Part 2

7. Now the certain Means and Way not onely to prevent the Generation of this Vermin, but also to preserve Health and Strength, are Straw, or rather Chaff-Beds, with Ticks of Canvas, and Quilts made of Wooll or Flocks to lay on them; which certainly is the most easie and pleasant Lodging that can be invented: and a little Custom will make it appear friendly to Nature, and in every respect far beyond the softest Feather-beds, on which, when a Man lies down, he sinks into them, as into an Hole, with Banks rising on each side of him; especially if two lie together, when first they go to Bed they lie close, and after a little time, when they begin to be hot or sweat, they are generally willing to lie a little further off, that they may cool themselves, but cannot do it without great difficulty and trouble, by reason of the softness of the Bed, and those Banks that rise on each side. Besides, such soft Feather-Beds do over-heat the Reins and Back, making all the Parts tender, and causing Sweatings and many other Inconveniencies to attend the Body. Feather-beds also are nothing so easie as Quilts, after a little time being accustomed to them; they are also extream fulsom, and by their Heat they do powerfully dry up the Radical Moisture, causing a general Faintness to attend the whole Body. But, on the contrary, hard, even Beds, that lie smooth, are not only easie through custom, as is mentioned before; but a Man may turn freely, both sleeping and waking: They harden and strengthen the whole Body, especially the Back and Reins, make the Nerves and Sinews strong, preventing the immoderate Evacuations by Sweating, and keeping the Body in a temperate Heat. Besides, such Beds may be often changed, with but little Trouble, and less Cost; they send forth no stinking Fumes or Steams, as Feather-beds do; but are sweet and clean. Certainly nothing is more healthy, next to Temperance in Meat and Drink, than clean hard Beds.

8. All sorts of Beds, especially Feather-beds, ought to be changed, driven, or washed, at the least three or four times in a Year; or else it is impossible to keep them sweet and clean, and to prevent the Generation of Vermin, or the other Inconveniencies before-mentioned. Would not every one condemn a Man, if he should wear a Shirt a Year, and lie in Sheets seven Years? Which if any should do, it would not either endanger his Health, or bring half the Inconveniencies on his Body, as old stinking Feather-beds do; which possibly stunk before ever they were lain on, by reason of the fulsom Excrements that the Quills of the Feathers contain. Also Feathers do certainly contain an unclean putrified Matter, that hath a near affinity with the Nature of Bugs; and therefore Feather-beds are more apt to breed them, than Wooll, or Flocks; though both will do it, if the forementioned Rules be not observed. But if you are not willing, or so lowly-minded, to have Straw or Chaff-Beds under your Quilts, then you may have Flock-Beds, with Canvas Tickings, which may be both aired and washed as often as you please, with little Trouble and Charge. If any shall question the Truth of what I have alledged concerning Beds, I desire they would please but to try the Experiment, by filling a Bed with the freshest and cleanest Straw or Chaff, which will smell very pleasant; and having so done, let them lie on it half a Year, in a corner of a Room, as Beds generally stand, and then smell to it; and in stead of sending forth a pleasant Scent, as it did at first, it will send forth a strong, fulsom, musty Steam or Fume. And if this will do so, what will Feathers do, that in the Root of Nature are unclean fulsom Excrements, of a hot strong Quality? Therefore they have the greater power not only to attract and suck in to themselves the fulsom Excrements that are breathed forth of the Body by Sweatings, and the like; but they have also power to retain such evil Vapours: and when others come to lie on them, and are thoroughly hot, it awakens those pernicious Steams, which often bring many Inconveniencies on the Body. Besides, it is very unpleasant to lie in such Beds; a Man must always be forced to keep his Nose above-board. Indeed each Mans own Bed does not stink or smell strong to himself, because he is accustomed to it; neither does a Tallow-Chandler smell those horrible Scents and pernicious Fumes that old Tallow sends forth when it is melted: But let any other Person, that is not accustomed to it, be near such things, and it will be very offensive to him. Even so it is in all other stinking Trades, and things of this nature: so that the greatest Slut in the World does hardly smell her own House or Bed stink: For in Man is contained the true Nature and Property of all things, both of Good and Evil; therefore he is both liable and also apt to receive all Impressions, and to be wrought on by all things he shall either communicate with or joyn himself to, whether it be Cleanness, or the contrary. Also by Meats, Drinks, and Communication, all things have power, by a Sympathetical Operation, to work on Man, because he is like unto all, bearing a proportionable Nature unto all things. If People did understand this, they would prefer Sobriety and Temperance, with Cleanness, far beyond what they do; and then Men would not be subject to so many Diseases as now they are.

9. Heat and Moisture is the Root of all Putrifaction; and therefore Bugs are bred in Summer; but they live all the Winter, though they are not then so troublesom. They harbour in Bedsteads, Holes, and Hangings, Nitting and breeding as Lice do in Clothes: But all Men know, that Woollen and Linnen are not the Element of Lice, but they are bred from the fulsom Scents and Excrements that are breathed forth from the Body. The very same Radix have Bugs; and if there be any difference, they are from a higher Putrifaction, and therefore they are a more noisome stinking Creature.

10. The whole Preservation of Mens Health and Strength does chiefly reside in the Wisdom and Temperance of Women. Therefore the ancient Wise Men in former Ages, did direct and accustom their Women to a higher degree of Temperance than the Men. Which Customs of Sobriety the Women of several Countries do maintain to this day, as in _Spain_, great part of _France_, _Italy_, and many great Countries under the Dominion of the _Grand Seignior_. Their Women do always drink Water, their Food being for the most part of a mean and simple Quality; and for this Reason neither they nor their Children are subject to several Diseases which our Women and Children are. Wine and strong Drink should be sparingly drunk by Women, till they are past Child-bearing; because the frequent and common drinking of strong Drinks, does generate various Distempers in the Female Sex, such as are not fit to be discoursed of in this Place, which their Children often bring with them into the World. If the Seed be good, yet if the Ground be bad, it seldom brings forth good Fruit. Also Women are our Nurses for fifteen or sixteen Years; and they do not only suffer us to be Gluttons, by letting us eat and drink often, of their ill-prepared Food, beyond the power of the Digestive Faculty, and more than the Stomach can bear; but many of them will entice us to Gluttony, and some will force their Children to eat even against their Stomachs, till they cast it up again. Now if it be a difficult Point for a Man of Age and Experience to observe the necessary Rules of Temperance, how careful then ought Mothers and Nurses to be in ordering their Children? A great part of the Children that die, especially in Towns and Cities, is occasioned either by the Intemperance of their Mothers, during the time they go with Child, or afterwards by their unnatural and badly-prepared Food, and suffering them to eat to excess; also by their keeping of them too warm, and too close from the Air, and lapping of them up in several Double Clothes and Swathes, so tight, that a Man may write on them, and then putting them into warm Beds, and covering them up close. If a strong Man was so bound up, he could not endure it, without great injury unto his Health. Besides, the Window-Curtains are drawn, and also the Curtains about the Bed; by which means the Air becomes so hot and sulphurous, that it causes great Disorders to attend both the Mothers and the Children. This ill kind of Management does also cause such a Tenderness both in the Mother and the Child, that on every small occasion they are liable and apt to get Colds, and divers other Distempers.

Also Women have the entire Management of all things that concern our Healths, during the whole time of our Lives; they prepare and dress our Food, and order all things in our Houses, both for Bed and Board. There is not one Man of a hundred that understands or takes any notice whether his Food be well prepared or not; and if his Bed stinks, he is used to it, and so counts it all well. Mens Time and Study is chiefly taken up about getting a Livelihood, and providing things necessary for themselves and Families; so that there is not one among a thousand that understands any thing what belongs to the Preservation of his Health: Whatever the Women do and say touching the Preparation of Food, and other ordering of Families for Health, most Men believe, not making the least scruple or question of the truth thereof. And well they may: For the chiefest Doctors of our Times do bow before them, and are altogether as subject to the Rules and Directions of Women, as other Men. Where are your Doctors that teach Men Sobriety in their Lives, or the proper and natural way of preparing Meats fit for the Stomach? Which of them adviseth against the evil Custom of keeping their Chambers so over-hot, when People are sick, and in the time of Womens lying in Child-bed? Why do they not advise them not to have their Curtains so close drawn, both before the Windows and Beds, insomuch that they are oftentimes in a manner suffocated for want of the fresh Air? For, I affirm, That all sorts of People that do keep their Beds, let the Occasion be what it will, have ten-fold more need of the refreshing Influences of the Air, than others that are up: For, the Bed being much hotter than a Mans Garments are when he is up, the thin, refreshing, moist Vapours, that do penetrate the whole Body more powerfully when a Man is up, are thereby hindred. This is one chief Reason why a Man cannot digest a Supper so well in Bed, as if he sits up. All Men know, that the Bed destroys Appetite. If a Man go to Bed at Eight a Clock, and lies till Eight in the Morning, he shall not be hungry; but if he goes to Bed at the same time, and rises at Four in the Morning, though he sits still without Action, yet by Eight he shall have a good stomach to eat and drink; so great is the power of the Air: For when a Man is up, his Body is cool, and the pure Spirits and thin moist Vapours of the Air have power to penetrate the Body; which Element the Body sucks in like a Spunge thorow the Pores; and this does not only cool and refresh the Spirits, and the whole Body, but also powerfully strengthens the Action of the Stomach.

But I pity the young Children most, who are so tender, and of so delicate a Nature, both in their Body and Spirits, that every Disorder does wound them to the very Heart. Nothing is more grateful and refreshing to them, than the pleasant Air: It comforts their Spirits, and causeth a free Circulation of the Blood and Radical Moisture, begets Appetite, and makes them grow in Strength: But, on the contrary, hot sulphurous Airs, with great Fires, and warm Clothing, do not only hinder the Circulation of the Blood, but suffocate the Spirits, and destroy the Appetite, causing an unnatural Heat to possess the whole Body; whence does proceed various Disorders and Diseases, making them to cry, and be very forward. Also close Bindings, and over-warm Clothings, and thick hot Airs, do oft in weak-spirited Children cause Convulsions, Vapours, and Fumes to fly into the Head, sometimes occasioning Vomiting, which People call Windy Diseases.

Again, The Food of most Children, of late Years, is so enriched with _West_ and _East-India_ Ingredients, that is, with Sugar and Spices, that thereby their Food becomes so hot in operation, that it does not only breed too much Nourishment, which generates Obstructions and Stoppages, but it heats the Body, drying up and consuming the Radical Moisture, and infecting the Blood with a sharp fretting Humour, which in some Complexions and Constitutions causeth Languishing Diseases, contracting the Breast and Vessels of the Stomach, and hindering the Passages of the Spirits, so that the Joynts and Nerves become weak and feeble: in others, with the help of bad Diet, and other Uncleanliness, does cause Botches, Boils, and various sorts of Leprous Diseases. Also many that have wherewithal, will frequently give their Children Sack, strong Drinks, and fat Meats, as long as they will eat, which is abominable, and absolutely contrary to the Nature of Children.

There are a hundred other Disorders and Intemperances that many Mothers and ignorant Nurses affect their Children with, which I have no room in this Place to discourse of: Therefore I commend unto the Women Milk that is raw, only made so hot as the Mothers or Nurses Milk is when the Child sucks it; and sometimes Milk and Flower boyled together, giving it the Child about the warmness of Breast-milk; and indeed, neither Children nor others ought to eat any Food hotter. Also no Children ought to drink any kind of strong Drink: I could commend Water, as the most wholesom; but it being contrary to our Custom, ordinary Beer may do well, or rather small Ale. If Women did understand but the hundredth part of the Evils and Diseases those indulging and intemperate Ways do bring both to themselves and Children, they would quickly be of my mind; which I never expect; _They are too wise_.

A SHORT DISCOURSE

OF THE

PAIN in the TEETH,

Shewing from what Cause it does chiefly proceed, and also how to prevent it.

The terrible Pains and Diseases of the Teeth do chiefly proceed from two Causes. The first is from certain filthy phlegmy Matter which the Stomach and Vessels do continually breathe and send forth, which does lodge or center in the Mouth, especially between the Teeth, and on the Gums; and some People having fouler Stomachs than others, such do breathe forth very sour, stinking, phlegmy Matter, which does not only increase the Pain, but causeth the Teeth to become loose and rotten: And for want of continual cleansing and washing, those Breathings and this Phlegmy Matter turns to Putrifaction, which does eat away the Gums, as though Worms had eaten them: And this Defect is generally attributed to the Disease called the _Scurvey_; but it is a mistake: the Cause is chiefly, as is mentioned before, from the Stomach, or for want of Cleansings.

2. This Distemper of the Teeth and Gums does also proceed from the various sorts of Meats and Drinks, and more especially from the continual eating of Flesh, and fat sweet things, compounded of various things of disagreeing Natures, which do not only obstruct the Stomach, but fur and foul the Mouth, part thereof remaining upon the Gums, and between the Teeth. For all such things do quickly turn to Putrifaction, which does by degrees corrupt both the Teeth and Gums. Besides, our Beds take up near half the time of our Lives, which time the Body is not only without motion, but the Bed and Coverings do keep it much hotter than the Day-garments, especially of those that draw the Curtains of their Windows and Beds so close, that the pure Spirits and thin refreshing Vapours of the Air are hindred of having their free egress and regress, which does dull and flatten the Action of the Stomach; and this is the chief Cause why Suppers lie hard in the Stomach, and require more than double the time for perfect Concoction, than the same Food does when a Man is up, and in the open Air: For this Element, if it hath its free Influences, is sucked in, as by Spunges, through all the Pores of the Body, and does wonderfully refresh, comfort, open, and cleanse all the Parts, having power to assist and help Concoction: but hot, dull, thick Airs do destroy the Action of the Stomach, and as it were suffocate the pure Spirits, drying up and consuming the Radical Moisture. Therefore the Night does foul the Mouth more than the Day, furring it with a gross slimy Matter, especially those that have foul Stomachs, and are in Years, which ought to be well cleansed every Morning.

3. Whatsoever are the Disorders in the Body, the Mouth does always partake of them; besides the Evils that the variety of Food, and the improper mixtures of Flesh and Fish, and many other things, which do foul and hurt both the Teeth and Gums. When any Person is disordered with inward Diseases, does not the Mouth quickly complain of the Evils thereof? This very few do consider in time.

4. It is to be noted, That most People do attribute the Diseases of the Teeth to Colds, and Rheums, and other outward Accidents. It is true, outward Accidents will further this Disease, but then there must be Matter before-hand, otherwise outward Colds can have no power to cause this Pain. The same is to be understood in all Stoppages of the Breast, and other Obstructions, as Coughs, and the like. For, if any Part be obstructed, or there be Matter for Distemper, then, on every small occasion of outward Colds, or the like Accidents, Nature complains. If your Teeth and Gums be sound, and free from this Matter, take what Colds you will, and your Teeth will never complain, as daily Experience doth shew. For all outward Colds, and other Accidents of the like nature, have no power to seise any part of the Body, except first there be some inward Defect or Infirmity: Suppose the Teeth be defective, then the Disease falls on that Part; or if it be the Head, Eyes, Breast, Back, or any other Part or Member of the Body, that is obstructed, the Evil is felt in that Part. Therefore if the Mouth be kept clean by continual Washings, it will prevent all Matter which may cause Putrifaction; and then Colds, and the like Accidents, will have no power to seise this Part, or cause this terrible Pain. Even so it is in all other Parts of the Body. If Temperance and Sobriety be observed in Meats, Drinks, and Exercises, with other Circumstances belonging to Health, then Stoppages, Coughs, Colds, and other Obstructions, would not be so frequent on every small occasion: For Temperance has an inward Power and Operation, and does as it were cut off Diseases in the very Bud, preventing the Generation of Matter whence Distempers do proceed, increasing the Radical Moisture, and making the Spirits lively, brisk, and powerful, able to withstand all outward Colds, and other Casualties of the like nature.

5. There are many various things, of divers Natures, prescribed by Physicians, and others, as Washes to preserve the Teeth and Gums; but most of them, if not all, to little or no purpose, as daily Experience teaches: For, all high, sharp Salts, and things of a sour or keen nature, do rather cause the Teeth to perish, than the contrary; as do all hot Spirits, be they what they will: Many have destroyed their Teeth by the frequent use of such things, and it hath hardly ever been known that any such things have ever cured or prevented the aking Pains of the Teeth, but Water only. Many Examples I could mention, if it were convenient. Physicians, and others, do daily prescribe such things for the Cure and Prevention of this Disease of the Teeth, which most of them do know by experience can do no good, but rather the contrary: But when People come to them, they must give them something for their Money; for Interest and Ignorance have more affinity with this sort of People, than Vertue, and the true Knowledge of the Nature of Things. Most certain it is, That the Shepherd and Husbandman do know far better how to prepare the Meat for their Cattel, and also how to preserve them from Disorders, than many Physicians do their Food or Physick: and a Man shall understand more by conversing with some of this sort of People, than with the Learned: For the Shepherd and Husbandman understand something of Nature; but most of the Learned are departed from the simple Ways of God in Nature, putting out their own Eyes, and then boasting what Wonders they can see with other Mens: They have invented many Words to hide the Truth from the Unlearned, that they may get the greater esteem. This hath chiefly been done to advance Pride and Interest; so that the Divine Eye is departed from many of them, who never make any Inspexion into the true Nature of Things, being contented to take other Mens Words, let it be right or wrong, as long as they have Authority and Law on their sides, wherefore should they trouble their weak Heads?

6. The best and most sure way to prevent the Diseases and Pains in the Teeth and Gums, is every Morning to wash your Mouth with at the least ten or twelve Mouthfuls of pure Water, cold from the Spring or River, and so again after Dinner and Supper, swallowing down a Mouthful of Water after each Washing: For there is no sort of Liquor in the World so pure and clean as Water; and nothing doth cleanse and free the Teeth and Gums from that foul Matter which does proceed from the Breathings and Purgings of the Stomach, and from the various sorts of Food, so well as Water: The use of other Washes is to little or no purpose; but whosoever do constantly wash their Mouths with Water, as is before mentioned, shall find an essential Remedy. All hard Rubbing and Picking of the Teeth ought by any means to be avoided for that is injurious to them. Also whensoever you find your Mouth foul, or subject to be slimie, as sometimes it will more than at others, according to the good or evil state of the Stomach, though it be not after eating; at all such times you ought to wash your Mouth. This Rule all Mothers and Nurses ought to observe, washing the Mouths of their Children two or three times a day; and also to cause their Children to swallow down a little Water, which will be very refreshing to their Stomachs: For Milk does naturally foul and fur the Mouth and Teeth, and if they be not kept clean by continual washing, it causes the Breeding of Childrens Teeth to be the more painful to them.

7. To keep your Teeth white, one of the best things is a piece of a _China_ Dish, or a piece of a fine _Dutch_ Earthen Dish, made into fine Powder, and the Teeth rubbed with it.

8. Few there be that understand or consider the excellent Vertues of Water, it being an Element of a mild and cleansing Nature and Operation, friendly unto all things, and of universal Use: But because it is so common, and so easily procured, I am afraid that many People will be like _Naaman_ the _Syrian_, when the Prophet _Elisha_ advised him to _wash seven times in the River of Jordan to cure his Leprosie_; it being the Ignorance and Folly of most People, to admire those things they do not know, and, on the other side, to despise and trample under foot those Things and Mysteries they do know; which the Learned in all Ages have taken notice of: For, should some People know what Apothecaries and others give them, they would despise the Physick, and have but little respect for their Doctor.

All Housewifes do know, that no sort of Liquor, be it what it will, will cleanse and sweeten their Vessels, but only Water; all other Liquors leaving a sour stinking Quality behind them, which will quickly cause Putrifaction: But Water in its own nature is clean and pure, not only for all Uses in Housewifery, and the Preservation of Health; but the Saints and Holy Men of God have highly esteemed this Element, by using it in the exteriour Acts of Divine Worship, as having a Simile with the Eternal Water of Life, that does purifie and cleanse the Soul from Sin.

_FINIS._