¶The fyrste Chapter. Of what kynde of artes Phisicke is.

SEyng that I haue taken vpon me, to wryte a breefe trea­tyse vpon Phisicke, for the alonlye com­moditie of ignoraunt and vnlear­ned studentes in the same, I think it very necessarye and expedient to open and declare, bothe playnlye, and brefely what physicke is, whi­che in Latine is called Medicina, & in Englysshe woorde for woorde, Medicine.

Hyppocrates in his boke de fla­tibus, whiche is as muche to saye, as in his boke of Spirites, or bla­stes, affirmeth that Medicine or Physicke, is nothyng, but the ad­iection of that that lacketh, or the [Page] subtraction, or takynge awaye, of that whyche is superfluous, & re­doundeth: the whych declaration or definition, Gallen alloweth in manye places, & trulie not w^tout a cause: For ther is no parte of phi­sike but it is cōprehended in thys finition. Auerroes in the .vi. boke, and the .i. Chapiter, of his gathe­ringes dothe define phisicke verye fetely, in these wordes folowinge. Medicina est ars factiuarum vna, ra­tione, et experimento inuenta, que tum sanitatem tuetur, tum morbum depellit. whiche is as muche to say in englysh, as Phisike is one of those artes whyche dothe make thinges inuented, or found out by reason and experience, and the whyche partly defendeth health, and partly beteth away disease, and siknes.

[Page]Herophilus woulde haue defi­ned it, after this fashion. Medicina est scientia salubrium, insalubrium, et neutrorum.

Whyche in englyshe is as fo­loweth. Physike is a science of thynges holsome, & vnholsome, and of neyther of bothe: Gallen vseth thys finition, in hys boke y^t is called ars medica, not because he doth so greatly alowe it, but because yt serueth hys pourpose, whyche is easie to be knowen of that, that foloweth: where he say­eth that this worde scientia, must be taken in that place, accordynge to hys common significatyon, and not as it signifyeth proper­lye: wherefore phisike is an arte, and no science, and seynge yt is an arte, I thynke yt well donne, [Page] to shewe in what kynde of artes it is: For there be many differen­ces of Artes, but especiallye .iiii. One is called in Latyne, Contem­platoria, whiche hath his ende on­ly in the seyng and beholdyng of thynges, and maye well be called contemplacion or knowlege, suche is Arithmetick, Astronomie, & na­tural philosophie, for ther is none of these artes that doth any thing but is onlye ended in contemplaci­on and studye.

There is an other which is called in Latyn, Actiua, in Englysh prac­tise, and consisteth in doynge, as dawnsyng, and harpyng, wyth o­ther lyke.

The thyrde in Latyn maye be cal­led Factiua, which besyde the prac­tise and studye, leaueth behynde his woorke, as payntyng, & buyl­dyng, [Page] and of this kynde there be two artes, for some make the wor­kes them selues, as weuyng & tan­ning, and some correct and amend the thynges, whan they be made: as botchyng and clowtyng of old garmentes houses, & other thīges The fowerth in Latyn is called comparans, which in our tong may be called a gettyng arte, for it do­eth make nothynge, but by studye, & industry getteth certen thynges as fysshynge and huntyng, these truly do make nothyng: but their study & labor is to get somthyng. And to be brefe, Phisicke as Gal­len sayeth, is a kynde of those Ar­tes whiche restoreth theyr woor­kes nowe alreadye done, and cor­recteth the same, and not of them whiche make theyr workes newe. For Phisicke of her selfe maketh [Page] not her examples, as the arte of buyldyng, knyttyng, and weuing dothe. But as that arte that men­deth olde houses, and piceth olde garmentes: so phisike doth amend the euyll constitution of mannes bodye.

¶The seconde Chapiter. Of the sectes in phisyke.

YT is nowe alredye shewed, that phisike is an arte which re­storeth healthe be­ynge absent, and defendeth the same beynge present, but howe thys art maye be got­ten yt is not agreed vpon amon­gest all men, for some thynke ex­perience sufficiente to the get­tyng of this arte, and do cal them selfes therof Empericos. These be they that haue ther firste respect [Page] vnto the heape of accidentes, and begynneth their cure of them, wythout any knowledge ether of the disease, or the cause, and they call the forsayde heape of acciden­tes in Greke, [...], the why­che in Lattyn is called Congeries, and concursus, and in Englishe a heape, and concurryng, or run­nynge to gether. Secundarilye, they obserue, and marke, in the cummynge to gether of Acciden­tes, Medicines which they know to be mete for the disease, onlye by vse and experience. Thyrdely they lerne remedies of the historie, of suche as they haue before proued: Fowerthly they goe from lyke, to lyke.

For what soeuer remedyes they haue proued by experience, in manye men, and often tymes [Page] (but alwayes they proue them in the same and lyke measure, orelles by chaunce, and as a man woulde saye vnloked for, they marke and obserue them to be lyke, & to haue one effect) the same they vse bold­ly▪ nothyng curiouse in the inquy­ryng what facultie or nature they be of, that is to saye whether they be hote or colde, drye or moyste, & they beleue and credit the olde auncientes, whiche hath lefte in wry­tyng, suche thynges as they haue noted and obserued by experience, & that y^t thē selues haue obserued & marked, they cal in Greke, [...], whiche in Englysh, maye be called theyr owne inspection, and looke what they haue obserued, & marked by chaunce, as yf a mā by fallyng from hygh, be woūded, or hurte, or els yf a man beyng sicke [Page] and folowyng his appetite, drīke colde water, the whiche hath ey­ther done good or euyll, they call [...], which is to saye an ob­seruacion made by chaunce. But whan they learne that that is marked by other, they call it in Greke, [...] whiche may be cal­led the obseruation of other.

They vse also to go from lyke to lyke, whiles they intermedle with suche thīges, as they haue not yet proued, althoughe they be of one kynde, and this is called of them in greke, [...], which in englysh is goyng from lyke to lyke, and by this rule they transfer one medicine to dyuers euyls, and from one place affected to another & from one medicine whiche they knewe before, to an other of the same kynde vnknowen.

[Page]Yf the naturall egestions be hol­den to long, then the party hath a byndyng disease they saye: but yf they runne to muche, that they call an open disease: And yf a man be bothe bounde and lewse together, than they call that sycknes a com­bynation of bothe the fornamed e­uyls: as yf the eye shoulde suffer a fluxe, and an inflammation to­gether, of the whiche, the inflam­mation is a sycknes that byndeth, and the fluxe an open disease: then theyr remedye in suche a case, is to bynde that that runneth, and to o­pen that that is boūde, as if there be any inflammation in the shoul­der or arme, what is their rule? what, but withoute deliberation, or consideration of the place affec­ted, strayght to lewse the bellye, & yf it fortune bothe the forsayde e­uyls [Page] to chaūce at one tyme, in one membre, then what do they? vtterly necglect that that is of the least daunger: and these be they which reprehende Hyppocrates, because he sayeth that physicke is a longe arte, and that mannes lyfe is but shorte, for they saye that it is not so, but rather cleane contrary. For as they saye, yf al that is superflu­ous were cut out, phisicke myghte be easily learned in .vi. monethes. The begynner of this secte, was Syrus, Asclepiades scholer: af­ter whome came Thessalus, Pro­clus, and manye other.

Moreouer there be other which be called Dogmatici, because they grounde all theyr doynges vppon reason. These do learne diligent­ly the nature and cōstitution of all suche bodyes as they take in hand [Page] to heale: and doe marke verye di­lygently, euerye day, the alterati­ons of the same, besyde this, they say, that yt is euerye honest Phi­sition hys part, to know, and con­syder well, both the nature of the ayer, waters, and wyndes, and the place also wher the sycke aby­dethe, and his accustomed diet, as well in meates, and drinkes, as bathes, exercises, & other thinges, to the end, that he may haue a sure knowledge, bothe of the causes, & remedyes, of all diseases. They wyll also that he be suche an one, that he be able, to proue by reason, what nature any kynde of medi­cyne hath, and that he be able to apoynt, (though he neuer sawe yt before) what yt is able to doe, and they counsel euery Phisition, to begynne his cure, accordyng to [Page] the strength of the sick, and not as y^e disease paraduenture shall wyll hym: And they doe not denye, but that experience is necessarye, howbeit they denye it to be suffi­cient to cure all malledies, and to finde, and serche out, all thynges. And also they say, y^t without re­son, experience can hardly be come by. The first author, and foun­der of this sect, was Hyppocrates Lous, withoute dowt, the moste lerned, and noble Phisition, that euer was, after hym came Dio­cles, Praxagoras, and Chrysyp­pus, w^t many mo, no lesse lerned, then famouse.

¶The .iii. chapter. The partes of phisicke

THere be .vi. especiall par­tes of phisicke, the firste dothe considere the con­stitucion [Page] of mannes nature, & bo­die. The second defendeth the bo­die from sycknes, kepynge it in healthe. The third inquireth the causes, and accidentes, of sick­nes, and diseases. The forthe con­teyneth the knowledge as well of thinges past, as also present, and to come. The fifth showeth an or­der, and a way, how all diseases, shoulde be healed: and this part, is deuyded into thre other partes. The firste of the thre, techeth the healing of sicknesses, by diet only, and therefore it is both the chefe, and moste noble parte of phisicke, and without the which, the other partes, which serue to the helyng of diseases, can not be: and hereof it is, that Hippocrates wrot thre great bokes of the remediynge of [Page] all feruent diseases, by diet onlye, in the which boke, he proueth euy­dently, that of a lytell faut or error in the diet of suche as be sycke, fo­loweth death without remedy, the whiche thing yf it be true, as vn­doutedlye it is, what be such Phi­sitions worthye, as doe vtterlye necglect the same, and thinke that they haue done a great feat, whan they haue wrytten a byl or two, to the appoticarie, takynge no care in the meane tyme, what manner of dyet, the sicke kepeth.

The seconde parte, healeth by medicins inwarde, & outwardly taken. But there be medicins of .ii. sortes, that is to say simple, and compounde, and first to the parfit curyng of the disease most necessa­ry is the knowledge of the simple [Page] and this care whiche is a greate charge, is commytted to such, as be vnlerned, yea and in many pla­ces (more is the pittie) to folish, & ignorant wemen: I wolde rather wishe, the handlynge of suche Iu­elles, to be in the handes, of y^e best lerned, and wysest Phisitions: For as it is a thinge to be laugh­hed at, if a Paynter know not his pensill, or a coblar hys nall, or a tannar his lether, so think ye that a Phisition is not to be laught to scorne? yf he know not the matter of that arte, which he professeth? But now adayes he is most set by; and had in the gretest estima­tion, which knoeth y^e least, & which can make one medicine serue a thowsande diuerse diseases, whi­che is as lyke to be true, as one shooe to be mete & sit for so many [Page] feet. And as for medicins, they be not worth a vyle straw, except they com out of Ethiop, Arabi, or In­dia, wheras for vs english men, ther is non so good, as our owne Englishe simples: For it can not be proued, y^t nature euer brought forthe any wher liuing creatures, where as she left nothing to fede them wyth all, and lykewyse as she hath prouided meat, so hath she medicyns also, but the suttylties of men, for their owne gayne, and priuat Lucre, hath browght to passe that al thing is oute of order, bothe in the shoppes of the appo­ticaries, and other places elles where. The thyrd part is Sur­gery, which is wrought by man­nes hand, which Gallen commen­deth hyghly, in many, and sundry bokes.

¶The .iiii. chapter. The distribution of Phi­sicke in to thre formes.

QVre forfathers haue distributed, and de­uided Phisicke, into thre formes, or or­ders, and that for no other pourpose, but that yonge studentes of Phisick, might lerne diligently, and a gret dele the bet­ter remember, what so euer they had red, in the monumentes of olde writers. The first order is of those thinges, of y^e whiche, mānes body is made of, and it hath plesed the foresayde elders, to call suche thinges, as oure body is cōpact, & made of thinges natural, because to the perfection of mannes body they be necessary.

[Page]The seconde order, is of those thinges, with the which, oure bo­dye is nourished, that yt may re­mayne in healthe: & these thinges be called not naturall, not because they be vtterlye agaynst oure na­ture, but because if they be geuen without discreciō, they may make suche alteration in the bodye, as may extinguishe and abolishe vt­terlye, the lyfe.

The thirde order, is of such as hurt, and harme the body, and cor­rupt it, & therfore, they be called, thinges agaynste nature, be cause they be clene contrary to nature.

¶The fyfth chapter. Of the number of thinges na­turall.

[Page] NOwe it is tyme to speke of the first part of Phisicke, whiche entreateth of the na­turall cōstitution of mannes bodie, & this part of Phi­sicke, is not put firste, without a cause: For no mā can do any good with a medicyne, whiche is igno­rant in the constitutiō of mannes bodie, therfore the thinges natu­rall wherof mannes bodye is con­pact & made, be seuen in number.

1 Elementes: as the fiere, ayer, water, and erthe.

2 Temperamentes: as hote, cowlde, moyst, and drye.

3 Humores: as blowde, fleume, chollar bothe yelow & black.

4 Partes: as flesh, bone, brayne harte, liuer, heed, and handes

5 Faculties: as Animall, vitall, & [Page] naturall.

6 Actions: as Animall, & natu­rall.

7 Spirites: as animall, vitall, and naturall.

These thinges I entend (god wil­ling) to expresse so well as the ste­rillite of my simple wyt, will geue me leaue, begynnyng first wyth the Elementes.

¶The sixte, chapter. Of the Elementes.

TVlly y^e eloquent Ro­main, counselleth ve­ry wel euery mā, first of all and before he make any far proce­dynge, to defyne the thing, of the which he pourposeth to entreat, to y^e entent that euery mā may per­ceyue what it is y^e is spokē of ther­fore according to his counsell (I [Page] wyll fyrst define what an element is: wherfore an element, (as Ga­len sayeth in the .viii. boke of the decrees of Plato, and Hyppocra­tes) is the lest part of that thynge, of the which it is an element, and of these amongest the hole nature of thynges, there be but fower in number, which is the fyer, Ayer, water, and yearth: and as of these all thynges naturall, haue there begynnynge, so at the length, they shall be resolued into the same a­gayne. For Hyppocrates sayeth, in a boke, which he entytelleth the nature of man, that after the soule is once dissolued from the body, e­uery thinge, wherof the body was of first, is returned in hys owne nature agayne, as loke what in the begynnyng was drye, that is [Page] tourned in to drye, & what was moyste, becōmeth moyste agayne: and lykewyse heat is turned into heat, and colde, becommeth colde agayne, but after these elementes be once mixte in the body they can no more be called elementes, that is to say pure, and simple bodyes, & that y^e is made of them, is a bo­dye mixt, and corruptible.

Therfore as Gallen counselleth in the firste boke of elementes, go not about to serche out or to finde in any naturall body, any thinge that is simple, and not mixt, or compounded, leste thou lose thy peyne, but be contented yf thou se a member that is could, hard, and drye, and a nother that is moyste, rare, and fluxible, to thinke the tone to come of the yearth, [Page] and the other, of the water, And lykewyse whan thou considerest with thy selfe, in thy mynde, the nature of a spirit, then remember the ayer. For seing that the ele­mentes, be the lest partes of owre bodies, it is not possible that they should be perceyued by any sense. Yf these elementes wer not mixte all together, nether man, nor no o­ther liuinge creature, coulde be made of them, for what part of the body they should towch, they must of necessitie, corrupt the same. For ther is no part of the bodie that can abyde safe without hurt, or dammage, the towchynge of any thynge, that is ether extreme hote or extreme colde, moyest, or drye. And herof it is euident that these elementes be not mixt in mannes bodye, as wheate, or barley, is [Page] mixt in a hepe, for of the grayne ther is no alteratiō, seing after the mixture it remaynethe hole, but the elementes be so altered, and chaunged, that after the mixture, ther remayneth nothyng, but one­ly a signification of theire quali­ties, the which qualities, whiles they be in the elementes, altering the substaunce subiect to them, do cause the mutuall alteration, of y^e elementes. Yt is necessarie for a Phisition, to consider exactlye, and diligentlye, the nature of the elementes, to the ende that he may knowe, howe health is made of the temperature, of heat, cold, dry, and moyst, and of the distempera­ture of the same sicknes.

¶The seuen chapter. Of temperamentes

[Page] AMongest thynges naturall, the tem­peramentes, haue the second place, a temperament is no thinge elles, but a complexion, or a conbination of y^e fower elementes or elles of heat, coulde, dry and moyst: of tempera­mentes there be .ix. differencis, of y^e which one is temperat, be cause it excedeth in no qualitie, the rest be all distemperat, of the which .iiii. be simple, as hot, cold, dry, & moyst, and .iiii. be compounde, as hot & moyst to gether, cold and dry, hot and dry, coulde, and moyst. The ix. difference, which I sayed be­fore was temperat, may be taken .ii. manner of wayes, ether tempe­rat simple and absolutly, or elles temperate in euerye kynde of [Page] thinges: loke what is temperate simply, and absolutly, that in the respect of all thinges, is temperat and in it the elementes be equally mingled, and such a thinge must be knowen by cogitacion only, for other wayes it cannot, as Gallen is a manifeste witnesse in the firste boke, that he writ in the defence of health.

And that is temperat in euery kind, in the which, is the same me­diocrity of contrary elementes, as is conuenient to the nature, not only of man and best, but also of trees, and plantes, and this tem­perament is in all them that be hole accordynge to there nature, and it may be knowen of hys functions, and officis, who is hole according to hys nature.

[Page]For he that can doe euerie thing well, which he is apt to doe natu­rally, is as hole as nature made hym, whether it be man or best or it be tree, or plant: as an apple tre is very well, or hole, according to his nature, whā he bereth a great number of good apples, and like­wise an horse, whan he runneth very swift. Therfore this is not the temperament, which is mesu­red by weyght, wherin ther is as many degrees of heat, as of cold, and of drinesse as of moisture, for that is no where, nor can not be knowen, but by cogitation, as is a foresayd: but in this temperament which is in euery kynd of thinges the elementes be so mixt, that the temperament which commeth of the mixture, agreeth both to the nature of mē, bestes, and plantes. [Page] Therefore it is called a tempera­ment, accordynge vnto iustice, which mesureth to euery man, not by weyght, but by dignity: where­fore what soeuer thinge exceadeth this temperament, ether in heate, could, drynes, or moysture, y^e same is not temperate: and of the same that redoundeth it taketh y^e name, as if it be hete that is superfluous then it is called hot, & loke what thinge hath more hete, then colde, that same is hote, & contrary, yf it haue more cold than heate, it is called could, & lykewise that that hath more moysture, then drines, is named moyst: and agayne, yf it haue more drines thē moysture, then it may be called dry: and here of it commeth y^e summer is cal­led hote, because it hath more hete then coulde, and wynter is called [Page] colde, because it hath more colde then heate: furthermore if a thinge excede in heat and moysture to ge­ther, or in colde and drynesse, or in hete and drynesse, or in colde and moysture, then it must take name, of the qualities which excedeth: as yf heat and moysture excede, then it must be called hote and moyste: yf colde and drynes, cold and dry: and so of the other. And hereof it is euident, that sumtyme one tem­perament is equall and temperate in one opposicion, and distempe­rate, and not equall in an other.

For yf it be not necessary, for that that is hote to be dry, but may be moyst, then it may also be tempe­rate, because the meane is nygher to the dry temperature, then is y^e moyst: and lykewise an other tem­perature that is colde yf it may as [Page] well be dry as moyst, may be tem­perate also: because the meane is nigher to the moyst temperature, then the dry is.

The same answere may be made of drye and moyste, that before is made of hote and colde. Therefore it is no maruayle, though there be sumthinge temperate in the one halfe, and not temperate in the o­ther. But here thou must take hede, yf thou be axed of what tem­perature a man, an asse, or an oxe is, that thou answere not symply and absolutly: For to that that is spoken diuersly, and is diuerie al­so of it selfe, no man can make ab­solutely & simply a direct answere: Therfore before thou make thyne answere, y^u must bid hym, showe y^t y^e mā, the asse, or y^e oxe, whereof he douteth: then yf he dout of a man, [Page] thou muste haue a respect to the perfit man, whiche (as Gallen sayeth in the firste boke of his tē ­peramentes) is neyther hote, nor coulde, and as he differeth from hym, so make answere, sayinge eyther that he is hot, or otherwise as thy iudgement shall lede the: but yf he doubt of a best, then thou must haue an eye to the hole kynde of men. For all other kindes, com­pared vnto it, are distemperat, & as he differeth from mankynde, eyther in hete, or otherwise, so shape hym an answere. And that thou be not deceyued, in makyng thyne answere, thou muste vnderstand, that heat, coulde, dry, and moyst, be taken diuersly: For first they be taken absolutely, and sim­ply, that is to say without any ad­mixtion of other bodyes: and of [Page] this sorte, the only elementes be hot, coulde, dry, & moyst: seconda­rely they be spoken by excesse, as whan there is in one thing, more hete then coulde, more drynesse, then moysture, or other wyse: and of this fassion bloud, fleme, wyne, oyle, & honny, be called hot, colde, dry, and moyst: and that, that is called hote, colde, dry, and moyste of this sort, is spoken yet .2. maner of wayes. fyrst absolutly, that is compared to no one alone, but to the hole nature of thinges, and of this fasshiō a dog, simply, & abso­luetly taken, and not compared to any thing alone, is dry: otherwise that is to say not absolutly, but cōpared to sum one alone, may be moyst, as to a pismyre. And more­ouer, there be .iii. diuers maner of comparisons, the first is betwyxt [Page] two of diuers kyndes, as a man to a beaste. The second is whan y^e distemperate is compared to the temperate of the same kynde, as a man compared to the parfit man, whereof we spake before. The thirde is, whan .ii. distemperate of one kynde, is compared toge­ther: as one man to an other, one lyon to an other, one horse to an other. Whosoeuer dothe diligen­tly examin these thinges, may eas­ly iudge of what temperament the iiii. tymes of the yere, that is to say y^e springe, summar, autumne, and winter, be. For euery one of these by hym selfe and without comparison, maye be called hote cold, drye, or moyst, & of this fashi­on the spring is withoute all ex­cesse, because there is not as is in wynter, more colde then heat: nor [Page] as in summar, more heat thē cold: lykewyse there is a mediocritie of drynesse and moysture, and ther­fore Hippocrates sayeth, that it is the most holsumest tyme of all the yere, and a tyme in the which there chaūseth no deadly sicknes. For y^e moste part of the diseases of the springe, happen by reson that all the euyll humors be driuen from the innar partes, in to the skynne. Wherefore the diseases be rather to be imputed to the body, then to y^e tyme of y^e yeare. For what body so euer hath good homours, that bodye remayneth styll in healthe, so long as the spryng lasteth: par­aduenture it doeth not so in sum­mar, autumne or wynter, because these tymes brede or encrese euyll humors: as summar encreaseth chollar, & autumne melancholy, & wynter fleme & watrish humors. [Page] It is possible, that sum man wyll reprehend my sayinges, obiecting the begynnyng of the springe to be coulde, accordyng to wynter, & the latter ende hot, as in summar. In dede I confesse no lesse, then y^e begynnynge of the springe, to be a lytell coulde, and the latter ende, a lytell hote, but not in excesse, as it is eyther in summar, or wynter. Wherfore it can not be called hote and moyest, as sūme doe suppose, because it can not be hot and tem­perat, both at one tyme. As for summar by the consent, as well of the Philosophers, as of phisiti­ons, is hot and dry, because there is in it more heat then could, more drinesse, then moysture. Autumne simply, and without exception, can not be called colde, and dry, as sūme holde opinion, for it is not [Page] coulde, because there is as muche heate as coulde, seing the middle of the day is much hotter, then the mornynge, and euenynge. Therefore it is founde to be di­stemperat, in heat, and coulde, and so mixt of bothe, that it can nether be called hote, nether coulde. Therefore it is full of perilouse diseases because it is distempered both in heate, and coulde: and be­cause it hath more drynesse, then moysture, therefore it is called dry. As for wynter it is moyst, & could, not because it is more moyst & coulde, then y^e other times of the yere, but because there is more moysture then drines, more could then heate. Nowe that I haue so brefelye (as I coulde) declared the temperamentes of the tymes of the yere, it is mete & cōuenient, [Page] to shewe in as fewe wordes as I can, the temperamentes of the iiii. ages, which are chyldehode, youth, mannes state, and olde age: Chyldehode is from the chyldyng the space of .xv. yere next folow­yng, and it is hote and moyst, and that is easie to be perceyued here­of, that the first constitution of the chylde, is of seede, and bloude, the whiche both be hote and moyst. Youthe beginneth where chylde­hod endeth, & continueth .x. yeres: in this age ther is more firye heat, & lesse natural heat thē is in childe­hode as Gallen witnesseth in hys second boke of temperamentes. Mannes state begynneth at .xxv. and continueth to .xxxv. the which tyme is hote and dry: Olde age beginneth at .xxxv. and continueth the rest of the lyfe, though summe [Page] doe recken it but to .ix. and fortie yere, and it is colde & dry. Ye shall fynde in other places, mo diffe­rences of ages, howbeit I thinke these sufficient, for suche as be not to deynty, and exquisite. Whoso thinketh hym selfe not sa­tisfyed, with this brefe exposition of temperamentes, let hym reade diligently Galenes .iii. bokes of temperamentes, and I dout not, but he shall be satisfyed. For I makyng haste to better and more profitable knowledge, cānot finde in my harte, to tary any lenger in this disputation, yet whoso euer shall dilygently examine in hys mynde that that is wryttē before, may easely (yf he be not halfe fo­lishe) gather y^e rest which wanteth without a techer, or an instructar.

¶The .viii. chapter of humors.

[Page] HVmours be fower in number, that is to say, bloude, chollar, flewme, and melan­choly: of the which, bloude is hote, moyst, and swete. Flewme is coulde, moyst, and vn­sauery, lyke vnto the pure water: yelowe chollar, hote, dry, and bit­tar: blacke chollar, or melancholy, coulde, drye, sowre, and stipticke.

These humours be called hot, could, dry, and moyst, because they be so in power, and not in acte, and ther is great difference betwixte thinges that be hot of power: and thinges hot in acte. For that thing is hot in acte, which is hot alredy, and that is hot in power, which is not hot alredy, but may, and is apt to be hot afterward, & so we call bryne, or vinegar drye, though [Page] they appere to the eye to be moyst, yet experience hath proued them drye, because they consume the superfluous humours, bothe of flesh, & also other thinges. Whan these .iiii. humours reserue theyr forsayde qualities, then the body wherein they be, is hole, and without disease, and the before named humours, be called of the Phisiti­ons, naturall. The receptacles of bloud, be the vaynes, and pulses, but the bloud, that is contayned in the pulses, (as Gallen sayeth in his first boke, and first chapter of affected places) differeth from the blowde of the vaynes, in that, that the blowde of the pulses is both hotter, thynnar, & yelower. The well of the blowde, is the li­uer, & not onely that, but also the first instrument of mannes bodye [Page] and the naturall and true cullour of the blowd, is red: which Galen affirmeth in many places. Where blowde redoundeth the body is feat, fayer, mery, & plesantly dispo­sed. Flewme, of cullour is white, which at the length by y^e meanes of naturall heat, may be tourned in to bloude: and therefore seinge it is a nowrishment but halfe boy­led, nature hath prouided no pro­pre, or peculier receptacle for the pourgynge of it. For flewme en­gendred in the stomake or mawe, be cause it is carryed together w^t the iuice that came of the meate & drinke vp in to y^e liuer, is at length by much alteration tourned into bloude, and that which is caryed together with the bloud in the vaynes, may skant be spared, be­cause it mittigateth the greate feruent, and outragious heat of [Page] y^e bloud: therfore it hath morenede to tarry styll & be altered, then to be pourged, & caryed away, but y^t that remayneth behynde in the guttes, is pourged, & caryed quite oute at the fundament, by reason of the chollar cūmynge fro the lyuer (as Gallen sayeth in the .v. of his bokes, of the vse of the partes of mannes body.) The excrement which falleth frō y^e brayne in to y^e mouth, can not properly be called flewme but rather muck, or sniuil: flewmatick bodyes, be slothfull, slepy, fleshye, & soone horeheared. Yelowe chollar hath his name, of his culour, & nature hathe proui­ded a proper place for it, which is y^e blather vnder y^e liuer: for it was necessary for it to be parted from the bloud, lest at the length y^e hole body, should becumne yelowe, as it doth in the yelowe Iawndies. [Page] Cholericke men be angry, sharpe wytted, nymble, and quicke in all theyr affayers, inconstant, and leane and good digesters of theyr meat: melancholy is the dregges and filthe of the bloud, and there­fore it is blacke, as it appereth in the name: it were great daunger, for it to be left in the liuer, therfore the splyne is prouided of nature, to receyue it, the which splyne yf it drawe lesse then it should do, then the melancholy, or blacke chol­lar, is left with the blowde: by rea­son whereof the body getteth a black colour, or at the least a feuer quartayne. Men that be melan­choly, be sottell, couetouse, greate frettars with them selues, vn­faythful, sad, and carefull, enuious ferfull, and weak sprited. The vse of these forsayde humors, is such [Page] in especiall as foloweth. The bloud serueth to the nowrishment of the hole body, flewme helpeth the mouyng of the ioyntes, yelow chollar clenseth the intestines of of their flewme and filthe, melan­choly healpeth y^e action of the sto­make, (as Gallene writeth in his v. boke of the vse of the partes, of mannes body) by reason y^t it dra­weth the stomake together, wher­by the naturall heat, is encreased: & the concoction of the meat, made much the more parfit. Soranus an Ephesian borne, wryteth: that these humours rule the body by course, eche of them .vi. houres to gether: as bloud begynneth at .ix. of the clocke in the night, & ruleth vntyll .iii. of the mornyng, yelowe chollar beginneth at .3. in the mor­nyng, and gouerneth vntyll .ix. of [Page] the mornyng, melancholy begin­neth at .ix. and continueth to .iii. in the after noone. Flewme begyn­neth at .iii. of the after noone, and lasteth tyll .ix. of the night. These humors, sumtyme lose theyre na­turall qualities wherby they hurt the body, and be called not natu­rall. Blowde becummeth vnnatu­rall, ether whan it putrifieth in the vaynes, be cause the pores be shut, or els whan it is mixt with sūme other euyll humor, as in the drop­sy, where it is mingled w^t water, or finally, whan it is mixt, ether w^t ouer muche chollar, flewme, or melancholy, whereof it taketh a newe name, and is called eyther cholericke blowd, flewmaticke, or melancholy bloud: For it is neuer naturall, except in the mixture, it haue the rule and dominion. Of vnnaturall flewme, there be .iiii. [Page] kyndes, (as Gallen wytnessyth in his second boke & .vi. chapter, of y^e differences of feuers). The first is watrysh, & of the cullar of molten glasse, wherof it hathe to name citrine & is very cowld. The se­cond kynde, is that which after y^e hawking out, hath a swete taste, & is called swete flewme. The third is sowre of taste, & is not so colde as the citrine, & cowlder then the swete. The fowerth is salt, eyther by y^e mixture of sūme salt humor, or elles by putrifactiō, & is called salt flewme. Of vnnaturall yea­lowe chollar, there be .v. kyndes. The firste is yelowe, lyke vnto the yolkes of egges, & as Gallen say­eth is engendred in y^e vaynes The second is colowred lyke leade, or garlicke & is bred in y^e stomake or mawe. The thirde is of a rusty cul­lour, & it also is bred in y^e stomake. [Page] The forth inclineth sumwhat to­wardes grene, and is engendred in the place beforesayd. The .v. is of the cullour of the sea, and grow­eth in the stomacke also. Of melā ­choly, or black chollar, ther is but one kynde vnnaturall, & it is sum­what browne of cullour, and so sharpe and sowre that it eateth, & fretteth the body, where it goethe.

¶The .ix. chapter, of the partes of mannes body.

THe firste diuision of partes of mānes bo­dy, is of those, that y^e latten men call simi­lares, & dissimilares, whiche in englishe, may be called lyke, and vnlike▪ For similares be such partes as be lyke vnto them selues in all thinges, which when they be diuided, or parted in sonder [Page] the leste of them kepeth the same name that the hole dothe, whereof it is part: and dissimilares, be such as are vnlyke them selfes in all thinges, which whan they be de­uided or parted a sunder, none of them can be called by the name y^t the hole is, as in example. No part of the head, can (yf it be separat, & parted, from the head) be called an head▪ no more can any part of the hand be named an hand, nor of y^e foote, a foote: nor of the eye, an eye: yet euery parte of water is called water, and euery part of bloud, is called bloude, and euerye parte of bone, bone: and euery part of flesh, is called fleshe. Therfore these last rehersed be such as the laten men call similares, and the other be the selfe same, y^t be called dissimilares, or instrumentales. Gallen sayeth, y^t [Page] the same partes, which the latyns call similares, be the first elementes, and begynners of mannes bodye, although the selfe same, be com­mon to brute beastes also, for ther is nether oxe, horse, ne dogge, but they haue pulses, vaynes, se­newes, tiinges, gristilles, skinnes, and fleshe, yet not in all poyntes lyke vnto man, and beside these, o­ther that man hath not, as hornes, bylles, spowres, & skales: of these, the other which be called dissimila­res, or instrumentales, be made, as hed, handes, feet, & such lyke. An instrumentall parte, differith from the instrument, because that sūme of the same partes, before is called similares, be instrumentes, and yet may not be instrumentall partes. For euery part (as gallen sayeth) that bringeth forth a parfit actiō, [Page] is an instrument: wherof it com­meth that the pulses, vaynes, and senewes, be instrumentes, and no instrumentall partes. Of y^e instru­mentall partes, there be thre called chefe, or principall: y^e brayne, hart, & liuer. There are summe, whiche addeth vnto these, y^e priuy partes, because they conserue and kepe y^e kinde.

There be belonging to these, iiii. other, as to y^e brayne, senewes: to the hart, pulses: to the liuer, vaynes: and to the pryuye partes, the sparmaticke vessayles: besyde these, there be certayne other partes of the body, whiche nether rule other, nor yet be ruled of o­ther, but hath a facultie of them selfes, whereof they be gouerned: as bone, tiynge, skynne and fleshe. [Page] All y^e partes of mannes body, haue nede of pulses, and vaynes, to the keping of ther substance: vaynes, to the entent y^t they may be now­rished, and pulses for the kepynge of naturall heat in good temper. Hytherto I haue spoken general­ly of the partes of mannes body: whoso is wyllyng to haue a par­ticular rehersall of all the partes, let them seke Gallen, or Vesal [...]us. For they haue writtē hole bokes, and greate volumes of them: and as for me, I haue written of the same, in an other place, so well as my wyt, lernyng, knowledge, and the sterilitie and baraynes of the english tong, wolde gyue me leue. Therfore if that I should wryte the same agayne. I shoulde both be ouer tedious to such as showld heare me, & also I showld breake [Page] my promyse, because I haue pro­mised, to write a brefe, and a shorte treatyse, vpon Phisicke.

The .x. chapter, of powers or faculties.

A Facultie, or a pow­er, is the cause, frō whence the action procedethe. There be .iii. faculties, or powers, diuers ech to other, which gouerneth the bo­dye, and be called Animall, vitall, and naturall. The animall power or facultie, cummeth from the brayne by the senewes, & geueth both mouyng and felynge, to eche part of the body, and is author of the senses, and all voluntary acti­ons. The vital power cummeth from the harte, and is caryed in the pulse throughout the bodye, [Page] wherto it geueth life: wherof it is euident, that the hart is the wel of lifely heat: the natural power, cō ­meth from the liuer, and is caried to euerye parte of the body, by the vaynes, and serueth to the norish­ynge of the same. This power, or facultie, is deuided in .iiii. other powers, the first is attractiue, the second is retentiue, the third con­coctiue or alteratiue, the fowerth expulsiue. The attractiue power, is the same, by y^e which, euery part of y^e body draweth to it, such iuyce as is mete and conuenient to no­rishe it, and that iuyce, which is sooneste made like, is most conue­nient for nowrishment: therfore this power, seing that it prepareth matter, to the norishment of euery part, serueth to the power altera­tiue, or concoctiue. The retentyue [Page] power holdeth y^e same which is al redy drawen, vntyl it be altered & chaunged: & this power also, ser­ueth vnto the alteratiue, or concoc­tiue power.

The alteratiue power, hath name of hys action, for it altereth the iuyce, and at the length, maketh it lyke to the part, that is norished. The expulsiue power or facultie, separateth the euyll from y^e good, lest with long tariynge together, the one shoulde marre the other: & this as the other, serueth to the al­teratiue power. These .4. powers, be in euery part of euery naturall body, as Gallen witnesseth, in hys bokes, of pow­ers or faculties.

¶The .xi. chapter, of Actions.

[Page] AN action, is an ac­tuall mouyng, pro­cedinge from a fa­cultie, and therefore the facultie is al­wayes the cause of the action, wherfore whan the power perish­eth, ther foloweth no action at all: That which the action hath made & finished, is the worke: as bloud, fleshe, & bone, and as ye may call euery action a certayne worke of Nature, so ye can not call euery worke, an actiō: as flesh is a work of nature, & not an action. There is in y^e body .ii. manner of actions. One is called Anymall, or volun­tarie, which procedeth from the synowes, and muscules, & this is suche an actiō, y^t whan it is, it may be seased, & whan it is not, it may [Page] be raysed, as a man listeth, as in example. The head, armes, and legges, may be moued, or holden styll, as it shall plese the dody, that hath them. This action is parted in to thre. The first is of feelynge, which is deuided in .v. as in to the action of seinge, hearinge, felinge, smellynge, and tastyng. The secōd, is the action of voluntarye mo­uyng. The third, is the action, of the cogitation, memory, and rea­son, which of all the rest, is most noble, and excellent. As for respi­ration, is a voluntary action, be­cause it is in oure wyll to holde oure breth: or to let it go, which is euident of the seruaunt (that Gal­lē speketh of) which held his breth vntyl he dyed. Wherfore it is eui­dent, that sūme voluntarye acti­ons, be free: & sum, serue the affec­tiōs [Page] of the body. For to walke any whither, or to speake with any bo­dy, or to take any thinge, be fre ac­tions, but to ease the belly or to make water, serue the necessitie of the bodye. Yt is possible for a mā, to holde hys peace (yf he haue so constitute with hym selfe) an hole yeare to gether, but to hold his ex­crement, or hys water .ii. mone­thes, or .ii. weckes, it is not possi­ble. For they prouoke so oft, and greue a man so muche, that often­tymes, they wyll not abyde, tyll they maye be conuenientlye let forth, and lyke vnto these, is res­piration, or the actiō, of brething. For whosoeuer hathe his brethe stopped, but a very littell tyme, it is a greate doubte, yf he dye not fourth with all. But the naturall action, which is not voluntarye, [Page] cummeth of the vaynes, and pul­ses. For let a man doe what he shall, and yet they wyll doe theire office, without any let. Amongest the naturall actions, be reckened, generation, Auction, nutrition, Formation, Alteration, appetici­on, attraction, concoction, retenti­on, distribution, excretion, & such other. But as for generation, it is not one simple naturall action, for in it is, bothe alteration, and for­mation. The amplyfycation, and increacement, in length, bredeth, and depenesse, of all the vttar partes of the bodye, is called auc­tion. Nutrition, is the assimilati­on, or makyng lyke, of the nurish­ment to that, that is nurished: to the whiche, apposition, and ag­glutination or adhesiō be necessa­ry. For after that the iuyce, which [Page] afterward shall nurish euery part of the body, is once fallen from y^e vaynes, it must first be put to, and then ioyned or glued, & last of all, made like. It is very mete and ex­pedient for euery Phisition, en­tending his pacientes health, dili­gently to consider all the actions, as well the animall, as naturall: because of them, the constitution of the body, is easy to be knowen.

For what body so euer is in health, the same hath all the acti­ons parfit and sownde, and what body is sicke and diseased, it hath cleane otherwise. Moreouer the action for the most part, declareth the place affected. For there can be no action hurt, but that part or in­strument, wherin it is, must be af­fected also.

¶The .xii. chapter, of spirites.

[Page] A Spirit is a subtyl, thynne, and bright substance, made of the finest partes of the blowd, that the power may be cari­ed from the principall partes of y^e body, to y^e rest: wherby eche maye doe hys dutie and office. There be in number, only .iii. spirites: the a­nimall, vitall, and naturall. The animall spirit, hath his place, in y^e brayne, and being dispersed in the senewes, geueth the power of mouinge, and feling, to eche part of the body: It is made of the vi­tall spirite. The vitall spirit, is in the hart, and is caried in the arte­ries, throughout the body, being the very cause of all naturall, and lyuely heat: It is made of the ex­halations, or the dryest, and finest [Page] partes of the bloud. Yf there be any naturall spirit, it is in the liuer and vaynes, and in dede to say the truthe, there is no greate nede for any spirite, to carry any power of nowrishing through the body, seing y^t euery part draweth hys nurishment, euen as the ad­amante stone draweth yron: & be­syde this, the liuer hath no such matter, as any spirit can be made of. For if there were any matter, wherof the naturall spirit might be made, that muste nedes be the vitall spirit, of whome the animall spirite also, is made: but seing that the vitall spirit is engē ­dred in the hart, and by the pulses carryed through the body, it had ben necessary, that there shold haue ben great pulses, from the hart to to the lyuer, whiche might haue [Page] broughte so much vitall spirit, as shoulde haue suffised to haue made naturall spirite. Howbeit it is eui­dent, y^t there cummeth no arte­ries to the lyuer, but such as be with the smallest for such a pour­pose, and then ther is no such caui­tie in the liuer, as is in the brayne, or hart, where any generation of the naturall spirit, may be. More­ouer, there is no vesselles prepared of nature for the cariage of it, ex­cepte a man shoulde say, that it is caryed with the grosse bloude in y^e vaynes, whych is not lyke: seinge the vaynes, haue but one cote, and that of no great thickenes, nether (& yf that were true,) the vaynes shoulde beat, as y^e arteries doe. Al­so there is no waye or enterance for ayer, wherof it might be now­rished as the animall & vitall be. [Page] And agayne, the bloud of the lyuer, is so grosse, and mixt with o­ther humors, that it is not mete to make any spirites of. Therfore, se­inge that there is nether any ende, wherfore it showlde be made, nor matter, wherof it could be made, nor nourishment to preserue it, nor a conuenient place, to make it in, nor finally any way or conduite, wherby it might be brought in to euery part of the bodye: I may iustly, and not with out a cause, doubt of it, although it be a com­mon opinion amongest y^e phi­stions, that there is a naturall spirite.

¶The .i. chapter, Of the number of thinges not naturall.

THinges not natural, be .vi. in number.

1 Ayer.

2 Meat and drinke, or any thing, īward­lye taken.

3 Exercise, and reste, both of the body, and partes.

4 Slepe and watche.

5 Excretion, and retention, or fulnes, and emptines.

6 Affectes or perturbations of the mynde.

These be called thinges not na­turall, because they alter oure bo­dies, [Page] and if they be not discretly ta­ken, vtterlye abolish health: on the other parte, yf they be wisely and soberly vsed: they doe not only de­fende health, but also strengthen nature in all her workes and ac­tions. Therfore they be in y^t parte of phisicke, which defēdeth health And to the ende that no man, be ignorant in y^e vse of them, I pour­posse brefely, & in as fewe wordes as I cā, to declare & shew the vses of eche of them alone by himselfe.

¶The .ii. chapter, of Ayer.

QF thinges not natu­ral. Ayer is most ne­cessarye to be consi­dered, because y^e na­turall heat, can not [Page] be kept in temper, without it, and because, we muste nedes receyue it into our bodies, be the weather neuer so foule, and finallye there can neyther health be defended, nor disease cured, or remedied with­out it. Therfore it lyeth vs in hand, to take especiall heed, and diligent watche, that we minister it in due tyme and season, that it may be as it shoulde be, a cause of health, which no doubte it shall, if first we marke wel the substaunce of it, whether it be pure and clene, or grosse and thicke, or cloudie. That is y^e best and most holsume, which is purest, not infected with no standinge pooles, nor no mar­rishe groundes, nor with the car­ren of bestes, nor with the putry­factiō of herbes, fruite, or grayne, and such lyke.

[Page]Whan we haue well considered the substance of the ayer, then we must marke well the qualitie. For as to temperat bodies, the moste temperat ayer is holsumest, so to bodies distempered, ayer distem­pered in a cōtrary qualitie, is most holsum: as to suche as be cowlde: ayer that is hote, and to suche as be hote, cowlde: and to them that be dry, moyste: and to suche as be moyste, dry. But yf it happen so, y^t the ayer be not contrary of quali­tie, then it must be prepared and made for oure pourpose by art: as yf the disease or sicknes be hote & dry, then we must by sprinklynge of cowlde water on the pauement or floore, & by strawyng of herbes & be settyng vp of suche boughes as be colde & moyst, prepare y^e ayer & make it coulde, & moyst: On y^e [Page] othersyde, yf the disease be cowlde and moyst, then the house must be perfumed with such thinges as be hote and dry, vntyll the ayer also be made hote, and dry. In long diseases, ther is none so good a re­medy, as to change the ayer: and therof it came, that so many going to saynte Cornelis, were healed & cured of the falling euyl: by chan­gyng of the ayer, and not by my­racle, as we poore fooles thought, kneling, & creping, to saynt Cor­nelis horne: but thankes be to the omnipotent, and euer lyuing god, and to oure noble kynge, such most vyle abhominable ydolatry, is nowe well lefte here in this realme.

¶Of meate and drinke. The .iii. chapter

[Page] I Woulde counsel e­uery man, as well the hole as y^e sicke, to take good hede what they eat and drinke: For bothe the goodnes, mesure, qualitie, cu­stome, delectation, order, tyme, houre, and age, must be conside­red. Therfore he that purposeth not to be sicke, nor to haue a sickly body, let his firste care be to eat suche meates, as make good iuice.

For there is nothyng so apt to breede sicknes, as is the euyl ha­bit of y^e body, which is gotten by feadyng of meates, that make e­uyll and noughtye iuyce. That is alwayes good meate, which is light in digestyng, and thynne of substaunce, and the which also bredeth good iuyce: and that is e­uill, which is contrary vnto it. His [Page] next care ought to be, that he eate no more at one tyme, then is suffi­cient to serue Nature, & so he shall bryng to passe, that eyther he shall neuer or elles very seldome, fall in to any perilous disease: Howbe­it y^e Phisition shoulde geue great diligēce, in dieting of the sicke, For a litell to much sumtyme, though the meat be neuer so good, maketh a fault incorrigible: & a quicke or sharpe sicknesse, & a sicknes that is long & slow, may not be measured bothe a like. For a sharpe, & a short disease, must haue a thinne, and a slendar diet: and a longe disease, a more fullar. Therfore the Phisiciō in prescribing of diet, must marke well the strength of hys pacient: & first according vnto hys strength, & then according to the nature of the sicknes, prescribe y^e measure of hys meates and drinkes.

[Page]After the measure the Phisition ought immediatly to marke well the qualitie of the meates: For such as be hole, to the ende that they may kepe theyr health, muste be fed with meates of lyke, & not of contrary qualitie: and suche as be sicke, ought to be fed w^t meates of contrary qualitie: As they that be sycke for hete, must be remedied by meates that be coulde, & they that be sicke of colde diseases, must haue hote meates: and in diseases that be moyste, dry meates: and in dry diseases, moyst meates. Ther­fore suche as haue moyst bodies, as childrē, must be fed with moyst meates: and such as be sicke of dry diseases, as of feuers, must al­so be fed w^t moyst meates, the tone to kepe theyr bodyes moyst styll, & the other, to amende and correcte [Page] their drynesse: and lykewise of the rest. Such as be hote of nature, must eat hot meates, y^t they may kepe theyr heat styll, but yf theyr heat once waxe vnnaturall, then it must be brought in temper, by y^e healp of such thinges, as are colde: and yf they be ouer colde, by heat: and yf they be ouer moyst, by dry­eth: but if theyr heat, colde, drinesse or moysture be naturall, & excede not, then it must be cherished styll with meates of like qualities, as I said before. Next the qualitie con­sider the custume, for that ought not to be broken, except there be great cause whye, seing that such meates as a man hath accustomed hym selfe vnto, although they be worse, hurt not so much as the o­ther doe, of the which he hath not accustomed to eat of. Therfore in [Page] diseases, the Phisition may not be to busie, in pluckyng away their pacientes from theyr accustomed meates & drinkes: but if it happen so, that of necessitie there must be a change, then it may not be done rashely, or all at ones, but fayre & softly, and by lyttell, & lytell. For all sudden mutations, be daunge­rous. And it is mete for the Phisi­tion to obserue, in what meates y^e sicke deliteth most. For suche as he hath pleasure of in the eatinge, the same the stomake enbraseth more gredely: and digesteth or al­tereth much soner, & therfore they must be taken, & preferred before better, though they be worse. Furthermore he must take heed what order his pacient kepe in hys diet, for it is a preposterous ordar, to beginne with quynces or orynges [Page] and ende with sallades, made of herbes, and oyle.

Take this alwayes as a generall rule, that that meat which is most easy to be digested, shoulde be ea­ten before that, that is hardar: & that also that is moyst, before that that is drie: and that that is leuse and slipperie, before that y^t is hard and byndinge. Amongest other thinges, the time of eatyng wolde not be forgotten.

They that be hole, shoulde exercise thē selfes before they eat, & should not eat against theyr appetite, nor abstayne whan ther appetite pro­uoketh them: & they that be sicke, shoulde vtterlye forbeare, vntyll there fittes were in the declinati­on, or ful finished.

Howbeit the disease may be suche, [Page] & the pacientes strength so weake, y^t it shall be nedefull to fede them, both in their fittes, & out of theyr fittes: howbeit I leaue that to the discretion of the Phisition. And I thinke it but well doone, to put you in remembraunce, what your diet should be, in the .iiii. seuerall times of the yere: In winter, more meat and lesse drinke, and meates and drinkes that be hot and drye, as rosted meates, and wyne then may safely be dronken, withoute water. In the spring, we shoulde eat sumdele lesse, and drinke a ly­tell more then in wynter, and eate also more of fleshe, and change frō rosted to boyled: In summar we must endeuer oure selfes, y^t oure bodies may be soft, and colde, and therfore we must eat lesse, & drinke the more, and eat for the most part [Page] boyled meates, & such as is colde. In Autumne we should eat sum­thynge more then in summer, and drinke lesse, and of byggar drinkes be sumthinge more bolder then in summer. And as the tyme is to be considered, so is the age also. For chyldren must be fed, with moyst meates. And such as be not yet at their groeth, because their bodies be more temperate, muste haue, more temperate meates. And lusty men such as is alredye paste theyr groeth, because their bodies be hot, and dry, shoulde haue lyke meates, that is to say suche as is hot & dry: olde men because their bodies be ouer cold and dry, must be fed with meates, that be hote and moyste.

¶The .iiii. chapter, Of exercise, and rest.

[Page] EVery softe mo­uynge, is not an exercise, as Gal­len sayeth, but y^t that is sūthing vehement, as le­pyng, coytyng, runnyng, tennys, footbale, shoo­tyng, and such lyke. Exercise hath many notable commodities but .3. in especiall: the hardnes of the in­strumentes, the encrese of naturall heat, and the more vehement and quicker mouynge of the spirites: & eche of these hath hys peculier, and particuler cōmoditie. The instru­mentes by meanes of theire hard­nes, may endure to labor the bet­tar, and also perfourme theyre ac­tiō more easely. The encrese of na­turall heat amendeth the altera­tion, and concoction of the meat, [Page] wherby the body is much y^e more luckely nurished. The quicker & vehementer mouynge of the spi­rites, healpeth to pourge the ex­crementes, bothe by the raynes, skinne, & guttes. Exercise bringeth these cōmodities to y^e bodye, yf it be takē in due tyme, or elles it hur­teth more then it profitteth: for yf it be taken whan ther is ether any cruditie in y^e stomake, or vaynes, it will fill all y^e body full of euyll hu­mors, by reason that y^e crude, and rawe iuyse, is plucked in to eche part of the bodye. Wherfore exer­cise, shoulde ether be taken before meat, or elles after that y^e concoc­tion of y^e stomake & liuer is ended: & y^e parfit knowlege of this tyme, is taken of y^e vryne. For whan the concoction of the liuer is donne, then the vryne waxeth yelowe. [Page] Howbeit the very best tyme of ex­ercise is whan yesterdayes meat is throughly digested: as one time for exercise, is better thē an other, so one kynde of exercise, profiteth y^e body more then an other. That is y^e beste kynde of exercise, in the which euery part of the body, su­steyneth lyke labor and payne, and yet in the same there may be com­mitted many errors and faultes: for it may be to much, or to littell, yet of bothe, lesse hurteth to lyttle. Therfore the exercise, wolde con­tinue so longe, vntyll the bodye swellethe, and waxinge read, be­ginne to swete all ouer: and whan any of these tokens chanceth, then the exercise wolde be seased incon­tinent, lest the good iuice be expel­led together with the euyll, & so the body shal be made leaner, and [Page] dryer, which wyll hynder the gro­inge. As exercise, yf it be discretely mynistred, preuayleth much to the defence of health, so rest and quiet­nes, yf it be not taken in his tyme, filleth y^e body full of sicknes: For it causeth cruditie, which is y^e mo­ther, and roote in manner, of all daūgerous sicknes. There be ma­ny good tymes for rest, but the ve­ry best tyme, as Hyppocrates wit­nessith, is whā the body is weried with labor, and exercise. For then he sayeth, that y^e rest taketh awaye the werinesse.

¶The .vi. chapter, of slepe, and watche.

SLepe is the rest of y^e animal power, or as Aristotell sayeth, the priuation & takynge away, of the senses, [Page] whiche cummeth of a profitable humor, fallyng from the brayne in to the senewes. Of slepe the body receyueth many profitable com­modities.

For whiles the animall power re­steth, the naturall power laboreth most strōgly, by reasō wherof the meat is well digested, and y^e bodie luckely nurisshed.

There be .iiii. thinges, whiche in slepe, wolde by earnestlye loked vpon.

The firste is the sleping tyme, as the night, which for slepe of all other tymes, is moste conuenient: both because the night is coulde & moyste, and because that then, all thinges is quiet w^tout any noyse. I wolde counsell no man to slepe on the daye except he feele ether a [Page] great wearinesse in al his body, or haue not slept y^e night before, and yet then it wolde not be taken vp­on a full stomake neyther, but ra­ther fasting, and emptie.

The second is the quantitie, for slepe yf it continue to long, beside other incōmodities, it letteth the pourginge of excrementes.

The thirde, is the lyinge a bed, for therby the disgestion maye be eyther furthered or hyndered. Wherfore first it is best to lye vp­on the right side, and then vpon y^e lift, that the meat, and drinke, may go lowe ynough, and the mouth of the mawe shet the better.

As for lying vpon the backe, it is vtterly condemned of all men, for it is the cause of many perilous diseases, as the apoplexie, & such lyke.

[Page]The fowerth thing, which must be considered in slepe, is the nature of the dreames: for by them the Phi­sition shall haue a great gesse of what quality the humor is, which redoundeth and is superfluous. The Phisition ought to be as di­ligent, in the ministration of slepe, to them that be sicke, as to them y^t be hole. For as all other thinges, so slepe, yf it be not well ordred & taken in hys tyme, may hurt very muche. It hurteth them moste, whiche haue any of theyre innar partes inflamed: wherfore such must be kept from slepe, lest the in­flammation be encresed withall: and moreouer in shakynge feuers, the sicke ought to be kept waking, whyles the colde shakynge endu­reth, lest the natural heat, & bloud be drawen in to muche, by reason [Page] whereof, the feuer wyll be much y^e more stubberne to be cured. Such as be hole, and without sicknesse, muste beware of ouer much slepe, lest y^e good temper of theyr braine be quite marred, & theyr strength also cleane resolued: and of the o­ther syde yf they watche to much, theyre bodies shall be filled with rawe humors: therfore it must be vsed, nether to much, nor to lytell, but moderatlye, & in a meane. Of slepe & watche, much more might be written, howbeit, this maye suffise well ynough, at this time.

¶The .vi. chapter, of ful­nesse and emptinesse.

GAllen sayeth y^t there is .ii. kyndes of ful­nesse. The tone is whan the qualytie alone excedeth, and [Page] the other, whan the humors be growen to much in quantitie. Ther is also yet an other kynde of fulnesse, which is called repletion, and that is properly of meat and drincke.

Howbeit Gallē maketh .ii. kindes of repletion, the tone is, whan the veselles be so ful, that they can not receyue easylye any more, as whā a man hath eaten so muche, that his bellye seemeth to be extended withall: and the other is whan y^e power is loded to muche, though the veselles be not halfe full, as whan a man eateth more meate then nature or the power that go­uerneth hys body, can digest. Yet the abundaunce of humors, is deuided in to mo kindes, for whan all the humors doo abound to ge­ther, it is called of y^e grekes, [...] [Page] [...], and of the latines plenitudo, and in englishe, it maye very wel be named fulnesse: So whan the bloud only redoundeth it maye be called fulnesse, because it is not so pure, but that there is bothe chol­lar, flewme, melancholy, & water in it: and this fulnesse is mente .ii. maner of wayes, as whan the ho­lowenesse of the vaynes is filled, so that the vaynes swell withall: or elles whan the power that ma­keth blud, is not sufficient to alter or digeste that that is contayned with in.

Whan the bodye is filled, eyther with yelowe chollar, melancholy, flewme, or watrish humors, then it is called Cacochimia, whiche in Englishe, is as muche to saye, as euyl, and naughty iuyce.

[Page]I coulde neuer nether in Gallen, nor in any other notable author, find any mo differencis of fulnes, then is afore rehersed: therefore seinge that I haue brefely, sayed all that I can concernyng the dif­ferences of fulnesse, or repletion: it remayneth behynde to shewe my mynde concernyng the differences of emptinesse, or euacuatiō, which may cum many wayes: as by let­tyng of bloud, pourgyng of y^e bel­ly by medicyne, by the settyng to boxing glasses, by fastinge, by sle­pynge after hungar, by vryne, by drawyng out of the spettill, by ble­dynge at the nose, by bryngynge downe of wemens flowers, by the Hemorrhoides, by carnall copula­tion, by insensible euaporation. Of the which I entend to speke of eche in hys ordar. The body, hath [Page] most nede of bloud lettinge, whan the vaynes be so full, that they be extended withall: For than it is a present remedy, and howe muche the more a man fealeth hym selfe heuyer then he was wont to be, so much that kynd of fulnesse which is referred to the strength, is en­creased: but then the vesselles, are thought to be full, whan the body is much extended with prickynge paynes, & then the Phisition may be bolde to open y^e vaynes, so that y^e pacient haue cōpetent strength, but the other kynde of repletion, may not alwayes be remedied w^t bloud letting, but sumtimes other wayes, as by fastynge, pourging, and such lyke, & it is as necessary to opē the vaine, whan by meanes of sūme stroke, or for sūme greate payne & grefe, or by the debylitie [Page] of sūme part, the bloude is infla­med, as it is in the kyndes of ful­nesse, or repletion before named: to be brefe whan so euer the dis­ease is outragiouse, yf y^e strength serue, ther is nothyng so necessary as to let bloud. Amongest al other thinges in lettyng of bloude, the age must be considered: for childrē before .xiiii. yeares be ful complete & ended, & old mē after they be past lxx. yeres ought not but vpō great considerations be let any bloude: Howbeit, if in this age they be ful of bloud, and haue good strength, and yf the tyme of the yeare also serue, and the disease be such, that it requireth bloude lettynge, the Phisicion maye boldlye open the vayne a lyttell. Therfore the num­ber of the yeares are not onely to be considered, but the complexion, [Page] or the habyt of the sicke mannes body also. For sūme at .lx. yeares, may abyde more, then other sūme at .l. wherfore whan the strength serueth, & the sickenesse requireth the takynge awaye of bloud, the phisitiō may boldly, & at one time, take away as much as shal be cō ­ueniente, to the curyng of the dis­ease: but in case the strength of the paciente be feble and weake, then the bloude wolde not be taken a­waye al at one tyme, but rather at twise, or thrise, as the sicke, maye departe withall. In extreme bur­ninge feuers, if the strength serue, the best remedy is, as Gallen say­eth, to let bloude, vntyll the bodye waxeth faynte, and swoune with all, for the coolynge of the body, wyll extinguishe the feuer, and in manye, bothe lose the bellye, [Page] and also prouoke sweate. In let­ting of bloude, the naturall consti­tution of the body, must be wel lo­ked vpon, for they that haue great vaynes, & be nether to leane, nor to whyte, may spare more bloude, then they y^t be very leane, & white, & haue but small, and litell vaines. The region, may not be forgotten nether, for such as doe dwell in re­gions which be very muche distē ­pered ether w^t heate or colde, may not abyde the takynge awaye of much bloude, because that theyre bodies whiche dwell in the colde region or contrye, losing much na­turall heat w^t theyr bloud, waxe afterward to colde: & the strength of theyre bodyes whiche dwell in y^e hote contrey, is afterwarde dis­solued or dissipate, w^t ouermuche heate: and by this reason, nether [Page] summar, nor wynter, be conueni­ent to let bloude in, but the springe only, because that it is temperate. As cōcerning what time, or houre of the daye, Gallenes counsell is, that theye that be hole, in the mor­ninge, within an houre after that they be risen, & they that be sicke, at all houres, both of the day, and nyght (so that theyr strength and sicknesse do so require.) The Phi­sitiō ought before he let any vaine be opened, to inquire diligently of hys formar life, and diet: For yf he haue liued ydellye, and haue bene fed with such meates as nurrishe much, he may take boldly & w^tout feare y^e greater quantitie of blud, howbeit yf he haue bene a greate riottour, & a common drunkarde, then Gallen sayeth that it is mere foolishenesse to do any thynge at [Page] all, for such by theyr intemperat lyfe, wil fil as fast as they be emp­tyed. In bloud lettyng, the especi­all care ought to be, of the vayne. For seinge that ther is .iii. vaynes in the arme, y^e innar vayne, which is called of the Surgiens, basilica, and is the lyuer vayne, shoulde be opened, for all swellynges, or payne vnder the necke. But the vtter vayne, which is called cepha­lica, & in englishe the head vayne, owghte to be smitten whan the partes aboute the necke be trou­bled, as y^e head, and face. The middell vayne, which is called Media­na, wolde not be medled with, but there as the other vaynes, appere not. There be vaynes also at the knees, and anclees, which whan y^e disease liethe lowe, is most meet to be opened. The last care, and charge showlde be, of the stintyng [Page] of the bloud: For how much the better it runneth, so muche the soonar it wolde be stinted, or stay­ed: but after that y^e vaine is ones smitten, it shoulde not be stayed, vntyl ether that the bloud, or pulse were chaunged. The seconde way of emptiynge the body, is by medi­cyne receyued in to the stomake, which should not be vsed but whā the body is replete with euyll, and corrupt humors: wherfore such as be in healthe and haue good and swete humors, Hippocrates wold in no case to be purged, by any me­dicine, for feare of dissoluing theyr power. But such as haue nede of pourgynge, must first make them selfes apt & meete for the same, by bathes & eatyng of moyst meates: for so they shall delyuer theyre guttes from obstructions. [Page] Howbeit yf the humors be thicke & clammy, then they must be made thinne, & subtell and apt to runne, by suche decoctions & syrupes as doe incyde grosse matter. But yf y^e humors be thinne and subtell, thē they haue no nede of any prepara­tyue, and the Phisition ought al­wayes to obserue, that he pourge no humors whiche be crude and rawe, except for theyr multitude they swell the bodye, then with­oute any more delyberation, they muste forthwithal be taken away with a pourginge medicyne: leste the strength of the body be dissol­ued, or the fyerye heat of the feuer encresed, or finally the humors be dryuen to sū principall part, wher­by Nature shalbe lesse able to de­liuer the body: For yf nature be not holpen before that tyme, she [Page] shall be in suche a rage, that no­thynge can be done well or order­lye in the bodye. The next care is what humor should be pourged. Therefore the Phisition shoulde take heede that he pourge no moo humors, thē be hurtfull to the bo­dye: As yf fleume do redounde & hurt y^e body, it only is to be pour­ged: yf chollar, ether yelowe, or blacke, offende the bodye, then he should vtterly abstaine frō fleume and likewise whan water aboun­deth, it only shoulde be taken a­waye: for as Hippocrates say­eth, if such humors be pourged, as ought to be, it profiteth the bodye, and is donne, withoute gryefe or payne, but elles it is cleane cōtra­ry. Besyde this, the time of y^e yeare woulde be considered, as well in pourging as in lettyng of bloud. [Page] For there be summe tymes of the yere in the whiche it is very mad­nesse to lewse y^e bellie: For in win­ter, whan it is frost or snowe, or in summar, when the heat is outra­gious, whosoeuer is pourged shal be much the worse for it: and yet of both times, the lesse mete for pour­gyng, is the summar. For then the body is so adust, with heate of the wether, that it is not well able to beare the sharpnesse of the medi­cyne, and nature also beinge made weake with the heate of the sum­mar, is more weakned of the me­dicyne: insomuch that many being pourged then, fall sicke of feuers, & be quite destitute of their strength. Therefore the springe tyme, of all other tymes of the yere, is moste holsome, bothe to powrge the bo­dy, and to let bloude.

[Page]In pourgynge the body, the re­gion also must be considered. For yf it be very hot, it letteth the wor­kinge of the medicyne, because it draweth the humors in to y^e skin, and the aboundaunce of heate healpeth to dissolue the strength. The age may not be forgottē: For chyldren because they be not yet at their groweth, be nothing mete for pourgations: lykewyse olde mē whē they waxe weake, shoulde not be troubled w^t any medicines. And as in all euacuations, so in pourging of the belly, the strength of the sicke must be earnestly loked vpon: For so longe as the sicke, maye abyde easilye the taking a­way of his humors, he may safe­ly be pourged, & no longer though all be not gone.

[Page]In leusyng the belly, vehement & stronge laxes, be vtterly to be ab­horred: for besydes that they wea­ken the strength, they hurt marue­lously the stomacke. Laste of all in pourgyng of the bellye, the excre­mentes wolde be taken heede to, of the Phisicion, because he may di­uine diuerse thinges bothe of their substance, qualitie, and coulour. The thirde way to cleanse the bo­die is by vomit, wherof Nature hath much good: For they that vo­mit often, for the most part be al­wayes hole. For there is euacua­tion made as well of flewme, as of chollar: by meanes wherof, the stomacke is not filled with euyll humors & the head findeth muche ease. Vomiting is most profitable for them that be cholerick, hauing large brestes, short neckes, & wide [Page] mouthes, it profiteth also to such as by meanes of great eatynge & drinkinge, reserue crude, and rawe humors in theyr stomakes: yet he that wyll be hole and pourposeth to be olde, let hym not be to busye with vomittynge: For the muche vse of it causeth deafnesse, & hur­teth the eyes, it breaketh y^e vaynes of the breste and lunges, it offen­deth the teathe, and causeth head ache. Therfore it is y^e Phisitions dutie to declare, who is apt to vo­mit, and who is not. For suche as be not apte to vomit, shoulde be pourged dounwarde, and in no-case constrayned to vomit: such as be not apt to vomite be they that be betwixt fat and lene, hauynge theyr brestes narrowe, and theyr neckes long: and such as be leane, slender, and haue wyde brestes, & [Page] shorte neckes, be apt to vomit. In vomittyng the excrement must be loked well vpon, for the sight of it, shall amend the coniecture of the Phisicion. The forth way of emp­tying y^e body, is by boxyng: which (as Gallen sayeth in hys boke y^t he wrote of boxing) doth not only make euacuation and drawe oute muche matter, but also easeth the payne, and diminisheth the swel­lyng, dissolueth wynde, and styr­reth vp appetite where it was al­most lost, confirming the strength of weake stomakes, calleth againe life in swounes, and fayntynges, it draweth also swellynges and fluxes, from one part to another, & stinteth bledyng, and stayeth we­mens flowers. There be .2. kindes of boxing, on is withoute any sca­rifiyng, which preuayleth moste in [Page] drawing backe of humours, as in y^e drawing back of wemens flow­ers whā they rūne to much, & these be light boxing glasses, which be vsed w^tout scarifiyng. The other is w^t scarifiyng, which is vsed in hard swellynges, cummynge of melancholy, or whan y^e partes be troubled w^t the fluxe of any sharpe matter, whiche muste be drawen from one to another: & in sharpe & quicke diseases, wheras y^e pacient may spare no bloude: scarifyinge profiteth watryng eyes, and also paines, both of head, brest, & backe The .v. kynde of emptying the bo­dye, is by bathe, and here ye muste marke that there is .ii. kyndes of bathes, one is naturall, and an o­ther artificiall. That is called na­tural which springeth of his owne accorde, without y^e healp of mānes inuention.

[Page]Of naturall bathes summe be hote by the mixture of niter, salte, allume, brimstone, chaulke, lyme, yrō, copper, goulde, syluer & tinne, which ether lieth in the bothom of the bathe, or elles in the rockes, or hylles from whence the springe cūmeth, whereof water taketh his qualitie: & by this reasō, y^e bathes which be in a towne, called Bathe here in Englande, be hote: to the great admiration of all ignorante people. These kyndes of bathes be good for suche as be diseased in their ioyntes or haue crude, & raw matter in theire bodyes, and be diseased ether with pockes, pyles, or emeroides: but for men, that be in health, and haue swete humors they be nothyng mete, yea and the vse of them, is very perilous. Ar­tificiall bathes, be made by man­nes [Page] witte, therefore they be not in all places lyke: But here in Eng­lande they be nothing so commen­dable, as in Germany and other places. For here there is but one hotte house, and therefore the sub­tell parte of the humor is drawen out, and y^e grosse is left behinde. But in Germany, & in other pla­ces, they haue diuers houses, first one, wher they put of their clothes & an other where they be annoyn­ted and rubbed, and in the thyrde house they sweate and be washed: the forthe house is not so warme as the thyrde, & the fyfthe is sum­what colde: nowe that I haue declared the partes of the artificiall bathes, whiche were vsed in the olde tyme, and yet be in many pla­ces, I purpose to shewe in as fewe wordes, the commodities of the [Page] same, begynnyng with the firste part, which is a warme house pre­pared with fire, or wyth warme water and swete herbes, to the en­tente that the littell pores of the skynne may open easilye, and the hole body with all the humors, be sumwhat warmed. The nexte house beinge sumthynge warmer, stirreth vp the spirites, and dissol­ueth the grosse humors, and the rubbyng with the annoyntynge, correcteth & amendeth the hard­nes of the senewes, ioyntes, and loynes: the thirde house by hys greate heat, dissolueth mightilye the grosse humours, by meanes, wherof nature pourgeth the bo­dye of them: and the luke warme water, moysteth the hole body, & taketh away werynesse, yf ther be [Page] any in the vtter partes: y^e fowerth house, because it is sumwhat col­dar, reducethe nature by litell, and litell, to here pristinate state. The fifth by meanes of his colde, shut­teth agayne the pores of y^e skinne, which beateth the naturall heate in, and causeth good concoction, amendyng the action bothe of the stomacke and liuer. The sixt kinde of those thinges which lewseth the body, is sweat: and it ought to be prouoked whan any euyll hu­mors, is in the innar partes, as in feuers & pestilent agues.

It may be prouoked diuersly as by the heate of drye bathes, hote stones, & yrons, or by swete herbes and warme water, ether in pottes or in blathers. But in all vehement, and sharpe diseases, [Page] and especiallye in hote agues, the Phisiciō shoulde take great hede of the sweat, markynge very dily­gentlye which is good, and whych is euyll: For by them he may con­iecture muche of the cause of the grefe, but as Hyppocrates sayeth, those sweates in feruent and hote diseases, which cōmeth in the iud­gyng dayes, & doe ende the feuer, be best and most holsume: and it is not euyll whan the patient swea­teth in euery part of hys body, so hys paynes waxe lesse withall: but whā y^e body sweateth muche, and the paynes encrease, it is not good: Howbeit it is worst of all, yf the sweate be cold. And whan the face, head, and necke sweat onlye, if it be in any hot ague, it declareth dethe whichout any remedy. In prouokyng of sweate, the Phisiti­on [Page] shoulde take hede, that it be not to much, for feare of dissoluyng of the strength of hys pacient. The seuenth kynde of euacuation is ex­ercise, wherof we spoke before in the fowerthe chapter, of this same boke. The .viii. kynde is absti­nence, or hungar, which doth not extenuat nor make euacuation of him selfe, but by meanes that that is not restored which w^t abstinence or fastinge, was wasted. Fastyng or abstinēce may be takē .ii. wayes eyther vtterly to forbeare bothe meate and drinke, or elles to take so much, as is sufficient to kepe the soule and the body together, and no more. Ther is nothyng, that so muche profiteth ether the sicke, or the hole, as doth abstinence, yf it be taken in due tyme and orderly: and therfore Plinie, (none of the [Page] worst wryters of Physycke) com­mendeth sobrietie in meates and drinkes, sayinge that it is verye profitable for all men to be tem­perate in their diet. And the very father of Phisicke Hyppocrates, affirmeth moderate eatynge and drinking, to be the castel of health, and many tymes such as be disea­sed and sicke, be cured onlye by ab­stinence. In prescribynge of absti­nēce, the Phisitiō shoulde discret­ly consider who may best beare it, for as Gallen sayeth in his .2. boke of temperamentes. They y^t haue small vaynes, haue but lytell bloude, wherfore they can not faste without hurtyng theyre bodies, & they that haue great vaynes, haue plentye of bloude, wherefore they maye the better away with absti­nence, without any decay of theyr bodelye health or strength: of such [Page] as be sicke, they y^t be full of crude, & rawe humors, be least hurte w^t fastyng, yea the best remedye to all such is abstinēce: but to be brefe none shoulde be cōmaunded to fast of the Phisicion, but suche as be stronge, or elles be sicke of suche diseases as cū of cruditie. As ab­stinence, if it be geuen in seasō, & to suche as hath nede of it, profiteth very muche, so if it be taken out of time, or be geuen to such as nede it not, it hurteth twise as much: It is taken out of time, whā y^e bodye is weake & the disease easy to be ouer cumme, or elles whan it is prescri­bed vnto such as be of nature cholericke, for in such it bredeth chollar & causeth feuers with many frettes and pinchinges both in the belly & also in the mouth of the mawe.

Slepe hathe the .ix. place, of [Page] those thinges which healpe eua­cuation: howbeit all slepe dothe not extenuat, nor at all tymes, but that only which is taken the body being hungery, or elles by and by after exercise and labor: for the na­turall heate in slepe is called in to the innar partes, whych whan it findeth no nurrishment nor meate to be altered and digested, it doth waste and consume the profitable humors of all the body, and so of necessitie it both drieth the body, & lessenneth it also: the which thing Hyppocrates witnesseth sayinge: Much slepe drieth his body which before hath bene to muche pour­ged any manner of way. Also in hys .ii. boke that he writ of good ordar of diet, he affirmeth y^t slepe extenuateth the body which fast­eth or kepeth abstinence, and ma­keth [Page] it coulde, consumynge all the humiditye wythin it. Of all other tymes, that slepe whiche is taken in the morninge after exercise, dry­eth the body most, & the same also doth slepe taken after bathes. For the bathe opening the poores, ma­keth euacuation of all the excre­mentes which lurked in y^e skynne, and slepe immediatly folowinge the bathe, calleth in the naturall heat agayne and wasteth the pro­fitable humidity of y^e innar partes. The .xii. kynde of euacuatiō is the prouoking of vrine, which should be vsed whan ther is any obstruc­tion, or any great abundaunce of humors about that part of the li­uer, which in latten is called gibba or els in the raynes or bladder, for if the obstruction be in cauo hepatis (which as gibba is the plumppest [Page] parte and the toppe of the liuer, so cauum is the holowest parte & the lowest of y^e same) thē it is better to lewse the bellye, then to prouoke vryne. For Gallen sayeth as the toppe of the liuer, which before is called gibba is clensed by prouo­kinge of vrine, so the holowe part of the liuer, which I called cauum is pourged by lewsyng of the bel­ly. The which sayinge he repeteth in the .vii. chapter, of his .ii. boke that he write to hys frynde Glau­co, and in many other diuers, and sundry places. In the prouokynge of vrine y^e Phisicion must beware that there be no fluxe of bloude, nor exulceration in the raynes or bladder: for thē it is better to pluck from thence in to other partes of the body, thē to drawe from other places thyther.

[Page]The .xi. kynde of euacuation, is the drawinge downe of the spet­tell, or the excrement of the braine, by the mouthe: whose vse is, whā the breste and the instrumentes of brethynge shoulde be pourged: wherfore whan the spettell is e­quall bothe in quantitie, and col­lour, then it declareth the brest, & the instrumentes of brethynge, to be in perfit health: but whan it is otherwyse, that is to saye of di­uers cullours & not equall, it de­clareth the instrumentes of bre­thynge, and the hole brest so farre to be distempered, as it differethe from hys owne naturall cullour, and quantitie. Wherfore the Phi­sicion shoulde diligently consider what Hyppocrates hathe writ in the .ii. boke prog. and Aphor .43. & also in sūme of the other folowing. [Page] The .xii. kinde of euacuation, is by holdyng medicynes in the roofe of y^e mouthe, which is called garge­lyng, vnder the which kynde is cō ­tayned the puttyng of medicines in to the nose called nisynge: and these if they be vsed in theyr time, profiteth and healpeth the braine very much. The .xiii. kynde is the bledyng at the nose, which amen­deth the obstructions of y^e brayne, & the distillations from the heade, in to all partes of the body: wher­fore the Phisitiō shoulde diligent­ly attende that in bledyng at the nose, he knowe whan to stynt it, & whan not: For sūme tyme, whan it hathe bled but a verye litell, it must be staied incontinent. Sum­tyme it is not stayed w^tout greate daunger, as yf it chaunce by the a­bundaunce of nawghtye bloude, [Page] for then it is better to healpe na­ture to expell the nawghtie bloud, thē to stay it: wherfore euery Phi­sicion, shoulde wel remember this sayinge of Hyppocrates: whan so euer the bledynge at the nose, qui­eteth not the body, it must be stop­ped w^t a dry medicyne. The .xiiii. kynde of euacuation, is wemens flowres, which chaunce to wemē at times appoynted of nature, that by the meanes of them, y^e hole bo­dye may be pourged, and so health defended: wherfore if the flowres be suppressed at any tyme, excepte that tyme that the woman goethe with childe, or geueth sucke, it de­cayeth health vtterly, and marreth the good constitution of the body, as well as whan they runne to muche, which Hyppocrates wit­nesseth saying as foloweth. [Page] Of to many flowres, cūmeth dis­eases, but of to fewe or not at all, foloweth diseases of the wombe. Yet in stopping of the flowres, the Phisicion shoulde behaue hym selfe wiselye, lest he stop them to sone or to late. For sū wemen hath them naturally longer, then other haue, which Hyppocrates witnes­seth saying: to such womē as haue moyst bodies, their flowres conti­nueth long, & if they cū not downe quickly, they swell with all. The xv. kynde of euacuation is done by the hemorrhoides, which is the name of certayne vaynes cūminge to the loweste parte of the funda­ment, by the which nature purgeth the body of melancholye wherby it deliuereth the bodye, of many diseases: which Hippocrates affir­meth, sayinge. They that haue the [Page] hemorrhoides be safe frō all paine of their sides, and inflammatiō of their lunges, nor shal be troubled nether with byles, scurfe, nor no kynde of lepry. Therfore the Phi­siciō must take great hede in stop­pynge of them, lest they be the au­thors of great and perilous sick­nessis, as of the dropsie, & consum­tions. He that requireth a longer disputation of this matter let hym reade ouer Hyppocrates bokes, written of the same matter. The xvi. kinde of euacuatiō is the flesh­ly or carnall copulation, which profiteth y^e body much yf it be vsed moderatly and in due tyme: For it amendeth the fulnesse of the body, and as Aetius in the .viii. chapter of hys .iii. boke, & Agineta in the 3. chapter of his .i. boke witnesseth, [Page] whan the body is at the groweth it maketh it strong, nymble, and quicke, and amendeth the hard ha­byt of the bodye: For it mollifieth the instrumentes, and dilateth the pores and pourgeth the body of flewme: Morouer it quickneth y^e wit & pacifieth anger, wherefore it profiteth all them, that haue lost ther wyttes, either with anger or elles w^t sorowe, it profiteth them also, which haue the fawling euil: & such as haue heauinesse in theyr browes, and ache in theyr heades, many tymes be cured by it. Which Hyppocrates confirmeth saying: carnal copulation, which is called venus▪ amendeth all dis­eases that cum of flewme, howbe it yf it be vsed to much, it hurteth the eyes, and all the sensis, and the head, senewes, brest, raines, loynes [Page] thyghes, and morouer hasteneth olde age and deth, and vtterly dis­solueth the strength of the bodye: and hereof it commeth that they that vse it to much, be forgetfull, and be weake & full of payne, both in their ioyntes, loynes, & thighes, & it bringeth many to y^e strangury, & many to the gout. Of all tymes of the yere, it may safest be vsed in thy springe, it is vtterly to be ab­horred in autumne, and in sūmar. Winter also by meanes of hys greate colde, is not very good: the best houre for it is as Gallē sayeth whan the body is in a meane, be­twixte full, and emptie, and exce­deth nether in heat nether in colde, drynesse nor moysture. Therefore who so euer wyll vse it, let hym beware of cruditie, drunkennes, hungar, werynesse, vomittynge, [Page] pourging of the belly, watchyng, and all other such as healpeth to dissolue the strength of the body. After moderate eatyng is the best time of it, and before slepe, for that amendeth y^e strength, and maketh that there foloweth no colde after it. For slepe immediatly folowing it, taketh away the werines of the muscles and senewes, and calleth in the natural heat: which maketh the concoction perfit. Moreouer this time is best and aptest, to the procreation of children for many causes: but especially because the woman whyles she slepeth, hol­deth her husbandes seed beste. The .xvii. kynde of euacuation is perspiratiō, or euaporation, which is done ether by nature, or elles by medicine, which so finely subty­lith the humors, that they passe by [Page] the insensible poores of y^e skinne, without any putrifiynge. Hither­to I haue declared the kyndes of euacuatiō, or emptines the which euery diligent Phisition must so well obserue, that he may knowe whan to vse this kynde or that, or elles whan to stop, for sumtyme it is better to encrease humors▪ then to diminishe them. Finallye the Phisition shoulde obserue, and marke, howe he should make euacuation and where, and what, and whan, and how much.

¶The .vii. chapter. Of the perturbations, & sudden motions of the minde.

[Page] THe Affections, which be the sudden moti­ons, and perturbati­ons of the mynde, ought not to be nec­lected of the phisitiō: because they be of great might, and make great alteratiō in all the body: y^e whiche amongest al other, feare, Ioy, an­gar and sorowe declare euidently. Feare by drawing the spirite and bloud in to y^e innar partes leaueth the vtter pale for colde. Anger set­teth the body on fire with mouing of the bloud to the vtter partes & as in anger the pulse beteth migh­tely, so in fere it beateth almost no­thyng at all: sorrow is an affecti­on w^c the which y^e hart as though it were smytten, is drawen toge­ther, and doth tremble and quake, not without great sense of payne: [Page] and so by lyttel and lyttel whiles the sorow goeth not away, the strength of the hart, is quite ouer­throwen, and the generation of spirites is letted, by meanes wher­of, the lyfe is vtterly extinct: suche a cruell scourge is sorow vnto mā.

Feare and sorowe differ of this fashion, y^e sorowfull mā suffereth that by littell and litell, which the fearfull mā doth suffer all a tonse. Ioy is a sudden motion, with the whiche y^e harte reioysing dilateth hym selfe, and suddenly sendeth furth al hys naturall heat and spi­rites, wherby sumtyme it chaun­seth that a weake body diethe in Ioy, because for lacke of strength the hart cā not call in agayne his naturall heat and spirites. Aulus Gellius, in hys .iii. boke and .xv. chapter writeth ā historye worthy [Page] to be remembred of one Diago­ras y^t had .iii. sonnes, which were all crowned of the people in one day at the playes of the hil Olim­pia, & whilest the people and his iii. sōnes reioysing, embrased their father, castyng theyre garlandes vpon hym, he died in theyr armes.

Philippides also a maker of playes whan he had y^e victorie a­mongest the Poettes, whiche he loked not for, died by and by amongest them all.

Howe be it anger kylleth no man, because it nether cooleth the natu­rall heat nor yet dissolueth the strength.

The phisition shoulde marke ear­nestlye not onlye these, but all o­ther affectes of the mynde also: partly, that he may know of them, what humor redoundeth: but es­pecially, [Page] that he may lerne, how to resiste them: and by hys counsell master them in the ende.

¶The first chapter of the number of thinges agaynste Nature.

THynges agaynste Nature be .iii. in number: the firste is the cause which goeth before the disease.

The seconde is the disease it selfe, by whome the action is first hurt.

The third is the accidentes fo­lowyng the disease.

[Page]This same parte of phisicke, which inquireth of the causes and the accidētes of diseases, is called of the Grekes, [...], soundeth nothing elles but the mouyng of any thing that is affected: wherfore he hath hys substance no lenger, then he is in mouing, altering, or changing: and so he differeth from affection taken specially, the which is no­thynge elles but an alteration re­mayning in a thing that hath suf­fered: by this meanes, the disease and the cause, with the accidente, which be affections of oure body, as pale, and euyll culour, be called affections, and yet the same acci­dentes be called also passiōs. The reste which be the faultes of sum action, as ouer much inanition, or retentiō, be alonly called passions [Page] & not affections: because they be not thinges permanent, but is on­ly, and remayne so long as they be in growing. Here it is to be noted, that a thyng may suffer .ii. manner of wayes: firste whan it suffereth of it selfe, as if the guttes suffer payne, of anye sharpe, or bytynge humors conteyned within them, which may be called theyr owne passion. Secondarily, whan a thynge suffereth not of it selfe but of another, as whā the head suffe­reth payne by reason of euyll va­powres, cummynge from the sto­macke, which is called a passiō by consent of other: ye shall finde this matter disputed more at large in Gallenes firste boke of places af­fected.

¶The .ii. chapter, Of the causes of diseases

[Page] THe cause of y^e disease, is an affectiō against nature, going before the disease, and stir­ring it vp: which of it selfe, & firste, hurteth no action: but accidentally, that is to say, by other. And secōdarily, as by healp of the disease cummynge betwixt, as shall be shewed more playnly hereafter. There be .ii. manner of causes of diseases: one is externall so called, because it is outwardly receiued, and was not before with in the body: as colde, and such o­ther. The tother, is called inter­nall, which is within the body, as humors putrified within the bo­dy, & growen out of temper. Gallē speaketh of no mo causes of dis­eases then these .ii. Yet Auicen w^t [Page] other of the same layer, affirme that ther is an other cause, which ioyneth euer with the disease: and the takyng away of it, is as they say the curynge of the sicknes: as yf rotten, or putrifyed humors, kindell a feuer, thē by theyr saying so soone as the putrified matter is takē away, y^e feuer must cease of necessitie: howbeit it is for y^e most part sene that y^e feuer remayneth after the putrifactiō is clene gone. wherfore it is euident, that Aui­cen, and all that be of hys opinion is foule deceyued therin: howbeit I thinke this to be y^e thing, which deceyueth them. They define sycknesse as it were the actiō hurt alredye, and not that that hurteth [Page] the actiō first, so that they call that the sicknesse, which Gallen calleth but the accidente of the sicknesse: & I coulde take Auicennes parte in this matter, sauinge that he agre­eth with Gallen in the defining of sicknesse, forgettyng hym selfe to be in contrary tales: wherfore I wolde counsel all yonge studentes in phisicke, to lerne the causes of sickenesse of Gallē, or elles of such as folowe hym, as Aetius, & Pau­lus Aegineta. Howebeit there is none to be compared with Gallen because he hath wrytten of them in suche a good ordar, as neuer a­ny other hath wryt the lyke, and this I dare affirme that euerye wel lerned man, can do no lesse thē confesse the same.

¶The .iii. chapter, Of diseases.

[Page] A Disease, is an vn­naturall affectiō of the body, by which the action is fyrste hurt, therfore it dif­fereth frō the cause in that y^e the cause neuer hurteth anye action of hym selfe, but by meanes of the disease. Of diseases ther be .3. chefe & principal kindes: one is in those partes of the bodye that is called of y^e latins similares, such be y^e bones, senewes, vaynes, with all other simple, & sparma­ticke partes: another is in the in­strumentes, as in the heade, eyes, handes, and feet: the thirde consi­steth in them both. That disease y^t happeneth in y^e sparmatick partes, is such a distemperature ether of heat, coulde, drynesse, or moysture, that it hurteth summe action, for [Page] a man may be distempered in sum part and yet be hole, and not sicke: but whan the distemperature gro­weth so much, that it hurteth any action of the body, then it may be called a disease of the sparmatike partes. Wherefore who so is of this sort distempered, is sicke: and he that is distempered and hath no action hurt, may not be called sicke, but intemperat. For of them that be hole, yf sum shoulde not be temperat and sum intemperat, one of these .ii. muste nedes be true, e­ther all men alwayes to be sicke, or elles all men to haue one dist­emperature, which bothe be very false. The same distemperature which before I called a disease of y^e sparmaticke & symple partes, is deuided in to .ii. Egall, & not egal: it is called an egall distēperature, whan all partes of the body, are [Page] distempered alike, as in the feuer hectica, which is a cōsūptiō, wher­in al partes of y^e body, be like hote: and the contrary vnto this, is the distemperature, which is not egal as in that kynde of dropsy, that falleth in to the legges, and feete, and in all kynde of feuers, excepte the before named hectica. Of vne­quall distemperature there is also ii. kyndes. The .i. is the only alte­ration of the qualitie, as the bur­nynge of the fire, or of the sunne. The .ii. is, besyde the qualitie, the fluxe of sum humor, as in y^t kynde of swellynge, y^t is called phlegmon, Besyde this of distemperatures, one is simple, and an other is com­pound: it is called simple whan on qualitie, as heat, or colde, exce­deth alone: and compound, whan many excede together, as hot and moyste, colde and drye, excedynge [Page] to gether, in one member. The to­ther kinde of disease which only is in the instrumentes, may be called the euyll constitution, or composi­ciō of them. But there be .ii. kindes of instrumentall diseases, for sum be simple: and they be .iiii. in num­ber, one is to be sene in the vncum­ly comformation, another in the number of partes, the thirde in the quantitie of eche part: and the .iiii. in the composition. The disease of conformation happeneth of the vncumly figure, as whan summe part is holowe from the natiuitie, or elles after by casualtie, which shoulde not, and also sum other part rough that shoulde haue ben smothe: of number, whan there be ether to many, or to fewe partes: of quantitie whan they be ether to big, or to litel: of cōposicion whan [Page] they be put in wronge places, or whā they that shoulde agre toge­ther, doe not. The thirde kynde of disease, is common as well to the simple and sparmatick partes, as to the instrumentall: and it is the deuision of that that is hole, and of one pece, which diuision yf it be in the riynges or byndynges it is called anulsiō: in the fleshe, a byle: in the bone, a broken creuise: in the senowes, a conuulsion, or crampe. These diseases sumtyme be com­pounde, whiche is whan they be ioyned to other. Hitherto I haue brefly declared the .iii. first kindes of sicknessis, of the which sum be verye quicke, and sum be dull, or slow: Such as be very quick, wil be at the worste, in .iiii. dayes, or soone after. Of such as be quicke and sharpe, there be .ii. sortes, for [Page] sum wyll be at the worste, in .14. dayes, and sum not vnder .40. All other diseases, which passe .40. dayes before thei be at y^e worst, be called dul or slowe. But as quick, and shorte diseases, haue theyr begynnynge of bloude and chollar, which be hote hu­mors, so slowe & dull haue theyr dissea­ses, beginnyng of colde hu­mors, as of flewm & melancholy. Let this generall, and brefe declaration of diseases, at this tyme suffice.

¶The .iiii. chapter, of accidentes.

[Page] THis worde accidente is takē .2. maner of wayes: generally and specially, generally, it signyfyeth any thing contrary to nature: spe­cially, all thinges agaynst nature, excepte the causes of diseases, and diseases them selfes.

Therfore it is nothynge elles but an vnnaturall affection of the bo­dy, which foloweth the disease, as the shadowe foloweth the body. The accidentes specially taken, be deuided in to .iii. partes. For sum be the fautes & errors of actions, sum affections of oure body, other sum folow them both, ether by o­uer much excretion, or retention of excrementes & other like such thynges. Of the error in actions, there be .ii. differences: animall, & natural. The faultes, or errors, [Page] of the animall actions, be yet de­uided in to .iii. for ether they be faultes of y^e sences, as of hearing, seinge, tastyng, smellyng, felynge, or els of mouinge, or finally of the principall actions, as of ymagi­ning, thinkinge and remembring. These be all the animall actions, of the which eche one may be hurt iii. manner of wayes: firste if the action be vtterly extincte, as yf a man see nothyng at all: secōdari­ly, yf it be not vtterly abolished, & takē away but decayed sumthing or not parfit, as whan a man seeth but euen scantly as they do, which the ignorant call sand blynde. Thirdly whā it is depraued, and wronge wrasted, as whan a man of force, seeth thinges which he did not beholde with hys common sense, as they do which loke a gog­gell: [Page] And as it is euident, that all these fautes happen in the sight, so they happen also in eche one of the other before named sensis.

There be thus many as folowe naturall actions, appeticion, con­coction, digestion, pulsatiō, attrac­cion, alteration, retention, expulsi­on. Of the which eche may erre .iii. manner of wayes, as is sayed be­fore in the actions animall: and the fautes or errors of the same, be accidentes folowyng diseases. There be besyde these .iiii. manner of accidentes, which be affections of oure bodies: as vnnaturall cul­lers, ether in y^e hole body, or elles in sumpart of it: Fylthy sauors al­so ether of y^e mouthe, nose, or eares and obsurde and vnnaturall sapo­res, belonging to the taste: and be­side these, hardnes, drines, & roughnes [Page] of the skynne.

As for the vnnaturall inanitions, or detentions from whense so euer they cum, they be contayned vnder one of these .iii. differencis: For ey­ther they be vnnaturall ī their hole substance, as that fluxe of bloude that is called commonly the emor­roydes: or elles they are in theyre qualitie, as sumtyme it chaunseth in wemens flowres: or finally in their quantitie, they be founde vn­naturall, as the great abundance or lacke and scarsnes eyther of the vryne or sweat. The whiche euery one, is handeled to the vttermoste in Gallē, where he entreateth of y^e causes, of accidentes.

¶The first chapter. Of that part of phisick which tea­cheth the knowlege of thinges y^t be past, present, and to cum.

THis is that same part of phisicke, the which (as I sayed before) contayneth the knowlege of thinges that be past, and the inspection, or the beholdynge of such as are pre­sent, and the prophecie, or progno­stication of thinges to cum. And therfore the mo cōmodities it hath the more exactly it wolde be lerned: for first it teacheth y^e knowlege of all passions, & diseases: in y^e which (yf the Phisition be ignorant) he shall neuer be able, to do any thing worthy prayse, in the body. [Page] Therfore that yonge studentes, may the more luckely, attayne to the knowlege, of this parte of phi­sicke, I wolde counsell euery eche one of them, to reade diligently Gallens .vi. bokes of places affec­ted: in the which he handleth this matter at the large. For so it shall be brought to passe that he shal be experte in the diseases, of euery part, be the part neuer so lyttell.

Who so is exactly sene in this knowlege, shal besides other, haue this especiall commoditie, which is, that among the sicke, his credit shall be greate: for the sicke man trusteth none so muche, nor is so well ruled of any, as he is of that Phisitiō, which is able to declare thinges present paste, and to cum. Therfore the disease is easilye cu­red whan the Phisition, and the [Page] pacient, be both against it, & more­ouer he shal beare no blame, what so euer chaunce or happen to hys pacient, y^t I may omytte the great prayse, glory, and renoune, which with one consente shall be geuen hym euery where. Therfore Hyp­pocrates counselleth all Phisiti­ons, diligently to learne this kno­lege. The whiche, no man hath so well discussed (I except Hippocra­tes alwayes) as Gallen hath. Wherfore they that be able to vn­derstande hym, let them go no far­thar: but as for yonge and igno­rant studentes, (for whose sake only I haue taken this in hand) if they reade diligently this littell rude worke, I truste though they be not satisfied, yet they shall not lese all their payne. Therfore first of all to the accomplysshynge, or [Page] gettyng of this knowlege, it is ne­cessarye to expounde this worde Crisis, which the lattyns call iudi­cium, & in english it may be called iugement: but at this present time it signifieth any suddē mutation in euery disease whether it be longe or short, and this sudden mutation is parted in .iiii. For ether the sicke is made hole incōtinent, or elles is in a greate towardnesse to health, or dieth out of hand, or finally be­cūmeth a greate deale worse. The first of these mutations, which w^t ­out any delay cureth the disease, is simply and absolutly called Crisis, The other which only amendeth y^e disease, is called crisis insufficiens, which is to say ā insufficient iuge­ment. The third is called mala cri­sis, that is to say an euyl change, or iudgement. The .iiii. may be called [Page] both vnparfit and euyll also. To y^e knowlege of this chaunge which is called crisis, the .iiii. times of the disease, that is to say, the begin­nyng, the encreasynge, the heyght, and declination, must be obserued, and marked of the Phisition. The beginnyng is deuided in .3. the first inuasion of the disease is the firste beginnynge, & is simple w^tout any bredth. The .ii. hath bredth, and continueth to the thirde day. The third is the tyme afterwarde, tyl y^e begynnyng of concoctiō. The time wherin the sicknes groweth, is frō the begynnyng of concoction, vn­til the disease be at his ful strength which before is called the heygth. The .iiii. tyme which is called the declination, begynneth after the heygth, and lasteth tyl the disease be ful past and ended.

[Page]These be the vniuersall tymes in disseases, besydes whiche there is other called particular: as in such feuers as kepe fittes, the begin­nyng of the fitte, is the colde in the vtter partes: the growynge is whiles the body waxeth hote: and the state, or hayght is, whan the heate is egally dispersed through­out the body: the declination, whā the heat goeth away. Before I de­clare howe to knowe this sudden mutation, which of the grekes is called Crisis, I thinke it expedient, and necessary to shewe in fewe wordes, the difference of y^e signes & tokens goinge before, which be of thre sortes: of the first sort, is y^e signes of cruditie, and concoction, as the excrementes of the bellye, the vryne, and spettel: by the ege­stions of the nether belly it is kno­wen [Page] how the stomacke altereth: the vryne ether declareth cruditie, or good concoction in the vaynes: the spettell showeth ether y^e good, or euill constitution of the lunges, and instrumentes of breathing.

These signes what tyme of the disease so euer they happen, kepe alwayes theyre power firme and stable: For the signes of concocci­on, alwayes declare health, & the cōtrary signes, ether great paines longe sicknes, deth, or finally the turnyng agayne of the euyll. Of the .ii. sorte be the signes of life & dethe: as quicke slepe, easy bre­thinge, goodnes of the pulse, like in face to them that be hole, han­sume & cumly liyng in bed, sweat, and such as to these be clene con­trary. Of the third sort be the iud­gynge signes, of the which sorte [Page] there be .ii. kyndes: for sum be as signes, and causes both together, as vomittynge, excrementes of the belly, the great quantitie of vryne, and sweates, bledynge at the nose, or the falling of humors out of one place in to another: and other be as signes alone, as watche, deade slepes, troublesum dreames, diffi­cultie of breathynge, dimnesse of sight, dulnesse of sense, head, necke, and stomacke ache, singinge in the heade, involuntary teares, quiue­rynge of y^e neyther lippe, forgetful­nesse, face, eyes, & nose red, abhor­ryng of meat, vehement thurste, w^t other such lyke. All these, in that y^t they declare any sudden mutation, be called iudgynge signes: and in that that they folow diseases, they be called iudgynge accidentes. [Page] These haue not theyr power al­wayes firme, and certayne, as the signes of concoction, and cruditie haue, but they are to be liked if they happen after concoction, that is whyles y^e sickenesse is in the state: and in the begynnyng, and before any concoctiō, they be not only not to be belyked, but to be fered, as deadly signes. Concernyng y^e Na­ture or propertie of signes, for this tyme, let this suffice: but as for such signes, as declare sudden mutation before called crisis, to be good▪ I entend yet (god willing) to speake a lyttell more, whiche maye be knowen .iii. manner of wayes. First yf before Crisis cum, there be concoction of the disease, [Page] I meane of the vryne, the egesti­ons, and spettell: the which eche, ought to be considered in hys pro­per place: For in the diseases of y^e brest, & lunges, the spettell should be taken moste heade of, and beste marked, and yet the vryne ought not to be neglected, no nor the ex­crementes of the belly nether, but in an ague, which is without any inflammation eyther of the lyuer raynes, bladder, or splene, y^e vrine must be regarded especially: as yf the stomake, or mawe, be greued, the excrementes of y^e belly wolde be considered before the other. Yet the vryne, is not then to be abiec­ted nether. Secundarily yf the cū ­mynge of it, be signified by any of the iudgynge dayes, it is to be ly­ked of the Phisition: the declara­tion of the which dayes, I omyt, [Page] because I haue obserued that ther is in them, more error then truthe, more superstition, then knowlege: and bysyde this, the scripture com­maundeth vs Christen men, to ob­serue no dayes: yet yf any man be wylling to know them let him seke what Hyppocrates, & Gallen hath written of them: & then I doubte not (though he be dull wytted) but that he shall quicly know what is ment by them. Thirdly it is good, yf the mesure, and forme of the ex­crementes, be correspondent, and aggreable to the disease: as yf in an hot burnynge feuer, the sicke blede at the nose: or after a feruent shakynge, sweat much, and hot in all partes of hys bodye: or vomite muche chollar, or finally voyde much by syege, for so y^e feuer terti­an shoulde ende: the quotidian not [Page] only by much sweatyng, but also by the avoydynge of flewme, both vpward, and dounward, in greate quantitie. The frenesie, is iudged by much hot sweat, cummynge in euery parte of the body, but especi­ally yf the head sweate feruently: yet sumtyme it is iudged and en­ded, by bledynge at the nose: howe be it in the lythargie, bledynge at the nose is euyll.

The pleuresie is betwixte these .ii. For bledyng at the nose in it, is to be lyked better, then in the lithargy, & worse then in the phren­sie. The inflammacions of y^e liuer and splene, be alwayes iudged by bledynge at the nose: the liuer, if it blede on the right side, and y^e splene f the lift: beside these, the age and complexion of the sicke, and also hys forma [...] diet, and place wherin [Page] the sicke abydeth, with the tyme of the yere, and the present constituti­on of the ayer, be to be considered of the Phisitiō, whiles he iudgeth crisis to be ether good or euil. For as the disease is cholerike, & all these cholericke also, it is necessary that whan crisis happeneth, chollar plē ­tifully to be voyded: so if flewme redounde it is nedefull for flewme to be pourged: if diuers humors, y^e euacuation muste be also of diuers humors. But whan the Phisition shall know these thinges exactly, then of y^e ende, he may easily know the rest: for yf the sicke, which alre­die hath suffered crisis, be deliuered of his ague and other accidentes & be better culloured, hauyng al­so better pulses, and more strength to rise, without doubte the crisis was good.

[Page]The knowlege of the euyll Crisis, as ther is in it much coniecture, so ther is also in it much incertaynty: For as where nature is strong, and ruleth easily the humors, she mo­ueth orderly, and maketh an ende of her actions: so whan she taketh a fall, her motions be both incer­tayne, and inordinate, and therfore hard to be knowen. wherfore such a case requireth an artificer, and a well exercised Phisitiō, the which may firste declare whether there shall be any Crisis, at all or no: se­cūdarily wether this day, or that: last of all whether it shall kyll the sicke forthwith, or but only hurte hym. What shoulde nede many wordes, by these .3. it is easily to be knowen whether the sick shall die, or liue: first, by the kinde of the dis­ease: secundarily, by the greatnesse [Page] of it: thirdly, by the manner, and fashion of it: fortly by the mouyng of it. The kynde of the disease, is knowen of y^e accidentes folowing it, as in example: the pleuresie is knowen by the prickyng payne of the syde, y^e difficultie of brething by the fieuer whiche alwayes is annexed to it, by y^e coughe, & hard­nesse of the pulse: but y^e greatnesse of it, may be learned by the quan­titie, & vehemency, of the forsayde accidentes: and the manner of it, by the accidentes which folow it: as yf they be many in number, yf they be longe, mightye, and euyll, or such as to these be cleane con­trary, the mouynge of it, by the tyme of the partes of the fit. To these .iiii. the consideration of the cūtry, the tyme of the yere, the na­ture, & cōstitutiō of the sickmanes [Page] body, with other such, as is in this same chapter before rehersed is ne­cessary also. Of these, that Phisi­tion which is an artificer, shall easily iudge life or deth in his pa­cient: & he y^t is not, let hym speake no farther thē he knoweth, & so he shall sustaine no blame nor shame.

¶Of the vryne. The .ii. chapter.

SEing that the vryne is the alonly marke of y^e liuer & vaynes, in what error thinke you that the Phisi­tions are now a dayes which take vpon them, to iudge all diseases by the vryne: which is as absurde & impossible, as of the spettell, to declare the gryefe of the bladder, and raynes: wherfore seinge that agaynste all knowlege, and good lernynge, they do so shamefully a­buse the lookynge of the water, & [Page] deceyue the poore, ignorant, and simple people so craftily, I thinke them worthy to be called, as Ari­stophanes calleth them, couetouse and vnlerned Phisitions, sithens that they esteme more theyr filthy lucre, then the truthe. But nowe to my pourpose. The vryne is the excrement and watry sub­stance of the blood, which after y^e concoction doone in the vaynes, is drawen thense by the kidneyes or raynes, in to the bladder, where it is reserued tyl it may cōueniently be let out: in the beholding of the which, ther is .4. thinges to be cō ­sidered, which be these folowing: y^e substance, cullar, quantitie, & cō ­tentes: of y^e which no man can wel iudge, which knoweth not parfitly y^e holsummest, & of all other the best vrine, wherto he may cōpare the rest.

[Page]The best water, or vryne, and the which is of a temperate man, in substance is nether to thicke nor thinne, but moderate, in quantitie as much, & no more then he dronk: in cullar sumwhat inclinynge towardes yealowe, hauynge a white, light, and equall sediment: & such a water as this, of a yonge Phisition shoulde often be loked vpon, to the entent that whan he seethe any other differ neuer so li­tell from it, he may forthwith cō ­iecture the same man, whose wa­ter he hath sene, so much to differ from parfit health, how much hys water differeth from the other. Now after I haue showed which is the best water, ther remayneth behynde, the declaration of such thinges as is in y^e vryne, especial­ly to be cōsidered: which I pour­pose [Page] to declare orderly. The sub­stance of the vryne, is ether thicke, thynne, or moderat and equall be­twixt both. That which is mode­rat, is of all other the best, and yf it be to thinne or thick, it declareth vnparfit concoction: Of the thyn vryne, there is .ii. differences: For the one is pissed thynne, and clere, and so remayneth styll: and the other is pissed thinne and clere, and after becummeth thycke and troubled: but they be both crude, & rawe, and doe lacke concoction, & thus they differ: The tone signi­fieth extreme cruditie, declarynge nature as yet, not to haue begūne any concoction. The tother show­eth that nature hath begun conco­ctiō but very lately. The trouble­sumnes signifieth great plenty of wyndie spirites, to be mixt with [Page] the watry substance of the vryne. Of thycke and troubled waters, there is also .ii. differencis: yf it be thick whan it is pissed, then after­ward it waxeth clere, hauing a re­sidence in the bothome, which pro­ficieth of sum inequall turbulent matter remayning behynde in the vaynes: And on the other side, sum other water, whiche after it is made is thicke, and remayneth so stil: which signifieth great trouble and agitation, as yet to remayne in the bloode. Hitherto I haue de­clared the substance of the vryne, wherfore now foloweth the cul­lar: of the which ther be .vi. diffe­rencys in especiall, which is white pale, tawny, yealow, red, & blacke: For all the rest be contayned vn­der these. Vndar white is contay­ned the cullar of cristall, snowe, & [Page] water, the which all signifie great cruditie. Not so whyte as these is milke, horne white, & the hearres of a chammell: And as the vrynes of these cullars, differ from very white, so they declare better con­coction. After whyte they be next, that be sum deale pale, the which because they be a littell tincte, they ar not extreme crude. A pale cul­lar is made, by the mixture of chol­lar, and water together, so that in the mixture there goeth but a litell chollar, to a great dele of water: of pale by meanes of concoction, sū ­time is made a light tawny which Actuarius, taketh to be the cullar of gilt. After a tawny followeth a light yelow, which is a cullar like the floures of cartamus, which is commonly called the gardyn saf­faron: after the which, commeth yealowe, whiche is the cullar of [Page] saffaron: and a light red, whiche is y^e cullar of a certayne drug, cal­led bolum, is next: then red it selfe which is the cullar of a cherry: af­ter these is a darke red, whiche is the cullar of a mulberry: and yet there is a darcker, which is made of whyte, and red, egally myxte together, and of the latyns it is called, Venetus: grene is the cullar of beetes, whiche the gardiners call the whyte beetes, or elles the cullar of y^e precious Emmoroyde: Besyde these, there is yet other cullars, as the cullar of oyle, the cullar of lead, and all cole blacke cullars, which is knowen almost of euery chylde. Yf I haue here in the discripsions of cullars, misse or wronge named any cullar, I praye the paynters, to accept my good wyll, and pardon my igno­rancye: [Page] in the iudgyng of cullars y^e Phisiciō shoulde be prouident, because that oftentymes, with e­uery light occation, the cullar of the vrine dothe alter, and change, not only in them that besicke, but also in thē y^t be hole: & of this mu­tatiō, or chaunge there is .3. special causes. The first is meate not wel altered, or disgested, which is not apt to make bloude, wherfore it changeth the cullar of the vryne to y^e same cullar that it selfe is of, which is wont to happen to them that is sicke and diseased, yea and sumtyme to such also as is hole: moreouer sum medicine will alter the cullar of the vrine. The second cause of y^e altering of y^e cullar in y^e water, is the drinke: for the vryne cōmonly kepeth the cullar of those thinges which is receyued in the [Page] drinke. The .iii. cause is the colly­quation of such thynges, as con­sume and melt in the body, as the fat, which whan it wasteth, for the most part cullereth vryne. Besyde these there be other causes also whiche do the same, as exercise, hungar, slepe, watche, w^t a great many other such like. which in the beholdynge of the vryne eche one by hym selfe shoulde be diligently considered of the Phisition. Now I entende to declare what may be coniectured in the vrine of the sub­stance, & cullar. A thinne vrine, si­gnifieth the lacke of natural heat, not without the obstructions of y^• liuer, raynes, & splene, by meanes of cruditie: A thicke declareth ex­cesse of matter, & humors fillinge the belly, guttes, and the holowe partes of the liuer: which yf it be sene in a feuer, thynne goinge [Page] before, it signifieth the dissoluing of y^e feuer. But if after y^t the feuer is alredie cū, y^e vryne appere thick, nor in continuance of time waxeth no thinnar, thē it signifieth plenty of humors. Concernyng y^e cullars what white, pale, yelowe, & read signifie, partly is alredy declared, & more may be gathered, of these y^e folow. The darke red which is the cullar of the mulberry, showeth y^t the bloode burneth in the vaynes. The grene signifieth the worste kind of chollar to be encresed both in quātitie, & qualitie. That vryne which hath y^e cullar of oyle, show­eth y^e colliquatiō of y^e hole body, or elles of y^e raynes only. The blacke water sumtyme declareth healthe as in the pourginge of melācholy, but if grene went before, thē it is a very argumēt of death, & it is more [Page] to be feared in men then wemen. Now we be cū vnto the quantitie which in them that be hole should be so much as was dronken. The water excedeth in quantitie for y^e most part, by meanes of these cau­ses folowynge: first whan a man eateth and drinketh to much, the meat being to moyst, or the drinke being watrishe wine. The second whan he hath taken medicynes, which prouoke vryne. The thirde whan the raynes is distempered with ouer much heat. The forth whan the belly is drier, then it ought to be naturally. The fyfte whā ther procedeth no euacuatiō of y^e belly nor other wayes, which Hyppocrates witnesseth, sayinge: Water much in quantity, made in the night, prophecieth of a small siege: Litel water hapneth of cō ­trary [Page] causes: First of littell drin­kynge, drinesse of meates, muche exercise, and other lyke vnto these, which be wont to dry the body. Secondarily, for meates & medi­cyns whiche for their grosnesse, make obstruction in the liuer and splene, and other places. Third­ly for the grosnesse and clammy­nesse of humors. Forthly for the plentifull pourgynge of the belly. Fyftly for the vehement heat, and drinesse in a feuer. Sixtly, for the weaknesse of the excretiue power, both in the raynes & other partes seruynge to the avoydynge of the water, or vryne. The .iiii. thynge which in the vryne is to be consi­dered be the contentes, so called (I thynke) because they consist in e­uerye parte of the altitude of the body of the water. And as the [Page] heyght of the body of the water is deuided in to .iii. as in to the bo­thome of the vryne, the brinke, or highest region, & in to the middell of these extremities: so of the con­tentes sum swymmeth in the top, and other hangeth in the middell, and sum goeth to the bothom. In y^e contentes ther be .iii. thinges to be considered, y^e substance, cul­lar, and quantitie. The substance, because sūme be thicke, and other sum thynne, and sūme in a meane betwixt bothe. The contentes of healthy waters, be moderat of substance, light, & egall. They be cal­led light, which be continuall & of of one pece, not rough, nor broken in any part, & suche as is to these contrary may be called rough. Cō ­tentes y^t be grosse, signifie copie & plenty of crude, & raw humors in [Page] the vaynes, & sumtime y^e strength of the excretiue facultie, in pour­ginge superfluous humors. Con­tentes y^t be thinne, signifie weak­nesse of nature in y^e secōd cōcoctiō ▪ & declareth also grosse humors to be subtyled, & made thynne. Con­cernyng the cullar of contentes, sū be very whyte, summe pale, sūme yealowe, sūme red, sūme bluddy, sūme blacke, & sūme of diuers cul­lars. Contentes very whyte be e­ther peces of slymye humors, or els matter to much baked: whiche commeth from sūme of the innar partes: pale contentes be euill, be­cause they decline from the natu­rall cullar: yealowe be euyl also, in that y^t they declare the ouer muche encreasinge of chollar: red signifie lacke of concoction, and the conty­nuynge of the disease. Blodie de­clare y^t the blood is not throughly [Page] labored of nature: blacke signifi­eth ether y^e mortifiyng of naturall heat, or elles the pourgynge of me­lancholy. Nowe since that I haue brefely declared the cullar, and substance of the contentes, ther re­mayneth behynde the quantitie, which if it be much, as it showeth the nurisshynge of the body, so it dothe the fortifiynge of the excre­tiue facultie. For while nature la­boreth much in alteryng the nur­rishemente, she must nedes make many excrementes. The scarcity & lacke of cōtentes, happeneth ether of fastyng, or exercise, or obstructi­on in y^e vaynes, or finally of ouer slowe concoction. Sumtime there is an euill sauor in the vrin, which signifieth ether rottennesse of sum part of the body, or elles the mor­tifyinge of the hole body: specially [Page] yf y^e substance, & cōtentes be euill.

¶Of the excrementes of the belly. The .iii. chapter

THat siege, or excre­ment is best, &, moste naturall, whiche is soft, and lieth toge­ther hole, and well compact, made at the accustomed tyme in health, and in quantitie, correspondent to that y^t is eaten: of the contrarye part, that is an e­uill and an vnnaturall siege, or ex­crement which is hard, thynne, or rough, not made in y^e accustomed howre of healthe. If the siege be very much cullared, it is euyll and signifieth ouer muche chollar in the guttes: and if it be not tincte at all, but like vnto the meat whiche was eaten, it signifieth cruditie, & [Page] no chollar at all to resorte to the guttes: but if y^e siege be yealowe in y^e declination of the sicknesse, thē it declareth the body to be pourged of chollar very well. If the siege be grene it showeth that there is great plentie of rustie chollar: and yf it be blacke it signifieth ether the abundance of melancholy, or elles the adustion of blood in the stomacke. Yf it be of the cullar of leade, then it betokeneth the mor­tifiynge of the innar partes, or at the leaste an extreme colde in the same. If it be ether fatty, or clam­mye, & no like meat hath be eaten immediatly before, it signifieth the hole body to consume. If it be verye muche stinkyng, it is a sure token of putryfaction. In these thinges, the nature and qualitie of the meates, be as well to be cō ­sidered, [Page] as the imbecillitie an weakenesse of the guttes, in suffe­ring fluxes, and reumes from the head. whan the excrement in cum­mynge forth maketh any noyse, it declarethe winde to be mixte w^t thynne moysture, and the funde­ment to be drawen nere together. Whan any wyndye spirit striueth with moysture, then commonly there remayneth sum fome in the siege. The siege being diuers in cullar, showeth y^e body to be diuer­sly affected: wherfore for the most part it is a signe of long sicknesse.

¶Of the spettell. The .4. chapter

THe spettell is to be consi­dered in all diseases, but especially in the diseases or griefes of the brest, and lunges: in the which diseases, yf the paci­ent spet nothing at all, it is a tokē [Page] of extreme cruditie: but if he spet, though it be moyst & crude it sig­nifieth the first part of the disease, which is the beginning to be new­ly ended: after that it is more ba­ked & cummeth vp first a littell, & then more & more, thē the sicknesse is almost in y^e state & at the worst, & whan it is well baked, & cūmeth a great pase, then the disease is al­redy in the state, which is to say at the heyght, because thē it cā grow no hygher, & after cummyng lesse, w^t more ease & lesse grefe in cough­yng, and takyng of breth, beinge also well cōcoct, & not crude, it sig­nifieth y^e sicknesse to decline, & de­part. Yf the spettel be sumthynge nigh vnto yelowe, w^t a light fome vpon it, it is a token, of cruditie on­ly, without any furthar euill. But if it be very yelow, tawny, grene, or [Page] blacke, or clammy w^t much fome, it is not to be beliked at all: if it be blody, it is nothynge so euyll as blacke and yealow, but the man­ner of excretion, must also be well marked: For if it cum vp easily, thē it is to be accounted good, and yf not but w^t difficultie of brethyng, thē it is euel. The absolute note, & marke, of concoction is whan the spettel is light, white, and egal, & of substance nether thynne, nor thicke: yf the spettell be thynne, & not blacke, it signifieth nothynge but the lacke of naturall heat, but yf it be the cullar of leade, or rusti­nesse or blacke, it is extreme euyll.

¶The .v. chapter of the pulses.

THe pulse is a sensible mouynge of the hart and Arteries, (that is to say vaynes, hauing [Page] two coates growing of the hart, & carriynge both blod and spirit) by the which they be lifted vp and let done againe. This mouynge hath ii. vses: For in the dilatynge of the arteries, colde Ayer is drawen in which doeth not only stirre vp, but also refresheth the vitall power, wherof the Animall spirites be made, and in the submission, or cō ­traction of the forenamed Arte­ries, the smoky excrement whiche came of burnte & humors aduste, is expelled. Parauenture summe will loke, that here in this place I shoulde haue declared the diffe­rencys of the pulses, because that w^tout the knowlege therof, there can be no diuinatiō by the pulses. Howbeit I willingly at this time omyt them, because Gallen and [Page] Archigines with other mo aunci­ent writers are not as yet agreed of them, & Cornelius Celsus (non of the worst Phisitions) semeth to doubt much whether any thynge may certaynly be coniectured by them or no. But this I am assured of that though I should haue set them furth so playnly as I coulde for my lyfe, yet they shoulde not haue bene throughly knowen, but of such as alredy be well entred, & practised, not only in the workes of Phisicke, but also in Arithma­ticke, and Mathamaticke: and as for such let them serche what Gal­len and other olde phisitions haue wrytten: For to them this littel rude boke is not written, but on­ly to suche as are ignorant in the lattyn tong, y^t they may by healp of this my boke, not only lerne sū ­thyng [Page] for theyr bodely health, but also saue theire money, which they dayly wast in feeding such Phisi­tions as be not lernyd, wherfore gentyll readers accept my good wyll though I haue not satisfied youre expectation, remembrynge the olde poetes sayinge: ‘Rebus et in magnis est voluisse satis.’ which is to say that in matters of weyght, to haue ben wyllynge it is sufficient.