these bee the two bunches of the braine which are fashioned like vnto paps Their principall vse is to receiue the smels and to conuey them vnto the brain but when there is great quantitie of excrements nature doth offer them some hard measures in causing to runne downe by these two bunchie excrescences the waterish humours which otherwise doe passe by some part of the bone called Ethmoides which is pearced in manner of a searce These are the two conducts I meane the nose and the palate which nature hath ordained for the purging of the braine There are some others but not ordinarie which Hippocrates hath well obserued in his Booke of Glandules as the eyes Extraordinarie conueyances eares spinall marrow veines and sinewes but these doe serue but at such times as things are all out of order and that the naturall gouernement of the braine is quite peruerted CHAP. II. What this word Rheume doth signifie what maner of disease it is and in what the essence thereof consisteth IF the braine be of a good temperature it will not ingender any excrements but such as are naturall to it and accordingly auoide them euery daye by such passages as nature bath assigned it but and if it be distempered it will gather a great deale moe then it ought which either of their owne weightines such is their elementarie forme will fall downe into the lower parts or else will be thrust out into some other part by the vertue expulsiue of the braine which shall feele it selfe oppressed either with the quantitie or euill qualitie of the same This falling downe of humours in what maner so euer it be What is meant by the word rheume is generallie called of the Greekes a Catarrhe which signifieth as much as distillation I know very well that there is a more strict signification of this name and that as Galen obserueth very well in his third of the causes of accidents a Catarrhe is properly when the humour falleth downe into the mouth but I will rest my selfe in this place with the most common signification and will call all maner of falling downe of humours from the braine into what part soeuer it be a Catarrhe rheume or distillation Rheume if
arise of the corruption of the ayre and of the manner of life The ayre may alter and change vs three maner of waies by his qualities by his substance and by his sudden alteration and chaunge that which is too cold too hot and too moyst is apt to beget rheumes the hot ayre doth it by resoluing and melting such humours as are contained in the braine for thus it maketh them the more apt to fall downe the colde ayre is the cause of distillations because it presseth the braine together and euen as a spunge full of water being pressed wee may behold the water to run out like a riuer on euery side euen so the braine being shrunke together by colde letteth all her humours glide and slip away the same cold ayre may also bee the cause of rheumes by repelling and causing to retire the naturall heate from the vtter parts to the inner The Southerne and Northerne windes are mightie causes to moue and make rheumes for those doe fill the braine and make it heauie but these doe cause it to shrinke together Long tariance inthe Sun or open ayre doth effect as much The sudden change of the ayre and alteration of seasons are of the number of those causes which inforce the rheume As also if the seasons doe keepe their naturall temper as Hippocrates hath very well obserued in his third booke of Aphorismes the yeare will greatly incline vnto rheumatikenes If together with this partie alteration or vtter ouerthrow of the temperature there bee any particular defect in the substance of the ayre as some secret and hidden corruption or infection then it will ingender a popular and pestilent rheume The maner of liuing may likewise bee put in the scrole of outward causes which doe ingender and beget the rheume much eating and drinking doe likewise fill the braine and this is the cause why drunkards and gluttonous feeders are ordinarily subiect vnto the Wrangling rheume .. Great abstinence may likewise cause rheumes in attenuating and making thin the humours as also for that the stomacke being emptie and not prouided of any thing to fill it selfe withall is constrained to make attraction of such moysture as is in the parts neere about Long watching continuall studie extreame violent passions of the minde in as much as they spend and waste the naturall heate and coole the brainer doe ingender rheumes to liue all idle doth keepe the excrements vnconsumed Great euacuations but especiallie oft letting of blood and in great quantitie do cast headlong the body into old age and make it altogether rheumatike Much sleepe puffeth vp the bodie and maketh it moyst especially that which is taken at noonetide And thus much for the outward causes which may cause and mooue the rheume let vs now come vnto the inward The inward causes are either remote or else conioyned the remote which it pleaseth some better to call Antecedents haue relation to the euill disposition of the braine head liuer stomacke and sometimes of the whole bodie The distemperature of the braine causeth rheumes The cold moyst and hot distemperature of the braine doe oftentimes cause rheumes the cold and moyst of their owne nature the hot by way of accident the cold distemperature weakeneth naturall heate doth not make good disgestion of nourishment neither yet spend and waste vnnecessary superfluities whereupon it followeth that it must needs store vp abundance of excrements The hot distemperature attracteth more nourishment then it can well disgest and moe vapours then it can dispatch and make away withall There are some which haue very wittily obserued that the closenes of the substance of the braine is oftentimes the cause of rheumes because it retaineth the vapours and suffereth them not to spend by breathing out and euaporation The euil shape of the head The bad forme or shape of the head is likewise very forcible to procure rheumes for such as haue thc seames of their head very close set together or which haue not any at all as wee haue seene very many are subiect to distillations because the vapours retained doe turne into water and in deede the seames were chiefly made to serue for a vent and as it were a chimney vnto the braine The distemperapture of the lower parts The distemperature of the lower parts and especially of the liuer and stomacke is one of the most ordinarie causes of the rheume if wee beleeue Auicen the prince of the Arabians For from the liner being excessiuely hot doe come as it were from a great burning cole many hot exhalations which by the cold temperature of the braine doe congeale and turne into water I say further that they which haue a very hot liuer haue also their veines very hot in such sort as that there rise continually very hot vapours from them The cold distemperature of the stomacke ingendring many crudities my also be a cause of rheumes for thereby al the bodie is cooled the second disgestion not being able to correct the errour of the first But if it should so bee as that all the causes should concur and iumpe together that is to say that the braine should bee cold and moyst the lieu hot the stomacke cold there were no doubt but that thereupon would follow a perpetuall generation of excrements in the braine and this is that which the Arabians would haue sayd when they wrote that an vnequall distemperature of the principall parts is the greatest occasion of distillations And thus much concerning the remote causes The more neere or antecedent causes not onely of rheumes but of all other fluxes of humours are three The causes more necrely procuring rheumes are three The partsending the part sending the part receiuing and the nature of the humour In the part sending wee obserue his high situation and his strength if it bee indued with these two qualities it will easily cast his burthen vpon all the inferiour-parts which are as it were vassals vnto it Hippocrates hath well obserued it in the booke of the wounds of the head when he sayth that amongst all the parts of the head the brow is most subiect vnto inflammation because the brow is contained but euery fluxe is from the part containing vnto the part contained the brow is contained both in respect of the low situation thereof as also in respect of the production of vessels The part receiueth the humour either because it is inferiour or because it is weake The part receiuing or because it draweth it vnto it Euery inferiour part is subiect to receiue the burthen of that which commanded it but and if the part be weake it will yet be the more apt This weakenes commeth either of it selfe and from the proper nature of the part or else by some accident The weake part the rare and spungie parts are naturallie weake such as are all the glandules and it seemeth that nature of set purpose hath made them such to the end that they should receiue
little of the wood of Aloes They must not bee made cleane with a knife pinne or with any thing of gold or siluer as many doe because that it doth loosen the ligaments It must also be auoyded to lie digging at them any long time especially of such as are subiect to distillations After that the teeth are thus picked and cleansed they may bee washed with wine delayed The continuall and common vse of Sublimatum Sublimate hurteth them doth blacke and spoyle the teeth very mightily but and if you would preuent that it should doe no harme To vse sublimate so as that it may not hurt the teeth it must first bee well prepared and afterward neuer to vse it but when it hath been steept in water three or foure moneths chaunging the water the first moneth euery day and once or twice a weeke in the rest it must also neuer bee vsed about the face but the mouth must first be washed and the teeth cleansed and water kept in the mouth And thus much for the things which may hurt the teeth Let vs now see what things are good and profitable for them There are some that haue their teeth very white but they are not fast because that either the ligaments are loosened or for that the gummes haue lost part of their fleshie substance other some haue their teeth fast but they be blacke Wherefore there are two sorts of remedies to bee prouided the one to blanch and make white the teeth the other to fasten them and incarnate There are an infinite number of those which doe make white the teeth but I will chuse the most fit and conuenient The Greeke Phisitions commend the pummice stone burnt and made in powder Things to make the teeth white more then any other thing and their ordinarie remedie is this Take of pummice stone and burned salt of each three drammes of Iuncus Odoratus two drams of Pepper a dram and a halfe make them all in powder and therewith rub the teeth We shall make a powder which in my opinion will be very fit Take of pure Christall a dram and a halfe A powder of white and red Corall of each one dram of pummice stone and cuttle bone of each two scruples of very white Marble of the toote of Florentine Ireos of Cinamome and Dyers graine of each halfe a dram of common salt one dram of Pearle well prepared a scruple of Alablaster and Roch Alome of each halfe a dram of good Muske tenne graines make them all into very fine powder and rub the teeth therwith euery morning wasning them afterward with white wine With the very same powder there may be made Opiates putting thereunto some honie The spirit of Vitrioll mixt with a little common water doth white the teeth marueilously and is one of the rarest and most singular medicines that is There are some which do much esteeme Aquafortis well delayed with common water There may also a water be distilled which wil make them white Take of liue Brimstone Alome A distilled water Sal Gemma of each a pound of Vineger foure ounces others vse the spirit of Vitrioll in stead of Vineger distil hereof a water with a retort vsing a gentle fire that so it may not smel of the Brimstone This water doth make the teeth very white and cleanseth rotten gummes If the teeth be very blacke and filthie Take of Barlie meale and common Salt two ounces A powder mixe them with Honey and make a paste which shall be wrapped in paper and dried in an ouen you shal take of this powder three drams of Crab-shels burned pummice stone egge shels in powder and Alome of each two drams of the rinde of drie Citrons one dram they shall all bee mixed together and the teeth rubd therewithall The rootes of Holihocks well prepared The prepared rootes of Holihocks doe mightily cleanse and whiten the teeth The way to prepare them is in this sort Take the rootes of Holihocke being made cleane and cut them in many long peeces boyle them in water with Salt Alome and a little of Florentine Ireos afterwards drie them well in an ouen or in the Sunne and rubbe the teeth therewith If the teeth be not fast but shake to and fro Take of the rootes of Bistort and Cinquefoyle To fasten the teeth that shake and are loose of each one ounce of the rootes of Cypers two drams of red Roses the rootes of white Thistle and of the leaues or bark of Mastick tree of each halfe an ounce of Sumach two drams and of Cloues a dram boyle al these in Smithes water and red wine wash therewith your gummes putting thereto a little Alome Or else Take red Corall Harts horne and Alome of each a dram and a halfe of Sumach and of the rootes of white Thistle of each a dram make them in powder which you shall mixe with the iuyce or wine of Quinces and apply them vpon the gummes and to the rootes of the teeth in the forme of an oyntment To beget flesh about the teeth If the teeth be bare and without flesh they must bee couered by causing flesh to grow againe with such remedies as followe There shall be made a powder with Alome red Corall gumme and rinde of the Frankincense tree with a little Ireos and Aristolochie Or else take plume Alome Pomegranat flowers and Sumach of each two drammes of Aloes wood of Cyperus of Mirrhe and Masticke of each a dram make thereof a powder An Opiate Opiates also are very fit to beget flesh and doe abide better vpon the place Take of Roch Alome halfe an ounce of Dragons blood three drammes of Mirrhe two drams and a halfe of Cinamome and Masticke of each a dram make them all into very fine powder and with a sufficient quantitie of Honey make an Opiate which you shall apply at euening vpon your gummes and there let it remaine all night the next day morning you shal wash them with some astringent decoction or red wine There bee some that take a corne of Salt euery morning in their mouth and letting it melt doe rubbe the teeth with their very tongue holding that this doth white and make fast the teeth hindring and keeping corruption and putrefaction from the teeth And thus much for the preseruation of the teeth THE FOVRTH DISCOVRSE WHEREIN IS INTREATED OF old age and how we must succour and relieue it CHAP. I. That a man cannot alwaies continue in one state and that it is necessarie that he should grow old THis is a generall and solemne decree published throughout the world How euery thing that is must haue an end and pronounced by Nature her selfe that whatsoeuer hath a beginning so that it consist of matter must also haue an end There is nothing vnder the cope of heauen except the soule of man which is not subiect to change and corruption All the great and famous Philosophers and Phisitions that
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