NEW IDEA OF THE Practice of Physic ; Written by that Famous FRANCISCUS DE LE BOE , SYLVIUS ; Late Chief Professor of Physic in the University of Leiden .

THE FIRST BOOK ;

Of the Diseases either constituting , producing or following the Natural Functions of Man not in Health .

Wherein is containd , beside a New Method in general , a Vindication of the Spleen and Mother from Fits attributed to them .

As also a new Discovery of Intermitting Fevers , the Yellow Jaundice , and other Diseases , never before discoverd .

All cleard by Anatomical Experiments , and Chymical Demonstrations ; As also by their Cures .

Whereto is prefixed a Preface written by Dr. Mar. Nedham .

Translated faithfully by RICHARD GOWER , formerly Student under the Author .

LONDON , Printed for Brabazon Aylmer , at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil , 1675.

AS often as any Men do endeavour , in any kind , to afford any thing that conduceth to the benefit of of the Publick , they have in all Times been thought worthy of the favour and benevolence of Great Men ; but when they do indeed promote the Publick Good , they deserve moreover to be rewarded in a well-order'd Common-Wealth : wherein , as Cicero saith , Rewards are by the Laws proposed to Vertue , and Punishments to Vice : Therefore if at any time their excellent Performances are not only envied by Men idle and malicious , but perverted by prating Cavillers , accused by Parasites that have little else to do , and traduced by slanderous Calumniators ; so often those who are in Government have taken care , that they should be neither neglected nor despised .

ALthough I do not much esteem my Works , yet would I not that they should be publisht any way corrupted by any Body whilst I live and without my privity . Wherfore , that I may consult with mine own Honour , and the Profit of the Common-Wealth , I would have all admonisht , that I in no wise acknowledg that Edition for mine own , which Thomas Matthias Gotzius publisht in the year 1664. under my Name , and of the Colledg of Practical Physicians : nor that which I hear Frideric Leonardus hath publisht this Year 1671. at Paris under the * * Which how deficient it is from Chap. 40. Sect. 47. to the end of the first Book , let any that have that Copy c●mpare , this being no further publisht at that time by the Author . Title of my Practice : Much less that infamous and soul Book , which some ill-imploy'd busie-Body wrote and publisht , out of his own wicked Store and impure manners , a few years since , under the Title of The Second Part of Physical Disputations concerning the Circulation of Seed , and the Generation of Man , imitating my stile whereby he might fasten it upon me , and therby injure my Reputation .

YOur most profound and singular Learning , together with your sincere love to all Persons and Things that any way tend to improve or promote the Interest of it in the World , especially those kinds thereof which tend most to Practice , and are most useful and profitable for Mankind ; As also your great Candor and Ingenuity in pardoning or excusing the Lapses and Inadvertencies of Humane Infirmity , induces me to make this bold but humble Dedication of my Labour in this Translation of this Praxis of Sylvius , Chief Professor of Physic in Leiden my Quondam Tutour .

Not imagining you are unacquainted with the Contents , much less that it can add any thing to your Stature ; But your Noble Patronage may be both needful and useful to me , who cannot be so much a Stranger to the Epidemical Distemper of the present Age , as to think my self secure from some carping Zoilus , or the calumny of some strait-laced Physicians , that would rather the whole Science were ingrossed to the hurt and injury of the World , than that the Power and Virtue of the Art of Medicine should be promoted and divulged , and thereby flourish in a publique Benefit ; whereas common Good should be the prime intention of every Man , and will certainly be so of all Spirits truly generous .

The worthiness of the Author , and high esteem he hath very deservedly acquired , by not only his Learning , but also great industry and Ind●fatigable Pains , rendring himself Eminent among Judicious and Industrious Spirits ; Being conscious also of my own design to do him right in the Translation , and acknowledg my high respects to your Honour in the Dedication , and in both to serve my Countrey , makes me the more presumptuous to offer it to you , as the fittest Person , craving your Pardon and Acceptance ; Which will be a perpetual Obligation to

THe Translator of this Book , when the Translation was even quite finisht at the Press , was sent to me by a Gentleman , one of the most Learned in this Isle of Great Britain ; with a desire , that if I liked the design of Publication , I would own it so far , as to give my Opinion about it to the World . Should I name that Learned Person , there is none of the most stiff Philosophers of the Time , but would perhaps bow the Head at the bare mention of his Name ; and therefore it will be Apologie enough for me in what I do , that I thus pay Obedience to his Desires , which I ought to entertain as Commands upon me , in this Declaration of my Opinion .

The Truth is , nothing could have been offer'd more welcome to me , in regard of the worthiness of the Author , and of the Work it self , wherein he hath done the World more Service , towards the promotion of the Art of Physick , than ever any Man did before him in the Vnited Provinces ; And in such a manner , that he doth not , as some here in England , trifle away all time and patience in labour'd Discourses , more fit to tickle the fine Ears of a Speculative Auditory , out of the Chair of an University , than to edifie Men engaged in Practice : But like a wise Practitioner , so orders the Matter , that his Sheets may smell as little as may be of an Academick Professor ; for , the infection of those places is so strong , that Men used to Philosophizing there with Niceties , and conjectural Probabilities , are wont , when they come abroad , to smell rank of it ever after in all their Writings and Discourses ; and so doth Sylvius in some Particulars . Their manner is to abound with Notion ; for which having been admired by the Men of Letters in the Academy , they all believe they may set up for Authors of Science ; though ( when they come into the World ) they generally prove mere Slow-Men at Business ; yet they pass as great Men among some Learned , and the better sort of Men Unlearned : for , the World will still be for Learning ( so reputed ) in Men of Physick , not being able to judg , whether that which is acquired in the usual way of Education be learning to the purpose .

To give you a more particular Account of Sylvius the Author , take what I have received from the Ingenious Translator , who had the happiness to be a Scholar of his . He was by Birth a German , who through industry arrived to such degree of merit by working and practice at Amsterdam , that his Fame spreading about the Low Countries , the States of H●●land cast an eye of great regard upon him , and p●aced him ( though a Stranger ) in the Professors Chair in the University of Leiden ; which he afterwards adorned for almost thirteen years , by forming many useful Doctrines ( not mere formal Points of Literature ) for the Institution of young Beginners in Physick , of whom a multitude were by his Reputation drawn thither from all parts of Europe , to be his Disciples : such Doctrines as have not had their Rise from the Ancients , and the Academies , but most of them from Laboratories of his own and others , wrought out of the Fire for near forty years together , and confirmed by constant Practice among the Sick ; in which Work of Curing he excelled all his Fellows , in the most difficult Cases : Yet because he had recourse mostly to Chymical Remedies ( of whose safety and excellency the World is now convinced ) the more lazie Tribe of Doctors made it their business most maliciously to calumniate and traduce him , as you will find him miserably complaining in many parts of his Book ; of whom he saith in 40th Chapter , that they be ignorant of most Natural Things , yet are a prating Crew , that strut about and swell inani Doctorum Titulo , with the vain Title of Doctors : they are his own words of them , and the World hath too many of them , though they and their Credit wear off apace . So that now in this discerning Age , seeing the Pedantry of their Breeding , the Leigerdemain of their Philosophy , the Theatrical Mountebankerie of needless Niceties in Anatomy ( about which they perpetually quarrel , and puzzle one another ) are like to prevail no longer , to gain admiration among the great Vulgar , or the little ; and it being found , that to Industry in operating one grain of Prudence being added ( such a Prudence I mean , as is in an Apprenticeship improved under a Practiser , and by an in-sight into Practice from ones youth ) will weigh down all the Schools in a sick Mans Chamber ; therefore they are constrained to have recourse to other Arts , to uphold that Tottering Dominion which they have long held over the Phansies of the People .

To say nothing of their Flatteries among the Great and the Rich , besides the Calumnies that they sow against other Practitioners , the frequentation of Clubs and Tipple to gain Acquaintance , the glosing Collusions and fine Tales with Nurses , Midwives , Women and weak People ; the Confederacies to cry up one another with Doctissimo and Clarissimo in Prints , the creating & canvasing of Interests in Families , and the common chequenerie of Consultations only with Men of their own Tribe ; the most remarkable Trick of all is , that they have an Oar in the Boat of every Party round the Town and Nation , having listed themselves accordingly . Some are for the Church of England ; some for the Church of Rome ; some for the Presbyterian ; some for the Independent ; some among the Baptised ; some for the Fifth-Monarchists ; some for the Quakers ; every Man for himself , and God for all : And so the World is very luckily divided ; every Party taking its own Proselyte to be the Ablest , and the most Conscientious Doctor . Is not this a short Cut ( think ye ) to get Custom ? This and Scholastick Twattle will do the Work , according to the general Mode of their Second Commencement : after which , the few Men of no Party , whatever their Industry and Art be , are left to be turn'd to grass upon the cold Common of Integrity .

But in this latter Age , the great Pranks they play now are by mounting the Stage of Anatomy , ( for that pass 't is now come to ) where many of them are wont ever and anon , to make wondrous Ostentation of pretended new Discoveries in the little World of Man ; with which they have a Mint always going , for coining new Hypotheses , out of which they start up their various Dogmaticisms , to amaze their Admirers , and amuse the World ; so that the very Neighbours Dogs are in as much danger of their Shambles , as they are of the Falconers . And though it be ridiculous enough to prudent Men , yet when the part is acted it gains upon many gentle Spectators , be it in Print , or in open Lectures ; so that they come within the reach of that Motto in the Duke's Theatre , Vniversus Mundus exercet Histrioniam . And besides this , it serves for divers purposes more : Concerning which give me leave , because it may be of use , to make publick here what I not long since privately wrote upon an eminent occasion , thus .

'T is a common trick among the Tribe of Dissectors , to open Bodies of their own or other Mens Patients , in pretence to satisfie themselves , and the deceased's Kindred touching the cause of Death ; and thence they always pick out enough before the admiring By-standers , to justifie themselves and their own mistakes , by reasons to prove that the Patient was incurable : or else they will be sure to collect dirty matter enough , to cast upon any Physician whom they envy , whose hap it may have been to have given Physick before them to the same Patient ; especially if he be not of their Honorary number : hundreds of able Practitioners and Learned , have been thus artificially blasted : So that it were well if this famous City of London , would take Notice of such crafty Abuses for the future . For , though somtimes , when upon opening of Bodies , the internal parts appear decayed or corrupted in their Tone and Substance , 't is manifest then what brought on Death ; yet not so at other times , seeing most Diseases lying in the variations of Blood and Humors , Spirits and Ferments of the Parts , are in their Causes remote from such ocular inspection , let none in these Matters be gull'd hereafter . For , that nothing certain can be concluded from the stagnation of Blood , or other Humors found in any place or passage of the Body after Death , is evident in this , that Nature upon Death's approaches , being driven to most violent motions , doth extravasate , intravasate , throw Blood and Humors in and out , here and there and every-where , Cap-a-pe , through the most abstruse and unperceivable Passages . So that if stagnant or coagulated Blood or other Humour , be found in any part by Anatomizing , it cannot be concluded it was so before death . For it was well said of old by Celsus , the most prudent of all Physicians , in his Preface , Neque quicquam esse stultius , quàm quale quid vivo homine est , tale existimare esse moriente , intò jam mortuo : which is in plain English ; That nothing is more foolish than to imagine , that things within a Man should be in the same state when he is dying , as they were when he was living , much more when he is actually dead .

From hence also observe , what mistakes Physicians may be led into by blind supposals and conjectures of Blood or other matter lodged in this , that , or other secret Passage of the Vessels , or Bowels , to be causes of Diseases ; when they proceed thereupon to raise fanciful Doctrines whereby to manage practice in After-time , and order Cures by Calculations , secundùm ductus & Hypotheses Anatomicos . No Man can be against a due enquiry into Anatomy , so far as concerns a being acquainted with the Structure , Figure , Scituation and Connexion of the Parts of the Body , especially in Cases of Chirurgery , wherein its greatest use doth lie ; and of this also it becomes a Physician not to be ignorant , who ought also to be a Chirurgian ; though the sine-finger'd Academick Education of Physicians in England hath here unhappily divided the two Faculties , the Professors of the one being brought up to Talk , the other to Work ; the one in their youth to speculative Philosophy ; the other from their very first youth in practice● Drudgery , if I may so call it in comparison with the other : from whence 't is observable , we are always furnished with far more able Chirurgians than Physicians . Consider what greater Men ever had we in the World , for the old way of Physick formerly , than those that were bred up Chirurgians ? Galen himself was bred a Chirurgian . And where now will you find among the Galenists of our Nation , Men for Physick to be named after those famous Persons bred Chirurgians ; such as were Pareus , Chalmetaeus , Pigraeus , Guillemeau , Ingrassias , Felix Wurtzius , Fallopius , Vesalius , Carcanus , Severinus , Marchetti , Spigelius , and the two Fabricii , one an Italian , the other a Swisse , viz. Hildanus and ab Aquapendente ? whose Judicious Works and great Performances , made them renowned through the world . But now forsooth a Chirurgian with us is made so little a thing by our Doctoral Confederates , that when he hath a Patient , they expect he should not presume to prescribe any thing of Internal Physick for the promoting his Cure ; though none can judg so well what is fit to be done as himself : so that if he gives way , he remains liable to the possibility of having his Work spoiled , either , by the ignorance , or sometimes the malice of another Person that knows little or nothing of the management of a Chirurgical Curation . Besides if our Chirurgians were excluded ( as that 's the desire and aim of the others ) from the Practice of Physick , I wonder where his Majesty for his Fleets , and the Merchants for theirs , ●●n which the Wealth and Glory of this Kingdom doth depend , would be supplyed with Able Practitioners for the Sick at Sea , the greatest sicknesses , both Acute and Chronick , being there predominant . Not from the fine breed of the Scholastick Family , whose Learning ( so much as it is , and that is in but a very s●w of them lies quite beside the way that leads to the more noble ●●●ally of Physicians ; insomuch that when they first come to Town with the Learned Cushion-Cap and Scarlet , the very Apothecaries Boys are able to tutor them in Town-practice , laugh at them , and tell Tales behind their backs . Wherefore , seeing the Juniors are not fit to be trusted aboard with the Seamen , and the Seniors never did serve nor mean to do it , and nothing but another great Plague can send them out of London , Which way can the Sea , or , our Armies be served with Physick and Chirurgery , if Surgeons-Hall be not to be lookt on as a Colledge of Physicians ? and for which of their good Services to the Crown , Kingdom , and City , will the other Society ever have the confidence to seek an Authority , to tuck the Necks of all other Physicians , Chirurgians , and Apothecaries , under the Girdle of their Jurisdiction ? But 't is to be hoped the Nation will ere long be convinced , that the Laboratory , the Work-house is the way to be traced before we enter the Library ; an Apprenticeship from our Youth to work and study under a Practiser , is that only which can make one a Doctor : all the rest is but flocci nauci nihili pili , &c. Whereupon 't is to be hoped also , we shall one day think it high time that a Reformation be thought of , that the present formal way ( which none of the Antients knew ) will be left , and our Youth for Physick , instead of being Academians , be bred up more Mechanico , instituted in the Operative , before the bend themselves upon the Contemplative and Philosophizing part of Physick . For Aristotle said well , Nihil in intellectu quod non priù in sensu , Nothing lies right in the understanding , that is not first collected by sense : that is , by sensible operation . And Celsus saith , Non post rationem inventam esse Medicinam , sed post inventam Medicinam rationem esse quaesitam ; That Remedies Medicinal were not found out by reasoning ; but reasoning came in play being sought out after Remedies had been found . From whence 't is conclusive , That the sure Notions of Curing are those which Men form unto themselves : First , Not by Tradition of Authors , but by reasoning upon their own and others Experiments , whose operations and Effects they have seen . But for Physicians bred the fine way , he saith , Etiam sapientiae studiosos maximos esse Medicos si ratiocinatio hoc faceret ; nunc illis verba superesse , deesse medendi scientiam ; to wit , That your Students of Philosophy ( meaning the old way of Philosophy ) were the greatest Physicians , if reasoning could make them so ; now that sort of Men abound with words , but want the Science of Curing . Yet they ( he saith a little after ) do bear away the Bell in the World , Ingenium & facundiam vincere , morbos autem non Eloquentiâ , sed Remediis curari : that is , They that have a witty knack of talk , prevail above others in the Opinion of the People , though Diseases are not to be cured by fine words but by Remedies . And therefore 't is hoped the Magistrates , Nobility and Gentry of the Land , will accordingly steer their Judgment in the choice of Physicians , and one time or other give a helping hand towards a reforming of the Education of Men for the practice of this Faculty . This may serve also for an Item to our young Students in the Universities how to prevent the less of time . 'T is not a formal degree in Physick that will make amends for it , or give them satisfaction at last , if Men of Conscience and Ingenuity . And as for Anatomy , I do not declaim against it . A competent knowledg therein is most commendable and necessary in many cases , though a just Treatise may shortly evince to the World how little use it is of , in managing the Cur●● of most Internal Diseases , a Capite ad Calcem : and how little advance ( as Mr. Boyle long since observed ) the practice of Physick hath received by the pretended novel Discoveries : every Anatomist boasting like a School-boy , that he hath found out more Birds-Nests than his Fellows ; and then be struts in Print with Disquisitions thereupon , though the Issue be , that none of them all there be , from 〈◊〉 time of Galen to this day , but contradict one an● 〈◊〉 : So that controverted Curiosities and mere Toys must needs be a sweet uncertain ground to take aim upon , in so serious a Work as the hitting of the Nature of Diseases , and their Remedies . And 't is most ridiculous to observe what a clatter is made among us with Dogs , Cats , and other Creatures about the trivial Enquiries . Not that such Niceties are to be discommended in Gentlemen , who may spend their time that way , or in those who have little else to do but Dissect , and then to discourse for recreation . But Hic est fundus calamitatis nostrae , the Bane of the profession of Physick , that it attains so little Improvement in the World , is this ; That while there is a manifest Faction driven among Professors to magnifie one another in these Matters , as if they were able to make a Man a Physician above others , and to establish the main ground for Students to build a Reputation upon , it proves an occasion of three sore Evils under the Sun .