the method of curing vvounds made by gun-shot also by arrowes and darts, with their accidents. written by ambrose parie of laual, counsellor and chiefe chirurgean to the french king. faithfully done into english out of the french copie, by walter hamond chirurgean. methode de traicter les playes faictes par hacquebutes et aultres bastons à feu. english paré, ambroise, ?- . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the method of curing vvounds made by gun-shot also by arrowes and darts, with their accidents. written by ambrose parie of laual, counsellor and chiefe chirurgean to the french king. faithfully done into english out of the french copie, by walter hamond chirurgean. methode de traicter les playes faictes par hacquebutes et aultres bastons à feu. english paré, ambroise, ?- . hamond, walter, fl. . [ ], , [ ] p. : ill. printed by isaac iaggard, and are to be sold in barbican, london : . a translation of: la methode de traicter les playes faictes par hacquebutes et aultres bastons à feu. woodcut illustration on title page. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng wounds and injuries -- treatment -- early works to . medicine -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - olivia bottum sampled and proofread - olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the method of curing wounds made by gun-shot . also by arrowes and darts , with their accidents . written by ambrose parie of laual , counsellor and chiefe chirurgean to the french king. faithfully done into english out of the french copie , by walter hamond chirurgean . london printed by isaac iaggard , and are to be sold in barbican . . to the right honourable , generall cecill . my lord , the common-wealth hath beene compared by many ( and that verie fitly ) to a goodly and well-composed idifice , which consisteth of manie parts , different both in vse and substance ; whereof some serue to sustaine the waight of the building , as pillars , and such are the nobility : others , to containe or keepe the same in an vniformity , as beames ; and such may bee compared to the magistracy : others to defend and couer the frame , from the violence of outward iniuries , as rafters and postes , which may be referred to the comminalty . now , we doe obserue , that as in all priuate buildings that consisteth onely of these three parts , they cannot bee saide to bee perfect without other things for their finishings ; whereof some are ornaments , and serue but to beautifi● ; others for vse and nec●ssity . euen so , in the publike weale , besides the three aforesaide principall parts , there are required other seuerall adiuncts , which are to be e●teem●d and respected according to th●●r formall or necessary vses . amo●gst the which ( right honourable ) this following treatise may hold one chiefe ranke ( es●eci●lly in these times ) to continue it for occasion . it receyued birth from the lamentable experience of the french ciuill warres , by that famous and renowned chirurgean ambrose parie , cherished by diuers kings of france : and hauing bene gratefully accepted in most part of our christian world , it doth now giue it selfe vnder your lordshippes protection : put not into fine and rhetoricall phrases , but into our home-spun english ; such as best suiteth with this rough and boysterous subiect . c●ncerning the worthinesse of the author , or woorth of the worke , my testimony would rather detract then adde . onely thus much , that as amongst all humane sciences physicke is the most excellent ; and in physicke , chirurgerie is the most authenticke and ancient ; so this operation is of chirurgery the most vrgent and necessary , or rather an abstract of the whole art of chirurgerie . against obiection , i haue your lordshippes patronage for my defence , and therein i shall thinke my selfe as safe as in an armour of proofe ; knowing that it is a point of greatnesse , as well to defend the weake , as to resist the strong . by your lordships truly deuoted , walter hamond , chirurgian . to his louing brethren , the yong students and apprentises in chirurgery : more especially , those that doe th●ir country seruice o● the seas . walter hamond one of their society , wisheth all encrease of knowledge . louing brethren , and my kind companions and fellow-trauellors , you haue heere presented vnto your fauourable acceptance , a treatise of the cure of wounds made by gunne-shot : the worthinesse whereof , i cannot better expresse , then to say parie wrote it ; a man experienced with forty yeeres practise , at that time when france did most groane vnder the burthen of the vnciuill ciuill factions , bred by her home-bred enemies ; wherein there was not any notable assault , siege , nor battel fought , but ambrose parie was chiefely imployed about the cure of wounded souldiers , as hee himselfe testifieth in his owne booke of voyages and trauels . accept it therfore thankfully , as a gift from the author , as it was first intended . and although it may be obiected , that in these peaceable times this treatise is of little vse , and therefore vnprofitable : true it is , and with thankfulnesse to be acknowledged , we liue in a calme and quiet age , but is therefore this so necessary and worthy a document to be neglected ? because it hapneth but sildome , wee are the more vnacquainted with the cure : and as amongest all the engi●es that the malice of man could euer inuent for the ruine of man , artillery is the cruellest and most dangerous , because that neither strength or policy are able to preuent the fury therof : therefore the method that reacheth vs to cure those wounds after so easie and excellent a way as is here described , must needs be accounted most needfull and beneficiall . but howsoeuer , i doe not doubt , but that you my kinde friends , who with galen trauell to benefit your country , and enrich your experienccs , that you ( i say ) doe know the vse and necessitie of this subiect . and although there are diuers extant at this time ; yet neuerthelesse , this doeth deserue the best place in your good opinions , because that the translation heereof , was first vndertaken for your sakes onely . farewell . vvalter hamond chirurgean . to his most worthy , and euer to be respected master , arthur doughton , chirurgean . his seruant , walter hamond , humblie commendeth and committeth this treatise of gun-shot , vnto his most iudicious censure . sonet . not for you were my master ( though that name shall sway me more then any other can ) nor out of any priuate hope , or aime , more then my duty , i engaged am : but onely for you are a chirurgean ; and one whose practise and experience ( two things that crownes the artists excellence ) time and the vvarres , by sea and land began . then since you are most worthy this respect , i should be too ingratefull to neglect your wel-tride iudgement ( though the enuious grudge ) yet if with mildest c●nsure you suruay this following treatise , i dare boldly say , parie will haue a fauourable iudge . your seruant w. h. the preface . before i enter into the description of wounds made by gun-shot , and the curation of them , it seemeth vnto mee to bee very conuenient , ( to bring the reader into an appetite , before i place him at this table , serued forth in so many seuerall dishes , seasoned with salt-peter ) to discourse heere briefly of the first inuentors of this so pernicious & dangerous an instrument of warre : and into how many kindes it hath beene diuersified and varied , euery kinde thereof hauing a name imposed theron , according to his vse and hurtful quality towards mankind . polydorus virgill in his second booke of the inuentors of things , chap. . saith , that artillery was first inuented by an alleman of base condition : and that by a sudden and vnexpected accident . this man borne for the ruine and destruction of mankind , hauing kept in a morter for some certaine intention of the aforesaid powder ( which since by reason of the principall vse thereof hath beene called gunpowder ) the which hee couered with a stone : it happened , that in striking of fire with his steele and tinder , a small sparke fell into this morter , and presently the powder hauing taken fire , the force thereof did beare away the stone with violence ; the which did both astonish and amaze him , and also taught the force of that comixture not knowne before : so that making a little hollow instrument or pipe of yron , and composing of the aforesaid powder , he made tryall of that engine , and seeing the effect fall out according to his desire , he first taught vnto the venetians the vse of this deuillish inuention , in the warre which they had against the genowaies in the yeere of our redemption . in a place heretofore called the clodian valley , but now chioggia . neuerthelesse , according to the opinion of petrus massa , in the eight chapter of the first part of his diuers lessons , this inuention should be more ancient , because that in the chronicle of alphonsus the eleuenth king of castile , who conquered the argezirian iles , it is recorded that in those warres , which was in the yeere . the besieged moores shot at their enemies out of certaine mortors of yron the seuerall reports whereof , caused an exceeding horrible sound in the ayre , equall vnto that of thunder . the lord don pedro , bishop of leon , in the chronicle of king alphonsus hee that conquered toledo , writeth , that in a battell by sea , which was betwixt the king of tunis , and the king of seuill , a moore , ( it being foure hundred yeeres agoe and more ) whose part the king alphonsus fauoured : those of tunis had in their ships certaine engines of yron or bombards , with the which they shot against their enemies . by this it appeares that artillery hath beene heretofore in vse , although it neuer came to perfection till this present . the inuenter of this engine hath had but little recompence , for his name and profession are altogether vnknowen to the world , as being not vnworthy of any memory for such a wicked and damnable inuention . howbeit andrew the●et in his cosmographie speaking of the sweuians , a people neere about the low-countries , writeth out of the authority of an old written booke , that the aforesaid german had been in former time a monke , philosopher or alcumist by profession , of the countrey of fribourg : his name constantine anelzen . yet howsoeuer this engine was first called bombard , by reason of the sound that it causeth : which the latines conformably doe call bombus . since the time of the first inuention thereof , being before rude and imperfect : the time ; art , but aboue all , the malice of men haue added much vnto it . for first of all , for the matter it selfe , it being first of yron , they haue since beene cast of brasse or copper , mettals more forcible , and tractable : besides lesse subiect vnto rust . secondly , at the first they were but simply formed , and as it were but a rude masse of yron ; but since they haue beene diuersified into an hundred fashions , yea vnto the mounting of them on wheeles , to the end that they might be caried with the more swiftnesse ; and as it were run to the ruine and destruction of men ; the first mortor pieces not being sufficient or cruell enough to vomit forth fire and shot . from thence haue proceeded these horrible monsters , as cannons , doubles cannons , bastards , muskets , fowlers , and morter pieces , &c. these furious beasts of culuerings , serpentines , basilisks , sakers , falcons , falconnets , chambers , murderers , and infinite other kindes , all of diuers names , not onely drawne and taken from their figure and qualitie , but also from their effects and cruelty . wherein truely they shewed themselues wise and vnderstood well the thing they vndertooke . i meane those that first imposed such names which are not onely taken from the most rauenous animals , as from sakers , & falcons : but also from the most dangerous enemies of mankind , as from serpents , snakes , and basiliskes , to shew , that such engines haue no other vse ; and were not inuented for any other end or intention , but onely to destroy suddenly and cru●lly the life of man : and that hearing them onely named , we should haue them in horrour and detestation . i omit to speake of other pieces lesse in body and substance , but in force and cruelty more dangerous . for so much as they can take away our liues neere at hand , and may surprise vs by treason , being without all meanes of preuention : such are the pistols , dags , and such like , which easily may be hidden in a mans pocket . betwixt these two kindes before spoken of , the harquebuz of crocke holds a meane , the which cannot be shot off vnlesse it be first bound or fixed in some peece of wood : the caliuer which cannot be discharged at the cheeke , by reason of their thicke and short stocks , but are helde against the breast . also the common muskets all : which haue beene inuented for the commoditie of footmen for shot and bullets . the generall word imposed by the latines is sclopus , through the imitation of the sound , & by the italians sclopoterre , by the frenchmen , harquebuze , a word also taken from the italians , by reason of the touch-hole , by which the fire first entreth into the piece : for the italians call a hole buzio ▪ and it is called arc from the word arcus a bow , because they are vsed at this present instead of bowes formerly vsed in the time of warre . for in former time the archers held the same front in the battell , which the muskettiers doe at this present . from this miserable shop and magazin of cruelty haue sprong these mines , countermines , fire bals , fire pots , burning arrowes , lances , and crossebowes , murderers , wilde fires , and other hellish inuentions , bags , traines , torches , circles , oranges , grenados , crossebowes , chaineshot , winged shot , and such like . a most miserable inuention , by the which we sometimes see thousands of poore men in a mine pressed to death , and buried quicke in the bowels of the earth ; others in the heat of battel , being surprised with one of the aforesaid engines , doth burne them so cruelly in their armour , insomuch that the water it selfe cannot restraine and extinguish the fury of that fire . thus are both the yron and fire armed against vs , to take away our liues through the malice of men , for the conseruation whereof they were at the first created . truely when i heare the engines spoken of , vsed by our ancients , either in their warres or assaults : as their bowes , darts , crossebowes ; or to force and beat downe walles , as their rammes , horses , and such like : me thinks i doe heare spoken of children play-games , in comparison of those now in vse . the which , to speake properly and truely , doe surpasse in figure and crueltie the dreadfullest and cruellest thing that can be thought on . what can be imagined in this world to be more dreadfull and furious then the thunder ? and yet neuerthelesse , the ordinary and naturall thunder is nothing in a maner to these infernall engines : which may easily be comprehended by comparing the effects of the one with the other . nature would herein-honour and priuiledge man in this aboue all other creatures ; for man onely dyeth not alwayes being strooke with thunder : but to the contrary , other animals that are subiect to the thunder , being touched therewith , doe die suddenly . for all animalls being strooke with thunder , do fall on the contrary side : man only dieth not vnlesse he fall on the side stricken , or by not being presently turned by force from that side : but the artillery spareth man no more then beasts , without discretion on what side soeuer it hapned or strooke , on what side soeuer it doth reuerse them , it carieth away life and all . there are many remedies to preserue a man from the violence of thunder . for besides those charmes wherein the ancient romanes put much confidence , beleeuing that thereby the force of thunder might be coniured or diuerted . the thunder-bolts are neuer seene to descend lower then fiue foot into the earth ; from thence it commeth that those that are fearefull of thunder doe make themselues caues or hollow vaults in the earth , therein to retire themselues as in a place of saftie . it is said also that the bay tree is neuer strooke with thunder , and therefore in times past , and is at this day taken for a victorie . wherefore the emperour tiberius fearing thunder exceedingly aboue all other things , caused himselfe to be crowned with a wreath of bayes , at the least sound he heared in the ayre . i haue reade also that others for the like occasion haue made themselues tents of the skinnes of sea-calues , because that this animall hath this gift in particular , neuer to be touched by thunder . the eagle is said also to haue this priuiledge aboue all other foules , neuer to be touched by thunder , and therefore he is called iupiters bird , as saith pliny lib. . cap. . & . but against the artillery , charmes , and incantations preuaile nothing : neither the victorious bayes , nor the sea calfe , nor any thing whatsoeuer : no not an opposed wall it selfe , of ten foot in thicknesse . briefly , this sheweth the inuincible fury of artillery , in respect of thunder in this . for the thunder may be dissipated by the ringing of bels , the sound of basons , or by the discharging of ordinance : for the concussion of the clouds meeting together violently , causeth the thunder : and by the aforesaid agitation of the ayre ; they are discipated and dispersed . but the fury and pride of artillery will not be appeased by any thing whatsoeuer . there are some times and regions which are exempt and freed from thunder ; for thunder was neuer seene in the hart of winter , nor in the midst of summer , the which happeneth by two contrary reasons . for in winter the aire is very thicke , as also the cloudes ; and therefore those exhalations of the earth are easily dispersed and distinguished , being of themselues but cold and glaciall . from thence it commeth to passe that the country of scithia , and other cold countries thereabouts , as tartary , liuonia , muscouia , russia , & other neighbor countries are exempt from thunder , as to the contrary , egypt is seldom endamaged by thunder , by reason of the great heat in those part . for the exhalations and vapours of the earth , which are hot and drie : are conuerted through their vehement heat into small cloudes , which haue no force , as saith pliny . but as the inuention , so is the tempest and damage of artillery , dispersed as a contagious pestilence ouer all the earth , and at all times the heauens are sencible of the complaining cryes of those that feele the furious effects thereof . thunder for the most part hath but one blow , but one bolt , and neuer killeth but one man at a time . but artillery at one blow will massacre an hundred men . the thunderbolt oftentimes , as being a naturall thing , falleth as it happeneth , sometimes on a rocke , sometimes on a mountaine , sometimes on a tower , seldome on a man. but the artillery , being guided by the wicked dexteritie of man , coueteth nothing but man , hath quarrell to none but man , him alone hee slayeth , him alone hee chooseth among a thousand other things . the thunderbolt doth a good space of time giue vs warning by the voyce of thunder , the forerunner thereof ; to aduertise vs of the ensuing tempest : but the artillery it striketh in thunder , and thundereth in striking ; sending assoone his mortall bullet into the bowels , as he doth his sound into the eares . this is the reason why we do , & that iustly detest the author of such a hurtfull and pernicious inuention : as to the co●trary , we ought to esteeme those worthy of great praises , who either by words haue studied to reuoke all kings and princes from the practise of such a miserable inuention , or by effects and writings haue stvdied to ordaine and prescribe remedies to those that haue beene wounded thereby : the consideration whereof hath been a principall motiue to me to write of this matter and subiect . but before my pen shall run in this carriere , i will for the easier vnderstanding of the ensuing treatise , which i intend to publish , place two discourses in the beginning of the booke ; to extirpate certaine ancient opinions out of the fantasies of many , which seeme vnto me to be altogether false . vvhich errors vnlesse they are first conuicted ; it is impossible to vnderstand any thing of the essence of this euill , or to doe any profitable action in the cure therof . the first discourse is addressed vnto the reader , condemning by manifest reasons , the errors of vigo , who teacheth to cauterize and burne the wounds made by gunshot , thinking that they did participate of a certaine venenosity , to the contrary approuing , that those that cure those wounds by suppuratiues , is as salubrious and healthfull at that of vigo is cruell and dangerous . the second discourse is addressed to king charles the ninth ; vpon speciall command from his maiestie : shewing that the same wounds doe not participate of any venenosity , but that their malignant effects depend wholly on the corruption of the ayre , and the cacochymie or euil qualitie of the wounded bodies . the first discourse vpon wounds made by gun-shot , and other fierie engines . in the yeere of our lord , . the victorious king frances sent a great army vnto piedmont to victual thurin , and to recouer those townes and castles which had bene taken by the marquesse du guast , lieutenant generall of the emperor , where mounsieur the constable , then great master , was lieutenant generall of the army , and mounsieur de monte-jan captaine generall of the foote-men ( of whom i was then chirurgian . ) a great part of the army arriued at the pas of suze , wher we found the enemie keeping the passage , and had made vnto themselues certain forts and trenches ; in such sort , that before they could be raised from thence , we entred into battell : in which conflict there was many hurt and slaine , as well on the one side as on the other . but they were inforced to quit that passage , and to recouer the castle ; which they helde not long , but were compelled to giue it vp ; marching away in their shirts onely , hauing each of them a white wand in their hands : of whom , the most part went to the castle de villane , where there was about some two hundred spaniards . to this castle my lord the constable drew his forces , beecause he would make his way cleere before him . it is situate vpon a little mountaine , which giueth great assurance to those within , that there can bee no ordinance planted against it to batter it down . they were summoned to restore it vp , or else were threatned to haue it battered in pieces ; which they flatly refused : answering withal , that they were as good and faithfull seruants to the emperour , as mounsieur the constable was to the king his master . their answere being vnderstoode , the same night there was mounted two great cannons , by the force of armes with ropes and cordes , by the switzers , where ( as mis-fortune would ) those cannons being planted , a gunner by indiscretion fired a barrell of gun-pouder , wherewith hee himselfe was extreamely burned , together with tenne or twelue souldiers . moreouer , the flame of the pouder was the cause of the discouery of the ordinance , whereby those of the castle the night following discharged their ordinance at that place where they discouered our cannons ; in so much , that we had many of our men hurt and slaine . the morrow after , very early we began the battery , and in few houres after the breach was made ; which those of the castle perceiuing , desired a parley , but it was too late ; for in the mean time some of our footmen perceiuing them to be astonished , mounted the breach , and entred the castle , putting euery man to the sword , except onely a certaine beautifull piedmontese , which a great lorde entertained into his seruice . the captaine and ancient were taken aliue , but were presently after hanged on the gate of the towne , to terrifie the rest of the emperors souldiers , not to be so foole-hardy to hold such places against so great an armie . now the soldiers of the castle seeing our men rushing in vpon them in such great furie , made all the resistance they could to defend themselues , in killing and wounding a great number of our souldiers with their pikes and muskets ; where the chirurgians had a great deale of work cut out to their hands . i was at that time but a yong chirurgian , and but little experienced in the art , because i neuer ( as yet ) had seene the curation of any woundes made by gunne-shot . true it is , that i had read iohn de vigo his first booke of woundes in generall , chap. . where he saith , that those woundes made by fiery engines , do participate of venenosity , because of the pouder ; and for their curation , hee commandeth to cauterize them with the oyle of elders mixed with a little treacle : yet neuerthelesse , because i would not be deceiued , before i would vse of the aforesaid boyling oyle , knowing that it brought with it extreame paine to the patient , i obserued the method of the other chirurgians in the first dressing of such wounds ; which was by the application and infusion of the aforesaide oyle as hot as possibly they could suffer it , vvith tents and setons : wherefore , i became emboldned to do as they did . but in the end my oyle fayled mee , so that i was constrained to vse in steede thereof , a digestiue made of the yolke of an egge , oyle of roses and terebinth . the night following , i could hardly sleepe at mine ease , fearing lest that for want of cauterizing , i should find my patients on whom i had not vsed of the aforesayde oyle , dead and impoysoned ; which made mee to rise earely in the morning to visit them : where beyond my expectation , i found those on whom i had vsed the digestiue medicine , to feele but little paine , and their wounds without inflammation or tumor , hauing rested well all that night . the rest , on whom the aforesaide oyle was applyed , i found them inclining to feauers , with great pain , tumor , and inflammation about their woundes : then i resolued with my selfe , neuer to burn so cruelly the wounded patients by gunshot any more . when we entred thurin , i was told of a chirurgian who was exceeding famous , especially for his curing wounds made by gun-shot , with whom i found the meanes to acquaint my selfe : yet it was neere two yeeres and a halfe before hee would acquaint me with his medicine which hee called his balme . in the meane time , mounsieur the marshall of monte-jan , who was lieutenant generall of the king in piedmont died : then i tolde this chirurgian , that i had a desire to returne to paris , withall requesting him , that he would perform his promise ; which was , to giue me the receipt of his balme , which he willingly did , seeing that i was to leaue that country . he sent me to fetch him two yong whelpes , one pound of earth-wormes , two pounds of the oyle of lillies , six ounces of the terebinth of venice , and one ounce of aqua-vitae : and in my presence he boiled the whelpes aliue in the saide oyle , vntill the flesh departed from the bones . afterward , he tooke the wormes ( hauing before killed and pu●ified them in white wine , to purge themselues of the earth which they haue alwayes in their bodies : ) being so prepared , he boyled them also in the said oyle till they became dry , this he strained thorough a napkin , without anie great expression ; that done , hee added thereto the terebinth , and lastly , the aqua-vitae ; and called god to witnesse , that this was his balme which he vsed in all wound● made by gun-shot , and in others which required suppuration ; withall praying me not to divulge his secret . from thence i returned to paris , where shortly after mounsieur siluius lecturer of the king in physicke , a man greatly esteemed among learned mē , requested me one day to dine with him , which i did willingly ; where hee asked me many questions , and among the rest , of the essence of wounds made by gun-shot , and of the combustions made by gun-pouder . whereupon , i presently proued vnto him , that the powder was not any thing venomous at all ; because that no simple that entreth therein is any way venomous , much lesse the composition . also i haue seene by experience , that some souldiers being hurt , will take of the sayde powder in wine , saying ; that powder so taken , doth preserue the body from the ensuing accidēts , the which i approue not . also others hauing vlcers on their bodies , do commonly vse of the saide powder dry , and heale them without any danger at all . and as for the bullets they cannot containe any such heate that they should haue the faculty of burning : for a bullet beeing shot against a stone-wall , it may presently be held in the naked hande , although the collission made against the stones , should in reason heate it the more : & as for combustions or burnings made by gun-powder , i neuer found any particular accident in it , whereby the cure ough● to bee diuersified from the cure of other combustions . whereupon , i related this historie . a certaine boy of the kitchin , of mounsieur the marshall de monte-jan , fell into a caldron full of oyle almost boyling hotte ; to dresse whom being sent for , i went presently to an apothecarie , demanding of him such cooling medicines which are commonly applied vnto burnings : an ancient country-woman being by , hearing mee speake of this burning , counselled me to apply for the first dressing ( to preuent the rising of pustules or bladders ) of raw onions , bruised with a little salt . i demanded of this woman whether shee had euer made experience of that medicine before : she presently sware vnto me in her language , si messé , à lafe de dé ; which did incite mee to make experience hereof on this scullion of the kitchin , where truely i found the morrow after , that in those parts where the onions had touched , to bee altogether free from vessickes or blisters , and the other parts where the onions were not applied , to bee much blistered . not long after , a certaine dutch-man , one of the guard of the saide lord de monte-jan , hauing drunke hard , by indiscretion set his flaske afire , which caused a great disaster both to his hands and face ; and being called to dresse him , i applyed of the saide onions on the one halfe of his face ; and on the other side , of other common remedies . at the second dressing , i founde that part vvhere i had applyed the onions to be altogether without blisters or any excorlation , and the other altogether blistred : then i first purposed to write of the effect of the saide onions . moreouer , i tolde vnto the saide syluius , that for the better extraction of bullets which are hidden in anie part of the bodie , it is requisite the patient should be placed in the same situation that he was in at that time when he was wounded . manie other things i discouered vnto him , which are contained in this booke following . my discourse ended , he prayed mee verie earnestly that i would publish it by writing ; to the end , that that false opinion of vigo might be altogether abollished the which i willingly consented vnto , and caused manie instruments to be cut , such as had not bene divulged , for the extraction of bullets , & other vnnatural things out of the bodie . and it was first imprinted in the yeare . and well receiued , which caused me to renew it againe , and publish it the second time , in the yeare . and lastly , in the yeare . where i haue enriched it with manie other things , because i haue since followed the warres , haue bene in many battels , and besiedged townes , as in metz and hedin . also i haue beene entertained into the seruice of fiue kings , where i haue alwayes discoursed with the most excellent physitians & chirurgians of those times , to learne and discouer if there were any other method or way to cure those wounds made by gunne-shot ; whereof the most part ( especially those that haue followed the warres , and are guided by reason and experience ) are of my opinion , which is to vse suppuratiues in the beginning , and not boyling oyles . and i did protest moreouer to the said syluius , that i haue found those woundes as easie to cure ( being in fleshy parts ) as all other great contused wounds are . but where the bullet meeteth with the bones and neruous parts , it teareth , dilacerateth , breaketh , breaketh , and shiuereth in peeces , not only where it toucheth , but also the circumiacent parts , without any mercy ; causing great accidents which happen specialy in the iounctures or ioynts , and in bodies of euill constitution , and in times subiect to corruption ; that is to say , where the ayre is hot and moist , then is the cure most difficult , & oftentimes impossible ; not only of wounds made by gun-shot , but also of those which are made by other instruments , yea , though they were but in fleshy parts . therefore , the aforesaide accidents doe not proeeede from the venenosity which is in the powder , or by the combustion or burning of the bullet . for proofe whereof , i will alledge this obseruation which i haue experimented not long since on the person of the earle of courdon , lord of achindon , a scottishman , whome i cured by the commandement of the queene-mother , who was hurt with the shot of a pistoll cleane through both the thighes , without fracture of the bones ; he standing so neere the mouth of the pistoll , that the fire tooke hold of his breeches ; neuerthelesse , hee was perfectly cured in two and thirty dayes , without a feauer or any other euill accident . i drest him at sir iohn de latran , in the house of the arch-byshoppe of glasco , then ambassador for scotland , who came euerie day to see him drest . moreouer for testimony , i could produce mounsieur brigard , doctor regent in the facultie of physicke , who was an assistant with me : together with iames guillemean chirurgian to the king , & sworne at paris , who was with mee vntill his perfect curation . the same likewise mounsieur hanti● , doctor regent in the faculty of physicke can testifie , who sometimes came to see him . also giles buzet , scotchman and chirurgian , euerie of them meruailing how he became so soone cured without the application of hot and sharp medicines . now the reasons wherfore i haue made this little discourse , is to demonstrate that it is aboue thirty yeares ago , since i first found out this manner of curing wounds made by gunne-shot , without the vse of boyling oyles , or anie other sharpe or burning medicines , vnlesse i was constrain'd to vse them for such accidents which happened in cacochymed bodies , or through the euill disposition and malignancie of the ayre , as i will shew more amply in this discourse following , which i made vnto the deceased king , after the taking of roan . another discourse , being an answere vnto a certaine demand propounded by the victorious prince charles the ninth , as touching the quality and essence of woundes made by gun-shot at his maiesties returne from the siedge , and taking of the towne of roan . it one day pleased your maiesty , together with the queene mother , my lorde the prince of la roche-sur yon , and many other princes and great lords , to demand of me how it came to passe that in these last warres , the most part of such gentlemen and souldiers , who were wounded by gun-shot , and other instruments of warre died , or were very hardly recouered from their diseases , although the wounds which they receiued were but of small apparance , and the chirurgians which were employed for their cures , did performe their duties according to art ; i haue bene the bolder to publish this discourse , to satisfie in some measure the duty of my ar● , and that my profession might not be spo●ted with the least dishonor , and that your maiesty might vnderstand the reasons which might haue beene the cause of the death of so many valiant men ; the most part of whom i haue seene ( to my great greefe ) to finish their daies pittifully , without any possibility in mee , or any other more experienced then my selfe to giue them remedy . i know that this following discourse will astonish some , who reposing themselues vppon their owne particular opinions , and not examining the matter deepely , will finde the first front of my disputation very strange , because that the contrarie hath beene so long imprinted in their fantasies . for i do hold , that the cause of the malignancy of wounds by gun-shot , not to proceed from anie poison or venomous quality in the powder ( as they imagine ) or from the bullet it selfe , beeing rubbed or infused in any venomous mixture . neuerthelesse , if their meekenesse and patience will extend so far , as first to waigh the motiues which first mooued me to vndertake this subiect , which was a zeal of the publike good ; towards the which the law of nature bindeth mee to shew the vtmost of my power in such things which the singular prouidence of god hath reuealed vnto mee . and secondly , that they will examine with iudgement the reasons which i shall vse in this present treatise , then i shall bee sure , they will both accept my labours thankefully , and free it from all future calumny ; otherwise they will shew themselues to be so ●uill affectioned towards me , as if i should present my selfe before them , enriched with all the treasures of the ancient philosophers , and they should place mee in the number of the poorest and ignorantest men in the worlde . to preuent therefore all the arguments of venome and poisoning , which the aduersaries here aboue mentioned may alledge , i will make it plaine vnto your maiesty , that such as are wounded by gun-shot , i say the malignancie of such wounds not to proceed from the venom of the powder , being of it selfe simply considered : and much lesse from the combustion or cauterization which the bullet so heated by the fire of the powder can make in those parts , which it rendeth & dilacerateth thorough the violence thereof : although neuerthelesse some do striue to maintaine ; alledging for all reasons , that a certaine tower full of powder hath heeretofore bene seene ruinated in an instant , onely by the meanes of a cannon shotte . also of a thatcht house set on fire with a musket shot . moreouer , because that such woundes which are made by gun-shot , we commonly beholde their orifices and other circumiacent parts so black , as if an actuall cauter had passed thereon . as also the fall of a certaine escarre , as they say . al which arguments are so ill framed , that they deserue no authority being built on so slender a foundation : much lesse that the resolution of your demaund should be taken from them , as i trust to giue you plainely to vnderstand in the disputation following . the which ( after i had seene a great number of those woundes , and diligently obserued them , handling them according to the method ) i haue collected from the ancient philosophers , physitians , and chirurgians to present vnto your maiesty , and to with-draw your minde from the admiration of the lamentable deaths of so manie braue gentlemen and soldiers . now to enter into the matter proposed , and to answer the arguments before alledged , we are first to examine whether there be any poison inclosed in the powder , or no : and if there be , whether it may infect by meanes of the pretended poyson thereof . which that it may appeare plainly , wee must search into the composition of the said pouder ; considering that it is not of substance simple , but compound : and so by examining the nature of such simple which enter into the composition thereof ; i meane their qualities , effects , and operations , wee shall the sooner attaine to the scope and intention pretended . as for the simples , it is a most assured thing that there are but three in al which make the composition thereof , that is to say , coales of willow or birch , sulphure , and salt-peter , & sometimes aqua-vitae : the which ingredients seuerally considered , are altogether exempt & free from poison , or any venomous quality . and first for the coales , there is not any thing considerable in them , vnlesse it be a drying quality , of subtle substance , by meanes whereof it is apt to take fire , euen as a linnen cloth burnt into tinder doth the sparkes that fall from a flint stone . sulphure is hot and dry , neuerthelesse not excessiue , and of a more oyly and viscuous substance , yet not so easie to inflame as coales , although it doth retaine the fire more forcibly when it is once inflamed , & is very hardly extinguished . as for the salt-peter , it is such , that many make vse thereof insteede of salt . now let vs examine whether there be any venenosity in the nature of these simples , namely , in that of sulphure , which is the most suspected . dioscorides in his fift booke , chap. . prescribeth it to be taken in an egge , in the astmaticke passion , coughes , and to such which spit matter , and those that haue the iaundise . and galen in the . book of his simples , cap. . ordaineth it as a topicall remedy , vnto such who are bitten with venomous beasts ; and in all malignant practises or itchings ; as for the aquavitae , it is a thing so subtle , that it will euaporate if it be set in the aire , besides it is vsed by most chirurgians inwardlie in drinkes , and outwardly in embrocations as a most singular medicines . these thinges considered , makes me to affirme , that the whole composition of pouder is altogether free from venome or poison , seeing that the ingredients are altogether cleere from the least touch in that kinde . moreouer , i haue obserued it to bee the practise of the hollanders being wounded by gun-shot , to dissolue two charges of pouder in wine , and to drink it off , hoping by that meanes to be freed from all future accidents which might happen vnto theyr wounds ( although i do not approue thereof , because it is a most insufficient remedy . ) also , such vlcers which are made through the combustion of powder , are of no other nature then those that are made by fire , or scalding water . but wherefore should i alledge any forraigne example ? do we not see among our owne souldiers , i doe not know on what occasion , but onely to shew themselues braue fellowes , to emptie their charges of powder into their cups , and drinke it without any inconuenience at all ; and others likewise beeing hurt on any part of their bodies , will apply of the same on their vlcers to dry them , and finde much profit by it . as for those which do affirme that it is not in the powder , but the bullet , which being subtilly pierced in many places , or filled vp with venome , or steeped , rubbed , or mixed with anie poyson , causeth the aforesaide dangerous accidents ? to such i answer without further trouble , that the fire set to the powder , is sufficient to purifie the poyson of the bullet , if any there were ▪ the which cānot be done by impoysoned swords , pikes , arrowes , and such like , because they passe not through the action of the fire . briefly to confirme my opinion to be true , there is not anie one of those that were in your maiesties camp● at roan , that doeth not assuredly know , that those bullets which were shot against those of the town to be altogether free from poison . neuerthelesse , the besiedged townesmen affirmed , that all those bullets were poysoned . also the souldiours of your maiesties campe had the same opinion of such bullets which were shot at them out of the towne , that they were all impoysoned by them ; rather beleeuing and iudging of the quality of the wounds by their ill successe ; then by the causes whereby they were made . true it is , that as in physicke according to the sentence of hippocrates in the epidemies ; as gale● noteth on the . sentence , and the . of the sect. of the . book , all diseases are cald pestilentiall and venomous , being excited from common and generall causes of what kinde soeuer they be , and such kill many persons : so in the like manner , we may cal such wounds which are made by gunshot venomous , which are more difficult to heale then others ; not because they do participate of any venonosity , but from some generall cause depending either from the cacochimie of the body , putrification of the aire , or the corruption of the victuals , whereby those vlcers are brought to be more malignant cacoëthes , and rebellious to al medicines . to affirme that it is only the combustion of the bullet which causeth the aforesaide danger , i cannot conceiue their reasons , seeing that the bullet is for the most part made but of lead , and therefore vnable to indure any great heate , without being altogether dissolued , the which we neuerthelesse see to passe through a coate armour , and to penetrate the body through and through , and yet to remaine whole . moreouer , we doe obserue , that if a bullet be shot against a stone , or against any solid matter , it may in the same instant bee handled of vs in our hands , without feeling anie notable heate , although the violent striking and colli●sion made against the stone , should in reason encrease the hea●e , if any there were . and which is more , if a bullet be shot against a bagge full of powder , the fire will not endanger it . this i dare bee bolde to say and affirme moreouer , that if a quantity of powder should take fire being kepte in a tower , or any other place , by the meanes of a bullet shot , it was not the heate of the bullet , but rather the violent striking of the bullet against the stones of the saide tower , which might cause sparkes of fire to fall among the powder , euen as the smiting of a steele against a flint stone . the like we may iudge of such thatcht houses which haue bene set on fire by a musket shot , to haue rather proceeded from some wad either of tow or paper , ram'd in with the powder , and so fired with it . but that which doth most confirme me in the assurance of my opinion , is , that if a bal of wax be shot out of a muske● , it feeleth no force of fire at all , for then it would melt ; neuerthelesse it wil pierce an inch boord . an argument of sufficient weight to proue that the bullet cannot be so extreamely heated by the force of the powder , that they should cauterize and burne , as many haue esteemed . and as for that blacknesse , which is ordinarily found to bee about the orifices of such wounds , and other ad●acent parts . i say that this accident doeth not proceede from any qualitie of fire accompanying the bullet , but because of the great contusion which it maketh . for it cannot enter into the body otherwise then by an extreme and incredible force , because it is of a rounde figure . vpon this point , if the wounded persons themselues be demanded , i beleeue they will testifie the truth of my saying ; because they are no sooner strooke with the bullet , but they feel in the same instant , as if a club or some heauie burthen were fallen vpon the offended part , in the which they feele a heauy paine , with a benummed stupifaction of the part ; which dissipateth and sometimes extinguisheth the naturall heate , together with the spirits contained therein : from whence there followeth oftentimes a gangrene and mortification of the part , yea sometimes of the whole body . and as for the escarre which they affirme there to be , and fall away as they say , they doe abuse themselues : for it is onely some certain portion of the membranes and contused flesh , dilacerated by the bullet , which becommeth corrupted , and so separateth it selfe from the sound parts which are greatly contused . although that these reasons do make it manifest enough , that there is no venomous quality in the powder , nor action of fire carried with the bullet , neuerthelesse many building their opinions vpon naturall philosophy , doe maintaine the contrary , affirming that cannon shot is like vnto the claps of thunder which burst foorth of the clouds in the middle region of the aire ▪ and so fall violently on the earth . from the which similitude they would infer and conclude , that there is both fire , and a venomous quality in the bullet , as it proceedeth out of the mouth of the cannon . i know ( i thanke god ) that thunder being ingendered from a grosse and viscuous exhalation , by meanes of vapour conioyned with it , doth neuer breake foorth of the clouds to penetrate heere below , but it draweth and bringeth immediatly with it a certaine fire , sometimes more subtle , sometimes more grosse , according to the diuersitie of the matter , whereof the exhalation is composed . for seneca writeth in the second booke of his naturall questions , chapter . that there are three kinds of thunders all differing the one from the other , according to the quantity and manner of their inflammation . the first , by reason of the matter thereof , it being most thinne and subtle , it doth pierce and penetrate suddenly the obiectes which it toucheth . the second kinde , by reason of the violence thereof , breaketh and dissipateth the same thinges because that the matter thereof is more violent , and compact as a tempest . the third sort being composed of a more earthy matter , burneth with manifest tokens of the heat therof . i also know , that the thunder is of nature pestilentiall and faetide , because of the grosse and slimie matter thereof ; which being burned , leaueth behinde it such a stinking sauour , that all animals do so much auoide it , that if it do happen to fall into their dens , or other places of haunt , they wil vtterly abandon and forsake such places ; so much do they hate the infectious stinke of that poyson . the same is noted by olaus mag●us , in his septentrionall history , that in certaine places where thunder hath falne , presently after the fall thereof , the fields haue beene found afterwards to bee couered and strewed ouer with sulphure , neuerthelesse vnprofitable , and almost extinguished . for all these reasons , i must not confesse that the blowes of gun-shot are accompanied with poyson and fire , as the claps of thunder a●e . for although they doe agree the one with the other , in some similitude , it is not therefore in theyr substance and matter , but rather in the maner which they haue to batter , te●re , and dissipate the obiects which they meere with , that is to say , the claps of thunder through the force of fire ; & of the bolt or stone sometimes engendred therein : and the blowes of gun-shot by the meanes of the aire forced away by impetuosity , and so conducting the bullet causeth the like disaster . what if i should be conuicted by stronger arguments , so that i were inforced to anouch that ▪ thunder and the cannon to be of like substance ; yet i shoulde neuer be forced to say , that the shot of cannons and muskets do participate of a fiery quality . pliny saith in the second book of his history , and the . chapter , that among thunder one kinde is composed of a meruailous dry matter , dissipating all such thinges it meeteth withall , neuerthelesse without any signe of burning : others , of a more humid nature , which in like manner burneth not : but blacketh and discoloureth much more then the first . and others are composed of a very cleere and subtle matter : the nature wherof is most meruailous , forsomuch that it is not to bee doubted ( as seneca hath well saide ) that there is therein a certaine divine vertue : and it is in melting golde or siluer in a mans purse , the purse it selfe not being so much as touched therewith . also in melting a sworde , the scabberd thereof remayning whole . also in dissoluing into droppes the iron head of a pike , without burning , or so much as heating the woode . in shedding the wine out of a vessell , without burning or breaking of the caske . according to the aforesaid testimony i can assure you , and that without any preiudice , that those thunders which onely breake and dissipate without any burning ; and such which leaue effects ful of great admiration , not to be much vnlike in substance to the cannon shot , and not those which carry immediately with them the action of fire . to proue my saying , this one example shall suffice . a certaine souldier receiued a wound in his thigh with a musket shot , from when i extracted a bullet ; the which being wrapped in the taffatie of his breeches , made a very deepe wound . neuerthelesse i drew it forth of the wound with the same taffatie , it being without any signe of burning . and which is more , i haue seene many men , who not being shot , nor any thing touched therewith , vnlesse it were in their apparrell onely , haue receiued such an astonishment by a cannon shot that onely past neere them , that their members thereby haue become blacke and liuid ; and shortly after haue falne into a gangrene and mortification , whereof in the end they haue died . these effects are like vnto those of the thunder before spoken of . neuerthelesse , there is not in them any fire or poison : which maketh mee conclude , that there is no poison in the common and ordinary pouder . seeing therefore that this disaster was common to all those which were hurt in these last warres , and yet neither by fire or poyson that so many valiant men died . to what cause may we impute this euill ? i am so confident of the true cause my liege , that i hope presently to make your maiesty vnderstand the same , to the end that your demand may be fully satisfied . those which haue consumed their age and studie in the secrets of naturall philosophie , haue left vs this among other things for authentick and approued of all times . which is , that the elements do symbolize in such sort the one with the other , th●t they doe sometimes transforme and change themselues the one into the other in such sorte , that not onely their first qualities , which are heat , coldnesse , d●inesse and moisture : but also theyr substances are chaunged by rarification or condensation of themselues ; so the fire doth conuert it selfe ordinarily into aire , the aire into water , the water into earth ; and contrarywise the earth into water , the water into aire , and the ai●e into fire . the which we may dayly behold and proue it by those bellowes of copper which the dutchman brings vs , being composed in the form of a boll , the which being filled with water , and hauing but one hole in the midst of the sphericall forme thereof , receiueth the transmutation of the water within it into aire through the action of the fire , neere vnto the which the boll must be placed ; and so thrusteth the aire forth of it with violence , making a continuall noise or sound vntill all the ayre be gone forth of it . the like may bee knowne by egges or chestnuts : for either of them being put into the fire before they are crackt , or the rindes broken , presently the watery humidity contained in them doth conuert it selfe into ayre , thorough the action of the fire : and the aire in making his passage bursteth the shell , beecause it occupyeth more place being in the forme of aire , into the which it was chaunged by rarification caused by the fire , then it did vnder the forme of water ; and not finding passage is constrained to make one by violence , according to the proposition helde for most certaine among all physitians ; that is to say , of that one part of earth is made tenne of water : and of one part of water is made ten of aire , as of one part of aire ten of fire . i do say and affirme so much of the matters contained in the saide gun-powder , which by meanes of the fire is conuerted into a great quantity of aire ; the which because it cannot be contained in the place where the matter was before the tran●mutation thereof , is compelled to yssue forth with an incredible violence : by meanes wherof , the bullet breaketh , shiuereth and rendeth all that euer it meeteth with , yet doth not the fire accompany it . euen as we see a bow , or a sling shoote forth an arrow or stone , without any aire at all . but the bullet driueth before it such a subtle winde , and so swiftly agitated that sometimes the very wind it selfe without the action of the bullet causeth strange and wonderfull effects . for sometimes i haue known it make a fracture in the bones without any diuision of the flesh . and heerein it may be compared as we saide before vnto the effect of thunder : euen so we see , that if the saide powder bee inclosed in mines and vaults of the earth , and being conuerted into aire through the action of the fire set vnto it , how it doth ruinate and reuerse huge masses of earth almost as bigge as mountaines . also in this yeare , in your maiesties town of paris , a certaine quantity of powder , bur newly ma●e in the arcenall , by taking fire caused such a great tempest , that the whole town shooke at it : for with an horrible fury it leuelled with the earth all the houses neere vnto that place , and discouered and battered downe the windowes of all those houses that stood within the fury of it . and to bee briefe ( euen as a ●lap of thu●der ) it did reuerse here & there many men halfe slaine ; ta●ing ●way f●om some ●heir eyes ▪ from o●hers thei● hearing , and left others no lesse torne and mangled in their members , then if foure horses had drawne them in peeces : and all this by the only agitation of the aire , into which substance the powder was conuerted . the which , according to the quantity and quality of the matter thereof , and according to his motion , either mo●e or lesse violent , hath caused so many won●erfull accidents in our prouinces ; altogether like vnto those which are caused through the inclosing of winds in the bowels and cauities of the earth not bein● perspirable . the which st●●uing to haue vent , bloweth with such a strong and violent agitation , that they make the ear●h to tremble and quake thereat : thereby debo●lishing cities , and ruinating buildinges , and transporting them from one place to another . as the townes of megara & egina , anciently much celebrated in the countrey of greece , perishing by earth-quakes can witnes vnto vs. i omit to discouer ( as but little seruing to our purpose ) how the wind inclosed in the entrailes of the earth , maketh a noise of d●uers sounds , & very strange according to the diuers forms of the conduits and passages through the which it yssueth by , euen af●er the manner of musicall instruments ; the which being large , do giue a great and base sound , and being narrow do make high and sharpe notes , and being crooked or replied mak● diuers sounds ; as wee see by experience in the huntsmans horne , and in trumpets , the which also being moystened with water , do make a hollow gurguling sound . in like manner , these noises , murmurings , and clamors are sundry wayes diuersified , according to the places whence they proceede ▪ in such sort , that sometimes hath bene hard a clamorous crie , representing ( as it seemed ) the assault of a citty , the cries and lowings of buls , or the neighing of horses , roaring of lyons , sound of trumpets reports of artillery & many other dreadful things ; yea sometimes humane voices . as it is reported by one , who had heard a voice ( as it were ) of a woman a beating , which made ( as he imagined ) such a wofull and greeuous lamentation , whereby he became so greatly affrighted , that hee had scarsely breath sufficient to make this report . but when he had well vnderstoode the cause of this plaintiue voice , he was presently deliuered from that fear● , which otherwise might haue killed him . but some perhappes will say , that these things haue alwayes bene , and no lesse ordinarie in the times past , then they are at this present : and therfore it is a great folly in mee to alledge them , for efficient causes of the death of so many men . the which imputation i should freely confesse , if i should present them for such : but seeing that by them i would o●ely paralel and compare the impetuosity of artillery with that of thunder , and the motions of the earth ; which beeing so , it will appear that it maketh nothing against my first intention , as i hope to demonstrate cleerely , that i am slandered without a cause , if you please to giue care to the deduction following . in the which , i will plainly and briefely describe the true causes of the late mortality which happened among your highnesse soldiers . amongest the things necessary for our liues , there is nothing that can more alter our bodyes then the aire ; the which continually ( willing or vnwilling ) we inspire by those cond●ites which nature hath apointed for that end ; as the mouth , the nose , and generally through all the pores of the skin and arteries therein infixed , whether we ea●e , drinke , watch , or sleepe , or doe any other action , whether naturall , vitall , or animal . from thence it commeth , that the aire inspir●d into the lungs , the hart , and the braine , and vniuersally in all the parts of the body to refresh and in some measure to nourish the same , is the cause that a man cannot liue one minute without inspiration ; according to the which wonderfull benefite , the excellent physitian hippocrates hath pronounced and that truly , that the aire hath a kinde of diuinity in it ; because that in breathing and blowing ouer all parts of the world vniuersally , it doth circumuolue all things therein contained ; nourishing them myraculously , strengthning them firmly , and maintaining them in an amiable vnion , altogether symbolizing with the stars & planets ; into the which the diuine prouidence is infused ; which changeth the aire at his pleasure , & giueth it power not onely ouer the mutation of times & seasons , but also of the alteration of naturall bodies . and therefore the philosophers and physitians haue expresly commanded , that wee should haue a principall regarde vnto the situation and motions of the heauenly bodies , and constitutions of the aire , when the preseruation of health , or the curation of diseases are in question : but especially the course and mutation of the aire is of great power , as we may easily iudge by the . seasons of the yeare . for the aire being hot and dry in sommer , our bodies in like manner doeth thereby become heated and dried : and in winter the humidity and coldnesse of the aire doeth likewise fil our bodies with the samequailities ; in such order neuerthelesse , and in so good a disposition of nature , that although our temperatures seeme to be changed according to the foure seasons of the yeere , wee neuerthelesse receyue no harme thereby , if those times do keepe their seasons and qualities f●ee from excesse . but to the contrarie , if the seasons be so peruerted that the sommer is cold , and the winter hot , and the other sea●ons in the like distemperature , this discord bringeth with it a great perturbation both in our bodyes , and in our spirits , constrained neuerthelesse to receiue the danger , by reason that the causes are extreame , and do on euery side enco●passe vs ; so that we are constrained to lodge it in vs by ●hose organes and con●uits appointed by nature to that end ; as par●ly , to expell the superfluous excrements of our nourishment , and partly to receiue the saide externall causes , which is the ayre or wi●●e , producing in vs diuers effects , according to those parts of the world from whence they do proceed . for it being so that the southerly winds are ●ot and moyst ; that of the north cold & drie ; the easterly winds for the most part are clere and pure ; and the westerly cloudy , and subiect vnto rai●e ; yet it is a most assured thing , that the ayre which we do inspire continually , holdeth in all , and through all the quality that is most predominant . and therefore we should of necessity consider in all diseases , and the inconueniences which happen therein , the quality of the windes and the power which they haue ouer our bodies ; as hippocrates hath learnedly left vs by writing , in the . booke of his aphorismes , chap. . and . saying , that our bodies do receiue a great alteration through the vissitude of the times and seasons of the yeere . as by the south-wind our bodies are subiect to all diseases , because that moisture is their primitiue cause ▪ it also weakeneth our naturall heate , the which in the opposite case is much fortified through a cold and dry wind , which also maketh our spirits more quicke and subtill . the verity of which sentence , the inhabitantes of the territory of narbonne doe too much experiment to their dammage . for being themselues between the lustiest and healthfullest people of all france ; yet neuerthelesse they themselues are very sickely for the most part , their bodies leane , their countenances sad and heauy ; their faces tawny , or of an oliue colour , do manifestly shew the same . also among other diseases , they are almost all subiect to the white leprosie ; and ●he least vlcers which they haue , which wee make no account of at poictiers or paris , do ordinarily continue with them a whole yeere together . not for any other cause , as they themselues confesse , and as al strangers k●ow that haue liued in their country ▪ but onely because they are for the most part , blasted and breathed vppon with a southerly vvinde , which in their language they call a●tan , and maketh the aire to be grosse and cloudy ; causing in their bodies al the effects which are attributed by hippocrates to the southerly windes , in his thirde booke and . aphorisme , that is to say , when it reigneth it dulleth the hearing , ●immeth the sight , swelleth and aggrauateth the head , weakneth and abateth all the forces of the body . also , when hippocrates compareth the temperatures of the one quality with the other , he resolueth vpon this point ; that the dry seasons are far more healthfull then the humid ●hat haue continued for a long succession of time , because excessiue humidity is the true matter of putrifaction , as experience telleth vs : for wee see , that in those places where the marine or sea-winds haue blowed long , all kinds of flesh ( though neuer so new & fresh ) will corrupt in lesse then an houre . these ●hings being considered , that it is most necessary for the conseruation of our bodies in health ; that the seasons should follow their naturall temperatures , without any excesse or contrarietie , there is no doubt to be made but that our bodyes will fall into many vnnaturall diseases , when the natural qualities of the seasons are peruerted through the euil disposition of the aire , and wind that predominateth therein . it being so that for these . yeares space heere in france , the seasons of euerie yeare haue not kept their ordinary qualities . in the sommer we haue had but little heate , in the winter a little or no cold at all . also the other seasons haue bene continually distempered with raine and moysture , together with much southerly windes , whose nature wee hau● declared before ; and this throughout all france . i know no man so little seene in naturall philosophy , or in astrologie , which will not finde the aire to bee the efficient cause of so many euilles , which for these three yeeres space haue happened in the kingdome of france . for from whence should proceede those contagious pestilences , which happened indifferently to olde and young ; to rich and poore , & in so many places , but from the corruption of the aire ? from whence should proceede so many kinds of feauers , ple●risies , aposthumes , catarres , defluctions of smal pox & meazels ? so many kinds of venomous beasts , as frogges , toades , grashoppers , caterpillers , spiders , flies , waspes , snailes , s●rpents , vipers , snakes , lizards , scorpions , and aspickes ; but onely from a purrifaction resulting from the humidity of the aire , accompanied with a languishing heate . this is it ( i say ) that hath engendered in vs , and in a●l the countrey of france , so many strange and vnknowne accidents . beholde therefore how our naturall heate hath bene weakned , how our blood and humors haue bene corrupted through the malignity of the aire , which these southerly winds hath caused thorough the hot and moist quality thereof . thus much i haue obserued , that where there hath bene neede of phlebotomizing , there hath beene but little blood drawne from any , whether they were yong , or olde , wounded , or not of so good or euill temperature ; but it hath bene corrupted , & appeared of white or greenish colours . this i haue alwaies obserued in these last warres , and in other places where i haue beene called to cure the wounded : such as haue beene phlebotomized by the prescription of the physitian , either for the preuention of accidents , or the furtherāce of the c●re . in all which , i say indifferently , i haue found the bloode putrified and corrupted . this being so , it must needs fol●ow that the fleshy parts of our bodies cannot bee otherwise then euilly disposed : and all our bodies cacochymate , seeing that their nourishment which is the blood is putrified , and the aire altogether corrupted . from whence it followeth , that those bodyes which were wounded in the fleshy parts were difficult to cure , considering that there was in them a perdition of substance ; the which hauing neede of the regeneration of the flesh , could not be accomplished nei●her by medicines , nor a●y art of the chirurgian , such and so great was the cacochimy or euill constitution of their bodies . euen as in an hydropticke person there can no flesh be regenerated , because the blood is too colde and watery : and in the elephanticke or leaprous disease , the flesh and other parts do abide in putrifaction , because of the corrupted bloode whereby they are nourished . in like manner , in wounds of cacochymed bodies , there can be no regeneration made of any good substance , because that to restore a lawdable flesh in the wounded part , it is required that the bloode should not offend neither in quantity nor quality , and that the offended part be in its naturall temperature . all these things wer wanting in the times of these last warres : and therefore it is not to be wondred at , if the wounds which were then receiued ( althogh they were but small and of little consequence in the noble or ignoble partes ) haue brought with them so many tedious accidents , and in the end death ; because that the air● which doeth incompasse vs , maketh the wounds to bee corrupt and pu●rified , by reason of the inspiration and transpiration thereof , especially when it selfe is corrupt and putrified by altering and corrupting the humors . of this point i haue had the experience of many woundes which i haue beene called to dresse that haue rendred a●most insupportable stinking fauour , as a certaine witnesse of corruption and infection , insomuch that the assistants coulde hardly endure to be present at their dressings . it neede not bee heere alledged , that this was for want of being cleanly kept , or often dressing , or for not administering vnto them things necessary : for this corruption was as common to princes and great lords , as vnto poore souldiours ; whose woundes ( if by chance one day escaped wherin they were not drest , so great was the number of the hurt souldiers ) you should find in them the morrow after , a great quantity of wormes , with a meruailous stinking sauour . and moreouer there happened vnto them many aposthumes in diuers parts of their bodies opposite to their hurtes . for , if they were shot in the right shoulder , they should haue an apostume on the left knee ; and if the wound were in the right leg , the apostume would arise in the left arme . as it hapned to the late king of nauar , to mounsieur de neuers , and to mounsieur de rend●n , and almost to all others . so it seemeth , that nature being so much oppressed with corrupted humors , could not be sufficiently purged and discharged of them by woundes onely , but sent some part of the corruption to some other part either hidden or apparent . for if the apostumes appeared not outwardly , they should be found in the inwarde parts , as in the liuer , lungs , or spleene . from those putrifactions were stirred vp certain vapors , which through their commination with the har● c●●s●●h continuall ●eauers ; with the liuer a let a●d hinderance of the generation of good blood ; and with the braine , swoonings , faintings , convulsions , and consequently death . now because of those aforesaide accidents , it is vnpossible for any chirurgian ( were he neuer so expert ) to correct the malignity of the aforesaid wounds : neuerthelesse ●hose that are emplo●ed therein ought not to be reprehended , because it is impossible for them to war against god , nor against the aire , wherein oftentimes are hidden the rods of his diuine iustice. if therefore according to the sentence of ancient hippocrates , who saith ; that all contused wounds ought to bee b●ought to suppuration , the●eby to bee perfectly cured ; which method we are sometimes constrained to change , because of the putrifactions gangrenacs and mortifications which doe accompan●e such wounds , through the corruption of the aire ; and can any blame or accuse vs , because wee are constrained through necessity to change & alter that manner of curation , and instead of suppuratiue medicines to vse other remedies , to resist such accidents which not onely happen in wounds made by gun-shot , but also by swords or staues : which remedies shall bee described in this present discourse . besides humane causes , that man is ill ●nstructed in the knowledge of celestiall thing●s , which doeth not beleeue for certaine , that the wrath of god hangeth ouer vs to punnish the faultes which ordinarily we commit against his maiesty ; his scourges are prepared readie , his rods and weapons haue their ministers alwaies at hand to execute the commandement of his diuine iustice , into whose secrets i dare enter no further ; but will conclude with the opinion of the best aduised practioners , that the principall occasion of the aforesaid mortality , did proceed from the ●ure and determinate will of god , who by the temperature which he hath giuen to the ayre and winds ( as the heralds of his diuine iustice ) hath made vs apt to receiue the aforesaid inconueniences , which we haue incurred by our iniquities . the method of curing wounds made by gun-shot , and other fiery engines . also by arrowes , and darts , and their accidents . chap. i. the diuision of woundes , according to the diuersitie both of the offended parts , & the bullets whereby they were made . all wounds made by gunshot on the body of man , whether they be simple , or compounded with dilaceration , contusion , distemperature , and tumor , are made some in the noble parts , others in the ignoble parts ; some in the fleshie parts , and others in the neruous and bony parts ; sometimes with ruption and dilaceration of the great vessels , as of the veines and arteries , and sometimes without ruption of them . such kinde of wounds are also sometimes superficiall , but most commonly profound and deepe , yea , euen to the penetrating through the body & members of them that receiue them . another diuersity is taken according to the differences of the bullets : amongest the which , some are great , some in a meane substance , and some are small as haile shot : whereof the matter ( which is ordinarily but of lead ) is somtimes turned into steele , iron , or tin , rarely into siluer , but neuer into gold. according to the which differences , the chirurgian ought to take diuers indications to operate , and according to them to diuersifie the remedies . now we ought not to iudge those great accidents which happen in these wounds to proceede from the combustion of the bullet , nor from the venonosity or other ill quality of the ponder , because of the aforesaide reasons alledged in the precedent discourses , but because of the contusion , dilaceration , and fraction which is made thorough the violence of the bullet in the neruous and bony parts . for when it hapneth that the bullet toucheth onely but the fleshy parts , and in bodies of good temperature , i haue found those woundes heeretofore to bee as little rebellious in their curations , and as easie to handle as those which are made by anie instrument of that kinde ; i meane such which make a round and contused wound , or of such a figure which the shot maketh : and therefore it is most necessary that there bee a greater regard had to the symptomes or accidents of the contusion , dilaceration , fracture of the bones and euill quality of the incompassing aire , then to the combustion which is thought to proceed from the bullet , or venenosity of the powder , because of the reasons a●oresaide . this i thought good to publish to the world to ayde yong and new practitioners in chirurgery , in the same manner & method which i haue my selfe experimented in following the warres , hauing therein continued for the space of forty yeares . wherein i protest i haue followed the counsel of physitians and people of my profession , such as were most renowned and approoued both by their doctrine and long experience : concerning whom i doe assure my selfe , that they do know more then my writinges can containe . and therefore i write not for them , but for the yong prentises in this art , & for such as want better meanes to helpe them in vrgent cases proceeding from these saide wounds , whome neuerthelesse i aduise to take the counsell of the chirurgian , if his owne reason and experience do not guide him in his operations . chap. ii. of the signes of wounds made by gunshot . in the beginning of the curation , you ought first to know whether the wounds was made by gun-shot or no ; which is easie to be seene if the figure of the wound be round and ●uid in colour , and the naturall colour of the part is chaunged , that is to say , yellow , azure , liuid , or blacke . also at the same instant that the patient receyued the blow , if he say that he felt an agrauating pain , as if he had beene strooke with a great stone , or with a club , or as if a great burthen had falne vpon the wounded part . in like manner , if the wound hapned not vppon any great vessell , if there haue issued but little blood from the wounded partes , which happeneth because they are contused , and greatly crushed , and therefore they tumifie presently after the blowe receyued ; insomuch , that sometimes the passage is so stopt , that there can hardly be conueyed in either tent or se●on ; and thereby it cometh to passe , that the flux of blood is suppressed , which otherwise would flow at their orifices . also the patient therein feeleth a great heate , which hapneth because of the impetuositie proceeding both from the violent motion of the bullet , and the veh●ment impulsion of the ayre , with the ruption of the flesh and neruous partes . sometimes also because of the fractured bones , which depresse and pricke the sayde parts ; from whence ensueth fluxion and inflammation . also because of the great contusion which the bullet maketh ; which by no meanes can enter into anie part of our body but by great force , by reason of the round figure thereof , whereby the place becommeth blacke , and the neighboring partes liuid : and from thence there followeth many great accidents ; as paine , fluxion , inflammation , apostume , sspasme , faintings , palsie , gangrena , mortification , and finally dea●h . they oftentimes send forth a sanies virulent , & very f●etide which proceedeth from the great abundance of humors which flow to the wounded part , because of the vehement crushing , contusion , and dilaceration of the parts , and for want of natural heat to comfort and gouerne them . also by reason of the cacochimy of the body , and the neruous partes , as the ioynts : also such wounds are founde for the most part greater then such which are made by the punction of a buckes horne , or the wound made by a stone or any other such like contusions , because that the thing it selfe was round , anb doth therfore require a greater and more violent impetuosity to make it penetrate into the inward parts of the body , wherein it seemeth to equallize the blowes of thunder . chap. iii. the manner how to handle the aforesaide woundes at the first dressing . first , it is conuenient that the chirurgian shold amplifie the wound ( if the part offended doe permit the same ) for these causes : that is , both to giue free ●ssue vnto the sanies , as also to giue ample passage vnto all such straunge bodyes which might haue bene conueyed in with the shot , and to draw them forth ( if any there be ) as any portion of the apparrell , wad , paper , peeces of harnesse , maile , bullets , shot , splinters of bones , dilacerated flesh , and other things that shall bee found therein ; and this to bee done at the first dressing if it be possible . for the accidents of pain and sensibility are not so great in the beginning , as they are afterwards . now for the better extraction of the aforesaid things , you ought to place the patient in the same situation that he was at the time when he was first shot , because that the muscles and other parts being otherwaies situate , may stop and hinder the way ; and for the better finding of the saide bullets , and other things , it is fitting that search bee made with the finger ( if it be possible ) rather then with any instrument , because that the sense of feeling is more certaine then any probe , or other insensible thing . but if the bullet haue pierced farre into the body , there it may be reached with a probe , round in the end thereof , for feare of causing paine : neuerthelesse it hapneth somtimes that the bullet cannot be found by the probe , as it hapned in the campe of parpignan , to my lord the marshall of brissac , who was wounded with a musket shot neere to the right omopl●●e or shoulder-blade , where many chirurgians because they could not finde the saide bullet , affirmed that it was entered into the capacity of the body , but i ●ot hauing that opinion , came to seeke for the bullet , where first without vsing any probe , i caused him to be placed in the same gesture of bodie as he was at that time when he was wounded : then i began wi●h my fingers gently to compresse about the neighbouring parts of the wound ; in doing wh●reof , i found a tumor and hardnesse in ●he flesh , with the sense of paine , and liuiditie of colour in the place where the bullet was , which was betwixt the lower part of the omoplate , and the seuenth and eight vertebre or turning ioynt of the backe . in which place , incision was made to draw forth the shot , whereby he was shortly after cured . wherefore it is very conuenient to search for the bullet not onely with the probe , but ( as i saide before ) with the fingers , by handling and feeling the part and places about the same where you may coniecture the bullet to haue penetrated chap. . a description of such instruments which are proper to extract bullets , and other strang● bodyes . as for the strange bodies which may be infixed in the wound , they may bee extracted by such instruments heereafter described , which are different both in figure and greatnesse according as neede shall require ; whereof some are toothed , & others not . and it is fit the chirurgian should haue of many and diuers fashions : some greater , and some s●aller of euery kind to accommodate them to the bodies and wounds , and not the bodies and wounds to his instruments . the crowes bill toothed . a cranes bill brought into the forme of an elbow , cubite , or bowed arme . this following is called the cranes bill , because of the similitude it hath thereunto ; the which in like manner ought to bee toothed ; and it is proper to extract any thing from the bottom of the wound both shot , maile , splinters of fractured bones , & other things . the cranes bill straight . this instrument is called t●e duckes bill , hauing a cauity in the extreamity or end thereof large and round , & toothed , the better to holde the bullet ; and it is proper principally when the b●llet hapneth in the fles●ty parts . the duckes bill . another fashion of draw-bullet . another fashion of draw bullet , called the lizards head to draw the bullet , marked with the same letters as the former . a. sheweth the pipe , or the hollow body of the instrument b. the rod , which opene●h & shutteth the head of the instrument . c. the ioynt . another instrument called the parrats bill , and it is proper to draw foorth any peeces of harnesse which may be inserted into the ●ottome of the member , or also into the bones . a. sheweth the stalke of the vice. b. the scrue . c. the runner , which by the meanes of a vice , is scrued higher or lower . dd the other part which is fixed with a cauitie in the middest thereof , wherein the runner is placed . another instrument which is callled the swans bi●l , which opneth wi●h a vice , accompanyed with a payre of fo●ceps , which heere before wee haue called the cranes bill , and it serueth to drawe foorth any strange body , after that the wound is dilated with the saide swans bill . if the strange bodyes , especially the bullet or shot , be not very deepe , they may be drawne forth by eleuatories . an instrument called the tire-fond . another instrument called the tirefond , the which is turned by a scrue within a pipe or hollow instrument ; a●d it is very conuenient to extract forth the aforesaid bullets when they are penetrated or are infixed in the bones ; for the point thereof is to be serued into the bullet , prouided that it be of lead or tin ( for it cannot enter in●o a harder body ) and by that meanes it may be easily drawne forth . a dilatorie . this instrument is named a dilatory , which may be vsed to open and dilate the wounds , to the end that the strange bodyes may the easier bee found and extracted , for by compressing together the two ends thereof , the other two do open , it may also serue in many places , as the nostrils , fundament ; and other parts . the instruments which follow are needles for the seton , and are very conuenient when as you would passe in a seton to keepe the wound & the way of the bullet open , vntill you haue drawne forth all the straunge bodies which might yet remaine therein ; besides , they may serue to explora●e or search into deepe wounds to find the bullet ▪ not causing any paine , because they are round and pollished towards their extremities . you must vnderstand that those probes which are vsed to serch the bullet ought to be of a mean greatn●sse , pollished and round on their extreamities , because that the edges of the wound , and the way whereby the bullet hath passed , doeth incontinently ioyne together , and touch the one side against the other . in such maner that the sayd wound or way of the bullet , will appeare in sight to be much smaller then it is : and for that cause those probes which are slender and sharp , are nothing so commodious ; for they will stop and stay on euery part of the reioyned wound , and cannot so easily be conducted to the place where the bullet is , as those which are somewhat greater . also those which are small and slender ▪ doe pricke and offend the flesh of the wound whereby the patient is much mollested , and is oftentimes a cause that the bullet cannot be found . also you ought in like manner to haue those which are greater & longer to passe through the thigh when necessity shall require . which length of them ought to be changed and diuersified according to the greatnesse of the wounded member . for i am of this opinion , that one should not striue too much to make them passe alwayes thorough the wounded parts for feare of induring paine and other accidents . for the patient may be cured as well although the seton be not passed thorough , as by experience it hath beene seene , that a bullet hath bene shot through the body , and yet without the passing through of a seton , they haue neuerthelesse bene cured . probes which may serue for setons . chap. v. the manner how to handle those woundes at the first dressing , after that the strange bodyes are extracted . after you haue drawne forth the strange bodies by the aforesaide meanes , the principall intention shall be to combate against the contusion and alteration of the aire , if it be hot & moist , and disposed to putrifaction ; which shall be done both by remedies taken inwardly , as by others applyed outwardly ; and also put or infused within the wound . for those which are to bee taken inwardly ought to be administred by the counsel & ordinance of the learned physitian , to whose doctrine i leaue all that may appertaine both to the manner of liuing , and the purgation of the patient . but as for the topical medicines , the chirurgian ( acc●rding to the things aforesaid ) ought to consider of the constitution of the times , and of the aire . for if there bee no danger of the part to fall into a gangrena , he shall vse suppuratiues , as in contused wounds , which are oleum catellorum or of a digestiue , hauing a regard to the nature of the part , because that the neruous parts doe require medicines more drying , then the fleshye parts do . for in the ioynts and neruous parts , you may vse of the terebinth of venice , or the oyle of waxe , of masticke , the yolkes of egges , adding thereto a little aqua-vitae rectified . such like things haue power to disiccate and consume the watrish humidity which issueth from the neruous parts , and a●so easeth the paine . ionbertus physitian in ordinary to the king , and chancellour of the vniuersity of montpellier , who hath most learnedly written of the woundes made by gunshot , because he hath seene many wounded when he followed the wars , in the treatise which he hath made , he saith ; that in the simple wounds made by shot , there ought not to be vsed any medicine escharoticke , or that causeth an escharre , either actuall or potentiall , because they doe endure paine , inflammation , gangrena , feauer , & other pernicious accidents . also because that the eschar or crust hin●ereth the suppuration which ought presently to bee indured , to separate the contused flesh , together with the sanies , lest that all should degenerate into putrifaction , as easilie it may when the superfluous humour putrifieth long in one place , not hauing free passage ; not so much as for the exhalatiō of the putrified vapors , because that they are enclosed and couered in with the eschar : which being inclosed doe multiply , insomuch that they do require a greater place then is permitted them ; then they passe and enter from the small vessels into the greater ; and from thence into the noble parts , from whence most commonly ensueth d●ath : neuer●helesse , if there bee any suspition of putrifaction , then in such a case you ought to passe from suppuratiues , vnto remedies that do resist putrifaction , leauing the proper care ●o come vnto the accidents . wherefore at the first dressing in the case aforesaide , in the wound may bee vsed this following vnguent . ℞ . puluer . alumin. rochae , vi●idis aeris , vitrioli romani , mellis rosat . an . ℥ ij . aceti boni quantum sufficit , bulliant omnia simul secundum artem , & fiat medicamentum ad formam mellis . the vertues of this vnguent is , that because of the heat & tenuity thereof , it inciseth and attenu●teth the humors , reuoketh the naturall heate which was repelled by the vehement impulsion of the blow , & the violent agitation of the aire conducted by the bullet . mo●eouer it correcteth the putrifaction of the virulent humor , which presently cleaueth vnto , and so disposeth the contused flesh in such manner , that it maketh an escharre . this vnguent when and as often as it shall be needfull may bee applyed with tents or setons , beeing first dissolued with a little wine or aqua-vitae : the which tents ought to be both great and long for the first dressing , thereby to inlarge and dilate the wound that the medicines may therby the better be conveyed in . but afterwards they ought not to be applyed so long or great . also that the medicine may the better be conueyed into the bottome of the wounds , it may bee incited in with a syringe . moreouer the vertue and strength thereof shal be diminished according to the temperature of the body , and sensibility of the hurt . as if the wound be in the neruous parts , it shall be mixed with the oyles of terebinth , or of hypericon , in such quantity as the expert chirurgian shall know to bee needfull . but the egyptiacum is not to bee vsed at all , vnlesse it bee in such times which are pestilentiall and dangerous for those saide wounds , & that they do decline to putrifaction . after the vse of egyptiacum you may separate & make the escharre fall , with remollitiue and lenitiue things , as the following oyle in vsing thereof a litle hotter then luke-warme . ℞ olei violati lb iiij . in quibus coquantur catelli duo nuper nati , vsque ad dissolutionem ossium , addendo vermium terrestrium praeparatorum lb j. coquantur simul lento igne , deinde fiat expressio ad vsum , addendo terebinthinae venetae ℥ iij. aquae vitae ℥ j. the said oyle is of great & meruellous efficacy , both to appease the paine , as also to suppurate the wound , and to make the escharre fall . but for want thereof this which followeth may be applied which is easier to be had . ℞ olei semin . lini , & liliorum an . ℥ iij. vnguent . basilic . ℥ j. liquefiant simul , & fiat medicamentū , de quo vulneri indatur quantum sufficit . i haue knowne that the saide oyles being applied in the beginning of the hurt reasonable warme to appease the paine , to lubrifie , relaxe , and moysten the edges of the wound , disposing it to suppuration , which is the true way to cure those woundes , as galen himselfe reciteth from hippocrates , saying ; that if the flesh bee contused , crushed , or battered with any dart , or in any other manner , that it ought so to be handled that it bee brought to suppuration as soone as may bee : for by this meanes the wound shall bee the lesse mollested with phlegmon ( or inflammation . ) also it is necessary that the contused flesh be putrified , liquefied , and conuerted into pus , that new flesh may afterwards be regenerated . ioubertus doth very much approoue this remedy , which i neuer yet did experiment , and it this . take of the pouder of mercury twice calcined ℥ j fresh hogs greace , or sweete butter , ℥ viij . camphire dissolued in aqua vitae , ʒ ij . mixe them together , adding thereto a little of the oyle of lillies or linseed . experience doeth shew that this remedy is excellent , and reason doth also confirm it . for the powder of mercury accompanyed with vnctious and moistning things , causeth the contused flesh to suppurate easily , & in short time without induring any great paine . as for the camphire , whether it bee hot or cold , it serueth greatly because of the excellent tenuitie of the parts thereof . by reason wherof , euery medicine of what quality soeuer it be , doth penetrate , and disperse the vertues thereof the better . moreouer , the saide camphire doth resist all putrifaction . some do instill into the wound aqua vitae , in the which they dissolue calcined vitrioll ; which medicine is not suppuratiue , but i● resisteth putrifaction ; of the which you may vse in times & seasons that are hot and moyst . another ℞ . olei terebinth . ℥ iij. aqua vitae . ℥ ss miscae . now , if the wound were giuen neere at hand , then of a certaine the wound may bee with burning , by reason of the flaming powder , and shall be applyed medicines proper vnto the combustion thereof , neuerthelesse not leauing the contusion : and as for the parts about the wound , there you shall not apply medicines which are refrigeratiue and astringent , but remollitiues and suppuratiues , for they cānot be vsed at the first dressing , because they do coole and weaken the pa●t , and hinder suppuration . also they do constipate the skin , which is a hinderance to the transpiration of the fuliginous vapors : from whence ensueth gangrena and mortification , thorough the vnfit application of such like medicines . vvhere the contusion shall bee great , there you may make many scarifications , therby to discharge the part of the bruised bones which is subiect to putrifie : but in the neighbouring parts , and about the contusion farre off from the wound , you ought to apply cooling & corroborating medicines to prohibite and hinder the defluxion of humours as is this . ℞ . puluer . boli armenis sanguin . dracon . puluer . myrrh . an ℥ j. succi solan . semperuiui , portulac . an . ℥ j. ss album ouorum iiij . oxyrrh . quantum sufficit , fiat linimen . vt decet . or other such like : whereof it is conuenient you should vse , vntill you are assured of the perfect preuention of the accidents . in like manner , great care ought to be taken in the apt cooling of the member , situating it in a figure proper , and without pain if it be possible at the beginning , vntill that the wounde beginneth to suppurate , you neede not dresse the patient but from . houres to . houres : and when the suppuration beginneth , and by consequence the paine , feauer , and disquietnesse shall augment , the patient ought then to be dressed euery twelue houres . but when there shal be great quantity of matter which doth molest the patient then it is needfull that he be drest euery . houres : & when the pu● beginneth naturally to diminish , the once euery twelue houres shall suffice . finally , when the vlcer beginneth to be filld with flesh and sendeth not forth much matter , then to bee dressed once a day shall be sufficient , as in the beginning . chap. vi. how the saide wounds ought to be handled after the first dressing . at the second dressing , and in the rest following , if there be no danger of putrifaction and gangrena , you may vse one of the aforesaid oiles adding thereunto of the egges , with a little saffron , which shall bee continued vntill the excrement of the wound bee digested and brought to suppuration . heerein it is to be noted , that in wounds made by gunne-shot , it is longer before they bee brought to suppuration then other wounds made by other instruments , because that the bullet and the aire which it thrusteth before it , dissipateth ( by reason of the great contusion thereof ) the naturall heate , and the spirites from the part , which causeth that the concoction is neither so soone , nor so well made , for want of naturall heate , from whence there followeth an exceeding foetide or stinking sauour of the sanies and other accidents very dangerous . neuerthelesse it is for the most part made in three or foure dayes , sometimes also sooner or later according to the temperature of the body , and of the part , & the quality of the aire hot or cold . these thinges done , it shall be needfull to begin to mundify by little and little the wound , by adding to the aforesaide medicine , of terebinth washed in rose water or barly water , or such like , thereby to take away the heate and mordacity thereof . if the disposition of the time be very cold , then you may adde vnto it of aquavitae , according to the counsell of galen , who teacheth that in winter ought to be applied hotter medicines then in sommer . afterwards you may vse of this mundificatiue , ℞ . aquae decoct . hordei quantum sufficit , succi plantaginis , appij , agrimoniae , centauri minoris , an . ℥ j. bulliant omnia simul , in fine decoctionis adde terebinth . venet . ℥ iij. mellis rosati . ℥ ij . far . hord . ʒ iij. croci ℈ j. miseantur omnia simul bene agitando fiat mundificatum mediocris co●sistentiae . another . ℞ . succi clymeni , plantag . absinth , appij , an ℥ . ij . terebinth . venet . ℥ iiij . syrrup . absinth . & mellis ros. an . ℥ ij . bulliant omnia secundum artem , postea colentur , in colatura adde puluer . aloes , mostich , i●e●s , florent . far . hord . an ʒ j fiat mundificat . ad vs●m dictum . or this ; ℞ . terebinth . venet . lotae in aqua ros. ℥ v. olei ros. ℥ j. mellis ros . ℥ iij. myr●h , aloes , mastich , aristo●och . rotundae , an ʒ j ss far . hord . ʒ iij misce , fiat mundificatiuum . the which shall bee applyed in the wound with tents and setons , neyther too long , nor too great ; because that then they may hinder the euacuation of the sanies or matter , & of the vapors eleuated from the wounds ; which if they should be retained , it is most certaine that they will heat the part , and acquire to themselues an acrimony , which afterwards will eate into the edges and other parts of the wound ; from whence insueth dolour , fluxion , inflammation , fluxe of blood , apostume , and putrifaction , which are easily communicated to the noble parts , and cause afterwards many pernitious accidents . and therfore the chirurgian need not to feare any thing at all , of the closing or conglutinating of the aforesaide wounds , because that the flesh being so greatly contused and dilacerated , cannot consolidate vntill the contusion be first suppurated and mundified . and therefore i aduise him not to vse any tents or setons but those that are very small and slender , to the end that they may not hinder the issue of the matter contained , and that the patient may indure them easily , thereby to auoyde the aforesaid accid●nts . the vse of tents and setons is to carry the medicine vnto the bottom of the wounds , and to keepe them open , especially in their orifices , vntill that the strange and vnnaturall things be expelled : but if the wound bee sinuous and deep in such maner that the medicines cannot be conueyed vnto all the offended parts , then you may make iniection with the decoction following . ℞ . aquae hordei lb iiij . agrimon . centauris , minoris , pimpinellae , absinth . plantag . an . m ss . rad. aristoloch . rotun . ʒ ss . fiat decoctio ad lb j. in colatura expressa dissolue aloes hepaticae ʒ iij. mellis rosat . ℥ ij . bulliant modicum . with this there shall be inuection made three or four times together , every time that the patient is dressed . and if this remedy be not sufficient to clense the matter , and to consume the spongy and putrified flesh , you may then mixe with the said decoction of egyptiacum , dissolued in such a quantity as necessity shall require ; as for a pound of the sayd decoction , an ounce of the said vnguent more or lesse , the which is of most great efficacy to correct the spongeous flesh from the bottome of the said wounds : the like also doth the saide egyptiacum , being applyed aboue on the excresence of the spongeous flesh . i haue in like manner experimented the powder of mercury and alom burned , mixed together in equall portions , to haue in that case the like vertue vnto sublimate or arsnick ( but in working it is nothing so painfull ) and it maketh also a very great eschar , whereat sometimes i haue much wondred . some practitioners doe vse oftentimes to leaue a great quantitie of their iniections in the bottome of such sinewous wounds , the which i approoue not . for besi●es the putrifaction and corruption which thereby it get●eth , it holdeth the parts extended , and doeth humid or moysten them : wher●by it commeth to passe , that nature cannot do her duty to regenerate the flesh , considering that for the curation of all vlcers ( that being an vlcer , as saith hippocrates ) the scope or intention ought to be to dissicate them , and not moisten them . many doe erre also in the too frequent vse of setons , in this ; that not applying themselues to reason , they do vse to renew them alwaies , wherby they rub and fret away the tender flesh on the edges of the woun● ; the which rubbing and chafing doth not onely cause pai●e , but also bringeth with it many euill accidents . and therefore i doe very much commend the vse of the hollow tent , which are made either of golde , siluer , or lead , such as are described in the wounds of thorax : i meane to be vsed in such places which haue lapasity sufficient , and where there shal be great quantity of sanies . also it is most needfull that there should bee applyed compresses or boulsters iust vpon the bottome of the sinus , thereby to comprimate those parts which are distant from the orifice , & to expell the sanies . to which end , it is fitting that the boulster be perforated iust vpon the orifice of the sinuous vlcer , and vpon the hollow tents ; & that therein there bee placed a sponge to receiue the sanies : for by this meanes the expulsion , euacuation , and absumption thereof , shall be much better . in rolling , the ligature ought to bee first begun on the bottom of the sinus , with a mean combustion , to the end that the matter bee not retayned within the cauity thereof . the rollers and boulsters proper to this operation , shall bee first moistned in oxycrat , or soure wine , or in any other astringent liquor , to roborate and strengthē the part , and to hinder the defluxion . but great heed ought to be taken , that ther be not too great an astriction made vppon the part , because that thorough the astriction or straight binding , extreame paine may be produced by meanes of the exhalation of the fuliginous excrements which therby are prohibited . also it may cause the member to become atrophied or withered thorough the too long continuation of the said rollers . chap. vii . of the meanes to draw foorth such strange bodyes , which shall yet remaine to be extracted . and where there shall remaine any splinters of bones , which at the beginning were not extracted by the aforesaid instruments : then you ought to apply this medicine , which is of great power to draw them foorth , and all other strange bodies . ℞ . radicis , ireos , florent . panac . & cappar . an . ʒ iij. aristolochiae , rotundae , mannae , thuris , an . ʒ i. in pollinem redecta concorporentur mell . rosar . & terebinth . venetae . ana ℥ ij . another remedy to take away the saide splinters , and corrupted bones . ℞ . resina pini siccae , ℥ iij , pumicis combusti & extincti in vin albo , radic . ireos , aristolochiae , ana ʒ ss thuris ʒ j. squamae aeris ss ij . in pollinem rediganter diligenter , incorporentur cum melle rosato , & fiat medicamentum . besides these remedies which haue in them , & from their nature , such power to attract foorth strange bodies , there are of others which haue the like effect and v●rtue by putrifaction , vt omnia stercor● animalium . also leauen and such like , as galen writeth . chap. viii . of the indications which ought to bee obserued in the saide wounds . the mundification and the extraction of the saide strange bodies being done , it followeth then to aide nature ; both to regenerate flesh , & also to cicatrice it , as wel by things taken inwardly , as by outward medicines hereunto conuenient , and to proceede therein by certaine indications , which are taken first from the essence of the disease , and from the cause thereof . if it bee present although that from the primitiue cau●e ( according to galen in the third of his method ) ●here ought no indication to bee taken , no more then from the time wherein hee meaneth from the absent cause , and from the time past . in like manner indication ought to be taken from the foure vniuersall times of the cureable disease , that is to say , from the beginning , increasing , state , and declination : according to the which times , the remedies ought to be diuersied . another indication is takē from the temperature of the pa●ient , which also changeth the curation . for euery rationall and methodicke chirurgian knoweth well , that other remedies are required in a chollericke body , then in a flegmatick ; and so of the other temperatures both simple and compound . vnder the which indication of the temperature , shall bee comprehended that of the age , which receyueth not all remedies alike , but demaundeth some for the yong persons , and others for the old . moreouer , indication is to bee taken from the custome or manner of liuing of the patient ; as whether hee hath beene accustomed to eate and drink much , and at all houres : for then you ought not to ordaine him such an exquisite dyet as vnto him that is accustomed to eate and drinke but little , and at certaine houres : and therefore the diet of panades are not so proper vnto vs as vnto the italians , because our bodies require more lenitiue things : which effect it woorketh with them , because of custome , which is a second nature . vnder this accustomed manner of liuing , ought to be vnderstood the condition of the life , and the exercise of the patient , forasmuch as you ought to vse stronger remedies vnto the robusticke & men of labour , such as haue their flesh hard , then you ought to vse vpon the delicate , and such which labour but little , and exercise lesse . some there bee that had rather comprehend this indication vnder that of the temperature . for my part i wil not dispute of it , but will leaue the resolution thereof wholly to the doctors . the indication taken from the vertue of the patient , is aboue all other things to be respected , because that it failing or being very weake , all other things ought necessarily to bee best to come vnto it . as when we are inforced through necessity to take off a member , or to make any great incisions , or such like things , if the patient haue not vertue sufficient to indure the paine ; it is necessary to deferre such operations ( if it possible ) vntill that nature be restored , and hath recouered her vertues both by good nourishment and rest . another indication may bee taken from the ayre which doth encompasse vs : vnder the which are comprehended the seasons of the yeere , the region , the place of our abiding , and the constitution of the time . for accordi●g to the heat , coldnesse , drinesse , and moysture of the aire , also according to the continuation of these qual●ties , the medicines ought to be prepared . and therefore ( as sayth guido ) the wounds in the head are more difficult to heale at paris then at auignon ; and the wounds in the legges are more tedious at auignon then in paris ; by reason that in paris the ayre is more cold and moyst then at auignon , which is a contrary thing , especially to all woundes in the head . contrarywise , in auignon , the heate of the incompassing aire doeth melt and subtillize the humors ; whereby such humours more easily and in greater abundance do fall downe into the legs : from whence it commeth that the wounds in the legges are more difficult to cure at auignon then at paris . but if any one doe alledge experience to the contrary , that the woundes in the head , do more often become lethall or mortal in hotte regions then in colde . to him i answer , that that proceedeth not by reason of the aire , inasmuch as it is hot and dry , but because of some superfluous humidity or euill vapour communicated with the aire ; as in those partes of prouence and italy , which are neere to the mediterranean sea . the indication of curation may also bee taken from the temperature of the wounded partes : for the fleshy parts doe require other remedies then the bones or the neruous partes , and so others . the like ought to bee obserued concerning the sensibility of the saide parts , which in like manner altereth the manner of curation : for it is not sitting to apply such sharpe and violent medicines to the nerues and tendons , as to the ligaments and other insensible parts . the dignity and action of the wounded parts hath no lesse priuiledge in the act of curation then the former . for , if the wound be in the braine , or in any other of the vitall or naturall parts , it behooueth that their medicines diuersified and applied according to their dignity and action , because that from the contemplation of these wounds , is oftentimes gathered a certain iudgement of the insuing accidents . for such woundes which doe penetrate into the ventricle of the braine , the heart , or in the great vessels , in the chest , in the neruous part of diaphragma , in the liuer , in the stomack , in the smal guts , and in the bladder , if the wound bee great , they are necessarily mortall . also such which are in the ioynts , or neere thereunto , and in bodies cacochymed or of an ill habitude are oftentimes mortall , as hath beene sayde heere before . in like manner , the indications which are taken from the position and colligance of the affected part ought not to bee forgotten , neither the figure thereof , as galan hath sufficiently explained in the . of his method , and in the second to glaucus . chap. ix . how diseases become compounded . moreouer in taking the aforesaid indication , you ought to consider whether there bee a complication of the disease , or not : for , euen as the simple disease proposeth a simple indication , so the complications of the indispositions against nature , do propose mix●d or compounded indications . now the aforesaide complications are made after three manner of wayes that is to say , disease with disease ; as a wound with an apostume or fracture of the bones . disease with cause , as an vlcer with defluxion . disease with symptome , as a wound with paine , or with a fluxe of blood . or all things against nature together , as disease , cause , and symptome . now that you might know how to handle artificially all these complications , you must followe the doctrine of galen , in the . of his method , who exhorteth vs to consider the complicated affections , as that which is the most vrgent , the cause ; and that w●thout the which the disease cannot be taken away . and these are things of great import●nce in the curation of all diseases ; & herein the empericke becommeth wauering and vncertaine , without counsell or resolution , not knowing with which of the affections hee ought first to begin withall for the cure . bu● the i●dicious physitian to the contrary is directed by those three golden word● : from the which depend both the order and method in all such complicated dispositions and affections . the symptomes inasmuch as they are symptomes , do not giue any indication at all , neyther do they charge or alter the order of the curation . for in taking away the disease , which is the cause of the symptome , they are remooued , because they depend thereon , as the shadow doth the body : although oftentimes we are constrained to leaue the disease in an irregular care , to come vnto the accidents of the disease ; the which if they are vrgent , doe holde the place of the cause , and not properly of the symptomes . to conclude , all the sayde indications are but to attaine to two endes , that is to say , to restore the part in its naturall temperature , and that the blood offend not neyther in quantity nor quality . that being done ( as saith galen ) nothing will hinder neyther the regeneration of the flesh , nor the vnion of the vlcer . bu● sometimes it is not possible to put the aforesayde indications in execution , either because of the greatnesse of the wound , or the excesse and disobedience of the patient ; or because of some other indisposition which hath happened through the ignorance of the chirurgian , or from the ill or disordered application of the medicines . and therefore by meanes of these things , there followeth great paines , feauers , apostumes , gangrenaes ( vulgarly and abusiuely called estiomenes ) mortifications , and oftentimes death it selfe . moreouer those that receyue wounds by gunshot , do eyther dye , or else remaine maymed and defectiue all their life after . chap. x. how the chirurgian shall proceede in the handling of the saide wounds . in the beginning therefore , great regard ought to bee taken to mittigate the payne as much as may be , by repercussing the defluxion , by ordayning a dyet according to the six vnnatural things , and they annexed , by anoyding all hot and sharp things , and by diminishing or altogether prohibiting wine , lest it should heat , subtillize , & make the humors flow to the part . his maner of liuing , ought in the beginning to be very slender , thereby to make revulsion . for when the stomacke is not filled sufficiently , it attracteth from all partes vnto it : by meanes whereof , the externe parts hauing affinity therewith , do remaine empty . and this is the reason wherefore the patient ought to keepe a slender dyet in the first dayes of his hurt . venus is altogether contrary vnto them , inasmuch as it enflameth the humors and spirits more then any other motion : and for this cause it maketh the wound to bee much enflamed and subiect to defluxion . and it wil not be amisse in the beginning if there be a sluxe of bloode , to let it moderately flow , thereby to discharge the body and the part : and where it hath not sufficiently flowed , you ought the day following to vse revulsiue phlebotomy , and to take away according to the fulnesse and vertue of the patient . you neede not feare of making of auersion of the blood toward the noble part● . for ( as we haue saide ) there is no venomous quality th●rein ; neuerthelesse it is generally ●bserued , that such wounds at that i●stant doe send forth b●t little bloode , because of the great con●usion made by the bul●et and t●e vehemence of the agitated aire , which doth repulse and driue back the spirits into the inw●rd parts , and into the circumiacent parts of the wound , as we haue sayd before . this is ordinarily knowne in those who haue had a member carried away with a great shot : for at the instant of their hurts , there issue●h but little blood forth of their wounds , although that there be many great veines and arteries broken & dilacerated . but a certaine time afterwards , as in the fourth , fift , or sixt day , and sometimes later , the blood will yssue foorth in great abundance : by meanes of the returning of the spirits , and natural heate into the affected pa●ts . as for the purgatiue medicines . i leaue them to the doctors . neuerthelesse in their absenc● , it is necessarie to relaxe and moue the belly of the patient at the least once a day , either by a●t or by nature , which shal be done r●ther by custers then purgations , especially in the fi●st dayes , because that the agitation of the humors in that case is to be suspected , least they shold ma●e a greater defluxion to the wounded part . n●uerthelesse galen in the fourth booke of his method . cap . speaking of the indications of bleeding and purging , where he saith ; that bleeding and purging are necessary , according to the greatnesse of the disease , althogh that the pati●nt be without repletion or cacochymy , or euill constitution . paine ought to be appeased , according to the intention and remission thereof , which to do if it happen that there is an inflammati●n , you may apply thereto as a locall medicine vnguentum nutritum , composed with the i●yce of plantane , housleeke , and night-shade , and such like . also the emplaister diachalciteos describ●d by galen in his first booke of the composition of medicines according to their kinds , chap. . dissolued vvith the oyle of poppy , of roses , and a little vinegar , and it is of no little efficacy for that purpose . also vng . de bolo , and many others of that facultie , if they be not properly anodins ( for all anodins are hot in the first degree , or at the least agreeing in heate with our bodies , as saieth galen in his first booke and . chap. of simples ) ●nd the aforesaid medicines are cold , yet not so much as that thereby they should become naucotick , the which are cold in the fourth degree . but to bee short , the aboue-mentioned in the aforesaid case , do appease the paine very comm●diously , because they are contrary vnto hot dist●mperatures , and doe prohibit the defluxions of humors , which oftentimes are sharpe and chollericke , which are more apte to flow then the cold , and do cause a greater pain . after the vsage of repercussiues , i do meruellously approue this cataplasme . ℞ . micae panis infusae in lacte vaccino lb j. ss . bulliant parum addendo olei violacei & ros● . an . ℥ iij vitellos ouorum numer quatuor . pul . rosar . rubr . florum chamemel . & melior an . ℥ ij . far . fabar . & hord . ana ℥ j. misce , & fiat cataplasma secundum artem . or for a medicine sooner prepared , thou must take of the crummes of bread , and so let it be a little boyled with oxycrat , and the oyle of roses . as concerning the curation of such apostumes which happen in these woun●es , it is expedient that their medicines should bee diuersied according to their times . for some medicines are proper in the beginning , others in the augmentation , and others in other times ; as hath beene sufficiently declared by galen in his thirde booke and ninth chapter of the faculty of medicines . and by guido in the curation of apostumes ; and by those that haue written thereof . and where nature shall incline to suppuration , it is most needful to attend her , as sayth hippocrates : for the physitian and chirurgean , are but the ministers and helpers of nature , to ayde her in those thinges whereunto commodiously she enclineth . chap. xi . of such bu●lets which haue remained in certain parts a long time after the curation of the wounds . sometimes the bullets of lead haue remayned a long time within the members , as for the space of seuen or eight yeeres and more , there following neuerthelesse not any euill accident , nor hinderance of the consolidation of the wound : & they haue continued there so long , till they haue bene thrust forth by the expulsiue vertue , discending downe by meanes of their grauity and heauinesse into the inferiour parts , in the which they will manifest themselues , and then ought to bee drawne forth by the operation of the chirurgean . now this continuation of them so long in the body , without any corruption or euill accident ( in my opinion ) doth proceede from no other thing but from the matter of the lead , whereof the sayd bullets were composed . for so it is , that lead hath a certain familiarity and agreement with nature , especially of the fleshy parts : euen as we see by ordinary experience , which teacheth vs , that lead being outwardly applyed , hath the vertue to close and cicatrise old vlcers : but if the bullet were of stone , of iron , or of any other mettal , it is a most assured thing , that they cou●d not abide long in the body , because that the iron bullet would rust , and thereby corrode the part where it lyeth ; from whence would ensue many pernitious accidents . but if the bullet be in the neruous or noble parts , although it were but of lead , it could not continue there long , wi●hout bringing with it manie great inconueniences : therefore when it cometh to passe that it remaineth a lo●g ti●e in the body , it is in the fle●●y parts , and in bodyes of good temperature and habitude , otherwise it cannot st●y there , without inducing pain and many other accidents , as hath b●ne sayd . chap. xii . of the great contusions and d●●acerations made by the bull●ts of great shot . moreouer if the bullet of a great peece of ordinance do strike against any member ▪ it ( for the most part ) doeth ei●her carry it away , or else breake and batter it in such a fashion , through the great veheme●cy there●f , that it shiuereth and breaketh the bones , not onely of those which it toucheth , but also of those that are farther off , because that the bonebeing hard doth in some sort make a li●tle resistance , by which meanes the bullet hath the greater force against it . that this is true , wee see ordinarily that ●he saide ordinance hath much more action & effect against a strong wall , then against a rampire of earth , or a woolsacke , and other soft things , as we haue said here before . therefore , it is no meruaile if after such wounds made by gun-shot , there follow dolor , inflammation , feauer , spasme , apostume , gangrena , mortification , and oftentimes death . for those great contusions of the neruous parts , the breakings or vehement concussions of the bones made by the saide bullets , do cause greeuous accidents , and not the combust●on and venenositie of the powder , as many doe thinke , not considering the matter of the sayd ●owder : the which ( as i haue said ) it is not venomous ; for if the wounde bee made in a fle●●y part , without touching the neruous parts , it onely requirech such remedies for their curati●n , a● a●l other contused wo●ndes do , without they degenerate ( as i haue saide here before ) into an euill quality , through the corruption of the ai●e ; the which cause● ( not many yeeres since ) the wounds that were then receiued to bee much altered and corrupted , with a great putrifaction in the fleshy and bony partes . from the which ( as i saide before ) were eleuated many vapors into the braine , the heart , and the liuer : from whence proceeded many euill accidents , & death to the most part . chap. xiii . of the meanes which ought to bee obserued to rectifie the ayre , to r●borate the noble parts , and to fortifie the whole body . and therefore the chirurgian ought to haue a great care to administer all thinges which haue power to rectifie the aire , and to roborate and strengthen the noble parts : also to fortify the whole body , which shall be done by the ensuing things ; which are to be administred both inwardly and outwardly . for the patient shall take inwardly in the morning , three houres before hee ●ate any thing , of the tabul . diarrhodon abatis , or de aroi● . ros . de triasant . diamoschi , de laetificans gal●nt , and other of the like vertue . outwardly shall be vsed epithemes vppon the region of the heart and liuer , a little more then luke-warme , applied with a peece of scarlet , or sponge , felt , or a fine linnen cloth . this following may serue for a form vnto euery chirurgian . ℞ . aquae rosarum ℥ iiij . aquae buglo . aceti boni , an . ℥ ij . coriand . praeparat . ʒ iiij . garyophyllor , corticum citri , an . ʒ j. santali rub . ʒ ss . corall , vtriusque ʒ j. camph. ℈ j. croci ℈ ss pul . diarrho . abbatis ʒ ij . theria . & mithridat . an . ℥ ss . pulu . florum camomillae , melilio ana ℥ j. misce & fiat epithema . moreouer , you ought to giue the patient odorifferous and refrigerant things to smell to often , to roborate the animall faculty , as this which followeth . r aqua rosaceae , aceti boni , ana ℥ iij. garyophyl . nucis mosca . cinamoni conquatassorum , therica galeni ana ʒ j. and therein let a handkercher or sponge bee dipped , which the patient shall aiwayes hold to his nose . he may vse also an aromaticke apple or pomander for the same intention , as is this . ℞ . rosar . rubrar . violar . ana ʒ iij. baccarum myrrhi & iuniperi , santali rubr . ana ʒ ij ss . benioin ʒ i. camph. ℈ ij . fiat puluis . postea ℞ olei ros. & nenuph. ana ℥ ss styracis calamitae , ʒ ij . aquae rosarum quantum satis est , liquefiant simul cum cera alba quantum suffic . fiat ceratum ad comprehendendos supra dictos pulueres cum pistillo calido , & fiat pomum . another . ℞ radic . ireos florent . maioranae , calami ariomatici , ladani , ben●oin , rad . cyp . garyoph . ana ℥ ij . mosci g. iiij . fiat puluis , et cum gummi tragachan . quantum sufficit , fiat pomum . another . ℞ ladani puri ℥ ij . benioin ℥ ss . styrac . calam ʒ vi . ireos florentiae ℥ ss garyophil . ʒ iij maiora , rosarum rubrarum calami aromat ana ʒ ss . puluerisentur omnia , et bulliant cum aqua rosarum quantum sufficit , et colentur , et colata liquefiant cum cer . alb . quantū sufficit , styracis liquidae , ℥ j. fiat ad modum cerati , comprehendantur per pistillum , addendo moschi ʒ j. fiat pomum . in like manner you may apply of your frontals to roborate the animall faculty , to prouoke sleepe , and to mitigate and ease the paine of the head , as this following . ℞ aqua rosaceae ℥ ij . olei rosar . et papaueris , ana ℥ j ss . aceti boni , trochiscorum de camphora ʒ ss . fiat frontale . the way to apply it is thus . take a linnen cloth , and folde it vp fiue or six times double ; that done , dip it in the aforesaid commixtion , and so apply it on the temples a little warme , which being dry ought to bee renewed againe . herein note , that in this case the head ought not to be bound hard , lest that therby the free pulsation of the arteries of the temples be hindred , whereby the paine of the head might bee augmentrd . there are many other exteriour remedies whereby the aire might be corrected ; as to make a good fire in the chamber of the patient with the wood of iuniper , of bayes , vine bra●ches rosemary , of floure de luce roots : also by things sprinkled in the chamber , as water and vinegar ; if the patient be rich , damaske water heerein is very proper . or this which followeth ; ℞ maiorauae , menthae , radicis cyperi , calami aromatici , saluiae , lauandule , foeniculi , thymi , stoechados , florum camo . melil . satureiae , baccarum lauri et iuniperi an . m. iij. pulu . garyoph . et nucis moscatae an . ℥ j. aquae ros . et vitae lb ij . vini albi boni et odoriferi lb x. bulliant omnia in balneo mariae ad vsum dictum . moreouer perfumes may be made to perfume the saide chamber , as these following . ℞ carbonis salicis ℥ viii-labdani puri ℥ ii . thuris masculi , lini et baccarum iuniperi ana ℥ j. xylaloes , benioin , styracis calamitae an . ℥ ss . nucis moscatae , santali lutei ana ʒ iij. garyoph . styracis liquidae ana ʒ ij . zedoariae , calami aromatici ana ʒ i gummi tragach . aqua rosac . soluti , quod sit satis : fiant auiculae cyprinae , seu suffitis , qua forma libebit . as for the putrifaction and corruption of the bones , wee will speake thereof hereafter more amplie . chap. xiiii . memorable histories . oftentimes the aforesaide wounds are accompanied with many indispositions , as oedemateus tumors , fracture of the bones , and the like , as ( for the yong chirurgians sake ) i will relate this historie for an example , of the hurt of the earle of mansfelt , gouernour of the dutchy of luxembourg , knight of the order of the king of spaine , who was hurt at the battell of moncontour , with a pistoll shot vpon the ioynt of his right arme or elbow , which fractured the bones ; whereof there were many that were fractured in such small peeces as if they had bene broken with a mallet , because he receiued the blow so neere at hand , and through the violence and force of the blow , there hapned vnto him many accidents ; as extreme dolors , inflammation , feauer , an oedemateous tumor ; a flateous or windy tumor all the arm ouer , yea euen to the ends of the fingers , together with a preparation vnto a gangrena . which to preuent , and also the totall mortification therof , m. nicholas lambert , and m. richard hubert , chirurgeons in ordinary to the king , had made many and deepe scarifications . now by the commandement of the king , i was sent for to come vnto the aforesaide patient to dresse him : where being arriued , seeing the aforesaide accidents to be accompanied with a most faetide putrifaction , we were resolued to apply on the saide scarifyed parts , of aegyptiacum fortified and dissolued in vineger and aqua-vitae and such remedieswhich are proper for the cure of gangrenaes . ouer and besides these accidents , the saide lord had a flux of the belly , by the which he expelled of the fanie quitture which came from the vlcers of his arme . this many will not beleeue , forasmuch ( as they say ) that if it should descend by the belly , it followeth of necessitie that the saide matter should be mixed with the blood . also that in passing neere vnto the heart , and through the liuer , it woulde cause many accidents , yea death it selfe . neuerthelesse i doubt not but that i haue sufficiently answered all these obiections , how and in what manner it is done in my booke of the suppression of the vrine ; wherefore , if any desire to know the reason thereof , he may haue recourse to the saide booke . in like manner , the said lord fel of●entimes into a syncope , by reason of the putrified vapours which ascended vp from the vlcers , which vapors by the nerues , veines , and arteries , were communicated to the stomack , and other noble parts . for which cause i gaue him sometimes a spoonefull of aqua vitae to drinke , wherein i dissolued a little treacle . mounsieur bellanger , physitian in ordinary to the king , and mounsieur le bon physitian to my lord the cardinall of guize , men of vnderstanding , and expert in physicke and chirurgerie , imployed all their skill ( as much as was possible ) to resist his feauer , and other accidents which hapned to him . as for the oedemateous and flatulent tumor which wholy occupied al the arme , i applied thereon staples wet in oxycrat , with salt , and a little aqua-vitae , and other remedies , which shortly shall bee shewed . then with double clothes i ●ewed them vp as strong & hansomly as i could possible , that is to say , as much as the said lord could indure it . this compression serueth both to containe the fractured bones in their places , and also to expell the sanies from the vlcers , and to repel the humors towardes the center of the bodie . and when the binding and rolling of his arme was omitted , the tumour did increase in such manner , that i verie much feared the natural heate of his arme would be suffocated and extinguished . now for to make anie other manner of ligature it was altogether impossible , because of the extreame paine that hee felt , if his arme had bene remoued neuer so little . there hapned vnto him also many apostumes about the ioynt of his elbow , and in other partes of his arme : wherefore to giue issue to the sanies , i made him manie incisions ; all which the saide lorde indured willingly , telling me that if two would not serue , make three , yea foure ; such was the desire that he had to be out of his paine , and to be cured . then ( smiling to my selfe ) i told him that he deserued to be hurt , and not these tender and delicate persons , who wil rather suffer themselues to rot , yea to indure the paines of death , then to indure anie necessary incision to be made for the restoring of their healths . now , to shorten his cure , he vsed of a vulnarie potion , and somtimes there was incerted with a syringe into his vlcers of aegyptiacum dissolued in wine , or else in the saide potion , or rather mel rosarum insteed of the egyptiacum to mundifie them , and to correct their putrifaction ; and other remedies which would be too tedious here to recite : and among others , of the powder of alome combusted , to dry vp and consume the high and spongeous flesh . also for the mundification of the said vlcers , i vsed a long time nothing but dry lint , which was as much in quantity euerie dressing , as a mans fist . and on a day , seeing that he was without paine , and that the flesh began to regenerate , i told him that now he began to bee wel : then he saide to me laughing , i know it very wel , for now i see you doe not vse the fourth part of the lint you did before . in the time of his curation , i protest that i tooke from him more then threescore peeces of bones . of the which , some were as great as my finger broken in a verie strange figure , yet notwithstanding the said lord ( thankes be to god ) was perfectly cured : onely it remaineth that he cannot , nor neuer will , bow or stretch forth his arme . mounsier de bassompierre , collonel of two hundred horse , the day of the aforesaide battaile , was hurt with such another shot , and had a great part of the aforesaid accidents : whom also i drest vntill his perfect curation , which ( thankes bee to god ) he attained . true it is , that hee continueth impotent as the other lord is . after that i had cured the aforesaid lords , the earle of mansfelt , and bassompierre , i was commanded by the king to imploy all my diligence in the curation of charles phillippes de croy , lord of hauret , brother to my lord the duke of ascot , nere to mons in haynault , who had alreadie kept his bed seauen months and more , by reason of a wound that he receiued by a musket-shot , three fingers aboue the knee , whom i found with these accidents following ; namely , extreame paynes , a continuall feauer , cold sweatings , losse of sleep , that part situate vpon os cauda , vlcerate in compasse as much as the palme of my hand ( because he had lyen so long time on his backe ) hee tooke not any rest day nor night , with losse of appetite of meate , but dranke inough . hee was somtimes surprized in his bed with the fits of the epilepsie , & had oftentimes a desire to vomit , with a continuall shaking , insomuch that he could not bring his hand to his mouth without the helpe of another ; he fel oftentimes into a syncope or fainting of the heart , because of the putrified vapors that were communicated to the stomacke and the noble parts , by the veines , arteries , and nerues : the which we eleuated from his vlcers , and from the corruption of the bones . for the thigh-bone was fractured and shiuered both long wise and ouerthwart , with diuers splinters ; whereofsome were already separated , others not . hee also had an hollow vlcer neere vnto the groine , which ended about the middle of the thigh . moreouer hee had other sinuous and caniculous vlcers about the knee . all the muscles both of the thigh and legge were extremely tumified and imbued with a flegmaticke , cold , moyst , and flatulent humor , in such sort , that the natural heate was verie neere suffocated and extinguished . seeing al these accidents , and the strength and vertue of the patient greatly decayed and abated , i was stroke with an exceeding sorrow , because that i was sent vnto him , and seeing little hope of recouery , for i feared greatly that he would die vnder my hands . neuerthelesse , considering his youth , i had some small hope , for god and nature bringeth sometimes such things to passe , which seemeth vnpossible to the chirurgian . i then demanded of the saide lord , if hee had a good courage : and told him likewise , that if hee would indure the making of certaine incisions , the which for his curation were very necessary , by that meanes his paines and his other accidents would cease . he answered , that he would willingly indure whatsoeuer i thought conuenient , yea , to the amputation of his legge , if i thought it necessary . then i was verie ioyful , and presently after i made two orifices to giue issue to the matter that lay about the bone , and in the substance of the muscles , wherby there yssued forth a great quantity . afterwards , iniection was made with wine , and a little aqua-vitae , wherein there was dissolued a good quantity of egyptiacum , to correct the putrifaction , and to dissicate the loose & spongeous flesh , and to resolue and consume the ordemateous and flatulent tumor , and to ease his paines , to refocillate and fortifie the natural heat which was greatly prepared to be altogether suffocated , because the parts could not concoct nor assimilate the nourishment necessary for them , by reason of the great quantity of matter therein contained . his chirurg●an , named m. anthony maucler , an honest man , of great experience in chirurgery , dwelling at mons in haynault , and my selfe , we concluded to make him fomentations , with the decoctions of sage , rosemarie , time , lauander , camomile flowers , melilot , and red roses boyled in white wine : and so a lexiue made with the ashes of oake , a little portion of vinegar , and an handfull of salt . this decoction so made , hath vertue and power to subtilize , attenuate , incise , resolue and to dissicate the colde , grosse , and ●legmaticke humor , and to roborate the wounded parts . the said fomentations were vsed a long time together , to the end that the resolution may thereby be made the greater . for being applyed long together , it resolued more , by liquifying of the humour which was in the profound partes : whereas otherwise it would haue but rarifyed the skin , or the fleshy parts of the muscles . and for this intention we made him many frications with hot kerchiefes in all manners , that is , from the higher parts downewards , and from the left side to the right : also circular wise , and this a long space together . for the breefe frications , i meane those that are made in short time , maketh attraction , but resolueth nothing at all . in like manner euery other day , there was applied all about his thigh and legges , euen to the sole of his foot , of brickes heated and sprinkled with vineger and white wine , with a little portion of aqua vitae ; and through this euaporation , you shoulde perceiue many aquosities to proceed foorth of the pores of the skin by sweating , whereby the tumor diminished , and the naturall heate was reuoked . also there was applyed compresses or boulsters on the tumified parts , dipped and infused in a levine made of the ashes of oake ; with the which , was boyled sage , rosemary , lauander , salte , aqua vitae and cloues ; and ligature was made with such dexterity as the patient could well endure it : and to so good purpose , that if it had bin but one day omitted , wee might easily perceiue the tumor . also there was applyed good big bolsters on the bottome of the sinus of the vlcers , to depresse and expell away the sanies . and sometimes for the better accomplishing thereof , the orifices of the vlcers were kept o●en with hollow tents . somtimes also to resolue the tumor , there was applyed a cataplasine thereon made thus : ℞ . far. hord . fabar . orobi an . ℥ vj. mellis com . terebinth . an . ℥ ij . pul . flor . camomel . mellioliti , rosar . rubrar . an . ℥ ss . pul . radic . ireos , florent . cyperi mast. an . ʒ ij . oxymellis simplic , quantum sufficiat fiat cataplas . ad formam pultis satis liquidiae . in like manner , wee made vse of the emplaisters of vigo sine mercurio , which helped greatly to ease his paines , and to resolue the saide tumor . neuerthelesse it was not applyed vntil the parts were first heated , by the meanes of fomentations , frications , and euaporations , or otherwise that emplaster could neuer haue wrought that effect thorough the cold distemperature of the parts . now for the mundification of the vlcers there was applyed remedies proper thereunto , chaunging and alteting them according as wee found occasion . also the catagmaticke powders to separate the bones , and to correct their putrifaction were not spared him : hee vsed also for the space of fifteene dayes of vulnary potion . i may not here omit to speake of the frications which hee suffered euery morning vniuersally ouer the whole body , which was greatly extenuated and weakned both by reason of his dolors , & other accidents ( as we haue saide ) and also for the want of exercise . the said frications did reuoke and attract the spirits and the blood , and resolued such fuligenous humors which were detained betweene the skin and the flesh . and therefore the parts were afterwardes better nourished and refreshed ; so that so soone as his paines beganne to passe away , as also the feauer , he began to sleepe well , and to haue a good appetite , and therefore we caused him to vse good meates , and to drinke good wine and good be●r● ; & we brake our fasts together , hee and my selfe euery morning , with good nourishing br●thes : and by this meanes he became fat and lasly , and perfectly cured . onely it remaineth that he cannot wel bend his knee . now the reasons that mooued mee to recite these histories , is onely to instruct the yong chirurgian to the practise thereof , and not that anie glory of praise might be attributed to me : but to restore them to god , knowing that all goodnesse proceedeth from him as from an euerlasting fountaine , and nothing of our selues . and therfore we ought to giue thankes vnto him for all our good workes ; humbly beseeching him to continue and augment them more and more in vs , through his infinite goodnesse . chap. xv. an apologie touching wounds made by gun-shot . there hapned into my hands not many dayes past , a certaine book written by a physitian ; wherin he very openly contradicteth that which i haue written heretofore , as concerning wounds made by gunshot and their curations . i protest that if there were no other cause , or that there were no other interest heerein then the contemning of me and my book , i would let these things alone , and passe them away vnder silence ; knowing well , that all answers and replies whereby we striue to stop the mouths of euill speakers , do oftentimes rather giue them a further occasion of speaking then otherwise ; and that there is no better way to stay such controuersies , then by not answering one word . euen as we see that the fire is extinguished when the combustible matter ceaseth , by taking away the wood . but when i did consider the euident danger that many wold fall into , if they came to follow those rules and instructions that the saide physitian setteth downe for the cure of the saide wounds , i therefore thought it my duty to preuent this euill , and to hinder it as much as lieth in mee , in regard of my profession . the which beyond that common affection which all men owe to the publike weale , doeth binde me particularly to this , in such manner , that i could not with a good conscience become deaf and dumbe , when both my particular and generall duties , do binde and constraineime to speake . this therefore was the true cause that did solicite me to make this apologie , rather then any passionate or boyling desire in me , to haue my reuēge of him who hath truly assaulted me . now in this booke , he pretendeth to despise & contemne the application of suppuratiue medicines , as bassilicon , and others of that nature . also of those that are sharpe , as egyptiacum , and such like . for ( saith he ) such remedies haue beene the cause of the deathes of an infinite number of men , whereunto they haue beene applyed ; yea , although that their wounds were but superficiall , and in fleshy parts . and that heerein the counsell of hippocrates ought not to be followed , who saieth , that all contused wounds ought to be broght to suppuration , because ( sayth he ) this is a new disease , and vnknowne to the ancients , and therefore it requireth new remedies . also that thunder and the violent effect thereof , ought not to bee compared to the reports of artillery . now seeing that he striueth to contradict all that i haue written before in my book of wounds made by gunne-shot , arrowes ▪ and dartes , i am constrained for my defence , to repeate somewhat of that which i haue heeretofore divulged , to reproue all these points ( as i hope ) one after another . first of all , that suppuratiue medicines are not proper in such wounds , it is against reason , authority , and experience : for euery one knoweth that the bullet being round and massiue , cannot make any entrance into our bodies , without great contusion and bruising ; the which cannot bee cured without suppuration , according to the authority not onely of hippocrates , but also of galen , and all other authors both ancient and moderne . and what doth it serue him to call such new woundes , to derogate from the saying of hippocrates whom we hold to be the father , author , and founder of the lawes of sacred medicine , which are worthy of all esteeme and praise aboue all others , because they are not subiect to change , as all others that are established by kings and princes , neyther are they tied to the prescription of times , nor the customes of regions . therfore if i haue herein followed the hippocratick doctrine , which is alwayes found true and st●ble , i perswade my self to haue done well . and therein i haue not bene in that conceit alone ; for mounsieur botall , physitian in ordinary to the king , and mounsieur ioubert physitian to the king also , and his lecturer in ordinary in the vniuersity of mont-pellier , men well experimented both in physicke and chirurgery , haue lately written of this matter . commending , and commanding the application of bassi●ic●n & other suppuratiues in the beginning of such wounds . these men , because they haue followed the warres , haue seene more wounded by shot , then our physitian hath done all his life time . as for experience , there is an infinite number of other good chirurgians , and greatly experimented , who haue and do vse of these remedies in the beginning , to bring those wounds to suppuration , if there be no indication that doth contradict it . i know moreouer that an empericall chirurgean , a neighbour of his called doublet , hath many and sundry times done meruailous cures , by applying onely in those woundes a suppuratiue medicine , composed of melted bacon , the yolke of an egge , terebinthinae , with a little saffron , and this he held for a great secret . there was also another at thurin in the yeere . ( i being then in the seruice of the late marshall of monte-ian , lieutenant generall of the king at piedmont ) who had the report aboue all the chirurgeans in those partes , for his excellent cur●ng of those woundes with oleu● catellorum ; the description whereof , i procured of him thorough my earnest intreaty . this oyle is of power to lenisie and appease the paine , and to suppurate those woundes beeing applied a little more then luke-warme , and not boyling hote , as manie will. this an infinite number of chirurgeans haue vsed , after that i had described it in my booke of wounds made by gun-shot with good and happy successe . as for that which he writeth against the vnguent egyptiacum , certainely i beleeue that he abideth in that opinion and heresie alone , because there hath not bin yet discouered a more singular remedie to correct and preuent the putrifaction which happeneth most commonly in those wounds , the which doe degenerate oftentimes into virulent , corrosiue , ambulatiue , and malignant vlcers , casting forth a stinking sanies , whereby the part salleth into a gangrena , vnlesse it be preuented by egyptiacum , and other sharpe medicines . and for this cause they haue bene very much approued by the saide botal and ioubert , and of all good chirurgeans ; yet neuertheles our physitian maintaineth that they are venomous , because ( saith he ) that being applyed in woundes by gunne shot , they haue beene the cause of the death of many persons ; which is a thing so absurd and against reason , that i will leaue the resolution thereof to the towne-barbers , who i am sure are of skill sufficient to confute the grossenes of that imputation ; or if their want of iudgement be such that they cannot , yet the consideration of euerie one of the ingredients of the sayde aegyptiacum would suffice to shew , that it is so free from anie venomous quality , that it doth resist , & is directly contrary to all sorts of poisons and putrifactions which may happen in the fleshy partes , by reason of any wound or vlcer . he saith moreouer , that the disposition of the aire cānot be the cause to infect or restore wounds more daungerous at one time then at another . herein also he is of this opinion alone . but if hee had well read and vnderstood hippocrates , he had not so lightly contemned the constitution of the seasons , and the infection proceeding from the aire not simple and elementary ( for being simple , it neuer acquireth any putrifaction ) but by addition and commixtionwith other corrupted vapors , as i haue written in my treatise of the pestilence : for inasmuch as the aire that doth incompasse & inclose vs , is perpetually necessary vnto our liues ; it followeth therefore , that according to the indisposition thereof , our bodies also altered in manie and sundry manners , because we do draw it continually by meanes of the lungs and other partes , seruing vnto respiration ; and also by the pores & euery little inuisible hole throughout the bodye , and by the arteries dispersed in the skinne . and this is done both for the generation of the spirite of life , and also to refresh and foment our naturall heate . for this cause , if it be immoderately hotte , cold , moist , or dry , or otherwise distempered , it altereth and changeth the temperature of our bodies vnto its owne quality . this is cleerely seene : for when it is infected by the putrified and cadaueruous vapors produced from a great multitude of dead bodies that haue not bene buried soone enough ; as of men , of ho●ses , and other beasts . as it happeneth after any battell , or when many men haue perished by shipwracke , and haue bene cast ashore through the violence of the waues . as for example , the memory is yet f●esh , of the corruption of the aire which proceeded from deade bodies at the castle of pene , situate vpon the riuer of lot , in which place , in the yeare . in the moneth of september , whiles the first troubles hapned about religion , there was a great number of dead bodies fell into a pit of an hundred fathome deepe , or thereabouts : from whence , two moneths after , there was eleuated such a stinking and venomous vapor , which dispersed it selfe ouer all the countries of agenois , and the neighbouring places within the compasse of thirty miles round , that thereby many were infected with the pestilence , whereof we need not wonder ; for the wind blowing ▪ and driuing the exhalations and corrupted vapors from one countrey to another , doeth infect them with the saide pestilence . in like manner , the euill constitution of the aire , whether the cause be manifest or hidden , may make wounds to become putrified , alter the spirits and the humors , and cause death . this therefore ought not to be attributed vnto the woundes , because that they which are hurt , and those that are not , are both equally infected , and fall into the same inconueniences . mounsi●●r d' alechamps in his french chirurgery spea●●ng o● these thinges which hinder the c●●●t●on of vlcers , hath not omitted , that when either the pes●●lence , or any epidemicall disease reigneth in any proui●ce through the corruption of the aire , it ma●●th vlcers become incureable , or of most ●●fficult curation . the good old man guido , in his treatise of vlcers hath also writ , ●hat the wounds of the heade were more h●r●er to cure at paris then at auignō , and that the vlcers of the legges were more difficult at auignon then at paris , forsomuch as at paris the aire is cold and moist , which is a contrarie thing , especially to wounds in the head . likewise in auignon , the heare of the aire doe liquefie and subtilize the humors : and therefore , more easilie and in greater abundance do the humors fall into the legges , whereby the curation of the vlcers in those partes , is more difficult at auignon then at paris . but if any one alledging experience shall say the contrary , that the wounds in the head are for the most part mortall in hot countreyes : to him i answere , that that proceedeth not from the aire , as it is more hot and dry , but rather because of some superfluous humidity and euil vapor communicated with the aire , as in the places about prouence , and of italy neere vnto the mediterrenean sea . now , there is not a chirurgean of so little vnderstanding , that knoweth not but if the aire be hot and moyst , the wounds doe easily degenerate into a gangrena and putrifaction . as for experience , i wil giue him a familiar example . wee see that in hot and moyst weather , and when the southerly winds blow , that flesh doth putrifie in lesse then two houres , though it were neuer so lately killed , in such fort that butchers in those times do kill no meate but euen as they sell it . also there is no doubt to be made but that humane bodies doe fall into affections against nature , when the qualities of the seasons are peruerted through the euil disposition of the aire : as hath bene seene , that in some yeres , wounded persons haue bin most hard to cure , and oftentimes dyed of very smal wounds , what diligence soeuer the physitians and chirurgians could vse . the which i noted well at the siedge which was planted before roan : for the corruption of the aire did alter and corrupt the blood and humors in such sort , by the meanes of inspiration and transpiration , that the wounds became so putrid and faetide , that they sent forth a cadauerueous smell : and if it hapned that one day had bene omitted wherein they had not beene drest , you shall finde the next day a great companie of wormes in them , with a meruellous stench ; from whence were eleuated many putrified vapours , which by their communication with the hart caused a continual f●uer , with the liuer hinderance of the generation of good bloode , and with the braine they produce alienation of the spirits , fainting , convulsion , vomitings , and by consequence death : and when their bodies were opened , you should finde apostumes in many partes of theyr bodies full of a greene stinking sanies , in such sort that those that were within the town seeing these things , that their wounded persons coulde not be cured , saide that those without had poisoned their bullets : and they without saide the like of those within : and then perceyuing that those wounds did rather turne to putrifaction then vnto any good suppuration , i was constrayned , and with mee the most part of all the chirurgea●s to leaue suppuratiues , and insted of them to vse the vnguent aegyptiacum , and other such like remedies , to preuent the said putrifaction & gangrena , and other of the aforesaide accidents . moreouer , if the diuers courses of the heauens haue power and force to imprint a pestilence in vs thorough the influence thereof , why is it not possible that the like may be done in a wound , to infect it after many wayes ? experience it self giueth vs a good and sufficient testimony , not onely in hot weather , but also in winter . for we see that euery patient whether he be wounded , or otherwise disposed against nature , are tormented more of their greefes when the weather is subiect to raine , then when it is faire weather . and the reason is , because the vapour and moyst aire , and southerne winds , do inwardly mooue and agitate the humors which afterwards do discharge themselues vpon the afflicted parts , & thereby increase their paines . our physitian hath also written , that in the battels of dreux and of s. denis , which were fought in the winter time , there dyed a great number of men , that i confesse too ; but i deny that it was by the application of suppuratiue medicines , or of corrosiues , but thorough the vehemencie of their wounds , and the disorder that the bullets made in their members , whereunto the nature of the wounded parts helped greatly , and the temperature of the patient , but aboue all the cold . for the cold causeth wounds to bee of most difficult curation ; yea , sometimes it causeth a gangrena and totall mortification , as witnesseth hippocrates . and if he had beene with me at the siedge of metz , he should haue seen many soldiers hauing their legges eschiomened by reason of the colde , and an infinit company of others that died of the colde , although they were not wounded at all . if he will not beleeue this , i will but send him to the top of the mount senis in the winter time , where many haue lost their liues , and were benummed and frozen in a moment ; witnesse the chappell of transis , which from thence had that name giuen it . he hath in like maner calumnied me , because i compared thunder with artillery . truly it may be saide that they haue like effectes : for this diabolical gun-powder doth such merueilous things that it is easie to proue a great similitude the one with the other . and first of all , we may compare the fire that we behold to issue forth of the cannon to the lightning in this , because it is seen before the thunder is heard , so is it with the other : and this happeneth , because the eare is not so quicke as the eye to receiue their obiects . wee may also compare the dreadfulnes of the reports of great ordinance to that of thunder . for when there is made any notable battery with great ordinance , their reports are heard sometimes twenty leagues off , more or lesse , according as the windes carrieth the eccho of their noise . the first reports are not heard so plaine , as those that follow ; and the cause is , for that the multiplication of the reports following and succeeding one another , that which is nerest doth driue or thrust forward that which is next him , and that in like manner thrusteth forwards the other , and that other the other , vntill it commeth to our eares . in like manner the bullets are carried by the force of the powder , with such an inestimable swiftnesse , that they breake and batter all that they meete with ; yea , they haue more force against hard and vnresistable things then against soft things : therein also they do resemble thunder , which shiuereth the sword in the scabberd , and yet the scabberd remaining whole , melting siluer in a purse , the purse vnburnt . in like manner ( as i haue said here before ) hath bene seene many whom the bullet hath neuer touched , yet neuerthelesse thorough the impetuosity of the aire caused by the violence of the powder issuing out of the mouth of the canon ; hath broke and shiuered the bones , without any manifest apparance of solution of continuitie in the flesh ; yea , to haue battered and killed them out right , as if it had beene with a thunder-clap . gunpowder also hath a stinking smell , senting of brimstone ; imitating therin that odour that continueth in that place where a thunder-bolt hath lately falne ; which smell , is not onely abhorred of men , but also all animalles are therefore constrained to abandon and forsake their dennes and caues when it hath fallen nere thereunto : so great is that sulphurous stinke that it leaueth b●hind it . but yet their similitudes is more manifested by the effects of the saide powder ; the which beeing enclosed in a mine , and conuerted into winde or aire by meanes of the fire that is put thereunto , it ouer-whelmeth peeces of earth as great as mountaines ▪ breaketh and demollisheth strong towers , reuerseth mountaines vpside downe . this i haue already manifested by that history which i haue elsewhere written , which was that at paris ; there was seene not long since a sodaine disaster by reason of the powder in the arcenall , which taking fire , it caused such a great tempest , that it made the whole towne to shake , ouer whelming those houses that were neere thereunto , vncouering & vnglasing those that were further from the furie thereof . to be breefe , euen as the thunder doth massacre and reuerse men halfe dead here and there ; taking from some their sight , from others their hearing , and leaueth others so torne in their members , as if foure horses had drawne them to peeces : and all this through the agitation of the aire into whose substance the saide powder was conuerted . the like acte happened in the towne of malignes , in the yeere . by the fall of a thunderbolt , within a great and strong tower , wherein there was a great quantity of gunpouder , the which did ouerthrow and reuerse almost the one halfe of the towne , and killed a great number of persons , whereof i sawe a while since many remarkable tokens . these examples in my opinion are sufficient to content our physitian , and to shew him that there is a great similitude betweene the effects of gun-powder and thunder . neuerthelesse , i will not for all that confesse that gunshot is accompanied with poyson and fire as the claps of thunder : for although they do agree the one with the other , as doth appeare by the former similitudes , it is not in the substance and matter , but in theyr manner of breaking , battering , and dissipating of the obiects which they meete , that is to say , the thunder-claps by the meanes of the fire , and the stone engendred therein , and gunne-shot by the ayre impetuously agitated , which guiding the bullet , causeth the like tempestuous disaster , that the thunder doth . these things considered , may wee not therefore confesse , that those who haue written that the cannon shot and thunder to haue a great similitude together , haue had reason so to do ? finally , this physitian hath not taken much paines to prooue that gun-pouder was not venomous , and that the bullets are without anie burning at all . neither in like manner to inuent and name the instruments proper for the extraction of all strange bodies , because he hath found them already digested in my booke , with manie other things which he hath written , as euerie one may know by comparing his book with mine . he hath also inriched his book with many sentences and reasons which he hath collected from an italian author , named bartholomaeus magius , physitian of bolognia , who hath written sufficiently thereof in a treatise called de vulnerum sclopetorum curatione , although he doth not acknowledg him for his guide . but hauing traduced him almost word for word , hath made it neuerthelesse his owne , and of a translator , would bee called author . now let vs come to his goodly practise and new method to cure wounds made by gun-shot . first of all , hee would haue applyed suppuratiue medicines , the which neuerthelesse he doeth not vnderstand to be hot and moist , nor of an emplasticke substance ; but to the contrary , he ordaineth them to be hot and dry , because ( saith hee ) that this is not of the nature of an apostume , wherein there is required no other cure but only to suppurate them . but heere where the woundes are with contusion , many and diuers indications arise from thence ; for so much as the contusion would be concocted and digested , and the wound desiccated . to answer to this , i would send him to learne the nature and quality of suppuratiues in galen in the . of simples , and to take all in his way , vntill hee come to the tenth of his method , which will teach him , that in complicated diseases he ought to consider the cause , the order , and the vigent . moreouer , i would willingly aske of him if hee can heale that wound made by gunshot , vnlesse th● contusion be first suppurate ? i think not : and herein i refer my selfe to the iudgment of al good practitioners ; and therefore our basi●icon and oleum catellorum , and other such suppuratiue medicines , are proper to suppurate such woundes as are made by gun-shot . secondly , he would haue oxycratum put into the wound to stanch the fluxe of blood : and if by that means it cannot be stopped , to apply thereon a medicine made of the white of an egge , bole armoniacke , rose-vinegar and salt. i leaue you to consider whither such like remedies haue power to stay the flux of bloud or no , they being put with in the wound . truely they will rather make it flow more , because that the vinegar is of a gnawing and subtle qualitie , causing paine , defluxion , inflammation , & other euill accidents , as i haue knowne by experience : and i know no chirurgean that hath beene exercised in his art , will follow such a kinde of practise , least he finde himselfe deceiued in the end . to this purpose i do remember that i had a moor in cure , who belonged to mounsieur the earle of roissy , who was hurt before bologne by an english man , who gaue him a wound with a lance thorow the backe : whereuppon , to stay the fluxe of blood , i put into the wound a restrictiue , wherein there was vinegar insted of another , but presently after he came to me againe , telling me that he thought he had had fire in his arme , which caused me to dresse him anew , and to change the medicine of his wound , and to apply the saide restrictiue vppon it . i beleeue that this physitian knew not so much , otherwise i esteeme him so honest a man that i thinke he would not haue put it in his booke for a good restrictiue . moreouer , hee commendeth aboue all other things his balme made of the oile of wax & myrth beaten together with the yolke of an egge , or rather the naturall balsome which is brought from peru , and saith , that they do consume the superfluous humidity of those wounds , whereby they preuent the happening of any perillous accident . neuerthelesse , he saith , that they do vnite & consolidate those kinde of wounds , as they do which are incised . truly it seemeth very strange to mee , to see that any would go about to dresse and cure contused wounds , as simple woundes which demand nothing but vnion . ouer and besides , these balmes cānot be proper in wounds made by gunshot , because that by reason of their siccitie they doe hinder suppuration , without the vvhich they cannot be cured . and if they be needfull at all , it is onely after that the contusion is suppurated , & the wound mundified : and then i know not wher we should finde so many extractors of quintessences to extract and prepare so many balmes as shal be needfull to dresse those souldiers which shal be hurt in the assault of a town , or a skirmish in battell ? neither vvhere they shall get mony sufficient to counteruaile the charge thereof . let vs come to the rest . he ordaineth that these balmes should be instilled into the vvounds without tents , yet afterwards remembring himselfe , he saith , that it would be very good to put within them a little short one , onely to keepe the orifice of the wound open . how is it possible that these balmes and vnguents should bee conueyed into the bottome of the wound without tents or setons , whose vse is principally to carry medicines vnto the bottome of wounds , and to keepe them open to giue issue vnto all strange bodies ? all good practisers will neuer agree with him in this point , nor those which know what it is to handle such wounds . now there is yet another thing worthy to bee well noted , and that is this : after that he had reproued the vnguent of egyptiacum , hee neuerthelesse forgetting himselfe , commandeth it to be applyed from the beginning vntill the wound bee altogether suppurated , and to be thus vsed . take ( saith he ) of egyptiacum dissolued in a decoction on made of the tops of vvormwood , and of hypericon , and of the lesser centaury and plantan , and this to be iniected into the wound . h● describeth after that another , made of plantane water , and hony of roses boiled togither vnto the thicknesse of hony , and then scumming of it wel , therewi●hall mixe egyptiacum in equall parts : & ( saith he ) this vnguent doth suppurate those vvoundes which are made by gun-shot , i leaue the experimented chirurgicall readers to iudge whether such remedies be suppuratiue or not . as for me i do esteeme them to bee proper to mundifie and clense , and not to suppurate . he finally writeth , that the wound ought not to be dressed but once in foure dayes , and where there shall bee fracture of the bones once in eight dayes . he saith moreouer in another place , that it is conuenient to instill euery day ten or twelue drops of balme into the wound . truely this doctrine serueth rather to confound the yong chirurgean , as not knowing what manner of practise hee should followe : for whosoeuer should follow his , i am well assured he will open often both the heauens and the earth ; the heauens to receiue their soules , and the earth their bodies . but wee haue spoken enough of this matter for this time , inasmuch as i am well assured , that these small caui●lations shall nothing at all diminish the reputation of my booke , which is by strangers so much esteemed , that they haue translated it into their owne mother tongues , therby to haue communication therewith . therefore now we wil bid our physitian farewell , but first would pray him to review and correct his booke as soone as he could , to the end that the yong chirurgean bee no longer retained in those errours which they may apprehend by reading therein : for the shortest follioes are the best . chap. xvi . another discourse about the question of the venenosity of wounds made by gunshot . not many moneths since , i chanced to bee in the company of many learned physitians and expert chirurgeans , who by way of discourse began to put the venenosity of woundes made by gun-shot ; they principally striuing by fiue reasons to proue that venenosity may bee conioined with those woundes , not because of the powder , which they confesse with mee to be free from venome or poison both in the composition and essence thereof , but by reason of the bullet , within the which poyson may be infused , mixed , and incorporated . the first reason is , because that leade is verie rare and spongeous , as the facility of the dissoluing and softnesse thereof do shew , and therfore by consequence very easie to receiue the imbibition or infusion of any venomous liquor . i answer that that consequence seemeth to me to bee but of small assurance : for in all artificiall mixtions , as is that whereof we speake , there are two things to be considered ; the matter of the bodies which enter into the commixtion ; and the forme according to the matter . such bodies ought eyther to be liquid , or soft , or brittle , and easie to bee diuided into small portions ; to the end , that altogither and on euery part , they may meete , ioy●e , and vnite . according to the forme they ought to be alliable and computible th' one with the other . this is euidently knowne by the water , which though it be easie to mix with an infinit number of other things , yet neuerthelesse they cannot bee mixed together , by the reason of the antipathy of their formes . so golde and siluer are so amorous of lead , that when they are to bee dissolued , they are mingled therewith ; but brasse doth flye from lead as much as gold and siluer do fly from tin. if therefore lead and brasse be melted together , they can by no meanes be mixed together , thogh both are contained vnder metallicke kinds . how then can there be incorporated with lead any venomous thing , being different both in forme and kinde ? let vs come to the second reason . iron ( they say ) which is more hard , solid and compact , may neuerthelesse receiue a certaine venomous quality , as we see by impoysoned arrowes , whereof our ancestors haue heeretofore vsed ; and therefore lead ( by more reason ) may receiue the like venomous quality . to answere to that , i confesse that the poyson may well bee receiued on the superficies of the iron , but not in the inwarde substance thereof , by way of commixtion . now here the question is of incorporation , and not of a simple infusion or vnction . let vs heare the third reason . although that lead ( say they ) when it is melted , doeth leaue behinde it a kinde of grosse excrement : neuerthelesse , it is not therfore made vnapt to receiue the infusion of any straunge substance . for , euen as steele a mettall amongst all others the most solid , doeth receiue in the woorking thereof , a temper which doeth harden it of a cleane contrarie substance . for answer ( i say ) that when the temper is giuen to steele , it is not receiued within the inw●rd substance thereof ; for , if such a thing were necessary for the hardning thereof , it might bee easier done at that time when it is first drawn and melted , then to giue it the temper , it would better incorporate therewith then afterwards when it is taken and consolidate into a barre . this answer shall likewise serue to confute the fourth reason , by the which ( say they ) that the iuice of napellus and rhododendron of apium risus , and such like , who of their whole substance , do hurt & corrupt ours beeing mingled with lead , there may thereby be made such a venomous commixtion ; that those wounds which it maketh , must of nec●ssity become venomous . i say to the contrarie , that the mixture is only of things which may not onely be applyed , but also fixed , incorporated , & vnited the one to the other . now how can water or any other liquid iuyce only be made to adhere and cleaue to lead which is hard & solid , i meane in that fashion that they may be vnited : the variety heereof may bee iudged better by experience , then by reason . cause lead to be melted within the iuices heretofore recited , or any other that you will choose ( hauing first weighed them seuerally ) and you shall finde the iust measure of the iuices , and the true waight of the lead , as they were before : a most euident signe , that no part of the lead is incorporated with the iuyces , nor the iuyces to haue lost any of their substance . the first reason is this ; the bullet shot out of a musket against a stone or any bodye of the like hardnesse , is not thereby so much heated , but that it may neuerthelesse be handled in the bare hand though it be taken presently after it was shot : and therefore it is false to affirme , that the poyson infused in the bullet , may be consumed by the fire of the flaming powder . i answer , you must note that when i said that although the bullet may be handled , neuerthelesse , the fire would consume the force of the poyson ; my meaning was , not the fire of the flaming powder , when the musket is shot off , but that fire which is vsed to incorporate the molten lead with the sayde poyson , the which immediately working vpon the poyson , being not yet wholly enwrapped and couered in any strāge body ▪ and hauing time and leysure to worke that effect , and not at an instant and altogither , it may if not consume , yet at the least greatly abate the forces of the said poyson . those that wil not content themselues with these reasons , let them read matthiolus vppon the preface of his sixt booke of di●scorides . there are ( sayth he ) of late men so ignorant and fool●sh , that they do cause to cast amongst their gold and siluer when it is melted , wherewith they intend to make any drinking vessell●s of treacle , methridate , and other antidotes , to the end these mettals hauing acquired euen at the beginning the vertues of the aforesaid antidotes may resist all poisons . but howe ridiculous and foolish this opinion is , they thēselues may iudge , if they haue but any mean knowledge of naturall things , and principally of mettals . and therefore , there shall not neede a more euident refutat●on . behold the reasons , behold the authority , which haue retained in my first opinion , that wounds made by gunne-shot are not conioyned with any venenosity . heere let not the reader builde too much on the opinion of ambrose parie ; for i thinke there is not any chirurgean that will deny but that a bullet may bee poysoned , notwithstanding the former reasons , which i leaue to be considered by the iudicious and experimented chirurgean . chap. xvii . the differences betweene such wounds which are made by arrowes , and those made by gunshot . these wounds which are made by arrowes , crosse-bow shot , or such like instruments , do differ in two things from those which are made by gunshot and other fierie engines . for somtimes they are found without contusion , which neuer hapneth to wounds made by gunne-shot . oftentimes also they are empoysoned , and according to these two differences , their curations ought to be diuersified . now let vs consider the differences of arrowes and darts , because that consideration serueth greatly vnto the knowledge and curation of the said wounds . chap. xviii . of the differences of arrowes and darts . a rrowes and dartes doe differ in matter , in forme or figure , in magnitude , in number , in manner , and faculty or vertue . their differences in matter is , some of them are of wood , others of canes or reeds : some of them haue their extremities or heads garnished with iron , tinne , lead , brasse , horne , glasse , or of bone , and others not . their differences in forme are , some of them are round , others angular , others sharpe , others barbed ; some of them hauing their pointes turned backwardes , and some haue it diuided into two parts : some are made broad in their heads and cutting like a knife , and in many other forms and fashions inumerable . as for their magnitude , some of their heads are of three fingers in length ; others of a smaller size . their number causeth a difference herein ; because that some are simple , hauing but one point onely ; others are composed into two or many . also in them their manner is to be confidered ; for some of them haue the iron or head inserted within the woode of the arrow , and of others the arrow is inserted into the head . some heades are sixed and nayled vnto the shaft , and others not ; but haue so little hold , that in drawing them foorth , their heads remayne behinde in the wounds , whereby they become more daungerous . their faculty maketh them also to differ in this , because that some are ( as hath bene saide ) empoysoned and others not . such are the speciall and proper differences of arrowes and darts : according to the which , the dispositions which they leaue behinde them , doeth diuersifie their curation . thou mayst behold by this following figure the aforesaid differences . chap. xix . of the differences of the wounded partes . these d●fferences exposed . now wee must consequently speak of the diuersity of the affected parts , which are either fleshy or bony ; som of them are neere the ioynts , others within them . some with a great flux of bloode , and fracture of the bones , others not . some of them in the princall members , or in parts seruing them ; some are deepe , others but superficiall . and if in anie of these woundes there appeare any manifest signes of death , you ou●ht to make a true & sure iudgement thereof , before you meddle there-with , to the end that there be no occasion giuen vnto the ignorant people to speake euill of our art. now , to leaue the arrow in the body , would cause vneuitable death , and the chirurgean would be esteemed vnpittiful and inhumane , and by drawing it forth the patient may peraduenture escape . for , as wee haue saide ▪ it is better to attempt a doubtful remedy , then to let the patient dye , without any succour at all . chap. xx. of the extraction of arrowes . as touching the extraction of arrowes , you ought to auoyde the incising , dilacerating , and breaking of the veines , and arteries , nerues and tendons , if it be possible . for it would be an ignominious thing and against art , to offend nature more then the arrow . the manner to draw them foorth is two-fold ; the one of them is by extraction , and the other by thrusting it through the member . therefore , euen at the beginning , and at the first dressing , it is fittest to take foorth all strange bodyes ( if anie there be ) as the heads of the arrowes , the shafte or wood , and other such like things , as hath already beene saide of wounds made by gunne shot , and by the same meanes . and for their better extraction , it is conuenient that the patient bee situate in the same figure and posture , as at that time when he was hurt , because of the re●sons aforesaide ( if it be possible ) and then to vse instruments proper to that effect . as principally this following , which hath an hollow quill or pipe diuided in the middle , the outwar●e par● toothed ; into the which is inserted a rod , like vnto the tire-fond of gun-shot , as hath beene figured heere before , excepting onely that this is not made with a scrue in the extreamity or end thereof . also it is made greater , to dilate the hollow pipe , therby to fill the cauity of the iron head . this other instrument also is very proper , which dilateth by compressing the two extremities together , being toothed also on the outward part ; as you may see by these following figures on the other side the leafe . the first instrument is opened by meanes of a vice , which is inserted within the hollowe pipe thereof . the second instrument doeth dilate , by compressing the two ends together . the signes whereby you may know where the iron head is , that if you feele with your hande on that part where it is , you shall perceiue an asperity and inequality . also the flesh wil appeare contused , liuid , and blacke , and the patient will feele an heauinesse and continuall paine in the wounded part . the other two instruments are called tenacles , with a vice , together with a crowes bill : and is very commodious to draw forth the heads of arrowes , and to extract foorth maile and other smaller bodies . this instrument vnderneath , is another small hooke to draw forth maile , or any other strange body , that it cannot meete with : which also may serue thy turne for the same effect , in the woundes of gun-shor . but if it come to passe that the head bee barbed , whether it be of an arrow , pike , dart , or lance , and shall abide in any part of the bodye . as for example , in the thighe or legge , together with some portion of the wood broken therein , in that case the chirurgean shall cut away the woode or shaft as close as hee can , with incising or cutting tenacles . afterwardes he may draw foorth the head with tenacles that are toothed , as you may see by the figure before going . hippocrates in the fifte of his epidemies saith , that he hath drawne forth the head of an arrow sixe yeares after it was shot , it being lodged nere vnto the groine . chap. xxi . how you ought to proceede in drawing forth broken arrowes . bvt if it come to passe , that the head is broken , in such sort that it cannot by any meanes bee apprehended by the aforesaide tenacles , let it be extracted then ( if it be possible ) with the cranes bill , or crowes bill , or other instruments , that haue beene described heere before : but if the shaft be broken off so neere the heade , that there can bee taken no holde , neyther of the head thereof , nor of the shaft , with the cranes bill , then let it be drawne foorth with the tirefond of gun-shot , for if it will insert it selfe into lead , by a greater reason it may easily enter into wood . in like manner , if the head bee barbed , as most commonly your english mens arrowes are , then if it be possible , thrust it thorough the member , with an instrument proper thereunto . for , by that meanes you shall auoyde greater danger , because that in drawing it foorth , the barbils may rend both the nerues , veines , arteries , and the other parts , the which you ought to auoide carefully . and therefore it is better to make a counter orifice on the other part , iust oueragainst the wound , and so to thrust it cleane through . for , it may be supposed , that there is but a little thickenesse to incise ; so by this meanes , and with lesse danger the wounde will haue a double yssue ; the one on the former part , and the other on the hinder part ; and will therefore heale sooner , because you may apply your medicines both on the one side , and on the other , and it will also mundifie better . to the contrary , if the barbed head happen vpon a bone , or be inserted therein , which oftentimes commeth to passe in the bottome of the muscles of the thigh , of the arme , or legge , or other parts of great distance , there it is not conuenient to thrust them through , but rather to dilate the wound , auoiding the nerues and great vessels , as the good and expert anatomical chirurgean ought to do , and then gently and orderly to apply therein a dilatory hollow in the inward part thereof , and so to place it , that it may apprehend the two barbils of the iron head : then with the cranes bill it may be held steddy , and so draw them forth all three together , as this figure following sheweth thee . a ●ilatory which hath a certaine cauity in the inward pa●t thereof , with the cranes ●ill holding a barbed head . chap. xxii . what ought to be done when the arrow is inserted into the bone . now , if it happen that the arrow is so inserted and fixed in the bone , that it cannot be taken soorth by thrusting it thorough the member , but by drawing it foorth by the same way that it entered in , you ought then to mooue and stirre it too & fro discreetly if it sticke fast in the bone , wherein an especially care ought to be taken that you breake not the arrowe , and so leaue some part thereof sticking in the bone ; from whence might ensue many dangerous accidents . this operation may be done by the instrument named the crowes-bill , or by others heere before figured presently af●er the extraction of the arrowe . suffer the wound to bleed sufficiently , taking your indication from the strength or vertue of the patient , to the end that the part may thereby bee discharged , and lesse mollested with inflammation , putrifaction , and other euil accidents . the extraction being done , at the first dressing , if the wound be simple , thou shalt handle it as a simple wound : but if it bee with complication , thou shalt then cure them according as you shall finde the dispo●tions complicated , to appease the paine , thou mayest to thy great profite apply oleum catellorum of our description heere before declared , & to ouercome other accidents which may happen in thy cure , thou shalt haue recourse vnto our former bookes of woundes in genenerall , and of those made by gun-shot . chap. xxiii . of venomous or empoysoned wounds . now there remaineth to vnderstand and consider , that these woundes are sometimes empoysoned ( as we haue saide ) and that it proceedeth from the primitiue cause of the arrowes so prepared by the enemy . this may easily be known both by the report of the hurt person , saying , that he feeleth a great and pricking paine as if hee had bene stung with bees ( especially if the poison wer hot , which is most vsed in that case ) and also by the flesh of the wounded part , which presently after becommeth pale and liuide , with a certaine appearance of mortification : wherunto also there doth happen many other g●oefes , and greater accidents , which are not accustomed to happen in all other wounds , wherein there is not any venenosity . wherefore at the beginning ( after that you haue extracted foorth all the strange bodies , if any there be ) you ought to make diuers deepe scarifications all about the wound , and to set ventoses thereon with a great flame , thereby to make attraction and euacuation of the virulent matter . in like manner , the sayd attraction may be done , by causing the wound to bee sucked by another man , hauing in the meane time a little oyle in his mouth , wherein you must haue a care that hee haue not any vlcer therein , for feare left that the poyson so sucked and attracted cleaue not thereunto . also attraction may bee made by the application of vnguents , cataplasmes , emplaysters , vesiccatories , cauteries , and other things , which shall be declared heereafter in our particular booke intreating of the bitings and stingings of venomous beasts . finis . faults escaped . page . line . for sir , read saint . p. . l. . for practises r. prurities . p. ● . l. . for induring , read inducing . p. ● . l. . for escharotick , r. escharcotick . p. ibid. l. . for indured , r. induced . p. . l. . for cooling r. rowling . pag. . l. . r. the yolke of egges p. . l. . for naucotick r. narcotick . p. . l. . for staples r. stuphes . p. . l. . for lerine , r. lexiue . p. ▪ l. . for eschiomened r. estiomened . a table of all the chapters contained in this following treatise . the diu●sion of wounds according to the diuersitie of the parts offen●ed , and the bullets where-with they were made . chap. . of the signes of the wounds made by gunshot . chap. . the manner of handling those wounds at the first dressing . chap. . a description of such instruments which are proper to extract bullets , and other vnnaturall thinges of the body . chap. . the maner to handle those wounds at the first dressing after the vnnaturall things are forth . chap. . the maner to extract such vnnaturall things which shall be left in the body after the first extraction . ch. indications which ought to be obserued in the saide wounds . chap. how and in what manner diseases are complicated chap. . how the chirurgean ought to prosecute the handling of the aforesaid wounds . chap. of bullets which do remaine in the certaine parts of the bodye , a long time after the curation of the wounds . chap. of the great contusions and dilacerations made by the aforesaid bullets of artillery . chap. of the meanes which should be obserued ●n rectifying of the aire , and corrobating the noble parts , and to fortifie the whole body . chap. memorable histories . chap. an apologie touching the woundes made by gun-shot . chap. another discourse vppon that question of the venenosity of wounds made by gun-shot . chap. . the differences betweene wounds made by arrowes and those made by gunshot . chap. . the difference betweene arrowes and darts . of the difference of the wounded parts . chap. of the extraction of arrowes . chap. how you ought to proceede in drawing foorth broken arrowes . chap. what ought to be done then when the arrow is infixed in the bone . chap. of venomous or empoysoned wounds . chap. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e intention of the author . the venetians had the first vse of artillery . diuers opinions touching the time when artillery began . the author of artillery and his name . what things hath s●nce bin added to the artillery . diners names of the artillery : & whence they are taken from w●●●ce the word arquebuz is t●ken . diuers ar●if●cers of fi● . a comparison of the engines vsed by our ancients , with those of ou●s . the thun●er is not so cruell as the artillery . how man may be prese●●ed from thunder . plin. lib. ● cap. ● . pliny lib. ● cap. . what things are preserued from the force of thunder . sueto . in tib. artillery driueth away thunder . the times which a●e without thunder . lib. . cap. . designe and end of artillery . the reason that moued the authour to write of gunshot . the sum contained in the . discourse . the sum contained in the discourse . notes for div a -e pas of suze . the castle de villane besie●ed & taken . the author entereth into the matter . a remedie found by accident . gunpouder not venomous . woundes made by gu●shot are without combustion historie . yea sir , by the faith of god. histo●ie . how the patient ough● to be s●tuate in the extraction of bullets . the cause that maketh woundes by gunne shot hard to bee cured . history . notes for div a -e occasion of this discourse . ●●sinuation into the good accept●nce of those who are of the contrary opi●ion . the author proposeth two points , whi●h h●e wold refute . viz. the poyson of the powder and the fire of the bullet . the prese●t disputation is taken frō philosophers , physitians , and chirurgians the composition of the powder . salt-peter is salt of stones . refutation of those that affirme the bullet to be impoisoned . refutation of those that affirme that the bullet causeth cōbustion . an example of a ball of wax . whence it p●o●e●deth ▪ that wou●d● m●de by gunshot are ●●dinarily blacke . reasons of those of contra●y opiniō seneca . . kindes of thunders . answere to the contrary reasons . a meruailous effe●t of thunder . example . the effect ●f artillerie like to the thunder . diuers sounds yssuing out of the veins of the earth . the true explicauo● of the questiō . hyp in the prefa●e of ●is prognest hyp. in the beginning of his booke de aere locis et aquis . the alienati●n of 〈◊〉 cause of diseases . lib. . ap●or . a similitude intollerable stinke proceedi●g frō the wounded parts of men . venomous . wounds . notes for div a -e differenc●s taken from the matter of bullets . f●omwhēce proceedeth the malignity of woundes made by gunshot . 〈…〉 the s●tuation of the patient to ext●act vnna●urall things . of what bignes the probes ought to be . ●he prin●ipall intention of the chi●u●gian . why no escha●aticke medicine ought to be vsed . d●scription of ou●●gvp ●●a●um proper f●● the a●o●esaide wounds the vertue of campher combustion ioyned to woundes made by gunshot . time to obserue to dr●sse the patient . pu● is not so made by gunshot , as in all other wounds . aduertisement to the young chirurgian . a cath●●icke powder . compresses or boulste●s . indication taken f●om the temperature of the bodye . the indicatio● taken from the vertue of the patient . sentence of guido . indication taken from the wounded part . aph●ris . . boo●● ● . the vrgent the cause , & the necessity the vs● of ind●●at●●n . phl●botomy necessary i● woūds made by gun●eiho● . ca●ses why th●●● h●pn●th 〈◊〉 alway● an●le mo●th●g● . hot humors are ap●er to slowe then cold . apho● . . b●oke . an aduertis●ment . causes of petillous accidents in woundes mad● by gunshot . hyp. lib. de vnla . cap. historie . aqua-vitae with a little trea●le recall 〈◊〉 presenthe the spirites , and comforteth the vital faculty . historie . another history . meruellous accidents . god & nature effect meruailous things . galen in the of the method . the emplaster of vigo is resolutiue . the benefit of vniuersal frications . a iust occasio● of the author for his apology basilicon liquefied into an oyle , is proper in al woundsthat ●equire suppuration . hyp. in his ●●●ke of vl●e●s . doubles an empirick . answer● t● th● 〈◊〉 of igyptia●um . similitude similitude similitude ●imi●itude similitude hor●ible effects of gun-powder . a new kind of suppuratiue . a pleasant answer , and to the purpose . euill p●actisers do open both the heaue●● and the ea●th . reason . answer . reason . answer . reason answer reason answer r●ason . answer . a great anotation . ne●essarie iudg●ment to auoyde scandall . a late discourse made in a solemne assembly of nobles and learned men at montpellier in france touching the cure of wounds by the powder of sympathy : with instructions how to make the said powder : whereby many other secrets of nature are unfolded / by sr. kenelme digby, knight ; rendred faithfully out of french into english by r. white. digby, kenelm, sir, - . this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing d ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing d estc r ocm 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a late discourse made in a solemne assembly of nobles and learned men at montpellier in france touching the cure of wounds by the powder of sympathy : with instructions how to make the said powder : whereby many other secrets of nature are unfolded / by sr. kenelme digby, knight ; rendred faithfully out of french into english by r. white. digby, kenelm, sir, - . white, r., gent. [ ], , [ ] p. printed for r. lownes and t. davies, london : . reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. eng wounds and injuries -- treatment. a r (wing d ). civilwar no a late discourse made in a solemne assembly of nobles and learned men at montpellier in france; by sr. kenelme digby, knight, &c. touching t digby, kenelm, sir b the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a late discourse made in a solemne assembly of nobles and learned men at montpellier in france ; by sr. kenelme digby , knight , &c. touching the cure of wounds by the powder of sympathy ; with instructions how to make the said powder ; whereby many other secrets of nature are unfolded . foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas . rendred faithfully out of french into english by r. white . gent. london , printed for r. lownes , and t davies , and are to be sold at their shops in st. pauls church yard , at the sign of the white lion , and at the bible over against the little north door of st. pauls church . . to the most noble , and heroick gentleman , iohn digbye . esq. at gothhurst . sir , by making this dedicatory addresse unto you , i may truely say t is done to the renowned authour himself ; for , besides the ordinary relation of father and son betwixt you , there was never , i dare boldly say , such a perfect exact similitude twixt any two since the world began . for you resemble him , not onely in the outward symmetry , in that goodly proportion , and comportments of your body . you are like him , not onely in physiognomy of face , having the same spacious front , the same perspicacious eyes , with other visible parts so marvalously alike , but the tone of your voice , the accent of your words , your very breath , and articulate sounds are the same with his ; insomuch , that it being well observed , this admirable similitude , or rather identity , may be called one of the greatest wonders of these times . now , sir ; this resemblance being so exact , through all the outward parts capapee ; it may be well presumed , that you are also like him in the idaeas of your soul , and the intern motions of your mind , and consequently in his sublime speculations . therefore , i hope , that neither the world will accuse me of impertinence , or your self of presumption that i make this dedication , and thereby stile my self . highly honoured sir , your most humble and ready servant r. white . an extract of the royall priviledge in france for printing the said discourse . by the grace , and priviledge of the king , given in paris the one and twentieth of december one thousand six hundred fifty seven , it is permitted to iohn ancelin to cause to be printed , sold , and uttered by what bookseller he shall think fit , a book intitled a discourse made in a famous assembly by cavalier digby , chancellour to the queen of great britain touching the cure of wounds by the powder of sympathy , &c. and this during the time , and space of ten yeares , with prohibition to all booksellers , and printers to counterfeit , sell or utter the said book without the consent and permission of the said ancelin , or of those who shall derive a right from him , under the penalty of one thousand five hundred liures , and of all expences , damages , and interests , as it is more amply contained within the letters of the said priviledge . the said ancelin hath transmitted the right of the said priviledge to augustine courb , and peter moet marchants of books in paris , according to the agreement betwixt them . his majesties library is furnished with two exemplars accordingly . an information to the knowing reader . this exquisite philosophical discourse was made lately by that renowned knight , sir kenelme digby , in one of the most famous academies of france . it contains a variety of many recondit , and high mysteries of nature , which are all here unmasked . and as all that great scientifical assembly , composed of the choicest wits under that clime , stood then astonished at the profound speculations of the author , ( which were delivered by way of oration , and taken in short writing upon the place as t was uttered ) so i believe it will work the same effect in any iudicious soul , when he hath seriously perused it . r. white . a discourse touching the cure of wounds , by the powder of sympathy . my lords , i believe that you wil remain all in one mind with me , that to penetrate , and know a subject , it is necessary in the first place , to shew whether the thing be such as it is supposed or imagined to be : for would not one unprofitably lose both his time , and labour , to busie himself in the research of the causes of that which peradventure is but a chimera , without any foundation of truth ? i remember to have read in a place in plutarch , where he proposeth this question , wherefore those horses , who , while they are colts , have been pursued by the wolf , and saved themselves by force of running , are more fleet than other horses ? whereunto he answers , that it may be that the searing , and affrightment , which the wolf gives unto the young beast , makes him try his utmost strength , to deliver himself from the danger that follows him at the heels , therefore the said fright doth as it were unknit his joynts , and stretch his sinews , and makes the ligaments , and other parts of his body , the more supple to run ; insomuch , that he resents it all his life afterwards , and becomes a good courser : or it may be , sayes he , that those colts which are naturally swift , save themselves by flying away ; whereas others , who are not so , are overtaken by the wolf , and so become his prey : and so it is not because they have escaped the wolf , that they are the more fleet , but it is their natural swiftnesse which saves them . he affords also other reasons , and at last concludes , that it may be the thing is not true ; i find it not so fit ( my lords ) to reply hereunto at a table discourse , where the chief design of conversation is to passe away the time gently and pleasantly , without medling with the severity of high fetcht reasons to wind up the spirits , and make them more attentive . but in so renowned an assembly as this , where there are such iudicious persons , and so profoundly learned , and who upon this rancounter , expect from me , that i pay them in solid reasons ; i should be very sorry , that having done my utter most , to make it clear , how the powder , which they commonly call the powder of sympathy , doth naturally , and without any magick , cure wounds without touching them , yea , without seeing of the patient ; i say , i should be very sorry that it should be doubred , whether such a cure may effectually be performed or no . in matter of fact , the determination of existence , and truth of a thing , depends upon the report which our senses make us . this businesse is of that nature , for they who have seen the effects , and had experience thereof , and have been carefull to examine all necessary circumstances , and satisfied themselves afterwards , that there is no imposture in the thing , do nothing doubt but that it is real , and true . but they who have not seen such experiences , ought to refer themselves to the narrations , and authority of such , who have seen such things ; i could produce divers , whereof i was an ocular witnesse , nay , quorum pars magna fui : but as a certain , and an accounted example in the affirmative , is convincing to determine the possibility , and truth of a matter which is doubtful : i shall content my self , because i would not trespasse too much upon your patience at this time , to make instance in one onely ; but it shall be one of the clearest , the most perspicuous , and the most averred that can be , not onely for the remarkable circumstances thereof , but also for the hands , which were above the vulgar , through which the whole businesse passed . for the cure of a very sore hurt was perfected by this power of sympathy , upon a person that is illustrious , as well for his many perfections , as for his several employments . all the circumstances were examined , and sounded to the bottom , by one of the greatest , and most knowing kings of his time , viz. king iames , of england , who had a particular talent , and marvailous sagacity , to discusse natural things , and penetrate them to the very marrow ; as also by his sonne , the late king charles , and the duke of buckingham , their prime minister . and in fine , all was registred among the observations of great chancelor bacon , to adde by way of appendix , unto his natural history . and i believe , sirs , when you shall have understood this history , you will not accuse me of vanity , if i attribute unto my self the introducer unto this quarter of the world this way of curing . mr. iames howel , ( well known in france , for his publick works , and particularly , for his dendrologia , translated into french , by monsieur baudouin ) coming by chance as two of his best friends were fighting in duel , he did his endeavour to part them , and putting himself between them , seized with his left hand upon the hilt of the sword , of one of the combatants , while with his right hand he laid hold of the blade of the other : they being transported with fury one against the other , strugled to rid themselves of the hindrance their friend made , that they should not kill one another : and one of them roughly drawing the blade of his sword , cuts to the very bone the nerves , and mussles of mr. howels hand ; and then the other disingaged his hilts , and gave a crosse blow on his adversaries head , which glanced towards his friend , who heaving up his sore hand to save the blow , he was wounded on the back of his hand , as he had been before within . it seems some strange constellation raigned then against him , that he should lose so much bloud by parting two such dear friends , who had they been themselves , would have hazarded both their lives to have preserved his : but this unvoluntary effusion of bloud by them , prevented that which they should have drawn one from the other . for they seeing mr. howels face besmeared with blood , by heaving up his wounded band , they both run to embrace ; and having searched his hurts , they bound up his hand with one of his garters , to close the veins which were cut , and bled abundantly . they brought him home , and sent for a surgeon . but this being heard at court , the king sent one of his own surgeons , for his majesty much affected the said mr. howel . it was my chance to be lodged hard by him : and four or five dayes after , as i was making my self ready , he came to my house , and prayed me to view his wounds , for i understand , said he , that you have extraordinary remedies upon such occasions , and my surgeons apprehend some fear , that it may grow to a gangrene , and so the hand must be cut of . in effect , his countenance discovered that he was in much pain , which he said was unsupportable , in regard of the extream inflammation : i told him that i would willingly serve him , but if haply he knew the manner how i would cure him , without touching or seeing him : it may be he would not expose himself to my manner of curing , because he would think it peradventure either ineffectual , or superstitious : he replyed , that the wonderful things which many have related unto me , of your way of medecinement , makes me nothing doubt at all of its efficacy ; and all that i have to say unto you , is comprehended in the spanish proverb , hagase el milagro , y bagalo mahoma , let the miracle be done , though mahomet do it , i asked him then for any thing that had the bloud upon it , so he presently sent for his garter , wherewith his hand was first bound : and as i called for a bason of water , as if i would wash my hands ; i took a handfull of powder of vitrol , which i had in my study , and presently dissolved it . as soon as the bloody garter was brought me , i put it within the bason , observing in the interim what mr. howel did , who stood talking with a gentleman in a corner of my chamber , not regarding at all what i was doing : but he started suddenly , as if he had found some strange alteration in himself ; i asked him what he ailed ? i know not what ailes me , but i find that i feel no more pain , me thinks that a pleasing kind of freshnesse , as it were a wet cold napkin did spread over my hand , which hath taken away the inflammation that tormented me before ; i replyed since then that you feel already so good an effect of my medicament , i advise you to cast away all your playsters , onely keep the wound clean , and in a moderate temper , twixt heat and cold . this was presently reported to the duke of buckingham , and a little after to the king , who were both very curious to know the circumstance of the businesse , which was , that after dinner i took the garter out of the water , and put it to dry before a great fire ; it was scarce dry , but mr. howels servant came running , that his master felt as much burning as ever he had done , if not more , for the heat was such , as if his hand were twixt coles of fire : i answered , that although that had happened at present , yet he should find ease in a short time ; for i knew the reason of this new accident , and i would provide accordingly , for his master should be free from that inflammation , it may be , before he could possibly return unto him : but in case he found no ease , i wished him to come presently back again , if not , he might forbear coming . thereupon he went , and at the instant i did put again the garter into the water , thereupon he found his master without any pain at all . to be brief , there was no sense of pain afterward ; but within five or six dayes the wounds were cicatrized , and entirely healed . king iames required a punctual information of what had passed , touching this cure : and after it was done , and perfected , his majesty would needs know of me how it was done , having drolled with me first ( which he could do with a very good grace ) about a magitian and a sorcerer , i answered , that i should be alwayes ready to perform what his majesty should command ; but i most humbly defired him , before i should passe further , to tell him what the authour , of whom i had the secret , said to the great duke of toscany , upon the like occasion . it was a religious carmelite , that came from the indies , and persia to florence , he had also been at china , who having done many marvailous cures with his powder , after his arrival to toscany , the duke said he would be very glad to learn it of him : it was the father of the great duke , who governs now . the carmelite answered him , that it was a secret which he had learnt in the oriental parts , and he thought there was not any who knew it in europe but himself , and that it deserved not to be divulged , which could not be done , if his highness would meddle with the practise of it , because he was not likely to do it with his own hands , but must trust a surgeon , or some other servant , so that in a short time divers other would come to know it as well as himself . but a few moneths after i had opportunity to do an important courtesie to the said fryer , which induced him to discover unto me his secret , and the same year he returned to persia ; insomuch , that now there is no other knows this secret in europe but my self : the king replied , that he needed not apprehend any fear that he would discover , for he would not trust any body in the world to make experience of this secret , but he would do it with his own hands , therefore he would have some of the powder ; which i delivered , instructing him in all the circumstances . whereupon his majesty made sundry proofs , whence he received singular satisfaction . in the interim , doctor mayerne , his first physitian watched to discover what was done by this secret , and at last he came to know that the king made use of vitriol . afterwards he accosted me , saying , he durst not demand of me my secret , because i made some difficulty to discover it to the king himself . but having learnt with what matter it was to be done , he hoped that i would communicate unto him all the circumstances how it is to be used ; i answered him , that if he had asked me before , i would have frankly told him all , for in his hands there was no fear that such a secret should be prostituted , and so i told him all . a little after the doctor went to france , to see some fair territories that he had purchased near geneva , which was the barony of aubonne . in this voyage he went to see the duke of mayerne , who had been a long time his friend , and protector , and he taught him this secret , whereof the duke made many experiments , which if any other but a prince had done , it may be they had passed for effects of magick and enchantments . after the dukes death , who was killed at the fiege of montauban , his surgeon who waited upon him in doing cures , sold this secret to divers persons of quality , who gave him considerable sums for it , so that he became very rich thereby . the thing being fallen thus into many hands , remained not long in terms of a secret , but by degrees it came to be so divulged , that now there is scarce any country barber but knows it . behold now , sirs , the genealogie of the powder of sympathy in this part of the world , with a notable history of a cure performed by it . it is time now to come to the discussion , which is , to know how it is made . it must be avowed that it is a marveilous thing , that the hurt of a wounded ' person , should be cured by the application of a remedy put to a rag of cloth , or a weapon at a great distance . and it is not to be doubted , if after a long and profound speculation , of all the oeconomy and concatenation of naturall causes , which may be adjudged capable to produce such effects , one may fall at last upon the true causes , which must have subtill resorts and means to act . hitherto they have been wrapped up in darknesse , and adjudged so inaccessible , that they who have undertaken to speak or write of them , ( at least those whom i saw ) have been contented to speak of some ingenious gentilenesse , without diving into the bottom , endeavouring rather to shew the vivacity of their spirit , and the force of their eloquence , than to satisfy their readers , and auditors , how the thing is really to be done . they would have us take for ready mony , some terms which we understand not , nor know what they signifie . they would pay us with conveniences , with resemblances , with sympathies , with magnetical virtues , and such terms , without explicating what these terms mean . they think they have done enough , if they feebly perswade any body that the businesse may be performed by a natural way , without having any recourse to the intervention of demons , and spirits : but they pretend not in any sort to have found out the convincing reasons , to demonstrate how the thing is done . sirs , if i did not hope to gain otherwise upon your spirits ; i say , that if i did not believe , that i should be able to perswade you otherwise than by words , i would not have undertaken this enterprize : i know too well — quid valeant humeri , quid ferre recusent , such a design requires a great fire , & vivacity of conceptions volubility of tongue , aptnesse of expressions to insinuate as it were by surprisal , that which one cannot carry away by a firme foot , and by cold reasons , though solid . a discourse of this nature ought not to attend a stranger , who finds himself obliged to display his sense in a language , wherein he can hardly expresse his ordinary conceptions . nevertheless , these considerations shall not deterre me from engaging my self in an enterprize , which may seem to some much more difficult than that which i am now to performe , viz. to make good convincing proofs , that this sympathetical cure may be done naturally , and to shew before your eyes , and make you touch with your finger how it may be done . you know that perswasions are made by ingenious arguments , which being expressed with a good grace , do rather tickle the imagination , than satisfy the understanding : but demonstrations are built upon certain , and approved principles , and though they be but roughly pronounced , yet they convince and draw after them necessary conclusions . they proceed as a strong engin fastned to a gate to batter it down , or as a plate of mettal to imprint the mark of the mony , at every turn that truth makes , she approches but little , and as it were insensibly , and makes not much noise , and there is no such great force required to turn her ; but her strength , though it be slow , is invincible , that at the end , she breaks down the gate , and makes a deep impression on the piece of gold or silver : whereas the stroke of hammers , and bars , ( whereunto witty discourses , and the flourished conceptions of subtil spirits ) require the arme of a giant , makes a great noise , and at the end of the account , produces little effect . to enter then into the matter , i will , according to the method of geometrical demonstrations , lay six or seven principles , as foundation-stones , whereon i will erect my structure . but i will lay them so well , and so firmly , that there will be no great difficulty to grant them . these principles shall be like the wheels of archimedes , by the advantage whereof a child might be capable to hale a shore the bigest carack of king hieron , which a hundred pair of oxen , with all the ropes and cables of his arsenal , were not able to stir : so by the strength of these principles , i hope to waft my conclusions to a safe port. the first principle shall be , that the whole orb , or sphere of the air is filled with light . if it were needful to prove in this point , that the light is a material , and corporal substance , and not an imaginary , and incomprehensible quality , as many schoolmen averre , i could do it evidently enough , but i have done this in another treatife , which hath been published not long since . and it is no new opinion , for many of the most esteemed philosophers among the ancients have advanced it , yea , the great st. augustin , in his third epistle to volusion , doth alledge , that it is his sentiment . but touching our present businesse , whether the light be the one or the other , it matters not , t is enough to explicate her course , and the journies she makes , whereunto our senses bear witnesse . t is cl●ar , that issuing continually out of her source , which is the sun , and lancing her self by a marvailous celerity on all fides by streight lines , there where she rancounters any obstacles in her way , by the opposition of some hard , or opaque body , she reflects , and leaping thence to equal angles , she takes again her course by a streight line , untill she bandies some other side upon another solid body , and so she continueth to make new boundings here and there ; until at the end , being chased on all sides , by the bodies which oppose her in her passage , she is tyred , and so extinguisheth . in the like manner we see a ball in tenis court , being struck by a strong arm against the walls , leaps to the opposite side , that sometimes she makes the circuit of the whole court , and finisheth her motion near the place where she was first struck . our very eyes are witnesses of this progresse of the light , when by way of reflexion , she illuminates some obscure place , whither she cannot directly arrive ; or when issuing immediatly from the sun , and beating upon the moon , or some other of the planets , the rayes which cannot find entrance there , bound upon our earth , otherwise we should not see them , and there she is reflected , broken and bruised by so many bodies , as she meets in her diversity of reflexions . the second principle shall be , that the light glancing so upon some body , the rayes which enter no further , and which rebound upon the superficies of the body , loosen themselves , and carry with them some small particles or atomes ; just as the ball , whereof we have spoken , would carry with it some of the moisture of the wall , against which she is banded , if the plaister thereof were also moyst : and as in effect , she carryed away some tincture of the black , wherewith the walls are coloured . the reason whereof is , that the light , that subtill , and rarified fire , coming with such an imperceptible hast , for her darts are within our eyes , as soon as her head is above our horison , making so many million of miles in an inimaginable space of time , i say , the light beating upon the body , which opposeth her she cannot chuse but make there some small incisions proportionable to her rarity , and subtility . and these small atomes being cut , and loosened from their trunk , being composed of the four elements , ( as all bodies are ) the heat of the light doth stick , and incorporate it self with the most humid , viscuous , and gluing parts of the said atoms , and brings them along with her . experience shews us this as well as reason ; for when one puts some humid cloth to dry before the fire , the fiery rayes beating thereon , those which find no entrance , but reflect thence , carry away with them some small moist bodies , which make a kind of mist betwixt the cloth and the fire . in like manner the sun at his risig enlightning the earth , which is humified either by rain , or the dew of the night , his beams raise a mist , which by little and little ascends to the tops of the hills : and this mist doth arifie according , as the sun hath more force to draw it upwards , until at last we lose the sight thereof , and that it becomes part of the air , which in regard of its tenuity , is invisible unto us . these atoms then are like cavaliers , mounted on winged coursers ; who go very far , untill that the sun setting , takes from them their pegasus and leaves them unmounted : and then they precipitate themselves in crowds to the earth , whence they sprung , the greatest part of them , and the most heavy fall upon the first retreating of the sun , and that we call the serain , which though it be so thin that we cannot see it , yet we feel it as so many small hammers , which strike upon our heads and bodies , principally the elder sort of them ; for the younger sort , in regard of the boyling of their bloud , and the heat of their complexion , thrust out of them abundance of spirits , which being stronger than those that fell from the serain , they repulse them , and hinder them to operate upon the bodies , whence these spirits came forth , as they do upon those that being grown cold by age , are not warranted by so strong an emanation of the spirits , which come out of them . the wind which blows , and is tossed to and fro , is no other than a great river of the like atomes , drawn out of some solid bodies , which are upon the earth , and so are banded here and there , according as they find cause for that effect . i remember to have once sensibly seen how the wind is ingendred : i passed over mount cenis , to go for italy , towards the beginning of summer , and i was advanced to half the hill , as the sun did rise cleer , and luminous , but before i could see his body , because the mountains interposed : i observed his rayes , which did guild the top of the mountain viso , which is the pyramid of a rock , a good deal higher than mount cenis , and all the neighbouring mountains . many are of opinion , that it is the highest mountain in the world , after the pic of tenariff , in the gran canarie , and this mount viso is alwayes covered with snow , i observed then , that about that place , which was illuminated by the solar rayes , there was a fog which at first was of no greater extent then an ordinary boule , but by degrees it grew greater , that at last , not onely the top of that mountain , but all the neighbouring hills , were canopied all over with a cloud . i was now come to the top of mount cenis , and finding my self in the streight line , which passeth from the sun to mount viso , i stayed awhile to behold it , while my people were coming up the hill behind , for having more men to carry my chair than they had , i was there sooner . it was not long that i might perceive the said fog descend gently to the place where i was , and i began to feel a freshnesse that came over my face , when i turned it that way . when all my troup was come about me , we went descending the other side of mount cenis , towards suze , and the lower we went , we sensibly found it that the wind began to blow hard behind our backs , for our way obliged us to go towards the side , where the sun was . we met with pass●ngers that were going up , and we down , they told us that the wind was very impetuous below , and did much incommodate them , by blowing in their faces and eyes , but the higher they came , it was lesser and lesser : and , touching our selves , when we had come to the place where they said the wind blew so hard , we found a kind of storm , and it encreased still the lower we went , untill the sun being well advanced , drew no more by that line , but caused a wind in some other place . the people of that country assured me , that it was there alwayes so , if some extraordinary and violent accident did not intervene , and divert his ordinary course , which is , that upon a certain hour of the day , the wind doth raise it self to such a rumb , or point , & when the sun is come to auother point , another wind riseth , and so from hand to hand it changes the point till the sun set , which alwayes brings with it a calm , if the weather be fair , and that alwayes comes from the mount viso , opposite to the sun . they told us also , that the daily wind is commonly stronger towards the bottom of the mountain , than towards the top , whereof the reason is evident , for the natural movement of every body natural doth encrease always in swiftnesse , according as it moves forward to its center , and that in an unequal number , ( as galileo hath ingeniously demonstrated , i did it also in another treatise ) that is to say , that if at the first moment it advanceth an ell , in the second it advanceth three , in the third five , in the fourth seven , and so it continueth to augment in the same manner , which proceeds from the density , and figure , of the descending body acting upon the cellibility of the medium . and these smal bodies which cause a wind from mount viso are thick , and terrestrial ; for the snow being composed of aquatical parts , and of earthly united by the cold , when the heat of the solar beams doth disunite and separate them , the viscous parts flie with them , while the terrestrial , being too heavy to fly upward , fall presently downward . this makes me remember a very remarkable thing , which befel me when i was with my fleet in the port of scanderon , or alexandrette , towards the bottom of the mediterranean sea : there they use to disimbark , when they go to aleppo , or babylon . i had done already what i had intended to do in those seas , and happily compassed my design , so it imported me much to return to england as soon as possibly i could , and the rather because my ships were battered by a great fight , which i had had a little before , against a formidable power ; which , although i had obtained the better , yet in so furious a dispute , my fleet was in some disorder , and my ships full of wounded men . to advise therefore of the most expedient road to come to some harbour , where i might repair my ships , and be in surety : i assembled all my captains , pilots , and mariners , the most experienced of my fleet ; and having propounded unto them my design , they were all of an unaminous opinion , that the surest course was towards the south , and to coast upon syria , iudea , egypt , and africa , and render our selves at the streight of gibraltar , and sailing so near the body of the earth , we should have every night some small briezes of wind , whereby we should in a short time make our voyage . and besides , we should not be in any great danger to meet either with spanish or french fleets , for england was at that time in open war with both those kings , and we had advise that they had great fleets abroad , to vindicate some things we had done in prejudice of them , both those sixteen moneths that we remained master of those seas , therefore it concerned us to make towards some safe port , where we might both refresh our men , and repair our battered vessels . my opinion was clean contrary to theirs , for i believed our best course were to steer our course westward , and to saile along the coasts of cilicia , pamphylia , lydia , natolia , or asia the lesse , and to traverse the mouth of the archipelago , leave the adriatick on the right hand , and passe by sicily , italy , sardinia , corsica , the golps of lion , and so coast all spain , telling them that it would be a great dishonour unto us to forsake our best road , for fear of the enemy , for our chief businesse thither was to find them out , and the protection which it pleased god to afford us all along in so many combats in going , was cause to make us hope that the same providence would vouchsafe to guide us as we should be returning . that there was no doubt but the road which i proposed unto them , considered simply in it self , was , not without comparison , the better , and the more expedit to saile out of the mediterranean sea , and gain the ocean , because said i , that although we have the briezes from off the earth as long as we were upon the coasts of syria , and egypt , we shall not have them at all while we saile upon the coasts of lybia , where there are those fearfull sands which they call the syrtes , which are of a great extent , the said coast having no humidity , for there is neither tree nor herb grows there , for there is nought else but moving sands which covered and enterred heretofore at one glut the puissant army of king cambyses . now where there is no humidity , the sun cannot attract to make a wind , so that we shall never find there , specially in sommer time , any other wind but that regular wind which blows from east to west , according to the course of the sun , who is the father of winds , unlesse some extraordinary happen , either from the coast of italy , which lies northward , or from the bottom of ethiopia , where the mountains of the moon are , and the source of the cataracts of nile : therefore if we were neer the syrtes , the winds of italy would be most dangerous unto us , and expose us to shipwrack . i reasond so , according to natural causes , while they of my councel of war kept themselves firm to their experience ; which was the cause that i would do nothing against the unanimous sense of all , for although the disposing , and resolution of all things depended absolutely upon my self , yet i thought i might be justly accused of rashnesse or willfulnesse , if i should prefer my own advise before that of all the rest : so we took that course , and went happily as far as the syrtes of lybia : but there our land briezes failed us , and for seven and thirty dayes we had no other but a few gentle zephirs , which came from the west , whither we were steering our course . we were constrained to keep at anchor all that time , with a great deal of apprehensions of fear , that the wind might come from the north , accompanyed with a tempest , for if that had happened , we had been all lost , because our anchors had not been able to hold among those moving sands , for under water they are of the same nature as they are upon dry land , and so we might be in danger to be shipwrackt upon that coast . but god almighty , who hath been pleased i should have the honour to wait upon you this day , did deliver me from that danger . and at the end of seven and thirty dayes , we observed the course of the clouds very high , which came from south-east , at first but slowly , but by degrees faster and faster , insomuch , that in the compasse of two dayes , the wind which was forming it self a great way off in ethiopia , came in a tempest to the place where we rid at anchor , and lead us to the place whither we intended to go ; but the force of it was broken before , coming so long a distance . out of this discourse we may infer , and conclude , that every where wheresoever there is any wind , there be also some small bodies , or atoms , which are drawn from the bodiess , which lye in the bodies , whence they come , by the virtue of the sun , and of light , and that in effect this wind is nothing else but the said atomes agitated , and thrust on by a kind of impettiosity ; and so the winds do partake of the qualities whence they come , as if they come from the south , they are hot , if from the north they are cold , if from the earth alone they are dry ; if from the marine , or sea-side , they are humid and moist ; if from places which produce aromatical substances , they are odcriferous , wholsom and pleasing : as they say who come from arabia faelix , which produceth spices , perfumes , and gommes , of sweet savour , or that which comes from fontenay , and vaugirard at paris , in the season of roses , which is all perfumed : as on the contrary , those winds that come from stinking places , as from the sulphureous soil of pozzuolo , do smell ill : as also those that come from infected places , bring the contagion along with them . my third principle shall be , that the air is ful throughout with small bodies or atomes , or rather that which we call our air , is no other than a mixture , or confusion of such atomes , wherein the aereal parts do predominate . it is well known , that in nature there cannot be actually found any pure element , without being blended with others , for the outward fire , and the light acting one way , and the internal fire of every body pushing on another way , causeth this marvailous mixture of all things in all things . within that huge extent , where we place the air , there is sufficient space , and liberty enough to make such a mixture , which experience , as well as reason , doth confirm . i have seen little vipers , as soon as they came from the eggs , where they were ingendred , being not yet an inch long ; which , having conserved them in a large gourd , covered with paper tyed round about , that they might not get out , but little holes being made with pins , that the air might enter , they encreased in substance , and bignesse so prodigiously in six , eight , or ten months , that it is incredible , and more sensibly , during the season of the equinoxes , then , when the air is fuller of those aethereal , and balsamical atomes , which gave them their balsamick virtue , which they drew for their nouriture . hence it came that the cosmopelites had reason to say , est in aere occultus vitae cibus . there is a hidden food of life in the air . these small vipers had but the air onely for their sustenance , neverthelesse by this thin viand , they came in less than a year to a foot long , and proportionably big and heavy , vitriol , saltpeter , and some other substances , do augment in the same manner , onely by attraction of air . i remember , that upon some occasion , seventeen or eighteen years ago , i had occasion to use a pound of oil of tartar ; it was at paris , where i had then no operatory . then i desired monsieur ferrier , a man universally known by all such that are curious , to make me some , for he had none then ready made , but did it expressely for me , and for the calcination of tartar , twenty pound may be as easily made as two , without encrease of charge , therefore he took occasion hereby to make a quantity for his own use . when he brought it me , the oil did smell so strong of the rose , that i complained that he should mingle it with that water , in regard i had desired him to do it purely , by exposing it to the humid air , for i verily thought that he had dissolved the salt of tartar in rose-water ; he swore unto me that he had not mingled it with any liquor , but that he had left the tartar calcind within his cellar , to dissove of it self . it was then in the season of roses , therefore it seems that the air being then full of the atomes , which come from the roses ; and being changed into water by the powerful attraction of the salt of tartar , their smell became very sensible in the place where they were gathered ; as the beams of the sun do burn , being crowded together in a burning glasse . there happened also another marvailous thing , touching this oyl of tartar , which may serve to prove a proposition which we have not yet touched , but not to interrupt the course of the story ; i will tell it you by way of advance . it was , that as the season of roses was passed , the smell of the rose did vanish away from the said oil of tartar , so that in three or four moneths it was quite gone . but we were much surprized , when the next year the said odor of roses returned as strong as ever it did , and so went away again towards winter , which course it still observes . which made monsieur ferrier to keep it as a singular rarity , and the last summer i found the effect in his house . we have in london an unlucky , and troublesome confirmation of this doctrine , for the air useth to be full of such atomes . the material then whereof they make fire in that great city , is commonly of pit coal , which is brought from newcastle , or scotland . this cole hath in it a great quantity of volatil salt very sharp , which being carried on by the smoak useth to dissipate it self , and fill the air , wherewith it doth so incorporate , that although we do not see it , yet we find the effects , for it spoiles beds , tapistries , and other houshold stuffs , that are of any beautiful fair colour , for the fuliginous air doth tarnish it by degrees : and although one should lock up his chamber , and come not thither a good while , and keep it never so clean , yet at his returne , he will find a black kind of thin soot cover all his houshold-stuff , as we see in mills , there is a white dust , as also in bakers shops , which useth to whiten the walls , and sometimes gets into cubboards and chests . the said coal-soot also gets abroad , and fouls cloths upon hedges , as they are a drying , as also in the spring time , the very leaves of trees are besooted therewith . now , in regard that it is this air which the lungs draw for respiration among the inhabitans , therefore the flegme and spittle which comes from them , is commonly blackish and fuliginous . moreover the acrimony of this soot produceth another funestous effect , for it makes the people subject to inflammations , and by degrees to ulcerations in the lungs . it is so corrosive , and biting , that if one put gammons of bacon , or beef , or or any other flesh within the chimney , it so dries it up , that it spoiles it . wherefore they who have weak lungs , quickly feel it , whence it comes to passe , that almost the one half of them who dye in london , dye of ptisical , and pulmonicall distempers , spitting commonly bloud from their ulcerated lungs . but at the beginng of this malady , the remedy is very easie ; it is but to send them to a place where the air is good : many do usually come to paris , who have means to pay the charge of such a journy , and they commonly use to recover their healths in perfection . the same inconveniences are also , though the operations be not so strong in the city of liege , where the common people burn no other than pit coals , which they call h● ville . paris her self also , although the circumambient be passing good , yet is the subject to incommodities of that nature . the excessively stinking dirt and channels of that vast city , mingleth a great deal of ill allay with the purity of the air , stuffing it every where with corrupted atoms , which yet are not so pernicious as those of london . we find that the most neat and polished silver plate , exposed to the air , becomes in a short time livid , and foul , which proceeds from no other cause , then from those black atoms , the true colour of putrefaction which stick unto them . i know a person of quality , ( and a singular friend of mine ) who is lodged in a place , where on the one side a great many poor people do inhabit , where few carts use to passe , and fewer coaches : his neighbours behind his house empty their filth and ordures in the middle of the street , which useth hereby to be full of mounts of filth , which is used to be carried away by tombrells ; when they remove these ordures , you cannot imagine what a stench , and a kind of infectious air is smelt thereabout every where . the servants of my said friend , when this happens , use to cover their plate , and andirons of polished brasse , with other of their fairest houshold-stuff , with cotten , or course bayes , otherwise they would be all tarnished ; yet nothing hereof is seen within the air : yet these experiences do manifestly convince , that the air is stuffed with such atoms . i cannot omit to adde hereunto another experiment , which is , that we find by the effects , how the rayes of the moon are cold and moist . it is without controversie , that the luminous parts of those rayes come from the sun , the moon having no light at all within her , as her ecclipses bear witnesse , which happen when the earth is opposite twixt her and the sun , which interposition hinders her to have light from his rayes . the beams then which come from the moon , are those of the sun , who glancing upon her , reflect upon us , and so bring with them the atoms of that cold and humid star , who participate of the source whence they come : therefore if one should expose a hollow bason , or glasse , to assemble them , one shall find , that whereas those of the sun do burn by such a conjuncture , these clean contrary do refresh and moysten in a notable manner , leaving an aquatick , and viscuous glutining kind of sweat upon the glasse . one would think it were a folly that one should offer to wash his hands in a well polished silver bason , wherein there is not a drop of water , yet this may be done by the reflection of the moon beams , onely , which will afford a competent humidity to do it , but they wo have tryed this have found their hands , after they are wiped , to be much moister than usually : but this is an infallible way to take away warts from the bands , if it be often used . let us then conclude out of these premises , and experiments , that the air is full of atoms , which are drawn from bodies , by means of the light which reflects thereon , or which sally out by the interior natural heat of those bodies , which drive them forth . it may haply seem impossible that there can be an emanation of so many small bodies , that should be spread up and down the air , and be so carried up and down , and so far by a continual flux , ( if i may say so ) and yet the body whence they come receives no diminution that is perceptible , though sometimes t is visible enough , as by the evaporations of the spirits of wine , musk , and other such volatil substances . but this objection will be null , and the two precedent principles will render themselves more credible , when we shall settle another , viz. that every body , be it never so little , is divisible ad infinitum , not that it hath infinite parts , for the contrary thereof may be demonstrated , but it is capable to be divided and subdivided into new parts , without ever coming to the end of the division . and it is in this sense that our masters teach us that quantity is infinitly divisible . this is evident to him who shall consider with a profound imagination the essence , and the formal reason of quantity , which is nothing else but divisibility . but in regard that this speculation , is very subtile , and metaphysical , i will serve my self with some geometricall demonstrations to prove this truth , for they accommodate best with the imagination . euclide doth teach us in the tenth proposition of his sixth book , that if one take a short line , and another long one , and that the long be divided to divers equall parts twixt themselves ; the little one may be divided also into as many equal parts among themselves , and every one of those parts also in others , and these last into so many more , and so consecutively , without being able ever to come to that which is not divisible . but le ts suppose ( although it be impossible ) that one might divide , and subdivide a line , so that at last we should come to an indivisible , and le ts see what will come of it . i say then , that since the line doth resolve it self into indivisibles , she ought to be composed of them ; le ts see whether that may be verified . to which purpose i take three indivisibles , and to distinguish them , let them be a. b. c. for if three millions of indivisibles make a long line , three indivisibles will make a short one . i put them then in a rank . first , i put a , then b , so neer , that they touch one another : i say that b must necessarily possesse the same place as a , or that it doth not possesse it ; if it doth possess the same place , they both together make no extension , and by the same reason , neither nor will do it , but all the indivisibles will unite together , and the result of all shall be but onely one indivisible . it must be then that being not both in the same place , yet touching one another , one part of b must touch one part of a , and the other part toucheth it not . then i adde the indivisible c , whereof one part shall touch a part of b , which touches not a , and by this means b is copulant , lying between a and c. to make the extension . to do this , you see that we must admit that b hath parts as the other two , which by your supposition are all indivisible , which being absurd , the supposition is impossible . but to render the matter yet more perspicuous , le ts suppose that these three indivisibles , make one extension , and compose one line , the proposition already cited from euclide , demonstrates that this line may be divided into thirty equal parts , or into as many as you please : insomuch that it must be granted that every one of these three indivisibles may be divided to three parts , which is point blank against the nature and definition of an indivisible . but without dividing into so many parts , euclide shews by his tenth proposition of his first element , that every line may be parted into two equal parts : but this being composed of indivisibles of unequal number , it must necessarily follow , that being parted into two , there must be an indivisible more on the one side than on the other , or that that of the middle be parted into two halfs : insomuch , that he who denies that quantity may not be divided , ad infinitum , doth entangle himself in absurdities , and incomprehensible impossibilities . and on the contrary , he who assents unto it , will find it no impossibility , or inconvenient , that the atoms of all bodies , which are in the air , may be divided , stretcht and carryed to a marvailous distance . our very senses make faith hereof in some sort : there is no body in the world , which we know of , so compact , so solid , and weighty as gold , yet neverthelesse , to what a strange extent and division may it be brought unto , le ts take an ounce of this massy mettal , it shall be but a button as big as my fingers end . a beater of gold will make a thousand leaves or more of this ounce , one half of these leaves shall suffize to guild the whole surface of a lingot of silver , of three or four ounces : le ts give this guilded lingot of silver to them , who prepare gold and silver thread to make lace , and let them draw it to the greatest length and subtilty they can , let them draw it to the thinness of a hair , and so this thread may be a quarter of a league long in extent , if not more : and in all this length there will not be the space of an atome which is not covered with gold . behold a strange and marvailous dilatation of this half leaf : let us do the like to all the rest of the beaten gold , it will appear that by this means this small button of gold may be so extended , that it may reach from this city of montpellier to paris , and far beyond it : into how many million millions of atoms might not this guilded line be cut with small cisers . now , t is easie to comprehend that this extention , and divisibility made by such grosse instruments as hammers and cisers , is not comparable to that which is made by the light and rayes of the sun . for it is certain , that if this gold may be drawn into such a great length by spindles , or wheels of iron , some of these parts may easily be carryed away by those winged coursiers we spoke of before , i mean , by the rayes that flie in a moment from the sun to the earth . if i did not fear it would prove tedious unto you by my prolixity , i would entertain you with the strange subtility of little bodies , which issue forth from living bodies , by means whereof our dogs in england will pursue the sent of a mans steps , or of a beasts , many miles : and not onely so , but they will find in a great heap of stones that which a man hath touched with his hand : therefore it must needs be , that upon the earth , or upon the stone , some material parts of the touched body remain , yet the body doth not sensibly diminish , no more than ambergrise , and the spanish skins , which wil send out of them an odour during a hundred years , without any diminution of skin or smell . in our country they use to sow a whole field with one sort of grain , to wit , one year with barly , the next with wheat , the third with beans , and the fourth year they let it rest , and stercorize it , that it may recover its vigor by attraction of the vital spirit it receives from the air , and so plow it up again after the same degrees . now , the year that the field is covered with beans , the passengersby do use to smell at a good distance off , if the wind blow accordingly , the smell of the beans , if they be in flower : it is a smell that hath a suavity with it , but fading , and afterwards unpleasant , and heady . but the smell of rosemary which comes from the coasts of spain , goes far further . i have sailed by sea along those coasts divers times , and i have observed alwayes , that the mariners know when they are within thirty or forty leagues of the continent , ( i do not exactly remember the distance ) and they have this knowledg from the smell of the rosemary , which so abouuds in the fields of spain ; i have smelt it as sensibly , as if i had had a branch of rosemary in my hand , and this was a day or two before we could discover land , t is true , the wind was in our faces , and came from the shore . some naturalists write that vultures have come two or three hundred leagues off , by the smell of carrens , and dead bodies left in the field , after some bloudy battle ; and it was known that these birds came from a far off , because there is none useth to breed there : they have a quick smelling , and it must be that the rotten atoms of those dead karkases were transported by the air so far : and those birds having once caught the sent , they pursue it to the very source , and the neerer they come to that , the stronger it is . we will conclude here that which we had to say touching the great extent of those little bodies , which by the mediation of the sun beams , and of the light , use to issue forth out of all bodies that are composed of elements , who throng the air , and are carried a marvailous distance from the place , and bodies where they have their origen , and source , the proof , and explication of which things hath been the aime of my discourse hitherunto . now , my lords , i must , if you please , make you see how these small bodies that so fill , and compose the air , are oftentimes drawn to a road altogether differing from that which their universal causes should make them hold ; and it shall be our fifth principle . one may remark within the course , and aeconomy of nature , sundry sorts of attractions : as that of succion , or sucching , whereby i have seen a ball of lead at the bottom of a long steel exactly wrought , follow the air , which one sucked out of the mouth of a canon , with that impetuosity , and strength , that it broke his teeth . the attraction of water or wine that is done by the instrument scyphon is like to this , for by means of that , one liquor is made to passe from one vessel into another , without changing any way the colour , or rising of the lees . there is another sort of attraction which is called magnetical , whereby the loadstone draws the iron . another electrick , when the iett-stone draws unto it straws . there is another of the flame , when the smoke of a candle put out , draws the flame of that which burns hard by , and makes it descend to light that which is out . there is another of filtration , when one humid body mounts upon a dry body , or when the contrary is done . lastly , when the fire , or some hot body draws the air , and that which is mixed therewith . we will treat here of the two first species of attraction , i have sufficiently spoken of the rest in another place . filtration may seem to him who hath not attentively considered it , nor examined by what circumstances so hidden a secret of nature comes to passe , and to a person of a mean and limited understanding , to be done by some occult virtue , or property , and will perswade himself , that within the filtre , or strayning instrument , there is some secret sympathy , which makes water to mount up contrary . to its natural motion . but he who will examine the business , as it ought to be , observing all that is done , without omitting any circumstance , he will find there is nothing more natural , and that it is impossible it should be otherwise . and we must make the same judgement of all the profound mysteries , and hidden'st mysteries of nature : if one would take the pains to discover them , and search into them with judgement . behold then how filtration is made , they use to put a long toung of cloth , or cotten , or spongy matter , within an earthen pot of water or other liquor , and let hanging upon the brim of the pot a good part of the cloth , and one shall see the water presently mount up , and passe above the brink of the vessel , and drop at the lower end of the piece of cloth , upon the ground , or within some vessel : and the gardners make use of this method to water their plants and flowers in summer by soft degrees . as also the apothecaries , and chymists , to separate their liquors , from their dregs , and residences . to comprehend the reason why the water ascends in that manner , let us neerly observe all that is done . that part of the cloth which is within the water , becomes wetted , to wit , it receives and imbibes the water through its spongy , and dry parts at first . this cloth swells in receiving the water , so two bodies joyned together , require more room than one of them would by it self . let us consider this swelling , and augmented extension in the last thread of them which touch the water , viz. that on the superficies , which to be distinguished from the rest , let it be marked at the two ends , ( as by a line ) as with a. b. and the thread which immediately follows , and is above it , let it be c. d. and the following e. f. then with g. h. and so to the end of the toung : i say then that the thread a. b. dilating it self , and swelling by means of the water which enters twixt it fibres , or strings , approacheth by little and little to c. d. which is yet dry , because it toucheth not the water ; but when a. b. is grown so grosse , and swelling , by reason of the water which enters , that it fills all the vacuity , and all the distance which lies twixt it , and c. d. as also that it presseth against c. d. by reason of its extension , which is greater than the space was betwixt them both , then it wets c. d. because the thread a. b. being compressed , the exterior part of the water which was in it , coming to be pushed on upon c. d. seeks there a place , and entreth within the threeds , and wets them , in the same manner as at first the exterior , and highest part , became wet . c. d. being so wetted , it shall dilate it self as a. b. did , and consequently pressing against e. f. it cannot chuse but work the same effect in it , which before it had received by the swelling and dilatation of a. b. and so by gentle degrees every thread wets its neighbour , untill the very last thread of cloth toung . and it is not to be feared , that the continuity of the water will break , ascending this scale of chords , or that it will recoyl backwards , for those little ladders so easy to be mounted render the ascent the more easie , and the woolly fibres of every thread , seem to reach their hands to help them up at every pace : and so the facility of getting up contremont , joyned with the fluidness of the water , and the nature of quantity , which tends alwayes to the uniting of substances , and of bodies which it clothes , when there occures no other predominant cause to break , and divide it , causeth that the water keeps it self in one piece , and passeth above the brink of the pot . after that its voyage is made more easie , for it goes after its natural panching , alwayes downwards . and if the end of the cloth hangs lower without the pot , then the surface of the water within the pot , the water spills on the earth , or some vessel placed beneath , as we see that a heavier chord being hung upon a pully the longest , and heaviest falls upon the ground , and carrieth away the shortest , and lightest , making it passe above the pully . but if the outward end of the cloth which is without the pot were horizontal , with the surface of the water , and did hang no lower then it , the water would be immoveable : as the two sides of a balance , when there 's equal weight in both the scales . and if one would powre out the water that is in the pot , in such sort that the superficies did grow lower than the end of the cloth : in that case the ascending water becoming more heavy than the descendant on the other side , without the pot , it would call back that which was gone out before , and was ready to fall , and would make it thrust on , and return to its former pace , and enter again into the pot , to mingle again with the water which lyes therein . you see then this mystery , which at first was surprizing , displayed , and made as familiar and natural , as to see a stone fall down from the air . t is true , that to make a demonstration thereof , by an exact , and compleat rigor , we must adde other circumstances , which we have done in another discourse , wherein i expressely treated of this subject . but that which i now say is sufficient to give a tincture how this so notable an attraction is made . the other attraction which comes by fire , which draws unto it the ambient air , with the smal bodies therein , is made thus ; the fire acting according to its own nature , which to push on a continual river , or exhalation of its parts , from the center to the circumference , and out of its source , carrieth away with it the air which adjoyned , and sticking to it on all sides , as the water of a river trains along with it the earth of thae channel or bed , through which it glides . for the air being humid , and the fire drye , they cannot do lesse than embrace , and hug one another . but there must a new air come from the places circumjacent , to fill the room of that which is carried away by the fire , otherwise there would a vacuity happen , which nature abhors . this new air remains not long in the place which it comes to fill , but the fire , who is in a continual carreer , and emanation of his parts , carries it presently with him , and draws the new air , and so there is a perpetual , and constant current of the air , as long as the action of fire continues . we dayly see the experience hereof , for if one makes a good fire in ones chamber , it draws the air from the door , and windows , which chough one would shut , yet there be crevices and holes for the air to enter , and coming near them , one shall hear a kind of whisling noise , which the air makes in pressing to enter , and t is the same cause that produceth the sound of the organ and flute ; and he who would stand between the crevices , and the fire , he should find such an impetuosity of that artificial wind , that he would be ready to freeze , while he is ready to burn the tother side next the fire . and a candle of wax being held in this current of the wind , would melt by her flame blown against the wax , and waste away in a very short time : whereas if that candle stood in a calm place , that her flame might burn upward , it would last much longer . but if there be no passage whereby the air may enter into the chamber , the one part then of the vapor of the wood which should have converted to flame , and so mounted up the funnel of the chimney descends downward against its nature , for to supply the defect of air within the said chamber , and fills it with smoak , but at last the fire choaks , and extinguisheth for want of air . whence it come to passe that the chymists have reason to say , that the air is the life of the fire , as well as other animals . but if one puts a bason , or vessel of water before the fire upon the hearth , there will be no smoke in the chamber , although it be so close shut , that the air cannot enter , for the fire attracts parts of the water , which is a liquid substance , and easie to move out of its place , which aquatic parts rarifie themselves into air , and thereby perform the functions of the air . this is more evidently seen if the chamber be little , for then the air which is there penned in , is sooner raised up , and carried away . and by reason of this attraction , they use to make great fires , where there are hushould-stuff , of men that died of the pestilence to disinfect them . for by this inondation of air which is drawn , the fire doth as it were sweep the walls , the planks , with other places of the chamber , and takes away those little putrified , sharp , corrosive , and venemous bodies , which were the infections that adhered unto it , drawing them into the fire , where they are partly burnt , and partly sent up into the chimney , accompanied with the atoms of the fire , and the smoke . it is for this reason that the great hippocrates , which groped so far into the secrets of nature , disinfected , and freed from the plague a whole province , or entire region , by causing them to make great fires every where . now , this manner of attraction is made , not onely by a simple fire , but by that which partakes of it , viz. by the heated substances : and that which is the reason and cause of the one , is also the cause of the other . for the spirits , or ignited parts evaporating from such a substance , or hot body , carry away with them the adjacent air , which ought necessarily to be nourished by some other air , or by some matter which keeps the place of the air , as we have spoken of the bason , and tub of water put before the fire to hinder smoke . it is upon this foundation that physitians do ordain the hot application of pigeons , or young dogs , or some other hot animals , to the soles of the feet , or the handwrists , or the stomacks , or navills of their patients , to extract out of their bodies the wind , or ill vapors which infect them ; and in time of contagion , or universal infection of the air , pigeons , cats , dogs , with other hot animals , use to be killed , which make continually a great transpiration of evaporation of spirits , because the air by those attractions it makes , taking the room of the spirits , which issue forth of evaporation , the pestiferous atoms which are scattered in the air , and accompany it ; use to stick to their feathers , skins , or furres . and for the same reason we see that bread coming hot from the oven , draws unto it the must of the cask , which spoiles the wine , if they put it hot upon the bung . and that onions , & such hot bodies which perpetually exhale unto them the fiery parts , which appears by the strength of their smell , are quickly taken with infectious airs , if they be exposed unto them , which is one of the signes to know whether the whole masse of the air be universally infected . and one might reduce to this head the great attraction of air , which is made by calcind bodies and particularly by tartar , all ignited by the violent action of the fire upon it , which is heaped together , and bodified among his salt : for i have observed that it attracts unto it nine times more air than it weighs it self . for if one should expose to the air a pound of salt of tartar well calcind , and burnt , it will afford you ten pound , of good oyl of tartar , drawing unto it , and so bodifying the circumjacent air , and that wherewith t is mingled ; as it befell that oyl of tartar which monsieur ferrier made me , whereof i spake before , but me thinks that all this is but little compared to the attraction of air , which was made by the body of a certain nunne at rome , whereof petrus servius , urban the eighth's physitian makes mention in a book which he hath published , touching the marvailous accidents which he observed in his time . had i not such a vouchy , i durst not produce this history , although the nunne her self did cnnfirm it unto me , and that a good number of doctors , of the faculty of physick at rome , did assure me of the truth thereof : there was a nunne , that by excesse of fasting , of watchings , and mental orisons , was so heated in her body , that she seemed to be all on fire , and her bones dryed up , and calcind : this heat then , this internal fire drawing the air so powerfully : this air did incorporate within her body , as it useth to do in salt of tartar , and the passages being all open , it got to those parts , where there is most serosity , which is the bladder , and thence she rendred it in water among her urine , and that in an incredible quantity , for she voided during some weeks more , than two hundred pounds of water every four and twenty hours . with this notable example i will put an end to the experiments , i have urged to prove and explicate the attraction which is made of air , by hot and ignited bodies , which are of the nature of fire . my sixth principle shall be , that when fire , or some hot body attracts the air , and that which is within the air , if it happens that within that air there be found some dispersed atoms of the same nature , with the body which draws them , the attraction of such atoms is made more powerfully , then if they were bodies of a different nature , and these atoms do stay , stick , and mingle with more willingesse with the body which draws them . the reason hereof is the resemblance , and sympathy they have one with the other . if i should not explicate wherein this resemblance consisted , i should expose my self to the same censure and blame , as that which i taxed at the beginning of my discourse , touching those who speak but lightly and vulgarly of the powder of sympathy , and such marvails of nature . but when i shal have cleared that which i contend for by such a resemblance and conveniency , i hope then you will rest satisfied . i could make you see that there are many sorts of resemblances which cause an union between bodies , but i will content my self to speak here onely three signall ones . the first resemblance shall be touching weight , whereby bodies of the same degree of heavinesse do assemble together , the reason whereof is evident , for if one body were more light , it would ocupy a higher situation than the heavier body , as on the contrary , if a body were more weighty , it would descend lower than that which is lesse heavy , but both having the same degree of heavinesse , they keep company together in equilibrio , as one may see by experience in this gentile example , which some curious spirits use to produce , for to make us understand how the four elements are situated one above the other , according to their weight , and heavinesse . they use to put in a viall the spirit of wine tincturd with red , to represent the fire , the spirit of turpentine tinctured with blew for the air , the spirit of water tinctured with green , to represent the element of water ; and to represent the earth , the powder of some solid mettal enamelld ; you see them one upon the other without mixing , and if you shake them together by a violent agitation , you shall see a chaos , such a confusion , that it will seem ther 's no particular atomes that belong to any of those bodies , they are so huddled pell mell altogether . but cease this agitation , and you shall see presently every one of these four substances go to its naturall place , calling again , and labouring to unite all their atoms in one distinct masse , that you shall see no mixture at all . the second resemblance of bodies which draw one another , and unite , is among them , which are of the same degree of rarity and density . the nature and effect of quantity is to reduce to unity all things which it finds , if there interpose not some other stronger power , ( as the differing substantiall forme , which doth multiply it ) do not hinder . and the reason of that is evident , for the essence of quantity is a divisibility , or capacity to be divided , which is as much to say , as to make it many , whence it may be inferred that quantity it self is not many , therefore she is of her self , and in her own nature , a continued extension : seeing then that the nature of quantity in general tends to unity , and continuity , the first differences of quantity , which are rarity , and density , must produce the same effect of unity , and continuity in those bodies which convene in the same degree with them . for proof whereof , we find that water doth unite , and incorporate it self , strongly , and easily with water , oil with oil , the spirit of wine with spirit of wine , but water and oil can hardly unite , nor mercury with the spirit of wine , and other bodies of differing density , and tenuity . the third resemblance of bodies which unites and keeps them strongly together , is that of figure : i will not serve my self here with the ingenious conceit of a great personage , who holds that the continuity of bodies results from some small hookings or claspings , which keeps them together , and are differing in bodies of a differing nature . but not to extend my self two diffusively in every particularity , i will say in grosse , as an apparent thing , that every kind of body affects a particular figure . we see it plainly in the several sorts of salt , peele , and stamp them separately , dissolve , coagulate , and change them as long as you please , they come again alwayes to their own natural figure , after every dissolution , and coagulation . the ordinary salt doth form it self alwayes in cubes of foursquare faces , salt-peter in formes of six faces : armoniac salt in hexagons of six points , as the snow doth , which is sexangulary . whereunto mr. davison attributes the pentagonary figure of every one of those stones which were found in the bladder of monsieur peletier , to the number of fourscore ; for the same immediate efficient cause , which is the bladder , had imprinted its action both within the stones , and the salt of the urine . the distillators observe , that if they powre upon the dead head of some distillation , the water which was distilled it imbibes it , and re-unites incontinently , whereas if one would powre any other water of an heterogeneous body , it swims on the top , and incorporates with much difficulty . the reason is , that the distill'd water which seems to be an homogeneous body , yet t is composed of small bodies of discrepant figures , as the chymists do plainly demonstrate , and these atomes being chaced by the action of fire , out of their own chambers , or as from the beds , which appropriated unto them by an exact justnesse , when they come back to their ancient habitations , viz. to the pores which are left in the dead heads , they accommodate themselves , and amiably rejoyn and comensurate together . the same happens when it rains after a long drouth ; for the earth immediately drinks up the water , which had been drawn up by the sun , whereas any other strange liquor would enter with some difficulty . now , that there are differing pores in bodies which seem to be homogeneous , monsieur gassendi affirms it , and undertakes to prove it by the dissolution of salts of differing natures in common water , when saies he to this effect , that when you have dissolved common salt , as much as it can bear , if you put onely a seruple more , it will leave it entire in the bottom , as if it were sand , or playster , neverthelesse , it will dissolve a good quantity of salt-peter , and though it toucheth not this salt , it will dissolve as much of armoniacall salt , and so others of different figures . in so much as i have observed elsewhere , we see plainly by the aeconomy , of nature , that bodies of the same figure use to mingle more strongly , and unite themselves with more facility , which is the reason why those that make a strong glue to glue together broken pots of porcelain , or chrystal , or such stuff , do alwayes mingle with the glue the powder of that body , which they endeavour to raccomodate . and the goldsmiths themselves , when they go about to sodder together pieces of gold , or of silver , they mingle those bodies alwayes in their own dust . having hitherto run through the reasons and causes why bodies of the same nature , draw one to another with greater facility and force than others , and why they unite with more promptitude , le ts now see according to our method , how experience confirms this discourse , for in natural things we must have recourse , on dernier ressort , to experience . and all reasoning that is not supported so , ought to be repudiated , or at least suspected to be illegitimate . t is an ordinary thing , when one finds himself burnt as in the hand , he holds it a good while as near the fire as he can , and by this means the ignited atomes of the fire , and of the hand mingling together , and drawing one another , and the stronger of the two , which are those of the fire , having the mastery , the hand finds it self much eased of the inflammation which it suffered . t is an ordinary remedy , though a nasty one , that they who have ill breaths , hold their mouths open at the mouth of a privy , as long as they can , and by the reiteration of this remedy , they find themselves cured at last , the greater stink of the privy drawing unto it , and carrying away the lesse , which is that of the mouth . they who have been pricked , or bit by a viper , or scorpion , hold over the bitten , or pricked place , the head of a viper or scorpion bruised , and by this means the poyson , by a kind of filtration way , went on to gain the heart of the party , returns back to its principles , and so leaves the party well recovered . in time of common contagion , they use to carry about them the powder of a toad , and sometimes a living toad or spider shut up in a box ; or else they carry arsnick , or some other venemous substance , which draws unto it the contagious air , which otherwise would infect the party : and the same powder of toad draws unto it the poison of a pestilential cole . the scurf or farcy is a venemous , and contagious humor within the body of a horse , hand a toad about the neck of the horse , in a little bag , and he will be cured infallibly ; the toad , which is the stronger poyson , drawing to it the venome which was within the horse . make water to evaporate out of a stove , or other room , close shut , if there be nothing that draws this vapor , it will stick to the walls of the stove , and as it cools , it recondenseth there into water : but if you put a bason or bucquet full of water into any part of the stove , it will attract all the vapor which filled the chamber , and so doing , no part of the wall will be wetted . if you dissolve mercury , which resolving into smoak , doth passe into the recipient , put into the head of the limbick a little thereof , and all the mercury in the limbick will gather there , and nothing will passe into the recipient . if you distill the spirit of salt , or of vitriol , or the baume of sulpher , and leaving the passage free betwixt the spirit , and the dead head , whence it issued forth , the spirits will return to the dead head , which being fixt , and not able to mount up , draws them unto it . in our country , and i think t is so used here , they use to make provision for all the year of venison pasties , at the season that their flesh is best , and most savory , which is in iuly , and august , they bake it in earthen pots , or ryecrust , after they have well seasond it with salt and spices , and being cold , they cover it fingers deep with freshbutter , thatthe air may not enter . neverthelesse t is observed after all the diligence that one can make , that when the living beasts , which are of the same nature , and kind , are in rut , the flesh which is in the pot smells very rank , and very much changed , having a stronger tast , because of the spirits which come at this season from the living beasts , which spirits are attracted naturally by the dead flesh : and then one hath much to do to preserve it from being quite spoiled : but the said season being passed , there is no danger , or difficulty to keep it gustfull all the year long . the wine marchants observe in this country , and every where elsewhere there is wine , that during the season that the vines are in flower , the wine which is in the cellar , makes a kind of fermentation , and pusheth forth a little white lee , ( which i think they call the mother of the wine ) upon the surface of the wine , which continueth in a kind of disorder , untill the flowers of the vines be fallen , and then this agitation or fermentation being ceased , all the wine returns to the same state it was in before . nor is it now that this observation hath been made , but besides divers others , who speak hereof , st. ephrem the syrian , in his last will and testament , some years ago , reports this very same circumstance of wine , which sensibly suffers an agitation & fermentation within the vessel the same time , that the vines seem to exhaletheir spirits in the vineyards . he makes use of the same example in dry onions , which bud in the house , when those in the garden begin to come out of the earth , and to embalm the air with their spirits ; shewing thereby by these known examples of nature , the communication between living persons , and the souls of the dead . now , those winy spirits that issue from the buds and flowers , filling the air , ( as the spirits of rosemary use to do in spain ) they are drawn into the vessels by the connatural , & attractive vertue of the wine within : and these new volatil spirits entring , do excite the most fixed spirits of the wine , and so cause a fermentation , as if one should powre therein new or sweet wine ; for in all fermentations , there is a separation made of the terrestrial parts from the oily , which come out of the essential parts , and so the lightest mount up to the superficies , the heaviest become tartar lees , which fall into the bottom . but in this season , if one be not very careful to keep the wine in a proper , and temperate place , and keep the cask full , and well bungd , and use other endeavours , which are ordinary with wine coupers , one runs a hazard to have his wine impaird , or quite spoiled , because that the volatil spirits coming to evaporate themselves , they carry away with them the spirits of the wine that is barrelled by exciting them , and mingling with them . as in like manner the oil of tartar , which monsieur ferrier made , attracting to it self the volatil spirits of roses , diffused in the air in their season , suffered such a fermentation , and made every year new attractions of the like spirits , in regard of the affinity which this oil had contracted with those spirits at its first birth , whereof it was deprived as the season passed . and t is for the very same reason that a table cloath , or napkin , spotted with mulberries , or red wine , is easily whitned again at the season that the plants do flower ; whereas at any other time these spots can hardly be washed away . but t is not onely in france and other places , where vines are near cellers of wine that this fermentation happens : in england , where we have not vines enough to make wine , the same thing is observed , yea , and some particularities beyond . although they make no wine in our country to any considerable proportion , yet we have wine there in great abundance , which is brought over by the merchants : it useth to come principally from three places , viz. from the canaries , from spain , from gascony . now , these regions being under different degrees and climates in point of latitude , and consequently one country is hotter or colder than the other ; or that the same vegetalls grow to maturity sooner , it comes to passe that the foresaid fermentation of our differing wines advanceth it self more or lesse , according as the vines whence they proceed , do bud and flower in the region where they grow : it being consentaneous to reason , that every sort of wine attracts more willingly the spirits of those vines whence they come , than of any other . i cannot forbear but i must make some digrestion here , to unfold some other effects of nature , which we see often , and are not lesse curious than the most principall which we treat of , and will seem to be derived from more obscure causes , notwithstanding in many circumstances they depend on the same principles , and in many much differing , it is touching moles or marks which happen to infants when their mothers during the time of their pregnancy , have longed after some particular things . to proceed after my accustomed manner . i will fall to exemplifie . a lady of high condition , which many of this assembly know , at least by reputation , hath upon her neck the figure of a mulberry , as exactly as any painter , or sculptor can possibly represent one , for it bears not onely the colour , but the just proportion of a mulberry , and is as it were embossed upon her flesh . the mother of this lady being with child , she had a great mind to eat some mulberries , and her imagination being satisfied , one of them casually fell upon her neck , the sanguin juyce whereof was soon wiped off , and she felt nothing at that time . the child being born , the perfect figure of a mulberry was seen upon her neck , in the same place where it fell upon the mothers , and every yeer , in mulbery-season , this impression , or rather excressence of flesh did swell , grow big , and itch . another maid which had the like mark of a strawberry , was more inconumodated therewith , for it inflamed and itched in strawberry season , but it broke like an impostume , whence issued forth a shanp corrosive humor . but a skillfull surgeon took all away to the very roots , by cauterising ; so that since that time she never felt any pain or change in that place which did incommodate her so much , it being become a simple fear . now then , le ts endeavour to penetrate if we can the causes , and reasons , of these marvailous effects . but to go the more hansomly to work , that within the actions of all our senses , there is a material and corporal participation , viz. that some atoms of the body operate upon the senses , enter into their organs , which serve them as funnels , to conduct and carry them to the brain , and to the imagination . this appears evidently in vapours and savours . and concerning the hearing , the exterior air being agitated , doth cause a movement within the membrane , or tympane of the ear , which gives the like shaking to the hammer which is tyed thereunto , who beating upon his anvil , caused a reciprocal motion in the air , which is shut within the crannies of the ear , and this is that which we usually call found . touching the sight , t is evident that the light reflecting upon the body , it sees enters into the eyes , and cannot avoid , but it must bring with it some emanations of the body whereon it reflects , as we have established in the second principle . it remains now to shew that the like is made within the grossest of our senses , which is the touch or feeling : for if it be true , as we have shewn , that every body sends forth a continuall emanation of atomes out of it self , it makes much for the assertion of this truth . but to render this truth yet more manifest , and take away all possibility of doubt , i will demonstrate evidently to the eye , whereof every one may make an experience in a quarter of an hour , if he be so curious , yea , in a lesse compasse of time . i believe you know the notable a affinity which is betwixt gold and quick-silver ; if the gold toucheth mercury , it sticks close unto it , and whitens it in such sort , that it scarce appeareth gold , but silver onely ; if you cast this blanched gold into the fire , the heat chaseth , and drives away the mercury , and the gold returns to its former colour , but if you repeat this often , the gold calcines , and then you may pound , and reduce it to powder . now there is no dissolvant in the world that can well calcine , and burn the body of gold , but quick-silver . i speak of that which is allready formed by nature , without engaging my self to speak of that which is spoken of among the secrets of phylosophy . take then a spoonfull of mercury in some porcelan , or other dish , and finger it with one hand if you have a ring of gold on the other , it will become white , and covered with mercury , though it doth not any way touch it . moreover , if you put a leaf of gold , or a crown of gold in your mouth , and if you put but one of your toes in a thing where mercury is , the gold which is in your mouth , though you shut up your lips never so close , shall turn white , and laden with mercury : then if you put this gold in the fire to make all the mercury evaporate , and that you reiterate the same thing , your gold will be calcind , as if you had by amalgation joyned mercury therewith corporally . and all this will yet be done more spee dily , and effectually , if in lieu of common mercury , you make use of mercury of antimony , which is much hotter , and more penetrating , and though you drive it away by force of fire , it will carry away with it a good quantity of the substance of the gold : in such sort , that reiterating often , this operations , there will no more gold remain for you to continue your experiments . if then that cold mercury doth so penetrate the whole body , we ought not to think it strange , that subtill atoms of fruit composed of many ignited parts will passe with more facility and quicknesse . i will further make you see how such spirits and emanations , do suddenly also penetrate steel , though it be a substance so compacted , cold , and hard , that the said atoms may keep their residence there many moneths and yeers . within a living body , such as is mans , the intern spirits do aid , and contribute much facility to the spirits that are without , such as those of fruits are , to make their journy the more easte to the brain . the great architect of nature in the fabrick of human body , the master-peece of corporal nature , hath placed there some intern spirits , to serve as centinells , to bring their discoveries to their general , viz. to the imagination , who is as it were the mistresse of the whole family , whereby a man might know , and understand what is done without the kingdom , within the great world ; and that it might shun what is noxious , and seek after that which is profitable . for these sentinels , or intern spirits , with all the inhabitants of the sensitive organs are not able to judge alone : insomuch , that if the imagination or thought be distracted strongly to some object , these intern spirits do not know whether a man hath drunk the wine which he hath swallowed , if perchance seeing a person who comes to salute him , he fixeth his eye upon him all the while , or if he listens attentively to the air of some melodious song , or musicall instrument , for the inward spirits bring all their acquisitions to the imagination ; and if she be not more strongly bent upon another object , she falls a forming certain idaeas and images , because that the atomes from without being conveyed by these intern spirits , to our imagination erect there the like edifice , or else a model in short resembling the great body whence they come forth . and if our imagination hath no more use of those significative atoms for the present , she rangeth them in some proper place , within her magazin , which is the memory ; where she can repeal , and rebuke them when she pleaseth . and if there be any object which causeth some emotions in the imagination , and toucheth her more near than common objects use to do , she sends back her sentinels , the internal spirits , upon the confines , to bring her more particular news . and thence it proceeds that a man being surprized by some particular man , or other object , who hath already some eminent place in his imagination , be it of desire , or aversion , then that man sudendly changeth colour , and becomes red , then pale , then red again at diverse times , according as the ministers , which are those intern spirits , do go quick or slow towards their object , then they return with their reports to their mistress , which is the imagination . but besides these passages we speak of , which go from the brain to the external parts of the body , by the ministery of the nerves ; there is also a great road from the brain to the heart , by which the vital spirits do ascend from the heart to the brain , to be animated , and hereby the imagination sends unto the heart , those atoms which she hath received from some exterternal object , and there they make an ebullition betwixt the vital spirits , which according to the intervening atoms , either cause a dilatation of the heart , and so gladden it , or they do contract it , so sadden it , and these two differing , and contrary actions are the first general effects , whence proceed afterwards the particular passions , which require not that i pursue them too far in this place , having done it more particularly else where , and more expressely . besides these passages , which are common to all men and women , there is another that 's peculiar only to females , which is , from the brain to the matrix , whereby it often falls out that such violent vapours mount up to the brain , and those in so great a number , that they often hinder the operation of the brain , and of the imagination , causing convulsions and follies , with other strange accidents , and by the same channel the spirits or atoms passe with a greater liberty , and swiftnesse to the womb or matrix when the case requires . now le ts consider how the strong imagination of one man doth marvailously act upon another man , who hath it more feeble and passive . we see dayly , that if a person gape , those who see him gaping , are excited to do the same . if one come perchance to converse with persons that are subject to excesse of laughter , one can hardly forbear laughing , although one doth not know the cause why they laugh . if one should enter into a house , where all the world is sad , he becomes melancholy , for as one said , si vis me flere dolendum est primum ipsi tibi , women and children being very moist and passive , are most susceptible of this unpleasing contagion of the imagination . i have known a very melancholy woman , which was subject to the disease called the mother , and while she continued in that mood , she thought her self possessed , and did strange things , which among those that knew not the cause , passed for supernatural effects , and of one possessed by the ill spirit : she was a person of quality , and all this happened , because of the deep resentment she had for the death of her husband : she had attending her four or five young gentlewomen , whereof some were her kinswomen , and others served her as chambermaids . all these came to be possessed as she was , and did prodigious actions . these young maids were separated from her sight , and communication , and as they had not yet contracted such profound roots of the evil , they came to be all cured by their abscence ; and this lady was also cured afterwards by a physitian , which purged the atrabilious humors , and restored her matrix to its former estate , there was neither imposture , or dissimulation in this . i could make a notable recital of such passions that happened to the nunnes at lodnn ; but having done it in a particular discourse at my return from that country , where i as exactly as i could discussed the point , i will forbear speaking thereof at this time , otherwise then to pray you to remember , that when two lutes , or two harps , near one another , both set to the same tune , if you touch the strings of the one , the other consonant harp will sound at the same time , though no body touch it , whereof galileo hath ingeniously rendred the reason . now , to make application to our purpose of all that hath been produced to this effect , i say that since it is impossible that two several persons should be so near one another , as the mother and the infant when he lies in the womb , one may thence conclude , that all the effects of a strong and vehement imagination working upon another more feeble , passive , and tender , ought to be more efficacious in the mother acting upon her son , then when the imaginations of other persons act upon them who are nothing to them . and as it is impossible for a master of musick , let him be never so expert , and exact , can tune so perfectly any two harps , as the great master of the universe , doth the two bodies of the mother and the infant , so it follows by consequence , that the concussion of the principal string of the mothers , which is the imagination , ought to produce a greater shaking of the consonant string in the infant , to wit , his imagination , then the string of a lute being touched , upon the consonant strings of another : and when the mother sends spirits to some parts of her body , the like must be sent to some part of the childs body . now , le ts call to memory how the imagination of the mother is full of corporal atoms , which come from the mulberry , or strawberry , which fell upon the neck , and brest , and her imagination being then surprized with an emotion , by the suddennesse of the accident , it follows necessarily that the must send some of these atomes also to the brain of the infant , and so to the same part of the body , where she took the stain first , twixt which and the brain , there passe such frequent and speedy messengers , as we have formerly set forth . the infant also on his part , who hath his parts also tuned in an harmonious consonance with the mothers , cannot faile to observe the same movement of spirits twixt his imagination , and his neck , and his brest , as the mother did twixt hers : and these spirits being accompanied with atoms of the mulberry , which the mother conveyed to his imagination , they make a profound impression , and lasting mark , upon his delicate skin , whereas that of the mothers was more hard . as if one should let fly a pistol charged with powder , onely against a marble , the powder doth nothing but sully it a little , which may quickly be rubd off ; but if one should discharge such a pistol at a mans face , the graines of the powder would pierce the skin , & so stick and dwell there all his life time , and make themselves known by their black-blewish colour , which they alwayes conserve . in like manner the small grains or atomes of the fruit which passed from the mothers neck to the imagination of the infant , and thence to the same place upon his skin , do lodge , and continually dwell there for the future , and serve as a source to draw the atoms of the like fruit dispersed in the air , according to their season , ( as the wine in the tonne draws unto it the volatil spirits of the vines ) and in drawing them the part of the skin , where they reside ferments , swells , eats , and inflames , and sometimes breaks . but to render yet more considerable , these marvalous marks of longing , ( since we are upon this subject ) i cannot forbear to touch also another circumstance , which might seem at first to be a miracle of nature , beyond the causes which i have alledged : but having well eventilated it , we shall absolutely find that it depends upon the same principles . it is , that oftentimes it falls out , that the impression of the thing desired , or longed for , by the mother , falls upon the child , although she touch it not , or that it falls upon her body . t is sufficient that some other thing do fall , or inexpectedly beat upon some part of the woman with child , while such a longing doth predominate in her imagination , and the figure of the thing so long desired after , will be found at last imprinted upon the same part of the body of the infant , as it was upon the mother who received the blow . the reason hereof is that the atoms of the thing longed for , being raised up by the light , go to the brain of the big mother , through the channel of the eyes , as well as other more material atomes , proceeding from the corporal touch , would go thither by the guidance of the nerves . and of these petty bodies , the mother forms in her imagination a complete model of that , whence they flow forth by way of emanation . but if the women be not attarchd but inwardly , these atomes which are in her imagination , make no other voyage than to her heart , and thence to the imagination , and to the heart of the infant , and so cause a reinforcement of the passion in them both , which may be moved to such a violent impetuosity , that if the mother doth not enjoy her longd-for object , this passion may cause the destruction both of the one and the other , at least prejudice her notably in their health , and so make a great change in the body . in the mean time , if some unlooked for blow surprize the mother in any part of her body , the spirits which reside in the brain are immediately sent thither by her imagination , as it happens often in this case of longing . but in all other such sudden surprisals either among women or men , these spirits are transported with the more impetuosity , the more the passion is violent . as when one loves another passionately , he runnes suddenly to the dore when any knocks , or that — hylax in limine latrat , hoping alwayes t is the party which entirely occupies his thoughts , ( for qui amant ipsi sibi somnia fingunt ) who comes to give him a visit : and these spirits being moved by this sudden assault , being then mingled with the petty bodies or atoms of the longd-for thing which possesseth so powerfully the fantasie they lead them along with themselves to the part of the body which is struck , as also to the same part of the body of the infant , as well as to his imagination . and after that all which happened is but the same in order to the mother , and the child when the mulberry or strawberry fell upon the neck or breast of the ladies , with whom i have entertained you . permit me , my lords , to enlarge my digression a little further in one word , to raccount unto you a marvailous accident , known all over the court of england , in confirmation of the activity and impression which the imagination of the mother makes upon the body of the infant , whereof the was big . a lady that was my kinswoman , ( she was the neece of fortescu , the daughter of count arundel ) came to give me visits sometimes in london ; she was fair , and of a good feature , and she knew it well , taking great complacency , & not only to keep her self so , but to adde that which she could further : thereupon she was perswaded that the patches and flies which she put upon her face , gave her a great deal of ornament , therefore she was carfull to wear the most curious fort : but as it is very hard to keep a moderation in things which depend more upon opinion than nature , she wore them in excesse , and patched most of her face with them ; although that did not much adde to her beauty , and that i took the liberty to tell her so accordingly , yet i thought it no oportunity then to do any thing that should give her the least distast , since with so much civility and sweetnesse she came to visit me . neverthelesse , one day i thought good , in a kind of drolling way , ( so that she might not apprehend any discontentment ) and ridentem dicere verum quis vitat ? to tell her of it ; so i let fall my discourse upon her big belly , advising her to have a care of her health , where of she was some what negligent , acording to the custom of young vigorous women , which know not yet what it is to be subject to indispositions ; she gently thanked me for my care herein , saying , that she could do no more for the preservation of her health than she did , though she was in that case : you should at least , i replyed , have a care of your child , o for that , said she , there is nothing that can be contributed more . yet , i told her , see how many patches you wear upon your face , are you not afraid that the infant in your womb may haply be born with such marks on his face ? but said she , what danger is there that my child should bear such marks , though i put them on artificially ? then you have not heard , i replyed again , the marvelous effects that the imaginations of mothers work upon the bodies of their children , while they are yet big with them , therefore i will raccount unto you some of them ; so i related unto her sundry stories upon this subject , as that of the queen of ethiopia , who was delivered of a white boy , which was attributed to a picture of the blessed virgin , which she had near the teaster of her bed , whereunto she bore great devotion . i urged another of a woman who was brought to bed of a child all hairie , because of a pourtrait of saint iohn baptist in the wildernesse , when he wore a coat of camels hair . i raccounted unto her also the strange antipathy which the late king iames had to a naked sword , whereof the cause was ascribed , in regard some schotch lords had entered once violently into the bed-chamber of the queen his mother , while she was with child of him , where her secretary , an italian , was dispatching some letters for her , whom they hacked , and killed with naked swords before her face , and threw him at her feet , and they grew so barbarous , that there wanted but little but that they had hurt the queen her self , who endeavoured to save her secretary , by interposing her self , at least her skin was rased in divers places . bucanan makes mention of this tragedy . hence it came that her son king iames had such an aversion all his life time to a naked sword , that he could not see one without a great emotion of the spirits , although otherwise couragious enough , yet he could not over-master his passions in this particular . i remember when he dubbed me knight , in the ceremony of puting the point of a naked sword upon my shoulder , he could not endure to look upon it , but turned his face another way , insomuch , that in lieu of touching my shoulder , he had almost thrust the point into my eyes , had not the duke of buckingham guided his hand aright . i alleadged her divers such stories to make her apprehend that a strong imagination of the mother might cause some notable impression upon the body of her child to his prejudice . moreover , i pray consider how attentive you are to your patches , and that you have them continually in your imagination ; for , i observed , that you have looked upon them ten times since you came to this room , in the looking-glasse . have you therefore no apprehension that your child may be born with half moons upon his face ; or rarather that all the black which you bear up and down in small portions , may assemble in one , and appear in the middle of his forehead , the most apparant and remarkable part of the visage , and may be as broad as a iacobus , and then what a grace would it be to the child , oimee , said she , rather then that should happen , i will wear no more patches while i am with child : thereupon at that instant she pulled them all off , and hurld them away . when her friends saw her afterwards without patches , they demanded how it came to passe , that the who was esteemed to be one of the most curious beauties of the court , in point of patches , should so suddenly give over the wearing of them : she answered , that her uncle , in whom she had a great deal of belief , assured her , that if she wore them , during the time she was with child , the infant would have a large black patch in the midst of his forehead . now , this conceit was so lively engraven in her imagination , that she could not be delivered of it : and so this poor lady , who was so fearful that her child might not bear some black mark in his face , yet she could not prevent , but it came so into the world , but that he had a spot as large as a crown of gold in the midst of his forehead , according as she had figured before in her imagination : it was a daughter that she brought forth , very beautifull throughout , this excepted . and t is but few moneths agoe , that i saw her bearing the said mole or spot which proceeded from the force of the imagination of her mother . i need not tell you of your neighbour of carcassona , who lately was brought to bed of a prodigious monster , exactly resembling an ape , which she took pleasure to look upon , during the time she was with child , for i conceave you know the story better than i. nor that of the woman of st. maixent , who could not forbear going to see an infortunate child of a poor passenger woman , who was born without armes ; and she her self was delivered afterwards of such a monster ; who neverthelesse had some small excrescences of flesh upon , the sholders , about the place whence the armes should have come forth . as also of her who was desirous to see the execution of a criminal , who had his neck broken according to the laws of france , whereof the took such an affrightment , that made so deep a print upon her imagination , that presently she fell in labour of her child , and before they could carry her to her lodging , but she was brought to bed before her time , of a child who had his head severed from his body , both the parts yet shedding fresh bloud . , besides that which was abundantly shed in the womb , as if the headsman had done an execution also upon the tender young body within the matrix of the mother . these three examples , and many others truely alleadged , which i could produce , although they mainifestly prove the strength of the imagination , would engage me too far , if i should undertake to clear the causes , and unwrap the difficulties which would be found greater then in any of those instances wherewith i have entertained you , because that those spirits had the power to cause such essential changes , and fearful effects , upon bodies that were already brought to their shapes of perfection , and it may be well believed , that in some of them there was a transmutation of one species to another , & the introduction of a new informing form in the subject-matter , totally differing from that which had been introduced at first , at least if that which most naturalists tell us , at the animation of the embryo in the womb be true : but this digression hath been already too long . est modus in rebus , sunt certi denique fines , quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum . to return then to the great channel , and thread of our discourse , the examples , and experiments , which i have already insisted upon in confirmation of the reasons which i have alleadged , do clearly demonstrate that the bodies which draw the atomes dispersed in the air , attract unto themselves with a greater power and energy , such as are of their own nature then other heterogeneous , and strange atomes ; as wine doth the vinal spirits , the oyl of tartar fermented by the levain of roses draws the volatil spirits of the rose ; the flesh of deer , or vemson buried in crust attracts the spirits of those beasts , and so all the other whereof i have spoken . the history of the tarantula in the kingdom of naples is very famous ; you know how the venome of this animall ascending by the hurt that the party hath received , being pricked therewith towards the head , and the heart doth excite in their imagination an impetuous desire to hear some melodious aires , and most commonly they are delighted with differing aires ; therefore when they listen to an aire that pleaseth them , they begin to dance incessantly , and thereby they fall a sweating in abundance , in such sort that this sweat makes a great part of the venom to evaporate , besides the sound of the musick doth raise a movement , and causeth an agitation among the aerean and vaporous spirits which are in the brain , and about the heart , and diffused up and down through the whole body proportionably according to the nature , and cadence of such musick , as when timotheus transported alexander the great with such a vehemency to such and such passions as he pleased ; in the like manner also when it happens that one lute doth sound it makes the strings of the other to shake by the motions and tremblings which it causeth in the air , though it be not touched otherwise at all : we find also oftentimes that the sounds which are no other thing than the motions of the air , cause the like movement in the water ; as the sharp sound which is caused by rubbing hard with ones finger the brim of a glasse full of water , doth excite a noise , a turning , and boundings in the water of certain drops , as if the water did dance according to the cadence of the sound : the harmonious sounds also of bells in those countries where they use to be rung to particular tunes doth make the like impressions upon the superficies of the rivers that are nigh the steeple , specially in the night time when there is no other movement , which stops , or choakes the other supervenient one ; for the air being contiguous , or rather continuous with the water , and the water being susceptible of movement , there 's the like motion caused in the fluid parts of the water as began in the air , and the same contact which is betwixt the agitated air , and the water which is by this meanes also moved ; happens also to be betwixt the agitated air , and the vaprous spirits which are in those bodies who have been bit by the tarantula , which spirits by consequence are moved by the agitated air , that is to say by the sound ; and that the more efficaciously , that this agitation or sound is proportioned to the nature and temperature of the party hurt : and this intern agitation of the spirits and vapours helps them to discharge the vapourous venom of the tarantula which is mixt among all their humours ; in the like manner that standing puddle waters , and corrupted aires being putrified by long repose , and the mixture of other noisome substances are refin'd and purifi'd by motion ; but winter approaching which devoures these bealts , people are freed from this malady , but at the returne of that season when they used to be pricked , the mischief comes again , and they must dance again as they did the year before : the reason is that the heat of summer doth stir , and raise up the venom of the beast , whereby it becomes as malignant , and furious as it was before ; and the poison being heated , and evaporating it self , and dispersing in the air the levain of the same poyson , which remaines in the bodies of them who have been hurt , drawes it unto it self , whereby such a fermentation is wrought , which infects the other humours , whence a kind of smoake issuing , and mounting to the braines of these poor sick bodies , doth use to produce such strange effects . it is also well known that where there are great dogs , or mastiffs , as in england , if any be bitten perchance by any of these dogs , they commonly use to kill them though they be not mad for fear that the levain of the canine choler which remaines within the body of the party bit , draw unto it the malignant spirits of the same dog , which might come to distemper the spirits of the party : and this is not onely practised in england where there are such dangerous dogs , but also in france , according to the report of father cheron provinciall of the carmelites in this countrey , in his examen de la theologie mystique newly imprinted , and which , i have lately read . i will say nothing of artificiall noses that are made of the flesh of other men , for to remedy the deformity of those who by an extream excesse of cold have lost their own , which new noses do putrifie as soon as those persons out of whose substance they were taken come to die , as if that small parcell of flesh engrafted upon the face did live by the spirits it drew from its first root , and source ; for although this be constantly avouch'd by considerable authors , yet i will not insist more upon it , and desire you to think that i offer nothing unto you which is not verified by solid tradition , such , that it were a weaknesse to doubt of it . but it is high time tha● 〈◊〉 should come now to my seventh , and last principle ; it is the last turn of the engine , and as i hope will batter down quite the gate which hindred us an entrance to the knowledge of this so marvailous a mystery , and which will imprint such a lawfull mark upon the doctrine which i hold forth , that it will passe for current money . this principle is , that the source of those spirits or of the bodies which attract them to it selfe , draw likewise after them that which accompanies them , as also that which sticks , and is glued , and united unto them . this conclusion needs not much proof , being evident enough of it selfe , if there be nailes , pins or ribands tied to the end of a loug chord , or chain , and if there be a knurle either of wax , gum , or glue , and that i take this chord or chain by one end , and draw it after me , untill the other last end come to my hands , it cannot be otherwise but that i take into my hands at the same time the naile , the pins , the ribands the knurle , and all that is applied thereunto : i go therefore to relate unto you onely some experiments that have been made in consequence of this principle , who wil most strongly confirm the others produced before . the great fertility , and riches of england , consists chiefly in pasturage for the nourishment of beasts , we have the fairest in the world , with abundance of other animals , and principally of beef and kine . ther 's not the meanest cottager but hath a cow to furnish his family with milk , 't is the principall sustenance of the poorer sort of people , as 't is also in switzerland , which makes them very carefull of the good keeping , and health of their cowes ; now , if it happen that if in boyling the milk it swells so high that it sheds over the brim of the pan , and so comes to fall into the fire , the good woman or maid , doth presently give over whatsoever she is adoing , and runs to the pan which she drawes off the fire and at the same time she takes a handfull of salt , which useth to be commonly in the corner of the chimney to keep it dry , and throws it upon the cinders where the milk was shed ; ask her wherefore she doth so , and she will tell you that it is to prevent that the cow which gave this milk may not have some hurt upon her udder , for without this remedy , it would come to be hard , and vlcerated , she would come to pisse bloud , and so be in danger to die ; not that this extremity should befall her the very first time , but she would grow ill disposed , and if this should happen often , the cow would in a short time miscarry : it might seem that some superstition or folly might lie herein , but the infallibility of the effect doth warrant from the last , and for the first many believe that the malady of the cow is supernaturall , or an effect of sorcery , and consequently that the remedy which i have alleadged is superstitious , but it is easie to disabuse any man of this perswasion , by declaring how the businesse goes according to the foundations which i have laid ; the milk falling upon the candent coales is converted to vapour which disperseth , and filtreth it self through the circumambient air , where itrancounters the light , and the solar rayes which transport it further ; augmenting and extending still farther the spheare of its activity : this vapour of the milk is not alone or single , but 't is compos'd of fiery atoms which accompany the smoak , and vapour of the milk which gave the milk mingling , and uniting themselves therewith ; now , the sphear of the said vapour extending it self unto the place where the cow is , her udder , which is the source whence the milk proceeded , attracts unto it the said malignant vapour , staying , and sticki●● it selfe there together with the fiery atoms that accompanied it . the udder is in part glandulous , and very tender , and so consequently very subject to inflammations , this fire then doth heat , inflames , and makes it swell , and in fine makes it hard and ulcerated ; the inflamed , and ulcerated udder is near the bladder , which comes likewise to be inflamed making the anastomoses , and communication which is twixt the veines , and the arteries to open , and to cast forth bloud , and to regorge into the bladder , whence ordinarily the urine useth to come forth , and empty it selfe : but whence comes it , you will say that the salt remedies all this ? it is because he is of a nature cleane contrary to the fire , the one being hot , and volatil , the other , cold and fixed ; insomuch that where they use to rancounter , the salt as it were , knocks down the fire ; by precipitating and destroying its action , as it may be observed in a very ordinary accident ; the chimneys which are full of soot use to take fire very easily , now , the usuall remedy for that is to discharge a musket into the funnell o the chimney which loosneth , and brings down with it the fired soot , and then the disorder ceaseth , but if there be no musket or pistoll , or other instrument to draw down the soot , they use to cast a great quantity of salt on the fire below , and that choakes , and hindreth the atoms of fire , which otherwise would incessantly mount up , and joyn with them above , which by this meanes wanting nouriture consume themselves , and come to nothing ; the same thing befalls the atomes which are in a train to accompany the vapour of the milk , the salt doth precipicate and kill it upon the very place , and if any do chance to scape , and save themselves by the great struglings they make , and go along with the said vapour , they are neverthelesse accompanied with the atomes and spirit of the salt which stick unto them , which like good wrastlers never leave their hold untill they have got the better of their adversary : and you shall observe by the by , that there is not a more excellent balme for a burning , than the spirit of salt in a moderate quantity : it is then apparant , that'tis impossible to employ any meanes more efficacious to hinder the ill effects of the fire upon the udder of the cow , but to east upon her milk being shed over upon the cinders a sufficient quantity of salt : this effect touching the conservation of the cowes udder in order to the burning of her milk makes me call to mind that which divers have told me to have seen both in france and in england ; viz. when the physicians do examine the milk of a nurce for the child of a person of quality , they use to make proofs sundry waies before they come to judg definitively of the goodnesse thereof , as by the tast , by the smell , by the colour , and consistence thereof ; and sometimes they cause it to be boyled untill it come to an evaporation , and see its residence ; with other accidents , and circumstances which may be learnt , and discerned by these meanes : but those of whose milk this last experiment hath been made , felt themselves tormented in their papps , and duggs , while their milk was a boyling ; therefore having once endured this pain , they would never consent that their milk should be carried away out of their sight , and presence ; although they willingly submitted to any other proof than that by fire : now , to confirm this experiment of the attraction which the cowes udder makes of the fire , and vapour of the burned milk , i am going to racount unto you another of the same nature , whereof i my self have seen the truth more than once , and whereof any one may easily make try all . take the excrements of a dog , and hurle it into the fire more than once , at the beginning you shall find him heated , and moved , but in a short time you shall see him as if he were burned all over panting , and stretching out his tongue , as if he had run a long course : now , this alteration befalls him because his entrailes drawing unto them the vapour of the burn'd excrement , and with that vapour the atomes of fire which did accompany it , they are so changed , and inflam'd that the dog having alwaies a fever upon him , and not being able to take any nourishment his flancks do lock up , which causeth his death at last . it were not proper to divulge this experience among such persons as are subject to make use of any thing for doing of mischief , for the same effects which happen to beasts , would fall upon mens bodies , if one should try such a conclusion upon their excrements : there happened a remarkable thing to this purpose to a neighbour of mine in england the last time , i sojournied there : he had a very pretty and delicate child , and because he would have his eies alwaies upon him , he entertained the nurse at his house , i saw him often , for he was a pragmaticall man , and of good addresses , and i had occasion to use such a man ; one day i found him very sad , and his wife a weeping , whereof demanding the reason , they told me that their little child was very ill , and that he had a burning feaver , which inflamed all his body over , which appeared by the rednesse of his face , that he forced himself to go to stool , but he could do little , and that little which he did was covered with bloud , and that he refused also to suck ; and that which troubled them most , was that they could not conjecture any cause how this indisposition should befall him , for his nurse was very well , her milk was as good as could be wished ; and in all other things there was as much care had of him as could be ; i told them that the last time i was with them , i observed one particularity whereof i thought fit to give them notice , but something or other still diverted me , it was , that their child making a signe that he was desirous to be set on his feet , he let fall his excrements on the ground , and his nurse presently took the fire-shovell , and covered it with embers , and then threw all into the fire , the mother began to make her excuses , that they were not so carefull to correct this ill habit of the child , saying that as he advanced in yeares , he should be corrected for it , i replied , that t was not for this consideration that i held this discourse with her , but i was curious to know the reason of her childs distemper , and consequently to find some remedy , and thereupon i related unto them the like accident which had happened two or three yeares before to a child of one of the most illustrious magistrates of the parliament of paris , who was bred up in the house of a doctor of physick of great reputation in the same town , i told them also what i have now related unto you touching the excrements of dogs ; and i made reflections unto them upon that which they had often heard , and what is often practised in our countrey , which is that within the villages which are alwaies dirty in the winter , if it happens that there be a farmer which is more proper than others , and who keeps more neatly the approaches to his house than his neighbours do , the boyes use to come thither in the night time , or when it begins to be dark , to discharge their bellies there , because that in such villages there is not much commodity of easements , besides that in such places so fitly accommodated these gallants , the boyes are out of danger to sink into the dirt , which otherwise might rise up higher than their shooes , but the good houswifes in the morning when they open their doores , use to find such an ill favoured smell that transports them with choller . but they who are acquainted with this trick go presently and fire red hot a broach or fire-shovel , and then they thrust it into the excrements all hot , and when the fire lessens , they heat it again oftentimes to the same purpose ; in the mean time the boy which made the ordure feels a kind of pain , and collick in his bowells , with an inflammation in his fundament and a continuall desire to go to stool , and he is hardly quit of it till he suffer a kind of fever all that day , which is the cause that he returnes thither no more ; and these women to be freed from such affronts do passe among the ignorant for sorceresses , and to have made a compact with the divell , since they torment people in that fashion without seeing or touching them . this gentleman did not disallow those things which i have already told you but was confirmed farther when i told him that he should look farther into the fundament of his child , for without doubt he should find it red , and inflamed ; and that visiting him , he should find that it was full of pimples , and excoriated ; it was not long after that this poor child fell into a languishment , and with much pain and pittifull cries he voyded some small matter which in lieu of casting it into the fire , or to be covered with embers , i caused to be put into a bason of cold water which was put in a fresh place , which was continued to be done every time that the child gave occasion , and he began to amend the very same hour , and within four or five daies he became perfectly well recovered , but fearing to trespasse too much upon your patience ; i will hold you no longer but with one experiment onely very familiar in our countrey ; and afterwards i will make a summary of all that hath been said , to make you see the force , and value of this whole discourse . we have in england as i touched before excellent pasturage for the nourishment and fatting of cattle , so abundantly that it falls out often , that the oxen come to acquire so excessive store of fat , that it doth extend it self in a great quantity to their leggs , as also to their feet , and hoofs , which oftentimes causeth impostumes in the bottom of their feet , which comes to swell , and cast out a great deal of core , and putrified matter , which hindreth the beast to goe ; the proprieters when they observe that , though the beefbe never the worse for the shambles , yet are they damnified , thereby , in regard that not being able to bring them to london , where the grand market is for fat beefs through all england , as paris is for auuergne , for normandy , and other provinces of france , i say the graziers not being able to bring them to london , they are constrained to kill them upon the place where their flesh is not worth half the price , that they might have got in london ; now there is a remedy for this inconvenience which is , that one must observe where the oxe , cow , or heifer , doth plant upon the earth his sick foot , the first time that he riseth up in the morning , and at that very place one must cut out a green turf of that earth where the beast had trod with that foot , and put this turf upon a tree , or upon a hedg lying open to the north wind , and if that wind come to blow upon the turf of earth , the beef will be cured within three or four daies very perfectly , but if one should put that turf towards the south wind , or south west ( which in tholouze is called d'autant here in montpellier le marin , and in italy le scirocco ) the distemper in the oxe will encrease ; these circumstances will not seem superstitious unto you when you will have considered how that by the repose of the night the corrupt matter , or core doth use to gather in a great quantity under the foot of the sick oxe , and comming in the morning to set his foot upon the ground , he presseth forth the impostume , the matter whereof sticks to that part of the earth , and makes impressions upon it ; now , this turf of earth being put , and exposed in some proper place to receive the dry cold blasts of the northern winds , the dry cold blasts of that wind doth intermingle with the said corrupted impostumated matter which strerching its spirits all along the air the ulcerated foot of the animal , which is the source of all drawes them unto it and with them it attracts also the cold dry atomes which cause the cure , the malady requiring no other help than to be well dryed , and refreshed . but if one should expose this turf to a moist hottish wind , it would produce contrary effects . behold , my lords , all my wheelsformed , i confesse they are ill fil'd , and polished , but let us try whether being put together , and mounted they will make the engine go , but if these wheeles being well joyned , and placed do draw the conclusion , or this unshaken carraque to a good port , you will , i presume , have the goodnesse to pardon the grossenesse , and rude expressions of my language , and passing by the words you will content your selves with the naked truth of things , let us therefore apply that which hath been spoken to that which is practis'd when a hurt person is cured . let us consider mounsieur howell wounded upon his hand , & a great inflammation hapened upon his hurt , his garter is taken covered with the bloud that issued from the wound , it is steeped in a bason of water where vitriol was dissolved , one keeps the bason in a closet , at the moderate heat of the sun , and at night in the chimney corner , in such sort that the bloud which is upon the garter be alwaies in a good naturall temperament neither colder , or hotter than the degree required in a healthfull body ; what ought then to result , ( according to the doctrine that we endeavour to stablish , ) from all this ! in the first place the sun , and the light will attract a great extent , and distance off , the spirits of the bloud which are upon the garter , and the moderate heat of the hearth , which acts gently upon the composition ( which comes to the same thing , as if one should carry it dry in his pocket to make it feel the temperate heat of the body ) i say the moderate heat of the hearth doth push out the said atoms , as the water which gathers it selfe round in the filtration or strainings use to drive on that which mounts up to make it go faster , and more easily , making it also to dilate it self , and distill , and so march of themselves a good way in the air , to help thereby the attraction of the sun , and of the light . secondly , the spirit , of the vitriol being incorporated with the bloud cannot chuse but make the same voyage together with the atomes of the bloud ; thirdly , the wounded hand expires , and exhales in the mean time continually abundance of hot fiery spirits which gush forth as a river out of the inflamed hurt , which cannot be but that the wound must consequently draw unto it the air which is next it ; fourthly , this air drawes unto it the other air which is next it , and that the next to it also , and so there is a kind of current of air drawn round about the wound . fiftly , with this air come to incorporate at last the atomes , and spirits of the bloud , and the vitrioll which were diffused , and shed a good way off in the air by the attractions of the light , and the sun . besides , it may well be that from the beginning the orb , and sphere of these atomes , and spirits did extend it self in so great a distance without having need of the attractions of the air , or of the light to make them come thither . sixthly , the atomes of bloud finding the proper source , and originall root whence they came do stay , and stick there , and so reenter into their naturall beds , and primitive receptacles , whereas the other air is but a passenger , and evapourates away as soon as it comes , as when it is carried away through the funnell of the chimney , as soon as it is drawn into the chamber by the doore . seventhly , the atomes of bloud being inseparably with the spirits of the vitrioll , both the one , and the other , do joyntly imbibe together within all the corners , fibres , and orifices of the veines which lye open about the wound of the party hurt , which herby are comforted , and in fine imperceptibly cured . now to know wherefore such an effect , and cure is so happily performed , we must examine the nature of vitrioll , which is composed of two parts , the one fixed , the other volatill . the fixed which is the salt is sharp , and biting , and caustique in some degree . the volatill is smooth , soft , balsamicall , and astringing , and 't is for that reason that vitrioll is made use of as a soveraign remedy in the collyres for the inflammations of the eies , and when they are corroded , and scorched by some sharp and burning humor or defluxion . as also in injections where excoriations and scaldings use to happen , as also in the best plaisters to stanch the bloud , and incarnate the hurt . but they who well know , how to draw the sweet oyl of vitrioll which is the pure volatil part thereof , know also that in the whole closet of nature , there is no balm like this oyl . for this balm or sweet oyl doth heale in a very short time all kind of hurts which are not mortall , it cures , and consolidates the broken veines of the breast , as far as the ulcers of the lungs which is an incurable malady without this balm . now , 't is the volatill part of the vitriol , which is transported by the sun ( the great distiller of nature ) and which by that meanes doth dilate it self in the air , and that the wound , or part which received the laesion , drawes , and incorporates with the bloud , together with its humours , and spirits . and that being true , we cannot expect a greater effect of the volatil vitriol , but that it should shut the veines , stanch the bloud , and so in a short compasse of time , heal the wound . the method , nd primitive manner how to make use of this sympatheticall remedy was to take onely some vitrioll , and that of the common sort , as it came from the druggists , without any preparation or addition at all , and to make it dissolve in fountain water , or rather in raine water , in such a proportion that putting therein a knife , or some polished iron it should come out changed into the colour of copper : and within this water they used to put in a clowt or rag of cloth embrued with the bloud of the party hurt the rag being dry , but if it was yet fresh , and moist with the reaking bloud , there was no need but to powder it with the small powder of the same vitrioll , in such sort that the powder might incorporate it self , & imbibe the bloud remaining yet humid , & keep both the one & the other in a temperate heat , & place , viz. the powder in ones pocket , & the water ( which admits not of this comodity ) within a chamber where the heat should be temperate . & everytime that one should put new water of vitriol with fresh powder & new cloth , or other bloudied stuff , the patient should feel new easement as if the wound had bin then dreft with some soveraign medicament . and for this reason they use to reiterate this manner of dressing both evening and morning . but now , the most part of those who serve themselves with the powder of sympathy , do endeavour to have vitriol of rome , or of cypres , then they calcine it at the whitenesse of the sun : and besides , some use to adde the gomme of tragagantha , it being easy to adde unto things already invented . touching my self , i have seen such great and admirable effects of vitriol it self of eighteen pence the pound , as of that powder which is used to be prepared now at a greater price : yet notwithstanding i do not blame the present practise , on the contrary i commend it , for it is founded upon reason . first , it seems that the purest and best sort of vitriol doth produce the best operation . secondly , it seems also that the moderate calcining thereof at the rayes of the sun doth take away the superfluous humidity of the vitriol ; and this calcination doth not touch any part but that which is good : as if one should boyle broth so cleer that it would come to be gelly , which certainly would render it more nourishing . thirdly , it seems that the exposing which is made of the vitriol to the sun to receive calcination , renders its spirits more fitly disposed to be transported through the air by the sun when need requires . for it ought not to doubted be but that some part of the aetherean fire of the solar rayes doth incorporate with the vitriol , as t is plainly discovered by calcining antimony by a burning glasse , for it much augments the weight of it almost half in half ; now some particles of the solar beams mingling with the vitriol , in this case the luminous part of that substance is also calcind together , and so is made apt , and disposed to be carryed in the air by a semblable light , and solar rayes . as we see that to make the toung of a pump to draw the water the easier from the bottom of a well , one doth use to cast a little water from above upon it . now , the light carrying with it so easily the substance that is so connatural to it , it carries also with it the same time , with the same facility , that which goes incorporated with it . fourthly , these solar rayes being embodied with the vitriol , are in a posture to communicate unto it a more excellent vertue than it hath of it self , as we find that antimony calcind in the sun , becomes , whereas it was ranck poison before , a most soverain , and balsamical medicament , and a most excellent corroborative of nature . fifthly , the gomme of tragagantha having a glutinous faculty , and being for the rest very innocent , may contribute something towards the consolidation of the wound . my lords , i could adde unto what is spoken many most important considerations touching the form and essence of vitriol , whereof the substance is so noble , and the origen so admirable , that one may avouch with good reason , that it is one of the most excellent bodies which nature hath produced . the chymists do assure us that it is no other then a corporification of the universal spirit which animates and perfects all that hath existence in this sublunary world , which is drawn in that abundance by a lover so appropriated , by means whereof i my self have in a short time , by exposing it only unto the open air , made an attraction of a celestial vitriol ten times more in weight , which was of a marvailous purenesse and vertue , a priviledge which hath not been given but to it , and to pure virgin salt-peter . but to anatomise as we ought the nature of this transcendent undividual , which neverthelesse in some fashion may be said to be universal , and fundamental to all bodies , it would require a discourse far more ample then i have yet made . but as i perceive i have allready entertained you so long a time , it would prove a very great indiscretion to trench further upon your goodnesse , who have hitherto listned unto me with so much attention , and patience , if i should go about to enter into any new matter , and embark my self for a further voyage . wherefore remitting divers matters to some other time , when you shall please to morder me , coming now again to the generall consideration of this sympatheticall cure , i will put a period to this discourse , after that i shall have told you two or three words , which will not be of small importance , for the confirmation of all which hath been alleadged by me hitherunto . i have deduced unto you the admirable causes of the operations , and strange effects of the powder of sympathy from their first root . these fundamentall causes are so enchained one within the other , that it seems there can be no default , stop , or interruption , in their proceedings . but we shall be the better fortified in the belief of their vertue and esticacy , and how they come to produce the effects of so many fair cures , if we consider that then when some is practised in one of these causes , or in all of them together , we see and perceive immediately an effect altogether differing from the former . if i had not formerly seen a watch or clock , i should be justly surprized , and should remain astonished to see a hand , or a needle , so regularly , mark the journal hours , and motion of the sun , upon the flat of a quadrant ; and that it should turn , and make its round every four and twenty howers , there being nothing seen that should push on the said needle : but if i look on the other side . i see wheels , ressorts , and counterpoises , which are in perpetual movement ; which having well , and soberly considered , i presently suspect that those wheels are the cause of the movement , and turnings of the said needle , although i cannot presently discern or know how those moving wheels do cause a motion , in the needle of the quadrant , because of the plate that lieth interposed betwixt them . therefore i reason thus within my self ; that every effect whatsoever must have of pure necessity some cause , and therefore that the body moved there , ought necessarily to receive its movement from some other body , which is contiguous to it . now i see no other body which makes the needle of the quadrant to move and turn then the said wheels , therefore i must of force be perswaded to attribute the movement unto them . but afterwards , when i shall have stoped the motion of those wheeles : and taken away the counterpoise , and observed that suddenly the needle ceased to move , and that applying again the counterpoise , and giving liberty for the wheel to turn , the needle returns to her ordinary train , or by making one wheel to go faster by putting my finger unto it , or by adding more weight to the counterpoise , the needle doth hasten , and advance its motions proportionably . then i grow to be convinced and entirely satisfied , and so i absolutely conclude that these wheels and counterpoises are the true cause of the motion of the needle . in the same manner , if interrupting the action of any of those causes which i have established for the true foundation of the sympathetical powder , i alter , retard or hinder the cure of the wound ; i may boldly conclude , that the foresaid causes are the legitimate , and genuine true causes of the cure , and that we need not amuse our selves to make indagations for any other . let us then examine our businesse by that bias . i have affirmed that the light transporting the atoms of the vitriol , and of the bloud , and dilating them to a great extent in the air , the wound or place hurt , doth attract them , and thereby is immediately solac'd , and eased , and consequently comes to be healed by the spirits of the vitriol , which is of a balsamical virtue . but if you put the bason , or powder with the cloth embrued with bloud , within an armory , or into a corner of some cold rooms , or into a cave , where the light never comes , nor fresh air , which makes the place corrupted , and to have ill smells , in that case the wound can receive no amendment , nor any good effect from the said powder . and it will fall out in the same manner , if having put the bason , or powder in some by-corner , and that you cover them with some thick cloth , stuffing and spongie , which might imbibe the atomes that use to come forth , and which retain the the light and rayes which enter there , where they are thereby stopped and quite lost . moreover , if you suffer the water of vitriol , to congeale into ice , or the cloth wherein t is dipped , the party hurt shall be sensible at the beginning of a very great cold in his wound ; but when it is iced all over , he shall feel neither heat nor cold , in regard that congealed cold doth constipate the pores of the water , which neverthelesse doth not cease to transpire , and send forth spirits . if one should wash the cloth , spotted with bloud , in vinegar , or lye ( which by their penetrating acrimony , transports all the spirits of the bloud ) before the vitriol be applied , it will produce no effect , yet if it be washed but with pure simple water , it may neverthelesse do something , for that water carries not away so much , but the effect will not be so great , as if the bloudspotted piece had not been washed at all , for then it is full of the spirits of the bloud . the same cure is performed by applying the remedy to the blade of a sword which wounds a body , if it come not to passe that the sword be too much heated by the fire , for then it would make all the spirits of the bloud to evaporate , and in that case the sword would serve but little to perform the cure . now , the reason why the sword may be dressed in order to the cure , is because the subtill spirits of bloud do penetrate the substance of the blade , as far as the extent , which the sword made within the body of the the wounded party , where they use to make their residence , there being nothing to chace them away , unlesse it be the fire as i said before . for experiment whereof hold it over a chafing-dish of moderate fire , and you shall discern on the side opposite to the fire a little humidity which resembleth the spots that ones breath makes upon looking-glasses , or upon the burnished blade of a sword . if you look upon it athwart , some glasse which makes the object seem bigger , you shall find that this soft dew of the spirits consists in little bubbles , or blown bladders : and when once they are entirely evaporated , you shall discern no more upon the weapen , unlesse it were thrust a new into the body of a living person . nor from the beginning shall you discover any such thing , but precisely upon the part of the blade , which had entred the wound . this subtil penetration of the spirits into the hard steel , may confirm the belief of the entrance of such spirits into the skin of a woman big with child , as i remind to have proposed unto you in my sixth principle remarkable in its own place . now then , while the spirits lodge in the sword , they may serve as great helps for the cure of the patient , but when the fire hath driven them all away , the remedy applied to the sword , will not availe any thing at all . furthermone , if any violent heat accompanies these atomes it inflames the wound , but common salt may remedy that , the humidity of water humectates the hurt , and the cold causeth a chilnesse in the party wounded . to confirm all these particulars , i could adde to those i have already raccounted many notable examples more , but , i fear me , i have already too much exercised your patience , therefore i will industriously pretermit the mentioning of them at this time , but i offer to entertain any of this honourable assembly therewith , if they have the curiosity to be informed of them accordingly . i conclude then , messieurs , by representing unto you that all this my stery is guided , and governed all along by true natural wayes and circumstances , although by the agency and resorts of very subtil spirits . i am perswaded my discourse hath convincingly shewed you , that in this sympathetical cure , there is no need to admit of an action distant from the patient . i have traced unto you a real communication twixt the one and the other , viz. of a balsamical substance , which corporally mingleth with the wound . now it is a poor kind of pusillanimity , and faintnesse of heart , or rather a grosse ignorance of the understanding , to pretend any effects of charm or magick herein , or to confine all the actions of natre , to the grossenesse of our senses , when we have not sufficiently considered , nor examined the true causes and principles whereon t is fitting we should ground our judgement : we need not have recourse to a demon or angel in such difficulties . mec deus intersit , nisi dignus vindice nodus insiderit . — ΤΕΛΟΣ . books printed for , and to be sold by , thomas davis . master paul bains his practical commentary on the ephesians , lately reprinted with additions . fol. speedells geometrical extractions , newly reprinted with additions . quarto . oughtredi trigonometria the figure . a ternary of paradoxes the magnetick cure of wounds, nativity of tartar in wine, image of god in man / written originally by joh. bapt. van helmont and translated, illustrated and amplified by walter charleton. helmont, jean baptiste van, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a ternary of paradoxes the magnetick cure of wounds, nativity of tartar in wine, image of god in man / written originally by joh. bapt. van helmont and translated, illustrated and amplified by walter charleton. helmont, jean baptiste van, - . charleton, walter, - . helmont, franciscus mercurius van, - . the second impression [ ], p. printed by james flesher for william lee ..., london : [ ] epistle dedicatory addressed signed: "w. charleton." "to the learned dr. charleton, on his elegant translation" signed : "thom. philipot." edition statement from added t.p. imperfect: title page torn with loss of date. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng wounds and injuries -- treatment. science -- early works to . mind and body. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - rachel losh sampled and proofread - rachel losh text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a ternary of paradoxes of the magnetick cure of wounds . nativity of tartar in wine . image of god in man. lumen de lumine in ●…ermino concursus the second impression , more reformed , and enlarged with some marginal additions . a ternary of paradoxes . the magnetick cure of wounds . nativity of tartar in wine . image of god in man. written originally by joh. bapt. van helmont , and translated , illustrated , and ampliated by walter charleton , doctor in physick , and physician to the late king. suspecta apud plures hujusmodi sanationis facilitas , atque celeritas permanebit adhuc dudum ; vulgi enim labile & otiosum ingenium , in arduis ac insolitis , ad judicia ejusdem semper tenoris promptum , ob facilitatem , ideóque flaccidum est . diabolicae enim fraudi tantam restitutionum benignitatem libentiùs consecrat , quàm divinae bonitati , humanae naturae conditori , amatori , salvatori , pauperúmque patri . butler . london , printed by james flesher for william lee , dwellingin fleetstreet , at the sign of the turks 〈…〉 to the truly noble , by the right of blood , virtue and learning , vvilliam viscount brouncker of lyons , baron brouncker of newcastle , &c. my very good lord , among other disparagements of this life , collected and sum'd up in my frequent retirements and concentrations of my minde , my thoughts have , more then once , glanced on the exceeding vanity of that heroick disease , incident to the best tempered souls , the insatiate appetite of posthume glory . and though i must not but confess , this originary feaver elemented in the innate ardor and scintillations of those sparks of divinity , which now lie raked up in the mass or chaos , of our eclipsed nature ; and that by the light of these secret flashes , may be discovered the immortality of that semideity , or noble essence , for a while immured in walls of clay : yet when i make reflections on the unconcernment , and happy insensility of the soul , once fled home , to an indissoluble union with the soul of beatitude ; as to the trifling affairs of the swarm of mortals , here below , and that all relations to the visible and perishable world , are lost in utter oblivion , at the instant of her transition to the invisible , intellectual , and immaterial : i cannot but smile at the delusion of this ambition , of having our memories survive our ashes , and listing our names in the legend of fame , by the ingravements of memorable and worthy actions , as seeming to be no more , then a provident fraud of impaired nature , whereby man is handsomly deluded into the attempting actions of such difficulty or danger , as if presented without the specious disguise of honor , must appear absolutely destructive , at least to the tranquillity and sober fruition of our selves , if not also to our conformity unto that catholique maxime , deeply impressed upon the radical principles of our essence , philautie or self-conservation . for what individual knowledg can w●… have of caesar ? or what intelligence can he hold with the spirits of those , who sacrifice the most of veneration to his memory ? or did the incense of humane honor ascend so high , a●… to approach the mansion of the souls of heröes , devested of mortality ; which can no more be granted , then that a man on our hemisphere , should be sensible of the wagging of a straw in the antipodes : yet what could the access of that nothing contribute to that state of blessedness , whose measure is immensity , wherein to imagine either defect , satiety , or mutation , would be a conceit savoring too much of sensuality , and of bloody advantage to the absurd metaphysicks of the alcoran ? and how much more noble a plea , to the immarcescible laurel , shall that modest head obtain , which , in all anxieties and difficulties of virtue , drew encouragement onely from the simple and naked loveliness of virtue ; then that fond ambitious one , whose sufferings were caused by no better a flame , then the ignis fatuus of applause , and desires knew no other attractive , but vain glory . this meditation , my dear lord , as it could never stifle the irradiations of my genius , or render me less sensible of the incitements of virtue , to enterprise something , that might be grateful in the nostrils of posterity , when my dust shall be offensive : so hath it wrought my resolutions to that stoical temper , that while i fix one eye of reason on that domestick security , and internal serenity , which necessarily redounds from the severe practice of goodness , in this life ; and the other of faith on that infinite compensation , ordained to reward our pious endevours , in the next : i can comfortably acquiesce in the secret discharge of my duty to god and the world , at least in the sincerity of intention : and though i should arrive at such unexpected felicity , as to be an instrument , or accessory , either in the discovery of some magnale in knowledg , or in the contribution of some benefit , conductive to the repair of the common breaches of humanity ; yet i dare confidently hope , i should have no ear open to the invasion of popular euges , nor admit any dream of happiness , in the estimation of succeeding ages . now , though the too acute severity of some , may here be furnished with latitude enough , either to charge this my theory of aversation from praise , on my being conscious of such fragility , lapses and imperfections of my pen , as might conclude , that the best part of my judgment lies in the politick concealment of my name ; or deny me qualified with abilities of reducing it into practice : yet i have this comfort left to take sanctuary in , that i may ( without ingaging your lordship , into the patronage of a falshood ) appeal unto your judicious integrity , for determination , whether my scepticity , even in such notions , as my self hath , to the most precise , anatomical subdivision of each subject , and abstracted perpension of each minute particle thereof ( not much below the accurate method , invented by the stoicks * , and lately revived into use by the most ingenious mons. des cartes * ) examined and transmitted to the world , for indubitate and irrefragable truths ; be not evidence strong enough to make good , that i prefer the manifestation of any one single verity , to all other sinister interests , in this vale of error , and therefore should embrace and assimilate the decisive contradiction of riper heads , with joy equall to that of benighted mariners , at the eruption of their faithfull pilot , the north starre , as the soveraign remedy to my former wandrings . to the other branch of the praesupposed scandall , may justly be opposed your lordships privacie , to my obstinate reluctancy , against the advisoes of my honoured friends , urging mee to a publick appropriation and avowance of some papers , not long since , dispersed through europe , without the protection either of author , or dedication : as also my denyall of light , to some philosophicall enquiries , whose conception , formation , and maturity ( though of inconsiderable value , in the account of more perfect learning ) cost mee the profusion of so much time and oyle , as if summed up by the algebra of candor , might well have purchased the charitable forgivenesse , if not the friendly approbation of the reader . and in the serene darknesse of this latency , i had still remained invisible to the effascinating opticks of envy , and celebrated a constant jubilee of immunity from the virulent blasts of detraction ; had i not been intempestively drawn upon the stage , by the superior violence of two invincible magnets : whose potent alliciency i could provide against by the opposition of no strength , but such as either a dangerous rudeness , or indiscreet morosity must have afforded . the first , the inexorable commands of your lordship and other persons , of so much honor , as nobility in birth , knowledg , and fortune can contribute ; which led me from the more direct path of other contemplations more perpendicular to my profession , into this wanton digression , and upon the penalty of the deprivation of that , which i have good reason to value much above my life , the place i held in your and their favourable regard , charged me with the managery of this small province , for the space of two moneths onely . and had i withdrawn my obedience from such absolute soveraignty , as , i must acknowledg , your lordships and their more learned spirits deservedly hold over mine : doubtless i had inevitably faln upon that so much to be abhorred rock , refractary incivility , and run my self to an eternal loss of those stars , whose conserving influence , and vigorous warmth , are so necessary to the vitality and growth of my studies . whereas now , in this election , i have adventured onely to bear up against the impetuous torrent of censure . the other attractive , the too early diffusion of these sheets , and the immature admittance of a multitude to the acquaintance of them , and the weak hand that copied them ; insomuch , that the concealment of the translator , carried the face of an impossibility , without the joynt concealment of the translation : it being ( by an error of necessity , the conformity to the unresistible importunity of those orbes , to whose motion , mine is , and must be , subordinate ) transmitted to a community , beyond the power of revocation . thus much i was concerned to speak , as to the precaution of scandal , deductive out of my apostasie , from my resolution of self-concealment , and the publick avowance of my self for the father : it remains onely , that i endevour a palliation of this bold lapse of my judgment , in stooping your lordship to so low a patronage , as to be god-father , to this adopted childe . i ever looked upon dedications , with the same aspect of neglect , and presumption of inutility , that i beheld prologues in the front of comedies ; having upon the unhappy experience of most poets erected this unrefutable maxime , that a good play may commend a bad prologue ; but the best prologue never expiate the errors , or peece up the defects of a bad play ; and upon a mature audit of all the benefits , which the most elegant , and judicious pens have acquired by this imaginary refuge , in the sanctuary of great names , or great judgements , found that the totall result amounts to no more , but a delusive hope of security from the contagious emissions of that universall basilisk detraction ; whose venome , in a proud confidence of victory , laughs at the most vigorous energie of any the most sacred antidote , and from the infection whereof , he onely can bee saved , that dares encounter it with contempt . again , my faith hath long swam smoothly downe the current of the popular opinion , that translations praesent the lise of their text , at as great disadvantage of dissimilitude , as the backside of hangings exhibit the story interwoven : and are at best , but slender adumbrations , or pale counterfeits of those more lively images , drawne with more strength of art , in the primitive phansy of their protoplast . nor could i ever be alienated by the phrensie of narcissus , into such a fond dotage of partiality , as to expect a better fortune should belong to the lines , copied by my unaequall pencil , then what i have observed to have accrewed to others upon more laudable transcriptions . this i would not have rashly extended by any , to an imputation of occult blasphemy , against the venerable ▪ majesty of our mother tongue ; out of which , i am ready to assert , may be spun as fine and fit a garment , for the most spruce conceptions of the minde to appeare in publick in , as out of any other in the world : especially , since the carmination or refinement of it , by the skill and sweat of those two heroicall wits , the lord st. alban , and the now flourishing dr. browne ; out of whose incomparable writings may be selected a volume of such full and significant expressions , as if uprightly fathomed by the utmost extent of the sublimest thought , may well serve to stagger that partiall axiome of some schoolemen , that the latin is the most symphoniacall and concordant language of the rationall soule . these diminutions as well of the epidemick custome of dedications , as of translations in generall , and of my owne in particular , i have praemised with designe , to manifest my owne exceeding audacity , in consecrating so contemptible an oblation , as this transcriptive landskip of magnetisme , to the altar of so much sober learning ; as whoever hath the happy honour of admission to your closet lectures ( the onely priviledge i can be proud of , and be forgiven ) or but with a discreet eare to taste your publick discourses in earnest , must allow your lordship to be master of . having thus deves●…ed my self of all other praetences , i direct my addresse to th●…e plea of those two cardinall motives , upon the swindg or rapt of whose violence , this my bold error may seem naturally to depend . the first , ( and in troth , the prime ) is your lordships known candor and humility ; which acquired by a long and habitual exercise of virtue , endows you with an inevitable propensity , to forgive the poverty of his offering , whose wealth is onely zeal the other , your animadversion and careful influence bestowed upon each sheet of this work , successively , before the ink could be fully dry : insomuch , that the justice of some might safely escape the imputation of rigor , should it determine the book to be properly your lordships by a neerer right , then that of dedication . this duly considered , i dare put my self upon the tryal of aequanimity ; whether an alienation of what is rightly yours , to more then a moity ; or an equitable resignation of the same , to your peculiar use , can best stand with the justice of his duty , who endevours , by all possible observances , to make good the title of your lordships most humble and faithful servant , w. charleton . prolegomena . to the candid and ingenuous reader . the summary . . truth and the rational soul are twins . . the souls beatitude consisteth in her re-union to truth . . three guides conducting man to truth . . their several wayes of direction . . the final cause of their manuduction . . the cognition of natural objects , difficult to the exactest reason . . the application of all this , by way of apology . . the hoti of magnetical remedies examined . . an example ▪ 〈◊〉 facto . . a second instance , considerable . . the capital objection against magnetism vulnerary , that the cu●…e ●…s wrought by the sole power of nature , and not by any concurrent faculty of the remote remedy , answered . . the first branch of the solution . . upon every solution of continuity , there is impressed an exotick miasm ▪ or putrefactive acidity . . this alien impression , the sole remora to redintegration . . the extinction of the same , the onely means to assist nature . . all acidity subject to the power of an alchahal . . the ground of traumatical potions . . vitriol referred to alchahal salts , and vulnerary . . the pedegree of helmont'e drif . . vitriol san●…tive at distance ▪ . am astral quality genial to some sublunaries . . vitriol to be allowed the like prerogative . . the second branch of the solution . . the effect of hoplochrisme not univocall ; but variable , according to the superiour virtue of any third nature associated . . a second objection , quòd agens naturale , ut agat , debet esse applicatum & approximare ad patiens , refuted . . a consideration of the infinite extent of divisibility . . every unctuous body emitteth consimilar effluviums . . sympathy , longimanus . . an example of the vast extent of sympathy . . a second . . a third . . the result of all , in a comparative speculation of the extensive power of magneticall remedies . . the manner of the armary unguents operation , upon a wound at indeterminate distance , explained in briefe . . acidity , the first degree of corruption . . tartar made in wine , by the fixative power of a saline spirit , resident in the lees. . vineger caused by an exhaustion : not by a congelation of the spirits of wine . . helmonts paradox , that reason is not essentiall to the humane soule , maintained by eight arguments . well did the primitive graecian give the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto truth : whose consanguinity , nay consubstantiality of essence with the humane soule which the divine philosophy of moses * hath defined to be the breath of god , doth exactly make out that etymology . for so uncessant a magnetisme , or congenerous love doth the soule hold unto truth , that she can know no reall or permanent satisfaction , in the fruition of any other object ; but , like the aguish magnetified needle , reels to and fro , in a phrensie of inquietude , distracted twixt various apparitions , untill shee lye parallel unto the center , or vnity thereof : and having once fixed in that happy position , she is , by an eternal union , identified or assimilated unto that twin of her self ; and in that mysterious penetration of homogeneal forms , meets her beatitude , which can never know any defect , of satiety , alterity of desires , or remission of intensity . now , though the opacity of original sin hath so benighted the primitive clarity of the intellect , that it deplorably wanders in the infinite seductions of error , and cannot recover that direct path , which leads to the heaven of verity , without the manuduction of divine light , in this wilderness of sorrow ; and though the opticks of flesh and blood are too dim to endure to gaze upon the naked and entire glories of truth ; yet hath the exceeding mercy of the fountain of light , furnished us with three faithful guides , whose conduct if we precisely follow , we may be reduced to that advantage of knowledg , as will afford us a pisgah sight , or crepusculous prospect of her reflexive beauties , now , and an assurance of being blessedly engulphed in the abyss of her pleasures , in the future . those three lines , perpetually deradiating from the center of truth ( the eternal principle of all essences , and soul of all causalities ) are religion , reason , and sense : all terminated in our nature . the first leadeth us by the invisible clue of faith , on towards the implicit and certain apprehension of objects above the reach of the other two . the second bringeth us about , through the circumambages and complex labyrinth of discourse ; and from the remote dependencies of effects upon their particular causes , ushereth us along by a subalternate series , or gradation unto the science of their ultimate approximation and individuality . the last by a shorter cut , or blunter method of preception , directeth to the immediate and actual knowledg of the existence and exterior or manifest qualities of entities ; but leaveth the second to a laborious exploration of their abstruser forms , or essential quiddities : the repeated acts of which apprehensive power , informed by sensation , make up that body of knowledg , called experience . all which pilots mutually conspire to steer our mindes , perpendicularly toward our satisfaction of the main end of our creation : the reverential and fiduciary contemplation of the mercy , wisdom , and bounty of the supream essence . but so deeply immersed in sensuality , are all the wretched sons of adam , that few can ascend so many degrees toward the height of their primitive capacity , as with equal and constant paces to pursue the guidance of these genial impressions . for if some may usurp the license of concession , that the habit of cognition by faith doth smoothly result from the idea's of religious notions , either insensibly instilled into our infancy , and naturallized by custom ▪ or enthusiastically acquired , that is by the infusion of light supernatural , without much labor and difficulty precedent : yet none , that ever felt the weight of ignorance , and endevoured to struggle from the oppression of it , through the anxieties of study , will adventure on an assertion of such temerity , as that the satisfactory and certain comprehension of most natural objects , is easie and familiar to our reason . since the subtilest speculation will evict , that every the smallest piece of the hexameron fabrick ▪ carrieth in the narrow round of its single ens , abstrusity sufficient to empuzle the scrutiny of the most daring and eagle-eyed philosophy . and if truth be the most desiderable good , and yet the most difficult to obtain ; as on the one side , i have reason to applaud my vow , of unravelling my short thread of life , in the constant and eager search of this inestimable treasure ; so have i also opportunity to hope , from all heads of candor and discretion , to receive a charitable consideration and forgiveness of my frail mistakes and deviations , on the other ; especially in my attempts of exploring the causes , and manner of some operations of nature , whose occult efficiencies seem rather proposed to exercise , and perplex , then satisfie our desires of comprehension . among which knotty pieces , every intelligent man will readily account the theory of magnetism , or more plainly , the secret power of natural actives , working on analogous and determnate passives , by invisible emanations , or an influential energy , transmissive to remote distance ; and more particularly , the argument of helmont , in this discourse . concerning which subject , i shall , in some part , recede from my first intentions of neutrality , to conform to the incitements , and pacifie the importunity of some friends , in the concise and extemporary delivery of my own conceptions : though i stand fully convinced , as well of the vast disparity 'twixt the nerves of my wit , and the considerable gravity of this theme ; as of the impendent danger of various censures , arising from the irreconcileable discord of opinion in some , and the rancor or livid prevarication of others , to both which hydraes , i must become exposed . having premised this preparatory apology : i shall henceforward chain my extravagant pen , to the sole indagation of this admirable ( though secret , and therefore vulgarly despised ) verity ; and allow it no wider range then what the modest rules of a preface will admit . wherefore i come directly to the examination of the hoti , or matter of fact. that wounds have been frequently cured with more expedition , and less torment , then usually follow upon the use and daily renovation of topical vulneraries ; by the confermentation of the mumy , in the blood effluxed , and still retaining to vitality , with the balsamical faculty of the magnetical remedies : i must firmly beleeve , until my scepticity may be allowed to be so insolent , as to affront the evidence of my own sense , and question the verity of some relations , whose authors are persons of such confessed integrity , that their single attestations oblige my faith , equal with the strongest demonstration . among many other experiments , made by my self , i shall select and relate onely one : and that most ample and pertinent . upon an ardent dispute , with a doctor of theology , reverend for his piety and learning , concerning the legitimate use of the sympathetick powder ; that i might at one stab destroy his inveterate presumption , that the capital energy of that magnetical remedy , adored for the sanation of wounds at distance , did proceed rather from the sophistical activity of that impostor , who gave the first incurable wound unto humanity , derived by the mediation of an implicit compact , then from any native and genuine endowment of the vitriol : i prevailed with him , to enterprize an experiment of the efficacy thereof after this manner . having furnished him , both with the powder , and a cloth distained with the blood of a gentleman , freshly wounded , and not yet dressed by any chirurgeon : i also directed him in the application . at the performance whereof , he made solemn profession , that he did utterly disavow all confederacy , immediate or secondary , with satan , all expectance of his concurrence , and coefficiency , and all confidence in the cooperation of intense imagination : as also , that he adventured on this tryal , onely for information of his judgment , whether it lie in the destiny of natural agents , to transmit their virtue unto , and execute the commission of their specifical proprieties upon objects at distance . however , within few hours , the patient ( wholly ignorant of the means used ) found his blood retired to its wonted rivulets , and the lips of his large wound perfectly consolidated . upon which admirable success , the divine , having also haply met with a cure for the nicety of his conscience , from a prevaricate adversary , became a fervent proselyte , to our doctrine of magnetism : soon after writing his palinodia , in these words ; indubitanter credo , causas naturales , quanquam nobisignotas , operari in praefata sympathetica sanatione . this justification was extorted from a professed enemy : a second remarkable example , i have received from the mouth of a professed friend , to the speculation of vulnerary magnetism ; which is right worthy of recital , as well in regard of the experimentator , as of the rare effect ensuing . sir k. digby ( a noble person , who hath built up his reason to so transcendent a height of knowledg , as may seem not much beneath the state of man in innocence ) immediately before his late exile , was pleased to tell me ▪ that not many yeers past , mr. james howel ( who planted the vocal forest ) interceding betwixt two brothers of the sword , received a dangerous wound through the arm : by the violent pain whereof , and other grievous accidents concomitant , he was suddenly dejected into extream debility and danger . that in this forlorn plight , despairing to finde ease or benefit , by the fruitless continuance of chirurgery , and fearing the speedy invasion of a grangraen ; he consulted sir k. d. who having procured a garter cruentate , wherewith the hurt was first bound up , inspersed thereon , without the privacy of master howel , a convenient quantity of roman vitriol . that the powder no sooner touched upon the blood , in the garter , then the patient cryed out , that he felt an intolerable shooting , and penetrative torment , in his arm : which soon vanished , upon the remove of all emplasters and other topical applications , enjoyned by sir k. d. that thenceforward , for three days , all former symptomes departed , the part recovered its pristine lively colour , and manifest incarnation and consolidation ensued : but then sir k. d. to compleat his experiment , dipt the garter in a sawcer of vineger , and placed it upon glowing coals ; soon whereupon the patient relapsed into an extream agony , and all former evils instantly recurred . and finally , that having obtained this plenary satisfaction , of the sympathy maintained betwixt the blood extravenated , and that yet conserved in the veins ; as also of the soveraign balsamick faculty of the vitriol : he took again the garter out from the vineger , gently dryed it , and freshly dressed it with the powder ; whereupon the sanation proceeded with such admirable success , that within few days , there remained onely a handsom cicatrice , to witness there was once a wound . other cures , so neer allied to miracle , as the former , and no less conspicuous , have been wrought , with the same magnetical balsam , by sir gilbert 〈◊〉 , upon upon many wounded in the kings army ; chiefly in the western expedition : of which few gent. attendant on his majesty , in that march , can be ignorant . so substantial and authentick are these relations , and so frequently others also of the same kinde are obtruded upon vulgar observation ; that i shall think requisite , to supersede the enrolment of any other evidence conductive to the illustration of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , when i shall have fel'd that goliah , which i espie coming from the army of the philistins , to the opinion of the influential operation of magnetical remedies , to bid defiance to my self , or any other champion thereof : that is , the mighty objection , that the consolidation of wounds , is the sole and entire work of nature , performed by the proper balsam of the blood , flowing to the part wounded ; and that therefore we may seem grosly deluded in our election of the cause , erroneously adscribing the whole arm of the energy , to that unconcerned principle , which indeed hath not so much as a finger in the business . against this gyant , i shall send onely two smooth stones : and those taken out of the scrip , or single stock of my own reason . the first seems to be of weight : and so requires the care of more then one minute , to fit it in the sling of my discourse . i conceive ( with submission to the reprehension of riper philosophy ) that immediately upon the solution of unity , in any part , the ambient aer , of its own primigenious constitution , intensely cold , and by accident also repleted with the various evaporations , or aporrhoea's of mixt bodies , especially such as are then suffering the act of putrefaction , violently invadeth the part ; and thereupon impresseth an exotick miasm , or noxious diathesis : which disposing the blood , successively arriving at the wound , to putrefaction , by the intervention of fermentation , caused by some gradual acidity ( for proved it may be , that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of corruption , must be acidum extraneum , succeeding upon a desertion of vital heat ) introduced , maketh the same wholly unfit for the nutrition , and destructive to the incarnation , or reunion of the sides of the orifice . against this hostile acidum , nature instantly ariseth in arms , sends a large supply of arterial blood ( vital spirits i understand none at least in a disjunctive acception ) and doubleth both the strength and number of her pulses ; insomuch that most times , the overcharged part suffereth an increase of pain and intumescence , from the distension of its vessels , membranes and intermusculary capacities : but finding her self too weak to expel so subtle and potent an enemy , encamped within her borders , though she cannot preserve the blood from submission to the tyranny of this putrefactive acidity , in some degree , and so not transmute it into a laudable cement , to soder up the disunion ; yet she so far hindreth ( especially in green wounds ) the dilatation of corruption , that she subdues the revolted blood into the form of a white purulent effluxion , which is therefore to be accounted an infallible signal , that nature is not yet evirate , but holds out bravely , and if relieved in time , will be an happy conqueress . this exotick acidity , by the forementioned means impressed upon the sides of the wound , i apprehend to be the sole impediment , that defeateth the design of nature , in the redintegration of the unity of any part , infringed by external violence : and that by the rule of consequence , the onely way of assistance to nature in this exigence , is the destruction , or extinction of that alien impression ; the factor of putrefaction , by the specifical counterviolence of some superior antagonist . now pyrotechnical philosophy , and the mechanick experiments of chymistry , have sufficiently instructed us : that every acidum is , at first encounter , subdued by any alchahal , or lixivial salt ; as is autoptically demonstrable , in the sudden transformation of the spirit of vitriol into alumen , by the inspersion of mercury dulcified . the same effect may be also exemplified in the acid spirit of sulphur , which for ever loseth its native acidity , and in a moment degenerateth into an aluminous sweetness , at the conjunction of the salt of tartar , resolved into an oyl by deliquium . for which reason also ( as helmont hath profoundly observed * ) our traumatick or vulnerary potions , which as well in regard of the balsamical plants , as of the stony concretion found in the stomacks of creafish , entering their composition , acquire upon decoction , a lixivial tincture , or alchahal ; are most laudable , because in truth most smartly operative , medicaments , in all wide perforations or incisions of the body : as hath been found true , by the unquestionable testimony of experience * , and sounds consonant to reason . since by reason of their lixivial salt , which doubtless passeth the several concoctions , viribus haud multum castratis , they stand è diametro , opposed to the putrefactive acidity , the capital remora that impedeth the consolidation of all wounds and ulcers . and whether roman vitriol may not be justly referred to the classis of saline juices concreted , or alchahal salts , since it must be a parergy here to dispute it , i shall with industry leave , as well to the experiment of its easie eliquation upon the access of any humidity , as to the decision of the most knowing mineralogists * . who also have unanimously esteemed it , as the sacra anohora , or panchreston , for the cure of cheironian ulcers , and inveterate wounds : though the cardinal efficacy ▪ and manner of its operation , may well be thought to have continued in darkness , until of late the light of helmonts furnace had the honor of its revealment . and i am bold to conjecture , that upon this single hint , of the incomparable balsamical or mu●…l vi●…t●…e of vitriol , helmont first founded the invention of his admired drif , or universal medicine ; whose master ingredients are sal marinus , vitriolum veneris , and 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 by the omnipotent odor , or radial activity whereof , he rashly imagined , that all irregularities , exorbitances , and excandescence of the humane archius , or vital spirit , may be rectified , reclaimed , and calmed , and that in a moment . having thus brought within the reach of verismillty ; that , in many wounds , all the vigor of nature cannot suffice to the ejection of that forein acor , that hath once made an encroachment upon her tender confines ; and that upon the first charge , the usurper must surrender , at the access of a lixivial traumatick salt ▪ it remaineth onely that we bring it quite home to our intended scope , and make a short enquiry , whether the sanative faculty of vitriol , may not be conceded so long●…manous and extensive , as to produce the same effect , at distance . and this we must do with exceeding brevity : in this respect , that this speculation doth more properly belong to our disquisition of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or causalities of hoplochrism . i am bound to believe , that in the infinite magazine of nature are to be found various agents , no●… obliged to the dull conditions of an immediate corporeal contact ; but richly endowed with an influential or radial activity ▪ ( so have i taken the liberty to christen it , in reference to the cognition and n●…er analogy , betwixt the manner of the stars transmitting their influence , by invisible deradiations ; and the imperceptible emissions streaming , in a semi-immaterial thread of atomes * 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 bodies ▪ qualified with this kinde of astral faculty ; which arriving at a determinate object , though 〈◊〉 at indeterminable distance , nimbly operate upon it , to the full satisfaction of the particular end , preordained in the primitive intellect of the creato●… ▪ ) 〈◊〉 conceive also , that vitriol hath a very just title to the prenogative of being listed in the inventory of these astral natures ▪ and that when the powder thereof is applied to the blood , effused out of a wound , the balsamical faculty of it is not confined to a meer topical operation ▪ but being conducted by the manial 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the blood , which undoubtedly , by a congenerous magnetism , holdeth a certain sympathy with that fountain , from whence it was derived , ( as is to ●…a●…ety of satisfaction demonstrated by hilmont ) 〈◊〉 a stream of subti●…ted atomes , extendeth to the individual wound , and there operateth to the deletion or ext●…rpation of the acid impression , against which ●…carrieth a seminal antipathy ▪ if this be thus 〈◊〉 i may be sooner destitute of leasure ▪ then substantial arguments ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 force ▪ that it was either ignorance , or prevacation , that first contrived this detractive objection ▪ 〈◊〉 the dignity of hoplochristical remedies ▪ as also , that nature ( though according to the great apho●… of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ naturae ▪ sunt medicatrices , i allow her to be the prime and proxime causatrix of all sanation ; and all medicaments no more but auxiliatory , or adjuvant , by the modification of excessive preternatural qualities , and remove of impediments ) is not always able to play the chiron to her self , but in this case , owes much of the honor of her safety and conquest , to the assistant power , and amicable coefficiency of the vitriol . the same also i desire should be understood , of the magnetical manner of operation proper to the armary u●…guent , though i apprehend the ingredients of that magnale , to work rather by a confermentation of analogous mumies united . if i have not thrown this peble home , nor directly to the mark : ●…was because i had neither time to take full aym , nor elbow room to extend their sinews of reason so far , as my self desired . the other , i am confident , will hit our enemy in the forehead . if the effect of hoplochrism be not constant and ●…vocal , but doth ordinarily confess an alterity or variation from good to evil , conform to the friendship or enmity of any third natural agent associated , at the arbitrary election of the experimentator , that is , if from the counter-activity of intemperate heat , actual or potential , of any venenate o●… deleterious quality , corrosive and septical medicament , putrefactive acidity , &c. consubstantially applied unto , and confermentate with the mumy of the blood , and magnetically sympathetick remedy , there immediately arise 〈◊〉 reincrudescence of the wound , and a recidivation or return of all oppressive symptomes dependent : then is it established , beyond the question of any the most pyrrhonian incredulity , that the sanation of wounds ; at distance , is not rightly adscriptive to the single power of nature , converting the blood successively distilling from its intersected condu●…ts , into a genial balsam ; but more properly attributary to the confederate virtue of the vnguent or powder , idiosyncratically opposed to the essential hostility of that acid vulture , which ravenously devours the ca●…bium , or rorid destillament ordained for the vegetation and reunition of the wounded part . but the hypothesis is uncontroulable upon the evidence of sir k. d. his experiment , in tossing the life of master howel , from hazard to safety , from safety to hazard , and back to durable safety again , at pleasure : therefore is the inference also sound and justifiable . for the propense submission of nature , to the fury of a deleterious influence , transmitted from a remote enemy , by the mediation or convoy of the mumial effluviums , shot from the extravenated blood back to its vital fountain ; doth implicitely manifest her emolument and relief received , by the same invisible transvection ▪ from the grateful and congenerous deradiations , or individuated magnetism of a remote friend . since contraries ever imply the necessary existence each of other . another block there is , at which not onely the herd of fools , but even the greatest clerks use to stumble , in their quest of this secret. requisite it is ( say they ) that every natural agent be immediately applied to its determinate patient ; otherwise , its specifical activity , though neer so potent and expedite , must be lost in a fruitless expence , and unsatisfaction of its particular end ; but the sympathetical remedy is not topically approximated to the wound ; therefore must it be , either no natural remedy , or a vain and inefficacious one , at best . but this argument , though at first appearance plausible , weigheth not one grain in the ballance of more exact reason , against our theory , and may be easily blown out of the way , by this distinctive answer . if it be understood , that every natural agent ought immediately , immediatione suppositi , to touch the patient , upon which its virtue is proximely to be discharged , but remo●…ely , by th●… mediation of otherbodies interjacent , by which the power of the active is communicated to the distant passive : w●… willingly grant the truth of the major , to be solid and undeniable , in regard , i●… suffic●…h to the support of our magnetism , that the active touch upon the passive o●… object proper and remote , immediatione virtutis . and therefore we cannot but smile at the weakness and incongruity of the minor ; because the sympathe●…k . remedy ought immediately ▪ immediatione suppositi , to touch that subject , upon which its virtue is first received : but not the part affected , on which the virtue is secondarily and ultimately received and terminated , by the interposition of accommodate instruments , whether bodies situate at convehi●… intervals , or continuate by succession of parts . for thus , by the same extension of a medium , do we warm our hands at the fire ▪ and the s●… transmits his vigorous influence and heat , to our 〈◊〉 globe ▪ and in this degree of ( affinity , are sympathetical medicaments allied unto ●…lesti ●…nfluences ▪ insomuch , that not onely the a●… , but vast rocks of adamant , walls , and any the most compacted and opace bodies are subjects qualified to admit and convoy this magnetical virtue , to its peculiar object , no less then any the most potent astral transmission . vpon which ground , if any stick at the vast and unlimitted extension of that sphear of activity , assigned by the immense bounty of nature , ●…nto sympathetical r●…dies ; and yet can 〈◊〉 conc●… an ●…finite o●… of 〈◊〉 unto ●…elestial influxes : he hath very great cause , either to lament his ignorance of those , or repent his credulity of these . and i profess , that if my rude ●…ar may have the liberty to judg , principium actionis sympathetica , est facultas influentiis affinis , 〈◊〉 per irradiationem in objectum sibi appropriatum : sounds as like an axiom of constant truth , as idem accidens non mig●… de subjecto in subjectum . hitherto hath my imployment been to clear the prospect , by the necessary remove of such doubts , as seemed very much to obscure the resplendent lustre of magnetism , and render the excellencies of sympathetical remedies imperceptible ; especially to those purblinde moles , whose imperfect opticks could never endure to ●…y into the mysteries of the intellectual and spiritual world , but think the debt of their creation fully discharged , in a slight and superficial speculation of the material , and never were admitted to a neerer privacy with nature , then to have touched the 〈◊〉 of her upper garment . and my now task should be , to endevour an ample presentment of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or causes of hoplochristical sanation . but of this i can here hold forth no more , then a thin , blew landskip ▪ or abridgment : chiefly in respect the more learned pencils of bapt ▪ porta , severinus , hortmannus , kircherus , cabeus , rob. de fluctibus , ( that torrent of sympathetical knowledg ) and the choisest flower in our garden sir k. digby , have already enriched the world , with ample and elegant descriptions of the manner , how sympathetically magnetick agents transmit their spiritual energy , unto determinate patients , at vast and indeterminate distance ; and secondarily , because in my precedent declarement of the magnetical operation of vitriol , i unavoidably fell upon a plain ( though narrow ) delineation of the same subject . consider we , first the interminable , and almost infinite extent of divisibili●…y : that is , with the razor of most acute thought , redivide the subdivisions of an atome , and distinctly perpend , how large a round of spiritual aporrhoeaes , or evaporations may be made and maintained by a very small body , actually subtiliated , and emitting a continued steam of most subtle effluviums . let us remember also , that by a general consent of all the secretaries of nature , and the undeniable testimony of trivial experience , every mixt body , of an unctuous composition , doth uncessantly vent , or expire a circumferential steam of invisible atomes , homogeneous and consimilar , that is of the same identical nature with it self ; and for that reason , efficaciously operative to the same finality : which minute subtiliations , wafted on the wings of a convenient medium , interposed betwixt the accommodate object and the body exhalant , and so arriving at an analogous patient , do immediately discharge their activity thereupon , and by degrees of mutation subdue the same to a conformity●… or qualification requisite●… to the causation of that particular effect , originally enjoyned to the seminal entity of the agent . then let us stretch our intellectuals , to fathome , how immensly long the arm of sympathy must be conceded , by all that shall observe , how the contagion of the small pox and plague * is frequently darted from one brother or sister to another , at the distance of many hundred leagues , by invisible emissions , or pestilential atomes ; without all excuse of intelligence or mutual commerce by intervenient messengers : as also of fear and imagination . how a tagliacotian nose , enfeoffed with a community of vitality and vegetation , by right of transplantation , upon the face of a gentleman at bruxels , hath grown cadaverous , and dropt off , at the instant of that porters death , in bononia , out of whose arm it was first exected . and finally ( that we may supersede the rehearsal of other naturally magical examples ) how carefully good huswives avoid the boyling over of their milk ; lest the atomes thereof subtiliated by the intense heat of fire , and roving abroad hand in hand with the igneous atomes , should be attracted by the cows udder ( for the source or fountain of every effusion , acteth a magnetical part , and draweth to it self the subdivisions of that same effusion , situate within the orb of its alliciency ) and so an inflammation be caused , by the apposition of the atomes of fire concomitant . and when we shall have thus cast about , summed up our reflections , and discreetly accommodated the like effects , daily occurring to the comparative perpension of magnetical vulneraries : we shall naturally fall upon , and set up our rest in this conclusion : that the sanation of wounds , by remote means applied to the weapon , or cloth imbued with the blood , is no diabolical , nor prestigious , but a meer ordinary effect of natural causes , operating by magnetism . for very familiar must it be made unto us , that the blood effused from a wound , doth constantly ( until the last act of putrefaction ) hold an influential commerce with and affinity unto its proper fountain , yet enjoying a more perfect state of vitality , in its native conservatory , the veins ; and in that relation , doth continually send forth subtle streams , or invisible emissaries of mumial atomes , toward that fountain , or grand source , as ambassadors , to intimate the faithful correspondence and amity yet maintained : that these magnetical nuntii , being joyned in commission and confermentate with the balsamical emanations of the sympathetick vnguent or powder ▪ do carry them home to the wound : and lastly , that the exotick and destructive acidity , impressed upon the sides of the wound , and defeating the attempts of nature towards the redintegration and accretion of the continuity infringed , may be subdued and eradicated by the medicinal faculty of the atomes , deradiated from the vnguent , and conducted along to the wound in the arms of the mumial atomes . since we are of opinion , that no man , who hath but philosophy enough to examine the natural endowments of each single ingredient of the composition , as also of the third quality resulting from their commixture of confermentation : will deny , that the armary vnguent , is impregnated with a sanative faculty ; but such as may be too violent and intense , if the vnguent were applied in body , without the requisite allay and refraction of previous attenuation . thus ( judicious reader ) have you seen me , in very few minutes , run over my main course of the reasons of hoplochrism ; wherein , since i may not come so neer to the guilt of arrogancy , as confidently to say , i have won ; i freely submit to your equitable arbitration for censure , whether i have not contended fairly , at least , for the garland of truth , and far outstript those my two hotspurred adversaries , ignorance and ●…resumption . but yet must i become a further exercise of your patience , by holding you to the trouble of going along with me , over two other very 〈◊〉 stages ▪ which i am obliged to measure , in order to my plenary discharge of a rash promise , which the clamorous importunity of some friends prevail'd upon my too flexile genius to enter into ▪ the first is , to scan over the second paradox , concerning the nativity of tartar in wine ▪ here , i profess , i highly admire the sagacity of helmonts wit , in so exactly tracing this obscure entity , back to its first single constitutive principles , hunting through all those gradual mutations , which he distinctly scented , as well in the conglaciation of wines , in cold climats , as their fermentation , in hot , immediately upon their being brought home from the press . nor can it be gainsaid , by any , that the spirit of wine , in avoidance of its irreconcilable antagonist , cold , retreating to the center of its liquor , doth leave the cortex , or outward round , open to the invasion of acidity ; which being the first degree of corruption ( for if we boyl any flesh , that hath been but newly seized on by putrefaction , the broth thereof will have a manifest sowreness ) and wanting an object , whereon to sate its appetite of corrosion and dissolution , doth instantly dive to the bottom , and there operate upon the dregs , or residence of terrenity , subsiding upon a precedent diacrisis , or sequestration of heterogeneities : and so doth , by a second ebullition , cause them to reascend to the convexities of the liquor . but whether , the acid spirit , being coagulated in the very act of dissolution , according to that chymick axiome , omnis spiritus dissolvens , eadem actione , qua corpora dissolvit , coagulatur , be the immediate cause of the concretion or coagmentation of the dissolved and fluctuating faeces : i confess , i am yet unsatisfied . the ground of my haesitancy , in this particular , is that upon a strict and laborious exploration of the causes of coagulation , conductive to lapidescence or petrification , in my dissertation de lithiasi , of stones in the microcosm , i found ; that the onely gorgon , or lapidifactory principle , to which all concreted substances ow their coagulation , and upon the destruction of which , they return to their primitive incontinuity and volatility , is a saline fixative spirit , as i have in that discourse sufficiently proved : and therefore i should rather derive the pedigree of tartar after this manner . when the acid spirit , immersed in an excessive quantity of terrenity , becomes evirate , languid , and insufficient to the volatilization of the more gross , ponderous , and fixt parts of the faeces ; it is wholly overcome by the predominant power of the saline gorgon , ambuscadoed in the terrestrial residence : and so immediately upon this conquest , all the terrestrial atomes are fixed , coagmentated , and ferruminated into a solid concretion ; which is the tartar adhering to the sides of wine casks . here also doth my constant fidelity to truth , make me to observe ; that if vineger be made of wine , whose spirits are all exhausted , by the destructive embraces of heat , surrounding the vessel , and so insensibly extracting all radical vigor and essential vitality from the mass of liquor , propter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to be united to a consimilar substance ; as seemeth most consonant to experience ; then doubtless , that great privy counsellor to nature , sennertus * , hath deserved the refuge of that proverb , bernhardus non videt omnia , in his mistake , that vineger should be made of wine , wherein the spirits are fixed or congelated , by reason of an oppressive quantity of fixative salt , arising from the immaturity , austerity and defective fermentation of the must , and not out of wine , whose spirits are separated by exhaustion ; and by consequence , must have miscarried in his design of drawing spirit of wine out of vineger , which project he mentioned both in his chymical operations , and in his incomparable tract , de consensu chymicorum cum galenicis . my last unwilling task , is the delivery of my suffrage , upon that inscrutable paradox , asserted by helmont in his discourse of the image of god in man , as the main point he drives at in all that meditation ; namely , that reason is no radical , primitive , essential part of the human soul , but a caduce , spurious faculty , accidentally advenient upon the degradation of our nature , by eating the poysonous fruit of the forbidden tree ; and by consequence , separable from the soul , at the instant of her emancipation from her prison of clay , and wholly useless to her in her state of restitution to the clarity of abstracted and intuitive intellection . to this opinion ( i blush not to profess ) i have formerly leaned , as well by reason of a propensity thereunto kindled in me by a short passage in s. augustine * , as by finding , in my solitary speculations , a readiness in my beleif to submit to the conviction of these ensuing arguments . ( . ) the soul layeth hold on her hopes of future beatitude , with her right hand of faith , which is a firm and unalterable apprehension of objects , to which her left hand of reason can never be extended : yea , so far short doth our most advanced and illuminated reason come of the true cognition of the essence of omnipotence , infinity , eternity , &c. that , in every step of our journey towards the true elizium , we must quit the dark lanthorn of reason , and wholly throw our selves upon the implicit conduct of faith. for a deplorable truth it is , that the unconstant , variable , and seductive imposture of reason , hath been the onely unhappy cause , to which religion doth ow all those wide , irreconcileable and numerous rents and schisms , in the seamless and indivisible coat of faith , made by men of the greatest logick , and even such , whose intenser flames of devotion had rendred their mindes the whitest and most purified from the lees of temporal interest : every faction alleadging a rational induction , or ground for its peculiar def●…ection , from the unity of truth ; reason having , in their judgments , erected the rotten and fragil reed of meer futation , in the room of the sound and inflexible pillar of certain and fiduciary cognition . ( . ) the minde of man , squared by the rule of faith , stands ascertained , that the form or essence of verity , is unical , single , and devoid of all alterity ; and that the intellect , in its abstracted simplicity , apprehendeth onely the unity of verity : but reason is unavoidably obnoxious to the delusion of multiplicity , and distraction of alterity , and therefore unfit to steer the will , in the act of election . quippe quae ( as helmont , most significantly ) facilè per linguas , nunc ad unum , nunc verò ad alterum extremorum , nutabunda flecteretur , rationésque ubique inveniret , fingeret , substerneret , juxta placita desideriorum . ( . ) the minde , having once fathomed the extent of her wings , in metaphysical speculations , becomes assured , that after her delivery from the dungeon of flesh and blood , she shall have all her knowledg full , entire , abstracted , in one single act ; not successive , not extorted by the oblique violence of premises , not erroneous , controvertible , or dubious : that she shall no longer groan under the perplexity of framing demonstrations , by wr●…sting , deducing , inferring , concluding one proposition from another ; whether in order to her act of conception or notification . ( . ) where precedeth no discourse , no composition , nor connexion of premises ; there , doubtless , can succeed no conclusion , consecution , or reason : but the science of the premises , is always more certain , then the science of the conclusion ( since the certitude of the inference , is extracted out of , and doth necessarily depend upon the certitude of the proposition conceded ) and that science is radically seated in the intellect , without the concurrence of reason , because we finde it elder then the demonstration . and questionless , this were a fair ground for any able pen to contend upon ; that reason doth not generate , in the understanding , any more , then a caliginous or spurious cognition , which we may call a specious putation : as also , that the indubitate science of the verity of essences , of the simplicity of things abstracted , and of first propositions , or leading notions in syllogisms , doth not flow from the polluted and tempestuous stream of reason ; but , indeed , from a more divine , serene , luminous fountain , the intellect , which i may , with solomon , adventure thus to describe : it is the breath of the power of god , and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the almighty , the brightness of the everlasting light , the unspotted mirror of the power of god , and the image of his goodness , and being but one , she can do all things , and remaining in her self she maketh all things new , &c. ( . ) let any probleme in philosophy be propounded to ten , or twenty ( the number is of no concernment ) the most sage oedipuse's in the world , and a reason demanded from each apart : and i dare promise , you shall observe , the variety of opinions will stand in aequilibrio with the number of persons ; every single head being deluded by the imposture of specious reason , and so contumaciously adhering to its particular apprehension , that the most modest of them all will be ready to swear , that his solution hath touched the white and centre of truth ; when , peradventure , not one among them hath ever shot neer it . such a chameleon is our reason ; and so variously delusive . ( . ) truth is impressed onely upon the intellect , in regard , the verity understood , is nothing else but the adequation of the intellect to the object ; or more plainly , the intellects putting on the form of the thing comprehended ( for the intellect knoweth objects in the reality of their distinct essence , and is therefore interchangeably certified of the nature of things , by the things , themselves : since the esse of things is , of it self , ever true , and their essence and the essence of truth ; are homogeneal and identical ) and therefore the intellect , which is in a manner carried forth to a conjunction with the abstract forms of objects , is always directly true . now since the imagination , or its laborious faculty , reason , is a certain oblique and circulatory way of intelligence , wyerdrawn through the devious meanders , and complex paths of discourse ; but not by the immediate metamorphosis of adequation , or protean shifting of its own form , into the form of the thing apprehended : therefore is the way of cognition by reason , fallacious and nonscientifical . ( . ) whatever soundeth but analogous or affine , that doth reason positively judg , consonant and homogeneous to verity : when yet reason and truth are infinitely disparate , as to the roots of their essences . for verity is , ens reale , verum : but reason is , ens mentale , problematicum , and onely plausible , or apparent ; and hence do our metaphysicians account of en●… rationis , no more then non-ens , as deriving its geniture from no more substantial a father , then imagination , and its production , from the wanton and inconstant womb of putation . ( . ) many wise men , great scholars , and extreamly tender , in the point of their allegeance to the church , have thought it no dishonor to their creation , nor diminution of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or transcendent dignity of humane nature , to opinion , that the faculty of discourse , though in a greater degree of obscurity , may be attributed to brute animals . i presume , this hard saying will , by the unisone vote of the multitude , be soon condemned to relish more of the philosopher , then the christian , and so be exploded for contagious and ethnical . but that indifferent ear , that shall have so much patience , as to hear st. jerome relate his story of the * faune , or semi-humane monster , that having vocally acknowledged the true god , embraced the christian belief , received the symbols of the same , and earnestly desired the mediatory prayers of anthony , the anachoret , conversed a long time with him , in the wilderness : shall observe the arithmetick of bees * , in computing their hives morn and even , having no other method of directing themselves each to his proper home , but the number of their particular common-wealth , which when they miss , upon a transposition of them , they stray and are lost in their mistake of entering another hive ; and finally shall to these evidences , annex the serious lecture of that eloquent legat hieron . rorarius , in his two books , quòd animalia bruta ratione utantur meliùs homine , and other writers on the same argument ; will , i doubt not , arise fully satisfied , that a well tempered enquiry , whether the power of ratiocination , be not in common to some beasts , as well as to man , though imperfectiori modo , cannot misbecome , though not the pulpit , yet the study of the most rigid divine . these , i say , were the temptations that first drew me into a belief , that the power of ratiocination seemed too low and trivial an endowment , to make out the imperial prerogative , of mans being created in the image of god ; though at the same time , i could not but make a strong reflexion upon my own frailties , and there inform my self , that i wanted not cause to despair , of ever being so happy , in this life , as to become enabled , by study , to husband my share of reason , to the best use , and utmost improvement of its capacity . but my second thoughts are more wary , and hold it a part of prudence , to suspend my positive assent unto this nice particular ; as well in respect , this dispute would better beseem the metaphysical speculations of the school divine , then the gross and corporeal disquisition of a young physician : as also , that i have observed sculls of the largest capacity , most subject to scepticity ; especially , in notions relating to the condition of the soul , when strugled from the eclipse of flesh. to which may be added , that absolutely to determine pro or con , on this debate ; though it may manifest the fineness and subtilty of his wit , who can handsomly set reason against her self , and wound her at heart with arrows stoln out of her own quiver ; yet must it be , a bold usurpation of the priviledg of death , to whose decision properly doubts of this kinde belong ; that being the universal moderator , that will sate our curiosities , and in a moment , determine all our controversies . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , arist. w. charleton . london , the . of november . . in elegantissimam triadem tractatuum philosophicorum doctis . van - helmont de magnetismo , tartaro , & anima ; ad. gualtero charleton clarissimo chimiatro londin . anglico idiomate cum notis donatorum : hoc , in amicitiae tesseram , apud belgas discessurus , epigramma operi suo praefigendum reliquit : p. de cardonnel . docta trias ! magnum sophiae quae condis elixir , quod puto termagnum vel latuisse senem : eia avibus prodi laetis ; te fama secundet prospera , suffragiis intemerata suis. digna trias cedro ; phoebi lauróque perenni , digna vel invitos conciliare sophos : aonidum munus sacrum , doctaeque minervae , cui nil posse addi fama putabat iners : addere suada novos , ô charletone , lepores ausa tamen calami est dexteritásque tui . alter dicêris meritò nunc omnibus * hermes ; et tua jam summis proxima laurus erit : quáque theophrastum evexit germania laude , helmonti in * batavis gloria quanta fuit : tàm debere tibi britones se jure fatentur , vtiliora illis qui monumenta paras . v. kal . vii bris . aerae christ . mdcxlix . alexandri rossaei epigramma in politam hanc translationem anglicam triuim d. helmontii tractatuum , a domino gualt . charletono , m. d. clarissimo emissam . quae nêque phillyrides , nec noverat ipse melampus , jasidésve senex : nec qui paeoniis castum revocavit ad aur as artibus hippolytum : nec qui inter danaos doctor podalirius olim artis apollineae noverat ; haec nobis sermone helmontius heros tradidit ausonio . quamvis illi omnes potuêre expellere morbos arte machaonia : non tamen hi rerum causas novêre latentes , quas docet iste liber , quem puro sermone & vocibus edidit anglis charleton jatricus . herculeas rerum vires , animámque reclusit splendidiore face : et velut alcides , reseravit tartara nobis ; non acheronta tamen . hic phoebo est charus , sed longè charior esset si peripateticus . alex. rosse . to the learned dr. charleton , on his elegant translation of some most select pieces of helmont , accompanied with his excellent notes , candid animadversions , and opportune enlargement . helmont , though dead , is now reviv'd . your pen , like aesons bath , instill's fresh youth agen , into his pale and elemental clay . his tomb , by your fair midwifery , becom's a womb : from whose now re-impregnate sperm , he buds forth into a second infancy . your sheets new swath him ( sir ) where he appears more vigorous in this youth , then in his years . we 're now convinc'd , that sympathies combine at distance ; that dispersed mumies twine : that nature , on one string , like coupled beads , her rosary of twisted causes threads . since what of those he first asserted true , gathers new strength , and argument from you . those active flames , which thaw'd your brain , do thence espouse his widowed earth , with heat and sense . those spirits , which that publike mint o' th' blood , the liver , back retails to th'purple flood , still through their azure limbecks , and entrust new sap , and verdure to his wither'd dust. sure , when the soul of helmont shook away the frippery , and luggage of her clay , she seem'd to steal into your brest ; and there to fix herself , as in her second sphere . yet lest two inmate souls , both so immense , they cannot be unactive , chain'd in sense , or close immur'd in walls of flesh , should rent uncircumscrib'd , the brittle tenement : they virtually diffuse themselves , and come into this book , by an effluvium . within whose pages , they 'l joynt tenants dwell , as in some nere to be demolisht cell . and when the wardrobe of your dust shall be dispers'd themselves into more dust then ye ; this to your names ( from times impressions safe ) shall stand at once , both urn and epitaph . thom. philipot . of the magnetick cure of wounds . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the summary . . fascination , sympathy , and magnetisme differ . . the sympathetick unguent one , the magnetick another . . mumie what . . philosophy immediately subject to the reprehension of reason onely . . the difference of law and philosophy . . from an ignorance of the cause , magnetism ascribed to the devill . . who the interpreters of nature . . why chymicks only fit to unridle the mysterious oracles of nature . . he is tacitely guilty of pride , who from an ignorance of the cause , beleeves a naturall effect to be diabolicall . . who are the devils flatterers . . magnetisme no new invention . . the armary unguent . . the intention , scope , ingredients , and manner of the application of the unguent , good . . the unguent , why not unlawfull . . nor superstitious . . superstition , what . . why the manner of the unguents operation , unknown to the censor , concludes nothing against it . . magnetisme what . . some effects of the loadstone . . the magneticall cure of ( otherwise ) incurable diseases , perfect . . milk burned , dryes up the breasts . . vitrioll destroyed by magnetism . . mumie operates from italy , as far as bruxels . . the carline thistle , in the shadow , attracteth wonderfully . . the same numericall disease may change subjects . . from magnetism flowers follow the sun. . mumiall philtres , how they may be magneticall . . the secret mystery of the blood is the chymist's loadstone . . herbs , how , and why magneticall . . asarabacca and elder , magneticall . . an implicit compact , the refuge of the ignorant . . sympathy praesupposeth sense . . the mumie of a dead brother , long since impressed upon a chaire , yet magneticall . . a saphire , in magnetisme , rivals the unguent . . a saphire , by the touch of one carbuncle , cures many others . . why the grand praelates of the church wear caerule rings . . man hath a magnetick virtue . . a zenexton , or amulet , against the plague . . necessary it is , that one and the same accident passe from subject to subject . . magnetisme a coelistiall quality . . a thiefe or murderer , and an honest man , or woman , yeeld the same mosse . . whence , and what the seed of the mosse . . the fruit of the aër . . the mosse , a production of fire . . in the mosse also is the back of the magnet , the scope being changed . . god , in miracles , follows the course of nature . . god , by reliques , approves the magnetisme of the unguent . . supernaturall magnetisme warranteth naturall . . a lock of the mosse , worn in the forehead , is defence against a sword : but of the stole of saint hubert , against the biting of a mad dog . . a lock neatly inserted into the forehead , is a praeservative , during life , from the biting of a mad dog . . pepper degenerateth into ivy. . how we are to judge of persons . . paracelsus the monarch of secrets . . every thing hath its peculiar heaven . . whence every naturall inclination . . whence diseases are astrall in man , and portend foule weather . . whence diseased men have a foreknowledge of tempests . . what causeth the flux and reflux of the sea. . whence the winds are stirred up . . the heavens doe not cause , but onely denounce future events . . every seminall entity , hath its own peculiar firmament , and the virtue of its influence . . the vine , not the stars , troubleth the wine . . antimony observes an influence . . the loadstone directeth it selfe , but is not attracted , to the pole . . glasse , magneticall . . rosin , magneticall . . the power of garlick over a loadstone : and why the same over mercury . . the power operative on a distant object , is naturall even in sublunaries : and magneticall . . every creature lives , suo modo : by the peculiar information of his own essentiall forme . . what the unguent can attract from the wound , at distance . . every satanicall effect is imperfect . . why satan cannot cooperate with our unguent . . what may be called , the will , and phansie of the flesh , and of the outward man. . a twofold ecstasy . . the ecstatique virtue of the blood . . corruption educeth that dormant virtue into action . . the essences of things not subject to corruption . . the designe of spagyricall putrefaction . . the cause of magnetisme in the unguent . . the heart attracted by treasure , magnetically . . the originall of necromancy . . what man is , in the notion of animal : and what in the notion of the image of god. . how an eagle is invited by the magnetism of a carcase . . how the blood , in the unguent , is allected to its treasure : and why eagles flock together to a carcase , magnetically . . sensation animal , and sensation naturall , different . . the effects of witches , impious . . the power of the witch , is naturall : and what that power is . . where in man , the magicall power is seated . . whether man hath a dominion paramount , over all other creatures . why a man is indowed with a power of acting , per nutum . . the magicall faculty of man , what . . this magicall activity lyes ambuscadoed in man , severall wayes . . the inward man , the same with the outward fundamentally : but materially diverse . . what is the vitall spirit : its science and endowment . . in a carcase , extinct by a voluntary death , there is no inhaerent spirit . . the division of spirits according to the doctrine of physicians . . the soule operates in the body , onely per nutum , magically . . in the body , the soule operateth onely by a drowsie , so●…olent beck , or restrained intuition : but out of the body , by a nimble , and vehement . the knowledge of the apple , eclipseth the knowledge magicall . . the beginning of the cabal , drawn from dreams , divinely infused . . the defect of understanding in the outward man. . how far the power of atan extends in witches . . what are the true and proper works of satan . . sin took away the endowments of grace , and obscured those of nature . . the end of the pious exercises of catholikes . . the grand effect of the cabal . . two subjects of all things . . man hath a power of acting , as well by spirit , as body . . what kind of ray , or effluvium , is transmitted from a witch , to a bruite . . how a witch may be discovered . . how the spirit of a witch may be captived , and bound fast in the heart of a horse . . the intention depraves a good work . . the virtue seminall , is naturally magicall . . the cause of the cruentation of a murdered carcase , in the praesence of the homicide . . why the plague a frequent concomitant of seidges . . works of mercy , to be done upon the distressed , though only in order to the avoydance of the plague . . plagues arising from revenge , and exsecrations of men dying under oppression , most fatall . . why the carcases of malefactors were to be removed from the gibbet . . why excrements can be no authors of a plague . . why the blood of a bull is venemous . . why the fat of a bulis made an ingredient into the sympathetick unguent ▪ namely , that it may be made an armary unguent . . why satan cannot concur to the unguent . . the basis of magick . . when vanities and impostures are reputed for magick . . a good magick in holy writ . . what may be called true magick . . the cause of the idolatry of witches . . the excitators of magick . . satan excites it imperfectly . . whence beasts are also magicall . . the dominion of spirits fostereth contention and love . . man , why a microcosm . . the mind generateth reall entities . . that reall entity of an ambiguous , or midle nature , betwixt a body and a spirit . . the descension of the soul , causeth a conformative will. . the cause of the fertility of seeds . . why lust doth in a manner , alienate us from our mind . . a father , by the spirit of his seed , doth generate extra se beyond the limits of his own body , in a subject suddainly removed to distance . . what spirit that is , which is the patron of magnetism . . the will doth transmit a spirit to the object . unlesse the will did produce some reality , the devill could have no knowledge of it and unlesse it sent this produced reality forth from it self , toward the object , the devil being absent , could never be provok'd thereby . where therefore the treasure is , thither doth the heart of man tend . . magnetisme done by sensation . . there is a plurality of sensations in one single subject . . from the superiour phansy commanding it . . why glasse-makers use the powder of loadstone . . the phansy of attrahents changed . . inanimate creatures , endowed with phansy . . why some things eaten , introduce madness . . why a mad dog biting a man , causeth madnesse . . the sting of the tarantula causeth an alienation of the mind from reason . . why beasts defend not themselves against the biting of a mad dog . ●… . the sympathy betwixt objects removed at distance each from other , is done by the mediation of an universall spirit , which governing the sun , and other coelestiall orbs , is endued with exquisite sense . . the imagination , in creatures enriched with an elective faculty , is various , arbitrary , and unconfined : but in others , of the same determinate identity alwayes . . the first degree of power magicall , dwelleth in the formes of the three grand principles , viz. sal , sulphur , and mercury . . the second is by the phansies of the forms of the mixtum , or integrall composition : which being destroyed , the principles yet remaine . . the third ariseth from the phansy of the soule . . what beasts are endowed with magicall power , and can act beyond the circumference of themselves , per nutum onely . . the fourth degree of power magicall , is from the excited intellect of man. . the word magick , is analogous , and appliable to many things , in a third relation . . every magicall power , stands in need of , and is improved by excitation . . what may be said a subject capable of magnetism . . how magnetism differs from other formall proprieties . . the superfluous humours & excrements of the body , have also their phansy . . why holy writ doth give the attribute of life , rather to the blood then to any other humor in the body . . the seed inhaeriteth the phansy of the father , by traduction : whence nobility hath its originall . . the skins of the wolfe and sheep retain a phantastique enmity , of their former life . . what the phansy of the blood , freshly added to the unguent , can doe . the manner of the magnetisme in the unguent . . the difference betwixt a magneticall cure done by the unguent , and that done by a rotten egg . . the grand mystery of humane imagination , the foundation of naturall magick . . the intellect impresseth the entity , it selfe created , upon the externall object : and there it really perseveres . . how to make powerfull pentacles or magicall characters . . the phansy , by a naile , as by a medium , holds captive the spirit of the witch . . if satan can move a body , without any corporeall extremity : why cannot the inward man doe the same ? and why not rather the spirit of the witch ? . the virtue of the unguent , not from the imagination of its compounder : but from diverse simples married into one composition . . the author makes profession of his faith. in the eighth year of this age , there came to my hands an oration declamatory , made at marpurge of the catti , wherein rodulphus goclenius ( to whom the publick profession of philosophy was lately committed ) paying his first fruits to the university , endevours to make good , that the cure of wounds , by the sympathetick , and armarie unguent , first invented by paracelsus , is meerly natural . which oration i wholly read , and sighed , that the history of natural things had faln under the protection of so weak a patron . the author , nevertheless , highly pleased himself with that argument of writing , and with a continued barrenness of probation , in the year . published the same work , with some enlargement . not long since , i also met with a succinct anatome of the fore-mentioned book , compiled by a certain divine , savoring more of a fine-witted censure , then a solid disputation . whereupon my judgment , what ever it were , was much desired ; at least , in that relation , that the thing invented by paracelsus , neerly concerned him , and my self , his disciple . i shall therefore declare , what i conceive of the physician goclenius , and what of the divine , the censor . the physician in the first place , proposes , and with ostentation promises to prove , the magnetical cure of wounds to be purely natural ; but i found the undertaker insufficient , to perform so weighty a task ; in regard he no where , or at best but very slenderly , makes good the title , or his own large promises . collecting , hence and thence from divers authors , many rhapsodies or gleanings , by which he conceives he hath , to ample satisfaction , proved , that in the inventory of created natures , there are certain formal or essential vertues , which men term sympathy and antipathy ; and also that from the concession of these , the magnetical cure is meerly natural . many things , i say , borrowed from the egyptians , chaldeans , persians , conjurers , and impostors , he hath amassed together into this one discourse , that thereby he might evidence and confirm that magnetism , which notwithstanding , himself was wholly ignorant of . with design , partly , that by a delightful entertainment of those mindes that are eager in the quest of novelties , he might seduce them from a direct progression to the mark ; and partly to raise them to an admiration of the author , who seemed to have read , and ransacked not onely vulgar , but also all other more rare and antique writers . for which consideration , the physician does very absurdly confound sympathy ( which erroneously , and under various notions he very often introduces ) with magnetism ; and from that concludes this to be natural : for i have observed this vulnerary unguent to cure , not onely men , but horses also ; with which our nature holds not so neer an affinity ( unless we grant our selves to be asses ) that from thence the sympathetick unguent should deserve to be accounted common to horses , as well as to us . with the same absurd indistinction , he also confounds sympathy with fascination and ligation , and both with magnetism ; namely , with great anxiety and travel of minde , he crouds together upon the stage , in one scene , without any distinction , all secret , and more abstruse effects what ever ; that being destitute of reasons , he might thereby support his own magnetism . i will by an example difference fascination from sympathy , and both from magnetism . a dog holds an antipathy ( for sympathy and antipathy are both daughters of the same mother ) with a hen ; for he preys upon her , and she flies from him ; but when she hath newly hatched her chickens , and excluded them from the protection of their shells , she boldly assaults , and puts to flight a dog ; though of himself very courageous ; to wit , the soul of the hen , by fascination , chaining up the soul of the dog ; the former antipathy , disparity of weapons for guard , and great ods of strength affording no hinderance to the action : but in this , magnetism is no where to be found . moreover , what other instances the physician inserts , concerning impresses , characters , gamaheu , or magical images , ceremonies , and such like , for the most part , vain observances , are but random shots , wholly impertinent to the present scope , and rather stagger the doctrine of magnetism , by rendring it suspected , then support or advance it . but of these positively to determine any thing , is a task not sutable to my wit. goclenius furthermore wanders from truth , and indeed with no less temerity then ignorance ; fondly dreaming from the prescript of paracelsus , that the weapon , wherewith the wound was inflicted , if rolled up in the weapon salve , did work the cure on the wound . for in vain is the weapon , or point of the sword anointed with the armary unguent , prescribed by him , unless it be distained with blood , and that blood be first dried upon the sword . for to paracelsus , the sympathetick unguent is one thing , in respect of the blood effluxed out of the wound ; and that unguent , wherewith arms , which have received no tincture of blood , are to be emplastrated , clearly another ; and for this reason , he christens the former , the magnetick , and sympathetick , the latter , the armary magnetick unguent : which therefore ( and to good purpose ) receives into its confection , besides the ingredients essential to the former , honey , and bulls fat . in fine , goclenius , to humor his own genius , hath altered the prescription of paracelsus ; affirming , that the usnea , or moss , is to be selected onely from the skulls of such , as have been hanged . of which his own , and grosly erroneous invention enquiring a reason , he blushes not foolishly to imagine , that in strangulation the vital spirits violently retreat into the skull , and there constantly shroud themselves for some time , until the moss shall , under the open canopy of the air , grow up , and periwig the cranium . paracelsus hath expresly taught the contrary , and by multiplied experience we are confirmed , that usnea gathered from the skulls of such , who have been broken on the wheel , is in virtue no whit inferior to that of men strangled with a halter . for truly from animals there is not drawn the quint essence ( in regard the principal , and paramont essence perisheth together with the influent spirit , and life ) but onely the virtue mumial , that is , the originary , implantate , and confermentate spirit , safely remaining , and in an obscure vitality surviving , in bodies extinct by violence . what other things goclenius hath delivered , of remedies to repair a ruinous memory , as we cannot but declare them , in no relation , congruent to the scope intended ; so also we nothing doubt to prove them meer pageants and impertinent flourishes . betwixt our divine and physician , there is at all no dispute de facto , about the verity of the fact ; for both unanimously concede the cure to be wrought upon the wounded person : the contention lies onely in this , that the physician asserts this magnetical cure to be purely natural , but the divine will needs have it satanical , and that from a compact of the first inventor . of which censure , in his anatome of our physicians discourse , he alledges no positive reason ; conceiving it sufficiently satisfactory , if he , on the score of his own solitary judgment , abolish it , though he subjoyn no grounds for the abolition ; that is , acquiescing onely in this , that he hath removed the feeble and invalid arguments of the assertor ; which , in sober truth , is a matter of no diligence , no learning , and of no authority to erect or establish beleif . for what avails it , to the procurement of faith , from no stronger evidence , then the futility of specious reasons , urged by some ignorant head , to give a definite judgment on the thing it self ? and to declare it impious , if himself hath not so much as in a dream thought upon any one petty reason , for the support of his sentence ? what if i , being a laick , should with course and untrimmed arguments , commend presbytery , and another reject my reasons as unworthy and insufficient , will the order of priesthood it self be therefore rejected ? of what concernment , i pray , is the ignorance , or temerity of any one to realities themselves ? in the court of truth , philosophy submits not it self to naked and single censures , unless there also concur a considerable gravity of the censors , fortified with firm and convincible reasons . wherefore i , who have undertaken , in opposition to our divine , to make good , that the magnetick cure of wounds , is the single , and ordinary effect of nature ; in the first place , think goclenius worthy to be excused , if without success he hath sweat in the indagation of the grand and approximate cause of this rare effect . what wonder , when our divine makes publick confession , that himself is utterly ignorant of that cause , and onely for that reason refers it to satan , as to the author and master-wheel in this abstruse motion : for such is the infirmity of our delapsed nature , that we are destitute of the knowledg of the most , and most excellent things . and therefore , to palliate this defect of our understanding , we , though not without some tacite reluctancy within , obliquely wrest many effects , whose efficients are beyond the ken of our blear-eyed reason , to the sanctuary of ignorance , and refer them to the catalogue of occult qualities . for who , among divines , ever had a plenary and demonstrative knowledg of the true and proper cause of risibility , or any other formal propriety : for example , of the heat of fire . dost not thou fall upon that fallacy , petitio principii , an absurd begging of the question , if thou answer , that extreme heat belongs to fire , because it is of the essence of fire ? in truth , the essences of forms , in regard they are unknown to us , à priori , from their causalities ; therefore also is the original , or pedigree of formal proprieties , wholly abstruse , jejune , and undiscovered ; and where we perceive any formal passion subjoyned , the minde , as if tired with vain scrutiny , soon ceaseth from the disquisition of it , and reposeth it self , sitting down contented with the empty notion , and bare name of occult proprieties . go to , i beseech thee , does the anatomist , our censor , happily know the reason why a dog swings his tayl when he rejoyces , but a lyon when he is angry ; and a cat , when pleased , advances hers in an erect posture ? what therefore , when himself cannot give a reason for the motion of a tayl , will he so much wonder , that goclenius hath given an improper and insolid reason of magnetism ? and from the refutation of that , presume that he hath more then sufficiently demonstrated that sanation of wounds to be satanical , which is the genuine effect of magnetism ? far from us be so great temerity of censure . come on then ; why dost thou call that cure dibolical ? insooth , thou oughtest to have annexed the reason of thy censure , unless thou expectest it should be denied by others , with the same facility , wherewith thou affirmest it to be diabolical . lawyers require onely the affirmative confirmed ; but philosophers both parts , that the ignorance or protervity of the nogant party , may not appear greater then that of the affirmant . dost thou happily maintain the cure to be diabolical , because it cannot be clearly understood ( by thee ) that there is any natural reason for it ? i will not beleeve , that from thy own infirmity , thou mayst deliver so idle and stupid a sentence of the vertue of it . for thou well knowest , that the imbecillity of our understanding , in not comprehending the more abstruse and retired causes of things , is not to be ascribed to any defect in their nature , but in our own hoodwinkt intellectual●… . proceed therefore ; whence hast thou assurance , that god , in his primitive intention , hath not directed this vertue magnetical to the benefit of the wounded ? shew us your commission ; hath god elected you the secretary of his councel ? certainly , however you may waver in your belief , you shall in conclusion finde , that amongst you divines , the magnetick cure can be accounted diabolical for no other reason then that the shallowness of your judgment cannot comprehend , nor your function admit it to be natural . what wonder , that no divine hath ever scented these subtilities ? for after the priest and the levite had both passed on to jericho , there succeeded a samaritan , a lay man , who deprived the priests of all right of disquisition into the secret causes of things . whereupon nature from thenceforth summoned not divines to be the interpreters of her nicer operations , but adopted physicians onely to be her darlings , and none but such , who instructed by pyrotechny , examine the proprieties of things , by sequestring the impediments or clogs of vertues ambuscadoed in their grosser materials , such are their crudity , venenosities , and impurities ; that is those bryars and thorns every where , from the first malediction , inoculated into the creatures in their spring or virgin estate . for since dame nature ( the proto-chymist ) her self doth every day sublime , calcine , ferment , dissolve , coagulate , fix , &c. certainly we also , the onely faithful interpreters of natures oracles , do by the same helps and advantages draw forth the essential qualities of things from the dark prison of their materials , and bring them to the meridian light of reason . but the divine , that he may be able to discern what is prestigious , from what is natural ; it is requisite , that he first borrow the definition from us , lest the cobler shamefully adventure beyond his last : let the divine enquire onely concerning god , but the naturalist concerning nature . assuredly the goodness of the creator was largely diffused on all the works of his hands , who created all things for the use and benefit of ingrateful man : neither admitted any of our divines as an assessor in his councel , how many , and how excellent vertues he should endow his creatures withal . in the interim , i am wholly unsatisfied how he can be excused from the sin of pride , who because he comprehends not the natural cause , as measuring all the immense works of god by the narrow extent of his own head , does therefore audaciously deny , that god hath bestowed any such vertue on the creature ; as if man , a vile worm , had fathom'd the power of god , and were privy to the designes of his councel . he estimates the mindes of all men by his own , who thinks that cannot be done which he cannot understand . to me , seriously , it appears a wonder in no respect that god hath , besides a body perfectly resembling the loadstone , bestowed upon his creatures a noble vertue also , which our reason can explicate by no other term then that of magnetism . ought it not to suffice , to the indubitate concession of magnetism , that onely one single example ( i shall hereafter bring in others , numerous and apposite ) be introduced , of the natural efficiency of that stone , according to the model or pattern whereof , even other endowments , variously distributed amongst the creatures , may be clearly understood ? what , because the thing is new , paradoxical , and above the reach of your understanding , must it therefore be satanical also ? far be it from us to conceive so unworthily of the divine majesty of the creator ; nor indeed ought we thus to court or gratifie the devil , by transferring this honor upon him ; for what can ever affect him with a more full delight , then that the glory of good works be ascribed to him , as if he had been the grand author of them ? that material nature does uncessantly by its secret magnetism , suck down forms from the brests of the superior orbs , and greedily thirst after the favor and benign influence of the celestial luminaries , you willingly concede ; and moreover , that the stars in exchange attract some tribute from inferior bodies , so that there is a free commerce , and reciprocal return from each to other , and one harmonious concord , and conspiracy of all parts with the whole universe : and thus magnetism , in regard it is vigorous and pregnant in every thing , hath nothing new in it but the name , nor is it paradoxical , but to those who deride all things , and refer to the dominion of satan , whatsoever falls not within the narrow circle of their own understanding . in good truth , this kinde of wisdom is never to be found by him that seeks it with derision . but i beseech you , what of superstition hath the armary unguent ? whether because it is compounded of the moss , blood , mumy , and fat of man ? alas ! the physician uses these inoffensively , and to this purpose the apothecary is licensed to sell them . or perchance , because the manner of using and applying the medicine is new to you , unaccustomed to the vulgar , but admirable to both ; must the effect therefore be satanical ? sub due your passion , and calm your rage , ere long you shall be more fully satisfied . for the manner of its application , contains in it nothing of evil . first , the intention is good and pious , and directed onely to a good and charitable end ; namely , the healing of our sick , languishing neighbor , without pain , without danger , and without the consumption of his purse : and do you call this diabolical ? in fine , the remedies themselves are all meer natural means , to which we shall in the progress of our dispute , by convincing arguments demonstrate , that this generous faculty was peculiarly given by god himself . our wishes are that your self had , by so firm evidence , ratified your negative position , viz. that god , the supreme good , did not , in the creation , confer upon the ingredients of the unguent , any such natural vertue , and mumial magnetism . this magnetical remedy can , on no side , be laid open to the encroachment of suspect ; since , both in the confection and use , it hath no superstitious rites performed , it requires no mysterious words , no characters , or impresses , no prestigious ceremo●…ies , or vain observances conjoyned : it presupposes no planetary hours , or punctilioes of constellations , it prophanes not sacred things ; and what is more , it forestals not the imagination , requires not a confidence , or implicit faith , nay not so much as bare leave or consent from the wounded party ; all which are ever annexed to superstitious cures . for we account that properly to be superstition , when men relie upon the single power of an implicit faith , or imagination , or both concurring , above any particular vertue , which of it self is not sufficient , or by the primitive intention of the creator , not destined to the production of that particular effect . by which it is clearly manifest , that our magnetick cure hath none the smallest tincture of superstition . do thou therefore , o divine ! great with a sarcasm , with design at least to detect and deride the devil , make an experiment of the unguent , that so thou mayest destroy and totally abolish that implicit compact with him ; nevertheless thou shalt , volent or nolent , without either direction from , or obedience to thy will , finde the same effect result from thy application of it , that usually does upon ours ; which does not at all succeed upon the conjunction of superstitious causes . whoever reputes the magnetical sanation of wounds to be diabolical , not because it is performed by unlawful means , or directed to an unwarrantable end ; but because in the manner of its operation , it progresses in a path , which his reason cannot trace : he also convicted by the same argument , shall either give the quidditative and peculiarly express causes of all those admirable effects of the loadstone , which in the sequel of my discourse i am to mention ; or confess , that those rare operations of the loadstone , are the impostures and the legerdemain of satan ; or shall compulsively concede with us , ( which indeed will be the safer way ) that in nature there is a magnetism , that is , a certain hidden property , by this appellation , in reference to the conspicuous and confest prerogative of that stone , distinguisht from all other abstruse , and to common heads unknown , qualities . a loadstone placed upon a thin small trencher of wood , floating on water , does instantly in one determinate point australize , and in the other septentrionate . that extreme , which by its verticity regards the southern pole , when by touch it hath impregnated a piece of steel or iron , will immediately steer it to the north ; and the other extreme which looks upon the northern pole , having invigorated a needle of steel , will incline it to the south . by its septentrional point , which is its belly , it attracts iron or steel to it ; and by its australe end , which is its back , it thrusts iron or steel from it . the aquilonary side , by friction of the point of a compass needle , positionally from the right hand to the left , endows it with a vertical or polary faculty , whereby it is directed to the south : but if the friction be ordered in a quite contrary position , from the left hand to the right , the direction of the point of the needle will also be contrary , and neer to the north. thus also the australe side of the loadstone , according to the variety of locality , or position in friction , varies the polarity . nay , what carrieth a neerer face of miracle , if a loadstone by its affriction hath invigorated and excited a piece of iron , with a magnetical activity , that is , a power to attract another piece of iron ; the same new made magnetical iron , if inverted upside down , and in that antipodean position , a second time , rub'd upon the loadstone , will , in the same moment , be devested of its magnetical infusion , and clean forget it s lately acquired power of attraction . all which various and admirable effects of the loadstone , thou mayest , if thy judgment relish them , finde made good by multiplied observations , by william guilbert , not many yeers past , a physician in london , in his book de magnete : of which subject no man ever writ more judiciously or experimentally ; and by whose industry , the variation of the compass may be restored . the needle , which now points directly upon the north , coming under the equinoctial line , staggers to and fro , hovers from pole to pole , and in a trembling unconstancy fixes on neither : but once brought over the meridian , nimbly wheels about , and fixedly applies it self to the south . i shall annex this medical vertue of it : the back of the loadstone , as it repulseth iron , so also it retrudeth the gut , by reason of too wide an expansion of the process of the peritonaeum , prolapsed into the scrotum , cureth the enterocele or intestine rupture , and likewise all catarrhes or destilments , that have a private affinity , or analogy with the nature of iron . the iron-attracting faculty , if in a composition , married to the mumy of a woman , then the back of the loadstone applied to her thigh , on the inside , and the belly of another imposed upon her loyns , about the lowest spondil of the back , will safely prevent an abortion threatned ; but on the contrary , the belly of one loadstone applied to her thigh , and the back of another to her back , will both wonderfully facilitate her travail , and expedite her delivery . all which various operations of the loadstone , our anatomist is obliged to illustrate , by reasons , drawn ae priori , from the fountain of their distinct and determinate efficiencies , and expound to us the subtile manner of the progress of each cause , in the production of each several effect : otherwise , i shall by a parile argument of ignorance , conclude , that these in like manner , are also meer illusions of satan , and no effects of nature . i shall now infer some certain examples of another magnetism , cousin-german to the former ; that so with our judgment better informed we may at length come to the positive reason , and clear refutation of all the objections of our adversaries . what can i do more ? i my self will contrive reasons for you , which you have not at all urged . you may argue thus ; every effect either immediately proceeds from god , the sole operator , and so is a miracle ; or from satan , and so is prodigious ; or from natural and ordinary causes , and so is meerly natural ; but magnetism is neither a miracle , nor a natural effect ; and therefore satanical . i answer ; though i might , with great facility , declare this enumeration delivered , to be invalid , in regard the inward man hath a power of activity , by none of the forementioned ways , ( which , in the pursuit of our debate , we shall largely , and to ample satisfaction , treat of ) yet however we now with a dry foot , pass by the assumption , making it our chief task to deny and subvert the inference , namely in that part , whereby it is asserted , that the effect is not natural . for , by the rules of orderly and artificial disputation , that was first to be made good , that we might not fall foul upon that elench , petitio principii , a precarious concession of that thesis , which is yet questionable and undetermined ; but in this point , our censor hath yet been , and ever will be defective , to affirm the effect not to be natural ; unless he thought , that a bare affirmation is equivalent to a confirmation , and that to have substituted his single authority in the room of reason , was evidence strong enough to silence doubt , and procure credence . for there are many effects natural , which yet do not ordinarily happen ; namely , such as are rarely incident . wherefore to gratifie our anatomist , i shall all along the tract of this exercise , not onely maintain the affirmative part , but also perspicuously commonstrate it by reasons , and ratifie it by examples . for so the mighty argument , even now urged , will fall by its own weight . there is a book , imprinted at franekera , in the year . by uldericus dominicus balck , of the lamp of life . in which you shall finde , out of paracelsus , the true magnetical cure of most diseases , as of the dropsie , gout , jaundies , &c. by including the warm blood of the patient in the shell and white of an egg , which exposed to a gentle heat , and mixt with a bait of flesh , you shall give , together with the blood , to a hungry dog , or swine , and the disease shall instantly pass from you into the dog , and utterly leave you ; no otherwise then the leprosie of naaman did , by the exsecration of the prophet , transmigrate into gehazi . what , do you account this also diabolical , thus to have restored our languishing neighbor , by the magnetism onely of the mumial blood ? however , he is perfectly and undoubtedly recovered . ¶ a woman weaning her childe , to the end her brests may the sooner dry up , strokes her milk into a fire of glowing coals , and thereupon her paps suddenly grow flaccid , and the fountain of her milk , is stopped . what , doth the devil suck and drain them ? hath any one with his excrements defiled the threshold of thy door , and thou intendest to prohibit that nastiness for the future , do but lay a red-hot iron upon the excrement , and the immodest sloven shall , in a very short space , grow scabby on his buttocks ; the fire torrifying the excrement , and by dorsal magnetism driving the acrimony of the burning , into his impudent anus . perchance , you will object , that this action is satanical , in regard the end of it is revenge , and the laesion of the party , which offended us ; but assuredly , the abuse of such powers depends on the liberty of mans will , and yet the use is no whit the less natural . make a small table of bismuthum * , and on the one extreme , place a piece of amber , on the other , a piece of green vitriol ; the vitriol will in a moment lose both its colour and acidity . both which are familiarly observable in the preparation of amber . this one experiment , of all others , cannot but be free from all suspect of imposture , and illusion of the devil . a certain inhabitant of bruxels , in a combat had his nose mowed off , addressed himself to tagliacozzus * , a famous chirurgeon , living at bononia , that he might procure a new one ; and when he feared the incision of his own arm , he hired a porter to admit it , out of whose arm , having first given the reward agreed upon , at length he dig'd a new nose . about thirteen moneths after his return to his own countrey , on a sudden the ingrafted nose grew cold , putrified , and within few days , dropt off . to those of his friends , that were curious in the exploration of the cause of this unexpected misfortune , it was discovered , that the porter expired , neer about the same punctilio of time , wherein the nose grew frigid and cadaverous . there are at bruxels yet surviving , some of good repute , that were eye-witnesses of these occurrences . is not this magnetism of manifest affinity with mumy , whereby the nose , enjoying , by title and right of inoculation , a community of life , sense and vegetation , for so many moneths , on a sudden mortified on the other side of the alpes ? i pray , what is there in this of superstition ? what of attent and exalted imagination ? the root of the carline thistle ( which is the white chamaeleon of d●…oscorides ) pluckt up when full of juice and vigor , and contemporate with humane mumy , does , as it were by an operative ferment , exhaust all the natural strength and courage of a man , on whose shadow thou treadest , and infuse it into thee . but you may account this praestigious , because paradoxical ; as if the same identical leprosie were not traduced from naaman to gehazi ; and the same numerical jaundies transplanted from the patient to a dog . for a disease is not under the predicament of quality ; but all the predicaments are found in every particular disease . since indeed , it may be lawful to accommodate names to things , but not things to names . the heliotropian or solisequous flowers are wheeled about after the sun , by a certain magnetism ; not for his heat , whose comfort they may long after ; for in a cloudy and cold day they imitate the rhythme of the sun ; nor for his light , are they the lacqueis of the sun ; for in the dark night , when they have deserted him , they face about from the west , to the east . you will not account this diabolical , in regard you have another subterfuge at hand ; namely the harmony of superior bodies , with inferior , and a faculty attractive , purely celestial , and no way communicable to sublunaries . as though the microcosm , unworthy this heavenly prerogative , could in his blood and moss observe , and correspond to no revolution of the planets . i might here , with pertinence , discourse of philters , or amorous medicines , which require a mumial confermentation , that the affection and desire of the minde may be forcibly drawn , and rapt on to one determinate object . but on a sober consult with thought , it seems more advised , to supersede that theme , when i shall first have mentioned this one observation ; i know an herb , commonly obvious , which if it be rubbed , and cherished in thy hand , until it wax warm , you may hold fast the hand of another person , until that also grow warm , and he shall continually burn with an ardent love , and fixt dilection of thy person , for many days together . i held in my hand , first bathed in the steam of this love-procuring plant the foot of a dog , for some few minutes : the dog , wholly renouncing his old mistress , instantly followed me , and courted me so hotly , that in the night he lamentably howled at my chamber door , that i should open and admit him . there are some now living in bruxels , who are witnesses to me , and can attest the truth of this fact . for the heat of a mans hand warming and resolving the plant , i say not a bare , simple and solitary heat , but excited and impregnate with a certain effluvium , or emanation of spirits natural , doth peculiarly determine and individuate the vertue of the plant to himself ; and by this ferment communicated to a second person , doth by magnetism allect the spirit of that person , and subdue him to love . i omit the cures of many diseases , which the arcanum , the mystery of humane blood , doth magnetically perform : for unless the blood , yea the very sanies or purulent effluxions from wounds and ulcers , the urine , and that subtle effluvium , which by insensible transpiration evaporates through the pores of the skin , did continually exhaust , and carry with them some part of the vital spirit ; and unless these had also some participation of vitality , and conspiracy with the whole body , after their remove from the whole concretum : undoubtedly the life of man could not be so short . for indeed this is the cause of our intestine calamity , and that principle of death we carry about us , ambuscadoed in the very principles of life . the herbs arsemart or water pepper , cumfry , chirurgeons sophia or flixweed , adders tongue , and many other of the vulnerary tribe , have this peculiar endowment ; that if , when cold they are steept in water ( for an oke felled , when the north wind blows , will grow verminous and rotten , if not instantly sunk under water ) and then applied to a wound or ulcer , until they grow warm , and after buried in a muddy uliginous earth ; when they begin to putrifie , they then operate upon , and draw from the patient , whatever is evil , superfluous , and hurtful to him . and this the herbs perform , not while they grow in the earth , nor so long as they remain in their primitive and pristine form ( for necessary it is that the grain be mortified , that it may bring forth fruit ) but in the putrefaction of their corporeities , for the essential virtues being then as it were released from the prison and impediments of the corporeal matter , do put forth and freely execute that magnetism , which otherwise had lain dormant and enchained , and according to the contagion and impression received from the wounded or ulcerated part , powerfully suck out much of the remaining evil , though seated deeply and at great distance in the body . if any one in gathering the leaves of asarabecca , shall pluck them upward , they will perform their operation respectively , and purge any third person , that is wholly ignorant of that positional traction , by vomit onely ; but if in gathering they be wrested downward , they then will purge onely by stool . here at least can be no suspect of superstition ; for what need i here to mention any thing of imagination ; when your selves concede , that by the power of imagination nothing can be acted upon a third object , especially where that third object is utterly ignorant of the position , which the decerpent used ? will you again take hold of the sacred anchor of ignorance , and accuse this secret of an implicite compact with satan ? but herein lurks no vain observance ; chiefly when the decerptor shall have , the assument being wholly inscious of the position , pluckt off the leaves , either upward or downward . doubtless , besides asarum and the extremities or clusters of elder , no other cathartick medicines are enriched with this propriety ; for they , in what position soever collected from the plant , do ever operate univocally : that is , either constantly upwards , or constantly downwards , according to the destination of their gifts . but in asarum , in the integral plant , there sensibly appears a magnetical propriety ; and so it doth variously endow its leaves , according to the sense of their decerption . that not onely plants , but also almost all created entities , have a certain adumbration of sense , or obscure sensibility , they largely declare as well by sympathy , as antipathy ( which presuppose , and cannot consist without sense ) maintained amongst themselves ; which satisfactorily to manifest , shall be the subject of some succeeding lines . a second fit of the gout surprized a noble matron , of my acquaintance , after the first paroxysm had gone off , and left her ; and thenceforward the gout , by an unwonted recidivation , and periodical recourse , infested her without remission , for many moneths together . but she not apprehending whence so violent and unexpected a return of the disease had happened to her ; at length she rising from her bed , as often as the fury of the fit , by intervals , somewhat remitted , reposed her self in a chair , wherein a brother of hers , many years past , and in another city , cruelly tortured with the gout , was wont to sit , she instantly found that from thence the disease did awake , and afresh invade her . this effect likewise is , on no pretence whatever , to be ascribed to imagination or doubt ; since both these were much yonger then the effect . but if it hapned that any third person subject to the gout sate in the same chair , to him there succeeded not any reincrudation of the disease . for which reason , the mumy of her dead brother deservedly rendred the chair suspected of contagion ; which penetrating through all her cloaths , did to the sister onely , and not to any other podagrical person , excite those frequent refluxes and paroxysms , which otherwise had slept , and not invaded her . the cause truly was the magnetism of the brothers mumy , infected with a prodagrical miasm or tincture , effluxed from him , and impressed upon the chair , determinately operating on the uterine mumy of the sister ; and that a long tract of time after his funeral . i beseech you , what can you discover in this of any implicite compact , with our grand adversary satan ? a saphire enobled with a deep coerule tincture , if it be applied to , and a small time rub'd upon a carbuncle , whereby the plague pathognomonically discovers it self , and after a while be removed , the absent jewel then ceaseth not magnetically to allect and extract all the pestilential virulency , and contagious poyson from the infected party ; provided that this be done , before the patient hath suffered too great a prosternation of spirits , and decay of strength . physicians therefore use ( which to us much advances the reputation of magnetism ) gently and slowly to draw a circle with a saphire , round about a pestilential tumor : to this end , lest the venome exhaling , should in that part , where it insensibly evaporates , exspatiate and dilate it self to a wider range , and so in that circumferential expansion infect some noble part adjacent . for in that place where the virulency exhales , magnetically attracted from the infected body as it were through a trunck , or conduit-pipe , all the round or circle instantly grows black , and at length torrified into an eschar falls of : the heart , in the interim , being preserved from the fatal contagion . nor is there any postern door left open to evasion , by objecting , that we are to conceive the poyson attracted to the carbuncle , in the same moment , when the round was drawn about the place , or at least then critically conquer'd by the internal champion of life , the heart ; and not to attribute it to any magnetism of the saphire removed at distance . but however , the sick will give in their testimony , that they did not perceive any relief in the instant of the saphires touch ; but a good while after : the poyson indeed , gradually , by little and little , departing from the body , by the magnetical attraction . yea , the place it self will afford a more certain and satisfactory evidence on the behalf of magnetism ; for it grows not black and torrid in the minute of , or by the affriction of the saphire ; but many minutes after , being immediately combust by the pestiferous , that is arsenical , vapor , in that one path , and no other , expiring from the centrals . for where the venome does continually exhale , the venemous radii being congregated and bound up into one gone or pyramidal point , there it is of necessity that the part suffer extreme violence , grow black , and be torrified ; which effects , as they are performed in successive motions of time , so also they inform us , that the virulency does successively breathe forth , in obedience to the magnetical alliciency of the absent gem. your reply perchance will be , that every agent doth require a certain , and limited duration of its impression : that the saphire did not benefit the patient in the present , but left behinde it an impression , which was by degrees to subdue the remainder of the plague ; but not that the saphire did attract any thing at all , after its remove from the carbuncle . here you shall observe , that every agent of nature does act in an instant in the first moment of congression , unless there be some obstacle or remora of disobedience in the patient ; but in the body infected there can be no impediment from reluctancy , or stop of reaction , since it longs for a relief with all expedition , and in expectation of it , uncessantly pants and labors in all veins of the body . it would be clear another thing , if the saphire were first to suffer preparation , concoction , or alteration , that so from the concretion there might be educed the imprisoned agent , which should afterwards diffuse and spread it self through all parts of the body . but when the saphire conserves its native integrity , and continues undissolved and incorrupt , it requires onely a certain determinate time for this , that it may , by the touch and mediation of the mumy , associate and unite its own influential ray to the pestilential vapor , and so captive it , that afterwards being withdrawn , it may forcibly command it from the heart . to this association and marriage , i say , that there be a convenient alligation of the virtue saphirical to , and as it were a conglomeration with the venome , there is required a determinate measure of time ( grant the eighth part of an hour ) wherein the compass line may be drawn about the pestilential bubo . for if there were onely some bare , single impression of the saphire , which constantly adhering to the place after the touch , should by little and little conquer and eradicate the venome , within the precincts of the body ; and no magnetical alliciency of the absent stone : there could no reason be found out , why that particular place of the circle , should be benegroed and torrified , nor why the virulent exhalation should not range in a larger circumference then the cicumdate line . what is more , if many carbuncles freshly shew themselves in divers places at once ; yet that onely carbuncle , which was circumscribed with the saphire , undergoes combustion and denigration , all the other sinking down again , and vanishing insensibly . and therefore , i beseech you , what impression attractive can the saphire leave behinde it , after its remove , if not a magnetical one ? principally , when the attractum doth imply an inseparable relation to the attrahent ; and so transpositively . yea , if the saphire should from its self transmit any virtue into the sick body , after twice or thrice using , it would inevitably be subject to diminution and decay of power , ( for so the hoof of the elk , by often use of it , to suspend and resist the invasion of epileptick paroxysms , by degrees becomes evirate and despoiled of all activity ) that faculty , which is imprest upon the carbuncle , being exhaust and spent ; which manifestly in the saphire falls not out alike ; for so much the more excellent and efficacious a saphire is esteemed , by how much the more frequently it has suckt out the venome of the pestilence . it may be you 'l answer , that the saphire does generate a new third quality in the patient , by reason whereof it begins to attract and drain the poyson , that way onely ; and that although the saphire be then removed , yet that nature nevertheless , once encouraged and invited into action , ceases not to persevere in the expulsion , and maintains that crisis , through that passage onely , where the poyson first began to be expell'd . first , we enquire , whether the saphire does attract by a first , manifest quality ( imagine heat ) or by a formal magnetical propriety ? but this magnetical essential faculty requires not any previous generation , or result , of a new quality , within the body ; but onely the conjunction of its virtue attractive , to the pestilential aer , so that it may perform its office of attraction . from whence the inference is ; that the attraction is performed by the absent saphire . this assumption holds clearly good , because every natural attrahent does attract adse , to it self ; for to this end onely does it attract . for which reason , a new third quality , generated in the body , would rather attract the virulent exhalation concentrically and inwards , and could by no means be invited outwards , by an excentrical attraction . our second enquiry is ; whether the saphire may not have generated , and emitted a virtue from it self , and imprest that virtue on the skin onely ? for neither can this stand ; since then , it would not be necessary , that a circle should be drawn about the carbuncle , with the saphire ; but it would be sufficient , that any other more remote and commodious part of the skin be toucht ; which , by the suffrage of experience , is absolutely false . our third query is , whether the saphire haply can unlock and expand the pores of the skin ? and whether nature , on the single stock of its power , could not have made use of its own expulsive faculty , without the attraction of the saphire ? if we say , not ; then the saphire cannot be allowed to attract , but onely to have assisted and corroborated the expulsive faculty . but this opinion is soon subverted by the effect ; in that no place suffers combustion , either without or beyond the round ; and also because the other carbuncles , beginning to bud forth , do at the same time sink away and vanish , though never toucht by the saphire . since indeed , if onely the expulsive faculty were corroborated , that would expel the venemous fumes every way round , and could not be restrained to any one certain and elect place . fourthly , nature had already , before the admotion and affriction of the saphire , giving sufficient testimony of its own valor and ability , in expelling the carbuncle singly and of its own accord . whence also it appears a gross falsity , that nature once excited and rouzed up to expulsion , by the saphirical infusion , does afterward persevere in , and stoutly maintain that critical motion ; since observation assures us , that frequently the saphire is but slowly applied , and comes too late , to assist the beginning of the expulsion . for which considerations , notwithstanding any thing you shall be able to oppose , it is of absolute necessity , that the pestilential venome is magnetically attracted by the absent saphire . will you therefore , that the natural magnetism of the armary unguent be more plainly and amply discovered unto you ? or will you disparage and calumniate the noble alliciency of the saphire ; and also write to the calumniator ? you will ( i suppose ) judg it to have much more of reason and solid truth to comply with our faith ; that as death , wounds , diseases , slaughters crept in , and made encroachments on humane nature , by means of the devil , from whom nothing proceeds but mischief : so also that every good gift comes down from the father of lights . it being a position universally assented unto by all men : that that must be good , which neither the subject , nor the object , nor the means , nor the end proposed , can accuse and convict of evil . hence was it , that the antient prelates of the church were wont heretofore to wear rings enricht with a saphire ; the use and excellent virtue of that precious stone being , for the major part , hardly understood among them . for to whomsoever the charge of souls is committed , to them also of equity , and duty , it belongs to visit and be assistant to the infected with the plague ; the dark mist of ignorance , in our days , obnubilating and eclipsing the knowledg of the most excellent pieces of nature ; in whose room have succeeded , an affected spruceness of language , a vain-glorious trimness of the windy and dead letter , and a confident , presument garrulity . which may be the subject of our serious sorrow , but more of our wonder ; that all mechanique arts do daily receive advancement , and ascend by the degrees of new discoveries , neerer towards their perfection ; but the study of philosophy onely stands ever perplext and discouraged with unjust censures , and now is in its apogaeo , or retrogradation . i have dwelt the longer upon this subject , the saphire , in respect it contains a case , in all points alike , and wholly quadrant to that of the armary unguent . in this particular , therefore , man also hath his magnes , or domestick power of alliciency ; whereby , in time of the plague , he draws in , through the invisible pores of the skin , the pestilential atomes exhaling from the infected . for nature , which at all other times is wont to admit nothing but wholsome and alimentary juice and with great diligence and exactness to sequester that juice , from the inalimentary and excrementitious parts of it ; at this time , yeelding and wholly submitting to its magnes , greedily sucks in the pestiferous aer , and invites death into the inmost closet of life . ediametro contrary to this intestine magnes , providence has furnisht us with another peculiar , antagonistical magnes ( this we insert , that our dispute may not become barren and fruitless , in any one part of it , namely the saphire , or a translucid piece of amber ; which rubbed to calefaction upon the seven planetary pulses , ( those on the jugular arteries , on the handwrists , neer the instep , and on the throne of the heart ) and hung about the neck instead of a periapt or amulet , are too hard for the humane magnes , conquer and destroy his attraction , and by that superiority of attraction , become the most certain amulets and counterpoysons to the fatal contagion of this plague : otherwise , if there precede not a requisite confriction of the pulses , they are altogether invalid , and of no efficacy . for those things , which in their primitive constitution were a saphire and amber , having from the affriction changed their family , first lose their originary appellations , and are afterwards called a zenexton , or preservatory amulet against the pestilence . will any man , think you , account these effects diabolical ; and attribute them to a covenant made with satan ? it is sufficient , that we have introduced a few , but select , satisfactory , and pertinent examples , whose case holds a perfect analogy , and even proportion with that of the armary unguent ; we shall now seasonably turn our selves to your arguments . you argue goclenius of ignorance of the doctrine of aristotle , in that he insinuates that the same numerical accident can pass from one subject to another ( my wish is , you had been as able at probation , as you are at refutation ) namely , that this also is an assertion of huge pertinacity , to conceive , that a cicatrice or scar in a dead body is not identically the same , it was in the man yesterday living . for in vain do we honor , and pay an humble and fiducial veneration unto the reliques of saints ; if nothing but that simple , impossible matter , which the disciples of aristotle dream of , can remain , and not some accidents constantly continue in the corrupted body , which were heretofore in the living . behold ! whither a paganical error may precipitate those , who improvidently carp at others . i say , to imagine that to be absolutely impossible , which is absolutely necessary , is the part of the most absurd and grossest ignorance : for example , that light , from the body of the sun even down to the earth , in a more swift motion then the twinkling of an eye , through all the smallest atomes of the air , does produce new species , and those species produce another stock and supply of species of light . this properly is to be blinde in sunshine ; for if we had not diffused upon us the identical light and vigorous influence of the sun , but onely the thousand , of thousands of millions , species of light and virtue solary ; no sublunary could have growth or vegetation , nor could ever any fire be kindled by the refraction and union of its beams . for the species of species of light , since in reality of essence they are no more light , then the species of colours are really colours , they can never be of activity strong enough to produce fire . for my part , seriously i cherish and applaud my self for that ignorance of aristotles doctrine , of which goclenius is accused as rude and illiterate . doth not the needle of the mariners compass , through a firm glass , closely sealed up with melted soder ( in which there can be no pore or crany discovered ) steer it self to the artick pole ? and is it not attracted to a piece of iron placed within the orb of attraction , the pole during that seduction , wholly neglected ? wherefore the same numerical accident , streaming in one continued radius from the loadstone into the aer , passes through the glass , and perhaps goes as far , as to touch the pole it self . and magnetism likewise is a celestial quality , of neer affinity to the sidereal influences ; neither is it confin'd to any determinate distance of place ; as neither is the magnetical unguent , of which our dispute . you smile , because goclenius chooses for an ingredient into the unguent , that moss onely , which is gathered off the scull of a man of three letters * . nor in this truly is there any ground for your conjecture , that in the herb there lies a snake in ambush , any vain touch of superstition couch't . for if a jesuite , put to death by strangulation , or any other kinde of martyrdom , be left sub dio , in an obedient position to receive the influence of the stars ; yet his head will yeeld the same crop of moss , equivalent in use , and equally ripe , with the head of a thief : since the seminality of the moss drops down from heaven upon mount calvary . for sometimes there distils a frothy dew , which is called aurora ; and after that , a more tenacious viscid mucilage descends , which is called sperma siderum , the seminal emission of the stars ; sometimes the heavens have shower'd down clouds of frogs , spiders , locusts , and other such insects , which in their descent became solid , tangible , and vital substances : in other mountainous places the prodigious clouds have rained milk and also blood ; frequently also there is found lying upon stones and bones a white bituminous matter , sweat from the celestial orbs , which turns into moss . this candid substance , in some places , where it petrifies and is changed into stone , induces a crustaceous surface , or parget upon stones ; in other places it degenerates into a moss . to this classis of meteors we are also to refer , the dew , manna , throni , thereniabin , nostoch , nebulgea , laudanum * , and other such aëreal productions . though these partake more largely of the substance of aër ; while , in the interim , the originary principles of the moss , growing upon sculls , are of a higher and more noble pedigree , the seminary excretions of the stars ; and are called by hermetical philosophers the flowers or fruits of the celestial orbs. by these the prudent have attempted and atchieved many notable designes ; and indeed , they being enriched with the favor and continual influence of the heavens , want not the ground and foundation of excellent and generous faculties . the moss therefore of a scull , since it hath received its seminality from the celestial orbs , but its matrix , conception , and increment from the mumial and medullary substance of the scull of man ; it is no miracle , that it hath obtained excellent astral , and magnetical virtues , far transcending the common lot of vegetables ; although herbs also , in the capacity of herbs , have their peculiar magnetisms : i will insert an observation of my own ; a certain souldier of a noble extraction , wore a little lock of the moss of a mans scull , finely enclosed betwixt the skin and flesh of his head ; who in friendship interceding betwixt two brothers , that were fighting a mortal duel , unfortunately received so violent a blow with a sword on his head , that he immediately fell to the earth . with which blow his hat , and hair were cut through , as with an incision knife , even to the skin ; but he escaped without the smallest wound , or penetration of the skin . i need not anticipate , your selves may without much difficulty guess , to what cause the guard of the skin may be justly ascribed . it hath not been the custome of my genius , to perplex and rack my minde , with uncertain conjectures ; since indeed lightning , of far greater violence then a sword , if it ever touch a bay tree , does yet never discharge it self upon a sea calf , or horse , whose snafle is anointed with the fat of a sea calf , nor ever falls upon that stable , whose dore posts are emplastered with the same fat . the experience is trivial and frequent . but i pass lightly over this scene , and resigne it to others ; so soon as i shall have mentioned one other example , like the former . in arduenna * saint hubert is worshiped with solemn and publick veneration , whither all people bitten by any mad dog speedily address themselves ( as elsewhere others flock to the shrines of saint domirus and bellinus : ) there the flamen or priest burles a small lock of wool , from the stole or upper garment of the saint , which is artificially inclosed within the skin of the forehead of the patient , bitten by a mad dog ; and from thenceforth for ever he can be no more wounded or smitten , by any mad , or wilde beasts whatever ; for the sacred magick of the lock is the shield , that secures from the violence of enraged teeth , and renders the wearer invulnerable . * your answer will be , that this extraordinary effect is done by an immediate miracle of god , cooperating with sacred reliques . well , grant it be a miracle ; yet that god in the production of miracles , does , for the most part , walk hand in hand with nature , and in a manner oblige himself to an observance of , and conformity with her customs and rules , these patients of saint hubert do plainly evidence by their lock of wooll . for that uncircumscribed omnipotence , whose power is limited by no law but that of his will , who can do all things by the single efficiency of a fiat , does sometimes make use also of natural means . thus let the sweat in the sudary , or stove of saint paul , be also a magnetical unguent ; but the sweat of the sick persons , or the insensible effluvium exhaling from them , be the blood of the wounded , sprinkled upon a piece of wood , and put into the box of unguent ; immediately all harm and evil depending on the wound , is from all parts of the body attracted magnetically . and this effect is by so much the more powerfully wrought , by how much more efficacy the supernatural magnes is endowed withal . for in both , truly , there is the same reason , and the same manner of the causes operation ; the difference lies onely in this , that in the material world , the effect succeeds upon a requisite conjunction and co-efficiency of corporal means , the blood and the unguent ; but in the supernatural , by a holy magnetism , arising from the sacred reliques of the friends of god , which in this relation , undoubtedly deserve our venerable esteem . that these miracle-producing reliques might in the manner of their operations , by a neerer similitude approach to the nature of the magnetical unguent , god , the soul of mercy , moved with compassion towards our frail and calamitous estate , hath in some of them called up a fountain of oyl , perpetually pouring forth streams of balsam : to this end , that every where relieved and supported by magnetical remedies we might for certain be assured , that the magnetical cure of wounds is received from god , and both in the supernatural and natural world doth proceed in an equal order of causes , in an equal pace and manner of operations , and by the conduct of the same director and guide . hence is it , that fresh and new reliques work more , and more noble miracles when they are carried about , or applied to the patient by the touch ; because it is of unexcusable necessity ▪ that the magnes be first rub'd , touch't , and stir'd , if we will have it to attract . i return to thee , o usnea ! the noble issue of celestial seed : for whoso hath enjoyed a convalescence from the hydrophobia , by the lock of wooll , and other pious rites observed , is not onely himself for ever after protected from a rabid dog ; but , what is far more noble , he can grant to any other person bitten by a mad dog , a supersedeas to prorogue the time of the venoms energy , for many moneths , until the patient can , with convenience , take a journey to the shrine of st. hubert ; the poyson in the mean time charmed into an inactivity , and the fermentation of the humors suspended . nature hath also granted another magnetical magnale , cozen german to the former . the zinzilla ( which is an excrement of the diaphragma or midriff , degenerating into an inflammation and apostem ) when once it hath like a zone * , environed the chest of the patient , becomes fatally destructive ; but it is safely and with great celerity cured , if the place be outwardly , though but slenderly , anointed with the blood of another , who has once recovered from the same disease . for he who hath once recovered from that disease , hath not onely obtained a pure , balsamical blood , whereby , for the future , he is rendered secure and free from any recidivation of the same evil ; but also infallibly cures the same affection in his neighbor , and by the cutany external contact of his own blood , by the mysterious power of magnetism , transplants that balsam , and conserving quality into the blood of another . you may object ; if the magnetism , or grand magnetical arcanum , lie onely in the usnea ; then all other ingredients of the composition are fruitless , vain , and unnecessary . physicians soon salve this doubt , by replying ; that some of the ingredients are efficients paramont , and principal ; others of inferior virtue and subordinate ; some are conjoyned as impediments , to obtund and refract the violence of contrary intense qualities ; others as spurs , to excite the dormant ; and others to advance and promote the weaker and less active magnetism , to a higher and more noble entelechy . and that these reasons support the necessity of a multiplicity of simples , in the confection of the unguent . on this consideration , as it was a flat impertinency to argue , that if the usnea , chiefly comprehend the magnetism , then is man , to no purpose , exenterated to furnish the unguent with some other ingredients ; so also would it be a direct absurdity to plead , that if the usnea , on the single stock of its own endowment , be not enriched with sufficient magnetism ; nor the fat , nor the blood , &c. therefore will not that magnetism , which we attribute to the unguent , also be found in the whole composition ; since single ingredients cannot impart that virtue to a composition , which they formerly did not contain in their primitive constitutions and simple natures . i must ever now and then be compelled to act your part , and contrive arguments and cavillations for you , against my self . but however , it had been your duty , formerly to have been instructed from vulgar and rustick experiments , that in a compound medicine there doth frequently emerge and result a new third quality , which was never before , in the least measure , couched in the single essences of the ingredients . for example , it would become you to have observed , that neither vitriol nor galls are sejunctively black ; but married in the composition of ink , they immediately beget a perfect deep black . you may again object ; if the usnea hath acquired its magnetism from the mumial virtue of the bones , and the seminal influence of celestial orbs : then , of consequence , may the same be gathered , not onely from sculls , but from all other bones of the sceleton . but this illation is also ridiculous ; for nature her self confesseth a subjection and conformity to the condition of the soyl ; and for that reason , pepper new gathered transplanted into italian ground , degenerates into ivy : hellebore set in the tridentine * fields , quite looseth its purging faculty ; and poppies with us are wholly devoid of any deleterious or deadly quality , however our countrey be ten times colder then thebes * it self . therefore the usnea varies in its efficacy , according to the various soyl , or matrix of bones , wherein it is conceived and nourished . for if lightniug melt money , the purse remaining untouched , and of ten companions sitting close together , choose one out of the middle , and strike him into ashes ; and this happen not casually , or by chance , but by the permission of that providence , which will not have so much as one leaf drop uncommanded from the tree ; and by whose onely power , all virtues are founded and established ; it can seem no wonder also , that one distinct magnetical seminality of usnea be , from the celestial sphears , distilled upon the scull ; and a second seminality , of another peculiar classis , upon the other bones of the sceleton . onely the bone of the head is of excellent use against the epilepsie ; but so are not any of the other bones . then , to conclude , all the brain is consumed and dissolved in the scull , by the continual irroration and imbibing of which precious liquor ( i mean that of the brain ) the scull acquires such virtues , which we have discovered to be wanting to the other bones i have sufficiently known the customes of contradicents . for when they have nothing more of moment to alleage against the thing disputed of , they become the more contumelious , break forth into reproaches , and fall foul upon the person of him , that is their adversary in opinion . wherefore it may be , some or other will exclaim , that magnetism is some new fangle , invented onely by paracelsus ; but that he was a lewd , dissolute , and ignorant fellow . and again , if there had been any such excellent virtue in nature , it could not have remained in darkness , and undiscovered to so many ages , and its revealment have been suspended till the advent of paracelsus . as concerning the reproaches , and scurrilous subsannations of many , shower'd down upon the head of a man , that was the ornament of germany : i answer , that they are empty , vain , and below a sober thought , and do no more , then render the assertor of them more indign and contemptible then before ; as one that earnestly endevours to condemn , not onely the living , but the dead also . for there is no reason why i an unequal orator , who have undertaken the encomium of no man , should fall upon the praise of him for those things , which his own monuments hold forth to the world , concerning his learning , wisdom , and divinely infused endowments ; but i come directly to ballance the invective arguments themselves . this objection therefore is barren of any thing but pride , since it insolently dares to assume the condemnation , not onely of the living and dead , but even of god himself ; namely , that he ought not to have infused the knowledg of so divine a secret into paracelsus , but some other person ( some jesuite perhaps ; ) nor to have manifested so great a consonancy and harmony of nature , in the days of paracelsus , but much earlier , in the infancy of the world . but i beseech you , why came ignatius loyola so late , and in the evening of the world , to be the founder and establisher of a society , so useful and profitable to the whole world ? why did he not spring up , and appear many ages sooner ? alas ! wretched man , whither doest thou hurry thy self by presumption ? is not god the free and unconstrained giver of his own benefit ? and doth not he delight himself in an undeserved donation of it ? himself has vouchsafed to bequeath us a touch-stone , by which we may give infallible judgment of the persons of men ; namely , that we shall know them by their works . but what the works of paracelsus were , and how much greater then all expectation of nature , and the mordacity of malevolent tongues , his own epitaph , by the most illustrious , and most reverend prelate , the bishop * of saltzburg , appensed to that well deserved monument of his , doth in despite of envy , sufficiently declare . the epitaph of paracelsvs : engraven in stone , at saltzburg , in the hospital of saint sebastian , on the erect wall of the temple . conditur hic philippus theophrastus * , insignis medicinae doctor , qui dira illa vulnera , lepram , podagram , hydropisim , aliaque insanabilia corporis contagia , mirifica arte , sustulit ; ac bona sua in pauperes distribuenda , collocandaque honoravit * . anno . die septembris , vitam cum morte mutavit . here entombed is phillipus theophrastus , a famous doctor of physick , who by his wonder-working art took away those mortal wounds , the leprosie , gout , hydropsie , and other incurable contagions of the body ; and ordained his goods to be distributed and given to the poor . in the yeer . on the day of september , he made an exchange of life for death . paracelsus , therefore , is so far from having deserved ill , in that he hath revealed magnetism , unknown to antiquity ; and in the room of that study of natural wisdom , which with great barrenness is taught abroad in publick schools , introduced another more solid and real one , which by the analysis and synthesis , the diacritical resolution of heterogeneal , and syncritical conjunction of homogeneal bodies , is made probable , and brought home to a familiarity with our sense , and yeelds a more wealthy harvest of knowledg ; that thence he hath rather , by a just title , won the denomination of the monarch of secrets , from all his predecessors ; unless with those that malign him , we , as ignorant judges , discommend all his good actions , and disparage those benefits , he accumulated upon pious uses . i am thus a man , ( i. e. ) this is the prerogative of my humanity ; all things appear cheap and light in the ballance of my reason , that pretend to a dominion over my belief , by no stronger title , then that of custom onely . since there is nothing , that enshrowds our mindes in a greater mist of error and seduction , then that we are conformed to custom , out of an easie and ungenerous credulity , submitting our assent to rumor , and the dreams of the multitude . we are therefore gallantly to attempt the emancipation of our faith from the tyranny and pedantism of popular tradition , to pursue the liberty of our intellectuals , and to enjoy , not enslave the habilities of our judgment . you may again plead , that in sublunaries there is no influential virtue , that can be paralleld to the impressions of superlunaries ; but if you shall stumble at this stone , you will at the same instant fall upon the reprehension of all those learned men , who have taken the direct path to philosophy ; since they have rightly observed to us , that in inferior bodies there is an inference or tribute delivered down from superior , and reciprocally an analogy or resemblance of inferior in celestial bodies . do not herbs , animals , and diseased men foreknow and presage the future mutations of times and seasons ? are we not to expect so much the harder winter , by how much the deeper cave or lodging the frog hath scraped in the earth , to harbor himself in the succeeding winter ? for from this ground proceed the meteorical auguries ; not indeed , that those prophesies of weather arise from the too early and yet future motion of the stars ; in regard , it would then follow , that that motion must cause this presagous sensation , long before its own contingency . far be it from a sober head to dream so palpable an absurdity , for the firmament does onely denounce future events ; but has no hand in their causation . but indeed , every single created nature contains its peculiar heaven within the sphear of its own dimensions , and holds within it self the rotation or revolution of that heaven , dependent on its seminal entity , in whose spirit ( which comprehends the caelature or idea of the whose , in landskip ) there is comprised its own peculiar heaven , and moreover it s own ascendents . nor is there , why you should conceive , that we by this doctrine , stagger and demolish the fabrick of astrology ; but rather that we elucidate , and render it more bright to the prospect of our understanding ; since truly every single seminal ens contains its own heaven , and by that relation holds a syzygia , or conjunctive interest of the other sidereal heavens . but the motion of the universal heavens , in regard it is the most known and most common , does govern , and according to the rule of it self direct the particular heavens ( suffer me to borrow that name , since i want another more proper and convenient ) of single inferior creatures . this properly is the cause of every natural inclination ; and when the single creature , by the perswasion and seduction of its own domestick heaven , becomes exorbitant from the motion of the universal heaven , as the most common rule , immediately there succeed irregularity , acrasie , confusion and defects . for a sheep without a guide , looses himself in the devious paths of error . and from this conspiracy and conjugation of the motion of the universal , with that of every particular heaven , is it , that diseased men carry an almanack in their bones , presage foul weather , and the future mutations of seasons ; but not those that are sound . for if the sea did flow and re-flow by the direction of the celestial , that is the pyromantical , or fiery moon onely , and not of its own hydromantical , or watry moon ; and if the windes were stirred up by the command of the celestial mercury onely , and not of their own chaomantical star ; truly there could be no provincial a winds in any quarter of the earth , but ( since there is but one single mercury , and one single moon in the whole arch of heaven ) the same wind would constantly blow alike through all the world ; and the sea would in all places flow , if not at the same time , yet in the same rhythme , or interval of tides , which our modern navigation disproves . it is enough therefore , that we have here , by way of digression , made it appear , that in every single seminal entity there is comprehended a virtue celestial , & enormantical b , which doth yet excite it self , and is regulated by the orderly motion of the celestial orbs , distilling an impression upon it ; so long as it will not be accounted refractory and exorbitant . and that the firmament also doth not cause future accidents , unless by a remote interest , and that too but by first qualities onely , as it were acting the part of a cook ; but otherwise doth signifie and loudly proclaim the handy works of god. but that every particular creature doth in its seminal entity , possess a particular firmament ; by the mediation of which , superior bodies symboliz●… , and hold a reciprocal correspondence with inferior , obliged thereto by the law of friendship and philanty or desire of self-conservation . from all which we may now at least collect , that there is a magnetism , and powers influential , every where implantate in , and proper to natural bodies ; which powers who so excludes from the scene of sublunaries , does seek to shelter himself in a rotten sanctuary . you will further urge , that we are to come yet neerer to the main point , nor is it yet placed above doubt , that in sublunaries there is a quality that holds a parity to the impression of superlunaries , and such a one truly , which can transmit it self to an object removed at large distance ; which notwithstanding is presupposed in the armary unguent ; and so that magnetism is indeed a virtue celestial , but yet in no degree of emulation , to be ascribed to sublunaries , much less to the counterfeit weapon-salvo . but what else , in the main , is this ( i beseech you ) then to deny magnetism , without or besides magnetism ? for if , in an universal notion , we call every influence of sublunaries reciprocally transmitted from each to other , a magnetism ; and if in defect of a more proper and distinctive etym●…n , or adaequate denominative , we christon that occult coaptation and requisite connexion of active and passive , whereby an absent agent does operate upon an absent patient , by influence , by an invisible emanation and entercourse of virtues , whether it be done by attraction or impulsion , a magnetism : seriously , whoever denies the influential power of sublunaries mutually transmitted and entertained each by other , to be performed by magnetism ; and requires an instance to be given him to the contrary ; in sober truth he requires a flat absurdity , a magnetism ( forsooth ) without magnetism , and knows not well , what he would deny , or what demand . since in earnest i have held forth examples of the fact , in sublunaries , and brought upon the stage very many and very apposite instances , as that of the insititious or engrafted nose , of the saphire , of arsmarte , asarum , and most other herbs . but you deny ( i sufficiently know , because you know it not ) either that those effects , mentioned in the list of examples , do not at all succeed upon the coaptation and marriage of such and such causes ; or else you will affirm those effects to be caused by the sole power of the devil . and that it is not agreeable to the custom of naturalists , to argue from bare authorities ; but that it becomes us defendants , to come up , with those that strive against us to handy-blows , namely to experience . do you make tryal therefore , and call any of the recited examples to the touchstone of experiment , that so you prove us guilty of falshood ; if you cannot , then at least come over to our side and believe them . for it is an action of insolent petulancy for any , therefore to deny the contingence of that fact , which is every where so trivial and frequent , that it can hardly escape the observation of any , because ( forsooth ) himself never found , nor indeed ever endevoured to finde it good upon experiment ; and of a far more unpardonable insolence , to ascribe that effect to the devil , which in most pieces of the creation is purely consonant to nature , as shall hereafter be made good ; and that too , for one single fault , because ( in faith ) the secret manner of its production from the confederacy and co-efficiency of natural causes , can by no means sink into the head of our censor . a censor , who presumes , that by the subtilty of his own vast intellectuals , and the study of aristotles physicks , he hath exactly surveyed the great round of nature , fathomed the moon , and to a hair taken the just dimensions of all pieces of the universe . a censor , i say , who though upon a severe scrutiny he can discover nothing of superstition , and nothing of unconformity to any divine or humane laws in the unguent ; doth yet , onely because the manner of its application to the weapon seems paradoxical to him , highly cry it down as unlawful , condemn and detest it as impious , and accuse it to contain some strange and horrid interest of the devil . but what in the manner of its application ( i beseech you ) do you stumble at ? verily because the sword , or splinter of the weapon distained with the blood , is emplastered over with the mumial and magnetical unguent ; because the blood once extravenated , or effluxed out of its proper conservatory , the veins , looseth its interest of vitality , and can observe no concordance with that blood , which is yet conserved and cherished in the veins ; and because he doth not believe , that the action of the unguent can be extended to an object at large distance removed . but return to your self , good sir , for ere long you shall both understand ; and firmly believe it , unless your pertinacity render you uncapable of instruction . for we will make it our business now , for your information , to call the action of magnetism to the bar , and by the evidence of meridian truths , convince the ignorance and stupidity of its adversaries . for i will now shew , that there is , without that classis of things and herbs , which you have undeservedly suspected , a mutual influence and commerce of some certain pieces of nature , by effluvium or emanation of spirits ; and that this concordance is observed between objects at very great distance removed each from other . the vine , when it is in the flower , perturbs and causes a kinde of sickness ( for so vintners term it ) in the wine . you will excuse that this conturbation is not caused by any violence or impression of the stars ; when we solidly prove the contrary . for if the stars did immediately occasion the germination and efflorescence of the vine , and also the turbulency and sickly fermentation of wines in their vessels ; it would of necessity be , that both those effects should happen every yeer , in one determinate , appointed , and definite moment ; which observation concludes to be false . for sometimes the vine emits her flowers , and the wine is troubled before the solstice , and in the same country , not until another yeer , long after ; but the sun and all the chorus of fixed stars constantly , onely some few minutes of difference allowed , return to the same point of heaven , once every year ; therefore would the vine flower , and wines suffer a conturbation always at one and the same set time . but if you seek an evasion , and shall rejoyn , that other planets , beside the sun , which possess not annually , about the solstice , one constant and equal position or situation in heaven , are the causers of this languor in wines ; onely in this relation , that the motion of the superior orbs is most common , as to which all subordinate and particular heavens are to conform , all vines would for the plurality of them flower in the same yeer , in all places at once ; which is false upon the testimony of experience . for as there is a nature astral conferred upon , and implantate in the ground , so also the same particular nature is inserted into the vine ; which particular nature doth per se , by its own domestick power ( no otherwise then the earth hath , from the fructifying benediction of the creator , received a power of germinating per se ) produce the flower , fruit , and seed , and conform and dispose it self to the rhythme of the most general motion of the celestial orbs. men positively affirm further , that wines are never perturbed in those regions , in which no vines grow ; wherefore the flower of the vine , and not the motion of the celestial spheres , doth perturb wines , and that many hundreds of miles from thence ; but truly , so much the more powerfully , by how much the neerer the wines are to the vine , that produced them . i gratefully applaud those studies , that contribute towards the advancement of the common-wealth of learning ; and highly honor him , who discovered , that vulgar antimony , in its preparation , doth , though in an obscure manner , conform it self to an influence . i expect no more , but to have the same measure returned to me , which i deliver to others ; when i shall to plenary satisfaction make good , that there is a certain influential power ordinary and familiar to sublunaries , which knows no confinement or restraint to any local distance ; and in order to the more vigorous and substantial support of magnetism declare , that the loadstone doth of its own accord , by the swinge of a native inherent verticity or polary directive faculty , steer it self to the pole , but is by no means attracted by the pole. for one loadstone in a lateral variation defects to three , another to six , seven , and eleven degrees from the pole ; but none ( for what i could ever discover ) doth in a direct line lie parallel to the axis of heaven , and punctually point upon the pole. therefore if the loadstone were attracted by the pole , it must receive that convulsive influence , either from the pole it self , or from some other star adjacent to the pole ; but not from the pole it self , in respect every attrahent does attract towards it self by a direct , and not by an oblique line : wherefore if the loadstone were attracted by the pole , it would in a just level point upon the pole ; and so the result is , that loadstones ( at least according to what solid and multiplied observations have taught me ) suffer no attractive force , or vertical invitement from the north-star , nor from any other neighboring star. for since the whole asterism of charls his wain knows no sabbath , but is ever wheel'd about by a perpetual circumrotation ; if it did at all attract , it would occasion a perpetual inquietude , and uncessant revolution of the loadstone , by reducing it one while many degrees towards the east , and another while as many degrees towards the west , and every twenty four hours sometimes elevate it towards the zenith , and anon depress it towards the nadir ; which experience positively contradicts : wherefore the loadstone ows its polarity to a natural inherent faoulty , flowing from its own seminal entity , and not to any forain alliciency , or attractive influx transmitted from the north-star . but that otherwise the loadstone may , by its own instinct , be elevated towards the zenith , we have upon ocular demonstration found it true , by a certain instrument invented by guilielme guilbert ( the glory of which excellent invention lodovicus fonseca hath lately endevoured ●…o ravish and arrogate to himself , in the presence of his catholique majesty ) which , by the spontaneous elevation of the loadstone in a brass ring suspended by a thred or small wier , shews not onely the latitude , but also the altitude of the pole , in all places of the earth . laboring your reason to finde out a way of evasion you will thus contend for the prerogative of the pole ; that the pole doth indeed attract the loadstone , but according to the various and certain material disposition of several loadstones , it doth allect them not in a right line towards it self ( for such is the condition and will of the attrahent ) but to some other place situate in vicinity . the substance of which is ; the pole truly invites the loadstone to it self in a direct line , but the loadstone becomes refractary , and comes not in a direct line , by reason of some unknown impediment , ( which you term a certain peculiar disposition of it ) existent in the loadstone , which is superior in power to , and vigorously resists that traction of the pole ; although the influential alliciency of the star , at the distance of so many thousand miles , arrive at the body of the loadstone entire , and without the least decay or diminution of vigor . you perceive , how much truth you have granted to your subterfuge ? and how , though by compulsion , you affirm that in the loadstone there dwells a certain ( you call it certain , which indeed to you is purely imaginary , and to all men else wholly uncertain ) motive disposition , besides , and superior to the attraction of the pole ; which yet at the same time , you peremptorily deny the loadstone to possess ? which in the ballance of reason carries this weight : the loadstone is endued with a domestick pilot , a directive faculty , which guides it to some determinate place , but is not at all attracted by the pole. driven from this starting hole , you flie for refuge to some other celestial attrahent ; seated in vicinity to the pole ; by replying , that the loadstone is attracted , and doth not direct it self , by any internal polary virtue ; attracted not by any one particular and determinate star , or point of heaven , but by a certain circle or zone , at a neer distance , environing the pole. i answer , that this evasion is far fetched , for this imaginary circle must be extended to the latitude of eight degrees at least ; namely , from three to eleven degrees ▪ for i have observed some loadstones to fufill that large variation . wherefore if there were a power of attraction equally inherent in all parts of this circle , one and the same loadstone would continually vary , and in the same hour deflect , now to three , and anon to eight or eleven degrees from the pole , or central star ; which is a falshood manifested upon frequent experiment . therefore , to help out this chimera , there must be conceived many lesser orbites or rounds one within another , in a circle of so great latitude ; every one of which subalternate zones must select and attract its particular loadstone . which being conceded , you inevitably fall again into the same pitfal ; namely , that the loadstone contains within it self a certain disposition or elective power , whereby it should conform to the traction of one round , rather then of another ; and by consequence , when you have stretched your absurd conceptions to the highest pin of phansie , there will be nevertheless a motive virtue , or native verticity in the loadstone . yet we have not a clear prospect into the nature of this abstrusity . if the pole did attract the loadstone , the attraction must depend either upon the elemental and material temper , or upon the specifical form of the loadstone ; but a glass ; wherein the magistery of loadstone hath been prepared , though never so much washed , and cleansed by often rubbing , doth acquire a polarity , and for ever after conform it self positionally to the two cardinal points of heaven ; by reason of an impression , by invisible aporrhoeas or emission of magnetical atomes , without any corporeal remains , communicated to ●…he glass . steel also once excited and invigorated by the contact of the loadstone , how often soever rinsed and polished , doth yet inherit the magnetical infusion , and point out the pole. which two distinct bodies , since they neither have a parity of temper , or homogeneity of forms betwixt themselves ; nor hold any proportionate analogy of temper , or identity of form , with the loadstone : carry with them evidence clear enough to satisfie a rational belief , that the pole can attract the loadstone for neither of those two ends ; namely , affinity of temperament , or cognation of essence . you may rejoyn , that immediately upon affriction , there succeeds a participation of the substance of the loadstone in the porosities , or atomical incontiguities of the steel , or spondils of the glass . a miserable excuse ! for the rosin of the fir tree , is of it self , by an internal gorgon , coagulated into the hardness and solidity of a stone , which having undergone this petrification or lapidescence , doth allect iron to it self , no otherwise then the loadstone . here your dream of the corporeal participation of the loadstone vanisheth . the loadstone onely by the affriction of , garlick amits its verticity , and neglects the pole , conserving to it self , in the mean time , its peculiar form , material constitution , and all other dependent proprieties . the reason , because garlick is the loadstones proper opium , and by it that spiritual sensation in the magnet is consopited and laid asleep ; which sensation , we have in our precedent discourse , manifested to be the sole and cardinal cause of the act of all formal proprieties . verily , that alliciency of the pole must be extreme weak and of inconsiderable energy , which passing through so many and so immense orbs of heaven , and striking through great and firm buildings , and thick walls , cannot yet be of power sufficient to pierce the thin juice of garlick , or the fume of mercury : the material radix , or temperamental foundation , and also the specifical form of the stone , remaining unimpaired and inviolate . a magnet swimming freely upon a calm water , in a small boat of cork , hoiseth sail , and gives one broad side to the north , and the other to the south . therefore if this positional conversion were occasioned immediately by the solicitation of the pole , onely the northern side of the stone would be constantly courted and drawn by the north pole ; which is apparently false upon the test of experiment . for if a magnet hath impregnated and magnetified a gad of iron with its north side , it doth not , according to the law of its own propriety , dispose and incline that iron to the north , but to the south , although the atomical powder or dust of the stone adhere to the iron ; but on the contrary , if it hath excited and spirited iron with its south side , then it converts that iron to the north. again , the magnet with that part , whereby it formerly applied it self to the north , on t'th●…r side the equinoctial line tackes about , and faceth the south . yet further let us purs●…e this argument . a magnet floating in a skif or shallop of cork , on a quiet pond , if the boreal quarter of it be violently ravished from its own beloved position , and turned about to the south ; immediately , as if wheeld about by some counter-violence , it readdresseth to its old mistress the north. for which reason , if the magnet were by an influential line from the pole , drawn back again to the pole , and this return did not proceed immediately from the spontaneous direction of the stone ; of necessity , by that convulsion of the pole , the whole skif would be towed and haled to the north bank of the pond , which never happens ; for both the magnet , and its shallop , by the acquisite direction of the septrentrional side , stand still upon the water and remain unmoved . there is therefore inherent in the magnet an influential virtue , which being not obliged to the propinquity or contiguous admotion of its object , is , after the nobler manner of celestial influences , freely and without interruption or languor transmitted so far as to the pole it self ; since there is a spontaneous eradiation , or emission of atomical radii from the body of the magnet to the pole. and thus , when there hath been found and presented to the view of reason , onely one influential virtue in sublunaries ( conced it in the loadstone ) diradiating , and in one continued thread of atomes arriving at an object seated at remote distance , which cannot upon any pretence be ascribed to satan ; it will also be sufficiently demonstrated , that there may be many other influential proprieties equivalent to this of the magnet , wholly and purely natural , as in the forecited examples , and the armary unguent . now since the magnet or iron excited by the magnet , do by instinct of their own pilot , and the spontaneous direction of themselves convert to the pole ; there must of necessity be conceded some certain ▪ quality eradiated and extended from the body of the magnet to the pole ; which , in regard we assuredly know it to be done without any corporeal effluvium , we denominate a spiritual quality ; in this particular dissenting from our divine , who places a spirit in irreconcilable difference to all corporeal nature , as an essence wholly preternatural . but physicians oppose a spirit against the more gross compage , or more material and less rarified substance of a hody . and in this distinctive notion we say , that the light of the sun , the influx of celestial bodies , the narcotical ejaculation of the torpedo , the fatal optick emission of the basilisk , &c. are qualities purely and wholly spiritual ; why , because they are darted at and strike upon an object at great distance , not by the communion or association of substantial evaporation ; but are , as by a medium of imperceptible light , deradiated and shot from their subject to a fit and determinate object . these things thus conceded and made indubitate by arguments of reason and experiment , it is sufficiently manifest , that our divine , when yet he understood not goclenius , hath nevertheless carped at him , and indeed many times when he deserved it not . ( ) because goclenius placed a spiritual quality in so course a lodging , as a corporeal unguent . ( ) that he affirmed the influential alliciency of a magnetick body to be derived to its appropriate object , through a medium or vehicle , as light is deradiated from the globe of the sun. ( ) that such spiritual qualities are , by the mediation of a certain sensation of the universal or mundane spirit ( the grand and sole causant of all sympathy ) transmitted to a remote and determinate object . this archeus or universal spirit our divine interprets to be some cacodaemon , some cursed genius , but by no law , that i understand , except that of his own licentious judgment ; since in real verity , it is a more pure and vital breath of heaven , a spirit which comprehends and cherishes within it self the sun , and all the herd of lesser stars , a minde or intelligence which diffused through all the limbs or parts of this great animal , the world , doth inform and regulate the whole ; and so by a certain commerce , communion , and conspiracy of otherwise-discordant parts , and an harmonious marriage of the distinct virtues of single essences , doth order and govern the vast engine of the universe , according to the unanimous consent of all , who have read and commented on the true history of nature . to example , the solissequous flowers sensibly observe the travel of the sun : and the sea conforms to either lunestice , and swells her obsequious tides high in the full , but shrinks them low again in the wane of the moon . in sum ; all creatures by their life , ( let us , the master-piece , and abridgment of all , do homage to the majesty of that king , to whom all things live ) essence , existence and sensation visibly attest the majesty , liberality , and presence of the great creator . for which consideration , our divine is deservedly to be checked , in that he hath , with insufferable audacity , thrown rebukes at our physician , whom yet he understood not , writing in a philosophical stile . for such a piece of difficulty was it to observe a mean in all things . you enquire of us what can be attracted from the body of the wounded party ? and how any attraction can be performed by the absent unguent ? but in troth i might , without injury to the modest rules of disputation , return , that when your self shall fully resolve us , for what reason the loadstone doth attract iron , and convert it self to the pole ; then shall i also satisfie you , how and by what means mumy can , by the mediate efficiency of mumy , work a cure upon another mumy , which it hath touched upon : but in regard we have substituted our selves to relieve the insufficiency of goclenius in this particular abstrusity , we shall , in the sequence of our discourse , by a didactical or scientifical analogism * demonstrate unto you , by what means the magnetical attraction of the unguent is performed , if at least i shall to satisfaction inform you , what can be by the vnguent attracted from the wound . we are to observe therefore , that in a wound , there succeeds not onely a bare solution of continuity , or disunion of the part ; but also that there is an exotick or forain quality , whereby the lips of the wound being enraged and provoked to a certain excandescence , by and by grow tumid and apostemate , yea , the whole body from thence becomes afflicted with fevers , and a grievous syndrome or concurse of dangerous symptomes : for thus an eg , whose shell is but slenderly crackt , soon putrefies and turns adle , when otherwise it might have been a long time conserved . now this extraneous and peregrine quality the armary vnguent immediately sucks out of the wound , whereupon the lips of the wound , being at length oppressed and impeded by no accident , are delivered from all pain and sickly aestuation of spirits , and suddenly hasten to accretion , incarnation , and consolidation . nature her self is the sole chiron , that by the soveraign balsam of the vital blood doth reunite the severed parts , and soder up the incontiguity : the physician is onely her servant to be assistant to her in the remove of those impediments , which otherwise might oppose and infringe the power of her action : nor does the medicine deserve the attribute of sarcotical , or by its own virtue regenerate flesh in a wound , but then to full satisfaction of our hopes executes the commission of its faculty , when it hath removed those accidental remoraes that did retard and hinder the operation of nature : all which impediments the armary vnguent , upon its own single stock of power , doth securely and effectually take off and banish . your rejoynder will be , that the armary unguent , in probability of reason , ought not to exhaust the forementioned quality , rather then the natural vigor of the body , and strength of the veins : and that the blood , since it continues uncorrupt in the unguent , ought to procure health , and not any indisposition , to the wounded party : according to the example of the carline thistle above mentioned . i respond , that there is a plurality and variety of magnetisms : for some attract iron , some straws , some lead , others flesh , the purulent effluxion of wounds , &c. and the magnetick endowment of some consists onely in this that they can onely extract the pestilential atomes from the centrals of an infected body , &c. yea , if you shall annex the sanation in our unguent to your own argument , your own weapon will wound you . for from thence , that the genuine effect of the unguent is to cure perfectly , speedily without pain , without cost , danger , and decay of strength : hence , i say , it results a manifest truth , that the magnetical virtue of the unguent is simply natural , and proceeds from god , and not from satan . the reason thus ; if satan did cooperate to this cure ( according to your assertion ) the chr●…●…ould of necessity be imperfect , attended with great amission of strength , an universal languor and enervation of the body , manifest hazard of life , a difficil , and at best a tedious convalescence , an alienation of the minde , a laesion of some more noble faculty , and success of some notable misfortune . all which events as they are ever annexed to diabolical cures : so are they never observed to follow upon a cure wrought by our unguent . our appeal lies to experience , for so many as ever received a cure by the unguent will freely give in their testimony on our side . now satan is no oracle that delivers truths , no counsellor to good , unless with design to insinuate his delusions the smoother , and cannot but betray himself by this , that he never long continues in the truth , he so speciously pretended : for always , when he has been an instrument of any good , constant to the hostility of his nature , he in the close tempers his favor with a larger allay of evil . and introth the same method would he according to the custom of his malicious friendship , have observed in the unguent had he been interessed as an author or fautor , either as principall or accessory : at least this remedy would then have failed and become evirate , when the wounded patient is rescued from the jaws of death , and reprieved from the gates of hell , who otherwise , tainted with the mortal contagion of sin , would by reason of his dangerous wound have poured forth his soul together with his blood ; unless perchance you seek to evade by saying , that satan in that crisis , that punctilio of danger , suffered a change of his cruelty into compassion , devested himself of his essential and inveterate enmity , and put on the good samaritan , nay , fell not onely to commiserate , but even dress the wounds of humanity ; and that he hath acquired some interest , some jurisdiction over the wounded patient , himself leaves doubtful and open to dispute , in that he preserves him by the magnetical unguent , whom he had rather should perish . it may be that satan is in your esteem now held a strict and punctual observer of his word and bargain , and no longer a turncoate , fraudulent dissembler and perjured impostor . besides , we positively deny , that your supposition can carry weight in the ballance of truth , that the blood once extravenated continues uncorrupt , and conserves its interest of vitality ; but rather that it is deprived of all community , and participation of life , and immediately undergoes some degree of corruption ; but that it obtains onely a mumial vitality . to this purpose conduces the corrupted , and yet magnetical blood in an eg. wherefore i pass by the absurdity of your objection , since it hath been so bold as to wrest the magnet of the unguent to another intention , then that which the wise bounty of god , in the primitive decree of his counsel , ordained it unto . the positive reasons of magnetism more neerly brought home to our knowledg , by metaphysical and magical principles . opportunity now invites us to discover the grand and approximate cause of magnetism in the vnguent : first , by the consent of mystical divines , we divide man into the external , and internal man , assigning to each distinct part the powers of a certain minde , or informative principle ; for in this disjunctive acception , there is a will competent to flesh and blood , which properly is neither the will of man , nor the will of god ; and our heavenly father reveals some things to the inward man , and some things are revealed by flesh and blood , that is , the outward man , in the single and abstracted relation of animal . for how can the adoration of idols , envy , and other such branches arising from the root of corcupiscence , be justly listed amongst the works of the flesh ( since they consist onely in the imagination ) if to the flesh also there did not peculiarly belong an imaginative faculty , and an elective will ? again , that there are miraculous ecstasies competent to the inward man , is a tenet true beyond the dispute or haesitation of a sceptick . and that there are also ecstasies in the outward man , is unquestionable by the most impudent infidelity : yea martin delrio , an elder of the society of jesu , in his magical disquisitions brings in a certain youth , in the city insulis , rapt with so intense and violent cogitation , and ardent desire to see his mother , that as if transported by an high ecstasie , he saw her many leagues distant , and returning again to himself perfectly remembred all things his fancy met with in this more-then - pisgah vision , and reported many signes to attest his real and presential visit of his mother . many such examples occur to our quotidian observance , which in conformity to our purpose of brevity we with industry omit . but that this desire did arise from the outward man , namely , from flesh and blood , is most certain ; for otherwise the soul once disliged and enfranchised from the body , can never , unless by miracle , be again reunited to it . therefore in the blood there dwells a certain ecstatical power , which , if at any time it shall be excited by an earnest and ardent desire , is able to transport and on the immaterial wings of fancy waft the spirit of the outward man to some determinate object though at vast distance removed ; but this ecstatical faculty lies dormant in the outward man , as in potentia , in hability ; nor is it deduced into act , unless first rouzed and excited by the imagination accensed and exalted by fervent desire , or some other art equivalent to affection . moreover , when the blood has undergone some gradual corruption , then and not till then are all the powers of it , which before lay lock't up in potentia , and slept in an unactive hability , awakened and called forth to action , without any praevious excitation of the imagination : for by corruption of the grain , the seminal virtue , otherwise drowsie , torpent and steril , springs forth into the act of fertility . for since the essences of things , and their principles of vitality know no obedience to the tyranny of corruption , by the dissolution of the inferior harmony , the separation of their corporal heterogeneities , they awake into a vigorous activity , and freely execute the commission of their faculties . and from hence is it , that every occult propriety , the compage of their bodies being , by certain praevious digestions ( which we call putrefactions ) once dissolved , as it were emancipated from the bondage of corporeity , comes forth free , expedite , and ready for action . wherefore when the wound , by the ingression of the offensive aër , hath admitted an adverse and extraneous quality , from whence the blood immediately aestuates and ferments in the lips of the wound , and otherwise is converted into a purulent matter ; it happens that the blood in the wound freshly made , doth , by reason of this exotick quality , suffer some degree of putrefaction ( which blood then received upon the weapon , is emplastered with the magnetick unguent ) by the mediation of which gradual putrefaction , the ecstatick power of the blood , formerly latent in potentia , is drawn into act , which because it holds a commerce and secret friendship with that body , from whence it was effluxed , by relation of its hidden ecstasie ; hence is it that this blood constantly carries an individual respect and determinate amity to the other blood yet running in the veins of the same body . for then is it , i say , that the magnet sets it self a work in the unguent ; and by the concurrence and mediation of the ecstatick power ( for so i christen this quality , in defect of a more convenient epithite ) sucks out the noxious tincture from the lips of the wound , and at length by the mumial , balsamical and attractive virtue acquired in the unguent , the magnetism is consummate , and the cure perfected . lo now you have the true and positive reason of the natural magnetism in the unguent , deduced from natural magick ; to which the soul of reason , and light of truth is pleased to assent , in that sentence , where the treasure is , there the heart is also : for if the treasure be in heaven , then the heart , that is , the spirit of the internal man is fixed upon god , who is the true paradise , who onely is the life of eternal life . but if the treasure be laid up in transitory and fading things : then also is the heart and spirit of the outward man chained to things that must perish and confess their dust . nor is there cause why you should infer any mystical signification , or second intention by understanding not the spirit , but the cogitation and naked desire , for the heart : for that would sound frivolous and absurd , that where-ever a man should place his treasure , in his cogitation , there also would his cogitation be placed ; and truth it self interprets this present text literally , and without enfolding any mystery or deuteroscopy ; and by an example annexed manifestly shews the real and local presence of the eagles with the carcase . and in this signification also the spirit of the internal man is said to be locally in the kingdom of god ( which is very god himself ) within us : and the heart or spirit of the external man locally dwells about its treasure . what wonder , that the astral spirits of fleshly minded men should , long after their funerals , appear wandring about such places , as their treasures are hidden in ? by which apparitions the whole nectromancy * of the antients emancipated itself . i say therefore , that the external man is singly an animal governed by the reason and will of the blood : but in the interim , not barely an animal , but also the image of god. let logicians therefore hence observe , how defectively and improperly they use to define man from his power of ratiocination . but of this subject more largely elsewhere * . for which consideration , i shall in this place opportunely insert the magnetism of eagles to carcases newly slain : for fowls of the aër are not endowed with so much acuteness of the sense of smelling , that by the nostril they can receive an invitation in italy , to come and feast on dead bodies in africa . for neither can an odor be diffused to so vast a circumferential distance , since both the great latitude of the sea interposed must of necessity hinder , and the elemental propriety of the odor , subject to diminution and impairment in so long a tract of aër , forbid so huge an expansion of the atomes streaming from the odorible body ; nor is there any ground whereon to build your conception , that birds can by their sight discover carcases at so large distance , especially when they lie southward , behinde some high mountain . but what need is there for us , by the tedious force of words , to inculcate the magnetism of fowl ; since god himself , the alpha and omega of philosophy , hath in express terms decreed the process of intercourse or commerce betwixt the heart and its treasure , to be the same with that betwixt eagles and their prey of dead bodies : and so on the contrary , interchangeably ? for if eagles were carried on to their prey the carcases , by the same incitement of appetite , whereby all quadruped animals are goaded on to their pastures , assuredly he would have said in a word , that animals are directed and congregated to their food by the same motive , that the heart of a man sallies forth and invades its treasure . which would contain a most gross falsity : for the heart of man progresseth not to its treasure , with design to devour it , and sate it self therewith , as animals are by the swinge of appetite rapt on to their food . and therefore the comparison betwixt the heart of man and the eagle holds not good in the final cause or attractive , for which they tend to desire of fruition : but in the manner and processe of tendency , namely that they are equally invited , allected , & carried on by magnetism really and locally to their determinate objects . wherfore the spirit and will of the bloud effused out of the wound adhering to the weapon , and together with it embalmed in the vnguent , instantly tend and egresse towards their peculiar treasure , the residue of bloud yet running in its proper conservatory , the veines , and enjoying a community of life with the inward man. but the pen of divinity in a peculiar elogy writes that the eagle is allured to the carcases of the slaine : because he receives his summons and invitation from the originary , implanted , and mumiall spirit of the carcase ; but not from any odour exhaling from the body under the arrest of putrefaction . for this animal , in assimilation appropriates to himselfe onely this mumiall spirit : and hence is it in sacred writ said of the eagle , my youth shall be renewed like an eagle . in regard the renovation of its youth proceeds not from the bare eating the flesh of a carcase , but from an elixir or essentiall extract of the spirit balsamicall ; exquisitely depurated and refined by a certaine singular digestion , or concoctive faculty proper only to this fowle : for otherwise dogs , ravens and pies , would also receive an equall benefit of rejuvenescence ; which experience assures us to be false . you will say , we have travelled far indeed to fetch home a reason to support and illustrate our magnetisme . but what will you infer hereupon ? if you confesse that what seems far remote from the capacity of your intelligence , must also to you seem far fetched ; truly the book of genesis teacheth us , that the soule of every living creature dwels in the bloud of it , as in its proper mansion . for in the bloud there inhabite certaine noble and vital powers , which , as if they were endowed with animation , cry loud to heaven for revenge , yea from the hands of judges here below , demand vindictive justice to be done upon the homicide : which since they cannot be denyed to be naturall citizens of the blood , i see no reason , why any man should reject the magnetism of the bloud , and unjustly reckon its rare & admirable effects among the ridiculous acts of satan . i wil say this further , that men which walk in their sleep , do by the conduct of no other motor or guide , then that of the spirit of the bloud , that is of the outward man , walk up and downe , clime wals and praecipices , and performe many other actions difficult and impossible to men awake : i say , by a magicall virtue naturall to the outward man. that saint ambrose was visibly present at the exsequies of saint martin , though corporally at home in his owne chamber many leagues distant . yet he was visibly present at the celebration of his holy brothers funerall , in the visible spirit of the exteriour man , and no otherwise : for when many holy fathers of the church have seen the transaction of many secret and distant things , this hath been performed without the circumscription of time and place , in that ecstasy which is only of the internall man , by the superiour powers of the soule , collected and twisted into unity , and by an intellectuall vision , but not by a visible presence . for otherwise the soule is never divorced from the body , unless in earnest once and ever , and then is not capable of a reunion until the resurrection : which reconnexion notwithstanding is otherwise familiar and naturall to the spirit of the outward man , divorced pro tempore in some ecstasy . in so great a paradox it can hardly suffice to erect a firme building of belief upon one single pillar of reason : wherefore we conceive it our duty , to frame a second basis for the more substantiall supportment of our doctrine of magnetisme , and to advance to the explanation of that mysterious cause , by which this magneticall alliciency is performed also betwixt bodies devoid of animation , not by any animall , but a certaine naturall sensasion . which that we may more seriously enterprise , and solidly performe , we are obliged by way of praeparation to praemise an enquiry , what satan can of his own power contribute to , and by what meanes he can coopeperate in the meerly nefarious and impious actions of witches and conjurators : for from hence will it clearly appear , to what particular and just cause , whether naturall or diabolicall , every effect arising from abstruse originals , ought properly to be ascribed . and finally , what kinde of spirituall power that is , which tends to and arrives at an object removed at large distance : or what is the action , passion , and velitation or reactive encounter betwixt naturall spirits : or wherein consists the superiority and praerogative of man , above other inferiour creatures : and by consequence , why our unguent compounded of human mumies , should also cure the wounds of horses . i shall explain the matter by an example . let us therefore grant a witch , who can vigorously torment an absent man by an image of wax , by imprecation , incantation , or onely by some praevious touch ( for in this place we have nothing to doe with veneficious witches , properly called sorcerers , in regard they execute their malice , and destroy onely by poyson , which every common seplasiarie and petty apothecary can imitate ) that this action is diabolicall , no man will doubt . however it pleaseth us to distinguish , how much satan , and how much the witch can contribute to this mischiefe . the first supposition . first , you shall take notice that satan is the sworne and irreconcileable enemy of mankinde , and so accounted by all , unlesse any please to esteem him a friend : and therefore that he doth most readily , without any the least haesitancy or negligence , attempt and procure what mischief soever lies within the reach of his malice or power against us . the second supposition . next you shall observe , that although he be a mortall adversary to witches also , in so much as 't is essentiall to him to maintain a most destructive hostility against all the sons of adam : yet in respect they are his confest slaves , and sworn subjects of his own black kingdome , he never , unlesse against his will , and by compulsion , detects them , never betrays them into the hands of the magistrate , nor exposes them to the scorne and reproches of other persons ; and that for three reasons . ( ) since he is the grand-father of pride , he very well knowes , that by the detection of his favorites there is much detracted from his reputation , authority and dominion . ( ) since he is an insatiate nimrod , an implacable persecutor of soules , he is not ignorant , that by the punishment and flames , which justice inflicts upon his zanies , many other men , else willing and prompt to list themselves in his regiment , and fall under his jurisdiction , are discouraged , deterred , and quite averted . ( ) because he often observes many a witch , whom with an obtorsion or wresting round of her neck , and secret stopping of her breath he could heartily wish to destroy , converted by her punishment , to become an apostate from him , and repenting at sight of the flames , and by this meanes snatched out of his clutches . from the former of our propositions i conclude , that satan , if he were able singly by his own power to destroy man , whom the guilt of mortall sinne hath made obnoxious to the tyranny of death , would upon no motive whatever be induced to suspend and procrastinate the execution or his destructive malice : but he doth not , therefore he cannot destroy him . but yet the witch doth very frequently murder man ; and hence also it is clear , that the witch hath a power to destroy him , no otherwise then an assassine hath a power , at the liberty of his own will , to cut the throat of him that is fallen into his hands : and therefore in this detestable action there is a certain power peculiarly belonging to the witch , which depends not upon satan ; and by consequence satan is not the principall efficient and grand executor of the homicide ; for otherwise , if he were the prime executor , he could in no respect stand in need of the witch for a coadjutrix and assistant ; but would ere this time , by his own single power , have cut off and swept into the grave the greatest part of mankinde . most miserable and deplorable indeed were the condition of the posterity of adam , which should lie in subjection to so horrid a tyranny , and stand obnoxious to the fate of his arbitrary cruelty : but we have the almighty preserver of men , more faithfull in his mercies towards us then to subject the workes of his own hands to the arbitrary dominion of satan . therefore in this impious act there is a certaine power clearly peculiar , and naturall to the witch , which proceeds not from satan . moreover , what the nature , extent , and quality of this magicall ( yet naturall ) power of the witch may be , we must exactly explore and gravely consider . it is manifest in the first place , that it is not any corporeall strength of the masculine sex ; for there concurres not any forcible attraction of the members of the body , and witches are for the most part old , feeble and impotent women : wherefore of necessity to the production of this notable mischiefe there must concurre some other power , of farre more vigour and activity then the strength of the body , and yet purely naturall to man. this power therefore must be ambuscadoed in that part , wherein we most nearly resemble the image of god. and although all pieces of the hexameron creation doe in some relation or other repraesent that most sacred and venerable image of the creator : yet in regard man doth most elegantly , most properly and most exactly reflect that shadow of divinity , therefore doth the image of god shine more transcendent in man , and as lord paramount beare rule and exercise dominion over the repraesentative divinity of all other creatures . for haply by this praerogative all created sublunaries are made subordinate to his royaltie , and prostituted at the feet of his soveraign will. wherefore if god execute his will , and produce reall effects per nutum , intuitively , and by the single efficacy of his word : then man also to make good his title of being the true mirrour or repraesentative of the deity , ought to enjoy a power of doing some actions per nutum . for neither is that new , paradoxicall or troublesome to our faith , nor peculiar onely to god himself : since satan , the most vile and abject of all creatures , can also move solid and ponderous bodies from place to place at pleasure , onely per nutum : for he hath no corporeall organs , no extremities , wherewith to touch , locally move , or assume any new body to himself . no lesse therefore ought this priviledge to belong to the inward man , in his spirituall capacity ; if we allow him to beare the image of god , and that no idle and unactive one . if we name this faculty magicall , and this appellation sound harsh , and terrible in the eares of your ignorance , i shall not quarrel with you , if you please to denominate it a spirituall vigour or energie of the inward man : for wee are not at all sollicitous about names , but ever with as direct an eye of reason as i can , i look upon the reality of the thing it self . this magicall power therefore naturally resides in the inward man : whether by this title you understand the soule or vitall spirit of man , is now indifferent to us : since the inward man doth hold a certain correspondence with the outward in all things , which commerciall influx , thriving and as it were glowing with a fervour of activity in a peculiar manner , is an appropriate disposition and proportionate propriety . on which ground it is necessary , that this active faculty be disseminated and diffused through the whole compositum of man : but indeed in the soule , more intense and vigorous , and in flesh and blood , far more remisse and languid . the vitall spirit in the throne of flesh and blood , that is the outward man , sits viceroy to the soule , and acts by her commission : and is the same plastick spirit , which in the seed comprehends , contrives , and models the whole figure of man , that magnificent structure , limms out all the lineaments and accurate adumbration of the parts , and understands the praedestinate ends of all its designes and undertakings : which as praesident and guardian accompanies the infant from the first moment of its conception , to the last of its dissolution : and which although together with the life it bid adieu to the body , yet some little remaines , as if strongly united unto and confermentated with the corporeall masse , for a while sojourn in a carcase extinct by violence . but out of a dead body , whose lamp of life languished and went out of its owne accord , both the implantate and influent spirit depart hand in hand together . for which reason physicians distinguish this spirit into the originary , implantate and inhaerent , or mumiall , and the influent or acquisite vanishing together with the former life : and afterwards they againe dichotomize or subdivide the influxive spirit into the naturall , vitall and animall : but we in this notion bind them all up together in this one terme , the vitall spirit , or inward man. the soule therefore , by essence wholly spirituall , could by no meanes , move , inform , and actuate the vitall spirit ( which truely carries something of corporeity and bulk ) much lesse excite and give locomotion to flesh and bloud ; unlesse some naturall , yet magicall and spirituall , power inhaerent in the soule , did streame down from the soule , as from the first motor , upon the spirit , and so descend to the body . i beseech you by what way could the corporeall spirit obey and execute the command of the soul , unlesse it first receive commission and ability from her to move the spirit , and afterwards the body ? but against this magicall motrix you will instantly object , that indeed there is such a naturall power , but her wings are clipt , she is restrained and confined within the walls of her owne tabernacle , the body , so that she cannot extend her authority and influence beyond the circumference of it ; and therefore although we give her the proud name of magicall , yet we cannot escape the guilt of wresting and abusively applying that epithite , since the true , genuine , and superstitious magicall power desumes not her basis from the soule ; in regard the soule her self is devoyd of all ability to move , alter , or excite any the least thing at all , without her own orbe of activity , the body . i answer , that this vigour and naturall magick of the soule , which acts extra se , beyond the dimensions of her selfe , by virtue of the image of god , doth now lye raked up and obscured in man , and being impoverished in its force of excitation , is grown unactive , somnolent and stupid , ever since the praevarication of adam ( all which particulars we shall hereafter , in convenient place and order commonstrate ) which power , however it be charmed into a lethargick inactivity by the opium of originall sin , and drunk with the narcoticall fumes of concupiscence , within us : yet it retaines force sufficient to performe all its requisite offices in the body . this science therefore and magicall power in man , acting only per nutum , intuitively , grew dormant and evirate , from that minute the science ( or rather nescience ) of the aple was drunk in : and while this malignant counter-science of the forbidden fruit ( that is , of flesh and bloud , of the outward man , and darknesse ) growes up and flourishes , the more noble magical power withers , is ploughed up and buryed in the rubbish of sensuality . but in regard ever now and then the science of the aple is suspended and chained up in the leaden fetters of sleep : hence it is also , that sometimes our dreams are propheticall , and that often god himself vouchsafeth to make a neerer approach and familiar visit to the sons of men , in dreams or abstracted visions of the night : for when the interior magick of the soule stands unmolested and free from any disturbance of the science of the interdicted fruit , then and onely then doth the intelligence keep holy-day , enjoy an halcyon calme , and freely diffuse its selfe through all its royaltie : for thus doth it , when it demergeth it self into the inferiour and subordinate faculties , safely conduct and lead along those that walk in their sleep , over such horrid praecipices , where the strongest brained man awake durst not adventure to clime . whereupon the senior rabbies of the jews affirme , that the cabal * was originally conceived in sleep : namely when the science of the aple was wholly consopited . the intellectuall act of the soule is ever clear , enjoys a constant jubile of calme serenity , and continues in some sort perpetuall ; but so long as the principall agent hath not transmitted its power so farre as the limits of sense , this kinde of action is not diffused through the whole man. for we who are wholly imployed and taken up with the exercise of our sensitive facultie together with our carnall intelligence , are perpetually ( oh misery worthy a deluge of teares ! distracted and impetuously hurryed away from the use and benefit of our more coelestial & magical science , and held captives rather in the crepusculous and owle-light of congnition , then in the meridian of truth . nor do we the inhabitants of aegyptian darknesse understand our own intellection , untill there succeed a certaine mutuall traduction of the severall faculties , a successive delivery of the image of the object from each to other , and untill as it were certain angles of actions , propagated by divers agents , concurre and become complicated about the medium . now saran excites this magicall power ( otherwise dormant , and impeded by the science of the outward man ) in his vassals : and the same awaked into activity serves them in stead of a sword , or instrument of revenge in the hand of a potent adversary , that is the witch . nor doth satan adfer any thing at all to the perpetration of the murder , more then the bare excitation of the somnolent power , and a consent of the will , which in witches is for the most part subject to his compulsion : for which two contributions , the damned miscreant , as if the whole energy of the act were soly attributary to himselfe requires by compact , a constant homage , a firme and irrevocable oppignoration , and devout adoration at least , and frequently a surrender of the very soule into his possession . when intruth this power was freely conferred upon us by god , our architect , and is no more then purely naturall to man. for those praestigious acts and impostures , the effascination by the optick emission of the eyes , the false disguises of witches in borrowed shapes , and other delusions of this kind , are onely derived from the legerdemain of satan , and his proper acts . and for this reason all the operations of this montinbanco , this hocus-pocus , are meerly ridiculous pageant delusions and counterfeit apparitions , by the praesentment of formes that delude the sense ; because the god of mercies permits him not to enjoy any greater range of power , but holds this mischievous leviathan by a hook in his nostrils : but on the other side , the witch doth by the magick of her own naturall faculty perform reall and impious effects . since that by sin , not the endowments of nature , but of grace , were obliterated in adam , no man disputes : and that these gifts of nature , although they were not totally cancelled and lost , yet remained eclipsed and as it were envelloped in the obscurity of a midnight sleep . for as man from that unhappy moment , wherein he forfeited his primitive soveraignty , became inevitably obnoxious to the same fate of mortality together with his fellow creatures : so also were all his heroick and imperial faculties withdrawn behind a cloud , and so oppressed with the opacity of fleshly lusts , that ever since they stand in need of excitement and eduction from that cimmerian umbrage . and to the procuring and advance of this excitation , abstracted contemplations , fervent and uncessant prayers , taedious vigils , macerating fasts and other acts of mortification , are strong and praevalent conducements ; that by these spirituall antidotes the lethargie of flesh and blood being subdued , men may obtain this faculty renewed into its primitive agility , and in a calme requiem of spirit offer up their addresses to that pure essence , which requires to be worshiped no other way , then in purity of spirit , that is , in the zealous abysse of the soule , the profundity of the inward man. to this purpose also mainely conduceth the practice of the cabal , which may restore to the soule this her naturall and magicall praerogative , and rowze it up from the slumber and inchantment of carnality . i will explain my self yet farther , like a mathematician , by examples , and assume the very operations of witches : which although of themselves they are full of impiety and horrid mischiefe ; yet they grow upon the same root indifferently disposed to the production of good or evill fruite , namely upon this magicall facultie . for it proclaimes not the majesty of free-will , or the tractate of it , if we from thence collect argument concerning a thiefe , an assassine , a whoremonger , an apostate , or witch . grant therefore that a witch kill a horse , in a stable removed at good distance : there is some certain naturall power derived from the spirit of the witch , and not from satan , which can oppresse , strangle , and perish the vitall spirit of the horse . grant that there be two subjects of diseases and death , and that one of these is the body wherein every disease takes up its quarters : and because all entities discharge their activities on this , as the most passive and flexible , men have conjectured , that the other spirituall dominion was derived immediately from satan : but the other is the impalpable and invisible spirit , which is constituted in a capacity of suffering every disease , perse , in its own solitary nature . the spirit once invaded by any forreign hostility , and subdued to the obedience of passion , the body also cannot but submit to compassion and deuteropathy ; since every action is terminated in the body ( for the mind after once it is adliged to the body , alwaies flowes downward , as when the palate is misaffected with paine , the tongue alwaies tends thither , on the designe of relieving it ) but on the contrary , the body may often be assaulted and entered by the force of a disease , and yet the spirit remain exempted from sympathy . for there is a classis of diseases onely materiall , which arise singly from a materiall tincture . so various and numerous are the occasions of death , that , when we have taken the just dimensions of our frailties , we shall finde no ground left us , to erect any structure of pride upon . the act therefore of the praevious touch of the witch is purely naturall : although the excitation of this magicall virtue depend upon the auxiliary concurrence of satan , in as near an interest , as if the witch had cut the throat of the horse with a sword , which satan had put into her hands . this act of the witch is naturall and corporeall : as the other praecedent act is naturall and sprituall . for indeed man doth naturally consist no lesse of a spirit , then a body : nor is there reason , why one act should be accounted more naturall then the other ; or why the body , the courser part of man , should be allowed a power of action , but the spirit , the more noble and coelestiall part , ( in its relation of being the image of god ) accounted idle , unoperative , and altogether devoid of any activity peculiar to it self : yea the vitall spirits , in most exact propriety of language , are the immediate actors of sensation , motion , memory , &c. but the body , and dead carkasse cannot , in any respect whatever , owne those faculties : wherefore every action stands more relatively and properly regardant to its agent , then to the body , which at best is no more then the transitory lodging of the agent . and thus it is evidenced , that there passeth a spirituall radius , or gleame of magicall virtue , from the witch , to the man or horse appointed for destruction , according to that axiome : that no action can be done , without a due approximation of the agent to the patient , and a reciprocal unition or marriage of the virtues of each , whether the admotion or approximation be corporeall or spirituall : which by an example ready provided to our hand we can both prove and illustrate . for if the heart ( which is the presence-chamber of the vitall spirit ) of a horse slain by a witch , taken out of the yet warme and reaking carcase , be empaled upon an arrow , and roasted upon a broach , or carbonadoed , immediately the vitall spirit of the witch , without the intervention of any other medium , and anon the whole witch ( since not the body , but onely the spirit is capable of sensation ) becomes tormented with the unsufferable pains and cruelty of the fire ; which truly could by no meanes happen , unlesse there praeceded a conjunction or reciprocall intercourse of the spirit of the witch , with the spirit of the horse . for the horse after strangulation retaines a certain mumiall virtue ( so i call it , whenever the virtue of the vitall nectar , or blood , is confermentate with the flesh ) which is the originary , implantate spirit , such as is never found resident in bodies , that are extinct by voluntary deaths in any chronique disease , or other ataxy , irregularity , or disruption of the inferiour harmony , that is the temperament of the body : to which the spirit of the witch is associated , as joynt commissioner . in the reaking and yet panting heart therefore , the spirit of the witch , before it shall , by the dissolution of the praecedent conspiracie , or divorce of the united spirits by putrefaction , have returned backe into her bosome , is imprisoned and held captive , and the retreat of it praevented by the arrow transfixed , and by the torrefaction of both spirits together : and hence comes it to passe , that the witch is afflicted and throwne into a horrid agony in her sensative spirit . this effect admits a change , or double construction , from the intention of the experiment . for if revenge be the motive or incitement to the experimentator , then is the effect unwarrantable and inconsistent with the charitable rules of christianity : but if an honest and conscientious designe , to compell the witch to detect her self , to betray her to the justice of the magistrate , to procure security to our neighbour and our selves by the remove of so impious , blasphemous , and nocuous a vassall of satan , that the greater glory to god , and peace and benevolence to men , may redound from the discovery ; then undoubtedly the effect cannot be disallowed or condemned by the most rigid , precise , or puritanicall judgement . we are not to conceive , that all the spirit of the witch sallyed forth , and transmigrated into the heart of the horse ( for so the witch her selfe had perished , falne into an eternall swoune ) but that there is a certaine univocall participation , or identicall traduction of the spirit and vitall light of the witch : in an equall analogie to the plastique spirit , or sole delineator and architect of the most curious and magnificent fabrick of man , which in every distinct emission of the geniture or seed is covertly ambuscadoed and propagated , sufficient to the procreation of a numerous issue , the originary spirit of the father yet remaining unimpaired , and conserving its individuall integrity . for in sooth that participation and inheritance of the vitall light is magical , and a rich and fruitfull communication of the specificall essence , by the fertill virtue of that benediction , delivered by the protoplast of all seminall formes , let all animalls and vegetalls bring forth seed , and hence is it that one individuall seed produceth ten myriads of other seeds aequivalent , and as many seminall spirits comprehending the whole specificall essence , by the same mysterious way of traduction , whereby one tapor is lighted by the flame of another . but what the proper nature of this magneticall spirit , and what the magicall entity begotten in the wombe of phansie may be , i shall more largely declare in the processe of our discourse : for it becomes me to retreat from my digression , and now to progresse in that path , which directly leads to our intended scope . nor is there any pretence of reason , why any should conjecture , that this reaction , or rebound of magicall power upon the heart of the witch , is only imaginary and a chimaera of licentious phanfie , or a plainly superstitious and damnable imposture and delusion of satan ; since by this token the witch is infallibly detected , and volent nolent compelled to appear in publick , which in one of our praecedent suppositions we have sufficiently demonstrated to be è diametro , opposed to the intention of satan : for the effect holds constantly good , and never failes to succeed upon experiment , as having its fundamentall causalities laid in reason and the spirituall nature of the inward man , but not at all built upon superstitious supporters . hath not many a murdered carcase , by the operation of the same magneticall spirit , suffered a fresh cruentation upon the coroners inquest , in the presence of the homicide , and very often directed the magistrate to a just and infallible judgement of the crime , although the blood , before that minute , stood congealed and frozen in its cold rivulets ? the reason of this life in death , this plea of the grave and loud language of silent corruption , which hath empuzled the anxious disquisitions of many subtile heads , we conceive to be thus : in a man dying of a wound , the inferiour virtues , which are mumiall , ( for these are not subject to the restrint of our will , and operate not in conformity to the di●… ates of reason ) have deeply impressed upon themselves a certaine character of revenge : and hence is it , that at the approach of the assassine , the bloud whose fountaine death had sealed up , begins a tumultuation and ebullition in the veines , and violently gusheth forth , being , as in a furious fit of anger , enraged and agitated by the image or impresse of revenge conceived against the murderer , at the instant of the soules immature , and compulsive exile from the body . for indeed the bloud after death retaines a peculiar sense of the murderer being present , and enjoyes a certaine , though obscure , kind of revenge : because it hath its peculiar phansie : and for this reason , not abel himselfe , but his innocent bloud cries loud in the eares of divine justice for revenge . this also is the cause , why the plague is so frequent a concomitant to seidges , and why the beleaguered see the revenge of their dead acted upon their enemies by the surviving magick of their friends bloud : for the magicall spirit of the inward man , in the heat of the encounters & sallyes , hath conceived a character and impression of revenge , and sometimes the defendants , especially th common souldier , being by want and other extreame miseries reduced to desperation , and man and wife , conjoyned as well in death as life , falling into the cold armes of the grave , bequeath heavie imprecations and maledictions to the surviving officers , who engaged them in the calamity , and might , had their charity been but halfe so weighty as their wealth , have relieved their famine : by which earnest curse , there are more strong and durable impressions engraven on the sidereall-spirit of the dying man ( chiefly of a great bellyed woman ) which survive the funerall of the body . this posthume spirit ( call it ghost if you please ) immediately after death taking a vagabond progresse in the lower region of the ayre , applies it selfe to the contrivement of such spirituall means of revenge and ruine , as lye within the sphear of its activity , and having once designed the way , most readily advances to execution . and plagues of this originall are most fatall , aswell in the universality of contagion , as destruction , sparing no sex , age , or constitution , but impartially blasting all , as if immediately shot from the quiver of incensed divinity . but our pen is tender , and feares to divulge the mysterious cause , why such spirituall plagues scorne to obey the empty and frustaneous help of corporeal remedies : for to reveale the reciprocall connexion of mumies , & the concordance of their interchangeable and cooperating faculties , might prove unsafe and offensive to vulgar heads , in regard of the whole nectromancy of the antients was originally founded on this basis . for the same reason also god in the levitical law severely prohibited the suspension of the bodies of malefactors upon the gibbet , expresly commanding their remove before the sun went downe upon them . you will answer , that camp-plagues are generated from the odious and unwholsome nastinesse of the souldier , and from the unburied excrements of men , and entrails of beasts , polluting the ayre with putrid and malignant vapours : but to this erroneous opinion we oppose the example of coriars , tanners , and such who imploy their industry in the sordid manufacture of glew , made of skins dissolved by putrefaction , for all these are observed for the most part ( so farre are they from being obnoxious to the infection of the plague ) to enjoy the blessings of health and longavity ; so conspicuous and admirable is the finger of divinity in the spirit of the microcosmé . doe you desire to be informed , why the blood of a bull is toxicall and poysonous , but that of an oxe , though brother to the bull , safe and harmelesse ? the reason thus , the bull at the time of slaughter is full of secret reluctancy and vindictive murmurs , and firmly impresseth upon his owne blood a character and potent signature of revenge . but if it chance , that an oxe brought to the slaughter , fall not at one stroke of the axe , but grow enraged and furious , and continue long in that violent madnesse : then he leaves a depraved and unwholsome tincture on his flesh , unlesse he be first recalmed and pacified by darknesse and famine . a bull therefore dyes with a higher flame of revenge about him , then any other animall whatever : and for that transcendent excandescence , his fat ( but by no meanes his blood , lest the humane blood in the unguent be subdued and overawed by this exotique tincture of the bulls blood ) is an ingredient wholly necessary to the composition of the armary unguent , where the weapons , which made the wound , are not besprinkled with the blood of the patient . for if we expect a perfect cure from the dressing of the weapon , truely the mosse and other its fellow ingredients will prove insufficient to worke a cure , when the weapon is not distained with blood effused from the wound : since there is required a more violent and efficacious , namely , a taurine , impression , and an aëreall communication of florid honey . and thus have wee , to the satisfaction of the most incredulous and prejudicate , made it out , that the admirable efficacy of the unguent ought to be imputed , not to any auxiliary concurrence of satan ( who could performe the cure without the use of honey and bulls blood ) but to the communion of naturall qualities , by the energy of the posthume character of revenge , remaining firmly impressed upon the blood and concreted fat . our adversaries will whisper , and secretly exult , that the power of our magnetical unguent could have hardly been supported , but by analogical arguments drawn from the abstruse operations of witches , from the impostures of satan , and the spiritual magick of the invisible world , which is a science onely imaginary , of no solid concernment or weight in the ballance of reason , and a dangerous , if not damnable , error . nevertheless , not any sinister obliquity or perversion of truth , nor any indirect design in us , by specious similitudes to impose upon the weaker credulities of the illiterate : but the gross ignorance of others , and the deplorable condition of humane fragility , which by the propensity of our vitiated nature more readily inclines to evil , more nimbly apprehends evil , and is more familiarly instructed by evil , then good , hath compulsively directed our pen to observe this method in the explanation and probation of our thesis . however , what we have represented in this scene concerning satan , and his familiar zany the witch , affords no encouragement or ground for others to hope a perfect conformity or resemblance of the power of our unguent with that of witches ; for neither the spiritual faculty of the vnguent , nor the ecstatique phansie of the blood , are excited by the manuduction or impulsion of satan . the mark we shot at was , that there is inhabitant in the soul a certain magical virtue , infused by the primitive bounty of her creator , naturally proper and of right belonging to her by that just title , that man is the image and noble effigies of the deity ; and that this virtue is qualified with a celestial activity , and semidivine prerogative of operation , that is , a power of acting per nutum , intuitively , spiritually , and at vast distance , and that too with much more vigor and efficacy , then by any corporeal helps and assistance . the reason briefly and plainly thus ; the soul is the diviner particle , and more noble moity of man , far overweighing the body both in dignity of essence and extraction : therefore also is the activity competent to it spiritual , magical , and of superlative validity . that the soul by the dictates of this virtue , which hath suffered a consopition and abatement of its primitive agility by the counter-magick of the forbidden apple in paradise , doth regulate , manage , and move onely her own peculiar body : but the same being exsuscitated and awakened again into action , she extends her dominion beyond the narrow limits of her earthly cloyster to an object at distance , and becomes so longimanous as to operate onely per nutum , by intuition conveyed through convenient mediums : for upon this point is founded the whole basis of natural magick , but in no respect upon the brittle and sandy foundation of benedictions , ceremonies , and vain superstitions ; for these vain and impious observances were all introduced by him , who hath ever made it his study , to conspurcate and defile the best things with the sophistication of his tares . and in this sense we have not trembled at the name of magick , but with the scripture understood it in the best interpretation : and yet we have allowed it , to be indifferently imployed to a good or evil end , namely by the lawful use or abuse of this power . and so under this term we comprehend the highest ingenite cognition of natural things , and the most vigorous power of action , equally natural to us with adam , not wholly extinguished nor obliterated by original sin , but onely obscured and as it were consopited , and therefore wanting expergefaction and excitement . and therefore we declare , that magnetism is not exercised by satan : but by that which hath no dependance upon satan : and consequently that this power , which is peculiarly connatural to us , hath been abusively fathered upon satan , as if he were the sole patron and promoter of it : that this magical faculty lieth dormant in us , charmed into a somnolent inactivity by the opiate of the primitive sin , and therefore stands in need of an excitator to promote it into action : whether this excitator be the holy spirit by illumination , as the church commemorates to have happened in the eastern magi , and frequently happens in many devout persons even in our days : or satan , for some previous oppignoration and compact with witches ; in whom this excitation is wrought as by a coma * vigil , or catoche * , and is therefore imperfect in regard of the manner , evil in regard of the end , obscure in regard of the means , and nefarious in regard of the author : nor doth the versipellous or protean impostor endure that the witch should know this power to be her own natural endowment , on purpose to hold her the more strictly obliged to himself , and lest the exercise of so noble a faculty , once excited , should be employed to any other atchieveme , but what is impious and destructive to mankinde ; and so he keeps the reins in his own hand , nor can the witch know how at her own pleasure to excite this dormant magick , who hath wholly prostituted the freedom of her spirit to the will of another tyrant . that man of himself , without the auxiliary concurrence of any forrein causality , can where and when he please , by the practise of the cabalistique art , awaken and excite this grand virtue into action : and such who have attained to this renovation of their impaired nature , are honored with the title of adepti , obtainers , or acquirers , the select vessels of god , whose wills stand in humble and full conformity to the dictates and advisoes of the holy ghost . that this magical virtue is also naturally inherent in the outward man , namely in flesh and blood ; but yet in a far less measure , and of a more feeble energy : yea , not onely in the outward man , but even in brutes , in some proportion and of inferior vigor ( for so the book of moses hath positively observed unto us , that the soul of every beast is lodged in its blood , and therefore he deservedly forbids it to be listed in the bill of humane fare ) and perchance in all other created natures ; since every single entity contains , within the narrow tablet of its own nature , an adumbration or landskip of the whole universe ; and on this hint the antients have left it on record unto us , that there is a god , that is an universal entity , in all things . that this magick of the outward man , no less then that of the inward man , doth want excitation : nor doth satan excite any other magick in his base miscreant vassals , then that of the outward man ; for in the interior closet of the soul is seated the kingdom of god , to which no creature hath access . we have further demonstrated , that there is a mutual connexion between spiritual agents , and that spirits as they combat , which we have shewn in the example of the witch , so also they hold a friendly and amicable correspondence each with other , which we prove by the testimony of magnetical experiments , and proper arguments , for the fascination and ligation of souls , as in the amours of david and jonathan , &c. finally , we have stretched the sinews of our reason to manifest , that man enjoyes a dominion paramount over all other corporeal creatures , and that by his own natural magick he can countermand the magical virtues of all other sublunaries : which royal prerogative and predomination some others have erroneously and abusively transferred upon the power of charms and incantations . by which hierarchy we have to satiety of satisfaction , made it manifest , that all those admirable and abstruse effects are wrought , which the rustical and too corporeal philosophy of others hath ascribed to the dominion of satan . that those who are ignorant of most things we have delivered , should yet remain dubious and unsatisfied in many things , is necessarily certain : wherefore we have determined to make a summary rehearsal of all : chiefly that so what we have spoken in the former part of our dispute , concerning the duello or conflict of spirits , and the reciprocal amity or mutual conspiration of their united virtues , may receive the clearer explanation . it is a task worthy our sweat and oyl , to discover and handsomely define the arms , militia , and encounters of spirits , and their commonwealth : in order whereunto we are with great sobriety of judgment , and acuteness of reason , to perpend the example of a pregnant or great bellied woman , who when she hath intently and with violence of desire fixed her minde upon a cherry , immediately there is impressed upon the fruit of her womb the model , or pourtract of the cherry , in that part , whereon the ingravidated woman laid her hand . nor doth there remain onely a bare and idle figure of a cherry , and a spot or maculation of the skin ▪ but a certain real production , which buds ; blossomes , and ripens in its due season , at the same time with other trees , the signatures of colour and figure passing gradual changes till it come to maturity . high and sacred , in good troth , is the power of the microcosmical spirit , which without any arboreal trunck produceth a true cherry : that is flesh , by the sole seminality and conception of phansie , qualified with all the proprieties and virtue of a real cherry . hence we understand two necessary consequences . the first that the seminal spirits , and in some latitude of acception the very essences of all creatures do lie ambuscadoed in our nature : and are onely educed and hatched into realities by the microcosmicratical phansie . the other , that the soul in the conception of thought doth generate a certain idea of the thing conceived in the minde : which as it before lay concealed and raked up , as fire in flint ; so by the concitation of phansie it doth produce a certain real idea or exact pourtraict , and an essential determination , in every part responding to the quiddity of the cherry , which cannot be a meer quality , but something like a substance , of an ambiguous essence between the body and the spirit , that is the soul. this production is so far spiritual , that it is not wholly exempted from a corporeal condition ; since the actions of the soul are terminated in the body , and the other inferior faculties subservient to her : nor yet so far corporeal , that it may be circumscribed by dimensions , which is onely proper to a seminal entity , as we have formerly related . this ideal entity therefore when it falls from the invisible and intellectual world of the microcosm , it then puts on corporeity , and then first becomes subject to be circumscribed by the determinate dimensions of locality and numeration . the proper object of the intellect is an abstracted , naked and pure essence , subsisting of itself ; and not an accident , by the consent of practical , that is mystical divines . this protheus , the intellect , doth thus as it were cloath and apparel this conceived essence with corporeity . but in regard every operation of the soul , whether external or internal , hath its fieri in its own proper image : therefore can not the intellect discern and know , the will like and select , and the memory recollect and recogitate , unless by images ▪ and this same image of the object the intellect doth cloath in corporeity : and because the soul is the simple form of the body , which readily converts and applies her self to every member , therefore cannot the intellect entertain and harbor two images at one and the same time , but successively first one and then another . and thus the soul wholly descends upon the intellect , and the yet-tender and embryon image newly conceived and impressed , and afterwards forms the cognition of the peculiar essence into a persistent and durable image , or ideal entity . the minde being once polluted by the leprous miasm , or contagious tincture of sin , soon became obnoxious to the wrath of god ; and because this was at once deturpated and depraved , being devested of the nobility of its primitive condition ; therefore death found an entrance upon our nature , not by the original decree of the creator , but by the degeneration of man delapsed into filthiness and impurity , and ungenerously degrading himself , by reason of this ideal entity now arrayed with comparative corporeity ; which corruption and turpitude , with deplorable fertility springing up in every the most venial peccadillo , we must extenuate and mortifie by showers of poenitential tears in this world , or too late bewail in the next . this entity therefore , while it remains in the forge of the intellect , is but lightly and slenderly characterized , nor doth any where , but in a pregnant woman , receive a more firm consistence , which in the masculine sex it never obtains but by the will ; more familiarly thus , the agent intellect always procreateth an ideal entity , or semi-substantial pourtraict of the essence of an object ; but cloaths it not with corporeity , unless by the immediate action of the will , great-bellied women onely excepted . sin therefore , whether we allow it to be a reality , or non-reality , at least a consent and propensity to evil , can never be committed without the real production of this kinde of entity , and the assumption and indution of it . and this truly hath ever been the cause of the foecundity of seeds : for the phansie , excited by the orgasmus or heat of lust , produceth a slender reality or ideal entity , which when the soul hath clothed with corporeity ( for the action of the minde , while it remains immured in walls of flesh , always tends downward and outward ) it instantly diffuseth this new ideal entity into the liquor of the seed , which without this impregnation had still continued barren and devoid of any plastique power : which action is performed as it were by an alienation of the minde , the will being ravished , by the true magick of the outward man , into a kinde of short ecstasie , in which there happens a communication or bequest of a certaine mentall light to the entity descending into the body or masse of seed . whensoever therefore the cogitation draws the sense and will into consent ; so often is there hatched and incorporated a filthy , spurious ideall entity : by which production the will is said to be confirmed : and this ideall entity with all expedition rangeth through the body , whithersoever it is sent on an errant by the will : and by this meanes the will now moves the arme , now the foote , anon the tongue , and so all other parts . againe when this entity is disseminated upon the uitall spirit , on a designe of love , reliefe , or harme to any object , then it wants no more then a slight and easie excitement from the auxiliary hand of god , of the cabalistique art , or of satan ; that so the portion of the spirit , which is impraegnated with the ideall entity , may sally abroad and atcheive the enterprise enjoined it by the will. thus every male projects his seed at distance from the dimensions of his body : which seminall emission carries along with it that foecundity , which it drew from the infused entity , and executes its procreative commission beyond the trunck of the individuall protoplast . undoubtedly bodies scarce make up a moity of the world : but spirits possesse a full mediety , and indeed the major part of the world . and therefore in this whole context , i call spirits the patrons of magnetisme : not those that are sent downe from heaven doe we mean , much lesse those that ascend from the horrid abysse below ; but such only which have their originall , and existence in man himselfe : for as fire is , by excussion , kindled from flint , so also from the will of man , by a kinde of secret scintillation , something of the vitall influent spirit is desumed , and that something assumes an ideall entity , as its ultimate forme and complement . which perfection once obtained the spirit , which before was purer and more refined then the aethereall aër , becomes subtilitated like light , and assumes an ambiguous or midle nature between corporeall substances and incorporeall . but it is sent ambassador whithersoever the will directs it , or thither at least , whither the innate infallible science of spirits doth command it , according to the intentions and scopes of the taskes to be performed : the ideall entity therefore , being now ready prepared for its journey , becomes a light ( understand it in some latitude of sense ) and shifting off corporeity , confesseth no restraint or circumscriptive laws of places , times , or dimensions . and this refined and exalted semisubstance is neither the devill , nor any effect , nor any conspiration of his : but a certain spirituall action of the inward man , plainly and purely naturall and haereditary to us . this mysterious wisdome who ever entertaineth with that solemnity of judgement and praeparation of nature and unpraejudicate thought , which becomes the gravity of a mind greedy of magnalities , shall easily understand , that the materiall world is on all sides governed , regulated , and coerced by the immateriall and invisible : and that all corporeal created natures are placed at the footstoole of man , as being subordinate to the regality of his will. and this very thing truely is the cause , why even the mumie , the fat , the mosse , and the humane blood , namely the phansy naturally existing in them , in the unguent , should domineer over the blood of a dogge , of a horse , &c. shed upon a piece of wood , and buried in a pot of the unguent . yet we have not said enough concerning the magnetisme of the unguent : we shall therefore now pursue a hint , which we started in our praecedent lines . that the magnetisme of the loadstone and other inanimate creatures is performed by a certain naturall sensation , the immediate authrix of all sympathy , is a truth unquestionable . for if the loadstone direct it selfe to the pole , it must have a certain knowledge , lest it become subject to deviation and error in its direction : and how , i beseech you , can it have that requisite knowledge , if it be not sensible of its owne locall position ? in like manner if it convert to iron placed at great distance , and neglect the pole , of necessity it must first know the situation of the iron . wherfore the single magnet is endowed with various senses , and also with imagination : nor will it be enough , that it be provided of sensation , unlesse we also adde the provokement and goads of occult friendship and philauty or selfe-love ; and so that the loadstone is endowed with a certaine naturall phansy , by the power of whose impression all magnetismes in the whole catalogue of creatures are performed . for by one phansy it is directed to iron , and by another to the pole ; for then is its virtue diffused onely through a small space of the aër to the object near at hand : but that phansy is changed , when it praevents an abortion , restraines the impetuous flux of catarrhes , or hinders the falling downe of the intestine in a rupture : and by a third phansy , different from both the former , doth the loadstone attract any thing of glasse melted by fire : for any the smallest fragment of a loadstone injected into a good quantity of glasse , while it is in decoction , of green or yellow turns it into perfect white . for albeit the loadstone it selfe be of a deep ( though something shadowed ) sanguine tincture , and be wholly destroied and consumed by the fire that dissolves the glasse : yet notwithstanding while it retaines any relict of its vital essence , it exhausteth the tincted liquor even from the candent glasse , and devoureth the tincture of it : and thus we discerne , that the attraction of the loadstone is not determined onely to iron ; but also extends to that aerial part , which otherwise could not , without great difficulty , be divorced from the body of the glasse : and to this purpose is it commonly used by glasse-makers . the phansy of amber delights to allect strawes , chaffe , and other festucous bodies , by an attraction , we confesse , obscure and weake enough , yet sufficiently manifest and strong to attest an electricity , or attractive signature : for married to the mumie of our bodies , it appears superiour to the humane magnet , draws counter to it , and by that interest entitleth it selfe to the dignity of a zenexton , or preservatory amulet against contagion . but amber mixed with gummes , its imagination being then transplanted , attracteth the venome and bullets out of wounds : for the pleasure and desire of attraction is varied on either side , that is according to the various contemperation and allay of the humane mumie , and of the gummes . but alas ! what wonder can it be ( unlesse amongst those , who being ignorant of all things , foolishly admire all things ( that inanimate creatures should be inriched with an imaginative faculty ? when that infinite essence , who is all life , and the very soule of uitality , hath created all things in perfection , and so praevented all expectation of deficiency and inutility in the least peice of his handy-worke : nor can the subtilest curiosity finde out any one peice in the innumerable list of creatures , wherein the reflex of his divinity is not conspicuous : for the spirit of the lord fill's the whole earth ; yea this expression , that he comprehends all things , carries the emphaticall and significant force of the word . doe we not beleive that there was a large stock of malignant science ambuscadoed into the forbidden fruit ? and that our unhappy protoplasts , together with the aple , swallowed downe that science , and received it into the very entralls and profundity of their nature ? and doth not this science praesuppose a phansy peculiar to it ? for thus some simples induce an amenty or short alienation of the reason , others cause a constant madnesse , or maniacal fury : not by a distraction of the brain , or a dissipation of the animall spirits ( for then the strength and vigour of the maniacall persons would of necessity suffer impairement and decay , which never happens , but rather on the contrary they become much stronger and almost invincible ) but indeed , by the exotick and distractive phansy of those peculiar simples introduced , which over-masters our phansy , and subdues it to full obedience , sometimes only pro tempore , as in periodicall deliriums , phrensies &c. and sometimes for ever , as in lunaticks and maniacks or bedlams . doth not the rabies or madnesse of dogges by this meanes transmigrate into men ? the maniacall phansy of the fury beeing transplanted into the slaver or salivous froth of the doggs tongue , which soone conquers and triumphs over the blood of any animal , into which it hath insinuated it selfe , through any the most slender puncture of of the skin ? for then the primitive and genuine phansy of all the blood in the wounded body surrenders up its inferiour power , becomes subordinate , and compulsively assumes the * hydrophobical phansie of the exotick tincture : from whence , in excess of time , comes a binsical death , ( i. e. ) from the sole disease and exorbitancy of the minde , the magical virtue of the dog being excited and exalted above the non-excited , but somnolent phansie of the animal . by the same mysterious traduction , in all respects , is the phansie of the tarantula impressed upon man , by a slender thrust of his sting , and the wounded suffering an immediate alienation of their reason , fall into a violent fit of dancing , and capering high levoltoes : onely the poyson of the tarantula differs from that of the mad dog in this particular , that this operateth by a magical power excited , and so by magick truly , and without the favor of a metaphor , so called ; but that acteth by a magical power non-excited and somnolent , as the same difference is undeniably manifest in monkshood , aconite , &c. deleterious plants , which are speedy and inevitably destructive , in very small quantity : in regard , no animal endevours to secure or defend it self against the biting of a mad dog , since the magical power of his excited phansie being diffused , is binding and obligatury , against which neither the teeth , nor horns of any beast can make the least prevalent resistance ; which cannot be affirmed of the venome of the tarantula . in the outward man therefore , as also in all his fellow animals , the magical power is latitant , and as it were consopited ; nor is it capable of excitation onely in man , ( though we confess , with greater facility , and to higher atchievements ) but even in many other animals , consorted with man at the creation . again , it sufficeth not , that the spirit of one individual maintain and observe this law of concord and monomachy or duello with the spirit of another individual : but moreover there dwells a certain universal or mundan spirit in the whole world , ( i. e. ) in all things within trismegistus circle , which we christen the magnum magnale , which exsisteth the universal pander of all sympathy and dyspathy , the invisible mercury or common intelligencer , and the promotor of all natural actions ; and by whose mediation or convoy the magnetism is , as by the most convenient vehicle , transported and wafted to an object at vast distance . this is made good by an autoptical demonstration ; for if upon the miniking of a tuned lute you place a slender straw , hanging with a doubtful extremity ( i. e. ) equilibrated in the aër , and at convenient distance in the same room strike the minikin of another lute , when there succeeds a consonance in the eighth note , you shall see the straw to tremble ; but when the notes concord in an unison , then the minikin of the untouched lute , impatient of delay , will quaver , caper for joy , echo the same aër , and by a nimble subsultation throw off the offensive straw . what , will you impute this effect to satan , and make him the fidler ? now you shall never observe the straw to rebound from the string , though all the strings of the other lute be unanimously , strongly , and neer at hand plaid upon ; for it is not the bare and simple tone that compels the untouched string to quaver ; for then every tone would cause the same effect ; but it is onely the universal spirit , the common mercury , inhabiting in the middle of the universe , and being the faithful executor and adjutor of all natural actions , transports , promotes and causes the sympathy . but why tremble we at the name of magick ? since the whole action is magical ; nor hath any natural agent a power of activity , which is not emergent from the phansie of its peculiar form , and that magically too . but in regard this phansie in bodies devoid of voluntary election is onely of a determinate and limited identity : therefore have some vulgar heads erroneously and dully imputed the effects of such restrained bodies , not to the phansie of them , but a natural propriety ; out of an ignorance of causes substituting the effect in the room of the cause . when indeed every agent doth operate on its proper object , by a praesensation or distinctive foreknowledg of it , whereby it is directed not to discharge its activity rashly and at random , but onely on its own peculiar object . for the diffusion or emission of activity necessarily succeeds the sensation of the object ; and the effect results from an excitement of the phansie , by transmitting of the ideal entity , and conjoyning it with the radius or gleam of the passive entity . and this , in our dialect , hath ever been the magical action of natural bodies ; yet in most accommodate language and just propriety of denomination , this magical and phantastique activity belongs principally ( if not solely ) to creatures ennobled with a power of election . i shall muster up the creatures , and guide our disquisition through every classis of them . all formal proprieties flowing from the forms of the three universal principles , sal , sulphur , and mercury , or the salt , unctuous fat , and liquor , whereof every body is composed , and into which it is , by corruption of the corporeal harmony , again resolved ; and the mercury or liquor is so often diverse and differently qualified , as there are different species of compound bodies , which same variety of impregnation we are to conceive also of the other two , sal and sulphur : all specifical proprieties , i say , are derivatory from the phansies of these forms , which in regard they are very corporeal , and deeply immersed in the bosome of elements , therefore are they called formal and occult proprieties , out of a gross ignorance of the forms , which in another ( and introth more philosophical ) acceptation are magical effects produced by the phansie of the said forms : but ( we confess ) less noble , and more corporeal , yet abundantly satisfactory to those ends , which , by the primitive destiny of their creation , they regard . to this series belongs the subductive virtue of cathartick or purgative , the somniferous faculty of hypnotick or dormitive medicaments , &c. besides these there are other nobler proprieties , taking their original from the phansie of the forms of the whole compositum : and these are diffused through and inherent in the whole compositum , by reason of the form of it ; such are the magnetism of the loadstone , the virtue of tinctures , and all specifical and appropriate medicaments ; which are occasioned by reason either of the whole homogeneous neixture , or the particular form of some integral part , but not of any single or divided principle : such as these are naturally inherent in the trunck , leaves , root , and fruit of plants , and not in any one of the three principles diacritically separated from the compage or conjuncture . thus also antimony , while it remains in its primitive form , and native integrity , is enriched with noble and excellent qualities , which it could never aspire unto in its solitary and divided principles . but these are also closely enshrowded in corporeity ; and therefore the natural magick lies covertly ambuscadoed and obscure in them , and hath been thought wholly attributary to nature , by an unjust and unadvised distinction of nature from magick , opposing the former è diametro to the latter , when in sober verity they are both one and same , though commonly received under distinct appellations . thus the leaf of a rose hath a distinct virtue , which the stem , or yellow iust in the middle of the rose hath not : and that virtue ariseth not to the leaf from the three grand principles united , or any one of them paramont in the conjuncture ; but immediately resulteth from its vital form , which , when it is destroyed , amitteth its primitive , and acquireth other secondary virtues ; as in example , a grain of corn in its primitive vitality nourisheth , but when degraded from that first life , it fructifies . thirdly , there is another magical power proceeding from the phansie of the life of the integral compositum : and this is implanted in bruites and the exterior man ; which being spiritual , is more absolute in soveraignty then the former , but yet not advanced to the zenith or highest pitch of energy , though sometimes by much excitation , and a strong phansie introduced by a real entity , it ascend to a very great height of activity , and by a neer emulation rival the true magick of the inward man. again , the soul of every bruite enjoyeth a power of creating a real entity , and of transmitting the same , by the mandate of the will , to an object at very large distance : of this sort of magical bruites , are the basilisk , a dog , many fishes described by olaus magnus , &c. such also is the virtue inhabitant in the blood of many animals : and hence doth holy writ deliver expresly , that the soul so journs in the blood though extravenated , though decocted on the fire , yea , and ( for ought can be alleaged to the contrary ) though totally altered by corruption . finally , there is also a magical virtue as it were abstracted from the body , which is wrought by the excitement of the interior power of the soul : and from this arise most potent procreations , most noble impressions , and effects of supreme vigor and efficacy . for ( introth ) nature in most of her operations playes the magician , and acts by the energy of her own phansie ; and since this activity is by so much the more potent , by how much the more spiritual ; therefore is the term or appellative of magick exactly analogous and concordant . of all which gradually different species of magical virtue , there is hardly any one that stands not in need of excitation . for that of the lowest classis requires excitement and eduction , by some previous warmth , or gently fomenting heat , by which there is educed a certain vapor , or spiritual effluvium , by reason whereof the phansie restrained in a profound sleep , and drowsie inactivity , is awakened into action , and then begins a mediatory encounter between the corporeal spirits , which is of magnetism , excited by a precedent touch . but that of the highest classis , such as belongs to bruits and men , receives excitement from an intellectual conception ; and that of the inward man is not at all excited , unless by the holy spirit , and by his excellent gift , the cabal ; but that of the outward man , by strong imagination , by assiduous and intense speculation , yea , and in witches by satan . but the magick of the extravenated blood ( wherein the soul hath taken up her quarters ) which lies lurking onely in potentia , is excited and invited into act , either by a more strong imagination exalted , conceive it of the magician making use of the blood as a medium , and fixing his newly accensed entity thereon ; or conceive it by the ascendent phansie of the armary unguent , the excitatrix of the proprieties latent in the blood ; or by a previous destination of the blood to corruption whereby the elements are disposed to separation , and the essences ( which know no corruption ) and the essential phansies , which lay obscured in the potentia of the proprieties , sally forth into action . the phansie therefore of any subject whatever hath obtained a strong and vigorous appetite to the spirit of its peculiar object , in order to the locomotion , attraction , expulsion , or repulsion of it : now in this , and no where else , we acknowledge magnetism , as the natural magical endowment of that subject , conferred upon , and firmly implanted in it , by the wise bounty of god. there is therefore a certain formal propriety segregated and manifestly distinct from the sympathetique and abstruse qualities , in this particular relation : that the phansie , which is the motrix of those qualities , doth not directly tend to the locomotion , but onely the alteration of the object . and thus , though we grant , that every magnetism be either sympathetical , or antipathetical ; yet notwithstanding the inversion will fail , that every sympathy must be magnetical . but we retire from our digression to the grand mark our intentions level at . by this time ( i conceive ) it is clearly understood , that there resideth a phansie and magical appetite , not onely in the blood , but even in the superfluous humors , meats , and excrements ; since the various and numerous progeny of diseases affordeth convictive manifestoes of it . for pregnant women labor with an absurd and ridiculous appetite to strange and unusual meats , and cachectical virgins , by a natural oestrum or libidinous fury of the exorbitant womb , do with extraordinary celerity ( though not without great inamoenity and paleness ) digest what ever they long for : but indeed , not from reason of similitude of substance , nor from any consanguinity of humane nature requiring that particular meat , their irregular appetite so ravenously covets ; but seduced by the exotique phansie of the vitious humors , accumulated in the vessels of the womb , and restagnated or belched up into the stomach , which over-mastering the true and natural appetite , goadeth them to this absurdity ; by the expulsion of which noxious impurities , we have frequently cured such perversions and absurd appetites ; or else we have mitigated and composed them , by permitting the irregular and frantick phansie of such humors to sate it self by fruition . in the blood therefore there inhabiteth a peculiar phansie , which in regard it is of more vigorous energy therein , then in other things , therefore doth divine history , in a singular and emphatique elogy , call the blood ( though strongly decocted , and ready cooked for the table ) the mansion of the soul. and in regard this phansie of the blood is capable of traduction , and may be devolved to posterity ; for this reason is it , that the manners , gestures , conditions , and genius of the grandfather are revived and become resplendent in his issue , long after the resolution of him into dust . nobility took its first rise from well-deserving virtue . hence most nobility be without just merit , suspected to be encreased by the continued and successive propagation of the family , unless the heroick inclinations and virtues of gallant ancestors , obscured by mortality , might , with probability of hope , be expected to finde a resurrection , and shine again in their ●…late posterity . again , doth not the enmity conceived betwixt the woolf and sheep remain firmly impressed upon their pelts ? wherefore the phansie of an animal , pervicaciously surviving death , is impressed not onely upon the blood : but also whoever sleeps under the coverture of a blanket made of the skin of a gulo or glutten ( a beast of incredible , because insatiate , voracity , very common in swedland ) is forced continually to dream of feasting , hunger , voracity and the ensnaring of wilde beasts , according to the natural condition of that animal , while it was living : and thus , onely by an external coverlet . the phansie of the beast , which during life so journed in the skin , is devolved and traduced unto a man , that sleeps beneath it . and thus also , by the ministery of the phansie of the blood comes it to pass , that the blood extravenated , being received upon the sword or weapon , is introduced into the magnetick unguent . for then the phansie of the blood ; before unactive and somnolent , being by the virtue of the magnetical unguent excited , and there finding the balsamical and medical virtue of the unguent ▪ earnestly covets the newly-induced quality to be communicated to it self throughout , and from thence , by spiritual magnetism , to exhaust and drain out all the forein quality , that had invaded the wound : which when it cannot sufficiently perform upon the single stock of its own strength , it implores the aid of the most of the blood , fat , and mumy , which by coalition degenerate into such balsam , that by no other means , but it s own phansie , becomes medical , magnetical , and also attractive of all the forein quality out of the body , whose fresh blood , abounding with spirits , is applied unto it , whether it be the blood of a man , or any other animated creature . the phansie therefore is reducible and ecstatical from part of the blood freshly and immediately after the effusion brought unto the unguent : but the magnetical attraction , begun in the blood , is perfected by the medical virtue of the unguent . but the unguent doth not attract the evil and depraved tincture or inquinament of the wound , unto it self , and so put on as much contagion , as was enclosed in pandoraes box : but onely works a salutiferous alteration on the spirit of the newly effused and freshly applied blood , makes it medical , balsamical , and rouzeth up its dormant virtue : whence there results to it a certain medical and magnetical virtue , which makes a speedy return to the body , from which the blood issued forth , with full commission and power to cure its cousin german , the spirit of the blood yet flowing in its proper conduits , throughout the whole man. for it sucks out of the wounded party , the exotick and dolorous impression , diminisheth it by a medical power , exileth it ; which medical virtue , being the puissant conqueress of the evil , is partly excited in the blood , and partly ingenerated in the same by the unguent , that is by the spirit of the unguent , upon the magick of its phansie ( i. e. ) its created endowment , thus exercising imperial power , and efficacious soveraignty , over the spirit of the blood . in another case , the blood enclosed in an egge shell , putrefying with all its vigor about it , and so as it were redeemed from the bondoge of corporeity , and the spirit delivered from all impediments , by previous putrefaction , becomes attractive , by the mediation of the mumy of a dog , and really transfers that disease , which was before seated in the phansie and astrality of the excrementitious impurities in the patient , into the dog that devours it ; for no other reason , but this , that the magnetism cannot be advanced to perfection of operation , without the intercession of the balsam of the unguent . we have observed , if it happen that the wounded party hath received many wounds at once , that it sufficeth to have the blood effused out of any one of the wounds ; and that by the single application of that blood , all the other wounds are cured together : because that blood observes a correspondence and sympathetical concordance with the spirit of the whole man , and from the same educeth the offensive extraneous quality , communicated not onely to the lips of the wound , but also to the whole body ; for from one wound there ordinarily is kindled an universal fever throughout the whole body of man. hitherto have i suspended the revealment of a grand mystery ; namely , to bring it home to the hand of reason , that in man there sits enthroned a noble energy , whereby he is endowed with a capacity to act extra se , without and beyond the narrow territories of himself , onely per nutum , by his single beck , and by the natural magick of his phansie , and to transmit a subtil and invisible virtue , a certain influence , that doth afterward subsist and persevere per se , and operate upon an object removed at very large distance : by the discovery of which sole mystery , all that we have hitherto treated , concerning the ideal entity , conveyed in the arms of a spiritual emanation , and sallying abroad to execute the mandates of the will , concerning the magnetism of all creatures , proceeding as well from humane phansie , as from the native and peculiar phansie of every thing , and also concerning the magical superiority of man over all other sublunary bodies , will receive illustration , and shine bright in the eye of our understanding . t is a meridian truth , too clear to be eclipsed by controversie , that of steel there may be made a needle , which invigorated by the confriction of a loadstone , doth point out the pole to seamen : but in vain is the steel hammered into a needle , and placed at free range in the navigatory compass , to level at the north star , unless there hath preceded a fit and requisite affriction of the loadstone . which assertions since they sound loud enough to pierce the ears of the deafest incredulity , it remains convenient , that we frame and qualifie a mariners needle , solo nutu , onely by the magnetism of our phansie , and magick of intuition . on the anvil therefore , whereon the steel is hammered into a figure of a needle , let the north point be chalked out , and that in a strait line : then stand you , when you play the vulcan , with your back to the north , that so when the steel is beating under the hammer , you may draw it out into a needle towards your self and the north : i say therefore , that such a needle , thus positionally and intuitively framed , will acquire a vigorous polarity , and punctually observe the north star , without any forein impregnation or magnetical infusion , and indeed without any variation , to which the ordinary needles invigorated by the loadstone are subject , which carries with it a very great mystery . moreover that needle , which is made upon the foresaid line , by chance , and without the knowledg or intention of the fabricator , continues bare steel , devoid of all verticity , and directs not to the pole . hence is it a natural consequence , that the imagination of the fabricator , in the very moment of the needles nativity , when the glowing heat of the fire is somewhat abated , and the steel but obscurely red , doth impress this magnetical faculty into the steel needle , as a convenient and appropriate subject . not that the celestial orbs do , in that punctilio of time , infuse the verticity ; for then it would descend and be impressed upon the steel , without the intention , consent or observance of the smith ; which cannot satisfie experience : for if the stars did transmit their influence at some certain hour , and in some determinate position , then might the characteristical and sigillary science of the celestial orbs be allowed to put on triumphant wreaths , which we pass by . but that constellation which descends upon the steel ( and it may be upon every magical image and seal ) is derived from the microcosmical heaven , that is , from our own olympus : vain and unsuccessful therefore have been those magical seals and pentacles , which were not framed and configurated by the magician in an high ecstasie and exaltation of his phansie : for all inferior entities and phansies are compelled to do homage to the transcendent magick of ours , by which prerogative sapiens dominabitur astris , a wiseman shall regulate and countermand the influence of the stars , to the dominion of whose sceptre the parent of nature hath subjected whatever is contained in the vast amphitheatre of heaven . what we have here alleaged concerning the phansie impressing a verticity upon the steel , as we have learned from the authentick testimony of many judicious pens , and from our own frequent experience : so may it be confirmed ten thousand times to the observation of any whose curiosity shall encline him to the easie trouble of the experiment . thus the leaves of asarum , and the tops of elder , submit and conform unto the phansie of the decerptor , who impresseth upon the plant , and the plant upon the leaves a magnetical virtue , which in operation shall justly respond to the position of the hand that gathered them : when otherwise , the leaf being decocted ( as the needle heat again in the fire ) and given in a potion , the virtue of the phansie impressed upon it would of necessity perish , if the magnetism were not cherished and maintained from the integral plant . that the blood of any animal decocted and ready cooked for the trencher , doth yet contain the soul of that animal , is true : but that virtue doth not depend upon the impression of humane and forein phansie , but ariseth immediately from the proper endowment of its own phansie . by the same reason also doth a dart thrust through the heart of a horse , killed by the execrable magick of a witch , binde up and hold captive the vital spirit of that witch , and twisteth it together with the mumial spirit of the horse , that so both may be torrified together , and by that torment , as by a sharp goad , the witch may be driven to betray her self : and that at length , by the justice of the magistrate , the base miscreant , detestable to god , and pernicious to man , may be eternally exiled from the conversation of mortals , and cut off , according to the law of god. for if the operation be determined to any external object , the magical soul doth never attempt it without a convenient medium : and for this reason she makes use of the dart or nail transfixed through the heart . now this position , that man is endowed with a power of acting , per nutum , or moving any object at remote distance , being proved by convictive evidence : it is also sufficiently confirmed , by the same natural example , that this transcendent energy was conferred upon him by the wise indulgence of his creator ; and therefore , by the charter of his nature , doth justly belong unto him . their conjecture hath ever had a strong hautgoust of absurdity , who have hitherto conceived , that satan hath moved , altered , and transported any thing , and really applied actives to passives in locomotion , onely per nutum ; while they have taken for granted , that the devil was the first and grand motor in the forementioned motions , that by those corporeal extremities requisite to contaction , he could violently snatch away , transmit , or any way move , at least an aëreal body ( which they fondly imagine ) though destitute of a soul. absurd , i say , is it to believe , that satan since his exile from the presence ( i mean , the merciful influence ) of divinity , and fall from the glory of his own essence , doth still retain a magical dignity , whereby he can really act upon any natural subject , and produce what effect soever he please , onely by intuition , because in the primitive excellence of his once angelical nature , he received such an endowment : but that the same prerogative was taken from , and ever since denied unto man , and given to the devil , the most vile and despicable of creatures : and that if there be any such real effects performed by man , they are to be ascribed to a servile compact with the devil . open the eyes of your reason : for satan hath hitherto proudly triumphed in your so great and so dangerous ignorance , with so high content , as if you had made his altars smoke with the grateful incense of glory and dignity , and devested your self of your own native prerogative , pulled out your own eyes , and offered them in sacrifice to him . we have said , that every magical virtue doth lie dormant , and want excitation : which holds perpetually true , if the object , upon which the energy is discharged , be not neerly disposed and qualified to admit it , if the phansie of it doth not promptly conform unto the impression of the agent , or also if the patient be equal in strength , or superior to the agent . but on the contrary , where the object is conveniently , proximly , and obediently qualified to entertain the magical influx , as steel is to receive the magnetical infusion of a loadstone : or plainly weak , and conscious to it self ( as are the homicide , adulterer , theif , and witch ) there the patient , without much excitation , the sole phansie of the outward man being deduced into action and adliged to any convenient medium , at the first assault surrenders its self , and obeys the magnetism . i say , the magician ever makes use of a medium : for thus , unless a pregnant woman hath extended her hand to her own thigh , forehead , or buttocks , the infant in her womb shall never be stigmatized in his thigh , forehead , or buttocks . thus do the words or forms of sacraments ever operate : because ex opere operato , from the work performed . but why exorcisms do not alway succeed in their operations ; the defect is not in god , but onely because the unexalted and dully-excited minde of the exoreist doth blunt the edg of the charm , and render the words invalid and ineffectual . for which reason , no man can be a happy and perfect exoreist , but he , who hath learned the art to excite the magick of his own phansie ; or by practise can do it ecstatically , without that knowledg . it may be you 'l say , that our armary unguent acquires no other magnetical virtue , then that which redounds to it from the phansie of him that compounds it : you are mistaken . however , should we allow you that error for truth , your cause could receive no support or advantage thereby ; since then you would implicitely confess the effect not to be ascribed to satan . so the unguent would not be magnetical from any innate and natural phansie peculiar to it self , but from an external adventitious inspiration , namely the phansie of the compounder , impressed upon it : since there can be no neerer medium of the foresaid magnetism , then humane blood with humane blood ; truly , the blood alone , as the most proportionate and predisposed subject would suffice to the composition of the unguent , and all the other simples ingredient into the confection , would be frustraneous and unnecessary , especially the blood of a bull and hony , where the cure is to be performed by applying the salve to weapons not distained with the blood of the patient , which is manifestly false by experiment . finally , the magnetism of the unguent would then be general ; in respect the confectioner may , by the wilde and universal range of his phansie , intend to make the impression , uncertain , undeterminate , and extensive to the wounds , not onely of man , but of all beasts whatever . what if the compounders phansie were not fixed upon a dog ; must the unguent therefore have no virtue to cure the wound of a dog ? away with such idiotism , such ridiculous dotage . what hath bole armeniake , what line seed oyl , what hony , and in fine what hath the blood of a bull , of peculiar disposition , or determinate respect to the wound of a horse , or man ; that upon them onely , as upon the most proper medium , and not upon any other things , the phansie of the confectioner should be impressed ? and yet if these were secluded the composition , the unguent would be barren and devoid of all power and vulnerary efficacy . the natural phansie therefore of the unguent is the sole and grand cause of the magnetism , and the immediate and proper cause of the cure : but not the imagination of the component . behold ! you have our ( understand true , christian ) philosophy ; not the frantick sophisms , or idle dreams of ethnicks . be cautious , i beseech you , that you bring not me into censure , who have been your self more forward and rash in censuring others . i am yours , and a roman catholick : who have cordially and firmly determined in my self , to mediate or write nothing , that may be contrary to the word of god , or the fundamental articles of the church . i well understand the constellation of my own genius , and know my self born , not to allow or foment contentious debates , not to write comments on , or defensive apologies for the pens of other men ; wherefore , what i knew , i desired , with a freedom becoming a philosopher , to communicate to the world . i shall annex onely this one clause : whoever attributeth to the devil an effect arising from natural causes , so created by god , and so conferred upon the creatures : he doth alienate the honor due to the creator , and ignominiously ( others might say blasphemously ) apply it unto satan : which ( under your favor ) if you shall strictly call under the test of your anatome , you will finde to be express idolatry . my earnest prayer to the fountain of all clemency , our god and father of mercies , is now , and ever shall be , that he would be pleased to look , with the eye of compassion and forgiveness , upon those errors and lapses of our understanding , which from our native , not stubborn , ignorance , and humane fragility we have contracted . amen . there are three that bear record in heaven , the father , the word , and the holy ghost , and these three are one : ( and anon speaking of the humanity of christ ) there are three which bear record in earth , the blood , the spirit , and the water , and these three are one . to us therefore , who have the like humanity , it is no wonder , that we contain blood and a spirit of the like unity : and that the action of the blood is meerly spiritual . yea for this reason , in genesis it is not called by the name of blood : but dignified with the appellation of a red spirit . withdraw therefore , whoever thou art , from thy incredulous pertinacy , and ingenuously acknowledg another spirit in the blood , besides the devil : unless thou wilt dare to oppose thy mis-informed faith to the book of truth . the translators supplement . nemo hûc geometriae expers ingrediatur , was the motto which the semi-christian philosopher , plato , caused to be engraven on the porch of his academy * : implying not onely the exact measure of lines , but also the geometry of a mans self , the dimensions and just extent of the passions and affections of the minde , to be the previous qualification necessary to any , that should hope to benefit by his lectures . and nemo hûc philosophiae expers ingrediatur , shall be our inscription in the front of this translation ; understanding by philosophy , the ample knowledg not onely of the elemental and visible world , but also of the intellectual and spiritual ; not onely of the more plain and obvious tracts , wherein nature progresseth to the production of ordinary effects ; but even those obscure and unfrequented paths she walks in , when she advanceth to abstrusities and more mysterious magnalities ; together with that acquired candor of judgment , and habitual equanimity , which as well emancipateth the understanding from the pedantick tyranny of subscription to all that 's read , if but disguised in the specious dress of probability , and ushered in by antique authority ; as it inclineth the reason to a sober assent , and modest conformity to such assertions , which carry the face of judicious enquiries , and serious majesty of truth , though they be presented at disadvantage , under a cloud of novelties , or paradoxes . nor can we fear that this our device , or impress , will be suspected of impertinency , by any that shall do so much right to their own judgments , as to conced , that a reader thus qualified , must be the onely he , that can survey , understand , censure , and enrich his head with the subtler speculations , and profound dihoties of our more then ingenious helmont ; while it is of confessed necessity , that the gross ignorance of some must obscure , and the prevarication of others pervert the prospect of these splendid ( though heterodoxical ) notions , and natural ( though spiritual , or magical ) causalities , which his finer pen hath drawn , in landskip , upon this tablet , the magnetically-natural cure of wounds . now though the pensive consideration of the incapacity ( some would have said , barbarity ) of the numerous multitude , on one side , and of the deplorable inflexibility of the leading part of learning , more then a moity of schollers being swallowed up in a deluge of presumption and prejudice , on the other , might in some measure excuse our despair of finding many heads of this soveraign temper , wherein sufficiency in knowledg ought to have received the just allay of candor , and non-adherence to antiquity ; yet may we not incur the odious premunire of singularity so far , as not confidently to hope , that our worthy author will fall into the hands of some , whose unbyassed intellectuals will smoothly run him over , and gather so full satisfaction from many of his experiments , that gratitude her self will prompt them to confess the sacrifice of honor deservedly due unto his memory . and upon this evidence of hope , we are bold to promise our self supportment for our resolutions of not attempting either any comment on , or defence of those metaphysical ( understand onely ideal and abstracted ) conceptions , and novel hints , rich aspersed upon these sheets ; such as that of a phansie , or natural sensation , by the charter of their creation , properly pertinent unto , and inseparably inherent in all mixt bodies , though devoid of animation , and power of voluntary election ; and this not onely single and of determinate identity , but multiplex and various according to the diverse predisposition and capacity of the object , whereon they discharge their activity ; that of the magical prerogative of man , or that transcendent endowment , whereby he is empowered to act per nutum , by the sole virtue of thought or spiritual intuition , upon an object removed at vast distance , by means of an ideal entity , formed in the womb of more attentive imagination , and transmitted by the will ; that of the fatal consopition of this hierarchy , or semi-divine faculty of the soul , by the opiate or counter-magick of the forbidden fruit ; and the resuscitation or excitement of the same , by the onfranchisement of the inward man from the eclipse and oppréssion of corporeity , in enthusiasms , ràptures , and ecstatical contemplations , &c. since the known poverty of our reason could not but throw infinite disparagement on the wealthy harvest of his ; nor the access of our plenary assent , or vindication , confer any thing at all of estimation to fulfil the authority of his name , or determine the establishment of his positions for solid and unrefutable truths . wherefore in conformity to the advisoes of some riper heads , to whose friendly decision we humbly submitted our hesitancy in this point , together with the concurrent vote of our own thirteenth thought , we have stood resolved , neither to dim the lustre of our authors sense , by the interposition of our boeotian * interpretation , or melancholick enlargement ; nor make our pen guilty of so uncivil encroachments on the liberties of the comprehensive reader , as to preoccupy his head , with the abortive results of our shallower scrutintes , or prevent his more ocular disquisitions and maturor anim adversions ; but so far to assist younger capacities , as to endevour the explanation of some unfrequent idiomes , and uncouth terms , which the author seems to have borrowed from the cabalistique vocabulary of paracellus ; annexing onely , for satisfaction of the more illiterate , the more select , and less superstitious forms , or prescripts of the magnetick armary vnguent . in the mean time , in order to our avoidance of scandal , as we cannot smother our wishes , that the ardor of debate with his opponents , father roberts , the jesuite , and goclenius , the physician , and the eager quest of reasons to make good his theory of magnetism against future assailants , had not seduced his gravity to stumble upon some few examples , whose constant verity experiment may have just cause to question , or sober philosophy , at first sight , smilingly refer to superstition : so we cannot but sigh at the apprehension of our own want of abilities to sustain so considerable and weighty a task as the due perpension and mature disquisition of some abstruse notions , which the conciser pen of our author hath onely hinted , per transennam , and so proposed to the more deliberate discovery of some worthy enlarger . for ( to omit others of less value ) upon that one cardinal pin of magnetism , or the magical virtue of naturals , it seemeth to us , that the whole speculation of those three grand arcanaes , whose obscure and yet inscrutable causalities have captived the greatest wits , in all ages , in a labyrinth of perplexed and uncertain enquiries . ( ) the original and cognation of forms ; ( ) the causes of sympathy and dyspathy , or of idiosyncritical friendship and enmity or aversation ; ( ) and the so universally magnified power of imagination , necessarily depend . to the clear and satisfactory solution of which problems , whoever is ordained , by the exceeding benignity of his constellation , will perform a work of highest benefit , and unparalleled merit to the common-wealth of learning , will advance his memory to so high a pitch of honor , that 't will be accounted humility in him to look so low as caesar , and shall have our free vote , that his statue cannot be uncivil , or ambitious , if it take the right hand of aristotles in the vatican . but alas ! this must be a work of time , pyrotechny , and many heads cooperating . and therefore the wide and almost irreparable encroachments , which the late deluge of barbarism hath made upon the studies of our own ingenious nation , and ominously threatned to most seminaries of arts and sciences in europe : together with the general contempt of severe philosophy , amongst those , whose wealthy fortunes might sustain the charge of experiments and forein explorations requisite to the laudable atchievement of so magisterial a piece of knowledg , may probably encourage our fears , that it may be late ere posterity be blessed with its revealment , nay , perhaps not until the whole material world be ready to confess the chymistry of the last day . having hitherto seduced the minde of our reader , into a short prospect of those few pieces , which our devout zeal to the advancement of the knowledg of natures choisest magnalities hath inflamed us to desire in a larger draught ; and presented him the slender summary of what our supplement intendeth : a longer digression cannot but tacitely scandal the weight of our theam , and rudely disoblige attention . wherefore , we return to the direct discharge of our undertakings : the interpretation of some fanatique words , which in the opinion of grammar know no signification , because no etymology , nor can the greatest philologer deduce from any original higher then the babel of paracelsus ; and the supply of the antiquity , and forms of the magnetical vnguent . bismuthum , in the dialect of hermetical mineralogists , admits of a double signification . for some accept it for a simple , and list it in the inventory of marchasites or fire stones , taking it to be no other , then that which the noble geber called magnesia , and the shops black lead : * others intend by it a compound made by the hand of art , and that of two sorts : the first , when upon melted tin , the chymist affuseth mercury , and makes thereof a fragil substance and snow-white mass ; * the other a mixture of silver and mercury , which submitteth to the first assault of fire , as easily as wax , and is of exceeding whiteness , which we conceive to be the true magnesia philosophorum . but we had rather incline to the autoptical testimony of the judicious doctor jordan , * who renders bismuthum to be in english , tinglass , or the steril marchasite of lead . now marchasites are the immature materials of metals , and vary according to each several and distinct species of metals : * and hence doubtless paracelsus took occasion , in the separation of elements from marchasites , to compare the golden marchasite to gold , the silver one to silver , talck to tin , bismuthum to lead , zincum to copper , cadmia to iron , stibium to mercury , &c. consule paracelsum in tertio archidox . throni , or tronos and tronossa , in the wild language , or rather canting , of paracelsus , implies a rorid meteor , or celestial dew , being a species of manna , in sweetness , density , tenacity , and whiteness , far transcending all other : generated by the mercury of the midle region ; infusing its astral seminality into the fertil matrix of the aër ; and wholly separated and refined from all sulphur and salt this delicate extract of the stars is in good plenty found , if we regard the time of its distillation , in the spring and entrance of harvest , when the sun begins to leave the torrid negro , and make his more temperate courtship to the starry virgin : if the place , in most eastern countries , upon the leaves of trees and herbs . thereniaben , or tereniabin , meaneth the same , which the more regular and orthographical pen of aristotle hath properly named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , mel aereum , vel roscidum ; an oleaginous kinde of wild hony , not confected by the chymistry of bees , but distilling from the retort of the inferior aër , upon meadows , campaniaes , trees , and herbs . this delicate collation the civility of the planets entertaineth us with , in the moneths of june , july , and august , as if they intended the refreshment of the laborious swain , exhausted by the heat of summer and sweat of harvest . the antients called it threr , if we may credit the traduction of dornaeus , in his comment upon the distracted meteorology of paracelsus . nostoch understandeth the nocturnal pollution of some plethorical and wanton star , or rather excrement blown from the nostrils of some rheumatick planet , falling upon spacious plains , fields and sheep pastures , of an obscure red or brown tawny , in consistence like a gelly , and so trembling if touched : which the philosophy of the clouted shooe affirms to be the ruines of a star fallen . some there are , saith dornaeus , who by nostoch intend wax : but by the favor of a metaphor . nebulgea we english a salt , or nitrous exudation and destillament from the clouds ; by the deliquium of the colder aër resolved into an unctuous liquor , and descending upon solid and stony bodies ; which suffering induration , by the exhalement of its aqueous parts , assumes solidity , and by the interest of exact similitude and cognation , doth more then pretend unto the dignity of celestial nitre . laudanum , if the same that all the druggists of europe call ladanum , is the woodfeer , or liquid spumous exudation of the shrub cistus , or ledon , growing in great plenty in the island cyprus , which the natives , ( unless the syth of time hath lighted upon that custom , since the days of dioscorides ) * use every spring to gather from off the long shaggy hairs of the thighs and beards of goats , feeding among and brushing themselves against the stalks and leaves of the plant , and after due clarification and percolation thereof , to conserve in convenient pots : but if , in the account of helmont , a kinde of aëreal meteor , or production arising from the coition and conspiracy of some seminary celestial influx with fit and proportionate matter , the fat evaporations of plants ; we confess that after a tedious search of paracelsus , severinus , dorneus , and other●… his interpreters , we cannot receive positive satisfaction concerning its name , nature , manner of generation , or specifical difference , but must acquie●…ce in a contented ignorance of what it is . we dare not countenance error , or stifle our own habilities of disquisition , so far , as not to take notice of the incogitancy , or partiality of our helmont , in ascribing the honor of the invention of hoplocrism , or the cure of wounds by unction of the weapon , to his master paracelsus : when we stand confirmed , upon evidence of substantial and convictive arguments , that this secret is much younger then paracelsus , as bearing no date of its revealment beyond those yeers , wherein he had long confessed his dust , and experimentally confuted his own arrogant treatise of the art of spinning out the thread of mans life to a length equal with the clue of time , and making our vital oyl of the same durable and invincible temper , with that which maintaineth the flames of eternal lamps * . for first , upon strict ( and introth tedious ) lecture of all the leaves of the extant works of paracelsus , we cannot meet with any the least mention of it : nor indeed the grave libavius before us , as he solemnly professeth , in apocalypseos hermeticae , parte priore , & cap. ultim . and to those , who have appealed to posthume manuscripts , and gloried in their inheritance of some papers bequeathed to the secret custody of opporinus , his amanuensis ; we must with smiles rejoyn , that a sober and well ordered belief can as soon swallow down the monstrous figment of the book of adam , * which the impious credulity of magicians doth confidently deliver to be given , by the archangel rhaziel , unto him , immediately upon his exile from paradise , and contrition for his sin , and from adam devolved to seth , from him to enoch , from him to noah , thence to sem , afterwards to abraham , isaac , jacob , levi , caath , amram , moses ▪ joshua , and so down to the prophets and holy seers successively ; whereby they were in a moment illuminated , the veil of sin withdrawn from the eye of their reason , and all those mountains of fleshly lust , which hindered the prospect of the intellect , l●…lled , so that they beheld nature face to face , and freely gazed upon all her beautiful parts , in the nakedness of their essences , and forms devested of all corporeity . again , though an argument drawn from the printed sheets of paracelsus be of no considerable validity , in regard he is so ridiculously subject to self-contradiction , through all his works , that a witty adversary might easily beat him out of the schools with his own weapons ; yet it may be lawful for us , from the masterpeice of his pen , his tract of chirurgery , to collect some proof , that he was wholly a stranger to the doctrine or practise of hoplochrism . for in that discourse , reducing all the several kindes of vulnerary remedies to a constant method , he is positive , that there is no other curation of a wound , but what is performed , either by means of the natural balsam , or by the apposition of brassidella upon the green wound , or by magorreo ; the first of which is natural and the same that all rational physicians allow , the second brassidellical , so denominated from the herb adderstongue , or ophioglossum , which he was pleased to nickname brassidella , the third magical , for magorreo , in the interpretation of dornaeus , is medicamentum magicum : and who can finde amongst these differences any room for the intrusion of the sympathetical armary unguent ? lastly , if the exceeding candor of any , willing to palliate this lapse of our helmont , recur to authority , and transfer the guilt upon baptista porta ( from whom , in probability , this erroneous tradition was derived down to our century ) who fathers the invention upon paracelsus , in these words : unguentum armarium , graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dictum , olim à paracelso maximiliano caesari datum , & abeodem expertum , maximéque carum ab eo habitum , quamdiu vixit , ujus aulae nobilis mihi communicavit : we shall modestly ret●…n , that so incredulous and independent a pen , as was helmonts , ( whose genius scorned sapere ●…x alieno commentario , and seems constellated rather to confute , then subscribe ) could hardly be so incircumspect , as not to discover the gross mistake of porta , in the point of chronology . for what he affirms of paracelsus his communicating the prescript and use of the unguent , to maximilian , emperor of the romans , is easily confuted as well from the annals of salteburg , as the history of paracelsus life , written by the learned and faithful hand of melchior adamus * , from both which posterity may receive ample satisfaction , that paracelsus was fast luted in his grave , and resolved in terram damnatam , in the reign of charls the fifth , about the year of christs incarnation , . now maximilian was made caesar , after the death of ferdinand his brother , in the yeer , . wherefore to reconcile porta's story to his computation of time , we must conced a possibility of regression ab inferis , and allow paracelsus , as in his life time to have descended to the abyss below , out of curiosity to dispute with avicen●… , and returned victor over the pale philosopher ; so also after his death , full twenty four yeers , to have ascended to the court of maximilian , and presented him the form of the sympathetical unguent . nor can the assertion of crollius ( who drank as deep of the spitle of paracelsus , as his predecessor porta ) that this secret was first imparted to the king of bohemia , be made good : since maximilian obtained not the scepter of that kingdom , until the yeer , . as we are instructed by the almost omniscient libavius , whose pen hath been large upon this subject , in apocalyps . hermeticae part . prior . cap. ultim . but whoever was the true father of this modern production , should he obtain a parol from the grave , and return again to converse with men , we may with reason doubt that he would hardly now know the minerva of his own brain ; but would borrow that exclamation of hercules returned from his avernal expedition , unde tam foedo obsiti paedore nati ? quae clades domum gravat ? so much hath the squalid disease of reformation disfigured it , and varied that originary comeliness , which was restrained to a determinate number of select ingredients , into as many uncouth dresses , as the licentious phansie of every commentator thought fit to present it in , every second hand adding , abstracting , or altering what simples it pleased . for in libavius his contest with crollius and severinus , about the dihoti of hoplochrism , we sinde no fewer then thirteen several and different forms of the magnetick unguent enumerated ; and in the private studies of many noblemen ( who have thought their cabinets infinitely enriched with this jewel , and valued it equal with that precious tri●…le , the countess of kents powder ) we have seen many other dissenting from the original in all , but the title . so that while some have usurped the liberty to multiply the simples , and run through the whole series of vulnerary remedies : others have contracted the whole magnetical energy into one single mineral ; as may be exampled in the so much magnified sympathetick powder , that wears the name of sir gilbert talbot , which we assuredly know to be nothing but roman vitriol calcined with promethean fire . in this we are tender not to have the sincerity of our thoughts exposed to the danger of misapprehension . wherefore to provide against mistake , we profess in the ears of the world , that we have not , in this our dislike of innovating the receipt , tacitely been injurious to the just freedom of any judicious pen , in making sober enquiries , profitable enlargements , and modest corrections of any piece delivered down from the hand of more antient learning ; for the happy industry of our forefathers hath not precluded , but opened the door of exploration , and our sight must needs be confessed weaker , if standing upon their shoulders we see not farther : nor confined the magnetical virtue to that just number and quantity of simples , found in the primitive composition of the unguent ; for we cannot be destitute of valid reasons to assure us , that the fame admirable effect might arise from many other vulnerary medicaments , as well in the operation of their single essential forms , as of the neutral quality resulting from their conjunction into one compound salv●… : but onely insinuated our wishes , that every sick phansie might not be tolerated to exercise an arbitrary power of innovation over such well composed medicines , which by the constancy of their effects sufficiently assert the maturity of their first contrivers knowledg , and manifest their own perfection ; as also that the adversaries to the doctrine of magnetism had wanted that advantage and encouragement of contradiction , which the unnecessary variety of prescripts of the armary unguent hath unadvisedly given them . but our proper business is to furnish the reader less acquainted with the books of physicians , with the faithful copies of the most ancient , authentick , and rational descriptions of the sympathetick unguent : with industry omitting those , which seem to offend the nostrils of more precise philosophy with the ingtateful smell of superstition . the prototype or original of the unguent , vulgarly imputed to paracelsus ; but in probability contrived long after his death , by the hand of barthol . corrichterus * , physician to maximilian the second , in whose court it was first divulged and practised , is thus drawn . of the moss grown on a humane skull two ounces : mumy half an ounce : humane fat depurated two ounces : oyl of line seed twelve drachmes : oyl of roses , and bole armeniack , ana one ounce . mix them , and by frequent agitation incorporate them into an unguent . into which a splinter of wood , or the weapon stained with the patients blood , is to be immersed : the wound , during the time of its sanation , being defended from the injury of aër , bound closely up with clean swathes , and mundified with the urine of the patient . but to the efficacious confection of the armary unguent , to cure a wound by unction of the instrument of the harm , though not distained with the blood , we are to admix to the former , of virgin honey ( we should rather choose the best mel atticum , or honey of athens , for its excellence worthily esteemed by the antients ) two ounces : the fat of a bull one drachme . and this we conceive to be the same , which our helmont intended : as the observation of every diligent reader cannot but collect . baptista porta , in magiae natural . l. . c. . compoundeth it , of the moss of an unburied cranium : the fat of man , each two ounces : mumy , humane blood each half an ounce : oyl of line seed , and turpentine , each one ounce : bole armen , as much . incorporate all these , in a clean marble morter , into an unguent : whose use and effect exactly correspond to the former . the most magnified ( because , indeed , most difficult and ceremonious ) method of compounding the unguent , described by oswaldus crollius , in basilica chymica , together with a panegyrick of its excellencies , runs thus : ℞ of the fat of a wild boar , and a bear ( the elder the beasts , the more efficacious their fat ) ana four ounces . when these fat 's have been , for the space of half an hour , decocted in good red wine , they are to be effused into pure , clean , cold water , and the floating unctuous substance to be skimmed off with a convenient instrument , but the ponderous residence in the bottom to be ejected , as excrementitious and useless . this done , ℞ of the fairest earth-worms , frequently purified in white wine , two sextaries * : let them be torrified in a well vernished earthen pipkin , in an oven close luted , provided they burn not , and then be finely pulverated : of this powder ℞ one ounce : the brain of a wilde boar exsiccated : red odoriferous sanders : mumy : the bloodstone ; ana one ounce . finally , ℞ of the mossy periwig of the skull of a man , destroyed by violent death , sheared off in the increase of the moon , and her existence in a propitious house of heaven , of venus , if possible , but on no condition of those two malevolent planets , mars and saturn , the quantity of two nutmegs . to all these decently pulverized and searced conjoyn the foresaid fat , and confuse them , according to the art of the apothecary , into an incomparable vnguent , to be conserved with extraordinary diligence in a glass or gallipot , closely sealed up , and if it grow dry , with long keeping , to be remollied and humectated with virgin honey . all this is to be performed while the sun is quartered in libra . somewhat different from all these is the composition of oswaldus gabelchoverus , recorded in practica germanica : which contains of the fat of a septennial boar , and bear , each , one pound : afterwards melted in boyling red wine , and affused into cold water , for the better depuration and collection of them : of the powder of a bloodstone , half an ounce : of red aromatical sanders , six drachmes : of earth-worms prepared with wine , two drachmes : of usnea , a great quantity : married all together into an unguent , by an artificial hand . the use is the same with the former of crollius . no less variation , as well in the number , as quantity of the ingredients , may we observe in that famous description , which pancratius gallus , chief physician to the duke of saxony , in great privacy , communicated to libavius : it being confected of the fat of a male bear , and wilde boar , in the quantity of two ounces apiece ; boyled and clarified in red wine : of red saunders , bloodstone prepared , each two drachmes : of earth-worms cleansed in wine , one ounce : of usnea two drachmes : of the dried and powdered roots of the greater consound , or major cumfry , and colcothar , each half an ounce : commix them exactly , with a silver spatule , into an unguent . the translator's landskip , or abstract of helmonts theory of magnetism . i 'm satisfi'd , that sympathies combine at distance : that dispersed mumies twine . that our souls act per nutum ; when awake from that enchantment , the first sin did make : and that this native magick of the mind , is the sole devil and witch ; if once refin'd by ecstasie . that reason's but the brat of sensuality ; and is lost with that . that none can chain up astral energy , or circumscribe radial activity : and magnetism extends its arm as far , and potent , as the most triumphant star. that earth hath heaven in 't . that atomes may , at vast remove , their virtual forms display . th●… heat and cold are languid agents , when seminal tinctures ( though obscure to men ) are brought in play ; for these , like angels , cure onely by th' touch invisible , procure natural miracles , and eas'ly in an hower , cicatrize wounds , that scorn chirurgeons power . that nice divines , who scruple at this art , commit implicite sacriledg ; and impart gods honor unto satan : while wise zeal call's it safe natural magick thus to heal . all this i now assent to ; but invite each wiser head , to make me 's proselyte . my mercury is not fixt : my virgin faith scorns to submit to what an author saith , barely because he said it . to enquire , to doubt , is to advance our judgment higher . for i 've been told , that knowledg most doth lie enshrin'd in sceptical neutralitie . w. c. the nativity of tartar in wine . the summary . . afishing for whales . . the spirit of wine , depressed by cold , retires to the center of its vessel . . how vineger differs from wine . . wine in the superficies of a vessel , why less generous . . the concretion of tartar in hogsheads . . how it affixes it self to the sides of a vessel . . it is coagulated in fixing . . the premises are made good . . the error of a chymick axiome . . the reason of wine coagulated in tartar , holds no analogy to that of excrements coagulated in the microcosm . . the difference betwixt tartar , and the stone concreted in the body of man. . tartar not altogether , or truly , the excrements of wine . . a grand error of paracelsus . . tartar of wine totally differs from any coagulated recrement in diseases . . a second lapse of paracelsus . . why tartar is not incrustated on the lees , in the bottom of a vessel . . wines distinguisht by their tartar. . tartar neither wine , nor the dregs of wine . . why an alcale , or lixival salt , extracted from wine , or tartar , does dissolve tartar. . the dregs of wine , in some part the material of tartar. . how ill the resemblance holds 'twixt tartar , and coagulations in the microcosm . . tartar to be referred to coagulated salts , not to stones , or excrements . before i attempt the explosion of that necessity , which paracelsus vainly imagined to himself , of the constitution of tartar in all aliment , for the discovery of the causes of most chronick diseases ; and that the folly of that fiction may be more clearly demonstrated , i have thought good , to premise an enquiry into the original of tartar in wine : since from thence ( according to the new belief of vulgarity ) most diseases derive their causes , and borrow their appellations . the cantabi ( now biscons ) natives of a province in spain , before their conversation with the hollander , in a voyage for the fishing of whales , being on the coasts of groenland ( which modern travellers conceive lost ) among the vast quicksands , called atalayae , surprised by intense cold , had their decocted wines , of themselves generous and excellent , frozen to ice . instructed by this exigent , they beat off their hoops from their vessels , and exposed , to the open aër , the naked conglaciated wines ; with design , that the residue of liquor might be totally frozen : this accordingly succeeding , they boared the ice , and at the centre of it found a clear , transparent liquor , of the colour of an amethyst , being the pure spirit of wine , a fiery and vital essence , uncapable of conglaciation . this discovery taught them understanding ; for they drank the ice , melted at the fire , restoring to it a small quantity of this essential vital nectar . the story is introduced for this end , that hence it may be observed , that the spirit of wine , by a natural tendency , flies from cold , as from his proper enemy ; and gently withdraws itself , from its former mansion , into the centre of the wine . but on the contrary , wines are therefore exposed to the heat of the sun , that they may grow acide , and the spirit exhaling , leaves behinde it a flat , cadaverous substance , devoid of spirit and life , which is vineger . but since it is far more noble and useful , that the spirit of wine should retreat into the centre , then perish by exhalation , therefore hath necessity , for the conservation of wines , hinted the invention of cold , deep cellers . the austrian wines still operating on themselves by an uncessant , tumultuous heat of fermentation , are , for the most part , gross and viscid . for which reason , the cellers at vienna are ordinarily digged to no less then a●…undred foot in depth . the spanish wines also , would suffer the same restless ebullition , and conflict betwixt their heterogeneities , were they not prevented by the admixture of a lime , which the spaniard calls hiesco , at the very instant of their flowing from the wine press . whence results it a clear and unquestionable truth , that the spirit of wine , in cold cellers , retreating from its adversary , cold , returns to the heart of the liquor , as to a safe refuge , and there conceals it self . wine , therefore , in the cortex , or outward circumference of it self , is less generous , as having fewer spirits , then in the middle , or inmost retiring room . hence it is a necessary consequent , that as , by reason of the exhalation of spirits , wines set in the sun , grow acide , and phlegmatick ; so also , proportionably , the exterior cortex of wine in a cold celler , must be more acide , then the centrals . and thus , when the musts of wines are freshly brought in from the press , lodged in store-houses , and have suffered fermentation , the spirit by and by flying from cold , concentres it self ; and therefore the superficies of wine , having already entred some degree of acidity , immediately begins to operate on the dregs , floating on the yet troubled and unclarified mass of liquor . for an absolute impossibility it is , that there can be any the least acidity ; which having once met with a proportionate object , does not immediately begin to operate on it . this really is the law , and unavoidable necessity of naturals . by example . vineger , how flat and weak soever , having once touched upon the stone concreted in the head of a creafish , vulgarly ( but erroneously ) called crabs eye , can by no means contain it self , but must immediately act , to the dissolution of it , and resolve it into a clear , diaphanous liquor . the acidity of wine , having once sated it self on the dregs , and spent much of its activity , by degrees , inclines it self to coagulation . but coagulate it cannot , without a conspiracy with , and assistance from the fracid odor of the vessel , impregnate with a spirit , or power of fermentation ; whereby it may , in some measure , admit of putrefaction . and for this onely reason , is the coagulation made at the sides of the vessel , to which it affixes it self ; according to that familiar chymick axiome : omnis spiritus dissolvens , eddem actione quâ corpora dissolvit , coagulatur : every dissolvent spirit is it self coagulated , in the same action , wherein it dissolves other concreted bodies . the more acide wine , therefore , in the extremities of it self , dissolves the dregs ; and at the same instant , the acide dissolvent spirit is coagulated , together with the newly dissolved faeces , and soon applies it self to the neerest side , or concave of the vessel . and this , lest both ( the dissolvent and dissolved ) might not be hindred from coagulating ; but on one side , at least , they might not be invironed by liquor : and thus , by this progress and succession of natural motions , there is affixed a new production of coagulation , tartar. observe also , that before the compleat act of coagulation , there is no existent coagulatum ; and therefore the acide spirit in the verge of the mass of wine , having newly dissolved the dregs , in a moment , before the act of coagulation finisht , seazes on the vessel , and by a cement , or glue , native and proper to it self , there fixes , and constantly adheres . otherwise depressed by gravity , it would immediately sink to the bottom . and this new entity , thus coagulated , is the tartar of wine ; of which our discourse . that these are sober , solid truths , we have clear and demonstrable evidence from vineger it self . for wine insolated to a calefaction of the vessel , may produce tartar ; but vineger never . and yet wine and vineger are one and the same matter , differing onely in those qualifications , heat and cold ; in the former , indeed , with tartar , in the latter without it . from the premisses , there breaks forth a considerable truth ; that our forementioned axiome , by chymicks concluded of eternal verity , grosly fails in that it makes the dissolution of any concreted body , to be done in the instant of time , and numerical action , with the coagulation of the spirit dissolvent . for if there intervened not , in some short interval of time , a diversity , and succession of motions , the coagulation could not soder it self to the circumambient planks of the vessel , as is there affused by liquefaction ; but would of necessity , if it were coagulated at the instant of dissolution , sink down to the lowest region , in the form of a simple coagulation , and not cement it self to the walls of the hogshead . but on the other side , in the bottom , the peculiar region of the lees , there is never found any tartar. here also accurs to our serious consideration , a second and more weighty verity : that the analogy , or resemblance , which the vulgarity of physicians conceives , betwixt the tartar in wine , and those preter-natural coagulations in the body of man , is erroneous , vain , and altogether impertinent ; and therefore the name , history , manner and end of coagulation of tartar in wine , are foolishly and unfitly accommodated to the causes of diseases . all which i shall demonstrate to ample satisfaction , when i come to discover that grand and popular delusion of the existence of tartar in our meat and drink . allowing to wine onely a fertility of tartar. for that we acknowledg to be no alien , no son of an exotick mother , from the concurrence of forein principles , intruded into wine , having its production contrary to , or besides the ordinary and simple nature of wines : neither owing its original to the adjuncts of the primitive malediction delivered in paradise , by divine providence , for the expiation of those crimes committed by man , in the heat and distraction of wine . again , neither is the tartar of wine ever coagulated by any originary activity , or power of coagulation , proper to its own nature ( though paracelsus dreamt so : ) but then undergoes coagmentation , when the circumferential acidity of the wine , hath newly exhausted much of its energy , and wasted it self , by a profuse operation on the dregs . that is , the active being swallowed up in the embraces of the passive : the acide spirit imbibed , and subdued to obedience , by the freshly dissolved faeces ; then , and not till then , contrives and sets about the act of coagulation , not with design or power to make a real , true stone , but a counterfeit , such as afterwards may be again dissolved in hot water , as an acide salt in liquor , which for that reason , the vulgar call cremor tartari . all which do very ill correspond with those preter-natural coagulations in the bodies of men : and yet they are , in a drunken fiction of paracelsus , by an imaginary analogy of essence and identity with tartar , in all meat and drink , grosly obtruded on the faith of vulgar physicians , wholly over-run by that epidemick , lazy , evil , subscription . here also we are fallen on a third magnale or violentum . that tartar is not an excrement of wine , unless on one part , which is the dregs dissolved : which truly paracelsus was not ignorant of , who does very frequently extol the medicinal faculties of tartar , far above those of wine it self , as inheriting many more and nobler endowments . wherefore he very absurdly refers tartar of wine , by an identity of essence , and formation , to the same classis of entities , with those solid concretions in diseased bodies ; which yet , in many other places , himself concludes to be a meer excrement , yea , the sorrowful fruit of that curse of the earth , pronounced by god , in paradise , bryers and thorns shalt thou bring forth , and calls , ens cacedonium , in puro saphyrico ente rerum . the tartar of wine therefore , and that which is erected in the schools , for the material cause , and foundation of most chronick diseases , if any such were in reality of entity , can keep no concord in their original forms , even according to the doctrine of paracelsus himself , if we accept the former , as a preternatural production , directed , by the destiny of its being , to the generating diseases , as to its proper end . and thus also , hath he most impertinently , and at best , but by the favor of a metaphor , reduced the causes of diseases to tartar : since they no way agree , either in their matter , efficient , manner , or cause of coagulation , in the term of the coagulatum , object , or originals . for neither gravel , nor the stone is capable of dissolution in boiling water ; as the tartar of wine is . this usurpation therefore , of name and propriety , is wholly metaphorical , rash , and frivolous ; and an assertion tacitely injurious to divine wisdom and providence , by polluting the purity of all sublunary creatures , with the bold imputation of a curse , as if in the totality of their natures , they were nothing but compositions , amassed out of the seeds of tartar. and to so high a pitch of impudence hath this error flown , that men dare imagine tartar in the very marrow of animals ; which yet they allow incoagulable , nor did ever paracelsus finde any where , but in his own wilde imagination . and so the result of all is , that he falls upon a manifest contradiction , making tartar to be no tartar , that is uncapable of coagulation : so that , not onely every coagulable and solid body , but also every liquid substance , that is every created nature , subject to the influence of the lower orbs , would be nothing but tartar , by divine vengeance , destined to the punishment of the first sin . no sooner hath the must suffered fermentation , parted with its former sweetness , and assumed the perfection and dignities of wine , but the whole mass of terrenity , the lees , falls to the bottom of the vessel ; and then begins the new made acidity of the wine , in the circumference , to execute its power dissolutive , on the earthly residence in the bottome . for the more essential portion of the wine , the spiritual nectar , by a gentle and gradual concentration , crowding into the middle , forsakes the protection of the superficial round of the liquor : this done , and the extremity of the wine thus destitute of vitality and radical heat , soon grows acide , and not meeting with any fit object neer it , whereon to discharge its activity , but onely the dregs in the lowest region of the wine , immediately assaults them , and by degrees dissolves them : and thus the acidity is both confirmed and inlarged . but since every acidum , by reason of its corroding energy , doth operate in a perpetual ebullition : hence is it , that that acidity , which had dived to the bottom , when it hath operated on the lees , doth reascend from thence , and fix it self in a higher mansion , the circumstance of the vessel . and for this cause , is the generation of tartar done , by successive , gradual , and slow motions . for the same reason also cannot tartar be concreted and affixed to the bottom ; hindered by that inquietude , and tumultuation of perpetual ebullition . hence is it , that rich and generous wines , being not easily subject to this destitution of spirits , unless on an assault of intense cold , do not soon grow acide , nor yeeld any considerable quantity of tartar. but old rhenish wines easily pall , grow sick , and loose their grateful and vigorous taste ; in regard their activity of eagerness is , for the most part , devoured by their lees ; and yet they continue wholsom and friendly to the stomach , in that their spirits are not exhausted to an equal proportion of their dregs and acidity . but red french wines , unless nourisht by their lees , ( which for this effect , vintners call , the mother , or nurse of claret ) dissolve their own tincture , continually preying on it by their subtilty and eagerness . and this is the cause , why claret wines , if not very rich , and excellently vigorous , at the age of two yeers grow pale and discoloured . for the tincture of wines , is a substance familiarly subject to separation . but strong , generous , and spiritual red wines , in that they more slowly grow acide , hold good to the age of many yeers . on the contrary , small white wines , if not sequestred from their lees , in short time , grow flat and cadaverous . for their lees drawn off , their acidity wanting a proportionate matter , to imploy its corrosive faculty upon , the wine continues good , sprightful , firm , and in its primitive integrity . from these experiments , we naturally collect , that tartar , in the acception of its entire nature , is no longer either wine , or the dregs of wine ; but a neutral , or third nature , resulting from the conjunction , and coëfficiency of both . that this is thus , is demonstrable from the mechanick experiment , that a greater quantity of tartar may be dissolved in ten ounces of rain water , then in two hundred of wine , though never so much stirred in boyling . the reason belongs to the acidity of wine to which the tartar ows its coagulation . to conclude ; six ounces of the salt of tartar , will dissolve seven ounces of crude tartar ; because the lixivium , or lee of that salt imbibes and sucks up the acidity of tartar. that tartar consists of the lees of wine , and not wine onely , we need no other eviction , but that experiment of printers , who indifferently use tartar or the lees of wine , for the master ingredient in their composition of ink : the same effect arising from either , on good reason , preventing the election of either , and confessing a plain consanguinity , if not an identity of the causes . again , in distillation , they both belch up one and the same acide odor , and yeeld one and the same oyl . onely tartar is not dissolved in cold water : because the ●…aeulent and earthy substance of the dregs does so closly environ and shroud the salt , that the cold water is not of force sufficient , to transfix that counterscarfe , or penetrate the atomical parts of the concretion , and by consequence , not to dissolve it . now since tartar hath its originary principles and nativity , no where but in wines , grown lightly acide , by a desertion of spirits , flying from circumstant cold , to the centrals of the liquor : hence let the so much illuminated ( that is infatuated ) disciples of paracelsus be instructed , how ill the speculation of tartar does quadrate , even with those diseases , for whose sake chiefly it was first invented and embraced . for plain it is , the stone concreted in the body of man , can never be dissolved in boyling water ; as tartar commonly is . for which consideration , tartar is more justly to be listed in the number of salts , or juices coagulated by salt , then of stones : è diametro , contrary to the doctrine of paracelsus . the image of god ; or , helmont's vision of the soul , englished . the summary . . the fear of god , the beginning : and charity , the end of wisdom . . man made in the image of god. . three sorts of atheists . . a wish of the author . . the intellection of the minde , intellectual . . the intimate integrity of the minde suffereth from caduce faculties , without the passion of extinction . . the action of the minde scarce perceptible in us . . atheists of the first classis deride the image of god , in man. . atheists of the second classis , have lately sprung up . . the atheistical ignorance of such is manifested . . a variety of vital lights . . how the minde differs from angels . . an intellectual vision of the authors . . all optation vain , without god. . the misery of the author . . a vision of the soul , separate from the body . . that the minde hath a figure . . the minde an immortal substance , representing the figure of god. . a vulgar error , concerning the image of god. . the error of such , who conceive the image of god to be seated in the ternary of faculties . . the doctrine of taulerus opposed . . the image of god never yet discovered , nor positively described , because incomprehensible . . the minde subject to damnation , onely by accident . . after death , is no more memory , or reminiscence . . the will was superadded to the minde , accidentally , after its creation . . in heaven , the will is useless and frustraneous . . in heaven the will appears no power , or faculty : but a substantial and intellectual essence . . if the minde be the image of god , this was anciently known to plato . . the definition of the minde . . reason not the image of god. . the authors opinion . . these two quiddities lie obscured in the soul , by reason of the corruption of our nature . . the love of the soul is excited onely by an ecstasie ; nor otherwise in these calamities of nature . . a precision of the intellect . . an objection solved . . that triplicity , or ternary of diverse faculties in the minde , is expressed also in every systeme , or composition of the world . . a more noble and exact similitude , then that of a trinity of faculties , requisite to make out the image of god in man. . the description of the minde , rehearsed . . how the minde may survey it self . . the original of the imagination , constitutive . . the minde understandeth far otherwise . . the prerogative of the minde . . an explication of living love . . the discrepancies of intellections in mortals . . why that amorous desire , or divine love , cannot cease in heaven . . the description of that desire . . how sin may be harbored in the desire of the minde . . the love of the minde is a substance , even in men , that have not yet confessed their dust . . how great a cloud of darkness is drawn over the primitive splendor of the intellect , from the corruption of nature , by the original sin . . the image of god , defaced and demolished in the sons of perdition . wisdom begins at the fear of god ; and the fear of god begins at the meditation of death , and eternal life . but the end of wisdom many conceive , with the stoicks , to be the knowledg of a mans self ; but i account the ultimate end of wisdom , and the crown of the whole course of our life , charity , which alone will faithfully accompany us , when all other things shall have deserted us . and although self-cognition , in our opinion , be onely a medium to the fear of god ; yet from that , must our tractate concerning long life , assume its beginning ; in this relation , that the cognition of life presupposeth the cognition of the soul , since the life and soul ( which we have more then once intimated ) are synonymaes . t is of faith , that man was created , of nothing , after the image of god , into a living creature ; and that his minde shall never perish ; while , in the mean time , the souls of bruits suffer annihilation , so soon as they cease to live . the weighty reasons of which difference i have declared , in my discourse of the original of forms . but hitherto is it not manifested , beyond dispute , wherein that similitude of man with god , our archtype , or prime exemplar , doth consist . for in the soul alone , many determine this majestick pourtraicture . i shall deliver what i conceive ; yet under an humble protestation and subjection to the censure of the church . thus it is . the original of forms being , in some degree of comprehension , already known ; it is just we make a grand enquiry concerning the minde of man. but , seriously , no cognition is more weighty then that , whereby the soul comprehends her self : yea , and hardly is any more profitable ; in this interest , that faith doth establish her foundation upon the unperishable , and indelible substance of the soul. i have found , indeed , many demonstrations , concerning this verity , divulged in books : but none at all propter quid , touching the cardinal quiddity , in relation to atheists , denying one single , and from all eternity constant , deity . plato , insooth , hath decreed three orders of atheists . ( . ) a first , which beleeveth no gods at all . ( . ) a second , which indeed doth admit of gods ; but such as are incurious of our condition here below , and idle contemners of the trifling affairs of mortals . ( . ) a third , which although it beleeve , that there are gods , and such as are both knowing and observant of the smallest occurences in the world ; yet imagineth them so exceeding merciful , that they are flexile , by the finger of the weakest prayer . and this kinde is most frequent among christians , and even such , who profess themselves the most perfect in our days : and on this presumption , they dare any thing , and beleeve religion to be no more but an engine of mature policy , to coerce the people , with the terror of laws , the obligation of faith , and the penalty of hell. for these impose heavy burthens on the shoulders of others , which themselves touch not with one of their fingers ; drain the purses of their disciples , prostitute heaven for money to dying men , and continually intrude themselves into secular affairs , in regard they opinion , that religion cannot subsist without state-policy . my highest wish should be , that they had once , though but in a moment , tasted what it is to understand intellectually ; that so they might perceive sensibly , as it were by the touch , the immortality of the minde . i confess , i have not invented rules or a method , whereby i might be able to illustrate the intellect of another man. i protest therefore justly , that such who ever study , making disquisitions concerning truth , but can never attain the knowledg of it , in respect , being puffed up with learning , they have no charity , do foster secret atheism . but this one mystery i have learned , that the minde doth not at all understand by the mediation of the phansie , nor by figures and images ; unless the miserable , and afflicting discourse of reason be annexed ; but when the soul comprehends her own nature , reason falls off from her , and the image of her self fails her , by which she might represent her self to her self : therefore the soul can , by no means , apprehend her self by the discourse of reason , nor by images . for after that i had known , that the verity of an essence , and the verity of the intellect were one and the same : i certainly knew that the intellect was a certain immortal entity , far removed from all frail and perishable things . the soul , indeed , is not perceived ; yet we firmly beleeve her to dwell within us , not to be idle , not to be weary , nor afflicted with diseases . therefore sleep , madness , and ebriety , are not symptomes of the immortal soul suffering exorbitancy ; but the attendants of life and onely passions of the sensitive faculty ; since bruits also frequently endure the same passions . for just it is that the immortal being owe these disturbances to her adligement to caduce and mortal things . for as the minde inhabiteth within us , and yet is not perceived by us : so neither are her continual and uninterrupted operations subject to sensation ; because if they were sensible , verily they could not have been spiritual and meerly abstracted . and although it appear to us , that we understand nothing by the total sequestration and abstraction of discourses from all things corporeal , which can fall under the comprehension of our sense , minde , and intellect ; and that in the very beginnings of our contemplations : yet really , the soul doth , all that while , act by her own insensible way , and by an efficacy wholly spiritual : which i thus understood . the penitentiary very often doth not sensibly perceive the effects of his contrition , and with groans deploreth that his insensility : yet being asked whether he would willingly commit a sin , would perchance answer , that he had much rather die . insensible therefore is the operation of the soul in penitence and confession , being the supernatural effect of faith : because the intellectual actions are derived from a higher principle , and are clients of a more noble and indesinent magistracy . and on this ground mystical divines lay their doctrine , that the soul doth more effectually operate , and in her operations more benefit her self , in faith alone , without discourse and cogitation ; then he who prayeth in a multitude of words , and by tedious discourses exciteth compunction in himself . but happy he , who hath obtained that excellent endowment , to perceive these insensile operations of the soul , and by secret emanation to reflect them upon the operations and powers of the sensitive soul ; since such frequently leave their impresses upon the whole after life , and excite the memory , in faith operating together with grace , for the future . the libertines of christianity , and atheists of the first classis deride this article of our creed , as if the image of god , in us were onely imaginary , and it a meer traditional fiction that man was fashioned after the similitude of the deity . but other atheists of the second and third sort beleeve , not onely that we are created in the image of god ; but feign also that in our nature there is an identity with the essence of the immense , uncreated divinity ; and that man doth differ from god in substance no otherwise , then a part doth from the whole , or that which had beginning from that which is non-principiate ; but not at all in point of essence , or internal propriety . which besides the blasphemy , doth comprehend very many and gross absurdities . since whatever once began is in that very notion a creature ; and it doth tacitely involve an imperfection in god , to be able to create extra se , without the limits of his own nature , any thing in substance equal to himself : since truly from philosophy it is evident beyond doubt , that all the parts of an infinite are infinite , of necessity . the creature therefore cannot be in substance more infinite , then it hath been in duration equal to its eternal principle : and much less is the soul of man a part of the divine substance , or essentially like unto it ; which in power , magnitude , duration , glory , wisdom , &c. in her self , and of her self , is a meer nothing . if therefore she was not made out of god , much less out of her self ; but out of nothing . infinitely therefore do they wander from truth , who beleeve a quiddity of the divine image implanted in the soul , by an identity of substance : when they are distinguished each from other by infinite disparity ; yea , the soul would at length , of her own accord , be again resolved into that nothing , from whence she began , unless she were constantly conserved in being , by the divine goodness . seriously , the damned souls might wish to be resolved into their primitive nothing , which the divine justice doth conserve in being . the soul , indeed , from the minute of her creation forwards to the future , hath an eternal permanence ; not from her own essence , but from her native eternity , freely conferred upon her by the bounty , and constantly conserved by the providence of her maker . suffice it therefore , that the soul be a spiritual and vital substance ; and a luminous creature . and since there are many kindes and species of vital lights , this light of the minde differs from all other vital lights , in this , that it is a spiritual and immortal substance ; but all other vital lights are not substances formal , though they be forms substantial ; and therefore , by the chymistry of death , they are reduced into their ancient nothing , no otherwise then is the flame of a tapor extinct . but the minde differs from angels ; in respect it is framed in the similitude and representative figure of the eternal god , for the soul hath that light and luminous substance from the gift of her creation , since she her self is that vital light : but an angel is not that substantial light , nor hath he any light genial and inherent to his essence , but is onely a mirror of the increated light ; and so in this particular falls short of the excellence and perfection of the divine image . otherwise an angel , since he is an incorporeal spirit , were he luminous from the right of his own essence , would express the image of god more perfectly then man. moreover , whatever god doth bestow more love upon , that is more noble : but he hath loved man , much more then the angels ; for not to the redemption of the angelical nature did he assume the figure of a cacodaemon , as the thrice glorious lamb of god , the saviour of the world , assumed the nature of a servant . nor can this doctrine be staggered by the opposition of that , the meanest in the kingdom of heaven is greater then john the baptist : for the son of man is not inferior , in dignity of essence , to the angels , though he was pleased to become a little lower then the angels ; for in the calamitous condition of his life , he was made a little lower then the angels , as also was john the baptist. and for this reason , an angel is constantly called a ministring spirit : but is no where read a friend of god , the son of the father , the delight of the son of man , or the temple of the holy spirit , wherein the thrice glorious trinity takes up his mansion . for that is the majestick prerogative of the divine image , which the light eternal doth impress upon every man that comes into this world . in the year , after a long weariness of contemplation , that i might acquire some gradual knowledg of my own minde , since i was then of opinion , that self-cognition was the complement of wisdom , faln by chance into a calm sleep , and rapt beyond the limits of reason , i seemed to be in a hall sufficiently obscure . on my left hand was a table , and on it a fair large vial , wherein was a small quantity of liquor : and a voice from that liquor spake unto me : wilt thou honor and riches ? at this unwonted voice , i became surprized with extream amazement . i walked up and down , seriously considering with my self , what this should design . by and by , on my right hand , appeared a chink in the wall , through which a light invaded my eyes with unwonted splendor : which made me wholly forgetful of the liquor , voice , and former counsel . then pensively returning to the vial , i took it away with me ; and attempted to taste the liquor , but with tedious labor i opened the vial , and assaulted with extream horror i awakened . but my ancient intense desire of knowing the nature of my soul , in which i had panted uncessantly for thirteen whole yeers together , constantly remained with me . at length , amidst the anxious afflictions of various fortunes , when yet i hoped a sabbath of tranquillity from the security of an innocent life transacted , in a vision i had the sight of my soul. it was a transcendent light , in the figure of a man , whose whole was homogeneous , actively discerning , a substance spiritual , crystalline , and lucent by its own native splendor . but enshrined it was in a second nubilous part , as the husk or exterior cortex of it self , which whether it did emit any splendor from it self , i could hardly distinguish , by reason of the superlative fulgor of the crystalline spirit inshrowded within it . yet this i could easily discern , that there was no sexual impress , but onely in the cortex or shrine . but the mark of the crystal was light ineffable , so reflexed , that the crystal image it self became incomprehensible : and that not by negation or privation ( since these are terms onely accommodate to our imbecillity ) otherwise then this , that it presented a majestick ens , which cannot be expressed by words ; yet so finely , that you could not have comprehended the quiddity of the thing beheld . and then was it revealed unto me , that this light was the same , which i had a glimpse of twenty three yeers before . and these things i saw by an intellectual vision ; in my minde ; for had the eye of my body once beheld this resplendent excessive object , it would for ever after have ceased from vision , and consta●…ly have celebrated a blinde mans holy day . and thus my dream discovered unto me , that the beauty of the humane soul doth far transcend all conception of thought . at that instant i comprehended thus much , that my long desire of seeing my soul was vain and fruitless ; and thereupon i did acquiesce . for however beautiful the crystalline spirit did appear ; yet my soul retained nothing of perfection from that vision , as at other times she was wont to do after an intellectual vision . and so i came to be instructed , that my minde , in this somnial vision , had as it were acted the part of a third person ; nor was the discovery sufficiently satisfactory to compensate so earnest and insatiate a desire of exploration . but as to the image of god impressed upon the soul ; according to my slender capacity , i confess , i could never conceive any thing , whether a body , or spirit , whether in my phansie , or the most pure , and abstracted speculation of my intellect , which in the same act of meditation , did not represent some certain figure , under which it stood objected to my conceptions . for whether i apprehended it by imagining an idea probably correspondent to its essence , or whether by conceiving that the intellect did transmute it self into the object understood ; still it occurred unto my thought invested in some figure . for although i could familiarly understand the minde under the notion of an incorporeal and immortal substance : yet could i not , while i meditated upon the individual existence of it , consider the same devoid of all figure ; yea , nor so , truly , but it would respond to the figure of a man. since when ever the soul being sequestred doth see another soul , angel , or cacodaemon , requisite it must be , that she perfectly know , that these are presented to her , to the end she may distinguish a soul from an angel , and the soul of peter from the soul of judas . which distinction cannot be made by the sense of tasting , smelling , hearing , touching ; but onely by the proper vision of the soul ; which vision necessarily implieth an alterity or difference of figure . since an angel is so far restrained to locality , that at once he cannot possess two different places : in that also there is included as well a figural , as a local circumscription . thence i considered the minde of man figurated after this manner . the body of man , accepted under that distinct notion , cannot give to itself the figure of a man ; and therefore hath need of an external sculptor or delineator , which should be secretly ambuscadoed in the material mass of the seed , and descend upon it from above . yet this , in so much as it is of a material condition , and far below the fineness of a spiritual nature , cannot derive the plastick or conformative virtue no more from it self , then from the gross mass of the body : necessary it is therefore , that there be some precedent or elder principle , which must be wholly and purely immaterial , yet real , and operative , to which may be justly attributed the power of figuration or delineation , by a sigillary impression upon the archeus , or regent spirit of the seed . the soul of the genitor , therefore , when it descends to visit and relieve the inferior faculties , and makes a progress to survey the seed , in a paroxysm of carnality , doth upon the mass of seed , engrave and adumbrate the impress and figure of it self , ( which ; in sober truth , is the onely cause of the foecundity of seeds ) and thence is that comely and magnificent structure of the infant . otherwise if the soul were not figurated , but the figure of the body did arise spontaneously : a father maimed in any one member could not beget a son but maimed in the same member ; in regard the body of the generant hath lost its primitive integrity , and is become imperfect , at least in the implantate spirit of that member . if therefore the figure be impressed upon the seed ; undoubtedly it must receive that image or model from some other more vital and elder principle , alien to it self . but if the soul impress that figure upon the seed , she will not counterfeit an exotick , or strange image ; but accurately pourtray the similitude of her self . for by this means also beasts , by the souls modelling of her own picture , constantly maintain their species . and although the minde of man , if we relate to its original , far transcend the laws of nature ; yet by the same method or way , whereby it first entred the portal of nature , was incorporated and associated to her , it is constrained to progress in traduction , and is constantly adliged to the observance of her rules and prescriptions ; in this respect , that the progress and end of vital generations is always univocal . nor otherwise could it want many and gross absurdities , that so excellent an operation , as is the generation of man , should be performed without the consent and cooperation of the soul. which if it be thus , it is also of inevitable necessity , that the foecundity be given to the seed by the soul , by the communication of its figure , and other vital determinations requisite to specification . which verily doth not come to pass otherwise , then by the sigillation or engravement of the soul upon the seed , whereby the matter of the seed doth obtain a requisite maturity and adumbrated figure : that at length it may acquire from the creator the formal light of life , or soul of its species , whose similitude is expressed in the figure . moreover , we apprehend it as matter of faith , that our soul is a spiritual substance , that shall never know annihilation : the fabrication of which substance out of nothing belongeth to the almighty god alone . who since he hath vouchsafed to adopt onely the soul of man to the image of himself : it appears also a genuine consequence , that the immense and ineffable god is also of humane figure ; and that by an argument drawn à posteriori , if arguments be of any validity in this incomprehensible subject . since the body is like wax , whereupon the impression of the image of the soul is imprinted : but the soul hath her image and essential perfection from him , whose stamp or similitude she wears . but on consideration that the body of man doth frequently become subject to mutilation and monstrosity ; hence have most divines conceived that the glorious image of the deity is wholly consistent in the rational faculty : not at all considering , that the representative divinity of man doth in a more perfect and proxime relation consist in the soul , and so in the body formed after the exemplary character of the soul ; nor perpending , that the rational faculty is but handmaid and subservient to the intellect , no part at all of its essence , nor adliged to it by the inseparability of union , or identity : which we have to satisfaction demonstrated in our treatise , of the venation of sciences . now if any error be in the confirmation of the body , in the womb of the conceptrix : that error is not adscriptive to any imperfection of the image of god ; but to the incapacity of the material principles , and other external causes , invading the plastick virtue of the seed , and perverting its exact delineation of the parts . but the more learned number of christians doth hold it of faith , that the soul doth proximly express the image of the trin-une god , in the univocal simplicity of her substance , and the trinity of her faculties , namely , the intellect , will , and memory . which analogy ever sounded , in the ears of my reason , so ridiculous and empty as an old wives dream ; and improper to make good the proxime , singular , and excellent reflex of the godhead in the soul : since the term , image , doth include a similitude of essence and figure , and not onely a bare parity of numbers . again , if the soul , in her substance , represent the thrice sacred deity ; but the intellect , will , and memory reflect the trinity of persons : necessary it is that these three faculties are not proprieties , or accidents of the soul ; but the very univocal substance of the minde ; or else , that the pourtracture doth ill quadrate and respond to the prototype , or prime exemplar , whose image it is beleeved to be . i considered moreover , that not onely the minde of man , but even the whole man was framed after the image of god ; and that it was a bloody absurdity to compare the persons of the trinity to the memory , or will : since no person of the most holy godhead , can in any latitude of resemblance , represent the will , nor the will the person , none the memory , or the memory none ; as also that no one , separated from the other two , can hold any analogy to the intellect . and then , that the three faculties of the soul are ever accepted under the notion of accidents : but , insooth , accidents fall short of expressing the image , in any neerer relation , then the naked ternary of qualifications , heaped together upon the substance of the soul. in which sense , the soul doth express the image of god far less , then any the smallest piece of wood : which by retrograde analysis or resolution of it self into its primitive entities , holdeth forth , sal , sulphure , and mercury : and not onely ( as the minde in the forementioned similitude , credited by the vulgar ) three diverse proprieties , or a naked ternary of accidents . for every wood hath three several substances , comprised under the unity of the concretion , distinct in the supposed essences of their principles ; but concurring in the composition of the whole , they make onely the single substance of wood. taulerus hath divided the soul , not into three faculties , but two distinct parts , viz. the inferior or outward , which by peculiarity of appellation he denominates the soul ; and the superior or inward , which he entitleth the profundity of the soul , or spirit ; in which he affirmeth the image of god to be comprehended , since therein is seated the kingdom of heaven , and therefore the devil can obtain no access unto it . and to each of these parts he hath assigned several acts and proprieties mutually distinct each from other . but alas ! this holy man expungeth that simple homogeneity of the soul , wherein she ought principally to express the similitude of the deity : or at least hath hitherto denied the image of god to be propagated and diffused through , not onely the whole man , but even through the whole soul. verily , the ears of my faith are not easily open to this doctrine of the duality of the immortal soul ; nor the alterity of those two parts : especially when in her essence , the soul ought to resemble the image of the most simple divine nature . i should much rather assent , that the minde of man doth carry the resemblance of the most immense godhead , in the most simple unity , and indivisible homogeneity of spirit , under the symbol of immortality , of indissolution , and identity , beyond all connexion or alterity . wherefore my assertion is , that the glorious image of god is neither separate , nor separable from the soul ; but the very minde is the very image of god , fully so intimate to the soul , as the soul is to her self , that is , the image of god is the soul of the souls essence : and for that reason , that no sober head can conceive or express any the least analogy essential betwixt the supream increated ens , and the soul of man ; since the nature of divinity is wholly incomprehensible , and the most subtile thought can never finde any character of identity and unity with god , impressed upon the minde , whereon the similitude should be founded . sufficient it is , that the minde is a spirit , dearly beloved of god , homogeneous , simple , immortal , created after the image of the immense deity , a single ens , to which death can adde , and from which death can detract nothing that is proper and genial unto it in the essence of its simplicity . and in regard the soul , in the primitive constitution and destination of its essence , is participant of beatitude : therefore is damnation supervenient to it by accident , besides the originary decree of creation , by reason of a succeeding defection . this semideity , the soul , thus nobly enriched with science , when once enfranchized from her prison , the body , doth then for ever suspend all use of memory , and no longer makes use of the tedious induction of reminiscence , intuition of place , or duration ; but being single , in that homogeneal simplicity comprehendeth all things . for which reason , should any memory remain to the soul , after her flight from earth , it would of necessity be not onely frustraneous and useless , but burdensom : when it must eclipse her transcendent actual intellection . and from reminiscence must arise the same inconvenience ; since that can never be invited into act , but by the circumambages and complex discourse of reason ; and therefore it possesseth no room in eternity ; where in the full prospect of verity , without being subject to declination , defatigation or defect , the soul standeth exalted far above the necessity of recognition . the inference is , that the soul must be constituted in beatitude ( understand , in her primitive destination ) without the conjunction of the forementioned ternary of faculties ; and so in that analogy cannot resemble the image of the incomprehensible deity , for the sole representation whereof she was created . yea , upon a more intimate scrutiny , i do not finde the memory to be any singular and distinct power of the soul : but onely the bare manner of recognition . for such , who have shallow memories , to relieve this infirmity do , by the help of the imagination ( vicegerent to the intellect ) contrive for themselves an artificial memory , and that far more retentive then otherwise their natural memory could have been . moreover , the will also taketh an eternal farewel of the soul in death : why , because it is not essential , but accidentally advenient to the soul. since god , so soon as he had finished his creation of man , constituted him in the absolute power of his own free will ; which in sober truth , according to my apprehension , doth plainly import , that the will is not , by any peculiar manner , essential to the soul , from the first of her creation : but onely annexed to her , by way of concession , or trust , as a talent to the hand of a servant ; to this end , that man might have free power to choose what path best liked him , to unravel his life in . otherwise i deny not , but in the whole scene of things , there can be no one more pernicious then a free and unregulated will , as being that onely , which introduceth all variance and discord betwixt god and man. this faculty , therefore , must be for ever exiled from the beatitude of eternity : for the liberty of willing being taken away , the will it self doth also of necessity perish ; and of what use can the power of volition be , when there is no longer remaining any occasion to will ? and on this basis the schoolmen found their doctrine , that in heaven the will is confirmed , or rather wholly evacuated by death : that is , the beatified souls in paradise , have no power to will , nor will to will , but what is conform to the will of the highest ; and those who are compleat in charity and glory , retain no power of willing any thing which is not of charity . the will therefore expires , when the liberty of volition is dissolved ; and by sequel , the will can be no essential , but temporary and caduce power of the soul ; since it cannot be of use or advantage to that soul , which in the consummation of beatitude and highest fruition , hath suffered an utter evacuation of desire and hope : when it can no more be deduced into act , but must be a bare optation , which cannot be admitted in the state of bliss , where is a full satiety and abundant possession of all desiderable good . sufficient let it be for us ; by the power of volition in this life , to thesaurize , or make provision for the life to come . now after this transitory power of volition is abolished , in the next life there springeth up , and manifesteth it self , a substantial will , in no respect an alien to the intellect and essence of the minde ; and therefore having a being absolutely distinct from the accidental and variable will. for as the imagination is aliened in phrensies , distracted in perturbations of the animal faculty , and eternally suspended at the disunion of the soul and body : even so is the power of free will for ever abrogated by death . and thus i came to beleeve , that the image of god in man is seated in the spiritual substance of the soul ; and not in the ternary of its faculties . in a word , the analogy stands thus . god is an ens increate , single , incomprehensible , eternal , infinite , omnipotent , good , a supersubstantial light and spirit . but the soul is a creature , single , indivisible , dependent , immortal , simple , and from the date of her creation eternal , a substance spiritual and lucid . finally , in god there can be no accidents : but all and every one of his attributes are the very indistinct and most simple essence of the divine spirit : which plato his parmenides in some measure understood . and so the soul , since she is the representative of god , doth also admit no accident in her nature : but her whole substance must be a simple light , and the very intellect . for as smoak ascending from flame , is in figure and matter the same thing with flame : even so the soul is the naked , pure , and simple intellect , and the luminous shadow of the increated light . so that as the eye doth behold nothing more truly , and more neerly then the sun , and all other objects by the sun : even so the beatified soul understandeth nothing more neerly then that light , by whose eradiation she is illuminated , and upon which she doth totally and immediately depend . and as the eye of our body cannot endure to gaze upon the excessive lustre of the sun : so cannot the soul by intellection comprehend the glorious essence of god , much less while , in this vale of ignorance , she stands obliged to the obscure mediation of her transitory faculties . otherwise the intellect , emancipated from the thraldom of flesh , doth by the act of intellection acquire the figure of the object understood ; in so much as it transformeth it self , by commigration , to that unity of light , which penetrateth , and by penetrating invigorateth it with beatitude . and thus the soul doth principally and primarily contemplate the immense nature of god , in the act of intellection ; and for this end was she created the true and real representative of the divine essence . they who opinion the image of god to be seated in the rational faculty of man , depend upon this argument . the law is the image of god ; but this law is engraven upon our souls , by reason : therefore , is the soul the image of god , as she is onely rational . but such consider not , that according to the intent of this sophism , the soul , indeed , would contain the image of god ; but yet the soul her self would be the law it self essentially . which absurdity is too palpable to escape the observation of any , who shall but perpend , how much the law and the soul differ in the suppositionality of essence : and that the constitution and engravement of the law succeeded the creation of the soul. verily , i abhor metaphorical locutions in serious and abstruse subjects . as if these words , god created man in his own likeness , would naturally bear this onely interpretation , that god gave man the use of reason : and that such who enter this scene of mortality , with native idiotism , or a durable infatuation of reason , about them , have forfeited their plea to this grand prerogative of mankinde , the image of the immense deity . again , to impute the image of god to reason , is to prophane and blaspheme the sacred majesty of god , as i have amply declared in my discourse of the venation of sciences : when there is no adequation of reason to god , no comparison betwixt a transitory and uncertain faculty , and an eternal omniscient substance . but omitting the opinions of other men , i shall presume the liberty to declare my own . the intellect hath a will coequal , and substantially united to itself ; not such as may be accounted a power or accident : but the very light intellectual , a substance spiritual , an essence spiritual and indivisible , onely distinguished from the intellect by suppositionality , not reality of essence . beside these , i finde also in the soul a third native propriety , which in defect of a more proper appellation , i name love , or constant desire ; not of acquisition , possession , or fruition : but of complacency : which is equally essential to the soul with the other two , the intellect , and the intellectual will , and equally simple in unity of substance . which ternary of proprieties meet in the single and indivisible substance of the soul , and make one perfect unity . but this love is no act of the will singly ; but proceedeth from the intellect and substantial will together , as a distinct and glorious act : for even in this life , we may love those things , which our understanding concludeth not to be amiable , and which our will adviseth us not to love : and frequently we love objects , that transcend the comprehension of the understanding , and will , as in an ecstasie both the intellect , and will are suspended , and consopited , during the abstraction of the minde , for so long have they resigned their scepter to love. nor is this love a passion : but an essence dominant , and an act glorificant . the will therefore , and love , of this place , hold no community at all with the sensual and transitory will of man , or of flesh and blood : in regard they are essential titles , by which ( in our great poverty of words ) we endevour to demonstrate , wherein the minde of man doth represent the image of god : forasmuch as the intellect enfranchised from the body doth intuitively understand , intend , and from the abyss of the minde , love god , in one entire and never-discontinued act of love , or desire of complacency , according to the simplicity of her substance . but so long as we sojourn in walls of flesh , we come not so neer beatitude , as once to use our substantial and purely intellectual intellect ; but most of our obscure cognition of any entity is derived from the information of phansie , which , as viceroy , usurpeth the throne of the intellect . for ( as before ) in an ecstatical rapture , the intellect , will , and memory keep holiday , and are as it were lost in a somnolent inactivity ; the ardent act of love onely remaining vigorous and operative : yet so distinct from the three former , that it cannot subsist without the intellect , and substantial will ; since , when the soul is totally homogeneous in her substance , she would plainly lose that her absolute simplicity , if any one of the three could subsist without essential dependance on the other . love therefore , while the other two proprieties continue bound up in an ecstatical slumber , doth as it were ascend to the superficies : or rather , in terms of neerer similitude , the other two are as it were imbibed and overwhelmed in love. while we sojourn in the tents of kedar , in this vale of misery , love is elder then desire ; because it is a passion of the amatory faculty , which proceedeth from that suppositionality of the soul ( which is true love indeed ) and representeth the idea or resemblance of the corporeal faculty : and hence is it , that all the affections are , by invincible propensity , rapt on to irregularity and confusion . but in the citizens of new jerusalem , this love knows no priority , or distinction from desire : neither is it a faculty , nor habit , nor act of willing , nor subsisteth without the intellect . and thus the intellect is a formal light , and the very substance of the soul , whose cognition is perfect by intuition , without the help of eyes , which discerneth , willeth , and desireth , in the unity of it self , whatever it comprehendeth within it self , and judgeth by volition . nor doth it then any longer remember by a repetition of the species , or in age of the object once known ; nor is it any more induced to the cognition of an essence , by circumstances : but then becometh the onely and exact cognition of all intelligible objects , and the intuitive aspect , within it self . yet so , that it knows one object more presentially then another , while the intellect reflecteth it self upon the objects understood , in the distinct unity of verity : even as it frequently happens in the artifical memory , where that recordative memory is no distinct act from the inductive judgment of the intellect . and will this not be more genial and proper to the minde , when once delivered from the tedious , turbulent , and complex way of understanding by the imagination ? nor can the stability of these our assertions be shaken by this objection , that frequently in exorbitances of the brain , the memory doth perish , and yet the judgment continue firm and sound ; and on the contrary , the judgment doth suffer impairment and desolation , and yet the memory conserve its integrity and tenor , as many drunkards perfectly remember all passages as well before , as in and after their wine : in regard these are heterogeneal faculties of the sensitive soul , seated in distinct provinces of the body , and subject to intension and remission according to the exact and irregular temperament of the organs . and to inanimate creatures also , according to our observation , there undeniably belongeth a kinde of imperfect and obscure cognition of their particular objects : as also a blinde sense and dull affection of the most convenient and adaequate ; which creatures have , for this determinate election of their determinate objects , lately acquired the name of sympathetical : and this dark perception of the most accommodate objects , serveth them in stead of the sense of vision , and faculty of reason . besides this , there is also implanted in these inanimate sympathetical creatures a certain virtue , or vital endowment , of infallible valor , and energy ; as to those ends ordained by the creator . there is also a third power conferred upon creatures of this qualification , resulting from the conspiracy , and coefficiency of the two former : which sitteth as a silent counsellor , and dispenseth commands to them , either to advance towards the amiable and ●…eneficial , or retreat from the offensive and harmful object . in which the most blear-ey'd reason cannot but behold a certain natural sensation , or affection of determinate objects : yea , and what is more , a dislike and aversation . which climax , or threefold degree of nonintellectual cognition , is more manifest in the most stupid sorts of insects , as also in fools and mad men ; who are no subjects to the prudent scepter of the intellect , but subordinate to the doller advisoes of sense , and conform to the provocations of onely visual light . and yet in these there is moreover a second power , or act of their virtues specifical and functions vital : for the onely exercise whereof they were ordained . and thirdly , there is comprehended in them a far more conspicuous act of address or application , and aversation or avoidance : which ariseth from the instinct of their forms . all which natural proprieties do yet more powerfully declare themselves in sensitive creatures : for to these belongeth a certain sensitive imagination , with a gradual discourse of obscure reason , which supplieth their defect of an intellect , and is more or less resplendent and conspicuous in every single species : so that sagacity , voluntary election , and memory in such fall under the apprehension of a comparative intellect : their objects being yet changed , according to the variety of matter , propense to variations , distinctions , and singularities . moreover , in such there is an emanative or effluxive power collaterally annexed to their virtues ; whereby their souls are more or less propense to the exercises of their element , benign , and wholsom , or wilde and destructive endowments , or qualities essential . and finally , they are enriched with a native desire of complacency , of abhorrence or dislike , and of concupiscence , immediately ensuing upon their consideration of the good or evil of the object : which power or propensity is so firmly counited to the sensitive soul , that it seems almost impossible to observation , that any man should at once see two strange persons together , and not instantly become more affected to one then the other . and these things , which are sufficiently operative even in meerly corporeal and inanimate natures , of confessed efficacy in sensitive , and in both admit of more or less acuteness , according to the obedient or refractary predisposition of the recipient : cannot but be , for the same reason , of more clarified and sublime energy in man. finally , it is not the sense of our thoughts , that the image of god in man should fall under such gross disparagement , as to be considered as dependent on any ternary of faculties ; which naturally belongeth also to other inferior natures in this scene of the world . because the dignity of the image of the most glorious jehovah is not , in any the largest latitude of analogy , participated by any other creature whatever : since the divine image is peculiarly radicated in the humane soul , and equally proper to it with its very essence : but all other proprieties of the soul are not of the essence of the minde ; but productions and subsequent acts . nor can it stand with the majesty of the divine image , to be desumed from so poor an original as qualities ; for the proprieties and excellencies of all other created forms concur , and are as it were colliquated or melted together into the essence of the soul , by virtue of the divine image . but if these be accounted as attributes and productions : that must be charged upon the miserable manner , and customary abuse of understanding , according to the capacity of the vulgar . for in equitable truth , the minde is one single act , pure , simple , formal , homogeneous , and indivisible ; in which the image of god doth subsist proximely and essentially . so that in this image , all faculties do not onely lay aside the nature of attributes : but also collect and binde up their suppositionalities into an unity indistinct . why , because the soul is a certain substantial light within her self ; or a substance so lucid , that in suppositionality of essence , it cannot be distinguished from the very light : and her intellect is so the light of the minde , that the very minde is the meer lucid intellect . and in this self-light the minde , once uncaptived from the opacity of flesh and blood , doth wholly and intimately survey it self , and understand its own nature : and therefore hath no need either of brain or heart ; in which material organs , the substance of the minde doth seem to stoop unto the assumption of the progeny or stock of proprieties ; that is , the soul is diffused or emissively expansed into several transitory faculties . to speak more plainly ; in the body , when the intellect is abstracted in speculation , it makes use of corporeal organs , to which it is obliged : and assumes a certain virtue qualitative , called imagination ; which from the conjunction or society of the power phantastical , and concurrent splendor of the intellect , suffering some degradation in the organs , springeth up , by a certain combination , into the forementioned qualitative faculty . and hence comes it to pass , that this faculty groweth weary by long and intense imagination , seemeth wholly vanquished by difficult , knotty , and abstruse meditation , and frequently submits to dementation or madness : nay , as the observation of physicians telleth us , with one nights pensive study , and anxiety of thought , the hair of young heads hath put on the silver livery of old age . but the minde , once emancipated from the pedantism of flesh and blood , is never weary with continued intellection . moreover , the imagination in this life is not onely subject to lassation : but from the magazine of it self hath not any intellective species , which it hath not drawn in from sensible objects . and therefore the intellective faculty , which concurreth and cooperateth with the phantastical function of the sensitive soul , followeth the constitution or temperamental disposition of the organ , and arbitrary dictates of the sensitive life : no otherwise then in naturals the effect followeth the weaker part of their causes . but the soul , whatsoever is requisite for cognition , commemoration , or volition , either for one single act , or many , hath wholly from it self , and borroweth it from no other forein causality concurrent . for the good substantial will of a soul advanced to beatitude , ariseth not from the object understood : but from the radical goodness of her own formal love , which is , indeed , no proper passion of the soul , no habit , no propension , nor any quality ; but a substantial act of goodness , by which the blessed soul is substantially , univocally , and homogeneally , not qualitatively good . and this prerogative it enjoyeth , because it is the typical image of divinity . but bodies , of their own accord , perpetually fall into the attributes of forms , heterogeneity , vicissitudes , and at length into dissolution . therefore love or desire of the minde , is no function of the appetitive faculty : but is a part of the substantial minde , or rather the very minde it self , flowing from the intellect and will. which three are , by the hand of the creator , married indissolubly into an eternal unity , in the purest and most absolute identity and simplicity of substance . yet in mortals they are separate and distinct , as well in respect of the necessity of organs , and disparity of functions ; as the collateral society and conjunctive operation of the sensitive soul : since now we frequently desire those things , which the intellect judgeth not desiderable , and the will would wish never to enjoy . but necessary it is that such things , whose operations are different , should be also different in the root of their beings , by a manner of distinction , whereby each single nature is separated from others : in the minde truly by a suppositionality relative : in the sensitive soul , according to the corporeal and qualitative nature . and therefore that amorous desire of the minde , is the radical essence of the soul , consubstantial and coaevous to it . so though in heaven be a satiety and perpetual fruition of all desiderable good : yet doth not this desire of the soul therefore cease , which is a constant study of complacency : nor doth it more infer a passion into the minde , then charity it self ; since love and charity are in the soul radically one and the same thing . otherwise should this desire cease , and the ardor of love suffer extinction , either a satiety or insensility of fruition would instantly spring up ; which cannot consist with a state of full beatitude , and would infer discord upon the calm and constant harmony of a soul once admitted into the chorus of saints triumphant . and thus this desire is the incendiary that doth both kindle and maintain the flames of interminable delectation , and joyes insatiate and inextinguishible ; in which consideration the soul wears the resemblance of the holy ghost the comforter . now manifest it is , that in the minde , the intellect , will , and love are substantially counited : but in the sensitive soul , their operations are distinguished , according to the determinate alterity of faculties and their organs ; when we understanding many objects , we do not desire , and desire many we hardly understand , and such indeed as our will , if let to the swinge of its own native propensity , would decline the enjoyment of ; as in example , we will what we desire not , when we willingly submit to the stroke of the executioner : and desire what our will abhors , when we call for the dismembring sawe of the chirurgeon , and gladly embrace the horror of amputation . whence it comes to pass , that sometimes the will giveth laws to the desire ; and on the contrary , frequently the desire usurpeth the scepter and commands the will : so that these two lords mutually vanquish and succeed each the other , by vicissitudes . which civil war must so long continue in these our walls of flesh , as the sensitive soul draweth and engageth the intellect , and the body draweth and engageth the sensitive soul , into a multiplex and various ataxy or irregularity of division . and from this intestine duello arise those absurd desires of objects impossible to be obtained , and wishes of things in the present tense , which the unalterable grammar of time hath made in the preterperfect , and excepted from ever being declined in the future . but this desire , enshrined in the substance of the soul , must be of the essence of the minde : otherwise he could not commit a sin , who looked upon a woman to lust after her , before the plenary consent of the will. our desires therefore are elemented and coyned in the mint of mortal and caduce faculties ; which seated in the sensitive soul , rival the operations of the immortal and rational : whose objects are many times rejected by the will as inconvenient and ungrateful . as to the manner also , the desire , in this life , operateth one way , and the will another : and in the narrow circle of a day , sometimes the desire precedeth the will , and anon again the will getteth the start of the desire , and one subdueth the other successively , that the victor may restrain and coerce something distinct from it self : and this wholly in the transitory faculties ; because each ariseth from the concupiscence of the sensitive soul. but in the glorious denizens of paradise , this excellent love , or amorous desire , feeleth a resurrection and brighter ascension , as being the luminous substance of the soul : for there is nothing desired , which is not also the full object of the will : and that is collected into an unity , as well in regard of the act , as of the substance : although volition and optation seem two diverse branches expansed from one root ; which far transcendeth the manner and method of intellection in those , who have not yet confessed their dust . lastly , in man is situate the kingdom of god , that is the very deity it self , by whose perpetual splendor all things are collected into the unity of verity . the image of god therefore is primarily in the minde of man , whose very essence is no other then the very image of god. which image falleth not under the comprehension of the most subtile thought , nor can be expressed by any the most significant words , in this vale of ignorance : in regard it is the mirror of the incomprehensible divinity ; and hence also is it , that the soul while immured in this cloyster of flesh , cannot reach the knowledg of her own nature , but must remain a stranger to it self . but in the cortex or shrine of the minde , the sensitive and vital form , this image of divinity is visible by reflexion , as being relucent in the faculties : yet suffering a great allay of splendor from the opacity of the body ; because obumbrated by the cloud of brutal generation , and infected with mortality and pollution by the inquination of our nature faln from its primitive purity : by reason whereof the body hath not received the image , but at second hand borrowed onely the figure of the deity . but alas ! the miserable minde , devolved into outward darkness , as it hath divorced it self from an unity with the light uncreate , and infringed the originary energy of this image of divinity : so also hath it lost the primitive light of that image , by the bold appropriation of it as justly proper to it self by the title of merit ; so that ever since the fall it can understand , will , or love no object besides it self , and in order to it self . for the damned shall arise from the dead unchanged : because their bodies , in the resurrection , shall receive their determinations from their souls , which since they appear with all their depraved affections , reflected onely on themselves , after a corporeal manner ; they shall not , in the resurrection , represent the image of god , being as it were suffocated within them , unless in that corporeal similitude derived from adam , the protoplast , by the means of generation ; that is , they shall have no more of the image of god , then what is weakly and darkly reflected in the figure of the body . lastly , the soul ( understand onely such , as is excluded the new jerusalem ) being once faln , by the horrid cataract of death , upon the privation of those assistant faculties , the imagination , memory , and will ; doth for ever after understand , will , and love all objects , by a blinde apprehension , addicted onely to it self . for it knoweth its own immortality , becometh sensible of its damnation , and with secret murmurs complaineth of it , as an act of high injustice done upon it . because all the bent and scope of its love is onely to defend its excuses for sins , secretly to recriminate upon the hand of justice , by palliating the guilt of crimes , as if committed in the days of ignorance and innocence , with great fragility of nature , many crafty wiles and treacherous invitements of our three adversaries , the world , flesh , and devil , and the defect of grace sufficient to encounter such forcible temptations : and that an eternal punishment ( as far beyond all patience to endure , as all flux of time to end ) cannot according to the laws of justice be due for a momentany transgression . and at this it burneth with blasphemous rage and furious hatred against god : chiefly because it is too well ascertained , that the judgment can never be reversed by any replea of error , nor the arrest taken off by any reprieve , till the impossible period of eternity ; all hopes of evading the uncessant scourge of gods wrath being for ever cut off in despair . thus the impossibility either of evasion or cessation being as long lived as eternity , the caitiff soul , plunged in a deluge of desperation that shall never know an ebbe , from the first minute of her disunion from the body , passeth into an abyss of horror ; where shall be no piety , no compassion , no consolation , no relaxation , and no redemption or revocation . to which sad truth we may adde , that since the intellect doth naturally transform it self into the idea of the object understood ( which the ancient ethnick philosophers well knew , and elegantly blended under the parabolical fiction of proteus ) that is , into the full similitude of those cursed devils and spirits created for revenge , that are ever objected unto it : hence is the soul contiually possessed with an high hatred of god , and his blessed army of saints and angels ; together with desperation , malediction , damnation , and the vindictive tortures of those infernal executioners . o may the mercy of omnipotence , upon the sole motive of his own infinite goodness and clemency , vouchsafe to break those snares laid in all the paths of our life , to precipitate us into this misery , that must finde neither remedy , release , nor end . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e * plutarchus , in ep. ad phav●…rinum , de frigore primigenio . * in sua d●…ssertatione de met●…odo veritatis in scientiis investigand●… , p. . notes for div a -e the breath of god , by an easy metaph. * gen. . ver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * in ●…ami●… ▪ blas humanum nuncupato . . * lege guidon . pa●… . . chirurg . par . cap. . amb●…os . paraeum lib. . cap. . joh. andr ▪ 〈◊〉 cruce , de vuln●…r . tract . . l. 〈◊〉 . c. 〈◊〉 . fallop . de vulner . c. . jero . fabric ab aquapendent . l. . c. . s●…mert . l. . part . 〈◊〉 . sect . . cap. . . * consule agricolam , lib. . de natura fossilium , p. . fallop . lib. . de aquis medicat . cap. . dioscorid . l. . cap. . . * ad sinem tract . butl●… ▪ . . * hinc corpus paris , i. e. naturae universae , el●…gantissimè depingitur hirsutum , propter rerum radios ; radii enim sunt tanquam naturae crines , sive villi , atque omnia se●…è v●…l magis v●…l minus radiosa sunt : quod in facultate visus est manifestissimum ; nec minus in omni virtute & operatione ad distans . quicquid enim operatur ad distans , id etiam radios emittere rect●… dici potest , &c. f●… . bacon . de sapient . veterum , fab . . . . . . . . * non ra●…ò , quasi sympathia quadam occulta , integrae familiae eodem tempore inficiebantur : imò vidimus non nullas familias longissimè à se invicem dispersas , & in diversis locis habitantes , eodem ferè tempore , exitialissimis hujus tyranni spiculis gravitèr afflictas , & ●…ere deletas fuisse . diemerbroeck de peste . cap. . ita etiam evagrius , histor. eccles. lib. . cap. . resert , in peste antiochena , certas familias prorsus interiisse , salvis manentibus interim reliquis urbis incolis . causa verò dependet ab arcana quadam dispositionis similitudine , quam inter se habent , quae apta est ad pestem r●…ipiendam . . . . . . . . * in libro de scorbuto , cap. . * praestantique intellectui 〈◊〉 actionem , t●…quam viro soeminam , subdidisti . in soliloq . . . . . . . . . * testimonio st. anthonii , per b. jeronymum descripto , paulus anachoretarum primus , in divorum numerum est relatus . ejusdem quoqu●… relatu , faunus l●…gitur animal loquens rationale : imò deum naturae & christianorum cognoscens , cole●…s , & supplicans antonium , ut pro se atque suis deum oraret . constat inprimis , hunc faunum non fuisse hominem ●…x monstrosa figura : neque cacodaemonem , quòd hic adeo superbiat , ut ne quidem , si sciret se salvari posse prece , v●…llet rogare , ut aliquis pro se oraret , neque se prosterneret pro impetranda venia ▪ * mu●…s notes for div a -e * allus ad her. m●…m trismeg . & vocab . gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * belgis . notes for div a -e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * consule supplementum insra . . . * alii scribunt taliacotius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * fur. . . . * quid velit author per haec nova & inaudita nomina , ex cabalistico . paracelsi vocabulario mutuata ▪ explicatum invenies infra , in nostro supplemento . . * est stola s. huburti , in arca , sex diversis clavibus obserata , a diversis quoque clavigeris custodita . quotamus autem praescindunt stolae illius partem , remanente interim stolâ semper integrâ , ab octingent is jam & amplius annis . nec est imposturae locus , quod nesciatur bodie , an stola sit ex bysso , lana , lino , vel bombace , adeoque nec posset quotannis nova substitui . praescindunt autem de stola partem , ut filamentum singulis demorsis à rabido , intra cutim frontis incarnent . inde enim aliud miraculum . quod qui semel suscepto filamento è stola , per ritus suos convaluit , potest alteri demorso differe terminum , & sopire rabiem adventantem , per quadragenarias , idque in annos aliquot , dum tandem suo commodo adire queat s. hubertum . ea tamen sub conditione , ut tantillum si quis supra dies expectet , nec prorogationem termini ante impetraverit , confestim in rabiem incidal deploratam . haec mystagogus omnibus , quotquot devotionis ergô peregrè sunt prosecti , hospitibus ; elat●… supercili●… , praedicat . sed viris emunctioribus potius olent fraudem , quam veritatem christianismo dignam . * . . . . . * in exemplari elzeviriano legit●…r , instar jonae : sed ex incuria typographi literam i pro zmutatam esse conjeci ; eo quòd metaphora jonae , civitatem niniven circumambient is , è nimis longinquo esset petenda . mores etiam animalium pro locorum qualitate differ●…e , venenaque serpentum , vel mitiora , vel asperiora effici , asserit stagyrita , de hist. animal . lib. . cap. . . * the city trent , on the north side of italy . * the metropolis of boeotia , in our age called stibes or stiber , situate in longitude . in latitude . . * principe salisburgensi . * aliis philippus aureolus paracelsus , ut idem helmont . in tract , de lithiasi . * alii erogavit , vel ordinavit : ut adamus melchior , in vitis medicorum german . . . . . . . . a venti regionales . sunt enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , venti communes , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , particulares seu vernaculi ; ut hippocrat . lib. de aere & locis . b depending upon a forain motor , for a regularlty of motion . . . . . . diagramma hujus instruments extat in lib . de magnete . . . . haec de allectivae virtutis magnetis , ex allio ei affricto , consopitione , aliorum potius ex relatione , quam side autoptica , scripsisse , meritò censeatur helmontius . sienim experientiam ●…ac de re semelsalem consuluisset , primo iindubitanter reperisset aspectu , quod nedum ferrum , igne reverberiicandens , & mox succo allii extinctum , haud obscuram nihilominus verticitatem , ex terra , acquirat , australemque versorii , magnete invigorati , extremitatem strc●…è sat suos in amplexus rapere possit : ast etiam , quod dens magnetus , succo allii altè imbutus , ferreos acus , codem succo , usque dum crassiorem rubiginem contraxcrint , inebriatos , promptè se 〈◊〉 allicere valeat . . . * ratio que ab evidenti rei obscurae cognitionem affert . haec ratiocinatio fit comparatione & praeceptione causarum efficientium per similitudines . ut galen . in lib. ad thrasybulum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * nectromantia est species quaedam manganiae , qua defunctorum manes , vel potius daemones sub eorum specie larva●…i , strygum incantationibus excitati ad revelanda arcana ex orco evocantur : ut temsore saulis , & sexti pompeti apud lucanum . * in tractatu ejus de venatione scientiarum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * cabala vel cabalia , idiomate chald●… orum est occultissima scientia , quae divinitù , unà cumlege moysi traeditasertur , non scriptis , sed vi va voce , & patribus a●…riculariter traducta asserentibus etiam rabbis hebraeis , cujus persae diligentissimi cultores atque praefossores extuer●…nt . grae cireddunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * coma vigit , by others typhomania & sopor delirans , is a symptome or depravation of the internal senses , wherein the sick are oppressed with an inexpugnable propensity to sleep , and yet cannot , by reason of various images and phantasms crowding into the imagination , and perturbing their slumbers . vid. sennert . in institut . * catoche , or catalepsis , is 〈◊〉 violent symptome of the animal faculty , wherewith who is surprized , remains deprived of all sense and arbitrary motion , and rigidly congealed like a statue in the same posture , wherein he was first in●…aded , consule jul. caesar. scaliger . exerc. . hoc admirandum sanè symptoma , ex eo oriri videtur , quod sensorium commune , sive conarion , & interdum etiam partes ei vicinae , multis occupentur humoribus , dum reliquum cerebrum ab iis minus est affectum . hinc enim nullus objectorum motus ab anima in hoo affectu percipi potest : & spiritus in cerebr●… saetis copiosè quidem geniti , sed determinationem in alias partes non accipientes , in cosdem musculos , in quos antea erant determinati , perpetuo sl●…t , corpúsque in eodem statu retinent . nullo autem modo a congelatione spirituum , quod vulg●… medentum docet , fieri potest : illa enim cerebri subsidentiam , ●…er vorumque compressionem , & hinc apoplexiam potius iaduceret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * a derivative from hydrophobia , a fear of water , which is a symptome of the animal faculty , or alienation of reason introduced from the peculiar propriety of the venome of a mad dog . the reason of this strange accident physicians refer either to the occult quality of the venome , by secret and specifical ●…ermentation of the blood subduing the imagination to this absurdity ; like as the sting of the tarantula , operating chiefly on the seat of reason , the brain , alienates the phansie , and so infatuates the minde , that the patient dances to death , if not cured by harmonious musick ; or to the imagination of the patient , from the remembrance of the occasion of his harm , a dog , perpetually fixt upon and troubled with the image of a dog , so that he conceives the apparition of a dog in the water , or liquor presented to him , and therefore abhors to drink it . examples of this are recorded by aetius , tetrab . . cap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * marsil . ficinus , in vita platon . * boeoti enim , apud antiquos , stol●…ditatis & stupiditatis nomine male audierunt , de quo horat. in epist. boeotum in crasso jurares cere natum . . bismuthum . * vide caesal●…in . lib. . de metall . cap. . * dornaeus in diction●… . para●…ls . * in his book of natural baths , and mineral waters . * libavius in syntagma●… . arcan . chymic . lib. . cap. . in commentar . ad finem . . throni . . thereniaben . . nostoch . in dictionario paracelsi . . nebulgea . . laudanum . * in lib. , . cap. . * prodit porta , lib. . mag. natural . cap. ult . in ag●…o patavino , non procul ab oppiao atestino , repertam suisse urnam sictilem , intraquam crat altera urnula & intra eam lucernula adhuc ardens , quâ rusticis manibus unprudenter prosu●…â & ruptá , mox evanuit slamma . vide ●…tiam c●…sium de minera . lib. . cap. . sect. . * consule libavium in examine philosophiae no●…ae , an magia paracclsica possit probari , &c. c. . pag. . * in libr. de vit . medic. ge●…man●… . ignem aethcrea domo subductum , vocat hor. lib. . ca●…min . od. . i. * de hoc enim constat , quod de herb●…m lectione multa superstiosa commentus sit : vtluti , ut card●… benedictus catarrho●…sistat , sodiendus in vigilia johan . bap. ●…ost solis occasum retiocedendo : & tunc sorlasse ad aulam maximil venit illud quoque v●…tum ●…itulo paracelsi . . . * civili viz. mensura , quarum una est librarum circiter sesquitrium aut trium : aliàs sextarius est imciarum ostodecim , & respondet cambaro rotemburgo tubarino . . . notes for div a -e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . notes for div a -e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of the sympathetick powder a discourse in a solemn assembly at montpellier / made in french by sir kenelm digby, knight, . discours fait en une célèbre assemblée, touchant la guérison des playes par la poudre de sympathie. english digby, kenelm, sir, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) of the sympathetick powder a discourse in a solemn assembly at montpellier / made in french by sir kenelm digby, knight, . discours fait en une célèbre assemblée, touchant la guérison des playes par la poudre de sympathie. english digby, kenelm, sir, - . [ ]- p. printed for john vvilliams, london : . translation of: discours fait en une célèbre assemblée, touchant la guérison des playes par la poudre de sympathie. filmed from his of bodies and of mans soul, v. . reproduction of original in harvard university libraries. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng medicine -- early works to . wounds and injuries -- treatment -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - olivia bottum sampled and proofread - olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion of the sympathetick powder . a discourse in a solemn assembly at montpellier . made , in french , by sir kenelm digby , knight . london , printed for iohn vvilliams , . a discourse of the cure of wounds , by the powder of sympathy . my lords , i believe you will remain all in one mind with me , that , to penetrate and know a subject , 't is necessary , in th● first place , to shew whether the thing be such , as it is s●pp●sed or imagined to be : for would not one unprofitably lose both his time and labour , to busie himself in the re-sea●ch of the causes , of that which peradventure is but a chim●ra , with-any foundation of truth ? i remember to have read a place in plut●rch , where he proposeth this question , why those horses , who , while they are colts , have been pursued by the wolf and saved themselv● by force of runing , are more fleet than other h●r●es ? wherto he answers , that it may be the scaring and aff●●ghtment , which the wolf gives the young beast , makes h●m try his utmost strength , to del●ver himself from the danger that follows him at the heels : therfore , the said fright , as it were , unknits his joy●ts , and stretches his sinews , and makes the ligaments and other parts of his body the more supple to run ; insomuch , that he resents it all his life afterwards , and becomes a good courser . or , perhaps , says he , those colts , which are naturally swift , save themselvs by flying away ; wheras others , who are not so , are overtaken by the wolf , and so become his prey : and so , it is not because they have escaped the wolf , that they are the more fleet , but it is their natura● swiftness that saves them . he affords also other reasons ; and at last concludes , that it may be the thing is not true . i find it not so fit ( my lords ) to reply hereto at a table d●scourse : where the chief design of conversation is to pass away the time gently and pleasantly ; without medling with the severity of high fetcht reasons , to wind up the spirits , and make them more attentive . but , in so renowned an assembly as this , where there are such judicious persons and so profoundly learned , and who , upon this rancounter , expect from me , that i pay them in solid reasons ; i should be very sorry , that , having done my uttermost to make it clear , how the powder , ( which they commonly call the powder of sympathy ) doth , naturally and without any magick , cure wounds without touching them , yea , without seeing of the patient : i say , i should be very sorry , that it should be doubted , whether such a cure may effectually be perform'd or no. in matter of fact , the determination of the existence and truth of a thing depends on the report which our senses make us . this business is of that nature ; wherin , they , who have seen the effects and had experience therof , and have been careful to examine all necessary circumstances , and satisfied themselves afterwards that there is no imposture in the thing , nothing doubt but that it is real and true ; and , they , who have not seen such experiences , ought to refer themselvs to narrations and authority of such as have . i could produce divers wherof i was an ocular witness ; nay , quorum p●rs m●gna fui : but as a certain and eminent example in the affirmative is convincing , to determine the possibility and truth of a matter in doubt ; i shall content my self ( because i would not trespass too much upon your patience at this time ) to instance in one only . but , it shall be one of the clearest , the most perspicuous , and the most averred that can be ; not only for the remarkable circumstances therof , but also for the hands ( which were above the vulgar ) through which the whole business passed . for , the cure of a very sore hurt was perfected by this powder of sympathy , upon a person illustrious , as well for his many perfection● , as for his several employments . all the circumstances were examined and sounded to the bottom , by one of the greatest and most knowing k●ngs of of his time , viz. king iames of england ; who had a particular talent and marvailous sagacity , to discusse natural things , and penetrate them to the very marrow : as also by his son , the late king charles , and the duke of buckingham , their prime minister . and , in fine , all was registred among the observations of the great chancelor , bacon , to add , by way of appendix , to his natural history . and i believe , when you shall have understood this history , you will not accuse me of vanity , if i attribute to my self the introducing this way of cure , into this quarter of the world. mr. iames howel , ( well known in france , for his publick works ; and particularly , for his dendrologia , translated into french by monsier baud●uin ) coming by , by chance , as two of his best friends were fighting in d●el , did his endeavour to part them ; and , putting himself between them , seiz'd with his left ●and upon the hilt of one of the comb●●ants , while with his right he laid hold of the blade of the other . they , being transported with fury one against the other , strugled to rid themselvs of the hindrance their friend made , that they should not kill one another : and one of them , roughly drawing the blade of his sword , cut , to the very bone , the nervs and mus●les of mr. howe●'s ●and : and then the other , di●ingaging his h●lt , gave a cross blow on his adversaries head , which glanced towards his friend ; who , heaving up his hand to save the blow , was wounded on the back of his hand , as he had been before within . it seems some st●ange con●●ellation reign'd then against him , that he sho●ld lo●● so much blood by parting two such dear friends , who , had they been themselvs , would have h●z●rded both their lives to have preserved his : b●t , this unvoluntary effusion of blood by them , prevented that which they should have drawn one from the other . for they , seeing mr. howel's face besmear'd with blood by heaving up his wounded hand , both ran to embrace him : and having sea●ch'd his hurts , they bound up his hand with one of his garters , to close the veins which were cut and bled abundantly . they brought him home , and sent for a chyrurgeon : but this being heard at court , the king sent one of his own chyrurgeons ; for his majesty much ●ffected the said m ● . howel . it was my chance to be lodged hard by him ; and , four or five dayes after , as i was making my self ready , he came to my house , and pray'd me to view his wounds , : for i understand , said he , that you have extraordinary remedies upon such occasions ; and my chyrurgeons apprehend some fear , that it may grow to a gangrene , and so the hand must be cut off . in effect , his countenance discover'd that he was in much pain ; which , he said , was insupportable , in regard of the extream inflammation . i told him that i would willingly serve him : but if , haply , he knew the manner how i would cure him , without touching or seeing him , it may be he would not expose himself to my manner of curing ; because he would think it , peradventure , either ineffectual or superstitious . he reply'd , the wonderful things which many have related to me , of your way of medicament , makes me nothing doubt of its efficacy ; and all that i have to say to you is comprehended in the spanish proverb , hagase el milagro , y hagalo , mahoma , let the miracle be done , though mahomet do it . i ask'd him , then , for any thing that had the blood upon it ; so he presently sent for his garter , wherewith his hand was first bound : and as i call'd for a bason of water , as if i would wash my hands ; i took a handful of powder of vitriol , which i had in my study , and presently dissolv'd it . as soon as the bloody garter was brought me , i put it in the bason , observing the while what mr. howel did ; who stood talking with a gentleman in a corner of my chamber , not regarding at all what i was doing : but he started suddenly , as if he had found some strange alteration in himself . i ask'd him what he ail'd ? i know not what ails me , said he , but i find , that i feel no more pain : me-thinks , a pleasing kind of freshness , as it were a wet cold napkin spread it self over my hand ; which hath taken away the inflammation that tormented me before . i reply'd , since then you feel already so good an effect of my medicament , i advise you to cast away all your plaisters ; only keep the wound clean , and in a moderate temper 'twixt heat and cold . after dinner i took the garter out of the water , and put it to dry before a great fire . it was scarce dry , but mr. howel's servant came running , to tell me that his master felt as much burning as ever he had done , if no● more ; for the heat was such , as if his hand were betwixt coales of fire . i an●wer'd , that although that had hapned at present , yet he should find ease in a short time ; for i knew the reason of this new accident , and i would provide accordingly , so that his master should be free from that inflammation , it may be , before he could possibly return unto him : but , in case he found no ease , i wish'd him to come presently back again ; if not , he might forbear coming . away he went ; and at the instant i put again the garter into the water ; therupon , he found his master without any pain at all . to be brief , there was no sense of pain afterward ; but , within five or six days the wounds were cicatriced , and entirely healed . king iames required a punctual information of what had passed , touching this cure : and after it was done , and perfected , his majesty would needs know of me how it was done , having droll'd with me first ( which , he could do with a very good grace ) about a magician and a sorcerer . i answer'd , that i should be always ready to perform what his majesty should command ; but i most humbly desired him before i should passe further , that i might tell him what the au●hour , of whom i had the secret , said to the great duke of toscany , upon the like occasion . it was a religious carmel●te , that came from the indies and persia to florence , he had also been at china ; who , having done many marvellous cures with this powder , after his arrival to toscany , the duke said , he would be very glad to learn it of him . it was the father of the great duke , who governs now . the carmelite answer'd him , that it was a secret which he had learnt in the oriental parts , and he thought there was not any , who knew it in europe but himself ; and that it deserv'd not to be divulged ; which could not be hindred , if his highness would meddle with the practice of it , because he was not likely to do it with his own hands ; but must trust a surgeon , or some other servant ; so that , in a short time divers other would come to know it , as well as himself . but , a few months after , i had opportunity to do an important courtesie to the said ●ryar ; which induced him to discover unto me his secret : and the same year he return'd to persia ; that now there is no other knows this secret in europe , but my self . the king replied , that i needed not apprehend any fear that 〈◊〉 would discover it ; for he would not trust any body in the world to make experience of this secret , but do it with his own hands : therfore he would have some of the powder● which i deliver'd , instructing him in all the circumstances . wherupon his majesty made sundry proofs ; whence he reciv'd singular satisfaction . in the int●rim , dr. mayerne , his first physician , watch'd to discover what was done by this secret : and at last he came to know , that the king made use of vitriol . afterwards he accosted me , saying , he durst not demand of me my secret , because i made some difficulty to discover it to the king himself : but , having learnt with what matter it was to be done , he hoped i would communicate to him all the circumstances , how it is to be used . i answer'd him , that if he had asked me before , i i would frankly have told him all ; for , in his hands , there was no fear that such a secret should be prostituted : and so i told him all . a little after the doctor went into france , to see some fair territories he had purchased near geneva ; which was the barony of aubonne . in this voyage he went to see the duke of mayerne , who had been a long time his friend and protector ; and he taught him this secret : wherof the duke made many experiments , which if any other but a prince had done , it may be they had passed for effects of magick and enchantments . after the dukes death , who was kill'd at the siege of montauban , his surgeon , who waited on him in doing cures , sold this secret to divers persons of quality , who gave him considerable sums for it , so that he became very rich therby . the thing , being fall'n thus into many hands , remain'd not long in termes of a secret but by degrees came to be so divulged , that now there is scarce any country barber but knows it . behold , sirs , the genealogy of the powder of smpathy in this part of the world with a notable history of a cure perform'd by it . 't is time now to come to the discussion , how it is done . it must be avowed , that 't is a marvellous thing , that the hurt of a wounded person should be cured by the application of a remedy put to a rag of cloth or a weapon at a great distance . yet it is not to be doubted , but after a long and profound speculation of all the oeconomy and concatenation of natural causes , which may be adjudged capable to produce such effects , one may fall at last upon the true ones , which must have subtle resorts and means to act . hitherto they have been wrap'd up in darknesse , and esteem'd so inacc●essible , that they who have undertaken to speak or write of them , ( at least those i have seen ) have been contented to speak of some ingenious sleight ; without diving into the bottom : endeavouring rather to shew the vivacity of their spirit and force of their eloquence , than to satisfie their readers and auditors , how the thing is really to be done . they would have us take for ready mony some terms , which we understand not , nor know what they signifie . they would pay us with conveniences , with resemblances , with sympathies , with magnetical virtues , and such terms , without explicating what these terms mean : they think they have done enough , if they feebly perswade any body that the business may be performed by a natural way ; without having any recourse to the intervention of demons , and spirits : but they pretend not in any sort to have found out the convincing reasons which demonstrate , how the thing is done . if i did not hope to gain otherwise upon your spirits ; if i did not , i say believe , that i should be able to perswade you otherwise than by words , i would not have under●aken this enterprize . i know to well , — quid vale●nt humeri , quid ferre recusent . such a design requires a great fire , and vivacity of conceptitions , volubility of tongue , aptness of expressions , to insinnuate , as it were by surprisal , that which one cannot carry away by a firm foot , & by cold reasons , though solid . a discourse of this nature challenges other than a stranger ; who finds himself obliged to display his sense in a language , wherein he can hardly express his ordinary conceptions . nevertheless these considerations shall not deterr me from engaging my self in an enterprize , which may seem to some much more difficult , than that which i am now to perform , viz. to make good convincing proofs , that this sympathetical cure may be done naturally ; and to shew before your eyes , and make you touch with your finger , how it may be done . you know that perswasions are made by ingenious arguments , which , expressed with a good grace , rather tickle the imagination , than satisfy the understanding : but demonstrations are built upon certain and approved principles ; and though they be but roughly pronounced , yet they convince and draw after them necessary conclusions . they proceed , as a strong engin fastned to a gate to batter it down ; or as a plate of metal to imprint the mark of the mony . at every turn , that truth makes , she approaches but little , and as it were insensibly , and makes not much noise , and there is no such great force required to turn her ; but her strength , though it be slow , is invincible . that at the end , she breaks down the gate , and makes a deep impression on the p●ece of gold or silver . whereas the stroke of hammers , and bars , ( whereto witty discourses , and the flourished conceptions of subtile spirits may be compared ) requires the arm of a giant , makes a great noise ; and , at the end of the account , produces little effect . to enter then into the matter i will ( according to the method of geometrical demonstrations ) lay six or seven principles , as foundation-stones , wheron i will erect my structure , but i will lay them so well , and so firmly , that there shall be no great difficulty to grant them . these principles shall be like the wheels of archimedes : by the advantage wherof a child might be capable to hale on shore the bigest carack of king hieron ; which a hundred pair of oxen , with all the ropes and cables of his arsenal , were not able to stir . so , by the strength of these principles , i hope to wast my conclusions to a safe port. the first principle shall be , that the whole o●be or sphere of the air is filled with light. if it were needful to prove in this point , that light is a material and corporal substance , and not an imaginary and incomprehensible quality , ( as many schoolmen aver ) , i could do it evidently enough : but i have done this in another t●eatise , which hath been published not long since . and it is no new op●nion : for , many of the most esteemed philosophers among the antients have advanced it ; yea , the great st. augustine , ( in his third ep●stle to volusian ) alledges , that it is his sentiment . but to our present business , whether l●ght be the one , or the other , it matters not ; t is enough to explicate its course , and the journies it makes , wherto our senses bear witness . t is clear , that , issuing continually out of its source , the suu , and lancing it self by a marvailous celerity on all sides by straight lines , where it encounters any obstacles in its way , by the opposition of some hard or opaque body , it reflects ; & leaping thence to equal angles , takes again its course by a straight line , till it bandies upon some other solid body ; & so it continues to make new boundings here & there ; till , at the end , being chased on all sides , by the bodies which oppose it in its passage , 't is tired , and so extinguishes . in the like manner as we see a ball in tenis court , being struck by a strong arm against the walls , leaps to the opposite side ; so that sometimes it makes the circuit of the whole court , & finishes its motion near the place where it was first struck . our very eys are witnesses of this progress of the light ; when , by way of reflexion , it illuminates some obscure place , whither it cannot directly arrive : or when , issuing immediatly from the sun , & beating upon ●he moon , or some other of the planets , the ray's , which cannot find entrance there , bound upon our earth , ( otherwise we should not see them ) ; and there it is reflected , broken & bruised by so many bodies , as it meets in its diversity of reflexions . the second principle shal be , that the light gla●cing so up●n some body , the rayes which enter no further but rebound from the superficies of the body , carry with them some smal particles or atomes : just as the ball , whereof we have spoken , would carry with it some of the moisture of the wall , against which'tis banded , if the plaister therof were also moist , & as , in effect , it carryed away some tincture of the black , wherwith the walls are coloured . the reason wherof is , that the light , that subtil and rarified fire , coming with such an imperceptible haste , ( for its darts are within our eyes , as soon as soon as its head is above our horison , making so many millions of miles in an inimaginable space of time ) i say , the light , beating upon the body which opposes it , cannot chuse but make there some small incisions , proportion●ble to its rarity and subtility . and these small atomes being cut and loosned from their trunk , the heat of the light sticks and incorporates it self wi●h the most humid , viscuou● , and glewing parts of them ; and carries them along with it . experience shews us this , as well as reason . for , when one puts some h●m●d cloth to dry before the fire , the fiery rays beating theron , those which find no entrance , but refl●ct th●nce , carry away with them some small moist bodies , which make a kind of mist betwixt the cloth and the fire . in like manner the sun at his rising enlightning the earth , which is moistned either by rain or the dew of the night , his beams raise a mist , which , by little and little , ascends to the tops of the hills : and this mist doth rarifie , according as the sun hath more force to draw it upwards ; till at last we lose the sight thereof , and it becomes part of the air , which , in regard of its tenuity , is invisible to us . these atomes then are like cavaliers , mounted on winged coursers ; who ride on still till the sun , setting , ●akes from them their pegasus and leaves them unmounted : and then they precipitate themselvs in crowds to the earth , whence they sprung . the greatest part of them , and the most heavy , fall , upon the first re●●eating of the sun ; and that we call the serain : which though it be so thin that we cannot see it , yet we feel it , as so many small hammers striking upon our heads and bodies ; principally the elder sort of us . for , young persons , in regard of the boyling of their blood , and the heat of their complexion , thrust out of them abundance of spirits : which , being stronger than those that fall from the serain , repulse them , and hinder them to operate on the bodies , whence these spirits came forth ; as they do upon those that , being grown cold by age , are not guarded by so strong an emanation of their spirits . the wind which blows , and is tossed to and fro , is no other than a great river of the like a●omes ; drawn out of some solid bodies , which are upon the earth , and so banded here and there , according as they find cause for that effect . i remember to have once sensibly seen how the wind ●s ingendred . i passed over mount cenis , to go for italy , towards the begining of summer ; and i was advanced to half the hill , as the sun rose clear and luminous : b●t before i could see his body , because the mountains interposed , i observed his rays , which gilded the top of the m●untain viso ▪ which is the pyramid of a rock , a good deal h●gher , than mount cenis and all the neighbouring mountains . man● are of opinion , that it is the highest mountain in the world , after the pic of tenariff , in the gran-de-canary : and this mount viso is always cover'd with snow . i observed then , that , about that place which was illuminated by the solar rays , there was a fog : which at first was of no greater extent , than an ordinary boul : but by degrees it grew so great , that at last , not only the top of that mountain , but all the neighbouring hills were canopied all over with a c●oud . i was now come to the top of mount cenis ; and , finding my self in the straight line , which p●sses from the sun to mount viso , i stay'd a while to behold it , while my servants were coming up the hill behind : for , having more men to carry my chair , than they had , i was there sooner . it was not long e're i might perceive the said fog descend gently to the place where i was ; and i began to feel a freshness that came over my face , when i turn'd it that way . when all my troop was come about me , we went descending the other side of mount cenis , towards s●z● : and the lower we went , we sensibly found that the wind began to blow hard behind our backs ; for , our way obliged us to go towards the side , where the sun was . we met with passengers that were going up , as we down ; who told us , that the wind was very impetuous below , and did much incommodate them , by blowing in their faces and eyes ; but the higher they came , it was l●sser and lesser . and for our selves , when we were come to the place where they said the wind blew so hard , we found a 〈◊〉 of storm : and it encreased still , the lower we went ; till the sun , being well advanced , drew no more by that line , but caused a wind in some other place . the people of that country assured me , that it was there always so ; if some extraordinary and violent accident did not intervene , and divert the ordinary course , viz. at a certain hour of the day , the wind raises it self to such a romb , or point , and , when the sun is come to another point , another wind rises ; and so from hand to hand it changes the point , till the sun set : which always brings with it a calm , if the we●ther be fa●r ; and that always comes from the mount viso , opposite to the sun. they told us also that the daily wind is commonly stronger towards the bottom of the mountain , than towards the top ; wherof the reason is evident . for , the natural movement of every body natural encreases always in swiftness , according as it moves forward to its center ; and that by the unequal numbers , ( as galileo hath ingeniously demonstrated ; i did it also in another treatise ) : that is to say , if at the first moment it advances an ell , in the second it advances three , in the third five , in the fourth seven , and so it continues to augment in the same manner ; which proceeds from the density and figure of the descending body , acting upon the cessiblility of the medium . and these small bodies , which cause a wind from mount viso , are thick and terrestrial : for , the snow being composed of watry and earthy parts united by the cold , when the heat of the solar beams disunites and separates them , the viscous parts flie with them ; while the terrestrial , being too heavy to fly upward , fall presently downward . this makes me remember a very remarkable thing , which befell me when i was with my fleet in the port of scanderon or alexandretta , towards the bottom of the mediterranean sea : there they use to dis-imbark , when they go to aleppo , or babylon . i had done already what i had intended to do in those seas , and happily compassed my design ; so it imported me much to return to england as soon as possibly i could ; and the rather because my ships were batter'd by a great fight , i had had a little before , against a formidable power ; wherin although i had obtain'd the better , yet , in so furious a dispute , my fleet was in some disorder , and my ships full of wounded men. to advise therefore of the most expedient course to come to some harbour , where i might repair my ships and be in surety : i assembled all my captains , pilots , and mariners , the most experienced of my fleet : and , having propounded to them my design , they were all of an unanimous opinion , that the surest course was towards the south , and to cast upon syria , iudea , egypt , and africa , and render our selves at the streight of gi●raltar ; sailing so near the main land , we should have every night some small briezes of wind , wherby we should in a short time make our voyage . and besides , we should not be in any great danger to meet either with spanish or french fleets . for , england was at that time in open war with both those kings , and we had advice , that they had great fleets abroad , to vindicate some things we had done in prejudice of them both , those sixteen months that we remain'd ma●ter of those seas : therefore it concern'd us to make towards some safe port ; where we might both refresh our men , and repair our batter'd vessels . my opinion was clean contrary to theirs : for , i believ'd our best course were , to steer our course westward , and to sail along the coasts of cilicia , pamphylia , lydia , natolia , or asia the less ; and to traverse the mouth of the archipelago , leave the adriatick on the right hand , and pass by sicily , italy , sardinia , corsica , the gulph of lion , and so coast all spain . telling them , that it would be a great dishonour to us to forsake our best road , for fear of the enemy ; since our chief business thither was to find them out : and the protection which it pleased god to afford us all along in so many combats , in going , ought to make us hope the same providence would vouchsafe to guide us in returning . that there was no doubt but the road which i proposed to them , consider'd simply in it self , was , without comparison , the better , and the more expedite to sail out of the mediterranean sea , and gain the ocean ; because , said i , although we have the briezes from the land , as long as we are upon the coasts of syria ; and egypt , we shall not have them at all while we sail upon the coasts of lybia , where there are those fearful sands , the syrtes , which are of a great extent , the said coast having no humidity ; for there is neither tree nor herb grows there , nor ought else but moving sands , which cover'd and interred heretofore at one glut the puissant army of k●ng cambyses . now , where there is no humidity , the sun cannot attract to make a wind : so that we shall never find there , specially in summer time , any other wind but that regular one which blows from east to west , according to the course of the sun , who is the father of winds ; unless some extraordinary happen , either from the coast of italy , which lies northward , or from the bottom of ethiopia , where the mountains of the moon are , and the source of the cataracts of nile . therfore , if we were near the syrtes , the winds of italy would be most dangerous to us , and expose us to shipwrack . i reason'd so according to natural causes , while they of my councel of war kept themselvs firm to their ex●e●●ence ; and i would do nothing against the unanimous sense of all : for , though the disposing and resolution of all things depended absolutely upon my self , yet i thought i might be justly accused of rashness or wilfulness , if i should prefer my own advice before that of all the rest . so we took that course , and went happil● , as far as the syrtes of lybia : but there our land bri●zes fail'd us ; and for seven and thirty days , we had no other but a few gentle zephirs , which came from the west , whither we were steering our course . we were constrain'd to keep at anchor all that time , with a great deal of apprehension , that the wind might come from the north , accompanied with a tempest : for , if that had hapned , we had been all lost ; because our anchors had not been able to hold among those moving sands ( for , under water they are of the same nature as they are upon dry land ) and so we must have been shipwrackt upon that coast . but god almighty , who hath been pleas'd i should have the honour to wait on you this day , deliver'd me from that danger . and , at the end of seven and thirty days , we observ'd the course of the clouds very high , which came from so●●h-●ast ; at first but slowly , but by degrees faster and faster : insom●ch that , in two days , the wind , which was forming it self a great way off in ethiopia , came , in a tempest , to the place where we rid at anchor , and carried us whither we intended to go ; but the force of it was broken before , coming so far . out of this discourse we may infer , and conclude , that , wherever there is any wind , there are also some small b●dies or atomes , which are drawn from the bodies , whence they come , by the virtue of the sun , and light ; and , that in effect , this wind is nothing else but the said a●omes agitated , and thrust on by a kind of impetuosity . and so , the winds partake of the qualities whence they come : as , if they come from the south , they are hot , if from the no●th , they are cold , if from the earth alone , they are dry , if from the m●rine or sea-side , they are humid and mo●st ; if from places which produce aromatical substances , they are odoriferous , wholsom , and pleasing : as those from arabia faelix , which produces spices , perfumes , and gums of sweet savour ; or that ●rom fonten●y and vaugirard at paris , in the season of roses , which is all perfumed : on the contrary , those winds that come from stinking places , viz. from the sulphureous so●l of pozzuolo , smell ill : as also those that come from infected places bring the contagion along with them . my third principle shall be , that the air is full throughout of small bodies or atomes ; or rather that , which we call ou● air , is no other than a mixture or confusion of such atomes , wherin the aereal parts predominate . 't is well known , that in nature there cannot be actually found any pure element , unblended with others : for the exteriour fire and the light acting one way , and the internal fire of every body pushing on another way , causes this marvailous mixture of all things in all things . within that huge extent , where we place the air , there is ●●fficien● space and liberty enough to make such a mixture ; which experience , as well as reason confirm● . i have seen little vipers , as soon as they came from the egs where they were ingendred , being not yet an inch long : which , conserv'd in a large gourd , ( cover'd with paper tyed round about , that they might not get out , but leaving little pin-holes made in it , that the air might enter ) encreased in substance and bigness so prodigiously , in six , eight , or ten months , that it is incredible ; and more sensibly , during the season of the equinoxes , when the air is fuller of those aethereal and balsamical atomes , which they drew for their nouriture . hence it came that the cosmopolites had reason to say , est in ●●re occultus vitae cibus , there is a hidden food of life in the air . these smal vipers had but the air only for their sustenance ; nevertheless , by this thin viand , they grew , in less than a year , to a foot long , and proportionably big and heavy . vitriol , salt-peter , and some other substances , augment in the same manner , only by attraction of air . i remember , that upon some occasion , seventeen or eighteen years ago , i had use of a pound of oil of tartar ; it was at paris , where i had then no operatory . wherfore i desired monsir ferrier , a man universally known by all such as are curious , to make me some : for , he had none then ready made , but did it expressely for me . and because , for the calcination of tartar , twenty pound may be as easily made as two , without encrease of charge ; he took occasion hereby to make a quantity for his own use . when he brought it me , the oil smelt so strong of the rose , that i complain'd of his mingling it with that water , wheras i had desired him to do it purely , by exposing it to the humid air : for , i verily thought he had dissolved the salt of tartar in rose-water . he swore to me that he had not mingled it with any liquor ; but had left the tartar calcind within his cellar , to dissolve of it self . it was then the season of roses ; therfore it seems that the air , being then full of the atomes which come from the roses , and being changed into water by the powerful attraction of the salt of tartar , their smel became very sensible in the place where they were gathered together , as the beams of the sun do burn , being crowded together in a burning glasse . there hapned also another marvailous thing , touching this oil of tartar ; which may serve to prove a proposition we have not yet touched : but , not to interrupt the course of the story , i will tell it you by way of advance . it was , that , as the season of roses passed , the smel of the rose vanish'd away from the said oil of tartar ; so that , in three or four months , it was quite gone . but we were much surprized , when , the next year , the said odor of roses return'd as strong as ever and so went away again towards winter : which course it still observs . which made monsir ferrier keep it as a singular rarity ; and the last summer i found the effect in his house . we have in london an unlucky and troublesome confi●mation of this doctrine : for , the air uses to be full of such atomes . the fuel in that great city , is commonly pit-coal , brought from newcastle , or scotland . this coal ha●h in it a great quantity of volatil salt , very sharp ; which being carried on by the smoke , uses to dissipate it self and fill the air , wherwith it so incorporates , that , although we do not see it , yet we find the effect : for it spoils beds , tapistries , and other houshold stuffs , that are of any beautiful fair colour ; the fuliginous air tarnishing it by degrees . and , though one should lock up his chamber very clean , and come not thither in a good while , yet at his return , he will find a black kind of thin soot cover all his houshold-stuff ; as we see in m●lls there is a white dust , as also in bakers shops ; which uses to whiten the walls , and somtimes gets into cup-boards and chests . the said coal-soot also gets abroard , and fouls cloths upon hedges , as they are a drying ; as also , in the spring time , the very leavs of trees are besooted therewith . now , in regard that it is this air which the lungs draw for respiration among the inhabitants , therfore the flegme and spittle which comes from them is commonly black●sh and fuliginous . moreover , the acrimony of this ●oot produces another funest effect ; for , it makes the people subject to inflammations , and by degrees to ulcerations in the lungs . it is so corrosive and biting , that , if one put gammons of bacon , or beef , or any other flesh , within the chimney , it so dries it up , that it spoils it . wherfore , they who have weak lungs quickly feel it ; whence it comes to pass , that almost the one hal● ▪ of them who dye in london , dye of ptisical and pulmonical distempers ; spi●ting commonly blood from their ulcerated lungs . but , at the beginning of this malady , the remedy is very easie : it is but to send them ●o a place where the air is good . many , who have means ●o pay the charge of such a journey , come to paris , and they 〈◊〉 use to recover their healths in perfection . the 〈◊〉 inconveniences are also , though the operations be not so strong , in the city of li●ge , where the common people burn no other than pit-coals , which they call h●ville . paris it self also though the air about it be excellent , yet is subject to incommodities of that nature . the excessivly stinking dirt and chanels of that vast city mingles a great deal of ill allay with the purity of the air ; stuffing it every where with corrup●ed atomes : which yet are not so pernicious as those of london . we find that the most neat and polished silver plate , exposed to the air , becomes in a short time livid and fo●l which proceeds from no other cause , than those black atomes , ( the true colou● of putrefaction ) which stick to it . i know a person of q●ality , ( and a singular friend of mine ) who is lodg'd in a place , where on o●e side , a great many poor people inhabit , few carts use to pass , and fewer coaches . his neighbours behind his house empty their filth and ordures in the middle of the street ; which uses hereby to be ful of mounts of filth , to be carried away by tombrells , but when they they remove these ordures ; you cannot imagine what a stench what kind of infectious air is smelt thereabour every where . the servants of my said friend , when this happens , use to cover their plate , and andirons and other of their fairest houshold-stuff , with cotton or course bays ; otherwise they would be all ●arnished . yet nothing hereof is seen within the air ; however these experiences manifestly convince , that the air is stuffed with such atomes . i cannot omit to add hereto another experiment ; which is , that we find by the effects , how the rays of the moon are cold and moist . 't is without controversie , that the luminous parts of those rays come from the sun ; the moon having no light at all in her : as her ecclipses bear witness ; which happen , when the earth is just twixt her and the sun , and by such interposition hinders her to have light from his rays , the beams then which come from the moon are those of the sun ; which glancing upon her , reflect upon us , and so bring with them the atoms of that cold and hum●d-star , participating of the ●ou●●e whence they come . whence , if one expose a hollow bason , or glass , to assemble them , he shall find , that wheras those of the sun burn by such a conjuncture , these , clean contrary , refresh and m●isten in a notable manner , leaving an aquatick and viscuous glutining kind of sweat upon the glass . one would think it a folly to talk of washing hands in a well polished silver bason , wherin there is not a drop of water , yet this may be done ; by the reflexion of the moon beams only ; which will afford a competent humidity to do it , but they who have tryed this have found their hands , after they are wiped , to be much moister than usually : and this is an infallible way to take away warts from the hands , if it be often used , let us then conclude , out of these premises and experiments , that the air is ful of atomes ; drawn from bodies , by means of the light which reflects theron , or sallying out by the interior natural heat of those bodies , which drive them forth . it may haply seem impossible that there can be an emanation of so many small bodies , that should be spread and carried up and down , so far in the air by a continual flux , ( if i may say so ) and yet the body whence they come receive no diminution that is perceptible ; though sometimes t is visible enough ; as , by the evaporations of the spirits of wine , musk , and other such volatil substances . but , this objection will be nul , and the two precedent principles , render themselvs more credible , when we shall settle another , viz. that every body , be it never so little , is divisible in infinitum : not that it hath infinite parts , ( for the contrary therof may be demonstrated ) but it is capable to be divided and subdivided into new parts , without ever coming to the end of the division : and it is in this sense that our masters teach us that quantity is infinitely divisible . this is evident to him who shall consider , with a profound imagination , the essence and formal notion of quantity ; which is nothing else but divisibility . but , in regard that this speculation is very subtile and metaphysical , i will serve my self of some geometrical demonstrations to prove this truth ; for , they accommodate best with the imagination . euclide teaches us ( in the tenth proposition of his sixth book ) , that if one take a short line , and another a long one , and the long one be divided into divers equal parts ; the short one may be divided also into as many equal parts , and every one of those parts also into others , and these last into so many more , and so on , without being able eve● to come to that which is not divisible . b●t let 's suppose ( although it be impossible ) that one might divide and subdivide a line , so that at last we should come to an indivi●ible ; and le ts see what will come of it . i say then , that , since the line resolves it self into indivisibles , it must be composed of them ; le ts see whether that may be verified . to which purpose , i take three indivisibles , ( and to distinguish them ) let them be a , b , c. for , if three millions of indivisibles make a long line , three indivisibles will make a short one . i put them then in a row ; first a , then b , so near , that they touch one another : and i say , that b must necessarily possess the same place as , a , or not possess it . if it possess the same place , they both together make no extension : and , by the same reason , neither , nor will do it ; but all the indivisibles will unite together , and the result of all shal be but only one indivisible . it must be then , that , being not both in the same place , yet touching one another , one part of b must touch one part of a , and another part not touch it : then i add the indivisible c , wher of one part shal touch a part of b. which touches not a ; and by this means b is copulant , lying between a and c , to make the extension . to do this , you see that we must admit that b hath parts ; as the other two also which by your supposition are all indivi●ible : and this being absurd , the supposition is impossible . but , to render the matter yet more perspicuous , let 's suppose that these three indivisibles make one extension , and compose one line ; the proposition already cited from euclide demonstrates , that this line may be divided into thirty equal parts , or into as many as youplease : insomuch that it must be granted , that every one of these three indivi●ibles may be divided into three parts ; which is point blank against the nature and definition of an indivisible . but , without dividing into so many parts , euclide shews ( by his tenth proposition of his first element ) that every line may be parted into two equal parts : but this , being composed of indivisibles of unequal number , it must necessarily follow , that , being parted into two , there must be an indivisible more on the one side than on the other , or the middle one be parted into two halfs . so that he , who denies that quantity may be divided in infinitum , entangles himself in absurdities , and incomprehensible impossibilities : and on the contrary , he , who assents to it , will find it no impossibility or inconvenience , that the atoms of all bodies , which are in the air , may be divided , stretcht and carried to a marvailous distance . our very senses make faith hereof in some sort : there is no body in the world , which we know of , so compact , so solid , and weighty as gold ; yet , to what a strange extent and division may it be brought ! let 's take an ounce of this massy mettal ; it shall be but a button , as big as my fingers end : a beater of gold will make a thousand leavs or more of this ounce . half of one of these leavs shall suffice to gild the whole surface of silver of three or four ounces . let 's give this gilded lingot of silver to them , who prepare gold and silver thrid to make lace ; and let them draw it to the greatest length and subtilty they can ; let them draw it to the thinness of a hair , and so this thrid may be a quarter of a league long in extent , if not more ; and in all this length there will not be the space of an atom which is not cover'd with gold. behold a strange and marvailous dilatation of this half leaf . let us do the like to all the rest of the beaten gold ; it will appear that , by this means , this small button of gold may be so extended , as to reach from this city of montpellier to paris , and far beyond it : into how many millions of atoms might not this gilded line be cut with small sciffers . now , 't is easie to comprehend , that this extention and divisibility , made by such gross instruments , as hammers and scissers , is not comparable to that which is made by the light and rays of the sun. and it is certain , that , if this gold may be drawn into such a great length by spindles or wheels of iron , some of its parts may easily be carried away by those winged coursers we spoke of before ; i mean , by the rays that flie in a moment from the sun to the earth . if i did not fear to prove tedious to you by my prolixity , i would entertain you with the strange subtility of little bodies ; which issue forth from living bodies ; by means whereof our dogs in england will pursue the scent of a mans steps , or of a beasts , many miles : and not only so , but they will find , in a great heap of stones , that which a man hath touched with his hand : therfore , it must needs be , that upon the earth , or upon the stone , some material parts of the touched body remain : yet the body doth not sensibly diminish ; no more than ambergrise , and spanish skins , which will send out of them an odour during a hundred years , without any diminution of skin or smell . in our country they use to sow a whole field with one sort of grain ; to wit , one year with barley , the next with wheat , the third with beans : and the fourth year they let it rest , and dung it , that it may recover its vigor by attraction of the vital spirit it receivs from the air ; and so be plow'd up again after the same degrees . now , the year that the field is cover'd with beans , passengers use to smell them at a good distance off , if the wind blow accordingly , and they be in flower . it is a smell that hath a suavity with it , but fading ; and afterwards is unpleasant , and heady . but the smell of rosemary , which comes from the coasts of spain , goes much further . i have sail'd along those coasts divers times , and observ'd always that the mariners know when they are within thirty or forty leagues of the continent , ( i do not exactly remember the distance ) : and they have this knowledge from the smell of the rosemary which so abounds in the fields of spain . i have smelt it as sen●ibly , as if i had had a branch of rosemary in my hand ; and this a day or two before we could discover land ; 't is true , the wind was in our faces , and came from the shore . some naturalists write that vultures have come two or three hundred leagus off , by the smell of carrens , and dead bodies left in the field , after some bloody battle ; and it was known that these b●rds came from afar off , because none used breed near . they have a quick smelling ; and it must be that the rotten atoms of those dead carcaffes were transported by the air so far : and those birds , having once caught the scent , pursue it to the very source , and , the nearer they come to that , the stronger it is . we will conclude here that which we had to say , touching the great extent of those little bodies , which , by the mediation of the sun-beams and of the light , use to issue out of all bodies that are composed of elements ; which throng in the air , and are carried a marvailous distance from the place and bodies where they have their origin and source : the proof and explication of which things hath been the aim of my discourse hitherto . now , my lords , i must , if you please , make you see how these small bodies , that so fill and compound the air , are oftentimes drawn to a road altogether differing from that which their universal causes should make them hold : and it shall be our fifth principl● . one may remark , within the course and oeconomy of nature , divers sorts of attractions . as , that of sucking ; wherby i have seen leaden bullets at the bottom of a long barrel exactly wrought , follow the air , which one suck'd out of the mouth of the gun , with that impetuosity and strength , that it broke his teeth . the attraction of water or wine by a scyphon is like to this : for , by means of that , the liquor is made to pass from one vessel into another , without changing any way the colour , or rising of the lees . there is ano●her sort of attraction which is called magnetical , wherby the loadstone draws the iron . another electrick , when the iet-stone draws to it straws . there is another of the flame ; when the smoke of a candle put out draws the flame of that which burns hard by , and makes it descend to light that which is out . there is another of filtration , when a humid body climbs up a dry . lastly , when the fire or some hot body draws the air and that which is mixed therwith . we will treat here of the two last species of attraction ; i have sufficiently spoken of the rest in another place . filtration may seem to him who hath not attentively consider'd it , nor examin'd by what circumstances so hidden a secret of nature comes to pass , and to a person of a mean and limited understanding , to be done by some occult virtue or property ; and he will perswade himself that , within the filtre or strayning instrument , there is some secret sympathy , which makes water to mount up , contrary to its natural motion . but , he , who will examine the business , as it ought to be , observing all that is done , without omiting any circumstance , will find there is nothing more natural , and that it is impossible it should be otherwise . and we must make the same judgment of all the profound and hidden'st mysteries of nature ; if men would take the pains to discover them , and search into them with judgment . behold , then , how filtration is done . they use to put a long toung of cloth , or cotten , or spongy matter , within an earthen pot of water or other liquor ; and leave hanging upon the brim of the pot a good part of the cloth ; and one shall see the water presently mount up , and pass above the brink of the vessel , and drop , at the lower end of the piece of cloth , upon the ground , or into some vessel . and the gardners make use of this method , to water their plants and flowers in summer , by soft degrees . as also apothecaries , and chymists , to separate their liquors from their dregs and residences . to comprehend the reason why the water ascends in that manner , let us nearly observe all that is done . that part of the cloth which is within the water becomes wetted ; viz. it receivs and imbibes the water through its spungy and dry parts at first . this cloth swells in receiving the water ; so , two bodies joyn'd together require more room than one of them would by it self . let us consider this swelling and augmented extension , in the last thrid of them which touch the water , viz. that on the super●icies ; which , to distinguish from the rest , let us mark at the two ends ( as by a line ) with a. b. and the third which immediately follows and is above it , with c. d. the next with e. f. the next with g. h. and so to the end of the toung . i say then , that the thrid a , b. dilating it self and swelling , by means of the water which enters 'twixt it's fibres or strings , approaches by little and little to c. d. ; which is yet dry , because it touches not the water : but when a. b. is grown so gross and swol'n , by reason of the water which enters , that it fills all the vacuity and distance 'twixt it and c. d. as also that it presses against c. d. by reason of it's extension , which is greater than the space was betwixt them both ; then it wets c. d. , because the thrid a. b. being compressed , the exterior part of the water which was in it , coming to be push'd on upon c. d. , seeks there a place , and enters within the thrids , and wets them , in the same manner as at first it 's exterior and highest part became wet . c. d. being so wetted , will dilate it self as a. b. did ; and consequently pressing against e. f. it cannot choose but work the same effect in it , which before it had receiv'd by the swelling and dilatation of a. b. and so , by gentle degrees , every thrid wets its neighbor , till the very last thrid of the cloth toung . and it is not to be feared , that the continuity of the water will break , ascending this scale of chords ; or that it will recoil backwards : for , those little ladders , so easy to be mounted , render the ascent facile , and the woolly fibres of every thrid seem to reach their hands to help them up at every step : and so the facility of geting up , joyn'd with the fluidness of the water , and the nature of quantity , ( which tends always to the uniting of substances and bodies which it clothes , when there occurs no other predominant cause to break and divide it ) causes that the water keeps it self in one piece , and passes above the brink of the pot . after that , its vo●age is made more easie , for it follows its natural tendence , always downwards . and , if the end of the cloth hangs lower without the pot , than the surface of the water within , the water drops into the ground , or some vessel placed underneath ; as we see a chord being hung upon a pully , the longest and heaviest end falls upon the ground , and carries away the shortest and lightest , drawing it over the pully . but , if the end of the cloth , without the pot , were horizontal with the surface of the water , and hung no lower than it , the water would be immoveable : as , the two sides of a ballance , when there 's equal weight in both the scales . and , if one should pour out part of the water that is in the pot , so that the superficies grow lower than the end of the cloth without : in that case the ascending water becoming more heavy than the descendant on the other side , without the pot , it would call back that which was gone out before and ready to fall ; and would make it thrust on and return to its former pace , and enter again into the pot , to mingle with the water there . you see then this mystery , which at first was surprizing , displaid , and made as familiar and natural , as to see a stone fall down from the air . 't is true , that to make a demonstration thereof , exact and compleatly rigorous , we must add other circumstances ; which i have done in another discourse , wherein i expressly treated of this subject . but that which i now say is sufficient , to give a taste how this so notable attraction is performed , the other attraction by fire , which draws to it the ambient air , with the small bodies therein , is wrought thus ; the fire , acting according to its own nature , which it , to push on a continual river or exhalation of its parts , from the center to the circumference , carries away with it the air adjoyned and sticking to it on all sides ; as the water of a river trains along with it the earth of that channel or bed , through which it glides . for , the air being humid , and the fire dry , they cannot do less , than embrace and hug one another . but , there must new air come from the places circumjacent , to fill the room of that which is carried away by the fire ; otherwise there would a vacuity happen , which nature abhors . this new air remains not long in the place it comes to fill ; but the fire , which is in a continual carreer and emanation of its parts , carries it presently away , and draws other : and so there is a pe●petual and constant current of the air , as long as the action of fire continues . we daily see the experience hereof : for , if one makes a good fire in ones chamber , it draws the air from the door and windows ; which though one would shut , yet there be crevices and holes for the air to enter , and , coming near them , one shall hear a kind of whistling noise which the air makes in pressing to enter . 't is the same cause that produces the sound of the organ and flute . and he , who would stand between the crevices and the fire , should find such an impetuosity of that artificial wind , that he would be ready to freeze , while he is ready to burn the other side next the fire . and a wax-candle held in this current of wind would melt , by the flame blown against the wax , and waste away in a very short time : wheras , if that candle stood in a calm place , that the flame might burn upward , it would last much longer . but , if there be no passage wherby the air may enter into the chamber , one part , then , of the vapor of the wood , which should have converted to flame and so mounted up the funnel of the chimney , descends downward against its nature , to supply the defect of air within the said chamber , and fills it with smoke ; but at last the fire choaks , and extinguishes , for want of air . whence it comes to pass , that the chymists have reason to say , that the air is the life of fire , as well as of animals . but , if one puts a bason or vessel of water before the fire upon the hearth , there will be no smoke in the chamber ; although it be so close shut , that the air cannot enter : for , the fire attracts part of the water , which is a liquid substance and easie to move out of its place ; which aquatic parts rarifie themselves into air , and therby perform the functions of the air . this is more evidently seen if the chamber be little ; for then the air , which is there pen'd in , is sooner rais'd up and carried away . and , by reason of this attraction , they use to make great fires , where there is houshold-stuff , of persons that dyed of the pestilence , to dis-infect it . for , by this inundation of attracted air , the fire as it were sweeps the walls , floor , and other places of the chamber ; and takes away those little putrified , sharp , corrosive , and venomous bodies , which were the infection that adhered to it : drawing them into the fire , where they are partly burnt , and partly sent up into the chimney , accompanied with the atomes of the fire and the smoke . 't is for this reason that the great hippocrates , ( who groped so far into the secrets of nature ) dis-infected , and freed from the plague a whole province or entire region ; by causing them to make great fires every where . now , this manner of attraction is made , not only by simple fire , but by that which partakes of it , viz. by hot substances : and that which is the reason and cause of the one , is also the cause of the other . for , the spirits or ignited parts , evaporating from such a substance or hot body , carry away with them the adjacent air ; which must necessarily be supplied by other air or some matter easily rari●iable into air ; as we have spoken of the bason and tub of water , put before the fire to hnder smoke . 't is upon this foundation that physicians ordain the application of pigeons , or puppy's , or some other hot animals , to the soles of the feet , or the hand-wrists , or the stomachs , or navils of their patients ; to extract out of their bodies the wind or ill vapours which infect them . and , in time of contagion or universal infection of the air , pigeons , cats , dogs , with other hot animals , which have continually a great transpiration or evaporation of spirits , use to be killed : because through attraction , the air taking the room of the spirits , which issue forth by the evaporation , the pestiferous atomes , which are scatter'd in the air and accompany it , use to stick to their feathers , skins , or furs . and , for the same reason , we see that bread coming hot out of the oven , put upon the bung , draws to it the must of the cask which would spoil the wine : and that onions , and such hot bodies which perpetually exhale fiery parts , ( as appears by the strength of their smel ) are quickly poison'd with infectious airs , if they be exposed to them : and , 't is one of the signs , to know whether the whole mass of the air be universally infected . and , one might reduce to this head the great attraction of air by calcin'd bodies ; and particularly by tartar , all ignited by the violent action of the fire which is crowded and encorporated among it's salt. i have observed , that it attracts to it nine times more air , than it self weighs . for , if one expose to the air a pound of salt of tartar well calcin'd and b●rnt , it will ●ff●rd ten pound of good oil of tartar ; draw●●g to it , and so incorporating the circumjacent air , and that is mingled with it : as it befell that o●l of tartar which mon●ir f●rrier made me , wherof i spake before . but , meth●nks , all this is but little , compared to the attraction of air by the body of a certain n●n at rome ; wherof pe●rus servius , ●r●a● the e●ght's physician , makes mention , in a book which he hath published , touching the marvailous accidents which he observ'd in his time . had i not such a vouchy , i durst not produce this history ; although the nun her self confirm'd it to me , and a good number of physicians assured me of the truth thereof . there was a nun , that , by excesse of fasting , watching , and mental orisons , was so ●ea●ed in her body , that she seem'd to be all on fire , and her bones dryed up and calcin'd . this heat then , this in●ernal fire , drawing the air powerfully ; this air incorporated within her body , as it uses to do in salt of tartar : and , the passages being all open , it got to those parts where there is most serosity , which is the bladder ; and thence she rendred it in water among her urine , and that in an incredible quantity ; for , she voided , during some weeks , more than two hundred pounds of water every four and twenty hours . with this notable example i will put an end to the experiments , i have urged to prove and explicate the attr●ction made of air , by hot and ig●ited bodies , which are of the nature of fire . my sixth principle shall be , that when fire or some hot body attracts the air and that which is within the air , if it happens that within that air there be found some dispersed a●oms of the same nature with the body that draws them ; such atoms are more powerfully attracted , than if they were bodies of a different nature , and they stay , stick , and mingle more willingly with the body which draws them . the reason hereof is , the resemblance and sympathy they have one with the other . if i should not explicate wherein this resemblance consisted ; i should expose my self to the same censure and blame , as that which i taxed , at the beginning of my discourse , in those , who spake but lightly and vulgarly of the powder of sympathy , and such marvels of nature . but , when i shall have cleared that which i contend for by such a resemblance and conveniency ; i hope then you will rest satisfied . i could make you see that there are many sorts of resemblances , which cause an union between bodies ; but i will content my self to speak here only of three signal ones . the first resemblance shall be in weight ; whereby bodies of the same degree of heaviness assemble together , the reason wherof is eviden● . for , if one body were lighter , it would occupy a higher situation than the heavier body ; as on the contrary , if a body were more weighty , it would descend lower than that which is less heavy : but both having the same degree of heav●ness , they keep company together in equilibrio , as one may see by experience in this gentile example ; which some curious spirits use to produce , to make us understand how the four elements are situated one above the other , according to their weight . they put in a vial the sp●rit of wine tinctur'd with red , to represent the fire , the spirit of turpentine tinctur'd with blew , for the air , the spirit of water tinctur'd with green , and represent the element of water ; and , to represent the earth , the powder of some solid metal enamell'd : you see them one upon the other w●thout mix●ng ; and if you shake them together by a violent● 〈◊〉 you shal see a chaos , such a confusion , that it wil seem there 's no particular atoms that belong to any of those bodies , they are so hudled pel mel altogether . but , cease this agitation , and you shall see presently every one of these four substances go to its natural place ; calling again , & labouring to unite all their atoms in one distinct mass , that you shall see no mixture at all . the second resemblance of bodies , which draw one another and unite , is among them which are of the same degree of rarity and density . the nature and effect of quantity is to reduce to unity all things which it finds ; if some other stronger power , ( as , the differing substantial form , which multiplies it ) do not hinder . and the reason is evident . for the ●ssence of quantity is divisibility or a capacity to be divided , that is to be made many ; whence may be inferr'd that quantity it self is not-many ; 't is therfore of it self and in its own nature one continued extension , seeing then that the nature of q●antity in general tends to unity , and continuity ; the first differences of quantity , which are rarity and density , must produce the same effect of unity , and continuity in those bodies which participate in the same degree of them . for proof whereof , we find , that water unites and incorporates it self strongly and easily with water , oil with oil , spirit of wine with spirit of wine : but water and oil will hardly unite , nor mercury with the spirit of wine ; and so other bodies of differing density and tenuity . the third resemblance of bodies which unites and keeps them strongly together , is that of figure . i will not serve my self here with the ingenious conceit of a great personage ; who holds that the continuity of bodies results from some smal hooks or clasps , which keep them together ; and are different in bodies of a differing nature : but ( not to extend my self too diffusively in every particularity ) i will say in gross , as an apparent thing , that every kind of body affects a particular figure . we see it plainly in the several sorts of salt ; peel and stamp them separately , dissolve , coagulate , and change them as long as you please ; they come again alwayes to their own natural figure , after every dissolution , and coagulation . the ordinary salt forms it self alwaies in cubes of ●oursquare faces ; salt-peter in forms of six faces : armoniac-salt in hexagons ; as the snow doth , which is sexangular . wherto mr. davison attributes the pentagonary figure of every one of those stones , which were found in the bladder of monsir peletier , to the number of fourscore ; for the same immediate efficient cause the bladder had imprinted its action both on the stones , and the salt of the urine . the distillators observe , that if they powre upon the dead head of some distillation the water which was distilled out of it , it imbibes it , and re-unites incontinently ; wheras if one pour on it any other water of an heterogeneous body , it swims on the top , and incorporates with much difficulty . the reason is , that the distill'd water , which seems to be an homogeneous body , is composed of smal bodies of discrepant figures ; as the chymists plainly demonstrate : and these atoms being chaced , by the action of fire , out of their own chambers , or beds exactly fitted to them ; when they come back in their antient habitations , viz , to the pores which are left in the dead heads , they accommodate themselvs , and amiably rejoin and comensurate together . the same happens when it rains , after a long drougth : for , the earth immediately drinks up the water , which had been drawn up by the sun ; wheras any other strange liquor would enter with some difficulty . now that there are differing po●es in bodies which seem to be homogeneous , monsir gassendus affirms , and undertakes to prove , by the dissolution of salts of differing natures in common water . when , says he , you have dissolv'd in it common salt , as much as it can bear ; if you put in only a scruple more , it will leave it entire in the bottom , as if it were sand or plaister ; nevertheless it will dissolve a good quantity of salt-peter ; and when 't is glutted with this , 't wil dissolve as much of armoniacal salt , and so others of different figures . so that as i have observed elsewhere , we see plainly by the oeconomy of nature , that bodies of the same figure use to mingle more strongly , and unite themselves with more facility . which is the reason why those , tha● make a strong glue , to piece together broken pots of porcelain or chrystal , &c. always mingle with the glue the powder of that body , which they endeavour to re-accomodate : and the goldsmiths themselvs , when they go about to soder together pieces of gold , or silver , mingle alwayes their own dust in the soder . having hitherto run through the reasons and causes why bodies of the same nature , draw one to another with greater facility and force , than others , and why they unite with more promptitude ; le ts now see according to our method , how experience confirms this discourse , for , in natural things we must have recourse , en dernier ressort , to experience ; and all reasoning that is not supported so , ought to be repudiated , or at least suspected to be illegitimate . t is an ordinary thing , when one find she ha's burnt his hand ; to hold it a good while as near the fire as he can , and by this means the ignited atomes of the fire and of the hand mingling together , and drawing one another ; and the stronger of the two , which are those of the fire , having the mastery , the hand finds it self much eased of the inflammation which it suffer'd . t is an usual course , though a nasty one , of those who have ill breaths , to hold their mouths open over a privy , as long as they can ; and by the re-iteration of this remedy , they find themselv●s cured at last ; the greater stink of the privy drawing to it , and carrying away , the lesse , which is that of the mouth . they who have been prick'd or bitten by a viper or scorpion , hold , over the bitten or prick'd place , the head of a viper or scorpion bruised ; and by this means the poyson , which , by a kind of filtration crept on to gain the heart of the party , returns back to its principles , and so leavs him well recover'd . in time of common contagion , they use to carry about them the powder of a toad , and somtimes a living toad or spider , sh●t up in a b●x ; or ars●ick , or some other venemous substance ; which draws to it the contagious air , that otherwise would infect the party : and the same powder of a toad draws to it the poyson of a plague sore . the farcy is avenemous and contagious humor within the body of a horse : hang a toad about the neck of the horse , in a little bag , and he will be cured infallibly ; the toad , which is the stronger poyson , drawing to it the venome which was within the horse . make water to evaporate out of a stove , or other room , close shut ; if there be nothing that draws this vapor , it will stick to the walls of the stove , and , as it cools , recondense there into water ; but if you put a bason or bucket of water into any part of the stove , it will attract all the vapor which fil'd the chamber , and no part of the wall will be wetted . if you dissolve mercury , which , resolving into smoke , passes into the recipient , put into the head of the limbeck a little therof , and all the mercury in the limbeck will gather there , and nothing will passe into the recipient . if you distil the spirit of salt , or of vitriol , or the baume of sulpher , and leave the passage free betwixt the spirit and the dead head , whence it issued ; the spirits will return to the dead head , which , being fixt and not able to mount up , draws them to it . in our country , ● ( and i think it is so used here , ) they use to make provision for all the year of venison , at the season that their flesh is best and most savory , which is in july , and august ; they bake it in earthen pots , or ryecrust , after they have well seasond it with salt and spices ; and being cold , they cover it deep with fresh butter , that the air may no● enter . nevertheless t is observ'd , that after all their diligence when the l●v●ng beasts , which are of the same nature and kind , are in rut , the flesh in the pot smels very rank , and is very much changed , having a stronger taft ; because of the spirits which come at thi● season from the living beasts ; which spirits are attracted na●urally by the dead flesh . and then , one hath much to do 〈◊〉 preserve it from being quite spoil'd : but the said season be●ng passed , there is no danger or difficulty to keep it gustful all the year long . the wine merchants ( in this country , and every where else , where there is wine , ) observe that , during the season that the vines are in flower , the wine , in their cellars , makes a kind of fermentation , and pushes forth a little white lee , ( which i think they call the mother ) upon the surface of the wine : which continues in a kind of disorder , till the flowers of the vines be fall'n ; and then , this agitation or fermentation being ceased , all the wine returns to the same state it was in before . nor is it now that this observation hath been made , but , besides divers others , who speak hereof , st. ephrem the syri●n ▪ ( in his last will and testament , some years ago , ) reports this very same circumstance of wine ; sensibly suffering an ag●tation and fermentation within the vessel , a● the same time t●at the vines seem to exhale their spirits in the vineyards . he makes use of the same example in dry onions , which bud in the house , when those in the garden begin to come out of the earth , and fill the air with their spirits ; shewing by these known examples of nature , the communication between living persons , and the souls of the dead . now those viny spirits that issue from the buds and flowers , filling the air , ( as the spirits of rosem●ry use to do in spain ) are drawn into the vessels , by the connatural and attractive vertue of the wine within : and these new volatil spirits , entring , excite the more fixed spirits of the wine , and so cause a fermentation ; as if one should pour therin new or sweet wine , for in all fermentations , there is a separation made of the terrestial parts from the oily , and so the lightest mount up to the superficies , the heaviest become tartar lees , which sink to the bottom . but , in this season , if one be not very careful to keep the wine in a proper and temperate place , and the cask full and well bung'd ; and to use other endeavours which are ordinary with wine-coopers , one runs a h●z●rd to have his wine impaird , or quite spoil'd ; because volatil spirits , evaporating again , carry away with them the spirits of the wine that is barrel'd , by exciting and mingling with them . as in like manner , the oil of tartar , which monsur ●errier made , attracting to it self the volatil spirits of roses , diffused in the air in their season , suffer'd such a fermentation : and made every year new attractions of the like spirits , in regard of the affinity which this oil had contracted with those spirits at first ; which it lost again still as the season passed . and t is for the very same reason , that a table-cloath , or napkin , spoted with mulberries , or red wine , is eas●ly whitned again , at the season that the plants flower ; wheras at any other time , these spots can hardly be washed out . but , t is not only in france , and other places where vines are near cellars of wine , that this fermentation happens : in england , where we have not vines enough to make wine , the same thing is observed ; yea , and some particularities farther . although they make no wine in our country , to any considerable proportion , yet we have wine there in great abundance , brought over by the merchants . it uses to come principally from three places , viz. from the canaries , from spain , from gascony . now , these regions being under different degrees and climates , in point of latitude , and consequently one country being hotter or colder , than the other ; so that the same vegetals grow to maturity sooner : it comes to pass , that the foresaid fermentation of our differing wines advances it self more or less , according as the vines , whence they proceed , do bud and flower in the region where they grow ; it being consentaneous to reason , that every sort of wine attracts more willingly the spirits of those vines whence it comes , than of any other . i cannot forbear making some digression here , to unfold some other effects of nature ; which we see often , and are not less curious , than the most principal we treat of , and wil seem to be derived from more obscure causes ; notwithstanding , in many circumstances , they depend on the same principles , and , in many , much differing . first , touching m●les or marks , which happen to infants when their mothers , during the time of their pregnancy , have long'd for some particular th●ngs . to proceed after my accustomed manner ; i will begin with an example . a lady of high condition , whom many of this assembly know , at least by reputation , hath upon her n●ck the figure of a mu●berry ; as exactly as any painter or sculp●or can possibly represent one : for it bears not only the colour , but the just proportion of a mulberry , and is as it were emboss'd upon her flesh . the mother of this lady , being w●th-child , had a great mind to eat some mul●erries ; and her fancy bein● satisfied , one of them casually fell upon her neck ; the sanguin juice whereof was soon wiped off , and she felt nothing at that time . but the child being born , the perfect figure of a mulberry was seen upon her neck ; in the same place where it fel upon the mothers : and every year , in mulberpy season , this impression , or rather this excrescence of flesh sweld , grew big , and itch'd . another lady who had the like mark of a stra●berry , was more incommodated therwith ; for it , not only grew inflamed and itch'd in strawberry-season , but broke , like an impostume , whence iss●ed forth a sharp corrosive humor . but , a skilful surgeon took all away , to the very roots , by cauterizing ; so that , since that time , she never felt any pain or alteration in that place which incommodated her so much ; it being become a simple scar. now then , le ts endeavour to penetrate , if we can , the causes and reasons of these marvailous effects . but , to go the more handsomly to work , let us reflect . that , in the actions of all our senses , there is a material and corporal participation of the things we are sensible of , viz. some atoms of the body operate upon our senses , and enter into their organs ; which serve them as funnels , to conduct and carry them to the brain and the imagination . this appears evidently in vapours and savours . and for hearing , the exterior air , being agitated , causes a movement within the membrane or tympane of the ear , which gives the like shake to the hammer tyed thereto ; and that beating upon its anvil , causes a reciprocal motion in the air , which is shut within the crannies of the ear ; and this is that which we usually call sound . touching the sight , t is evident that the light , reflecting from the body that is seen , enters into the eyes ; and cannot , bu●bring with it some emanations of the body wheron it reflects ; as we have establish'd in our second principle . it remains now to shew that the like is done in the grossest of our senses , the touch or feeling . and if it be true , as we have shewn , that every body sends forth a continual emanation of atoms out of it self : it makes much for the assertion of this truth . but to render it yet more manifest , and take away all possibility of doubt , i will demonstrate it evidently to the eye : wherof every one may make an experience in a quarter of an hour , if he be so curious , yea , in a less compass of time . i believe you all know the notable affinity betwixt gold and quick-silver . if gold but touches mercury , that sticks close to it , and whitens it so , that it scarce appears gold , but silver only . if you cast this blanched gold into the fire , the heat chases and drives away the mercury , and the gold returns to its former colour : but , if you repeat this often , the gold calcines , and then you may pound , and reduce it to powder . now , there is no dissolvant in the world that can well calcine and burn the body of gold , but quick-silver . i speak of that which is already formed by nature ; without engaging my self to speak of that which is talked of among the secrets of philosophy . take then , a spoonful of mercury in some porcelan or other dish , and finger it with one hand : if you have a gold-ring on the other hand , it will become white and covered with mercury ; though it doth not any way touch it . moreover , if you take a leaf or a crown of gold in your mouth , and put but one of your toes in a vessel where mercury is ; the gold in your mouth , though you shut your lips never so close , shall turn white and laden with mercury : then , if you put the gold in the fire , to make all the mercury evaporate , and re-iterate this thing often , your gold will be calcin'd , as if you had , by amalgation , joyn'd mercury therwith corporally . and all this will yet be done more speedily and effectually , if , in lieu of common mercury , you make use of mercury of antimony , which is much hotter , and more penetrating ; and , though you drive it away by force of fire , it will carry away with it a good quantity of the substance of the gold ; that , re-iterating often this operation , there will no more gold remain for you to continue your experiments . if then , cold mercury doth so penetrate the whole body ; we ought not to think it strange , that subtil atoms of fruit composed of many fiery parts wil pass with more facility and quickness . i could further make you see how such spirits & emanations suddenly also penetrateev'n steel ; though it be a substance so compacted , cold , and hard , that the said atoms keep there residence their many months and years . in a living body , such as is mans : the intern spirits aid and contribute much facility to the spirits that are without , ( such as those of fruits are , ) to make their journy to the brain . the great architect of nature in the fabrick of a human body , the master piece of corporal nature , hath placed there some intern spirits , to serve as sentinels , to bring their discoveries to their general , the imagination , ( which is , as it were , the mistress of the whole family , ) wherby the man might know and understand , what is done without his kingdom , in the great world ; and might shun what is noxious and seek after that which is profitable . for , these sentinels or intern spirits , with all the inhabitants of the sensitive organs , are not able to to judg alone : insomuch , that , if the imagination or thought , be distracted strongly to some other object , these intern spirits do not know whether a man hath drunk the wine which he hath swa●low'd ; if perchance , seeing a person who comes to salute him , he fixes his eye upon him all the while , or he listens attentively to the air of some melodious song or musical instrument . the inward spirits the●efore bring all their acquisitions to the imagination ; and if she be not more strongly bent upon another object , she falls a forming certain id●as and images : for the atoms from without , being convey'd by these intern spirits to our imagination , erect there the like edifice , or else a model in short resembling the great body whence they come , and if the imagination hath no more use of those significative atoms for the present , she ranges them in some proper place within her magazin , the memory ; where she can recall , and send them back when she pleases . and if there be any object which causes some emotions in the imagination , and touches her nearer , than common objects use to do ; she sends back her sentinels , the internal spirits , upon the confines , to bring her more particular news . hence it proceeds that being surprized by some particular person , or other object , that has already some eminent place in his imagination , be it with desire or aversion , man suddenly changes colour , and becomes now red , then pale , then red again at divers times : according as the ministers , which are those intern spirits , go quick or slow towards their object , and return with their reports to their mistress , which is the imagination . but , besides these passages we speak of , from the brain to the external parts of the body , by the ministry of the nerv's ; there is also a great road from the brain to the heart ; by which the vital spirits ascend from the heart to the brain , to be animated : and hereby the imagination sends to the heart those atoms which she hath receiv'd from some external object . and there they make an ebullition among the vital spirits ; which , according to the intervening atoms , either cause a dilatation of the heart , and so gladden it ; or contract it , and so sadden it : and these two differing and contrary actions are the first general effects , whence proceed afterwards the particular passions ; which require not that i pursue them too far in this place , having done it more particularly else where , and more expresly . besides these passages , which are common to all men and women , there is another that 's peculiar only to females ; which is , from the brain to the matrix : wherby it often falls out that such violent vapours mount up to the brain ; and those in so great a number , that they often hinder the operation of the brain and imagination , causing convulsions and follies , with other strange accidents ; and by the same channel , the spirits or atoms pass with a greater liberty and swiftness to the womb or matrix , when the case requires . now , le ts consider how the strong imagination of one m●n doth marvailously act upon another man , who hath it more feeble and passive . we see daily , that , if a person gape ; those who see him gaping are excited to do the same . if one fall in company with persons that are in a fit of laughter , he can hardly forbear laughing , though he knows not , why they laugh : or if one enters into an house where all the world is sad ; he becomes melancholy . women and children , being very moist and passive , are most susceptible of this unpleasing contagion of the imagination . i have known a very melancholy woman , which was subject to the disease called the mother ; and while she continued in that mood , she thought her self possessed , and did strange things , which among those that knew not the cause , passed for supernatural effects , and of one possessed by the ill spirit , she was a person of quality ; and all this hap'ned through the deep resentment she had for the death of her husband . she had attending her four or five young gentlewomen ; wherof some were her kinswomen , and others serv'd her as chamber-maids : all these came to be possessed as she was , and did prodigious actions . these young maids were separated from her sight and communication ; and not having yet contracted such profound roots of the evil , they came to be all cured by their absence : and this lady was also cured afterwards by a physician , who purg'd the atrabilious humors , and restored her matrix to its former estate . there was neither imposture , or dissimulation in this . i could make a notable recital of such passions , that hap'ned to the nuns at lodun : but , having done it in a particular discourse at my return from that country , where i , as exactly as i could , discussed the point , i will forbear speaking therof at this time . and only pray you to remember , that , when two lutes or harps , near one another are both set to the same ●une ; if you touch the strings of the one , the other consonant instrument will sound at the same time , though no body touch it ; whereof galileo hath ingeniously rendred the reason . now , to make application to our purpose of all that hath been produced about it , i say that , since it is impossible , that any two several persons should be so near one the other as the mother and the infant in her womb ; one may thence conclude , that all the effects of a strong and vehement imagination , working upon another more feeble , passive , and tender , ought to be more efficacious in the mother acting upon her infant , than when the imaginations of other persons act upon those who are nothing to them . and , as it is impossible for a master of musick , let him be never so expert and exact , to tune so perfectly any two harps , as the great master of the universe do●h the two bodies of the mother and the infant ; so by consequence , the concussion of the principal strings of the mother , which is her imagination , must produce a greater shaking of the consonant string in the infant , to wit , his imagination , than the string of one lute being struck , can of the consonant strings of another . wherefore , when the mother sends spirits to some parts of her body , the like must be sent to those parts of the childs body . now , le ts call to memory , how the imagination of the mother is ful of corporeal atoms , coming from the mulberry or strawberry , that fel upon her neck and brest ; and her imagination being then surprized with an emotion , by the suddenness of the accident , it follows necessarily , that she must send some of these atoms also to the brain of the infant , and so to the same part of the body , where she took the stain at first ; twixt which and the brain , there pass such frequent and speedy messengers , as we have formerly set forth . the infant also having his parts tuned in an harmonious consonance with the mothers , cannot fail to observe the same movement of spirits , twixt his imaginations and his neck and brest , as the mother did 'twixt hers : and , these spirits , being accompanied with atoms of the mulberry , which the mother convey'd to his imagination , make a deep impression and lasting mark upon his delicate skin , wheras that of the mothers was more hard . as if one should let fly a pistol charg'd with powder only , against a marble , the powder would do nothing but ●ully it a little , which may quickly be rub'd off ; but if one should discharge such a pistol at a man's face , the grains of the powder would pierce the skin , and stick and dwel there , all his life time , making themselvs known by their black-blewish colour , which they always conserve . in like manner , the smal grains or atoms of the fruit , which passed from the mothers neck to the imagination of the infant , and thence to the same place upon his skin , do lodg and continually dwel there for the future ; and serve as a source to draw the atoms of the like fruit dispersed in the air , in their season , ( as the wine in the tun draws to it the volatil spirits of the vines ) and by drawing them , the part of the skin , where they reside , ferments , swels , corrod's , inflames , and sometimes break● . but to render yet more considerable these marvailous marks of longing , ( since we are upon this subject ) , i cannot forbear to touch also another circumstance , which might seem at first to be a miracle of nature , beyond the causes which i have alledg'd : but having well eventilated it , we shall obsolutely find that it depends upon the same principles . t' is . that oftentimes it falls out , that the impression of the thing desired or longed for by the mother , sticks on the child ; though the thing it self ne'r toucht the mothers body . t' is sufficient , that some other thing fal or inexpectedly beat upon some part of the woman with-child , while such a longing predominates in her imagination ; and the figure of the thing so long'd for , will be found at last imprinted on the same part of the body of the infant , where the mother receiv'd the stroke . the reason hereof is , that the atoms of the thing long'd for , being rais'd up by the light , go to the brain of the mother , through the channel of her eyes , as well as other more material atoms , proceeding from the corporeal touch , would go thither , by the guidance of the nervs : and , of these petty bodies , the mother forms in her imagination a complete model of that whence they flow by way of emanation . now , if her mind only run on it , these atoms , which are in her imagination , make no other voyage , than to her heart , and thence to the imagination and heart of the infant ; and so cause a reinforcement of the passion in them both which may be moved to such a violent impetuosity , that , if the mother doth not enjoy her long'd-for object , this passion may cause the destruction both of her and her infant , at least make so great a change in their bodies as may prejudice them both in their healths ' but , if some unlook'd-for blow surprize the mother in any part of her body , it often happens that the spirits , which reside in the brain , are immediately sent to that part by her imagination . and , in all such sudden surprisals , either in women or men , these spirits are transported with the more impetuosity , the more the passion is violent : as , when one loves another passionately , he runs suddenly to the door when any knocks , or that — hylax in limine latrat , hoping always t' is the party that entirely occupies his thoughts , ( for qui amant ipsi sili s●mnia fingunt ) who comes to give him a visit . these spirits then moved by this sudden assault , being mingled with the petty bodies or atoms of the long'd-for thing which poss●sses so powerfully the fantasie , carry them along with themselvs to the part of the body which is struck ; as also to the same part of the body of the infant , as well as to his imagination : and after that , all which haprens is but the same in respect of the mother and the child ; as when the mu●berry or strawberry fell upon the neck or breast of the ladies , with whom i have entertain'd you . permit me , my lords , to inlarge my digression a little further by re-accounting to you a marvailous accident , known all over the court of england ; in the confirmation of the activity and impression which the imagination of the mother makes upon the body of the infant in her womb . a lady that was my kinswoman , ( she was the neice of fortescu , the daughter of count arundel ) came to give me visits somtimes in london ; she was handsome and knew it well ; taking great complacency not only to keep her self so , but to add that which she could further : wherefore being perswaded that black patches which she used , gave her a great deal of ornament , she was careful to wear the most curious sort . but as it is very hard to keep a moderation , in things which depend more upon opinion , than nature ; she wore them in excess , and patched most of her face with them , though that did not much add to her beauty , and i took the liberty to tell her so yet i thought it no opportunity then , to do any thing that should give her the least diftast ; since with so much civility and sweetness she came to visit me . nevertheless , one day i thought good , in a kind of drolling way so that she might not take any disgust , ( and ridentem dicere verum quis vetat ? ) to tell her of it ; so i let my discourse fall upon her great-belly , advising her to have a care of her health , wherof she was somewhat negligent ; according to the custom of young vigorous women , which know not yet what it is to be subject to indispositions , she gently thank'd me for my care herein ; saying , that she could do no more for the preservation of her health , than she did , though she was in that case . you should at least , i reply'd , have a great care of your child , o! for that , said she , there is nothing can be contributed . yet , i told her , see how many patches you we●r upon your face : are you not afraid that the infant in your womb may haply be born with such marks on his face ? but , said she , what danger is there that my child should bear such marks , though i put them on artificially ? then , you have not heard , i reply'd , the marvailous effects that the imaginations of mothers work upon the bodies of their children , while they are yet big with them ; therfore i will reaccount to you some of them . so i related to her sundry stories upon this subject : as , that of the queen of ethiopia , who was delivered of a white boy ; which was attributed to a pictu reof the blessed virgin , she had near the teaster of her bed , where bore she great devotion . i urged another , of awoman who was brought to bed of a child all hairie ; because of a pourtrait of st. iohn baptist in the wilderness , when he wore a coat of camels hair . i re-accounted to her also the strange antipathy which the late king iames had to a naked sword ; wherof the cause was ascribed to some schotch lords , entring once violently into the bed-chamber of the queen his mother , while she was with child of him , where her secretary , an italian , was dispatching some letters for her : whomthey hack'd and kill'd with naked s●ords , before her face , and threw him at her feet ; and they grew so barbarous , that they had near hurt the queen her self who endeavour'd to save her secretary by interp●sing her self , for her skin was rased in divers places . bucanan makes mention of this tragedy . hence it came that her son , king iames , had such an aversion all his life time to a naked sword ; that he could not see one , without a great emotion of spirits : and , though otherwise couragious enough , he could not over-master his passions in this particular . i remember , when he dub'd me knight ; in the ceremony of putting a naked sword upon my shoulder , he could not endure to look upon it , but turned his face another way ; insomuch that , in lieu of touching my shoulder , he had almost thrust the point into my eyes , had not the duke of buckingingham guided his hand aright . i alledg'd to her divers such stories ; to make her apprehend , that a strong imagination of the mother might cause some notable impression upon the body of her child , to his prejudice . and 'pray consider , said i , how attentive you are to your patches , how you have them continually in your imagination ; for , i have observed , that you have look'd on them ten times since you came to this room , in the looking-glass . have you , therfore , no apprehension that your child may be born with half-moons upon his face ; or rather , that all the black , which you spot in several places up and down may assemble in one , and appear in the middle of his forehead , the most apparant and remarkable part of the visage , as broad as a iacobus : and then , what a grace would it be to the child . o●mee ! said she , rather than that should happen , i will wear no more patches , and while i am with-child : therupon instantly she pul'd them all off , and threw them away . when her friends saw her afterwards without patches ; they demanded how it came to pass , that she , who was esteem'd to be one of the most curious beauties of the court , in point of patches , should so suddenly give over wearing them ? she answer'd , that her uncle , in whom she had a great deal of belief , assured her , that , if she wore them , during the time she was with-child , the infant would have a large black patch in the midst of his forehead . now , this conceit was so lively engraven in her imagination , that she could not thrust it out : and so this poor lady , who was so fearful that her child should bear some black mark in its face , yet could not prevent , but it came so into the world , and had a spot as large as a crown of gold in the midst of the forehead ; according as she had figured before in her imagination . it was a daughter that she brought forth every way very beautiful , this excepted : 't is but few moneths since , that i saw her bearing the said mole or spot , which proceeded from the force of the imagination of her mother . i need not tel you of your neighbour of carcassona ; who lately was brought to bed of a prodigious monster , exactly resembling an ape , which she took pleasure to look upon , during the time she was with-child : for , i conceive you know the story better than i. nor of the woman of st. maixent , who could not forbear going to see an infortunate child of a poor passenger woman , that was born without arms ; and she her self was deliver'd afterwards of such a monster ; who yet had some smal excrescences of flesh upon the shoulders , about the place whence the arms should have come forth . as also of her who was desirous to see the execution of a criminal , that had his head cut off according to the laws of france : wherof her affrightment made so deep a print upon her imagination , that presently falling in labour , before they could carry her , to her lodging , she was brought to-bed , before her time , of a child who had his head sever'd from his body , both the parts yet shedding fresh blood , besides that which was abundantly shed in the womb ; as if the heads-man had done an execution also upon the tender young body within the mothers wombe . these three examples , manifestly enough prove the strength of the imagination : and many others , as true i could produce ; which would engage me too far , if i should undertake to clear the causes and unwrap the difficulties that would be found greater in them , than in any of those wherwith i have entertain'd you . because those spirits had the power to cause essential changes and fearful effects , upon bodies that were already brought to their perfect shapes ; and it may be well believ'd , that in some of them there was a transmutation of one species to another , and the introduction of a new form into the subject-matter , totally differing from that which had been introduced at first ; at least , if that which most naturalists tell us , at the animation of the embryo in the womb , be true . but this digression hath been already too long to return then , to the great channel and thrid of our discourse . the examples and experiments , which i have already insisted on in confirmation of the reasons i have aledg'd , clearly demonstrate that bodies , which draw the atomes dispersed in the air , attract themselvs such as are of their own nature , with a greater force and energy , than other heterogeneous and strange atoms ; as wine doth the vinal spirits ; the oyl of tartar perfum'd in the making , with roses , drew the volatil spirits of the rose ; the flesh of deer , or venison buried in crust , attracts the spirits of those beasts ; and so all the other wherof i have spoken . the history of the tarantula , in the kingdom of naples , is very famous : you know how the venome of this animal , ascending from the part that was bitten , towards the head and heart of the par●ies ; excites in their imagination an impetuous desire to hear some melodious airs ; and most commonly they are delighted with differing airs . therfore , when they hear an air that pleases them , they begin to dance incessantly ; and , therby fall a sweating in such abundance , that a great part of the venome evaporates . besides , the sound of the musick raises a movement , and causes an agitation among the aereal and vaporous spirits in the brain , and about the heart ; and diffused up and down through the whole body , proportionably to the nature and cadence of such musick ! as , when timotheus transported alexander the great with such a vehemency , to what passions he pleas'd : and , as when one lute struck makes the consonant strings of the other to tremble , by the motions and tremblings which it causes in the air ; though they be not touch'd otherwise at all . we find too , oftentimes , that sounds ( which are no other thing , than motions of the air , ) cause the like movement in the water : as , the harsh sound , caus'd by rubbing hard with ones finger , the brim of a 〈◊〉 full of water , excites a noise , a turning , and boundings , as if it danced according to the cadence of the sound : the harmonious sounds also of bells , in those countries where they use to be rung to particular tunes , makes the like impressions upon the superficies of the rivers that are nigh the steeple , as in the air especially in the night time , when there is no other movement , to stop or choak the other supervenient one . for , the air being contiguous , or rather continuous , with the water ; and the water being susceptible of movement ; ther 's the like motion caused in the fluid parts of the water , as began in the air . and , the same contract , which is betwixt the agitated air , and the water by this means moved to ; happens also to be betwixt the agitated air , and the vap'rous spirits in those bodies that have been bitten by the tarantula ; which spirits , by consequence , are moved by the agitated air , that is to say , by the sound ; and that the more efficaciously , the more this agitation or sound is proportion'd to the nature and temperature of the party hurt . and , this intern agitation of the spirits and vapours helps them to discharge the vaporous venom of the tarantula , which is mixt among all their humours : as standing puddle waters and corrupted airs , putrified by long repose , and the mixture of other noisome substance● , are refin'd and purifi'd by motion . now , winter appro●ching , which destroys these animals , the persons are freed from this malady ; but , at the return of that season when they use to be bitten , the mischief returns , and they must dance again as they did , the year before . the reason is , that the heat of summer revives these beasts , so that their venom becomes as malignant and furious as before ; and , that being heated and evaporating it self , and dispersing in the air the leven of the same poyson , which remains in the bodies of them who have been hurt , that draws it to it self ; wherby such a fermentation is wrought , as infects the other humours , and thence a kind of steam issuing and mounting to the brain , uses to produce such strange effects . it is also well known that , where there are great dogs or mastifs ( as in england ) if any be bitten perchance by them , they commonly use to be kil'd , though they be not mad ; for fear , least the leven of the canine choler which remains within the body of the party bitten , might draw to it the malignant spirits of the same dog , ( should he afterwards chance to be mad ) which might come to distemper the spirits of the person . and , this is not only practised in england , where there are such dangerous dogs ; but also in france ; according to the report of father cheron , provincial of the ●armelites in this gountrey ; in his examen de la theologie mystique , newly imprinted , and which i have lately read . i will say nothing of artificial noses , made of the flesh of other men , to remedy the deformity of those , who by an extreme excess of cold , have lost their own : which new noses putrifie , as soon as those persons , out of whose substance they were taken , come to die ; as if that small parcel of flesh , engrafted on the face , lived by the spirits it drew from it's first root and source . for , though this be constantly avouch'd by considerable authors , yet i desire you to think that i offer you nothing which is not verified by solid tradition ; such , that it were a weakness to doubt of it . but , it is high time that i come now to my seventh and last principle : it is the last turn of the engine , and will , i hope , batter down quite the gate which hindred us an entrance to the knowledge of this so marvailous a mystery ; and imprint such a lawful mark upon the doctrine proposed , that 't will pass for current . this principle is , that the source of those spirits or little bodies , wh●ch attract them to it self , draws likewise after them that which accompanies , and whatever sticks and is united to them . this co●clusion needs not much proof , being evident enough of it self . if there be nails , pins , or ribands , tied to the end of a long chord or chain , and withal a lump , either of wax , gum , or glue ; and i take this chord or chain by one end , and draw it to me , till the other end come to my hand : it cannot be otherwise but , at the same time , the nails , the pins , the ribands , the lump , and in fine , all that hangs at it must come to my hand . i go therfore to relate to you , only , some experiments that have been made , in consequence of this principle ; which will most strongly confirm the others produced before . the great fertility and riches of england consists chiefly in pasturage for cattle ; wherof we have the fairest in the world , principally of oxen and kine . ther 's not the meanest cottager , but hath a cow to furnish his family with milk : 't is the principal sustenance of the poorer sort of people , as 't is also in switzerland ; which makes them very careful of the good keeping and health of their cows . now , if it happen that the milk boil over , and so comes to fall into the fire , the good woman or maid presently gives over whatever she is adoing and runs to take the vessel off the fire : and , at the same time , she takes a handful of salt , which uses to be commonly in the corner of the chimney to keep it dry ▪ and throws it upon the cinders where the milk was shed . ask her , wherfore she doth so ? and she will tell you , 't is to prevent a mischief to the cows udder , which gave this milk : for without this remedy , it would grow hard and ulcerated ; and she would come to piss blood , and so be in danger to die . not that 't would rise to this extremity the first time ; but she would grow ill-disposed , and if this should happen often , the cow would soon miscarry . it might seem that there were some superstition or folly in this : but the infallibility of the effect warrants from the last , and , for the first , many indeed believe that the malady of the cow is supernatural , or an effect of sorcery , and consequently that the remedy which i have alledg'd is superstitious ; but 't is easie to disabuse any man of this perswasion , by declaring how the business goes , according to the foundations i have laid . the milk falling upon the burning coals is converted to vapour , which disperses and filtreth it self through the circumambient air , where it encounters the light and solar rays which tran●port it further ; augmenting and extending still farther the sphere of its activity . this vapour of the milk is not alone or simple ; but compos'd of fiery atoms , which accompany the smoke and vapour of the milk , mingling and uniting themselvs therwith . now , the sphere of the said vapour extending it self to the place where the cow is ; her udder , which is the source whence the milk proceeded , attracts to it the said vapour , and sucks it in together with the fiery atoms that accompanied it . the udder is , part , glandulous and very tender ; and consequently very subject to inflammations : this fire then heats , inflames , and swells it ; and in fine , makes it hard and ulcerated . the inflamed and ulcerated udder is near the bladder ; which comes likewise to be inflamed : making the anastomoses and communication 'twixt the veins and arteries to open and cast forth blood , and to regorge into the bladder , whence the urine empty's it self . but , whence comes it , you will ask , that the salt remedies all this ? 't is because that is of a nature clean contrary to the fire ; the one being hot and volatil , the other cold and fixed : insomuch that , where they use to encounter , the salt , as it were , knocks down the fire , by precipitating and destroying its action ; as may be observ'd in a very ordinary accident . the chimneys which are full of soot use to take fire very easily ; and , the usual remedy for this is to discharge a musket in the funnel of the chimney , which loosneth and brings down with it the fired soot , and then the disorder ceases : but , if there be no musket , or pistol , or other instrument to fetch down the soot , they use to cast a great quantity of salt on the fire below ; and that chokes , and hinders the atoms of fire , that otherwise would incessantly mount up and joyn with them above , which , by this means wanting nouriture , consume themselvs , and come to nothing . the same thing befalls the atoms which are ready to accompany the vapour of the milk ; the salt precipitates and kills them on the very place : and if any chance to scape and save themselvs , by the great strugglings they make , and go along with the said vapour , they are nevertheless accompanied with the atoms and spirit of the salt sticking to them ; which , like good wrestlers , never leave their hold , till they have got the better of their adversary . and you may please to observe by the by , that that there is not a more excellent balme for a burn , than the spirit of salt , in a moderate quantity . 't is then apparent , that there cannot be employ'd any means more efficacious , to hinder the ill effects of the fire upon the udder of the cow ; than to cast upon her milk , that has boil'd over upon the cinders , a sufficient quantity of salt. this effect , of securing the cows udder upon the burning of her milk , makes me call to mind , what divers have told me they have seen both 〈◊〉 france and england , viz. when the physicians examine the milk of a nurse , for the child of a person of quality , they use to make proofs several ways , before they come to judg definitively of the goodness thereof ; as , by the taste , by the smell , by the colour and consistence of it : and sometimes they cause it to be boil'd , till it come to an evaporation and they see it's residence , with other accidents and circumstances which may be learnt and discern'd by this means . but , those , of whose milk this last experiment hath been made , have felt themselvs so tormented in their paps , while their milk was a boiling ▪ that , having once endured this pain , they would never consent that their milk should be carried away out of their sight and presence : though they willingly submited to any other proof than that by fire . now , to confirm this experiment of the attraction which the cows udder makes of the fire and vapour of the burnt milk , i am going to recount to you another of the same nature ; wherof i my self have seen the truth more than once , and wherof any one may easily make trial . take the excrement o● a dog , and throw it into the fire , more than once ; at first you shall find him heated and moved , but , in a short time , you shall see him , as if he were burnt all over , panting and stretching out his tongue , as if he had run a long course . now , this alteration befalls him , because his entrails , drawing to them the vapour of the burn'd excrement , and , with that vapour , the atoms of fire which accompanied it , grow so chang'd and inflam'd , that the dog , having always a fever upon him , and not being able to take any nourishment , his flancks cling together and he dies . 't were dangerous to divulge this experience among such persons , as are subject to make use of any thing for doing of miscief : for , the same effect , would be wrought upon mens bodies , if one should try the conclusion upon their excrements . there hap'ned a remarkable thing to this purpose , to a neighbor of mine in england , the last time i was there : he had a very pretty child , whom because he would have always in his eye , he kept the nurse in his house . i saw him often , for he was a stirring man , and of good address ; and i had occasion to use such a man. one day i found him very sad , and his wife a weeping : wherof demanding the reason , they told me that that their little child was very ill ; that he had a burning fever , which inflamed him all over , as appear'd the redness of his face ; that he strove to go to stool , but could do little , and that little he did was cover'd with blood ; and that he refused also to suck : and that which troubled them most was , that they could not conjecture how this indisposition come ; for his nurse was very well , her milk was as good as could be wished ; and in all other things there was as much care had of him as could be . i told them , that the last time i was with them , i observ'd one particularity , wherof i thought fit to give them notice ; but somthing or other still diverted me ; 't was this , that the child , making a sign that he was desirous to be set on his feet , let fall his excrements on the ground ; and his nurse presently took the fire-shovel and cover'd them with embers , and then threw all into the fire ▪ the mother began to make her excuses , that they were not more careful to correct this ill habit of the child ; telling me that , as he advanc'd in years , he should be corrected for it . i replied , that 't was not for this consideration that i spake of it : but searching after the reason of her childs distemper , and consequently to find some remedy . and thereupon , i related to them the like accident which had hap'ned , two or three three years before , to a child of one of the most illustrious magistrates of the parliament of paris ; who was bred up in the house of a doctor of physick of great reputation in the same town : i told them also what i have now related to you , touching the excrements of dogs . and i made reflections to them upon a thing they had often heard , and which is often practised in our country ; viz. that , in the villages , which are always dirty in the winter , if there happens to be a farmer any thing more neat than others , and that keeps the approaches to his house cleaner than his neighbours do , the boys use to come thither , in the night time or when it begins to be dark , to discharge their bellies there : because , in such villages there is not much commodity of easments ; besides that in such clean places the knaves are out of danger to sink into the dirt , which otherwise might rise up higher than their shooes . the good houswives in the morning , when they open their doors , and find such an ill-favour'd smell , use to be transported with choller : but they , who are acquainted with this trick , go presently and make red hot a spit , or fire-shovel , and thrust it so into the excrements , and when 't is quencht , they heat it again and again to the same purpose . mean while the boy , that had plaid the sloven , feels a kind of pain and collick in his bowels , with an inflammation in his fundament and a continual desire to go to stool : and he is hardly quit of it , till he suffer a kind of feaver all that day ; which makes him return thither no more . and these women , to be freed from such affronts , pass among the ignorant for sorceresses , and to have made a compact with the divel ; since they torment people in that fashion , without seeing or touching them . this gentleman did not disallow those things i have already told you ; but was confirm'd farther when i wish'd him to look farther into the fundament of his child , for without doubt he should find it red and inflamed , and perhaps full of pimples , and excoriated . not long after , this poor chil● grew ill , and with much pain and pitiful cries , voided some small matter : which in lieu of casting into the fire or covering it with embers , i caused to be put into a bason of cold water and set in a cool place . this was continued to be done , every time the child gave occasion ; and he began to amend the very same hour , and , within four or five daies became perfectly well recover'd . but , least i trespass too much upon your patience , i 'le hold you no longer , but with one experiment more , very familiar in our countrey : and then i will summ up all that hath been said ; to make you see the force and import of this whole d●scourse . we have in england , as i touch'd before , excellent pasturage for the feeding and fatting of ca●tle ; so abundant , th●● , it falls out often , the oxen come to acquire such excess of ●at that it extends it self in a great quantity to their legs and feet and even hoofs ; which many times causes impostumes in the of their feet that comes to swel and get a core full of putrified matter , so that the beast is not able to go . the owners observing that , though the beef be never the worse for the shambles , yet they are damnified therby ; because , not being able to bring them to london , ( where the grand market is for fat beefs through all england , as paris is for auuergne , normandy , and other provinces of france , ) they are constrain'd to kill them up on the place , where their flesh is not worth half the price they might have got in london : the owners , i say , have recourse to this remedy viz. observing where the oxe , cow , or heifer , fix upon the ground the sick foot , at first rising up in the morning ; that very turf with the print of the foot on it , they cut up , and hang upon a tree or hedg lying open to the north wind : and , that wind blowing upon the turf , the beast comes to be cured , within three or four daies ▪ very perfectly , but if one should p●t that turf towards the south or south west wind the foot would grow worse . these circumstances wil not seem superstitio●s to you when you shall have consider'd , how , that , by the repose of the night , the corrupt matter or core uses to gather , in a great quantity under the foot of the beast ; which being set on the ground in the morning presses forth the impostume : the matter wherof sticks to the place . now , this turf of earth being exposed in some proper place , to receive the dry cold blasts of the northern winds ; those blasts intermingle with the said corrupt impostumated matter : which spreading its spirits about through all the air , the ulcerated foot of the animal , ( being their sourse ) draws them to it , and with them the cold dry atoms which cure it ; the malady requiring no other help than to be wel dry'd , and refreshed . but , if one should expose this turf to a moist hottish wind , it weuld produce contrary effects . behold , my lords , all my wheels formed ; i confess they are ill filed and polished , but let us try whether , being put together and mounted , they wil make the engin go : which , if they do , and fairly draw in the conclusion , you will , i presume , have the goodness to pardon the gr●ssness of my language ; and , passing by the words , content your selvs with the naked truth of the things . let us therefore apply what ha's been said , to that which is practic'd , when a hurt person is cured . let us consider mr● ho●el wounded in the hand , and a great inflammation following upon his hurt ; his garter is taken , cover'd with the blood that issued from the wound , and is steep'd in a bason of water where v●triol was dissolv'd , one keeps the bason in a closet moderately warm'd by the sun all day , and at night in the chimney corner ; so that the blood upon the garter be always in a good natural temperament , neither colder nor hotter than the degree required in a healthful body : what now must result , ( according to the doctrine that we endeavour to establish , ) from all this ? in the first place , the sun and light will attract , a great extent and distance off , the spirits of the blood upon the garter : and the moderate heat of the chimney , acting gently upon the composition , ( which comes to the same thing , as if one should carry it dry in his pocket , to make it feel the temperate heat of the body , ) will push out and thrust forward still the said atoms , and make them march of themselvs a good way in the air round about , to help therby the attraction of the sun and light. secondly , the spirit of vitriol , being incorporated with the blood cannot choose but make the same voyage together with the atoms of the blood . thirdly , the wounded hand expires and exhales , in the mean time , continually abundance of hot fiery spirits , which stream as a river out of the inflamed hurt : nor can this be , but the wound must , consequently , draw to it the air which is next it . fourthly , this air must draw to it the other air next it , and that the next to it also ; and so there will be a kind of current of air drawn round about the wound . fiftly , with this air will come to incorporate at last the atoms and spirits of the blood and vitriol , which were d●ffused a good way off in the air , by the attractions of the light and the sun : besides , it may well be , that , from the begining , the orb and sphere of these atomes and spirits extended it self to so great a distance ; without having need of the attractions of the air , or light to make them come thither . sixthly , the atoms of blood , finding the proper source and original root whence they issued , will stay there , re-entering into their natural beds and prim●tive receptacles : wheras the other air , being but a passenger , will evaporate away as soon as it comes ; as , when it is carried away through the funnel of the chimney , as soon as it is drawn into the chamber by the door . seventhly , the atoms of the blood being inseparable from the spirits of the vitriol , both the one and the other will joyntly be imbibed together within all the corners , fibres , and orifices of the veins which lye open about the wound ; whence it must of necessity be refresh● , and in fine imperceptibly cured . now to know in virtue of what such an effect and cure is so happily performed , we must examine the nature of vitriol : which is composed of two parts ; the one fixed , the other volatil . the fixed , which is the salt , is sharp and biting , and cauftique in some degree . the volatil is smooth , soft , balsamical , and astringent ; and 't is for that reason that vitriol is made use of , as a sovereign remedy for the inflammations of the eyes , when they are corroded and parched by some sharp and burning humor or defluction ; as also in injections , where excoriations require them , and in the best plaisters to stanch the blood and incarnate hurts . but , they who well know how to draw the sweet oyl of vitriol , which is the pure volatil part therof , know also that in the whole closet of nature , there is no balm like this oyl : for , it heals in a very short time , all kind of hurts which are not mortal , it cures and consolidates the broken veins of the breast ; ev'n to the ulcers in the lungs , which is an incurable malady without this balm . now , 't is the volatil part of the vitriol , which is transported by the sun ( the great distiller of nature ) and which by that means dilates it self in the air : and that the wound or part which receiv'd the hurt , draws and incorporates with the blood and its humours and spirits . which being true , we cannot expect a less effect of the volatil vitriol , but that it should shut the veins , stanch the blood , and so , in a short time heal the wound . the method and primitive manner how to make use of this sympathetical remedy was , to take only some vitriol , and that of the common sort , as it came from the druggists , without any preparation or addition at all ; and to make it dissolve in fountain ( or rather in rain-water , ) to such a proportion , that , putting therin a knife or some polished iron , it should come out chang'd into the colour of copper : and , into this water , they used to put a clowt or rag embrued with the blood of the party hurt ; if the rag were dry : but , if the rag was yet fresh , and moist with the reaking blood , there was no need but to sprinkle it with the smal powder of the same vitriol ; so that the powder might incorporate it self with , and imbibe the blood remaining yet humid . in both cases the rag was to be kept in a temperate heat or place ; viz. the powder in ones pocket , and the water ( which admits not of this commodity ) within a chamber where the heat should be temperate , and , every time that one should put new water of vitriol or fresh powder to new cloth or other bloodied stuff , the patient would feel new ease ; as if the wound had been then drest with some sovereign medicament . and for this reason they used to reiterate this manner of dressing both evening and morning . but now , the most part of those who serve themselvs with the powder of sympathy endeavour to have vitriol of rome , or of cyprus ; which they calcine at the rayes of the sun : and besides , some use to add the gum of tragagantha ; it being easy to add to things already invented . for mine own part , i have seen as great and admirable effects of simple vitriol , of eighteen pence the pound ; as of that powder which is us'd to be prepared now at a greater price : yet i blame not the present practice ; on the contrary , i commend it , for , it is founded upon reason . for first , it seems that the purest and best sort of vitriol operates the best . secondly , it seems also , that the moderate calcining therof at the rays of the sun takes away the superfluous humidity of the vitriol ; and operates on no part therof , but that which is good : as if one should boil broth so clear that it would come to be gelly , which certainly would render it more nourishing . thirdly , it seems , that the exposing of the vitriol to the sun , to receive calcination , renders its spirits more fitly disposed to be transported through the air by the sun , when need requires . for , it cannot be doubted but some pa●● of the aethereal fire or solar rays incorporates with the vitriol ; ( as is plainly discover'd in calcining antimony by a burning-glass ; for it much augments the weight of it , almost half in half : ) both are near-a-kin : those therefore , easily obeying the motion of their brother-beams , must needs make the grosser matter , they are united with less refractory . fourthly , these solar rays , being embodied with the vitriol are in a posture to communicate to it a more excellent virtue , than it hath of it self ; as we find that antimony , calcin'd in the sun becomes ( of rank poison that it was before ) a most sovereign and balsamical medicament , and a most excellent corroborative of nature . fifthly , the gum of tragagantha , having a glutinous faculty , and being , in other respects very innocent , may contribute somthing towards the consolidation of the wound . my lords , i could add many most important considerations touching the form and essence of vitriol ; wherof the substance is so noble , and the origin is so admirable , that one may avouch it , with good reason , one of the most excellent bodies which nature hath produced . the chymists assure us that it is no other than , a corporification of the vniversal spirit ▪ which animates and perfects all that hath existence in this sublunary world : which it draws in that abundance to it , that i my self have , in a short time , by exposing some only to the open air , made an attraction of a celestial vitriol ten times more in weight , of a marvailous pureness and virtue ; a priviledge given to none but it , and pure virgin salt-peter . but to anatomise , as we ought , the nature of this transcendent individual , ( which nevertheless in some respect may be said to be vniversal , and fundamental to all bodies , ) would require a discourse , far more ample , than i have yet made : and i have already entertain'd you so long , that it would be a very great indiscretion to entrench further upon your goodness , who have hitherto listned to me with so much attention and patience ; if i should go about to enter into any new matter , and embark my self for a further voyage . wherefore remiting several things to some other time , when you shall please to command me , and returning to the general consideration of this sympathetical cure i will put a period to this discourse : after i shall have said two or three words , which will not be of smal importance , for the confirmation of all that hath been alledg'd by me hitherto . i have deduced to you the admirable causes of the operations , and strange effects of the powder of sympathy , from their first root . these fundamental causes are so linked one within the other , that it seems there can be no default , stop , or interruption , in their proceedings . but we shall be the better fortified in the belief of their virtue and efficacy , and how they come to produce the effects of so many rare cures , if we consider that when any jugling is practiced in some one of these causes , or in all of them together , we may perceive immediately an effect altogether differing from the former . if i had not formerly seen a watch or clock , i should be justly surprized and remain astonish'd , to see the hand or needle so regularly mark the journal hours and motion of the sun , upon the flat of a quadrant ; and that it should turn and make its round every four and twenty hours ; there being nothing seen that should push on the said needle . but , if i look on the other side , i see wheels , ressorts , and counterpoises in perpetual movement ; which having well considered , i presently suspect , that those wheels are the cause of the movement and turnings of the said needle ; though i cannot presently discern or know how they effect it , because of the plate that lies interposed betwixt them . therupon , i reason thus with my ●elf , every effect whatever must of necessity have some cause ; therfore the body moved there , must necessarily receive its movement from some other body contiguous to it : now , i see no other body , to make the needle of the quadrant move and turn , but the said wheels ; therefore , i must of force be perswaded to attribute the movement to them . but , afterwards , when i 〈◊〉 have stop'd the motion of those wheels and taken away the counterpoise , and observed that suddenly the needle ceases to move ; and that , applying again the counterpoise , and giving liberty for the wheels to turn , the needle re●urns to her ordinary course , and that i make one wheel go faster , by putting my finger to it , or by adding more weight to the counterpoise , the needle hastens and advances its motions proportion●bly : then i grow to be convinced and entirely satisfied ; and so absolutely conclude that these wheels and counterpoises are the true cause of the motion of the needle . in the same manner , if , interrupting the action of any of those causes , which i have established for the true foundation of the sympathetical powders virtue , i alter , retard or hinder the cure of the wound : i may boldly conclude , that they are the legitimate and genuine true causes of the cure ; and that we need not amuse our selvs to search after any other . let us then examine the matter by this rule . i have affirm'd that , the light transporting the atoms of the vitriol and blood , and dilating them to a great extent in the air : the wound or place hurt attracts them , and therby is immediately refresht and eas'd ; and consequently comes to be heal'd ; by the spirits of the vitriol , which is of a balsamical virtue . but , if you put the bason or powder with the cloth-imbrued with blood into a cup-boord or a corner of some cold room , or into a cellar , where the light or fresh air never comes ( whence the place is corrupted and full of ill smell● , ) in that case the wound can receive no amendment , nor any good effect from the said powder . and , it will fall out in the same manner , if , having put the bason or powder in some by-corner , you cover them with some thick cloth , stuffing and spongie , which may imbibe the atoms coming forth , and retain the light and rays that ener there , so that they are thereby stop'd and quite lost . moreover morover , if you suffer the water of vitriol to congeal into ice ; or the cloth dip't in it ; the party hurt shall be sensible , at the begining , of a very great cold in his wound : but when it is iced all over , he shall feel neither heat nor cold , in regard that congealed cold constipates the pores of the water , so that it ceases to transpire and send forth spirits . if one wash the bloody cloth in vinegar or lye , ( which , by their penetrating acrimony , transport all the spirits of the blood ) , before the vitriol be applied ; it will produce no effect . yet , if the cloth be wash'd but with pure simple water , it will nevertheless do something ; for , that water carries not away so much ; but , the effect will not be so great , as if the cloth had not been washed at all ; for then it would remain full of the spirits of the blood . the same cure is performed , by applying the remedy to the blade of a sword which ha's wounded a body ; so the sword be not too much heated by the fire : for that will make all the spirits of the blood to evaporate ; and consequently the sword will contribute but little to the cure . now , the reason why the sword may be dressed in order to the cure , is , because the subtile spirits of blood penetrate the substance of the blade , as far as it went into the body of the wounded party ; and , there keep their residence , unless the fire , as i said before , chase them away . for experiment wherof , hold the blade over a chasing dish of moderate fire , and you shall discern , on the side opposite to the fire , a little humidity ; which resembles the spots that ones breath makes upon looking-glasses ; or upon the burnished blade of a sword . if you look upon it through a magnifying-glass , you shall find that this soft dew of the spirits consists in l●ttle bubles , or blown bladders : and , when once they are entirely evaporated , you shall discern no more upon the weapon ; unless it were thrust a new into the body of a 〈…〉 nor , from the begining shall you discover any such thing , but precisely upon the part of the blade , which had entred the wound . this subtile penetration of the spirits into hard steel , may confirm the belief of such spirits piercing through the skin of a woman big with child : as i remind , to have proposed to you in my sixth principle . to confirm all these particulars , i could add , to those i have already recounted many notable examples more ; but , i fear i have already too much exercised your patience ; i will therfore suspend any mention of them at this time ; but i offer to entertain any of this honourable assembly therwith , when they shall have the curiosity . i conclude then , my lords , with representing to you that all this mystery is carry'd and guided throughout , by true natural ways and circumstances ; although , by the agency and resorts of very subtile spirits . i am perswaded my discourse hath convincingly shew'd you , that , in this sympathetical cure , there is no need to admit of an action distant from the patient : i have traced to you a real communication 'twixt the one and the other ; viz. of a balsamical substance , which corporally mingles with the wound . now , it is a poor kind of pusillanimity and faint-heartedness , or rather a gross weakness of the understanding , to pretend any effects of charm or magick herin ; or to confine all the actions of nature to the grossness of our senses , when we have not sufficiently consider'd nor examined the true causes and principles wheron t is fitting we should ground our judgment : we need not have recourse to a demon or angel in such difficulties , nec deus intersit , nisi dignus vindice nodus inciderit . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the history of generation examining the several opinions of divers authors, especially that of sir kenelm digby, in his discourse of bodies : with a general relation of the manner of generation, as well in plants as animals : with some figures delineating the first originals of some creatures ... : to which is joyned, a discourse of the cure of wounds by sympathy, or without any real applycation of medicines to the part affected, but especially by that powder, known chiefly by the name of sir gilbert talbots powder / by nath. highmore ... highmore, nathaniel, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the history of generation examining the several opinions of divers authors, especially that of sir kenelm digby, in his discourse of bodies : with a general relation of the manner of generation, as well in plants as animals : with some figures delineating the first originals of some creatures ... : to which is joyned, a discourse of the cure of wounds by sympathy, or without any real applycation of medicines to the part affected, but especially by that powder, known chiefly by the name of sir gilbert talbots powder / by nath. highmore ... highmore, nathaniel, - . digby, kenelm, sir, - . discours fait en une célèbre assemblée, touchant la guérison des playes par la poudre de sympathie. english. [ ], p., folded leaves of plates : ill. printed by r.n. for john martin ..., london : . "a discourse of the cure of wounds" (p. ) has special t.p. reproduction of original in library of congress. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng reproduction -- early works to . wounds and injuries -- treatment. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - jennifer kietzman sampled and proofread - jennifer kietzman text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 . examining the several opinions of divers authors , especially that of sir 〈…〉 in his 〈…〉 . with a general relation of the manner of generation , as well in 〈…〉 as 〈…〉 : with some figures delineating the first originals of some creatures , evidently demonstrating the rest . to which is joyned a discourse of the . or without any real applycation of medicines to the part affected , but especially by that powder , known chiefly by the name of sir 〈…〉 powder . by 〈…〉 lately of trinity colledge in oxford , doctor of physick . london , printed by r. n. for 〈…〉 and are to be sold at the bell in s. 〈…〉 . to the honourable , mr. robert boyle , son to the right honourable the late earl of cork , my much honoured friend . noble sir , where virtue shall bee found in conjunction with noblity in such black , the last and worst times , it no lesse invites and amazes the eyes and hearts of beholders , holders , then some new star or blazing comet : but with this difference ; the one is cause of their fear , the other gives life to their hopes and joy . you have , sir , so inricht your tender years with such choice principles of the best sorts , and even to admiration managed them to the greatest advantage ; that you stand both a pattern and wonder to our nobility and gentry : who in these past times many of them have so spent their precious minutes , that they are scarce able to account for one , or spend an hour but in vice : that cannot brook virtue , because it is not born with them ; that hate all things that must be obtained by industry . who most degenerately intrusting their wits as well as fortunes with their inferiours , have made them master of both ; a sad forerunner ( i will not say author ) of these sadder times . but you have made a better and far nobler choice , you have not thought your blood and descent debased , because married to the arts. you stick not to trace nature in her most intricate paths , to torture her to a confession ; though with your own sweat and treasure obtained . being ravisht , sir , with these considerations of your worth and candor , i shall not fear to throw these papers into the bosom of your protection ; from whom as i cannot misse a judicious censure , so i shall hope for a candid reception . they are discourses which have busied the heads and pens of many judicious and learned , amongst whom our noble author hath not deserved the lowest esteem . i shall not presume to these phansies with their maturer births . yet perhaps something may here be found , that may encourage others to a farther search . i shall not despair of your own , which may give a better account and a plenary satisfaction , if it may be , in these so labyrinthean works of nature , which is all i have laboured for , and shall still be , ( as likewise for the preservation of your health ) the prayer of sherborne , may . your honours most humble servant , nath . highmore . an explanation of the following figures in both tables . the first figure , of the first table , shews the kidny bean opened ; in which is a little crooked leaf ●olded up , which being displayed , shews it self , as in the second ; and when , being set , it arises above ground , it is such a plant as the third shews ; with the very same leaves and no other . the second figure shews a colewort seed : the first shews both leaves , with the stalk folded up , as they lie in the husk of the seed : the second shews it come up out of the ground . the third figure hath the small germen of an ash ; lying with his two leaves in the kernel of an ash , both in the husk inclosing them . the second shews him sprung up above the earth , at his ●irst coming abroad . the fourth delineates the young germen of the pease in the midst of the grain , and its breaking forth . the fifth shews the young plant in the midst of the bean : with the manner of his putting forth , with the same leaves displayed in the third , which are wrapt up in the first and second . the fixth figure displayes the young maple wrapt up in his husk ; and how he lies , as in the first : the second shews him a little unfolded , when it is taken out of the husk . the third shews him gotten from his shell , and the surface of the earth . the seventh figure shews what progress the chick hath made in his formation , in the third day after incubation . the eighth shews the chick perfectly formed in his shell not long before his exclusion ▪ with the yolk almost whole ; describing the manner of his lying in the shell . the second table shews the growth of the chick in the first dayes incubation . the first figure demonstrates the eggs taken from their shels in a dish , with the chalazae , and cicatricula : which in a that was never sat on , is but small . in b that hath endured the heat of the hen one whole day , something dilated . in some new layed eggs , i have seen it no more altered the third day . the second figure delineates the second dayes observations and change in the egg ; the large dilation of the cicatricula , with all its circles . the third figure shews the growth of the chick , and alteration in the egg , the fourth day . the fourth and fifth figures , shew the fifth dayes addition to the former growths . the fifth shews him taken from the yolk , and white , with a delineatior of all his parts , as they appear lying round together in the egg. an index of the chapters contained in this history of generation . the opinion of philosophers touching generation . chap. . the conceipt of sir kenelm digby , ●ching the generation of creatures , ●ap , . a short censure of the former con●pt , chap. . the true way of generation set down general , with the examination of some ●gning arguments of several authors , ●p . . a more particular narration of the way of generation , chap. . how plants are generated , chap. . how animals are generated , especial ly insects , chap. . how those creatures are generated that are bred from eggs. chap. . the generation of animals brough forth alive , chap. . how difference of sexes and simil●tude with the generators is caused , chap ter . several arguments against this opin●on proposed , and answered , chap. . the historie of generation . the opinion of philosophers concerning generation . chapter the first . the ancient philosophers have taught us that all subsisting bodies consist of two parts , matter and form : the first they would have us believe to be compos'd of four jarring bodies , which they call elements , indued with as many proper qualities , which they called prime : as if from the various mixture of these did arise all other qualities . some later philosophers , seeing themselves begirt within so straight and narrow bounds ; and ●inding some effects much out-stripping the power of such a slender mixture , have told us of occult qualities ; which arise from some other bodies not yet known or discerned in the composure . our chymists assure us for certain , that in the dissolution of all mixt bodies , they ●inde other elements besides those four , we received from the ancients . and perhaps could their separations and putrefactions be as accurate to distinguish , as nature is in the mixing , wee might ●inde many more , from whence these strange effects in several bodies should arise . for indeed how can we imagine that the complicated and reiterated mixture of heat , & cold , moisture and drought , should ever produce those ridling effects of mercury , the loadstone , and many others . but this discourse i shall leave to those that have largely handled it . the second part which they call form , ab informando , they scarce tell us whence it comes ; onely magisterially they teach us , ( and we must believe them ) that it ariseth from the power of the matter . but how this , if rightly considered , doth agree with their own principles , seems somewhat difficult to unriddle , viz. how a substance ( as they grant all forms to be ) can subsist in an accident , which hath no being of it self , is no less a riddle , then repugnant to their own grounds . this some of our later philosophers have very well discovered ; and shewed us , that those forms w ch they thought and taught to bee but potentially in the matter , are there actually subsisting ; though till they have acquired fitting organs , they manifest not themselves . and that the effects which are done before their manifestation , ( as the forming and fashioning of the parts wherein they are to operate ) can rise from nothing else but from the soul it self . this likewise i shall leave to the readers enquiry , and shall follow that other way of introducing forms , and generation of creatures , ( as well animals , as vegetables , ) which gives fortune and chance the preheminency in that work . a conceipt lately vented by the noble author of the two treatises , the one of bodies , and the other of mans soul : where he describes the motions that are in plants , ( which are nutrition and generation ; ) to be , by one part transmitting unto the next to it , the juice which it received from that immediately before . so that there is one constant course from the root , ( that sucketh this juice from the earth ) unto the top of the highest sprig . and the passage of this moisture from one to another , is in a manner but like the rising of water in a still : w ch by heat is made to creep up by the sides of the glass , and so by the external cold is fashioned into that body which at last it is . let us hear him describing the manner of it himself . the conceipt of sir kenelm digby concerning the generation of creatures . chapter the second . let us frame ( saies he ) a conception ; that not far under the superficies of the earth ; there were gathered together diverse parts of little mixed bodies ; which in the whole sum were yet but little ; and that this little mass had some excess of fire in it , such as we see in wet hay , or in must of wine , or in wort of beer : and that withall the drought of it were in so high a degree as this heat should finde no means , ( being too much compressed ) to play his game : and that , lying there in the bosome of the earth , it should after some little time , receive its expected and desired drink , through the benevolence of the heaven ; by which it being moistned , and thereby made more pliable , tender , and easie to be wrought upon , the little parts of ●ire should break loose ; and they finding this moisture a sit subject to work upon , should drive it into all the parts of the little mass , and digesting it there , should make the mass swell . this increase ( saies he ) of bulk , and swelling of the little mass , wil of its own nature be towards all sides , by reason of the heat , whose motion is on every side , from the center to the circumference . but it will be most efficacious upwards towards the air ; because the resistance is least that way , both by reason of the little thickness of earth over it , as also by reason that the upper part of the earth lieth very loose , and is exceeding porous , through the continual operation of the sun , and falling of rain upon it . it cannot choose therefore but mount to the air , and the same cause that maketh it do so , presseth at the same time the lower parts of the mass downw●rds . but what ascendeth to the air must be of the hotter , and more moist parts of the fermenting mass , and what goeth downwards , must be of his harder and drier parts ; proportionate to the contrary motions of fire and of earth , which predominate in these two kindes of parts . now this that is pushed upwards , coming above ground , being expos'd to sun and wind , contracteth thereby a hard and tough skin on its outside but within is more tender . in this sort it defendeth it self from outward injuries of weather , whiles it mounteth ; and by thrusting other parts down into the earth , it holdeth it self stedfast , that although the winde may shake it , yet it cannot overthrow it . the greater this plant groweth , the more juice is daily accrewed unto it , and the heat is encreased , and consequently , the greater abundance of humors is continually sent up ; which when it beginneth to clog at the top , new humor pressing upwards , forceth a breach in the skin , and so a new piece like the main stem , is thrust out and beginneth on the sides , which we call a branch . thus is our plant amplified , till nature not being able still to breed such strong issues , falleth to works of lesse labour , and pusheth forth the most elaborate part of the plants juice , into more tender substances : but especially at the ends of the branches ; where abundant humor , but at the first not well concocted , groweth into the shape of a button ; and more and better concocted humor succeeding , it groweth softer and softer , ( the sun drawing the subtilest parts outwards ) excepting what the coldness of the air , and the roughness of the winde , do harden into an outward skin . so then the next parts to the skin are tender ; but the very middle of this button must be hard and dry , by reason that the sun from without , and the natural heat within , drawing and driving out the moisture , and extending it from the center , must needs leave the more earthy parts much shrunk up , and hardned by their evaporating out from them . this button thus dilated and brought to this passe , we call the fruit of the plant ; whose harder part encloseth oftentimes another , not so hard as dry . this drought maketh these inner parts , to be like a kinde of dust , or at least such as may easily be dried into dust , when they are bruised out of the husk that encloseth them . and in every parcell of this dust , the nature of the whole resideth , as it were contracted into a small quantity : for the juice which was first in the button , and had passed from the root through the manifold varieties of the diverse parts of the plant , and had suffered much concoction , partly from the sun , and partly from the inward heat , imprisoned in that harder part of the fruit , is by these passages , strainings , and concoctions , become at length to be like a tincture extracted out of the whole plant , and is at last dried up into a kinde of magistery . this we call the seed , which is of a fit nature , by being buried in the earth , and dissolved with humor , to renew and reciprocate the operation described . but a sensitive creature ( saith he ) being compared to a plant , as a plant is to a mixed body ; you cannot but conceive , that he must be compounded , as it were of many plants , in like sort as a plant is of many mixed bodies : but so , that all the plants , which concur to make one animal , are of one kinde of nature , and cognation . and besides , the matter , of which such diversity is to be made , must of necessity be more humid , and figurable , then that of an ordinary plant : and the artisicer , which worketh & mouldeth it , must be more active . wherefore we must suppose , that the mass , of which an animal is to be made , must be actually liquid ; and the fire that worketh upon it , must be so powerful , that of its own nature , it may be able to convert this liquid matter , into such breaths and steams , as we see do arise from water , when the sun or fire worketh upon it . but lest this moisture being wrought on by such an active heat , should vanish quite away ; we must suppose it to have such unctuous parts , that may hold them together ; so that the heat imprisoned in this viscous liquid matter , riseth in bubbles : and by reason of its solid unctuousness cannot break forth , but stretch themselves longer and longer ; and every one would be as it were a little brook , whereof the chanel would be the enclosing viscous substance , and the inward smoak that extendeth it , might be compared to the water of it . this liquid smoak-like substance , the fire works on in these chanels , he makes to be three-fold ; first , watry streams , which first flie out , settle in the remotest parts , and is fittest for figuration . secondly oily , which give to the other continuance , and solidity . thirdly fiery , which is made of the grosser , more fixt parts incorporated with fire , having sufficient moisture to keep it flowing , and is like a cauldron of fire ; and these last vapours are for the continuance of heat . these three brooks in a sens●ive creature , arise from three sources or fountains , the heart , the brain , and the liver , and are conveighed in three severall chanels ; the arteries , nerves , and veins , and give unto the animal , heat , sense , and nourishment . a short censure of the former conceipt . chapter the third . how much this conceipt subverts the antique principles of philosophy , i shall not here undertake to demonstrate : how far it shoulders out truth it self , and so blots out those indeleble characters , fixt by the finger of the creator on every species ; those inscriptions on all his works , the distinct constitutions , parts , operations , and figures ( which are as so many bushes , or signes hung out , to discover what are the inhabitants within ) will easily shew us . for if heat rarifying a substance , making it thrust it self into a larger space were the sole author of all generation ; and were the cause why plants grow up in stalk and leaves , and downwards in root : we must either admit those differing characters to be vain accidental chances , or else look out some other agent , from whose fruitful womb , this variety might spring forth . if we but muster over the numerous regiments or several species of plants , and consider how this grows up with a square stalk , that with a round ; some start up hexangular , others triangular ; some bear a fruit of one form , some of another : and in them fashion seeds , of as differing figures as themselves ▪ how the leaves also and flowers shew as much of variety , as skill in the workman ; every plant being by them as soon discern'd , as seen . let us call over likewise the differing numbers of animals , insects , and others ; and examine all the starting holes , that fire can breathe forth a stream by ; all the casual compressures of cold , or external accidents ; and compare them together , we shall see whether such a fruitful stock of variety in colours , shape form , vertue , and many other differing signatures , can be the issue of such accidental , and equivocal parents . if this formation of creatures arise from heat extending , and enlarging a small moistned lump ; without any other consideration , why are not these atomes extended circularly ; and so all bodies should be cast into the same mould with the heavens ; and should , as they seem to us , be all sphericall . but he tells us of some light parts , that , besides the power of the fire enforcing , naturally climb upwards : and of others , which by their natural weight , are perswaded to sink into the farth , to hold the mounting parts stedfast , that they may not be overthrown by windes . but were there nothing else to give a figure to plants , but ascending and descending , of light and heavy parts ; whence should that variety arise in the fashion of those ascending and descending parts : the weight of the parts should carry them directly downwards , as the lightness doth upwards ; and so all roots should descend in one continued round , but long , lump : what then makes some spherical , others stretching out infinite numbers of hairy threds ; some directly downwards , others parallel to the superficies . the author tells us the figures of them , as of the ascending parts , are caused by some external accidents : as when the more hot and moist parts are ascended , and broken from the prison of the earth , the cold air compresseth and hardneth the external parts , and so enricheth this sprouting upstart , with a hard tough skin ; both armour and clothes to protect the interior softer parts . the hardness of the earth , likewise compresseth the descending parts , into such forms as we finde them of . but may not the truth of this be vehemently suspected ; when , if we examine the coat , we shall finde it more penetrable then the body : and more subject to external injuries , then that inclosed ? as in all trees and plants , the bark and rinde is of a more flexible , tender , and soft composure then the invested trunk : and the hard solid shell of walnuts , almonds , stones of plumbs , &c. are invironed with a very tender substance . besides this , there is yet a greater doubt , how this external cold air should in the same place , at the same instant of time , fashion these mounting atoms into a round stem , with a long , sharp leaf : and close by that , compress others into a square , hexangular , or triangular shape ; with leaves round , jagged , indented , scollopt , or the like ? as may be seen in several plants , inhabitants of the same piece of ground , under the same heavens , inviron ▪ d with the same air , and heavenly influences . these distinct figures cannot spring from the cold circumstant air ; for this applying it self alike to all , and every side of these ascending parts , should equally compresse every part ; and so all plants should sprout up cylindrical , as the trunks of trees do . the fruit also and seed , which he calls a button , or greater quantity of those hot and moist parts collected , and dust or parts dried into the form of dust , by the external heat of the sun , and innate heat of the plant ; are in a more orderly method framed and repos'd . for not onely in qualities , but in figure , they much vary one from another . one producing a seed inclos'd onely in a husk ; another a seed of differing figure inclos'd in a fruit , and hard shell . is cold air the fruitful mothe● of this variety too ? nay , if we bu more seriously examine this dust , w● shall finde it orderly set , with nave strings , affixt to some part of their in closing matrix ; by which nourishmen is conveighed for their growth , an● subsistance . and if we shall further anatomize these dusts , we shall find● laid up in them plants ; the very sam● identical plants , which first grow up after the seeds are committed to th● ground . in which indeed resides th● nature of the whole and this youn● seminal plant , we may truly call th● extracted tincture , or magistery of th● whole plant ; as shall more largely appear hereafter . neither doth his chapter ( wher● he endeavours to shew how this wonderful effect , as he calls it , is performed how a plant or animal comes by tha● figure it hath ) afford us any greate● satisfaction . for if we examine his firs● principle , viz. that the several figure● of bodies , proceed from a defect in one of the three dimensions ; caused by the concurrence of accidental causes ; we shall finde it extreamly straightning the most delightful variety of the creation , and the infinite power of the creator . for upon these grounds it must be supposed , that the most perfect figure is to be cubical , and all bodies should have been cast into that mould , but that some external causes stepping in , hinder almost all from obtaining that perfection : the creator not being able to withstand their prevalency ; or by patching up that defect , could not give perfection to all that , which his own mouth assures us was good . the examples also which he produceth , teach us there is but little truth in this position ; for how can we conceive the watry drops of rain falling , should suffer violence ( as to be pared round ) by the softer air , which is not able so much as to hinder it from falling ? the fashioning of salts ( as he relates ) doth as little satisfie . as for alume , it is not of such unctuous parts as he reports ; for how then could it so indiscernably be dissolved in water , and so much resist fire , which is not proper to unctuous bodies ? besides , being dissolved and falling again , what should hinder the parts from meeting all in a lump , and conforming themselves to the fashion of the bottom of the vessel , in which they are contained ; as we see all unctuous bodies do ? as for salt , if that should acquire his figure on the superficies of the water as he informes us , it should be only long and broad , without thicknesse : whence then come those exact cubical forms in salts , which are suffered to coagulate of themselvs . where you shall finde the most exact mathematician out-gone by this natural art. neither is this caused by the falling of parts one upon another , ( as hee speaks be●ore of alume ) ere the former are throughly hardned : for then why should it not arise still in height , by the continual addition of descending parts , as long as there are any attoms to fall , by which meanes it should not become cubical , but a long square . but we finde the contrary , while it most exactly casts it self into cubes ; the angles sometimes looking upwards , sometimes transversly ; which were impossible , if those squares were made , by long and broad bodies falling one upon another . and vitriol , though calcined to perfect redness , if dissolv'd and fixt again , not onely recovers his bright shining greenness , but is squared out into various angles , looking every way , as if it had been fashioned by the hand of the artificer . the figure of saltpeeter is almost neglected by him ; onely he tels us , that by reason of its drinesse , it is more difficultly figured , and therefore is not equally increased . but if we examine it well , we shall finde it more unctuous , then the other two , and is more readily cast into that figure , then the other . for it doth not onely shoot forth presently almost in water , after it is removed from the heat ; but we shall finde it oftentimes upon new wals shot forth to a great length , without the help of water to fashion it in . so that there seems to be some more particular agent to be found out , that immediately imprinteth these determinable figures ; which should rather work by a conceived designe of producing such a figure , in such a body . how else could such effects continually be wrought , ( accidental causes working not still alike ) and therefore it were impossible to expect ●arce a similitude in the works . the formation of animals affords us little lesse perplexity . how heat sending forth , or how those vapours emitted should settle themselves in such and such method ▪ and form ; such variety of parts without some other di●ector cannot appear . that there are in all animals three sorts of chanels , is an unquestionable truth ; but that there are distinct bodies conveighed by them , though taught us by our masters , is not granted , nor by him received for a truth . for in the next chapter we shall finde him applauding the circulation of the blood ; and describing its motion through , and from the arteries to the veins , and from them to the arteries again . both of these chanels then must be filled with the same liquor ; onely perhaps in the veins it may be something cooler , and thicker ; as our bath waters are lesse hot in the gutters , then in the spring . that which is conveighed in the other chanel , the nerves , we can scarce afford it the distinction of another body ; it being only the pure , and most subtile selected parts of the blood , which was conveighed in the other two chanels . neither , if it were granted that three distinct bodies , were continually traversing those three several chanels into the bodies of all animals ; doth he shew us , how they put themselves into such various shapes and figures , ( when they have escaped this conquering expelling heat ) as we finde them wonderfully exprest in every creature . all things arising in fumes & steams , as moist bodies wrought on by heat will do , when they are freed from that which rarified them , return to their own nature and forms again . as water rarified , ( when those minute particles of heat that divides it into such small atomes , and mixed themselves with it , are either lost or overcome by the watery atomes , ) returns again to water . or if those particles remain still active , they do but further divide it ; and so it becomes more like fire , by having a greater number of fiery atomes mixed with it , yet is not made another thing , either in substance or figure . but in the generation of creatures , it is far otherwise ; where the product or effect is much differing from what the matter or the agent were . now how this difference doth arise , and how this change is wrought , we must enquire a little further , then what heat and moisture will lead us unto . the true way of generation set down in general , with the examination of some repugning arguments , of several authors . chapter the fourth . having thus far wandered in the search of a truth , examining those opinions which have endeavoured its discovery ; and finding them much failing in their labours : i shall the more boldly attempt the same enterprize : hoping if i fail in so great a businesse , to passe along in the crowd , though not undiscern'd , yet favourably censured . the production of all creatures , after the first omnipotent fiat was executed ; is by philosophers called generation . which is performed by parts selected from the generators , retaining in them the substance , forms , properties , and operations of the parts of the generators , from whence they were extracted : and this quintessence or magistery is called the seed . by which the individuals of every species are multiplied ; and that which the almighty for its transgression , made to have an end ; by the fertility of this sperm , is continued to immortality . from this all creatures take their beginning ; some laying up the like matter , for further procreation of the same species . in others , some diffus'd atomes of this extract , shrinking themselves into some retired parts of the matter ; become as it were lost , in a wilderness of other confused seeds ; and there sleep , till by a discerning corruption they are set at liberty , to execute their own functions . hence it is , that so many swarms of living creatures are from the corruption of others brought forth : from our own flesh , from other animals , from wood , nay , from every thing putrified , these imprisoned , seminal principles are muster'd forth , and oftentimes having obtained their freedom , by a kinde of revenge feed on their prison ; and devour that which preserv'd them from being scatter'd . neither are these without their subordinate forms ; for from the walls of their bodies frequently , broken by corruption , issue forth other creatures , differing in specie from themselves ; as whosoever will but examine the production of insects , shall easily finde . this seed consists of two parts , material atomes , animated and directed by a spiritual form , proper to that species whose the seed is ; and given to such matter at the creation , to distinguish it from other matters , and to make it such a creature as it is . both which are separated , the material atomes from the body ; the form , from the form of the generator . which in vegetables . and sensitive creatures , where the forms are composed of material substances , our philosophers are easily perswaded to believe . but how the immortal soul of man , should be communicated to these corruptible material atomes of the seed of man , without prejudice to its most pure nature , seems a riddle to our philosophers , and impiety to our divines . i shall not undertake those large disputes pro and con about this argument , but do believe the soul of man may be traduced , though not generated ; may spread and multiply it self into many , without fear of corruption . it being a substance incorruptible , immortal , like the creator , the breath of his own mouth , which still retains so much of that nature , from whence it was breathed ; that without the least diminution , it is able to communicate , and dilate it self into many millions , and yet still remain the same entire substance that at first it was . for the material part of this seed , there is a large dispute , whether it be à toto vel à parte decisum . i shall not stand to tell you the names of those that are patrons of the one , and of the other : nor rehearse their arguments . if you examine them , you shall finde theirs most rational , that affirm the decision from the whole body ; what we finde more particularly discours't of by our forementioned author , in his chapter , we shall take up and a little review . where he hath truly and fully evicted the wandring phancies of some , that would have this compound of severall parts , to be collected from every particle , so as passing by , or through every little atome of the parents body , in its passage ; should be impregnated , and imbued with the nature of it , and so retire to the reserve where it is kept for generation . and afterwards these particles being fermented by convenient heat , do take their posture and scituation ; according to the posture and dispositions of those atomes they visited in their passage , and from whom they received those imbibed natures . but this circulating our author tells us , is impossible . i will not wrong him so much as to rank his more solid reasons with mine own . could we finde these chanels and conveighances in the body , by which this matter should passe ; yet i might doubt of the unquestionable verity of this doctrine . for what should hinder this matter circulating about the body , from receiving qualities , and so likewise the nature of every part it passeth by ; and so every particle of this matter , should be impregnated with the natures of the whole ; and every small atome should become a living creature , or else the subsequent should blot out the antecedent character , and the impression should be onely from the last part . we may likewise as truly , as safely conclude with our author , that it is impossible for every little part to remit some parts impregnated with the nature of that whole part from whence it fell . this by some is thought to be done by that quasi epilepsia in coitu , that kinde of convulsion or concussion of the parts , by which is shook off from them somewhat retaining the nature , and property of every part , and these being joyned , make up the seed . this seems to be very much befriended by our authors relation of the cats kitned without tails : and the womans daughters with six fingers upon a hand . my self also have seen a kinde of poultry without rumps : which breeding with their own kinde , still brought forth chicken wanting that part : if with others , sometimes they had rumps , sometimes but part of a rump . and not long since i saw a mungril bitch , that had her tail cut close to her body almost , whose whelps were half without tails , and half with tails : the next year following , she brought them forth all with long tails , as she had before the cutting off . which though it seems to favour ( as i said ) this opinion , it doth no way confirm it ; as may appear by the more frequent perfect generations of mutilated creatures ; which beget children or issue with two legs or arms , though they had but one ; spaigniels , whose tails are always cut , bring forth whelps whose tails need as much cutting , as their dams or sires did . wee must therefore look out some other way , how this may be done , without the parts themselves . some others have supposed this decision to be made from the blood , when it is tantum non assimilatus ; a●ter it hath undergone all its concoctions , and received all its names christned by the arabians , of humoris in nominati , roris , glutinis , & cambii : and is fastned to the part , but not perfectly assimilated ; and this being selected , and reposited in convenient vessels , receiving some kinde of impression from the part from whence it was divided ; it retains still an imperfect signature , and delineation of them ; and makes up that which we call the sperm . but i shall here want anatomie to instruct me , how this cambium , this thinner , or not yet consirmed , or hardned substance of every part , should desert its hold ; and being shaken off , should be conveighed into the seminal vessels . all which , returns to the first opinion confuted by our author . who hath likewise fairly cleer'd the other part of the doubt , whether this matter be divided , or taken only from similar parts alone , and so the matter of bone , should accordingly to the conveniency of place and use , become round , blady , circular , or long , and the flesh likewise , only by the help of fermenting heat . after our noble author hath so strenuously confuted these phansies , we shall finde him laying down his own opinion , and seeking some other means and course of generation : he tels us , that the superfluous part of the nourishment , when it is drained from the rest , and reserv'd in a convenient place , by little and little through digestion gaineth vigour , and spirits , and becomes a homogeneal body , like to other simple compounds ; which by other degrees of heat and moisture , is changed into another substance , and that again by other temperaments into another . and thus by the c●urse of nature , and by pa●ing successively many degrees of temper , and by receiving a totall change in every one of them ; at length an animal is made of such juice as afterwards serves to nourish him . but if we more seriously examine this assertion , we shall finde it to leave the truth very much behinde it . for first , if we but look on the body to be nourished ; we shall finde it to be compos'd of many several parts , of differing natures , which would sufficiently instruct us in the disagreeing and heterogeneal particles of that which nouri●heth this heterogeneal body . but if we more curiously anatomize this juice or blood , it will abundantly shew us , it is no homogeneal body ; neither therefore can that superfluous part selected and drained from it , claim that priviledge . should we grant this , it cannot appear how heat working upon this homogeneal body , should make in it a total change in the nature of it ; or create it an other substance quite different from the first , making it lesse homogeneal . and in every digestion or operation of heat upon it , it should become still lesse homogeneal , until that substance be produced which wee see compos'd of so many heterogeneall parts . if we examine the workes of heat , we shall finde it penetrating , dividing , and mixing of small particles of it self , with the atomes of the bodies it works upon ; and in progress of time , divides the body into such small indivisible parts , that it becomes like it self , in respect of rarity . as fire working on , and mixing it self with water , divides it into small indiscernable atomes , which now attains unto the same rarity , and lightnesse with the fire ; and being accompanied and intermixt with those fiery atomes , flies alo●t , till at last disliking one anothers society , being far removed from the agent rarifying them , they part companies . and then those unseen atomes of water , collect themselves again to their former temper , and bulk , no whit changed or altered either in qualities or substance , which were impossible , were this change total , or could this action of heat create heterogeneall parts , in this homogeneal substance . if we further consider the power of heat , ( or any other qualities ) wee shall surely finde , that in no action there can any substantial thing be given , which is not originally in the agent , or giver . fire could not give heat , nor water , moisture , unlesse it were inherent in those bodies . neither can heat or fire working on an homogeneal body , give it any other heterogeneal parts then fiery ones ; nor moisture , any other , then moist ones , which indeed accidentally may give hardnesse to bones , and softnesse to flesh ; but how comes this bony substance in this place blady , in that round , in another long ? this muscle round , that triangular ? this plant of one form and nature , that of another ? we must seek out some other agent to fashion these parts , and to compose this difficulty ; and confidently conclude , this way to be lame , and imperfect ; of which our author seems to be conscious , and that makes him so staggering , and at last falling upon an opinion , which he before in part rejected , viz. that the blood in its circulation visiting every part , is impregnated with the nature of them , and the purest part of this blood being extracted like a quintessence out of the whole mass , is reserved in convenient receptacles till there be use of it ; which is the seed , of which a new animal is to be made . this imbuition of specifique qualities from every part , will appear as impossible as the former . for first , there are many parts from which the blood doth not again return , as from all those parts , which have attracted their specifick nourishment from out of the vessels ; from them there is no return made . besides the blood , in its circulation , is carried in vessels of the same nature , from the one end of the body to the other ; and out of those vessels there is not the least motion in the blood . how these qualities should be communicated from every particle , through the thi●k skins of the vessels , seems somewhat strange . besides all this , should we grant this circulation through every particle , how comes it to passe that receiving so many differing qualities , the one doth not confound the other , and that which is last imprest doth not blot out all the rest ? these or the like difficulties being kenn'd by our author , makes him flye to another refuge ; and to tell us , that the heart of every perfect animal , containeth in it , the specifick vertues of all the several parts of its own body ; by reason of the bloods continual resorting to it , in a circle from all parts of its body , and its being nourished by that juice ; so that the heart is the abridgement of the whole , and imbueth the blood with those specifick qualities , from whence is extracted the seed . but neither can this cleer all the former difficulties . for how shall we suppose , so many distinct qualities to be imprest in so narrow a compasse , as in the heart , without confusion ; or how so short a stay in the heart , could implant such a numerous regiment of qualities in the blood ; or why not differing faculties in the same particle of blood ; all sliding ( without distinction ) through the ventricles of the heart ? we shall be forc'd therefore to seek out some other way , which indeed our author hath chalkt out unto us , though himself hath not trod in it . a more particular narration of the way of generation . chapter the fifth . our noble author hath laid this ground for us , which i hope will easily lead us to the truth , viz. that it is necessary the parts should be made in generation , of a matter like to that which maketh them in nutrition . now what that is from whence every part receiveth his nourishment , wee must search for in the blood : which is a tincture extracted from those things we eat , concocted and separated in the stomack , liver , and heart ; and afterwards by its circulating in the arteries and veins , is pellicanized ( as the chymists term it ) and becomes most pure , and defaecated from all its excrements , and is made a fit nourishment for every part . the things we eat are not simple , but compounded of as great a variety as the parts to be nourished can expresse . what variety of plants goes to the making up of one piece of flesh we eat ? what multitudes of differing atomes are conjoyned in one piece of bread , or draught of drink , or wine ? the extract then sure must be furnisht with as great a swarm of differing parts ; onely here they are more refin'd , more subtiliz'd , and separated one from another . but how doth this variety of parts in the blood , make it the fitter for nourishment ? by comprehending in it small indivisible particles , cognate or similar atomes , which are of the same substance , essence , and nature with the parts , to which they are to be adjoyned , and assimilated : and want nothing but separation , and afterwards union and conjunction with , to be part of those particles , for whose nutriment they were provided ; which operation is called assimilation . for then these similar , or cognate parts , are become like to those , to which they are joyned . and this is the matter and manner of our nutrition , w ch if slightly considered , may perhaps go amongst the number of falsities . but if we examine from the creation , the product of creatures from the confused first created chaos ; or since that time , the continual hourly decay , or expiration of every part of us , ( in so much that physitians allow us clearly a new body every seven years , ) we shall soon discover the truth of this position . how the great architect fetcht from the bowels of this lump , precreated particles , to supply him with fit matter for such bodies ; and appropriated forms for such matter , will instruct us that there are such particles , which being brought together constitute such bodies . the continual expiration of particles from all bodies will more cleerly illustrate it . the hourly decay is by expiration of material , the last dissolution is both of material and formal atomes . now as all agree that material parts throughout multitudes of ( nay all ) mutations , remain incorrupted ; so also according to , not onely the judgement , but several experiments of knowing men , diligent inquirers into the various works of nature , and mutations of natural compounds ▪ natural forms themselves also do not perish at their parting from their matters ; but onely are dissolved and dissipated , lying after that in their scatter'd atomes , confused and mixt with some others ; constituting perhaps a quite differing bo●y ; so that the entity of the form , continues after corruption ; though not in the formality of such a form . if it be so then that the matter of every particle in every body , and the atomes of their forms likewise , still remain , though scatter'd into millions of several bodies ; what should hinder , ( when these atomes are again rallied , ) an easie union with particles of the same condition , and nature ? and why should not then the blood , which is made up of many and distinct bodies , be furnisht with the several atomes comprehended in those bodies : and those atomes being agreeable to our parts , be as easily united to them ? the way of nutrition being cleared ; let us see now , how from the same matter generation is performed . this blood , that all parts might be irrigated with its benigne moisture , is forc'd by several chanels , to run through every re ▪ gion and part of the body ; by which means every part out of that stream , selects those atomes which they finde to be cognate to themselves . amongst which the testicles ( destined to that office from their first creation , as the stomack and liver were to digest ) abstract some spiritual atomes belonging to every part ; which had they not here been anticipated , should have been attracted to those parts , to which properly they did belong for nourishment . as the parts belonging to every particle of the eye , the ear , the heart , the liver , stomack , guts , the hand , every particular bone , and muscle , &c. which should in nutrition , have been added ( to repair the continual deperdition ) to every one of these parts , are compendiously , and exactly extracted from the blood , passing through the body of the testicles ; and being in this athanor cohobated and reposited in a tenacious matter ( lest being spiritual , and very fine , they should lose their vigor ) at last , passe from the body of the testicles , by certain vessels , in which through infinite meanders , it undergoes another digestion and pellicanizing , ( as in another place i have shown . ) and from thence , being now delivered from all its ex●rements , and furnisht with atomes , fit for the making of every part and particle of an other individuall ; is treasured up in certain granaries , till the seed time comes . and this is the nature , substance , and manner of collecting the seed . this shall be further illustrated by the several wayes of generation in severall creatures , and ●irst in plants . how plants are generated . chapter the sixth . these seminal atomes are in the same manner separated by all vegetables , w ch are watered in every region by a certain juice , or blood which they attract & suck from their mother earth : which is nothing else but a confus'd mass of multitudes of forms , and substances , fit for the nourishment and reparation of all things in which a plant being ●ixt , presently sends forth his purveighers on every side , his roots , w ch supply the want of hands and mouth , to bring in its provision ; who are finely palated too , & able to make choice of that tincture , which most delights their palats , best fits their own diet , and is most proper to repair their decaying selves in every part . this juice or blood they concoct , & strain through their finer parts ; and separate them from other earthly excrementitious particles , ( or such as belong to another species ) till it becomes fit only for the repairing of that plant , for , and by which they were selected , and suckt out of the earth . from this quintescence , this juice , are selected parts of the same substance , nature , qualities , and form with the plant , and agreeing with every particle of it , whose blood it is , and from it , is the species propagated . but not after the same method , in all , for in some , propagation is made by this juice residing in part of the plant , pulled from the trunk , and fixt in the ground : in others , by part of the root transfer'd : in others , by seed . the first is done by that juice which is retained in the part taken from the plant , which reserving parts sit for the nourishment of every particle in the plant , from whence it was taken , hath now some parts which are vessels , for that sprig which is to be propagated . for those atomes which in the juice were to augment and repair the root of the tree , being rapt from the tree , are of no use , not having a root to adjoyn themselves unto . being therefore not attracted by any part of the sprig , as not cognate and sit nourishment for them , by often circulation about this beginning plant , are at last united , ( other parts being drawn from them ) and by their freedom from those parts , and union , become more vigorous , and will not be idle ; but since they cannot be imployed , drawn by , and adjoyned to other parts ; they will set themselves to work , and falling to their proper place , the lowest region of the sprig , collect themselves in the same method they should have done in the root , to which they should have been adjoyned . and there finding the bark softned by the external moisture of the earth , and fitted to give way to them ; being thus setled , they thrust forth themselves into the earth ; from whence they extract cognate juice , with all sorts of atomes fit for the augmentation and nourishment of themselves , & the whole plant. and thus grows up a plant of the sine kind w th the old stock . the d is performed by these seminal atomes residing in the top of the root ; w ch part being separated , acts in the same manner as it did in the whole plant. the last sort is by atomes , selected from this juice , when the plant is grown to his full bigness , and wants no more for his further growth at that time , and laid up together in convenient 〈◊〉 : which is a more perfect operation of nature then the two former are . in the former wayes , these atomes lye confused in the juice ; and are not separated , but by the parts to which they are to be adjoyned . ●ut in this , these a●omes are methodically reposed , and laid up in such leaves , as they appear to be a very plant , inclosed within a skin , with such leaves as they discover themselves with , at their first breaking the 〈◊〉 . the atomes belonging to the root , the stalk , the leaf , are all laid together , and set in their right 〈◊〉 , and make up a perfect plant , the very same which first comes up out of the earth . if the seed be great , they are easily discovered . in the seed of the ash , the skins being removed , in the middle of the kernel ye ●hall finde two white tender leaves lying one upon another , with a stalk reaching to the point of the seed , ( not that which is fastned to the tree , but the other ) to which is loosely adjoyned as it were , a navel string from the stem , conveighing nourishment to this young plant , while it is upon the tree : as in the third figure of the first table is delineated . in the maple , both greater and lesser , though the seeds be winged as the ash , yet these seminal atomes or this young tree , is inclosed in the round knob ; within whose tough and harder skins , is found a stalk and two leaves rowled round together , which are the very same that first comes up : as in the sixth figure is discovered . in beans and pease , betwixt the kernel , you shall finde those very leaves which first break the ground , with a stalk , whose end passeth through one of the thicker skins , and is contained onely within the outermost thin skin : as in the several faces of the fourth and fifth figures is described . which if it be any way moistned by an adventitious moisture ; presently gives way to the swelling stalk and leaves , which when they are distended beyond the capacity of the outmost skin , break forth and shew themselves . in other smaller seeds , the leaves are inclos'd and rapt round , the stalk lying betwixt them ; as in the cabbage and radish seeds ; figure the second . but when they break through the ground , they erect themselves upright , sometimes carrying the hard skin up upon their tops . the greater seeds have , besides these small plants , a substance which we call the kernel ; unto which their stalk is fastned , neer about the middle of them ▪ by two short stalks ; from which substance they receive nourishment , while they are inclosed within their skins , and matter afterwards for the distention of the stalk and leaves , after they have enlarged their territories , both upwards and downwards , in root and leaves : as in beans , pease , wheat , barley , acorns , whose parts turn into a milky substance , fit nourishment for these tender plants . that these seminal atomes do conform and dispose themselves likewise , according to the same method they did , or should have done in the plant , whose they were , or for which they were prepared for nourishment , will easily appear by that artificial generation of plants , which not onely casually hath faln out , but by many hath studiously been effected . when from the powder or liquor of plants , ( as is related by libarius , and others , i need not name the authors being so common an experiment ) they shall again be recalled to live , and start up stalk and leaf ; which but now was dust , or liquor . i shall onely relate one experiment casually , though twice made by a learned grave physitian , neerly related to me : which will explain the manner of this operation to the full . having in the evening expos'd a decoction for a clister ( made of violet leaves , strawbery leaves , mallows , and the like ) to the cold of the night . the next morning he found it covered with a slender crust of ice , which gave him leave through it to behold in the water , the leaves in their perfect shapes , of all those plants , of which the decoction was made , both in fashion and colour ; which remained in that posture till the ice was broken ; which was no sooner done , but all those fictitious plants presently vanished , nothing remaining but the cleer liquor of the decoction . now how this could be performed , unlesse it were by the union of these seminal atomes dispersed in the liquor ; ( drawn from the other parts , by the gentle heat of the fire acting with the water ) disposing & setling themselves in their right and natural places , will appear impossible . how could a slender heat in so short a time give a form ▪ or square out such a matter into that figure which but now it lost ? or why when the matter is thus fashioned , should it not retain that figure and bulk when the inclosure is broken ? we must therefore conclude , that these seminal atomes of the plants , which were separated from the other parts by decoction , and by the sudden closure of the ice intercepted from flight ; were actuated by some remaining particles of heat , and put in minde of their office and nature ; insomuch that every atome began to seek out his proper situation and neighbour , to settle themselves in such method as they held one towards another , before they were parted from the herbs , and so make up perfect plants both in figure and colour . but the ice being broken , and the liquor moved , these appearing plants , being made of such fine spiritual parts without cement ; were soon shattered into their first indivisible particles ; which being again dissolved , and the order broken , could not be by the sense discerned . the reason why these seminal atoms could not then constitute a perfect solid plant , was , because there was wanting some other more sixt parts of the same nature , and condition , with these more spiritual , to conserve them in that posture , and to cement them together ; to fix and harden them into a consistence . these are of the same nature , particles belonging to every part , atomes of leaves , stalks , flowers , fruit , and root as the others ; but are grosser , more terrestrious , which cannot act themselves ; but give solidity , strength , and hardnesse to the other when they are joyned together ; and are so exactly united with them , when the plant is entire ; that they cannot , but by dissolution of the whole , be distinguished these in this decoction , were left behinde in the expressed stalkes , rootes , and leaves , and therefore the plants were not permanent . the consideration of these two parts in the constitution of a plant , will give us a light of the cause of the diversity of the sexes in animals ; whose way of generation follows next . how animals are generated . chapter the seventh . the generation of animals is as various almost as their several species ; whereof some derive their pedegree from the corruption of dirt , mud , and other animals ; some arise from the funerals of plants , and start up a moving sensitive piece , which but now grew a vegetable . others again of a more noble progeny , owe their beginnings to some seminal parts derived from the genitors ; but reposed in certain vessels excluded from the females , and left without the sphear and guidance of their forms ; such are all births breaking forth from the inclosing walls of eggs. the more excelent animals after their formation , are contained ( ●ll they acquire some degrees of perfection ) within the precincts of one of the generators . all which , or the most of them , i shall prosecute in the following discourse . the first rank of animals arising from corruption of other creatures ( as eeles from mud ; flies and wormes , from beasts ; the scarabeus from oxen ; lice from the silth of most creatures . ) these i say , grow up upon the mutual juncture of such atomes , which before lay ●ered in the bowels of some other compound ; and wanted nothing but union , to fashion them into such a frame and structure : which , as soon as possible they can obtain their freedom , put themselves in rank and order , and become another living thing , differing from that species whence it had its birth . this is seen in the misselto , which grows upon other trees , very evidently ; the juice which nourisheth and constitutes this plant , is drawn from the earth , with the juice belonging to the other tree it grows from , and is perfectly mixt with ▪ not to be discerned from it ▪ till after long circulating about the several parts of the tree , it is refused by all as unfit for them . at last uniting in small lumps ▪ they discover their differing natures , by parting from the parts of the tree , and when they are in such a proportion united ; thrust out those stalks , and leaves ▪ and fruit , which we call misselto . these particles of the misselto may be discerned united in small lumps , a good way from the eruption out of the tree ; where ye may finde many small green drops , as it were , hardned , inclosed in whiter wood of the other tree . so these seminal atomes , taken in with the ordinary nourishment of those creatures , are carried up and down through their parts ; but received of none , to be perfectly united with any ; but being dispers'd in small parcels , they cannot easily unite themselves , till a greater portion of them be met together ; w ch generally is at the spring , when the suns heat begins to contribute vigor to them ; and dissolves the excrementitious humors of the body they are inclosed in ; so that they much easier obtain their freedom , and so uniting themselves in their proper method , and order , become such creatures as those atomes can fitly constitute . these animals too , sometimes alter their external forms , and become another thing then what at first they seemed to be ; as from a worm , the next advancing sun salutes a butterfly ; such is the growth of all insects , which appear first to be worms ; the tadpoles grow to be frogs ; the spitting or eggs of flies , to be worms , and then flies again ; which is caused by the addition of new parts , which they themselves procure from their nourishment ; by which these parts become larger , solider , and so discernable , which before could not be seen . as the germen or young plant in the seed , when it hath obtained a new stock of moisture and nourishment , puts out leaves of a differing form from those which first come up ; as the maple , borage , cucumber , and almost all plants differ in their second leaves , from their first , which manifestly appear inclosed in the seed . the other are so small and wrapt up , that until there bee new parts adjoyned from their nourishment , they are not discerned . these imperfect animals spring not up alike indifferently , from all bodies ; some animals being made of one kinde of matter , some of another ; some plants retaining the seminal atomes of one insect , some of another ; so that from one plant or animal ariseth one kind , from another , another . i shall not stay to look out their several originals . the way how those creatures are generated which owe their beginnings to ●ggs . chapter the eighth . the other two more perfect generations , are made by the conjunction of these seminal atomes , extracted from both generators : who both of them contribute such atomes , as being laied together in their proper places , would constitute an individium of that species ▪ one of which incloses and layes up these united sperms , with a proportioned quantity of nourishment , for the growth and perfection of the fa●tus , in an egge . from which all fowles ▪ most kindes of fishes , snakes , spiders , frogs , and some other creatures are br●ught forth . this egg is com●os'd in the matrix of the females , and is the ●roduct of these seminal atomes selected from the nutrimentall juice of both ; the femal adding those parts fitted for the growth and nourishment of the foetus , from her own blood . the yolk , the grosser aliment , is composed in the vitellary , or egg-bag , selected from large vessels immediately arising from the aorta . the other part , the white is made in the matrix , by a certain milky viscous exudation , flowing from the rough wrinkled membranes of the womb ; whose property it is to convert that blood , which by several great vessels is brought to it , into that milky spermlike substance . besides these seminal parts there is ( i say ) a contribution of nourishment conveighed with them in the same egg , for the nourishment and growth of the foetus , while it is inclosed in those walls . and this is , as i said , of two sorts , agreeable to their double use , fitted for their nourishment while the atomes are uniting , but tenderly cemented , and growing together : and this is the white , which is more agreeable to the nature of sperm ; and answers to the mothers blood , which gives growth and nourishment while the foetus lives in the mothers womb . the other , the yolk , of a more solid and confirmed substance , is for its nourishment when it hath atchieved some perfection and growth ; the parts then expecting a more solid nutriment . this supplies the use of milk in other creatur●s , who sor a time after their exclusion are nourished altogether by it . both of these , white and yolk , are inclosed in membranes ; some of which being hardned into a shell , are excluded from the femal daily as they grow to perfection . and that because such smal bodies as these ovipara are , cannot contain so numerous a progeny together , as their fruitful wombs do yearly disclose . in which none of these parts , either white , or yolk , these seminal atomes are reposited , is doubtfully related . some affirming them to reside in the center of the yolk . but this will easily be rejected , when ye shall see the whole animal framed , and the yolk y●t entire , whole , inclosed within its own membrane : onely some small threadlike veines full of blood ye may s●e thrust into it , conveighing some of it ▪ as nourishment , to the foetus . others think the white to be that , of which the chick is framed and fa●hioned ; but not rightly neither ; for that likewise is to be seen whole , when the body is formed . ●abritius who hath taken a great deal of pains in dissections , a strict enquirer into natures secrets , especially concerning the manner of generation , supposes these parts to reside in the chalazae ▪ that part which by our women is called the treddle but this likewise is false , for then every egg should produce two chickens there being one ●reddle at each end of the egg ; which serve for no other end , but for ligaments to contain the yolk in an equilibrium ; that it might not by every moving of the egg be shakt , broke , and confused with the white . what therefore i have often observed i shall here discover , and in it the true manner of their formation . fabritius makes mention of a li●tle white circle , or cicatricula on the thin membrane of the yolk ; which he supposes to be a skar , left by the breaking off from the foot-stalk , by which it was fastned to the hen , before the white grew about it . but if ye further observe it , ye shall finde it another thing . parisanus would have it to be the seed of the cock. i think it to be the seminal atomes derived from both , here reposited ; as the following observations will discover . in the hen , while all her eggs are but yolks , or small little grains contain●d in the egg-bag , or vitellary ; ●e may perceive this white circle or cicatricula , which afterwards , as the yolk increaseth to bignesse , doth appear more evidently . when the egg is perfect , if you break the shell at the bigger end , you shall finde this circle in all prolificial eggs ; the fashion of it you may see in the first figure of the second table , the innermost figure , a. this cicatricula after the first dayes incubation , you shall see dilated and grown wider , as in the first figure at b. with a little white spot in it , easily to be distinguished from the rest . the second day being past , in the third day ye shall finde it spread yet larger . i have seen it enlarg ▪ d to the breadth of a sixpence , distinguished with several circles within it , exactly round , representing the eye . the outmost round was of a much paler yellow colour then the rest of the yolk , and of a thinner consistence , as if it had bin by the heat of the hen dissolved & melted . within this was a lesser circl● of a most resplendent cleerness ; through which did passe some small white threads into the outmost pale circle . this inner clear circle was of a substance like to the white of the egg , but cl●arer , and very fluid . within this clear round , was another of a pale yellow , like to the first ; which inclosed another translucid circle within it , in which was a clear small body , but something obscurer then the inclosure , containing in it a little whiter spot , easily to be distinguished from it : which seemed to be center to all the inclosing circles . this you may see in the second figure of the second table . the inner white circle and spot in the after discoveries , will be found to be the carina and heart of the chick . the two clear circles to be that liquor , or humor , in which the tender atomes of the chick , while they are collecting and conjoyning , do swim in ; that by external motions they might not be disordered and hindered from union . the middle yellow was some of the same matter , not yet dissolved into that clearness . the outmost yellow circle was some dissolving by the heat of the hen ▪ and preparing for the making of blood , from which it now differs onely in colour ; which the next day or the day following will appear in those small threads , conveighed to the white spot within : which the fourth day ye shall finde filled with this blood , and moving . towards the latter end of the third day , you shall finde this cicatricula to be all clear in the middle circles , the yellow being obliterated ; and now remains onely the white circle and spot in the middle , somewhat enlarged , circumscribed by a larger resplendent circle ; environed with the outermost yellow round ; in which , by the help of glasses may be discovered the small vessels coming from this dissolved yellow matter , from every side to the middle of the white circle ; which by a microscope appears now to be the carina or back and neck of the chick , and the heart in the midst of it : this is delineated in the seventh figure of the first table . on the fourth day , this cicatricula was spread the full compasse of the big end of the egg ; the outmost circle whereof , was filled with veins variously spread abroad , and arteries , as might be supposed , ( though by their coats not to be distinguished , ) because their anastomases were evident ; which being collected into four trunks from the opposite points , passed through the refulgent clear circle to the middle or center . without the extream limbe of this pale yellow circle , were no vessels to be seen . within the white circle in the middle , which was much dilated too , appeared a red sparkling line encompassing the white spot , now red too , and moving : whose motions plainly shew , it was the heart ; as afterwards i saw by the help of a microscope , exactly shewing me the heart perfectly fashioned , with both his ears , and this red line joyned to it , running quite round in the inside of the white circle . by the help of this glasse , i saw the motions of the heart and ears for a long time ; one anticipating the other , and continuing after the others decay . when the hearts motion was almost spent , the ears contracted themselves in due order , and after five or six pulsations of the ears , the heart would move once , and then rest again , till after such a number of pulses were performed by the ears . the heart when it had emptied it self , by its continual pulsation , of all the blood , and was become perfectly clear , and transparent as before the blood came to it ; moved a long time after , observing the same order , following the pulsation of the ears , as when it was watered from that bloody fountain . this glasse shewed me the head too , consisting of three bubbles as it were ; whereof one confest it self to be the eye , by the manifest discovery of the pupilla in the middle . from hence the spina was carried round almost to the head again , which is that transparent white circle without the red line . from whence appeared some small obscure clouds , fastned in the proper places of the wings and thighs : which in the fifth dayes observation , appeared to be so indeed , without the help of glasses . besides , from this carina , were drawn some small streamings , which were the rudiments of the succeeding ribs this fourth dayes observation may be seen delineated in the third figure of the second table . the fifth dayes this transparent clear body , together with the foetus swimming in it , sunk lower to the side of the egg , then in the day before ; and what was then clear and transparent , begins now to thicken and grow obscure . the head is beyond its proportion grown ▪ outstripping all the rest ; as if nature made haste in finishing that part ▪ of which she should have most and sudden use . the eye grown almost to its perfect bignesse , and discernable in all its parts , the greater divisions of the brain , and cerebellum easily to be seen . the carina or spine discovers it self encompassing the red line or v●na cava , which was now scarce discernable by reason of that clothing it had by this dayes addition , procured : the heart too , obscurely covered , al●ost hid from view , excepting a little in the forepart , which seemed open , or at least not so much hardned as the other , but continued tender and cleer still . the wings and legs easie to be observed , without glasses , being much whiter then the rest . the bulk of the body hardned into a visible form and obscurer then before , yet not so darkned , but that the pulsation of the heart being red with blood might be discovered through it : which after it had layen still for three hours at least , i afterwards layed it in the sun , whose vigorous heat renewed its life and motion again . this thin body being opened , from the great vein might be seen some rudiments of the liver , some small puttings forth of vessels , which had some blood between them hardned . this fifth dayes observation you may see in the fourth and fifth figures of the second table the sixth dayes observation shews every part more distinctly , a●d what before even by the help of g●sses seemed but darkly adumbrated ▪ now begin to confess themselves by their visible shapes and actions . the three bubles of the head are much enlarged , the eyes perfected , the wings and legs grow out : the heart appears fleshy and corpulent , the rudiments of the lungs , liver , and guts , appear more clearly . the seventh day shews all more perfectly yet , and it now appears in the shape and figure of a chick , perfectly accomplisht with all its parts ; wanting nothing but confirmation and hardning , which every day now increases , to the diminishing of the wh●te ; w ch about the tenth day is done : there remaining little more then that thin clear liquor the chick did swim in : the yolk entire , and appearing bigger then before ; being rari●ed , and as it were dissolved , by the heat of the hen : and brought into a fit condition to be by the continuing heat reduced into blood , obtaining from that gentle furnace colour , and fluxibility . after which time there is little observable till the fourteenth . about the fourteenth and fifteenth dayes , the beginnings of the feathers appear , the skin being covered with little black spots , which are the roots of the feathers . the skull begins to cover the brains . the umbilical veins plainly discover themselves : of which the first that was ▪ spread through the white of the egg , passes through the upper part of the liver , perforating the vena cava , near the basis of the heart . the other coming from the yolk insinuates it self into the vena porta , in the lower part of the liver . which shews what disserence nature hath made betwixt these two liquors : the one , the white , concocted and fitted for present use , is carried immediately to the vena cava and to the heart , to be distributed into every part for their encrease and nourishment ; out of which every part might select cognate and appropriated atomes , separated from all excrements , for their augmentation and nutrition as soon as this is done and spent , because the foetus is not yet strong enough to seek his own nourishment abroad ; neither is the hen able to provide for it : nature hath ordained another reserve of provision , which though it be not so fine , yet having another cook to dresse it , the liver being now perfected , it will by undergoing another dressing or concoction there , be made fit for the nourishment of the now hardned and con●irmed parts of the chick . and therefore nature sends what is melted and dissolved by the external and internal heat , from the yolk to the liver , by the vena porta , to be there drest and cookt again . from whence some excrements are separated , as by the fulnesse of the gall , and the green excrements in the guts may appear . to these two venal umbilical vessels are added two arteries , arising ●rom the lumbary arteries , which accompanying the veins throughout the white and yolk , make a perfect circulation here , as well as betwixt the mother and the foetus in viviparis : by which means the new concocted blood mixt with this , is without trouble or danger brought to the foetus . and therefore it is ( i suppose ) that the heart so soon before any other part performs his office ; that by his continual motion , driving that dissolved clear liquor , ( which is found in and about his vessels ▪ and melted by the external heat ) and forcing it into the white , may melt and dis●olve that too , and make it fluid , apt to be carried along with it , returning in other vessels back to the heart , where it receives new vigor , and an addition of heat . by this means the liquor being increased , the vessels are not large enough to contain it ; and therefore the heart thrusting it forth with the same continued violence , hourly drives it further into the white first , and afterwards into the yolk ; where it still melts more ▪ and the dissolved circle is still enlarg'd ; as by the daily observations will appear . after this time you shall finde the white clear liquor , in which the chick did swim , consumed too ; and the foetus lying ●n the yolk , & entire yet , as on a pillow . whose outward membrane being either united to , or else the same ( which is most probable ) that closes the chicks belly , and indeed clothes the whole chick ; holds now both yolk , umbilical vessels , and guts altogether . and as the yolk daily lessens by the growth and increase of the chick ; this membrane is contracted , and the guts with the yolk by degrees are drawn up into the belly , and closed up by this skin ; where a portion of it may be seen after the chick comes abroad , if by dissection it be enquired after , and serves to nourish it , even after it is disclosed . so that in these creatures there is no footstep or signe left of the umbilical vessels , or navel string , as in others ; but both vessels and nourishment are inclosed within the belly of the chick : a figure of the chick thus formed , some few dayes before his exclusion , you may see in the eighth figure of the first table . and now the chick is perfectly fitted to come abroad , and seek his own provision ; and indeed it is almost time , having spent his patrimony ▪ he must now seek other food : being straightned likewise within the prison of the shell , and wanting now the air to breathe in ; for the allaying that heat which now the moisture being spent ) begins to en●lame ▪ and hath so dried the shell that it becomes friable , by his continued strugling and turning round , with his sharp beak from under his wing , he breaks through those walls , which now imprison him , and were before his castle , exactly dividing the shell in the middle . from these observations of the daily progresse of the c●icks increase , we may see the manner of their generation which must be in this sort the seminal atomes constituting the foetus , collected from the blood by the testicles , and joyned together in the womb or vitellary ; contract to them from the femal blood that round body which serves afterward for their nourishment , ( as i have related ) the yolk , which from several small threadlike vessels , ●eceives nourishment from the blood , until they come to their accomplisht bignesse . on which ( as i have shewn ) these seminal atomes being fixt , by the former observations you clearly see , how they daily grow up into a living thing of the same species . and this seems to be as the germen or little plant reposited in every seed ; w ch grows up to a bignesse not to be contained within the skins of the seeds , but breaks through that and the earth that covers them ; and then shews themselves in a visible form and bulk , which before could not , but by the curious observer , be discovered . this cicatricula in the small grains in the vitellary , seems to be , nay are the same seminal atomes , disposed in their due method and places which they observe one towards another ; as when they appear in a more visible bignesse afterwards . for before they are sate on by the hen , there appears in this cicatricula some distinction of parts ; there is a little white spot , in the middle of a white circle to be seen ; which particles never vanish , but grow larger still , till they discover themselves what they are . the middle spot is found to be the heart , the white circle becomes the carina or spine ; at the end whereof , three or four dayes incubation shews the head ; and so the rest of the parts as nature hath need of them , grow up to their offices in their visible figures . so that these seminal atomes as soon as they are conjoyned in a convenient place , by the due ordering and regulating of the specifick soul , put themselves in order , fall to their proper places , and make up a chick before the egg be pe●fected . as the germen in the seed of a plant ( as i have shewn is perfectly fashioned in the seed , though it discovers not all its parts , till by addition of new particles , they grow to a big●er bulk , and become more visible . the first work that is performed by the hens heat in incubation , is a dissolving and melting as it were of the ●iner and more spirituous parts , which are most sensible of the first and least heat ; by which means the seminal particles are cleared and separated from other parts ; and those finer parts appointed for his first nourishment , are clari●ied , melted , and made fluid , and ●pt to be moved and dispersed by the white spot or heart . and this is the true way of gene●ation of these creatures ; whose edu●tions , as well as those of plants , our ●uthor brings as instances for his equi●ocal generations . which as they fail ●is expectation of clearing those accidentall causes , he so much depends on : ●o they clearly shew , that as in the ●ed of a plant , there are actually such ●arts reposited , as do make up a plant perfectly formed . so in an egg before incubation , where both seeds are con●yned , the parts of a chick are orderly disposed , by the conjunction and regular disposure of these atomes ; which while they were parts of the blood , served for the nourishment and increase of that body from whence they were taken , but now serve to make up another individuum of the same species . i have been something the longer i● explaining the former wayes of generation , because as their discovery i● easier ; so they more plainly illustrate the way and method of generation . which , how fitly it may be applyed to those that produce living births , in this ensuing discourse shall be examined . these , as the former , are the issue o● a double sex ; and onely differ in this , that they are inclosed in the female , till they are perfect . i shall not here stand in the examination of that doubt , whether or no the femal contributes any spermatical particles , towards the formation of the foetus , in coition . when we shal observe what parts nature hath bestowed on the females ; i mean testicles , ( for so they are , and not glanduls for i know not what use ; ) to which are derived arteries and veins , of the same original with those distributed to the masculine stones : and when in these testicles ye shall finde spermlike matter , and vessels from them to the womb . when also in coition ye shall observe the same delight and concussion as in males ; why should we suppose nature , beyond her custome , should abound in superfluities and uselesse parts . the principles therefore of these living births , arise as the other , from some selected atoms by the testicles of both , thrown into the matrix of the female . where being united & mixt by the fermenting heat of the womb : the several atomes fall to their respective places : the soul plaving the skilful workman , ( not laying brick where should be morter ) reposing every atome in his proper place , that very same which it should have held in the body , from whence it was separated . while this is doing the tenacious part of the sperm , in which these atomes were laid up ▪ is now hardned into membranes inclosing several substances ; the one inclosing the pure seminal atomes which are in fashioning themselves , in a clear transparent liquor as in the ●gg ; the other inclosing both that ▪ and the other parts of the seed from which these atomes are enlarged and nourished . this outward membrane , sticking to , and about those asperities , or papillar extuberancies , which are caused by the orifices of arteries , and veins opening into the cavity of the womb , gives way to the gently distilling blood , to descend to these atomes ; to furnish them with store of cognate parts , to be selected by , and added to them for their future growth . but that these yet tender parts , may not be overwhelmed with too great a flux of blood , and be stifled with too much nourishment , before they are able to dispose of it : ( a frequent cause of abortion ) nature suffers it to wander through a labyrinth of an infinite number of ▪ vessels , dispers'd through this outmost membrane ; from whence by one chanel it is conveighed to this new animal . but not to remain all of it , within the limits of this little frame ; but being conveighed to the heart of the infant , by its continuall motion some is thrown into every part , according to the capacity of their vessels . and because all parts of this too , are not fit for the repair of these young atoms , but do require a greater choice ; therefore at every motion of the heart , some of this blood is thrown out of this infant , by appropriated arteries , back to the mother again . so that by this continual circulation of the blood , through this new animal ; fresh and cognate moisture is supplied to irrigate , and augment every part of it . from whence , as at the first , cognate atomes are selected & adjoyned to every particle , until the foetus come to perfection ; and then breaking through those membranes , it is brought forth a living creature . it will be requisite i should here satisfie a doubt , which may perhaps perplex some in the receiving this opinion of generation , viz. why there should be a distinction of sexes ? and why there should be a collection of these seminal atomes by both sexes ? and that without the admixture of both these , there could be no generation ? the reason why there are distinct sexes , is , because one of them must supply the part , and office , that the earth doth to vegetables ; which is , to contain , preserve , and supply it with fitting nourishment ; which is done by the female . but why cannot all bee done by this one ? what need is there of another seed ? the use of these differing seeds , is evidenced in the former discourse of plants : where i shewed you , that these seminal atomes were of two sorts , spiritual , and more material ; whose duty was to fix and cement the spiritual atomes together , that they might mutually cohere the one to the other ; the masculine , are to actuate , enliven , and to act for all the rest : and this diversity of atomes , makes a difference in seeds , and a distinction in sexes . the masculine seed having undergone concoctions and separations by a greater , and purer heat , becomes more spiritualiz'd & subtile ; and is like to those spiritual atomes of the appearing and rising plants out of the spirits of a former plant corrupted , as i before declared . which contains in it all parts fitting to constitute such a body , as that was from whence it was taken : and being thrown into a convenient pl●ce , where it may have room and agreeable heat , would by the disposing of every atome into his pro●er place , constitute a perfect body . but not being furnisht with those more material particles , it would soon vanish ( as the appearing supposititious plants did ) these spiricual atomes not being cemented and conjoyned together . the feminine seed being extracted after the same manner , from the same vessels , by the female testicles , containing the same particles , but cruder and lesse digested , from a cruder matter , by lesse perfect organs , is left more terrene , furnished with more material parts ; which being united in the womb , with the spiritual particles of the masculine seed ; every one being rightly , according to his proper place , disposed and ordered with the other ; fixes and conjoynes those spiritual atomes that they still afterwards remain in that posture they are placed in . i shall forbea● the prosecution of this any further , having sufficiently cleared the wayes of generation of perfect bodies . i shall proceed to shew the causes of similitude in the foetus to the generators , and of mutilated and imperfect births . how different sexes , and similitu●e of the ●oetus with the generators is caused . chapter the tenth . the conjunction of these seminal material atomes of both sexes , causeth this similitude of parts , and marks , with the parents that begot them . for according to the exuber●ncy , or power of the atomes of either sex , so is the foetus fashioned and distinguished . if the atomes constituting the masculine parts prevail , then is a male generated : but if the atomes of the females seed prevail either in quantity , or energy , over the masculine ; then is the product a female : and those atomes which were ordained for , and belong to the masculine parts , being but few in number , and lesse in power , are obscured , being scattered amongst the rest , or else being of no use , and having no parts to joyn with them , to unite and cement them together , are quite lost . this is the cause too , why the foetus or infant hath parts , some resembling the father , some the mother , having sometimes the mothers lip , the fathers eye . &c. according to the prevalency of the respective atomes . besides , by how much the more the masculine atomes abound in a female infant ; by so much the more the foetus is stronger , healthier , and more manlike , a virago . if the female atomes abound much in a male infant , then is that issue more weak and effeminate . if either parent hath any extraordinary mark , or part more then usual ; as the woman with six fingers ; whom our author relates to have born all her females , with the like number of fingers : it is caused by these seminal atomes extracted from the blood , carrying along with them atomes belonging to every part , communicated to the seed , and so to the infant ; especially if the atomes , in which these supernumerary parts or marks reside , prevail over the rest . as the example of that woman illustrates , who brought forth all her males with the usual number of fingers ; all her females with six upon an hand , like her self . the sex shewed the prevalency of her seed , which having the mastery of the masculine , all the several atomes contained in her seed ▪ shewed themselvs in the same posture , as in her own body . in the males , those particles of her seed being weaker , served onely to cement the masculine atomes , and no more . the cause of defect of some parts , or an ill disposition of them in places they ought not to be in ; may be from the avocation and disturbance of the imagination of the parent , at that time when these atomes are in disposing and ordering by the soul of the infant , in their proper places . this i say , is done by the imagination of the mother disturb'd , representing to the infants soul , then dispos●ng and ordering these atomes , either some other pattern by which it con●orms its work ▪ or else wholly call●ng it away from that operation , su●ers these atomes confusedly to unite and dispose themselves as well , as being disordered , they may ; and so make up a monstrous kinde of ●irth . ●r 〈◊〉 the soul being d●sturbed , and the atomes disordered ; they joyn not to one another in their proper places , but the atomes of the leg joyn with those of the side , or the arm , or the head . sometimes supernumerary particles are found in the seed , which being many and prevalent , do unite themselves , and joyn to some others , and there put forth ; so that there are seen sometimes two perfect bodies , conjoyned in one part or other ; or four arms , &c. as several histories relate of severall monstrous births . that seen amongst us of late years , being none of the contemptiblest of that kinde . i mean the young man that had a head , arms ▪ and legs of another body growing out of his side . but here arises a great difficulty , how this disturbance of the seminal atomes , should be occasioned by the disturbance of the mothers phansie ? how the imagination works upon parts of the same body , authors tell us , is by the mediation of humors and spirits : but how it should operate upon these seminal atomes , at this time , before there is any influx either of humors or spirits from the body to them ? i cannot yet finde satisfaction from any . i should think it done by the mediation of the soul , traduced with the seeds . which being of the same essence , and part ( as i may say ) of the parents soul ; it retains still the same affections and passions that it had before its traduction . hence the soul of the mother being disturbed , this soul of the infant , by that consent and harmony which is betwixt them , must be disordered too : which causes that disorderly concourse of the seminal atoms , and those monstrous births springing from it : as i before declared . some arguments against this opinion proposed , and answered . chapter the eleventh . our author brings in an opinion of doctor harvies to father his accidental formation upon , so much contrary to me , that i cannot baulk the relation and examination of it , viz. that the seed of the male , doth not remain in the womb of the female in any sensible bulk : but ( as it seemeth ) evaporateth , and incorporateth it self either into the body of the womb , or rather into some more interiour part , as into the seminary vessels , which by mediation of the females seed , suck up the males seed , and turn it into a vapour , operating in such sort as our author before relates , in the generation of animals . and after a certain time , some six weeks , or two moneths , ( as the doctor observed in does and hinds ) these seeds distill again into the womb and by little and little do clarifie in the midst , and a little red speck appeareth in the midst of the bright clearnesse . the right observation of this experiment ( under favor ) in my judgement was not truly made ; for this inspection into the wombs of creatures cannot be , but by dissection ; which must certainly hinder that second work , namely the returning back of the seed into the womb : and if so , how shall it come to our knowledge , that the seed , which at the time of accoupling , was received into the womb , and afterwards when the observation was made was evaporated , and attracted by the females testicles , shall afterwards distill into the womb again ; unlesse the same female were preserved to make those distinct observations , at several times . i should rather believe the does , or hinds in whose wombs the doctor found no sperm after the accoupling , were barren , and so never received the masculine seed into their wombs or at least never retained it ; or else had not then coupled with the male. and that after the two moneths , he met with some others that had conceived , in which he found that resplendent clearness and red spot . all which will not amount to a considerable argument , to support this change of substances by accidental causes . not unlike to this is that opinion of fabricius , asserting that the seed of the cock is not cast into the womb of the hen ; but into the beginning of the matrix , and there by an irradiating influx foecundates the hen , and makes fruitful all the eggs that shall for a long time after be produced , without any admixture of the seeds at all . this opinion of his is grounded upon the impossibility ( as he supposes ) of the entrance of the males seed into the females womb ; the inner orifice being so closely shut , that from without it is impossible to receive any thing . besides in dissection , he could never finde any part appointed for the ejaculating the sperm into the womb . the penis or prick being wanting in the cock ; so the seed cannot be thrown further then the entrance into the womb . whether or no there be a present union of the material parts of the seeds , after every coition , which impregnates the females ; former observations have not fully discovered . those which are casually made by dissection of females , at , or neer the usual time of coupling may ea●ly deceive us . for if nothing be found in their wombs then ; we may as safely and conclusively argue , that either that female never coupled with the male , or never retained his seed as to say it is impossible for the seed to enter , because i never found it there the experiment ought to be made on some creatures , under the continual view of our observation ; and presently after copulation , if we see nothing reflowing again ; then to search where that seed lyes , will undoubtedly discover the truth to us . that observation of doct. harvies , related to us by sir kenelm digby , ( though i confesse his curious eye , seldome takes any thing upon trust , or slightly passes by what is observable ) seems to presuppose a conception ; and on that supposition to ground his opinion , that the males seed is not retained in the womb , but evaporated ; because in his dissections of those creatures he supposed had conceived , ( because done at the usual time of coupling ) he never found it : till after , some two moneths , meeting with others whose pregnant wombes discovered some rudiments of a growing foetus ; he concludes , those creatures , he two moneths before dissected , would have shewn then , the fertility of their wombs in the same manner we may as truly argue ( i say ) they had not conceived ▪ at the time of his dissection ; neither ( had they escaped his knife ) would they , without a new coupling , have had that red spot , in the midst of that clear body . but when wee shall consider the great quantity of sperm , emitted by the male in every coition ; and see that quantity retained by the female , if by that copulation she conceives ; and finde no other part capacious enough to keep it , but the womb : when we shall finde the material parts of the male , copied out to the life in the foecus ; even his marks , which never came under his sight or knowledge peradventure , to be branded on the young one : we must needs acknowledge something more then an irradiation , or foecundating quality , imprest on the womb by the masculine seed ; and more then phansie in the females to produce such effects . a hen trod by a pheasant , though in a dark room , that so she could never see his proportions or colour , brings forth chickens , resembling both her self and the pheasant . a bitch lined with several kindes of dogs , though in the dark , where her phansie could not operate to the assimulating of her births , brings forth her whelps fashioned and coloured , like to all those she coupled with . the horse leaves some material impressions of himself , on the mule , which he begets on the asse . that strict closure of the wombs orifice in the time of dissection ▪ cannot exclude the seeds entrance . for wee know in the time of coupling in all creatures , those parts , all of them are much differing from themselves , at other times , dilated , and swollen up by a more then ordinary heat , encreased by an extraordinary afflux of blood to those parts , at that time . which heat not onely increaseth the desire , but dilateth the cavities and pores : that those parts will now be open , which before were shut . the hen , and does in coition elevate the velabrum , which at other times closely shuts that passage . so it will be no marvel , if the straight orifice of the womb in coition shall open , to admit that guest she so much desires ; and moves it self directly , to receive what is thrown into it by the male. as for his second ground , that the cock wants that part which should ejaculate the sperm into the matrix : dissection will shew us that , though it be not so conspicuous as in other creatures ; yet at the termination of each ejaculatory ves●el , close by the orifices of the uret●rs , may be seen small extuberancies ▪ which if comprest will be distended to a greater length , emitting seed from their terminations . in coition we cannot but beleeve them much extended , as in all other creatures ; which afterwards are flaccide and contracted . so that if we may believe dissection ( the surest guide ) we shall see natures bounty to this creature ; whose ●alacity exceeding others , nature hath bestowd two parts , whereby he may satisfie his desire . and indeed it was ●ecessary so to be , for having no common receptacle , to receive the sperm from both testicles ; as the prostata in other creatures : one penis could emit but from one stone ; therefore are there two , that in co●ion either by turns , or together , he may emit these seminal parts , f●om both testicles . the defect of this part then will bee no argument to prove fabricius his irradiation only . i must here take away one stumbling block more , which our author hath l●id in my way , in confutation of that opinion , favouring the actual existence of all things , in all bodies . which because it may something reflect on this my opinion of the way of generation ; i shall a little review it . he to confute this wa● of generation and nutrition , furnisheth us with an example to illustrate his argument ; which bears the weight and vigour of his argument , and may seem very much to infeeble my foregoing discourse . suppose ( sayes he ) a man , a horse a cow , a sheep , and more severall species of living creatures , should make a meal of let ice : to avoid all perplex●ty in the argument , let us allow , that every one did eat a pound ; and and let us conceive another pound of this herb to be burned : as much to be putrisied under a cabbage root , and the like , under five hundred plants more of divers species . then cast how much of every pound of lettice is turned into the substances that are made of them , or that are encreased by them : as how much ashes hath been made by one pound , how much water from another by distillation ; how much a man hath been encreased by a third , how much a horse by a fourth , &c. and when you have summ'd up all these several quantities , you will finde them much to exceed the quantity of one pound ; which it would not do , if every pound of lettice were made up of several different similar parts actually in it ▪ that are extracted by different substances of the nature of those parts : and no substance could be encreased by it , unlesse parts of its nature were originally in the lettice . in answer to this , we shall return this confession , that if it were certain that all of so many distinct species , that have altogether different parts one from another , did or could from the same quantitv of one plant or thing , receive a valuable bulk of nutriment ; his argument would remain exceeding valid and considerable . but when it cannot be made appear , that every one takes something of the quantity , and is nourished by it . nay , when the contrary appears , that all are not nourished by the same food : some choosing one sort of meats , some another ; one feeding on , and living by that , which kills another ; this growing fat by that , which starves another . it will appear that there is a choice and election of atomes in that which nourishes , appropriated to the species for which they are provided : and aswell a selection of those atomes again , to constitute a new individuum of that species . in distinct regions we finde several sorts of plants and animals , which are the proper off-spring of those countries ; which are nourished b● things peculi●r to that countrey . if they be transferr'd ▪ they either degenerate , or die , wanting their proper aliment ; but seldome or never propagate their kinde . non omnis 〈◊〉 omni● tellus . besides , if it can appear , that many species are fed with the same thing : it will be found likewise that they are those species , that have many or most parts resembling one another . and then no doubt in the same aliment , they may every one finde particl●s fitly applicable to those corresponding parts : and no lesse able to consti●ute their members , then anothers . it may yet be objected ; if the seminall atomes do so dispose themselves in their due and natural orders , as to make up a body resembling the species ; or at least to lay the first foundations , and rude draught , as it were , of a body . why are they not thus disposed , and setled in the seminal vessels of both sexes , as soon as the sperm is made ? there wants neither heat nor life to actuate them . to this i shall answer ; first , that perhaps if these seminal atomes had convenient room in those vessels , they might be conjoyned in an orderly method . and therefore nature hath so ordered these vessels , that the parts , both separating and containing these atomes , should not be one continued cavity , as the matrix is , which receives them in coition ; but should be a glandulous and porous body ; in which the particles or atomes of the seed lie scattered , and parted one from another by the substance of the glandule . for first , these atomes are separated by the testicles , a glandulous body ; next , they are conveighed to the prostata , a glandule too ; in which they are reserved until the time of use . in the ejaculatory vessels , their passage betwixt the testicles and prostata ; though they circulate through divers meanders , and cavities ; yet there they cannot rank themselves in order , because they are in continual motion , ( the subsequent particles still driving on the former ) which hinders their conjunction : rest being the mother of union . those seminal vessels , which in dis●ections are found joyned to the prostata , having many cavities , and full of thin liquor , do not contain these seminal particles , but the prostata , ( as i said ) and from thence in coition are they emitted . the liquor that is found in these seminal cavities , supplies perhaps ( besides that other in coition ) the office of the thin transparent liquor in the egg , in which the chick swims , and by which the finer parts are nourished at first , that is first concocted into the blood . besides , these atomes in their ordering must ( i said ) be regulated by the soul , traduced with them ; which is not fastned to the seed , while it remains in the seminal vessels , more then to the blood , or other humours in their chanels , on whose losse or preservation the soul doth no way depend . neither in all emissions of sperm , is the soul conveighed with these seminal atomes , that in any place it may constitute a body . in all involuntary emissions , the soul is not communicated to the seed . but then onely , when the generators soul by a voluntary act , intent on propagation and multiplying her self into another individuum ▪ diffuseth her self into the now parting sperm , then only is it prolifical . which coming into a convenient receptacle , where these atomes may repose ; being moved onely by that soul which accompanied them , and from which they received their orders and commands , are soon setled into their proper places , and become a perfect individuum of that species . thus have i discovered the wayes of generation ; which being cleared too of all those doubts ▪ that could be raised against it ; will ●ly pronounce , that phansie of our authors , to be but the issue of an acute wit , not the birth of his maturer judgement . if in this discourse i have erred , i shall not marvel at my humane frailty but hope to finde as favourable a censure . finis . a discovrse of the cure of wounds by sympathy . or , without any real application of medicines to the part affected ; but especially by that powder known by the name of sir gilb●rt talbots powder . by nath ▪ highmore dr. of physick . the sympathetical cure of wovnds . these universal and general laws of nature being laid down and rightly understood , the cure of wounds w thout topical application of medicines , to the part affected , will soon appear an unquestionable truth , and not a magical delusion , as hath bin supposed : and by some , whose laborious pens have endevoured a conv●ction , most unjustly bin stiled diabolicall . . first , it is absolutely true , and an unquestionable law of nature , ( if , prejudice laid aside , right reason takes her place , ) that all actions and motions are performed by atomes , or small bodies , moving after a different manner , proportionable to their severall ●igures ; and not by i know not what qualities , ( which have onely a notional subsistence , ) acting without the bodies to which they belong , and leaping from one subject to another , without changing their forms . . there is a constant effluvium or expiration of such atomes from all bodies : caused by a compression of other circumjacent bodies ; driving the parts closer together ; or else by the mtion of other atomes crowding into the porous parts of that body ; disturbing the repose and quiet of the former inhabitants , and thrust them out , to wander about in the air , till they meet with some other body of the same nature , or return to the same body from whence they were driven , where they may obtain their desired rest a while , which is but very short . . this expiration , some by the help of glasses , have seen in the form of a mist to flow from a loadstone , and other bodies whose aporcheas are more plentiful : in bodies that are actually hot , this fffluvium is sensibly apparent to the smell , especially to creatures of an acuter sense ; whose expirations hanging in the air , or upon the ground ; are as sure a guide to the persecuting dog , as if they were continually in his eye . sanctorius teacheth us too , that they are no lesse sensibly discovered by weight , who affirm , a man in one nights space to be lighter by three pounds weight , then he was at the beginning of the night , caused onely by this insensible expiration . . these atomes are not of one figure , nor of one magnitude or grossenesse : some being so subtile and slender , that they admit of no opposition , but continue their course through all mediums : and whatever may seem to oppose them in their way , such are not discovered by us , but by their effects ; they ●enetrating , and acting what their figure can do , before we are sensible of them : such are the contagious atomes of bodies infected w●th the plague , or other pestilential diseases ; which are ●ot only communicated to others , by their harbouring in the visitants clothes ; but being dis●erst in the air , are conveighed to remote places and persons , on whom they exercise their tyranny , not discovered till they break out into open violence . others again are grosser , and cannot so easily passe by , or through others of the same or greater grossenesse : and are therefore driven by the strongest , and inforc'd from their intended voyage ; and sometimes beaten into the pores of other bodies . and such atomes are apprehended by our senses , as heat , cold , smels , colour , &c. & move more slowly then the former . some are so grosse that they move solid and fixt bodies out of their places , as the winde ▪ and many others that are driven to and fro by the winde , as it moveth , they change their place . these atomes we are sensible of , and shall without much difficulty , be perswaded to confesse their being and activity . the magnetick effluviums , and influences of the planets , the subtile expirations of all bodies , especially those which are not raised by the attenuating of much heat are to be ranked in the first classis , and have been heretofore christned by the name of occult qualities . the others have been stiled prime qualities , vapors , exhalations , or the like . . it is another general law of nature , that all bodies desire rest ; and would continue in their own proper places , if they were not disturbed by an intruder : rest being the mother of union , which is the desire of all natural bodies . . there are some places more sit for the receiving and holding of some bodies , or atomes , then others ; in which they may better and longer rest . and that in respect of the fashion and form of the pores receiving them ; being proportionable , and more agreeable to the figures of the atomes . as some atomes are angular , some cylindrical , branched , smooth sharp , rough . there are in bodies pores agreeable to these figures ; so that some atomes shall bee received into po●es proportionate to them , others excluded ; as the fire , sharp and penetrating salt , creep into the pores of a stone ; which the atomes of water , cold , and light , cannot : the infectious atomes of that pestilential disease amongst beasts , called the murren , insinuate themselves into cows and swine , not into horses , or men , as the infection of the pox or measils in men , is not communicated to beasts , &c. this agreement betwixt the pores and the atomes , makes that , we call cognation . . no atomes rest any where , but in those cognate or proportionate pores . they may be driven into other bodies , or may accompany other atomes , into pores that do not exactly correspond with their figures but cannot rest there ; being still thrust out by those that do better sill up that place , and correspond with the capacity and proportion of those pores ; and hence ariseth a natural inclination and tendency towards those bodies where such pores are . for being once dislodged , and thrust out of those cognate places , they are still shouldered out , and prest to give way for those atomes , whose figures cla●m a right to those pores they are now wandring in : being thus thrust out , & prest on every side by other dislodged atoms , they are inforc'd to move that way where they finde least crowding , and where the violence least urgeth ; and that is on the side where these pores are , and perhaps from whence they were first disquieted . for other atomes not finding entrance into the pores of such bodies , rebounding back , cause other behinde them to rush into their place , to give way for them rebounding ; who likewise not being entertained , return too , thrusting others into their room : till at last it comes to the turn of those cognate atomes : who being violently thrust on by those behinde them , are also now by these that were before them , returning ; are prest upon these proportionate pores , who in respect of their cognate figures , sinding admitance by their entrance , make way for others of the same proportion to follow them . so that there is a constant necessitated motion of such atomes this way , forc'd by the impulsion of other atomes . which motion is natural too , in respect of the cognation betwixt the place and the atomes , though in respect to other atomes , and the force imprest by them , it be violent and forc'd . and this is that motion which they say is caused by sympathy . such are all magneticall motions ; amongst which likewise m●y be ranked these atomes curing at a distance . . no distance hinders the motion of these atomes towards their natural places . for no pores agreeing with their figure , but their own , that are p●oportioned to them , they will still be thrust out by those atomes which are fitted for those pores in which they are : so that being enforc'd by the pressure of others to move from one place to another they will still keep on moving that way whither they are th●ust , till they come to a place proportionable to them where they may be freed from this violence so that as the large sphere of magnetical motions may not seem wonderful , so neither rightly can this sympathetical motion of these curative atomes be accounted magical , if they cure the part they seem not to touch . . the nearer these atomes approach to their desired home , the resistance is still lesse on that side , and the pressure greater on the contrary , and therefore their motion is swifrer , in a shorter distance , and also slower at a greater . . there may be , and oftentimes is a conjunction of atomes , which in their pilgrimage , flie on the back one of another , and may and do operate together : as the winde doth carry with it many infectious atomes , and sometimes rare and comfortable smels . these things premised and layed as foundations of truth , which can ( if examined with an unbiassed judgement ) appear no other ; they will demonstratively illustrate this way and cure of wounds without any topicall application . it remains therefore that wee explain the manner of this operation ; what the medicine is , and why it workes more effectually at a distance , then if applyed to the part . first , the medicine is made of a zaphyrian salt , calcined by a celestial fire , operating in leo and cancer , into a lunar complexion . the heat must bee such , that it draws out all adventitious moisture , leaving it intensly dry , and in this condition it must be kept . if at any time it meets with any moisture , it loseth its energy , and must to the aethereal fornace again , it must be such a proportioned heat , and not a greater ; for by excesse of heat , all the volatile parts and sinest atomes , which onely work this cure , will bee evaporated : and onely the grosser saline parts remain , which neither can be raised to accompany the atomes of the blood : neither if they could , would they cure ; but by their sharper angles , grate the orifices of the capillary veins , and so procure an efflux of blood , and not a consolidation of the wound . the substance of this medicament being joyned w th other unctuous bodies , is applyed to the wounds themselves , in most cicatrizing and drying emplasters . which when the sharp angles are blunted by the unctuousnesse of the adjoyned medicaments , doth dry up , and unite the wounded parts most effectually , as in the emplaster called diapalma , &c. much more effectual then must the siner active 〈◊〉 ●articles be , when they are separated from those more earth● , 〈◊〉 parts ; and conveighed into the remotest pores of the wounded part , by the help of the bloody atomes returning home : upon whose score they finde a far greater and more welcome entertainment , then if they came alone , or joyned with any other forrainers . the manner of applying the medicine is in this fashion . the blood , or bloody m●tter taken from the wound on a cloath , ●ust be lightly covered over with this powder , kept very dry ; and afterwards wrapt up close from the air , and so kept in a temperate heat ; neither must it finde any muta●ion to either excesse ; the wound in the mean time must be kept clean , and clothed up with drie clean clothes . if it hath been an old sore or ulcer , that nature hath found a convenient passage to vent the burden of her excrements that way , and there be a tumor , ( as necessarily there will be ) the first dressing doth most violently drein this fountain , and you shall finde the wound to run most strangly : afterwards when the matter is lessened , and is reduced to such a proportion as nature and the medicine may conveniently buckle with it , then it turns it into laudably concocted matter , which every day lessens , and the wound closeth . but if the wound be fresh , the applied medicine presently stoppeth the blood , and hinders an afflux of humors to the part . so that there is nothing to be done , but the uniting the severed parts , which this medicine doth in a wonderful short time . the way which these balsamical atomes of the medicine , applyed to the blood , take to come to the wounded part , is next to be shewed . all action being performed applicando activa passivis , either by a real or virtual ( which indeed must be reall too ) contact , it must needs make this cure suspected ; because the medicine being applyed only to the blood , there appears to be no kinde of contact , & therefore it should follow , that there is no operation or action upon the wound ; especially when the wound is at so great a distance from the medicine . but if we shall review the former laws of nature , the contact will soon appear to be as real , as that made by the sun darting his beams into any of these inferiour bodies , though thousands of miles remote from it . the medicine therefore being a body constituted of several particles ▪ it will necessarily follow , that there is an effluvium , or constant expiration of atomes from it , by the second law of nature . and by the ninth rule these may be conjoyned with the atomes of blood extravenated , and accompany them in their flight . nay , they must joyn with them , for the medicine being a salt , when it comes to imbibe the moisture of the blood , is ( as all salts will be ) dissolved , and perfectly mixt together with it ; which being kept in a constant continued heat , are continually breathing forth insensibly atomes from both . being thus united and exposed , the particles of blood being most , and most active , they carry their companion along with them . who by the sixth and seventh rules , must of necessity be driven to the wounded part , though remote from it a very great distance . when these companions the atomes of the extravenated blood , and the medicine are come to the wounded part , the atoms of the blood are received , finding an easie entrance at those cognate parts , those proportionate pores ; with which covertly slips in the other of the medicine ; who meeting there with more moisture , presently delivers up its saline parts to bee conjoyned with those new moist parts ; which by the addition of these newly resolved salt particles , become more fluid and loose , fitter to bee driven out , which is suddenly done . for besides this loosening the superfluous matter in the wound , the medicine hath such parts as contracts the solider parts neerer together , and so shuts the orifices of the veins , that the efflux of blood and humors thence , is presently stayed ; and the ●ores being lessened ▪ ●his superfluous moisture which hindered the union of the parts , is prest out , so that the wound is more easily soadred up . which worke is quickly performed by nature her self , when there shall be nothing to hinder the apposition of such fitly prepared particles , as shee hath provided in every part for their nourishment and augmentation . this double work of the medicine , the loosening and diluting the fluid parts , that distend the pores of the wound , ( which causes that pain , which is an inseparable companion of separation of continuity ) as likewise the constriction of the pores , and joyning the more solid parts neerer together ; is demonstrable in all salts , when they are laid on bodies retaining any quantity of moisture in them . for salt layed on mea● , causes first a great quantity of bloody water to flow from it ; aster which you shall finde the flesh harder , and shrunk closer together : and at last , if it continues long , the moisture is clean dreined out of it . so in the making of some syrups , if upon limons or apples sliced thin , you strew sugar ( which is a kinde of salt ) it will drein out all their moisture , and leave them dry and hard . this being done by ordinary salts , wee must expect a far greater & speedier operation from this , whose parts claim a greater activity in binding up and closing , then any salt , as every tongue will soon confesse that toucheth it , either before or after its preparation . it will be no wonder then , to see so large an efflux of matter from an ulcer , till all bee consumed , after the sirst dressing of the cloth ; or to see so sudden a stop given to the blood flowing from the wound . the cloth in which the blood and medicine are kept , must bee wrapt up close , and kept warm in a temperate heat , not declining to either excesse . first , because the cold doth prohibit the expiration and breathing forth of these atomes , so that the wounded part is for that time destitute of those balsamical atomes , which should drein forth the superfluous humidity , and restrain the afflux of blood , and other humors to the part . so that the blood flowing to this weakned part , distends its pores , and vessels again beyond its natural and accustomed limits , and rends asunder what was almost united before . and this is that which causeth that pain , occasioned by exposing the clothes to the cold air . besides , this hindring the efflux of these aporrheas from the cruentated cloth by cold , there may bee some extraneous atomes ; ( as those of cold or icy parts , whose activity in penetrating of bodies , i conceive to bee little lesse then those of fire , ) which being conveighed along with these atomes from the cloth , more slenderly now transmitted ; may disaffect the wound , according to the figure and nature of the atomes : as may appear by that story of sir kenelm digbies usage of master howels cruentated garter , heating it over coals in a dish of vinegar ; which put the lame gentleman into extream pain and torture ; but upon the removall of those , and the fresh dressing of the garter , hee presently received ease , and in a very short time a perfect cure the other extream , viz. of heat , doth as much exasperate the wounded part , as may appear by this story , as well as by another , from a very credible reporter , who in the cure of some scrophulous ulcer by this powder , had almost perfected the cure ; the father still keeping the cloth 〈◊〉 his pocket ; but being to lodge abroad one night , left the cloth with this gentleman ; who dressing the cloth , as before , in the ●orning put it up in his owne pocket , and kept himselfe by a great fire all that day ; and at night , laid it in his bed , under his she● onely , and so kept it extream● hot . the child which had bef●re continued in very good case since the first dressing , all that afternoon and the night following was extreamly tortured , and slept not at all . in the morning when he came to dresse the childe again , hee found the wound had bled much , and was very sor● : but dressing the cloth again , put it up in his own pocket ; and so returned to his good fire ; the childe continuing in extreamity of pain , they sent their servant to acquaint him with it ; who presently apprehending , tha● the change of the keeping of the cloth might bee the cause of i● , gave the cloth to the boy to put it in his pocket : who followin● his imployments , came not to the fire at all , and in a quarter of an hour after , hee found the childe playing , and in very good ease . the reason of this was not onely because there were ●any fiery particles joyned with these a●oms , which inflamed the wound ; but because the extreame heate working on the matter and medicine in the cloth , in an unusuall manner , raised a far greater number of these saline parts then usually ; which when by the sanguineous atomes they were introduced , did by their sharp angular parts shave and corrode the small orifices of the veines : and gave way to that efflux of blood , and by their sharpnesse lay continually pricking and dividing the tender parts , which was occasioned by some of grosser and more fixt parts . this cure , by this atomicall energy wrought at a distance , is more sudden , then any the most excellent balsame could perform , or then the substance of the medicine it self , applyed to the part could do . for first , as i said , the medicine being a calcined salt ; the sharp part of it would erode the orifices of the small vessels , which in all wounds are divided ; and would prove rather corrosive then curative . but being thus transmitted with the united atomes of blood , they steal in undiscerned , and by the vertue of that cognation betwixt the ▪ atomes of the blood and the pores they are to enter , they are more freely entertained , and admitted to passe and insinuate themselves farther , then if they came alone ; whose disproportioned atomes would scarce finde an entrance there , without the other . being thus freely admitted into every pore , and being but the finer volatile particles , whose angles though keen ▪ yet have not that hardnesse to fret off the tender mouthes and termination of veins : first , they dilate the superfluous humid parts , and make them fit to bee expelled : then by their more then ordinary restrictive power shrink together the pores , and squeezeth out that humidity , and glew together those disunited parts . and thus in a very short time is the cure performed . the easing of the toothach by this medicine too , is performed by its atoms , repelling those humors which were flowing to , and distending the thin , and most accuratly sensible membrane , including the marrow of the teeth . which is done by closing and shutting the pores , that the already imbibed humours must be exprest , and others that are flowing , are prohibited from entering . thus have i cleared what to philosophers seemed one of natures cabbinet-secrets , but to others , that condemn all they understand not for magicall , it hath seemed , and been accused to have been done by some diabolicall compact . there have not been wanting some , that have laboured to undeceive mens understanding , and to clear the processe of this cure : but upon principles , i confesse , of as much difficulty , and that require as great a portion of faith to believe them , as the thing it self . their misfortune hath occasioned mee to look something more narlowly into the true principles of nature ▪ which though i shall not beg to bee granted mee gratis , yet i shall appeal to every mans reason ( by which rule i would have them examined ) whether they do not truly agree with the usuall wayes of nature , by which shee constantly workes : if upon any ones just tryal they shall appear to be erroneous , it shall not grieve me to become his convert , recanting my mistakes . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e chap. . sect. . how nu`rition is made . what the earth is . how a sprig put into the ground grows . a discourse upon sr walter rawleigh's great cordial by n. le febure ... ; rendred into english by peter belon ... discours sur le grand cordial de sr walter rawleigh. english le fèvre, nicaise, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing l estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a discourse upon sr walter rawleigh's great cordial by n. le febure ... ; rendred into english by peter belon ... discours sur le grand cordial de sr walter rawleigh. english le fèvre, nicaise, - . raleigh, walter, sir, ?- . confectio raleghana. belon, p. (peter) [ ], p. printed by j.f. for octavian pulleyn, junior ..., london : . translation of: discours sur le grand cordial de sr walter rawleigh, which was not published in french until . errata: p. [ ]. reproduction of original in british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng materia medica -- early works to . medicine -- formulae, receipts, prescriptions. wounds and injuries -- treatment -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - jonathan blaney sampled and proofread - jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discourse upon sr rawleigh's great cordial ; by n. le febvre , royal professor in chymistry and apothecary in ordinary to his maiesty's most honourable houshold . rendred into english by peter belon , student in chymistry . london , printed by j. f. for octavian pulleyn junior , and are to be sold at the sign of the bible in s. paul's church-yard near the little north door . . to the king's most excellent majesty . sir , i have elaborated , according to your majesty's order , the preparation of sr rawleigh's great cordial , with so much circumspection and with such exact and serious meditation on all that enters in the composition of this precious remedy , that i thought it my duty to present to your majesty what i have gathered out of most particular in this my labour , and to give accordingly the reasons , which prove the great advantages that the modern pharmacie carrieth legitimately above the ancient , by reason that it is enlightned with the glorious lights of chymistry . and indeed , sir , that onely is capable to separate exactly the pure from the impure , to preserve the virtue of whatsoever it works upon , without any loss of its volatil parts , and to draw out of the very centre of the most fix'd things 〈◊〉 nature hath therein implanted most essential and most specifick . your majesty knoweth so well this difference , and reasoneth so justly on all the productions of nature and art ▪ that one may say with a real and sincere truth , that you unfold with an incomparable neatness of judgment the profoundest questions of the naturalists and chymists , in the royal laboratory , with as much facility as your majesty untangles in all your counsels the intrigues of the most refined policy . i shall continue , sir , to work as i have done with the same zeal and the same activity , that i may contribute what is of my art and study , to effect those sublime and royal intentions which your majesty hath for the common good of your subjects , whom your royal bounty desires should be eased and delivered from their diseases and evils . wherefore i do present and dedicate to your majesty with humility and all submissive respects the discourse which i have made on this great cordial , and humbly beseech your majesty to protect it , since it was brought forth under your majesty's shelter and command , being now , as i will be all the rest of my life , inviolably , sir , your majesty's most dutiful , most humble and most faithful servant , n. le febvre . alterations , with some mistakes in printing . page . l. . reade , at the latter end of . l. . r. balsamick . pag. . l. . r. which is formed . p. . l. . dele , as . l. . r. and which . p. . l. ult . r. preparation thereof . p. . l. . r. virtuous . p. . l. . dele them . l. . r. ●peritive . p. . l. . r. this cordial . p. . l. . r. mellaginous . p. . l. . r. transpiration . p. . l. . r. petrification . p. . l. . r. this great . imprimatur . joh . hall , r. p. d. episc . lond. à sacr. domest . apr. . . a discourse upon sr rawleigh's great cordial . many praises have been given in all ages not onely to the remedies worthy of the closets of kings and princes , but to those also that have been capable of indifferent use to all persons which compose the civil society . we have examples thereof both in the treatises of the ancient and modern physick , as also in history ; where we observe , that those which have been the most recommended in this art , and that had a science more distinct then others , have endeavour'd with all their possibility to give the publick those good remedies which they had attain'd to by practice and experience . thus the great mithridates , king of pontus and bithynia , hath consecrated his name to posterity by that excellent opiate which bears it . theriaca puts us incessantly in mind of andromachus who is the author of it . and the celebrated andrew matthiolus hath made himself famous by his antidote , which all germany admires . raymondus lully , basil valentine , paracelsus , arnoldus de villa nova , quercetan , zwelferus , and many others , which i omit , have rendred themselves illustrious by panacea's , elixirs , tinctures , magisteries and essences : so that it seems as if the old and new physick , as well as both the pharmacies , had been in emulation to out-doe one another , to make appear to their off-spring those knowledges and lights which they have attained to , by the seeking and anatomy that each of those delicate and worthy professions had made of the preparation of natural things , and of the virtue they conceal and hide in their interiour parts , as in a central point , whose exteriour ( to speak properly ) is but the circumference , of no other use but as a place of abode , its bark or shell , which hides and covers from us the wonders that this celestial and luminous point contains : for , as the great paracelsus says , domus est semper mortua , sed eam inhabitants vivit . of all those that have made themselves worthily famous amongst the moderns , by gathering together that which nature furnishes of best and most useful to man for his health , i find none more worthy of praise then this illustrious knight , sir walter rawleigh : because that he hath not onely made choice of what is most precious and full of virtue in the three families of animals , vegetables and minerals ; but hath also made appear so much art and so much experience , for the preparation of this great and admirable cordial which doth immortalize him , that i have thought i should give to his honour and glory those elogies which he hath more then deserved , by the noble labour and beautiful study that hath made him attain to the sublime knowledge he had of all he hath inserted in this incomparable remedy . and whereas the king did command me to apply my self wholly to its preparation in the beginning of the last year's spring : i thought i ow'd to the learned curiosity of this great monarch , the meditations and notes which my study and the work have made me do , with all the necessary reflexions to the clearing and to the recommendation of a medicine so useful to the publick good of the people of his kingdoms . and because that order and method do establish and make those things one undertakes to discourse of to be the better known , and that confusion on the contrary is the ruine of it ; we therefore must give also to this discourse the essential parts , which will discover the most evidently , and the most clearly we can possibly , all that this wonderful cordial hath of excellency . first , by the choice or election of the materials that compound it . secondly , by the most studied and most exquisite preparation of this composition above all those which ever did precede it . which will also shew how much art helps nature . in the third place , we will make appear by proofs and reasons , that this remedy is absolutely proper and useful to the nations bordering on the seas , by reason of the scurvy which torments them very frequently . in the fourth place , the excellency of this remedy appears , in that it is not onely proper and specifick to drive away the venom that causes the already-produced diseases ; but also especially because it is sufficient to maintain that beautiful and admirable harmony that causes health , since it is capable to correct and remedy all the faults of indigestions and ill fermentations which are made in the stomach , that are in us the causes , the spring and the beginning of the worst diseases . and we shall conclude this discourse with the exposition of the dose , the time and method of using it with benefit : for all the world knows , that the abuse and the excess of the best things do commonly produce the most perillous and surprising effects . we have said heretofore that sir rawleigh's great cordial contain'd in it self the choice and epitome of what is of greatest excellencie amongst all the simple cordials , which the three natural families of animals , vegetables and minerals furnish us with ; of which we must make the deduction and the representation to the eyes of the reader 's understanding , to insinuate more and more into them , that this admirable genius could make a most worthy choice of the matters which compose his remedy , which do possess every one in particular a great deal of spirit and volatil sulphureous salt in their centre , from whence do result all those rare effects that it daily produces as much towards the healthful as towards the sick . now we shall begin the description of all these things by the order of nobleness and excellency of those that have possess'd the animal life ; we shall continue by those that have had the vegetable life ; and we shall end by the last , that have enjoyed but a more obscure and imperfect life , which is the mineral life . the hart's horn enters into our noble cordial , and that for many reasons : for there are but few animals that can equal the hart for length of life , since he lives whole ages . this animal is most swift , which betokens a fine harmony and a good disposition of the inward and outward parts , which furnish sufficient vigour , and by consequence spirits , to hold out to the length of the course , that serves for delight and divertisement to the greatest monarchs . but is there any thing that proves so well the abundance of spirits and salt which reside in this beast , as the shedding and re-production of its horns ? which it lays down at the beginning of winter , by reason the aliments of which it did live had no longer in them that balsamie spirit and salt , which serves for oil to the lamp of the radical moisture , and that maintains the natural heat : but as soon as the spring furnishes the hart with the first blade of the herbs and the buds of the trees , he draws from the middle life of those things a renewed being , so efficacious and powerful , that it re-produceth in him a most extraordinary heat and chearfulness , which causeth him to lay down his useless arms , to produce new ones , which are all living and juicy , and which at last digest and harden themselves , to furnish us in its proper time a horn replenish'd with a great abundance of volatil salt. the thing remarkable in the choice of this horn for its excellency is , that it must be taken from an animal of a middle age , and that has been chaced , because the course heats the animal , and makes it to drive all its vigour and spirits from the centre to the circumference , which is remarked by the weight and closing of the parts . the true time to take the hart's horn for physical use is between the fifteenth of august and the twentieth of september . the general virtues of the hart's horn are , to resist the corruption and putrefaction of the humours which constitute humane bodies , and their malignancy ; to provoke sweat , to strengthen and augment the natural balsam of life : which gives us to understand that it is with a great deal of judgment that our author hath given it place in his great cordial . the second thing which comes from an animal , and makes one of the best parts of this remedy , is the stone of the oriental bezoar , an animal that partakes of the hart and the goat . the best is found in persia and the east-indies ; although that which comes from america is not to be slighted , if the dose be augmented . it is a stony concretion , which forms and engenders it self by the property of the volatil saline portion which is in the plants of which these animals live , and which coagulates it self in their second ventricle , where it augments it self yearly bed upon bed and shell upon shell , by the magnetick attraction that the first kernel makes of what is analogical to its substance in the half-digested aliment which is in the stomach of that beast ; as is seen and proved by the straws and the remainder of chewed herbs which are found in the centre of the true oriental and occidental bezoar , which without doubt hath been the first occasional cause of the concretion of the stone . now the indians and persians say that this animal lives particularly of a plant which hath of it self a great deal of virtue . but as this stone is a true natural magistery which comes from the animal and vegetable substances , which unite together by the digestion in the animal's second ventricle ; so must we believe that the bezoar-stone contains more eminently the virtue from them produced . the principal are to strengthen , to provoke sweat , to combat poisons , the plague , and malignant fevers : it remedies the faintness of the heart and its palpitation ; it kills the worms ; 't is good against the epilepsie , against the jaundise , the stone , the dysentery , the retention of the menstrua , and finally it facilitates and accelerates child-birth . so that we conclude that it is one of the principal pillars of our incomparable cordial . musk is the third thing that the animal furnishes to our cordial , which digests and bakes it self in an abscess , which forms it self , and makes eruption about the navil of a beast like unto a goat , which is found in many kingdoms of the east-indies , and specially in those of cathay and pegu. it is to be observed that nature doth not work about this precious drug but when the animal is in his heat and rutting-time : so that this eruption being made by an effect of natural heat , and by an effervescency of the mass of bloud and of the spirits , which are driven towards the emunctories destinated to them , their heat makes attraction and causes pain , which causes this animal to rub his belly against the stones and against the bodies of trees , to open the impostume , and make the matter issue out , which the sun doth throughly concoct , and digest that which in fine produces to us the parent and soul of all the most excellent and most agreeable perfumes . which is a thing most worthy the speculation of a naturalist and a chymical artist ; since that this change of a corrupted matter into a substance of a sweet favour , and of great efficacy inwardly and outwardly , teacheth art to follow nature's tracks for the bettering and correcting of things . but we shall speak more fully of this when we shall reason of the beauty of the perfection of our sovereign remedy . we shall here content our selves to relate in general the virtues of musk , which have oblig'd our author to give it place in his composition . it heats gently , it dries , attenuates , and dissipates what there is of gross and malignant in the body ; it is cordial , alexitery and cephalick ; it is specifick against all the affections of the heart , and specially against the palpitations : it maintains , recreates and restores the animal and vital spirits : it excites to love , and re-furnisheth the natural heat : it recreates the senses , and strengthens memory ; which shews that it is most worthy of our great cordial . the counsel and approbation of sir kenelm digby , and sir alexander fraiser his majesty's chief physician , hath made us adde to the number of the ingredients of this remedy , the flesh , the heart , and the liver of vipers , though the first prescription doth not mention them . but this reptil is replenished with so many rare virtues , and possesses a volatil salt so much an enemy to poisons which attach the heart and the brains , that it is with most just reason that it has been added . the viper is a kind of serpent , the most venomous of all , which heats and irritates it self easily , so that in a moment or the twinkling of an eye it drives from the vesicle or bladder of its gall to the gums a poison so spirituous and so subtil , by an almost imperceptible chanel , when it is angry : which insinuates and communicates it self so suddenly to our spirits and to the natural heat , that it as suddenly stupifies the part that has been bit ; which communicates it self immediately to the heart , and from thence to the brain , by the means of the circulation . but if this venom is astonishing and surprising , the remedy which is had from the same animal is as it were divine and miraculous , which doth not onely combat its proper poison , but beats off and enervates the strength and efficacy of all the other venoms that both the families of vegetables and minerals do furnish , provided it be well prepared , and administred in time and place . we must give notice by the bye that vipers glide and thrust themselves between stones , and in holes of the earth , yearly in the end of autumn , whenas their pasture fails them , there to abide till the beginning of the spring ; and that then they are stupid and languishing , by reason of the thickness and hardness of their skin : but as soon as they have relished and digested the blades of herbs , and the sun and air have furnished them with heat and aliment , they slide and rub themselves against rugged places to strip off their old skin ; which is no sooner off but that this animal is presently possest with the pride thereof , for it crawls nimbler then before , and signifies by its gaiety , by the quickness of its motions and by the beautious colours of its new skin , that it is really renew'd , and that the remedy which it yields may also produce in us renewing principles and faculties . the general and principal virtues which the viper possesses are , to combat strongly the venoms , and above all that of the plague , and of all the malignant and venomous diseases ; it is good against leprosie and the venereal disease ; against consumptions and the hectick fever , and finally against the scurvy , by reason that the volatil salt of this animal drives out powerfully the malignant serosities which infect the mass of the bloud , and which are the cause and maintenance of this popular disease , which makes such strange wastes in all the maritime countries , and especially in england : so that it is lawfully placed in this cordial . we are now come to the pearls , which constitute another part of this great cordial , and that augment really its rare qualities . we shall mention in this place nothing but their origine , their choice , and their virtue ; to speak of them more exactly when we shall reason upon the preparation . pearls are nothing else but the concretion into a stone of the purest substance of the muscilaginous slime that the oyster , or fish that inhabits two shells , which he hath appropriated and formed for his abode and for his conservation , ingenders . now this animal draws to himself for his maintenance the purest part of the sea-water , which contains the embryonated salt , which is the balsam of nature , and as it were the principle of all generations , which is found impregnated and replenish'd with the light of the sun and of the stars , which is communicated to it by means of the air. it seems also as if this poor fish had drain'd himself of the purest portion of his life and natural balsam , when he has ingendred several pearls , since that this precious jewel is found but in the rugged and unequal shells , whose inward fish is languishing and flabby by reason that he is deprived of that sweet sulphureous milk , and of that volatil , insipid and inodorous salt , which make together the coagulation of that beautiful object of luxury and curiosity ; but which is much more considerable for its fine physical properties , which it incloses in it self . since that both the ancients and moderns acknowledge pearls for one of the noblest cordials , which is capable of freeing the natural balsam from oppression , to re-establish the dissipated and abated strength , to rejoyce the spirits , augment courage , resist poisons , the plague and the corruption of the humors , and finally to wipe out and abolish the evil characters both of the fix'd and running gout ; by reason that they kill , by the sweetness of their milk and sulphur , the ill impressions of the sharp , pontick and saline serosities , which prick and irritate the membranous and nervous parts that serve for sensibility and motion , which they perform by the resolution of their bodies , communicating then that virtue which sweetens and wipes out the acid sharpness that did cause those diseases : which thing they also efficaciously produce in rheumatisms and the scurvy . it is this defective and dead-seeming power and efficacy that paracelsus speaks of in the sixth book of his archidoxes . we have thought fit to put the amber-griece next to the pearls , both because it comes from the sea , and that we can place it neither in the classis of animals , nor in that of vegetables , no more then in that of minerals , because it seems as it were a roving individual , which cannot be lawfully comprised in either of these three categories . for amber-griece is nothing else but the most precious of bitumens , that come from the bottom of the sea , where , according to some , it is liquid ; but hardens , digests and concocts it self both by the coagulative facultie of the maritime salt , and by the action of the heat of the sun , which resolves into vapours what there is in it of most subtil , and that works and concludes the reduction of the amber-griece to that condition it is found in on the surface of the sea-water in the east-indies , and sometimes also in america . it is with a great deal of knowledge and light that our author hath inserted this noble bitumen in his great cordial , since it is one of its principal ingredients : and that its virtues are to heat , to dry up , and resolve ; to strengthen the heart and the brains ; to recall , re-establish and augment the vital and animal spirits , by the sweet and pleasant exhalation of its volatil and sulphureous salt , which communicates , joyns , and unites it self mildly and immediately to our nature , and that penetrates into the very last digestions by the organs of respiration , and by those of the circulation of the bloud and spirits : it is the true comforter of the viscera , and is very useful to facilitate generation , since it is capable to correct those defects which happen by that subject both in male and female , because it heats , strengthens and rejoyces the one , and that it dries the moistures and ordinary superfluities of the other , when it is well and duly prepared , and administred with an exact knowledge . let us come to the parts of the vegetables , which help to the fabrick and virtue of our great cordial , and begin with the roots , which we shall name in particular : and we shall not speak of their virtues but in general , except there be some remarkable thing worthy reflexion which will oblige us to regard it , to render by that means this remedy and its author the more recommendable to those at present living , and to posterity hereafter . we have ten roots that enter this composition ; which are the angelica , the round birth-wort , the fraxinella or white dittany , the carline , the contra-yerva , the gentian , the serpentary of virginia , the tormentil , the valerian , and the zedoary . one may boldly say that these few roots contain what there can be of virtue in almost all the others , and especially in what concerns the cordial virtue and the counter-poison : for they all together and every one in particular tend to the author's aim by their efficacy , for they are bezoardic and cordial in the highest degree , because they abound in spirit , in salt and in sulphur , which are volatil and piercing , as their smells and bitterness witness . they provoke sweat , they are vulneraries , they open the obstructions of the womb , cause the dead child to issue out , and appease its irritations and suffocations ; they are good against all poisons , and admirable against all malignant diseases , and especially against the plague ; they are excellent against the bitings of mad dogs , and kill universally all sorts of worms , that ill nourishment or want of digestion may breed in us . above all we may admire the strength and virtue of three roots which have been added to this remedy , which are the carline , the contra-yerva , and the serpentary of virginia , according to the sense and approbation of two excellent persons here above mentioned . for the carline is a real gift from heaven against the plague and malignant diseases : it serves also as a philtre and loadstone to attract the strength of those that suck in the air , which is fill'd with the odour and vitious atoms which those that have eaten some of it breath forth . the contra-yerva is not less considerable , since it beareth this spanish name which signifies counter-poison : but for the excellency of its virtues and of the wonderful effects it doth produce , monardes a portuguez physician says to its commendation , that it is not onely useful to drive away all manner of poisons , ( corrosive sublimate onely excepted ) and hinder their malignity , but moreover that this root is able to unbind and root up the charm and tie of the amorous philtre . we cannot well specifie the virtue of the serpentary of virginia , because it has not as yet been written , and that experiments have not been made of all its faculties : it sufficeth that its odour and taste do sufficiently manifest its virtues , besides those which have been found by those that have put it in practice , or them that have learn'd it viva voce from the inhabitants of the american islands , amongst whom it is in great request against poisons and fevers ; but especially against the bitings of venomous and malignant serpents , in which these islands abound . the time for gathering the roots we have here is in the beginning of the spring , when they are as it were big with the idea of all the plant , which they then contain , with all its principal virtues ; it sufficeth then to know them by a little bud proceeding from the earth . the second classis of the plants which make part of this remedy are six in number ; namely , the betony , the carduus benedictus , the dittany of creet , the marjoram , the mints , and the water-germander . all these plants are chosen for this cordial with an exquisite judgment , for there is not one of them but hath some specifick virtue , besides what they possess of cordial and alexitery in common with the others . for the betony is vulnerary , and particularly dedicated to the wounds of the head , although it be hepatick , as also splenetick and hysterick , because it opens obstructions , and drives out by urines what is gross and impure . the surname of holy or blessed that has been given to the carduus that enters in this remedy witnesses enough how much it is recommendable amongst the physicians and with the vulgar , and chiefly in germany , where the common people imploy it with very great success against most part of those diseases which assault them , taking it in powder in warm wine , which provokes very much sweat and urine . but i find that the english people do use it also very efficaciously in those drinks which they call possets . in fine , its bitterness doth witness the abundance of its essential salt when as yet it is juicy , and the quantity of its volatil salt when it is grown up , and that this plant is between its flowers and seed ; for it is properly from thence that it derives its cordial , sudorifick , antivenomous virtue , which is particular and specifick to it . there are but few poets and rhetoricians that have not made use of the virtues of the dittany , and of the hart's instinct in seeking it after he is wounded , by which to make some rich comparison ; for we must acknowledge that it is an admirable plant in its effects , since there is attributed to it that of attracting , and driving the strange bodies out of wounds , of being a great counter-poison , of hastning the difficult delivery in child-birth , and being a remedy against the insultations of the womb. it was not in the first receit , no more then the white dittany or fraxinella root , but these two simples have been added to it upon counsel , by reason of their specifick excellencies and proprieties . the agreeable odour of the marjoram , which pleases equally all those that smell it , clearly witnesses that our spirits attract from it some sulphur and subtil spirit which recreates them : and whereas the functions of the spirits are made by the means of the membranous and nervous organs , which have some relation and sympathy with the brain , the stomach and the womb ; it is particularly to those parts that the subtil portion of its volatil sulphureous salt is consecrated , which strengthens , unburthens and recreates them . there is no nation which cultivates the mints with greater care and that makes better use thereof then the english . for as it is subject to indigestions either by the weakness or by the over-burthening of their stomach , so have they their principal refuge to this specifick , stomachical vegetable , which they use in their broths , or possets , and their burnt-wine . therefore we shall mention nothing more to recommend it , since that its virtues and effects are sufficiently known of all . we must now say something of the scordium or germander , which is really a plant that ought to enter in a great cordial and counter-poison , therefore our author hath not omitted it . this plant is famous in all the good antidotes , and above all in that excellent remedy called diascordium fracastorii , of which the physicians of england make daily frequent use with most happy success . and we must needs confess that this good vegetable has but few that can be compared to it : for since that it keeps the dead bodies from corruption , as galen relates , with much more reason ought it to be capable of keeping those that are living which are healthy , and contribute to the cure of them when they are sick . we shall not particularize any thing of its virtues , but onely say that it is one of the principal and most excellent counter-poisons and sudorificks that the vegetable reign possesses . these above-named plants ought to be gathered in their full estate , that is to say when that they are in their flowers below , and that the top or end of the stalk begins to make an embryonated seed to appear ; for then it is that they contain all the accomplishment of their virtue : and if they were gathered before that time , they would abound in an herbal and indigested juice , which is not as yet exalted to an essential salt , somewhat volatil , and half sulphurated ; and if one should stay longer then the said time , all the virtues of the plant would abandon the stalk to re-unite and re-inclose themselves in the seed , and then it would be too concentred , and could not be so soon reduced from power to act by our natural heat . furthermore these plants must be gathered in that time which paracelsus commands , balsamico tempore , which is a little after sun-rising , and in a dry and serene day , and not after rain . the third classis is that of flowers , which are also most worthy of the cordial , and of the choice that amongst the rest its author has made of them ; for it seems as if he had pick'd out from that beautiful enamel all which did possess the principal cordial and balsamick virtue , which is the flower of borrage , and that of bugloss , the clove-july-flower , the mace , the red rose , the rosemary-flowers , the ros solis , the saffron , the marigold , and the elder-flowers . there is then first of all the flowers of borrage and bugloss , which would not seem worthy of this cordial by reason that they have no smell at all ; but whosoever shall consider more narrowly the plants that bear those flowers , will find that they abound in a nitro-tartarous juice ; which communicates to them the virtue of purifying the venal and arterial bloud , and of rooting and wiping out the melancholy and black ideas that the spirit of life had suckt from the spleen and hypochondres , so that their blew flowers recreate the sight and the heart ; which is the reason that they have been inserted by all in the number of cordial flowers . we could wish that other nations did know as well as the english the worthy virtue of the clove-july-flowers ; without doubt they would also receive the same benefit from it : for this flower is replenished with a sulphur and mercury , which are so friendly to our spirits , that they restore and re-establish the principal functions of the heart and of the brain , since that their virtue prevails against the syncopes , the weaknesses and palpitations of the heart , and remedies the giddiness and swimming of the head , the apoplexy , the falling-sickness or epilepsie , and several other defects of the nerves , and of the brains their origine . the flower of nutmeg or mace and its fruits is one of the most precious and most healthful aromaticks that the east-indies furnish us with ; and i wonder that they were forgot in this cordial , since that this nation knows and esteems them so much : nevertheless their rare virtues have obliged us to joyn them to it , by the counsel of the wisest and most experienced . for mace and nutmegs are stomachical , and they are relatively cephalic and hysterical , they drive out the wind , help digestion , correct the ill smell of the mouth , rejoyce and strengthen the child in the mother's womb , take away the swelling of the spleen , appease loosness , and remedy the faintness and palpitations of the heart . 't is all those things which render them really worthy our great cordial . we have inserted the red rose among the flowers which compose this cordial , because that our author requires the syrup of dried red roses to help to the consistence of this composition , and that with much reason , since that the virtue of the red rose cannot but very much augment its rare qualities ; for this queen of flowers recreates and strengthens the senses and the spirits , and is useful many ways against many diseases both within and without , which seem to be indifferent according to the several indications that are taken from it by the learned doctors in physick . further it is to be noted , that there is not one simple in all physick which furnishes us with a greater number of compositions for the shop , all which bear its name , for they amount to the number of thirty seven , which do not onely serve as ornaments , but may also be imployed to many different good uses . if the rose addes any thing that is good to our cordial , assuredly the rosemary-flower does not contribute little to it , since that its odour and faculties give it among the greeks the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as one should say a flower by excellency . one may sincerely say that this flower and the leaves of the plant that bears it are a balsamical epitome , since that they are most specifick remedies against the diseases of the brain and nerves that are derived from it , that they strengthen the stomach , and correct the stench of the breath , resolve and open the obstructions of the liver , the spleen , the womb , the mesentery , and of the pancreas : in fine , they are sovereign remedies against contusions , and above all to prevent the accidents that happen after some concussions of the brain ; as experience shews by the rare effects which that admirable water of the queen of hungaria produces every day , which is nothing else but spirit of wine alkoholizated , digested and distilled three or four times upon rosemary-flowers . we have put the ros solis among the flowers , although its leaves do enter also in this composition and make the best part thereof . it seems as if that pretty little plant were more beloved of the sun then many others , since that he never dries her up in his most violent heats , but on the contrary it is seen that every particle of that down which covers its leaves , and that is as it were the beams of them , is loaden with small drops of a subtil , piercing and spiritual dew ; and this during the highest rage of the dog-star , and at high noon , when all the other plants languish and faint , it tricks up it self , and grows proud with the splendour of that beautiful planet whose name it bears . and its virtues are so considerable , that many great philosophers , and amongst the rest isaac of holland , have treated of it as of a little miracle worthy the meditation of the most skilful . this plant is vulnerary , cordial and hepatick . it is believed that it is an assured specifick against the consumption of the lungs , and against the other diseases of the breast : it is a preservative against the plague , and serves also to cure it : in fine , it is , as many certifie , a planetary and magnetick plant , which produces many surprizing effects by merely wearing it about one . saffron is one of the richest and most necessary morsels of our dish ; and that is absolutely necessary to our great cordial , by reason of those admirable virtues that this flower hides in it self . for it must needs be that saffron has something above the other drugs , since that after it hath been dried by art , it seems as if it had some inward magnetick virtue , which recalls to it self the balsam of the air , which gives it again the same weight , the same vivacity of colour , and the same activity of odour ; which is a thing worthy enough consideration . it is a sovereign cordial , and esteemed to be the soul of the lungs , by whose action the virtue of this flower is carried unto the last digestions by the circulation and respiration . it appeases pains , and gently procures sleep ; it cleanses the womb , helps child-birth , and purges the woman : in fine , it is a little panacea against the plague , and against all other malignant diseases ; it is also most happily used against the jaundise . the marigold , which is a solar flower and very cordial and alexitery , was not to be forgotten . this plant seems to be a friend to almost all the seasons of the year , since there are but few months wherein she produces not her flowers ; which have the virtue of helping the lunary purgations , to cause delivery , to provoke sweat , and succour them them that are afflicted with the jaundise . there remains the elder-flower , the last that enters in our fine medicament's dispensation . it is of a subtil and penetrating virtue , as its odour testifies , which makes that it resolves and dissipates the gross matters by sweats ; it is also anodyne and apertive : and though it has many other properties inwardly and outwardly , we will be silent , because it has them in common with the other things of which we have spoken heretofore . we have no more to say of the flowers , but onely to inform of the true time of their gathering , and two words more to prove that they ought not to be dried for this cordial , although the receipt commands it . and whereas these flowers appear in divers months of the spring , summer and fall , i desire no other observation but that those that would have them good ought always to take the first , and cause them to be gathered in dry and serene weather just at sun-rising ; provided that it hath not rain'd the day before : for it is to be noted that the first production of the plant brings forth always the best-coloured and most odoriferous flowers : and , moreover , one must have a care that the sun may have had the necessary time to wipe off and digest the superfluous moisture that the rain may have furnished the earth and the plant withall , and by consequence the flower also . but whereas all these flowers are odoriferous and subtil , and that their virtue resides in a volatil sulphureous and balsamick salt , which exhalates easily by the exiccation in the shade ; as it may easily be perceived by those that come into a place in which they are inclosed ; i am of opinion , with the counsel of the wisest and best-knowing , to put these flowers in spirit of wine in a vessel close stopp'd with another , as fast as nature and the season furnishes them , since that the subtil and gross extraction of them must be made , as we shall shew more fully when we shall reason of the preparation of all that composes our cordial . the fourth classis of vegetables are the fruits , the berries , and the aromatick seeds , which are but six , namely , the cardamome , the cubebes , the kermes-berries , the juniper-berries , the cloves and the nutmeg . we shall not here repeat needlesly the virtues that these aromaticks have in common with the other parts of plants , of which we have already made the description : we shall onely say two words by the bye concerning dry'd kermes-berry , which the author causes to enter in this remedy , which is found to be all worm-eaten , insipid , inodorous ; which witnesses that it is deprived of all the virtue that is attributed to it ; therefore we have taken in its place the fresh juice of the kermes-berries as it comes from montpellier , which is also called the syrup of kermes , and which serves throughout all europe for to make up the confection alkermes , which is so renowned for its cordial virtue , which without doubt ought to yield to that of our great cordial , though the virtue of the kermes-berry helps women in labour , re-establishes the vital spirits , dissipates the ill vapours , serves to remedy the wounded nerves , and brings forth the small-pox . we are furthermore to give notice , that we have added cloves to this cordial , as one of the best foundations of its cordial , being of a stomachical and alexitery virtue ; which we have not done but with the knowledge and consent of the most renowned in the art. now since we have not the conveniency of gathering the fruits and the aromatick seeds , we must content our selves with the choice we can make of them at the drugsters that sell them ; and we cannot judge of their age and goodness but by the taste and by the smell , and sometimes also by the colour and by the weight . but as for the juniper-berries , they must be chosen black and shining , and having inwardly a malaginous viscosity , sweet in the beginning of their taste , but which degenerates afterwards into a balsamick and bitter savour . these remarks are necessary , because that these berries contain in themselves a small treacle , and are replenished with many rare virtues , which adorn our cordial , and augment its forces and operation . the fifth classis of vegetables contains the barks , of which there is but that of sassafras wood required in the receipt . we have been counselled to adde to it the cinnamon , the limon-pill , and that of oranges , by reason that there is nothing that doth so suddenly rejoyce the heart and the brains , and that more resists poisons and corruption , then these noble barks or rinds , when they are well chosen , and employ'd before they have lost that excellent smell which resides in their superficial skin , which is nothing but an oil and a volatil salt glewed together with a little moisture , in the limon and orange ; but the cinnamon has nothing but its pure aethereal spirit animated with a sulphur and a salt , that have not their like amongst all the aromaticks , by reason of their subtilty and sphear of activity , of their odour and virtue , which has with justice acquired to them the right of entring in this great cordial , since that the author himself wills that the syrup of juice of limons be added to it , to help its preservation and consistence . as for what concerns the sassafras and its bark , i am of opinion to put its wood in also , by reason that the bark furnishes not sufficiently alone ; for i have made the anatomy of this wood by distillation , and found that the wood did yield a spirituous water , and an oil far more abounding and more excellent then the bark alone , which has lost upon the sea that which it had of most subtil and best , in lieu that the rest of the virtue hath preserved , and concentred it self in the wood. the sixth classis yields us the woods of aloes , and of sassafras which we have newly mentioned : we shall have but two words to say in this place in praise of the virtues of the wood of aloes , by reason of its scarcity , since there are many hundreds of apothecaries which have never handled any , and that know it but by hear-say , and by the reading of their dispensatory . but i confess that it is more common here in london then in many other places , and that it is had here a great deal better , and better qualified , and especially at mr. box's , a drugster in cheapside , in whose shop i have always found what there is of most rare and most precious in druggistry . the arabians and the germans call it paradise-wood , by reason of its excellency . it grows in zeilan , malaca , sumatra , and through all the coast of choromandel , where the indians prize it and rate it equal with gold and silver , according to its divers degrees of goodness . this wood abounds in an oleaginous and gummy substance , which is almost of the same nature with a sort of benzamin , but much more cordial , stomachical & cephalick : for it generally strengthens all the viscera , and especially the brain ; it rejoices and re-animates the spirits of the heart , and those of the womb ; it remedies the syncopes and languishings , and has the property of killing all sorts of worms ( which engender in the body ) by the abundance of its bitter volatil salt. it is put in the cephalick powders to be applied outwardly , and in the epithemes that are applied upon the heart , and upon the pulses of the temple-arteries , and those of the arms , because that it recreates the senses by the excellency of its smell ; which is the reason that our excellent author hath put it in good quantity in his cordial , by the knowledge he had of its rare properties and admirable virtues . we have as yet two other matters to speak of which are taken from the vegetables , that enter in our remedy , and help toward its preparation ; which are sugar and the spirit of wine . the first serves as a body to receive and retain the dry things and the extractions which compose this cordial , and to preserve its virtue , as we shall say hereafter : and the second serves for that liquor that the chymists call menstruum , to extract the virtue of all the parts of the vegetables which compound it . we shall not speak of it in this place but in general terms , because that we reserve to speak of it with more advantage when we shall treat of the preparation . sugar is come to be at present one of the greatest delights of the table : and truly it is not without reason , since that this sweet salt which doth so suddenly vegetate , and that is found shut up in its time and place within a reed or cane , participates of abundance of rare proprieties : for we daily experiment , that this indian salt is capable of receiving in its self the odor , the taste and the colour of fruits , and of preserving them from one year to another , and longer , as is very well known by those that excel in the art of preserving . but if the sugar produces so rare an effect for pleasure , what doth it not doe also in the pharmacie for the useful part , whenas the apothecary cannot make any conserves , syrups , trochisks , electuaries , confections , and many other things which are most necessary for the sick , without that pleasant medium , which preserves and receives the virtue of all the species that art entrusts to its custody ? the choice is of that which is the most purified , and that retains less of the greaziness and gross viscosity which does accompany it in its origine before its preparation . therefore our author hath commanded to take the white sugar-candy , whose lucid and clear crystallization proves evidently the purity thereof . it is of an incisive , attenuating , detersive virtue ; it lenifies the harshness of the throat and of the trache-artery , gently consumes the slimes and viscosities of the stomach , cleanses the breast and the lungs , and appeases the painful insultations of the cough . these are the motives which have driven sir walter rawleigh to render this delightful salt the depository of the substance and virtue of that which makes the making up of his great cordial . the aqua-vitae , or spirit of wine , is nothing else but the spirituous and aethereal part of that charming liquor which is prest from the grapes of the vine , and that has been exalted by the means of fermentation . there have been several names given to this admirable spirit , by reason of its excellency and wonderful effects : for it has been dignified with that of most subtil and incorruptible essence ; not forgetting that of water of life , that all the world attributes to it , of spirit of wine , celestial sulphur , bezoardical vegetable sulphur , the celestial menstruum , heavenly water , the heaven of raymondus lully , the key of the philosophers , an aethereal body compounded of fire and water , universal balsam or liquor , the life of the great vegetable , and different other nominations , which sufficiently prove , with those we have already named , that this spirit is the fittest liquor of all those which are either natural or artificial , that is capable of extracting the virtues of that which enters in this cordial , without any loss of their seminal faculties , and without leaving behind in the substance of the vegetable things which compound it any remnant of their middle life's virtue ; as we shall prove it with more energie when we shall treat of its preparation . we shall content our selves for the present to make known that its virtues have oblig'd our author to make use of it to that purpose . all those that know this spirit well , say that it has a most piercing virtue , but that it is not quite so hot as the vulgar imagines , since that it resolves the hottest tumors , and appeases the pains of burning . it s incorruptible nature renders it recommendable , both because it preserves it self , and that it preserves also all other animate or inanimate beings : for it resists rottenness , corruption , and the simple alteration , since that it preserves also the tenderest and moistest fruits from that disunion that is next and infallible to them . it hinders the coagulation of the bloud in sprains , and contusions , if it be suddenly appli'd , and resolves with ease that which was already coagulated , if its application has been too long retarded . it dissipates and volatilizes that which is most gross , hardest , which is called schirrous , and that which is most running and material , without borrowing of any other assistance then its proper virtue . so that we may lawfully conclude , that the spirit of wine is a mere epitome of what there is of most excellent and virtuous in all the vegetable reign : and that it is for that same reason that our excellent author hath made use of it for the extractions of this great and rare remedy . having ended the description of the vegetables , we must also give that of the minerals that enter in this celebrated remedy , which are five , namely , the oriental bole , the coral , the unicornu minerale , the gold , and the sealed earth . there are some descriptions of this cordial in which gold doth not enter : but that description which is lawfully attributed to our author contains a preparation of gold ; which is the reason we would not omit it , since that what we shall say concerning this noble metall will make appear that it ought absolutely to enter in this composition . we have also added to it the mineral unicorn , for those reasons that we shall produce hereafter when we shall mention it . and because that there is found such a numerous difference of species of sealed earth , we have thought fit to associate some oriental bole , well chosen , to that earth which will have been found to be the best , to the end that the virtue of the one should rather be augmented , then fail in any of the points of the exact proportion that the one and the other may contribute to our great cordial . the oriental bole , or the bole of armenia , is a kind of pale reddish earth , impregnated with mineral , solar and martial vapours , from whence are derived to it its principal· faculties and its most excellent operations , by reason of the nobility of the embryonated sulphur which this earth contains . the best is that which doth not participate of sand , but that melts down easily like quick lime when water is cast on it , or that resolves and melts like to a fat substance when it is once moistned in the mouth . it dries much , it is astringent , it strengthens ; therefore it is happily used to stop a flux of what nature soever it be , to thicken and fix the liquid and fluid humours , to resist corruption , and to beat back the strengths and attaches of poison . all that has been said of it is the reason why it is employ'd so usefully against the diarrhoea , against the dysentery , the immoderate flux of women , catarrhs , the spitting of bloud , and against the flux of bloud both of the nostrils and wounds . and whereas the sealed earth is but a sort of bole , reduced into little pellets or small cakes , which are marked with some figure or character ; that which is had in the island of lemnos , which we have by the commerce of constantinople , of a reddish or grayish colour , is chosen to be the best . the reddish is named by some the fat or greace of the sun , or gold , by reason of the portion of the embryonate solar sulphur of which it participates : and the grayish is named the fat or greace of the moon , or silver , because of the embryonate lunary sulphur which communicates its virtue to it . the first is consecrated to the heart , and the second to the liver and brains . besides all the virtues that they have in common with the oriental bole , they have over and above that of being truly cordial , of driving out poisons , to resolve the curded bloud , strengthen the heart , the brains and the ventricle , dilate and clarifie the mass of bloud , and to provoke sweat. insomuch that its principal uses are against the plague , against malignant fevers , against the biting of venomous animals , and to take away the venomous impression of wounds : which proves invincibly that it is not one of the smallest pieces of this great cordial . we shall not idlely spend our time here in relating the frivolous opinions of those that have thought , or yet believe , that coral is soft in the bottom of the sea , since that we are most certain of the contrary , by the relation of those that dive for it . the coral therefore is nothing else but a stony vegetation which degenerates into a tree . the most excellent is the red , although there be some white , and some black , and also of other colours , as may be seen in the closets of the curious . one must chuse that which is of the deepest colour , esteemed to be the male , as the white is called the female . the virtues of coral are , to drie , to cool , it is astringent , to strengthen , especially the heart , and then the ventricle and the liver ; it purifies the bloud ; it is by consequence excellent and specifick against the plague , against poisons , and against all sorts of malignant fevers : it rejoices man , it stops and appeases all fluxes either of the belly , the womb , or of the other parts which are dedicated for generation . it is reported also that if ten grains of it be given in woman's milk to a child newly born , that it is a precaution against the epilepsie and convulsion . there are many naturalists , and amongst the rest paracelsus , that say that the red coral hung about the neck prevails against frights , against witchcraft , inchantments , poisons , the epilepsie , melancholy , the insultations and attaches of daemons , and against thunder . it is for certain in the red coral that a solar tincture is to be found , since that all the rare effects that it produces cannot be had else-where but from that sulphur mineral and embryonated , which the gold communicates to it in abundance ; which renders it most worthy to be in our great remedy , and causes those brave lights which our author did possess to be the more remarked . gold is without contradiction the most desirable and the most precious portion of metalls , which are the fruits of the mineral predestination . it is doubtless the most perfect of those children of the earth . it is most solid , yellow , compact and close in it self , and is compounded with principles that are digested in the most sovereign degree , and which are by consequence fix'd and permanent , as its incorruptibility proves . the chymists give it the name of the sun , because that they believe it hath some correspondency and harmonical relation not onely with the celestial sun of the great world , but also by reason that it has a sympathetical affinity with the sun of the little world , which is the heart of man. they call it also the king of metalls , because it is their prince , as that which is the most pure and most fix , as also that which possesses the most eminent and most necessary virtues , since that it is wholly dedicated to the heart , which is the king of the noblest functions of life . for gold is held for the most sovereign cordial , because it re-establishes and augments the radical moisture and the natural heat , which have their principal seat in the heart : which is the reason that it may be given with success in all diseases in which the spirits are dissipated and the strength weakned . it purifies also the mass of the bloud , since that it dissipates and drives out by sensible and insensible inspiration that which there was of naught and corrupted in that which is called the humours , and which are , to speak properly , nothing else but those things which result from the diversity of the alterations of the bloud , that tends by this ill disposition to corruption and rottenness , and by consequence to the destruction of the subject which it nourishes and vivifies . but this noble metall must be so prepared and decorporated , that it may doe the emanation of the rays of the virtue of its central sulphur , as we shall reason upon it , when we shall discourse of the preparation . the last we are to treat of is the unicornu minerale , otherwise called white load-stone , and some would have it to be the unicorn's horn. but we must speak but merely of its generation and virtues , in no wise medling with that diversity of opinions that the most eminent authors have had concerning this subject . for the most skilfull and best knowing have thought it fit that this mineral production should be added to the great cordial , though it was not inserted in the first descriptions , notwithstanding those wonderful properties it is endow'd with render it most worthy . this wonderful mineral drug is nothing else but the concretion or petrifaction of a fluid milky substance , which contains in it self the congealing and lapidifying ferment , which slides and insinuates it self in the cavities of the womb of the earth , where it invests it self with the figure , odour , colour and consistence , according to the nature of the things that it finds there : as it is proved by the collections that the most curious observers of nature have made of it ; as also by the experience of its rare virtues , which are equal with those of the oriental bole , and those of the sealed earth , since the grandees are agreed that it resists poisons , the plague and malignant fevers , insomuch that a physician of this age did make the pouder of this mixt pass for a specifick against all fevers , and got repute in the city of paris by several rare effects . we shall speak no more of it , to prevent tedious repetitions , and so pass from the description of all the ingredients of our remedy , to what we have promised to say concerning its general and particular preparation . if we have had hitherto just cause to praise sir walter rawleigh for having caus'd so many good things , and which possess so many virtues , to enter into his cordial ; we must nevertheless confess , that we have far more reason to augment his elogies , by reason of the science and experience which he hath shewn in the preparation and perfecting of this grand remedy . but considering that it is composed of things which are of different natures , and that are more or less fix or volatil , it has been necessary to work with a great deal of art , and with a most exact reflexion upon all that composes this remedy , to preserve that which ought to be of good in the most subtil , and withall to extract the essential virtue which was concentred in the grossest . now we have said heretofore that there were three classes in this composition , which contain the animal , the vegetable , and the mineral : we must also now make appear those reasons which have oblig'd our celebrated author to prepare them in that manner ; to which we shall adde also the meditations and thoughts that we have had on this subject , for the better preserving the volatil , and to open the most fix ; that the union of the virtue of the productions of these three families should be made with all the exactness therein required , according to his majesty's command , and the intentions of those illustrious persons which we have formerly named . whereas no intire animals do enter into our cordial , therefore we shall not speak here but of the parts of those animals which contribute to this brave and sovereign composition . we shall treat therefore of the preparation of harts-horns , of that of vipers , of that of musk and pearls , and , in fine , of that of amber-griece . we shall not say any thing concerning the bezoar-stone , since we have already said that it is a magisterium perfected in the ventricle of that animal which produces it ; and that besides this stone has no need of any other preparation then to be reduced into an impalpable pouder , for this operation . now whereas the receipt of this remedy requires harts-horn burn'd or calcin'd to whiteness ; we cannot wonder enough at this way of proceeding , since that those of the least capacity know that the calcination carrieth away the volatil salt from the calcined body , and that by consequence it strips it from all its cordial virtue , which cannot be contain'd but in this sulphureous and volatil salt : for the most skilful naturalists , and the most experienced of all artists , who have grown old in the meditation , and in the labour to make the anatomy of natural things , thereby to know the better the virtue , say all with one voice , that the soul and virtue of all these sublunary mixts resides properly and perfectly in what they contain of volatil salt , and that it is particularly and chiefly in the animals that this is found ; since the proof of it is clearly evident in their distillations , which furnish a great abundance of spirit , oil and volatil salt , and which leave behind nothing in the bottom of the retort , after the last action of fire , but that which may be called legitimately a mere caput mortuum , or dead earth ; since that this calcined body contains nothing that participates of the saline nature , which is the foundation and the centre of all the powers and virtues , by reason that all salt is nothing but a close spirit , as also all spirit but an open'd salt. for all the seminal powers and all the chiefest virtues of animals , and of their parts , proceeds from light as from the father , from the air as from the medium , and from the salt as from the son , and all three together concur to the generation of the products of nature . we have advanced all this onely to make it appear the better , that it is needless ( if not without reason ) that all the ancient dogmatists , and sir walter rawleigh after them , have introduced the burn'd harts-horn in almost all cordials . now what we have newly said makes appear that the cordial virtue is no longer there , and therefore cannot be imploy'd in them but as an astringent earth , and a spongeous body , rarefi'd and drie ; the better to retain and preserve the volatil , spirituous , sulphureous and saline matters , which are extracted out of other ingredients . it may be also objected , that the calcined harts-horn is not incapable of virtue , since it can alter the ill fermentations of the stomach , cure the diarrhoea's , and also stay the bloudy-fluxes : but she produces these effects onely by reason that she kills and mortifies the sharpness and acidities which proceed from the indigestions and base fermentations , in the same manner that she quells the acidity of saline and vitriolick spirits and that of vinegar , when they have been digested together , and drawn off again by distillation , as insipid as water , by reason that this rarefi'd , dry and spongeous body is deprived of all saltness , and desire of re-furnishing it self with that salt which did make the acidity in those liquors . it is therefore for this onely reason that it has been put in the composition of this cordial . but since that the volatil salt of harts-horn is alexitery and cordial , and that it most powerfully contributes to the rare virtues of this cordial , we have also added to it some harts-horn philosophically calcined , in the vapours of the digestions , extractions , distillations and circulations of spirit of wine , which serves for menstruum to extract the virtue of the parts of the vegetables which compose it ; in which place this horn softens it self by little and little , swells and dilates , by the moist and spirituous subtility which penetrates it , and renders it friable and capable of being put in pouder with ease , with the preservation of its cordial virtue . but whereas there are some that think that the greatest part of the volatil salt is gone out of it , and has communicated it self to the spirit of wine , which is very likely , it has been thought necessary to adde to it the pouder of harts-horn rasp'd without any other preparation , that the volatil salt , which is the true counterpoison and the true cordial , should not be wanting . not but that one might adde to it the volatil salt of harts-horn drawn by distillation : but it was not put in by reason of its empyreumatick and most ungrateful taste . the author of our great cordial , and those that after him have work'd in the composition of this remedy , have almost always added the prepared pearls to this cordial , and also sometimes they have open'd and dissolved the bodies of the pearls by means of fixed acides , as distilled vinegar , juice of limons , spirit of sulphur , and that of vitriol ; and did pretend to have reduced by these means the pearls into a salt , or into a dissoluble magistery , which were more capable of making their virtue appear . but all those liquors that are endow'd with a fixed acidity , do intimately joyn themselves unto the bodies of the dissolved pearls , and their salt remains , which augments the weight of the dissolved body by a fourth part and better : which thing makes it appear that it is not a true cordial magistery . therefore we have thought fit to proceed in another manner , which is to dissolve the pearls with a menstruum , which may be drawn off again with the same taste and the same dissolving virtue that it had before . and whereas this spirit leaves behind it its odour and taste in the magistery of pearls , it must be dissolved again in equal parts of cinnamon and rose-water , which must be drawn off again in mary's bath : and thus reiterate the same with new waters , until the magistery have lost the smell and taste of the volatil spirit of venus , which is that admirable menstruum , onely capable of furnishing to physick , dissoluble , pleasant and subtil magisteries , capable of penetrating unto the very last digestions , and carrying along with them the virtue of those cordials to which they are associated . and it is in this manner that we have prepared the pearls for the composition of this great cordial . we have no other observation touching the vipers , but onely that they must be stript of their skins , and put to drie with the hearts and livers in a glass bottom in mary's bath , until they be fit to be poudered . we say they must be thus used , because that this kind of drying takes little or nothing of their volatil salt from them , and that in case there were any thing exhaled from them , the chymical apothecary may retrive it in the water which drops from the head that covers the body . but when the vipers are dried in an oven , there scarce remains any virtue in the flesh , which remains tough like hemp , and almost insipid ; whereas that which has been dried in mary's bath is easily put in pouder , and has a taste which declares that its salt is still in it . part of it is put with the vegetables to be extracted , and there is some of it added also to the pouders , to give a body , and augment the virtue of the remedy , as we have already mentioned in the discourse concerning harts-horn . the musk now remains , which ought to be put in pouder with some white sugar-candy in a marble mortar , the better to disunite its parts ; and afterwards open it by digestion and circulation in a vaporous bath with spirit of wine in a pelican : then the spirit must be drawn off again with a most gentle heat of the same bath , unto the consistency of a thick syrup , or half extract , which after must be mixed with the other things . as concerning amber-griece , it must also be pouder'd in a stone-mortar with some white sugar-candy , and that so long till there be as it were a perfect union of those two substances , which are not without great trouble allied together without a good uniting medium , by reason that sugar is a vegetable salt which can be dissolved and inseparably joyn'd with water , which thing cannot be done with amber-griece , because it is a fat and melting bitumen , which has more connexion and analogie with oils . now this medium can be nothing else but the subtil and fiery oil of rectified wine , and thrice passed over most pure salt of tartar in mary's bath . therefore this mixture of sugar and amber-griece must be put in a glass bottle , and pour over it of this noble menstruum until it over-tops it the breadth of four fingers : then close the vessel , and place it in the vaporous bath until all be united by dissolution : then it must be filtrated through cotton into a glass vial ; and as soon as it is cooled , those three bodies united together make a butter or cream which is most delicious and pleasing , which unites it self to all sorts of liquors , and which of it self is already a great cordial . and thus the amber-griece must be prepared for our operation . all the sorts of vegetables which enter in this cordial are almost of the same nature , since they are almost all endow'd with some pleasant and aromatick smell , which together with their bitter and piercing taste prove that they participate of a good quantity of sulphureous volatil salt : therefore we must have recourse unto some menstruum which may be of power to extract this salt , and disunite the mucilaginous , balsamick and resinous juice , which retains and preserves the virtue of the different parts of the plants even after their exsiccation . this menstruum can be nothing else then aqua-vitae or spirit of wine , which burthens it self most easily with the essential tinctures of vegetables . therefore all this different gathering must be put into a gross pouder , if the materials are drie ; or if green , cut them very small with a pair of shears , and cast it all in a great vessel of glass with a narrow mouth , and pour upon it for the first time some spirit of wine very well rectifi'd , that it may load it self with the chief virtue and with the proper balsamick tincture of the ingredient . it must be digested in mary's bath , in a moderate heat , during two natural days . then it must be strained and prest cold , and the residue of the expression be put in the glass-vessel again : then the spirit of wine must be extracted from the tinctures in the vaporous bath , until it have acquired the consistence of an extract somewhat liquid . then pour upon the expression the spirit which has been drawn off , so digest and extract as before ; and thus continue till the species afford no more tincture . then the rest must be boiled in a good quantity of water in a still , and distill it , that in case there were some remnant of volatil virtue , it might be received in the receiver . and when the distilled water comes forth without smell and taste , cease the fire , for it is a sign that there is nothing left but what is fix , which concentres it self in the decoction left behind in the still . this decoction must be strained and pressed warm , then evaporate the decoction in a brass pan upon an open fire to the consistence of an extract somewhat liquid , and it will be found filled with a salted bitterness , which shews that the water has dissolved and extracted by the violence of the ebullition all the fixed salt which was in the vegetables . which thing hath appeared to be very true in this operation : for whereas our celebrated author requires but the extraction with spirit of wine , he doth also desire that the rest should be calcined , and the fix salt extracted out of it to be joyned to the extract , that he might have the whole virtue of those things which he imploys in his remedy . but if he had known the vegetables very well , and understood also that the sulphur being once separated by the spirit of wine , there were nothing left that could hinder the dissolution of the fix salt by means of the water , he had most assuredly acted in the same manner we have done : for after the exsiccation and calcination of the remainders , we have made a lye of the ashes , and there was not a scruple of salt remaining , which is twenty grains out of all that great heap of vegetables , because that it was all passed into the extract with the water . this gross extract being finished , it must be mixed with the first , and put them both together in a body or a great bottle , and pour over them to the height of twelve inches of that spirit which served in the extraction , and digest and circulate them together in the gentle heat of the vaporous bath during four and twenty hours , then filtre the liquor , and put the lees into the vessel again ; and thus continue to digest , circulate , extract and filtrate , until the rest of the extract communicate nor give any more colour to the menstruum . after this all the filtrated tincture must be put in a body , and draw off the spirit from it in mary's bath , in a very mild heat , so that the head do not heat , and this for two reasons . the first is , that the spirit that mounts is thereby the more subtil ; and the other , that the same spirit should not carry away with it self by means of a more vigorous heat the best part of the sulphur and volatil salt of the extract , which is kept down by virtue of the fix salt , which has joyned and united it self with them by means of digestion and circulation with the menstruum , which has been the uniting means of it . this extract made after this manner is the basis or foundation of our cordial , and it containeth radically the essence of all the vegetables which have been imployed to make it . we want nothing more now but to make a necessary remark upon the preparation and extraction of the wood of aloes and aromaticks , which abound in a volatil salt , oleaginous , sulphureous , balsamick and resinous ; which cannot be extracted out of bodies of this nature , but by the means of a pure and subtil spirit , such as that which has been drawn off from the course extracts : for this spirit will dissolve by its subtil and penetrating faculty the rosins of this said wood and aromatick . so that to perform it well , there needs but to proceed simply on , in the same manner as has been done before , in the digestion and filtration of the last extract . there is nothing left then unspoken but a caution which must be given concerning the mixture of this resinous extract with the sugar , the extracts , the pouders and the syrups ; which must be performed by dissolving it gently with some of its proper spirit in a pan , and thus unite it gently with some syrup before it be joyned to the rest , otherwise it would remain in lumps , and would not dissolve in the stomach with ease enough to communicate the rays of its virtue , as it is necessary it should be , citò , tutò , & jucundè , when it is necessary to cause a counter-poison or cordial to operate . we have but the third classis of our materials , which are the minerals , upon which we have to treat of the order and dignity of their preparation ; which are the bole , the coral , the gold , & the sealed earth . but we shall speak here but of the bole and of the sealed earth , which go hand in hand in their preparations , which are done both the same way . then we shall speak also of gold , the principal subject , which will make appear how much art helps nature . for we shall say nothing of the coral's preparation , because that we should to that effect hint on that we have already said in the classis of animals or of their parts , when we have discours'd of pearls and of their preparations . we shall not mention any thing in this place concerning the nature of these earths , since we have treated of it heretofore : we shall onely say ; that there must be had some of the first liquid extraction of those vegetables which enter in our great cordial , and with it water these two earths in a glass body , till they be reduced into a liquid pap , then draw off again this liquor by distillation with the gentle heat of a vaporous bath , and thus continue for seven times , or rather till the artist can find out by the taste of these earths that they are sufficiently impregnated with the savour and virtue of the sulphureous volatil salt of the cordial plants : and then it is time to leave off , drying what is in the vessel in the same degree of heat , till there appeareth no more moisture in the head of the lembick , nor a drop of liquor pass through the neck of the lembick . these earths thus impregnated must afterwards be put in a glass vial , which must be stopped very well , to enter them afterwards in our composition . this operation is to separate and open the compact and close parts of those earths , and to imbibe and replenish with an alexitery virtue the atomes which constitute them , that they may the sooner be reduced from power to act by the action of the stomach , when it is necessary to make use of the remedies . before we begin to speak of the preparation of gold , it seems to be necessary to speak two words before-hand , to give to understand that this metall may be so well opened by the means of chymistry , as to be capable of producing some virtue in us , although it might be reduced again to its first metallick body : for there are many which are of opinion , that though this fix body be dissolved and altered by preparation , nevertheless it is reducible into its body , and by consequence not capable to produce in us that virtue which the ancients and moderns do attribute to it . but we must clear this business by the demonstration of the dissolution of other metalls into salt , or rather into vitriol , as silver , copper , tin , lead and iron , which nevertheless are most commonly capable of being reduced again into metall : which hinders not but that the most skilful physicians make of it daily more and more , by reason that their study and experience makes them discover those rare virtues which these open'd metalls produce in chronical diseases , which are the most rooted and stubborn . now all these metallick vitriols have different tastes and colours , as also they have all some specifick virtues , as it appears by their effects . which obliges us to say , that since gold , though of a fix nature , can be so prepared and opened by the means of certain things which are daily used both as aliments and medicaments , and that it can be reduc'd into a vitriolick salt , which hath its colour and its specifick taste and virtue ; why should it be deprived of being put in use , because of its reducibility into metall ? not but that we believe , with the wisest , that if this noble metall was once so opened and radically dissolved , in such wise that it could never be reduced into metall again by any chymical artifice , i say , we should believe that gold thus uncorporified and volatilized would acquire a far more ample sphere of activity and virtue : but notwithstanding all this , we do not omit to attribute to the other preparation that virtue which has been known by redoubled experiences , first having been well and duly prepared , and moreover first imbu'd , impregnated and fill'd with the internal and central sulphur of antimony , which is had in the true tincture of the glass of that mineral , extracted according to basilius valentinus . and it is of this preparation of gold which we have disposed in one part of this great cordial , to render it accomplish'd in all respects . we shall now lay down some of those remarks which are necessary to this operation , which may very well pass for one of the most pleasant and most considerable of all the rare chymical pharmacie . the artist therefore must chuse the purest gold , which yet ought to have in it something of allay ; and therefore he must pass it or melt it down with antimony , whose sulphur consumes all which is heterogeneal to it , as its great sweetness , ductibility , high colour and splendour does evidently testifie , after it has passed this examination . but he must not stop there ; for this metallick body is too fix and compact , to be dissolved without the help of the most corroding spirits , which we will not use . he must therefore open and separate that strong union of this body , and reduce it into a spongeous and penetrable body , whose atomes may be penetrated and dissolved by means of common water , enriched or endowed with ordinary salts : which cannot be done but by the amalgaming with crude mercury , and reiterated calcination with the common sulphur , which dilate the gold , and render it so spongeous and open'd , that one ounce of this metall so prepared makes a greater quantity then half a pound of gold in an ingot or wedge . gold being brought to this pass , must be dissolved with that amiable and familiar dissolvent , by a simple digestion , and a light ebullition towards the end , in a glass body in sand ; and there will not remain a grain undissolved . the liquor must be filtrated : and if any be desirous to make a fine crocus of gold , or a pouder of gold impalpable and subtil , let them take one part of this filtrated liquor , and precipitate it with volatil spirit of wine , and the liquor that was yellow will change it self into a green colour , and the gold will precipitate it self to the bottom of the vessel , into a brown pouder , which must be edulcorated by several reiterated lotions , until it become insipid , and afterwards it must be digested by three natural days in tartarized spirit of wine in a gentle heat of mary's bath , and lastly it must be kept during three days in rose & cinnamon-water , then filtrate and drie it . this pouder thus prepared is a great sudorifick and cordial : but what we are going to mention is far better . the remainder of the filtrated liquor , which contains the dissolved gold , must be evaporated in a glass vessel of a flat and large form , until all the salts be very drie ; then they must be put in pouder and thrown in a glass circulatory ; then pour over them to the height of four fingers of tartarized alkohol of wine , place the vessel in a heat of bath , and this spirit will attract to it self all the dissolution of the gold , and invest it self with a gilded yellow very pleasant : which must be separated from the salts by inclination or filtration ; and pour upon them some new spirit , and digest , extract and filtrate so often that the menstruum be no more tinctured . then must all the liquors be mixed together , and draw off the superfluous spirit in mary's bath , in a most gentle heat , and there will remain in the bottom of the vessel a yellow tincture of a high colour , imbu'd with the vitriolick salt of the gold , as its crabbed and bitter taste doth witness clearly . and i durst say that those who have made use of this rare remedy , have always seen and taken notice of its most surprising effects : for sometimes this noble medicament purgeth by stools , sometimes by vomits , and sometimes it doth neither , but powerfully provokes urines and sweats ; and most commonly it acts by no sensible operation at all : but its virtue must be taken notice of in augmenting the strength of the sick , and thus natura corroborata est omnium morborum medicatrix . those that understand the fixedness of gold will wonder , it may be , at the dissolving of this metall in common water , and with corporal salts : but they are far more wonderfully surprised , that the spirit of wine , which in no wise acts upon the salts , doth nevertheless attract to it self all that gold which they had dissolved , and which render it capable of being mixed with the drinks , and all the poor sick person 's other remedies , in whose bodie it penetrates and insinuates it self to the extremities , thereby to correct what might be there of hurtful , and by that means re-establish health . and if this simple preparation produces such rare effects , what may not be expected from those noble and high operations which volatilize gold in such a manner , that it is impossible to bring it to a body again ? but this being beside our present subject , we shall mention it no farther . but we cannot conclude without giving notice , that it is with little benefit that in several places gold in leaf is used in confections and in cordial powders , without any foregoing preparation , which augments rather their price then their virtue : except some would say that there are found in the stomach such strange fermentations and alterations , that they produce liquors that are capable of acting upon this metall in leaf , and reduce it from power to act . but that is too far forth , and we want proofs of these pretended effects . we believe that what we have newly said justifies in some manner our author , or those that have added gold well prepared to this noble remedy of which we treat . and all that we have said concerning the preparation both of the animal , vegetable and mineral , doth evidently shew how much alt is capable of helping nature , since there are things in these three reigns , which constitute her , which cannot communicate their virtue , nor make the irradiation of their inward powers , if they have not first been opened by the keys of chymical operations , with the preservation of their seeds and power , and especially in what concerns the minerals and metalls . let us now come to our third proof , which is to shew that this great cordial is absolutely necessary to the maritime and northerly nations , and especially to the inhabitants of islands , which we must establish by reasoning in general , and by demonstration in particular . what we have to say in general is , that the sea-bordering and northerly countries , and , above all , islands , are exposed to an inconstancy of winds , which agitate the air in so many different manners , that it is impossible for the heat of the sun to act with all the reach of its power , for the production of vegetables in general , which is the allotted aliment for animals both rational and irrational : which is prov'd in that those countries produce no grapes ripe enough to make wine withall , which is the juice that participates most of a volatil sulphureous spirit . this is proved also , by reason that the climate is not capable of giving time necessary for the ripening of the best fruits , and specially those which ought to have some high relish , some kind of perfume and exquisite smell , which are nothing else but the results and true tokens of the exaltation of the salt and sulphur , and of the perfect ripening of those fruits , that do languish in those cold countries , and that are replenished but with a superfluous and excremental moisture , which cannot be dissipated , much less digested , by reason of the weakness and little durance of the heat of the day , and by reason also chiefly of the coldness , moistness and freshness of the night . now if we have demonstrated that the vegetables cannot be perfect , by reason of the imperfection of their volatil salt and embryonated sulphur ; we may also say the same of the brutes , which are ingendred in the compass of those regions , and which are nourished and entertained with those vegetables that grow there : for although those animals be fat and tender , yet do they not contain a nourishing juice , having the taste and virtue to nourish and maintain , as those of the more easterly countries ; therefore their flesh is more flabby , more viscous , and fuller of moisture , it is sooner corrupted , by reason that it is not furnished sufficiently with this balm of life , which is that volatil sulphureous salt , proceeding from light and heat , which could not be concentred in them , by reason of the situation of their native soil . there are also to be considered in general the qualities of most part of those waters which water those countries , and which serve for nourishment to the plants and animals : for whereas they are not enlightned and purified by a lively light of the sun , and by a serenity of the heavens , by reason of the almost continual opposition of the vapours arising from the freshness and moisture both of the territory and seas that compass it round , they also are not furnished with that subtilizing , igneous , celestial and vital spirit , which is the radical balsam of nature in general , and of every individual in particular ; which is the reason that they are more crazie and weightier , and replenished with a dull and hurtful salt , since they are not deprived of the bad impressions and evil ferments which the indigestion , alteration , and the corruption of those matters which are daily consumed have printed in them , and of which they cannot be deprived but by a competent degree of heat . now if the water is ill qualified , there is no doubt but that the air is also less pure then else-where , since that as it is the medium between the seat and the purifying heat proceeding from heaven , it is also fill'd in reference to the climes , with so many gross and indigested vapours , that this heat hath not power enough to dissipate and rectifie , during the fairest day , those sluggish , gross and viscous vapours which are furnished by the cloudier days , as also by the night , which hinder that brave and excellent action of heat , which is absolutely necessary to produce the goodness and purity in beings . this preceding reason causeth this natural conclusion , that the inhabitants of the countries which are northerly and bordering upon the seas must needs be subject to many diseases popular and particular to their climat , which are scarcely known by the people of other regions , and by the physicians that govern them . for since that they breath in an intemperate air , and fill'd with the gross and humid atoms of the vapours ; that they drink indigested waters , that are heavy , and fill'd with a salt that is dull and ill-fermented ; that they eat vegetables and animals , which already partake in themselves of the defects of these general springs ; it also implies of necessity that they must partake of those bad productions which result thereof , according to more or less of the ill impression made in them , both in the moment of their birth , and in the course of their life . therefore it is absolutely necessary to make use of something that may be able to combat all those evils which we have newly mentioned , both to preserve the health of those that enjoy it , and to correct and re-establish the health of those which do but linger and languish under these inconveniences . which causes us to say , that the great cordial is wholly necessary for the northerly and sea-bordering people , and specially for the inhabitants of islands , by reason that all its ingredients are filled with a concentred light , which can remedy all their evils . but after this general reasoning , we must come to a particular demonstration , which we shall apply by examples , with the same order in which we have spoken in general . in the first place , as concerning the air and the winds that reign with a perpetual inconstancy , all those that live in those countries know too well by their own experience , that the fogs and the humid vapours of the morning , as also those in the evening , which the french call the sereine , do so alter the head and breast , that one can scarcely be cautious enough , in whatsoever season it be , to prevent defluxions and rheums , catarrhs , troublesome coughs and colds , which commonly draw after them rheumatisms , wandering pains , asthma's , the lungs disease and the consumption . now all this proceeds onely from the defect of digestion , which takes its beginning from a hurtful superfluity which is mix'd with the air ; which men take in and breath out continually , there being never a part of the body of man , be it never so close and obscure , but what is replenish'd with the air we take in , be it good or bad . and to this purpose one of the greatest philosophers of this age hath most learnedly said , est in aere occultus vita cibus , when it is well purified , and abounding in a balsamick , subtil and during salt , which comes to it from light : but when it is troubled to receive it , and that it is fill'd on the contrary with an indigestive , gross and malignant salt , it then can be nothing else but a principle of diseases , and , in consequence , of death , if its defects are not corrected in the stomach , which is the seat where the first digestion is performed . and it is from the defect of this first fermentation that all the others are derived , which alter and corrupt the mass of bloud , whence flow out , as from their spring , the scurvy , the rickets , the king's-evil , and all other diseases which are of this kind of nature . this renders also the people the sooner subject to the venomous impressions of the pox and its consequences , and hinders them also from being so easily cured of the venereal plague as those men that are more easterly . this is evidently proved by the experience of those which cross the seas on purpose to breath another air , and receive thereby that comfort which they hope from it , and that they are sensible of . now let us come to the water which draws from the earth a certain slime that is subtil , dull and viscous , which contains in it an heterogeneal salt , which alters the property of the volatil and acid salts : not that this is found equally every where ; but there is notwithstanding every where some defect of digestion , by the defect of heat , and by too much moisture . let us adde to this , that the vegetables participate of these evils ; for all that they furnish us for kitchin-use and for physick hath neither the taste nor smell that the herbs of other hotter climes have , which is noted specially in those which ought to abound in a volatil sulphureous salt ; which manifests it self by the taste and smell , since we have found by our proper experience , that they do not yield in distillation such a quantity of oil and spirit as do those of warmer countries . notice must be taken also , that the meat by which they live is not furnish'd with salt and spirits to be capable of nourishing in so little quantity as it doth else-where , where it is firmer and closer : which is most evidently proved by those that make broths , strong broths and jellies , for they find that of necessity there is required a double quantity of flesh to give the same strength and taste to that which is destinated for the pleasure of the palate , or to sustain the weakness of the sick . this is also palpably found in the juice of roasted meats , for it is not animated , neither with the smell , taste nor colour of the meats of the same nature that are in hot countries , where the juice of the roasted meats bears its salt along with it , as its taste doth witness . now as those people take notice of the defects of the aliments and those indigestions that follow them , they arm themselves against them by the common use of spices and aromatick herbs , which they continue and augment by an unavoidable necessity . all that has been hitherto spoken doth clearly make appear , that sir walter rawleigh hath endeavoured to deserve well from the inhabitants of his native soil , since he hath given the receipt of a remedy that is capable to remedy all the defects which may cause in the stomach of his country-men the indigestions of their aliments and their natural constitution , which participates also of the general defect . for the remedy which he has given to the publick is not onely able to prevent the evil impressions which may be contracted during the time of health ; but it is also powerful enough to seek out the evil to the very centre of the bloud and spirits , in which life doth reside , and from whence they derive , as from their proper source , both health and sickness . there doth it kill , by its alexitery and cordial virtue , the venome which caused the disease , and there it blots out ( if i may say so ) the false idea and evil character of which the archeus , principal director of the functions of life , was impregnated , and as it were bound up withall . for this noble remedy doth make its presence to be felt as soon as it is in the bottom of the stomach , where at first sight it strengthens the natural heat , that reduces it from power to act ; so that it makes and drives the irradiation of its power and virtue all over , it strengthens the spirits , and disingages them from the bonds of the matter , and causes them to act with more liberty . and thus nature finding her self strengthned and eas'd , she drives out by the emunctories that which annoy'd her , sometimes by sweats and by urines , and sometimes also by an insensible and mild transpiration . there is no wondering at the sudden operation of this cordial ; for considering that it is composed but of things which are essencified , it cannot chuse but produce sudden effects , by reason of the subtil & quick penetration of the salts and spirits which compose it , which are all of them friends to our nature : which causes us to conclude , that it is not onely healing , but also preserving , and a maintainer of present health , as well as it is able to restore that which is already altered . we have nothing else to speak of now but of the proper and convenient time in which our great cordial ought to be fitly administred , to receive thereof the succour which it is able to give , and that is hoped for from it : as also of the dose , proportion of weight and quantity of this noble remedy , be it taken simply , for the entertaining and preservation of health , or that it be used for the recovery and restauration of the same health when it is out of order , and that its fine and pleasing harmony is troubled and hindred ; which is none of the least considerable parts of this discourse . for it often happens , & almost always , through the fault of an accustomed popular errour , that most persons take upon them to administer remedies without sufficiency of skill to know the conveniency of time , the fit dose , and least of all the necessary disposition that is required to the subject that is to receive the benefit of it . which causes many abuses , and that the remedy is blamed sometimes , though the fault proceeds but from the want of a good and legitimate appropriation : as is most learnedly observed by our great paracelsus , in the preface to the tenth book of his archidoxes . to prevent all these disorders , it is not sufficient onely that the remedies be well and duly prepared , but it is also necessary for those that would reap benefit by them , to know how they should be administred ; which belongs onely to the true physician , who knows not onely the sphere of the activity of the remedy and of its ingredients , but besides this examines the disposition of the subject , in health or sick , who is to receive it , and makes those lawful and necessary reflexions which are to be done upon the time and dose , according to the age , sex , temper , native place , and upon all the other circumstances , which ought to make him conclude the application or suspension of the exhibition of the remedy . therefore to find some medium that may help to the want of skill of the one , and to the presumption of the others , we must give some general notes , which may prevent failing when any will make use of our cordial , be it to preserve and maintain health , or to repair and restore it when it is altered or lost . in the first place is to be considered whether the person be costive or no ; because the retention of the excrements does always cause some disturbance , for they heat commonly the liver and spleen , the breast and brains : insomuch that if this remedy be given before the evacuation of these excrements , the disturbance and augmentation of the heat doubtless will be attributed to the action of the remedy , although the true cause proceed from the retention of the excrements . therefore it is most necessary gently to loosen the belly of those to whom would be given essensified and volatilized remedies , that nothing may hinder their good effects . it is to be considered in the second place , whether those that would make use of this remedy have their stomach subject to sudden alterations , and to irregular fermentations , which do commonly cause nauseousness , palpitations , sweats and restlesness , by reason of some sharp and malignant matters that sojourn and lurk in the bottom of the ventricle . in that case the stomach must be cleansed and scour'd with a simple , natural and gentle vomit ; that the insultations and counter-times which these matters cause may not be attributed to the remedy . after these precautions , our great cordial may be made use of in all seasons and for all sorts of persons of what sex or age soever , provided one hath likewise at that time the counsel and direction of the learned physicians ; and then will be tried those virtues and efficacy which this great and rare remedy conceals in it self . we shall not specifie here the general nor particular diseases that it is able to combat and destroy , since we have sufficiently discoursed of it , when we gave the relation of the ingredients which compose it , which is sufficient to give an able instruction , thereby to put it in practice , and make use of it with benefit . its dose is from six grains to half a dram , as a preservative and maintainer of health ; and from half a scruple or twelve grains to a dram , or four scruples , when it concerns the cure of those divers diseases to which it is able to give help . it may be given in all sorts of wines , in broth , in posset , in cordial decoctions , and in simple or compounded distilled waters , according to the palat of the healthful or sick person , and according as the learned and experienced physicians will judge it most convenient and necessary . god grant that what we have done and said upon this great and admirable cordial redound to the common good of all sick persons , and to the augmentation of the glory and splendour of rare physick and lawful pharmacy , according to the most generous and most laudable intentions of that great and generous monarch , who commanded me to make and perform this noble remedy . amen . finis .