the broader kind of Plantain or in a Pulse of red Beans or Rice-broath the dose is half a dram But when the pain is very great you may then add to it some opiat Medicine as of the Trochisques de Garabe or one onely grain of Laudanum Opiatum And give the Patient now and then a little new-made Treacle or mix with it a few grains of the Confection of Archigenes for of such Medicaments a Field-Apotheque is not wont to be destitute For the Patients ordinary drink boil water and in it Coriander dried Sloes dried slices of Quinces burnt Hartshorn Mastic Nutmeg or any one of these putting to it some of the roots of Snake-weed Tormentil or such like adstringent roots Of this water the Patient may drink according as his necessity shall require The red Juyce of Quinces boiled up without Sugar is also much to be commended in this case for strengthening the bowels two or three spoonfuls of it being taken at a time and that twice a day In many places a drink is made of Sloes Pilosella or Mouse-ear and Juniper-berries infusing them all in common water and letting them ferment together This yields a pleasant acid drink allaying the violence of the Flux and quenching thirst withall The Rich may make Granat or Quince-wine But I have here undertaken to deliver such things as are parable and cheap for the poor common Souldier I am sorry that in the Field there is no conveniency of administring Clysters For though I prescribe none without great necessity yet Clysters being of great benefit in Diseases of the bowels they being to them like Plaisters I cannot but recommend in this Distemper Clysters of Milk wherein Pebble-stones have been several times quenched mixing a little of the melted suet of a Stag or Hind without any oyl or other fat I remember I had once a Patient of quality that had about an hundred stools within twenty four hours who by the use of such Clysters once or twice applied was fully restored The cause whereof is that the Milk washes the bowels and clears them of the sharp humors that annoy them moreover it is healing and repairing by reason of the Pebbles quenched therein The Sugar is abstersive and helps to clean the injured places The Far sticks to the parts annoyed to defend them from being further hurt by the subsequent humors which running down over it can find no stay there and consequently cause no more hurt to those parts Yet must you not put in any greasie Fat or any Oyl of Olives because they hinder healing and all Oyl except that of Linseed Poppies Hemp and Almonds is very sharp and you will find that if any drop of Oyl of Olives should chance to fall into your eye no Juyce of Orenges or Limons is so strong as to exceed the acrimony of that Oyl But of this Oyl more will be said in the next Chapter to which I therefore refer you If you would have your Clyster yet milder and more sanative you may beat a yolk or two of new-laid Eggs and mix them with it though I have contented my self with the Ingredients before mention'd and found great benefit thereby Else you may in this case use for a Clyster the Cremor hordei mixt with yolks of Eggs beaten in it which is also very good to wash out the bowels Here is no conveniency of making much use of Apothecary-shops else many things might be prescribed to lay upon the belly and the navil as also divers fermentations and stomachical unguents You may therefore content your self with those plain and easily parable means already deliver'd and be thankful to God for them But then you are also to think upon means to obviate Symptoms of this Distemper and particularly Drought which is wont very much to torment people in this Disease 'T is true Acid things do quench thirst but they cannot be used boldly and therefore you must use them with great discretion and wariness And as for sweet things they usually increase thirst and do easily corrupt and turn into gall Wherefore give to the Patient preserved Currans or if fresh ones be in season mix a quantity of them with Honey or Sugar and give him of it to eat upon white-Bread and Butter Or plump dried Black-cherries or dried Damascene-prunes in half Wine and half Water and let him hold and squeeze them in his mouth Or if you can mingle some Almond-milk with chalybeat-Chalybeat-water and let him drink thereof and this is both meat and drink Or let him drink water wherein Coriander and roots of Tormentil have been boiled Or boil in water dried slices of Quinces roots of Bistorta or Snake-weed and burnt Harts-horn put into it a tosted crust of Rye-bread rubb'd with Nutmeg but let it not lye in it above a quarter of an hour lest the water should thicken and become viscous Marmelat also of Quinces Black-cherries and Sloes is proper in this case giving the Patient a slice of it to hold upon his tongue and so to swallow it down Further you must learn how to remedy a Tenasmus which is more irksome to the Patient and occasions more trouble to the Physitian than the Bloody-flux it self since it night and day painfully provokes the poor Patient to go to stool and yet to no purpose For this I have used many remedies but found almost nothing more beneficial than Fomentations of this nature following Take Potentilla wild Tansie Silver-weed Knot-grass Mullein and Oak-leaves of each as much as you please put them into two linnen bags and let them boil in smiths-Smiths-water wherein much Iron hath been quenched Squeeze out these bags between two boards and let them be held alternately to the anus as hot as can be endured Black Pitch such as is found on Larch and Fir-trees put upon a heated fire-shovel and the fundament held over it is also a good remedy and so is Turpentine used after the same manner Again take a black well-burnt Brick out of the hearth heat it thoroughly and wet it with sharp Vinegar and wrap it about with a linnen cloth and let the Patient sit on it as hot as he can endure it This was the Experiment and Remedy of old Aetius but he reduced the Brick to powder and by boiling it in Vinegar reduced it to a pulse and so put it into a linnen rag and applied it to the fundament You may chuse which you please of the two Milk-Clysters such as above prescribed would also be good but that 't is not safe with Clyster-pipes to vex the anus which is already sore enough Yet you may give a Suppository of Deers-suet mixt with some Oyl of Mullein And the grey Diapompholox or the white Camphire-unguent or the like mixt with it would not be improper in this case If there be a Falling down of the fundament then let it often take in the fumes of the above-mention'd Herbs adding to them the beaten stalks of Sloe-shrubs and those of red Roses as
purulency which that place by reason of the heat there is subject to and to heal the pleura or the inner membrane of the ribbs the like is to be done concerning the diaphragme c. You ought also to observe what kind of wound it is you have to do with whether any bone any nerve or artery be hurt whether it be a meer flesh-wound and the like If it be a gaping wound you must if it hath taken cold from the Air bath it with warm wine and keep it very close and make use of the strong astringent plaister prepared of Rosin Gumm Elemi Turpentin Pitch with some Mastick Frankincense Sarcocolla as also some Blood-stone Mummy and Crocus Martis mixt therewith and keep all on carefully with a good bandage which is a great matter in all wounds For some months since I had a Patient under my cure whose Skull in the place of one of its sutures was sever'd so as that I found a considerable space between the two parts separated I order'd a Chirurgion of my particular acquaintance to draw those parts forcibly together with good bandages which being well done I caused his hair to be shorn away and an astringent plaister to be applied which was almost like a Rupture-plaister whereby in three or four weeks to the admiration of many my Patient was perfectly healed This plaister was the Ceratum expelle arietina mixt with Gumm Elemi and with a little Ceratum de Betonica You must also be provided with good Blood-staunching remedies The common ones are Bol-armeniac Sheep-trickles Blood-stone Tragacanth Terra Sigillata Mill-dust Hares-hair Peacocks-dung c. Avoid by all means Causticks especially Sublimat Arsenic Colcothar with which you anger a wound and cast the Patient into very dangerous symptoms For though they may by their corrosiveness at first astringe the wound yet they do afterwards so fret and eat it that you would think hell-fire were in it Beware also of a hot Iron which many have a refuge to as to a Master-piece and the last remedy Among the chief Astringents is Frog-spawn which therefore you are when 't is in season to make good provision of for the whole year Take therefore in the Spring a lump of raggs and dip it into Smiths-water in which first some crude Allum hath been dissolved Let this lump be dried again and then draw it thorough the Spawn of Frogs so as that the Spawn may every where hang on it and expose it to the Air to dry and afterwards draw the same again thorough Frog-spawn Which repeat as often as you can during the season of Frog-spawn for the oftner you dip the raggs into it the more vertue they will receive This Spawn stauncheth bleeding with a good bandage I have often used with good success the distilled water of Frog-spawn in the bleeding of the Nose first mixt with crude Allum and then drawn up into the Nostrils Take a green Frog burn him in a pipkin not to ashes but so as to be reducible to powder This powder put into a small Taffaty-bagg and hang it about the neck of a woman that floods excessively and she will find great help from it Having often made mention of Allum which is one of the chief remedies for stopping of blood I will make publick the Magistery of Allum which I have hitherto kept secret Take then of the best and clearest Allum as much as you please pulverise it and put the powder into an Oxe or Swines-bladder tying it very close Then throw it into a kettle of hot water and the Allum will be dissolved this Solution bring over the helm out of a low retort until the Allum get a caput mortuum then cease to urge the fire any more lest you force corrosive spirits from it which are noxious to our present purpose This caput mortuum put again into a bladder and dissolve it as before and do this so long until the whole body of your Allum be brought over the helm But you must filter the first solution for fear of any dust or other heterogeneous matter mixt with it This is the Magistery of Allum able to draw the veins together without corrosion Apply this to wounds or any other bleeding part You may mix with it Tragacanth Gummi Arabic Sanguis Draconis and well-beaten Whites of Eggs. Take good notice whether the wounded Patient have heated himself in storming a place or by any other military execution or whether he be yet distemper'd by passion for as long as this lasts the blood is in a rage and can hardly be stopped In this case stop the wound with Peacocks dung and take Vineger and Whites of Eggs well beaten together a little Allum and refined Salt-peter put to it as much Frog-spawn Shepherds purse broad Plantain or other convenient water as is necessary so that there may be three parts of water and one part of vineger dip pledgets into it and clap them cold to the wound and the bleeding will cease Crocus Martis also is an excellent stauncher of blood to be used both inwardly and outwardly For inwardly it cureth the Bloody Flux and other Fluxes and outwardly applied to wounds and strewed into them it closeth the veins But it must not be prepared with Aqua-fortis or distilled Vineger or any corrosive thing but only by the heat of a reverberating furnace and afterwards distill often from it some proper water as of Roses Speed-well Self-heal or broad Plantain after which preparation it is divers times to pass again through a reverberating furnace until it grow as light as a down-feather And then 't is fit for our purpose for as long as it is strong and heavy the body of it is not throughly opened Among other things you may make use of the Red earth of Vitriol which is to be thus prepared Take Vitriol as much as you please put it in a new unglased pipkin into a Potters oven to deprive it of its moisture and to reduce it to a Colcothar Then pulverise this calcined Vitriol and in a large glased earthen dish pour hot water on it letting it stand so for four or five hours then decant the water and pour other hot water upon it as before repeating this three four or five times until all the salt be got out of the said Colcothar which whether it be done may easily be found by the taste Then dry this red dulcified Earth and it will prove a very good blood staunching medicine which may also in other cases be variously used as you 'l find it hereafter of great use in my plaister for wounds made by thrusting The water you had poured on this Colcothar you ought not to throw away as useless but to put it by and for other occasions you may boil it away and it will leave a Salt behind as white as snow with which you may do wonders in foul Sores I have used it with good success in such cases in which it cleanseth and maketh a firm
thy mouth with it as also spirting a little of it into thy horses mouth Besides mingling it with water it will afford thee a good cooling drink If it be very cold put some of that horse-hair that is wont to be curried out of their mains and tails into thy boots I never received on such occasions more warmth from any thing especially keeping my self dry A Hares-skin is also good for this purpose making socks of it but if it grow wet 't is naught Gather of the Wheel-grease that runs out at the nave of the Wheels and would else be lost which hath taken in some of the substance of the Iron that is about the Axel-tree witness its blackness This is a good Ointment for Horses When thou comest into the field and art to lye abroad look out for some rising ground that the Rain which may possibly fall may run away from thee And avoid as much as is possible Vallies Marishes Ditches Meadows and the like low and moist places Besides observe the Air and put up thy Tent towards the East which quarter though it be cool yet 't is wholsom But lest it should be too cool order it so that thou mayst enjoy that wind which comes from between the East and South as being one of the wholsomest of all Airs and temperate the South-air qualifying the sharpness of the Eastern Beware of the Western Wind especially that which blows from between the South and West The Air of Mid-night is wholesome enough and dry but sharp and piercing Believe it a Souldier is much concern'd in the Air nor hath Hippocrates without cause written a whole Book De Aere Aquis Locis to teach how the Air Water and Places are to be discerned and chosen Moreover look about thee for good cleer Water such as grows warm and cool again sooner than other waters and observe this mark for my sake I know water that will not boyl Pease Vetches Stock-fish Flounders c. In some Springs Iron is turn'd into Brass and great care is to be had in the choice of water for drinking But if thou canst not have Spring-water but art necessitated to use Pit or Ditch-water have a care not to drink it without straining least thou shouldst swallow Frog or Snake-spawn For I have known and had in my cure a Countrey-man who voided though not at once but at different times two hundred fifty and five Frogs and of them many in my own house in the presence of divers Ecclesiastical and Secular Persons and some of the biggest of them being dryed are still to be seen in the Repository of Mantua as also in that of Mr. Philip Hainhofer at Auspurg And there is a Cook in the Hospital of Wessenburg or Landsberg who as appeared by the event had drunk the Spawn of Serpents out of which were bred divers Serpents in his body some of which he voided by virtue of the Medicine he took amongst which there was one of the length of a Bavarian Ell. The Man hath been since in good health and continues in his service to this day Wherefore it will behoove you to spread your handkerchief over the Ditch-water and so drink through it or if you take any of it up unstrain'd quench first a red-hot Stone or Iron in it whereby the noxious quality will be destroyed Or if you lye still and can get any Oyl of Vitriol let some drops of that fall into it and you need not then fear any corruption or poyson in such water Otherwise if time will permit let it boil up and cool again and put a crust of bread into it and you may drink of it safely Those Waters that run out of stony hills and from under rocks are the best to which may be reckon'd those Springs that flow from high places and purge themselves in clear sand and pebles If thou meet with Beer or Wine take heed of excess and forbear drinking New beer that hath not yet done working or is not some days old because new beer causeth the Strangury And in case this should trouble thee take a handful of Hay-blossoms boyl them in water and Urine over it drawing into thy body the warm steam thereof and anointing thy Navel several times with warm suet If thou art hot and canst not forbear drinking make water first then wash thy mouth and cool the arteries on both thy temples and those of both thy wrists and then drinking will hurt thee less If you chance to drink whilst you are hot which is so dangerous a thing that some have dyed within 24 hours after it others have fallen into consumptive Coughs others been troubled with Pains in their sides and with Impostumes c. then take of the leaves of Bellis or Daisy which grows in all meadows and pasture-grounds and is green both winter and summer and wash them clean and dress them like a Salad with Oyl Vinegar and a little Salt and forthwith eat thereof and it helps immediately as I know by much Experience But this must be used presently the sooner the better I can say with truth that in all my Practice of Physick for above 20 years I have not met with any Experiment of so quick an Operation from any herb as from this But here I must note that I have always used the Red Daisy and have not tryed the other sorts though I am apt to believe the others may have the like effect You must not eat the Flowers but only the Leaves This Experiment should be put up on all posts every where for the good of Courriers Mowers and other labouring Men that are wont to drink plentifully when they are hot and thereby spoil themselves in great numbers But to proceed as thou art to beware of excess of drinking at all times so thou art especially to forbear when thou art to stand Sentinel lest thou shouldst fall a sleep whereby thou mayst lose thy life at least thy place and thy preferment for ever Neither be fond of Gaming at dice tables c. whence are occasioned quarrels mistrusts deceit swearing and what not Avoid also the company of base women lest thou shouldst be constrained to undergo the Mercurial Salivation and with it a very lean Diet of thin broth water-gruel barley-broth prunes roasted apples and such like without any flesh-meat at all CHAP. III. Concerning the Physicians and Chirurgions in an Army EVery Army ought to be well provided with one or more able Physicians such as are not only expert in the cure of inward Diseases but also understanding in outward Cases as Wounds Burnings Luxations Dislocations Erysipelas's or St. Antony's Fires c. These Physicians ought to be no Youngsters that are lately come from Schools and Universities knowing only in Controversies and Disputations but such as are expert in the Cure of Diseases especially such as are most frequent in Armies They are also to be Men of good nature great honesty and condescension willing to take pains with
the poor as well as the rich Physicians thus qualified may so gain the hearts of the Souldiers that these will love and honour them as if they were their Parents Likewise the Chirurgions ought to be learn'd discreet and affable such as have been long vers'd and experienc'd in all the operations of Chirurgery that can distinguish well of Diseases and with prudence make their judgments thereon They ought also to be diligent and careful of those committed to their charge and very knowing in all manner of outward applications as Unguents Plasters Pulments Lenitives Stiptiques Attractives Digestives Causticks Escharotiques as also their Mollifying Dissipating Repelling Suppurating and Mundifying c. Medicines They ought to be skilful in discerning them and withal in knowing well the cases and times where and when to use them They are to be very careful in observing the beginning middle and end of Ulcers Wounds c. since it often may be impertinent and even hurtful too to use that in the beginning that may be pertinent and beneficial in the midst of the cure and the like An able and dextrous Chirurgion is a great Treasure in an Army and cannot be enough valued especially if he consult in all dangerous cases with an understanding Physitian These two Physitians and Chirurgions are to be intimate friends together assisting one another without envy and pride for the better relief and the greater safety of their Patients 'T is very necessary both these should go abroad and travel before they undertake to practise thereby to acquire experience and to learn also to converse with the more discretion and gentleness with all sorts of humors And when they come to practise the Chirurgions ought to advise with Physitians who are but lame Doctors if they be not skilled in Chirurgery since this is the third part of Physick from which it can and ought not to be separated being an integral part thereof It is recorded in history that above 2000 years since Podalyrius and Machaon Sons to Aesculapius went both with Agamemnon in the Expedition for Troja and there purchased great honour by their practise not so much of Physick as Chirurgery CHAP. IV. Of Fevers Hungarian Distempers Spotted Fevers and other Pestilential Diseases as also of Hereditary Maladies together with their Remedies 'T Is known seldom to fail that in an Army there reigneth some Disease or other according to the nature and constitution of the Country Air and Diet. The reasons are First that amongst so great a number of Men raised from so many different places there are to be found Men of very different tempers and constitutions sound and unsound and amongst the latter some that are scabby others scorbutical others labouring under venereal Diseases many inclined to dangerous and infectious Fevers c. all which a Physitian must have a watchful eye upon and endeavour to prevent their spreading Secondly that Souldiers in an Army want conveniences wherewith to take due care of their health but are often constrain'd to expose themselves and sleep in the open Air on moist ground the vapours whereof penetrate into their bodies and they are careless or want opportunities of expelling them out again by sweat Whence is caused an inward putrefaction in the blood and humors which sometimes proceeds so far as to assume a venomous nature and to break out into spots tumors bubo's carbuncles c. Thirdly that Souldiers commonly keep an irregular diet Sometimes they have plenty and do super-abound at other times they have nothing and then being very hungry when they come again to a place of plenty they over-feed and surfet whence are bred crudities in the stomach and corruption which causeth malignant Fevers in abundance Besides they often feed upon meat that is unwholesome as stinking Venison rotten cheese musty bread c. which cannot but occasion many Diseases And when they come to places where Fruit abounds as Apples Pears Plums Melons Cherries Grapes c. they over-eat themselves and thereby cause Gripings in the Guts Diarrhaea's c. Lastly sometimes the Air is corrupted especially after a great battel and slaughter of Men that remain unburied whereby the Air being tainted infects the living that take it in Which is often made worse by the exhalations of low and moorish ground and by thick fogs These are the general Causes of the common Distempers reigning in Armies against which thou art to arm thy self accordingly First then be careful in thy Diet eat not greedily and indiscreetly every thing that comes to hand and though it be good yet eat and drink not too plentifully of it but restrain thy appetite considering how destructive every excess may be to thy health If thou canst and hast no aversion from it drink every morning of thy own Urine which prevents corruption in the Stomach opens obstructions in the Liver Spleen Mesaraic Veins which if not removed there will follow Fevers the yellow Jaundice Swellings and Difficulty of breathing If thou art averse from doing so eat some bread and butter with rue on it or if it be not hot weather take in the morning the quantity of a hasel-nut of Mithridate or Treacle or infuse in brandy or rather in Spirit of Juniper-berries some Zedoary Angelica and a little Citron-peels and drink a spoonful of it in the morning When the Air is corrupted and there be at hand a Goat rub thy self at him and let not the strong smell keep thee from it Also put Quicksilver in an empty hasel-nut closed up with Spanish Wax and hang it about thy neck or the Zenechton prepared of Arsenic after the manner by and by to be described sowed up in thin leather for if it should touch the bare skin it would cause blisters and do harm This Zenechton is a plaister out of which are cut pieces of the bigness of a dollar which are carried about the neck and hang down near the heart keeping good a whole year And when the infection is past this Zenechton being reduced to powder will yet serve to kill rats and mice with It is to be thus prepar'd Take of yellow and white Arsenic of each an ounce or ◠4 of an ounce of gummi Tragacanth ½ an ounce put this gummi in rose-Rose-water or in common water over night and it will yield a slimy water Then beat thy Arsenic in a mortar and put so much of this gummed water to it as is necessary to reduce it to a paste having the consistence of dough work it well and round it and then cut off a slice of the bigness of a dollar somewhat thicker let this slice dry in the Air and sow it in a piece of thin leather well-dressed dog-skin is the best for this purpose carry this about thy neck so as to let it hang down upon and to touch the place of thy heart Some mix with it a proportion of the powder of dried toads which I have done my self it being esteem'd more powerful Some carry about their necks
Vine-leaves or fresh Cabbage-leaves and if you have no Alablaster-salve take two parts of Vinegar and one part of Oyl of Olives the Sea-blossoms Oyl and Elder-Vinegar were better dip long rags of linnen therein and having well squeez'd them again lay them luke-warm over the face and temples Even Vinegar alone is good Of such Applications you may make many of Acetum of Roses Elder-blossoms and the like with a little Camphir The expressed Milk of Peaches is also very effectual in this case If at the going off of this Distemper a hot defluxion should fall into the Eyes take Camphir and infuse it in water and often moisten the Eyes therewith and if it should be cold and windy weather you will do well to keep your self out of the open Air and not to let this water dry up in your Eyes in the cold wind In case of having lost thy hearing take of thy own Urine and with it wash thy Ears within but withall dry them very well because that moisture is very noxious to the Ears And it often happens that after the Hungarian Sickness People grow deaf or hard of hearing Others put the water of Carduus-benedictus distilled with Wine into the Ears or the Oyl of bitter Almonds If thy Throat swell or the Palate of thy Mouth be fallen down gargarize thy Throat with warm Milk wherein Figgs have been boil'd or sweetned with Sugar The Flowers of Phyllirea or Mock-privet which grows in the hedges boiled and used for a gargarism heals also a sore Throat The same doth the middle rind of Oxyacantha or Haw-thorn if boiled with a little Allom dissolved in the Decoction If you have the juyce of Mulberries mix a little honey of Roses with it and often take a little thereof The roots of Sloes boiled in red Wine and the Mouth often washed therewith is also very good If thou hast the Squinancy boil Scabious in Meath and drink thereof warm when strain'd Beat Turnips and fry them in Butter or Oyl and clap them in a cloth round about thy Neck If thou cast up blood take Mouse-ear Ground-ivy Cumfrey boil them in half Wine and half Water or in Meath and drink often of it But if the Plague reign not open first a Vein For a violent Cough boil white Turnips well cleansed in common water throw away this first water pour on other water and in it let the Turnips boil till they grow soft Strain this water sweeten it with Sugar or infuse in it Liquorice cut small and drink of it mornings and evenings warm Or make a Decoction of St Johns bread and drink it abstaining from all sour and salt things The bleeding at the Nose is also incident to persons infected which is no good sign though in sound persons it often frees from the Head-ach and cools the Liver If this bleeding be too violent clap Ice-cold water about the Patients Neck or let him put his Pudenda in cold Vinegar CHAP. V. Of the Inflammation of the Tongue its rise and concomitants together with the Remedies VVHen the Tongue is inflamed the whole Oesophagus or Weasand is inflamed also and this from beneath upward because the inward fire sends up its smoak all along as it were that chimney which like soot sticks to it drying and blackning the same But there is another Inflammation much more dangerous which taketh its rise about the Heart and therefore is call'd the Inflammation of the Heart which proceeds from the great inflammation of the orifice of the Stomach situate near the Heart in which is inserted the sixth pair of Nerves which maketh the said orifice very sensible of any pain This part being seized by so great an inflammation which is venomous withall it must in a manner harden and shrink and this heat is of that extent that the inner Membrane of the Stomach and that of the Tongue being one and the same what befalls the Stomach the Tongue must needs be sensible of it Whence it comes to pass that if the Gall overflows and passeth into the Stomach the Tongue presently finds the bitterness of it or if the Stomach be full of slime or foul or the like the Tongue is soon affected therewith There is another kind of Inflammation by the Latins called Prunella alba This is of the same kind with the rest but not of the same degree for 't is not of so dry a nature as the others are but commonly is moist yet overlays all the Gums the Throat and the Weasand with such a tough white slime like a kind of leather and so covers the Almonds with the same that sometimes it can hardly be removed even with Instruments The Tongue is as if it were crusted over with dough the Gums like an Oven that by the heat of fire is burnt white the Almonds cover'd as 't were with white leather and the Palate of the Mouth likewise And in this case if the Patient will speak he lalls and stutters his Tongue being burthen'd with a load of slime or if he make his Tongue wagg the slime spins out like a thred and so invades the Teeth as if they were laid over with varnish And when this varnish on the Teeth grows black as I have often observ'd it to do and drieth on them 't is a mortal sign of which Hippocrates saith Quibus in febribus livores circum dentes nascuntur his fortes fiunt febres 4. Aph. 53. These are the three sorts of Inflammation for which let us now seek out the Remedies beginning from the last the White This is not to be master'd by gargarisms alone but the hand must be employed also Take therefore Cotton-wool or Flax and wind it about a stick or rod and dip this in Vinegar and rake his Throat and Gums therewith yet taking care not to make it raw let him gargarise between and wash well his Mouth with Water and Vinegar or Mul-berry-juyce Privet that grows in the hedges or the middle rind of Hawthorn boiled in Water and a little Vinegar then strained with a little Sal-armoniack put into it is in this case an excellent gargarism but if there be blisters upon the Tongue or elsewhere then take instead of Sal-armoniack a little un-burnt Allom and mix it therewith If you can have the Juyce of Turnips or the Juyce of fresh House-leek dissolve therein also a little Sal-armoniack and use it to wet the stick wherewith thou cleansest the Throat of the Patient dipping it often therein and carrying it about the Uvula or Palate of the Mouth and you will see lumps come away as big as Pease The skin is under this Prunella alba fair and red but tender Whilst thou art cleansing the Patients Mouth let him often gargarise with the Waters above-specified and he will clear his Mouth of the loosen'd lumps If thou canst get Mulberry-juyce mixt with Honey of Roses the Mouth will heal the better for upon this sort of Inflammation there usually follows a Putrefaction of the
Mouth and in case thou perceivest any such thing take Wood-sorrel and the abovesaid rind of Hawthorn make a Decoction of it and put in it a little Allom and often gargarise with it Clean thy Teeth from the slime with Water well sharpened with Vitriol The common Inflammation of the Mouth may be cured with frequent washing of the Mouth taking a gargarism made of House-leek Lettice Night-shade or Self-heal Water mixing a little Honey of Roses and Mul-berry-juyce with it Of this gargarism the Patient is also to swallow a little thereby to moisten the Throat Some take House-leek and beat it and put to a pound of it half an ounce of Sal-armoniack mixing it well together And so they put it for some days in an earthen pot glased under ground then they distill of it a Water in Balneo or in Sand Which is excellent both to drink and to gargarise though the Sal-armoniack make it a little unpleasant But there is nothing better to allay this Inflammation than Niter which is so well known amongst Souldiers that they are wont to give one another Gunpowder to drink which Powder performs this effect not upon the account of the Coals or Brimstone but the Saltpeter For this cause Experienced Physitians and Chirurgions endeavour to purifie Niter for this use that it may have the greater effect and this they do in manner following They take of the purest Niter they can get as much as they think fit they beat it to a fine powder and melt it in a large Crucible and whilst it boils up and foameth they pour into it a little powdered Sulphur and so let it boil together till the blew Sulphur-flame ceaseth then they cast in more fresh Sulphur Which they repeat often and then pour out the Niter into an earthen vessel glased making Lozenges of it of which they put one pulverised into a quart of limpid water and so give the Patient to drink of it as much as he needs to quench his thirst Or they give of this purified Niter to their Patients labouring under this Inflammation the quantity of a ducat or half a ducat weight in Broath or in Ptisan till they find the Tongue cleared of its slime The use of Salt-peter thus prepared removeth also the Inflammation of the Heart especially if it be melted upon Lead and then proceeded with as before For Lead is a considerable cooler of which cooling quality the Niter whilst it is melting upon it taketh in not a little Let then your Lead melt and when 't is melted dissolve the Niter upon it and then to purifie it cast some Brimstone into it as was said above till it be cleansed from all impurity and then give of it to thy Patient two or three times a day according as need shall require Otherwise take live Crafishes and fresh House-leek beat them together in a mortar squeeze out the Juyce with it mix a little Sal-armoniack or a pretty deal of thy prepared Niter make a Potion of it and give of it even cold to thy Patient repeating this several times every eight or ten hours once according as you shall see occasion Or take fresh Lard if it be salted draw it through hot water to unsalt it and cut a slice of it two fingers large and of the thickness of a knives back put this into the Mouth of thy Patient it is an excellent remedy against this Inflammation of which I shall give the reason hereafter I have seen wonders done with it But if thy Patient do rave then fasten this slice of Lard with a thred and needle to his shirt or doublet lest he swallow it Or take fresh Butter and put it in cold water and of it give thy Patient at a time the quantity of a hasel-nut to hold it upon his Tongue and let it melt there which will keep the Tongue always moist And if thou work among this Butter some of thy prepared Niter it hath a wonderful effect though the taste be not pleasant I promised above to explain the Reason of the Cure of these Inflammations When you take a gargarism of the Waters of Night-shade Wood-sorrel Knot-grass Endive House-leek and the like mingled with Vinegar you do well but this is not enough the reason is If you wet a piece of Leather you make it indeed limber but when it comes to be dry it grows hard and shrinks except you grease it over with some fatty matter and then it will remain smooth So it is with the Tongue though it be made clean with gargarisms yet will it become again rough and untoward unless some fatness be used For which cause I have directed to use Lard or Butter mixt with Niter If the Almonds be swelled thou must abstain from all sowr things and prepare a gargarism of Figgs St. Johns Bread Mallows-flowers Liquorice Elder-canes mixing with it some Rose-honey or Juyce of Walnuts or the Rob Diamorom gargling often with it seeing that this symptom is a dangerous thing for when the Throat swells of it few Patients do escape death especially if it be a Pestilential Squinancy And in case there appear any Tumour outwardly take fine Flower Milk and Saffron making a Pulse of it and to keep it from growing hard mix with it Althea-salve or Houndstongue-salve the Oyl of blew Violets Mullein white Lillies Camomile or the like adding a little Oyl of Scorpions to it and applying this outwardly Make also a Scraper of Alder-wood if it may be had if not other wood will serve though Alder be best Throw it into cold water and let it lye there using it as often as there is need yet take heed of making thy Tongue sore or raw CHAP. VI. Of Fevers Belly-aches Tumors of the Belly Yellow Jaundise and Distempers of the Liver IN Camps there is nothing more frequent than Fevers of the Stomach arising from ill dyet which Souldiers are often put to for want of better eating what they can get Cheese Herbs Flesh half boiled stale and musty Bread and the like Hence is gather'd a morbifick matter in the Stomack which causeth putrefaction and consequently Stomack-feavers In this case thou art first to purge And for that purpose make use of the Pulvis solutivus de tribus recommended above taking the weight of a ducat or a ducat and an half in warm broath and fasting two or three hours after it Or fetch from the Apothecary of the Tabulatum Diaturbith cum Rhubarbaro or the Diaphoenicon in tabulis taking half an ounce at a time and keeping thy Chamber Or infuse Sena-leaves in Wormwood-wine and drink a small glass-full of it an hour before thy break-fast This will also serve very well especially if some Carduus benedictus have also been fermented in the Wormwood-wine If thou art troubled with Gripings or Inflation of the Belly take of Zedoar or Angelica-roots or Orange-peels cut them small and take at a time the weight of a ducat in hot broath If the Inflation be much
MEDICINA MILITARIS OR A BODY OF MILITARY MEDICINES Experimented BY Raymundus Mindererus Late Chief Physitian of the Electoral Court of Bavaria and of the Imperial City of Auspurg Englished out of High-Dutch LONDON Printed by William Godbid and are to be Sold by Moses Pitt at the Angel over against the Little North Door of St. Paul's Church 1674. A BODY OF MILITARY MEDICINES EXPERIMENTED CHAP. I. Concerning the Morals of a Souldier WHereas the Old Philosophers wished to every one MENTEM SANAM IN CORPORE SANO a Sound Mind in a Sound Body considering how much it conduced to the Health of the Body to have the Mind free from Vice and Vexation It will behoove a Souldier as much at least as any man to endeavour after that Soundness and Integrity of conscience which may inspire him with true Fortitude undisturbed from the troubles and anxieties accompanying Impiety and Injustice To this end he ought in the first place be constant in paying his Duties to Almighty God by serving Him in publick and private by imploring the Divine protection and blessing in all his Just undertakings and by returning his humble acknowledgments for every good success Next he ought to serve his Prince faithfully to the best of his skill and power to obey his Officers readily and to do to all others as he would be done to if he were in their condition CHAP. II. What care a Souldier is to take of his Body THe Mind being thus taken care of thou art to advise with a skilful Physician concerning thy Body whether it be not necessary to purge it the better to secure thy self from Agues and Fevers Then furnish thy self with some Mithridate or Treacle to use it against infection taking of it in the morning fasting against the ill Air the quantity of a hasel-nut Take also with thee a quantity of Zedoary Angelica Imperatoria or Masterwort and Carlina of which thou shalt do well now and then to eat some for the preservation of thy strength and against the corruption of the Air. But especially keep thy Head and Feet warm by the neglect of which thou maist cast thy self into great danger Take heed of surcharging thy stomach which is to prepare and to convey the nourishment for the whole body and restrain as much as thou canst thy appetite there being nothing more hurtful to health than when that is irregular and extravagant Gird thy self well that thy body may be close and so be secured from receiving mischief in leaping falling storming c. and thy bowels from being put out of their place Take also with thee out of the Apothecary's shop a powder called Pulvis solutivus de Tribus which is not dear Of this when thou needest purging take the weight of a ducat or a little more according to thy constitution in warm flesh-broath or the like early in the morning fasting so ordering the matter that that day thou maist keep thy self warm in thy quarter Fast two hours after the taking of it and then eat warm meat The same may be done with Pulvis Sena Montagnana and Pulvis solutivus de Tartaro If thou be troubled with Corns on thy feet apply to them every day fresh lard and continue this till by the fatness of the lard they grow soft and then they will fall off from the very roots without pain To free or secure thy self from Vermin take a good quantity of Worm-wood and the inner cuttings of horse-hoofs cut out by the Farriers when they shooe horses boyl these both together in half lye and half water and so put thy shirt into it and afterwards dry it in the Air without washing it out any other way and not a lowse will come into it This Experiment is found approved amongst the old German Souldiers and although there should be a lowse in thy shirt it would not stay there If thy feet be moist and sweaty which is very troublesome not only to thy self but to others also take the filings of Brass which are sometimes used for dust to dry moist writings with and put some of it into thy socks and walk upon it Refresh this every other or third day and thou shalt soon be freed of that inconvenience Nor be thou troubled that it makes as it will do thy feet look greenish for there is no hurt at all in that since you are not like to put them in your cap. Take also with thee some Stags or Bucks-grease to make use of in case thou shouldst be galled any where in riding or going on foot Anoint the part therewith at the fire-side and it will soon be healed To prevent Rust draw thy Sword through the fat of a Goose or Capon or grease thy Arms therewith Take care to have always about thee a hard crust of Rye-bread for if thou art dry and destitute of water wine or beer to quench thy thirst chew some of this dry crust and it will moisten thy mouth and considerably abate thy thirst The same may be done with a Leaden-bullet rolled to and fro in the mouth Lead being cooling It hath been prescribed above to take with thee the Herbs Imperatoria and Carlina Of this be mindful for if it should happen that thou shouldst be obliged to stand some hours in battail or in the field take a piece of it in thy mouth for hunger thirst and refreshment and thou shalt find it will keep thee a good while from faintness But woe to thy fellows if they want it for they will certainly faint unless thou be so kind as to give them a share in thy provision In the best Apothecary-shops may be found a root called Costus somewhat like Cinnamon which hath the same effect And if others should eat Onions others drink Brandy and I only hold in my mouth of this root the bigness of half a pea I should keep in breath a good while longer than they But take notice that this I speak of is not the common Costus which hitherto hath been sold for the true in common shops but that which comes to us from the Indies If thou art a Horse-man take a good quantity of Bay-salt a little Brimstone Clove and Ginger and mingle with it some of the powder of the two above-said herbs Imperatoria and Carlina and give it to thy Horse or in case of want of Provender let him have of it upon his bitt or give him some upon a slice of bread and it will make him strong and vigorous If thou art to ride in a German Saddle the two hind-knobs whereof are wont only to be stuffed out with straw or horse-hair get thee made two Tin-flaskes with good screws fitted for those places In one of them carry Brandy in the other Vinegar The Brandy will serve thee in cold nights and fresh mornings and 't will be good also for thy horse giving him a little of it upon bread The Vinegar will be of use to thee for the heat of the day washing
dried spiders Theophrastus commends Celondine leaves and root carried about the neck Remember also to burn frequently Juniper-wood before thy tent though all ordinary fires cleanse the Air Upon which account Hippocrates advised great fires to be made in Greece at the time of a great plague which was thought to have been remov'd by that means Some burn only a few chips of Juniper-roots or some of the berries of that shrub which is as effectual If these means cannot be had burn some Gunpowder ordering it like a train this purifieth the Air likewise And the volleys of shot made mornings and evenings in a camp conduce very much to the dispelling of mist and qualifying raw weather Frankincense also Mastick and such other perfumes as dry and clear the Air may be very usefully burnt and even a Scholars perfume made of waste Paper is not to be despised If thou canst get Rue smell often to it And remember me for this general hint to take good notice of all herbs that are green winter and summer and which are not eaten by Horses or Cattel for they are endow'd with excellent virtues for the good of Man and therefore made to grow at all seasons of the year When the Air is pestilential or breeding any Epidemical Disease then wash thy face with Vinegar every morning If thou canst get Acetum of Rue Elder-flowers Lavender Roses Marigold-flowers 't is the better Or if you have the conveniency prepare the following Acetum Take Rue Elder-flowers Burnet-roots white Dittany Carlina of each equal quantity a few Orenge or Citron-peels of which the latter are the better of the two and a little Camphire and some Walnut-kernels the fresher the better leaving the bitter skins upon them put all these into common Vinegar and with this infusion moisten every morning thy temples mouth and nostrils and the beating arteries of both thy wrists taking down a good spoonful of it and thou hast a good preservative If it be cold weather take Angelica-roots Zedoaria white Dittany some dried Citron-peels and a little Camphir infuse them all in Brandy especially in such as is made out of Wormwood or Juniper-berries Of this liquor drink in the morning a spoonful But if thou be of a hot constitution then content thy self with the former Acetum in which you may mix a little Treacle Some advise to take fasting some of the Juyce of Marigold freshly express'd out of the flower and leaves as a good preservative against the Infection This I have not tried but I have often in such cases used the Acetum of Marigold-flowers especially for a cordial and sudorisick and I think with very good success Or make an Electuary of Rue and Juniper-berries of each equal quantity adding thereto a double quantity of Walnuts with their bitter skin on them some Figs a little Treacle and a little Saffron beat them together in a mortar and pour on them whilst thou art beating as much Rue-vinegar as will reduce it to a thick Puls or Electuary Of this take the bigness of a hasel-nut or two fasting Take the roots of the greater Burr-dock and those of Celondine both well cleared and the bark of Ash infuse them 24 hours in half White-wine and half Rue-vinegar then distill it and in the distilled water mix a little Brimstone-oyl to render it a little sowrish Of this take two spoonfuls in the morning for a preservative But if any be already infected with the Plague let him take of the same six or eight spoonfuls at a time and sweat upon it it being a very sudorifique liquor which under the name of Aqua Bardana composita hath been used by me and my Collegues in Hospitals and other places with very great success You may mix some Mithridate with it if you please Else take Carlina Imperatoria Serpentaria Valerian Saxifrage Tormentill Gentian Angelica and Zedoaria all cut small infuse them in Brandy and drink of it a spoonful in the morning for a preservative but if thou hast the contagion take two spoonfuls to sweat upon it in case the pestilential poyson be not yet broken out and the Patients tongue not dry but if it be content thy self with the newly prescribed Acetum as being more safe and an inflammation being to be feared from the Brandy Hold Zedoar Angelica Lovage or Imperatoria in thy mouth but if thou be subject to the Head-ach then cut it first small and infuse it in Vinegar and let it stand infused for the space of 24 hours then take it out again dry it and use it as prescribed above Amongst the good Preservatives reckon this also Take Garden-rue beat it in a mortar pour Vinegar on it and strain all through a cloth mix some Treacle with it set it by in a glass and take of it in the morning half a spoonful or a whole Put a little Camphir to it if you will have it stronger Or put Camphir in Wormwood-wine and drink a good draught of it every morning When I served in times of great mortality I infused in Wine Carduus benedictus Wormwood Scordium Dictamne of Creet Burnet-roots and Citron-peels and after I had taken every morning a good mess of sowrish broth I drank after it a good glass of this infusion As long as the herbs retain a bitterness fresh wine may be infused upon them Infuse also white and well cleansed Garlick in Acetum made of Rue and take of it a spoonful or two in the morning In the Apothecary-shops are Pills call'd Pestilential Pills Among these cause a little Camphir to be mixt and of it let Pills be made of which take at once three or four every week taking them in a spoonful of White-wine an hour before supper These prevent all inward putrefaction and keep off all infection nor do they suffer any collection of morbifique matter within thee though they purge not but only keep the body soluble They are made up of Aloe Myrrhe and Saffron Formerly I have printed a whole Book of such Pills which I call'd Marocostinas in Latin where I have described their vertues at large For the Rich may serve what follows Take Terra Sigillata Bolus Armenus Pulvis Alexipharmacus or Bezoardicum Nicolai or the Cordiales Alexandrini Benedicti item Species de Hydcintho Aqua Stapediana Acetum Theriacale or the Red Hungarian Powder all these serving not only to preserve but also to recover by Gods blessing Provide out of the Apothecaries-shops Pastils of the extract of Angelica or Zedoaria take one or two of them in thy mouth every morning and there let them melt down Keep thy body clean every way be chearful avoid rashness nor be affraid considering that many have been infected by fear terrour and melancholy Chear thy self up now and then with a glass of good and sincere Wine but not to excess Never fasting nor never full One that is empty will soon be caught with this distemper especially if he live amongst infected people If he do let him
drink a good draught of Wormwood-wine Juniper-berry-wine Rosemary Sage or Zedoar-wine which may keep thee from many dangers But remember not to drink more of it than will chear thee up and revive thy Spirits At least drink a little Wine with Camphir and Vinegar kindling the Camphir and letting it burn in the Wine so as to let it sink into it for if it burn on the top it will there remain swimming And if the Wine be skinned over with it kindle it again till it be quite burnt out Take of Camphir for one draught the quantity of a pease but if thou be subject to the Head-ach then Camphir will not agree with thee In case that any come to be infected he is forthwith to be separated from the sound and to be laid to bed so as his head and shoulders may lye somewhat high by which means he will be less subject to faintness Then let him presently take some sudorifick Medicine to make him sweat for if the poyson be not speedily driven from the heart the Patient is lost You are also to take great care that this Distemper prevail not and to endeavour to discover it before the Patient be quite disabled For as soon as any begins to droop grows melancholy faint and feeble in his limbs so as that he is hardly able to hold up his head drawing his breath with difficulty letting his head fall to and fro losing his stomach growing yellowish about his eyes with the apples of his eyes standing out finding head-ach interrupted heats and colds as soon I say as these symptoms appear in times of the Plague Spotted Feavers Hungarian Disease c. you may then look to it by times forasmuch as such Patients that are already infected go often about until the sixth or eighth day as I have known my self until the lurking poyson of the heart has got the prevalency and then the poor Patient is quite cast down and often dyes in very few days and even in a few hours Wherefore thou art not to stay till the swellings and boils appear behind the ears under the arms c. or till the Carbuncles Bubo's and the like break out but thou art immediately to make use of the best Medicines thou canst be Master of to drive out the poyson if thou wilt save thy life I never found any thing that was considerable done in the Plague by means of Purging and Bleeding but rather on the contrary all those that had Spots if they were purged or let blood soon after died However I will prescribe nothing magisterially to any man let every one endeavour to do what he can give a good account of I have together with my Collegues treated many hundreds in our Hospitals infected with the Plague without ever opening a vein and yet we have by Gods blessing recovered near 600 persons besides those that by the same mercy we have cured in their several Houses Now to procure sweat in the very beginning take the quantity of two hasel-nuts of Treacle dissolve it in common Vinegar but if thou canst have a cordial Acetum made of Rosemary Lavender Elder-blossoms Rue Roses or Elder-berries use it much rather and give it the Patient to sweat Or take the roots of Celondine boyl them in Vinegar and dissolve some Treacle in it Or take Carduus benedictus Rue Petasites or Butter-burr a little Angelica Zedoaria or Saxifrage-roots boyl them together in half White-wine and half Vinegar or only Water dissolve a little Treacle or Mithridate in it and let the Patient take it warm to make him sweat Mithridate hath the like virtue with Treacle yet neither of them are safe to take for Women with Child old Persons and young Children You may also make use to good purpose of the Saxon-powder taking of it the weight of a Ducat in Carduus benedictus Scabius or Sorrel-water which Powder is thus to be prepared Take Valerian half an ounce Celondine or Nettel-roots of each one ounce Polypody Althaea or March-mallow wild Angelica of each two ounces of garden Angelica four ounces of the rind of Laurcola or Lowry an ounce and an half These roots are to be dug up in their best strength viz. between the middle of August and the middle of September and being cleansed they are to be cut small and then put in a glazed pot pouring a sharp Vinegar upon it so as to cover it two inches high Then lute on the cover with a lute made of whites of Eggs and Flower let all be boiled upon a gentle fire then pour off the liquor and dry the roots and reduce them to powder mixing with it some 26 berries of Herbe Paris or One-Berrie which look like Pepper-corns very good against poison and thus the powder is made This herb grows in shadowed and moderately moist places I have found of it several times in Koshinger-wood near Ingolstad It hath four leaves on one stalk and one berry on the top An herb belonging to the family of Solanum's or Night-shades whence the leaves of it do very much cool Inflammations especially those of the Eyes when laid upon them Take notice of Sorrel bruise some of it and pour Vinegar on 't the Rue-acetum is the best and strain the juice through a cloth put into it a little powder of Angelica about the weight of half a Ducat or of the root of Dictam or of Butter-burr or a little Treacle or Mithridate and give it to sweat On this occasion of mentioning Dictam I must add that in our Countrey there grows only the white Dictam which is among others an excellent Antidote but you must take of it the double quantity and weight to that of Creta You may boil of the root of half an ounce in half White-wine and half Vinegar or instead of the Wine in Carduus-benedictus water and drink of the Decoction warm and put your self to sweat or take of the powder of it a drachm and an half in warm broth with a little Vinegar for the same purpose The Dictam of Creta hath hairy leaves and purpureous blossoms and is used in the preparation of Treacle This herb by its odour drives away Serpents The wild Goats being hurt by any Arrows eat this herb and 't is said that by this means the Arrows fall out of the wound This perhaps hath no other ground than that of the Poet Virgil affirming that Venus with this herb healed her Son Aeneas when wounded in the War His words are Aeneid 12. Hîc Venus indigno nati concussa dolore Dictamnum genitrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida Puberibus caulem foliis flore comantem Purpureo non illa feris incognita Capris Gramina cùm tergo volucres haesêre sagittae About this time came in the Hungarian Infection which was a Disease that bred such a putrefaction in the bodies of Men that even when they were near death they fell a vomiting but that with such a stench that no body could endure it Here those
Medicines do well that preserve the body from putrefaction for the Plague Spotted Feavers and the Hungarian Distemper proceed all from inward corruption And of them the Plague attacks the Spirits residing in the Heart and so killeth very quickly whereas Spotted Feavers have their seat in the Blood and therefore do last twelve fourteen and sometimes twenty days before they kill But the Hungarian Disease is seated chiefly in the putrified Phlegm of the Head and Brains whence those that labour under it are tormented with great and maniacal head-ach But though these three Diseases have their rise from one and the same cause Putrefaction and are to be cured by the same remedies yet is therein required the discretion of a prudent Physitian for the ordering and prescribing of Medicines according to circumstances Take a drachm of Zedoary give it pulverised to the Patient in Acetum of Rue or Elder or Marigold-flowers or even in common Vinegar Let him sweat upon it 'T is good against all sorts of venom and causeth a sweet breath as resisting inward corruption In the Apothecary Shops you find an Electuary called Diascordium found by that famous Physitian Hieronymus Fracastorius It is like to Treacle and Mithridate only 't is red from some Ingredients giving it that colour This may be used with safety by Women with Child young Children and all sorts of Persons whereas as was said above Treacle and Mithridate may not It is made chiefly of Scordium or Water-Germander which hath the smell of Leek when bruised Galen in his first Book De Antidotis Chap. 12. writeth that when in a great battel some slain bodies chanced to fall upon this Herb they rotted not as far as they were touched by this Herb. The said Fracastorius did compound this his Diascordium out of this Herb Scordium Tormentil Serpentaria Gentian Bole Armeniac and Terra Sigillata and such like Ingredients It is chiefly to be used in the hot Diseases of the Head which I have done many a hundred times Take of it the weight of about two ducats in common Vinegar or in Elder-water or rather in the expressed Juyce of fresh Sorrel and sweat upon it T is very good especially in the Hungarian Sickness and other venomous and infectious Diseases To young People you may give a lesser quantity and proportionably you are to lessen the dose for Women with Child or in Child-bed and little Children Besides take notice of the Powder of Doctor Hessius which hath been used with great benefit and is thus prepared Take a drachm of Sugar-candy a quarter of an ounce of pulverised Ginger and a drachm of Camphir reduce all to a fine powder give of it to the infected Patient the weight of a drachm in Vinegar mingled with the water of Marigold-flowers Scabious or Sorrel and sweat upon it If you have none of these waters then look that the Vinegar be not too sharp and to that end dilute it with some wine and water Mean time though in this case I highly value Camphir yet in stead of Ginger I would use Zedoary Saxifrage Carlina or Imperatoria or the true Petasites or Butter-burr Again Brimstone is none of the meanest remedies in these infectious cases for it preserves the body from putrefaction Wherefore take of the noble Flowers of Sulphur a quarter of an ounce being sublimed from Colcothar add to it one scruple of Camphir an ounce of the Spirit or Oyl of Cyprian or Venetian Turpentine Put all this into a Glass-head lute it well and put it upon hot sand or ashes whereby the Oyl of Turpentine will come to open the Brimstone and produce a red colour like a Ruby or at least as yellow as a high-colour'd Hyacinth Of this give some to the Patient three or four times mingled with a little Treacle or in Sorrel Cardobenedictus or Scabious-water This Balsom is excellent also in sore Breasts that are growing purulent taken in warm broth or in a good wound-drink But this must be in cases of no great heat or inflammation in which it would be dangerous Amongst all the Remedies which serve against Infectious Diseases that of Henricus Stapedius to be found in my Book de Pestilentia is an excellent one and perhaps the best for curing as well as preserving of which half a spoonful being taken fasting is able to keep a Man well for twelve hours or more But if any be already infected he must take of it at any time immediately to the quantity of a spoonful and an half or two spoonfuls for sweating Which is to be repeated every eighteen or twenty four hours to make the Patient sweat till he recover or till the Pestilential Boyls and Carbuncles break out behind the Ears under the Arms or else-where This Water though it be somewhat dear yet its vertue countervailes its price The older it grows the more vertue it hath Many have ascribed great efficacy to the Blood of Animals Thus old Democritus witness Galen prepared an Electuary of such Blood called Diathaematôn Some esteem much the Blood of Storks because they eat Toads and Snakes others value the Blood of Hens because they eat Spiders and other venomous Infects I should esteem most the Flesh or Blood of Badgers which is to be dried in the shade and that done you must mix with it Saffron Camphir and some or other of the Anti-pestilential roots as of Angelica Zedoaria or the like together with a little live Brimstone to the quantity of a ducat which is to be taken in Acetum of Rue or Marigold-flowers or Walnuts and in case of want of these in common Vinegar Upon which the Patient is to sweat If thou art a good husband have ready a good Acetum of Rue Walnut-kernels and Marigold-flowers taking the greater quantity of Rue and as you use it fill it up again with Acetum of Elder-berries The Rich do use for their Physick in the time of the Plague the red Hungarian as also the Imperial red and gray Powder Bezoar Harts-horn Antidotum Matthioli Terra Sigillata Bole Armeniack Scorzonera and Contrayerva Species de Gemmis Diamargariton de Hyacintho and other high Medicines of which I have largely discoursed in my above-cited Book De Pestilentia But I though I have used such remedies among the Rich yet I content my self commonly with the plainer and most common Medicines of which I have more knowledge and experience The Pickle of Ebulus or Walwort aliàs Dane-wort or Dwarf-elder which is of kin to Elder as also the Pickle of Juniper-berries are also of great use in this case The Physitians of Ausburg made great use in the year 1572 of the red Imperial powder the composition of which is in the Augustan Dispensatory at large as also in my Book de Peste These are the several means to provoke sweat which I esteem to be of great efficacy for that purpose upon a sudden And though Souldiers have not the conveniency of a bed for sweating when they are in a
off the scurn When 't is boiled in put to it an ounce of Bolus Armenus an ounce and a half of Ceruse a quarter of an ounce of Camphir all finely powder'd stirring it well about lastly put it to a quart of sharp Vineger and boil all together to a stony consistence which reduce to powder and of it strew a little into the Ulcer or let some of it dissolve in a convenient liquor and wash the Ulcer therewith or dip some linnen raggs in it and lay it over the place 'T is also prepared this way Take green and white Vitriol of each a drachm of Lapis calaminaris Ceruse Bol Armeniac of each two ounces and a half of Sal Armoniac an ounce Beat them all to powder put them in an earthen pot mingle and stir them together in Vineger to be a thick pulse then put your pot upon a hot charcoal-fire to let it grow red hot so as that the matter be reduced to a stony consistence of which dissolve about half an ounce in half a pint of water dip linnen raggs into it and put it twice a day upon the Ulcer 'T is also very good for purulent Breasts I was speaking above of Lavements These you may prepare of all sorts of Wound-herbs by boiling Consound Bugle Fluellin Ground-ivy Yarrow Snake-weed Avens Arsmare you may also against putrefaction and the settling of purulent matter mix sometimes a little Myrrh or Aloes Epatica Frankincense Mastick quick Brimstone Camphir Niter Allum Vitriol or the like Nor is it need to bind your self to this or that precisely but you may take such of them as you can get I have a peculiar Ulcer-salve which I call Unguentum Decameron being made of ten sorts of Juices Of these the principal is the Juice of Persicaria Arsmart to which are added the Juices of Groundsel Tobacco Yarrow sharp-pointed Dock Cranes-bill broad and pointed Plantain Centory St. Johns-wort and Celondine These Juices must be well strained and then kept for some days in glasses or glased vessels to settle and then very gently pour off the clear from the sediment Which done boil them with fresh butter and some good Licorish newly scraped as also some Tormentil and Cumfrey adding a little red Hounds-tongue salve and Oyl of Myrrh and Deer-suet Let all be boiled together till the cracking cease and the Juice be boiled in Then strain it through a linnen cloth and add to it some Venice-Turpentine Gum Elemi and a little Bees-wax both the latter melted each a part Of the Wax there needs no more than to bring the Salve to a due consistence Then is this Unguent prepared to which may be added a little refined Verdigrease which will make it perfect It is of great efficacy in foul wounds for both cleansing and healing as experience will shew A Chirurgion in meeting with Ulcers is to observe well the purulent matter that issues since he may from thence learn the condition of the evil whether it proceed from foul blood gall corrupt phlegm or adust melancholy If the evil grow worse and the humors of the body force their way copiously thorow then beware and withall exhort the Patient to purge or to sweat with taking some Sassafrass or the like The Sanies or matter that is thick white and well digested is the best but when there runs but a sharp water out of the Ulcer this is not good and is withall painful Which to obviate you must use Litharge Cerusse and the like putting also beaten Lead upon the place and cleansing the fistulat holes with Lead-oyl qualifying its sharpness with Oyl of Eggs. This Lead-oyl is made two ways the one out of Cerusse which is green the other out of Litharge which is yellow or reddish Both are prepared with Vineger Boil Celondine in wine and with this wine you may also cleanse the Ulcer with good effect Mix afterwards a drachm of Verdigrease with about four ounces of the Juyce of Ground-Ivy use it with wiecks or raggs dipt therein for the foul Ulcer-holes Burn Oyster-shells to powder and use it for old Ulcers that need cleansing which this powder will well perform by reason of the Salt that is in those shells You may sometimes have occasion also of the Mercurius praecipitatus or the Mercurius dulcis Cosmeticus If you can prepare this you have a good Remedy As for hard Knobs and Boyls they commonly owing their rise to the Venereal Disease are not so proper for this place However you may make a plaister against such Knobs of the phlegm of Althaea or Marsh-mallows Gummi Ammoniac Galbanum Turpentine Myrrh Missel-toe of the oak mixing a little Bee-wax therewith and some Oyl of Earth-worms If you will have it stronger mix with it Gumm Elemi Tacamahaca or Carana But this can only be compassed by the rich men the poor must be content with the Melilot-plaister mixt with Saffron and the Oyl of Mullain or Dill. You may also prepare for such Patients a Salve of Fox-oyl Dill-oyl Turpentine Man-grease and the like mixing therewith some Oyl of Earth-worms and the Oyl of Mullain-flowers Camomil and white Lillies CHAP. IX Of the Chirurgical means of staunching blood of Wound-balsoms and plaisters of Wound-drinks and remedies for Burnings THis is the most necessary Chapter of this whole Tract For although in every Camp yea in every Regiment and even in every Company there ought to be one or more Chirurgions yet because in a battle or the storming of a strong-hold there may be wounded a very great number of men who by reason of the multitude cannot all be dressed by the Chirurgions every common Souldier that is found and un-hurt is obliged to assist his fellow considering it may soon be his own case In the first place then refresh thy fellow that is wounded with wine cold water vineger or the like then place him in a right posture For if the wounds be in the head or about the breast you ought to lay him high with his head and shoulders that so the blood may sink down from the places wounded If his legg be hurt put it so that it may not hang downwards and thereby the afflux from the body be prevented which otherwise might cause a tumour If the wounds be in the middle of the body then place him so that if possible he may lye somewhat hollow with his back This done wash the wound very gently so as not to anger it with meer wine or even with pure common water only with a very little salt cast into it or with the Patients own urine and then dry it with lint of long-worn linnen without much stirring in the wound for fear of making the veins bleed again If any one do bleed so copiously that it is not easily stopp'd and the Patient is in danger then receive of his blood in an Iron pan and letting it run about therein hold it over the fire till it be dry and between your fingers friable to powder of which strew
in the wounds of the Breast Veronica or Speedwell ought to have it in those about the Kidneys the Herb Strawberry must be preferred in those near the Liver Agrimony will have the precedency and so forth Mean time the Vulnerary Herbs to be used in such occasions are these Sanicle Winter-green Ladies-mantle Speedwell Orpine Mugwort Ground-ivy Strawberry-leaves Agrimony St. Johns-wort Cinquefoil Bugle Tormentil Snakeweed Avens Woodrooff c. You may make an excellent Wound-drink of these four Ingredients viz. Winter-green Orpine Mugwort and Snakeweed boiled in half wine and water but in case there be an inflammation wine is to be forborn or very little of it to be employed If any Bone be broken into splinters do not pull them out with any violence but loosen them with a good Ointment of Eggs keeping the wound open the longer Nature herself will not suffer any splinter to remain behind Now you must be ready with some good thing for blood coagulated in case any person should have been flung down squeesed beaten or fallen from a high place The right powder for this purpose is thus made Take of Terra Sigillata or Bol Armeniac Sanguis Draconis and Mumia ana half an ounce of Sperma Ceti and Rhubarbana half a drachm reduce it to a powder of which give the Patient the weight of about a ducat in wine or chervil-water Or take a good quantity of Chervil boil it in meath or flesh-broath and let the Patient drink a good draught of it warm three times a day Or let him drink a thimble full of Sperma Ceti in beer adding a little butter to it Or take of Mumia half an ounce of Sperma Ceti two drachms of Oculi Cancrorum of which the blew ones which sometimes fall from Crafishes whilst alive are the best three drachms adding to it a little Licorish and Cinnamon and some Tormentil-roots Of this pulverised give every day to the Patient mornings and evenings the weight of about half a ducat and by this means you will expel purulent matter and blood and bony splinters and sometimes even bullets lurking in the flesh not omitting other good Wound-drinks and vulnerary Balsoms Plaisters Ointments and Fomentations Again take of the red Hounds-tongue Ointment of the bigness of a great Walnut dissolve it in warm broath it expels all coagulated blood especially if you mix some Sperma Ceti with it If you have any thorns thistles bullets small shot or the like to draw out where perhaps you cannot reach them with Instruments then burn live Crafishes in a new pipkin until they be reducible to powder but burn them not to ashes This powder mix with Hares-suet and lay it on and you will find a good effect Also take the roots of the big Reed that grows in marishes dry them to be pulverised and mix Virgin-honey with it and lay it upon the part and of the same powder give the Patient to drink twice a day the weight of half a ducat in wine or in broath or in a vulnerary potion if you have any at hand The first of this I learned of the Excellent Doctor Schleer of Constance The excrement of a Gander being applied is also powerful in drawing out Iron Again Quince-wine mingled with vineger and putting some saffron and gun powder amongst it if you give it to one that hath been shot it will do him good Otherwise they make a plaister of the roots of Cumfrey Aron Polypody Juniper and dried Radishes all reduced to powder and mix it with Hares-suet and grey Diachylum making a thick Ointment of it and spreading it over a piece of Hare-skin and so laying it on This is greatly praised especially when seconded with good Wound-drinks of which Masterwort is one of the Ingredients But if you have not this at hand take a Beet and boil it in wine and lay it warm on the wound Likewise young Swallows not yet fledge burnt to powder and this powder made by acetum of Roses into a pulse and laid on does the same You ought also to be provided for the Synovia And if you proceed aright with my Wound-balsom above described and keep the wound warm you may therewith do much good Mix with it ex abundanti the red Earth of Vitriol above discours'd of This Synovia is a dangerous thing and often causeth almost intollerable pain if it be not well handled the Herb of Straw-berries and its Juyce have great vertue in this case Some make use of the White of Eggs Bol Armeniac and the like The Magistery of Allum also belongs hither for Allum mixed with vineger and clapp'd on very warm allays it also Elder-blossoms likewise used every way are effectual in the same case Employ also diligently such Defensive-plaisters as are not fatty because fat lays no hold on water To proceed to Burnings I know almost no better Salve for burning than this Take a Tench or any common Pond-fish fry one or more of them with good butter pour the fatness upon cold water in a broad earthen part and you have an excellent Ointment against Burnings When some years since a Powder-mill was blown up and the Attendants upon the work so miserably burnt that they looked as if they had been rosted they were healed with this Ointment only a little finely powder'd Sage being mixt with it Cream and Linseed-oyl mingled together and raggs moisten'd therein put upon the burnt part healeth though the burning were made with Aquafortis for to my knowledge a certain Chymist that had thus burnt all his arm was thereby restored Or take Oyl of Elder or stale Oyl that hath been long in a burning lamp beat half as much as you take of that of the Whites of Eggs amongst it and anoint the burnt part therewith If you can get no Oyl of Elder take any other cooling Oyl as of Nymphaea Water-lillies Poppy-seeds Violets or Roses or the Oyl of Poplar-buds or of Marâ—h-marigold Flowers If you can have Quince-wine it marvailously extinguishes the burning of any shot dipping a linnen pledget in it and drawing it through the wound or left in it repeating this every twelfth hour The Juyce or Wine of Quinces must be used as it comes from the fruit without any mixture of Sugar This I learn'd from a Nobleman a great Souldier of long experience in the Wars of France the Low Countries and Hungary The Unguentum Jovis made of Henbane Vervain and Butter is also very useful for this purpose Likewise the Ointment of Calx viva which is first six or seven times to be slaked and dulcified with pure water pouring every twelve or sixteen hours fresh water upon it and decanting the former so as to leave always the Calx at the bottom which is then to be mixed with Oyl of Roses or some other cooling Oyl for an Ointment If you be well acquainted with Elder and know how to use it you may obtain out of it one of the best Cures of Burnings especially out of its
or the like and it will become a fine gray Salve curing such running Scabs as aforesaid and cooling also Inflammations If your Body be bound take Sage pulverised and mix it with grease and anoint your Navil with the quantity of a hasel-nut of it This I have with very good success advised to women in childbed that were thus bound and obstructed If you will have it stronger mix with it the Gall of a Fish or of any Animal whatsoever but then you must not give it to a woman in childbed Gromel by the Latins call'd Milium Solis pulverised and the weight of half a ducat of it taken in wine or broath provoketh urine yet must the belly be open'd first The same doth Linaria or Toad-flax boiled in wine or broath Likewise distilled water of Radishes repeating the distillation several times from other fresh Radishes Which will have the better effect if the Patient bath his lower parts in a bath made of Marsh-mallows Melilot and the like Gromel above-mention'd taken in warm broath expels the birth And so do the blossoms or buds of Walnut-trees Crabs-eyes also pulverised and taken in warm broath likewise Issop boiled in wine and drank warm This I have inserted for the sake of poor Souldiers-wives who amongst us often follow the Camp If they have any great After-pains let them bath their lower parts in a Bath made of Dill and Camomil-flowers And the yolks of hard Eggs beaten together with some convenient Oyl Nut-oyl is the best and a Plaister made of it and laid to the belly is also very good If they have too great a profusion of blood let them take a drachm of burnt Harts-horn and burnt Ivory in a convenient Vehicle In case of a mortal wound take of pure Turpentine four ounces wash it with fresh limpid water and then dissolve it over a mild fire which done mix with it two ounces or two ounces and an half of white Wax dissolved apart To this add about three ounces of Womans-milk which is sucked by a Boy The Turpentine and Wax being somewhat cooled together must be well stirr'd and then powred on cold Vineger whence when 't is brought to a consistence it is to be taken off and made into a Plaister and so laid on Horse-tail in Latin Equisetum heals the wounds in the urinary parts the powder of it being taken in broath or speedwel-Speedwel-water or the Decoction thereof being drank Gummi Ammoniac is a good discutient of hard Tumors and Knobs Tacamahaca appeaseth pain proceeding from cold being laid on the part affected To make the pellets used to be put in wounds that are to be kept open which here in Germany we call Quell-maissel take a Spunge of the finest sort put it in Whites of Eggs well beaten and mixed with Rose-water to make the said Spunge imbibe this moisture Which done bind it close together with thred and let it well dry in the Air and so convey of it into the wound that is to be kept open where it will swell again and so distend the wound If you be troubled with the Gonorrhoea take House-leek growing on old walls call'd by the Latins Semper vivum minus put it into your shoes and go bare-foot upon it anoint your loyns and privy parts with Henbane-oyl and take mornings the quantity of two big hasel-nuts of well washed Turpentine for some days together avoiding all aromatic hard and salt meat An old Experimenter hath noted That whosoever shall wash his head twice a week with a Lixivium made of Juniper-ashes his sight shall never fail him but remain good to his end nor shall that person be troubled with any vermin upon his head nor with any head-ach nor suffer any change of his hair For my part I never tryed it but it being a very plain and safe thing I thought good here to insert it Against the biting of a Mad-dog lay Assa fatida with Garlick upon the bite it will draw out the venom To free your self from the Gravel make a Decoction of Ash-wood in wine and drink of it warm once or twice a day upon an empty stomach using withall good baths Vervin also the leaves and roots beaten together and drank is very good in this case If you have a strong breath proceeding from a foul stomach infuse Wormwood and Carduus benedictus together with some Citron-peels in wine and let them boil a little therein and then drink a good draught of it mornings Chew also and swallow sometimes a little Myrrh and take now and then three or four Aloes-pills I could add many other things if my leisure would permit These which I have set down you will take in good part and though I have not tryed them all my self yet you may rest assured that such as have not been experimented by my self have been tryed by my honoured Collegues and other honest persons and approv'd FINIS INDEX A. AIr what to be observed of it in the Campy 9. Preservatives against the corruption of the Air 21 c. Animals their blood of what efficacy 45. Antonies fire how to be allayed 140 141. B. BElly the cure of the Aches and Tumors and Gripings thereof 65 66. Beer new beer causes the Strangury 12. Blood how to cure casting up of blood 54. And the bleeding of the Nose ibid. Blood coagulated how to be helped 133 145. Boyls pestilential and their cure 92 seq Brick well burnt good against a Tenasmus 87. Brimstone a good Medicine in infectious cases 41. Bread wheaten-bred coming hot out of the oven and dipt in red wine very good against Fluxes 75. The same duely prepared good in pestilential Sores 94. Bones broken how to be order'd 131. Bran good for wrenching of Limbs 131. Burning how to be healed 137. C. CArbuncles pestilential and their cure 92. Carlina good against faintness 6. Chirurgions of an Army and their qualities 14. Cold Nights how to provide against 8. Corns of the Feet how to be cured 4. Cough and its cure 54. Crafishes burnt alive good against the Bloody-flux 80. Crafishes after a certain way prepared of great use for drawing out of the body thorns small-shot c. 135. The same fried in fresh butter allays burning 141. Crocus Martis a high Remedy against the Bloody-flux 81. Clysters and their use in the field 83. Chearfulness good in pestilential times 31. D. DAisie and its excellency 13. Diseases in an Army and their cure 18 c. Diet to be well observed in the Camp 20. Drinks how to provide in the field 7. The excess of it to be avoided 12. The danger of drinking whilst one is hot and the care to be taken in that case 12 13. Drinks in cold weather 25. Drawing out of thorns splinters c. how to be effected 135. 145. Dropsie and its cure 72. Drought how to be remedied 85. E. EGg-oyl good for Burnings 140. Elder-flowers good in the plague 24. 48. Elder-vineger good to apply to the Heart in the plague 48. Elder-roots
small pellets called by the Germans Quellmaisseln dipt in a Salve made for this purpose out of fresh Butter Yolks of Eggs and Turpentine well mixt together cold But it happens sometimes that such Bubo's by reason of the venomous matter do eat in or grow fistulous or make matter-baggs in which the matter settles In this case you must use the Unguentum fuscum Apostolicum or the Aegyptiacum Or make the following water to be squirted into such Sores namely of Celondine Scordium or Water-germander Carduus-benedictus Centory or the like Herbs together with Tormentil and Whitlow-grass all boiled in wine If the Sores be very ill you may boil with it some quick Brimstone and Myrrh and if need be mix with it a little fine Verdigrease Or take Honey four ounces and an half a quarter of an ounce of Aloes Epatica a drachm of Salt an ounce and a half of Scordium mix all well together and keep it for use and when you have occasion for any of it then dissolve it in wine and spirt it in Mean time enlarge the opening of the Boyls with the aforesaid pellets that so the matter may have vent enough and come away without any impediment The Unguent of Ulysses Aldrovandus is also very good for the clearing of such Sores and 't is made of Oyl of Roses the Juyce of broad Plantain sharp-pointed Dock Centory and Night-shade with a little Litharge burnt Lead and prepared Camphir Instead of the Juyce of Night-shade you may take that of Cumfry As for the Sores call'd Anthraces and those they call Carbuncles great care must be taken to break them soon and to heal them slowly that so the poisonous matter may all come away They ripen and break soonest by fatty but not hot Plaisters and Unguents especially such as are made of butter leaven yolks of Eggs and Honey or if you mix together Turpentine Unguentum Populeum or Rose-salve mixt with yolks of Eggs or the Unguentum Anodynum mixt with the Ointment of Hounds-tongue and laid on it It must be often refreshed because such hot Sores and Ulcers before they break do so draw waste and as 't were lick up those fatnesses that sometimes of the plaisters that have lain on them there remains nothing but the bare ragg The Emplastrum Basilicon or the common yellow drawing plaister is here the most useful You must also surround the Anthrax with good defensives for if it invade the neighbouring part never so little it will soon make a large halo or circle which will at length separate from the sound and fall away like an escarre For such defensives make use of Album Camphoratum or the Unguentum de Liquiritia known by our people under the name of Dr. Mindererus his Licorish-ointment Item the Unguentum de Lithargyro or the Unguentum Jovis prepared of fresh Butter with Thlaspiminus or Bowyers Mustard otherwise Narrow-leaved wild Cresses Cranes-bill Elder Poppy Vervain and some shaved Licorish Some take nothing but Vervain and the fresh leaves of Henbane beaten together and the Juyce strained and so used Of this Ointment you may make much with confidence for it will do you very good service in Inflammations especially in the case of the swelling of the groins Amongst the approved Medicines for this purpose may deservedly be reckoned the plaister made of Soot which is thus to be prepared Take of the finest Chimney-soot one ounce and a quarter of Leaven Turpentine and fresh Butter ana one ounce of Venetian Soap an ounce and a half two yolks of Eggs of Treacle and Mithridate ana a quarter of an ounce Beat all these together in a mortar and so reduce it to a paste and then use it plaister-wise When the Anthrax or the Carbuncle is broken you must then handle it very gently and discreetly using only the above described Egg-salve putting it into the opening and covering the Sore only with the common yellow drawing plaister or the plaister prepared of Oyl Wax and Rosin or Turpentine Let the matter work out well and when you are sure that 't is very clean and have a mind to consolidate it make only use of Triapharmâ—con iâ— vulgarly call'd the brown Diachylon you may besides put into it some of the Unguentum de Tutia and that of the Diapompholox and one of the plaisters of them upon it The Ulme-plaister also made of Oyl and Ceruse heals also very well But be very careful lest any of the matter remain lurking in the Ulcer If here and there any should be found yet remaining as often happens then make use of the Emplastrum Apostolorum But if you can prepare the Diapalma otherwise called Diacalcithros make use of that I am wont to call it the Fistula-plaister because it doth not easily suffer Fistula's to stink but keeps them clean and sweet Such a plaister is also that which is called Isis to be found in Galen and performing the same thing They are both to be found in the Augustan Dispensatory together with the way of preparing them Now what concerns Old Sores which many are troubled with in their Leggs especially because the humors of the body usually settle there you must above all things be careful to keep them clean and to that end wash them at least once a day with your own urine Or boil Carduus-benedictus Egrimony Plantain and roots of Tormentil in half small meath and half wine and wash the Ulcer with it as often as you dress it Among the common plaisters for such evils is the brawn Diachylum one of the best Else you may prepare this Ointment which follows Take the middle rind of Elder and St. Johns-wort boil them in oyl putting a little wine to it and so let it boil up till the wine be boiled away then take it off from the fire and let it cool this done stir a little Turpentine amongst it and a yolk or two of Eggs according as you make a greater or lesser quantity mixing with it a little Allum and Vitriol the white is the best stir all well together and apply it to the Ulcer and make a bandage and cover it as usually For a good Drawing-plaister take Rosin Bee-wax and Oyl-olive the quantity of the Rosin must be but the half of the Wax Let them melt together and stir amongst it some Tartar exquisitly powder'd Use not much of fatty things to such Ulcers I have had under my care such Ulcers that were to be healed with only dry things as with strewing in of Crocus Martis and the red Earth of Vitriol of which hereafter For this reason the antient Physitians and Chirurgions invented a dry Stone which they kept so secret that they called it Lapis Philosophorum which is easily made as followeth Take Allum Hungarian Vitriol of each one pound beat them to powder and mix them well together then put all into a glased earthen pot and pour upon it two quarts of water boil them together and stir them continually with a Spatula taking