LEEOTT r.OOK. TI. 28' 



infusion of them he poured away; then aJd some <;oo(l Hook II. 

 decoction, and give it him to partake of; add a httle *''■''"• 

 salt, and oil, and marche, and leek, and such as those. 

 Observe then carefully that tlie meat be digested, ere 

 one give him any again ; since the undigested meat 

 worketh liim much evil : let him drink some sheer wine ; 

 if he want more, let him drink hot water. Let him 

 hold back carefully from the bath, and at whiles, when 

 he may endure it, let him blood on the inner part of 

 the arm, and scarify his shanks. A noble leechdom ! 

 And noiv, how the half dead disease never cometh on 

 a man before forty or fifty years of age. 



10. Some books teach for the half dead disease, that 

 one should burn a pinetree to gledes, and then set tlie 

 gledes before the sick man, and that he then, with 

 eyes disclosed and open mouth, should svv^allow the 

 reek, for what time he may ; and when he is no longer 

 able, he should turn his face away a little, and again 

 turn it to the hot embers, and accept the glow ; and 

 so do every day, till the part of the body which was 

 deadened and injured come again to its former health. 



11. Well, the disease cometh on a man after forty 

 or fifty winters; if he be of a cold nature, then it 

 cometh after forty ; otherwise, it cometh after fifty 

 winters of his tale of years : if it happen to a younger 

 man, then it is easier to cure, and it is not the same 

 disease, though unclever leeches ween that it is the 

 same half dead disease. How can a like disease come 

 on a man in youth in one limb, as the half dead 

 disease doth in old age? It is not the half dead 

 disease, but some mischievous humour is effused on tlie 

 limb, on which the harm settles ; but it is easier of 

 euro ; and the true half dead disease cometh after 

 fifty years. 



12. If a man be sick of the half dead disease, or 

 epileptic, work him o0ujw.eA<, a southern acid drink, a 

 mixture of vinegar, and honey, and water. 



