INTRODUCTION. xxiii 
of that wonderful Spirit , and great Man , Paracel- 
fus: who not only JhevPd the weaknejs of Empi- 
iicifm, of Galenick Medicines, and Medicafters, 
but unvailed and brought the Arts of Me ditine 
out of their Rubbifh , and fet them in a true light , 
for the general Good of Mankind. 
VI. IF IT BE OBJECTED , that Chy- 
mifiry was in being long before Paracelfus was 
Born. To this we anfwer, Jo was the Circula- 
tion of the Blood before our Great Harvey : But 
as it was Harvey, who firfl brought the Circulation 
to Light , for the reforming , and more full eluci- 
dating the Art of Phyftck * fo we fay , that it was 
Paracelfus who brought the Light of Chymifiry to 
arife and fhine in our Horizon and let us into 
its Secret Recejfes , fie wing us all its ' hidden 
Treafures , and brought them fortb for the Glo- 
ry of our Art , the Increafe of true Medical 
Knowledge , and an Univerfal Good. 
VII. YE T JVE DO NOT SAT. \ that the 
Old Phyfick is wholly to be cajt away : There 
are many (thd Simple) excellent things in it -, 
which . by a Skilful and Prudent Phyfician may be 
excerpted , and college d together and which if 
conjoined with the Chymical, open into a great 
Yield of Knowledge , and wonderful Productions, 
that not only K fhew us the Genefis, but alfo Ana- 
lyfis of all natural things and with what an 
. amazing Harmony they fympathize with Human 
Bodies , and how admirably they confpirc to Ope- 
rate in Mankind , to the extirpation of Difeafes , 
and fupport of Life , again ft whatever may be op- 
pofitc to Health, and the well-being of a Living 
Man. 
VIII. THE NEXT thing then which the Phyfician 
had in h'is View , was the Compofiti'on andStruflure 
of the Human frame, that thereby he might know 
how the Body grew, and was nourifhed , and by 
what means it might fall to decay, and fo fail. 
And ft nee tJ)6 Growth and Nourifhment was from 
the Matter received in by the Mouth into the 
Stomach, they conCtdered that there was an innate 
Property in that Vifcus, viz. Natural Spirits, 
to convert the received Pood into a kind of nou- 
rifhing Juice, which the Greeks (our fir ft' Phy " 
ficians ) were pleafed to call Chylus, which being 
more forfeited in the Entrails, was thence con- 
dulled by proper Veffels , and conveyed to the 
Heart ■, where being converted into Blood, it was 
thence by the Arteries difiributed over the whole 
Body , to contribute to its encreafe of Magnitude, 
and nourifhment of all its Parts, that it might 
not fall to decay. The Meanders, or Ways, by 
which this Bloody Juice pafi and re pafi, was dij- 
covered by Difle&ion of the Human Carcafe -, how 
it pafi from the Hearf by the Arteries, to almtft 
every individual Part of the Body, for its Nu 
trition -, and how, what was more than was fit 
for that Purpofe , was returned by the Veins to 
the Heart again -, which' for that rcafon feems 
to be the fountain of the Vital Spirits, 'and fo by 
a perpetual Circulation, confervcs the Microcojm 
in a,, .habitual State of Life and Strength. And 
by the fame Art , they came to a difeovery of 
the Nervous Syltem, ( whofe Original is in the 
Head) by which the Animal Spirits, generated in 
the Brain, were conveyed thro 1 the whole Man, 
giving Scnfe or Peeling, Life and Motion, to every 
part of the fame. 
IX. HOW THE Body fell to decay, or failed, w,is 
the next Confideration , which was either , I. By 
External Accidents, by Blows, Palls, Cuts, P if n- 
Uures, Gunfhot, &c. from -whence came Cont ufions. 
Wounds , fluxes of Blood, Ulcers , fr allures, Lux- 
ations, Difmembrings, and lofs of Sub fiance, which 
direllcd them to Topicks , or External Applica- 
tions, whence from a long Series of Experiences, 
arofe the Praftife and Art of Chirurgery. ‘II. Or 
internal, from a defect of Natural Spirits in the 
Stomach and Bowels, whereby their Tone, or in- 
nate concottivc Property being hurt, they either i. 
generated. a bad Chylus, which did not Nourifh as 
it ought to do, but either profiigated the Blood and 
Lymph#, by depauperating them-, or olherwife 
created a tartarous kind of Mucilage , by which 
not only the Veffels thro > which it was to pafs were 
obfirulfed , but the Vifcera alfo them [elves were 
perturbed in their Operations , by glutinous Slime, 
Sand, Gravel, Stones , &c. Or 2 . They generated 
not Chylus enough to nourifh and fufiain the 
External Man, whereby the Body falls into LaJJi- 
tudes or Weaknejfes , Dinings, and a lingering Con- 
Jumpi ion -, which if not prudently remedied, and 
that in time, reduces the poor Patient to .a meer 
Skelton, and fo making him pafi hopes of ’ Cure, 
fends him decently to bis Grave. An indigefted 
Chylus, or defective in its quantity, as it creates 
a depauperated Blood . and Lympha, fo it makes 
either weak Vital Spirits, or a deficiency of them, 
whence comes Paint nefs, Languifhings, and the like, 
and an univerfal decay of the Strength of the 
whole Man. And according to the poverty of the 
hlood and Lympha, fuch alfo are the Animal Spi- 
rits proceeding from it, from whofe weaknefs or 
decay, proceed all the Nervous^ D ifeafes afflicting 
the Body, as Tremblings, Numb nefs, lofs of 
Strength and Alotion , Convulfions , P a Ifies, &c. 
X. THE BODT being thus affiiffed with 
Difeafes , it was natural to believe , that they 
could not be without their proper Signs, by which 
they might be known, as alfo feveral aitendent 
Symptoms i all which muft arife from feme certain 
Caufe, or Caufes > the Signs of which Caufes, 
( which they call Diagnofticks) they daily learnt 
from Obfervation. 'Ihefe Caufes, whether Original 
or Accidenral, they gradually fearched out, that 
the Sources whence they were derived, might be 
at length difeovered . All which was abfolutely 
nccejfary towards the inveftigation of the Cure : 
Por that without the Caufe was known and remo- 
ved, de EffeQs thereof, viz. the Difeafe, could 
not ceafe , or be taken away. As Difeafes then 
appeared in the World, they obferved the Signs ac- 
companying them , and the Symptoms which many 
limes accrued , which they fet down in Writing, 
under the Names of thofc feveral Difeafes. And 
enquiring into the Courfe of the Patients Life, 
and what Accidental Matters might alfo happen, at 
the introitum of the Difeafe, the antecedent Caufes 
of the Malady, became in fome me afire manifcli. 
Whence by a great number of Remarks, not only 
the Antecedent and Remote Caufes came to be 
difeovered, but alfo the conjoined and near Cau- 
fes, were at length brought to Light : Prom whence 
the Diagnoftick part of the Art, received its lliu- 
firation. Again, from the Greatnefs or Lightnefs 
of the Caufes •, from the impending Symptoms, 
as they feenfd more or lefs dangerbus and from 
attending to the end of the Difeafe, thro a long 
Series of Obfervations-, being all rationally conji- 
dered together , the Prognoftick Precepts were edu- 
ced. And if the Difeafe was thought Curable , the 
kdi- 
