APOLLO MATHEMATICUS: OR THE ART OF CURING DISEASES BY THE Mathematics, According to the Principles of DR. PITCAIRN. A Work both Profitable and Pleasant; and never Published in English before.  
To which is subjoined, A Discourse of CERTAINTY, according to the Principles of the same Author.  
Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina Moevi, Atque idem jung at vulpes, & mulgeat hircos.  
Printed in the Year, M. DC. XCV.   

TO THE READER.  
Reader,  
I Here present thee with a short System of Mathematical Medicine; a Work altogether New, extracted out of the Writings of that Learned and Eminent Mathematician and Famous Physician D. P. late Professor of Medicine in the University of Leyden. To him alone is due the Glory of this Invention: and he it is that first laid the Foundation of this Aereal Castle: and he only is able to finish the Building; and bring this great Work to its wished Perfection. If thou reap any Advantage by this Treatise (as I hope thou shalt) thou knows to whom Thanks is due. Yet I cannot but say, that the Translator deserves some small tribute of Praise; for had it not been for him, it might have lain buried for ever in the Ruins of old Rome, out of which he has digged it with a great deal of Pains and Care; and so been the happy Instrument by which this great Blessing is conveyed to all these of this Island, who understand not the Language of the Beast. Tho' this Work may justly be called New, having never been brought to any tolerable Perfection before; yet it was attempted of old by that Famous Mountebank Crinas Massiliensis, who was so precise and exact in his Patient's Diet, that he would not allow them to Eat or Drink, but with regard of Times and Seasons, observing the Course of the Stars, choosing good Days and Hours, and walking always by his Almanac and Ephemerideses, and all this by his great skill in the Mathematics. But Mountebank as he was, he turned Thessalus, as great a Quack as himself, out of the Saddle, Cum arte geminata ut cautior religiosorq, ad syderum motus ex Ephemeride Mathematica cibos dando, horasque observando autoritate eum praecessit: And found a way by his Mathematical juggler Tricks, to live like a Prince, and leave a good round Sum to his Heirs. This Fellow at best was nothing but a cunning Rogue, and believed no more that Mathematics were of any use in Medicine, that I believe that the Moon is a Chesshire Cheese; but only made use of them as a Trick to get Money. But here you have this Doctrine seriously inculcat, and supported with all the Reason it is capable of, and Prophecy too. You have not here a mere Theory and abstract Speculation of this Mathematical Medicine, but many practical Conclusions regularly deduced, and several particular Cases handled. But Reader, that I may not forestall thy Judgement by a too high Commendation of this Work, I will say no more, but recommend to thee to read impartially this little Treatise; by which thou shalt be able to judge of the real worth of this New Medicine, and of the Benefits will accrue to Mankind by it. I have subjoined to this, A Discourse of Certainty, according to the Principles of the same Learned Author; which is every whitt as good Divinity, as the other is Physic. The one without the other would have been but lame and defective: But both together make a complete Work.  
FAREWEL.   

APOLLO MATHEMATICUS: Or the ART Of Curing DISEASES By the MATHEMATICS.  
NOTHING can be more destructive to Learning in general, or hinder and obstruct the advancement and progress of any Art or Science in particular (especially that of Medicine) than wrong Methods, and false and mistaken Notions. For these like ignis fatuus, or Willawisps, lead Men out of the beaten Path and the King's Highway, into Byways and untrodden Paths, where they can hardly shun falling into Bogues and Ditches. Men for the most part love Extremes, and as the Poet saith, 
Stulti dum vitant vitia in contraria currunt.  
Fools while they do one Danger shun,  
Always into another run.  The Way to true Knowledge is straight and narrow, and there are Dangers on the right Hand and on the left, and he that would escape both must keep the golden Mean, and steer a very steady Course, neither standing too far out to Sea, nor keeping too near the Shoar▪ For whether we be swallowed up in the Deep, or Shipwraked among Rocks and Shelves, it's much the same thing. And therefore,  

He that the golden Mean would keep,  
Must not launch out into the Deep,  
Nor always keep too near the Shoar,  
Where Waves 'mong Rocks and Shelves do roar.  
For whether we perish in the Main  
Or near to Land, it's much the same.   
Some admire the Ancients too much, and others too little. The former are so mad in love with Antiquity; that nothing will relish or go down with them, that is not stale with Time, and seasoned with the Salt of old Age: The Later nauseat whatever is not of Yesterday, as musty and corrupt, and can digest nothing, but what is dressed with the Sauce of Novelty. As the First have but a very weak Stomach and bad Digestion; so the Last have a depraved Appetite and vitiat Pallat. Those for the most part are Men of a morose Temper and severe Brow: these have light Mercurial Noddles, are unstable as the Water, and tossed about with every Wind of Doctrine. Both the one and the other may be known by their Way, as the Virtues of some Herbs by their Signatures. There a Spanish Gravity, and here a French Levity; the One for the most part of the same Mind, the Other scarce two Hours of the same, or two Minutes in the same place: Every Thing puts them by their Mind, and every new Object captivats their weak Fancy. Something may be made of the First, because they are naturally fixed: But the Second are fit for nothing but to be Weathercocks: Nothing can fix or settle them but old Age and Time; and then for the most part it is out of time: For when the Spirits are evaporat they become silly and dull, as Wine when it is over fermented or fretted grows vapid, and is good for nothing. Both Extremes then must be shunned, and we must choose the middle Way: admire the Ancients, and justly esteem the Moderns; they laid the Foundation, and we must rear the Fabric after the Model they have given us, if ever we design to make a regular piece of Work, and finish the Building.  
But among all the mistaken Notions and false Ideas of Medicine I have met with, there is none so ridiculous and absurd, as that of a late Sect that is sprung up among us, like Jona's Gourd in a Night's time, and I believe will wither in another. This Sect I call the Mathematical, to distinguish it from the other Sects of Medicine, the Empirical, Methodical and Rational. It's chief Patron is one D. P. an expert Physician, and learned Mathematician. This learned Man will needs have the knowledge of the Mathematics necessary for Physicians, not only as an Instrument to dig and prepare our Minds for the Seeds of all Arts, as well as this of Medicine (which is a Mistake many have fallen into more than he) but as having an Affinity and peculiar Congruity with it, and without which it can never be cultivat as it ought, or bring forth Fruit, Twenty, Thirty, or an Hundred fold; no more than Corn can grow without the Dew of Heaven and benign Influence of the Sun. But whatever be in this, that Mathematics are necessary for a Physician, I am sure Physic is very necessary for some Mathematicians, and that a good swinging Dose too. But that you may not take this for a Romance (as readily a wise Man will) I shall cite you two or three Testimonies of the Dr's. that in the Mouth of these Witnesses the truth of what I say may be established.  
The First shall be that at the end of his Dissertation, de circulatione sanguinis in Animalibus genitis & non genitis.  
Nunquam excoletur pro dignitate Medic●na quamdiu intra limites Rationalis illius ●● ercetur, aut quamdiu praeter vires hactenus ●● Medicinam receptas, aliae Philosophis praesertim Peripateticis huc usque ignotae & a Math●maticis inventae, methodoque hisce not a inveniendae non recipientur.  
I confess ingenuously I can hardly either make good Sense, or good English of th●● Passage: But, if I be not mistaken, the meaning of it is this. That Medicine can never be polished as it ought to be, or brought to that perfection it is capable of, so long as it is confined within the narrow limits of that we call Rational Medicine, or as long as beside these already received into Medicine, other Powers or Properties (call them as you please) which the Philosophers have hitherto been ignorant of, especially the Peripate ticks, & found out by the Mathematicians and that only can be found out by a Method known to them, are not received.  
The Second is in the Sect. 17. of his Dissert: de motu sanguims per vasa minima. Neque diffiteor non alio magis nomine arridere mihi Artem Medicam quam quod methodo geometricae possit morem gerere, uti eae omnes testiquae corporum vires & naturas explo●●t. i e. I confess that nothing makes Medicine more acceptable to me, than that can be subject to the Method of Geome●●, as all these Arts that search out the virtue's and Nature's of Bodies.  
The Third and last, is at the end of his inaugural Oration, where he tells us, That ●● does not wonder that the Physcians ●●re ignorant of the physical Causes of ease Diseases: Non tamen existimo (says) me non explicasse causas illarum seu Ma●●maticas seu Medicas, nempe eas quarum ●●nitio est Medicis utilissima. i e. Nevereless, I think I have explained the Mathematical or Medical Causes of them, viz. ●●lese Causes, the knowledge of which is ●●y useful and profitable for Physicians. I doubt not but these Testimonies will ●ficiently convince you of the truth of ●● Assertion, and that this Mathematics Medicine, which is as great a Bull as ●●y I know, is none of my calving.  
Is there any thing so absurd or ridicu●●s, that some Men will not maintain▪ And which is more, that will not get som● footing in the World, if it be set off wit● an Air of Impudence and Novelty? Wa● ever any thing more absurd and contr● dictory, not only to itself, but to the common Principles of humane Nature, tha● the Epicurean Philosophy? And yet ho● greedily it was sucked in, in the beginning and how that Herd has multiplied an● increased since, every Body knows: B● the belief of Transubstantiation puts th' Matter beyond all doubt.  
Before I come to Examine this learn● Man's Scribble in particular, where th' Picture of this Chimaera is drawn to t● Life, I shall consider the common I'll and weigh, in a just Balance, the Reaso● of these Pretenders, some whereof I ha● had occasion to discourse with.  
Is not (say they) the Body of Man Machine or Automaton, whose Nature a● Essence consists in the Form and Figu● Motion and Rest, Symmetry and Propotion of the Parts, etc. which only can ● defined by the Mathematicians? And no Man can pretend to mend a Watch we who does not understand its Nature, and how it is form and put together; so no Man should take upon him to Cure Diseases without the knowledge of the Mathematics. Who can say this is not a just parallel, since the Lines, though drawn out infinitely, will never meet to all Eternity? Or who can refuse this for a Demonstration, since I'll warrant it for as good as any of the Doctor's I am to examine afterwards? Who doubts but the Body of Man, in some sense, may be called a Machine? Yet it is of such a wonderful Structure and curious Contrivance (for we are wonderfully made) has so many small Parts and Springs, such variety of Motions, etc. that none either knows, or can know, but the Great Artificer that first made it, and set it a going. All we can do is diligently to observe its natural Motions, and take notice what disturbs their Regularity, and endeavour to find out by Experience, assisted with Reason, what may put it right again. And this I think may be done without the Mathematics. As for Example, Men found that raw Meat troubled the Stomach, and was of hard digestion, and therefore they tried it boiled and roasted, etc. and found it did a great deal better. They found likewise, that that which was agreeable to them, and of easy Digestion while in Health, would either not go down, or increased their Disease, if it did, when Sick; and this taught them the use of Broths, Ptisans, etc. And thus came in the Dietetick Part of Medicine. Moreover when any intestine Commotion was raised by Surfeit or Drunkenness, they found, that upon the expelling the Enemy, the War was at an end. And thus they learned the usefulness of Vomiting, Purging, etc. When in Fevers or violent Head-acks, etc. the Nose fell a Bleeding, the Fever abated, and the Pain evanished. And thence they learned the use of Blooding. And thus came in the Pharmacutick, or Curative Part of Medicine. And all this without so much as once dreaming of Mathematics.  
These were the First Lineaments and ruder Draught of that Noble and Excellent Art. But something was still a wanting to finish the Picture, and this was Reason, without which bare Experience more frequently hurts, than helps. This is that which weighs all in an equal Balance (without the assistance of the Staticks) considers all the Indications and Contreindications, arising from the Nature of the Disease, the Causes and urgent Symptoms, the Age and Constitution of the Patient, the Season, Sympathies and Antipathies, etc. And there is no Mathematics in all this. Moreover this Machine is of a quite different nature from artificial Ones, which can be taken down and set up again at One's pleasure; and by this means soon mended when any thing is amiss: But such an Experiment as this, I doubt would prove a little too▪ dangerous on the the Body of Man: For tho' it is easy to take it down, all the matter is to put it together again, and set it a going. I would advise these Mechanists to try the Experiment first on some of themselves: For there is reason to suspect that something is wrong in their Clockwork that reason thus, and if it succeed well, they need not doubt of Practice. And for their encouragement, I propose to them the Example of that famous Witch Medea, who also tried it first on a Sheep which she dismembered and boiled with certain Herbs, that were under the influence and dominion of such and such Planets, whose nature and motions are only known to the Mathematicians.  
Did ever any thing more wild or extravagant enter into the Mind of Man, than to imagine that this speculative Science, that goes all by Demonstration, shall be of use in a practical Art founded on Experience? In which there are no infallible Conclusions, either as to the Event or Cure of Diseases, but only high Probabilities and rational Conjectures, as in other practical Arts, such as War, Agriculture, Politics, etc. and which without Revelation, are capable of no more. Which Kerkringius, in the Preface to his Specimen Anatomicum, has expressed very well thus. Nam eas qui sibi ita placent in Ju●● Mathematica, ut etiam Medicinam velint ad ejus leges revocare, nihilque tentari a Medico antequ am illud & faciendum esse & aliter fieri non posse demonstraverint, tanquam ineptos homines a medicandi Arte praestantissima rejiciendos censeo. Ego certe citius eos insanire Mathematice demonstrevero quam illi probaverint artem hanc practicam, & quae non exigua est ejus laus, divinatoriam, ad Mathematicoru● leges revocandam esse. Non potest revocari omnium Regina Artium Politica, non debet Medicina: agendum in utraque est ex prudenti judicio, & servanda respublica, aegerque sanandus est antequam pereant, dum illi suos quaerunt quos nunquam invenient calculos, quosque quoerendos esse gratis assumunt, & prudentium omnium in gratiis.  
But since the thing is so ridiculous and absurd, what can be the ground of such a Belief? You know that the Sectaries that break off from the Church, since they have no pretence to Reason, are forced to have recourse to pretended Inspirations and Revelations: So here I see nothing can support this tottering Sect, but this old Prophecy of Sibylla.  

Tempus enim veniet quo si non fallit Apollo,  
Clara Caledoniis fulgebit stella pruinis,  
Quae rectum monstrabit iter qua ad templa Minervae  
Ire licet, tenebras istisque fugabit ab oris:  
Artis Apoloneae nec non arcana recludet.  
Tunc homo Nestoreos sanus durabit in annos  
Arte Mathematicae: nam sic cecinere Sybillae.   

The time will come, if great Apollo  
Prove not an idle lying Fellow,  
As he has done many a time,  
In Scotland a bright Star shall shine,  
That shall thence Darkness drive away,  
And to true Wisdom show the way,  
And Physic's Secrets all display.  
Then Men shall live as long as Nestor  
By Purging, Vomiting and Clyster,  
Prescribed by Mathematic Art.  
Thus Sibyl sung, then let a F—   
Here is a Prophecy that foretells clearly that such a thing will come to pass, and that he by whom this great Blessing shall be conveyed to Mankind, shall be Born in this Country, without giving notice who the Person is, or when the time of his appearance will be: For this lies still wrapped up in the depth of Destiny, which only time will discover and bring to light: But I pretend no great skill in Prophecies. You may consult, at your leisure, these that have commented on Merlin, Thomas the Rymer, Mother Shipton and Mother Gregg, who may be able to give you some light in the matter. I wish with all my Heart it might be fulfilled in my time▪ What satisfaction would it be to me, to see some old Physicians go to School again, and come under the Ferula? I should even be ready to split my Lungs with laughing, to meet them with Apolonius conics and Des Cartes Analytics under their Arm, going to get a Lesson from the Professor. But that which would complete the Farce, would be to see Messieurs les Apothecaires trying their Intrants in reading Receipts by Euclid's Elements, the Mathematicians Dispensatory: And ordain that no Clysters should be administered but by Syringe, which is a Cylinder, as every Mathematician knows.  
I confess you may think this but a very weak Foundation to support such a Fabric: But weak as it is, it is sufficient: For Castles in the Air need no Foundation at all.  
I hope you will not mistake me, and think that I have any quarrel with the Mathematics: For that were both unjust and unreasonable in me, as having never got Good or Hurt by them in all my Life: And if I had received any Injury, I am sure you are so charitable as to think I would have forgiven it. It is not the Use, but the Abuse of the thing I complain of: For which I ought no more to be blamed, than he that condemns Drunkenness, tho' the Wine were never so good: For it is one thing to take a little Wine for your stomach's sake, and another to sweem in the blood of the Grape; the one will refresh, and the other may chance to choke you. What greater abuse than to intrude this upon other Arts, to which it has no more relation or affinity, than Music has to Painting, or Colours to Sounds? The Mathematics deserve their room in the World and Commonwealth of Learning, and are very good Neighbours, while they keep within the bounds prescribed them by Nature, and do not wander beyond the limits of their own Orb: But if they come to make Incursions on the Territories of anorher Vortex, they may chance to share with the Comets in their fate. Oportet vivere couvenienter Naturae, says the wise Stoic. Every thing has its Limits fixed by Nature, which it should not pass. Property is that which makes Kingdoms & States flourish in Wealth, Peace and Honour: And if that be taken away, all goes to ruin. And the Parallel holds exactly well in the Commonwealth of Learning: For Divinity, Medicine, Law and Mathematics, have all their distinct Provinces, and may live very well in Confederacy together, but can never be subject to one another's Laws. But if any Man will needs join what Nature has divided, I wish him Joy, and conclude with the Poet.  
Atque idem jungat vulpes & mnlgeat hircos.  
Hitherto I have been but skirmishing, and beating some of the advanced Guards; but now I am come up to the main Body, where I must fight every foot of Ground, and force the Camp; which you need not doubt is very regularly fortified: But whatever be the event, one thing I am sure of, That I shall either die in the Bed of Honour, or lie in its Truckle-bed.  
I proceed now to examine what the Dr. has said in particular on this Head, whether in his Oration or Dissertations. And I wish with all my Heart the Conrroversy were to be determined by these, and he to be tried by his Works. But I am persuaded no reasonable Man will decline such a Judge, and therefore I go on.  
The First that presents itself▪ is the Inaugural Oration, a piece of Work that all the Mathematics in the World can never bring under the Laws of Rule and Compass, either as to Matter or Form▪ It is here where the Plan of this magniscent Structure is drawn so well, that it may pass for an Original that can never be imitat. I must confess ingenuously, that I have viewed it on all Quarters, and taken the prospect of it on every side, and can find no uniformity in it but that of Nonsense; in which all the Parts so wonderfully agree, that one would almost swear that it had sprung from the fortuitous Concourse of Atoms. I had once designed to put it into English Burlesque, for me thinks such a Fool's Coat would have fitted it very well: For then be sure it would have been Rhyme, whereas now it is neither Rhyme nor Reason. A Digression here and there is the Embellishment and Beauty of a Discourse, and sets it off as Patches do a fair Face; and even Venus herself is drawn with a Mole. But if in stead of a Patch, one should apply a Plaster over the whole Face, who would not ●ry out?  
Monstrum horrendum informe Ingens cui lumen ademptum!  
I have many times wondered with myself how any Man of common Sense could have the Confidence to pronounce such a piece of Gibberish, before so learned an Auditory as the University of Leyden: till at last I found out the Knack, which is, That Holland being a free State, Men are allowed there to use their Tongues freely, either in Sense or Nonsense, without trouble or molestation, providng they do not disturh the public Peace.  
The design of this Oration is High and Noble, no less than establishing Medicine on a sure and lasting Foundation, that cannot be shaken.  
— Quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignis,  
Nec poterit ferrum, nec aevi abolere vetustas▪  
For hitherto it has been floating upon Water, and been more like to an enchanted Island, or Farie-land, than terra firma▪ Hitherto it has been a Conjectural Art, and now it will prove a Certain Science.  
But before the Professor lay the Foundation of this Babel, he, like a wise and skilful Architect, removes the Rubbish out of the way; he shows us what hither▪ too has obstructed this great Work, and frustrate the Endeavours of so many learned Men that aimed at the perfection oh this Art so beneficial to Mankind.  
I hope no Body expects that I should follow any regular or artificial Method in tracing this Oration; but rather that I shall do as these who go a Hunting, leave the beaten Road, and follow the Chase through Hill and Dale, Mountain and Valley, Moss and Moor, as the Beast shall chance to take its way.  
I find then the Rock on which all the Physicians has split, is Philosophy: For whenever this got into Medicine it spoilled all, and the Physicians divided into as many Sects as ●he Philosophers, every one setting up a different Hypothesis, according to the Philosophy he valued most, whether the Platonic, Peripatetic, or Epicurean, etc. and now of late the Cartesian: And so every one explained the first Principles of natural Bodies, and their Actions and Operations, according to his own Hypothesis: Whence came in the Doctrine of Physical Causes, about which these Philosophical Phyficians were at a perpetual seussle. Hinc illae lachrymae.  
Now here is the Disease, but where is the Cure? Many hitherro have attempted it, but all in vain: Till at last the Professor fairly undertook it, which I wish prove not worse than the Disease. Medicine must then be separate from Philosophy, and emancipat from the Tyranny of all its Sects, and broughr under the Dominion of the Mathematics: And therefore Physical Causes that disturb the Commonwealth of Medicine, must be expelled its borders, as Disturbers of the public Peace, and a new Colony of Mathematical Causes, these Bulls, or rather Monsters in Medicine, must be planted in their place. But that which crowns the Work, is the Method of the Astronomers, which we must imitat in building this Aetherial, or Aereal Castle, call it as you please.  
The first thing then to be done is, to part Medicine and Philosophy, which is but just; for they have been too long Brethren in Iniquity. Therefore all ye who mind to excel in this Art, eat Philosophy as ye would do the Pox, and study Mathematics if ever ye design to arrive at Perfection. For nunquam excoletur pro dignitate Medicina quamdiu intra limites rationalis illius coercetur, etc. ipse dixit And lest you call in question his Authority, let us hear his powerful and weighty Reasons for this Divorce.  
When Men first began (says our Orator) to follow the study of Medicine and Philosophy, for the good of the Body, or benefit of the Mind, never theless the occasions for Medicine were very frequent, but for Philosophy only casual. For our Predecessors of old fed on Corn and Catle, and led a poor mean Life, exposed to all the inconveniences of the Wether, and felt the hurt of Heat and Cold, that is, they fell sick before they thought of providing themselves with clothes or Houses. Those were the first beginnings of Diseases, and these the first Remedies. But their Catle also being of a short Life, and subject to Diseases then, as well as now, brought them under a necessity of following Medicine, and these that Cured them were said to help or assist Men. For he that keeps one from starving seems to save his Life. But Men began to study Philosophy, after they had found out by Experience the Virtues of Remedies, and might safely, and at their own leisure▪ examine the Faculties of things.  
Is not this a very learned Discourse to prove that Medicine is older than Philosophy, because the occasions for the one were more frequent than the other? When Men first began to Hear and See, the occasions of Seeing were more frequent: For turn your Eyes what way you please, some Object always presents itself: But the occasions of Hearing were less frequent and casual for you may turn your Ear twenty way and hear nothing at all: Therefore Seeing is older than Hearing. I grant Necessity is the Mother of Arts, and that which is most necessary probably was before that which is less so. But, if I be not mistaken, men's Minds were sick before their Bodies, and consequently had sooner need of Physic. But tho' this do not hold, there is another Argument beyond exception, which is, That Man was created a reasonable Creature, to whom it was as natural to contemplate the Works of his Maker, and to search after, and inquire into the Causes of Things, as to Eat, Drink or Sleep, and perhaps a little more: And I think what is Natural takes place of that which is Adventitious, as Medicine may be called. For though Man had stood in his Integrity, he had notwithstanding of that been a Philosopher: But I doubt there would have been place for Physic. Moreover, it is downright false, that ever occasions for Medicine were so frequent as these for Philosophy, which being nothing but Naturae rerum contemplatio, as Celsus calls it, finds Objects every where: Whereas Physic is confined to the Body of Man, and only so far concerned with other things, as they have any relation to that: And therefore if the Doctor's Reason hold, Philosophy must be the elder of the Two.  
But what though I should grant that Medicine is older than Philosophy, and once subsisted without it, it will not follow that it was better so than with it. For this Art was a long time lame and defective, consisting of a few Experiments, and ill made Observations, until the time of the Divine Hypocrates, who first digested and set in order these things that before were confused, and licked this rude Lump into a Form; and he it was that first institute the Medicina rationalis, joining Reason to Experience: And so brought Philosophy in into this Art, in which it is so necessary, that it can no more be without it, than a Ship without a Rudder. What can be more necessary for a Physician than Philosophy? Not the Jargon of the Schools, or that which evaporats into vain Curiosity, and contents itself with bare Speculation: But that which Hippocrat and Galeu, and the other ancient Hero's of Medicine followed, which was to consider things not in their absolute Natures, but in reference to the Body of Man: But 
Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci▪  Hippocrat: de vet: Medi: speaks thus. Atq●i mil●i necessarium esse videtur ut omnis Medicus de Natura sciat, & omni studio annitatur ut cognoscat, simodo aliquid eorum quae fieri debent recte praestare velit, quid est homo ad ea quae commeduntur & bibuntur comparatus. And Galen, de simple: medicam: facult: tells us, That we are not to consider, Quale ex se sit medicamentum, neque ad totam Naturam. And this is the Philosophy we must follow, and he that does not is justly esteemed a Quack and Mountebank. And there is no more reason to reject Philosophy in Medicine, because the Philosophers are divided into a great many Sects, than there is for abandoning Christianity, and turning Atheists, Deists, Epicureans and mere Sceptics in Religion, because the Christians are divided into Sects, not a few.  
But the Professor may allege, that he is not against Philosophy in Medicine, but only maintains that it should be free from all the Sects of the Philosophers. Why what Evil have they done? Quid meruere boves? What hurt does Medicine sustain, whether the Physician be Peripatetic or Cartesian? Whether he hold a Vacuum, or maintain a Plenitude, whether Medicines work by their Ocult qualities or by the Form and Figure of their Parts whether Opium makes a Man sleep quia habet virtutem dormitivam, according to Thomas Diaphorus, or by its rarifying Quality▪ according to the Doctor, etc. Does any Man of Sense take Indications from these Whimsies: Do these any way change the Methodus Medendi? Did not these who knew not the Circulation of the Blood use Phlebotomy in Fevers, and in different parts too, as well as these that know it do? I know no harm any can sustain by these innocent Speculations, except some cracked brained Fools, and these are not fit to be Physicians. A few Hours may be better spent this way, and with less hazard both to Physician and Patient, than in Drinking, or lying and Swearing, bantering the Scripture, and ridiculing Religion.  
But there is something more than the Philosophy I have mentioned, to make a Man a good Physician, that is an Honest▪ Sober and Temperate Physician, which is, Moral Philosophy (or rather Christian Morality) which is so necessary to the Professors of that Art, that none but a Madman, who is weary of his Life, will intrust himself to any other. This made the Great Hippocrat to fall out into this hyperbolic Expression. Medicus Philosophus est Deo aequalis. Habent enim quaecunque habent ad coercendam intemperantiam, inscitiam, avaritiam, concupiscentiam, rapinasque ac impudentiam. But it is superfluous to adduce an Authority to confirm a Truth that every Body knows: For how shall he that Fears not GOD regard the Life of Man? or he that destroys his own Health with Surfeiting and Drunkenness, prescribe good Rules for the Health of another? For qui sibi nequam cui bonus?  
But since the Doctor had not so much as a probable Argument for this Opinion, I'll furnish him with a Demonstration that will convince the World of the Truth of the thing in debate: For which he owes a Cock to Aesculapius, and a Capon to me, which I think the large better of the two, though at best it is but a lame Sacrifice. And that the Argument may go the better down, I'll dress it with a Geometrical Sauce. But I must first beg two Postulatas, which I am sure none will refuse me, but either an Infidel or a Fool: viz. That Beasts were created before Men, and that none but a reasonable Creature can be a Philosopher.  

Demonstration.  
Beasts were created before Men (per Postul. 1.) and felt the Inconveniencies of Heat and Cold (ut per se notum) i. e. (according to the Doctor) they were first Sick. Now Necessity is the Mother of Arts (ut per se notum) and therefore the sick Beasts sought out Remedies, and no doubt found many, and consequently were both the first Physicians and first Patients, Man not yet being created. Now Beasts are unreasonable Creatures (ut per se notum) and no unreasonable▪ Creature can be a Philosopher (per Post: 2.) Erg: per Post. 1. Medicine is older than Philosophy, quod erat demonstrandum.  

Scholium.  
This is so manifest a Truth, that it stands in▪ need of no Proof▪ but may pass for an Axiom. Does not Nature itself teach us, that all Creatures seek their own preservation, and shun these things that hurt them and tend to their destruction? Hence it is that newborn Babes, who have not the exercise of Reason, seek after Food and Warmth, and shun Hunger and Cold as much as in them lies; which their Cries, that are nothing but the voice of Nature, sufficiently testify. But why should I mention these, since the very Beasts themselves bear witness to this Truth? Do not we see Chickens newly hatched run to their Food, the true Physic of a hungry Paunch, and shelter themselves from the Cold, under the warm Wings of their Dame? Why should I speak of Dogs, who by instinct find among the Grass a Remedy for their sick Stomaches? Naturae morborum Medicatrices saith the Great Hypocrates. Nascimur Medici, fimus Philosophi.    

Thus it being proven, that Philosophy is not so ancient as Medicine, the next thing the Doctor demonstrats is, That Reasonings in Physic and Astronomy, should both stand upon the same Foundation; which in the next Paragraph he proves thus.  
But because (says he Parag: 5.) we understand that the most ancient Physicians alleged that Diseases came from the Anger of the gods, and that Astronomy was the first Science that was studied by the most ancient Philosophers, and that at the same time the Stars were called by the Names of the gods, it is very probable that these ancient Physicians treated of such Diseases that for the most part follow the Seasons. Whence it follows, that according to the Opinion of the most ancient Physicians and Philosophers Reasonings, in Physic and Astronomy, should both be founded on the same Principles. The Argument runs thus.  
The most ancient Physicians were of opinion, That Diseases came from the Anger of the gods, and Astronomy was first cultivat by the most ancient Philosophers, and at the same time the Stars were called by the Names of the gods. Erg: These ancient Physicians in the beginning treated of these Diseases, that follow upon the change of the Wether. This is the First Conclusion, and the Second is like unto it: And therefore Reasoning in Physic and Astronomy, etc. q. ●. d.  
Now although this Demonstration be in its self very clear, yet to fit it for vulgar Capacities, I will illustrat it by an Argument of the same kind, but a little more evident and easy to be understood, which runs thus.  
The most ancient Apothecaries administered Clysters by a Bag. And the most ancient Irish made their Horses draw the Plough by the Tail, and about the same time Ireland was called Teague-land, Ergo according to the Opinion of the most ancient Apothecaries and Irish, Husbandry and Pharmacy should proceed upon the same Grounds. But to make the thing a little more clear, I'll give you another of the same kind.  
Tom Trueman gave Hob the Miller a Box on the Ear, and a Lobster catched a Hare about the same time that Julius C●esar was murdered in the Senate. Erg: (N. B.)  
The Man of the Moon drinks Claret,  
Eats powdered Beef, Turneep and Carret.  
However ridiculous you may think these Arguments, they are every whit as conclusive as the Professor's, only with this difference, that these conclude nothing, while the Doctor's, by a Trick of Leger-de-main, prove the quite contrary of what he designs. For he tells us, that the old Physicians first treated of these Diseases that follow the change of the Seasons, because they believed that Diseases came from the Anger of the gods: Whereas this very Belief made them neglect those we properly call Diseases, looking upon them as altogether supernatural, and thinking there was no other way to remove them, but by appeasing their angry Deities with Sacrifices and Prayers. And therefore we are told, that Podalyrius and Machaon, who followed Agamemnon to the Trojan War, did great Service to their fellow Soldiers, in curing their Wounds, without meddling any further, for the very Reason just now mentioned, which I will give you in Celsus' words. Padolyrius & Machaon bello Trojano ducem Agamemnonem secuti, non mediocrem opem commilitonibus suis attulerunt. Quos tamen Homerus non in pestilentia, neque in variis generibus morborum aliquid attulisse auxilii, sed vulneribus tantummodo ferro & medicamentis mederi solitos esse proposuit. Eodemque authore disci potest morbos ad iram deorum immortalium relatos esse, & ab iisdem opem posci solitam. So much for the First Conclusion. The Second is of the same Metal, and is so far from the Truth, that the quite contrary follows from this very Opinion, that Medicine is older than Philosophy. Whence it's clear, that the Dr's. Argument cuts its own Throat, and is truly Felo de se.  
Philosophy being now sent a packing, and the physical Causes at its Heels, let us proceed to the Work, and pursue closely this Method of the Astronomers, in order to the establishing of certain Principles. These (says our Orator, Parag. 10,) did not receive into their Art the Opinions of Orators, nor made use of Fables which might please the common People, for explaining the Motion of the Stars; but by a long train of Observations made in divers places, and at sundry times, and by comparing together the Phoenomena of the motions of the Heavens, by a Method familiar to themselves, and useful to all, did define these Powers, by which Bodies in motion did move towards other Bodies, either in motion or rest. And this is the Method by which we are to find out these Principles in Medicine, that are as certain as these things we know by our Senses, as the Doctor allegeth Pag. 14. and about which Men skilful in Mathematics, and freest from Prejudices are agreed. Par. 6. And do we still doubt (says he) that Medicine is to be brought to perfection the same way? For indeed all bodies are of the same Nature, and every one may be changed into any other of what kind soever; and so all Bodies whatsoever their bulk or size be, are subject to the common Events of Motions and Mutations. Whence it follows, that the Laws and Affections of the Fluids and Canals in the Body of Man, may be defined, when either we shall have made more Observations, or rightly compared these which are made already. Parag. 11.  
Can any thing be better said? Is not our lot fallen in happy times, in which we shall see this Conjectural Art erected into a Science, and settled on such sure Principles, by which we may as certainly Cure Diseases and foretell their Events, as the Astronomers do the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, the rising and setting of the Stars, etc. But since the most part of Physicians are ignorant of this Method, it were Charity in the Dr. to furuish us with Ephemerides's, by which we might make yearly Almanacs of Diseases and their Cures.  
But before I come to the Examination of this learned Speech, I must tell you that the Doctor has destroyed the Certainty of these Principles in his Problem de Inventoribus, etc. For there he tells us that nothing that depends upon the faith of History, as the Principles of Astronomy do, can ever be so certain as these things we know by our Senses: And here he tells us, that the Principles of Physic must, like those of the Astronomers, be as certain as the Objects of our Senses, i. e. They must be both as certain, and not as certain at the same time, which is a downright Contradiction. Whence you may observe, that these who contradict themselves, as well as Liars, had need of a good Memory.  
Now all this Jargon about such Principles, is a Tale of a Tub, a mere Romance of the Doctor's own making, the spawn of his own Imagination, and are only to be found there, where he had even best keep them, for few else will venture to harbour such dangerous Guests.  
Nothing can be of more fatal consequence in the practice of Medicine, than this idle Notion and vain Conceit. For he that pretends to such Principles, may venture on any thing, and set up for Curing Diseases as certainly, as the Astronomers can define the Motions of the Celestial Bodies, which none but a Mountebank or Quack-salver will ever pretend to. But since one of the charactaristick Marks of these Principles is, That they must be such about which the Mathematicians do agree, why are they so cruel as not to agree, and give us a printed List of them, that we may not practise any more in the Dark, and suffer Men to die after the old fashion? But what shall we do in the mean time? Let us even be jogging on after the old manner, and do what is most Probable and Reasonable, till our Deliverance come: For he that will venture to do nothing in Medicine without a Demonstration, may chance to make both his Patiens and himself share with Buridanus' Ass, which coming to a place where two ways met, and having no Demonstration for taking the one before the other, stood still and died of Hunger. In which I think she was Troppo Mathematico, which is in plain English a Fool.  
But should not the Physicians in imitation of the Astronomers, make Observations at different times and divers places, and compare these together, and not take up Principles at random from the Opinions of Orators? This Orator has no reason to be afraid that Physicians will take their Principles from him. And whereas he says, They should make Observations, etc. What else have they been doing above these 2000 Years? not in imitation of the Astronomers, for Medicine seems to be older than Astronomy, (at least according to the Doctor) but of the Great Hypocrates, (whose Aphorisms are so many Conclusions drawn from a long tract of Observations) or rather of Nature itself; without so much as ever dreaming of imitating the Astronomers, more than the Man in the Moon. For wise Men always knew and know still, that Medicine is of a quite other Nature than Astronomy. For after they had made their Observations and compared them, they found that different places required frequently different Methods: and that one thing was expedient at Rome, another in Egypt, and a third in France. And not only so, but that the Age, Constitution, Manner of Life, Sympathies, Antipathies, etc. was to be taken notice of. Hence it is that Celsus saith, Quod vix ulla perpetua praecepta Medicinalis ars neceperit. And in another place, Ergo vetustissimus Auctor Hypocrates dixit, mederi oportere & communia & propria intuentem. Hence also it is that Medicine is called by Pliny, Ars Interpolaris. But that in Astronomy in was far otherwise. For they found that their Observations agreed, and that the Celestial Bodies observed the same Laws in all places, that the Sun in an Year, the Moon in a Month, etc. finished their Course, and returned to the same place. Any Body that understands the very first Principles of Medicine, knows that it is an established Maxim among Physicians, A juvantibus & nocentibus optima petitur Indicatio; which for ever debars it from the benefit of these Principles the Doctor pretends to find out by this Astronomical, or rather Lunatical Method.  
But to show you how absurd this Notion is, and how inconsistent the Doctor is with himself; consider but a little, that the great Design he proposes to himself is, to set up Medicine ab omni Philosophorum secta liberam, free from all Sects and Hypothesis whatsoever; and yet at the same time he will have us to imitate the Astronomers who are divided into Sects, and have different Systems: that is, we must follow them, by not following them at all, which I think is the safest way by far. Is not this a hard Taskmaster, to require the same Tale of Bricks, and yet give us no Straw? This brings us under the Egyptian Bondage, and puts us in a far worse condition than ever we were at Rome, according to the Doctor's Dream, which is no more to be regarded here, than in any other part of the Oration, which is one continued Mistake from the beginning to the end. What is the Matter? shall not the Physicians be allowed to frame to themselves different Hypotheses (if they please) for explaining the Phoenomena of Diseases, as well as the Astronomers for explaining these of the Celestial Bodies? No, by no means: For Medicine was free born, and lived a long time so, and will never thrive till it recover its ancient Liberty, and enjoy its native Prerogative, and have nothing to do with any Sect, Party or Faction whatsoever.  
But if the Doctor will needs have us follow this Method, why has he not told us how far, whether at a distance or slowly, or fast and closely at the heels? Which latter if we do, we may chance to break our Necks, or fall into some Ditch or Bogg, as these who have Ignis fatuus or Willawisps for their Guide: Yea, into these very Inconveniencies he would have us to shun. Nothing can be of more dangerous consequence, than to set up a practical Art, and a speculative Science upon the same foot, For in this there can be no hazard in framing and following as many different Hypotheses as you please. What prejudice does the World sustain, I pray, whether the Sun be the Centre about which the Planets dance (allowing even the dull Earth to be one of the Ring) as Maids about a Maypole? Or the Earth the fixed Point about which these glorious Luminaries turn? In all this nobis nec seritur, nec metitur. But if Astronomy were such an Art as Physic is, all these Hypotheses which before were innocent, would have more fatal Consequences, than any I know in Medicine, and change the very Methods of Curing. Wherefore let us take a Ramble through the Heavens, and suppose for a little, that these Celestial Creatures may be subject to colics, Gouts, Gravels, Epilepsies, and all that Troop of Diseases that flew out of Pand●ra's Box, as well as we; and that the Astronomers are their Physicians: Let us see then what will become of it? I suppose then the Moon, when she is eclipsed, is in a fainting Fit; for what Eclipse is in the Greek, the same is Diliquium in Latin, and in English, Fainting. The Shepherd Endymion perceiving this, begun to be moved with Compassion towards his kind hearted Mistress, and will needs consult the most knowing Physicians in the Diseases of the Stars; and who should he choose but P●olomy▪ and Copernicus, both Physicians in Ordinary to the Moon: He designed also to have Tycho Brahe the Dane present, but he had been drunk over Night and was taking a Nap: He carries them to see the Patient. Now let us hear the Consultation. Copernicus' being the younger spoke first thus. By all the Signs and concurrent Symptoms it seems to be beyond doubt▪ that this Lady's Disease is nothing else but deliquium animi, proceeding from Vapours occasioned by the Earth, from which noxious Steams arise, because of the Sun's absence, by whose benign Influence all Creatures enjoy Life and Health Strength and Vigour; especially this worthy Lady, who can no more be without ●t▪ than we without Air. That this is the immediate Cause of the Disease seems ●o me certain▪ But this is not enough, but the procatartick Cause must be enquir'd into, from which, if I be not mistaken, ●he principal Indication, both for curing this Disease and preventing a Relapse, must be ●aken. We must find out then the Rea●on why the Moon falls so frequently in●o the shadow of the Earth, which causes these ●ainting Fits▪ and see whether the Cause be Internal in the Moon herself, or External in the Sun or Earth. I am of Opinion that it is not in the Sun, who being fixed in the Centre, as a Sentinel to his Post, can never do amiss so long as he holds his Station: And therefore if there be any broken Heads abroad, no body can blame him, who is as innocent as the Child unborn. For the Earth it is but a dull, senseless, unactive Mass, and though it be always a Rambling, yet it has neither so much Wit or Malice to put such a Trick on a fair Lady, her kind Neighbour. The Cause than must be Internal, and lie in the Lady herself, who has been a long time over Head and Ears in love with Endymio● as every Body knows, and for the mos● part she goes down every Night, to kis● the Shepherd, as he lies asleep upon th● tender Grass, and frequently missing th● way, (for Love is blind) she falls into th● shadow of the Earth. And this I judge to be the true Cause, which being foun● out, the Cure is easy. For love bein● nothing but a kind of Madness, I thin● nothing can be more proper than great Evacuations by Purging, Blooding, etc. and putting her under a strict Regimen, for sine Cerere & Bacho friget Venus. Then spoke Ptolomey thus. You have spoke very well (said he) both as to the Disease and its immediate Cause, the knowledge of which is not sufficient, as you very well remarked: But, if I be not mistaken, you have missed the Procatartick Cause altogether, by reason of your wrong Hypothesis: Here it is that you and I differ in the Cause, and I am afraid we disagree also in the Cure. My Opinion is then, that neither the Moon nor the Earth is to blame. For the Lady Moon is not in Love, as you allege, and what she did to Endymion, proceeded not from an amorous Wantonness (which I confess is a kind of Madness) but from mere Generosity, or rather Charity, which is a Virtue, and can never lead any Body out of the way. For Jupiter having condemned him to a perpetual Sleep, because he had been a little too homely with Jun●, she stole him away from him, and hid him in a Cave under a Mountain, and stepped down sometimes at Night to see how his Head lay, without any sinistruous design. And for the Earth, I maintain she is fixed to her Post, and her Ear nailed to the Centre, and cannot in the least budge thence, and therefore she cannot be the Cause. For your Hypothesis that makes the Earth turn round is false; for it is only the reeling and turning of your own Heads makes you imagine so, as these who have a Vertigo, imagine all things turn round. The Cause than must undoubtedly lie in the Sun, who is a precise kind of Gentleman, and will not step out of his Road to please any Body, but will needs make Visits both to the Head and Tail of the Dragon, according to his old custom; by which means, his poor Sister, who cannot live without his presence one Moment, falls into fainting Fits, in some of which she may chance to die one time or another. And therefore, in my humble Opinion, the Sun ought to be sound putged with Hellebore, and Blooded ad animi deliquium, according to the Method of the Ancients, for his Disease is certainly a downright Madness: For who but a Madman would make any Body run the hazard of their L●fe for a mere Visit of Ceremony. And lest you may think it strange that I apply the Cure to the External Cause and not to the Patient, I have for a Precedent the Great Hypocrates, who cured a great Pestilence by kindling great Fires, and thus correcting the Malignity of the Air. Beside, there is nothing more ordinary than to apply Sympathetick Powder to the Weapon that made the Wound. And this is my Opinion grounded on my Hypothesis, and to which you ought to submit, you being but a young Man, and I your Senior. That will I never do, said the other, for my Hypothesis, according to which I proceed in the Cure, is as good as yours, and large better. And so they ended without concluding any thing, though both great Mathematicians. Wherefore we see the Moon subject to these Fits to this Day. From all which you may understand how safe it is for Earthly Physicians to imitate these Heavenly, or rather Lunatic ones: And in such an Art as Medicine is to follow the Method of the Astronomers.  
Now the Doctor having demonstrat the Excellency and Usefulness of this Method, cries out, Et nos dubitamus, etc. And do we doubt that Physic is not to be brought to perfection the same way? We must doubt till we have better Grounds to believe. Are not all Bodies (says he) of the same Nature, and may be changed into one another, etc. as above. Well reasoned, all Bodies can be changed into one another, as Elephants into Oysters, Sun Moon and Stars into Dunghills, Watches into Woodcocks. Here is a strange Metamorphosis. Would it not be pretty to hear one cry, Who will buy a Goose? and when you come to buy it, you find it a Pig, at least you may persuade the Seller so, by this Reason, That every thing may be changed into another of what kind soever. But as universal as the Professor thinks this Transmutation to be, yet there are some things altogether incapable of this Change: As for Example, these that are cracked from their Cradle can never be made sound; for their Disease is vitium organi & a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus. I confess they may be Cured by a Miracle, as the Man was that was born blind: But these that believe no Miracles have no reason to expect that one will be wrought in their Favours.  
But that you may not take this for a piece of Counter-banter, I'll show you that this Reasoning is every whit as ridiculous and absurd as I represent it. For though all Bodies may be said to be of the same Nature, in respect of their common Essence and Properties as Extension, Divisibility, Mobility, etc. yet it will not follow that they ever can be changed into one another, or come under the same Laws; except the Doctor mean, that for aught we know the thing implies no Contradiction, from which nothing at all can be concluded. The Laws of Nature are established by the Author of Nature: But how far their Limits extend we know not. Yet we have reason to believe that He has set them their Bounds that they cannot pass: For we find that every thing propogates after its kind, and some Transmutations are very hard: For we can hardly make a good Fire of Ice, though a certain Author affirms, That in Island it is become so dry with Age, that the Inhabitants make very good Fuel of it. But granting all this, how will it follow that the Laws and Affections of the Fluids and Canals in the Body of Man may be defined? Very well; for all Bodies being of the same Nature, and subject to the same common Laws of Motion, the Terrestrial as well as the Celestial, these we see not, as well as these we see. And the Astronomers, by a Method familiar to themselves, and useful to all, having found out and defined the Laws and Affections of the latter, whose Motions and Regularity is obvious to our Eyes. Therefore the Physicians by the like Method may find out the Laws and Affections of the Fluids in the Body of Man, whose Order, Figure or Motion, they cannot see, though enlightened with the Mathematics, as we shall see when we come to examine the Professor's Demonstration of the Uniformity of the Pores. The Argument is just such another as this, One that sees well may be a good Painter: Erg: One that is stone blind may be so too. If the Professor would be so kind as to assist us with Mathematical Spectacles to see the Animal Spirits, the Form, Figure and Contexture of their Parts, and all the small Filaments and Pores by which all the Secretions are made, we would thank him for the Favour, and then think of following these Stargazers. But though he could make our Bodies as transparent as Crystal of the Rock, so that we could see with the naked Eye, all the order and harmony of the Microcosm, as well as we do the Motions of a Clock, we should by this means have a more curious and useless Speculation, but never a whit more useful or successful Practice; Physic would still be a Conjectural Art, and Physicians still Guessers, and Men die after the old fashion, and Mathematicians be mistaken, and Fools speak Nonsense. If indeed the Professor would teach us how to take down the Machine and set it up again, to take out a cracked Spring, and put in one that is sound and whole; and when the Pendule runs too fast to add some weight to the Balance, and make the Vibrations more regular and equal and slow; then there would be some hopes of seeing some men's Clocks go better, and strike more regularly: Yet after all, I must confess, there would still be some Watches that all the World would never make go right.  
The Professor has hitherto only showed us in general the Usefulness and Advantage of this New Method: But now he comes closely to the Point, and makes Application to a particular Case, to show us the Power of his infallible Principles, and the heroic Exploits of his new knight Errants, the Mathematical Causes: Than which nothing can be more just; for all the Proof of the Pudding is in the eating. But if ever the Doctor make a good Pudding with this Seasoning, I'll eat the P—.  
Because (says he Parag. 25.) I said that it was not necessary for Physicians to search out Physical Causes, and that this may seem a hard Saying to the Philosophers: Therefore I'll illustrat and confirm the whole Matter, by an Example that none can except against. This is the first time that ever I heard, that the knowledge of Physical or Natural Causes was altogether useless to a Physician. And therefore no wonder that not only Philosophers, but all pretenders to common Sense think this a saucy and senseless Saying. Are not all evident Causes natural ones? But if the Doctor understands the first Principles of natural Bodies, the springs of their Actions, and the way and manner of their workings; I know none but some light nodled Mountebanks that follow this ignis fatuus, or false Light, or pretend to take any practical Indications thence, no more than from Mathematical Causes. For, as I told you before, neither Hippocrat nor Galen thought any such knowledge necessary. But that this is not the Doctor's Meaning▪ I will show you by and by; for he himself allegeth the knowledge of such Causes, as the Physicians call Physical or Natural, very useful in the practice of Medicine. But let us hear him out.  
The Physicians (says he) that wrote before us of the Diseases of the Eyes, in which a kind of Images or Semblances appear before them, and trouble the Sight, confidently affirmed that the physical Cause of this was, some little Corpuscules or Motes sweeming in the watery Humour of the Eye, which moving hither and thither up and down, imprint on the Retina, as it were the resemblance of Flies, or such like things, which we think we see before us. And in this the Doctor allegeth they weet very much mistaken.  
Here is a sad and lamentable Story, that poor Mortals should have been so long haunted with those Spectres or Ghosts (for so our Orator calls them) which are of a quite different Nature from all others of that kind, which for the most part haunt Men most in the Night; but those are most troublesome in the Morning, especially after a rousing Cup. Is it not sad to think that no Body appeared for so long a time, that had skill enough to conjure these Spectres? But I see not what the Professor can say for himself, since he knew how to have sent them a packing with his Mathematical Rod, 8 or 9 Yea●s ago. For you must know that the design of building this Castle in the Air, is not so late as one would imagine, the Materials has been a long time a preparing for it.  

Tantae molis erat Medicinam condere gentem.  For the Doctor had a learned Discourse on this Subject, out of which this is extracted, in the Year 1685, about which time it was prophesied that the Labd would begin to Thrive. The Prophecy is this.  

For who survives the Eighty-five,  
Shall see Land begin to thtive▪  By which it appears that it was to thrive in Medicine, as well as other things. And this seems in some measure to illustrat the former Prophecy. Pray mark the Harmony.  
In this Discourse the Doctor treats some eminent Physicians like School Boys, telling us, That they like Sheep followed the Flock that went before them. These Beasts that followed the Herd were Platerus, Sen●rtus, Riverius, etc. which were not such Dunces, nor blind Admirers of the Ancients, as our Orator would make them. But since those were the Sheep in Medicine, I wish the Doctor would tell us who were the Goats, that we might separat the one from the other. There is one Passage more in this Discourse that ought to be taken notice of, and may be of great use to those that love a Cup, viz. That these Ghosts haunt Folks most in the Morning after drinking of Wine, but (N. B.) especially Ale. Whence I observe, that if we must needs take our Collation, that it be rather in the pure Blood of the Grape, than in muddy Ale: For if that make some Hobgobling appear, this will make you imagine you see whole Legions of Devils. A second Observation is, That these evil Spirits are always raised with D●unkeness: Whence it follows, that the way to lay them is to go sober to Bed. But let us go on.  
I affirm (says the Doctor) that no Corpuscles sweeming in the aqueous Humour▪ or contained within the Eye, can imprint their Image on the Retina. And I affirm the contrary, and so we are quits. But it must not go so: For (says he) whoever considers well how large the Diameters of the Eye must be, and what are the Laws of Refraction, will find, that the Image of any thing within the Eye, which is placed before the Retina, must be projected outwards, and can never make any impression on the Retina, and therefore can no ways affect the Sight. And I say, whoever considers the Laws of Sense and Reason will sinned this Passage stark Nonsense. As for his Laws of Refraction, since he has not told us what they are, I am not concerned in them: For a Law not promulgat is as good as no Law at all. But the Doctor out of an excess of Charity has dispensed with these Criminals being tried by the Laws of the Dioptrics, and remitted them to the Judge Ordinary Experience, who is very impartial. But (says he, in the abovementioned Discourse 1685.) the thing is so clear, that without the help of the Optics, it may be demonstrate every Day by Experience: For if any thing be brought so near the Eye, that it almost touch the Cornea, the Eye will have no impression of it, nor any perception at all. Now though this be as false as Transubstantiation, and equally contradicts the Testimony of our Senses, yet many considerable Advantages result from it. The First is for those who have tender and weak Eyes, who cannot endure the Light; for they may keep their Eyes almost quite shut constantly (which will contribute very much to the Cure) and nevertheless see every whit as well as if they were wide open: For when any thing is brought so near the Cornea that it almost touch it, as the Eye lids no doubt do, it will make no impression upon the Eye at all, nor any ways obstruct the sight. The Second is for those who have a Cataract growing on the Eye, to convince them of a Mistake they all labour under, which is, that they see always something like Midges or Flies that trouble the sight; to convince, I say, these poor deluded Creatures, that it is only a deception of the Sense, and sickness of their Brain, and consequently that they must be treated as these who are Hypocondriack or Mad, without taking any notice of their Eyes at all. The Third and Last is universal and useful for all, which is, To make Men see through a Millstone, as well as the most transparent Crystal, by making the Object almost touch the Cornea: For than you will see every whit as well as if nothing were in your way at all. I hope no Man will doubt of these Conclusions, since you have the Professor's word to warrant them. Ipse dixit.  
But all is not yet done, he has another String to his Bow; and I make no doubt with this twofold Cord these poor Hobgobling will be strangled. For he foreseeing that an Objection might be made, that although these little Corpusculs could not be said properly to make any impression on the sight; nevertheless they might produce the like effect, by hindering some Rays of Light that come from the Object to penetrate to the Retina, and so hide some parts of the Object from our sight, has armed himself with an Effatum, which he never wants upon occasion. The Effatum is this, That there is no point of any visible Object, from which there comes not Rays of Light to every point of the Cornea; so that although many points of the Cornea were covered with Spots, nevertheless all the parts of the Objects would be seen. This Effatum may truly be called Effartum, which comes from Fartum a Pudding: For never was Pudding more stuffed with Meat, than this is with Nonsense. Do not we see Objects by the Rays of Light that comes from them to the Retina, and if there come none from them at all, they cannot be seen (except Men have Cats Eyes, who, they say, see in the Dark) and by the same Reason if there come no Rays from any assignable part or point of the Object to it, there can be no perception of that part at all. Now if there be any Spots on the Cornea, or in the acqeous Humour, and if the Rays coming from any part of the Object fall on them, they can never penetrate into the bottom of the Eye, and so can make no sensation of these Parts there, which consequently must be hidden from our sight. Do not all opack Bodies cast a Shadow? And are not these Spots such? By what Enchantment then have they been wheedled out of their Birthright? I have found where the knack lies, which is here, That these little Bodies are Witches or Wizards, which Children say have no Shadow: And with this Reason I am content, till the Doctor find a better.  
You see it was not without a Cause that the Doctor was angry with the Old Physicians, and that he had just ground to dispossess the physical Causes, and banish them from the Commonwealth of Medicine: But it was as just that some other should be put in their room, who will prove a great deal better Subjects than they: And these are the Mathematical Causes.  
But (says he) if that Point of the Retina, or Net in which the Rays that come from any visible point of the Object, should meet, be covered or compressed, so that the Image cannot reach it, there will be no sensation of the Object at all. And if the same thing fall out in many points of the Retina, all these things will come to pass that the Physicians believed for so long a time was transacted in the watery Humour. And believe so still for any thing the Doctor has said to the contrary. But he goes on. Every Body knows that the Retina is a kind of Net, knit or woven of the Filaments of the optic Nerves. That's true good Doctor, but no Body knew it was a Net to catch Flies, till you told them. This Flie-trap is environed with the sanguiferous Vessels that creep along the bottom of the Eye, especially in that part where the entry to the optic Nerve is. Therefore if the Eye be so placed, that the Rays must needs fall upon that point of the Retina, there will be no representation of the Object. This will easily be found to be true, if two Objects be exposed to our view in the same Line parallel to the Horizon, a little higher than the Eye, and about a Foot and a half distant from one another: Then shuting the left Eye, and directing the right towards the Object on the left Hand, as the nature of the Eye requires: First we shall see both Objects distinctly; then coming to such a point, the Object on the right Hand will vanish, while in the mean time we see all round distinctly.  
Here one would almost swear, that the Professor was playing at Cross-purposes with this long wound Story of the Net in the bottom of the Eye, with which he designed to catch his Adversaries the Old Physicians, as Spiders catch Flies; but these Foxes are too cunning for him, and in stead of catching them he has spread a Net for his own Feet. For the Doctor proposes a question that no Physician hitherto could Answer; and no wonder, since they were ignorant of this new Method, and never dreamt of Mathematical Causes. The Question is, What is the Cause, of a kind of little Images of different Colours, but for the most part black that appear before some Folks Eyes like Flies or Midges? The Old Physicians Answer, that it is Motes that sweem in the aqueous Humour of the Eye that makes this Impression and Appearance. But the Professor rejects this, and nauseats it as musty with Age: The Reason then, says he, of the appearing of these Images is, because no Image at all appears. For the Rays of Light (says he) falling on these Points of the Retina, where the the Filaments of the optic Nerves are covered with the sanguiferous Vessels, there will be no Image of the Object at all. And to convince you the more of the truth of this, he illustrates the Matter wonderfully by a very apposite Similitude, of two Objects placed as abovementioned, whereof one disappears at such a distance. For the Question being, What is the Reason we come to see Objects we saw not before, which trouble our sight? It is Answered by this Similitude, because we lose the sight of these we saw before. Is not this well answered? Can any thing be more just, than he that loses at one hand, should gain at another? Thus many hard Questions may be answered, that are both curious and useful: As wherefore hath a Horse four Feet? Because a Man hath two. Wherefore do you see the Steeple of Edinburgh? Because you see not the Castle of Dumbartoun. Why do you scratch your Head? Because I do not scratch my Breech. But there is another part of the Question that remains still to be answered by this Similitude, viz. What is the Reason, that where ever we go these Spectres haunt us, and we see them distinctly? It is Answered, because in the parallel Case an Object we saw before disappears at a certain distance, but stepping either forewards or backwards it presently appears again.  
Here is one of the most excellent Discoveries that ever the World was blessed with, for curing Suffusions, Pearls on the Eye, and Obstructions of the optic Nerves that are not total: By which the Doctor may become more famous for Curing the Diseases of the Eyes, than ever Sancta Lucia was. For that which was done formerly by the old dogged Method of Purging, Blooding, Cupping, Blistering, etc. is now performed in the twinkling of an Eye; for advance, or retire, to the right hand about, or to the left, change the posture of your Eye but a hair breadth, and by the virtue of Hocus pocus, presto be gone, the work is done.  
In the Conclusion the Doctor tells us, that though the Physicians hitherto have been ignorant of the physical Causes of these Diseases; yet he thinks that he has explained their Mathematical or Medical Causes, the knowledge whereof is very useful and profitable for Physicians.  
Who can doubt of the truth of this, after the Doctor has given so pregnant a Proof of this in the abovementioned Case? Wherefore I exhort all Physicians who are ignorant of the Mathematics, to betake themselves seriously to that study whatever their Age or Experience be (for it is never too late to learn) if ever they design to Cure Diseases Cito, tuto & jucunde, which they can never pretend to without the knowledge of their Mathematical Causes. Which was the thing to be demonstrat.  
Now the Doctor having done his work, closes all with an Utinam, as with a Grace after Meat, (which was very well minded, for he forgot to say one before it) I wish, says he, that I could as easily and clearly explain all the Diseases of the Body of Man and their Cures, I have done this.  
And I wish I could as easily refute all Errors, as I have demonstrat this Oration to be stark Nonsense, and downright Gibberish. And thus I have done with the Inaugural Oration, which is the ground work of all.  
I proceed next to examine the Doctor's Dissertations or Discourses, and to take a view of the stately and magnificent Fabric he has reared upon this Foundation. Here you shall have the Solution of many great and weighty Problems (not Trifles or matters of Moonshine) in which Mankind is as highly concerned, as to know whether Balaam's Ass had a short Tail or a long, or in what Language she reproved her Master. But such as they are no Body hitherto could solve them; because, says the Doctor, they begged a great many things that were doubtful, obscure and uncertain; (which I think none but a Knave would ask, and none but a Fool grant) whereas by Principles plain and easy to be understood, the Matter may be expeded. This plain and easy Geometrical Method the Doctor follows all along in imitation of his great Master Archimedes, who begged but as much Ground as to set his Foot on, and he would remove the whole Earth, and toss it like a Tennis-ball up and down the Air. This was but a poor Demand, yet poor as it was no Body would give him his ask, being afraid the Experiment might cost them too dear; for though their persons might be secure, no Body could be found that would ensure their Glasses and China Dishes. But in this I think they were a little too peevish and nice. Had I been in those Days and had had but one Foot of Ground bordering upon the terrestrial Glob, he should have had it at a very easy Rate: And I should have been as little afraid of his performing his Undertaking, as I am of the Doctor's performing his, though I resolve to grant him all his ask, although it were ten-times more.  
The First Discourse that presents itself is that De motu ●anguinis per vafaminima. In this the Doctor designs to be as good as his Word. For in his Oration, as I told you before, he says, He thinks he candemonstrat, that there are no Ferments in the Glandules of Man's Body, and that all the Pores and Orifices of the Vessels have one and the same kind of Figure. We shall see by and by whether or no his Thought has beguiled him for once.  
The principal Design and Scope of this Discourse, is to explain how Secretion is transacted in the Body of Man. You know that a great many Fluids are separat from the Mass of the Blood, as the Liquor of the Nerves, the Lymph, the Bile, the Urine, etc. Now here the Doctors differ, some maintaining the Doctrine of Ferments, others who pretend to a more subtle and refined Philosophy, embrace the mecanick Hypothesis, which explains all Secretion by the different Figures of the Pores and Particles of the Fluids: Some join both together. The Doctor undertakes takes to demonstrat the Absurdity of these, and to prove that all the Pores are alike in Figure, and differ only in size, and by this Hypothesis pretends to explain Secretion.  
Here the Doctor has to do with Men of his own metal Des Cartes and his Followers, Mathematicians all over; and no doubt there will be a sound blow: For no War is so cruel as that amongst Brethren. Who can withhold crying to see 
— Infestisque obvia signis,  
Signa pares aquilas & pila minantia pilis.  For my part I am little concerned, I shall only look on and see fair play.  
The Mechanists to illustrate their Opinion, adduce the Example of a Sieve, having holes of different Figures, as Triangular, Circular, Square, etc. through which they allege that Bodies of the same Figure and Size will pass, while others of a different Figure cannot though no bigger than the former.  
The Doctor on the contrary allegeth that the similitude is altogether impertinent, because it is not (according to him) difference of figure, but of bulk that makes one thing pass and another not. Therefore says he Sect. 9 All bodies that pass throw a sieve, must be less, whatever, their figure be, than those that do not, pass: that is (as he explains himself) they must have less Diameters. For if all the Diameters of those that pass not, be no greater than the Diameters of those that do pass, then of necessity they must pass mixed together. From whence it follows that diversity of figure in the pores and particles of fluids, is not sufficient except we suppose likewise difference of bulk which alone without this superfluous diversity of figure will do the job.  
To which the Mechanists answer that nothing is more absurd than to assert that it is only difference of bulk and not of figure by which secretion can be explained, and that things of the same bigness though of different shapes will necessarily pass mixed together. For every body knows that two screw nails every way alike in bulk, the Diameters of the one no manner of way bigger than the other, only because of some small difference in the figure. Viz, when the spiral line of the one runs cross or contrary to that of the other. I say every body knows, that the one of those will enter where the other cannot. Yea which is more some bodies can be assigned whose bulk and Diameters are every way less, then that of others, and yet these less will not pass where the greater do, (but I have told the Doctor too much at once for any thanks I am like to have for it) which downright destroys the Doctor's opinion, who it seems has not consulted his Analytics well in this, to suffer himself to be screw out of it, by a poor vicenail. That which beguiled the Professor is (and he owes me thanks for the discovery) that the thing holds in some figures, though not in all: But it is dangerous from a few particulars to infer an universal conclusion. What can be more unjust then to allege that all men are Rogues, Cheats, or Fools, because some are such? Or to judge all Physicians Atheists, because some Miscreants of that Profession has been such fools, as to value themselves for that very thing (thinking nothing could prove them men but denying God) I say Fools or Madmen; because it is only the Fool that hath said in his heart that there is not a God, and none but a madman will express it with his mouth: which is a demonstration to me that all Atheists are such.  
What a shame is it for a Professor who teaches others, to make such a wrong step, as to conclude that because difference of bulk is sometimes the cause of such a thing, therefore it is always so?  

Turpe est Doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum.  He should have considered that it is in the oeconomy of the little world, as it is in that of the great, For as in this, there are some men civil and courteous: others rude and unmannerly, surly and dogged, snarling and currish; so in that, there are some pores and particles whose figure is smooth equal and plain: and others whose surfaces are rough and unequal: these may be called surly currish or snarling pores, those civil and well behaved ones. Now suppose a poor to be smooth, and a●cube or (done &c. as smooth comes to its door, they may enter freely, pass and repass without trouble or molestation, providing their Diameters be no greater than those of the poor. There is nothing but civility here. But if a cross-grained cilynder, such as my screw nail, comes to a poor whose spiral line runs cross to its, it may well knock at the door, but not enter: then they must needs fall a scolding. What says the nail, why may not I pass as well as that fellow that entered just now, who can pretend to no better rank or quality then me who am in every Diameter alike? You he says the poor he is a civil gentleman, and passes discreetly, and you are cross-grained and surly, quite contrary to my humour, get you gone, or I'll send you a packing with a vengeance. And from this cause ●imagine proceed the sharp conflicts between Acids and Alkalies, Viz. from a ramcounter between dogged, ill natured pores▪ and such snarling 〈◊〉 who when they have grappled a while, till they are almost quite out of breath, at last make a peace: for Pax quaeritur bello.  
But this is not all the Doctor has to say, for granting all the orifices of the vessels had such determinat figures as Triangles, Squares, Paralelograms etc. fitted for receiving Cones, Cubes and Prisms, and all other kinds of particles, that are to be separate from the mass of the blood in the glandules, granting this (as he allegeth) no secretion will follow upon it. For that this way may be effectuate, it is necessary not only that those particles be equal to, and of a like figure with the orifices, but that they be scituat the same way, when they come to enter. As for example, that a cubick particle of salt, or any other thing, may enter into a square Poor, it is not only necessary that the one be equal to the other, but that it be scituat the same way, i. e. that the Angles and Sides of the cube answer exactly to those of the Orifice; for this is the only way it can enter. The same holds in cones etc. But there are infinite other ways these particles may be scituat at their approaching the Orifices, which will hinder their entry. From all which the Doctor concludes, that no secretion can be made this way, because there is but one cause can▪ be assigned for it, and infinite causes that may hinder it. And this is the pith and Marrow of the Doctor's objection, though not in the same words as it is proposed by him.  
Now here is a great deal ado, which amounts to no more but a may be, and, as we use to say, what may be may not be. The Doctor cannot deny that the thing is possible, which is enough to blunt the edge of his pretended demonstration: for what is demonstrat is so certain that the contrary is impossible. Nothing can be more ridiculous than to reason thus. For though there be but one way such a thing can be done, and ten thousand ways to hinder it: yet if the thing be determined to act that one way, the ten thousand possible impediments amount just to nothing at all. If the Doctor be so generous as to grant his Adversaries that the particles have certain determinat figures, why will he deny them certain determinat motions and situations? And when he assigns me a cause▪ why such a Poor or particle is Triangular, Square, etc. then I'll tell him what determines the situation of these little solids such a particular way, when they approach the Orifices of the secretory vessels. There is but one way I know of for a Rop-dancer to keep himself from falling, and that is by balancing his body and keeping it in an equilibre, and a great many ways he may fall, and yet for the most part he does not fall: when a Cat is thrown from a height, for the most part she falls on her feet, though there are many other ways, she may fall. Now let us suppose these Cubes, Cones, etc. to be as dextrous at entering the Pores▪ as the Rope-dancer is to balance himself, or the Cat to fall on her feet, and the work is done. I may suppose also that these little bodies are of a stiff and stubborn, self-conceited nature (as for the most part little folks are) and will enter no way but one, just as the loadstone will draw nothing but iron, though you should present a thousand other things, and the needle touched by it will turn but one way, though there be almost infinite otherways it may turn. You see Sir the Doctor has demonstrat Mathematically, that secretion cannot be performed this way, which since it is daily done in the body of man, it must certainly be performed some other way. And here we come to the pretended demonstration of the uniformity of figure in all the Pores, which the Doctor concludes to be round: and by this plain easy way he pretends to explain secretion.  
A circle says he, Sect. 14. is the largest, and most capacious of all figures that have the same Diameter with itself, and will admit the plains of all figures whatever way they be scituat, providing their Diameters be no greater than its own: Therefore since it is infinitely more probable, that bodies coming to any Orifice that is not circular, will not answer exactly to it, it is highly probable also that by forcing their entry, they will change the figure of the Orifice into such as will give free passage to bodies of any figure, or scituat any way, i. e. they will make it circular▪ Which will yet more certainly come to pass, if that which runs into the Orifice be liquid: for in that case, though the Orifice were not circular, nevertheless, seeing the parts nearest the centre▪ i, e. the Sides, are more pressed and thrust outwards by the liquor, than the parts that are farther from the centre, i. e. the Angleses, and since the Sides of the Orifice are flexible and easily yield, it follows that all the parts of the Orifice will necessarily be thrust out to the same distance from the centre, i. e. the Orifice will at last become circular▪ q. e. d. Here is a long and perplexed demonstration with four times, id est, to which I add a fifth to make it a dose, i. e. it is all down right nonsense. Here is the demonstration long looked for, which 
Expectata diu tandem venit.  And lands all in infinitely more probable, and very likely i. e. a probable demonstration, i. e. no demonstration at all▪ But such as it is, let us consider it till we get a better.  
It's highly probable says he that the Pores, though they were not circular will at last become such, by the little corpuscles of different figures, striving to enter and foreing their way. To which I answer that there is not the least shadow of probability for it, yea it is altogether improbable, and quite contrary to the Laws of Nature, and the economy of the little world. For suppose a cube striving to enter a square Orifice, should apply its corners to the sides of the square, providing they be equally hard, they may well play at hard heads a while together; but in my humble opinion the cube would come of with the loss of his bolspreet, and if he continue to play tricks still, may not only chance to levelly his nose with his cheeks, but also to smooth all his angles, and make himself round in stead of the Poor, and by this means take a Tartar: for every School Boy knows that the angle of any thing is sooner broke of than the side.  
But the Doctor may urge, that if one single Cub were engaged with a single Poor, it would fall out as I suppose: but he is backed with a great Troop of confederate Cubs, Cilynders and Prisms, which like a Torrent come on rap rap on the Orifice, and at last by forcing their way, reduce the irregular Orifice to order, by making him smooth and round. Now tho' I should grant that they might thus force their way, yet it will not follow that even they can make the Poor circular (for it is capable of almost an infinite number of other Figures) except they be supposed to combine together, and fight under the Banner of the Archaeus. But though this were 〈◊〉 there is one thing remains, that quite mars this Design, which is, That the Pores get always fresh Recruits from the Blood & Spirits, which makes them able to stand their Ground, and maintain their Post against the Assaults of these Bravadoes. What the Doctor subjoins is altogether as impertinent as the former, viz. That this will more certainly come to pass if that which runs into the Orifice be liquid, etc. for it is contrary to the Laws of the Oeconomie of the Body of Man. Do not we see those Parts which are most pressed▪ best nourished: And hence it is that they that use Hands and Feet most, have them bigger and stronger than others: And therefore if we should suppose with the Doctor, that the parts nearest the Centre are more pressed than these further off, it will not follow, that the Pores will change their Figure, no more than that a Man's Mouth will grow round if he eat many Plums. How comes it pass that the val●uloe Sigmoides and Mitrales are not quite worn before this time, by the motion of the Blood? And whence is it that the Nostrils maintain their irregular Figure so many Years against the liquid Air, that Day and Night runs through them, and are not become circular long ere now? Or that the Uuula, which stands out like a promontory, is not washed away by the Waves of the same Element that ●oss continually against it?  
Now this Paralogism, or rather Deliration, is not only believed by the Doctor and his Admirers to be a Mathematical Demonstration, but (as he says himself) is approven for such, by two of the most famous Mathematicians in Europe. From which I observe, that most famous Mathematicians may fall into foul Mistakes; and that implicit Faith is as necessary in the School of Archimedes, as in the Church of Rome. For to believe a Dream to be a Demonstration in contradiction to our Reason, and Bread to be Flesh, contrary to our Senses, is equally absurd.  
But that I may not seem to deal a little too severely with the Doctor (for summum jus, summa injuria) in refusing Demonstrative Evidence, and casting Mathematical Certainty, I'll grant him for once, that all the Pores of the Body, and Orifices of the Vessels are round of necessity, and by the very Laws of Nature, and that this Dream is as good a Demonstration as any in Euclid. Let us see then how Secretion will be performed this way.  
The only Secretion that I think will follow, is a kind of Secretion, which may be called no Secretion at all, or more properly Confusion. For either the Pores by which the Bile is separat are narrower, or wider, or of the same bigness with those through which the Urine is separat in the Reins. If the First, than the Bile would flow in greater abundance into the Reins than into the little Bladder that contains the Gall, because of the wideness of the passage. If the Second, than the Urine would go in greater quantity into the Receptacle of the Bile, than into the Reins, and thence into the Intestins; which I think would be very convenient, and save the Expense of many a Clyster: For Fowls who have their Ureters inserted in the intestinum rectum, let both fly together. If the Third, why then should they go into different Receptacles, and not pass equally both ways? except we suppose that Dolaeus Bogles stand Sentinels at the Orifices, and suffer none to enter but these that have the Archaeus Pass, to go into such or such a quarter. The Matter, as I conceive, may be clearly explained thus, according to the Doctor's, Hypothesis, which supposeth all the Pores round, and only different in size.  
The Body of Man, you know, is called the Microcosm or little World; in which there must be a Government, as well as in the great World. One of the fundamental Laws of all Government is Property, without which all must run into Confusion and Disorder. There must be likewise some Supreme to see the Laws put in execution, and every Man's Right maintained. Now in the Oeconomie of Man's Body every ones Right is settled by Law. The Blood, the Bile, the Animal Spirits, the Urine, etc. have all their own Territories assigned them: The Head for one, the Veins and Arteries for another, the Reins for a third, and so on. While these live peaceably together under the Government of the Archaeus, all is well, the Body is in good Health: For as the thicker cannot pass where the thinner may, so the thinner dare not pass where the thicket does, without being punished by Law. Now if notwithstanding all this, they come to invade one another's Properties, and the Blood go by the way of the Urine, and the Chyle by Stool, and the Bile by Vomit, than an Intestine War is raised in the Microcosm; which if the Archaeus can compesce, all is in peace again: And if not, the Oeconomie must go to ruin, and resolve into the state of Nature: where, they say, all things are all men's, i. e. Nothing is is any Mans. And this is the only way that Secretion by Pores of the same figure only differing in bigness, can be explained without Confusion: And so once more I have helped the Professor out of the Mire.  
The Doctor now having got the Victory (not without my Help) claps his Wings and crows, extols his Geometrical Method to the Skies, telling us Sect. 17. That he cannot but rejoice in behalf of Medicine and this happy Age, in which Geometry is brought to such perfection by many skilful Artists, especially by Isaac Newton, that there is ground to hope, that by the help of Principles which that great Man has found out, the Virtues and Qualities of Medicaments, which are for the Comfort and Succour▪ of Mankind, will be more certainly discovered.  
Now as the Doctor cannot but rejoice, so I cannot but be sorry and pity some Men in this Age, who are given up to believe Lies, and publish to the World Dreams for Demonstrations. And if this were all, it were no great matter; for it is but natural for Men to be fond of their own Imaginations, though never so ugly: But to see some who pretend to common Sense, and an ordinary stock of Learning, fall down before those Idols, or Nothings (for an Idol is nothing) and worship not the Works of their own Hands, but the Spawn and deformed Brood of other men's Brains, is such a piece of Absurdity that can hardly be matched, and such a degree of Madness that nothing can excuse but invincible Ignorance, or vitium organi. What this great Man may do by his Principles for the advancement of Medicine, I know not: But if what the Doctor has given us he a foretaste of the Fruits we are to expect, we have reason to look for nothing but sour Grapes that will set our Teeth on edge, and give 〈◊〉 the Gripps to boot.  
These are but Rodomontado Expressions that arise from ill digested Thoughts, as Belching does from the Crudity of a weak Stomach. Men may brag what they please, and tell us of their Dreams and Visions, and their new Methods of perfecting Medicine: But I maintain there is no other Method but that of the Ancients, especially of Hippocrat, by which we can advance that Art, and no wonder since it is the Method of Nature. And for finding out the Virtues and Qualities of Medicines, we must learn that from the Schoolmaster of Fools, and his two Ushers Analogy and our Senses: For the Mathematics can no more assist us here, than the Lunatics. But this may seem a little too bold, since the Professor has explained clearly by these Principles the Virtues of Mercury and Opium, which leads me by the Hand to his Discourse De causis diversae molis qua fluit sanguis per palmonem natis & non natis.  
This learned Man in the beginning of this more learned Discourse, tells us that we should not undertake the solution of a Problem by a great many Postulats, which may be done by a few: That is to say, we need not Herculeses Club to break an Egg when we may do it with the tip of our Finger. And therefore says he, I am not pleased with those that explain the Operation of Mercury by a kind of Salt, like to that which is extracted from the Ashes of Plants, by the means of which it units itself with the acid Humours, and purgeth them out of the Vessels. The Doctor is not pleased with those, and I am not pleased with him, while he pretends to explain the Operation of Mercury by its Gravity; because I find nothing in his Reasons but grave Nonsense, which I will weigh in a just Balance. That Mercury is very heavy, no Body can deny; and yet the lightest Noddles are full of it, which seems a Paradox. That it works by its Weight or Gravity, is false and absurd, which the Doctor proves himself to save me the trouble. For Gold, says he, reduced into a Liquor, or any form fit to mix with the Mass of the Blood, will have virtue proportional to its weight, and consequently will exceed all other Medicines as far in virtue, as it surpasses them in weight. Here you have a Chain of excellent Discoveries, the first link whereof is Gold, the second Mercury, the third Silver, the fourth Lead, and so on according to their weight. Now according to this Doctrine, Gold being most heavy will prove much more effectual in the Cure of the French Pox, and some other Diseases, by Salivation than Mercury, which the meanest Surgeon-baber knows to be false. Let Montebanks talk what they please of their Aurum potabile, I maintain that Gold is a much better Drug in the Pocket, than in the Stomach, and that Aurum potandum is very far preferable to Aurum potabile. By the same Rule of Proportion it likewise follows, that Silver and Lead, being next to Mercury in weight, must also be next in Virtue, and may come up to it by increasing the Doses, as we do in other Medicines. Thus may you have a cheap domestic Drug that may serve for the Cure of all these Diseases Mercury is good for. But since Ball without Powder is but dull and unactive, I think it will not be amiss to Charge the Piece with Jesuits-Powder, and then you can scarce miss the Mark. One would think here was proof enough of the wonderful effects of Gravity: But this is not all, it is a fertile Principle, and produceth many strange things. For the Doctor tells us in another of his Discourses, That Baths, whatever their nature be, have the same Virtue, providing they be made of Liquors equally heavy: Name, saith he, operantur vi solius gravitatis. This Discovery is altogether New, which both the Ancients and Moderns were ignorant of. For though belinus attributes something to the weight of the Liquor; yet he never dreamt that they work vi solius gravitatis: For he proves that the Liquor of the Bath enters into the Mass of the Blood with the Virtues of these things it is impregnat with. This Invention is worth Gold, at least it will save a great deal of Money that was expended on Journeys to the Baths in England, France, etc. For if you know but the Secret to make any Liquor to have the same weight with those, it will have the same virtue, and if you doubt of the truth of it, you have the Professor's word for it. But the Improvement may be carried on further. For the same holds in Lotions, Fomentations and Embrocations, Ointments and Plasters, that must needs work all the same way. Here is an excellent Discovery for finding out Succedaneums or Quid pro Quo. For if you want any Ointment or Plaster of such or such a virtue, if you can remember the proportion between the bulk and weight, you may presently have one like it. By this means you may make an Ointment that will have the Virtues of the Balm of Gilead or Peru externally, the basis of which may be a T— d; which will be an excellent Improvement of this domestic Commodity. As for Bathing never concern yourself what the Liquor is, whether Milk, Wine or Brandy, or Cow's Piss, if you please: And it's no matter what it be impregnant with, Hemlock or Henbane, Camomile or Mallows, the steams of a pocky Rogue, or Musk or Ambergrise: For if the one weigh no more than the other, you are as secure as the Professor's Word can make you. Nam operantur vi solius gravitatis. And thus you have a new Improvement of the Medicina statica that Sanctorius never dreamt of. But before I leave this, there is one Advice that I would give concerning Internal Baths, whether Cold or Hot, which are more frequent and ordinary in this Country than External ones, and it is this: That ye do not trust this Doctrine, but reject it as heretical; for though in these the Liquors work only by their Gravity, in those they work only by their Levity: For the lighter the Liquor the more intoxicating it is; for as far as Brandy exceeds Claret in lightness, so far it surpasses it in▪ the Virtue of Fuddling. But this by the by.  
It's now high time to consider the main End and Design of this Discourse. You may be sure it is no Trifle; Aquila non captat muscas. The Design than is, to Answer a hard and difficult Question, proposed to the Learned by Harvey, which is, How the Embryo or Foetus lives in the Womb after the 7 Month, without breathing in the Air by the Windpipe, and nevertheless if it be born in the seventh Month, it presently breathes in air; yea without breathing it can scarce live one Moment: But though it continue longer than the ninth Month, it enjoys both Life and Health. Sect. 14.  
Here is that knotty Question that has puzelled so many, a great deal harder than any ever Sphynx proposed to the Inhabitants of Thebes, and (which is sad) which no Body hitherto could Answer, till the Professor, like another OEdipus appeared, or rather like a second Alexander, and cut asunder the Knot he could not untie. Let us hear this Mystery opened up.  
I will not waste Paper in translating the Doctor's tedious, perplexed and confused way he answers the Question, but will give you the substance of it in as few words as I can. Since Life is maintained by the circulation of the Blood, it is necessary as well before the Child be born as afterwards. But while it is in the Womb, the Lungs being clapped together, the Vessels necessarily must be compressed, and so little or no Blood can circulat that way: Wherefore it circulats from the great Vein into the great Artery, by two other ways Nature hath provided, the one a Canal, the other an Anastomosis: And so the Infant's Life is preserved in the Womb without breathing. But so soon as it is born, and has once breathed in air, by which the Lungs are blown up, the Vessels are no more pressed, and so the Blood finds an easier passage through the Lungs, than by the ways abovementioned, which therefore at last come to be stopped, and dried up, because the Blood runs no more in that Channel. Now when these ways are stopped, and no other way left for the Blood to circulat but by the Lungs, if that be stopped too, the Animal must needs die, because the Blood cannot circulat; and this Passage is stopped when the Animal does not breath.  
After the writing of this, the Doctor finding his Demonstration lame (which I cannot say it is, for it has never a Leg to stand on, and lameness is a defect of the Legs) he tells us in the 14 Sect. of his next learned Discourse, That there remains one Phaenomen concerning Respiration to be further explained, which perhaps he did not make plain enough in its proper place, viz. That while the old Canals are open in a Puppy; yet if it has once breathed in air, upon the stoping of the Windpipe it quickly dies, though not altogether so soon, as one that is older. I confess if the Professor answer this, he bids fair to gain the Point: For here the difficulty lies, according to his Notion of the necessity of Breathing. But I know he can no more do it, than he can tell me how many Hairs was in Aesculapius' Beard, or Pegasus' Tail; which if he do, I am content he make a Rope of them to hang all his Adversaries, where I may be sure to have a kick among the rest. But let us hear him out, and not stop his Breath, while he is discoursing of Breathing. For, says he, if the Windpipe be stopped after Inspiration, a part of the air which remains in the Lungs, is rarified and expanded that the Blood cannot pass through them, the Vessels being pressed by the elastic force of the Air; and the Blood cannot all circulat by the other Canals, though they be still open, nor did it ever pass all that way; and therefore the Creature dies, the Blood being coagulat in the right Ventricle of the Heart.  
This reasoning of the Doctor's is just like the struggling of a blind Mare in a quag-mire, the further in the deeper: So every new Explanation he brings is a further degree of Confusion. The Beast in the quag-mire may be excused because she is blind: But I know not what can be said for the Professor who has Eyes and sees not, though assisted with a pair of Mathematical Spectacles. I wonder how any Man who has a grain weight of Mother wit, can think to make such Brass Money, or rather Fairy-money (which bears the Image and Superscription of Nonsense) pass in the World for good Coin. Here is indeed a Demonstration, that carries not so much as a shadow of probability along with it. What Country Clown would not laugh at such a Reason as the Professor gives for the Puppies Death, which is, That the passage by the Lungs being stopped, though the old Canals be open yet the Blood will not go all that way, because it never went all that way before. This is indeed a Witticism that surpasseth all those of Teague-land that ever I heard, of which the knack lies here, That either some part of the Blood knows not the way, having never trod that path before; or if it had, being but very young, it has quite forgot the way, for five or six Minute's may be as much to it, as so many Years to one well grown; and so when the poor infant Blood groaps in the dark for the way, and cannot find it, it coagulats in the right Ventricle of the Heart, and so the poor Puppy dies, because the Circulation is stopped.  
But, laying Jesting aside, I'll tell you in good Earnest where I think the pith of the Argument lies, if it have any at all, viz. That the passage by the Lungs being now entirely stopped, which it was never before, there is not room enough by the other two for all the Mass of the Blood to pass. To which I say, Let it even step on slowly and take the more time, and it will come to its Journeys end before Night: For though the circular Motion of the Blood be necessary for Life; yet it needs not always run as if it were chased. There are scarce two in the World in whom it is equal, and Men live both in Winter and Summer, in hot and cold Climates; and so will the Puppy in spite of this Medico-mathematical Demonstration, and find to its comfort the truth of the old Proverb, That it is better to be condemned by ten Physicians than one Judge. And thus I have prevented the shedding of innocent Blood, or rather the stopping of it.  
But it is pity Men should live in Ignorance, and therefore I'll bring a Child to instruct the Professor, which I hope he will not take ill: For as a Fool may give a wise Man good Counsel sometimes, so may an innocent Child, in whom the Principles of Nature are not debauched with too much Learning which makes Men mad, give a Lesson to a Professor of Medicine. Let us hear then how the Child will answer a parallel Case. There is a Conduit for conveying Water to the House divided into three Branches, one whereof goes to the Kitchen, another to the Stables, and a third to the Brewhouse. Now Child, if one should stop the Branch that goes to the Stables, what will become of the Water that went thither? No doubt, says the Child, we shall have it at the Brewhouse and Kitchin. No Child, that cannot be, for the Water never went all that way before. What then, says the Child, what should hinder it to go now, since there are two patent ways by which it may go? I have told you already, Child, because it never went all that way before. What will then become of it, Sir, say you? It will stop, Child, and the Water of the two other Branches will stop also, to bear it company in good manners, and so the Water will stagnat at the Fountain, and you shall die for want of Water, and this is demonstrat by a learned Physician, who is likewise a great Mathematician. That is none of my business, says the Child, as long as the other two Canals are open, we shall have Water in spite of his Mathematics, and live maugre a Demonstration.  
From this Mathematical Demonstration redounds a considerable Advantage to the Liege's and Damage to the Tinkers: For these Rogues when they mend one Hole, ordinarily make two, but here by stopping one, you stop three. q. e. d.  
In this place the Doctor takes occasion to inquire into the force of Thunder that stops the Breath all of a sudden, and chokes Men in the very twinkling of an Eye. Here you shall see that the Doctor is indeed Mysta Naturae, penetrats into the inmost Recesses of Nature.  
The Reason the Doctor gives for suden Death occasioned thus, is, The suden and great Expansion of the Air, whose Particles, says he, become both lighter and larger, and so cannot enter into the Lungs: And so the Blood cannot circulat because the Lungs will clap together and compress the Vessels: And therefore the Creature who is thunderstruck must presently die, the Circulation being stopped. The Doctor told you just now, That the Puppy dies, because when once it has breathed in air, some Particles which remain still in the Lungs are so rarified and expanded, that they blow up the Lungs to such a degree, that the Vessels are pressed together, and the Circulation stopped: And here you are told that the Circulation is stopped merely because there is no air in the Lungs at all; which is indeed very odd that it should fall out just at the very nick of time that one is killed with Thunder. Whereas I think it would fall out quite otherwise; for the Particles of the Air that are in the Lungs would be afraid to come out for the Thunder. The Professor says, he was the more confirmed in this Opinion, by seeing one opened who was killed with Thunder at Edinburgh, where nothing was to be observed that might occasion his Death, except this wonderful shrinking and clapping together of the Lungs.  
Here is a wonderful Explication of the wonderful Effects of Thunder, and of its way of working. And here I cannot but wonder that this Mathematical Archer, one of the true Sons of Apollo, should never once hit the Mark with his geometrical Arrow; One hit for the Honour of the Nation, that we may not be ashamed of our Glory. But let us examine this thundering Gibberish.  
The Air, says he, being expanded or rarified, it cannot enter into the Lungs, What then? Cannot we live a Minute or two without Air? No doubt and more. How comes it to pass then, that those who are thunder-struk fall down dead in an instant, as one shot through the Head? But why should the Air, being rarified, not enter into the Lungs? Because, says the Doctor, the Particles become larger and lighter. Here is an excellent Dish of Nonsense dressed a-la-mode. For any Body knows that in rarifying of Liquids' the parts become not larger but less, for one is divided into a Thousand or more indefinitely. If the Air were like to Brass, or any other malleable Matter, what the Doctor allegeth might follow. The Particles of the Air then by Rarifaction become more subtle and penetrating, and rush hither and thither on all quarters with the greater violence, according to the force of the Impellent; which will be so far from hindering it to enter into the Lungs, that it will rather run into them like a Torrent, and by blowing them up press the Vessels, and so stop the Circulation: And consequently if any dye by this Accident, it must not be for want of Air, but for having too much. Moreover one would think that in this Case the Air being rarified, would become like a large Cupping-glass, and occasion not only the swelling of the Lungs, but of the whole Body, rather than their clapping together. The Example of the Lungs being clapped together in him the Doctor saw opened, is so Childish that I almost blush to repeat it. What! does not every Body know, that those who die either a natural or violent Death, if their Windpipe be open, die in the act of Expiration, and not Inspiration? And therefore we say when any Body dies, That they breathed Out their last, and not that they breathed In their last; and so no wonder the Lungs be clapped together. Moreover if the Expansion or Rarefaction of the Air be the cause of this Phaenomen, how comes it to pass that many are scorched with Thunder and Gunpowder who are killed by neither, since there is reason to believe the Air as much rarified in these as in the abovementioned Case? If this Doctrine hold, it will make one afraid of a very F— t, for that expands the Air after its own fashion, as is evident by the Crack.  
Being now almost breathless in pursuing this Demonstration about Breathing, it is high time to refresh ourselves a little: Wherefore I will entertain you with the Doctor's Discourse, De motu quo cibi in ventriculo rediguntur ad formam sanguini reficiendo idoneam.  
Here I promise you a Dish of as well dressed Chile as ever you tasted. Nothing could come in better season after a Treat of Air, which though it be absolutely necessary for our subsistence, yet it is but a lent Diet alone, there must be some more solid substance, to make this Vestal Flame, or lamp of Life burn: Even as in Fire, which without both goes out. This solid Substance I confess is easily found; but all the matter is to know how it is digested and turned unto Nourishment; which is as necessarily for a Physician to know, as it is for a Cook to understand how the Fire assimulats its Fuel, and whether or no the igneous Atoms that insinuat themselves into the Pores of the Meat while it is a boiling or frying, be nothing but raments of the third Element sweeming in the first, as Fish in Water, before he can make you a good Pottage, or fricassee of Chickens.  
The Doctor in order to the establishing of his own Opinion, first refutes his Adversaries. And here he is like to have a hard pull for it (for the greater the Opposition, the more glorious the Victory) for he has a number of Surly, Sour-looking, Saucy Fellows to encounter, armed with sour and salt Ferments, and Stygian Liquors, and Vanhelmonts Archaeus, and Dolaeus Bogles to grample with: Wherefore he had need of Armour that is proof: For these Ferments cut like aqua fortis: But the Archaeus and Lemures are worst of all, for nothing will do with them but Conjuration.  
We come now to the Question to be answered. viz. How the Meat is to be digested. i e. What Power, or Faculty, or Ferment, dissolves the Meat in the Stomach, and makes it fit for Nourishment?  
Many different Opinions have been about this, as well among the Ancients as Moderns. The Opinions of the Ancients were Four. Some followed Hippocrat, who affirmed Heat was the Cause of Concoction. Others maintained with Plistonicus, the Disciple of Pythagoras, that the Meat did putrify or rot in the Stomach, and so that Concoction was Putrefaction, and consequently that the Stomach was a kind of Dunghill. The Third was that of Erasistratus (and this is the Doctor's, which I believe he takes to be new, though it be more than 1600 Years old) who held, that Meat was bruised or grinded in the Stomach, and so the Stomach by consequence was a kind of Mill, and digesting nothing but grinding. The Fourth maintained with Asclepiades, that what we call Concoction is no Concoction at all, but that the Meat raw and undigested as it is eaten, is distribute through the Body. This was the briskest Fellow of them all, who came in at the broadside, and told them that they were debating about nothing, for there was no such thing as Concoction. I wonder the Doctor was not of his side, since they seem to be of a party: For as this Man maintained that Concoction was no Concoction at all; so the Doctor gives us Demonstrations which are no Demonstrations at all.  
Among the Moderns some followed the Ancients: Others, salt and sour Ferments, some had recourse to the Archaeus, etc. The Doctor only begs one thing for to refute his Adversaries Opinions, which is so just that no Body can refuse it, viz. That whatever the Cause of Concoction be, it must be such that will not either dissolve the Stomach, or other solid Parts of the Body, as it were with a chemical Fire, or aqua fortis. This is altogether as reasonable as to demand, that the Pot that boils our Broth be such as the Fire will not melt down while the Broth is a boiling. This being granted, the Doctor soon stops his Adversaries Mouths, by▪ ask them, How it comes to pass that that which dissolves the Meat in the Stomach, whether it be Heat, Ferment, or Putrefaction, does not dissolve the Stomach also, since it dissolves not only Meat of the same kind, but that which is much more solid?  
I verily believe, that not only the Doctor himself, but his Admirers also thinks this an insurmountable difficulty, which no doubt has made him reject these Opinions, and embrace one so absurd, as his will be found. It is strange to see how Men are in love with their own Dreams and Delusions, and how they see other men's Faults, and are blind to their own. For the same Objection that is against these Opinions, holds against the Doctor's. For if he ask them, how it comes to pass that the Stomach is not dissolved as well as the Meat in it? They may ask him, how it comes that the Stomach by bruising and grinding Meat of the same nature with itself, and much more solid too, is not grinded to dust and crumbled away to nothing long ere now? The Doctor Answers, That whatever damage the Stomach sustains that way, is soon repaired by the Blood. Whatever force is in this, it makes as much for any of the contrary Opinions as for his; and so the Stygian Lake, or Chemist's Laboratory, or Cook's Shop, or Dunghill, may maintain its Right against the Mill. I am sure none but these that think very little, or drink very much, would find any difficulty in this which puzells this learned Man so sore, that he thinks it unanswerable. For the things which we digest, cannot properly be said to be of the same nature with our Stomach, or other parts of our Body; for they differ as much as living things and dead: For what we eat must first die, and cease to be nourished, before it can be digested. And were the Stomach and other parts of the Body of the same nature, as the Professor allegeth, with these things we digest, we should lie under the same necessity of preserving our Bodies with divers Pickles and Spices, as we are to keep Beef and Mutton from corrupting with Salt; and so we should be all talking and walking Mummies. But lest the Doctor nnderstand not this, I remit him to the Schoolmaster of Fools for instruction, who will inform him that Worms live frequently in the Stomach, in spite of Heat, Fermentation, Putrefaction, & c' and sometimes in spite of Physic and Physicians too.  
Thus you see the Professor has given his Adversaries a Morsel they can never concoct: But lest it may chance to putrify, he must prevent that too, and take another word of Dr. Lister: For the Professor cannot away with this old musty stinking Opinion, and no wonder, for it turns his Mill into a Jacks, and makes it good for nothing but grinding T— s. There are other Reasons, says he, why we reject the Opinion of the learned Mr. Lister. For this Gentleman will needs have the Meat to rot in the Stomach, because it is in a warm place, without the Animal. But this (says the Doctor) does not answer the Question, for one may still ask, What is the reason that Flesh out of the Stomach does not corrupt or putrify so soon, or if it do, it does not turn to Chile? Which nevertheless the same Flesh will do in the Stomach, in a very little time. This is just such a Question as if one would ask, Wherefore the wind of the Microcosm smells worse than that of the Macrocosm, and why the Vapours penned up there corrupt so soon? But I wonder the Doctor does not see that this will put the Water by his Mill, and hinder it to go, except he make it go with wind, of which he never wants plenty. For I would ask him, How it comes to pass, that the Stomach of any Animal, taken out and filled with Meat, and pressed between the two Hands, never turns the Meat into Chile, which nevertheless it will do in a very short time when the Stomach is in the Animal? The Doctor will readily▪ Answer, that it is not Motion considered in general that is the Cause of Concoction, but a certain kind of Motion, so and so circumstantiat, peculiar to the Stomach. So will his Adversary reply, that it is a certain kind of Putrefaction that cannot be defined, and yet Putrefaction it is, or Corruption still, and is a juster Notion of the thing than any I have met with. But among all the Opinions I have met with, none is so ridiculous and absurd as the Doctor's, as he has stated it. For to tell us, that the motion of the Stomach may contribute to the Concoction, is that which no Body will deny: But to say it is the adequat efficient Cause (for the Doctor assigns no other) is every whit as absurd as to affirm, that because Meat helps to preserve our Life, therefore we need neither Drink, Sleep, nor Air. Yea it is manifest to any considering Man, that from the Motion of the Stomach we can no more have an Idea or Notion of Concoction, than from the Idea of a Windmill, we can frame one of a Solan-goose.  
But notwithstanding of the Absurdity of this Opinion, I am content to let it pass for it usefulness. What can be of more excellent use than this Doctrine? For sick People whose Stomaches are weak, and Digestion bad, may have Chile prepared in a Dog's Stomach, which must be taken out of the Dog either dead or alive, and any kind of Meat put into it you please, which by tossing up and down a few Hours will turn into Chile, fit for nourishing the Patient, whose Throat if it chance to be closed, it may be injected into the Veins. This new Invention will quite discard Consumes and Gelees, and in place of that Physicians will order thus. R. Chyli bene praeparati & in ventri: cani●s. a. digest: un: iij. etc. After all we are no further concerned with Concoction, than to know what is easily concocted: And to take care that there be some proportion between the solid and the liquid, otherwise the Mill will never grind well, whatever some Physicians may say to the contrary.  
I am now come to the Doctor's last Dissertation, De circulatione sanguinis in animalibus genitis & non genitis, which is the most sublime of all, & very proper to crown the work: For the other Discourses were but Medico-mathematical, but this is Mathematico-medical. It is dedicat Mathematicorum Amantibus, To Our Right Trusty and well beloved Cousins and Counsellors the Mathematicians, greeting. I can compare it to nothing so fitly as a Beggar's Cloak, which is made up of Clouts of divers Colours, some new, some old: Or rather to a frugal Supper, where the cold Meat that was left at Dinner, is served up again to furnish out the Table, with the addition of some little Kick-chaws. For the Doctor presents you here with a cold Dish of his Problem de Inventoribus warmed again.  
The principal Design of this Discourse is to demonstrat the Advantages that redounds to the World by the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood. But before the Doctor come to this, he demonstrats that Harvey was the first Discoverer of this great Mystery, and that the good old Man Hippocrat knew no more of it than he did of the Irish Tongue: And he is so hot and eager in the pursuit of this, that one would think he had forgot his main End, and himself too.  
The Circulation of the Blood (says the Doctor in the beginning of his Dissert:) is the ground and foundation of all Medicine. And therefore we need not wonder that he look on the Ancients with an Eye of disdain and contempt, as ignorant Dunces, since they were ignorant of this Foundation, on which Medicine is built: And despise also the Moderns, who though they know it, still practise after the old fashion, and use Derivations and Revulsions and Blooding at different parts of the Body. And therefore if those deserve to be beaten with few stripes, these deserve to be sound whipped: For those were blind, but these have Eyes and see not, and no wonder since they make no use of Mathematical Spectacles. Let us hear then the practical Improvement the Doctor has made of this Noble Invention? The original Cause of the Apoplexy, Lethargy, Coma and other Diseases of the Brain, were as little known to the Ancients (if we give Credit to the Doctor) as the Head of Nile. The Divine Hippocrat himself was forced to recur to the asylum ignorantiae of Divine: And the Moderns for all their fair and specious pretences, have said no more. And no wonder since they sought the Cause where it was not, imagining it was to be found in the Nerves and Pores of the Brain, whereas all this time it lurked in the Arteries like a Fox in his Den, and might have done so still, had not this Mathematical Hunter, getting the Advantage of the Wind, ferreted it out of its Hole. Now if you desire to know how the Doctor found out the true Cause of these Diseases? It was by the Mathematics, as you shall see by and by. For after a tedious Discourse of the different Figures of the Conduits or Vessels through which the Fluids run, some whereof have their sides convergent, some divergent, and others parallel, he concludes that it is chiefly in those whose sides are convergent, where reasonably we may expect Obstructions: And since the Arteries are such, we are to seek the Cause of the abovementioned Diseases in these, which formerly was supposed to lie in the Nerves. The Case is plainly thus in a few words.  
The Vessels or Conduits through which any Liquor runs, are either such as are larger and wider, at the place where the motion begins, and become still narrower and narrower the further they go: Or narrower where the motion begins in them, and still grow wider the farther they go: Or they are equally wide all along from the one end to the other. We have not, according to the Doctor, much reason to suspect any Obstructions in the two last, but only in the first, because what goes in at one end, will easily go out at the other, and therefore we are to seek them chiefly in the Arteries, which grow still narrower the further they are from the Heart; which come to be obstructed thus, according to the Doctor. The little solid Particles that sweem in arterial Blood, when they come to meet together in any part of the Arterey, where the passage is straight, make as it were a kind of Arch, or Vault, which is supported by the sides of the Artery inclining one towards another. And it is evident (says he) that this Bar, or Stop, will be the stronger the more it is pressed by the current of the Blood. And thus you have the true Cause of the Obstructions that befall the Arteries necessarily by the Laws of Mecanism. But there is one thing especially to be observed in the building of Arches, which is, That the Butresses or Supports on which the Arch stands, be such as will not easily yield, otherwise down it comes in a trice. Now the sides of the Arteries being in a perpetual motion, it will be as hard to build a Bridge between them▪ while we are alive, as to build a Castle in the Air: And therefore the only fit time to begin this geometrical Arch is, when we are dead: For the motion of the Arteries being then ceased, there is sure Ground for laying the Foundation. By which you may understand what a false and groundless Notion this is, That Obstructions are more frequent in the Arteries than in the Veins or Nerves, which I confess the difference of the Figure would occasion, if all other things were equal; but the perpetual motion of these, mars all. But false and groundless as it is, it is all the Argument the Doctor has to refute the Opinion of Silvius and Willis: Which being done, he proceeds to explain his own Opinion of sleepy Diseases, as Apoplexy, Lethargy, etc. and at the same time gives us a just account of the nature of Opium.  
It is evident (says he Parag. 24.) that upon the taking of Opium there follows a warm Sweat, and that the Blood in the beginning is rarified. If therefore such a quantity of Opium be taken, as may rarify the Blood in the Brain to such a degree, that the little Arteries that are mixed with the Nerves there, may press them more than ordinary, and so hinder the free passage of the nervous Liquor, the Creature will seem to sleep, and all these things will fall out which we observe in sleep and sleepy Diseases, proceeding from a Cause within the Vessels. Whence it follows (saith he Par. 25.) that Wine and Spirit of Wine, and all Liquors that are rarified easily and suddenly, by heat or any other way, may occasion Sleep and sleepy Diseases. Yea Liquors that are not apt to rarify, if they be taken in a sufficient quantity and carried in such abundance to the Brain as is requisite for dilating the Arteries sufficiently, and consequently for pressing the Nerves. Therefore we need not wonder that some are drunk with Water.  
One would think, that while the Doctor is speaking of sleepy Diseases, and the Qualities of Opium, that he were asleep himself, or had taken a Grain or two of the Juice of the Poppy, this Discourse looks so like Raving. For if the Cause of Sleep, and sleepy Diseases, be the Rarifaction of the Blood, than every thing that rarefies the Mass of the Blood would occasion these Diseases, that is, every thing that is proper for Curing the Apoplexy, etc. would likewise occasion it: As Spirit of Hart-horn, salt Armoniac, Oil of Amber, Rosemary, Tincture of C●ftot, etc. which are Remedies used with good success in those Diseases, and rarify exceedingly the Mass of the Blood, would inevitably either bring on or increase the Malady. This is one of the most wonderful and useful Discoveries that ever the World was blest with, and will make any Body a Physician in a triee. For when you come to a Patient, you have no more to do, but ask him what was the occasion of his Sickness? Was it a surfiet of a Veni●● son pastry? Then be sure to eat as much the next day, and you shall be Fish-whole. Was it a furfiet of Drink? Then take a Hair of the Dog that bit you: For 
Si tibi nocuerit hesterna potatio vini  
Cras iterum bibes & erit tibi medicina.  
If Sickness caused by Drink you mind to Cure,  
To drink just as much the next day be sure.   
So much of the nature of sleepy Diseases and their Cure, both Mathematically explained. I come next to examine the somniferous quality of Opium.  
I will not trouble you at present with the different Opinions either of the Ancients or Moderns, concerning the Nature and Virtues of Opium, especially where its somniferous quality lies. Some maintained it was Heat, others Cold; some a Viscosity, others a Narcotick, Sulphur, etc. But most were of Opinion, that it is an occult Quality, that is to say, they knew not what it was. And this no doubt is the only right Opinion, and is excellently well expressed by Thomas Diaphorus in the Malade Imaginare. Quare facit Opium dormire Thoma? Quia habet virtutem dormitivam. No doubt the Professor thinks this a very ridiculous Answer, otherwise he had never given himself the trouble to seek out another, which nevertheless upon trial will be found to bear the same Image and Superscription.  
But the Professor must say something: He is obliged to it by his place: For one that has a public Salary for Talking or Writing, is obliged to chat, though he should speak Nonsense; as well as a Town-piper is bound to play through the Streets Morning and Evening, though he should play quite out of Tune. For a dumb Professor is as useless a thing, as a Piper that wants the nether Chaps, or a Fiddle without Strings.  
Opium then, according to the Doctor, makes one sleep, because it rarefies the Blood, which is evident, says he, because it provokes a warm Sweat; Whence it follows clearly, that every thing that rarefies the Blood, i. e. every thing that makes one sweat will provoke Sleep, and have all the other Virtues of Opium, i. e. all Sudorificks will be Opiates, i. e. this is all stark Nonsense. But Nonsense as it is, many Advantages attend it. We shall not need to go far to find Laudanum, for almost every thing will afford it in plenty Sometimes, you know what, may supply its place, for the very sight of it, much more the smell or taste, will make one sweat. Yea the most troublesome and uneasy Passions we are subject to, even those that disturb our Rest and hinder Sleep, will furnish us with a Quieting Draught: For Anger and Vexation, etc. which make Men sweat to purpose by their Sudorific, i. e. their Somniferous Quality, will quickly allay our Passions and lull us asleep, even as 
— Dolour est Medicina doloris.   
By this you may clearly see, that Thomas Diaforus and the Professor, give the same Answer in different Terms: And no wonder, since great Wits for the most part agree. Thomas says that Opium makes one sleep because it has a sleeping Quality in it: And the Professor tells us, it is because it has a rarifying Quality. But since every thing that rarefies the Mass of the Blood (that is, every thing that makes us sweat) does not provoke Sleep, this rarifying Quality of Opium must have some speciality or specific Virtue in it, that no Body knows, i. e. an occult Quality, a sleepy Virtue, Virtutem dormitivam. Which was the thing to be demonstrat. Now since the Professor has answered every whit as well as Thomas, no Body in Justice can refuse him the same Compliment. Bene respondere, dignus est intrare in nostro docto corpore, and to be a Professor in any University of Christendom.  
But I must ask the Professor one Question about Opium before I have done, which is, That since Sleep and sleepy Diseases are occasioned by the Dilatation of the small Arteries in the Brain, which press the Nerves, how it comes to pass, that the Arteries that are intermixed with the Nerves that serve for Respiration and the motion of the Heart, are not pressed as well as those which serve for voluntary motion and sensation, and consequently why Sleep does not always occasion a difficulty of Breathing? To this the Professor answers very wittily, That the Heart which is a Muscle, and the Muscles or the Breast have no Antagonists, and therefore 〈◊〉 Animal Spirits will do their turn. And therefore though it cannot be denied▪ that the Nerves that go to the Heart and Breast must be pressed by the Arteries, as well as the rest, yet neither the Pulse nor Breath get any sensible hurt by it, when the Dose is moderate, or the Sleep natural: Because a very few Spirits is sufficient for this great Work, there being no Antagonist Muscles in hi●der it: And very little will do a great deal where there is no opposition in the way.  
Now this Discourse of the Doctor's about Antagonist Muscles, is antagonist to Truth, and antipodes to Sense and Experience. As for the Heart, its Diastole is as natural as its Systole: And though it cannot be said to have an antagonist Muscle, yet it has the equivalent; yea in my opinion a stronger Adversary to grapple with: For, besides the motus restitutionis, which is very near in kin to antagonist Muscle, it has the Blood to squirt out into the Arteries, which requires no small force. But any Body that has seen live Dissections, and thrust their Finger into the Heart of a dying Animal, will find that no small stock of Spirits is necessary for such a task.  
What he says concerning the Muscles of the Breast, is so gross a Mistake, that the meanest Student in Medicine would be ashamed to fall into the like: For they ●ave antagonist Muscles, and these considerable ones too, though the Doctor allegeth ●●ey may be reckoned as good as ●ome all: But he may turn the Tables and 〈◊〉 over again, and he will find the contrary. Is the Sacrolumbar, the Triangular and the Internal Intercostals of no force at all? Here is the depth of Anatomy. But if those be not sufficient alone, they have the confederate Troops of their Allies, the muscular Fibers of the Aspera arteria or Windpipe to assist them at a Call. And I assure you sometimes they stand in need of their help; as in the Acts of Coughing▪ Singing, Laughing, etc. all acts of Expiration, in which the Breast is contracted, and require more Spirits than any act of Inspiration I know. But why should we multiply Causes without necessity? Gravity alone is sufficient to do the thing, thus. When we breath in Air, the Chest of the Breast is enlarged, and the Ribs are pulled upwards, in so much that the oblique Angles they made with the Back▪ bone, becomes right ones; all which is performed by the Muscles that serve for Inspiration; and when these remit thei● action, the Breast by its own native Graccho▪ vity falls down again, and shrinks into i● former shape; in which it remains till t●● Muscles pull it up by the Ears again. And this is the Doctor's Opinion of the matter, in his Discourse, De causis diversae molis, etc.  
This Doctor is the luckiest Man that ever breathed, for finding out Succedaneums or Quid's pro Quo's. We wanted here an Antagonist Muscle to help the Breast down again. The Doctor tells us, the weight will supply the place, no more is necessary. We tumble down the Hill of our own accord, but we must have force and strength to mount up again. Now the weight of the Breast being sufficient for the act of Expiration, and doing the duty of an Antagonist Muscle must resist the act of Inspiratton, as much as if it were one, and therefore there will be need of the same supply of animal Spirits, to overcome this weighty Adversary, which would be necessary to vanquish an antagonist Muscle: And consequently the same Dose of Opium that makes one sleep, would stop both the motion of the Heart and Breast, if its somniferous Virtue be such as the Doctor has assigned: Yea, Sleep itself would kill without Mercy.  
From this Opinion, that Expiration is performed by the weight of the Breast▪ many weighty Instructions may be deduced for the good of Mankind.  
The First is for Nurses, either wet or dry, that they take special care, when they hold out Children, that their breech be not higher than their Breast: For in this posture, if they chance to breath in Air, which they must needs do, in order to blow something out at the other end, if in this posture, I say, when the Ribs make right Angles with the Spina dorsi, they chance either to be perpendicular to the Horizon▪ or make acute Angles with it, in a very few minutes the Child will die, though not breath out its last; because there is no antagonist Muscle to draw the Ribs down again, and the weight cannot determine them one way more than another, while they are pendicular, and in the other Case it will determine them the quite contrary way. They must also take notice then Children never go on all Four; for then the Gravity which served for Expiration will now help Inspiration; by which means the motion of the Breast will cease, and the Infant breath in its last.  
The Next Instruction is for Jockeys and Ferriers, to teach them how to Cure wind-broken Horses. Which is done by making them walk on their hinder Legs upright, or lie on their Back: For in either of these postures the weight helps the Expiration, but in their natural posture it hinders it.  
The Third and last is for Trumpeters and Pipers, etc. who to make them blow better, should lay a weight on their Breast, as Smiths do on their Bellows, which will very much help their Expiration: And even Experience teacheth us, that pressing the Belly will make one rift at the wrong End, which is a kind of Expiration too. Are not these useful Instructions both for Man and Beast?  
By what has been said, any Body may be fully satisfied of the power and efficacy of this Geometrical Method in Medicine, and that the Mathematics are absolately necessary for a Physician; even altogether as much as the knowledge of the Chess is for the General of an Army. And that you may not take this for a Jest, I must tell you it was pronounced in earnest by the infallible Judge of Controversies the Pope, in favours of one of his Nephews; for which he gave these Reasons, it being pronounced extra Cathedram. He that understands the Chess, said he, knows how to muster his Men, to draw them up in battle Rank, to Attack, Defend, Fortify his Camp, Pursue his Victory, Secure his Retreat, etc. And these are the only Qualifications necessary for a General. Now no Body can deny but that the Professor has at least as fair a Plea for Infallibility in his Conclusions pronounced in Cathedra, as the Pope has for his Decisions extra Cathedram. From all which it follows clearly that the Mathematics are as necessary for the one, as to play at Chess for the other.  
But lest you call the Professor's Authority in question, I'll draw the parallel more exactly, and show you that there is just as much reason for the one as the other, there being the same affinity between Medicine and Mathematics, that is between the Art of War and the Chess. For Medicine is nothing but the Art of making War against the Enemies of the Microcosm, these Hosts humani generis. And the Physician, who is the Wariour, must understand how to fortify the Place regularly, and defend it against the Attacks of the Enemy. And this is that part of Medicine we call the Preservative. He must likeways know, how to expel the Enemy when entered the place, either by Force or Stratagem; to beat them off with Bullets of Mercury, and blow them up with Jesuits-powder, which is as necessary in Medicine as Gunpowder in War. Now no Man is able to do this well, and to purpose, but he that understands Fortification, which is a part of the Mathematics. Ergo no Man can be a good Physician except he be a Mathematician. Q. E. D.  
Now I have done with Mathematical Medicine. And what I have said of its real Worth and Excellency, will sufficiently convince the Learned Mob, and all these that admire what they know not (for whose Instruction this was written) that its Author is not only a deep Philosopher, and profound Mathematician, but the most eminent Physician that ever this poor Nation was blest with. And if any Man be either so dull, as not to assent to a Mathematical Demonstration, or so humoursome and perverse, as to struggle against his own light, he ought to be cudgelled into compliance, and forced to confess with his Mouth what he cannot believe with his Heart, and cry out with the Rabble, Great is Diana of the Ephesians, the Image that fell down from Jupiter.  
FINIS.    

A DISCOURSE OF CERTAINTY.  
Wherein you have a FURTHER PROOF Of the Power of the Mathematics, AND OF The Profound Knowledge of A. P. M. D.  
Ille decus Patriae & splendour: non sydere tanto  
OEbalii micuere Dii, quos nauta solutis  
Puppibus, & jam jam vicentibus invocat undis.  
Printed in the Year, M. DC. XCV.   

TO THE READER.  
Reader,  
IN the preceding Discourse you have a Conjectural Art turned into a Certain Science, and, by a strange kind of Metamorphosis, Delirations transformed into Demonstrations: And in this, you have an Attempt made, to turn Certainty into Conjecture, and the Truth into a Lie: And all by the Power of the Mathematics; which, like Circe's magical Rod, turns Men into Swine, and Swine into Men. And as the Principles laid down in the former lead to Empirieism, so these of the later tend to Scepticism, as to Matters of fact. And as he that regulats his Practice in Physic by the first, will at best prove nothing but a Mountebank; so he that found'st his Belief on the last, will prove little better than a Deist or Infidel. Now although these Consequences naturally follow from the Principles laid down in the one and the other; yet I do not accuse this learned Man of any thing but sublime Inadvertency. Some Men speak before they think, and these for the most part know not what they say; and so can hardly be guilty of Malice, though they may be accused of Rashness. But since he that kills a Man by mere Inadvertency, as really kills him as he that does it deliberately and on design, and the damage is the same, though the guilt is not. Therefore I would advise these blind Archers, not to shoot any more at random, nor draw their Bow at a venture: For they may do more Mischief than they are aware of. And if they continue to do so after Admonition, that which in Charity was thought Rashness before, will now justly be reckoned Malice and Design; and the Offender no longer a manslayer, but a Murderer.  
I had not concerned myself with this impertinent piece of Stuff at this time, were it not that there is a Set of Men sprung up, who call themselves Deists, (but who for the most part are downright Atheists) these pretend to be the only Men of Logic and Disputation, who make the learned Mob stand amazed at the wit and profoundness of their idle Chat, as if they had seen the Gorgon's Head: And a Gnat is not more troublesome with its little Sting and Buzz, than these Smaterers with their small Sophistry. These Wits impudently tell us, That nothing is certain but a Mathematical Demonstration, and that all historical Certainty amounts to no more but a mere Conjecture, and that the best attested History is little better than a Romance: Tho the best Reasons they bring to maintain this Paradox, are little better than the Dreams of Enthusiasts, or Rave of sick Folks. The truth of which will easily appear to any that will give themselves the Trouble to read attentively the following Discourse.   

A DISCOURSE of CERTAINTY.  
THERE is Nothing more certain than that Something is certain: And he that maintains the contrary gives himself the lie. But what Certainty is, can better be conceived than expressed: For every Man at the hearing of the Word, if he understands the Language, has presently an Idea of what is meant by it. Whatever we assent to, we think it either Certain or Probable: Our Assent to the First is called Knowledge, which comprehends both that of Principles and Conclusions, which the Schools express by Intelligentia & Scientia: And our Assent to the Last is called Opinion or Conjecture.  
Some distinguish Knowledge or Certainty into Three kinds, Physical, Mathematical, and Moral. The two first of these they call Infallible, not in an absolute (for that is an Attribute of GOD) but a qualified Sense, which supposes our Faculties to be true, and that we exert them aright: And the last they style Indubitable Certainty. The Authors of this distinction seem to me to contradict themselves: For they grant that Moral as well as Physical or Mathematical Certainty, excludes all kind of doubting whatsomever; and yet at the same time they deny, that it has as great evidence as these: That is to say, we have no more reason to doubt of what is Morally certain, than of what is Physically, or Mathematically so; though we have not the same reason for believing the first, that we have for the two last, i. e. we have both the same Reason, and not the same Reason, to Believe, and not Believe the same Things equally at the same time. The fault of these Men is, that they comprehend under Moral or Indubitable Certainty, Things of a very different nature, and, in my humble Opinion, confound Indubitable Certainty and high Probability together. For the Certainty that I have, that the Sun rose Yesterday, and that I have that it will rise to Morrow, though vastly different, are both styled by them Indubitable; whereas only the former is such: For though the later be so certain▪ that I have no such reason to doubt of it, as to be in continual fear of the contrary; yet it comes not up to the certainty of the former, of which I have as great assurance, and every whit as well grounded, as of any Proposit on in Euclid.  
Opinion or Conjecture, is an Assent given to things less clear and plain, for which though a great deal may be said, yet the Proof does not arise to that degree of Evidence, as to beget a Certainty that excludes all reasonable doubt, and fear of the contrary. And these are the two Heads to which Assent is reducible.  
Agreeable to this our problematick Doctor in his Problem Pag. 12. teaches us, That whatever things we assent to, are either such as are Demonstrat or not Demonstrat. By things demonstrat (says he ibid.) I understand, Ea quorum probationes conficiunt impossibile esse ut ipsa se aliter habeant, unde sequitur ea semper eodem modo se habere. But by things not demonstrat, I understand (says he) Ea quorum probationes non conficiunt ipsa aliter esse non posse; unde concludi nequit ea semper eodem modo se habere. The Arguments that agree to the former, are called Demonstrations, and these that agree to the later Probabilities. That is in a few words, Whatever is demonstrat is so certain and true, that it is impossible it should be false: But that which is not demonstrat is never so certain, but that it may be false, a cheat and a lie, for any thing we know.  
One at first sight would think, that the Dr. were of the same mind with those I just now mentioned, but there is a vast difference. For these maintain, that beside Physical and Mathematical, there is likeways a Moral Certainty, which is as certain as any of the two; and that many Matters of fact are capable of this kind of Certainty. Whereas this learned Man holds, that nothing is infallibly certain, but a Demonstration; and that all other Certainty, even that which depends on the faith of History, is nothing but Probability and mere Conjecture; and consequently all the Infallible or Indubitable Certainty we can expect from any History, though never so well attested, is, That it is infallibly uncertain; because all History whatsoever supposeth, according to this learned Author, some things that cannot be demonstrat, which weakens exceedingly its credibility, and makes it amount to no more but a may be. But that I may not be thought to mistake the Dr. let us hear him out, that we may the better understand his meaning:  
Moreover (says he) ye must know, that these that give credit to the Author of any History, that is, who propose to themselves an Author, whose Authority enters the state of the Question, necessarily suppose these Effata or Oracles (which according to him are as false, as ever any pronounced by the Delphic Daemon) First,  
1. That we should always believe our Senses.  
2. That the Authors of the said History delivered always to others the very same things they knew themselves by the Testimony of their Senses. Which is not demonstrat.  
3. That these by whom the said History has been handed down to us, were such Men, that they always delivered to Posterity the very same History, which they received from their Predecessors. Which is not demonstrat.  
4. If an History be old and not written, than we must take for granted that these by whom this History has been handed down to us, never forgot any Particular. Which is not demonstrat.  
From which it follows (says he) that we are more certain of things that are demonstrat, than of any thing that depends upon the Faith of History.  
2. That we are more certain of these things we know by our Senses, than of any thing we know only by History: And therefore that an Argument taken from History is of no force against things that are demonstrat, or perceived by our Senses.  
3. That we can never be so certain of any History as the Authors of it. Nor so certain of an old History as a late.  
Now if you consider the Matter well, you shall find that this Doctrine strikes at the Root, and shakes the Foundation of all historical Certainty, whether the History be Sacred or Profane: For the one as well as the other supposeth and takes for granted the Second and Third Effatum, (according to the Doctor) that is, it supposeth something to be true, which for any thing we know is false, and consequently the Belief that is built on it; for such as the Foundation is, such will the Building be: And every Body knows that Conclusions have the same kind of Certainty, with the Principles themselves from which they are deduced: For Truth like Water will rise no higher than its Fountain. But I shall examine his Conclusions one by one, and show you how Sound and Solid, i. e. how Senseless and Ridiculous they are.  
The First is not only Pernicious and Absurd, but downright Nonsense: For it is contrary to Sense and Reason, and the common Sentiments of Mankind, viz. that I cannot be so certain of any Matter of fact of which I was not a Witness, as of a Demonstration, as indeed some Matters of fact were not as capable of being demonstrat their own way, as any Proposition in Euclid; and which we can no more doubt of, nor disbelieve, than we can of Problems about Lines or Numbers, without doing manifest violence to our own Convictions. For they carry such an Evidence along with them, as determines almost necessarily our Assent, and which no unprejudiced Mind can withstand, though it is possible that Malice and Peevishness may defeat their efficacy: And so it may too, if it please, overrule the Power of Mathematical Demonstration: Which if it thwarted men's Lusts, and crossed their vicious Inclinations, would meet with as much Contradiction as Moral Demonstration does.  
Have not these that have writ of the truth of the Christian Religion, as clearly demonstrat that there was such a one as CHRIST JESUS, Who was Crucified at Jerusalem, rose again from the Dead, etc. as any thing can be: Matters of fact that the greatest Adversaries to the Truth never had the impudence to deny. It was good luck that Celsus and Porphyry and the rest of that gang, were not learned enough in the Mathematics, to find out this flaw of the Non demonstrata. For it had been easy for them to have stopped the Mouths of their Adversaries thus. This History which you believe supposes and takes for granted some things to be true, which may be false, a cheat and lie, such as no wise Man would trust his Life and Fortune to, much less his highest and greatest concern. Thus you see what a brave thing it is to be Troppo Mathematico.  
The 2. Conclusion is all of a piece with the first, equally Pernicious, Absurd and Ridiculous. For according to it I can never be so certain that ever there was such a Man as King James the Sixth, or Charles the First, as if I had seen them. From which also it follows, that no Man can ever be certain that he was born of a Woman; yea for aught he knows, he was hatched under a Hen, or grew out of the Ground like a Cabbage; which is so ridiculous, that a Child of Ten Years old would refute it, from the Principles of common Sense. Let me suppose then a Dialogue between some learned Mathematician and this Child.  
Math. Come hither my pretty little Rogue, prithee tell me, was thou born of a Woman? Child. What does think that I was hatched under a Hen, or grew out of the Ground like a Cabbage. Math. For any thing, Child, you know it is so. Ch. For any thing I know you are Hypocondriack. Math. Hold your peace, Child, did you see yourself born. Ch. If I did, I do not remember. Math. How then do you know that you was born of a Woman? Ch. How do I know? Marry my Father and Mother, and all the Neighbourhood told me so much; are not all Children born of Women? Math. That is the Question Child. Is any Body alive that saw you born? Or has any Body writ the History of your Birth. Ch. I know nothing of all that. Math. Then Child many things being alleged here to to be certain that are not demonstrat, and so may be false, you can never be certain you was born of a Woman. As First, That these who pretend they saw you born, had so much honesty, as to tell nothing but the Truth: Which is not demonstrat according to the 2. Effatum. Secondly, Supposing the Witnesses are dead, that these who heard it from them, told it to others just as they heard it: Which is not demonstrat according to the 3. Effatum. Thirdly, There being no written History of your Birth, but only Tradition, you must suppose the Memories of those by whom you pretend to know the thing, to be so faithful, that they forgot nothing of the whole Matter: Which is not demonstrat according to the 4. Effatum. Now all these being supposed for true, which nevertheless may be false, it may be you have been hatched under a Hen, or grown up like a Cabbage, or dropped from a Tree like a Bernacle or Cleg-goose; and therefore Child take heed you fall not into the Hands of some French Papist, who may eat you on a Fish-day for a Macreuse, without transgressing the Rules of his Church, which no doubt has the same power to make Flesh Fish, that it has to make Bread Flesh: And though you should escape this, yet either Protestant or Papist may make a Dish of Cabbage of you, or a fricassee of Chickens. Ch. I thank you for your Advice: But in the mean time take you care not to fall into the Hands of the Keepers of Bedlam, who, if they catch you, will certainly lock you up for a Madman.  
The Third Conclusion is a wedge of the same Timber, every whit as senseless as the former. For I can be as sure of the truth of some Histories, and Thousands of Matters of fact, as I had been an Ear and an Eye Witness, and the First Authors could pretend to no more. Do not I know as certainly that there is such a Place as Rome or Constantinople, and that the one is the Seat of the Pope, and the other the Residence of the Grand Signior, as if I had seen them with my Eyes, and this is so evident, that one would be taken for a Madman that would call it in question.  
And for the Antiquity of a History, it is the first time that ever I heard, that it derogates any thing from the Credit of it. It is not the oldness of the History that lessens its Credibility, but its being weakly attested in the beginning: the small Authority it had decays with Time, that tries all, and at last may chance to perish and die. But a History that has been well attested in the beginning, and has set up upon a sufficient stock of Authority, will never crack its Credit, nor prove Bankrupt with time, but rather 
Mobilitate viget, viresque acquirit eundo.   
Time is the best Index Expurgatorius, to discover what is false and fictitious, and what is certain and true. Opinionum commenta delet dies: Naturae judieia con●irmat, saith Cicero. Many Writings have passed for genuine, which time has discovered to be supurious. And many Men have been thought both Learned and Honest, who at last have been found to be mere Dunces and very Rogues. Nemo potest diu personam far. Ficta in naturam suam cito recidunt. Sen. de Clement.  
Et redit in nihilum quod fuit ante nihil.  
From this Position of the Doctor's it clearly▪ follows, that I cannot be so certain▪ of an History writ Sixteen Hundred Years ago (much less of one that is of Three Thousand Years standing) as of one writ Sixty Years ago. How solid and sound this Conclusion is, I leave to the Divines to determine.  
If what I have said be true, what will become of the Doctor's Oracles, which all historical Certainty supposeth? Let them even undergo the Fate of all lying Oracles.  

— Et Ditis caecas remeare sub umbras▪  And so return to the Place from whence they came. And I am sure the Doctor will approve the Condemnation of these Criminals, who have not only killed Historical Truth, but basely murdered Mathematical, by stabbing it to the very Heart. For Mathematical Certainty, as well as Historical Supposes some Non demonstrata, and consequently, according to the Doctor, must labour under some degree of Uncertainty, and so all Mathematical Demonstrations will at best prove nothing but high Probabilities. For the Truth and Certainty of a Mathematical Demonstration, especially if it be such as depends on a long train of foregoing Propositions, which again must depend on so many Definitions, Axioms and Postulats▪ supposeth things that are not, and cannot be demonstrat (according to the Doctor) and so must take up its Quarters with poor miserable Historical Certainty. But it is 
Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.   
To illustrat the Truth of what I say, I shall bring an Example that is beyond all exception. There is nothing more frequent and ordinary, than to say▪ That a thing is as certain as, that the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two right Angles: And yet as certain as it▪ is, it poseth some things that are not demonstrat, viz. That the Judgement and Memory of one that pronounces this as certain, is infallible, and no ways subject to mistake. For since no Man can have an intuitive knowledge, of all the foregoing Propositions, Axioms and Postulats, on which this Conclusion depends, (which though he had, is but fallible at best) and an objective Evidence of their Truth, all at one view, he must content himself to remember, that he once knew them, and trust his poor frail Memory for all, which frail as it is he must suppose to be infallible, before he can have such an assurance of this Truth, as excludes all doubting: And so Mathematical Certainty must stand upon the same bottom with Historical: And consequently either Historical Truth must be as certain as Mathematical, or Mathematical as uncertain as Historical.  
It is nothing to the purpose that some object, That many Fables and Fictions have passed for true, and many such are believed and inrertained in the World to this day as certain, that are mere idle Tales and Stories. For this is no more prejudicial to Historical▪ Certainty, than it is to Mathematical, that not only Probabilities but Paralogisms; yea even some Dreams pass current for Demonstrations. Nor is it of any more force what others allege, that Historical Truth has as much Certainty as it is capable of, but it is no more but Historical still. Historical Certainty it is, but Historical Certainty is as certain in its kind, as Physical or Mathematical are in their kinds▪ and the Certainty of the one derogates no more, from the other, than the Certainty of Seeing from the Certainty of Hearing: For though I cannot see with my Ears, nor hear with my Eyes; yet both Hearing and Seeing are equally certain, though of different kinds, and I can be as infallibly certain I hear a Sound, as that I see a Colour.  
Much more might be said on this subject, did not its own native Evidence and Perspicuity supersed any further Proof or Illustration thereof. And what I have said is sufficient to convince any unprejudiced Mind. As for those who are resolved to be humoursome and wilful, and smother the greatest Convictions, and stifle the clearest Evidence, it were in vain to attempt to convince such by Reason, who stand more in need of Helebor: which if they refuse (for some mad Folks will take nothing by the Mouth) the wise Solomon has left us an excellent Receipt, A whip for the Ass, a bridle for the Horse, and a rod for the Fools back. And yet I must confess that some of those poor Creatures deserve rather Pity than Punishment, and want more the Prayers of the Church, than the Sword of the Magistrate, for their Recovery; for it were breach of Charity to think they were not sick of that Disease the Physicians call, Delirium sine febre. For how can we imagine, that any but these that have not the exercise of their Reason, will deny the most manifest Truths, and give themselves over to believe Lies? And set up for great Philosophers and deep Clerks, because they can break two or three dull Jests on the Scripture, and pretend to answer the strongest Arguments with some pitiful Repartee, which beside that it is void of Reason, has scarce wit enough to tempt any Man to laugh beside themselves. But what to say of these men's Admirers I know not; all the difference I know between them is, that the first for the most part are incurable, and the last incorrigeable Fools, being of that kind, whom though you bray in a Mortar, yet will not their Folly depart from them.  
I have now done, and (if I am not mistaken) have sufficiently vindicat the Truth from a Lie, and Physic and Physicians from the groundless Aspersions and false and mistaken Notions of these Mathematical Quiblers, who will needs turn the World upside down, and remove the ancient Landmarks our Fathers have set. And I am sure whoever blame me for this, my learned Adversary owes me Thanks, for opening his Eyes, and letting him see how injurions▪ the Learned Mob has been to him. For what greater Injury can be done to one, than to make him believe, that Buffoonery is Wit, Pedantry Learning, and stark Nonsense the sublimest Eloquence, and idle Dreams Mathematical Demonstrations? But I am afraid I have been working to an unthankful Master, whose weak Eyes cannot endure the Light; and it may be in place of that which I expected, I shall meet with the quite contrary, and be challenged as an Accuser of the Brethren of false Citations and Translations and what not? Which is all the Answer I expect, and which no Body in reason can blame. For Nature, when it can do no better, will struggle, and the Ultimus Naturae conatus was never condemned by any Law; yea even these Qui exeunt cum crepitu, are excusable.  
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  
Pag. 18. for eas, read eos. Pag. 19 for Demonstrevero, Demonstravero. Pag. 30. for way, ways.