The first of these we sometimes find touched in medicine; but it has strangely insinuated itself into religion. Physicians prescribe remedies for the diseases of the mind, viz., madness, melancholy, &c., as also to cheer the spirits, strengthen the memory, &c. ; but for diet, choice of meats and drinks, washings, and other observances relating to the body, they are found immoderately in the sect of the Pythagoreans, the Manichean heresy, and the law of Mahomet, There are, also, numerous and strict ordinances in the cere monial law, prohibiting the eating of blood and fat, and distinguishing the unclean animals from the clean for food.m Even the Christian religion, though it has thrown off the veil of ceremonies, still retains the use of fasting, abstinence, and other things that regard the subjection and humiliation of the body; as things not merely ritual, but advantageous. The root of all these ordinances, besides the ceremony and exercise of obedience, is, that the soul should sympathize and suffer with the body. And if any man of weaker judgment thinks that such macerations question the immortality, or derogate from the sovereignty of the soul, let him find an answer in the instances, either of an infant in its mother's womb, which shares in the vicissitudes, and yet is distinct from its mother's body, or of monarchs, who, though in possession of absolute power, are frequently influenced and swayed by their servants. The other part, which considers the operations of the soul upon the body, has likewise been received into medicine. for every prudent physician regards the accidents of the mind as a principal thing in his cures, that greatly promote or hinder the effects of all other remedies. But one particular has been hitherto slightly touched, or not well examined, as its usefulness and abstruse nature require; viz., how far a fixed and riveted imagination may alter the body of the imaginant; for though this has a manifest power to hurt, it does not follow, it has the same to relieve: no more than because an air may be so pestilent as suddenly to destroy, another air should be so wholesome as suddenly to recover. This would be an inquiry of noble use; but, as Socrates would say, it requires a Delian diver, for it is deep plunged. n But among these doctrines of union, or consent of soul and body, there is none more necessary than an inquiry into the proper seat and habitation of each faculty of the soul in the body and its organs. Some, indeed, have prosecuted this subject; but all usually delivered upon it is either controverted or slightly examined, so as to require more pains and accuracy. The opinion of Plato, which seats the understanding in the brain, courage in the heart, and sensuality in the liver, should neither be totally rejected nor fondly received.° CHAPTER II. Division of the Knowledge of the Human Body into the Medicinal, Cosmetic, Athletic, and the Voluptuary Arts. Division of Medicine into Three Functions: viz., the Preservation of Health, the Cure of Diseases, and the Prolongation of Life. The last distinct from the two former. THE doctrine of the human body divides itself according to the perfections of the body, whereto it is subservient. These perfections are four: viz., 1st, health; 2nd, comeliness; 3rd, strength; and 4th, pleasure to which correspond as relatives: 1st, the arts of medicine; 2nd, beautifying; 3rd, gymnastics; and 4th, the art of elegance, which Tacitus calls eruditum luxum.a Medicine is a noble art, and honourably descended, according to the poets, who make Apollo the primary god, and his son Esculapius, whom they also deify, the first professor thereof: for as, in natural things, the sun is the author and fountain of life, so the physician, who preserves life, seems a second origin thereof. But medicine receives far greater honour from the works of our Saviour, who was physician both to soul and body, and made the latter the standing subject of his miracles, as the soul was the constant subject of his doctrine. Of all the things that nature has created, the human body is most capable of relief, though this relief be the most liable. to error. For as the subtilty and variety of the subject affords many opportunities of cure, so likewise a great facility of mistake. And, therefore, as this art, especially at present, • Plato's Timæus, and Aristotle on the Generation of Animals. stands among the most conjectural ones, so the inquiry into it is to be placed among the most subtile and difficult. Neither are we so senseless as to imagine, with Paracelsus and the alchymists, that there are to be found in man's body definite analogies to all the variety of specific natures in the world, perverting very impertinently that emblem of the ancients, that man was a microcosm or model of the whole world, to countenance their idle fancies. Of all natural bodies, we find none so variously compounded as the human : vegetables are nourished by earth and water; brutes by herbs and fruits; but man feeds upon the flesh of living creatures, herbs, grain, fruits, different juices and liquors; and these all prepared, preserved, dressed, and mixed in endless variety. Besides, the way of living among other creatures is more simple, and the affections that act upon the body fewer and more uniform; but man in his habitation, his exercises, passions, &c., undergoes numberless changes. So that it is evident that the body of man is more fermented, compounded, and organized, than any other natural substance; the soul, on the other side, is the simplest, as is well expressed "6 purumque reliquit Ethereum sensum, atque auraï simplicis ignem;"b_ so that we need not marvel that the soul so placed enjoys no rest, since it is out of its place : "Motus rerum extra locum est rapidus, placidus in loco." This variable and subtile composition, and fabric of the human body, makes it like a kind of curious musical instrument, easily disordered; and therefore, the poets justly joined music and medicine in Apollo; because the office of medicine is to tune the curious organ of the human body, and reduce it to harmony. The subject being so variable has rendered the art more conjectural, and left the more room for imposture. Other arts and sciences are judged of by their power and ability, and not by success or events. The lawyer is judged by the ability of his pleading, not the issue of the cause; the pilot, by directing his course, and not by the fortune of the voyage; whilst the physician and statesman have no párticular act that clearly demonstrates their ability, but are Virg. Æneid, vi. 746. • Arist. on the Heavens. principally censured by the event, which is very unjust for who can tell, if a patient die or recover, or a state fall into decay, whether the evil is brought about by art or by accident? Whence imposture is frequently extolled, and virtue decried. Nay, the weakness and credulity of men is such, that they often prefer a mountebank, or a cunning woman, to a learned physician. The poets were clear-sighted in discerning this folly, when they made Esculapius and Circe brother and sister, and both children of Apollo, as in the verses: "Ille repertorem medicinæ talis et artis, Fulmine Phœbigenam Stygias detrusit ad undas:" and similarly of Circe, daughter of the sun : "Dives inaccessis ubi Solis filia lucis Urit odoratam nocturna in lumina cedrum."d For in all times, witches, old women, and impostors, have, in the vulgar opinion, stood competitors with physicians. And hence physicians say to themselves, in the words of Solomon, "If it befall to me, as befalleth to the fools, why should I labour to be more wise ?"e And, therefore, one cannot greatly blame them, that they commonly study some other art, or science, more than their profession. Hence, we find among them poets, antiquaries, critics, politicians, divines, and in each more knowing than in medicine. Nor does this fall out, because as a certain declamour against physicians suggests, being so often in contact with loathsome spectacles, that they seize the first hour of leisure to draw their minds from such contemplations. For as they are men—“ Nihil humani à se alienum putent"-no doubt, because they find that mediocrity and excellency in their own art makes no difference in profit or reputation for men's impatience of diseases, the solicitations of friends, the sweetness of life, and the inducement of hope, make them depend upon physicians with all their defects. But when this is seriously considered, it turns rather to the reproach than the excuse of physicians, who ought not hence to despair, but to use greater diligence. For we see what a power the subtilty of the understanding has over the variety both of the matter and form of things. e Eccles. ii. 15. d Æneid, vii. 772, 11. f Agrippa, Scientia Vana. : There is nothing more variable than men's faces, yet we can remember infinite distinctions of them; and a painter with a few colours, the practice of the hand and eye, and help of the imagination, could imitate thousands if brought before him. As variable as voices are, yet we can easily distinguish them in different persons, and a mimic will express them to the life. Though the sounds of words differ so greatly, yet men can reduce them to a few simple letters. And certainly it is not the insufficiency or incapacity of the mind, but the remoteness of the object that causes these perplexities and distrusts in the sciences for as the sense is apt to mistake at great distances, but not near at hand, so is the understanding. Men commonly take a view of nature as from a remote eminence, and are too much amused with generalities: whereas, if they would descend, and approach nearer to particulars, and more exactly and considerately examine into things themselves, they might make more solid and useful discoveries. The remedy of this error, therefore, is to quicken or strengthen the organ, and thus to approach the object. No doubt, therefore, if physicians, leaving generalities for a while, and suspending their assent, would advance towards nature, they might become masters of that art of which the poet speaks : "Et quoniam variant morbi, variabimus artes They should the rather endeavour this, because the philosophies whereon physicians, whether methodists or chemists, depend, are trifling, and, because medicine, not founded on philosophy, is a weak thing. Therefore, as too extensive generals, though true, do not bring men home to action, there is more danger in such generals as are false in themselves, and seduce instead of directing the mind. Medicine, therefore, has been rather professed than laboured, and yet more laboured than advanced, as the pains bestowed thereon were rather circular than progressive; for I find great repetition, and but little new matter, in the writers of physic. We divide medicine into three parts, or offices: viz., 1st, the preservation of health; 2nd, the cure of diseases; and 3rd, the prolongation of life. For this last part, physicians seem Ovid, Remedia Amoris, 525. |