CHAPTER III.

_Of Medicines appropriated to the heart._


These are they which are generally given under the notion of Cordials;
take them under that name here.

The heart is the seat of the vital spirit, the fountain of life, the
original of infused heat, and of the natural affections of man.

So then these two things are proper to the heart.

1. By its heat to cherish life throughout the body.
2. To add vigour to the affections.

And if these be proper to the heart, you will easily grant me, that
it is the property of cordials to administer to the heart in these
particulars.

Of Cordials, some cheer the mind, some strengthen the heart, and
refresh the spirits thereof, being decayed.

Those which cheer the mind, are not one and the same; for as the heart
is variously disturbed, either by anger, love, fear, hatred, sadness,
&c. So such things as flatter lovers or appease the angry, or comfort
the fearful, or please the hateful, may well be called cordials; for
the heart, seeing it is placed in the middle between the brain and the
liver, is wrought upon by reason, as well as by digestion, yet these,
because they are not medicines, are beside my present scope.

And although it is true, that mirth, love, &c. are actions, or motions
of the mind, not of the body; yet many have been induced to think such
affections may be wrought in the body by medicines.

The heart is chiefly afflicted by too much heat, by poison, and
by stinking vapours, and these are remedied by the second sort of
cordials, and indeed chiefly belong to our present scope.

According to these three afflictions, _viz._

1. _Excessive heat._
2. _Poison._
3. _Melancholy vapours._

Are three kinds of remedies which succour the afflicted heart.

Such as

1. _By their cooling nature mitigate the heat of fevers._
2. _Resist poison._
3. _Cherish the vital spirits when they languish._

All these are called Cordials.

1. Such as cool the heart in fevers, yet is not every thing that
cooleth cordial, for lead is colder than gold, yet is not lead cordial
as gold is, some hold it cordial by a hidden quality, others by reason.

2. Such as resist poison; there is a two-fold resisting of poison.

1. _By an antipathy between the medicine and poison._

2. _By a sympathy between the medicine and the heart._

Of the first we shall speak anon, in a chapter by itself. The latter
belongs to this chapter, and they are such medicines, whose nature is
to strengthen the heart, and fortify it against the poison, as Rue,
Angelica, &c. For as the operation of the former is upon the poison,
which afflicteth the heart, so the operation of the latter is upon the
heart afflicted by the poison.

To this class may be referred all such medicines as strengthen the
heart either by astral influence, or by likeness of substance, if there
be such a likeness in medicines, for a Bullock’s heart is of like
substance to man’s, yet I question whether it be cordial or not.

3. And lastly, Such as refresh the spirits, and make them lively and
active, both because they are appropriated to the office, and also
because they drive stinking and melancholy vapours from the heart, for
as the animal spirit be refreshed by fragrant smells, and the natural
spirits by spices, so are the vital spirits refreshed by all such
medicines as keep back melancholy vapours from the heart, as Borrage,
Bugloss, Rosemary, Citron Pills, the compositions of them, and many
others, which this treatise will amply furnish you with.