Magninus is of Crato’s opinion, They trouble the minde, sending gross fumes to the brain, make men mad, especially Garlick, Onyons, if a man liberally feed on them a yeer together. Guianerius, tract. 15. cap. 2. complains of all maner of Roots, and so doth Bruerinus, even Parsnips themselves, which are the best, Lib. 9. cap. 14. Pastinacarum usus succos gignit improbos.

Crato, consil. 21. lib. 1. utterly forbids all maner of fruits, as Pears, Apples, Plums, Cherries, Strawberries, Nuts, Medlers, Serves, &c. Sanguinem inficiunt, saith Villanovanus, They infest the blood, and putrifie it, Magninus holds, and must not therefore be taken, Viâ cibi, aut quantitate magna, not to make a meal of, or in any great quantity.

Cardan makes that a cause of their continual sickness at Fessa in Africk, because they live so much on fruits, eating them thrice a day. Laurentius approves of many fruits, in his Tract of Melancholy, which others disallow, and amongst the rest Apples, which some likewise commend, Sweetings, Pairmains, Pippins, as good against Melancholy;

but to him that is any way inclined to, or touched with this malady, Nicholas Piso in his Practicks, forbids all fruits, as windy, or to be sparingly eaten at least, and not raw. Amongst other fruits, Bruerinus out of Galen, excepts Grapes and Figs, but I finde them likewise rejected.

All Pulse are naught, Beans, Pease, Fitches, &c. they fill the Brain (saith Isaac) with gross fumes, breed black thick blood, and cause troublesome dreams. And therefore, that which Pythagoras said to his Schollars of old, may be for ever applied to Melancholy men, A fabis abstinete, Eat no Pease, nor Beans;

yet to such as will needs eat them, I would give this counsel, to prepare them according to those rules that Arnaldus Villanovanus, and Frietagius prescribe, for eating, and dressing, Fruits, Herbs, Roots, Pulse, &c.

Spices cause hot and head melancholy, and are for that cause forbidden by our Physitians, to such men as are inclined to this malady, as Pepper, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves, Mace, Dates, &c. Honey and Sugar. Some except Hony, to those that are cold, it may be tolerable, but Dulcia se in bilem vertunt, they are obstructive.

Crato therefore forbids all Spice, in a consultation of his, for a Melancholy Shoolmaster, Omnia aromatica, & quicquid sanguinem adurit: So doth Fernelius, consil. 45. Guianerius, tract. 15. c. 2. Mercurialis, conf. 189. To these I may adde all sharp and sowre things, luscious, and over-sweet, or fat, as Oyl, Vineger, Verjuice, Mustard, Salt; as sweet things are obstructive, so these are corrosive.

Gomesius in his Books, De sale, l. 1. c. 21. highly commends Salt; so doth Codronchus in his Tract, De sale Absinthii; Lemn. l. 3. c. 9. de occult. nat. mir. yet common experience findes Salt, and Salt-meats, to be great procurers of this disease. And for that cause belike those Egyptian Priests, abstain’d from salt, even so much, as in their bread, ut sine perturbatione anima esset, saith mine Author, that their souls might be free from perturbations.

Bread that is made of baser grain, as Pease, Beans, Oats, Rye, or over-hard baked, crusty, and black, is often spoken against, as causing melancholy juyce and wind. Joh. Mayor in the first Book of his History of Scotland, contends much for the wholsomnes of Oaten Bread:

It was objected to him then living at Paris in France, That his Countrymen fed on Oats, and base grain, as a disgrace; but he doth ingenuously confess, Scotland, Wales, and a third part of England, did most part use that kinde of Bread, that it was as wholsom as any grain, and yielded as good nourishment.

And yet Wecker out of Galen, calls it horse-meat, and fitter for juments, then men to feed on. But read Galen himself, Lib. 1. De cibis boni & mali succi, more largely discoursing of Corn and Bread.

All black Wines, over-hot, compound, strong thick drinks, as Muscadine, Malmsie, Allegant, Rumny, Brownbastard, Metheglen, and the like, of which they have thirty several kindes in Muscovy, all such made drinks are hurtful in this case, to such as are hot, or of a sanguine cholerick complexion, young, or inclined to head-melancholy.

For many times the drinking of Wine alone causeth it. Arculanus, c. 16. in 9. Rhasis, puts in Wine for a great cause, especially if it be immoderately used. Guianerius, Tract. 15. c. 2. tells a story of two Dutchmen, to whom he gave entertainment in his house, That in one moneths space were both melancholy by drinking of Wine, one did naught but sing, the other sigh.

Galen, l. de causis, morb. c. 3. Matthiolus on Dioscorides, and above all other Andreas Bachius, l. 3. c. 18, 19, 20. have reckoned upon those inconveniences that come by Wine: Yet notwithstanding all this, to such as are cold, or sluggish melancholy, a cup of Wine is good Physick, and so doth Mercurialis grant, consil. 25. in that case, if the temperature be cold, as to most melancholy men it is, Wine is much commended, if it be moderately used.

Cider and Perry are both cold and windy drinks, and for that cause to be neglected, and so are all those hot spiced strong drinks.

Beer, if it be over new or over stale, over strong, or not sod, smell of the cask, sharp, or sowre, is most unwholsom, frets, and gauls, &c. Henricus Ayrerus in a consultation of his, for one that labored of Hypocondriacal melancholy discommends Beer. So doth Crato in that excellent counsel of his, Lib. 2. consil. 21. as too windy, because of the Hop.

But he means belike that thick black Bohemian Beer used in some other parts of Germany,

——nil spissius illa Dum bibitur, nil clarius est dum mingitur, unde Constat, quod multas fæces in corpore linquat.

Nothing comes in so thick, Nothing goes out so thin, It must needs follow then The dregs are left within.

As that old Poet scoffed, calling it Stygiæ monstrum conforme paludi, a monstrous drink, like the River Styx. But let them say as they list, to such as are accustomed unto it, ’Tis a most wholsom (so Polydor Virgil calleth it) and a pleasant drink, it is more subtil and better for the Hop that rarifies it, hath an especial vertue against melancholy, as our Herbalists confess, Fuchsius approves, Lib. 2. sect. 2. instit. cap. 11. and many others.

Standing Waters, thick and ill coloured, such as come forth of Pools, and Motes, where Hemp hath been steeped, or slimy fishes live, are most unwholsom, putrified, and full of mites, creepers, slimy, muddy, unclean, corrupt, impure, by reason of the Suns heat, and still standing; they cause foul distemperatures in the body and minde of man, are unfit to make drink of, to dress meat with, or to be used about men inwardly or outwardly.

They are good for many domestical uses, to wash horses, water cattle, &c. or in time of necessity, but not otherwise. Some are of opinion, that such fat standing waters make the best Beer, and that seething doth defecate it, as Cardan holds, Lib. 13. subtil. It mends the substance, and savor of it, but it is a paradox.