Book II.

A fimiic fom You may make experience by ftrong wine, that if you fmell to
t fh / si i fit • . r- - i i • i a • it > •
the efficacy of vine.
it, it refrt iheth the mind and ipirits and heart 5 but when you
drink it down into the body, (for it doth nothing in the vtflel, buc when it comes into the veins) then it fhewes its force, and will make dull fellows very eloquent in fpeech. For the heat of the winciharpcns the mind, and brings forth what lyes hid in the brain. Juft fodothe humours affed men, when the whole force of the difcale hath filled the craniesof the brain, and the mind and fpirits both vital and animal begin to be ftirred. We fee fome in burning Feavers, that are moft vigorous commonly in Summer, who will dilcourfe very well, and fpeak very eloquent¬ ly, and in that dialed, which when they are recovered, they can¬ not perform; which 1 faid were not troubled with the devil, and that they did not this by the devils inftigation, but from the force of thedifeafe, and violence of the humours, whereby the mind of man is inflamed as if a firebrand were put under it. I have re¬ covered fome of thefe by Opiates in potion, and fomentations ap- piyed to their heads, and fo brought them to their right minds ; when thedifeafe was gone, they forgot all they fpake or did ; and when I told them of fome things, they were alhamedof them, and wondred they had fo much forgot themfelves. So thofe that are dying, becauie there is an ardent force of the mind rais’d in them, and lomc divine Infpiration comes into them beforc'tbeir Souls deparr, ufe to prophefie,and to foretell certainly what {hall follow hereafter , and that fo confiderately and handfomely , that the
*arii*S°wiiie‘ ^an foretell things heavenly original, can foreknow things to come, efpeciaily when to come. death is near, fhall be (lie wed by me in its proper place.
CHAP. III.
Of the Epilepfie’s violence', which difeafe the common people both now ar.d formerly ajeriheto certain Saints ; lajlly, how it may be cured. And by the way-, that fuch are not to be buried prefently , that die of the Fal-
ling-ficknefje , Lethargy , or Apoplex .
WE have fhevved elfewhcre what efftds the humours work in the bodies of men; but fince they do diverfly affed u* according to the diverfity of places, I thought good to fpeak of thofe alfo that are inherent in the brain. For thofe difeafes that are in thehigheft part of the body, do not onely afflid us with pain, but alio takeaway fenfeand motion, and hurt the mind; as we may fee in the Apoplex, Lethargy, and the Epilepfie that
To whom js weaker in children and women. The Falling-ficknefle, againft be'afcM. Hippocrates mind, was aferibed by the Antientsto fome fpeeial we mud not Saints j f°r when thofe that flood next faw the difeafed fo fud- ^afclibetoSaints denly tortur’d and pull’d, they thought fome Saints that were the tormina their Enemies, or fome ill fpirits mull be the caufc thereof, and
fent
Chap. 3 .
Of the Epilepfee’s violence .
P3
Aphor. 7. Com. S.
lent iuch mifehief ; wherefore they made vowes to them, and fee up Tables for their deliverance. Hence our Age hath diftinguiih- ed the Epilcpfie into many forts, and one they aferibe to St.John the Baptift, another to Cornelm and Hubert 5 bur as no man fhould deride the folly of cnefe men ; fo I think by degrees we fhould per- fwade them better, to underhand that chefe things fhould be re¬ ferred to nacural caufes. For they are of divers forts in refjped of the habit of the body, or largendle of the paftages, or abundance of clammy humours : hence fome howl and bark like dogs, fome hifs and gnafh their teeth •> fome cry loud and terribly : iome are differences^ wholly mute, efpecially their brain being ftuffed with groffc hu- mours, and their midriff opprefled, and the conduits of breathing flopped. Whence it comes that they cannot freely draw their breath, and ti efe are moft tormented of all men in my opinion.
But the fymptoms increafe moft at the full and new Moon, or when fhe is in thofe ligns that refped the brain or heart. For then the humours abound moft, efpecially when after North winds the South winds begin to blow j for as thefe winds are turbulent and unwholdome, fo are they cold and moyft. For moyft bodies that The Moon. ufemoyft meats, and are in a moyft climate, are more fir and nf&dr'lr fubjed to this difeafe : which is evident, becaufe children, and } tjc^es' womerr are moft fubjed unto this* ahd if it ceafe not about the 2 5th year, when the natural heat is augmented, and caufeth a dryertemper, and if it continue beyond that age, it ufeth to ac¬ company one untill Death, that is, icnever ends till death put an end thereto. Since therefore the caufe of the Falling-fickneffe is fo Evident, I would perfwadethe ignorant people to think of no Thehdit of other caufe of this difeafe, than the motion of the humours, that men may not fear fo much, when they fee their mouths draw awry, their cheeks fwolnj and ftruccing forth with a frothy hu¬ mour; and fhould not bedifmaid to come near them, and lend them their help. For fo arc all thofe that ftand by and are fearful, amazed, when they fee them rending themfelves, and beating their heads and bodies againft pofts, that they think there is no hopes of them, and fo caufe them to be buried before their Souls are departed from them. For I have found it in our own dayes, and in former Ages alfo, that fome have broken the Coffin, and lived again. Wherefore it is fit a Law fhould be made, that thofe who are to take care of the dead bodies fhould not prefently put Apoplefticfc them into their coffins, whom they think to be dead, efpecially thofe that are ftrangled by the Apoplex, Epilepfie, or rifing of nldj* the Mother 5 for oft-times their foul lies within them, and they live again. But when the Plague and peftilent Feavers rule, I think it not neccflary nor fit to obferve this fo ftridiy, becaufe the mufibeprefeut ; contagion will prefently fpread when they are dead, and infed ly eHterYetL thofe that are near. For there is leffe danger to ftand by thofe that have the Plague, and to attend upon them when they are alive, than to ftand by them when they are dead, for then the contagion * fo fpreadsand infeds as it goes. For it is with bodies newly dead,
as