276The Preface.
praiſes of Chymical Medicines, firſt puff up with vain hopes, and then fail
their admirers.
their admirers.
And as for that Death which is cauſed by Suffocation, Putrefaction, and
ſeveral Diſeaſes, weſpeak not of it now, for that pertains to an Hiſtory oſ
Phyſick; but onely oſ that Death which comes by a total decay of the
Body, and the Inconcoction of old Age. Nevertheleſs the laſt act of
Death, and the very extinguiſhing of Life it ſelf, which may ſo many
ways be wrought outwardly and inwardly (which notwithſtanding have,
as it were, one common Porch beſore it comes to the point of death) will
be pertinent to beinquired of in this Treatiſe; but we reſerve that for the
laſt place.
ſeveral Diſeaſes, weſpeak not of it now, for that pertains to an Hiſtory oſ
Phyſick; but onely oſ that Death which comes by a total decay of the
Body, and the Inconcoction of old Age. Nevertheleſs the laſt act of
Death, and the very extinguiſhing of Life it ſelf, which may ſo many
ways be wrought outwardly and inwardly (which notwithſtanding have,
as it were, one common Porch beſore it comes to the point of death) will
be pertinent to beinquired of in this Treatiſe; but we reſerve that for the
laſt place.
That which may be repaired by degrees, without a total waſte of the
firſt ſtock, is potentially eternal, as the Veſtal Fire. Thereſore when Phy-
ſicians and Philoſophers ſaw that living Creatures were nouriſhed and their
Bodies repaired, but that this did laſt onely for a time, and afterwards
came old age, and in the end diſſolution; they ſought Death in ſomewhat
which could not properly be repaired, ſuppoſing a Radical Moiſture in-
capable of ſolid reparation, and which, from the firſt infancy, received
a ſpurious addition, but no true reparation, whereby it grew daily worſe
and worſe, and, in the end, brought the bad to none at all. This con-
ceit of theirs was both ignorant and vain; for all things in living Crea-
tures are in their youth repaired entirely; nay, they are for a time in-
creaſed in quantity, bettered in quality, ſo as the Matter of reparation
might be eternal, if the Manner of reparation did not fail. But this is
the truth of it, There is in the declining of age an unequal reparation;
ſome parts are repaired eaſily, others with difficulty and to their loſs; ſo
as from that time the Bodies of Men begin to endure the torments of Me
zentius, That the living die in the embraces of the dead; and the parts eaſily repair-
able, through their conjunction with the parts hardly repairable, do de-
cay: For the Spirits, Blood, Flesh, and Fat are, even after the decline of
years, eaſily repaired; but the drier and more porous parts (as the
Membranes, all the Tunicles, the Sinews, Arteries, Veins, Bones, Cartilages,
moſt of the Bowels, in a word, almoſt all the Organical Parts) are hardly
repairable, and to their loſs. Now theſe hardly-repairable parts, when they
come to their office of repairing the other which are eaſily repairable,
finding themſelves deprived of their wonted ability and ſtrength, ceaſe
to perſorm any longer their proper Functions: By which means it comes
to paſs, that in proceſs of time the whole tends to diſſolution; and even
thoſe very parts which in their own nature are with much eaſe repair-
able, yet through the decay of the Organs of reparation can no more re-
ceive reparation, but decline, and in the end utterly fail. And the cauſe of
the termination of Life is this, for that the Spirits, like a gentle flame,
continually preying upon Bodies, conſpiring with the outward Air, which
is ever ſucking and drying of them, do, in time, deſtroy the whole Fa-
brick of the Body, as alſo the particular Engines and Organs thereof,
and make them unable for the work of Reparation. Theſe are the true
ways of Natural Death, well and faithfully to be revolved in our mindes;
for he that knows not the ways of Nature, how can he ſuccor her, or turn
her about?
firſt ſtock, is potentially eternal, as the Veſtal Fire. Thereſore when Phy-
ſicians and Philoſophers ſaw that living Creatures were nouriſhed and their
Bodies repaired, but that this did laſt onely for a time, and afterwards
came old age, and in the end diſſolution; they ſought Death in ſomewhat
which could not properly be repaired, ſuppoſing a Radical Moiſture in-
capable of ſolid reparation, and which, from the firſt infancy, received
a ſpurious addition, but no true reparation, whereby it grew daily worſe
and worſe, and, in the end, brought the bad to none at all. This con-
ceit of theirs was both ignorant and vain; for all things in living Crea-
tures are in their youth repaired entirely; nay, they are for a time in-
creaſed in quantity, bettered in quality, ſo as the Matter of reparation
might be eternal, if the Manner of reparation did not fail. But this is
the truth of it, There is in the declining of age an unequal reparation;
ſome parts are repaired eaſily, others with difficulty and to their loſs; ſo
as from that time the Bodies of Men begin to endure the torments of Me
zentius, That the living die in the embraces of the dead; and the parts eaſily repair-
able, through their conjunction with the parts hardly repairable, do de-
cay: For the Spirits, Blood, Flesh, and Fat are, even after the decline of
years, eaſily repaired; but the drier and more porous parts (as the
Membranes, all the Tunicles, the Sinews, Arteries, Veins, Bones, Cartilages,
moſt of the Bowels, in a word, almoſt all the Organical Parts) are hardly
repairable, and to their loſs. Now theſe hardly-repairable parts, when they
come to their office of repairing the other which are eaſily repairable,
finding themſelves deprived of their wonted ability and ſtrength, ceaſe
to perſorm any longer their proper Functions: By which means it comes
to paſs, that in proceſs of time the whole tends to diſſolution; and even
thoſe very parts which in their own nature are with much eaſe repair-
able, yet through the decay of the Organs of reparation can no more re-
ceive reparation, but decline, and in the end utterly fail. And the cauſe of
the termination of Life is this, for that the Spirits, like a gentle flame,
continually preying upon Bodies, conſpiring with the outward Air, which
is ever ſucking and drying of them, do, in time, deſtroy the whole Fa-
brick of the Body, as alſo the particular Engines and Organs thereof,
and make them unable for the work of Reparation. Theſe are the true
ways of Natural Death, well and faithfully to be revolved in our mindes;
for he that knows not the ways of Nature, how can he ſuccor her, or turn
her about?
Therefore the Inquiſition ought to be twofold;
the one touching the
Conſumption or Depredation of the Body of Man; the other touching the
Reparation and Renovation of the ſame: To the end, that the former
Conſumption or Depredation of the Body of Man; the other touching the
Reparation and Renovation of the ſame: To the end, that the former