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← ExitThe Anatomy of Melancholy

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Subsection 2 Single Substances That Purge Melancholy Downwards

Fernelius meth. med. lib. 5. cap. 16. confesseth it to be a terrible purge and hard to take, yet well given to strong men, and such as have able bodies. P. Forestus and Capivaccius forbid it to be taken in substance, but allow it in decoction or infusion, both which wayes P. Monavius approves above all others, Epist. 231. Scoltzii, Iacchinus in 9. Rhasis, commends a receipt of his own preparing; Penottus another of his Chymically prepared, Evonimus another.

Hildesheim spicel. 2. de mel. hath many examples how it should be used, with diversity of receipts. Heurnius lib. 7. prax. med. cap. 14. calls it an innocent medicine howsoever, if it be well prepared. The root of it is onely in use, which may be kept many yeers, and by some given in substance, as by Falopius and Brassivola amongst the rest, who brags that he was the first that restored it again to his use,

and tels a story how he cured one Melatasta a mad man, that was thought to be possessed, in the Duke of Ferrara’s Court with one purge of black Hellebor in substance: the receipt is there to be seen; his excrements were like inke, he perfectly healed at once.

Vidus Vidius a Dutch Physitian, will not admit of it in substance, to whom most subscribe, but as before in the decoction, infusion, or which is all in all, in the Extract, which he prefers before the rest, and calls suave medicamentum, a sweet medicine, an easie, that may be securely given to women, children, and weaklings. Baracellus horto geniali, terms it maximæ præstantia medicamentum, a medicine of great worth and note. Quercetan in his Spagir. Phar. and many other, tell wonders of the Extract.

Paracelsus above all the rest is the greatest admirer of this plant, and especially the extract, he calls it Theriacum, terrestre Balsamum, another Treacle, a terrestriall Bawm, instar omnium, all in all, the sole and last refuge to cure this malady, the Gout, Epilepsie, Leprosie, &c. If this will not help, no Physick in the world can but minerall, it is the upshot of all.

Matthiolus laughs at those that except against it, and though some abhor it out of the authority of Mesue, and dare not adventure to prescribe it, yet I (saith he) have happily used it six hundred times without offence, and communicated it to divers worthy Physitians, who have given me great thanks for it. Look for receipts, dose, preparation, and other cautions concerning this simple in him, Brassivola, Baracellus, Codronchus, and the rest.

7716.BurtonPrinted page 380, c: “Veteres non sine causa usi sunt: Difficilis ex Helleboro purgatio & terroris plena, sed robustis datur tamen, &c.” The ancients did not use it without reason. Purging with hellebore is difficult and full of terror, yet it is given to the robust, and so on.

7718.BurtonPrinted page 380, d: “Innocens medicamentum, modo rite paretur.” A harmless medicine, provided it is properly prepared.

7719.BurtonPrinted page 380, e: “Absit jactantia, ego primus præbere cœpi, &c.” Let there be no boasting: I was the first to begin administering it, and so on.

7721.BurtonPrinted page 380, f: “In Catart. Ex una sola evacuatione furor cessavit & quietus inde vixit. Tale exemplum apud Skenkium & apud Scoltzium, ep. 231. P. Monavius se stolidum curasse jactat hoc epoto tribus aut quatuor vicibus.” On Purgatives. With a single evacuation his madness ceased, and he lived quietly thereafter. There is a similar example in Schenck; and in Scholtz, letter 231, P. Monavius boasts that he cured a mentally impaired man who drank this three or four times.

7724.BurtonPrinted page 381, g, continued below the body: “Ultimum refugium, extremum medicamentum, quod cætera omnia claudit, quæcunque cæteris laxativis pelli non possunt ad hunc pertinent; si non huic, nulli cedunt.” The last refuge, the final medicine that closes the series of all the others. Whatever cannot be expelled by other laxatives falls to this one; if disorders do not yield to this, they yield to none.

7726.BurtonPrinted page 381, h, below the body: “Testari possum me sexcentis hominibus Helleborum nigrum exhibuisse, nullo prorsus incommodo, &c.” I can testify that I have administered black hellebore to six hundred people with no harm whatsoever, and so on.