A key to physic, and the occult sciences / [E. Sibly].

  • Ebenezer Sibly
Date:
1821
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A key to physic, and the occult sciences / [E. Sibly]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A third eflefr, which is afcribed to antipathy, is obferved in the ufe of medicines, as well internal as external; the external, of which we now fpeak, are thofe we carry abotit us, which by their quality takeaway the malign air, and preferve us from the- plague and other contagions, as prepared quickblver, or a toad dried and fhut up in a box; this phenomenon is afcribed to the pefliferous lp:rits or corpufcles, which, •approaching towards us, find fubjech more apt for their reception, and fix in them, but not in us, at lead in fuch a quantity as to hurt us; which mod evidently appears in this, that the prepared quickfilver, or the toad, being once filled with thefe con- tagious atoms, becomes ufelefs, and ought to be changed and renewed ; and I knew by experience that quickfilver, prepared white and fiiining like an adamant, or po- lifhed filver, being carried about a perfon who is frequently with Tick people, in time becomes black, fo that afterwards it is ufelefs to him who carries it, becaufe there are no fmall vacuities left to retain the airy poifons; but it may be renewed by ano- ther preparation, whereby it may be made as white, tranfparent, and ufefulr as before.. Quickfilver turns black more or lefs, fooner or later, according to the proportion of the greater or lefs malignity in the air, where the perfon goes, who carries it about him; and thefe antidotes can never hurt, nay, if rightly prepared, they not only withftand the contagious air, when they hinder its nearer approach toward us, but alio fupprefs inward vapours, which, afeending into the head, occafion many dif- tempers. Thefe confequences, properly fpeaking, are the joint effe&s of fympathy and antipathy a&ing together; for the animal effluvia or corpufcles iffuing from our bodies, repel as much as pofflble the malignity of the ambient matter, by antipa- thy ; whilft bodies compofed of poifonous or noxious particles, draw to them* felves, by fympathy, the foul or poifonous atoms which furround them, juft the fame as the loadftone draws iron. In this we fee, and fhall hereafter prove, that amulets or charms, worn about the body; that ele&ricity, animal magnetifm, and other occult properties, adling upon our bodies, though attributed to witchcraft, or fome inexplicable caufe, are nothing more than the natural effefts of fympathy and antipathy, pre-ordained at the beginning of all things. Aromatic herbs, and fweet- fmelling flowers, ufed againft infeHious air, a£l by repulfion, or antipathy ; whereas nightlhade, hemlock, and all poifonous herbs, adl by fympathy, drawing into their pores the infe&ious atoms, juft the lame as horfe-raddifh draws in vinegar; and hence it follows that both thefe clafles of plants are ufeful in preferving the animal juices from infeflion. I now proceed to efiFe&s internal. Rhubarb, and the leaves of fenna, purge melancholy; jalop and diagridium, phlegm and waterifh humours. It is a conftant and certain truth that every purgative medicine comprehends in it certain fpirits or
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