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CHAP. LXXXII.
Of Physick in general.
FRom War and Nobility let us hasten to Physick, which is it self a kinde of Art of Killing, altoge∣ther Mechanick, though she pretend to be shadow'd with the Title of Philosophy, and sits above the Law next to Divinity in degree and place; which hath caus'd great contention between the Civilian and the Physitians. For thus the Physitians argue: Seeing, say they, there are three sorts of Goods, the Goods of the Soul, the Goods of the Body, the Goods of For∣tune; of the first the Divine takes care, of the second the Physitian, the third onely belongs to the Lawyer: Hence it is that the Physitians claim the next pre-emi∣nence to the Divines, forasmuch as the strength and health of the Body is to be preferr'd far before the Riches of Fortune. But this strife was once deter∣min'd by a witty Question. For some one of these
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Contenders desiring to know▪ what order and method was observ'd in leading Criminals to Ex•cution, which follow'd, and which should precede, the Thief or the Ha•gman? and when one answer'd that the Thief went before, and the Hangman follow'd, the other presently gave judgment that the Lawyers should go before, the Physitians follow; denoting the remarkable Robbery of the one, the rash Murther of the other. But let us return to Physick, of which there are many sorts of Heresies: For there is one which they call Rational, Sophistical, and Dogmatical, which was pra∣ctised by Hippocrates, Diocles, Chrysippus, Caristinus, Paraxagoras, and Herosistratus; approved also a long while after by Galen, who above all the rest following Hippocrates, brought all the Art of Physick to be com∣prehended in the knowledge of the Causes, judgments upon Signes and Symptoms, qualities of things, and the several habits and ages of Bodies. But this Here∣sie contending more for substance than shadow, I con∣fess to be the meaner part of Philosophy; but toward the cure of the Sick not at all necessary, if not altoge∣ther destructive, as that which rather sends us for Health and Cure to screw'd and forc'd Maximes, than to any sincere and real Medicines: and being employ'd in Scholastick Syllogisms, unacquainted with Woods and Fields, becomes altogether ignorant of Herbs and good Remedies. And therefore Serapion was of opi∣nion that this Rational Method of Physick did nothing at all avail to the Cure of diseases. Therefore there is another Faction of Physicians, altogether Mercenary and Mechanick; which is therefore termed Operative, and is divided into Empirick and Methodical; of which we are now to treat. They call it Empirical, because of the Experiments which it makes: whose chief Pro∣fessors were Serapion, Heraclides, and both the Apollo∣nii. Among the Latines, Marcus Cato, C. Valgius, Pom∣ponius,
Page 283
Leneus, Cassius, Felix, Aruntius, Cornelius, Celsus, Pliny, and many others. Out of this, Hierophilus the Calcedonian constituted his Methodical Physick; and by the help of long Experience, the Mistress of all things, fixed it to certain Rules, which afterwards Asclepiades, Themistion, and Archigenes confirm'd by most strong ar∣guments, and afterwards Thesillus the Italian complea∣ted; who, as Varro affirms, set aside all the Opinions of his predecessors, madly raging against all the Phy∣sicians of the former Age. After these, many Barba∣rous Physicians of forraign Nations ventured abroad in Writing; among which, the Arabians became so famous, that they seemed by many to have been the In∣ventors of this Art; and might have easily made it good, but, for the Original Greek and Latine words which they used, betraying another original of the Sci∣ence. This made the Volumes of Avicen, Rhasis, and A∣verroes, to have equal Authority with the Books of Ga∣len and Hippocrates; so that if any one presume the Cure of a person without their Rules, he seemed to throw away the life of the Patient. Now these Fa∣ctions among Physicians be not many, yet is the Con∣tention and Combate of Opinions not less among them, than among the Philosophers. For observe how idly they contend about the substance of the Seed. Pytha∣goras will have it to be the spume or froth of the most useful part of the Bloud, or the most useful part of the excrement of the meat. Plato affirms it to be a de∣flux of the Back-bone-marrow, seeing that the Back and Reins are pained by the over-much use of Copula∣tion. Alcmaeon asserts it to be part of the Brain, for that Copulation weakens the Eyes, which are nourish∣ed by the Brain. Democritus will have it to be deri∣ved from all parts of the body, and Epicurus to be as it were forcibly strain'd from body and soul together. Aristotle affirms it to be the excrement of the Sangui∣neous
Page 284
nourishment, which is last digested in the body. Others believe it to be bloud ripened and made white by the heat of the Stones, for this reason, That they who copulate too often, do eject drops of bloud. Adde to all this, that Aristotle and Democritus are of opinion that a Womans seed doth not at all contri∣bute to Generation, neither that she does emit any seed at all, but onely a kinde of Sweat. Galen affirms that they eject seed, but more imperfect; and that the seed of both sexes assists in generation. Though Hippocrates is of a contrary judgement, affirming that the bodies of all Animals are coagulated out of the four Hu∣mours. Yet Aristotle maintains that the Bloud is the next cause of Generation, and that the seed is genera∣ted out of the Blood. Many of the Arabians are of opinion that perfect Animals might be generated without the mixture of Male and Female, and be produced without the help of seed; and therefore did aver that there was no necessity of the Matrix, but by accident. Now speaking of the Original Causes of Diseases, Hippocrates places them in the Spirits, Hiero∣philus in the Humours, Erasistratus in the bloud of the Arteries: Asclepiades makes them to be certain Atomes entring in thorow the invisible pores of the body: Alcmaeon believes all diseases to proceed from the exu∣berance or scarcity of the Corporeal faculties: Diocles, from the inequality of the Corporeal elements, and temper of the air we breathe in: Strato, from the sur∣plusage and crudity of Nourishment, and the conse∣quent corruption thereof. Nor do they less differ a∣bout the alteration of the Aliment. For Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicen affirm the meat to be concocted in the Stomach by the heat thereof. Erasistratus believes Concoction to be perfected lower in the Belly. Plisto∣nicus and Paraxagoras affirm not onely a Concoction, but Putrefaction. Avieen also, and his Exposi•ors, Gen∣tiles
Page 285
and Jacobus de Ferlino, not without a manifest er∣ror, affirm that Ordure is made in the Stomach. But Ascle∣piades and his followers believe that the meat is not concocted, but distributed raw into all parts of the bo∣dy; and affirm the Opinions of all the former to be vain and ridiculous. I omit their Judgements of U∣rine, not yet perfectly known by any of um; and the beatings of the Pulses as little apprehended by um. Hip∣pocrates, whom they look upon as a God, has not onely differ'd from many in opinion, but erroneously mista∣ken: for, in his Book of the nature of Infants he saith, The Bird is generated of the yellow of the egge, but is nou∣rished by the white of the egge; which Aristotle proves to be manifestly untrue, in his Book of Animals: and in his Book of the Generation of Animals, writing a∣gainst Alcmaeon, who was of the same opinion with Hippocrates, he concludes the original of the Chicken is in the White; nourishment is suckt in thorow the Na∣vel out of the Yolk: to which Pliny adheres, saying, The creature is generated out of the White, his nourish∣ment is out of the Yolk. And is not that Aphorism of Hippocrates false? No woman hath the Gout, till her Terms forsake her; it being evident that many Men∣struous women have the Gout.
Of Physick in general.
FRom War and Nobility let us hasten to Physick, which is it self a kinde of Art of Killing, altoge∣ther Mechanick, though she pretend to be shadow'd with the Title of Philosophy, and sits above the Law next to Divinity in degree and place; which hath caus'd great contention between the Civilian and the Physitians. For thus the Physitians argue: Seeing, say they, there are three sorts of Goods, the Goods of the Soul, the Goods of the Body, the Goods of For∣tune; of the first the Divine takes care, of the second the Physitian, the third onely belongs to the Lawyer: Hence it is that the Physitians claim the next pre-emi∣nence to the Divines, forasmuch as the strength and health of the Body is to be preferr'd far before the Riches of Fortune. But this strife was once deter∣min'd by a witty Question. For some one of these
Page 282
Contenders desiring to know▪ what order and method was observ'd in leading Criminals to Ex•cution, which follow'd, and which should precede, the Thief or the Ha•gman? and when one answer'd that the Thief went before, and the Hangman follow'd, the other presently gave judgment that the Lawyers should go before, the Physitians follow; denoting the remarkable Robbery of the one, the rash Murther of the other. But let us return to Physick, of which there are many sorts of Heresies: For there is one which they call Rational, Sophistical, and Dogmatical, which was pra∣ctised by Hippocrates, Diocles, Chrysippus, Caristinus, Paraxagoras, and Herosistratus; approved also a long while after by Galen, who above all the rest following Hippocrates, brought all the Art of Physick to be com∣prehended in the knowledge of the Causes, judgments upon Signes and Symptoms, qualities of things, and the several habits and ages of Bodies. But this Here∣sie contending more for substance than shadow, I con∣fess to be the meaner part of Philosophy; but toward the cure of the Sick not at all necessary, if not altoge∣ther destructive, as that which rather sends us for Health and Cure to screw'd and forc'd Maximes, than to any sincere and real Medicines: and being employ'd in Scholastick Syllogisms, unacquainted with Woods and Fields, becomes altogether ignorant of Herbs and good Remedies. And therefore Serapion was of opi∣nion that this Rational Method of Physick did nothing at all avail to the Cure of diseases. Therefore there is another Faction of Physicians, altogether Mercenary and Mechanick; which is therefore termed Operative, and is divided into Empirick and Methodical; of which we are now to treat. They call it Empirical, because of the Experiments which it makes: whose chief Pro∣fessors were Serapion, Heraclides, and both the Apollo∣nii. Among the Latines, Marcus Cato, C. Valgius, Pom∣ponius,
Page 283
Leneus, Cassius, Felix, Aruntius, Cornelius, Celsus, Pliny, and many others. Out of this, Hierophilus the Calcedonian constituted his Methodical Physick; and by the help of long Experience, the Mistress of all things, fixed it to certain Rules, which afterwards Asclepiades, Themistion, and Archigenes confirm'd by most strong ar∣guments, and afterwards Thesillus the Italian complea∣ted; who, as Varro affirms, set aside all the Opinions of his predecessors, madly raging against all the Phy∣sicians of the former Age. After these, many Barba∣rous Physicians of forraign Nations ventured abroad in Writing; among which, the Arabians became so famous, that they seemed by many to have been the In∣ventors of this Art; and might have easily made it good, but, for the Original Greek and Latine words which they used, betraying another original of the Sci∣ence. This made the Volumes of Avicen, Rhasis, and A∣verroes, to have equal Authority with the Books of Ga∣len and Hippocrates; so that if any one presume the Cure of a person without their Rules, he seemed to throw away the life of the Patient. Now these Fa∣ctions among Physicians be not many, yet is the Con∣tention and Combate of Opinions not less among them, than among the Philosophers. For observe how idly they contend about the substance of the Seed. Pytha∣goras will have it to be the spume or froth of the most useful part of the Bloud, or the most useful part of the excrement of the meat. Plato affirms it to be a de∣flux of the Back-bone-marrow, seeing that the Back and Reins are pained by the over-much use of Copula∣tion. Alcmaeon asserts it to be part of the Brain, for that Copulation weakens the Eyes, which are nourish∣ed by the Brain. Democritus will have it to be deri∣ved from all parts of the body, and Epicurus to be as it were forcibly strain'd from body and soul together. Aristotle affirms it to be the excrement of the Sangui∣neous
Page 284
nourishment, which is last digested in the body. Others believe it to be bloud ripened and made white by the heat of the Stones, for this reason, That they who copulate too often, do eject drops of bloud. Adde to all this, that Aristotle and Democritus are of opinion that a Womans seed doth not at all contri∣bute to Generation, neither that she does emit any seed at all, but onely a kinde of Sweat. Galen affirms that they eject seed, but more imperfect; and that the seed of both sexes assists in generation. Though Hippocrates is of a contrary judgement, affirming that the bodies of all Animals are coagulated out of the four Hu∣mours. Yet Aristotle maintains that the Bloud is the next cause of Generation, and that the seed is genera∣ted out of the Blood. Many of the Arabians are of opinion that perfect Animals might be generated without the mixture of Male and Female, and be produced without the help of seed; and therefore did aver that there was no necessity of the Matrix, but by accident. Now speaking of the Original Causes of Diseases, Hippocrates places them in the Spirits, Hiero∣philus in the Humours, Erasistratus in the bloud of the Arteries: Asclepiades makes them to be certain Atomes entring in thorow the invisible pores of the body: Alcmaeon believes all diseases to proceed from the exu∣berance or scarcity of the Corporeal faculties: Diocles, from the inequality of the Corporeal elements, and temper of the air we breathe in: Strato, from the sur∣plusage and crudity of Nourishment, and the conse∣quent corruption thereof. Nor do they less differ a∣bout the alteration of the Aliment. For Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicen affirm the meat to be concocted in the Stomach by the heat thereof. Erasistratus believes Concoction to be perfected lower in the Belly. Plisto∣nicus and Paraxagoras affirm not onely a Concoction, but Putrefaction. Avieen also, and his Exposi•ors, Gen∣tiles
Page 285
and Jacobus de Ferlino, not without a manifest er∣ror, affirm that Ordure is made in the Stomach. But Ascle∣piades and his followers believe that the meat is not concocted, but distributed raw into all parts of the bo∣dy; and affirm the Opinions of all the former to be vain and ridiculous. I omit their Judgements of U∣rine, not yet perfectly known by any of um; and the beatings of the Pulses as little apprehended by um. Hip∣pocrates, whom they look upon as a God, has not onely differ'd from many in opinion, but erroneously mista∣ken: for, in his Book of the nature of Infants he saith, The Bird is generated of the yellow of the egge, but is nou∣rished by the white of the egge; which Aristotle proves to be manifestly untrue, in his Book of Animals: and in his Book of the Generation of Animals, writing a∣gainst Alcmaeon, who was of the same opinion with Hippocrates, he concludes the original of the Chicken is in the White; nourishment is suckt in thorow the Na∣vel out of the Yolk: to which Pliny adheres, saying, The creature is generated out of the White, his nourish∣ment is out of the Yolk. And is not that Aphorism of Hippocrates false? No woman hath the Gout, till her Terms forsake her; it being evident that many Men∣struous women have the Gout.