NAture being the Genetrix of all things , hath at all times and seasons like a careful Mother brought forth Remedies for the Disease● ▪ and also Persons and Physicians to Communicate or Administer them to Mankind ; as 't is written , God Createth the Physician : So that Naturally Medicines and Physicians are not the pr●duct of Art or Societes , because they were in the World long before Academies and Colledges , and were manifested in single Persons , such as Esculapius , Mac●aan , Hippocrates , &c. when there was no other Guide or Teacher , but the Ins●inct or Perception of Nature , by which they arrived to that great Distinction and Natural Knowledg in Healing ; which Universities and Schools have since e●deavoured to imitate onely by a bare remembrance of what was done : but the path of these Men no● being found , notwithstanding the Associations of the Schools and Colledges , no Improvements wa● made in Medicines for Two th●●sand years .

Paracelsus having forsaken his Scholastick Tenet● , by following the light of N 〈…〉 e , did more unvail the secrets ●●ereof in his single person , than all M●n that ever went before him and after him , Suchten , Basilius and H●lmont have demonstrated the Tru●● thereof . And seeing that Dis●ases at this da● are so multiplied ● changed , and complicated , that the Method and Medicines of the Ancients are of little or no eff●●t for their Cure , must not every Ing●●ious Person conclude it better , to follow the Dictates of Nature i●finding her own Path , to discern the ●eanders of corrupting diseasifying Spirits , than ●o believe tha● the Noise or Crowd of Lip learned M●n ( who seek to destroy all those who do not adhere to them ) sho●●d be able to guide them .

The Let●●●● Pa 〈…〉 granted by King Hen . VI● ▪ to the Colledge of Physicians in London ▪ and their Confirmati●● by Parliament ( if ever any su 〈…〉 ) appear to be intended only for the preservation of the Kings ●●●jects , from such Evils and Mi●●●●●●● as might befall them under the pretence of Physick , either by the Malice or Ignorance of those who administred it ; and not s 〈…〉 upon Nature , to damn or prohibit all future search and improvement of Medicine , for Humane Preservation , or to bind the people to an Empty Method ( so much wanting in the cure of most Diseases , as many chuse Death rather than it ) or purposely for the raising of a few Men to great Riches and Grandeur , much less that they should ever be interpreted , to suppress , stop , or hinder the use of a fitter Method , and better Medicines . Especially seeing most Diseases are long ago removed from their old Adaptions , through their several Changes and Complications ; that it is disputable , Whether there be one true natural Remedy in all the heap of the Vulgar Medicines ?

Now if they cannot make it appear , That those which they trouble and vex at the Law , are guilty of any Male Practice , that is , of Mischiefing any of the Kings Subjects , either through wilfulness or want of Understanding in what they profess ; do not they manifestly pervert and elude the end and design of the Law , and make it wholly subservient to their own Gain and Grandeur ? Besides , most of the Men they sue are Chymists , and upon a due Enquiry it will be found , that all the Adaequate or fit ●mprovements that hath been made in Physick since the first Constitution of their Colledge ( here in England as well as elsewhere ) hath proceeded from the Industry of the Chymist only ; I speak of such Improvements as hath furnish'd us with more answerable and fitter Medicines and R●quisites for the healing of Diseases : such being things as are really and naturally servicable to Mankind , Their Anatomical Discoveries ( of which they so much boast ) serving only for Ostentation and Artificial Discourse , being as necessary for the curing of internal Diseases , as painted Glass is in a Window , for the Advancement of ●ight .

When their Letters Patents was granted , Chymistry was not known here , and therefore could not by them be pre-judged , nor can it reasonably be supposed that their Charter should have any more force against the Chymists , than those of the Fletchers , Bowyers , and Bow-string Makers , could have against Guns an● Gun smiths , which had no being when their Charters were granted ; and therefore when they came into use , could be accounted no infringement of their Charters ▪ not being the same thing as Bowyers made , though to be used for the same end . Even so it is between the Colledg and the Chymists ; for as J have already said , the Colledges Grant never intended to hinder the Improvement of Physick by any way or ingenuity which should afterwards arise , and not known to that present Age ( no more than the Bowyers Charter was designed to prevent the invention of new Jnstruments of War and such is Chymist●y , which al●hough it indeed tendeth to the same end ) with the Colledges practice , to wit , the healing of Diseases , yet it maketh not use of the same Means . For Chymists make no use of their Method or Medicines , but imploy their own ▪ which differ as much from what theirs was at their Constitution , as a Gun from a Bow . And if the Colledge at this day have bet●ered their Medicines , have they not been obliged to Chymists for it ? Witness divers of the Receip's in their Dispensatory , which they have taken from Paracelsus , Basilius , Quciritan , &c. whose names they have been so unkind for the most part to conceal , being willing to assume that to themselves which is really due to such men as they trouble : How frequently do they use Crocus Metallorum , Antimonium , Diapnoreticum ▪ and few years since Bezoardicum Minerale in Malignant Fevors , neither of which are their own Invention , but are the Remedies of Basilius and Crollius , who were Chymists ; although indeed those and other Chymical Remedies , which they use ( and on which they much rely in Chronick Diseases , where they know their own will do nothing ) are known to the Chymists of these days ( who have made Improvement ) to be none of the best Medicines . But supposing them to be as good as any this day known , is it not highly unreasonable that those who are but Plagiaries should be the more esteemed on their account , when the Off-spring of Chymists , those Men who constantly labour in the Fire , and are the Inventors of Medicines , shall be slighted , contemned , and vexed at the Law for so doing ? How should Medicines be improved , if the Inventors and Makers of Medicines may not when they have made them , use them for the benefit of Diseased People ? If it ●e objected , They ought when made , to be prescribed by a Learned Doctor ; J answer that the Doctors are not willing to prescribe a step out of their own beaten Path ; and if any be found so generous , yet it could be to no more purpose than for one who understands nothing of the making a Clock or Watch , to order the Watch-maker how to handle his Too●s , or to make a Movement : for believe this for a certain truth , That no Man who is sufficiently grounded in Nature , for the bringing forth any true Medicine , can want a Capacity to admini●ter it .

Hence it appears that it is as Rational for a Man that hath obtained true Medicine , to give to him that stands in need thereof , as to give Bread to the hungry ; and true Medicine is as safe as Food , and much more useful , when Na●ure requires it .

Notwithstanding I am a Legal Physician , neither do they Prosecute me as Illegal , or for Male Practice ; but for Practising within their Limits ; for which they say , they have a Law : which doth not yet appear . But suppose it be a Law , one would will●ngly know who should cure those that they cannot , and also say they cannot cure them : Surely they have no Law to forbid all men , or any body else , to heal or cure those that they cannot ? If they have , I confess ingeniously I have broken it many times , not only when they have said they could not cure the Parties , but also that it was impossible that any body else should .

And many of the Catalogue of Incurables J have cured ; so that my Prosecution is purely for doing good , which these Men will in time to come , be ashamed of . If the Magistrate would , for the Benefit and Preservation of his Majesties Subjects , require a publick Probate of our Method and Medicines upon the Sick taken out of Hospitals , it would quickly appear where the Fitter Method and Fitter Medicines lay .

Because they see that I Cure divers Distempers , with one , two , three , four , or a few Medicines , they cry he hath but one Medicine ; trul● with one Good Medicine , one may soon do more than they can with the whole heap of Farraginous , Useless , Feculent and Truculent Medicines ; yet I may justly pretend to more variety than they , although J hate to make use of any thing that is not really serviceable to Humane Nature , or to give two Medicines where one will serve , or three where two will be sufficient ; or to make an Apothecaries Shop of my Patients Chamber , to inflame the Reckoning , or to destroy the Virtue and Power of the good Medicine , if there be one good amongst them , with a heap of insignificants , which serve onely to open the gate .

For the Remedies they prescribe , are for the most part Bodies or Subjects clog'd with their Terrene Parts , Crudities , and Excrements , by which they become burdensome to the Sick , which they should assist . When on the contrary , those Men that walk in Natures Path in preparing their Medicines ; make such separation of all their Impurities and Defilements , and do so set at liberty and advance their Innate Virtues , as renders them capable of communicating their Efficacy to the languishing Spirits ( which needs not variety but a fit adaption ) without burthening or nauceating of Nature ; and to hinder such Improvements in Medicine , is to limi● and set bounds to Nature ( which is always free and bountiful to Industrious Searchers ) and to de●y the painful Bee the use of the Honey which her self hath made : neither doth such an unnatural restriction onely affect the Diligent Searchers into Medicine , but it extends it self farther , even to all men in general : for if People may not have the liberty to make choice of what Physicians or Medicines they please ▪ then must the Natural Ties of Friendship be violated , and the Father cannot do for the Child , nor the Child for the Father , nor one Friend for another , what they would ; the which was never designed by Nature , or intended by any Law .

Furthermore , 't is strange to thinking Men , that Gentlemen of such Education and Learning , bearing that Figure in the World which they do ; should be so blind , as not to consider the doubtfulness of that Law by which they excercise Authority to trouble Men ; seeing 't is certainly known that in the Cases of Barker , Read , Tri●g and others , above Twenty Years ago , they were foil'd ; for in the Trial of Barker , before Judge Nicols , the Role being brought into Court on the Defendants behalf , he was acquitted . And when the others were tried before the Lord Chief J●stice , St John , he declared to them , That to make that an Act of Parliament , they must call King Henry out of his Grave to Sign it .

And of late Years hath not Fletcher , Trigg , Harder , &c. upon the same doubts been referr'd to a Special Verdict , which is yet undecided , the Jury not being willing to i●termeddle therewith . Yet , as if these Men were insensible of all things done , they are vexatious to Men of Industry , whose Reasons of not submiting to them they neither have nor will scan ; nor is it probable they should , who take no other measure for their Judgment , but their pretended , and as yet undetermined Law .

Very much more J have to say to shew the Unreasonableness of these Proceedings , but J refer it to a Book which J intend to Publish , if God give me Life and Health , in order to the Vindication , Manifestation , Usefulness , Benefit , Safety and Necessity of Chymistry to eradicate Diseases : And the Uselessness , Unprofitableness , Unfitness , Hurtfulness and Dammage ( to Humane Nature ) of most of the Common Medicines now in use .

Suppose some of the Council or Judges being Sick , could not be Cured by the Colledge , will the Colledge say they ought to be contented to die , rather than obtain Cure by any body else ? Or will these Gentlemen be contented to die a Sacrifice to them , rather than subm●t to the Cure from a Chymist that can perform it ?

Presume there were a Law made ( when there was no better Medicine ) known to prevent damage and hurt to the Kings Subjects , will that Law serve to prohibit the preservation of the life of the Kings Subjects when there is fitter and better Medicines Discover'd ? Moreover we cannot find that the Law they pretend to and sue by , was ever Sign'd or had the Royal Assent