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Medicinal vomits and purges, which are the bitter
reliefs of gluttony, are not to be attempted without great
necessity. The manner of many is to fill themselves because they are empty, and again, because they are full, to
empty themselves contrary to nature, being no less tormented with being full than being empty; or rather, they
are troubled at their fulness, as being a hindrance of their
appetite, and are always emptying themselves, that they
may make room for new enjoyment. The damage in these
cases is evident; for the body is disordered and torn by
both these. It is an inconvenience that always attends
a vomit, that it increases and gives nourishment to this
insatiable humor. For it engenders hunger, as violent and
turbulent as a roaring torrent, which continually annoys a
man, and forces him to his meat, not like a natural appetite that calls for food, but rather like inflammation that
calls for plasters and physic. Wherefore his pleasures are
short and imperfect, and in the enjoyment are very furious
and unquiet; upon which there come distentions, and
affections of the pores, and retentions of the spirits, which
will not wait for the natural evacuations, but run over the
surface of the body, so that it is like an overloaded ship,
where it is more necessary to throw something overboard
than to take any thing more in. Those disturbances in our
bellies which are caused by physic corrupt and consume
our inward parts, and do rather increase our superfluous
humors than bring them away; which is as if one that was
troubled at the number of Greeks that inhabited the city,
should call in the Arabians and Scythians.
Some are so much mistaken that, in order that they may
void their customary and natural superfluities, they take
Cnidian-berries or scammony, or some other harsh and incongruous physic, which is more fit to be carried away by
purge than it is able to purge us. It is best therefore by a
moderate and regular diet to keep our body in order, so
[p. 274]
that it may command itself as to fulness or emptiness. If
at any time there be a necessity, we may take a vomit, but
without physic or much tampering, and such a one as will
not cause any great disturbance, only enough to save us
from indigestion by casting up gently what is superfluous.
For as linen cloths, when they are washed with soap and
nitre, are more worn out than when they are washed with
water only, so physical vomits corrupt and destroy the
body. If at any time we are costive, there is no medicine
better than some sort of food which will purge you gently
and with ease, the trial of which is familiar to all, and the
use without any pain. But if it will not yield to those, we
may drink water for some days, or fast, or take a clyster,
rather than take any troublesome purging physic; which
most men are inclined to do, like that sort of women
which take things on purpose to miscarry, that they may
be empty and begin afresh.
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