A SHORT TREATISE OF Metal Mineral WATERS VIZ. Those of the Spaw Bathe Epsom North-hall Barnet Tunbridge and the New-Wells at Islington WHEREIN Is described their bad as well as good Qualities with the danger of Peoples too frequent and unadvisedly Drinking them Mirabilis in aquis Dominus By E.P. M.D. LONDON Printed by T. B. for Randolph Taylor near Stationers-hall 1684. To the Reader Reader I Am not ignorant that the use of Metal and Mineral Waters are often prescribed by Physitians against many Diseases as Palsies Tremblings Ulcers of the Stomach Reins Bladder and Womb Tenesmus deprav'd Months Abortion c. and though I know Sacred Writ says Mirabilis est in aquis Dominus because of wonderful and almost divine virtues given them by the Almighty Physitian for the cure of many rebellious and contumacious Diseases and that as Vitruvius says ther 's seen no more miracles of nature than in Waters yet I would first advise all diseased Persons that they would not be too hasty and run hand over head as they say to drink those Waters because it may be some of their neighbours c. told them they found benefit by them without consulting the Physitian whether they may be proper for them forgetting the old saying One man's Meat may be another's Poyson Next I would have the young Physitian chiefly be prudent and cautious in prescribing them and not as too often to send their Patients after they have put them to great cost and wearied them with multitudes of Medicines to the Wells as their last refuge without considering the nature of the Waters or the Sick and not to send the intemperate and full of foul humours or that have hot entrals or that abound with stinking sharp malignant rebellious dregs and who are full of obstructions the notorious Parent of most Diseases which are scarcely ever to be remov'd For thâ—se Waters are all of hot and dry qualities some more then others as proceeding from hot and poisonous Minerals as you will see in this Book so that 't is impossible but there must remain an Empyreuma or collection of filthy matter which in an intemperate and dispos'd body will beget a new kind of Disease and augment the hot disposition of the Stomach Liver and other Entrals ordain'd for nourishment if there were any and this from Hipp. de aere aquis locis text 13. Aristot lib. 2 Meteor c. 3. Galen l. 1. c. 6. de simple facult They may work miracles in some Diseases but rara non sunt artis and that will not warrant a dogmatical Physitian instituted in the sound safe and Orthod x doctrine of Hipp. and Gal. promiscuously and immethodically to prescribe them almost to all People and Diseases as your Diobolory I had almost said Diabolary Empirics and wretches in Town do their Family Pills their Friendly and Popular Pills Then as for Ulcers of the Stomach I cannot but think them improper being too hot as proceeding from Nitre Sulphur Vitriol the last of which is altogether of a contrary nature to Man as being of a poysonous quality as for Gold Iron c. the Learned Fallopius who understood the nature of Waters certainly as well as any man believes they impart not any of their quality to the Water The same may be said of Ulcers of the Reins and Blader which for the most part will admit of no cure by reason of continual afflux of sharp watrish humours whereby their detersion and desiccation is hindred so for Vlcers in the Womb and preventing Abortion these Waters are not of so drying force to work such effects So that I cannot in reason see how these Waters should be so proper for so many Diseases for which they are extoll'd for they are all famous for their potential as they call it and hidden heat in an eminent degree whereby they destroy the native oeconomy and temper of the Entrals and imprint in them an extraneous heat and so cause Dropsies as Hipp. noted in a peculiar Example of his and a 1000 other dire diseases which prove incurable and hasten death Certain it is some Physitians for private filthy lucre promote the Waters and even discover new ones And though many out of a good intent in Books extol them yet let none precipitate themselves into danger of another and perhaps worse disease but advise with the Learned Physitian TO His ever Honoured Friend The LADY VERE BEAVMONT OF Grace-dieu in Com. Leic. Madam PRay be pleas'd to accept of this small Present but not as any the least requital I beseech you for the almost innumerable favours you have been pleas'd from time to time to conferr upon me since I fear it can scarcely be call'd an Acknowlegment In short Madam this short Treatise is intended for public benefit in general but if it may in the least measure be serviceable or conducible towards the Preserving of your Ladiships Health in particular I have attain'd my Aim and in an happy hour may then subscribe my self Madam Your ever oblig'd Servant E. Prat. OF THE NATURE OF Medicinal Waters CHAP. I. Of the Matter Origine of Fountains in General AND here I shall be brief intending not a speculative Philosophical but a Medico-practical Discourse for information and instructiof the unlearn'd and not for Learned Philosophers and Physitians Now 't is clearly my Opinion with the Divine Plato Aristotle's Master and before him Thales Milesius as also Philo lib. de mundi opificio the great Seneca l. 3. c. 1. quest natural and others that the Original of Fountains is from the Sea from whence through Sinuosities Veins and Meanders of the Earth water is carried to certain places where it breaks forth and continually flows it may very probably be conjectur'd they had this from the greatest of Philosophers Salomon who in Eccles 1.7 says all Rivers run into the Sea and it overflows not unto the place from whence they came thither they flow again and indeed scaree can there be assign'd any other reason why the Sea doth not redound by such a dayly concourse and afflux of Rivers unless because the Rivers do again flow out of the Sea and return and pay only so much to the Sea as they borrowed therefrom Although the Evaporation and Extraction of watry Clouds by the Attractive force of the Sun is no small help and other material helping causes are Rains and Snows which augment though they do not generate the Rivers for these help being withdrawn heat of the Sun approaching they become Rarefied and the neighbour parts of the dry'd Earth drink them off Whence Kings 17.7 the River Careth is said to wax dry by reason of the Sun 's too great heat But we have one Cardanus impiously and Atheistically disputing against Salomon subtil c. 2. de Elementis whom we shall endeavour to satisfactorily answer and enervate though God Almighty's Power and Wisdom might be oppos'd as answer enough and Sacred Scripture ought to be of more Authority than all
humane sagacity First then he says the Sea-water because 't is heavy cannot ascend to such an height as the tops of Mountains but to this have been several refutations some ascribing this motion to the operations of the Celestial bodies and they say this motion is not violent though it be contrary to the private inclination of its proper form if the Potentia obedientialis be considered whereby inferior Bodies are made to obey their Superiors c. Others say there is a certain insite attractive faculty in the Veins of the Earth whereby it sucks Water out of the Sea as the Veins of Animals suck Blood others there are but too long for this place and wholly Philosophical and so not easily to be understood by ordinary capacities and so I omit them Then Secondly he says before the Water could reach the Mountains out of the Sea there 's no reason to be given but it would break forth But the Earth hath passages in some places and in some none Then whatsoever he assigns to be the original of Fountains it may be queried why in some places and Mountains there are Fountains and Rivers and in some none Then Thirdly he says if it were so Rivers would never be less but it may be answered Rivers sometimes grow less from what portion is lost which comes from falls of Showers and Snows and when part is suckt up by the dryness of the Earth and heat of the Sun c. Fourthly he says the Sea would not satisfy so many Rivers when the greatest part of Waters vanish by the heat of the Sun But it may be answered that the Sea receives only as much as it gives forth as Salomon says Rivers flow to the Sea that they may flow out again then if the greatest part of Water should vanish the Sea would long agone have been wasted but the extracted vapors are recondens'd into Water which either flows into the Sea or falls upon the Earth to augment the Rivers which at length unburthen themselves into the Sea Fifthly He says there can be no reason given why it should flow from one Mountain and not from another But the answer to his second Objection solves this Lastly He says Fountains and Rivers would tast saltish and brackish But to this is answer'd that sea-Sea-water whilst it passes through various Veins Sinews and Meanders of the Earth and so being as it were strein'd it sensibly deposes its saltness and bitterness Hence the more remote Fountains are from the Sea the sweeter they are If any shall say that the Water was more likely to contract a bitterness by reason of the Exhalations it receives from the Earth it may be answered that they are not any sort of Exhalations that produce bitterness but only adust ones and all are not such in the intrals the Earth Therefore now Cardan we may conclude I hope hath not got any thing by contradicting Solomon CHAP. II. Of the Division of Fountains and of Mineral and Metal Waters HAving in the former Chapter given the Reader a plain account of the Matter and Origine of Fountains we should in the next place see how many sorts of Fountains there are but because 't is the work of Natural Philosophers and Hydrographers and nothing of an advantage to our present purpose we shall wholly omit it and only speak of Mineral and Metallic Fountains as being the subject of our present Discourse Now those I call Mineral and Metallic Waters which participate of the nature and faculty of that Metall or Mineral through which they pass in the Caverns and Veins of the Earth The which are either 1 Salt 2 Vitriol 3 Allumn 4 Bitumen 5 Naptha 6 Nitre 7 Gypsum 8 Arsenic 9 Cadmia 10 Antimony 11 Chrysocolla 12 Ochre 13 Lime 14 Ashes 15 Pummice-stones 16 Gold 17 Iron 18 Brass 19 Lead 20 Brimstone and 21 Quicksilver Now as I said the Minerals through which Waters pass bestowing upon them in their journey a considerable part and portion of their good and bad qualities I thought it very requisite before I discours'd of the use of the Waters themselves to say somthing of the Natures and Properties of the Metals and Minerals they are mixt with that thereby you may be the better able to judge of the nature of the Waters proceeding from them then we will begin with Salt The faculties of Salt are great many and very useful to man but not so necessary in Physick as many think such as your Quacking Chymists who predicate many wonderful and vain stories of Salt reduced by their Chymical Art for they audaciously assert that their is a Purgative faculty in Medicaments because of Salt and when they have got some Extract from any Medicament then they presently aver that they have got its Salt forsooth but these being things above the vulgar capacity I shall say Salt is very Conservative of an Astringing Absterging Purging Discussing Repressing Extenuating quality and vindicates the Body from Putrefaction yet some Salt is better then others but us'd immoderately produces very bad effects as sharp salt corroding humors all over the Body Scabs Leprosie the Stone and other dire Diseases as Dulness of sight disorderly Fermentations in the Blood rendring it thick and earthy by burning it Schroder thinks thus of the Original of Salts the Macrocosm he says as the other two Kingdoms i. e. the Vegetable and Animal is susteined and lives by its food in this abounds a salt answering to the salt Excrements in the Sweat Urine and Dejections in Animals now the Salt of the greater World congregated into the inferior Glob is of a dverse kind according to the variety of its Matrix even as the salt Excrement in Animals is different hence Common Salt Salt Gem Salt Nitre Alum c. The Greeks call that Calcanthum which the Latines from its blackness call Attramentum Sutorium or Shooe-makers Ink and from its spendent vitreous Nitre Vitriol Dioscorides a man of profound Judgment in the Materia Medica reckons three sorts thereof two Native and one factitious one sort of the Native is found concreted in the bowels of the Earth another is collected in form of a Water out of some Mine which put into a Vessel soon coagulates into Vitriol as for the factitious we have nothing to say to that here the Native or Fossile Vitriol participates of Calcitis Misy and Sory the Native and White is prefer'd in the Medicinal uses which the Metallicolous Alchymists say is produc'd by their Sulphur and Mercury as of Sperm which they indiscriminately exhibit to all affections out of which they draw a certain acid Liquor a few drops whereof mix'd with Syrup of Violets acquire a most elegant colour and taste But Oyl of Sulphur will do the same and a few drops of one or both of them insused in the Syrup of Roses will make the whole Liquor red which they call forsooth Tincture of Roses Now Nature 't is true hath enrich'd Vitriol with eximious faculties which
VVater whence in some places Fire breaks out together with VVaters in some places VVater without Fire to be seen Thirdly as there is a present quantity and proportion of matter as for example a great quantity of VVater would extinguish a little Fire so that we see no River to be so hot much less a Lake least of all the Sea But since so much and lasting a Fire cannot continue without some food or maintenance therefore it must necessarily have some Matter to nourish and renew it Now this matter must be something that will burn either dry or oleagenous Lands taken from the Fens and dryed they call it roasted cannot be the fires continual matter for it is soon consum'd by the Fire and it burns only by reason of the Roots and Herbs and Grass which it contains wherefore it must be oyly fat matter Now the fatty things which are begot in the Bowels of the Earth are chiefly Marle Bitumen and Brimstone now Marle burns not nor any Earth unless it be Sulphurous or Bituminous so that we may certainly conclude that Bitumen and Brimstone and Oyls are the material cause of the hot Baths hence Baths are call'd Sacred because they abound with Sulphur with which the Ancients us'd to exprate their offences whence the Grecians call it Theion i. e. Divine For whatsoever is annointed with Oyl or Bitumen and Brimstone it presently takes fire For moist and fatty by consent of the Philosophers is the genuine food of Fire As for the nature of our Baths in Somersetshire Physitians are divided among themselves some saying one thing and some another Dr. Turner who hath wrote concerning them says they consist of Sulphur and Copper mixt together Dr. Jorà an and Dr. Venner Practitioners at the Bath will have them impregnated with Sulphur Nitre and Bitumen Dr. Venner because he judges Sulphur to have the dominion but Dr. Jordan is for Bitumen Others will have them consist of neither as Lossius who in his counsel concerning these Baths when he had given his opinion that the material cause of Baths in general was Sulphur Oyl and Bitumen tells you afterwards that the Baths in Somersetshire contein neither Brimstone nor Bitumen as having neither taste nor smell of either and says if you distill them in a Glass Alembec you will not find the least sign of either but a certain substance like Salt such as is found in Pipes through which Water runs into Cysterns and this he takes to he a kind of Nitre wherewith that ground be says doth much abound mixt with a portion of Vitriol and the Learned Dr. Meara in a Letter to Dr. Prujean before Lossius wrote concerning the cause of the Heat in these Waters tells him as a certain person of Quality was riding out of the City one day to take the Air he by chance espies a certain kind of Chalk or Marie as white as Snow springing out of the Earth like Mole-hills brings some of it home and shews it to him and Dr. Maplet which he says was of a crumbling nature and almost turning to Powder of its own accord affording a manifest sharp sowr taste without astriction but biting and begetting an inflammatory choking or stopping in the Throat that he did not doubt but that it abounded with much Vitriol and that it was not altogether void of Arsnic put into cold water it presently produc'd an ebullition as if it had been Quicks Lime and the water by degrees grew vehemently hot and since this Marle or Chalk was found in the neighbouring parts of Bath he very probably was induc'd to believe that the Bath water grew hot from this Fire And he says though he is not ignorant that Authors every where ascribe the heat of the Bath waters to Brimstone and Bitumen and though it cannot be deny'd but that there is great plenty of Bitumen in those Springs and that they are abundantly impregnated therewith as the Cure of Scabs Leprosy Ulcers c. may convince yet he doubts whether either of them has the nature of a Ferment apt to heat the Waters since both are destitute of Acidity the chief promoter of Fermentation neither can either of them cast into water produce Fermentation or Heat and whenas they are of a clammy consistence and especially the Bitumen so that the Water cannot insinuate or penetrate it self into their particles it must be concluded that they are unapt for such a Fermentation whenas the contrary is seen in that crumbly powdry and not gummy consistence of the Marle and so concludes leaving it wholly to Dr. Prujean to be judge in so obscure a case And I likewise shall not trouble the Reader with tedious Philosophical disputes upon this subject being as I told thee at first I intended a plain and practical and not an hard difficult contemplative discourse and so shall pass on in the next Chapter to shew you the use of these and other Waters or as I may say their Virtues and Vices But something first of the preparing the Body CHAP. IV. Of the manner of preparing the Body of such as intend to drink the Waters BUt most Peoples intention of going to the Waters being as I suppose to cleanse their Bodies and free them from Obstructions Stone and Gravel c. and put their Bodies in good temper and order I would advise them by all means to Prepare and Purge their Bodies before they take any of these Waters either Tunbridge Empsom Dullege or any other hereabouts or at other places as likewise at the Bath c. for if they go thither with gross foul Bodies and gorge themselves with the VVaters before they have unloaden themselves of their overfulness of Blood or bad humours they had better stay at home than to make work for the Physitian and damnifie themselves in Body and Purse Now if thou art troubled with too much blood which thou mayst know by the fulness of the Veins and heaviness and dulness of thy Body thou hadst best take away some blood to the quantity of 6 9 12 ounces according to the strengh of thy body age sex c. or thou mayst do it at twice then Purge with this or the like Take from half an ounce to an ounce of the best Sena and from a Scruple to a dram of Cream of Tartar infuse them all night in some White-wine or Ale Posset-drink strein it drink it off early in the morning or thou mayst have Electuaries or Pills at the Apothecaries if thou hadst rather a Scruple of Stomach Pills taken at night going to bed or after thy first sleep will work finely the next morning made into three or four Pills and you may go about your lawful occasions or Lenitive Electuary Catholicon and Diaprunes of each two drams taken after the same manner then you may venture to drink the VVaters any of these taken twice first If thou beest of a Choleric nature prepare thy body by boyling some Sorrel Borage Bugloss Chichory Dandelion Endive
skilful Physitians have both experienc'd and left describ'd as Galen Dioscorides Paulus Aegineta Aetius Oribasius c. who have very much nobilitated it it heats binds drys kills broad Worms helps against Toad poyson preserves moist flesh and drys up humors drives away Putrifaction roborates the inward parts outwardly it binds purges Ulcers causes Wrincles like Alum with whom it hath relation But besides these excellent qualities Vitriol hath also its bad ones for it is ill for the Stomach acrimonious corrosive and vomitous and therefore ignorant Quacksalvers and Women give it sometimes in Wine and sometimes in Rose-water in uncertain weight against Quotidian and Quartane Agues and many other Diseases and indeed the Fever is often resolv'd by vehement Vomiting but this Medicine being unskilfully Administred proves most often more formidable than the Disease Alum is as it were the Brine of the Earth whereof Dioscorides makes three sorts the Round the Liquid and the Jagged or Scissile the last is often call'd Plumeous for they are so like in form that they can scarse be distinguish'd yet they differ both in nature and qualities for the Scissile is manifestly binding and may be burnt but the other is Acrimonious and suffers not by fire Mathiolus says he saw and tasted a Liquid Alum of which he asserts that he never found any thing more Astrictive Now when Alum is simply mention'd we mean Roch-Alum which is a saltness of a Mineral Earth of a Leadish nature consisting of an acid spirit and a caustick Earthy salt and all Alum is of Crass parts binds much whence 't is call'd Stypterion in Greek because it is Styptical it heats cleanses amends putrid Ulcers dryes humid ones absumes superfluous flesh takes away itching cures the Scab and very useful in many Medicaments made for the Cure of Ulcers Bitumen which the Greeks call Asphaltes is as it were the fatness of the Earth swiming above the Waters which being cast upon the shoar thickens and becomes hard tenacious and inflamable As long as it swims on the water 't is soft but when 't is off it becomes thicker and harder and resembles dry Pitch yet easily melted at the fire Many Lakes are bituminous but especially one in India thence call'd Asphalites and the dead Sea because of its vastness and because its Water remains almost immoveable not stormy but heavy salt thick and stinking wherein neither Plants nor Animals breed neither doth it nourish such as are put into it or admit them into its bowels All Bitumen is not solid and hard but some is perpetually fluid and liquid call'd Naptha which is the streining of Babylonian Bitumen white of colour and most capacious of Fire for Fire and this are so near a kin that it will presently leap into it when near it There is also black Bitumen For its Virtues all Bitumen discusses mollifies glutinates defends from inflammation by olfaction suffumigation or imposition mends the strangling of the Womb. Naptha extenuates incides digests penetrates absumes frigid and thick humors in all parts of the Body and cures the Resolution of the Norues Palsies and diseases in the Veins and Arteries from cold cause Nitre of the same nature with the Salts Gypsum is a kind of Talk of the nature of Lime whose hot fiery caustic quality every one knows Ratsbane or Arsenic is between a Salt and a Sulphur 't is of such an acrimonious corroding hot quality that it will burn to a crust dissolving destroying and preying upon the Principles of Life malignant and an Enemy to all Natural parts and to the Radidical moisture and innate heat and therefore was very ill advis'd of Nich. Alexanarinus to prescribe it for an Ingredient in the great Athanasia says the great man of skill in the Materia Medica Johannes Renodeus for by permixtion with other Medicaments it doth not depose its malignity The Learned Schroder says 't is one of the highest Poysons for besides its acrimony it is an Enemy to our Natural Balsam of Life so that it brings strange symptoms not only tataken inwardly but apply'd outwardly as Convulsions numness of Hands and Feet cold Sweats Palpitations Faintings Vomitings Corrosions and Torments Thirst c. Cadmia Metallic 't is the Stone out of which Brass is drawn and is call'd Brass-Ore which Artificers use in making Yellow Brass which the Shopmen call Aurichalcum or Orichalcum and 't is probable this is the Stone which Albertus Magnus calls Didachos or the Devils-stone Cadmia disiccates gently absterges and helps humid and putrid Ulcers and draws them to scars Schroder says 't is Caustic and that it ulcerates the Hands and Feet of the Miners and taken inwardly kills all Creatures Antimony or Stibium or the seventh Metall which some say is Mercury others Ambar but neither of these are more than in a potency to be Metalls a grand Alchymistical Quacksalving Idol the sole Empyrical Chymical Cathartic whereby they boast to cure all Diseases but it most devilshly disturbs mens Ventricles by moving upwards and downwards others it miserably torments by vigorous Purging some it kills and restores very few to perfect health One Cornelius Gemma a Physitian of Lovain relates how a Paracelsian English Quacksalver being himself and his Wife sick of a Fever took himself and gave to his Wife that which they call prepared Antimony whereupon she fell quickly distracted and changed her Life yet valid with death and he complaining of Dreams and continual Watchings seven days after his Dejection began to Rave from that he became Epileptical from his Epilepsie he fell into a Lethargy being therewithal somewhat Apoplectical when he had been three days in that sopor he fell again to his raving and was so agitated with fury that not long after he expir'd and pass'd from his conjugal Bed to his conjugal Tomb and howsoever the Chymists cry up their Preparations of Antimony yet as able Physitians as any in the World forbear to exhibit them because they have much better Medicaments wherewith they may more securely cure any Disease And I could give a large account of the dismal Accidents that I have known happen by the administring of Antimony and my ever honoured Master Dr. Patin Regins Professor in Physick in the Famous University of Paris wrote a Book which he call'd the Martyrology of Antimony Chrysocolle which the Shopmen following the Barbarous Mauritanian Idiome call it Borax is found in the Golden Silver and sometimes Brazen Mines in Armenia Macedonia and Cyprus it heats checks supersluous flesh and is mordacious it produces Ulcers to sanity but taken at the Mouth 't is perillous says Renodeus Ochre is a kind of Yellow Earth much commended in Affrica not lapideous but friable clayey and sinooth it binds corrodes discusses Tumors and represses Excrescences Gold is the greatest Cordial in the Pocket most certainly for omne cordiacum debet esse Bumidum Calidum aurum autem est frigidum sicum i.e. every Cordial ought to be moist and hot but Gold
Bread against obstructions Bread made of Rye nourishes less and is not so easily concocted but mixt with Wheat 't is better and affords a moderate nourishment Barley bread nourishes least of all yet it drys and cleanses and is the same with Oats by all which you may easily conjecture at the nature of Miscelane The old Proverb is An Egg of an hour bread of a day and Wine of a year The Crumb affords the best juice and is of easier concoction than the Curst which is dryer and Schola Salerni says Ne c medes crustam coleram quia gignit adustam then cut away the burnt Crust yet the Crust is not so much to be disapprov'd as some suppose for its a very convenient Food for those of a strong Stomach Hither are to be referr'd all kind of sweet-Breads which in general are but bad Food except Biscockt for none of them are without their fault among which are also Puddings Pasties Pan-cakes Cheese-cakes Custards and many such like Quelquechose hony'd sugar'd milky'd egg'd all bak'd Meats are hurtful to the Stomach and Liver seeing they most manifestly heat obstruct and offend the inward parts The next are Fruits of which this may be affirm'd in general that they moisten and cool much nourish little yet some more some less All Fruits almost are endued with some bad qualities and beget winds and serous thin humours and are very hurtful to distempers proceeding from obstruction and putrid Fevers of Fruits that will not keep long and are soon rotten the moister are to be chosen and eaten in the first course such are Prunes Cherries Grapes but the more solid and such as bind more and will not be rotten so soon are to be eaten at the second course among which are Quinces Pears Apples Nuts c. It is a most certain rule that all Fruits that may be boyl'd bak'd or roasted beget bad juice if eaten crude As for Melons Corcumbers Pompions they may in some measure conduce to hot Stomachs and Choleric persons for they refresh and moisten much but they beget thick cold juice and of hard concoction Historians make mention of persons of great renown that dyed by eating Melons and Pears Quinces Medlars Services c. ought not to be eaten by healthful people but after meals and then but in small quantity to strengthen the Stomach Filbirds may be allow'd as being of a temperate nature Chesnuts beget thick Blood Wind and not easily concocted No Pulses are much to be commended for Beans green are windy disturb the senses cause Dreams and are of a a thick juice hard of concoction and not much nourishing Primrose says they beget serous blood c. but dry'd they refrigrate dry and deterge also apply'd in Pultises Pease are of the same nature Rice and French-Barly are the most excellent of all Pulses because they nourish most and breed sewest Excrements both moderately strengthen the Stomach and are not of bad concoction Ciches or Vitches nourish more than Pease and discharge the reins by their Diuretic faculty and therefore are thought to be profitable to those that are obnoxious to the Stone in the Kidnies But it is best to use them sparingly nor without the Physician 's advice for by the undiscreet using of them neither few nor light symptoms may ensue as also from the untimely use of any other Diuretics Herbs come next to be handled In general all Herbs nourish little and are rather endued with altering qualities for they heat cool dry and moisten what way soever us'd Galen extolls Letuce above all herbs as endued with nourishing juice but very cooling and causing sleepiness Next in coolness are Sorrel Cichory Porcelan c. which may be profitably us'd dayly Among hot Herbs are Sage Thyme Savory Penyroal Majoram Rosemary Lastly Roots are by all esteem'd windy Food some nourish more than others Now the Food we receive from Animals may be reduced to Flesh and Eggs in general and Flesh to Fish Birds or four footed Beasts Of Fish those that live about the Rocks c. are most commended Sea-fish are better than River-Fish standing Pools worst All Fresh-fish beget Phlegm are easily corrupted dry'd and salt are of hard digestion and burn the blood The best are Trouts Pike Sole Roach Carp Turbot then Mackrel Perch Skait Eeles for Tench Crab fish Lobsters are of difficult coction so last in goodness Salmon is to be eaten with moderation Fish boil'd less good fry'd better roasted best because dryest In general the Male better then the Female young but not the very least better then old notwithstanding the old Proverb Young Flesh and old Fish As for Birds c. young better then old those that feed upon Mountains and high grounds are of easier digestion than others Tame have tenderer and moist Flesh wild harder and dryer those that are castrated are of a more pleasant taste than others Birds nourish less though sooner concocted than four footed Beasts The best are Patriges and Mountain Birds Cardan a a Physitian so highly extolls Patriges if you 'll believe him that of themselves he says they are able to cure the Pox which he found by experience upon his own body having as he ingeniously confesses of himself being infected therewith no less than seven times next Woodcocks Blackbirds Doves Pheasants then Chickens Pullets and Capons For Four-footed Animals Fauns Lambs Pig Weather Veal are best for taste and nourishment Porks-flesh nourishes very much but requires a stronger Stomach Galen prefers it before all Beef is grosser and so begets more Melancholic juice then Mutton Now there are several sorts of ways of Cooking this Flesh roasting boyling frying baking c. for dry bodies boil'd is best for moist others Broaths are of easie nourishment being soon distributed To this belongs Sauces and such things as are used in preserving of Food As first Hony hot and sharp Sugar comes nighest to it not so hot more pleasant and familiar to the Stomach Salt is hot and dry and so are all Spices Mustard-seed is most hot and dry Oyl is temperate Vinegar's temper is not decided as Vinegar 't is cold as made of Corrupt Wine it retains somewhat of heat but 't is more cold than hot it drys provoks an Appetite and strengthens the Stomach Hens Phesants Patriges Turkys-Eggs are the best Duck and Goose the worst besides Eggs we have Milk Butter Cheese Blood from four-footed Beasts Milk is of a diverse temper according to the Animal 't is milk'd from It consists of a threefold substance waterish whence Whey thick whence Cheese fatty and oily whence Butter Cows Milk hath most Butter so it nourishes most and cools less Sheeps more Cheese so worse Asses most Whey so fittest to cool and moisten Goats of a middle temper Butter heats somewhat nourishes little losens and and softens Cheese of thick bad juice so stopping an Enemy to those subject to the Stone i th' Kidneys so the Proverb is very true Caseus ille bonus quem dat avara manus All Blood is of hard coction and nourishes little Beef-blood the worst Thus far concerning Meat next follows Drink was nothing but Water in the beginning of the World if it be colour'd or smell or taste not good lightest the best for weak Stomachs it may be boil'd and because few drink water alone Barley may be boyl'd therein and so made Beer and Ale stronger or smaller some add Wheat Oats and Beans certainly 't is the most healthful drink if people would accustome themselves to it for so they would free themselves from a a world of Diseases got by immoderate drinking Wine or strong Beer c. as Tremblings Palsie Lethargy Apoplexy Verligo Pains i th Head Eyes Gout Stone Dropsie Rheumatisms Piles c. for it strengthens the Stomach causes an Appetite the Aegyptian and Israelitish Priests and Kings drank nothing but Water Aristotle and Plato order Nurses Children Students to drink Water Demosthenes left Wine when he came to the Bar and Pulpit Water preserves and quickens the sight Alexander Aphrodiseus says in his Problems it makes all the Senses more lively cools the Liver opens the passages clenses the Reins and Bladder Fountain and River Water are the best Sleeping and Waking ought to be moderated with Prudence Sleep concocts Meat and Humours corrects distempers of the Mind moistens Labor for the Flesh and Joynts Sleep for the Entralls Night's the best three hours from Supper Day sleep hurts unless none by Night or weary for it makes a moist Brain and breeds sour Belchings c. exceed not eight hours lye first on the right side then the left nor on the Back or Face Watching's also to be moderate for immoderate produces contrary effects Motion comprehends all exercise whereof are several sorts Tennis c. for the whole Body riding for the Intestines walking for the Thighs and Reading and Singing for the Lungs c. it strengthens distributes Meat Morning and Evening exercise till the Body be florid and begin to sweat the same moderation in Rest As for things to be retein'd and voided they help health if those be evacuated that ought contra things to be voided if they are retein'd hurt as voiding of Urine Ejections Spittle Hemorhair Courses Seed c. if suppress'd oppress and putrifie So if things be voided that ought to be retein'd or voided in too great quantity As for the Passions of the Mind they must not be violent so of what before as Meat sleep c. all must be moderate and thus much for dyet which if minded there would not be any need of taking such uncertain remedies as Mineral Waters which have certainly been the utter ruin of many thousands As for the many symptoms following the irregular and unadvised drinking the Waters as suppression of Urine Dropsies c. too long here to name they are to be remedied by the Learned Physitian FINIS