Agyrto-mastix, or, Some brief animadversions upon two late treatises one of Master George Thomsons, entituled Galeno-pale, the other of Master Thomas O'Dowdes, called The poor mans physitian : with a short appendix relating to the Company of Apothecaries / by William Johnson, chymist to the Kings Colledge of Physitians in London. Johnson, William, fl. 1652-1678. 1665 Approx. 139 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 73 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-07 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A46974 Wing J854 ESTC R43321 27163699 ocm 27163699 110025 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A46974) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 110025) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1722:13) Agyrto-mastix, or, Some brief animadversions upon two late treatises one of Master George Thomsons, entituled Galeno-pale, the other of Master Thomas O'Dowdes, called The poor mans physitian : with a short appendix relating to the Company of Apothecaries / by William Johnson, chymist to the Kings Colledge of Physitians in London. Johnson, William, fl. 1652-1678. [8], 135, [1] p. Printed by T. Mabb for Henry Brome ..., London : 1665. First two words of title in Greek characters. Errata: p. [1] at end. Imperfect: print show-through. Reproduction of original in Bodleian Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Medicine -- Early works to 1800. 2003-01 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2003-04 Rina Kor Sampled and proofread 2003-04 Rina Kor Text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Αγυρτο-Μαςτιξ . Or , some Brief ANIMADVERSIONS Upon two late TREATISES ; One of Master George Thomsons , ENTITULED , GALENO-PALE ; The other of Master Thomas O Dowdes , Called , The Poor Mans Physitian : With a short Appendix , relating to the Company of Apothecaries . By William Johnson , Chymist to the Kings Colledge of Physitians , in LONDON . London , Printed by T. Mabb , for Henry Brome , at the Gun in Ivy-Lane , 1665. Imprimatur , Tho. Grigg , May 10. 1665. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE , HENRY Lord Marquess of DORCHESTER , Earle of Kingston , Viscount Newark , Lord Pierrepoint , and Manvers , &c. Right Honourable , IF , in the great crowd of dedications , that daily flow in upon your Lordship ( the general Patron of Arts ) there be yet a roome left , I would endeavour to break through the press , to throw my self , and this small Treatise at Your Honours feet . It is in You , my Lord , that Galen and Helmont are reconcil'd , and made friends ; and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or wrestling my Authour dreams of , is nothing else , but coming to a close for their mutuall Support ; that thus United , each may stand the faster , both pitching on Your Lordship , as upon a Common Pillar . And since this League and Amity of Galcnicall and Chymicall Physick is no where else to be found more Conspicuous , Justice it self must plead my Excuse , if there be any Presumption in my Humble Desire of Your Lordships Patronage . I must confesse it was not matter of long dispute or study put me upon this choice ; it was of the same date with my Resolution to say something to this Bold Pretender ; For , besides , that in Your Lordship , having not onely a Powerfull Patron , but a most proper and competent Judge , I was bound in Gratitude to make use of this opportunity , to witnesse to the World my particular Obligation to Your Lordship for the long Encouragement I have received from Your Honour in my Profession of Chymistry . Your Lordship cannot be ignorant , how numerous these Pseudochymists are now grown ; who whilest they would be thought , not onely Sons of Art , but Doctors in Physick , Viper like , eat out her very bowels : And though never so Unskilfull , yet they presume to boast themselves and their Juggling Faction , as the only Friends and Zealots for Chymistry ; whereas indeed , ignorance alone is the Mother of their Devotion : This Crew I would summon to receive their Sentence at the bar of your Lordships perfect Knowledge and Experience , where I doubt not but these Pretenders to Pyrotechny , not able to undergoe the Fiery Tryal , will , like their own false preparations , vanish in fumo ; and they be discovered to be neither Physitians nor Artists , but meer Impostors . As an Appendix to this Sentence , I hope your Honour will absolve me from my feares of having displeased your Lordship in my present Address , and vouchsafe still to continue me according to my Great Ambition , in the favour of being , My Lord , Your Lordships , Most Humble , and Obedient Servant , William Iohnson . A' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 - M 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . OR SOME Brief Animadversions Upon a Treatise of Mr George Thomsons , ENTITULED , GALENO-PALE : OUr Authour throughout his whole Treatise , quarrells so much with Method , that I shal not observe his , by dividing my Reply into Chapters ; but by one intire thread of Discourse pass through his whole Labyrinth , that so I may securely strike dead , or which will be all one , discover to the World , the Monster therein lockt up , in his true Dimensions . In the very Entrance , nothing will satisfie the Fury of our Minotaure , but Galen himself , thinking indeed in him at once to swallow all , that own his Authority ; but alas he finds him so tuff a bit , that his venemous tooth cannot enter : His Reputation is so great and Universal , his Parts , Industry and Success in Physick so Eminent , that he is put to it , where to take any hold with his envious fangs , though sharpned with malice and detraction . It is an Argument of a very ill nature , or of a bad design , to forge a Quarrel between two , the most Eminent persons of their Times ; that so he might have some pretense and colour to raise a Faction by assigning to each their distinct followers ; this is done all men know , upon a false supposition ; for the Judicious and Learned do not build the Praises of Galen , on the Disgrace of Vanhelmont , but honour both according to their respective worth , and are ready to confess that the German on Galens shoulders might possibly see more then he ; Nay , Vanhelmont himself will own , that he was Assisted by him in his further prospect : but it is very justly to be suspected , that these Jugglers neglecting of Galen , the Foundation , and per saltum mounted up to Vanhelmont , their heads are grown dizzy , and 't is no wonder they endeavour to cast a mist before the eyes of others , when they can see nothing distinctly themselves . The Ignorant Impudence of this man will further appear , when we consider him making it his business , and profest design to cry down Galen , yet at the same time is forc't to confess him a man of Excellent Parts ; how this Character can consist with his Ignorance in Physick , I leave to any indifferent judge ; since it was in this Science , that his Wit and Learning , not without great Paines and Study , have been transmitted to Posterity ; witness those many great Volumes writ upon that subject , which in all Ages Sober and Discreet Physitians have received as the Oracles of Apollo , whom Antiquity makes the God of Physick . I very much question , whether my Friend has ever read Galen , and more , whether he understands him : I rather believe he speaks against him at a venture , because he has met with a more easie , though a by way , to his ends , which is not with Galen to cure , but delude the Patient ; to purge him not of his Disease , but of his Money . I must confess , that I am not so much an Oratour , as to be able to write Galens Panegyrick proportionable to his merit , and real worth ; neither indeed is it necessary , for what use is there of Rhetorick to perswade , what is already so generally believed , both as to his Abilities , and our Authours Ignorance : That which I intend by this Discourse , is to caution all sorts of People , who are unacquainted with any such thing , as a difference between Galen and Helmont , & are apt to be deceived by Master Thomson's scandalous Reproaches of the one , and his great Elogiums of the other ; whereas he neither rayles or commends to any other end , then to bring an odium upon the Colledge , and all Physitians in generall , who onely by Sobriety , and long Study commend themselves unto the World : He is not concern'd either to oppose Galen , or cry up Vanhelmont , but in order , to gain a reputation with the people to himself , and the rest of those Fanaticks in Physick , Master Odoud , Master Lockyer , and I know not how many of the like Rabble , Foot-Men Gun-Smiths , Heel-Makers , and Botchers , that are all made Doctors in the Opinion of the Vulgar , who deluded with a few hard words , and the bare Names of Chymical Preparations ( which is all the stock these men set up with ) are apt to admire what is above their understanding ; but I wish they would consider , that they deal with a sort of Jugglers , that do not understand themselves . Thus , the more plausibly to deceive all that are not capable of enquiring into the Mystery of their Trade , but yet may be apt enough to avoid them as Up-starts ; they range themselves under the banner of Vanhelmont , whose Name having made a considerable noyse in the World , they think sufficient to silence such as should question their Knavery ; but their ignorance does not a little appear in the very choice of their Patron , for had I been of their Council , I would have suggested to them a more Ancient and Stouter Champion , whom Helmont himself ownes , Theophrastus Paraselsus , who was the first , not that dissented from Galen , but that made any considerable improvement in Chymistry ; for it is not to be questioned , but that He and Vanhelmont through their ingenious labour in the fire , made discovery of many Rare and Excellent Medicines ; but neither of them buried Galen in the ashes , wholly laying aside , as these men would have the World believe , his sober Rules and Prescriptions ; and this ingenuity of theirs hath been abundantly requited by that Esteem , which hath been paid them by most learned Physitians since their time , but especially those now of theColledge , ( who for many years last past in all the Universities of Europe have carried the vogue . ) My particular Relation bath given me opportunity of frequent converse with these Famous Men , and when any discourse of Vanhelmont , or any Chymical Authour has occasionally being raised , they were so far from being traduced ( as this Impostor in divers places of his Book impudently affirms ) that they were never mentioned without some remarques of Commendation ; Indeed it is so much against the Nature of any Ingenious Man to Vilifie an Artist ( such as doubtless vanhelmont was ) that I believe by this it will appear , our Adversaries undervaluing of all , but themselves , must needs be out of malice and base design ; for my own part , I may presume to say , ( without being guilty of much boasting ) it will be acknowledged , by a sufficient Testimony , that I understand my Profession , but I should think my self very ungratefull , if I did not acknowledge the helps and incouragements I have received from the Colledge ; 't is from their favourable influence my fires have received a new light and heat , and they have taken care to blow and cherish the flame . Let any Judicious man but look back , and compare the practise of our Worthy Physitians for Twenty Years last past , with the preceding times , and he must confess Chymistry , and its Improvement has been their great care , and constant study ; that pitch , to which this Noble Art is now advanc't , is ow'd to them , and if it ascend yet higher , the same hands must lend their assistance . Neither am I so put to it , that I should urge barely their favours to my self , though visible for this twenty years , as a sufficient conviction and evidence of their zeal to Pyrotechny ; they have given other large Testimonies , nay , most of them have been so industrious , that they have actually put their hands to the plough : if this be to vilifie and reproach Vanhelmont , if this be to oppose Chymistry , they may be justly accused : But since it appears far otherwayes , these Impostors do but betray their envy and ignorance ; yet thus much I will acknowledge they have in them of Chymistry , they know well how to blow the coal . As to the abuses and disrepute the Galenists ( as you are pleased to stile our Doctors ) have brought upon Physick ; Mutato nomine de Te Fabula Narratur : Surely the man's asleep , or how could he be guilty of so gross a mistake , for doubtless this part of his Treatise is as it were designed to whip himself and his Juggling Brethren ; for at the same time when he mentions the sad Exorbitances , Irregularities , and abuses in Physick , he in plain terms confesses them to be introduc'd by swarms of Quacks in every place numerous , as Locusts ; he appearing in the head of this band himself , impudently bidding defiance to the Doctors , & telling them to their teeth , they would fain put them to the rout , if they had power equall to their will ; But alas this Exprobation of all others is the most frivolous ; for give these Impostors but rope enough , and they will hang themselves , withering like hasty weeds for want of sap and root . Among his other insignificant reproaches , t is very pleasant to observe , how he quarrels with the Colledge for their plain dealing , and openness , as if they were to blame for imparting their fkill , and expounding the riddle of Physick so far as is susficient to discover the Juggle of these Quacks and Mountebanks . This Fellow goes on to tax the Colledge with uncharitableness , which accusation is better Answered by the Hospitals then by me , though many thousand other poor people besides can testify their charity and readiness to do them good freely without taking any thing for their Advise ; whereas His and his Brethrens , being nothing worth , their way is to exact money before hand of the poorest for Physick of their own jumbling up ; so that they do not onely wrong them , but those also whom they would seem to pity , under a title of the Poor Apothecaries ; and surely they are in a fair way to deserve this Epithite , if they , with the help of the Colledge do not get the practise of Physick purged from such pitiful Physitians . These subtle insinuations they use to foment a groundless discord between Doctor and Apothecary ; for doubtless the late Appeal to the Parliament , was intended to tye the hands of such Usurpers as your selves , who would ingross doth Professions , without being qualisied for either : and this , contrary to their ill grounded hopes , will in its due time take effect ; and then if some Epidemical contagious Disease , worse then your selves ( the omen of which God avert ) should Reign amongst us , we doubt not Gods blessing upon the sober endeavours of Doctor and Apothecary , each being careful in his respective Sphear ; and surely there is not much likelihood our Galenists that have stay'd the brunt of former infectious times , should now run from their colours , if the like danger should happen : Almost in every Church in London , or Vestry , there is to be found a Printed Memoriall of their pains and care in the Sickness-time ; However I hope thus much in your behalf , that a Publick Edict will be instrumentall to free your Fraternity from the disgrace of a voluntary flight . 'T is no wonder at all to hear you inveigh bitterly against Rule and Method in Physick , when out of your Anarchical Principle , you are as ready to renounce all Order and Government in the State ; Your designe is to subvert , what the Lawes of England , and the Customes and Priviledges of both Universities have Established , ( Viz. ) That none under so many years standing in one of our two Universities , ought to be admitted to practise Physick ; and the Degree of a Doctor requires more : Yet after all this , according to an Antient Grant from His Majesties Royal Ancestors given to the Colledge of London ; None , of these persons though so qualified , can have liberty to practise Physick within divers miles of London without leave from the Colledge : Yet every Heele-Maker , Foot-man , or Botcher , that can but steal a Receit from some Doctors Man ( by the consent of Master Thomson ) shall presently mount the Common Stage , and under the notion of a Chymicall Doctor , defie the whole Body of Physitians ; Besides you do not onely go about to infringe the Liberties of this Honourable Society , but you doubly incroach upon the Freedom of Apothecaries ; who , as to the Pharmaceutical part of Physick , have a Pattent of the same Authority ( as to their Corporation ) with that of the Colledge relating to the practise of Physick , and unless a man be invested by one of these two Authorities , he can neither Justifie his preparing any Medicines , or practising when he has done , and in what degree then you rob the Apothecaries of their profession , I shall have an occasion to demonstrate in another part of my Discourse ; Though I would have you take notice of what is now said , and consider how unjustly you assume the practise of Physick in any respect whatever ; and yet not withstanding all this , through your fallacious ignorance , You wonder , and stand amazed ( as you say ) to see such Learned Physitians , men so highly reputed for their Parts , to carry on such a design , as the confirmation of their Pattent ! You may as well wonder why a man should defend his house against Thieves , which is but a particular interest ; but in this the common good is so much concern'd , viz. the keeping down such Drones and Quacks , as through their ignorance , and irregular practise would prove prejudicial to the Common-Wealth , creating more Diseases then they cure . I cannot deny but t is possible they may stumble upon success , in some of their desperate attempts , but t is very rare , since Nature is doubly assaulted , by the Remedy as well as the Disease . In this case of good Fortune they fail not to open , and not unlike the Lottery-Mongers at Bartholomew Fair , who blow the Trumpet before every single Prize , though never so inconsiderable , whilest all the Blanks are husht up in filence . Thus they make a great cry , where there 's no wooll , unless it be that which their own wits are still gathering . But these Impostors of late do flatter themselves with a new advantage , which they make so much of , that they are willing to let go all their former shifts and deceits to trust wholly to this ; I mean a pretended quarrel between the Doctors and the Apothecaries ; Upon the Improvement of which , the Common Enemy fancies to himself a perfect Victory ; but alas the poor wretches are as much mistaken in their Policy , as their prescriptions : this does but alarm both to unite more strongly , and to joyn their Forces , for the more easie subversion of these Apotheco-Medicasters . I must confess this to be the only Reed they can with any hope of safety take hold of now they are sinking , but it will doubtless prove in the end a broken one , and they , if not in danger of being drowned , sure to prick their fingers to the bone ; Oh! how I long to see them shew their teeth , when they cannot bite , when they have nothing to fasten upon , and must be forc'd to turn their fury upon themselves , and fret in their own grease ; then the sport will be to see these Factious Jugglers crumbled into diverse petty intrests , and devour one another , Whilest Doctors and Apothecaries in a perfect amicable , concurrence shall have nothing else to encounter , but the Distemper of the Patient , and not be troubled to keep off a second infection , and more dangerous , namely these intruding Empricks ; of whom , though I should be silent , the usuall success of their care will evince to the World , that the abuse of Physick for some late years past did not come from any Labourer , Drudge or Excrement of the Doctors , as my Friend seems to aver , but from an ignorant , and no less impudent sort of people , the very refuse of the whole Town , those Swarmes of Quacks , he mentions in his third Chap. with an ingenious Acknowledgement , that t is themselves have made this Noble Science ( The True Professors where of Divine Writ hath charged to be Honoured ) a very Trade to get Money ; to which end they have cover'd and adorn'd themselves with Jewels , stoln out of other mens Clossets , those Arcana's he so often speaks of ; but alas in their ill wearing them , they are sullyed and lose their Native Lustre the greatest Arcana's in the world , when improperly apply'd , must needs fail in the performance of their usual Effects . When this undertaking first enter'd into my thoughts , I resolv'd out of my affection to Chymistry , to take off this General Scandal , the ignorance of these pretenders to the Art have brought upon it ; knowing nothing more destructive to Chymistry , then such Chymists , who presuming ( as justly they may ) that the generality of the people cannot disprove them , do confidently affirm themselves to be Artists ; so that what Reputation they gain with the Vulgar , t is wholly due to their tricks and noise ; Subtle and Lungs in this case making up but one Alchymist . These fellows do by Chymistry , just as our Fanaticks do in Religion , cry it up zealously , but with a manifest design to pull it down ; both being equally Ignorant , and both Enemies to the truth . It were to be wisht , that this railer were guilty of what he accuses the Galenist , ( viz. ) plausible Rhetorick ; but he is now grown so abusive and scurrilous , that in his Fourth Chapter , he is not content to scandalize the Physitians , but also the Apothecaries , whom hitherto out of design he would seem to have Courted , and in many places of his Book , doth curry Favour with , yet not minding his self-contradiction , when any thing falls into his purpose against the Physitians , he does not stick falsely to asperse the whole Company of Apothecaries , and accuse them of a sordid and base eomplyance , ( that he might wound the Reputation of Doctor and Apothecary together ) impudently asserting an Obligation upon them , Not only to speak for the Doctors , but to lye for them , yea and to do some things for them to the hazard of their Souls , being forc't to maintain , and sometimes to own all their Miscariages , Misdemeanours , and gross Aberrations in Physick , or else He , His Wife and Children must bite on the bridle : But I am sure this Brute wants one in his mouth ; whither will he run in this full Carriere , casting dirt in the faces of known honest men ? but the best is , their Reputation is so unquestionably unblemisht in the World , that all the dirt , which is thrown at them , will the more forcibly return upon the Authors , and so stick the faster . But do you hear , my good Friend , Oportet mendacem esse memorem ; were not you he that all along have accused the Galenists of being too communicative , and now tell us t is their principal study to involve all in obscurity ; And I pray tell me , has not the dint of your Accusation been all along , that they Cryed down Chymistry , and do you now indite them for becomeing Chymists ? But you say t is of a sudden ; and methinks that should please you , since t is your own case ; 'T was neither time nor pains perfected your Fraternity , you are a Generation of Artists bred like Myrmidons or Mushromes , coming to full growth in one night : and the truth is , among you , he is the best Chymist , that has most Impudence , and least Conscience : But that our worthy Doctors allow'd now to be Chymists , are not become such of a suddain , needs little proof ; I my self have been their Servant near twenty years countenanced , and daily imploy'd by them in making Chymical Medicines , and long before that time , many of the Colledge , whom I had the Honour to know , kept private Elaboratories in their own Houses , and notwithstanding , this is so Eminently known among all that were ever concern'd in Physick ; yet this Impostor presuming many others know it not , thinks by cajoling of the people , to reap not onely the Profit , but the Credit too of all their Industry and Labours . To promote this , he tells you in the end of his Fourth Chapter , a story of a perspicacious Gentleman , who extorted , after much urging , from a Physitian , this Answer , Hang it , we are but a company of Cheats ; and sayes our Authour further , This was reported to us , &c. It seems there was a Juncto of Quacks met , a Committee of Empricks , at whose sitting among others , as frivolous , this report was made forsooth , and sayes our Authour , By a Person of Quality ; To this , I shall only offer the improbability of the thing it self , for a sufficient Answer , and Advise him for the future , to Lye more feisibly . This Cunning Man being neither Chymist nor Astrologer , undertakes boldly to personate both , upon the same presumption , that each of them is above the Capacity of the Vulgar , whom it is his business to delude : Whereupon in his Fifth Chapter , he talks to us of Predictions ; but the vanity of this Cheat is long agoe exploded by the Learned and Judicious ; besides t is known to be a common refuge for such Ignoramuses , as can give no rational account of their Patients Distempers ; so that in this case , he that will confess himself never to be mistaken , But as a Man , does ingeniously acknowledge he never is in the right , which is our Authours case , in his own words , Happy be lucky , hitting the mark with as much uncertainty as those People called Andabatae , that fought wink ing . Notwithstanding he blames the Doctors for being sober and modest , not daring to promise what they never expect to perform ; he quarrels with them for not being as Impudent as his Faction , who confidently assert themselves to be Infallible in the business of Physick , and in the most difficult cases , pretend to exclude all conjecture . My good Friend , t is shrewdly to be suspected , he is most Erroneous , that would have it thought he cannot erre at all . It will not be much from my purpose ( which is chiefly to present this Crew in their colours ) to inform the World , that they not only pretend to bePhysitians , but would be thought Able to recover for us , all other losses besides that of Health , by their skil in Astrology ; If one good Woman loseth her Petticote , another her wedding-ring , they are ready to cast a Figure for them ; but believe me , 't is such a one , as will in the conclusion stand for a Cypher ; and if at any time they seem to make any discovery , t is sufficiently known they do it by confederacy . Neither do they take a course much different to come into credit with their Quacking Trade , bringing and hiring all people whatsoever , to feign both Sicknesse and Cure , that other silly poor Wretches , who really want help , may be trapan'd into a false Opinion of their skill , and be gull'd at least out of their money , if not out of their lives . I do not take up this barely upon the credit of a flying report , but I know it by personal Experience , for there is not a Juggling Figure-flinger , or Quack in the Town , but I have had some knowledge of him , and am very well acquainted with all their Fallacious Actings and Designs ; so that I might justly be accus'd to be of their party , if I kept their Council , which I am little concerued to do , since they are so unworthy as to make their pretended zeal to Chymistry , a cloak for their knavish and pernicious practises . Ther is hardly a page in his whole book but what is fill'd with some abusive Language or other , though withall so full of self-contradiction , 't is below me to think him worth an Answer : besides he is an Enemy so inconsiderable , that I can hope for little credit by undertaking him : In his Sixth Chapter , his main business is to cry down Anatomy , as very insignificant , and little conducing to the recovery of the Patient : I wish some of our Galenists had this Fellow under their hands to cut him off the Simples ; I am confident , were they to read a Lecture upon him , they would discover his want of brains ; but this is sufficiently proved to all men by his own scribble ; Did ever any Sober Man find fault with Industry imploy'd in Anatomical Dissections ? Who ever imagin'd it possible for a man to be a Good Physitian , without great Skill and Judgement in the subject of this Art ; and most Diseases proceeding from Internal Causes , what way to be taken for the discovery of them , but Anatomy ? so that the great care of the Colledge in opening of Bodies cannot be ; A meer Publick Theatrical business , more for Ostentation , and to get a fame abroad , then for any notable improvement in the cure of Miserable Man : Though these be my Friends own words , yet he is Master of so much reason , or Justice , as that presently after he condemnes himself , Ex ore suo , by an apparent recantation ; Anatomy ( sayes he ) we stand up for as much as any , without which a Physitian we are certain , must needs be defective in Physick : These contradictions are so frequent throughout his whole Book , that 't is not indeed worth the while to take notice of a single one ; In truth I think it had been a very good way of confuting this fallacious Writer , onely to have transcrib'd him ; but the same in effect , every Judicious Reader will do in the most cursory perusal . 'T is to me a wonder , the rest of his Fraternity do not fail upon him , for so ill defending their Cause ; ' I would be much for their Interest to have his Book called in betimes ; or I would Advise them to call a Conventicle of Jugglets , and make a resolve , that this Pamphlet be forthwith distill'd , and as one of their own Chymical Operations for the future kept , inter Arcana , and so privately , that the World may not be so fully informed of their Misterious Cheat : But to return to his censure of Anatomy , which all along he both magnifies , and cryes down in one breath , he undervalues it , because the Skill is not to be attained without great Pains , and a Study his Capacity comprehends not , yet he is forc't to admire it , as not being ignorant , that without the knowledge of Anatomy , All their knowledge is in vain ; And this he himself confesses , in a comparison he makes of a Mechanick , who ought To have a competent insight of that Machine , as Watch or Clock , which he goeth about to mend : Thus this Impostor by the power of truth , is constrain'd against his will & design to plead against himself , and condemn his own Up-starts ex tempore Practise ; Let the reader but observe what Herculean labour , he sayes is necessary to attain the knowledge of Generous Medicines ; what Sinewes , and Strength are to be put forth to find them out , how much precious time is to be spent in hammering them out ; and together with this Discourse of pains and toyle , consider how of a suddain these Fellows start up Able Physitians , out of Shoo-Makers , Groomes , Botchers , and what not , that is furthest off from Physick , he must conclude , they do all in their vain shews , but verba dare , study to impose upon the too credulous populacy , over whom they have this advantage , that the People are very willing in their Preferring of these men to admire themselves , and do therefore swallow glibly , what they would never endure in a Doctor of Physick , especially of the Colledge , whom they look upon as above them by many Degrees . The Invention of the Circulation of the Blood , by Industrious Doctor Harvey is highly to be commended , sayes our Authour , but he subjoyns that the Therapeutick part is little advanced thereby ; T is very strange to me , that this Fellow can be so ignorant of the real advantage this discovery hath brought to Man-kind , in order to the cure of Diseases , both Internal , and External , for the blood being the seat and subject both of Health and Sickness , the knowledge of its true motion must indisputably conduce to the preservation of the one , and the expulsion of the other , by the right and judicious application of apropriated Medicines , whether Officinall , or other wayes : And though I confess with our Authour , that our Officinall Medicines , in his own sense , are not more sufficient and powerfull now , then they were before the improvement of Anatomy ; yet , the judgement of the Physitians in the use and more proper application of them being advanc't , the benefit which the Patient receives , must needs be the greater . After all these impertinences , he once more presents himself to us as a Spagyrick , with his more prevailing helps ; and this I observe to be the clinch of all his Discourse , ( next railing ) and the hinge , on which all his design turns ; under this notion , he talks wildly of a Pyrotechnicall Anatomy , which ( as he sayes ) shews us where every Disease is seated ; It seems by this , these Impostors , do not use to Anatomize Dead Carcasses , but Calcine them ; so that the Effect of this Operation must needs prove to be nothing else but a Caput mortuum . As in almost every Chapter of his Book , so in this Seventh , he has a new Hocus to carry on his old design ; he has been nibling formerly at the Apothecaries , and now he would bring the Chirurgions to cut a way through for him , if he can but raise a jealousie between them and the Doctors ; to effect this , and the better to bring his purpose about , he boldly undertakes to reprove the Doctors , For the Ignorance of most of them in Surgery ; which is an Art so distinctly and properly , and as a due right belonging to another incorporated Society of Men ; thatwithout offence both to Civility and Justice they cannot engage in it ; so that they do not forbear Surgery for want of Skill , but out of a fair respect to the Worthy Company of Chirurgions : They never would in point of manual operation , infringe the least of their Liberties ; and that 's the reason our Adversary makes himself so really concern'd , not for the Doctors Ignorance ( as he pretends ) for no man can imagine a good Physitian to be a Novice in Surgery ; but because he would raise a feude ; and himself confesseth , that the business of the Knife properly belongs to the Chirurgion , yet censures the Galenists , as Not being able to undertake a Whitlow , a Scald , a Green Wound , or any Triviall Sore ; indeed these may be counted high undertakings in himself , but they are things even below a profest Chirurgion to take notice of , as being the common cures almost of every old Woman . But at this rate he proceeds through the whole Chapter , taking occasion at every inconsiderable conceit of his own Invention , either to cast some dirt upon the Colledge , or to promote some difference between them and the Chirurgions ; nay , rather then not propagate his own cause , he raises a quarrell between them and his Medicines ; Tell them ( saith he ) of the Alkahest , or Universal Menstruum , of Lapis Chrysopeius , or of a Panacea , they will but deride and flout at it ; These are things indeed Vanhelmont mentions , but I dare be bold to say , our Authour never saw any of them ; and further , as to the Lapis Chrysopeius , and Liquor Alkahest , I Affirme positively , there is no such Arcana's to be found in Rerum Naturâ : 'T is probable Master Thomson has a strong faith , and It were to be wisht , that he had as much patience , or it is impossible he should continue till the dissolution or reduction of those Coagulations , or Tumors into their first matter ( as he mentions ) be performed by Art ; nor is there any Arcanum to be found less then that Universall Menstruum , he from Vanhelmont speaks of , from which it can rationally be expected . But this I would advise him to take heed of , least , when he goes about to Untye and Colliquate the Stone , he dissolve the whole Body , and bring that into a fair way of reduction into its first matter . As to his relation of three large stones expell'd by a Chymical Physitian from a Maid-Servant ; I once saw as great a matter done , and from a Maid-Servant too ; but rather by accident , then by the application of any Medicine at all ; so that his Turkeys Egge is addle : the stone that came from this Maid , was bigger then any of these three he mentions , and very scraggy : 'T is possible therefore for Nature to free her self from such Monstrous products , meerly by the force of her own expulsive faculty . I know there are many Chymical preparations , much conducing to this effect ; and as I have no reason , so I do not oppose this Accident , against that Chymicall Physitians Experiment , in any respect , to take off the Validity of Paracelsian Medicines ; But to take away those pernicious and mistaken inferences that Master Thomson draws from thence , ( only to lay hold of any means to scandalize the Physitians ) as bleeding , Pernicious purgation , Blistrings , &c. A practise which ne Physitian uses barely in reference to the Stone , but as some other accidentall Distemper may require ; Nor ever do they appoint the Knife , till sound Judgement , upon serious deliberation counts it necessary . 'T is very pleasant , how in his Eighth Chapter , he represents the Doctors as concern'd to vindicate their credit from these Jugglers Imputations ; whereas alas , they take no more notice of them , then a Lion does of a whiffling Curr , or the Philosopher of his Scolding Xantippe : Notwithstanding , he is pleased to begin this Chapter thus : Ye make your boast that ye possesse ( as well as we ) your laboratory and variety of Furnaces . In good time ; ( as well as we ) Pray what signifies this Parenthesis ? Did ever any sober man think that You , or your Brethren , ever rightly knew , what belong'd either to Laboratory or Furnace ? Possibly you may like Doctor Subtle in the Play , keep about you some Coales and Glasses , these alone being sufficient to cheat those you dare admit to the inspection of your Operations : Your Medicines , and your Furnaces too , are to be counted inter Arcana ; and the truth is , the good you either have , or are like to do with them , is yet , and alwayes will be a secret ; those that are friends to truth , are like her , naked and unmaskt ; they dare stand the test , nay , invite the severest , and most piercing eyes to be witnesses of their Faithfulness and industry . But stay , do you hear the News ? our Author tells us , It is not the Laboratory , nor specious Furnaces , that simply makes the Spagyrical Physitian . Risum teneatis Amici ? Was ever any one so senseless as to imagine , or dream of a True Artist without , or that a man can be so accounted , without convenient Utensils ? Yet as Books and Furnaces do not , meerly of themselves , make either Scholars , or Spagyricks , so it must be granted , neither Books nor Furnaces could be made without them both ; but away with these notorious truths , by you repeated to the same purpose , with your as notorious lyes and bare pretenfes to Chymistry , out of which there arises only an ignis fatuus , making a false glare , like the Meteor so call'd , which leads the poor Traveller out of his way , and leaves him in a Ditch crying out for help ; just thus do these Jugglers by their Patients , who after they have been seduced , and ill handled by these Empiricks , are forc't to return to the discreet , and wary Physitian for their Cure. I should think it strange , out of any Mouth but our Authous , or his Complices , to hear a Physitian accused for not being desperate , and for using safe Medicines , rather then those that are hazardous ; would any but such mad men AdministerChymical Preparations , without any further knowledge of the Medicine , then that it has a hard name : For this I will only instance Master Lockier , who must either confess himself ignorant , or a Notorious Lyer in Print , as by a Pyrotechnical Anatomizing of his Pill , in another place I shall plainly make appear ; besides Elixirs are not prodigally to be thrown away , or used , when any honest , though meaner Medicine will recover the Patient : Chymistry is that which is to help at a dead lift ; but as for Universal Medicines , they are but Chimera's things to be discoursed of , and wisht , but doubtless never to be attained , without a new revelation , which I wonder much , these Fanaticks in Physick do not boast of . I presume no Judicious Person can mistake me here , as if I seemed to speak against Chymistry absolutely , when I condemne onely the promiscuous use of it in all cases alike , which is the custome of our unworthy Empiricks and Abusers of Learned Vanhelmont ; yet thus far I am willing to comply with my Friend ; It had been happy for the credit of his Art , ( viz. ) of cozening by Chymistry , if no Chymical Medicines had ever been prescribed by the Colledge , for therein a palpable discovery of my Gentlemens Villany is made , and the difference of True Gold seen , from that which only glisters . I must confess there are many Adulterate and Sophisticate Preparations vented in the Town , for Good ; but this can in no sense be imputed to the Colledge , for they are sensible of this abuse , and are resolved to reform it in due time , as an Appendix to the imposture and Knavery of these Jugglers . As to what our Authour hints concerning the Doctors ingratitude , I am confident he laugh'd at himself in the mention , as very well knowing , his Faction was never in a capacity to oblige that Worthy Society , unless it were by being as a foyle , to set off their Great Abilities . Next he goes on , pretending An Answer to some Objections laid to their charge by the Galenists ; and truly in those charges which he mentions , there is couched and imply'd so ingenuous a confession and home Character of the Faction , that I think it a hard task to set them out more perfectly in their own Colours . They are Objections indeed , with a witness ; so undeniable , as that himself is compelled to set his hand , and say ; This we confess ingenuously is not be denyed in part , and we could wish it otherwise : If the Reader would but peruse his Ninth Chapter , he will believe him to have sufficient reason , and that it is as hard for him to Answer , or remove these Objections , as it was for Ulysses to remove the great Stone from the mouth of Polyphemus his Cave ; where by the by , this crafty Grecian gave the Cyclops such an Arcanum , that what he could not âccomplish by strength , he brought about by wiles , and subtilty ; first he put out the Cyclops eye , then rob'd his Flock : This course these Empiricks usually take , casting a mist before the understandings of the credulous people , and then picking their pockets . But is any thing more childish and ridiculous , unless it be himself , then his following words , on which he seems to lay the whole weight and stress of all his Brethrens reputation . We know ( sayes he ) a Chymist , that desires no more practise in Physick to get a competent living by , then those Patients to whom ye cannot make the promise of a Cure after two or three moneths time , whom he would undertake to resolve in lesse then a moneth : And no question is to be made of this , but I presume , Sir , you mean a resolving them into their first Principles , and then surely a moneth is too long a time for you , that usually are more quick and nimble in your dispatches : Fye , Fye , will you become now so cruell , as to think of torturing your Patients , for a whole moneth , who all along have pretended to be such suddain Executioners ; Kill or Cure is your known maxime , and at that rate , the most desperate of Diseases , nay , death it self may be styl'd a Physitian : How consonant to the doctrine of this bold maxime , does he go on to declare himself ? For our parts , ( saith he ) we should think it very strange , and be infinitely ashamed , if any Patient should be Cured by the Galenists , whom we have given over : For the truth is , they handle the matter so for the most part , that they are sure to put it out of the power of all Physick , to do any good to those they have tampered with , by misapply'd , and abused Chymistry . His next , and Tenth Chapter seems to be spit out of the mouth of a Zealous Brother at a meeting , where he holds forth the Doctrine of Vanhelmont , as down right Gospel , and advises the Colledge To Embrace it sincerely , and be wise to Salvation ; He improves the Exhortation in the same strain of Devotion ; Let him lay his hand upon his heart , and considering his own emptyness , reflect upon himself , how he hath deceived , and been deceived . Ah! doubtless this must needs be a Precious man ; How has Chymistry contributed to make him Spiritual , and his trading in the fire inflam'd his Zeal ? And now that has run his pretense to Physick , quite out of breath , 't is time for me to make Observation that , Ubi desinit Medicus , incipit Theologus : But least he should not be a thorough-paced Fanatick , another part of this Chapter is spent in decrying of Humane Learning : great Scholarship is ever a crime to a Dunce , and it being for the carrying on his design , absolutely necessary , that our Authour should either be a Scholar , or a profest Enemy to the name ; he takes the more easie and cheap way to his end , which is to bring himself and ignorance , as much as in him lyes , into some credit in the World. But all will not do ; neither Fanatick in Religion , nor Physick , with all their specious Hypocrisie will ever be able to perswade the World , that the Letter is not a fit Hand-mand to the Spirit ; that Learning is not subservient , and necessary to the cure both of soul and body . I am not so well read in Vanhelmont , ( neither do I think it my duty so to be ) as to be able to contradict my Friend , when he talks of that Learned Mans fair proposals , Why ( saith he ) hath not your Sect yeelded formerly to Helmonts fair proposal while he was alive , that there might be a final conclusion of these Controversies by matter of fact ? ( indifferent Judges appointed on both sides to give their censure ) t is very probable , this proposal was really made ; but t is very insignificant in his mouth , unless his Faction were in such a degree Eminent , that they could make it out to all , that they are as able as Vanhelmont himself : How far they are from this pitch , I dare fubmit to the Judgement , not only of indifferent persons , but even of those that are some way byassed with Interest , and willing to be partial in the Empiricks Cause . In his next hard Chapter , where he talks of the Principles of Phylosophy , which the Galenists own , he runs on upon a false supposition ; for 't is very well known , that the Aristotelian Tenents , which Galen owned , are in many things found little consonant to Nature and Truth ; whereupon the Learned Physitians of our Age , not sworn to the Opinion of any of the Antients in particular , ( as our Authour would have the World believe ) do act according to the freedom of their own Judgements , and do by a kind of rational Chymistry , extract what is good either in Galen or Vanhelmont , refusing the dross of both ; so that these several Calumnies he reproaches the Doctors with , are groundless and false . Above all , these Quacks it seems are very desirous to be thought compassionate and full of pity ; as appears by their general out-cry against sheding of blood : I confess such a cautious behaviour , as this , among the Welch men , might bring them into good practise ; but here at home the long and successfull use of Phlebotomie , easily out-votes their groundless clamour against that processe : and though the Devil be undeniably a sworn Enemy to Man-kind , I dare presume to acquit him thus far , that he never suggested the wholesom Emission of Blood , being very unlikely by this way to make good his title of a Murtherer from the beginning . What my Friend sayes concerning our being Governed by Nature , which intends all things for its ownPreservation , &c. May very deservedly be retorted upon him ; for we plainly may observe that oftentimes Nature is her own Phlebotomist , in which she directs us to breath a vein rather then to expect her help , usually afforded by sending forth blood at the Nostrils , which is lookt upon to be the best and purest : But the impudence of these men knows no bounds , and thinks to out-face common Experience , which assures us , that in several Distempers , letting of blood is the only and certain Remedy ; The like may be said of Purgation , by which Nature is eased of a pernicious burden and load , oppressing and obstructing her in her Vital Operations . And here by the way let us examine the inference he makes from an Aphorisme of Hippocrates , to which he is forc't to give the Epithite of Excellent ; he quotes him in these words , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and interprets them thus . If that be carried out of the Body by Purgation , that ought to be , the Sick Man finds himself the better for it , and his Spirits more chearfull , and better able to bear his Disease : From hence he is pleased to inferre that Hippocrates fore saw the great mischief , that was likely to come upon indiscreet Evacuation : But surely , he , that has but half an eye , will conclude from hence more naturally , that he foresaw likewise , the great benefit , that was necessarily to ensue upon purging discreetly , by the prescription of a Judicious Physitian , and performed by proper Catharticks . As to that common maxime of Contrariorum contraria sunt Remedia , how far it holds true , and how far made use of by Physitians , I do not think my self a competent Judge ; but to my Apprehension , it seems to be very rational ; For how can the Disease be conquered , without an Enemy to give it battel ? The next thing our Learned Authour flyes at , is the Pharmacopoea ; this he pretends to accuse of several Infirmities , and would perswade us , that t is very improbable , this Book should contribute to the cure of the Sick , when it self is so Diseased , and needs a Physitian : But let us put the Saddle on the right Ass ; the Sickness is in the mans brain , and it fares with him , as with one that has the Jaundies , to whom all Objects seem yellow , whereas the Distemper is onely in the Organ . The Title of his Fifteenth Chapter , is , A Brief Examination of their Pharmacopoea . in this Judicial Procedure , he himself undertakes to sit as Judge , Party , and Witness ; and-because he is pleased to Pronounce Sentence of Condemnation , all the World he thinks must necessarily subscribe to it , and from hence forward look upon the Pharmacopoea Londinensis , as Out-law'd : But stay a while , I shall make bold to bring a Writ of Errour , and briefly examine His Brief Examination . This Book has by the unanimous consent of the Learned in Physick , been owned and approved of , as the best of that kind ever was extant ; and truly t is no small vindication of its worth , that t is Calumniated and Vilified by our Authour , and his Factious Ignorant Fraternity : Can there be a greater Elogium out of the mouth of such a Nonsensical , Ridiculous , Improper , and Languid Fellow as he is , then this , when he boldly sayes , the Pharmacopoea contains , Nonsensical , Ridiculous , Improper and Languid Medicaments ? Poor mistaken fool , the only way for you to destroy the Dispensatory , is highly to commend it , for nothing but your Approbation can ever bring its Credit into the least question . He is pleased to say , It would require a long time to set down the Errours of the Dispensatory ; I easily believe him , because really there are not any to be discovered I am sure , not by his dim-sight , but however he will give us a glance of some of them : The first glance is this : We observe ( sayes he ) a great defect in the Analysis or opening of the body of any concrete ; I must confess this to be a glance indeed , but no more , for had he seen perfectly or understood any thing in the dispensation of a Medicine he might have known the pulverizing of most Concretes , to be a sufficient preparation for the opening of their Bodies , as proper Ingredients to any Electuary , Playster or Conserve , into which Dispensations , not onely the Virtue and Crasis , sed totum corpus , of every individual Concrete is to be put . A second glance , is his Observation , What a Congeries , Cento , Linsey wolsey of Simples they jumble and clutter together to some Scores , without any reasonable contexture or congruity : What , does he see all these at a glance ? Sure he must either have those Argus Eyes he talks of , or else he can squint , and look nine wayes at once ; But I think , I shall do him more right , to tell you he is pur-blind , or else he might perceive with what admirable Judgement and Art , the opposition of the several Ingredients in a Medicine is managed to make one proper Compound , and how the properties and qualities of each Simple are either improved or abated by a due and just temperament , as the condition of the Patient may require ; So that out of this Clashing , Conflicting , and Hostility , there arises an agreement , as it is remarkable , that Peace is the consequent and end of War ; and the health of the whole Universe consists in the poize , and just ballancing of contraries . Our Authour throws a sheeps eye once more , and in his third glance , tells us , He cannot but especially take notice , and condole the Ineffectual , Frivolous , and vain Corrections of those Virulent , and Poysonous Concretes , which they take into many of their Compositions . For instance of which he Cites you Scammonie and Colocynthis , two Concretes , that have been used in Physick , with exceeding great safety , and no less success for many score years without any other Correction , then what is appointed in the Dispensatory : And t is not his spitting his Venome , can make these Medicines thus corrected to be Poison : But against these two , he opposes Antimony , seeming to admire the Doctors should be so wilfully ignorant , as to make no scruple of prescribing ten or twelve grains of Scammony , and yet startle , and seem very nice , to give four or five grains of Antimonium Diaphoreticum : Where first I would have the Reader take notice of his mistake , or wilfull ignorance ; for to my knowledge , and as will appear by the Bills or Prescriptions of diverse Eminent Physitians , for many years , they have not scrupled to give 20 graines of Antimonium Diaphoreticum , at one Dose , and that for several dayes together . Secondly , I would beg the Reader to consider , that he opposes a Diaphoretical Preparation of Antimony , against a purgative medicine of Scammony , by which advantage he would make Scammony appear to be the strongest Poyson : But if the Poyson of any Concretes ought to be proportionated by their force in heterogenious Operations on the Stomack , and that force determined by their different Doses , Antimony will appear much the stronger Poyson , because four or five grains of any Purgative Preparation of Antimony , being in substance exhibited into the Stomach , shall operate more violently then sixteen or twenty graines of Scammony . Further , to imform our Authors Judgement , let me tell him , the Purgative quality of Scammony may be taken away , as well as of Antimony , and that secundum Artem , it may be made as perfectly Diaphoretical ; and then supposing them thus prepared , he must acknowledge Antimony and Scammony , to be equally alike poysonous . But by the way , t is not my business to maintain the Quarrel of Scammony against Antimony ; what hath been said in the case , hath only been to shew Master Thomson's unjust comparison ; yet how much so ever we have differed in this particular , I will agree with him in his following Expression recited ; That the best Remedies in the Dispensatory are Chymicall : but what , or who he means by U S , when he adds , For which they are beholding to U S , I do not at all understand ; certainly he cannot be so impudent , as to joyn himself with any part of the Colledge , whom he may imagine more addicted to Chymistry then the rest : And again , me thinks he should not be so stupid , as to think , that himself joyn'd in Commission with Master Lockier , Master Odowde , or any of those Up-start pretenders to Chymistry , can any way oblige the Colledge ; Besides , if I mistake not , there were Chymical Preparations in the Dispensatory of London , before any of them had a Name . To this truth , ( viz. ) that Chymical Preparations are the best Medicines ; he adds another , ( which by the way is one more truth , then I have met withall in any one page of his Book before ) That these Chymical Preparations are not free from being Sophisticated , which cannot be denyed , and will hardly be prevented , till by a Publick Authority , some course be taken with those Fooles , that will be medling , as well as the Knaves , that will be Cheating ; and then , the True Artists wanting no incouragement , these Medicines will be Exalted in their hands . In the next place , ( sayes our Authour ) The most usual , safe , and best Vomit ( in their account ) is borrowed from Antimony , called Infusio Croci Mettallorum ; By their Account , I suppose he means the Colledge of Physitians , which may passe as none of the least of his presumptuous conclusions , though I believe he never saw a Catalogue of half the Vomits they make use on , and dare presume , when he has view'd the Catalogue of his own Arcana's , he will find no Vomit there like it , either for certainty or safety in its Operation , or for carrying off the morbifick matter ; If he thinks to reckon Mercurius vitae within the number of his Arcana's , ( which is also an Antimonial preparation , ) as I presume he may , because presently after he seems to wonder , They ever would venture to admit it into a Catalogue of their Safe Medicines ; the Catalogue he mentions , will prove him a deceiver ; For , it will appear to be a Medicine appointed in the Dispensatory of London , before ever he could be capable of knowing any thing in Physick ; and this he cannot be ignorant of though he will rather venture to be found guilty of some plausible falsities , then not to throw some scandall or other upon the Colledge ; As for the Exalting or Graduating of these Medicines , I may safely say , there are many Apothecaries Boyes in the Town , able to undertake it , with the most Learned , well Experienced Chymist , our Author can find in all that Tribe , that so utterly renounces the Galenical Method . This man is furnished with a strange measure of confidence , I might very justly say impudence ; otherwise he could not possibly use this frequent Exprobration , of the Doctors being beholden to them , obliged to them for several Medicines : Surely he is of opinion , the Sun is beholden to the Stars , which receive from him all the light they impart to the Inferiour World : What these men have in them , their Conscience bears them witness , is only gleanings gathered from the Colledge ; these they feed upon , chewing the cud , and yet are not to be numbered among the clean Beasts , for their ill digestion turns all to putrefaction , making good that common maxime , Corruptio optimi fit pessima . Into the Catalogue of the Doctors Debts , there is foysted Oyle of Vitriol , with its use and virtue ; for which our Author would have them confess , They are much Obliged to them for the Discovery ; But when the Colledge comes to reckon with all these wilfull , and as fradulent mistakes , they will be glad to sneak out of the way , as ashamed to own their account . The next Quarell he picks , is with The preparation of Pearles , and Corral with Vinegar , concluding it to be no more then a bare pulverizing them into small parts or atomes ; if there were no more in it then thus to Alcohalize , or reduce Pearls or Corral into such a fine Butraceous Magisterium , as is done by Vinegar , it were worth the charge and trouble ; but this is not the first errour his ignorance hath made him Father , but t is a very gross one ; we may certainly and easily infer from the insipidness of the Spirit of Vinegar ( from which all the gross and corrosive Salts are separated by rectification ) when the Pearle or Corral is precipitated after dissolution , that the Medicament must needs be exalted by the volatile Salt of Wine , the Vinegar leaves behind : Besides , as I said before , the bare pulverizing either of Pearle or Corral , will never reduce them into such a Butyrous substance instar Magisterii , as is performed by this way of dissolution . Diverse other preparations of Vitriol and Mercury he to as little purpose makes mention of ; for t is sufficiently known , they have been in long esteeme and use with the Colledge ; so that he might have spared the pains he has taken to perswade the World , that the Doctors are alwaies inveighing against Chymical Medicines , unless he will be pleased to give us leave to understand them in their own , and truest sense ; for when they undertake to speak against Chymicall Medicines , t is meant as they are Unchymically handled by Master Thomson , and his Illiterate Faction ; they know full well nothing can eat out the heart of Chymistry , but the Hypocrisie of these combining Empiricks ; They are very sensible , that in all these Fellows preparations whatsoever , Mercury never is wanting , since their Medicines smell more of the Knave then the Artist . Notwithstanding all our Author can say , it remains evident , as well from the great pains and study , as the common practise of the Doctors , that their grand design hath been to promote and encourage Chymistry ; on the contrary , the design their Adversaries drive at , is to promote themselves ; This makes our Pseudochymists , that they cannot endure such Rivalls as are likely in courting the same Mistresse , to discover their imperfections , and treacherous Love , which is contented with the shew and picture of Chymistry , but neglects the truth and substance . The Hogen-Mogens would seem wholly to ingross this Art , and pretend to a Monopoly , when alas their ignorance is so great , and their stock known to be so inconsiderable , I know not when they will have right and liberty to vent by Retaile ; and when any of them does open Shop , I am sure they must shew their wares at a false light , or else their Commodity will stick upon their hands ; and whereas they are pleas'd to pass in the world by the name of Adepti , they more justly may stile themselves Servantes ; for what Arcana's they have got , they will be forc't to keep . Hitherto our Authour has been casting dirt upon all occasions in the Doctors faces , either as to the Materia Medica , or as to their general Method in Practise ; but now he comes to throw waters , Mineral Waters , to which ( sayes he ) the Dogmatists fly , as to a Sanctuary , in difficult cases . It cannot be denyed , there is a Healing Virtue in these Natural Springs , but when they are to be used , must be known from the Experienced Physitian ; for doubtless , in some cases , they are like the Waters of Meribah , bitter and deadly , in others , as healing as those of Bethesdah , after the Angel had descended into the Poole : I , for my part , am of Opinion , That he is the Best and Ablest Physitian , that wanders least from the prescripts of Nature ; that knows best how to apply the helps she has provided for her own recovery ; the finding out of which , together with the due administration , is both the Physitians Imployment and Excellence : This being a task too difficult for humane Endeavour , recourse has been had to the assistance of Art ; yet so , as that they best manage it , that most imitate nature ; I shall not therefore dispute with my friend , How many by Virtue of these Mineral Wells have been-restored , that have been brought to a very low Ebb by ill Physitians , such as himself ; But t is very rare , these Impostors consult so much the Publick Good , as to advise so Publick a Remedy ; No , they are for the Arcana and Minerals of their own Sophistication , rather then for being beholden to Kind Nature , who bath provided some better and more forceable helps for the Poor Diseased , ready at hand . In the mean time then , he is very impertinent , when , he as the representative of his Faction , saies , We are perswaded that they ( meaning the Colledge ) lookt upon the Waters with as envious an eye , as ever they did upon our Chymicall Preparations . For in the first place , the going to these waters is the Doctors frequent Advise to their Patients , in many Chronical Distempers ; And secondly , their Chymical Preparations sure were never the subject of the Colledges Envy , but Contempt . But let us attend ; he opens as if he were about to say some thing in these words , Who , that had not been Lazy and Supine , but would have found out e're this a Succedaneum to Natural Martial Liquors , that so powerfully rectifie the Spleen , &c. Who , but an Ignoramus would aske such a question ? This is done long agoe by the appointment of the Colledge , whose indefatigable pains and care in this very particular has been such , that there is not an Apothecaries Shop , almost throughout all England , but what for many years hath been furnisht with diverse Excellent Chymical Preparations , both from Iron and Steele , whose Virtual Qualities are equivalent to those of Natural Martial Liquors , if not exceeding them ; However when there is no opportunity of repairing to the Wells , of Tanbridge , Epsum , Spaw , and the like , the Patient may be supply'd at home ; and by this means too , The excessive sumption of crude Water to Prejudice may be prevented ; though I must confess there are some circumstantial advantages by drinking the Waters in Specie at the Spring head , which Art cannot supply . My Friend comes next to inquire into the Benefit of Convenient Menstruums , what may be done by insipid Liquors upon the Bodies of Minerals ; Which I believe to be but little , unless they are reserated first by some Corrosive , which I take to be some thing of the Nature of our Master Vanhelmont's Liquor Alkahest , without which , or some Succedaneum he does not promise you any Primum ens Veneris , and consequently not the Primum ens , of any other Metal or Mineral : But by the way , though this Operation cannot be performed without a Corrosive , yet it must not be such a one , as operates in the Nature of other Corrosives , destroying the Bodies of those Concretes dissolved in them , but as the Acetum verum Esurinum , quod amicè soluit concreta integrè illi injecta ; by which means , e're twice three months pass , I intend to offer unto the World , for its publick benefit and satisfaction , with all respect due to Vanhelmont , His Primum ens Veneris ; not placing the Honour he merits , and the Credit of the Medicine to my own contrivance , by concealing of its Name , under the notion of an Arcanum of my peculiar Invention . After this little digression , to bring my Discourse into its wonted Chanel , I am here to mind the Reader , how my Friend in all his Clamorous Scrible , as well in this Chapter , as else-where in his Book has been continually , both Accuser , Witness , Judge , and Executioner , whereby he takes occasion , not only to Vilifie the Doctors at his pleasure , but to foist in whatsoever he thinks may advance the Interest of his Quacking Brethren : Whereupon in this Sixteenth Chapter , having decry'd the use of the Waters , sayes he , For our parts , few of us depend upon these Mineral Fountains , having where with all to supply the wants of our Patients , and to procure sanity at home . I am sure all the mineral waters in the world , though of never so cleansing a Quality , will not be able to wash our Author from the stain of his foul and base designs ; the stream of which runs all the same way , and drives directly at self-interest , without the least regard to the good of Mankind ; yet the better to palliate his Juggling , he will undertake to give Faithful Advise in general , to such as drink these Waters : which Counsel , though curtail'd , and disguised , is yet so methodically drawn up , and so expresly contrary to his own Principles , that it appears verbatim to be borrowed from those , he calls Dogmatists . The Title of Master Thomson's Seventeenth Chapter did at the first sight deceive me into a tolerable Good Opinion of him , and I was in some hopes , we should grow Friends ; but in the perufal , I found the Text and the Comment , to be of so different a hue , that once more I was forc't to dip my pen in the same sharp ink , that hitherto hath dropt from it . The flattering inscription he hath prefixt is this ; A Vindication of Chymical Medicines from that false Accusation of being dangerous : The beginning of his Chapter is as specious , as the Title , and carries in the front an undeniable truth , ( viz. ) That it is a hard thing to strive against the stream of a Vulgar Opinion at any time , but especially , when countenanc'd and back't by Men of Eminent Knowledge and Fame . That Chymical Medicines are dangerous , is rather to be reckoned amongst the Vulgar Errours , then Opinions ; but yet this which seems an Errour , if rightly stated , I am afraid will appear too great a truth , and harder for my Friend to strive against , if rightly understood ; for indeed , the meaning of it is in respect of the undue preparation by Unskilfull hands , and t is upon this account backt and Countenanced by those , whom he is forc't to confess to be Men of Eminent Knowledge and Fame . 'T is Evident , and something I have said before to the same purpose , but here I must repeat it , that the beginning and rise of Fame to Paracelsian or Hermetical Physick proceeded from some particular Physitians of the Colledge ; whil'st the Quacks and Mountebanks of these times , as they never are wanting in that case , impudently assume to themselves , the repute of those beginnings , and from time to time , have continued the same cheat ; So that , when ever any Chymical Medicine by the practise of the Colledge began to get Credit , the Empiricks lying at the catch , have made it their business , either really to steal the Receipt , or , which is all one for their Design , to counterfeit the Medicine ; and then in their Bills posted in every Corner of the Streets , they confidently impose upon the World a false Affirmation , which is , that by their great Travels , and long Study they have produced these Excellent Secrets for the benesit of their Country . Thus by such shifts , they have all along crept into the Opinion of the Common People , in whose Inclination ther 's never wanting a readiness to joyn with irregularity , rather then to adhere to any thing , that carries the face of Order and Authority . Notwithstanding these subtil insinuations , they could never have gotten such a Repute in the World , but that they Politickly made an advantage of the Factious Principles then abounding in the Common People of our late Unruly times , when the Common Interest was to be carried on by crying down Humane Learning ; then these Illiterate Fellows spit in the face of all the Liberal Arts and Sciences : And , as at that time , in point of Divinity , the Fanaticks of that Faction bawling against Learning , as Idolatrous , and Superstitious , yet to delude the World , and better to carry on their Design , made use of necessitated persons , that were Scholars , and of Jesuites too , who ( though for another End and Interest ) were ready to be transformed into the shape and habit of Coblers , or any other mean Mechanicks , pretending hereby they Preached by the Spirit . The same Tricks and Devices have been continually used by our Fanaticks in Physick , who as well knew the current of those Times , did run in oposition to all Just Authority : But they will find their case to be different , and the modesty of those Discreet Men rewarded , who chose rather to let such snarling Whifflers go on , as things inconsiderable , then appear contentious with such , who by their own growing Enormities ( now Justice is in the hand of the Proper Legislator ) will prove their own Destruction . Our Authour does not at all Decline from the common custome of other Empiricks , who alwayes wound the True Physitians with their own Weapons ; wherefore he is not ashamed in this Seventeenth Chapter to tell us , that it was the Galenists course in the Infancy of this Noble Science , to cry down Chymistry , with all might and main , conjuring the world , that they should avoid all Chymical Medicines , as most dangerous , damning them all without distinction ; How the Doctors are to be understood in this particular , and what Great Patrons they alwayes have been of true Chymistry , I have already made out sufficiently , and cannot say any thing to these last lines , without being guilty of Tautology , and vain Repetition ; Besides , I find he himself gives the same Exposition , in this Hypothesis , If they be not well prepared ; which is not so impertinent as he would have us think , since t is not impossible they should be well prepared , by such who are unprepared , as I may say , themselves , wanting the Sublimate of Art , and abounding with the Precipitate of gross ignorance : And hereupon I very readily fall in with my Friend , and say as he does , Who that argues for Spagyrical Medicines , doth not take it for granted , that they ought to be made by an Artist ? But if I be not mistaken , this inquiry of Master Thomsons makes not at all for himself , nor his Ignorant Brethren , who are as far from Art , as from fair and honest dealing : As in our dayes , so formerly there never wanted bold Pretenders , who would venture at any thing , for their private advantage , let the publick dammage be never so great , or the lives of men never so much concern'd ; Such as would be thought Artists , though they were not acquainted , so much as with Vessels requisite to Operation , nor knew the Nature , hardly the Names , of those Minerals , with which they were to deal ; certainly the Colledge had reason to advise all people in general , against the use of any Medicament prepared by such hands , least it should come to pass that those Minerals dugg out of the Earth ( ill prepared ) should make room to bury those poor Mortals , whom such ignorant wretches were sure to murther . But now our Authour is mounted into the Chair , and speaks with Authority ; You would , sayes he , do very well to reslect upon your Dispensatory , wherein ( except some few Chymical lent you ) all your Preparations either omit to do what they should , or commit what they should not . He charges here the poor guilty Dispensatory with sins of Omission , and Commission , but at the same time betrays more of his own infirmity , or indeed presumption . Does he imagine that every man of understanding should be swaid , or governed by his private observation ; sure 't is impossible he should be believed , and I am willing to be so much his Friend , as to think he does but droll . In Answer to his next preamble , I am sorc't to recite more of the Authours own Language then I am willing to give you the trouble of perusal , but because it carries with it more of his impertinent boldness , then most of the rest ; I shall not think much of my own labour , to render it to you as followeth , thus : For Example , saith he , and Experience , which is the true Touchstone that must discover us ; let any of you that is in perfect health pick out of your formal Apothecaries Book , stuffed full of supernumerary preparations , the most safe and active of them , that do you the greatest service , to the number of ten ; weigh out the known Dose of any one singly , with the strictest curiosity you please ; take each of you the same into your own Stomaks , and repeat the Dose as often as you dare ; and so proceed likewise with another , and so to the residue of the ten : When ye have acted your parts , we likewife ( every way sound ) selecting ten of our Arcana's , will swallow down ( without trusting to the Scales ) a sufficient quantity of any one ( that may be most suspected ) which we commonly exhibit to the sick for their recovery ; look how often ye have taken of each of your ten , so often will we iterate or duplicate the sumption of any one of ours . And then let any indifferent person judge who bears their Medicines best , having the fewest bad symptomes following , and so conclude accordingly whose are most dangerous . That the madness of this Man may appear as well as his folly , I will meet him at the same Touchstone of Discovery he desires ( as above mentioned ) and will give him leave to pick out any ten of those supernumerary preparations he talks of in the Dispensatory , and when he has done , the known Doses shall be weighed out ; Then shall he also have liberty to pick ten of his own Arcana's , and without any Juggling or Equivocation , according to his own Proposition here recited , I will my self , before any such as shall be chosen , and counted competent Judges , ( allowing our selves to be equally sound ) take Dose for Dose with Master Thomson ; provided , his Arcana's be as candidly discovered to the World , as those Preparations in the Dispensatory , which is but reason : And if Master Thomson refuse this , I may rationally believe his bold Challenge , was no more then a plain Juggle ; and his not trusting the Scales in the Dosing of his Medicines , gains so little trust to either , that I am apt to compare him to an Empirical Medicaster , whom I have known to perform his tricks upon the Stage , in a Market Town ; whose way of deceiving the people , was by a pretended Antidote against Poyson , or any Infection ; for which purpose he suborn'd a Fellow , that would take his pretended Poyson and Antidote , to counterfeit both Sickness , and Cure ; but one day having neglected to make some Antidotes ready , when the Fellow before all the People had taken his Dose of Poyson , and there was no Antidote at hand , the deceitfull Empirick presently commands one of his Servants to fetch a piece of the Venison of a leg of Mutton , and cut it in the form of his Antidotes , which was all that he gave at that bout ; and when they had done , with a good round Oath , he affirm'd it as good an Antidote as the best : The truth of this story being so Eminently known to some others as well as my self , compared with Master Thomsons careless dispensing of his Doses , makes me much mistrust his Medicines . Hence one may conclude certainly , either that his Medicines are invalide , or that expression of his , a sufficient quantity , to be like the rest of his Equivocations ; but take him which way you will , he surely intends to play the Hocus-Pocus ; his Medicine , and the Medicasters Mutton differing but little in effect , only the Mutton is more Nutritive , and his Medicines chips in the Porridge ; And these are the Medicines , sayes he , we commonly exhibit to the sick for their recovery : How sad then must the condition of those Patients be , what little hope can they expect of recovery , from such Medicines as these ? Medicines , that may be given by guess ; let any man judge whether this be not hitting the mark with as much uncertainty , as those People called Andabatae , that fought with one another winking : And thus has he practised hab nab , by his own confession , out of zeal for the good of his Neighbours for some years ; and he concludes this Chapter with an admonishment to all that are desirous of being improved in the Jatricall Art , To acquaint themselves with the practicall use of those Medicines they do profess ; but the pains and study he injoynes them for this Achievement , me thinks is abundantly more then 's needfull ; for 't is not a business of labour , but impudence , to be an Empirick ; and their Medicines cannot be truly Jatrical , because they dare deliver them out to their Patients , without trusting to the Scales . Master Thomson very well knowing what makes for his Honour , does frequently throughout his whole Book , and particularly in his Eighteenth Chapter speak of the Colledge of Physitians , as His Adversaries , whom he is pleased to introduce here , as if they did Much glory and vaunt in their method of curing , asserting , That if a Man have never so Excellent Medicines , if he be ignorant therein , he cannot discharge his Duty as he ought . As to the terms of Glory and Vaunt , they are but the continuation of his ill language ; the subsequent words speak a truth , which is , and deserves to be own'd by all sober and judicious persons ; for Method is the life of all Science , without which , a man that knows much , is but confounded with a farrago of notions ; the want of this in His brain , has made him so frequently contradict himself , and in this very particular given me advantage to confute him out of his own Assertions ; T is not the Laboratory , sayes he , or specious Furnaces that make a Spagyrical Philosopher , no more then a vast Library of Books will of themselves make a Learned Scholar ; And I may consequently add , no more then a multitude of Excellent Medicines will make a Good Physitian ; for the cause is not at all different ; Furnaces , Books and Medicines being no further useful , then as they are judiciously understood , and methodically apply'd to their respective ends : I would aske the question whether a Physitian , being to cure a Feaver would not be ridiculous , if he should apply to the Patient a Medicine proper for the Gout ? Or if our Authour were to be cured of his Vertigo , 't would be counted proper to cut his Cornes . But is this Method , We pray , sayes my Friend , any more then a short way of healing Maladies ? I answer him , 'T is the shortest Diseases can be capable of ; some of which are so inveterate , they are not presently to be removed ; others , whose roots are not so deeply fixt , are more sodainly pull'd up , and eradicated ; In both which , the Physitian is directed best by a good Method , and orderly procedure : Should a man find a Box of Carpenters Tooles , and thereupon rapt up with his good fortune , presently fancy himself a Workman : Would not you laugh to see him instead of a Saw to take up a Chisel , or for a Hammer use his Axe , but yet his work all this while is , in a manner , at a stand ; whereas , if he had gone orderly and methodically to work , he might have done more with his Saw in one hour , then he could perform with his Chisel in a whole day : Thus it is with those Quacks who stumbling upon variety of Good Medicines , and ignorant of their right application , are so far from making a progress in any cure , that they rather go backwards , strengthning the Disease , and not their deluded Patients : The rest of this Chapter is spent in railing and dirty Language , but his tongue being no slander , I think it not necessary to rake in the kennel ; and this I forbear as a friend to my Authour , for the more that is stirr'd , the more he will stink ; ill Language alwayes having this property , that it does , redire in Authorem . The inscription of his next is , The Helmontian Method ; and it fares with it , as in other places , that it is not at all answered by the contents of the Chapter ; wherein he plainly declares in effect , that the method of the Helmontians is to use no method at all : And after a long & tedious canting to no purpose , he comes to his old way of Challenging ; Moreover , sayes he , We declare that we shall take twenty sick persons , that have Acute Feavers of what kind soever , and of these twenty we will ingage to secure under God sixteen of them , upon the fifth or sixth day after our approach , or to give a Prognostick , upon the same dayes , how the Disease will terminate ; in which , if we fail , we shall be willing to suffer accordingly , supposed that ye come to the like tryal . I am afraid here Master Thomson reckons without his Host ; for the difficulty in this case wil be to find twenty persons , though sick of Feavers , so mad , and hot headed , as to put themselves into his hands ; this he so well knows to be his security , that he carries himself as cowards usually do in the like case , who ever seem most eager to fight , when they are sure the Company of Standers-by will not permit the tryal : But t is very observable , our Friend Engages to secure sixteen of the forementioned number , or to give a prognostick how the Disease will terminate : I easily believe he may do one of the two without dispute , but most probably the latter ; for I suspect he may give them such a dead - doing Arcanum , as upon the sumption of it the Disease and Patient may Terminate together ; and this way I my self will ingage he may Secure the whole twenty ; and it shall be done in such a manner , that none of them shall ever be in a condition to open their mouths against his never failing practise : But they shall confesse by their silence , he has cured them of all Diseases : And 't is well known , this is the way for the most part which they take , To relieve a languishing wretch , tortured and racked by some cruel malady , as our Authour phrases it , by putting him out of his pain , but in the worst sense ; wherefore in this extraordinary brevity , and compendious dispatches we cannot expect Method , which is requisite only where multitude or confusion is to be reduc'd into order , and not to be seen in one single attempt of a Quack , that has but one Salve for all Sores . Upon such a like account it is , Master Thomson makes inquiry ( addressing himself to the Doctors ) What signifies it if ye abound with hundreds of Medicaments , composed by your own Apothecaries ? Take notice that this question is not singly intended as a plea for his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but does implicitely aime at the ruine of the Apothecaries ; he designs to perswade the World , that many Medicines , and the Profession of an Apothecary , are equally insignificant ; and this further appears by what he sayes immediately after , concerning Preparations made with his own fingers ; for it seems , Master Thomson , besides his Panacea , has some Auxilary Preparations ; But I will be bold to say , If his Interest would give him leave to be honest , and deal plainly , that he will not be able to produce one Medicine among all his thirty Auxiliary Forces , but what he is beholden for to some Apothecaries Shop ; but because our Empiricks craftily use known Medicines by obscure names , this cheat is not so easily demonstrated , Thus hath my Gentleman shown our Doctors the way , not to redeem the credit of this noble Science , which he has indeavoured to stain ; but yet to restore it to its pristine renown ; yes , such as it was in the days of Yore , when Apollo and Aesculapius were Deified for two or three good Receipts ; and Chiron the Centaure past for an Excellent Physitian ; in succeeding Ages Physick acquired a greater growth ; and then knowledge generally increasing in the World , Hippocrates and Galen , though far exceeding their Predecessors , were yet esteem'd but as Men ; This Noble Science from its small beginnings growing by degrees , is arrived now at the highest top of perfection in the most Famous Colledge of London , in which there is not one Physitian , but far out-shines Apollo himself , with his brightest rayes ; and if they had liv'd in that Age , had rivall'd him out of his Apotheosis : all this our Quacks are very sensible of , and envy ; and no wonder they indeavour to reduce Physick to its pristine Renown , because according to that Calculation they might expect to be inserted into the Catalogue of Physitians , and claim a share in the Patent or Diploma , which the Colledge does injoy ( to use our Authors phrase ) ex condigno , these Quacks for the same reason excluded . This Rabble seeing themselves thus shut out of doors , have of late been knocking their heads together for a New Patent , of which Master Thomson seems to give a lame account in the twentieth and last Chapter of his Book , Entituled , Some Animadversions upon the late attempt to procure a Patent from his Gracious Majesty , for the Erecting a Colledge of Chymical Physitians . And here I cannot but take notice of His Sacred Majesties great Prudence , together with His Exceeding care for the good of his Subjects , whose lives he is so tender of , that His Majesty would not intrust them in the desperate hands of unskilful Empiricks ; we are all concerned to give our most Humble thanks to our most Gracious Soveraign , that this Design never went beyond an attempt ; but that this Monster was stifled in the birth , and proved Abortive , which otherwise was like to prey upon , and devour us under the protection of Authority . Notwithstanding , our Authour has the confidence to say , that Never was there a more Just , Honest , Desirable , and usefull Enterprize set upon in this Nation ; This last Hypocritical strain of his seems to be taken out of the late Rebels Declarations , wherein , under the most specious pretenses of Justice and Loyalty , they hid the most Desperate Treason ; which , when the mask was taken of , appeared in its own bloody Colours ; And therefore I fear my Friend has lost his jest , since all men are sufficiently awake to discover his Hypocrisie , that desires to betray so many innocent lives , under the pretense of preserving them by Physick . Thus are the best of Virtues counterfeited by the worst of Vices ; and those that have the worst ends , are necessitated to guild them over with the fairest shews , or else they would never be swallowed . The like carriage in our new-found Chymists , did for a time deceive some honest men into a good opinion of the undertaking , who , when under the honey they perceived the sting , drew back from the Confederacy , and are become their greatest Opposers ; just as it fared with some honest heatted men who had been drawn in , and out of good Principles had sided with the Factious in our late troubles ; yet when the blackness of their designs appeared , they proved the most Zealous Loyallists . I am inclin'd to make use of this comparison , as very pertinent to my present purpose ; for just as the late Rebels Declared they would make His late Majejesty , of Blessed Memory a Glorious King ; so these Jugglers pretending To Regulate and Reform the present Enormous Abuses in this Excellent Spagyrick Science , talk of Advancing it to be Queen Regent in Physick , whil'it their real intention is to dethrone Her , and set up themselves . I Wonder much at the impertinence of these Reformers ! Do not we all know , that Chymistry is already fixt upon a good and sure fundation ? If their design had been honest , as it is found rotten and fallacious , to what purpose , I pray , should it be put down in one place , to be set up in another ? I would have these Jugglers know , ( and indeed they know it full well ) there is already Erected a Colledge of Chymicall Physitians ; for I dare say , there are none amongst our Doctors , that will not own this Epithite , and I am sure , none more justly deserve it . Besides , for a further Encouragement , and to shew a particular countenance to this Noble Art , His Majesty hath caused a peculiar Elaboratory of his own to be Erected , which is managed by Monsieur Febure , a Person of known Eminency and Parts , who hath approved himself to the World to be a most Able Artist : So that these Up-starts must intrude partly upon his right , as well as upon the Company of Apothecaries , and cannot justly be admitted Operators , their design being under that notion to become Physitians . The business of this new Patent , was carried on by Subscriptions to a Petition , which being speciously penn'd , invited some few of Note to favour the Design ; but as I intimated before , they did upon second and better thoughts , re-demand their hands . The number of Subscribers of all sorts , as Master Odowds List informs me , did never exceed five and thirty , and when the forementioned Persons had withdrawn , there were left behind , as Master Thomson confesses , Certain very illiterate persons , that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Chymici umbratiles , mock Chymists , no whit exercised in Anatomy , and Botanicks , inexpert in the History of Diseases , &c. And these Petitioners pray for a Patent , that they may be admitted , in a Lawfull way , to make good that Excellent Character Master Thomson has given them . I hope I need not make any Apology to those Ingenious and Worthy Men , who out of their forward and true zeal to Pyrotechny at first consented : I am confident they themselves will acquit me , that nothing in this Treatise is directed against them ; it must needs appear , that where I mention any , as concern'd with Master Thomson , I mean only those , whom he himself hath confest to be very illiterate persons . They may likewise be assured , as to what relates to my self , I shall ever be ready to give a perfect Testimony of a true and real respect to them , as persons , whom I know without any sinister ends and interest , to be such truly zealous labourers in the fire , that they ought not to be blemisht by those , who under the borrowed Mantle of their protection , carry on unhandsome Designs . As to what concerns Master Thomson , if he meets with any thing in my reply beyond his expectation , he must thank himself , and his own Stile , in whose Inke the Gall and Vitriol exceeds the proportion allowed by others in the common Menstruum . If I have toucht him home , and to the quick , let him reflect upon his own unhandsome language , and he will see , that he is paid but in his own coyne ; Yet 't is a hard matter to make the account even , in regard Master Thomson asperses two worthy establish't Societies , Famous in their respective Imployments , viz. the Doctors , and Apothecaries , and yet falsely too ; on the other hand , what I say to him , is truth , and tends to the setting out , in their own shape , an inconsiderable new-born Faction . But after all , I am yet to give a further Character of Master Thomson , and his Fraternity , those whom I presume he means every where by his u S and w E , when he talks so highly of their great exployts : I shall give you likewise a faithfull description of his Elaboratory so much boasted on throughout ( almost ) his whole Book , as if it were the Eighth Wonder of the World , as sure as he is the Eight Wise Man. Both his Faction and his Furnace , I am the better fitted to describe , having had an interview and personal Dialogue with him , which hapned at a meeting in his own House , to which I made a Journey upon the perusall of his Book , in order to this my then intended discourse : And to do Master Thomson all Just right , upon talking with the man , I found him as to Parts much beyond my first apprehension , or what it was possible for me to believe , making my conjecture only from his Book , wherein is so much self contradiction , and impertinent abusive railing , that one must conclude the Authour , ( though guilty of some Learning ) far from any Ingenuity , as all those must needs be , who carry on their design by calumniating the most Eminent Professors of that Science , they pretend to own , and within the compass of which they aime at a reputation in the World to themselves . I may justly tell Master Thomson , that he abounds less with Learning , then Choler , yet according to his proportion of each , he makes use of them together in charging others as being culpable of what his own Omissions have necessitated him deservedly to suffer , so that in effect , he complains of Justice ; doubtless had he gone on in a regular way , he might have expected favour from the Colledge : That which I would say , is this ; had Master Thomson sedulously apply'd himself to the study of Physick , and taken his Degrees , as the custome of the Universities require , he might have obtained License to practise ; the Colledge never denying such as are lawfully qualified : But since our Authour has minded only the end without the means he is to blame himself , if he be disappointed . I cannot positively accuse Master Thomson in particular , that he like the Faction he owns , intended formerly some other profession , and that failing in the attainment , either through Idleness or want of Ability , he stumbled upon Physick ; yet this I am sure he is guilty of , that he attempted to fly , before he was pen-feathered , venturing upon Practise , before he was well versed in the Theory ; which is one reason he is no better acquainted with Method ; But for the rest of his Crew , they are obliged by their Ignorance to be utter Enemies to Learning , and having nothing justly to plead for their irregular courses , must make up the defect with impudence . If so be , Master Thomson have in him something more then the rest of his Illiterate Brethren , yet he is obnoxious to the same censure with them , in regard he is of the Club , and t is a common Rule , Noscitur ex sociis , qui non cognoscitur ex se : With this rabble he frequently meets , and bears his part in the Consort , where the burden of their Song is , railing against the Universities , the Colledge , and all Learning in General , but the Doctors especially ; who if they oppose them , do it not as they practise Chymically and not Galenically , but as they presume to practise contrary to the rules of Order and Authority ; But I am apt to believe the private quarrels of this Faction , are like to save the Doctors a labour ; for there is now a great falling out among themselves , as I perceive by Master Thomson's bitter inveighing against the Dropping Doctor , against Mr Odowde , and some others ; in the heat of his railing , he told me , they especially were the persons that obstructed their business , and disenabled them from achieving That which ( in their account ) would prove so usefull to the World ; But I would have Master Thomson understand thus much , that 't is not any particular persons of his Faction that are his binderance , but the general design of imposing upon the People . Tandem aliquando , I am got into his Elaboratory which is so pitifull a sight , that it minds me of an Expression in his Eighth Chapter , 't is not the Laboratory or Specious Furnaces that simply make a Spagyrick ; For if his Skill in Pyrotechny were to be calculated by his Utensils , he would hardly be thought able to out - do Aniseed - Water - Robin : And whereas , in the beginning of the forenamed Chapter , he sayes to the Doctors , Ye make your boast , that ye possess ( as well as we ) your Laboratories and Variety of Furnaces ; His Elaboratory affords but two , one of Earth , the other of Iron ; the former ( like the Master ) for want of Lutum Sapientiae being crackt , was tyed together with a Rope , that of Iron in case of necessity , for some Kitchin might serve as a Chafing-Dish , for indeed it does not much exceed that Standard ; when I compared his own large boastings of this Fabrick , with my ocular view , I began to think my Chymist had shew'd me the Extract , and Elixir of his magnified Pile , which I admired to behold , shrunk as it were into two Calcining Pots , and about that number of broken Retorts . Thus furnisht , my Friend intends to venture at Helmonts Liquor Alkahest , and makes no doubt of getting the Philosophers Stone , but I fear the poor wretch will be gravell'd in his design in the conclusion . But that Master Thomson and I , may part Friends , I shall do the ossice of one in advising him for the future , to raile less against those Worthy Men , whose Books he is not worthy to carry , and to be less injurious to the Company of Apothecaries , to whom he owes some Respect , though he disown it ; however as to the Doctors , me thinks he and his Brethren should the rather forbear , in regard their Scandalous Tongues can do the Colledge no more hurt , then the Arrows of the Barbarians do the Sun , when they aime at this Fountain of Light , which laughs at their vain and ridiculous Choler ; and notwithstanding all their bolts , continues the same course , and inunterrupted motion above the reach of their foolish attempts : All the injury , that they are able to offer these Eminent Men , resembles but the ill humour of Curs , that bark at the Moon and Stars , but cannot by the importunity of their howlings , diminish eitheir their Splendor or Influence . SOME FEW REMARKES Upon a Treatise of Mr Thomas O Dowdes , Called , The POOR - MANS - PHYSITIAN . IT was wont to be said , Ubi desinit Medicus , incipit Theologus ; but it seems Master O Dowde has a particular designe to make both Commence together , ushering in his Pamphlet with two or three abus'd , and misapply'd texts of Scripture ; notwithstanding before he and I part , he will appear to be neither a Divine , nor a Physitian , the inverse of that Title , which he hath falsly put upon his Book , justly belonging to himself ; The Man 's a Poor Physitian : Whereas he fondly talks of his Speaking with a Holy Reverence , I cannot but stand amazed at his profane Impudence , in asserting this Hypotheticall Proposition , That if Jesus Christ Himself were now on Earth , Professing , and Curing Chymically , though to Mirable ; rather then be admitted ( so ) to do that universall Good , he would be Vilified , Scorned , Condemned , and Crucified : Intending to disgorge at this presumptuous rate , He might well begin his Preface with a Declaration , that He was conscious to himself he should have many Enemies . How ill doth this sute with the Charity his Pamphlet seems to carry in the front ; this is in effect to unchristian the Colledge , and tell them they are Iewes ; which is so gross and foolish a Scandal ; so improbable and groundless an imputation , that there needs nothing to be said to take it off , but the very bare repetition ; However , it sufficiently sets the Authour out to the World for one , that has but a small stock of modesty and less religion . I cannot but take notice of the Mans Ingenuous Confession of the Imposture , commonly practised by those of his rank , but not so frankly acknowledged by any , as himself ; For I can make no other Interpretation of this specious promise , If poor , sayes he , I will not only cure them , but likewise give them considerable Gratuities for their Publick appearance in the acknowledgement of their several Cures : This is to me an evidence , that he trades with those that are in want , and working upon their necessity does by an under-hand agreement , hire them to bear witness to the Cure , that never was perform'd ; and this trick of his managed with subtlety , might very easily make his Catalogue so numerous . I really believe , that excepting some few Cured by accident , he is forc't to this Expence in all other Diseases , but the Pox ; and in that particular these Empiricks have another fetch to help themselves ; but when examined , it will prove of less credit , then the former , namely , their privy bargains . The French Disease , having so much of shame intayled upon it , because Contracted usually from great Debaucheries , 't is the great care of all Persons punisht with it , to conceal it as much as is possible ; and therefore such are sure to loose their custome , who tells tales : Under this colour , such as our Authour is , take occasion to Exagerate the number they have cured , setting them out , and their Disease by severall circumstances and degrees , and being excused from naming the persons upon the account of Reputation , they leave us no possibility of convincing them of their Knavery , but we must believe all upon their single Word : This I take to be most of the Reason , why the Disease all these Mountebanks most pretend to the cure of , is the Lues Venerea ; in this particular it is , Master O Dowde ( as appears in his Preface ) would have us all acknowledge , His just and Christian Practises . Master Groomes great drift and design , I perceive is , to decoy the rich , and draw them into his Net ; to this purpose he takes a very plausible course , pretending much to the doing of good for Gods sake , and relieving the Poor that want Medicine ; That this is the end of all his Charity is very evident from his own Discovery , He will traverse , he sayes , all the Streets , Lanes , and Allies , of this Great and Glorious City , to find out the Poor and Necessitous wanting help and Medicine ; The conclusion of this is , that the over-weening man fancies , he shall Force the Rich to seek him ; but alas , this Plot will not take ; while there are Good Physitians in the Kings High-way , we need not go look such Cattel as he in the By-Lanes ; and I would Advise Master O Dowde to Endeavour all he can , to oblige the Yeomen of the Guard ; for going of their Errands , is still like to be his best imployment . 'T is high time to Assure the World that he scorns to Print a Paper to beg a Patient ; Alas , that Cheat is worn thread-bare , and though at the first coming up , it served to delude for a time ; yet now experience of the emptiness of such like Manifesto's hath made them as unprofitable , as they are common ; This my Gentleman is very sensible of , and therefore pretends to be above what he cannot reach ; and instead therefore of posting up his Bills , he hath lately clapt on a face of Godliness , which he hopes will be his great gain : This strain runs parallel with his Railing throughout his whole Preface ; Hence springs such frequent mention of his Conscience ; so much Charity to the Diseased Poor ; such Blessing of God ; such imploring of the Great Creatour : But alas , I am afraid for him , this knack will hardly work upon the Brethren , and the Holy Sisters in the City ; His Manners and Conversation is so notoriously known , that he of all others is like to make little advantage of his Hypocrisie ; therefore he had as good pull off the Vizard-masque , and appear in his own shape . And me thinks he appears to some purpose about the two or three and twentieth page of his Book ; where having told a long story of William Miller Servant to Master Langston , whom , he sayes , he Cured of a violent Surfet , Feaver and Lunacy , in the close of the Narration , Complains he received not a sufficient Reward ; This I thought was contrary to his Principles , but it seems 't is only against his Pretenses : That which is most strange , and much surpriz'd me in a Man of his Seraphick temper , that professeth so much Piety , is , that thus disobliged , as he calls it , upon occasion afterwards , being sent for to the Mistris , he should out of perfect spite and revenge , refuse to come ; Nay , he so stood it out , That he would in no case be importuned to it ; And this is the man , which has taken upon him the Profession of Physick , only to do good for Gods sake . I cannot say after this , that he forgets himself , though he so solemnly and boldly calls upon God To bear record with his Conscience , concerning his Integrity and Single-hearted simplicity : No , this is the remembrance of himself , and the forgetting of God , whose Name he so vainly takes into his mouth . Such is the profane craft and subtlety of this man , that , from his Atheisticall Principles , he is careless of his Words and Protestations , as to the truth of them , so they do but carry on his design of deceiving , and get him a reputation with honest meaning men , who being by their own charity betray'd to him , may help to furnish him with money to spend upon his Vices : He , like the tempter , applyes himself in his Book suitably to the different inclination of those he addresses himself to , and accordingly he has another way to tickle the fancies of persons ill inclined , using divers vain and lascivious expressions ; Nay , in a manner , down-right incouraging them to pursue their lusts , and venture for that loathed disease , because so obvious and easie to be cured by him ; as appears by his Relation of a Person of great Worth and Fortune , who having got a Clap with a witness , came to him to be Cured within fifteen dayes , because his concerns required he should then take a Journey ; He like an impudent Wretch answered him ( they are his own words ) If it might be a Service to him , he should be as well Cured as in all his life , and have time to get another if he pleased , and be Cured of that too in that time ; And me thinks here it had been proper for him to add to all , that he would do This for Gods sake . The greatest part of his Preface ( which indeed is the whole Book , the rest being as it were but an Index ) is taken up in railing at the Doctors ; this is the Common Place or Topick of all these Mountebancks Rhetorick : Their sole study ( but all in vain ) is to draw a Cloud over the lustre of these men that out-shine them ; and they think ( but they are mistaken ) to make their own couterfeit glistering by this means pass for Gold : I confess , some of these sort of Men do shew some Wit and Parts in their Calumnies , and make the best of their bad Cause 't is capable of ; but this Master O Dowde is so bold , and dull an Ignoramus , that , as we say of a Notorious Villain , He is one that shames the Gallows ; So this Groom is such a Wretch , that he is a disgrace , even to his most disgracefull Party ; and that in such a measure , that they themselves cry him down , and blush to own him . One of the most considerable Champions , and Ring-leaders of this Faction , I take Master Thomson to be , and therefore I look on him to speak the mind of the whole Junto ; besides , he hath been an Intimate Friend and Associate of O Dowdes , and consequently one that best knows him : From his own mouth , I had it to this essect , That he is an Illiterate Person , and so grosly Ignorant , that he alone was able to bring into question , the Knowledge of all the rest , they for his single sake lying under the censure of being men , as ignorant as himself ; and no doubt most of them did not much come behind him for this gift and endowment of Ignorance . Master Thomson told me , That the Ignorance of this Dunce alone occasioned the Obstruction of the Patent , which was lately in Agitation , for the Erecting of a New Colledge : In this I do not altogether give Credit to Master Thomson , but however it serves for my present purpose , to convince the World of Master O Dowdes insufficiency , when his own Party , whose business it is to cry up one anothers Merit , shall blazon him for an unletter'd Groom . 'T is his gross Ignorance makes him so rude and saucy with the Doctors , as he is ; if he had had any Learning , I am sure he would have had more civility , and better manners : What he undertakes to say of them , is as false , as his Declaration , ( viz. ) That he scorned to Print a Paper to beg a Patient ; whereas he has spoyl'd many sheets onely to that purpose , witness his First , Second , and now a Third Edition of his Book publisht for the same design , and imbroidered with a long Catalogue of counterfeit Cures , as if he intended now his own Fraternity has cast him off , to put in for the Monopoly , and prove Medicaster Universalis . My Gentleman ( though such an Atheist , that I think he seldome sayes his Prayers ) has notwitstanding at last found out Amen Corner ( and I wish it prove not a Formidable place to him ) where he talks of a body , and where I have seen many dissected , that had more brains , I believe , then himself , and yet had not Wit enough to avoid that Destiny : By the whole Body of Amen Corner he talks on , he must be supposed to mean the their Situated Colledge of Physitians ; Persons , who for their Eminency and known Abilities in Physick and Anatomy , the King Himself was Graciously Pleased lately to Honour with his Presence , and as a signal Testimony of His Affection to the Professors , as well as to the Profession , Conferred the Honour of Knight-hood upon the Worthy Reader pro tempore , ( now Sir George Ent ) together with divers signal Expressions of Favour and Respect to the whole Body of this Society : And yet such is the impudence of this ignorant Scandalous Fellow , that with strange impertinent , insignificant , and false aspersions he ventures to throw dirt upon those His Majesty thought fit so highly to Honour . But Perfasque , Nefasque , the old Design must go on ; Self-interest and Juggling must to be advanc't , and no way else is possible to effect it , unless it be by decrying those that are most likely to discover the Cheat. Thus our Autorculus , and the rest of the Crew are of opinion , That if they do Calumniari fortiter , aliquid haerebit ; and indeed the mischief is , that , to the ruine of many simple persons , they do it with some kind of success ; but I hope for the future , all sorts of men will be more carefull of their lives , and not cast such pearles , before them that are ready to devour ; And I wish this little Book might serve as a guide for some of the misled , to direct them , least they split upon this Rock . The Title of Master O Dowdes Book , ( viz. ) The Poor Mans Physitian , Or , the True Art of Medicine , as it is Chymically prepared , &c. Did not a little raise my expectation ; I hop't to have made a discovery there of something extraordinary , as to the Preparations of Medicines , by the Art of Pyrotechny ; which indeed was the chief Reason why I Esteemed it worth my while to look into it ; for ( Chymistry being both my Profession and Delight ) the improving my knowledge in this Art , is my sole Study , and that , for which I have not spar'd either Cost or Pains : But upon the purusal , I found my self utterly disappointed ; For instead of performing what his specious Title promises , he obtrudes upon the World a farrago of Names and Cures , most of which are notoriously false , and fictitious ; so that what in the Title Page is the true Art of Medicine , is in the Book meer forgery , and the true Art of cozening . I would not be thought to speak at random , or shoot at rovers , as this fellow does his bolts , though it be in the case of so inconsiderable a person ; and therefore that I might be furnisht to give a certain Testimony of his insidelity , and demonstrate the dangerous consequence that must necessarily ensue upon his bold undertakings , I have taken no small pains to examine the truth of those particulars , he so mightily boasts of , and magnifies himself for ; and in truth I do not find one in ten to answer in the least to that he so impudently asserts in his Book : I do believe , if it were possible to trace him through his whole Catalogue , one in twenty would not appear to give him a good report ; and this sure comes far short of those Miraculous cures he would possess the World with an opinion of being the performance of his daily practise . If one may judge Ex pede Herculem , I shall be able by shewing the falsness of some Cures he boasts of , give the world an Essay of the whole Muster : That which he particularly insists on and by a formall Preface bespeaks the attention of the Reader even to the least circumstance , is the Cure of one Master Richard Rawlinson , mentioned in the fourth page of his Book , Living on the back-side of the Shambles , in New-Gate-Market ; Out of my desire to know the truth , I went to him , being my Neighbour , and had with him some Discourse concerning this particular , he told me , he was brought very low by the Scurvey , and had been for a good space in a course of Physick for his recovery by the advice of a friend , and about that time , a Colonel of his acquaintance came to visit him , and finding him so ill out of pity sent presently for Master O Dowde , who very readily came , and after a cursory view of Master Rawlinson , appointed him some of his Medicine ( without any inquiry what had formerly been given him ) which operating with him , as well by vomit as by stool , gave him present ease , and freed him , but 't was only from a Rheumatismus , caused by the effect of a Mercurial Preparation , which his friend , and my acquaintance had given him ( without discovering to Master Rawlinson the intent of the Medicine ) in order to his Recovery ; with which method , who ever is acquainted , do very well know the Effect , and will not wonder , that Master O Dowde found my Neighbour in that Condition , he is pleased to call an unparallel'd Distemper ; but will rather admire he should call this a Cure , that did but only check the former Medicine , and turn the Humour another way , which every Artist in Physick or Surgery knows was a hare-brain'd rash undertaking , and in all probability , did prevent the perfection of his Cure ; Master Rawlinson , not withstanding the repetition of Master Dowde's Medicine , ( being put out of his former course of Physick ) remains to this day uncured , being still deeply affected with the Scurvey , and shewing me spots upon his Arm , told me with his own mouth , that because he did not continue Gratuities according to his expectation , he heard no more of Master O Dowde . And thus I have given you an impartial account of the great Cure , which this false and impudent man would Have stand as a perpetual record to all Ages , against the sordid method of Galenical Prescriptions : But let this stand as a perpetual record to all Ages against Master O Dowdes false and scandalous aspersions , for to my knowledge , what had been done before in order to this mans Cure was performed by a Chymical Operator in Surgery , a Man so Eminently known to be able in his Profession , that had not this bold intruder prevented , Master Rawlinson might have at this time been perfectly well . His great Idol being thus thrown down before the face of truth , all the other petty Imps and Cures of little moment must needs be sensible of the fall ; and I shall put some of them to the tryal , if they are able to stand the test : as I take it , two or three of them well shaken and examined , being found too weak and tottering , will be sufficient to give us an estimate of the whole Tribe , and plainly evince , that they are all either absolutely forg'd , or only the effcts of chance . I shall begin with Master Adams , a Brewer in Saint Thomas Southwark , whom Master O Dowde is pleased to say in the third p. of his Book , He Curedof a violent Gout in two dayes of Medicine , which I must confess to be a very expeditious Cure of such an inveterate Disease ; But 't is only said , not performed , for a Friend of mine , a person of known Credit , afflicted with the same pain , willing to be eafed , was inclined to believe what he so much desired should be verified in himself ; but he was not altogether so credulous , as to venture upon Master O Dowde without a particular inquiry into the certainty ; whereupon , going to Master Adams , he was satisfied by him to the contrary , and told , that O Dowde was a lying Fellow , and that he was no better then he was before the taking of Master O Dowdes Medicine ; the like account has been given me by divers of those persons mentioned in his Catalogue , within these few dayes . A second I went to speak withal my self not long ago , by Name Mr. Rawley a Baker neer Barking Church in Tower-street ; this man ( says O Dowde ) was under a five years Dropsie , Lask , and Bloody Flux , a Patient so remarkable , as to call men , and Angels to witness against the Barbarous inhumanity of those Persons , that stile themselves Doctors , &c. 'T would be too troublesome to relate the whole Fable ; to be brief therefore , after a lamentable , and as false a report , he tells you , This Man after wishing for death , at last with a terrible Dropsie became his Patient , his Leggs and Thighes swoln , not imaginably to be moved , and hard as boards , yet in Eleven dayes Medicine cured by him . The Man himself was at that time a sleep upon the Bed , and I received the following Narration from Mistris Rawley to this Effect , that as to Master O Dowdes description of her Husbands Disease , 't was in part true , but he was so far from being well or cured in Eleven dayes , that he was half a year his daily Patient with little benefit ; and that Master O Dowde having received divers gratuities , did at several times after , bring more of his Medicine almost for the space of a year , till at last , either for want of those former Gratuities , or for shame he had not yet Cured him , from that day to this he never appear'd : Her Husbands Leggs , and Thighes being swoln as much as ever , it seems Master O Dowde can cure the Dropsie without the removall of the Symptomes . A third lye he tells , is of Mistris Elizabeth Friend , who unfortunately became his Patient , he says , for the Falling Sickness , and relates the Story in the twenty seventh page of his Catalogue , to which for brevity sake I refer the Reader : Some terrible fits of the Mother indeed she had , for the Cure of which , by the Perswasion of some Friend , that was deceived into an Opinion of Master O Dowde , she was Boarded at his House , where he Physick't her at his old rate ; this poor Gentlewoman by the excessive , or ( to use his own phrase ) The wonderful Operation of his Three and Twenty times Medicine , had so lost her Spirits , that she became deeply affected with a Lethargy , which he minces into an Indisposition and Drowsiness : After this , she had the Small Pox , but recovered of that Disease , she went on in the former course of Medicine , till her Lethargy was attended by a kind of Distraction , and her former fits so much heighthned , that when they were upon her , she would stare , and start , like one perfectly out of her Senses , and in the times of her intermission , her face was puft up and bloated ; which by one of Master O Dowdes Figures , he calls in his forty sixth page her growing fat , After twenty nine dayes of Medicine , to the Operation of at least Two Hundred Vomits , and One Hundred and odd Stooles , grew Strong , Chearfull and Fat ; which Fatness was such Bloatiness , that they ( indeed ) who had not been acquainted with her , might look on it as the usual habit of her body : This poor young Gentlewoman , whose Cure this impudent man so much boasts of , dyed in one of these fits , to the great grief of her Friends , and in particular her Mother , who is at the very Name of O Dowde like a distracted person , to think she should be so indiscreet as to suffer her self to be deluded by such a vain bragging Impostor . This Relation was given me by the Gentlewomans near Friends , who likewise told me , they dare not mention O Dowdes Name to her Mother in any case , least by the disturbance of her Spirits , she should fall into the like passionate fits with her Daughter . After these several Convictions , I take it for granted , that all sober Men will know Master O Dowde for a Lyar , and I doubt not but he will have his due , and proper punishment , which is never to be believed . Certainly , had this Man been of sober Principles , he would never have vented so much Vanity and Frothiness in several places of his Scribble ; t is so gross , that 't is hardly fit for modest eares : Some of that which is most cleanly , I met with in a passage concerning a young Gentleman , whom he Cured of the Pox : After a long up-braiding of the Doctors under the notion of Dogmatists , with a tedious Method of Curing the Old Gentleman ( as he calls it ) to shew his Dexterity that way , he brings in for Witness ; A Witty and Accomplished Young Gentleman , who some years since , from a simple Gonorrhea , was run into a most prodigious POX , and almost Two Years course of Physick ; who afterwards becoming my Patient , was perfectly Cured long since ; And many Moneths after getting an Inveterate Clap , was in lesse then Ten dayes cured by Me ; and then pleasantly assured me , that he now was satisfied , that in a Clap , nothing more was needful , then to Pray the Physitian ( not to the God our Authour so often invocated ) and pay him well , and to it again , for it was Cured as soon as a scratcht finger . This is the Young Gentlemans Descant upon the Old One ; Master O Dowde gives him the stile of Witty and Accomplished , flattering him into the humour of Paying Well , and as it may be guest by this Familiar Dialogue , finding him sit for his Company , they became Cronies ; by which Debauchery you may likewise guess at our Authours vain Conversation . As it was tedious for me to examine every particular in Master O Dowdes Index , of those he sayes he has Cured , so it would be to as little purpose to make a New Catalogue of All those I may say he has Killed ; If I should undertake it , I am of Opinion , I could fill a Book as Large as his own ; for when I made inquiry after those whom he Cured ( in his Book but no where else ) I met with several Tragick Stories of his bold undertakings : I shall recount one or two , that Master O Dowde may take notice of , and add them in the next Edition of his Book . The first was one Thomkins , at the spread Eagle near Fleet-Bridge , who was another of his Patients for the Old Gentleman , but his Medicine wrought so violently with him , that he dyed of a Scowring ; but while under those Gripes and Tortures , occasioned by his Potion , would often say if he recovered , he would be revenged of him , and if he dyed , which he did suddainly after , he was confident O Dowde was the cause of his death . Another was a Maid-Servant , that unfortunately became his Patient , in Long-Lane ; she upon taking of his Medicine , which wrought so violently with her , presently died , having strange kinde of Cramps and Fits ; divers others I am furnisht to recite , but I forbear to trouble my Reader , whom I am confident I have already satisfied , and more will nauseate . This Master O Dowde , though never so desperate in the exhibition of his Medicine , as he all along phrases it , yet in his manner of Dispensing , he uses a more then ordinary caution : I made a discovery of this , as well by his carriage , set out in his own Book , as from the relation of several of his Patients : His way is never to trust his Medicine in the hands of his Patients , but they must either in the presence of Himself , or his Boy , take down whatever he gives or appoints ; and in my Opinion , this can bear no other interpretation , then that he is afraid his Knavery should be discovered in using some common rejected preparation , under the shew of his own invented Chymicall Arcanum . Just such another Fellow is Master Lockier , ( and I think these Geese are sitly coupled together ) who by difguising of Vitrum Antimonii , commonly called Stibium , hath exposed to the world his Pilula , Radiis solis extracta , and for some considerable time , hath sold it for Sixteen Shillings per Ounce ; whereas , to my own knowledge , the same quantity , of the same Commodity , might be had without any trouble in any Apothecaries Shop for Three Pence : Such kind of Cheats as these are frequently put upon the easily deluded and credulous people , by such Politick Empiricks and Falsifiers in Physick as these . I leave it therefore to Master Lockiers choyce , whether he had rather be couuted a Knave , or a Fool , one of the two he cannot avoid ; for having Publisht in Print , that there is no Antimony in his Pill ; either he is so ignorant , he knows not what Antimony is , or else he resolved to deceive the World : Though for my own part , I was well satisfied , and found divers of the same Opinion , concluding it to be a Mineral , & that nothing else could Operate in so small a proportion ; yet notwithstanding , for the further satisfaction or the World , I made an Experiment , in the Publick Elaboratory of the Colledge , before divers of the Fellows , in order to a Pyrotechnicall Resolution of this Pill , as followeth . A Resolution of Mr Lockiers PILL . AFter the dissolution of half an ounce of Master Lockiers Pills , in a sufficient quantity of Spirit of Wine , which served onely to take away the mucilaginous substance , with which they were formed into those small proportions ; I found a remaining powder , which after it was dry , answered ( as I thought ) in colour and weight to Vitrum Antimonii ; for further discovery , I pulverized half an Ounce of Vitrum Antimonii , and in the opinion of all that were present , there was no ocular demonstration to the contrary , but that they were all one : However , that it might be put beyond all dispute , I melted down Master Lockiers Pills , and out of that half Ounce , I reduced Two Drams and Eleven Grains of pure Regulus of Antimony ; after this , I melted down the same quantity of Vitrum Antimonii , out of which I also did reduce the same quantity of Regulus , wanting but five Grains , which is not onely an undeniable demonstration , that Master Lockiers Pills are altogether Antimonial , but as evidently plain , that they are nothing else but Vitrum Antimonii , powdered and formed into those small Granula's , in which form he has so publickly sold them all England over . And now what will be the dangerous consequence , and hazard to many mens lives , to whom these Impostors thus unadvisedly offer their Medicine , without any consideration or respect , either to the nature of the Disease , habit of Body , constitution of the Patient ; but in all cases , to persons of all Ages and Constitutions , at a venture , give it in like quantity , I say , what evil event must ensue such absurd practises , I leave to the Judgement of All Rational Men. The Appendix . Worthy Gentlemen , WHen I first undertook an Answer to these indirect Practitioners in Physick , I also intended to offer something oy way of Proposal , or rather a most Humble Address to You ; The President , Fellows , and Commonalty of the Kings Colledge of Physitians in this Famous City ; As also to the Master , Wardens , and Company of Apothecaries , in order to the rectifying of some Enormous abuses , that within the space of some fevv years past , have crept into the general Practise of Physick . But having perused a little Book Entituled , A Letter concerning the present State of Physick ; Written by a Person of Quality , and without dispute great Learning , who has so effectually and fully discust the whole matter , and proposed such excellent means and wayes , as well to prevent the like for the future , as for the advancing all the desiderata of this Profession ; in all which his principal aim is , the restoring of this Practise of Physick to its antient Constitution , which , as this Worthy Gentleman sayes , Till good Learning came to be over-thrown and laid wast by the Furious irruption of the Goths ( though it now stands devided , between the Chirurgeon and Apothecary , was then the sole care of the Physitian onely ; and t is very true , they did then officiate in all the faculties of Physick : But it is observ'd likewise , that this Profession in general never flourish'd better then it has in these three Branches , ( viz. ) Physitians , Chirurgeons , and Apothecaries ; nor has there been a greater improvement in Physick , in any Age of the World , then what has been made within this Thirty years last past ; and I presume without disparagement to any , I may affirm , this to have been brought about , by the Industry and Pains , principally of the Honourable Society of Physitians in London , as well in the business of Anatomy , as Physick : Nor has the Chirurgeons , and Apothecaries been unuseful in this advancement ; but each of them in their respective Sphears , have been Exemplary to our Neighbouring Nations . Then , what remains to the perfect advancement of this God-like Profession , but a reuniting of the whole Body consisting of these Branches ) into those true and amicable respects , in which current , to this day Physick has so well prospered ; and the rather , because , as this noble Gentleman has well observ'd , it might otherwayes Be lookt upon in respect of these ( though additional ) two very Worthy Societies of Men ( Chirurgeons and Apothecaries ) as a thing extreamly unreasonable to undertake such an alteration , as the restoring of that antient way would necessarily introduce : Besides the great difficulty must needs be expected in bringing this expedient to its intended perfection , it may probably be conjectured , that then the continuance of more time , with some other inconveniences falling in , may again produce the same exigency . Wherefore I humbly suppose , as being of the same sentiment ( in that particular ) with this Noble Gentleman , the best expedient , for the rectification of all past abuses , and to free this Honourable Profession of Physick from all those degenerating Vipers , ( that do not only eat out her bowels , by their sinister practises , but by their illiterate , rude behaviour , stick on it , like dirt ) will in my opinion be found to be , if the Colledge would please ( continuing to own the improvement of Rational Chymistry ) as an addition to all their former manifeftations ; procure ( as this Gentleman advises ) by an address to His Majesty , a Publick Authority , and Command , that all Apothecaries may be oblig'd , to buy those Chymical Preparations made in their Publick Elaboratory for the use of His Majesties Subjects , or else give satisfaction to the Colledge , that they have the same of their own making , to the end , that no Chymical Preparations may be taken into their shops , from the hands of any unskilful or dishonest Operator , but from such only as shall be allow'd by the Colledge ; the rather , because there are several in this City , who have serv'd an Apprentiship to this profession , and are esteem'd persons of such Integrity , that what Medicines soever they sell , the Colledge ( to whom in obedience they will be ready to give satisfaction in this point ) may acquiesce in their just prepatation ; for further satisfaction to the Colledge , I humbly propose , that the Master and Wardens of the Company of Apothecaries , would please to Enact , under a severe penalty , that from henceforth none of their Members , shall use , or put to sale any dispenst Medicine , but what they either make themselves , or for convenience in their Trade be furnisht by some Member of their own Society ; since that by this means the Mystery of Physick will not only be preserved with her due bounds , but the profession will be much advanc't , and that door , by which all the fore-mentioned abuses crept in , will be stopt up : Thus much I humbly offer as my own private thoughts and desires , begging pardon , if I have too much presumed . I cannot after all , better conclude then with the words of that incomparable Epistle ; Since then , Worthy Doctors , Your selves look upon Rational Chymistry , as an Excellent way of enquiry into the natures of things , and managed with sound Reason and Philosophy , an excellent way also of preparing Medicines ; Since you are as much conversant in Chymical Authous , as any others , and have as many , and more assistances , of learning and experience to judge of them ; to all which I may very well add , since you have also a Perfect and Candid Resolution to Countenance and Improve them ; as I am Bound in Duty , so I humbly make Bold to Offer the Continuance of my Devoted Service , in what ever your Honours shall be pleased to imploy , Your most Humble and , Faithfull Servant , William Iohnson . FINIS . ERRATA . PAge 1. line 11. read tough , for tuff . p. 11. l , 20. r , by these subtle . pa. 12. l. 11. r. both for doth . p. 16. l. Past , r. interest for intrest . p. 52. l. 17. r. inform for imform . p. 57. l , 2. r. fraudulent for fradulent . p. 14. l. 5. r. to give . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A46974-e430 Ben. Johnsons Alchy .