the best spring water or good river-water In quantity it must not exceed for so it would hinder the concoction of the stomacke And as for the order it must be drunke as is already in the generall directions of drinke set downe little and often at a meale Vsed before meales it moistneth much dry bodies and cooleth more than sacke or any wine whatsoever be it never to small and therefore fitter for hot and drie bodies than wine or strong drinke Vsed after meales it inhibiteth and hindereth the hot vaporous fumes of strong drinke to ascend into the braine and so is said to resist drunkennesse but I advise weake stomackes to looke unto themselves for feare of too much debilitation proceeding from too much humectation And howbeit in hot countries their water by reason of correction by the splendor of the Sunne-beames is accounted wholesomer than ours yet might ours be farre more used than it is especially by hot and dry bodies especially such stomacks and yonger people especially but this is the mischiefe that such commonly powre downe most strong drinke by this meanes adding fewell to the fire untill Fevers inflammations and such furious diseases in the very Aprill of their age bring them to an untimely death And the poorer sort I am sure might make more use of the same than ordinarily they doe which would better become them than go a begging strong drinke or which is yet worse steale to procure mony to buy it And notwithstanding this our nicity I know som honourable and worshipfull Ladies who drinke little other drinke and yet injoy more perfect health than most of them that drinke of the strongest Two things do most deterre people from the use of this noble antient drinke the coldnesse and the crudity As for the coldnesse howsoever it doth often actually to the palat appeare such yet have I shewed that there is no such intense cooling quality here to be feared The other is the crudity which is indeed nothing else but the abundance of moisture wherewith it is indowed and most offensive to weake and moist stomackes and all is notwithstanding ordinarily imputed to the coldnesse of water Some to correct what they deeme amisse in water use to adde some sugar to it and so thinke all is well amended and is most practised by the female sex But this is no good correction for of this they cannot be ignorant and experience teacheth no lesse that sweet things doe rather hurt than helpe a weake and tender stomacke And besides Sugar being but temperately hot could adde but a little heat to such a drinke if it were as cold as is supposed Againe sugar having no drying quality ascribed unto it but rather a meane moisture it will rather adde to than detract from this moist quality But in my opinion the best correction is by boiling it first and then if thou wilt adde thereunto a little hony or sugar and a little wine vineger which well correcteth the moisture and joined with the other sugar or hony giveth it a pleasant rellish thou maiest make thee a pleasant and wholesome drinke Now as concerning the boiling of waters there is a controversie about the quantity or how much should be boiled away some willing to boile water to the wasting away of the third part others of the halfe which others againe thinke too much and indeed a meane is the best Againe some would have water corrected by distillation which I must needes confesse to be best if not too costly besides that it is not so easy every where and at all times to be effected Some straine it thorow a cleane linnen cloth and some againe boile it with sand Some with corall beaten to powder correct the bitternesse of waters and some attribute a correcting qualitie to Penniroall Pliny reports that bitter waters are made sweet and potable by casting into them a little meale or flowre of wheat so that they may bee drunke within two houres after I doubt this triall would hardly answere our expectation And I am sure the practice of the Prophet Elisha in healing the water with salt was miraculous It is familiar with mariners after the use of evill waters to eat garlicke The Arabian Physitians advise him who is to remove his habitation to a place where waters are not good to carry with him some of the earth where hee lived before and mingle with his water and being well strained drink of it Now because oftentimes water is either somwhat warme and therfore quencheth not the thirst so well or else is not so cold as to please some nice and curious palats therefore partly for pleasure and wantonnesse and partly for necessity especially when all manner of riot and excesse began to reigne amongst many other things were devised severall waies to coole both their water and their wine And it cannot be denied that cold water doth better further the concoction of the stomacke than warme And Galen in Sommer alloweth of very cold drinke yea even cooled with snow and to such especially as labour hard and use much exercise but others that live idly leading a sedentary life and free from imployment either of body or mind he adviseth to drinke water as nature hath produced it without any alteration Avicen wisheth alwaies to eat before they drinke water and to drinke sparingly and often at our repast and out of a vessell with a narrow mouth that so the draught may be the more moderate There were six several waies the antients used to coole their water by means of the aire which was familiar to the Aegyptians as witnesseth Galen In the Sommer saith he the Aegyptians of Alexandria having first well warmed their water and put it up in close earthen vessells exposed it to the night aire and before Sun rising set them in some shadie places of the ground environed round about with cooling herbes Sailers have beene seene sometimes to expose their water to the night aire and afterwards cover their bottles with many clothes and thus it is very certaine it reteineth still the cold quality The reason why they thus boiled their water was because that water once boiled receiveth sooner and easilier the impression of the cold aire as witnesseth the Prince of Philosophers And therefore in Pontus where they fish alwaies in frost they besprinkle their angling-rods with warme water which afterwards congealeth and freezeth so much the harder which serveth them in stead of glue The second way of cooling water is by letting it downe in an earthen bottle into a deepe well howbeit others are of opinion it receives some evill impression from this close water and therefore thinke it better to draw up the water and so set it in it The third way is by injection of some salt peter which afterwards for a while is stirred about with a sticke howbeit this is not so well approved of with whatsoever present
to speake of such waters as be beneficiall for the life of all living Creatures In the first place then let us examine the qualities of the best water The goodnesse thereof is principally discerned by the lightnesse and thinnesse the which according to Hippocrates is soone warme and soone cold againe if it bee free from any smell or taste if any kind of pulse bee quickly tender that is boyled therein if put in a silver vessell it cause it no to rust and leave no slime at bottome It is also accounted a good signe of wholesome water if a handfull of sage being throwne therein it be presently dispersed if it nourish good fish and good and wholesome plants grow in it we thinke well of it but if it nourish toads snakes or other such vermine it is utterly to be rejected The weighing of water is not to be trusted to for a venomous water may be as light as that which is of a more laudable quality and besides one and the same water may be heavy in winter and light in sommer as for any other experiments either by a linnen cloth or round piece of wood as idle and impertinent I passe by and come to the differences and severall sorts of water Water that is in request for the ordinary use as well of man as beast as for Physicall waters we referre them to their proper place and venomous waters we will not meddle with wee will divide into Celestiall and Terrestriall Celestiall are either snow or raine-waters Terrestriall is either spring or river-water well-water or of a pond and standing lake Raine-water is engendred in the middle region of the aire of certaine vapors which the Sunne by his heat in the day-time draweth up Aristotle is of opinion that some hot and dry vapors are therewith mingled which causeth the saltnesse in the sea In raine-water againe we are to observe both the time and the manner of falling Hippocrateâ— rejecteth that which falleth in the winter-time as being heavier and harder than in the Sommer The best in his opinion is that which falleth in Sommer and in the most temperate part of the same not in the extreme heat of the canicular dayes it being then farre worse Some notwithstanding hold that the winter and spring raine water are the best and to be preferred before that which falleth in Sommer and Harvest and that by reason it is not so soone putrified But the opinion of Hippocrates is to be preferred who measureth the water by the lightnesse and thinnesse thereof Of the parts of the day that which falleth in the morning is accounted best The manner of the falling is likewise of some moment whether it fall with force or violence or mildly and softly with greater or smaller drops That which falleth with smaller drops and with violence Hippocrates esteemeth better than that which falleth more leisurely and with greater drops and that which falleth with great stormes of wind is accounted worst The substance of raine-water is most subtile and sweet by reason that the most subtile and thinnest parts are exhaled and drawne up by force of the Sunne-beames Snow-water is either of snow alone or of snow mingled with haile or yee or else snow and yee are mingled with other water Both these sorts are to be rejected by reason that the thinnest and subtilest parts by congealing doe exhale and vanish away the thicker and more terrestrious part still remaining behind Of this a triall may be made by letting some water freeze in the night-time and the next morning being dissolved by the heat the quantity shall easily bee discerned to bee diminished Now what harme insueth by drinking of these snow-snow-waters is by the testimony of Hippocrates apparent and such as doe inhabite the Alpes and Pyrenean hills and Auvergne in France are sensible of this hurt being much molested with great throats whom for this cause their neighbours call Goitreux Cisterne waters are of a very neare affinity with raine-water as being nothing else but raine-water conveighed into a cisterne as a fit and convenient receptacle Pliny approves not of raine-waters because by reason of their standing they putrifie and ingender noisome creatures harden the belly and are hurtfull to the throat But since raine-water is so usefull and soveraine I see no reason why cisterne-water should be blamed And since of raine-water there be some better and some worse we must choose the fittest and convenientest time to wit that which falleth in the Sommer As for the slime filth which often accompanieth rainewa-ter being strained thorow gravel and sand they easily leave al that behind the as for the feare of putrefaction it may easily be avoided by casting in some small fishes which will keepe it in continuall motion As concerning the quality of such water it is by some Physitians beleeved that it bindes but that which is reserved in the middest of Sommer rather looseneth then bindeth the belly And by the same reason boiled water rather looseneth than bindeth the belly contrary to the vulgar opinion and that by reason that being boiled it is more easily againe expelled out of the body Now as for terrestriall waters among then Fountaines or Springs challenge vnto themselves the prerogative of the first place above any others In fountaines or springs wee are to consider three things their originall situation and places through which they passe The best springs in the judgement of Hippocrates are such as spring out of high places and earthy hills Such as spring out of rockes he mis-liketh as also such as runne neere any hot bath or thorow mineralls It may be objected that springs issuing out of rockes are by some of the antients accounted wholesomest and best It may bee Hippocrates in regard of their excessive cold and that they are not so passible thorow the body rejected them In the situation of springs wee are to consider the soile where it is seated and next the aspect of the Heaven As for the soile the best spring out of high hilly places but worse that spring out of champian and plaine grounds for such water in Winter is hot and in Sommer cold In regard of the Heaven such are commended that runne towards the Sunne rising and have their aspect that way Such as runne towards the West or other parts c are not of that high esteeme although not unwholesome to drinke Now the ground through which waters runne is not to bee neglected The best ground is a good firme clay unto the which the filth and corruption of the water sticketh fast Againe it must runne a swift course by which meanes it is freed from all smell and putrefaction But heere ariseth a question whether water carried through pipes especially of lead may safely be used The reason may bee both in regard of Galen and others antient Authors and famous in their generations Now
besides the closenesse of the passage thorow which it is conveyed they alleadge another inconvenient that by this passage the water draweth ceruse from the lead and these drossie dregges thus drawne from this ceruse say they engender the bloody flixe I answere that daily experience evinceth this to bee most false and erroneous as may bee seene in the Citie of Paris where such water is in most common and frequent request And if they bee sometimes subject thereunto it is rather to bee imputed to the slimy river of Seine than to these leaden pipes as their owne Physitians confesse Againe in Montpeliers the water is brought into the Towne by meanes of such leaden pipes and yet are they no wayes obnoxious to this disease and this is likewise the case of many other cities of that great and populous kingdome of France who are notwithstanding as free as the former But that wee may come neerer home what shall wee say to the noble City of London whither that river of Ware is conveied and by these leaden pipes distributed thorow that great body and yet it is well knowne that this is not a disease that much troubleth ordinarily this great and populous City And this Towne of Northampton maketh likewise use of these leaden pipes and yet the inhabitants are but seldome troubled with this disease and no doubt many like instances may be produced to prove this truth Againe ceruse which Vitru vius and others so much feare cannot be extracted out of lead except it be first steeped in strong vineger If any can object any thing else against such water the fire will make amends River-water partaketh of the same nature with Spring-water from whence it hath its originall and beginning yet commeth short of the former in regard of the slime and filth they carry with them as also in regard of the diversity of the natures of the springs whereof they are composed and therefore Avicenne commendeth rather the water of small Brookes than of great Rivers as likewise the further they runne from their springs the better he liketh them by reason the further they runne the more subtile and thinner they are howbeit Averroes his country-man is of another mind by reason that the further it runneth the more filth and corruption it gaineth Such therefore as abound in mudde and slime are the worst to be liked Waters of Lakes being alwaies renewed by their springs and tossed to and fro with the wind are not to be rejected Well-water being often drawne standing in a free and open aire with a large mouth may also be of good use but that which is otherwise declineth from this bonitie and therefore pumpe-water is not so good as open Well-water is Standing pond-pond-water of all other is the worst and very prejudiciall to health salt-Salt-water is not of ordinary use either to drinke or dresse meat with and this shall now suffice to have said of Waters in generall as they are serviceable for the use of mankinde reserving a more particular discourse of water untill wee come to speake of drinke As for the other two necessary and usefull elements wee deferre speaking of them untill wee come to the diet of the diseased But before we proceed to speake of elements assumed within the body wee purpose to discusse two questions and first CHAP. VIIJ. Whether any pure Element be able to nourish a mixt body and whether any such compound bee able to live by the sole use of the same BVt before we enter upon the discussing of this question it shall not be amisse to know what Aliment or nourishment is It is by Galen defined to be whatsoever increaseth or multiplieth the substance of our body and conserveth the same Now the substance of our bodie as hath bin said is threefold solid humid and spirituous or airy from whence the differences of aliments are desumed The solid parts are repaired by food the humid by drinke and the airie or spirits by sweet and comfortable smells Now that any thing cary the name of aliment or nourishment it ought to be indued with these qualities following In the first place it ought to be of quality hot and moist that it may the better repaire the decay of our naturall innate heat It is againe requisite that it affect our taste with a good rellish for what pleaseth the palat in taste often nourisheth well Now that which doth most affect the taste and is agreeable to nature is in taste sweet I meane not in excesse as to feed on sugar and sweet meates continually which being much used are more hurtfull than helpefull to health but in a meane not declining to any other as sharpe sowre c. and so is most acceptable to nature all other being rather Physicall than Alimentall as I may say And howsoever meat may in the taste be somwhat salt bitter c yet in the concoction there is made a sequestration of these qualities from the substance of the food and that onely which is sweet remaineth for nourishment Hippocrates writeth that all manner of creatures are nourished onely with sweet things which Aristotle also repeateth Againe that which nourisheth ought to be mixed and compounded and therefore pure elements are here excluded according to that vulgar saying Ex quibus constamus jisdem nutrimur And lastly it is required that there be a power of giving life Potentia vitae animationis And such things onely nourish which once have lived saith Theophrastus And there is an easier passage and change of such things as have a communication or symbolize in symbol or quality And for this cause the juyce which commeth of living creatures is farre easilier changed into our substance than that which is desumed from plants Now to the question Although then it hath bin hitherto received for an uncontrolled truth that no simple Element can nourish a mixt body yet som things seem to crosse this opinion and there is a common proverbial verse tending to this purpose Quatnor ex c. Now to discusse the truth of this question we will briefly runne thorow the foure elements and first of the fire It is reported by antient Authors that a certaine worme or flie called therefore Pyrausta is both bred and liveth in the fire which is notwithstanding most absurd and false and as concerning the vulgar conceit of the Serpent Salamandra living in the fire and with his cold frozen venomous moisture extinguishing the firie flames it is as false as the former as witnesseth Dioscoride and the Salmandra continuing any space in the fire is notwithstanding consumed to dust and ashes Now come we to â—â—e aire the next element It is the opinion of some that such as live altogether without any solid substance of food may be fed with the aire Indeed if people were so contented corne would be the cheaper and people then would not be so destitute
urines and other excrements The Arabian Physitians are of another minde and would have us give store of cold drink in the very beginning of the disease It is indeed very certain that better it were to wait for signes of concoction if the fever were not violent but in extremity of heat and for feare of further inconvenience by meanes of too long absteining it is better to yeeld to an inconvenience than to a mischiefe True it is indeede that drinking of cold water before signes of concoction may somewhat prolong the disease and make the humour grosser and more crude but againe this scalding heat would parch up the humours of the body before these signes of concoction And therefore Galen sometimes fore-seeing this danger was forced even in the beginning of the paroxysme to take this course As for the particular time in intermittent Fevers it is by Hippocrates himselfe determined while as he willeth us in the fit to absteine from all manner of food and if hee forbid food why not drinke also since that by much drinking in the beginning of the fit wee see it prolonged While the feet are yet cold wee are to absteine not from suppings only but from all manner of liquid substances saith the same Hippocrates and so the common currant runneth that the sicke should not drinke during the fit and yet are not all of this minde And there is a learned late Writer who would not have the sicke altogether debarred from drinke during the fit And although saith hee Hippocrates willed us during the fit to absteine from all food even from suppings also yet must not this be extended to drinke And Galen himselfe in the heighth of a burning Fever ordeineth a good draught of cold water and the fit of an intermitting Fever is correspondent and answerable to the whole duration and continuance of continuall Fevers As for my part as I would not be too rigid in denying any reasonable gratification which might not prove prejudiciall to the patient so would I not be too servile and obsequious without some great necessitie it being most commonly seene that if wee give an inch they will take an ell Besides there is difference betwixt our bodies here and the French in the South parts of that Kingdome where this Author lived and both in regard of the ambient aire and their ordinary diet and drinking of wine their bodies in any fever must needs admit of a higher degree of cooling than our moist foggie phlegmaticke bodies in this our climat But if any particular individuall patient should be thus by excessive heat scorched up as I should not my selfe be too rigid so I wish others to be wise It resteth in the next place to define the quantity which would seeme to be controverted some allowing of a great draught at once and some againe would have drinke taken by degrees It is by the most both Greeke and Arabian Physitians mainteined that the sicke may drinke ad satietatem even to satiety But Aristotle seemeth to be of another minde and it seemeth it was the custome of some Physitians of his time for saith he Physitians use to give cold drinke by degrees whereof he rendreth this reason that being thus drunke by degrees it moisteneth more than drunke plentifully and at once even as wee see soft showers moisten more than great dashes of raine I answer that wee intend not here so much humectation as sudden extinction of this exorbitant scorching heat for even as we see in Smiths forges that a little water kindleth the fire and maketh it burne faster even so doth a little drinke rather increase the heat of the fever than extinguish it Now because so great a quantity of cold water if it should long lodge within the body might breed some inconvenience it is therefore by Physitians appointed that the sicke should cast it up againe as both by Hippocrates and many other Authours may appeare And in another place relating the disease and death of the wise of one Antiochus in Larissa to the end of his long discourse subjoineth this that it seemed shee might have lived if shee could have drunke store of cold drinks and cast it up againe But now to come home to our owne country wherein we live and to see how the premisses may agree with us I thinke it will not be impertinent It is then to be observed that all those countries wherein the Greekes and Arabians lived were very hot and the inhabitants thereof much naturally addicted to drinking of water their wine being there too strong for ordinary drinke as it is in many parts of Europ even at this day where the vulgar drinke most water or mingled with a little wine and therefore in time of sicknesse cannot so much offend them But with us water is not so usuall for ordinary drinke and therefore might more wrong our bodies Besides water is hurtfull to weake stomackes whose bodies abound not with blood or yet are troubled with any tumour or inward inflammation and oppressed with tough and crude clammy humors And therefore wee safely permit the use of small beere which neither indangereth the body if not cast up againe neither can it much wrong the body by sudden overcooling of the same Besides the boiling correcteth the crudity the barly is good in all acute diseases as after shall appeare and the hoppe openeth obstructions of the inward parts If the patient after a good draught can cast it up againe it will doe him good and if not it will finde a vent some other way as being farre more penetrant than water And as for the benefit might by casting it up againe be procured it may by meanes of a convenient vomit easily be effected which may by a discreet Physitian be according to severall circumstances accomodated But if the heat were yet very violent and more cooling drinke be yet requisite we are not unfurnished of variety of distilled waters whereof we can easily compose such variety of cooling juleps with the addition of tart acid juices and liquors as may give content to the nicest and daintiest palats And wee are not unfurnished of barly waters posset drinkes of severall sorts and many others whereof we purpose shortly to make mention And yet if wee would make use of water in fevers I see not but it might be very well and to good purpose used I would have then pure spring water well boiled and afterwards well cooled againe and then made tart with a spoonfull or two of good white-wine vineger or some drops of the acid spirit of vitriole some barberries or the like This would prove a soveraine good cooling and wholesome drinke in all hot fevers whatsoever contagious or others and the poorer sort might reap as much benefit by this as any other drinke CHAP. XIII Of warme Drinke and whether it be usefull or no. WHat hath hitherto beene spoken concerning cold
water and the many waies were used to coole it its hot countries to please the palate wil easily finde credit with a vulgar understanding hot drinke being of no living creature whatsoever desired and cannot therefore be naturall for thirst is nothing else but an earnest desire of a cold and humid substance Now de facto that there were such hot drinkes in use among the antients if we should deny yet many Authors will make the truth thereof appeare But whether this now used in sicknesse or in health or both as likewise de iure whether usefull for the body or no resteth now to be discussed It hath beene an usuall speech among people that wee ought to drinke as hot as our blood and that for feare lest naturall heat by cold drinke be quite extinguished And it would seeme that the antient Romans had this custome in frequent use for wee read that in Rome there were shops where such hot drinkes were sold called therefore Thermopolia as may appeare by that the Emperour Claudius discharged this custome and tooke quite away all such places And againe Caius Caligula put to death a Master of one of these shops for selling of this warme drinke during the funeralls of his wife Drusilla And from this warme drinke was the Emperour Tiberius nick-named Biberius Caldius mero And in great families one of the servants had the charge of fetching such warme water which was alwaies in a readinesse to be sold the which if he brought too late his punishment was 300 stripes And that the Romans had it in ordinary use especially at their suppers when as they fed most liberally may also by many places of the old Poets appeare And the old comicke Poet Plantus make thereof frequent mention and many other Authors whom for brevity I here passe by A late Writer rendereth a reason why some of the Easterne nations as namely the inhabitants of China and Iapan use warme drinke and yet live long and in good health to wit that by reason of the extreme heat of the ambient aire their stomackes and inward parts are cold and therefore to warme them within use this warme drinke Others againe used this warme drinke onely for wantonnesse to make them cast up their meat and so fill their stomacke againe with fresh food the which the same Authour also out of some antient Writers relateth and that this was a common custome among the Rhodians Some againe were of opinion that the antients never dranke warme water of it selfe but mingled with their wine At least it seemeth it was the custome of some as likewise that nothing might be wanting at a great and sumptuous feast as the Poet intimateth unto us Some againe thinke that although they warmed their water yet that they let it coole againe before they either drunke it or mingled it with their wine at least it seemeth it was the custome of some as of some others to warme both their water and their wine and then to coole them being so mingled before they dranke them Some learned men are also of opinion that these warme drinkes were not alwaies water but some other sweet artificiall drinkes and which people out of wantonnesse were wont to drinke as is the custome both in high Germanie and the Low-countries to repaire in a morning to certaine shops where strong waters are sold whereof they drinke some being mingled with sugar or sweet sirup But certaine it is the best course is to drinke our drinke cold as it is in its owne nature and if in extreme cold as in frosty weather or any otherwise be by extreme cold drinke offended then may they qualifie this extreme quality either by putting a warme tost into it or otherwise abate the extremity of the cold but in no case to drinke it hot And yet we see that even among our selves we have a custome sometimes to drinke warme wine burning it with spices as is supposed to qualifie the heat and strength of the wine and so drinke it warme But in my opinion this is a wrong both to the wine and themselves also burning away the spirit which is the life of the wine they procure unto it an accidentall and adventitious heat more hurtfull to the body than the naturall heat of the wine it selfe And besides although it be often used in cold weather yet to drinke it so actually hot is nothing so good the wine howsoever it be actually cold yet doth it alwaies by a potentiall heat warme the inward parts But let us now see whether warme water were in use with the sicke or no It would seeme to bee more usefull for the sicke than for the whole and the Arabian Physitians administer it in pectorall diseases by reason cold drinke is an enemy to all the pectorall parts And an antient Roman Physitian commendeth it in all Fevers Others commend it in that Fever called diaria or of one day Besides the Greeke Physitians used it ordinarily in diseases of the reines But yet that it is not so good for the stomacke cannot bee denied And although it be not now the custome with us to give our patients warme-water to drinke yet upon divers occasions we use also warme drinks as warme posset drinke to further the operation of vomits and others to provoke sweat And howsoever we use not to exhibite this warme water as did many of the antients yet because we are accustomed for the sickes use and benefit to boile our water with addition of some simples something I will say concerning this point Water boiled is more subtill and of a more sudden penetration than crude as it commeth naturally out of the earth The antients boiled it either with the heat of the Sunne or of the fire And the Persian and Aegyptian Kings were wont to boile their water at the he at of the Sunne were it never so thinne and pure in it selfe With us we have in use a double boiling of water the one by the heat of the fire in ordinary vessells the other by way of distillation to the antients unknowne Which of these two wayes is the best we are now to inquire Our Physitians are for distilled water and must needes be the best Indeed boiled water is to bee preferred before the crude and is farre more familiar for the stomacke but in this distillation hath the preheminence that whereas by decoction many thinne parts are evaporated this is here avoided And indeed by distillation all uncouth taste if any is removed and by reason of this refining and attenuation it will also keep a long time without putrefaction But this point is so cleere that I shall not need to prosecute it any longer And although we are not accustomed to distill ordinary water yet is it very frequent with us to distill waters out of simples of all sorts both hot and cold whereof here
may be asked whether the sicke may not sleepe after it I answer that it is onely to very weake persons permitted and not to others for whom it is very hurtfull especially if drunke in any great quantity lest head-ach heavinesse and drowsinesse of the whole body follow after Womans milke is best suck'd out of the brest which if the sicke refuse to doe then it is thought expedient that it be milked in a cleane vessell standing in water a little warmish and so presently drunke up Milke of beasts is to be drunke warme immediatly after the milking with the addition of a little sugar rosat or other ordinary sugar in defect thereof The antients added hony and a little salt to it especially when they would have it to purge and so might wee well at this day if our palats were not now adaies growne so dainty and nice that no sweetning now will serve our turnes unlesse fetch'd from Madera Barbary or Brasill Howsoever the poorer sort may use it after this manner The ordinary measure to take at once some would have it to be three or foure ounces or about a quarter of an English wine pint according as the nature of the disease and diseased shall indicate to vs. Galen in a Fever hecticke beginneth with two ounces and then addeth halfe as much more increasing the quantity untill such time as hee saw it sufficient for the sicke Physitians of old were wont to give milke to the sicke in a very great quantity and Hippocrates gaue at once almost five quarts of Asses milke and sometimes lesse But hee giveth onely Asses milke in this abundant quantity so farre as we can read and elsewhere he giveth sometimes above a gallon and a halfe and sometimes above two gallons of this same milke Rondeletius addeth this caution in the use of Asses milke that if it be used to cleanse and purge wee may use an English pint at a time but if it be used for aliment then a lesser quantity will serve the turne lest it trouble the stomacke I dranke as much as was milk'd from the Asse at a time the quantity I remember not But such as have in their health beene accustomed to the use of milke may drinke as much as they please Sometimes the antient Physitians and Hippocrates himselfe also in benigne and milde Fevers and in internall heats used to boile good store of water with their milke and so gave it their sicke to drinke But because milke in its owne entire substance is not alwaies so safe for the sicke besides there being so many cautions to be observed and so many cases wherein it is not safe to exhibite it it therefore being composed of three severall substances the mercuriall or waterish part called serum and in English whey may farre safelier in any disease be exhibited than any of the other This serous substance doth cut tough humors cleanse and loosen the belly and therfore whatsoever milk most aboundeth with this moist substance is most wholesome and although often used yet hurteth least Such are Womans Goats Asses Camels milke for the whey of such milke is accounted good against the Iandise dropsie arising from the obstructions of the inward parts as also against Scabs Morphewes Tetters Freckles of the face and Cataracts of the eyes Of all other wheyes that of Goats milke is esteemed the best for it participateth of a sharpe nitrous quality whereby it cleanseth a thinne and subtile quality whereby it openeth obstructions cold and moist whereby of cooleth and moisteneth in all Fevers it is good against Dropsies Iandise the Spleene melancholicke diseases obstructions from choler diseases in the kidnies and all inflammations The antients used also often to infuse their medicines in whey made especially of Goats milke although sometimes mention be also made of whey of Cowes milke which now is most in request Antient Physitians make mention of two sorts of whey one of the whole substance of the milke as it is and another of milke already skimmed but the first is the best and loosenth the belly most Both these sorts were prepared after a double manner one without commixtion of any other substance called a simple manner and was thus prepared the milke being very hot they suddenly set within it another vessell full of cold water and so by this sudden concurse of hot and cold was made this separation Some would have this vessell of silver some of brasse others care not what the metall be Boiled with a very hot fire it often also quickly curdleth and then by straining one substance is separated from another Another way of separation was called compounded by addition of some other substance rennet juice of the figge tree c. And many other things as well hot as cold will easily curdle milke It is moreover to be observed that whey acquireth unto it selfe divers qualities according to the various preparations thereof for that which is made with rennet is sharper than that which is made without any addition of any other substance That which is made with sowre juices as of lemmons and the like is more cooling and pleasing to the palat and more appropriate and fitting for hot and maligne diseases howbeit more hurtfull for any internall ulceration or excoriation Now for the quantity it must be measured according to the nature and constitution of the patient observing also these cautions following to wit that it be drunke blood-warme in a morning fasting Some give above a pint if for the qualifying of sharpe humours but if to purge then about three pints and Hippocrates to almost two pints more Wee follow rather the Arabians directions who give it from halfe a pint to a wine quart and upwards and this quantitie must be taken by degrees not all at once and the patient must walke a turne or two betwixt as is the manner in drinking of minerall waters And as did the antients so doe we likewise often boile in our whey divers sorts of simples and with us is much used in the Sommer-time for cooling and clearing the blood We use Endive or Succory fumiterre especially dock-roots c. According to the particular occasion and the parties constitution c. Who useth it And this is often used even of healthfull persons Wee make our whey for the sicke after a farre other manner which we commonly call posset-drinke and is made after divers manners In fevers and hot diseases we turne the milke only with the juice of a lemmon and this we call lemmon posset being both cooling and cordiall and in the absenee of lemmons wee may make use of the juce of sorrell or some wine vineger which the poorer sort may use whensoever they have need And in the use of posset-drinke this is to be observed that it be alwaies made cleare for the sick and if it be not so at
waters there be divers sorts as said is every country being furnished with some one kind or other France and Italy abound most in hot baths desuming their force and efficacy most from Sulphur or Brimston wherewith is sometimes conjoined some salt or salt peter Our English baths in Sommerset shire take their vertue and efficacie from this sulphureous substance In Germanie baths of all sorts are in great abundance and as the country abounds in divers mineralls and metalls so doe these waters participate of severall and divers qualities and vertues as those of Baden in Switzerland participate of Brimstone principally and some little quantity of Alum those of Baden the Marquisat besides the premisses participate also somewhat of salt and salt-peter Againe in the confines of Lorreine there are hot baths called Plumbarenses participating of the nature of Lead Brimstone and Salt-peter In the Dutchie of Wirtenberg there is the wild bath called Silvestres or Ferinae participating of the nature of brimstone salt and alum and as some say of copper and salt-peter also And besides these a great number of many others also not differing from the former in operation some of them as they say participating also of the nature of gold which I hardly beleeve it being of so solid and well compacted a substance that hardly doth it communicate any vertue to waters that runne thorow such mines no more than silver also being likest unto it for solidity of substance As concerning our owne baths with us here in great use for a multitude of infirmities and which doe most concerne us because a learned Physitian hath lately explained their vertues and use as being best with them acquainted I shall not need to say any thing the vertues of others of the same nature and kinde in other countries being much also of the same vertue and efficacy But because peregrination and travell partly for profit and partly for pleasure and other ends is now much in this our age improved and by reason it concerneth not a little the health of such as are to live or travell in remote and forren countries to know the nature and vertues of such minerall waters as are found in these countries I will therefore say a little concerning some of them Among all those such as are of an acid or sowre taste and much abounding in many places of high Germany beare away the bell And these waters doe commonly participate of the nature of vitriol or copperas of alum and yron with the admixture often of other mineralls or metalls as sulphur salt c. There sowre waters sometimes somewhat differ in taste one from another and sometimes little or no difference at all in their taste can be observed Their chiefe vertues in the body of man are these following In the first place they are very soveraine good against all manner of obstructions of the liver splene kidnies and meseraicall veines and for this cause conduce not a little for the infirmities of those parts being very good against exorbitant casting which by their astringent facultie they cure and they helpe also the Iaundise the Dropsie in the beginning cleanse the kidnies bladder and other urinary passages purging away gravell or any other matter lying in these passages They are also good against the itch scab and any other defedations of the skinne all foule ulcers and gangrenes But Nihil est ex omni parte beatum So are not these acid and sowre waters able to helpe all infirmities and in particular they are great enemies to infirmities of the lungs especially where there is any ulcer wasting or inflammation They are hurtfull also for the bloodie fluxe with exulceration of the guts and any other internall ulcer or excoriation and that in regard of their acidity or sharpnesse And for the dimnesse of the eyes they have beene tried to be soveraine good and that they have a singular and forcible faculty in provoking urine I had the triall in mine owne body this sowre water being ordinarily brought from a place distant from Ments in stone bottles to Franckfort mart These waters are cold and therefore are commonly drunke in hot moneths May Iune Iuly August September in a morning fasting an houre or two after Sunne rising as is the use in others and then againe at night after dinner is digested The continuance or time of duration of drinking this water is according as necessity shall require and cannot certainly be determined as in some 10 or 12 daies a fortnight or three weekes No more can the measure or certaine quantity be gaged some contenting themselves with halfe a pint and some againe will drinke double some 4 or 5. And the more freely they passe thorow the body by urin or otherwise the bolder in the use of them may we be How the body before the use of these waters is to be prepared the Physitian shall in time of need give notice and according to all severall circumstancess give particular directions It is to be observed that these minerall waters by carrying from one place to another lose alwaies something of their former force and efficacie how close soever they be stopt up and so become lesse powerfull It is further diligently to be observed in the use of all minerall waters that are to be drunke that when as they are drunke twice a day the partie using them must be carefull that dinner be well digested before they be drunke in the afternoone and for this purpose dinner must either be very sparing or else a long distance betwixt dinner and the drinking of them or else it were better to drinke it but once in a morning and so double the time of continuing this drinke as for a fortnight a whole moneth Moreover if the case should so require that the party should need both to drinke of this water and bathe in it it would be most expedient to doe them severall as first for certaine daies to drinke them and afterwards for as long to bathe in them But because wee in this Iland are so farre remote from these acid and other fountains that ordinarily we cannot have recourse unto them therefore I shall not need to particularise many of them of one only being so much freequented by many of the gentrie as being neerer unto us than the rest I will say a little the so much renowned Well of Spa I meane This Spa then is in the Bishoprick of Liege a part of the 17 Provinces and is much resorted unto yeere by many Knights and Gentlemen and sometimes by Ladies and Gentlewomen also and that for recovering of their health in divers chronicall infirmities howbeit it is well knowne that under this colour some have other projects in their pates This water particapateth principally of the nature of yron which in the taste it doth somewhat represent and it participateth also somewhat of a sulphureous faculty and a little
be wary even in visiting our neere and loving friends under the comparison of eating hony moderately wherein if we exceed we may fare the worse for it But as for moderate Joy it is commended by the Holy Ghost himselfe and in the same Booke of Proverbs the utility thereof extolled A merry heart maketh a chearefull countenance And a learned expositor upon this place affirmeth that although the substance of the soule and the body differ much God hath notwithstanding tyed and united them so fast together that there is no small harmony and sympathy betwixt them insomuch that either of them being affected the other suffereth also And although the harme redoundeth to the whole body yet because it is most conspicuous in the countenance therefore the Wise man maketh chiefely mention of the countenance and teacheth us here likewise that a cheerefull and merrie heart not onely maketh the body sound and healthfull but maketh a cheerefull and amiable countenance Hence commeth it to passe that when as the heart is merry and cheerefull the eye is lively and quicke sighted the cheeks of a comely ruddy colour c. But all contrary when the mind is heavy and dejected In what an account and high esteeme this is in all the parts of our life can scarce be declared For first in Divine worship and service it is very requisite that we be of a cheareful countenance And hence was it that Isaac preparing himselfe for that propheticall benediction of his sonnes calls first for wine and venison whereby his heart being cheered and refreshed hee might the better performe this Propheticall function And the holy Prophet Elizeus being much grieved at the sight of wicked Joram before ever he went about to refresh those three Kings distressed with thirst calleth first for a cunning Musitian whereby the griefe and sorrow of his mind might be mitigated Now if the Prophets themselves inspired with a propheticall spirit had need of this chearefulnesse of heart for the better performance of Gods worship and service how much more have others use thereof And such services as performed by sad and heavy persons we see are not so acceptable as may in Mardochee and Nehemia plainely appeare And we see that Esau being cheered with Jacobs gift was of so cheerefull a countenance that Jacob confesseth he beheld his countenance as though he had beheld the face of God But in the godly saith the same Author this doth yet farre more plainely appeare who being refreshed with the peace of a good conscience have a cheerefull and lovely countenance This may plainely appeare by the example of the Nazarites who drunke no wine c As likewise by the example of Daniel and his fellowes who although they fed but on pulse and water yet their countenance was farre fairer and better liking than of any of the rest who were fed with all the Kings dainty fare And therefore this Ioy mirth consisting in our reconciliation with God from whence proccedeth a good conscience is farre to be preferred before all the most curious washes and paints wherewith the lascivious and dainty Dames of our times doe dawb and as they thinke so curiousl◠adorne their faces yea and of farre higher esteeme than all the most curious and dainty diet that can be devised in the which neverthelesse many if not all place all that pertaineth to the preservation of health and maintaining the comely colour of the countenance That the life therefore might bee the more comfortable and that griefe sorrow and sadnesse might not too much prevaile and oppresse us it was the bounty of our good God to give us not onely food and raiment for necessitie and water to quench our thirst but to give us also wine to cheere the heart oile to make glad the countenance in the hot Easterne countries then in great request howbeit in our cold climats not so usefull and musicke both vocall and instrumentall to stirre up and excite the dejected melancholicke minde And therefore the moderate use of all these comfortable creatures is as we see allowed by God himselfe and besides good merry company either at meales or otherwise provided the mirth be honest not scurrilous and offensive either to God or man and thus may these verses following be understood Quaere igitur sed honesta tuis solatia curis quae tibi nec somni nec loca sola dabunt Vtere convivis non tristibus utere amici quos nugae risus ioca salsa dabunt Quem non blanda iuvent varii modulamina cantus hinc iecur renes agraque corda stupent Nam nihil humanas tanta dulcedine mentes Afficit ac melica nobile vocis opus Seek comforts in thy griefe and cares which may thy heart solace Much more than either drousie sleepe or solitary place But let thy comforts comely be and honest all thy jests Converse with cheerefull merry friends at banquets and at feasts Sad company avoid and shun such company frequent As love in laughter and delights to have the meeting spent What man so lumpish is of mood whom musicke doth not move And merry songs these frō thy heart all pensive quames remove For nothing doth with such sweetnesse the minde of man rejoyce As doth that noble worthy worke of mans melodious voice But my meaning is not here of such mirth and musicke as is most commonly and ordinarily used in Tavernes and Tap-houses in Play-hous and Ale-house where the most dissolute and deboist companion is often accounted the best fellow and hee that can most dishonour God by blasphemous bloody oathes and by that swinish sin of drunkennesse shew great manhood in un-manning himselfe carrieth away the bell for good-fellowship and such are accounted the onely merry companions of the countrie If one should advise them sometimes in their merrie mood to sing Psalmes it were puritanisme and yet such a puritaine was the Apostle Iames If any be merry let him sing Psalmes and such a puritane was the Apostle Paul willing us to use Psalmes Hymnes and Spirituall songs I know there are times and seasons for all things and as excesse of mirth is alwaies so especially in these bleeding times of the Christian world most unseanable And as the Prophet Elisha said in another case Is this a time to take silver c So may I say is this a time for such excesse The Lord saith the Prophet Isaiah God of hostes did call to weeping and mourning and to sadnesse and to girding with sackcloth and behold ioy and gladnesse staying oxen and killing sheepe eating flesh and drinking wine let us eat and drinke and be merry for to morrow wee shall die And it was revealed in mine cares by the Lord of hostes surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you And the words of that worthy Vriah ought never to be forgotten The Arke and Israel and Iuda abide in Tents and my Lord Ioab and the servants of my
citante Stuckio k Luk. 22.27 l In a dagijs m Erant enim tres crateres primus lovis Olympij seu Olympiorum ac coelestium secundus Heroum tertius lovis Servatoris perfecti a ternario numero in quo sit principium medium finis Alij sanitatis sive valetudinis poculum nominant Dictum est item poculum boni Daemonis quod ab initio coenae in extremo convivio antequam surgerent asportarenturve mensae a convivis usurparetur Moris enim erat ut omnes in convivâ—is mensae post ultimam iâ—lam Daemonis potationem removerentur vel ex impio sacrilego Dionysij tyranni facmore videre est Is enim cum Syracusis in Aesculapij famo aurea ante simulacbrum mensa reposita esset patera mero repleta propino inquit tibi Aesculapi boni Daemonis calicem cum dicto auream statim mensam auferre â—usâ—it Stuck antiquit com iv lib. 3. cap. 22. ex Polluce Athenzo Who are allowe to drinke last at their meales Whether wee are to drinke going to bed Answer Not good to drinke betwixt meales Water the most common and most antient drinke of all others a Aquam quidem sua natura frigidam dixerunt Ocellus Hippocrates Empedocles Aristoceles potior medicorum pars imo Strato Philosophus omnium frigidorum primum esse venit At Bernardius Telesius Franciscus Patritius Franciscus Mutus veterum recentiorumque non pauci ab inditu a natura principiis lumine calore stuore mobilitate etus essentiam constituentibê° a viribê° iteÌ„ astionibus generandi multiplici potestate a perspicuitate raritate sapore item tam dulci tamamaro salso c. audeater confidenter omnes aquas ipsum scilicet mare seu Oceanum quod loci magnitudine aquarum copia molis immensstate primatum obtinet omnes item lacus stagna flumma sontes puteos tum ipsas subterraneas aquas Platonis Tartarum aliosque ingentes speluncas cavernas adimplentes ut fluvios subterreneos a metallorum fossoribus alijsque curiosis hominibus tum auditos tum visos c. sua natura calidos eosque tum salsos secundum magis minus tum dulces esse astruxerunt Omnis erum aqua tam subterraneae quam superterranea de aquis enim supercoelestibus hic nobis non est sermo vel amara salsa est uti maria vel dulcis uti flumina fontes lacus c. Nisi per accidens alieno sâ—pore aliarum rerum accessione tingantur At cum omnes aquae fontes flumina ab uno Oceano seu aquarum universitate abysso oriantur neque enim ullos habet fontes sed ipsum fons est scaturigo reliquarum omnium aquarum teste Moyse lussit enim conditor omnes aquas quae sub Coelo erant in unum locum congregari quam postea congregationem mare abyssam vocavit Maria autem aquae sunt amarae ita ut omnes aquae a primordio fuerint amarae ac salsae quas post modum qualitates aquae terrarum anfractus subeundo fontes constituendo amiserunt c. Claud. Deod Panth. Hygiast lib. 1. cap. 18. Correcting of bad watersfirst by boiling 2. By distillation 3. By straining 4. By boiling with sand 5. By Corall beaten to powder 6 By wheaten floure or meale b 2 Kings 2.21 9 By carrying some of the earth of the place Invention to coole water c Lib. de cibis boni mali succi Sixe waies of cooling water 1 By the Aire d 6 Epidem comment 4. e Arist 1 met eâ—r cap. 12. 2 Way letting it downe into a deepe well 3 Way by salt peter 4 Way by ice or snow f Lib. 2. g Bellon observat medicin lib 3. cap 22. 5. Way by deepe cellers 6. Way by motion agitation Divers differences of Wines 1 From the age Mustum or new wine a Gal. lib de cibis borâ— mali succi b Qui properant noua musta bibant mihi fundat avitum Consulibus priscis condita testa merum Ovid 3. de amore Very old wine 2 Difference from the substance 3 Difference from the colour 4 Difference from the taste 5 Difference from the smell 6 Difference from 〈◊〉 soile naturall temper of the aire 7 Difference from the faculties thicke red wines Strong sweet wines of a yellow colour French wines of divers sorts Small wines Or 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 Wine is dry in the second quantity Ouâ— wines differ much from the wines of the antients â— Caeterorum vinorum tanta cura fuit medicaminu ut cinerâ— apud quosdam feâ— gypso alâ—bâ— quibus diximus modu instaurentur c. Qui marinam aquaÌ„ ejusdem rei gratia ex alto peti â—ubent c. Pix in Italia ad vasa vâ—â—o condienda maxime probatur Brytia c Tot beneficiâ—s piacere cogitur miramur noxia esse in vitium inclinantes Plin. lib. 19. cap. 20. Coâ—â— diseases produced bâ— the use of wine accidentally Vertues of wine moderately used d Psalme 103. Iuâ—g 9 Ecclesiast 31 c. e 7 Politic. Lib. de salubri diata g 3 de sanit tuenda What person it beâ—â— befitteth â—am vero 〈◊〉 larvitrâ— si ultius quam 〈◊〉 caâ—oris au eâ—d gratia vinum abundanter meracum praecipue indulgere Quanto enim vinum calidius est per se tanto maâ—ore venâ—ris ac viscerum omuium câ—â— ore opusest ut superetur aliaqui a minoâ—i acessic crudamque succum auget unde calorem naturalem suffocat morbos innumeros â—arit ac mortem properat Quare vinum esse lac senum non valde prohoâ— censeo potius senibus sensim esse dandum aiturius usque dum in extremo senio constitutis toto vino detracto de ur pro eo mulâ—a aut decâ—ct aqua satius enim est pâ—rmittere catori nâ—turali sensim venire au naâ—uraâ—em interiâ—um quam vine obruere â—enectam facere mis rabiâ—torem breviorem Vaâ—â—â— de sacrâ— philos cap. 20. Wine either drunkâ— pure of it selfe or mingled with water g Mercur. variar lect libr. 7. How we use to dilute or mingle our wine Of the use of Sugar with wine h Arnoldus de villa nova tractatu de vinis Ingredients of our Beere a The antient Egyptians made drinke of corne Herod in Euterpe b Lib. 2. cap. 80. 81. c Lib. 6. simpl mâ—lic Our drinke made of corne differeth from that of the antients and is a very wholesome drinke Divers differences in our drinke to be observed First from the adding or withdrawing of hoppe Secondly from the corne it is made of Third difference froÌ„ the age Fourth from the strength Fifth from the substance Sixth from the taste Seventh difference from the quantity of the hoppe Eighth the colour Ninth froÌ„ the goodnesse of the malt 10 From the water wherewith it is maâ—e and the fewell wherewith it is boiled Hop and the
4. n Erastus Antiparaâ— Part. 4. o Amat Lusit centur 4. curat 14. centur 1. curat 3. p Lib. 3 cap. â— q Lib. 7. epid in aegrotâ— 7. qui suit meton r Libr. 1. cap. 6. Å¿ 6. Epidem How water is to be prepared for the use of the sicke In the exhibiting of cold water what things to be considered t 11 Meth commen lib de victu acut u Rhas libr. 1. divis ca. 148. Averih collect lib. 7. cap. 8. The generall time * 10 Meth. Particular time x Lib. de diaeta acut y Ioubert des erreurs populaires partic 2. cap. 7. Contre ceux qui ne permetient aux fâ—bricitans de boire durant leur acces c. The quantity z Proct. 57. sect 1. Obiect Answere a De dâ—â—ta acut Cels lib. 3. cap. 7. b Lib. 5. epid Accommodation to our owne countrie 〈◊〉 climat Small beere with iâ— in stead of water allowed the sick and so to be used How water may safe liest of us be used What thirst is Hot drinkes have bin in use of old a Dio 〈◊〉 Thermopolia in Rome placeâ— where hot drinkes were sold Fiberius Calâ—ius mero b Quando vocatus adest calidâ— frigidaque minister luven Caldam poscis aquam sed nondum frigidalenit Alget adhuc nudo clausa culina soco Mat. c In Vers in Trinummo Rudente in pseudolo d Stuâ—k Anntiqu conâ—â—â— libr. â— cap. 6. ex 〈…〉 Iud. * 〈…〉 ex 〈◊〉 tem ex Athen. 8 Diâ—nosoâ— f Mercur. â—ariar lect 〈◊〉 1. Frigida non dâ—crit non decrit 〈…〉 Idem Stuck ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h Lambiâ— Turneâ— in praed Plauti loc referente eodem Stuckio ibid. Cold drinke is best and most usefull Burning of wine whether better for use than other wiâ—e Whether warm drink be useful for the sicke i Cels lib. 3. capâ— k Trallianus Paulus Aegineta Warme drinke in use with us also Boiled water Distillation 〈◊〉 us in frequent use to the antients unknowne Distilled waters to be preferred before others Needlesse feare of som conceived in the use of distilled waters a Androcideâ—s sapientia claruo ad Alexandrum Magnum scripsit intemperantiam eius â—ohibendam sic scripsit Vtinam potaturus rex memento te bibere sanguinem tâ—rrae Situti venenum est hominicicuta ita vinum Quibus praecep is si ille obtemperavisset profecto amâ—cos in temutentia non interemisset Plin lib. 14. cap. 5. b In vita Alexandri magni c De victu in aâ—utu d In comment alibi Wine may safely somtimes be exhibited the sicke e Vide Gal. sub finem lib. de euch cacoch Circumstances considerable in exhibiting wine to the sicke f Quod ad febrium aegritudines attinet certum est non dandum in febre nisi veteribuâ— aegris vinum nec nisid â— clinante morbo In acutis vero periculis nullis nisi qui manifestas remissiones habeant bas noctu potius dâ—midia enim pars periculi est noctu hoc est spesomai bibentibus nec a partu abortuve nec a libidine aegrotantibus nec in capitis doloribus nec quorum accessiones cum frigore extremitatum fiant nec in febri tussientibus c. Et paulo post dari utique non nisi in cibo debet nec a somno nec praecedente alio potu hoc est utique sitienti nec nisi in desperatione summa c. Plin. lib. 28 cap. 2. Wine called couleur du pesche Accommodation to our climat VVhat wine with us fittest Beere better for our sicke than wine In acute diseases the smaller the better Erroneous opinion of the vulgar esteeming strong drinke a Panacea or catholick medicine against all diseases Artificiall wine Diet drinkes made of ale or beere Scurvy grasse ale Scurvy-grasse is good aâ—ainst obstructions of the spleene and accidentally cleareth the blood and iâ— therefore good against the Scurvy Of Aquavitae and other strong sublimated waters g Savonatola tractatiâ— de aqua vitae Historie Another Aurum potabile produceth but few witnesses of its efficacy Srongwaters sparingly warily to be used For whom most usefull Spirit of ale or beere Ordinary aquavitae pernicious to the health of man The right spirit of wine how to be discerned Great variety of stroÌ„g waters Great danger in the too frequent use of these sublimate waters especially in the yonger sort Three sorts of drinks made of hone in use among the antients b Mercur. variar lect lib. 6. c Plin. lib. 7. cap. 56. d 4 Sympos Proâ—â—â— e Piacotonius lib. de cerevisia mulsa Hydromel and divers compositions thereof f Libr. g Loco nuper citat Apomell h 4 De san tuend How Hydromel or Mulsa was made among the Arabian Physitians i Lib. de victu acut Two sorts of it among the Greekes Melicratum Aquosum sincerum To know when it is boiled enough k Lib. 31. cap 6. Oxymel or sirup made of vineger l Lib. de diaeta acut Gal. in commen 8. meth 11. mâ—th m Augerius Ferrerâ—us in castigat pract n Thaddeus Dunus in epist medicinal o 4 de sanâ—t tuenda Divers composition of Oxymel p Iohann Renod. institut Pharmaceut lib. 3. cap. 4. q Val. Cordus ex meâ— antidoterio Choice to be made of the ingredients of this drinke Divers compounded Oxymels are made of hony Great error in the ordinary use of Oximel and other expectorant medicines Temperature of barly a 7 simplic medica 1 de alim lib. de in victu aâ—ut b Lib de victu in acut alibi Ptisan what in old time what with us c Rond instit pharmaceut lib. 5. cap. 11. Ptiâ—aâ— made of divers graines d Problem 27. sect 1. Whether ptisan made of barly or wheat be better Answere d Gal lib de ptisana How the antient Greeke Physitians prepared this ptisan or creame of barâ—y Manner of preparation with us How to prepare our owne barly to make this and other drinks made of barly Orgemond and what it is Barly-water e Lib. de diaeta acut Gal. in comm f Collectan lib. Barly-water of two sorts Of prepared barly two sorts g Cap de pleurit Preparation Caveat concerning the use of barly water Our barly-water Barly water for the poorer sorts Another drinks to be used in any Fever Of emulsions or almond milke In what cases most usefull The quantity of the Almonds must be according as it is made thicke or thin howbeit the vulgar make it coÌ„monly too thick and fulsome The manner of preparation Addition of certaiÌ„ne seeds and how to be used Cautions to bee observed in emulsion They must not be too fulsome not too frequent Some use to make the emulsions or almond milks with the decoction of flesh but if the partie bee weake stomacked it may make him loath both that and all other food Divers sorts of emulsions in time of need may be prepared Several
in your other actions also And therefore it is no lesse true than triviall Vivimus exemplis non regulis men are commonly more moved by practice than by precept Neither herein hath your labour beene lost having now atteined to that number of yeeres with such a freedome from infirmities as very few of your age and eminency have attened unto Accept therefore Right Honourable this my rude labour and take these my paines in good part as a gratefull acknowledgement of that respect and dutifull observance I owe unto your honourable person and noble family and although conscious to my selfe both of the weaknesse of my parts and the hard censures I am like to undergoe from the which notwithstanding my betters have not beene freed yet I shall more willingly undergoe this burthen under the protection of so noble judicious wise and pious a Patron Protect therefore and still countenance the learned and honest Artist and discountenance ignorant Empiricall Physitians and such especially as erring out of their owne orbes without due consideration of the weightinesse of their owne calling too too pragmatically thrust their sickle into another mans harvest But because many things concerning this same particular point are handled in this subsequent discourse therefore to avoid tediousnesse with hearty wishes to Almighty God for your Honour the continuance of many happy daies for the good both of Church and Commonwealth and countrie wherein you live with the increase of choicest blessings upon your selfe and noble family I rest Your Honours in all dutifull observance JAMES HART The Licence from the Colledge HAving read some part of this Booke and in a generall view looked over more wee thinke it learnedly contrived and worthy the reading IOHN ARGENT WILLIAM CLEMENT THEODORE GVLSTON THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS OF THIS VVHOLE TRACTATE Of the First BOOKE CHAP. I. DIuers acceptations of this word Diet. What health is and whether Diet be a thing necessary for healthfull and sicke persons CHAP. IJ. Whether by means of Diet the life of man may before may yeeres prolonged CHAP. IIJ. Of Climactericall yeeres with their reasons assigned by antiquity numericall astrologicall and Physicall CHAP. IV. Of things called not naturall and first of the aire CHAP. V. Of severall sorts of wines and their various effects CHAP. VJ. Of the foure seasons of the yeere and how they affect the body of man CHAP. VIJ. Of water in generall of terrestriall water of water passing thorow or issuing out of the earth as springs rivers wells and ponds CHAP. VIIJ. Whether any pure Element bee able to nourish a mixt body and whether any such compound be able to live by the sole use of the same CHAP. IX Whether the life of man without food bee sustained for any long continuance of time CHAP. X. Of nourishment and what therein is to be considered CHAP. XJ. Of the times of repast and how often we ought to eat in a day and when to feed freeliest at dinner or at supper Something concerning breakefasts CHAP. XIJ. Of the matter of nourishment and first of corne and bread made thereof CHAP. XIIJ. Of roots usually eaten and in most account for food CHAP. XIV Of herbs in most ordinary use for diet and first of such as coole most CHAP. XV. Of Herbs hot in operation and in most ordinary use Of Artichocks Gourds Cucumbers and muske melons CHAP. XVJ. Of the fruits of trees especially of shrubs and lesser trees ordinarily used for food and often for physicke and first of Strawberries Raspes mulberries Gooseberries Currants by the vulgar so called red and blacke of Barberries and whorts or whortle-berries Of Cherries Plums Abricocks and peaches CHAP. XVIJ. Of Grapes Raisins Currants properly so called figs and dates and of Apples Peares Quinces Oranges Citrons Lemons Pomegranates Services Medlars and Corneillions Of wallnuts Haselnuts fitbirds almonds bitter and sweet Chestnut and Fisticke-nut CHAP. XVIIJ Of severall sorts of flesh especially of foure footed beasts with their appurtenances and parts CHAP. XIX Of fowle both tame and wild and their severall sorts as also of parts of fowles and of Egges CHAP. XX. Of strange and uncouth diet which some people have in ordinary use as of dogs cats horses mules asses rats locusts frogs snailes and mans flesh CHAP. XXJ. Of severall sorts of fishes both of the Sea and fresh-waters together with the various and divers nourishment they breed in the body CHAP. XXIJ. Of seasoning meate Of salt and of sauces of severall sorts Of spices used in diet both in sicknesse and in health CHAP. XXIIJ Of Gluttony and excesse in the use of food CHAP. XXIV Of Drinke and what things in the use thereof to be observed Of morning draughts drinking betwixt meales beginning or ending the meale with a draught and drinking to bedward CHAP. XXV Of water as it is used for drinke and of severall wayes of cooling the same and correcting bad waters CHAP. XXVJ Of Wine the severall sorts thereof with the right use and for whom most fitting CHAP. XXVIJ Of Beere Ale Perry and Cidar serving us in stead of wine CHAP. XXVIIJ Of drunkennesse and the mischiefes thence insuing to the soule body and goods Questions discussed and handled in this First BOOKE with relation to the Chapters wherein they are contained 1. WHether by meanes of Diet the life of man may be prolonged cap. 2. 2. Whether mans age doth not now decline and the world wax old Cap. 3. 3. Whether any compound or mixt body can live by the use of one Element onely Cap. 8. 4. Whether water conveied thorow pipes of lead be wholesome for ordinary use Cap. 7. 5. Whether man or woman may live many daies moneths or yeeres without the use of any sustenance whatsoever Cap. 9. 6. Whether it be best to feed freelist at dinner or at supper Cap. 11. 7. Whether breake-fasts are to be used Cap. 11. 8. Whether snailes be good against a Consumption Cap. 20. 9. Whether morning draughts fasting be allowable Cap. 24. 10. Whether good to drinke betwixt meales and to bedward Cap. 24. 11. Whether it be good to begin or yet to end our meale with a draught ib. 12. Whether old may be allowed the use of wine Cap. 26. 13. Whether it be fit sometimes to be drunke to make one cast in an ague or no Cap. 28. Contents of the Chapters of the Second BOOKE CHAP. I. OF the Diet of the Diseased in generall the utility and profit thereof Of the aire in particular and how to be corrected in time of need and what fewell for this purpose is best Something concerning the aire of Churches and Church-yards CHAP. IJ. Of the particular aire wherein sicke liveth to wit his habitation and the best situation thereof As also whether a country-aire or that of Townes or Cities bee better Where something concerning the situation of the ancient Towne of Northampton CHAP. IIJ. Of the clothing and covering of the sicke as also concerning their shifting and of the error of the
halfe a daies iourney from S. Annaberg where I rested these foure daies I found neither frost nor snow nor any signe of the same but both corne and grasse as greene and forward as had ever beene observed about that season together with a fine warme temperate aire and inquiring there of the weather past they assured me that they had seen neither frost nor snow onely that morning had falne a small showre of warme raine which was scarcely to be discerned upon the ground But it is yet stranger that within a few miles of ground one place not exceeding another in height should be Sommer in one and Winter in the other as appeareth by that which followeth At the same time when in the West part of this Peninsula being neere Cambaia betweene that ridge of mountaines and the sea it is after their appellation Sommer which is from September to April in which time it is alwaies cleare sky without once or very little raining on the other side of the hills which they call the coast of Choromandell it is then Winter every day and night yeelding abundance of raines besides those terrible thunders which both beginne and end their Winter and from April till September in a conntrarie vicissitude on the Westerne part is winter and on the Easterne part Sommer insomuch that in little more than 20 leagues iourny insome places as when you crosse the hill to S. Thomas on the one side of the hill you ascend with a faire Sommer on the other side you descend with a stormy Winter The like saith Linschoten happeneth at the Cape Rosalgate in Arabia and in many other places of the East But it is as great if not a greater wonder that in some places of the same elevation of the Pole even upon the low levell ground there should be such a disparity in the qualities of the ambient aire as it is reported of the straits of Magellan In and about the straits of Magellan saith a late Writer in as high an elevation of the Pole as many parts of Spaine the cold is yet there so violent that besides the mountaine tops alwaies covered with snow their very Sommer in the midst thereof freeth them not from yee Yea at that time of the yeere the Hollanders encountred an Iland of yee in the Sea The trees yet there are generally greene all the yeere long The cold is so extreme that Henry Barwell became balld therewith so continuing a yeere or two One Harris a Gold-smith blowing his frozen nose cast it with his fingers into the fire and our Authour himselfe going on shore And returning wet in his feet the next morning pulled off his toes with his stackings from his benummed feet Those countries wherein the aire is so continually warme as within the Tropicks and neere to them prove not commonly so healthfull especially to our Northerne constitutions whose lives are better preserved in a Northern aire than any of those hot regions which is diligently to be observed of those who undertake to transport colonies into remote regions that they settle not themselves in too hot a climat Now that the distempered qualities of the aire are a meanes of producing divers diseases appeareth by many places of that famous Hippocrates his works where hee setteth downe divers distempered constitutions of the aire whereupon ensued divers dangerous diseases both pestilentiall and others And among our selves the instances I thinke are fresh enough yet in our memories of this last yeere 1630. which deprived many of life and many so pinch'd with poverty that the wound is not yet healed up It is then apparent that the severall seasons of the yeere together with the alterations and changes thereof doe not a little affect both the body and minde of man and therefore diligently and carefuly of Physitians to be considered CHAP. VII Of Water in generall of Terrestriall VVater or water passing thorow or issuing out of the Earth as Springs Rivers Wells and Ponds IT is now more then time that we come to this so noble and necessary element of Water which can never sufficiently be commended And in so high an account was it among the Antients that Thales Milesius one of the seven Wise-men of Greece thought it to be the originall of all things quasi aqua omnia from whence all things have their first being and beginning and this was also the opinion of the Greeke Poet Hesiod But in briefe both the antiquity and utility doe highly recommend it unto us The Antiquity as being that prime and principall liquour where with our forefathers untill the time of Noah after the flood yea and even after the flood continued still to bee in greatest request The utility appeareth in this that it is the most common and naturall drinke to all living creatures and withall the most familiar and easiest to come by and hence by the goodnesse of our God have we this Element obvious every where as well in the highest hills as in the lowest vallies And that great Calvin saith that God deprive the Aegyptians of the one halfe of their life when as hee inflicted upon them that great plague of turning their water into blood The utility and necessity of this noble Element was not unknown to Isaac and Abimelec which made their herd-men so strive for these fountaines of living water and did yet more manifestly appeare in that more than triennal disastrous drought in Ahabs daies And some late writers relate that the like hapned of late yeeres in some parts of the West-Indies And is yet more cleerely in this seene in that it is the Basis or foundation of all other liquors whatsoever and giving as it were the essence even unto that king of liquors Wine it selfe as without the which neither it nor yet any other ever attaine to any perfection Being therefore so usefull both for drinke dressing of meate and many other necessary uses it will be requisite to say something of it And first for the temperature both Physitians and Philosophers have reputed water to be of a cooling quality And Aristotle himselfe is of this opinion and as for moisture Galen holdeth that it is an absurd thing to hold that any thing is moister than this Element It is then generally held that Water is very cold and very moist And yet Cardan thinkes it not to be cold as it is commonly accounted but rather temperate and exclaimeth against his teachers who instructed him in that maner which saith he hath done me great mischiefe And in very truth it would seeme in its owne naturall condition not to be so very cold howsoever actually as many other liquors it may partake of an intense frigidity All water is either potable and usefull for ordinary emploiments or else Physicall and appropriated to divers diseases or lastly venomous and altogether unprofitable for the use either of man or beast My purpose is in this place
caused assemble many skilfull Philosophers I thinke it should have beene Physitians to consult about his health and some advising one thing some another one among the rest delivered his opinion thus that hee could never better inioy his health than never to eat untill such time hee found his former food digested And such as will have but that care of themselves that they have of their Hawkes and many other creatures to whom they will give no new food untill they have concocted the former follow the advice of the Wise man I live not to eat but eat to the end I may live and againe the same Authour hath these words The greedy desire of such gluttons is like unto the desire of the Divell or of hell it selfe for as Hell swallowes up many people yet never is satisfied yea rather sorry it cannot swallow more for the which cause these hellish ministers leave no wind unsailed even right so fareth it with Gluttons who are never satisfied to whom it is said Agg. 1. You have eaten and yet are not satisfied to wit according to their disorderly appetite being displeased with themselves that they are able to devoure no more And for this cause they invent all the waies they can to please their palates both in the colour taste smell and in the various multiplicitie of meat and drinke And hence commeth it to passe saith Saint Bernard that they double their great dishes upon the which being totally intent they can keepe no measure in eating c. Is not this then a great blurre and disgrace to our Christian profession that we should be farre inferiour to so many heathen and meere morall men But especially is this a time for riot and excesse for chambering and wantonnesse when many of our neighbours and brethren by Christian profession lie groaning in grievous affliction The want of this sympathising with the afflictions of the Church is that which God reproacheth his own people Amos 6.4 They drinke Wine in bowles and stretch themselves upon beds of yvorie but no man remembred the afflictions of Ioseph And as at all times so more especially in the times of penury and scarcity wee ought to be sparing in our diet and those whom God hath inabled ought to be the more helpfull to the poore whose pinched bellies often would be glad of the scraps and crums which fall from many a rich Gluttons table Againe I could wish that many did not so profusely spend upon unreasonable creatures and that onely for sport and recreation that which would fill the bellies of many a poore Christian who scarce can have a bit of browne bread to satisfie their hungry appetites while their beasts have abundance of the best If any shall here againe reply may not I doe with mine owne what I list Let mee then be so bold againe as to demand what is their owne And if they will not I will answer for them that is just nothing they are but onely Stewards put in trust with their Masters goods the great God of heaven and earth and there will come shortly and how soone they know not a messenger to discharge them of their Stewardship thou maiest be no longer Steward and then if thou hast been a good and faithfull Steward and canst make thy Master a true account thou maiest expect with comfort that Euge bone serve Well done faithfull servant enter into thy Masters ioy but if otherwise let them looke to it I will conclude with the words of the late alleged Author Now who so will not by all the former inconveniences and dangers be reclamed neither by afflictions and troubles nor yet by faire perswasions yet let this one thought and consideration what they shall be after death affright them for all Gluttons and generally all sinners and wicked people are usually affraid of death the which Gluttony if not avoided will inevitably hasten and further I have somewhat the longer insisted upon this point in regard this sinne is so frequent in this Kingdome which hath been thereby with our neigbours the French reproached Les Anglois sont grand mangeurs English are great eaters But wee have eaten more than enough it is time wee now proceed to drinke CHAP. XXIIII Of Drinke and what things in the use thereof to be considered of morning draughts drinking betwixt meales beginning or ending the meale with drinke and drinking to bed-ward AFter meat it is seasonable now to come to drinke the one being as necessary if not more than the other This liquid substance helpeth the distribution of the food thorow the whole body withall quencheth thirst and as without food so likewise without drinke the life of man cannot be prolonged And although wee read of some who without any drinke at all have spunne out the whole threed of their life as namely one Lasyrtas Lasionius Andrew of Argos Mago of Carthage and Iulius Viator a Roman Knight yet is it most certaine that without drinke or some moisture to conveigh the meat thorow the body man cannot subsist and such persons were not of a sound constitution of body and that because they did not sweat at all their bones being all solid without any marrow And our stomack is not vnfitly compared to a pot with meat boyling in it which without moisture must needs be burnt up Besides drinke seemeth to be of a greater profit and utility to the body than meat it selfe and the want thereof hardlier to be indured it allaying both hunger and thirst in man especially and therefore the old aphorisme holdeth here true It is easier to be refreshed with drinke than with solid food Drink is a thin liquid substance quenching thirst furthering the concoction and distribution of the food thorow the whole body and often also apt to nourish the same Drinke is two-fold either that common liquor whereof all living creatures are partakers as well as man or else it is desumed from beasts and plants from the which a wholesome liquor or juice is expressed fit for quenching thirst and nourishing the body also Now some rules concerning drinke are carefully to be observed and first wee are not to indure too much thirst but moderately to drinke in time of need especially at our meales In the next place it is good to drinke little and often at our meales to the end there may be an exact mixture of our meat and drinke in the stomacke neither are wee to follow the custome of the people of the East to drinke most after meales as is also the custome of our beasts Thirdly wee are not to beginne our meales with drinke but rather with solid food Fourthly wee are not to drinke betwixt meales for feare of disturbing and interrupting the concoction of the stomacke except a very hot and dry stomacke sometimes for feare of burning up the meat plead privilege for a cup. Fifthly after bathing running or any other violent exercise it is not good suddenly to drinke
either water or strong drinke but especially water or small drinke Hippocrates maketh mention of wrestler whâ— after violent motion and agitation of his whole body and all covered with sweat drinking a great draught of cold water died suddenly and this was also the fatall end of the famous Physitian Valerius Cordus Many more such histories are related by the learned Schenekius And in France my body being then in the like case and had almost bin made an addition to the former examples For after a draught of colâ— water in the heat of Sommer I was immediatly after surpized first with a single and after with a double tertian fever and to adde yet unto my former misâ—rteâ—â—l was shortly after about the beginning of the canicular daies surprized with the blody flixe at that time epidemicall and for the most part mortall in most places of France especially Southward the which together with the former infirmities did adhere unto me almost a quarter of a yeere and recovered not my full strength againe for the space of a whole halfe yeere and upwards Now as meat so is drinke not to be excessively and inordinatly used but stinted and limited to a certaine determinate quantity And howsoever I confesse it is impossibe to regulate and determine how much every particular and individuall person ought to drinke and that by reason of the difference of countries and climats of divers and various constitutions and severall obseruable circumstances yet may we still aime at a certaine decorum or golden mediocrity alwaies as in other things so in this diligently to be observed The antients as it seemeth observed even a set number of draughts at their set meales which were 3 as witnesseth the Poet and the same number was determined by the Synod of Nants Democritus as witnesseth Pliny wrote a booke wherein hee averreth that no man ought to drinke foure draughts at one meale and it was a saying of the antients the first draught is good against drougth the second is for mirth the third for pleasure and delight and the fourth made one madde But because the number of draughts is nothing the quantity of the draught being that wee are to build upon therefore that was also regulated among the antients There were among the antient Romans three usuall measures for drinke called by these names triens sextans deunx The middlemost was the least being under foure ounces and with the which sober people contented themselves that called triens was about a quarter of our wine pint not above foure ounces the last was above our wine pint Sober people contented themselves with the smallest measure and such as assumed some more liberty proceeded to the other but intemperate persons would adventure on the last and biggest measure Cato allowed to labouring men and such as wrought hard about three English pints of wine aday which perhaps was then ordinary for such kindes of people But mee thinks I heare some by reason of that which hath beene already said aske mee a question whether a draught of drinke in a morning fasting be not in the rules of wholesome diet to be allowed of Their colour to cleare this their custome is this a draught in a morning say they washeth downe all ill humors that lie in the stomack or places adjoining and withall is good against the stone I answer thy draught is either strong drinke or small if strong then have I the authority of our famous antient Physitians on my side that this is very hurtfull to the health Indeede during the Empire of Tiberius Caesar saith Pliny the Physitians some fortie yeeres agoe appointed that people should drinke fasting and that onely by meanes of some cunning Physitians willing by some plausible novelty to skrew themselves into the favour of the people And it seemeth there is some recent authoritie at least to beginne our meales with drinke But Galen is flat against this preposterous custome of drinking thus fasting averring that to drink strong drink fasting is very hurtfull for the nerves and nervous parts and withall hasteneth and procureth to the body many dangerous diseases as Epilepsie Apoplexie and many others It is therefore farre better for thy health to eat a little before thou drinke But some will say I will take but a draught of small drinke which is good against the stone To this I answer that howsoever this be a seeming reason yet to mee it is none at all for by this meanes thou causest the more speedie descent of those glutinous and feculent humours toward the kidnies and bladder and by consequent rather furtherest than hinderest either the generation or increase of the stone as the like is also by the unseasonable and too frequent use of diureticall medicines often procured But if thou wilt drinke then the best will be to eat a little before thou drinkest and this like a Sponge will drinke up this liquor and afterwards these superfluous excrements will at great leisure be thorow the guts expelled out of the body Some hot and dry bodies may perhaps plead for some privilege who of all others are most to be excused especially if they be not rheumaticke and in such a case let not the drinke be too strong And as for antient people and cold constitutions who perhaps will take it ill to be abbridged of their morning draught of wines muscadine sweet canary and the like with a tost soked in them and eaten are the best and a cup of good wholesome ale with a tost some nutmegge and sugar may be allowed But the ordinary use of morning draughts being indifferently of every one used is not so good for the health of the body whatsoever our tost pots prate to the contrarie And now I proceed to the next In the next place it may be demanded whether it be good to begin our meales as likewise to end the same with a draught As for the first it hath beene by mani holden as an oracle to beginne the meale with drink which was also held by the Salernitan Schoole and with us it is holden for an ordinary and inveterate custome to beginne our meale with a cup of sacke Now as in many other things so in this particular also can we set downe no certaine precise rule which may fit every particular individuall constitution But this according to my opinion and of our Physitians of the best note is the best for health in ordinary constitutions and the most part of people to beginne their meales with solid food And from this rule none is to be exempted unlesse some hot dry constitution and in such bodies the pot may be washed as some use to say or rather moistned before the meat be put into it providing alwaies there be no pottage or other liquid meats in which case they may well supply the place of drinke And besides as concerning the use
of such moist and liquid food the more an ordinary stomacke useth thereof the lesse drinke is needfull and not as too many use needlessely and foolishly to drinke immediatly after hot pottage And as concerning rheumaticke persons I wish them to be sparing both in the use of pottage and drinke especially when rheume is most busie And as for a cup of sacke it cannot be indifferently good for every one at the beginning of meales but onely for feeble phlegmaticke cold and old constitutions and that immediately before meales for otherwise it may even hurt such constitutions especially if subject to any diseases of the head and nerves as Epilepsie Apoplexie Palsie c. Now to the next whether it be good to finish our meale with meate or drinke To finish the feast with a draught of good drinke hath beene alwaies a very ancient custome as by many antient Authors appeareth which I could easily here make good if I feared not to trespasse upon the Readers patience The Iewes it seemeth were accustomed both to beginne and end their feast with such a draught and of the beginning therewith the practice of our Saviour Christ in Luke maketh it cleare The English have long continued this custome as witnesseth the learned Erasmus and is so used among the Germans and many other Europaean people even at this very day being commonly used after the washing of the hands which in Scotland they call the grace drinke and from the washing of the hands this drink tooke the name and was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Germanes call it Saint Iohannis segen or Saint Iohns blessing Now by antient Authors it may appeare that there were cups called after three severall names used about that time one was drunke in honour of Iupiter called Olympius or in honor of all the gods the second was in honor of deified men whom they called Heroes such as be our Popish canonized Saints the third was in honor of Iupiter Saviour called perfect from the number of three wherein is the beginning the middle and the end By some also this was called the cup of health or good lucke which they dranke one to another and by some also it was called the cup of their good spirit or God which was used both at the beginning and ending of their supper before they rose from table And after this last cup was once drunk then all the guests rose and all was taken away as may by that sacrilegious pranke plaied by Denis the tyrant appeare who comming into the temple of Aesculapius within the city of Syracuse where was the statua or image of Aesculapius with a table of pure gold standing by it tooke a cup full of wine adding these words I drinke to thee Aesculapius the cup of the good God or spirit and with this word caused presently carry away this golden table Among the Indians it was called the cup of Tantalus But now to the solution of the question whether is it better to close our stomacke with meat or drinke I answer that for the generall and for the most part it is holden that it is best to close it up with meat yet with a limitation that such as are hot and dry and are troubled with thirst may drinke a little at the latter end of their meale And of such is Celsus to be understood when hee willeth us to close up the stomacke with a cup of cold water a custome I am sure would not be very welcome to the Swill-bowles of our times and that of Hippocrates who in feare of fumes and hot vapors arising up and fuming into the head adviseth us to use this water or else very thinne waterish white wine But there are many pleasant astringent meanes which in such cases may better bee used as namely marmalad of quinces of goose-berries preserved quinces conserve of barberries of rasps and many other such things astrigent and acid in taste Howsoever it is the best course ordinarily to close the stomacke rather with meate than drinke according to this verse Sit tibi postremus semper in ore cibus Let a morsell of meat be ever last in thy mouth Now the answer to the other question whether it bee good to drinke to bed-ward or going to bed is concluded to the negative that we are not at all to drinke at that season for feare of hindering concoction But if the body be hot and dry the stomacke especially and the partie thereunto accustomed and sometimes in extraordinary great thirst heere something is to bee yeelded to necessity in which case it is good to be sparing and when concoction is almost finished as foure or five houres after meales a more liberall draught may then bee allowed And this may likewise serve for an answer to that question whether one may drinke betwixt meales So that I shall not need to make any repetion concerning this point As for very aged people of cold windy stomackes I shall not find fault with them if they take a little draught of sacke or such liquor at the end of their meale CHAP. XXV Of Water as it is used for drinke and severall waies of cooling the same and correcting bad Waters HAving discoursed of Drinke in generall as wee have done in meats so must wee here come to the particular sorts of drinke amongst which Water offereth it selfe in the first place as the first and most ancient so the most common to all living creatures most obvious and easie to come by And although after the flood wine came in request for mans use yet by many passages both of holy and prophane Writers whom for brevities sake I here passe by it may appeare that water was the most common and ordinary drinke and wine used more at festivall times and solemne meetings than for their daily and ordinary use and it is even at this day so used in many places As for the division of waters their variety and diversitie I have already said sufficient as also concerning the qualities whereas I shewed that water was not of so cooling a qualitie as hath beene by many both Philosophers and Physitians hitherto deemed A late Writer confirmeth this same opinion by the authority of divers other writers by valid and probable reasons thereto perswaded The chiefe and principall reasons are desumed from the inbred principles of this element as light heat agitation and mobiltie which constitute and make the essence or being thereof as also from the actions as the manifold generative power perspicuity raritie the taste also bitter salt and sweet c. Of the other quality of moisture there is no controversie Now concerning the drinking of water wee are herein to consider three things the good quantity the quality and the order The qualities of the best water have already largely beene described and that among all waters raine water was the best and next unto it
satisfaction it may seeme to sooth us up The fourth way is by meanes of ice or snow It was the invention of the Emperour Nero to boile water and then let it downe into a pit of snow Athenaeus saith it was an old invention howbeit others affirme it first found out by Nero. The Turkes at this day familiarly use this kinde of cooling their drinke The fift way is by meanes of deepe cellars wherein in antient times some were wont to set bottles full of hot water and take them out againe colder than any snow In Paris there are some such deepe cellars wherein the smallest wines will seeme to the taste twice as strong as they are in very truth Besides all the premisses water falling from a high place acquireth unto it selfe a greater coldnesse than that which runneth softly in a river and the agitation and much stirring of the water furthereth not a little this cooling qualitie And this for the present concerning the use of water shall suffice what resteth shall be discussed in the diet of the diseased which doth something also concerne them CHAP. XXVI Of wine the various and severall sorts with the right use and for whom it is most fitting IT may be my former discourse of water was to some unwelcome who would more willingly perhaps heare of some more noble liquor and therefore now from the water-pale to the wine-pot Now although this same subject of wines alone might well fill up a larger discourse than this in hand yet will I content my selfe with such things as shall be of greatest use for the health of mankind And because al wines are not alike differing in divers respects it will therefore be for us very usefull to set downe the severall differences Wines therefore differ not a little one from another and that in these respects following The first difference then is desumed from the age for some wine is called Mustum or new wine and others of longer continuance one two or three yeers c. New wine before it be well purged from the lees howsoever it may seeme to please the palat by reason of a sweet pleasant and delectable taste yet is it most dangerous for the health of the body for by reason of the thicknesse grossenesse and as some call it a tartareous substance it is very windy and apt to ingender all manner of obstructions wind cholicke and the stone it selfe c. But among all such wines the white and Rhenish doe least harme and that in regard they make the body soluble and so all corruption is evacuated and so in regard of their short abode within the body they are least of all others offensive unto it New wine pressed out of tart and sowre grapes is of all others the worst The Poet Ovid could well tell whether new or old wine were better when he wishes to drinke wine of the continuance of certaine Consuls that is so many yeeres old And as the new wines are not to be allowed for ordinary use no more are the very old wines better to be liked of for then they become farre hotter sharper and sometimes bitter also As for the certaine determinate time orange when wine might safeliest be drunke no man can certainely determine for some lasted twenty some more some fewer yeeres Cicero at a supper with Damasippus was served with wine of 40. yeeres old But the Emperor Caligula was presented with wine of 160 yeere old Now the nature of such wines was this that they were not to be drunke unlesse mastered with much water Our wines now a daies differ much from those in frequent use among the Ancients the Romanes especially for few of our ordinary wines will continue good for yeeres as theirs did yea a yeere and sometimes lesse will put them to the period of their longest endurance Although I deny not but some of our sackes and some such strong wines will continue good farre beyond this prefixed period The second difference is taken from the substance some being thinne perspituous and very small needing no admixture of water called for this cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as grow plentifully about Paris Rochell and divers other places as along the river of Rhene in Thuringia Misnia c. And yet Cardan thought no such wine grew in those regions Others againe were of a thicker and grosser substance and may therefore be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or bearing much water as being of farre greater force and strength than the former The third difference may be taken from the colour some being white in colour some pale yellow some sadder in colour or of a high golden yellow colour some againe of a blackish intense red and others of a pale red colour The yellow wines are the hottest the red lesse and the white least of all And it is to bee observed that mingling grapes of divers colours the wine becommeth of a mixt colour as the white and red grape mingled together maketh a claret and the more red grapes be in the mixture the higher coloured is this claret and the more white grapes the paler coloured it is approaching both to the colour and quality of white wine as is to bee seene in that wine called from the colour of peach flowre couleur du pesche The fourth difference is taken from the taste sweet sowre sharpe or bitter The sweet are most nourishing such as are commonly the high coloured red wine and some sweet sacks brought unto vs from Greece and other parts such as are our malmesey muscadine browne-bastard Canary and some others of that colour and our high coloured red wines called vin de Graves Some againe are of tarter taste as most of our white and claret Galen was of opinion there were no sweet white wines howbeit divers Provinces of France can now witnesse the contrary And I doubt not but the Wine-brewers of the City of London have so well profited in their profession that they are able to furnish any with as sweet wine of any colour as any other place whatsoever The fift difference is desumed from the smell which in wine is also not a little to be regarded and the wines of best smell are also ordinarily the hottest Among our ordinary wines that which smelleth like the raspe as the French say sent la fram boose is esteemed the daintiest But here my meaning is not of any artificiall smell procured by the wit and invention of the vintner no more than that which already hath bin spoken concerning the substance colour and taste Another difference may yet be desumed from the soile and the naturall temper of the aire where such wines grow And thus in one and the same country are so many severall sorts of wine to be seene differing in goodnesse one from another and yet far more those of one countrey from those of another And thus we may apparently perceive what
are novv atteined to decrepit old age to give them onely hony-vvater or boiled vvater to drinke But I thinke fevv that read this but vvill thinke this too rigid and so am I of their mind His reason is because saith hee hot strong wine drunke in abundance hath need of a like proportion of naturall heat to overcome it otherwise it sowreth in the stomacke oppresserh naturall heat ingendreth crudities and proveth the cause of many noisome diseases But by his good leave although a learned man yet he delivers his opinion too lavishly and without limitation Wine in old age moderately taken cheereth the spirits furthereth concoction and overcoÌ„meth crudities The chiefe hurt befalleth old age by the too liberall use of strong hot vvines in my opinion is by way of exâ—ccation their bodies howsoever replenished with an accidentall and excrementitious moisture yet the naturall Crasis and constitution of their bodies get inclining to siccity The excesse in the use of any sort of wine I allow not of But I see no sound reason why the moderate use of our Muscadines sweet Canary sackes and sweet nourishing red wines may not safely and to good purpose be allowed this age which besides the former benefits may likewise by their mild fumes and vapors so irrigate the braine that it may procure them quiet and comfortable sleepe to this age so acceptable And by this moderate use I see not but it may likewise communicate a gentle warmth to all the parts of the body although I am not of opinion this is the only use as this Author seemeth to allege And in the use of wine among the antients this is yet to be observed that they were either to drinke this or water there being no other in ordinary use among them and therfore wheras they allowed youth at the age of 22. to drinke wine this is not a precept for us to practise being furnished with so fit and wholesome drink and so appropriated and fitted for this climat and our complexions and the which may safely to any age or complexion be exhibited and being in our owne power to make it weaker or stronger there is no danger in the use of our ale or beere And besides we must also withall consider that in the hot seasons of the yeere both wine and other strong drinkes must more sparingly be used but in colder seasons we may be bolder Now againe among the antients wine was either drunke pure of it selfe without any mixture or else diluted and mingled with water and is used also in this our age In antient times some added the water to the wine and some againe wine to the water Water was and is used to be added unto wine to allay and qualifie the heat and fumes thereof and is more frequent in those countries where wine is their ordinary drinke This mixture differeth according to the diversitie of the natures of the parties drinking the wine drunke together with the severall times of drinking all which points are learnedly and largely set downe by a famous Italian Physitian and which were too long for mee here to insist upon But this I must advertise in briefe that as young people especially hot and cholericke constitutions ought not to drinke wine so if they doe at any time drinke thereof they ought to delute or mingle it with a greater quantity of water than others and the like I wish to be understood of the heat of Sommer when as both smaller drinke and wine more deluted is best Some in stead of ordinary spring water use rose water and a little sugar which is not amisse and the like may be practised with Strawberry Sorrell Succory or Endive water But to determine the quantity of water which differeth according to circumstances is very hard but the best will be for people to consider of that proverbiall speech Every man is either a foole or a Physitian The meaning is a man should observe what best befitteth the state of his owne body and so accommodate all things accordingly Many in hot countries where the wine groweth sometimes use wine so sparingly that they adde but a little quantity of wine to a great quantity of water it may be not the fifth or sixth part But with us where wine is not our naturall and ordinary drinke this deluting or mixture of wine and water is not so frequent except sometimes in Sommer where often and most commonly sugar is also added thereunto with some Borage flowers and a sprig of Rosemary which are not out of purpose especially if the wine be any thing tart or sowrish And by the way I must here say something concerning the use of sugar with wines It is a common custome thorow this kingdome to adde sugar to all wine indifferently sweet or sowre or whatsoever sort I doe not deny but sometimes to helpe a tart taste or to inhibit the hot fumes of a vaporous or strong sacke apt to flie up into the braines a little sugar helpeth well but to use it indifferently with all sorts of wines and without any consideration of circumstances whatsoever which is the ordinary and common custome and that merely for wantonnesse and to satisfie their lustfull desires I hold it not convenient Our neighbouring Nations who abound in all sorts of wine and most somewhat tartish in taste yet never use this addition of sugar And therefore as I advertised already so wish I all especially our women aptest in such cases to exceed to use a moderation in the use of sugar As for wines thus to be mingled with water they must be indifferent strong and withal of an indifferent thinne substance Wines of a grosse and thick substance are not thus to be mingled with water but rather moderately and sparingly drunke without any addition And as for our Rhenish and small white wines they need farre lesse water than other stronger Some wish that certaine houres before the wine be drunke water be mingled therewith that by this meanes there may be a more perfect mixture of the one with the other There is to this purpose a certaine antient speech recorded Vinum lymphatum cito potatum generat lepram Wine mingled with water suddenly drunke ingendreth leprosie But concerning wine this shall suffice Of the use of wine in the sicke in what diseases usefull and how to be used hereafter in the diet of the diseased CHAP. XXVII Of Beere Ale Cider and Perry serving us in stead of Wine NOw because all countries are not furnished with this noble liquor of the grape therefore our gracious God besides this element of water with man-kind common to all living creatures hath furnished these our Northern Regions with other drinkes which might to us supply the place of wine This drinke hath for its principall ingredients water and corne and to season it and make it keepe a long time in stead of salt hath hop added to it And that this is no new invention to
full of invectives against this wicked sinne The Wise man in his golden Proverbs hath many excellent precepts to this same purpose Wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise The same Wise man hath these words also He that loveth Wine and oile shall not be rich And againe Be not among wine bibbers riotous eaters of flesh for the drunkard and the glutton shall be clothed with ragges and a little after Who hath wo who hath sorrow who hath contentions who hath babbling who hath wounds without cause who hath the rednesse of eyes They that tarry long at the wine they that goe to seeke mixt wine Looke not thou upon the wine when it is red when it giveth colour in the cup when it moueth it selfe aright at the last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adder thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things Yea thou shalt be as hee that lieth downe in the midst of the Sea as he that lieth downe upon the top of a mast They have strucken mee shalt thou say and I was not sicke they have beaten mee and I felt it not when shall I awake I will seeke it yet once againe And the same spirit of God in the same booke by the mouth of a woman forbiddeth Kings who if any might seeme to challenge unto themselves a greater liberty to be given to this vice It is not for Kings O Lemuel it is not for Kings to drinke wine nor for Princes strong drinke lest they drinke and forget the law and pervert the iudgement of any of the afflicted Give strong drinke to him that is ready to perish and wine to those that be of heavie hearts c. Againe another Wiseman giveth us good directions against this same sinne Shew not thy valiantnesse in wine for wine hath destroyed many And a little after wine drunke with excesse maketh bitternesse of the minde with brawling and quarrelling drunkennesse increaseth the rage of a foole till hee offend hee diminisheth strength and maketh wounds A number of other places of holy Writ might be to the same purpose produced And whereas mention is made of wine wee are withall to comprehend under it all manner of strong drinke whatsoever A late Writer proveth a drunkard to breake all the ten Commandements For first saith hee in stead of the true God hee maketh a God of his guts and againe mancipating and making himselfe a slave to his idoll drinke hee neglecteth and often contemneth yea even mocketh at the pure worship and service of the Almighty God And as for taking of Gods name in vaine and tearing and rending his glorious attributes by whom more frequent than by drunkards at their drunken meetings and where are more bloody oaths belch'd out than by these swil-bolls and tos-pots upon their ale-house benches As for the prophanation of the Sabbath that drunkards are most commonly impious in this point I thinke will not be denied and as for the duties due to our neighbor a drunken man maketh little difference betwixt superiour inferiour equall as being injurious unto all And not onely doe they deny their superiours that reverence and respect due unto them but even often mocke and deride them And as for quarrells murthers uncleannesse and adulteries who so ready to perpetrate any such sinne as a drunkard And their theft in this appeareth in the first place of their sacrilegious robbing God of the time due to his worship and service their wives and children and neerest kindred the poore and publike of that portion due unto them Againe who so prone to perjury lying slandering backbiting and taking his neighbours good name from him and are not their lustfull eyes now inflamed with the fire of strong drinke set a lusting after strange flesh And are not their eyes full of adulterie c. Another Writer giveth us warning to avoid this sinne for these seven ensuing reason First for the dammage and detriment it procureth to the soule by infatuation of the same and by betraying and despoyling of all its glorious ornaments Secondly because this sinne seldome commeth alone but accompanied with others Thirdly by reason it bereaveth one of his good name and reputation Fourthly because it deserveth a temporall punishment Fifthly because it leadeth a man to eternall punishment Sixthly because it weakeneth and impoverisheth a man even his personall estate Seventhly because it damnifieth the body by diseases c. The same Authour againe The Divell said to a certaine person whom he had often tempted to sinne Make now thy choice I pray thee to yeeld to me but in one of these three sinnes to wit adultery murther or drunkennesse and I will never tempt thee any more who chose rather to be drunke But afterwards the same partie to his drunkennesse added both the two other sins for being drunke he committed adultery with another mans wife and withall killed the womans husband who by hap came into the roome at the same time Some againe saith the same Authour when they are reproved of their drunkennesse excuse themselues by reason of their companions their solicitation and importanity But in this they rather bewray their owne want of understanding than excuse themselves and in this particular shew themselves inferiour to the very brutes themselves who by no meanes will be urged to drinke more than need requireth And to make this good it is reported that a certaine house-keeper kept a tame Hart in his house which would often drinke of their drinke drawne for dinner or supper but at a certaine time drunke so liberally that he was drunke and after skipping in the court among some logs of wood lying there at length hurt his leg who after that time would never drinke any other drinke but water The holy Father St Austine calleth it the mother of all mischiefe the matter of all offences the root and originall of vices making men at first madâ— after the Imaâ—e of allmightie God not like unto brute beasts but like that cruell and ravenous infernall Fiend himselfe that is the Divell as wofull experience doth daily more than sufficiently witnesse But heare what epithites the very heathen give this swinish sinne Seneca calleth it the cause of all publike calamities and the same Author compareth wine and strong drinke to a poison Optum and Hellebore Plato calleth it a torment and so doth a heathen Poet But let us a little consider what mischiefes befall both man in particular and the common wealth in generall by this loathsome sinne In the first place then it unmans a man and of a reasonable man maketh him worse than an unreasonable beast expelleth all vertue out of the mind troubleth the understanding overthroweth reason destroieth the memory and inciteth man to many mischiefes And whereas the brutes by helpe of their senses onely are able to avoid imminent dangers these men
oftentimes deprive themselves even of the use of their senses making themselves by this meanes as senselesse as blocks and contrary to the common course of nature alwaies carefull and sollicitous to preserve it selfe either rush upon their owne ruine or by their in discreet carriage bring ruine upon themselves And of this I need not I thinke produce any instances there be few if any that cannot instance in some particulars of his owne knowledge And as for diseases of the body procured thereby they are not a few as namely the Apoplexy Epilepsie or falling sicknesse Incubus or nightmare Palsie giddinesse lethargy and the like soporiferous diseases besides sudden death losse of memory and understanding red and watery eyes a corny face all beset with rubies and carbuncles accompanied with a copper nose Besides it is often after attended with rottennesse and roughnesse of teeth a stinking breath a stutting and stammering tongue rotten lungs filthy and stinking belching vomitings Fevers inflammations defluxions on the joints procuring gouts of all sorts Dropsies of all kindes the stone strangury with many more yea to speake in a word it may prove a meanes of most diseases which befall mankind And besides all these how many dangers from without attend a drunken man which without one minute of an houres time to repent him of his former wicked course often suddenly send him into another world Moreover it is not to be omitted that drunkennesse overthroweth also a mans temporall estate lavishly and prodigally wasting that substance in a very short space which had by honest industry and paines beene a long time a purchasing by which meanes many times besides a crasy and rotten body they pull at length poverty not upon themselves alone but upon their wives children and posterity also leaving likewise a many beggers behind them to be a burden to the common-wealth besides that in this is also transgressed the Apostles rule if any man provide not for his owne especially those of his owne house he hath denied the faith and is worse than an Infidell Besides they prove also in this pernitious plagues to a common-wealth by mis-spending and wasting so much graine in drinke as might feed a number of poore people Against this beastly sinne a many worthy writers both Christian and Heathen have much inveighed And the heathen Poets have not failed to play their parts Vino forma perit vine corrumpitur atas By wine is spoiled quite the beauty of the face By wine our life corrupted is it cutteth short our race And againe another describeth some effects following this vice Consequitur gravitas membrorum praepediuntur Crura vacillanti tardescit lingua madet mens Nant Oculi clamor singultus jurgia gliscunt Hence follow the vnweldinesse and weight of members weake The shaking thighes are hindered the tongue is slow to speake The mind is moist the eyes doe swimme clamors and noise increase Deepe sighes and sobs chidings and brawles from such do never cease Heare yet another speake to the same purpose Quum bibitur concha quum jam vertigine tectum Ambulat geminis exurgit mensa lucernis When men are whitled with their cups when now their giddy braine Thinke that the house doth walke about and judge one candle twaine It were no difficult matter for me to produce a multitude of such invectives against this vice out of these and other Poets but that I must husband my time It is therefore worth the observing how carefull many of the heathens were not onely in shunning themselves this vice but by wholesome lawes suppressing the spreading of it abroad into the common-wealth And no small commendation was it for that great and potent Emperour Augustus Caesar that during all the time of his warres he never drunke above thrice at a meale On the contrary wee read of that great Conqueror of the then knowne world Alexander the great unconquerable by all the Persian forces was notwithstanding at length overcome with their wine which made him imbrue his hands in the blood of his dearest friends And by divine punition in the aprile of his age by a draught from the hands of Proteas ended his daies The like it were easie for mee to instance in many others of high and eminent ranke as likewise of a multitude of others of inferiour degree if time would permit mee Eusebius Plato Aristole and Galen greatly commend the lawes of the Carthaginians whereby was forbidden any man during the warres to drinke any thing but water Among the Indians it was not lawfull at any time to be drunke And among the Persians on that day onely when they sacrificed to the Sunne it was lawfull for them to be drunke and to dance after the Persian manner I have already in the chapter of Gluttony made mention of a Scottish King that made a law that the drunkard should be put to death Now as this swinish sinne is odious to all ages sexes and conditions so it is more odious in some than in others And therefore wine was forbidden youth untill certaine yeeres and then permitted with moderation And women were forbiden wine among the Massilians and Milesians and at this time is not usuall for women in France to drinke wine before they be married but water onely And among the Romans this same law against womens drinking of wine was in force To this purpose it is very memorable which is recorded that one Ignatius Melentius a Roman killed his owne wife for being drunke the which fact of his was so farre from being punished that there was not so much as one to accuse him for the same every one accounting her justly punished for exceeding the bounds of sobrietie Now as this sinne of drunkennesse is unseemely and odious in all ages and degrees of the laity so it is yet farre more odious in a Church-man who as a light ought by his life and conversation so shine before others that men seing his good workes holy life and good conversation may glorifie our heavenly Father This being well considered of the antient Fathers of the Church was the occasion of so many canons and constitutions against this so loathsome sinne in the Clergie And that this same sinne reigned even among the Clergy of the Iewes may by some places of Scripture appeare God forbad Aaron and the other Priests under the paine of death when they were to offer up sacrifice to drinke either wine or strong drinke The Nazarites were also all forbidden wine and strong drinke The Apostle Paul reckoning up the qualities wherewith a Minister of the Word ought to be indued among the rest reckoneth up this that hee must not be given to wine nor strong drink And wee see that holy Timothy was so observant of sobriety and so fearefull to fall into this sinne that hee indangered his owne health and needed by the Apostle to be put in minde to
eating of fish And the same father affirmeth that the Montanists lived on bread salt and pulse and dranke onely water they abstained at certaine times from flesh and wine The Maniches of one Manes a Persian hereticke so called about the yeere of our Lord 247. among many other and destestable errors brought in this also of abstaining from certaine meats as all manner of flesh egges milke and all things made of the same the reasons see in S. Augustine They forbad also the use of wine were it never so new and yet permitted the use of grapes The same hereticks forbad also the use of marriage It is also to be observed that all this abstinence was only forbidden their elect ones and such as they tearmed perfect and initiated into their sacred mysteries but to their hearers who were but novices and beginners such meats were permitted The same heresie was againe about the yeere of our Lord 300. by one Priscillianus in France and Spaine renewed from whom it received also a new name And this same heresie as by many fathers it was spoken against so was it by many councels condemned Among the Russians or Muscovites the Metropolitans the Arch bishops and Bishops alwaies abstaine from flesh and yet when they invite any lay-men or other priests to their table they set flesh before them and yet may neither an Abbot nor Prior eat any Besides the Russians never eat of any thing killed by the hand of a woman esteeming it altogether uncleane and therefore in the absence of all mankind out of the house if they have any pullaine or other creature to kill the women stand in the house-doore holding a knife in their hands intreating any that passeth by to performe this kindnesse for them Now besides these afore-mentioned severall sorts of abstinence there is yet another voluntary abstinence which is miraculous as that of Christ Moses and Elias which is beyond the reach of any ordinary person although we read of many strange stories of such as fasted not onely many daies weekes and moneths but even many yeeres also as hath been declared already The last kind of abstinence is involuntary when as any one is forced against his will to fast and is divers waies procured whereon I will not now insist The excellency then of a right abstinence may evidently appeare which is not properly an abstinence from any one particular kind of food either totall or for a time but a sober and moderate use of all the creatures at all times especially in sickenesse as it is sometimes necessary for a time to abstaine from all and sometimes from some sorts of food In health moderation and temperance are never out of season and totall abstinence at sometimes required and that both for preventing infirmities and sometimes a religious abstinence is to be observed as hath been said already As for religious abstinence from certaine kinds of meats not I but the holy oracle it selfe which cannot erre doth plainely evince to be a doctrine of devils And here by the way if there were no other marke it may easily appeare that the Church of Rome is an apostaticall and hereticall church and jumpeth just with the Hereticks of antient times whom the Fathers of the Church have confuted They would beare the world in hand they abstaine from flesh in Lent and some other daies A great matter indeed when they are fed with the best fish they can come by dressed with the most curious sauces and afterwards well washt downe with the best wine or other strong drinke Besides the variety of banqueting stuffe march-panes and varieties of other junkets all which notwithstanding this must needs be accounted a strict abstinence and fast especially if these things come but in the name of a drinking Now would I willingly aske one of their wisest prophets whether a peice of powdered beefe or other meat such as wee ordinarily use or a dish or two of dainty fish well dressed it may be with wine sauce and divers good spices and afterwards made to swimme in the belly with good wine be more inciting to lust It is well knowne that wine yeeldeth a more speedy nourishment and is farre sooner distributed through the body a little quantity therof more cheereth and cherisheth the drooping spirits and with lesse oppression and withal inciteth more to lust than a great quantity of flesh which must lye a long time heavy in an ordinary stomacke before it bee concocted and thorow the body distributed and then by assimilation and agglutination converted into aliment And this is the judgement of all our both antient and later learned Physitians yea doth not even ordinary experience instruct us in this truth And yet here is no small quarrell because we will not assent to their Pharisaicall superstition and will not in every thing jumpe with them in their erroneous judgement And I pray you is not this a meere mockage that a little before Lent especially on Shrovetuesday by the French called Mardy-gras or fat tuesday and by some here in former times gut-tide they let the reines loose to all manner of lasciviousnesse and all excesse of riot pampering their bellies with the best cheere the most exquisite wines and strong drink is to be had assuming to themselves liberty of doing what they list addicting themselves to dancing dicing drabbing and all manner of other insolencies insomuch that one would thinke all the divells in hell and all these foule fiends were then set at full libertie in this equalling if not exceeding the heathenish Bacchanalia And which is yet more their Romish god the Pope must that day depart the citie of Rome and then all manner of insolencies and outrages greater than which if as great were scarce ever by any heathens committed of all sorts without any controll there committed And in this is verified the saying of that Florentine Secretary to bee true that if the court of the Pope with his Cardinalls were translated from Rome and placed among the Switzers a people in those times most ingenuous and freest from all manner of exoticke vices they would in a short space become the most wicked factious people in the whole world in so great credit was then this court of Rome even in the esteeme of those who made profession of the same religion But these and a thousand more of their pranks are better knowne to the Christian world than I can relate them My purpose is onely here to let the world know how senslesse and absurd is this superstitious kind of abstinence from flesh onely whereof like proud Pharisees they make so great an ostentation and would put out the eyes of the world that they should see nothing in the cleere Sun-shine And yet what is all this but a renuing of the antient heresies lately mentioned and renuing heathenish superstition Nay it doth plainely and evidently appeare
that the antient hereticks and heathens did farre surpasse in this point many of our Romanists If they would as they pretend subdue the lust of the flesh why doe they not then abstaine from wine in that point farre surpassing any flesh as hath been proved And why doe not their Priests and clergie-men abstaine from wine and forbid it the people at least in Lent and on fasting daies I have already instanced in the like abstinence both in heathen and heretickes If Sir Iean and his generation will reply that they must serve at the altar and therefore must both drinke for themselvs and the people who by their Canons are debarred from the cup I cannot deny but as in many other things so herein likewise their clergy have been too hard for the laity yet good Sir Iean if you have purchased such a privilege above the people mee thinkes you might the better abstaine from wine at other times especially those of your strictest abstinence and might likewise abstaine from many flatuous meats as many sorts of bulbous roots which all our Physitians doe hold to be irritamenta incitamenta libâ—dinis The Abissine Priests and religious persons so strictly observe their Lent fast that it is reported of them that they eat nothing but roots and drinke water during that time yea and stand often up to the chinne in cold water and the Laity during that time onely eate bread and drinke water If our supercilious Pharisaicall Romanists would imitate this rigid austerity the Clergy I meane it would coole their courages yet withall purchase them a great deale of more praise and reputation than many of them have hitherto attained unto I am not ignorant that some of the simpler sort of their religious orders are more rigid and austere in their manner of living than many others but this I confidently avouch that for the most part their Clergy especially the greater sort are as licentious and luxurious as any sort of people this day living under the face of heaven upon which point I will not here digresse Now to conclude this point of abstinence we are so farre from rejecting and far lesse from finding fault with it that we wish it in farre greater request than hitherto it hath been I meane not onely that ordinary and customary abstinence or sobrietie in meat and drinke and other delights but even that other sort of fast also which we have wished might bee more in practice But I hate and abhorre these counterfit and hypocriticall heathenish and hereticall-like fasts of our Pharisaicall Romanists with their many idle repetitions of their many mumpsimus upon their beads making a shew of prayer where there is nothing but a little lip-labour without any true religion or any true devotion indeed But having said more than I doubt I shall be thanked for I leave this point and proceed CHAP. V. Of Aliment or Diet of the Diseased in generall whether a thinne and spare Diet or a full or liberall be better FRom the Elements wee are now comming to the aliments of nourishment and food fit for the sicke Now as by the moderate and timely use of aliments the diseased reapeth no small benefit so againe by the immoderate and unseasonable use of the same the diseased is much indammaged and indangered And for this cause no small care ought to be had of the Diet of the Diseased We made mention of three sorts of Diet of the which we have Galen for our warrant a thinne or slender a full and liberall and a meane or middle diet betwixt both Now these two extremes have a great latitude and extension In the first place a thin and spare diet is either simply thinne and sparing more sparing and most sparing of all So againe the like by way of opposition is to be understood of a full and liberall diet Now an absolute thinne and spare diet called victus tenuissimus is nothing else but an absolute abstinence from all manner of food whatsoever or at most permitting onely the use of a drinke made of water and hony called by the antient Greekes melicratum And this manner of abstinence did the antients use in most acute diseases which were terminated on the fourth day And when they did a little exceed this first so thinne and slender diet or abstinence they did then allow the sicke some barly-water ptisan or creame of ptisan at most This was usuall among the Greekes which strict and rigid kind of diet the Arabians were not able to undergoe And it may bee the Greekes either because they were thicker skinned or else surprized with sharper sickenesses did more easily endure this kind of diet It may be also the Arabians fared better than the Greekes and were not therefore able to endure this kinde of diet And in this wee adhere more to the Arabians than to the Greekes And therefore if Physitians should now imitate the Hippocraticall course of dieting they should be utterly shent Galen was not so rigid and strict in his diet for he often suffereth the sicke to use some sustenance in acute diseases and often findeth fault with certaine Physitians called diatritarij who pined their patients with abstinence in the beginning of their disease made them fast untill the fourth day and after againe exhibited something on the sixt and againe on the eight and so consequently after the first foure dayes they fed them but every other day And this manner of cure is by Celsus Aurelius called a circular cure To this manner of cure was quite contrary that manner of diet which used that antient Physitian Petronius who abbridged his patients of no kind of diet but filled them with wine and flesh And this is that we call a full or liberall diet according to the extensions and latitude therof To this manner of diet ours approcheth nearest and it is the coÌ„mon opinion of our people of our vulgar women especially that unlesse the sicke be crammed with all manner of food he is quite starved And this commeth often to passe by importunitie of those about them and sometimes by meanes of the Physitian saith Galen who to give satisfaction to the sicke and assistants oftentimes giveth way to such a diet Followeth now in the next place a question to be discussed whether a thinne or slender or a full and liberall diet be the better Now as almost all diseases have their originall and beginning from gluttony and abundance of humors so would it seeme the cure thereof required principally abstinence and hunger For by this meanes the body is dried up and superfluous humors exhausted And it is reported that the Emperour Aurelian in his sickenesse used no other Physicke Hippocrates seemeth in some places to allow of a full diet in all diseases and againe in other places to stand for a thinne and slender diet finding fault with the Guidian Physitians who in the beginning of the disease permitted the
use of a more liberall diet Galen often preferreth a slender diet before a full and liberall and that by reason a full and plentifull diet breedeth innumerable dangers in the body which a thinne and slender diet doth not the which if to the body troublesome may easily by addition be amended This question cannot absolutely be determined by reason both are alike and equally necessary all circumstances well seriously considered but especially having a due regard to the strength of the patient together with the nature of the disease We must conjecture saith Hippocrates whether the sicke be like to hold out with such a diet or no or whether the disease will not first give over before there need any alteration in the diet But with us wee need never be afraid that there be any fault committed in the defect wee are most commonly inclined to be faultie rather in the excesse And howsoever I confesse indeed our bodies are not able to beare that antient strict and rigid Grecian thinne and spare diet yet I wish there were a more moderate course taken for moderating the diet of our diseased But riot and excesse haue so ceized upon us in our health that it is a hard matter to regulate our desires according to reason when wee are diseased Now wee proceede to other circumstances according to this subject CHAP. VI. Certaine Rules and Lawes from whence the Diet of the diseased is desumed AS in the structure and building of houses we must lay a good foundation before ever we beginne to build so no lesse carefull ought wee to be this case where the Diet of the diseased is to be handled to lay a good and firme foundation whereon our building may stand the firmer wee are therefore in the first place to take notice of certaine rules or lawes call them as you list which in the ordering of the diet of the diseased are carefully to be considered and they are all reduced to these two principall heads being all desumed or fetcht from the party diseased or from the disease In the party diseased or the sick himselfe we are to consider the strength the temperature the disposition or quality of the body the age custome particular or individuall disposition or propertie of each person expressed by this word idiosyncrasia the time of the yeere and the region where one liveth Now the first and principall rule law or judication is taken from the strength of the sicke person which by a due and convenient diet answerable to requisite necessity must be sustained to the end the diseased may the better be inabled to overcome the contumacy of the disease for here nature must play the physitian in curing of the disease both food and physicke receiving their power and efficacie from our naturall heat and from divine benediction principally which we ever would have to be understood This one thing is alwaies saith Celsus to be observed that the Physitian present diligently observe the strength of his patient and so long as it holdeth out to cure him by abstinence but if feeblenesse be feared let food then supply what is wanting In the next place the temperature of the body is to be considered for this wee may easily observe that cholerick complexions are not long able to indure long abstinence although in perfect health and if they be at any time ceized with any diseases proceeding from choler they are by a thinne and slender diet much offended In the third place wee are carefully to consider of the frame and structure of the body called Habitus for such as are of a thinne and slender constitution of body are more by a thinne and slender diet offended than others of a thicker Wee are not also to neglect the age for old people are best able to indure abstinence and next unto them those of a consisting or middle age but children and little infants are with fasting most offended By old age I here vnderstand greene old age as it is called cruda viridisque senectus and not decrepit old age which by reason of the languishing and decaying of the innate naturall heate as the oile of a lampe unlesse it be frequently by good and comfortable food and good drinke refreshed will quickly faint under the burden And this must be done frequently and often not confertim or abundantly at once lest this small fire be by too much fewell suddenly suffocated and oppressed And since custome often carrieth so great a stroke that wee see even poisons by long continued custome converted into food it is not slightly in ordering the diet of the diseased to be past over And experience it selfe doth even teach us that things wherewith we were formerly accustomed doe lesse offend us The prerogative of custome Galen well describeth by the example of Arius the Peripateticke who being much molested with a great weaknesse of stomacke that he durst neither indure the cold aire nor once so much as taste a drop of cold water falling into a fever and forced to drinke cold water died suddenly And therefore if any were in their health accustomed to eat twice or thrice aday not onely are we to yeeld to this custome in their sicknesse but even to permit unto them their accustomed houres unlesse some sudden accident as the fit in a fever or the like doe hinder us Now besides the premises every one almost hath some certaine peculiar property or condition called idiosyncrasia whereunto belongeth often some peculiarity in appetite and other things and to the which sometimes wee are forced to give way and wee finde often by common experience that when the stomacke is whetted on and eagerly longeth after some particular food howsoeuer it may be in it selfe not so fit having injoyed it greedily imbraceth and with great facility concocteth the same and this Hippocrates in his aphorismes did very well expresse But herein I would not that any one should at randome let loose the reines of his appetite but carefully and with good counsell regulate and moderate his desires We are in the next place to consider the time of the yeere howsoever many may perhaps thinke it to small purpose But as in health this is to be observed there must then be like correspondency in the time of sicknesse And certaine it is that in Winter the internall heat of the stomacke and inward parts is farre intenser and greater than in Sommer and the concoction easilier performed and therefore no question is to be made but that the quantity of aliment must needs be answerable and in greater abundance than in Sommer when as by the heat of the ambient aire the internall is extracted the pores of the body rarefied and dilated and sweat with fuliginous excrements more copiously expelled And therefore a lesser quantity of food of a laudable quality and easie of digestion as also a more liberall allowance of drinke is then to be
little cold drinke sometimes with a little faire water and a few drops of wine vineger or some such other liquor and sometimes some preserved or conserved barberries raspes ribes some lemmon sliced and sugred or the like acid things and sometimes a stewed acid prune keeping the stone in his mouth as the manner is or any other like art may be used to deceive this counterfeit thirst But when the house is now all on a fire we must needs have some liquour to quench this heat and extinguish the fire even so when this house of mans body is all on a fire wee must needs have some moisture to quench the same Now what this must be is our purpose here to discusse The most antient drinke and most common to all living creatures is water of the which as in generall usefull to all and in particular as serving for drinke in healthfull persons hath beene already spoken Now we are to speake of it as it serveth for the use of the sicke and whether it bee usefull for all or not The use of water we read to have been very frequent among the antients and especially the Guidian and Rhodian Physitians used it much and that chiefly in acute diseases whom therefore Hippocrates reproveth for not distinguishing the causes of diseases which may often alter our purpose of exhibiting water to drinke in acute diseases especially where there is a burning Fever proceeding of choler And this he there illustrateth by the example of the inflammation of the lungs where he affirmeth that neither staieth it the cough nor maketh spit up eafilier but in a cholericke constitution is altogether converted into choler and besides is hurtfull to the nether parts about the stomacke overthrowing the whole body especially if dranke fasting If there bee any inflammation of the liver or spleene it increaseth the same swimming and floting in the stomacke descending slowly being hard and not easy to bee concocted for the which cause also it looseneth not the belly provoketh not urine nor futhereth any excretion And Galen himselfe also confirmeth this same opinion adding that when as Hippocrates perceived the harmes and mischiefes proceeding from the drinking of water abstained from the use of it in all acute diseases and betooke himselfe to drinks made of hony and water of honie and vineger and sometimes to wine And with them yet agreeth a late Writer who out of divers places of both these Authors compared and parallelled together mainteineth that in acute diseases water is altogether hurtfull And of the same opinion is likewise another learned Physitian yet with this qualification that if a small quantity of water be added to a great quantity of choler it is quickly converted into choler but a great quantity of water drunke tempereth and allaieth the heat of the choler and so overcommeth it whereas a small quantity increaseth this humor being turned into the same Another antient Physitian notwithstanding controlleth this opinion of Hippocrates and affirmeth the quite contrary But to compose this controversie our Authors meaning is to be understood of water actually cold which indeed in pectorall diseases and for the breast it selfe is very hurtfull and hindereth expectoration but being once boiled it groweth thinner and more subtile and then onely fit in pectorall diseases to further expectoration And it cannot be denied that cold water is very profitable and usefull in acute diseases as may even by divers other places both of Hippocrates and Galen appeare and besides most of our antient and moderne writers with one unaminous consent approve of the same But in the use thereof wee must diligently consider both the nature of the disease and constitution of the Diseased And it is the saying of the same Hippocrates whose bellies are hard and apt to bee inflamed they are to drinke the lightest and purest water but whose bellies are soft moist and phlegmaticke such are to use hard thicke and somewhat saltish waters subsalsis is his word Now water is not in all diseases to be used after one and the same manner In burning Fevers water is to be drunke cold in pectorall diseases a little warmish Now that it was familiar in antient times to give cold water to drink in hot acute diseases I shall make it appeare Galen himselfe findeth fault with Erasistratus and his followers for denying cold water in burning Fevers And againe for the same cause reproveth Thessalus and braggeth that hee hath often cured distempered hot stomackes with drinking cold water yea even sometimes cooled with snow it selfe And againe in another place hee cureth that sort of Fever called Ephemere or Diaria that is of one day by this same meanes And in the same booke by this onely meanes hee preventeth this same disease And in another place giveth us yet warning that this is a remedy fit for any sort of Fever providing it be drunke in great abundance A late German Physitian also braggeth how many fevers hee hath by this meanes cured and I know it will seeme no strange thing to heare a Portugall relate what cures he hath by this meanes performed as in his centuries is at length to be seene Neither is it my purpose to spend time and increase the bulke of this booke by relating of such stories And it is not only commended in all ordinary acute diseases but even in maligne and pestilent Fevers also as witnesseth Celsus and is the opinion of the Arabian Physitians who all seeme to have borrowed it of Hippocrates who relateth the story of one sicke of a pestilent Fever who having drunke great store of cold water and cast it up againe recovered presently his health And besides the same Celsus in fluxes of the belly and in all defluxions proceeding of choler commendeth this as a soveraine remedy The point then being reasonably well cleared it resteth to be considered how it is to be exhibited Hippocrates in that hot countrie would have the drinke for the diseased to be exposed to the night aire that so it might receive the morning dew which might increase the coldnesse thereof but because this procureth to it some acrimony some would have other meanes tried as salt-peter snow c. Concerning the which wee have sufficiently spoken heretofore But I would not have any such extraordinary actuall frigidity by any such meanes in this case procured it being so prejudicial to heath howsoever peradventure at the first not so sensibly perceived Now in the exhibition of water to the sicke two things are to be considered the fit and convenient time when and the quantity thereof The time is either generall to wit the course of the disease or particular the exacerbation or paroxysme which we call the fit Concerning the generall time all are not of one mind for Galen and our Greeke Writers would have us wait for signes of concoction in the
to speake is not now my purpose Onely this one thing I adde that whereas some object that waters distilled in stills made of metall either are not so good by reason of some relicks of the mettall communicated unto them or else have some smoakie or firie impression left behind in these waters I answere the first feare is frivolous and builded on a false foundation and the other may by care and diligence be much prevented But if any be so curious and fearefull they may have their waters distilled per balneum Mariae in glasse stills if they will be at cost But it is the custome of many people that they would fare well and pay little for it Now before I finish this point I must give warning to such as attend the sicke that they doe not unseasonbly too much obtrude upon the sicke these their warme drinks or suppings wherein women doe very much exceed and many times quite debilitate and overthrow their weak stomacks And this shall for this particular now suffice as occasion shall offer it selfe I shall now and then touch upon some particular abuses and failings in this kind and now I proceed to some other drinks and first concerning wine and whether the sicke may be suffered to drinke any CHAP. XIIIJ Of wine and whether it may safly be administred to sicke Of artificiall wines of aqua vitae usquebath and other strong waters OF wine we have already spokeÌ„ at great length and of all the severall sorts thereof the right use and abuse resteth now to say something thereof as it hath relation to the sick Of the excellent vertues of this king of liquors there is no doubt to be made but yet the event is often doubtfull whether it may prove a profitable medicine or a deadly poison And therefore Pliny relateth that a famous wiseman called Androcides wrote good counsell to Alexander the Great as an antidote against his intemperance when thou art to drinke wine O King remember that thou drinkest the blood of the earth For as hemlocke is to man a poison even so is wine To which precepts if he had hearkened he had not in his drunken fits imbrued his hands in his deerest friends blood So that of it may truely bee said there is nothing more conduceth to the strength of the body not yet more dangerous delight than this if not regulated according to reason No mervaile then if there ought to bee great caution and circumspection in exhibiting this to sicke folkes and indeed there hath beene some alteration among Physitians whether wine might safely bee exhibited to sicke people For siâ—â—e diseases are cured by contraries and wine in the estimation of all Physitians is reputed hot it will follow that to drinke wine especially in hot diseases for of others there is no controversie is to increase the disease Plutarch writes that Alexander the great falling into a Fever and drinking wine liberally by that meanes died howbeit we are not ignorant others hold an other opinion concerning his death yet it cannot be denied but wine might hasten his end It may be then admired and wondered at why Hippocrates in Fevers and hot diseases permitteth the use thereof Neither yet did Galen in like cases deny his patients the use of wine If the like care and caution they used in the exhibiting of it were observed no doubt it might be without feare yeelded unto The wine they used was thinne weake white wine called by him vinum aquosum or watery wine much degenerating from the nature of strong hot wine and there he findeth fault with the Guidian Physitians who were altogether ignorant of the right use of wine affirming also that we may safely even in a Pleuresie or inflammation of the lungs exhibite such wines providing still there bee neither great headach nor deliration or perturbation of mind as likewise that the spitting up of tough phlegme bee not hindered nor urine suppressed c. And a little after thou must know that it will be lesse hurtfull to the bladder and upward parts if it be thinne and waterish as he termeth it but better for the guts if it be stronger It appeareth then plainely that even in the opinion of Hippocrates such small wines might be used of the sick And therefore these wines which in comparison of others may bee called cold of the which both Hippocrates and Galen are to be understood are often without danger administred to sicke persons But in the use thereof wee are diligently to consider besides the quality whereof we have already spoken the quantity and opportune time of offering the same The quantity cannot well be determined yet must it be by moderation regulated and severall circumstances not neglected The fit and opportune time is by the same authors assigned when signes of concoction appeare or in the declining of the Fever As likewise in a pleuresie or inflammation of the lungs the matter being now concocted and the inflammation abated and by this meanes expectoration is furthered not hindered Something notwithstanding is to be yeelded to custome and old age If any from their youth bee brought up with wine they will hardly admit of any other drinke neither will the stomacke commonly admit of any other liquor But heare what Pliny saith concerning this same subject As concerning Fevers saith he it is certaine we ought never to give wine in that disease but to such as bee of good yeeres and that in the declining of the disease onely And in acute diseases to none but such as have manifest remissions especially in the night time the halfe of the danger being in the night time that is hope of sleepe to such as shall then drinke It must therefore be given onely with meate neither after sleepe nor yet after any other drinke that is onely taken when the diseased is dry and almost in the case of greatest extremity all hope almost now failing us In such places then where such smal wines grow as in the I le of France about Paris and in the countrey of Xantonge especially about Rochell they may freely give the diseased such smal wines without any danger at al. And of such a thinne acid and somwhat tartish wine composed of most white grapes and a few red I my selfe made a triall in a double tertian during my abode in France This they cal couleur dupesche or peach coloured wine from the colour of the peach flowre or bloome and this wine mingled with water did both quench thirst without any apparent heat and provoked both sweat and urin But let us now draw nearer home and see whether wine may be allowed our sicke It is not unknown that our cold moist climat bringeth not this noble liquor of the grape to any maturity or perfect ripenesse so that whatsoever wine we use we are beholden to our neighbour countries for it besides that wine not being our naturall
drinke in time of health is neither in time of sickenesse of us to be used especially in hot acute diseases And our wines are commonly so strong that it is not fit to administer them to sicke folkes howbeit if any I thinke our Rhenish were the safest and fittest if it were free from brimstone or such other trash wherewith our vintner wine-brewers doe oftentimes marre our best wines But God of his singular goodnesse hath furnished us with a wine befitting our owne countrie and climat which being also in ordinary use in time of health may freely and without any danger be allowed the Diseased in time of sicknesse But because in imitation of wine this our northern wine for so I may cal it wee are likewise furnished with divers sorts differing in strength one from another we may according to the nature of the disease and constitution of the diseased allow the sicke such as shall be thought most fitting But in acute diseases the smaller the beere be it is so much the better provided it be neither too new too stale nor taste too much of the hop which will make it more heady and hotter Let people therefore beware of their march beere and strong ale in all such infirmities which may as much offend their bodies as strong wines doe others in hot countries But in any case let this beere be very cleere and not thicke and muddy Most of our ordinary people in the country especially are perswaded that wine and strong drinke will recover all diseases whatsoever bee they never so hot and acute And a bottle of good wine is commonly the first physicke they send for to the next market towne But many times before their recovery they are forced to their cost to recant their former erroneous opinion and often cry a too late peccavi Now besides naturall wines made of the juice of the grape onely there bee also severall sorts of artificiall wines made for divers uses some made with purging ingredients to purge the body and so for divers dayes to be drunke according as the Physitian in discretion shall thinke fit and the strength of the patient and nature of the disease shall suffer Some againe are appropriated for other uses as for strengthening of the stomacke opening of obstructions and innumerable others But because these artificiall wines are commonly to best purpose made with new wines when they are new prest out of the grape therefore wee are deprived of the benefit of making such artificiall wines In stead of them wee use to boile in our new wine our wort I meane such ingredients as we thinke fitting for that we intend either purging simples or others as sage wormewood c. And thus wee make severall sorts of diet drinkes and ales for severall ends and purposes But amongst many others there is a drink made with scurvy-grasse much used by our Ladies and Gentlewomen in the spring of the yeere for clearing of their blood Many I am sure make use of this drinke without any use or need at all but only out of a wanton custome and a certaine preconceived opinion of making them looke faire Out of wine is also extracted a noble liquor or spirit called for the noble effects as being esteemed the true balsame of a mans life Aquavitae or water of life This liquour by many hath been much magnified and no small commendations ascribed unto it for the preserving and mainteining the life of man for many yeeres Among many there is an Italian Writer who doth exceedingly extoll and set forth the praises thereof and relateth many histories of such as have by meanes thereof prolonged their lives for many yeeres As one Physitian called Antonius Sapelius who after hee had atteined to 80 yeeres of age by the use of this liquor lived yet 22 more The like hee relateth of another famous Physitian called Iacobus Parmensis who attributed his long life of 90 yeeres to the use of this noble liquor But what me thinks I heare some secret complaints of aurum potabile as though it were somewhat thereby disparaged by meanes whereof notwithstanding they say men may live multitude of yeeres But I heare nothing but words their smoakie promises not being seconded by answerable events as I have already proved But I wish people to be wise and cautelous in the use of this or any other such hot fiery liquor Those of whom this late alleaged Author made mention were Physitians and of a good age and no strangers to the state of their own bodies and well able to judge what might best make for the preservation of their own healths and so might find that benefit therby which another might long seek and at length perhaps for his labour find a late repentance If it be usefull for any it is especially for old and cold moist constitutions and so no question moderatly used now and then it may produce a marvellous good effect in spinning out of divers yeeres the thred of mans life And therefore let youth and hot and dry constitutions be very wary in the use of this or any other such hot waters There is also a spirit extracted out of our Northern wine beere or ale I meane the which although inferiour to the former yet may it well in time of neede with good successe be used That which is most commonly sold under this name of Aquavitae and in most frequent use is nothing else but a liquour distilled out of the dregges and washings of ale and beere barrells and might rather from the evill it breedeth in the body be called Aquamortis The right spirit of wine if it be as it ought will suffer drops of oile to sincke to the bottome and will dissolve Campher besides being once set a fire it is quickly all wasted away And such a liquor would be used onely in extremity in swounding and the like and then but a very small quantity at a time I deny not but it may be of good use also which commeth somewhat short of this absolute perfection howsoever I advise thee as thou lovest thy life and health know well what water thou medlest with and especially shunne such stuffe as I have already disclaimed Somewhat milder than this Aquavitae is that strong water wee commonly call Vsquebach so much in use among the Irish having for this same purpose some Liquirice and raisins of the Sunne and withall some Cloves Mace and Ginger This is likewise cautelously to be used and especially of cold phlegmaticke constitutions and in a cold and moist constitution of the aire But still beware of excesse even in those whom it best befitteth There are yet an infinit other varieties of strong waters both simple and compounded destilled both with wine ale and beere and take the denomination from that simple or simples wherewith they are distilled as Wormwood-water Balme-water Cinnamon-water and the like and they
reteine the vertue of the simples whereof they are distilled whereof we have at large already discoursed Some of these waters againe are compounded of many severall simples and take the denomination either from that which is most predominant as the Theriacal-water or else from the sublime and extraordinary effects as aqua coelestis aqua mirabilis c. and sometimes from the Author also as Doctor Stevens his water But whosoever is too busie or bold with any of these hot waters in ordinary use either for furthering concoction or otherwise shall at length finde them produce the like effect as lime laid to the roots of trees which howsoever it hasten the fruit for the present yet killeth it the trees in a short time And this I have in some of my very good friends and patients often found too true with whom I wish sound reason might have more prevailed than their owne disorderly appetites I have observed in some who had these hot liquors in too frequent use as they pretended to warme their stomacks that at length they came to this pitch that whether they drunke any of these sublimate waters or the best sacke or other wine whatsoever they found no more heat in it than of a cup of cold water powred downe their throats But this was not all the harme from thence ensuing but was after accompanied with an extraordinary great distempered heat both in the liver and kidnies and in some an irrecoverable scirrbus in the liver a disposition to a dropsie and in conclusion an untimely death I could easily at great length dilate and discourse largely upon this one point but that I hasten to the other matters which yet remaine to handle CHAP. XV. Of divers drinkes made of hony mulsum mulsa or hydromel and oxymel with the various waies of composition and their excellent vertues ALthough wee have already handled hony with the vertues thereof and divers other things concerning this subject yet now wee are to speake of it againe at more length at least of some drinkes made thereof of no small use in the Diet of the Diseased And the praise of it may from hence appeare in that the Land of Canaan was commended and that by the Authour of truth himselfe to be a Land flowing with milke and hony Of this many excellent drinkes were made by the antients which with us at this day are not in so great request Howbeit even at this day some nations where hony is plentifull make thereof some drinkes very usefull both in sicknesse and in health as namely the Polonians Lituanians or country of Lettow and other territories subject to the Polonian Crowne where good wine is scant and good hony plentifull and therefore in stead of wine use this drinke And wee have already made mention of Metheglin made in Wales Now of hony were made three sorts of drinkes differing one from another The first of those was called Mulsum or a drinke made of hony and wine another Mulsa or Hydromel a drinke made of water and hony the third of hony and vineger water sometimes being mingled therewith and by them called Oxymel at this day with us in no small request in pectorall diseases especially The first of these then is that which the antients called Mulsum and so celebrated by that Roman Pollio as wee have already mentioned And that this was a very antient drinke may by a late learned Writer appeare who proveth the same against Plutarch who held it in his time to be but a new invention His opinion hee proveth both by the authority of Homer and Hippocrates who call this drinke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of this drinke Pliny maketh one Aristeus a Thracian the author and the which drinke he brought into that credit and reputation that in these daies there was no sort of drinke in greater request howsoever now in our daies neglected It was made of tart or sharpe wine and hony taking its name a mulcendo from mitigating and qualifying the sharpnesse and tartnesse of the wine Pliny would have it made of old wine as being easiliest incorporated with the hony That this is that Oenomeli mentioned by Dioscorides may by comparing that place of Pliny with his easily appeare Plutarch writeth that honie spoileth and corrupteth the wine and may therefore be questioned whether it be wholesome or no I answer that being new made it is windy but being well boiled and kept a good while it becommeth a most wholesome drinke And many saith the same Pliny have by the continuall use of this drinke atteined to old age as hath been already in Pollio instanced This drinke is in some places of Hippocrates prescribed in pectorall infirmities The likest to this drinke is that famous Metheglin so much used in Wales In some sea-cities of Germanie they make this Mulsum and mingle therewith many aromaticall simples There was another drinke made of the same hony and water onely and in no small request among the antients called therefore Hydromel Of this drinke there were divers manners of composition Dioscorides maketh it of two parts of old river water and one part of hony boiled together and set a long time in the Sunne Pliny composeth it of hony and raine-water long kept boiling the water with the third part of hony untill the third part of it were wasted away There was also another drinke made of hony in request among the antient Greekes called Apomeli and was made of the hony-combes washed and boiled in faire water Galen maketh yet mention of another manner of composing this drinke taking of vineger one part of hony two parts of faire water foure parts and so boiled them where no mention is made of the combes The Arabian Physitians made their Mulsa or Hydromel after this fashion They tooke one pound of very good yellow hony and not too old which they boiled with eight times as much spring-water in an earthen or stone vessell skimming them well and boiling altogether at a great fire and then straining it thorow a cleane linnen cloth In Hippocrates wee read of two sorts of this Mulsa or Melicratum one ravv another boiled The former was made of three parts of spring-water or old raine-water and one of very good hony well mingled together and set a long time in the Sunne The second sort which was boiled was composed of the same quantity but presently boiled to the wasting away of the third part Besides he maketh there two sorts of this drinke according to the predominancy of the one or the other of these two for when the quantity of water exceeded that of hony it was called Melicratum aquosum but when there was greater store of hony than water then it was call Sincerum Melicratum or pure and plaine hony-water In our daies some make this drinke of good pure hony one part and six times as much good spring
of vitriol It correcteth hot distempers quencheth thirst and is good against all inveterate obstructions and therefore usefull in all inveterate Quartane Fevers or others and in all sorts of Iaundise in the Dropsie and to open the splene provoketh also urine and the menstruous fluxe and helpeth melancholy Hypochondriacke These waters are exceeding dry in operation and therefore exceeding good against all diseases proceeding of moisture But yet it is to be observed that they fume up into the head and therefore not so fit for such as are obnoxious to the Epilepsie Apoplexie Vertigo or giddinesse of the head Now to come to our owne Iland besides our ordinary baths in Sommerset shire so famous and so much frequented whereof I have promised silence therere are yet many more in this our Iland of no small vertue and efficacie against many infirmities of the body of man And first I cannot but mention that water of S. Vincents rocke neere that famous and antient City of Bristoll which commeth now in request against the stone and this I need but only mention the which is to me altogether unknowne howbeit the former Author hath likewise past his censure concerning this Spring and the right use thereof and therefore unto his discourse I referre the reader howsoever it seemeth by his relation that it participateth chiefly of the nature of Sulphure and Nitre and is taken now orderly being potable and used for all manner of internall heats and inflammations There is a Well in Yorkeshire thought to participate somewhat of the nature of the Well of Spa taking its vertue and operation from yron and therefore is good against obstructions of the liver splene and mesaraicke veines and to cleanse and corroborate the urinary passages c. whereon I will not now dwell there being a little tractat of late yeeres published concerning the vertues and use of this water There is within 7 miles of this towne of Northampton and hard by the market towne of Wellenborogh a Well much of the same nature and efficacy participating of the nature of yron as by proofes may easily appeare and all the ground through which it runneth coloureth red This water although it can scarce be discerned from others in taste colour yet is it powerfull in opening obstructions of the liver splene and mesaraick veins to cleanse the the kidnies bladder and urinary passages and so good against the stone c. It was but within these few yeers brought in request by that famous Physitian Sr Theoder Mayrne Dr in physicke and Phsitian to the King Queenes Majesties and first renowned by some good successe the right honourable Lord of Pembrok then Lord Chamberlaine found thereby and since by our gracious Queens Majesty now living and divers others approved to be of good use and efficacy But when I shal be my selfe better satisfied certified concerning this businesse I shall be ready if God prolong my life to give more particular satisfaction to the publike But in the use of this and other such minerall waters especially such as are deprived of any acidity in the taste there is an especiall regard to be had to the strength of the stomack and accordingly to the strength of it to accommodat the quantity of water and alwaies to have a diligent care to correct the acidities of the same and either before or together with the use of this water to be carefull in the corroboration of the stomack I heard a story of a worthy Lady who by advice of some Physitians for some infirmities did drink for certaine days of Tunbridge water in Kent after the use whereof by means of an irrecoverable debility her stomacke had by the use of this water contracted it cost her at last no lesse than her life as for the nature and vertues of this water because I am not acquainted with it I will not meddle Some other waters in this Kingdome have for a while beene in great credit and estimation for many infirmities and their fame againe as quickly falne to the ground Some few yeeres agoe there was in great esteem and credit a Well in Mauborn hils in Worcestershire which the vulgar ut est natura hominis novitatis avida a new broome sweepes cleane for a while esteemed as some noble Panacaea or aurum potabile supposed good against all infirmities but in short space there was againe altum silentium and proved according to the proverbe but a nine daies wonder I doe not for this condemne this water the nature and vertues whereof are to me unknowne but I advise people to be wise and to be circumspect and with good and mature deliberation to admit of these minerall waters and then should we not have often times such sudden flashes of the fame of some waters which as quickly againe vanish into smoake and their credit is as soone crackt There hath beene likewise no small account made of New name Wells in Warwick-shire which of late yeeres have come in request for the stone and infirmities of the urinary passages c. The which as many others I beleeve doe most participate of this same yron whereof mention hath beene made already and therefore are good to be used against the same infirmities I have heard likewise by relation of a famous Well neer Aberdene in the North parts of Scotland called by the name of Spa and as they say effectuall against the same infirmities which the Well of Spa is said to cure Of this water a learned Physitian of that same Kingdome composed a learned tractat as I am credibly informed the which as yet I never saw There is within two miles of the Citie of Edenburgh in the same Kingdome a bituminous Well or Spring called the oily Well yeelding great store of this bituminous stuffe being very good against all manner of itches scabs and many other outward defaedations of the skinne c. This well was in time of Popery called Saint Catherines Well and so this Saint carried away the credit of any cure that was thereby performed as the like use they made of minerall waters not onely here but in many other places as is the use even at this day I make no question but in that same countrie especially in the most mountainous parts thereof where there is such store of yron and all manner of other ore there might be found as efficacious waters against any infirmities as any in remote regions The like may be said of divers places of this Kingdome especially in Wales Cornewall Devonshire and many places of the North countrie as in Yorkeshire and other shires lying further to the North. But concerning minerall waters and all manner of baths as well naturall as artificiall together with their uses for the present this shall suffice CHAP. XX. Of the excretion by urine the retention of urine together with the nature of diureticke remedies the
the market-place no man hiring of them into his Vineyard when as others undertake and ingrosse farre more worke than either they are able or is fit they should deale with But if the dole be a dealing I see no reason why the Physitian may not claime a share in it as well as they doe in others The Talion Law will allow it and I make no question but they may finde some of them as fit to preach as they to practise As for that objection taken from the affinitie of the soule and body I thinke it not of that worth as to be objected by any scholler and yet I have heard that some have pleaded this Now if it may take place it will make as much for the Physitians preaching as for their practising And besides if this argument may take place then by reason of this affinitie of the members of the bodie one with another the Tailor shall become a Shoo-maker and againe the Shoo-maker a Tailor and the Haberdasher because he dealeth with the head the most eminent part and seat of the sense and reason it selfe will perhaps plead a priviledge in all three and more also I have somewhat the more at large insisted upon this point not only for that this notorious abuse hath so long continued but likewise to give warning for the time to come that Ministers keepe themselves within the precincts of their owne calling To this the weight of their owne calling if there were nothing else might be a sufficient motive besides that I have proved in the beginning of this discourse that the Physitians pains and trouble are greater than of any calling yea even of the painfull and laborious Divine himselfe It is true the Divine hath his evasion for many of them have this tricke although scarce honest that they are ready to gleane what gaines they can gets by sitting still in their cells casting waters as they call it prescribing medicines to the absent fall out as it wil and when the patient hath most need of their presence Mr Parson cannot come then and by this means many times Mr Parson hath his gaines come in easily declining the greatest pains and if the patient rely wholly upon him he shal either be denied that attendance is due in time of danger or else cast upon another physitian who must now take the worst when Master Parson hath had the best Some againe will sometimes and that often attend as another Physitian on the necessitie of the sicke and here is then another inconvenient that many times when Master Parson or Vicar should be in his pulpit his patient calls for his presence Let the judicious and unpartiall reader then judge of the equitie of this cause Wee still hope and have hoped a great while that the reverend Fathers of the Church will have an eare open to heare this more than just complaint No ignorance can be pretended this not being done in a corner but in the eyes of all Israel And among them such especially as are too much addicted to judiciall Astrologie and many suspicious if not sinfull things thereupon depending as calculating of nativities and prognosticating future events thereby using amulets without any shew of reason to cure diseases and to prevent many outward accidents are to be inquired into if the antient Canons and Constitutions of the Church forbid such trash indefinitely shall this be suffered in a Church-man now under the cleare Sun-shine of the Gospell But I leave this text wishing withall that people would not prove a means of distracting the Divine and hindering him in that whereunto he is called and set apart lest they prove accessary to his neglect if he have not so much grace to looke to it himselfe I have elsewhere alleaged the example of David who would not drinke the water that had bin fetch'd with the hazard of mens lives see then how you seeke health with the hazard of mens soules But before I end although I have already said somewhat of Emperickes yet a word or two more There is an ordinary objection wherewith many people deceive themselves in this care of Emperickes for say they wee are by using Emperickes often freed from a great deale of charges which learned counsell would cost I answer that in the first place they build on a false foundation parallelling and equalling ignorant Empetickes with the judicious and learned Physitian and this erroneous opinion is often confirmed by meanes of the like events often befalling both the one and the other which I have sufficiently confuted in the beginning of this discourse It is then apparent that this seeming saving of charges is but a meere fallacie and so many of them finde it at the last when it is too late For in the first place the ignorant and unskilfull howsoever most presumptuous of their owne skill and sufficiencie yet are they not able often to finde out thy disease especially if either it be uncouth or intricate composed or partaking of divers diseases accompanied with various and severall symptomes farre lesse then are they able to apply a right and laudable remedie to the same Againe put the case they both finde out the disease and apply some remedy yet are their remedies often so rough venomous and unprepared that they leave a virulent and evill impression behinde them the which howsoever peradventure not at first felt yet at length often payeth both the principall and interest Besides that I say nothing of their ignorance in the application according to the severall constitutions of the individuall bodies sexes ages order time quantity qualitie due preparation and correction but especially the strength of the patient c. Besides all this when they have thus hazarded their lives spent their mony poisned their bodies and neglected good and wholesome remedies which in time and place in all probabilitie were like to have cured the infirmity it commeth often to passe that at length howbeit too late they are forced to flie unto the learned and judicious Physitian as I could instance in many particulars Now if the patient recover what is here saved is he not here at a double charge besides the hazard of his life and if hee die I confesse there is something saved but I thinke people that are wise should in this be of Satans minde Skinne for skinne and all that a man hath will he give for his life I meane use the likeliest meanes to save thy life and leave the successe to God As for the meaner and poorer sort there is no honest Physitian but in charitie hee will be readie in time of neede to further their health with his best counsell But this fault we finde to be as frequent in the rich as in the poorer sort some I know doe it out of meere ignorance but others out of meere avarice and fordid tenacitie And yet I have heard some say their Empericke cost them as much as better counsell
naturall threefold 335. Drowsie or deadly sleepe ibid. Criticall Sleepe and the severall sorts of the same 336. Sleepe carefully to be procured ibid. The vulgar very shy of hypnoticke or sleepy medicines ibid. Skirret 45. Smelt 90. Snailes and their use See uncouth flesh Snailes whether usefull in Consumptions and Hecticke fevers ibid. Snot and Snevill and the significations thereof 303. Snowtes of beastes 73. Sodomie by a Popish Prelate maintained lawfull and allowed by a Pope 329. Sorrell 30. Wood sorrell ibid. Soule and the passions thereof 341. Spa. See Minerall waters Spa by Aberdene ibid. Sparrow 80. Spells characters and strange words of themselves have no power to produce any strange effect 357. Spices used in Diet 100. Spinage 49. Spirit of wine See aqua vita Spirit of Ale or Beere 1â—3 Spittle and the use thereof 316. Spittle best in condition Severall tasts of Spittle Severall colours ibid. It is to be considered in sicknesse and in health 3â—6 Sprats See pilchards Sterline 80. Stipendary Physitians Intr. 24. Stipends for Physitians would prove very profitable for the coÌ„mon-wealth ibid. Stocke dove 78. Stones of beasts 76. Stones of fowle 82. Storke 81. Stove See Hot-house Strawberrie 59. Sturgeon 89. Succory or Cichoree See Endive Sugar and the vertues thereof whether knowne by the antients 96 97. Sugar and sweet meats much used often prove dangerous and for whom especially 97. Sulpherous Bathes See Bathes Supper See repast Suppositories their use and with what caution to be used 282. Surgeons ought to be carefull They are often too busy with the profession of Physicke Intr. 4. Swan 81. Sweat an excrement of the third concoction 290. Sweating in acute diseases 291. Naturall and procured by Art Sweat diaphoreticall Sweat criticall and symptomaticall Sweat how to bee procured siimples provoking sweat ibid. Swounding in phlebotomy no certaine signe of a sufficient evacuation 247. T Tansey See egges Tarragon 56. Teale 81. Teares their divers kindes and severall significations in sickenesse and in health 293. Tench 93 Tennis play See Exercise Theodosius his cruell execution at Thessalonica His worthy decree and constitution against the sudden execution of Princes decrees 390. Thirst hardlier indured than hunger 109 False thirst Sitis mendosa 183. Thrush 80. Thornebacke See Scate Tiberius Caesar as sharpe sighted as a cat 354. Time 57. Tabacco as strong and violent a purger partaketh as much of a venomous or poisoning quality as any other simple accouÌ„ted therfore most infamous 317 It evacuateth often good and laudable moisture with the bad It is indifferently used of all without respect of any circumstance whatsoever Qualities of Tabacco Violent purging faculty Abuse of Tabacco with the best use It is a strong narcoticke or benumming medicine ibid. Often unseasonably used to further digestion 318 It often causeth crudities ibid. It is much sophisticate For what infirmities fittest In what season of the yeere and with what correction to bee used Circumstances in the use thereof to be considered For whom most hurtfull It is the cause of many diseases and dismall accidents 329 330. Tongues of beasts 75. Tortoise 92. Triballians See Illyrians Tripes See bellie Trout 92. Truffe See Puffe Tunbridge-water 307 Turbot 89. Turkie 78. Turneps of severall shapes and formes and their faculties 44. Turtle 78. V Vdderne of beasts 76 Veale 72. Veines to be opened in severall parts of the body of man 239. Venetians vigorous and long lived 18. Venison 73. Verjuice and the use thereof 98. Vesicatories or blistering medicines See searing or burning Violets 51. S. Vincents rocke-water 307. Vineger The vertues and various use thereof 98. Vomit and the commendation thereof Rejected by some of the antients 280 But very frequently used by others 281 What parts best purged by vomit Often rashly exhibited by Empirickes ibid. For what persons most usefull and for whom most unfitting Preparation before and what after a vomit to be done 280 281. Vrines and their use 309. Best urine in colour and contents Golden coloured urine Blacke urine Vrine a fallacious signe therby to judge either of the disease or issue thereof ibid. Vrines vary much in diseases 310. Criticall excretion of urine Retention and difficulty of avoiding urine Quantity of urine Suppression of urine from divers causes ibid. W Walking a profitable exercise See exercise Walking after supper ibid. Wal-nut See nut Washing and anointing of the body after Washing in cold water 294 295. Washing of the hands Of the head Of the feet usuall with us 295. Washing of the feet in sicknesse 296. Watching what it is and to what function to be referred 332. Immoderate watching hurtfull and how ibid. Water highly esteemed of the antients Antiquity utility and division of water 24. Weighing of water deceitfull Division of usefull waters 25. Raine-water Snow-water Harmes of snow-water Cisterne-water and the correction thereof ibid. Vulgar error concerning the boiling of water 6. Terrestriall or water springing out of the earth Spring-water Best spring-water according to situation place aspect of humours c. ibid. Water carried through pipes of lead whether usefull Water of rivers of pooles and ponds Of wells and pumps and which of all these is the best ibid. Water the most antient and common drinke of mankind with divers observations in the use of drinking water 116 184. Not to be despised for drinke 187 Bad water how to be corrected 117 118 Water destilled to the Antients unknowne Destilled better than boiled 290. Water in great request among the antients Not to be indifferently exhibited in all diseases 184 185 Water how to bee exhibited without hurt and what in the use thereof to be considered ibid. Cold water how to be prepared for the use of the sicke together with the time of use generall and particular the quantity c. ibid. Water warmed in frequent use among the antients Whether usefull for the sicke 188 189. Strong waters of severall sorts and the great abuse thereof For whom most usefull 193 194. Weapon-salve The names Various wayes of preparation Blood sometimes omitted in the preparation It effecteth just nothing Sympatheticall and why Magneticall and why Blood used in the Weapon-salve is taken from any man It receiveth no particular vertue or efficacy from the starres It is accounted sometimes miraculous and sometimes mysticall Confutation of many arguments brought for the confirmation of the weapon-salve and such other cures as are sometimes supposed to be done at as great or greater a distance without any Physitians contact 362. 363 364 365 366. Welling-borrow-well 367. Whey and what it is It may safeier in sicknesse be exhibited than milke it selfe Vertues of Whey Best whey Whey of goats milke and the vertues thereof It differeth according to the preparation or separation 206. Clarified whey 207. Whigge or wigge See sowre-milke White meates and for whom fit 21â— Whiting 90. Wild-fowle See fowle Winds alter the body of man in sickenesse and in health They are of great force 16. Their number natures and properties
molestia labitur secedit c Matthiol in lib. 5. Dioscor cap. 14. de aqua Hippocr fusius de biâ— omnibus aquu agit lib. de aere aquis locis Gal. 1. de salut 26. Aph. lib. 5. Avic fen 2. primi doct 2. cap. 16 17. alii multi ut Lang. 〈…〉 1. Epist â—4 Division of 〈◊〉 water Raine-water g 2 Meteor cap. 3. h Loco prius citato Best raine-water according to the time of the yeare i Rufus apud Oribafi Columella Plinius What parts of the day are best The manner of the falling Snow-water nothing worth k Aph. 24 lib. 5. Hurt by drinking of snow-snow-water Cisterne water Correction of cistern waters Quaity of cisterne water A vulgar error Consideration of springs and spring-water Best Springs Laso prius citatâ— de Aere â—quis c. Obiection Answere In the situation of springs what to bee considered The soile or place from whence they spring Situation in regard of the Heavens The ground or soile thorow which they runne The manner of running Whether water carried thorow pipes of lead may bee safely used m Aqua quae per plumheas solenas deducitur fugienda est sordes namque et limus plumbi â—iâ— adharent ob id qui illius subsiâ—entiam bibunt dyfenterci fiunt Gal. lib. 7. de medicam loco affect appropr Verum est ae omni metallo quod propter sulphuream substantiam oliquid habeat accuitatis quamvis in flanno plumbo saper id minime indicat probatur tamen per illud quod aqua quaedam currit vel stat in fistulis plumbeiâ— aut stanneis efficitur in testinorum sive viscerum exceriatio Albeâ—t Magn lib 3. de metal tract 2. cap. 4 Aqua per plumbum ducta ideo videtur viâ—iosa quod ex cerusa fit nascitur Vit. lib. 8. Pallad lib. 9 cap. 11 c. Indeque Lang. Epist medicin loco nuper citat Confutation of this opinion River-water What river-water is best Waters of Lakes and Ponds Well-water Pump-water Pond-water worst of all others a Quicquid substantiam nostri corporis auget conservat vel ut alii Alimentum est quod vitales vires custodire natum existit per refectionem triplicis substantiae spirituosae humidae carnosae quae in nobis quotidie perit vires imminuit Mercatus tom 1 lib. 2. quaest 164. class 2. Properties required in nourishment Quod sapit nutrit b Lib. de carnibus c 2. Meteor cap. 2. d Lib. 2 de caus plant e Quatuor ex purit vitamducunt elementis Chameleon talpa maris halec Salamandra Halec unda fovet c. f Arist lib 5. de nat animal cap 19. Pliny lib. â—0 cap. 67. li. 13. cap. 30. Theoph. lib de igne c. g Lib. 2. cap. 56. h A man living only upon the Sunne and aire Olimpioderus Citante Riolano ficio in praelect i Lib. 7. cap. 2. Men without mouths k Athen. lib. 2. Diog. Laertius in eius vita l Jn Epistolis The Chameleon Rhin tax Manuâ—odiata avis Paradisi m Lib. de sensu sensib Confutation of these former assertions Many lies left us by antiquity and travellers Chameleon liveth not on the aire Nor the bird of Paradise Notable imposture Whether the bare element of earth can nourish or no. Answer n 3 De temporum The Iewes in their solemne feasts absteine from water as did the Egyptians of old o Lib. de Anima p Comment in lib Hippoc de aere aquis locis q Comen Aph. 13 lib. 4. cap. 7. lib 4. de usu part r 4 Meteor How long one may live without food a Lib. de carnibus b Lib. 11. cap. 54. c Lib. 3. observat medicin cap. de asiliâ— d Consiliâ— adversus famem e Idem Schenck ex Bartholomaei Anull ficta poest circa finem History of a fellow living seven daieâ— under the earth upon his owne urine only f Vide Marcellum Donatum de historia medic admirab Claudum DeodatuÌ„ Panth. Hygiast lib. 1. cap. 20. Lang Epist medic li. 2. Epist 27. aliosque g Iulius Firmicus Maternus lib. 4. Ridiculous reason of this strange abstinence Another more plausible h Laurent Ioubert decad 1. Parad. 2. i Vlysses Aldreandus lib. de exaâ—g k Loco supra citat In antient Authourâ— no mention made of any such strange abstinences None can long continue without sustenance l Aelianus in varia historia m Iovius Pontanus Notable imposture of a cozning counterfit Hermite a Lib. de legib Intemperance not only hurts our selves but propagates hereditary diseases to posteritie Things to be considered in all manner of nourishment Substance Aliments of grosse substance Of a slender substance Of a meane substance Qualitie of aliments Quantity variable according to sundry circumstances Allowance of foode for one naturall day in old times b Budans lib. 3. de asse Northern people and living in cold climate are allowed a more liberall use of diet than such as dwell in hot countries c See Sir William Vaughan his newlander cure part 1. sect 2. Preparation various Order of ingestion The time The structure of the intestinall parts of ravenous beasts differ froÌ„ that observed in man and why Fittest time for refection in naturall reason a Interrogatus Diogenes quando sumendum esset alimentum Hâ—benti inquit quando â—surit si non habeat cum habere poterit Diogenes Laert. in cius vita b Tu nunquam comedas stomachum ni noveris esse pureatum vacuumque cibo quem sumpseris ante Shola Salernit c Lib. 25. contin d 2 De diaera acut e Lib. 1. cap. 1. Cause of the weaknes of gluttons and belly-gods stomackes f Mercur. vari lection lib. 4. cap. 17. Foure names of repasts among the antient Greeks Athenaeus lib. 1. citant Stuckio antiquit conviv lib. 1. cap. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocarunt veteres No one man used all these foure repasts g Plutarch in ejus vita h Lib. de sanit tuenda i 5. de loco affect ca. 5. k Epist 83. l De Cyri institut lib. 8. m Lib. 7. n Exod 16.10 11 o 1 Sam. 14.25 2 Sam. 1.12 Vnseasonable use of possets in England Two meales most ordinary amongst most Nations Faâ—â—es mora bilem in nasum conciunt Adagium p Refert Appollonius in mirabilibus ex Arist eos qui semel in die vescuntur iracundiores esse quia per inediam exacerbantur humores qui cibo potu mitescunt Riolan filius in praelect privatis Whether dinner or supper ought to bee more liberall Arguments for dinner a Ex magna coenâ stomacho fit maxima poena ut sis nocte levis sit tibi coena brevis Schola Salernit Reasons for a more liberall supper b 7 Meth. c 1 Zaph lib. 1. 5. ac 6. Epidem d 2 dae vict acut e Aph. 15. lib. 2. Difference betwixt concoction and distribution f
inspiciat quair diu sapererunt abstinentia pugnet si imbecillitatem vereri coeperit cibo subveniat Cels lâ—br 3. cap. 4. 2 The temperature of the body 3 The structure of the body Habitus 4 The are Who best indureth abstinence 5 Custome b Lib. 6 Jdiosyncrasia or an individuall property and condition c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippoc. Aph. 38. lib. 2. 7 The season of the yeere â— d Aph. 18. libr. 2. 8 The region wherein one liveth 9 The calling or course of life Rules or indication desumed from the disease it selfe All diseases either acute or chronicall The Diet to be accommodated according to the continuance of the diseased Diet to be a ministred according to the times of the disease The time general and particular e Lib. 2 cap 16. f Aph 9 lib. 2. Diet in acute diseaseâ— how to be â—â—penâ—ed In continuall fevers In intermitting feverâ— g 10. Meth. sequenti de diata aegrorum agit h Iob â— Properties of nourishment fit for the use of the sicke a Lib. de victu acut alibi passim b Probl. 32. sect 1. c Lib. de veteri medicina d 7 Epid. e Dimidiata chaenice contentus erat Lib. de victu acut f Hippoc. aph 16. lib. 2. 6. Epid. g Lib. ad Thrasib de dèaeta cap. 57 A double time of feeding the sicke of election and necessity h Lib. 3 cap. 6. i Des erreurs populaires part 2 cap. 8. Preposterous custom of feeding the sicke in the night k Hippoc. lib. de victâ— acut What time of the day fittest for feeding the sicke and when hee may feed freeliest at dinner or supper The order of the sickes diet Whether variety may be allowed to the sick l Cibus homini simplex acervatio saporum pestifera condimenia perniciosiora libr. 12. cap. 54. Preparation of the diet varieth much Preparation in the sicke in himselfe required The sicke should sit up to eat Best bread for the use of the sicke a 7 Meth med Two sorts of bread Simple bread Prepared bread Crummes Crust b Merc. variar lect l. 6 c Lib. de diaeta acut Cold bread best and not too stale Preparation of bread for the sicke d Elb. 22. cap. 25. How the Antients washed their bread Our manner Bread soked in wine In flesh broth e Lib. de affection Biscuits and the like March-panes Vnleavened bread unwholesome Herbs usefull in the Diet of the diseased a Lib. de facult natur b Comment ad eam partic lib. 6. Epidem imbecilliora cibaria breviorem vitam habent c Lib. de sanit tuend Those who live on herbes and fruits live not longer than such as live on flesh Whether fruits may be admitted into the Diet of the Diseased Answere What fruits best d Lib. 12. e Lib. de abusu med How the antients rosted their fruits f Lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 initio lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g Epist 83. Preserving of fruits Sparingly to bee used in Fevers Flesh fittest for stroÌ„g nourishment What foure-footed beasts are best for the use of the sicke What fowle Antient Physitians dieted their sick with flesh uncouth to us Whether flesh may be used of the sicke h Lib. de carn Answer Ewes flesh used by the antients Flesh of gelded creatures better than of others Veale seldome used in antient times i Lib. de ratione victus k Lib. 4. collect l Lib. 1. ad Glancon m Lib. de diaeta acut Gal. in comment Hogges flesh as also pigges to bee eaten without the skin Of fowle and what nourishment they afford o 3. de alim facult p 2 de diaeta Among all fowle pullaine most familiar for the use of the sicke Capons unknown to the Antients Pullets best for the sicke q Lib. 1. ad Glauc Old Cocks how used of old Whether Capons ingender the Gout r Vide Crat. consil meâ—icin consil 229.225 c. Answere Turkies Phesants Pigeons whether safe to be used of the sick Temperature of pigeons Å¿ Arist de hist avium lib. 5. cap. 7. Pigeons good against the plague Pigeons to be rosted without their heads t Lib. â— History u Lib. de euchâ—m Thrushes x Plutarch in vitae Pompeâ—â— Larkes a Lib. 29. cap. 3. Eâ—â—es whether good for sicke folke b Alois Mundella epist 29. Latinus Henricus in quaest medictnal c Lib. 1. ad Glanc d 18 method e Li. de ras vict in aecut Egges permitted bâ— Hippocrates Egges may safely be used even in Fever or any acute diseaâ— f Dioscâ—n 〈◊〉 2. cap 43. The white of the egâ—e coâ—leth To nourish much in a smal quantiâ—y is a singular good property Hens egges best Of a hen troden with a cocke aâ—e best Preparation of egges Boiled without the shell called pâ—â—ched egges Boiled with the shell Rosted egges Fried egges Tansies Markes of good Egâ— * Regula presbyteri jubet hoc pro lege teneri ut bona sint ova candida longa nova Of the iuice of flesh of severall sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippoc. Aph. 11. lib. 2. b Lib. de aliment c Lib. de affection In the preparation of these liquid substances made of flesh care must be had of the cleanlinesse of the persons and the like care of the vessells they are made in Earthen and iron vessells best brasse the worst Broth made after divers manners Broth made of an old Cocke in pectoâ—all diseases China broth in consumptions and great weaknesses It may also be made with Veale or other meate howbeit in weake and sicke people a chicken is commonly best lik'd of Expression of the iuice of rosted meat called expressum Colice called cousuptum Gelee Gelee of harts horn Restorative distillations of capon or other flesh d Lib. de mercur cap. 9. e Rondlet lib. de fabric cap. de causo a Lib. de victus rations in morb aâ—utis c. b Lib. de sanit tuendâ— c Lib. d Mercur. vâ—â—iar lect libr. 2. cap. 25. e Pellonius observat libr. 2. f Lib. de affection Different nourishment which fish affoord What fish best for the use of the sicke g Lib. de euch cach h Lib. 2. cap. 18. What river-fish best Preparation of fish in antient times Preparation in our times Mushell broth made with the yolke of an egge 〈…〉 a Decendus est aeger 〈…〉 in potione 〈…〉 â—bo indugere 〈…〉 cap. 6. Most opportuâ—e time for drinke b Lib 8. cap. 9. Sitis mendosa A falâ—e thirst Water the most antient and common drinke Water very frequent among the antients c Lib. de diaeta acut d Gal. in commen e Augerius Ferrerius in castigat pract f Mercur. variar lect lib. 2. g Trallianus How water is to bee exhibited without hurt What things in the use thereof to bee considered h Lib. de acre aquis tocis i Lib. 9 meth c. k 7 Meth med l 10 Meth. m Lib. de victa in acut comment
casting of it up Pills how to be taken Electuaries Potions how to be taken and how to keep them downe How long at least we are to keepe the medicine Whether wee may sleepe after physicke Answere b Ioubert des erreurs populaires partic 2. chap. 17. In vomits what to be done â—rative what time â— bee given 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 When pills are taken over night Keeping of the chamber cum custodia and the reason The ambient aire how to be ordered Sine custodia what and when it may be used Signes of compleat purgation c Aph. 10. lib. 4. Defective purgation Causes of defective purgation History If physick worke not If too violently Gripings in the belly Three concoctions in the body Sweat an excrement of the third concoction What sweat is a Sudoris materiam ab internis visceribus succo naturali madentiâ—us emanare contendis Fernel lib. de feb 〈◊〉 cap. desudere Sweating in acute diseases Sweat naturall or artificiall Naturall againe criticall or symptomaticall Symptomatical what Diaphoreticall sweat Sweat how to be provoked Hydrotick simples or provokers of sweat Strong hydrotickes Hydroticke minerals Compounded sudorifickes Cautions in the use of hydrotickes Preparation When to be neglected Frictions Fomentations Sudorifickes in chronicall diseases How to use these sudorificke medicines The continuance oâ— time of endurance In what cases hurtful Of teares b Mercur. de excrem lib. 3. cap. 2. de lachrymis Differences of teareâ— Vse of this moisture c Lib. 1. de cris cap. 7 Why some can so easily weepe and some not at all Naturall involuntary teares what they signifie Accidentall teares Involuntary teares in acute diseases Voluntary teares Cold and hot teares Thick and thin tears Divers sorts of ablutions or washings in use among the antients Bathing and anointing the body before meales a Epist 87. lib. 13. Bathing in Germany very frequent Vsed there promiâ—â—â—ously without any previous preparation With cupping and scatification Preposterous custom of washing the body in rivers with a full stomacke b Mundificat palmas lumina reddit acuta Schola Salern Arnald villa nov in com Whether the head ought to be washt or noâ— Answere How and when it it to be washed Embrocations Washing of the feet Of artificiall baths The matter Their use threefold c 14. method d Qui ex tennibus crassiores voluÌ„t evadere lavabunt bis c. Id. lib. 3. de sympto cap. 1. lib. de salub diaeta comment 14. Vertues of a temperate bathe Of a hot bath e Andernacus de veteri nov medic comment 2. dial 8. circa finem The use in divers diseases In what cases hurtfull Bathing in cold water For whom hurtfull in sicknesse in health Latonicum and what it is Of two sorts â—â—micapium cinsessus The time both generall and particular The time of the day Preparation of the 〈◊〉 In bathing how to be ordered The continuance in the bath How to be used in hecticke fevers After bathing Dangers arising from the inordinate use of bathing Minerall waters usefull for the health of man Thermae seu aqua therâ—ales a Homerum Câ—lidorum fenâ—iâ—m mentionem non fecisse miror cum aelioqui lavari cali sa frequenter indicarit videlicet quia medicina tanc haec non erat quae a â—uarum perfugio utatur Plin. lib. 31. cap 6. b Lib. de aere aquâ—â— locis The later Physitians made 〈◊〉 these minerall waters How their vertues are to be discerned Sulphuâ—oâ—us and â—itumâ—nous waters Waters participating oâ— divers metalls and mâ—neralls Whether leap-yeere doth alter or annihiâ—â—â— the vertues of â—inerall waters Originall of leap-yeere Iulian or Sosigenian yeere Alteration of the yeeâ— by Pope Gregory 13. Amputation of tenne daies from the former yeeres Gregorian yeere and account beyond the seas * There wants yet about 2 daies in all we want 3 of that wee should have Answer c Ovid fastor lib. ¶ Trojan c See Calvins treatise of reliques where he proves many bodies of their Saints to be monsters No alteration in the leap-yeere more than any other e Claudius Deodatus panth hygiast libr. 2 cap. 7. Minerall waters used after a double manner The time Preparation of the body before the use of minerall waters The time of the day for use The manner No cetaaine nor precise time for the continuance of the use of these waters can bee determined Hot baths and where they most abound English baths Divers minerall waters in Germany Gold and silver communicate no vertue to such waters a Doctor Venner in his treatise of baths of Bathe and since the collecting of this tractat I saw a learned tractat of baths published by Dr. Iorden residing there Acid or sowre waters They abound in high Germany Their vertues In what infirmities helpfull In what hurtfull The time for use § And yet they are ordinarily brought to Francksort mart in March and September Continuance or duration in drinking them They lose much vertue by carriage Observation in the use of these waters Of the Well of Spa. For what infirmities most beneficiall Water of S. Vincentâ— rocke by Bristoll b D. Venner in the aforenamed treatise A neere and antient towne in Yorke-shire called by the name of Knareâ—brough Wellenborow Wel in Northampton shire Observation in the use of such waters to be carefull of the stomacke History Tunbridge water Water in Maubornâ— hils in Worcestershire Newname Wells in Warwick-shire The Spa by Aberdene in Scotland Saint Catherins Well called now the oâ—ly Well neer Edenburgh in Scotland This Iland abounds in minerall waters De urinarum praesagiis iâ— aegretis agit Hippocrat in locis praenâ—t in prorihet libr. de indication * See our arraignement and anatomy of urines Vncertaine and generall iudgement for the most part afforded us by urine Best urine Best colour Red coloured urines Blacke urines Cleare transparent urin without coÌ„tents In diseases various Quantity of urine in excesse Criticall excretion of urine In the defect Difficulyy of divers causes Suppression of urine from divers causes a De his omibus fusius Mercatus de intern morb curat tom 3. lib. 4. cap. 12. b Incoacis aph 25. prorrbet 155. All these infirmities to bee cuâ—ed according to their severall causes Diureticke remedies and their right use Preparation Diureticks properly so called Another kind of diureticks Of two sorts Diureticks improperly so called Erroneous opinion concerning the breaking of the stone by Diureticks Safest diureticke simples and best for use Medicines accidentally good By occult quality Many medicines used against the stone but few answere expectation Dangers in the use of hot diureticke medicines Advertisment The presence of the Physitian is able to discover more in the disease than a many water a Mercur. de facibut alvi The fecall excrements diligently to be considered b Vide Hippoc. in prognost prochet coac motionib Aphoc etiaem 12. lib. 1. c Lib. 26. cap. â— What this fecall ordure is Best excrements