Volume 2

Fumifugium : now reissued as an Old Ashmolean reprint in the year of the refacing of the Old Ashmolean museum / by John Evelyn.

  • Evelyn, John, 1620-1706.
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fumifugium : now reissued as an Old Ashmolean reprint in the year of the refacing of the Old Ashmolean museum / by John Evelyn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    riods and Hated times, be it twice a day or oftner; whereas, upon the Aer, or what accompanies it (eft enirn in ipfo Acre occultus vitae cibus) it is ahvayes preying, deeping or waking; and therefore, doubtleflfe, the election of this condant and afliduous Food, fliould fomething concerne us, I affirme, more than even the very Meat we eat, whereof fo little and indifferent nourishes and fatisfies the mod temperate and bed: Educated perfons. Befides, Aer that is corrupt infi- iiuates itfelf into the vital parts immediately; whereas the meats which we take,, thoughf never fo ill conditioned, require time for the concoction, by which its effects are greatly mitigated; whereas the other, paffing fo fpeedily to the Lungs, and virtually to the Heart itfelf, is derived and communicated over the whole made: In a word, as tile Lucid and noble Aer clarifies the Blood, fubtihzes and excites it, cheering the Spirits and promoting digedion ; fo the dark and grofle (on the contrary) perturbs the Body, prohibits neceffary Tranfpiration for the refolution and difhpation of ill Vapours, even to didurbance of the very Rational faculties, which the purer Aer does fo far illu¬ minate, as to have rendred forne Men healthy and wife, even to Miracle. And therefore the Empoyfoning of Aer> was ever edeemed no lefle fatall than the poyfoning of Water or Meate itfelf, and forborn even amongd Bar■- barians\ fince (as is faid) luch Infections become more apt to infinuate themfelves and betray the very Spirits, to which they have fo neer a cognation. Some Aers we know are held to be Alexipharmac, and even deleterious to Poy- fon itfelf, as ’tis reported of that of Ireland: In fome we finde