something agreeable left to feed on when they are old, by pleasing remembrances.

But, as they are only the clean beasts which chew the cud, when they have fed enough; so they must be clean and virtuous men that can reflect with pleasure upon the past accidents or courses of their lives. Besides, men who grow old with good sense, or good fortunes, and good-nature, cannot want the pleasure of pleasing others, by assist ing with their gifts, their credit, their advice, such as deserve it, as well as their care of children, kindness to friends, and bounty to servants.

But there cannot indeed live a more unhappy creature than an ill-natured old man, who is neither capable of receiving pleasures, nor sensible of doing them to others; and in such a condition it is time to leave them.

Thus have I traced, in this essay, whatever has fallen in my way or thoughts to observe concerning life and health, and which I conceived might be of any public use to be known or considered: the plainness wherewith it is written, easily shews there could be no other intention; and it may at least pass like a Derbyshire charm, which is used among sick cattle, with these words,-If it does thee no good, it will do thee no harm.

To sum up all, the first principle of health and long life is derived from the strength of our race or our birth, which gave occasion to that saying, Gaudeant bene nati; Let them rejoice that are happily born. Accidents are not in our power to govern; so that the best cares or provisions for life and health that are left us, consist in the discreet and temperate government of diet and exercise; in both which, all excess is to be avoided, especially in the common use of wine; whereof the first glass may pass for health, the second for good humour, the third for our friends; but the fourth is for our enemies.

For

kinds, or in general, I have
of moxa, so as

in the essay bject here.

e of all these cares, or by ef acute or strong diseases may to the best physicians that are depend upon thought and care, diseases of body or mind, it is parsician for a friend, or a discreet which is so great a blessing, that are it to proceed only from God, flfriend is the medicine of life, and ball find him.

NUMBER

To the catalogue of eminen

losophe

have considered health and longeryjects wo their attention, I have to add the Fosie Robert B. Indeed, few men, at so early a period, ad cultivated logy with so much success. H Naral His Hamar Blood forms an excellen: illustration of a method of improving knowledge. His Ess Maer Waters, on the Causes of the Saltbrity or In e air, and many others an, and I do not ESOT

has ever been to

riete wit curion!

win the follow.

OF THE

RECONCILEABLENESS

OF

SPECIFIC MEDICINES

TO THE

CORPUSCULAR PHILOSOPHY.

THE PREFACE.

THE rise of the following tract, intimated near the begin ning of it, was not such a fictitious thing as the reader may imagine; but though I really received a visit from a physician, known to me but by his reputation, purposely to, propose to me his objections against the corpuscular philosophy, and he had a long conference with me about them; yet, because the historical passages of that interview cannot be circumstantially related in few words, I suppose the reader will willingly allow me to employ this preface, in giving him advertisements about the scope and design of

the treatise it ushers in.

I shall therefore advertise him, that he will be much mistaken, if he shall expect, as I perceive several have done already, to find in this book a collection of receipts of specific remedies for a moderate attention to the title page will enable him manifestly to discern, that the following own nature, and in the direct and immediate

:

design of it, is a speculative discourse; since it tends but to shew, that, in case there be specific medicines, as it is probable there are some, their experienced virtues are reconcileable to the principles of the corpuscular, or, as many call it, the new philosophy; and, at least, do not subvert them, if these effects and operations be not clearly explicable by them. And as this is the avowed scope of the following essay, so I chose to treat of it less like a physician than a naturalist; for physics being a science, whose large extent invites and warrants its cultivators to search into the nature and phenomena of things corporeal indefinitely, it must often happen, that the medicinal art, and this science, will be conversant about the same subject, though in differing ways, and with differing scopes; for there are divers hurtful or advantageous accidents and changes of the human body, whereof the naturalist takes notice, but as they are phenomena, or changes produced by natural causes in the body of an animal, whilst the physician considers them as symptoms of diseases, or effects of medicines; the former directing his speculations to the discovery of truth, and the other his theory to the recovery of health. But because I elsewhere particularly consider the cognation and distinction between the discipline that the naturalist, and that which the physician cultivates, I shall forbear to mention them in this place; but rather acknowledge, that I scarce doubt but that I might have inriched the following discourse with some choice particulars, if I would have perused and borrowed from the learned writings of the famous Dr. Willis: but besides that I had not his books at hand, I was unwilling to be prepossessed or biassed by his notions; and I presumed the person I wrote to would not be unwilling to see what, without their help, the consideration of the thing I treated of suggested to me. About this I shall now proceed to observe, that though the direct scope of the following discourse being to explicate A a 2

the