The Sweating Sickness: A boke or counseill against the disease commonly called the sweate or sweatyng sicknesse — John Shaqi
The Sweating Sickness: A boke or counseill against the disease commonly called the sweate or sweatyng sicknesseCaius, John
History
The Sweating Sickness: A boke or counseill against the disease commonly called the sweate or sweatyng sicknesse
Caius, John
Medicine -- Early works to 1800; Sweating-sickness -- Early works to 1800
muddy groundes, puddles or donghilles, sinkes or canales, easing
places or carions, deadde ditches or rotten groundes, close aier
in houses or ualleis, with suche like. Thus muche for the firste
cause.
The second cause of this Englyshe _Ephemera_, I said were
thimpure spirites in bodies corupt by repletiõ. Repletion I cal
here, abundance of humores euel & maliciouse, from long time by
litle & litle gathered by euel diete, remaining in the bodye,
coming either by to moche meate, or by euel meate in qualitie,
as infected frutes, meates of euel iuse or nutrimẽt; or both
ioyntly. To such spirites when the aire infectiue cometh (16)
cõsonant, thẽ be thei distẽpered, corrupted, sore handled, &
oppressed, thẽ nature is forced, & the disease engendred. But
while I doe declare these impure spirites to be one cause,
I must remoue your myndes frõ spirites to humours, for that the
spirites be fedde of the finest partes therof, & aftre bringe
you againe to spirites where I toke you. And forsomuche as I
haue not yet forgotten to whome I write, in this declaration I
will leaue a part al learned & subtil reasõs, as here void &
vnmiete, & only vse suche as be most euident to whom I write,
& easiest to be vnderstanden of the same: and at ones therwith
shew also why it haũteth vs English men more thẽ other nations.
Therfore I passe ouer the vngẽtle sauoure or smell of the
sweate, grosenes, colour, and other qualities of the same, the
quantitie, the daunger in stopping, the maner in coming furthe
redily, or hardly, hot or cold, the notes in the excremẽtes, the
state longer or sorer, with suche others, which mai be tokẽs of
corrupt humours & spirites, & onli wil stãd upõ iii. reasõs
declaring y^e same swet by gret repletiõ to be in vs not
otherwise for al the euel aire apt to this disease, more thẽ
other natiõs. For as hereaftre I wil shew, & Galẽ cõfirmeth, our
bodies cã not suffre any thĩg or hurt by corrupt & infectiue
causes, except ther be in thẽ a certeĩ mater prepared apt & like
to receiue it, els if one were sick, al shuld be sick, if in
this countri, in al coũtres wher the infection came, which thĩg
we se doth not chãce. For touching the first reasõ, we se this
sweting sicknes or pestilẽt _Ephemera_, to be oft in Englãd, but
neuer entreth Scotland, (except the borders) albeit thei both be
ioinctly within the cõpas of on sea. The same beginning here,
hath assailed Brabant & the costes nigh to it, but neuer passed
Germany, where ones it was in like faciõ as here, with great
mortalitie, in the yere m.d.xlix. Cause wherof none other there
is naturall, then the euell diet of these thre contries whiche
destroy more meates and (17) drynckes withoute al ordre,
cõueniẽt time, reasõ, or necessite, thẽ either Scotlande, or all
other countries vnder the sunne, to the greate annoiance of
their owne bodies and wittes, hinderance of theim which have
nede, and great dearth and scarcitie in their cõmon welthes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account