126' Of the Advancement of Learning, L i b . i V. 



r_-" , : . 



fon, Qiould be ofopinion, that it is the part of a learned Phyfician (rc- 

 fpefting the compledtions of Patients, their Age, the fealon of the year, 

 Cuftoraes and the like, rather to accommodate his Medicines as occafi- 

 ons fuggeft, than to infift upon Tome certain Prefcripts, is a deceivable 

 aiiertion, and which attributes too little to experience, too much to 

 judgment. Certainly asintheftate of Rome they were the men moft 

 ufeful, and of the belt corapofition, which either being Confuls favou- 

 red the People, or being Tribunes inclined to the Senate : So in the mat- 

 ter we now handle, they be the beft of Phvficians, which either in 

 their great Learning, do much value the Traditions of Experience ^ or 

 being, famous for Practice, defpife not Methods and Generalities of Art. 

 y4j for qual/Ji'cations of Medicines (if at any time that be expedient) they 

 are rather to be praftis'd upon the DifFerents of Phyfick, than incor- 

 porated into the Receipt, wherein nothing (hould be innovated with- 

 out apparent neceffity. wherefore this Part -which handlcth Authentick^ 

 and Pofuive Medicines^ we report as Deficient : but it is a matter not 

 to be attempted or undertaken without a fharp and piercing judgment , 

 and as it were, in a Synod of feleft PhyGcians. 

 T^?o^^' § Alfo in the Preparations of Medicines \ do find it ftrange(fpecially 

 1}\^J^ \, confiderina: how Mineral Medicines have been fo extolled, and celebra- 

 na'tu- ted by Chymifts ^ and tiiat they are fafer for the outward than inward 

 UM. Fans) that no raan hitherto hath endeavoured by Art to imitate Natural 



Bathsy and Medicinable Fountains ^ and yet it is confeded that thofe 

 Baths and Fountains receive their virtues from mineral veins through 

 which they paG : and ftr jpanifeft proof hereof mans indultry knows 

 well how to difcernand diltinguiih from what kind of ^i^nerals fuch 

 waters receive their tinftures, as whether from Sulphur j Vitriol i Steel, 

 or the like: rehich natural tinHure of upaters, if it may be reduced to 

 compofitions of Art, it would be in mans power, both to make more 

 kinds of them, as occafion required 3 and to command, atpleafore, the 

 temperament thereof Therefore this Part of the imitation cj hUture in 

 Artificial Baths (a thiag without queftion both profitable andeafieto 

 be done) we take to be Deficient. 

 ^ (j But lejl I fiiouldpurfue Particulars more pecifely^ than is agreeable 



FiLUM to our intention, or to the proportion of this Treatife j Iwillclofeand 

 MEDICI- conclude this Part witha note of one Defjcience more, which feems to 

 us to be of great confequence , which is, that the Prejcripts m ufe are too 

 compendious to efftci any notable or difficult cure. For in cur judgment 

 it is a more vain and fiattering, than true opinion, to think that any 

 AJedicine can be fo fbvereign, or fo happy, as that the fimple ufe there- 

 of fnould be of force fufBcient for forae great cure. It were a llrange 

 fpeech which fpoken, or fpoken oft, (hould reclaim a man from a vice 

 deeply rooted and inveterate, certainly it is far otherwife : But it is 

 • order, Vurjuit^ Sequence^ Artificial interchange^ that are potent and 

 mighty in nature : Which although they require more exaft judgment 

 in prefcribing '-, and more precife obedience in obferving, yet this is 

 amply recompcuced in the greatnefs of efFefts. And although a man 

 would think, by the daily diligence of Phyficians, their Vifitations, 

 Seffions, md Prefcriptions, which they perform tothefick j that they 

 did painfully purfuc the Cure ; and go on in a certain courfe : Yet let 

 amanexaftly look into their prefcripts, and miniflrations, he (hall find 



many 



