some Bodies they give a Stool or two especially if they drink them quick They make the Excrements very black and the Urine pale They dilute the Blood and dissolve those Salts that are fixt upon the Nerves or other Parts causing acute Pains and other Maladies and force them out of the Blood thorow the Reins and Bladder So that the particular Distempers they are proper to be prescribed in are these 1. They are very safely and successfully drank by Scorbutic Persons tho indeed the Word Scurvy is grown so general a Term in Physic that some Practitioners whatever Symptoms their Patients labour under when they are any way doubtful of the Distemper immediately term it the Scurvy whereupon several Physicians of late have declared their Opinions to be That there is no such Distemper in Nature as the Scurvy and that the Notion of the Scurvy is a meer Imposition upon the Fancies of Men Yet I am fully persuaded and that for several weighty and convincing Arguments that there is such a Distemper as the Scurvy which some cal the Scurvy others the Scorby and the Scorbute 'T would not only be too tedious to enter upon explaining the Causes of the Scurvy but likewise needless it being so accurately done by Dr. Willis in his Book de Scorbuto and likewise by Dr. Gideon Harvey in his New Discovery of the Scurvy to which I refer the Reader We shal therefore only reckon up some of the chief Symptoms and Effects of the Scurvy for which these Waters may successfully be taken The Scurvy for the most part appears in the Gums and Teeth the Gums are swelled spongy discoloured and sore the Teeth become loose and in process of time they do inevitably rot and caviate and a Stinking Breath doth frequently render the Disease very incommodious The Gums wil bleed at the least touch insomuch that some Scorbutic Persons can hardly bite a piece of Bread but the Remainder in their Hands wil appear Bloody Hereupon the Gums sometimes fissure or cleave and afterwards become Ulcerous which little Ulcers are many times succeeded by malignant Cancerous Ulcers threatning Deformity to the circumjacent Parts Another grand Symptom of the Scurvy is Weakness and Lassitude in the Limbs especially about the Knees and Ancles which is attended with Shortness of Breath great Faintness and Weariness upon the least Exercise Sometimes there is an universal Soreness of the Limbs especially the Arms Shoulders Neck-bones and Back and no disposition to stir or move but a Heaviness and Drowsiness possesseth the Body especially upon the least alteration of Weather Another Concomitant of the Scurvy is Pains in the Joynts extreme Tortures in the Wrists Knuckles Elbows Shoulders Hips Knees Ancles Toes and Fingers and that which is worst of al miserable Pains about the Neck and Back-bone shooting and darting Pains in the Head The Scurvy is also frequently discerned by Spots and Blotches of several Colours and Figures on the Legs Pustules Tumours and Tubercles on the Shins thick hard callous Skin about the Ancles The Spots are commonly first red then yellow afterwards livid and at last of an Ash-colour After this appear Blotches on the sides of the Legs which are first red then yellowish and in time grow rough and peel off these generally are succeeded by Pustules Tumours and sometimes nasty Scabs Not only the Legs but many times the whole Skin is deformed by Scorbutic Spots and Eruptions To these we may add frequent Itchings al over the Body a livid and deadish Complexion of the Face and pale Tallow Habit of Body a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or bad Digestion of the Stomach sowr Belchings Dulness and Drowsiness after Meat want of Appetite and sometimes too sharp an Appetite puffing of the Stomach and tension of the Belly especially after Food Costiveness and sometimes Fluxes of the Belly as Diarrheas and Lienteries suppression of Natural Courses in Women with a sort of painful Whites These being the Chief Symptoms of this Epidemic Disease in England nothing can be more proper or more effectual in removing them than our New Spaw Waters In confirmation of which I do assure the Reader that I have frequently prescribed not only these Waters Artificially prepared but likewise the very Principles of which they are made to several Persons in this City with great Success for this very Distemper By these Waters the Scorbutic Impurity of the Blood is washed away and the whole Mass of Blood purified the exalted salt acid and saponary Quality of the Blood removed the Habit of the Body rectified the Concoctions altered the vitiated Tone of the Parts reduced so that by drinking of this Water every Morning for some considerable time al the mentioned troublesom Symptoms are made to vanish and disappear 2. The next Disease these Waters are useful in is the Stone and Strangury I wil not pretend that these Waters wil dissolve or break the Stone in the Reins or Bladder for no Waters in the World can effect that But yet these Waters are certainly as helpful in this Distemper as any Waters in Europe for by swiftly gliding thorow the Reins and Bladder the Places where Gravel and the Stone have their Nativity by the abstersive quality of their esurine Salt they hinder the Increase or Growth of the Stone by carrying away the recremental Sordes that would otherwise adhere to the Stone and so increase its Bulk and likewise by their weight they keep the Currents open dilate the Passages and take the opportunity of slipping a Stone now and then with a stream of water thorow the Sphincter of the Bladder Not undeservedly are the Spaws in Germany much resorted to upon this account and exceeding Benefit and Relief found by such as drink them Now there is nothing in these Waters that ericheth them with these excellent Qualities but it likewise impregnates our Waters Why therefore should not our Waters which are more refined and exactly prepared be endowed with as great Lithontriptic Qualities as the Spaw-waters in Germany 'T is certain that some Mineral-waters by being drank occasion and cause the Stone as Dr. Tonstal in his Anatomy of Scarborough-Spaw proveth by several undeniable Arguments and relates several Stories and Observations concerning Persons who never were troubled with this Distemper in their Lives yet upon drinking those Waters for other Distempers have afterward been tormented with direful Pains of the Stone And Dr. Simpson in his Hydrological Essays prescribeth a Method to correct the Petrifying Qualities of those Waters And it 's my Opinion That there are very few Natural Medicinal Waters but among their Mineral Particles and Recrements that are dissolved in them there are several Lapidific and Petrifying Particles But these Waters are free from al such kind of Sabulous Mixtures 3. A Third Malady that may be helped by these Waters is the Dropsie For by these Waters the main Cause of a Dropsie which is an Obstruction of the Reins is removed The Esurine Salt which is a Solvent
in these Waters dissolves the coagulated Matter in the Reins and makes free passage both for it self and for the exit of the restagnating Water which before floated in the Abdomen and Legs and so caused that Swelling in them In the Dropsie likewise there is a vitiated Ferment in the Stomach and an adust Sordes impacted in the Tunicles thereof whence a Feverish and pressing Thirst constantly attends Dropsical Persons Now this Water doth cleanse the Stomach it looseneth and dissolveth the Sordes of Digestion and so carrieth it off Perhaps it may seem something contradictory and unreasonable that Dropsies are to be helped by Waters because the Blood in this Disease is too much diluted already But if we consider how these Waters remove the Cause of this Malady the strangeness wil be taken away Besides when Dropsical Persons desire these Waters we can by adding to them some Preparations of the Mineral Principles of them make them much stronger and so consequently a smaller quantity of them may be more potent than a much greater and so this Objection quite removed 4. The Yellow Jaundice is curable by these Waters For hereby Obstructions in the Bilary Ducts are opened the regular and genuine Motion of the Choler promoted and the Blood cleansed from that Yellow Liquor which before was mixed with it and hurried about thorow the Veins and Arteries by the Circulation whence the ultmate Fibres and cutaneous Parts are at last discoloured by it 5. These Waters may be drank with admirable Success in Hypochondriac Melancholy and Affects of the Spleen The Causes and Nature of this Distemper I have related in a little Tract which I published several Years ago called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or A Philosophic Discourse concerning Man which the Reader may peruse at his leisure 6. In al manner of Uterine Affects or Diseases of the Womb these Waters may be recommended I shal not dispute whether Hysteric Passions or Fits of the Mother proceed from the Womb as Sennertus Riverius and other famous Authors tel us or from the Explosion of the Animal Spirits in the Nerves as the Renowned Willis wil have it or else from the more than ordinary Effervescence or Ebullition of the thinner and more flatulent Blood in the Heart and Lungs as Dr. Highmore asserts whence he saith the Heart and the Pneumatic Vessels are apprest and straitned difficulty of Breathing caused and a kind of Rising in the Throat But whatever the primary and original Cause of it is we find by experience that by these Waters it may be removed They are likewise proper in al those Distempers peculiar to Women as Obstructions of the Courses immoderate Fluxes Whites Suffocations of the Womb the raging and unbridled Furor Vlterinus Inflammations of the Womb Barrenness c. 7. Nothing more proper and beneficial in great Surfeits than to dilute the Blood and separate from it those impure Mixtures wherewith 't was surfeited by drinking of these wholesom Medicinal Waters 8. In the beginning of a Hectic See the Cause of a Consumption in a Discourse of that Distemper which I lately published and a tendency to a Consumption nothing can be safer than these Waters Where a Consumption is feared and the Body inclinable to it these Waters if drank in a sufficient quantity every day for some Weeks wil in al probability prevent it 9. In a Cachexy or il Habit of Body proceeding from undue and depraved Concoctions these Waters are certainly effectual For by being often drank they assist Concoction by taking away what was injurious to it and whet the Appetite by correcting the vitiated Acid in the Stomach purifie the Blood by separating from it what is heterogenious and leaving some of its wholesom Particles with it and so in a short time the whole Body is reduced to a regular Crasis and Eutaxy We might here add several other Maladies for which these Waters are of great use and efficacy as Preternatural Vomitings Pains at the Stomach Heats of the Liver and Bowels Thirst and Bitter Tastes in the Mouth Obstructions of the Mesentery and other Bowels Sarpness of Vrine and Difficulty of making Water Vlcers of the Reins Bladder and Yard Tumours of the Hemorrhoids or the Piles Colics both Bilose and Nephritic Dysenteries or Bloody-flux Worms Headach Meagrim Giddiness Bleedings at Nose Palpitations of the Heart the Itch Bastard-Leprosie Scabs or other Breakings-out or Eruptions in the Skin In fine we may safely say of these Waters Petr. Givrius Arcanum Acâ—dulaâ—um c. 10. as a very late Author writeth in praise of the Spaw-waters in Germany Non arbitror omnes Medicos tam Antiquos quam Modernos ullum unquam remedium adinvenisse adeo proficium adeoque amicum humanae naturae quod uno eodemque tempore purgat deterget temper at corrobor at omnia viscera tot tamque diversis morbis auxiliatur I do not think saith he that the Ancient or Modern Physicians have ever yet found out a Remedy so beneficial so agreeable to Humane Nature which at one and the same time purgeth detergeth temperates and corroborates al the Bowels and is helpful in so many and so differing Distempers To apply this I would not be understood that I think no Physicians can by their Endeavours make Waters Artificially which may be as good as these but my Opinion is as I have already asserted That no Form of Medicines do in any respect equal that of Mineral Water Much more might be said in Commendation of these Waters but I have already exceeded my limited Bounds These Waters may be drank from One Quart to Two and Three in a Morning The Person that drinks them is to use moderate Exercise as Walking Playing at Bowls Ninepins c. after them About two Hours after he may drink a Glass of Wine which wil help their Passage He must not eat til two or three Hours after he hath drank them nor use any violent Motion He must use a moderate Diet during the whole time of his drinking them not overcharging the Stomach with too much or too great Variety of Food His constant Drink is to be clear fresh and not too strong neither new nor too stale He may now and then rest a day or two and then drink again It 's convenient to purge gently after he hath drank them a fortnight or three weeks Such as please may have them made stronger by adding some of the Essence of these Waters to them and so may drink them in lesser Quantities What I have farther to add concerning these Waters I shal reserve til a Treatise of Observations that may be made upon the Bath and Spaw which we hope to finish by next Summer shal be published FINIS ERRATA Page 98. line 1. read Scorvey p. 99. l. 1. r. cariate p. 102. l. 14. r. Endemic p. 111. l. 4. r. opprest l. 17. r. Vterinus
And we shall begin with the Use of the Bagnio Amongst the many excellent Helps and useful Inventions wherewith the Industry of Ancient and Modern Physicians hath supported the tottering Fabric of Mens Bodies the Practice of Bagnios deservedly claims an honourable Mention and justly challenges a venerable Esteem And indeed if we consider how long they have been known to the World it cannot be supposed whithout a manifest Reproach to the Judgment of the Learned in so many Ages who having often experienced the great Advantages they have received by them took care to hand them down to our Times and recommended them to the Use of succeeding Generations that their Usefulness is not found to equal the Character which they have always given them and which we now contend for Besides when we remember how nearly Art resembles Nature in this sort of Administration we have no reason to question such considerable Effects from Means so highly probable for as 't is generally acknowledged that by observing the singular Benefit some have received by involuntary Bleeding at Nose some at the Hemorhoids others in other Parts we were first directed to take up the Lancet open a Vein and cal in the Assistance of Phlebotomy so 't is not unlikely that the Ancients taking notice of the great Relief some have found after Critical Sweats by a free Transpiration of the Fuliginous Parts of the Body thorow the Pores received the first hint of attempting the like Evacuations by Artificial Baths or Bagnios thereby powerfully assisting the weakness of sluggish Nature in throwing off the offending Matter We need not look back so far as to the Times in which Rome when Mistris of the World boasted of near 200 beautiful Structures erected for this purpose since the present Practice of the Turks obviously presents it self to our Consideration the Wisdom of whose Governours hath thought fit to provide such Accommodations in all the principal Places of that vast Empire and endow them with large Revenues Nor do they think their Charge and Trouble in erecting these Bagnios lost for they apparently find themselves much recruited and invigorated by the frequent use of them as likewise several Distempers are hereby prevented It 's rare to see any there afflicted either with Gout Dropsie or Rheumatisms the Reason of which can be ascribed to nothing so much as this wholesom Custom of using Bagnios Not only in Turkey but also in several Parts of Europe the use of Bagnios is much esteemed of particularly in several Parts of Hungary Germany Sweedland Denmark c. where they are in great request Now if Bagnios are thus useful the frequent Sweating in them so beneficial if they are so much in request abroad and found to be of such extraordinary Advantage to Kingdoms why should we exclude them 'T is matter of great wonder to me that in this pregnant Age when almost every Art and Science but more particularly the Noble Faculty of Physick hath been more improved than in several preceding Generations and almost al ingenuous useful Inventions whether found out in Europe or any other Parts of the World have been brought into immediate Use and Practice that so admirable and Invention and so publicly known in other Parts was not thought on in England till about four Years ago Certain I am that if the real Vertues and Benefit of frequenting Bagnios were wel known and believed by the generality of the Inhabitants of London and Westminster 't is not the Royal and the Duke's Bagnio would be able to receive the twentieth part of those that would crowd in upon them But such is the remiss careless and negligent Humour of the Inhabitants of these Ilands that they think not of preventing Distempers til they come upon them and then they smart for 't There is no Part of Physic so much rejected and forgotten as the Prophylactic or Hygieinal which is the Preservative Part tho no one Part of Medicine ought to be more respected To this very end Mr. Boyle the Mirrour of our Age hath prompted us to this Study in his Vsefulness of Natural Philosophy Part 2. Essay 4. Now that Bathing and Sweating is useful in the Prophylactic or Preservative as well as in the Therapeutic or Healing Part of Physic is evidently enough demonstrable For nothing tends more to the preventing of Distempers and so ex consequenti for the preserving of Health than the assisting of Nature in throwing off what is offensive to her and incongruous with her Balsamic Crimson Liquor and other deputrated Juices The Pores of the Body which are the Out-lets of those unwelcome Guests are soon obstructed by the constant and successive thronging forth of Effluviums by insensible Perspiration some of which are glutinous or rather crooked and so hang in their very exit by which others are afterwards stopt in their passage and so in time several Pores of the Body are almost quite clogg'd and Nature many times put to a force to burst them open In the mean time several of these pernicious Corpuscles which the Blood would otherwise transmit thorow those Pores finding no passage into the open Air at the yet too weak repulse of Nature are hurried about again by Circulation and hereby oftentimes such irregular Motions in the Blood created by Natures strenuous endeavour to throw them off by a kind of abhorring violence and impetuosity that the genuine Ferment and slow and moderate Motion of the Blood is exalted to a rapid Motion and furious Ebullition and so many times fatal and destructive Maladies are created all which by the moderate use of Bagnios might be prevented And this is the reason why the Turks and the Natives of other Countries that have the frequent use of Bagnios are seldom sick and live to a prodigious Age because constant Perspiration being hereby promoted the very Seeds of Distempers are thrust out and the Enemies of Nature quite exterminated so that Nature having nothing heterogeneous or contrary to the Principles of Life she performs her proper Functions with the greatest regularity to a competent Old age The Body then resigns not by being overcome by any Distempers but because its Organs are quite worn out and impaired by their long Exercise and so unfit and unable for longer Service We may mention the Use of Bagnios not only in preventing Diseases as we have just now evinced but also in curing and removing some particular Maladies and Infirmities What can be prescribed better for a new-taken Cold than to sweat moderately in a well-tempered Bagnio For as the Sulphureous and sticking Particles of the Blood do sometimes hang together in their Passage from the Body and so obstruct the Pores so it is also undeniable that frigorific and cold Particles which swarm and glide about in the fluid Air especially in Winter darting upon the Body exposed to the Air do often stick in the Pores and so hinder Perspiration and hereby occasion very bad Effects and perplexing Symptoms in the Body Now it
is not only highly probable and easie to imagine but certainly the Effect and Product of daily Experience that these pernicious cold Particles are soon driven away and put to flight by the calorific or hot Particles of which there are enow floating or rather jumping about in Bagnios Cold Particles have likewise other hurtful Effects upon the Body besides secluding the Pores which is by entring the Body and mixing themselves with the Blood and hereby causing Coughs Catarrhs Defluxions Hoarsness Quinzies Pleurisies Fevers Rheumatisms Pains Head-aches Toothaches Deafnesses c. All which direful Maladies are prevented if the Party soon after taking Cold enter a Bagnio the Heat expelling those Particles which are the Causes of the mentioned Evils Another Use of Bagnios may be to recruit the Body after a tedious and wearisom Journey for if a Person coming off such a Journey do immediately make use of the Bagnio it presently refresheth him prevents Stiffness of the Limbs and renders him as fit for Business the next day as if he had never travelled To what hath been said I may add That Sweating is useful in Surfeits gotten by Fruits Meats Wines and other Strong Liquors by causing the Blood to throw off and separate that which being mixed with it gave it the Surfeit For which reason it is very proper and benficial for such as drink hard to make frequent use of Bagnios Bagnios are likewise many times helpful to such as have Old Pains and Aches and also newly contracted Rheumatisms Farther we have to add concerning the Benefit of Bagnios That the Friction or Rubbing used in them is of extraordinary use to Humane Bodies as wel as the Sweating For hereby the Circulation of the Blood in the smal Capillary Vessels is exceedingly promoted and the narrow Ducts and Passages in the extreme and superficial and cutaneous Parts of the Body wherein the Blood and other Liquors are often coagulated or those Vessels stopp'd by other Accidents are hereby opened the tender Nervous Fibres are also hereby rubb'd up and stimulated to perform their Exercise So that many and considerable are the Advantages of so little and unthought-of a thing as Friction And this is not only my bare Opinion but the Opinion of several Learned Authors Galen in several places of his Works highly commends Friction particularly in Lib. de Artic. cap. 81. he saith Frictiones reddunt Fibrarum substantiam pleniorem Carnium vero validiorem Frictions render the substance of the Fibres fuller the Flesh more firm Also Lib. de Offic. cap. 25. he saith Frictio moderata nutrit Moderate Friction nourisheth We have not only the Authority of Galen for the abetment of our Assertion but likewise several Modern Authors do testifie the same The Lord Verulam in his History of Life and Death looks upon Touch and Friction as a great Medic Branch and effectual Cure of many Diseases and Infirmities That Motion and Warmth which make up Friction draw forth new Juyce and Vigour into the Parts and that they also contribute much to the Prolongation of Life c. See his History of Life and Death Hist 6. Sect. 3. in Canon xiii Mr. Boyle in his Vsefulness of Experimental Philosophy Part 2. c. 15. compares the Bodies of Animals to Engines whose distant Parts may be altered much for the better or worse by Impressions upon some other Part by Motions confessedly Mechanical He also tels us how much the wel-dressing and Currying of a Horse contributes to his Thriving that he shal look better by such wel-ordering than twice the quantity of Corn without such care taken of him That the Brasilian Emperics tho otherwise very unskilful do strange things in the preserving of Health and removing Diseases by such means curing Cronic Diseases by Friction Acute ones by Unction You may see more among Dr. Beal's Communications concerning the Cure of Excrescences and Wens by the Touch of a Dead Man's Hand and Friction and of some that would cause Vomiting or Purging by different Stroking and give ease in the Gout as also the Benefit an old Gentleman received having his Feet lickt by a Spaniel Of which see at large in Philosophic Transactions N. 12. p. 206 208. for the Year 1666. 'T is likewise credibly reported and I am apt to believe it That Mr. Hobbs who lived to a great Age was a great Admirer of Frictions and oftentimes imploy'd his Man to rub him down with a course Cloth if not constantly It 's also more than probable That many great Cures which have been done by some Private Persons who have been Famous for Stroaking or Rubbing the Parts and have been thought to have had an Extraordinary or Divine Gift or Happiness that way have oftentimes been no other than the natural Effects and Consequents of Friction The Famous Van Helmont tels us That he himself could by the Milk of an Ass tel whether she had been that day diligently Curried or no. Now so considerable an Alteration in Milk should methinks strongly argue that a great one is in the Blood or other Juyce of which the Blood is elaborated and consequently in divers of the principal Parts of the Body which must have preceded it Now there being so sensible an Alteration made in the Body of a Brute by meer Currying how much more Benefit and Advantage must needs accrue and redound to the Body of Man by accurate Friction Thus we have endeavoured to demonstrate the great Use and Benefit of Bagnios Now that this ample and spacious Structure of the Duke's Bagnio doth not fal short of but rather exceed most of the Bagnios in Europe is the Assertion of al Travellers that have yet seen it That which next occurs to our Consideration is the Use and Benefit of Baths and particularly of this New Artificial Bath Not undeservedly have Natural Baths been applauded by the most Eminent and Learned Physicians of many successive Generations neither hath the general Esteem of the Vulgar for them for so many past Ages been meerly the Fruits of Fansie without Ground or Reason since the multitude of Cures that have yearly been effected by the Use of them hath been a sufficient Manifesto of their great Virtue and Usefulness Never was the Use of Baths so much in vogue in Europe as now The most Renowned and those that indeed excel al other Natural Baths in Europe are those of Hungary Dr. Brown's Travels at Glas-Hitten an Hungarian Mile from Schemnitz There are five very convenient Baths with handsom Descents into them and covered over with large high Roofs These Baths are exceedingly frequented by reason of the extraordinary Cures that are done by them Also at Eisenbach which is four English Miles from Glas-Hitten are two very commodious Hot Baths which are very much frequented Not only in Hungary but likewise in Germany Natural Baths are highly esteemed and much used Particularly those of the famous City of Aken are much celebrated in many Parts of Europe They were
found out in the Year of our Lord 53. by one Granus a Noble Roman who adorned them after the manner of the Roman Baths and built a Noble Habitation near them part of which is stil to be seen retaining the Name of Turris Grani. Hence likewise these Thermae are stil called Aquae Graniae Within the Wals of this City are three Baths viz. the Emperour's Bath the Little Bath and the Bath of St. Quirinus The Emperour's Bath was very large but is now divided by Partitions into several Bathing-rooms This is that Bath in which Charles the Great formerly took so much delight that he spent the latter end of his Days here and would frequently swim in it and invited abundance of his Friends to this Bath so that a hundred at once did frequently enter it There are likewise other Baths about this City as the Bath of St. Cornelius the Rose-Bath so called from Mr. Rose a Citizen that built it also the Compus Badt or Poor Mans Bath These are esteemed to be Sulphureo-Nitrous their Smell is offensive and Water not transparent About a Furlong from the South Bath of Aken is a Village called Borset where there are Twenty eight Baths eath of them holding Fifty Tun of Water and all of them frequented In Austria at Baden are Fourteen very sumptuous and delightful Baths al of them wel beautified and much resorted to The Turks also make great use of Baths as wel as Bagnios and do most of any Nation beautifie their Baths and always build large Cupolas over them We may likewise mention the Hot Waters at Bourbon in France the use of which in Bathing as wel as Drinking have given such satisfaction to the World of their singular and admirable Qualities that Persons from al Parts of Europe do throng and flock thither for the sake of Bathing in them Thus we see how Forrein Parts prove exemplary to us in the frequent use of Bathing 'T wil not be amiss now to mention something concerning the Natural Baths in our own Native Country Those that are most known and frequented are those of Bathe in Somersetshire which were 't is said found out by one Bladud King of the Britans about 900 Years before Christ This Bladud was sirnamed a Magician and was counted by the Common People to be a Conjurer tho al that he did to deserve that Character was nothing but the Effects of his Learning and Ingenuity Guidot of Bath The Baths of Bathe are in number chiefly three the King 's the Cross and the Hot Bath the Queens being but an Appendent to the King 's as the Lepers to the Hot Bath The King's Bath is about 58 Foot long and 40 Foot broad The Queens 25 Foot long and 24 Foot broad The Cross Bath 24 Foot long 19 Foot over Northwards and 12 Foot over on the South The Hot Bath 30 Foot long 13 Foot broad If we reckon by Gage we find that the Kings Bath contains about 314 Tun of Water the Queens 81 Tun 3 Hogsheads the Cross 53 Tun the Hot 54 Tun. These Baths are much frequented in the Summer yet not so much as they would certainly be if due Observation was made and notice taken of the many Cures are done by them and the admirable Virtues of them But for what farther might be mentioned of these Baths I refer the Reader to Dr. Jorden of Natural Baths and Guidot's Discourse of Bathe and the Hot Waters there Another admirable Bath in England is the Sulphur-Bath at Knaisbrough in Yorkshire the extraordinary Virtues of which as the Causes of its Heat are accurately discussed by that Ingenious Physician Dr. William Simpson lately deceas'd in his Discourse of this Bath adjoyning to his Zymologia Physica or a Philosophic Discourse of Fermentation It might now be expected we should say something of the Causes of Heat in the Hot Baths and of the particular Minerals wherewith they are commonly impregnated but the Largeness of that Theme will not agree with the Brevity which we have resolved to limit our selves unto and therefore I shall not enter upon it Nor shal we launch out to relate the Virtues of particular Natural Baths but only betake our selves to declare the Use of this New Artificial Bath by giving an Account of the several Diseases that it may safely and successfully be prescribed for Only let us premise thus much to take off whatsoever prejudice the Reader may possibly have entertained against an Artificial Bath That there can be no Reason in the World alledged why Baths may not by Art be prepared with the same Mineral Ingredients that the Natural ones are impregnated with which shal equal if not exceed any of them al. The Reason may be this That there are no Metals in the World but by Art may be so prepared as that the prepared Particles of those very Metals may be mixed with Water and so the particular Virtues of those Particles communicated to the Water Secondly There are no Saline Aluminous or Esurine Particles in the Body of the Earth which impregnating Water render it able to prey upon and dissolve the Metals or Mineral Sulphurs there but what may be obtained or prepared by Art or something analogous to them Thirdly There are no Natural Baths in the World but have some Arsenical Antimonial or else some other unwholesom offensive Particles mixed with the more wholesom and powerful Principles of it which render those Waters less helpful and effectual in routing those Maladies for which they are prescribed But this Artificial Bath consists of Principles most refined and depurate and so consequently most innocent and effectual For whatever is poysonous and pernicious to the Nerves is abstracted and separated from them but whatever is purely Sulphureous Balsamic and agreeable to the Nerves is added to them Besides our Bath is much more convenient than the Baths at Bathe it being within-doors and covered so that Persons need not fear the bad Effects of being exposed to the open Air. This likewise renders our Bath useful in Winter as well as in Summer Another Convenience of it is that it is at London whither the numerous Diseased Persons that either have not Money or Strength to travel down into Somersetshire may here be accommodated with smal Charge or trouble and that altogether to as much purpose We shal now mention the particular Distempers in which this Bath gives immediate Reliefe And that which first occurs and hardly admits of any Relief from any other Means than Bathing is the Palsie This it doth by opening the Pores of the Body absolving the Nerves from their Obstruents dinting the Acrimony and Sharpness of the Serum dissolving coagulated Blood and giving Current to that fluid Balsam of Life and at length reducing the Nervous and Membranous Parts to their due Order and Tone For the same Reason this Bath is likewise very effectual in Convulsions Cramps Epilepsies Pains Numbness and Lameness in the Joynts and al other Affects of the Nervosum
Retention of Nutriment doth proceed whereby one Part becomes less another bigger than in proportion it ought to be for some Parts are much emaciated and extenuated as the Legs Thighs Arms c. other Parts are swelled as the Head and Liver There are likewise in this Distemper for the same Reason several Protuberancse of the Bones particularly at the Wrists Ancles and Extremities of the Ribs There is likewise which is another Symptom attending this Disease a Sharpness and Straitness upon the Breast We may likewise add that several Bones are sometimes inflected or bent as the Bones of the Legs and Thighs Arms and Shoulders c. All which Symptoms with several others which might be mentioned if not removed by Art do tend very much to the future Prejudice of Children How many crooked-boned Bandy-legg'd Strait-breasted Jolt-headed Wry-back'd Weak Decrepit Persons do we daily see The Original of all which Infirmities may be attributed in a great measure to the Relicts of the Rickets with which they laboured when they were young Now of Al the Remedies that ever were yet invented for this Malady there 's none like that of Bathing Therefore to prevent the Injury that Children would otherwise necessarily receive by this Disease we have ordered a particular appropriated Bath to be made every Saturday for such as are afflicted with it by the use of which the vitiated Tone of the Parts is rectified the Parts themselves comforted and strengthened equal Distribution of Nourishment promoted and the Causes of the former inequality of Nutrition and Extenuation removed and in fine the whole Habit of Body in those tender Punies reduced to its due Eutaxy and regular Disposition So that among all the Remedies that have hitherto been in vogue for Curing the Rickets as Scarrification of the Ears Issues Leeches Cupping-glasses Blisters Ligatures Rollings Strait Stockins Clisters Purges Vomits Specific Powders Syrups or Electuaries Oyntments c. none can be safer and more effectual than Bathing in this appropriated Bath for by the use of it this Distemper is prevented where there is fear or danger of it its Progress is stopt where it is begun and al its Symptoms in a short time removed where it hath arrived to an Increment and considerable State The Certainty of al which and much more than I have asserted wil appear to such as shal hereafter use it Another very afflicting and somewhat spreading Malady to the Cure of which Bathing may much contribute is the Dropsie and that because it is found by experience that Bathing provokes both Urine and Sweat For a Man shal scarce wel get out of the Bath but he shal be inclinable to make Water and then Sweat doth in some considerable measure succeed which if promoted by some inward Diaphoretic wil help notably to transpire the superfluous Serum or Water in the Blood especially in that sort of Dropsie which is called Anasarca where the Blood is too much diluted and the Limphaducts obstructed in the Habit of the Body So that two grand Symptoms or Effects of a Dropsie and perhaps a third are hereby removed viz. Stopping or Difficulty of Vrine Obstructions of the Pores and lastly Debility of Ferments in their separating Functions For hereby the Reins Ureters and Sphinctor of the Bladder are reminded of their Duty the Pores of the Body are opened the inward and outward Parts rendred Perspirable and the Digestive Ferments fortified So that tho the use of this Bath it self without concurring Means is not sufficient to Cure a Dropsie yet if Bathing be joyned with other Remedies it will certainly prove very useful and beneficial We may here likewise mention another great Convenience of it which is That it is very useful for Corpulent Persons for gross and fat Bodies For by opening the Pores and exciting a new and brisk Ferment in the Blood it assists Nature to emit the superfluous Unctuous Parts of the Blood it likewise wastes and causeth to exhale that Matter that hath already been setled into Fat Thus Fat and Corpulent Persons may in a little time be eased at least in a great measure of that heavy Burden which they generally complain of Nor doth this Bath make Lean Persons become Leaner for the same Reason that it makes Fat Persons Lean because in Lean Bodies there is none of that superfluous and Unctuous Matter which it meets with in grosser Bodies but in Lean Bodies it plumps and corroborates the Fibres of the Muscles We shal in the next place add That this Bath may with very good Success by used to give present Ease in the Fits of the Stone and Gravel for by a kind of an Anodyne Vertue it obtundeth the acute Sensation of those Nervous and Membranous Parts which suffer in this Distemper It likewise causeth a propension to make Water and so either expels the Gravel or Stone if it be smal or else if it be too big to force its exit thro the Meatus Vrinarius or Urinary Passage it often causeth a Removal of it from the top of that Passage and so present Ease ensues But we shal not insist farther on this Head our Mineral Waters the Vertues of which we shal hereafter relate being of exceeding Efficacy in this wracking Distemper The last thing I purpose to mention in Commendation of this Bath is That it Beautifies the Skin tho some Natural Baths make it more Tawny and Unhandsom To which end I can commend it to Ladies to smooth and whiten their Skin increase its Plumpness and Lustre and preserve the Body in a good Habit and Disposition It takes away Wrinkles and Shrivellings in the Skin and is very useful to take away Chaps in Womens Breasts and Bellies after Lying-in It fetcheth off Spots and other Cutaneous Deformities It also washeth from the Body that Scurf and Dirt which adheres to it so that the use of it is very neat and cleanly It takes off that yellow and unhandsom Colour of the Skin which remains in the Yellow Jaundies after the Cause is removed These things besides the great Pleasure of Bathing and Washing the Body are al I design at present to mention concerning the great Usefulness and Vertue of this New Mineral Bath of which much more might be said but for brevity sake let what hath been here concisely related suffice til a future Opportunity and more apparent Testimonies of its real Benefit do present themselves We shal therefore now proceed to give an Account of the Nature and Virtues of the New Spaw or Mineral Waters designed for Drinking Having made it part of my Study to dive into the Nature of Waters I must declare my Opinion to be That Mineral Waters are not only of great use in Physic and retain in them very admirable Vertues but also that no other sort of Medicines let them be made up in what Form soever have that Energy in reducing the Blood to its pristine Eucrasie the whole Body to a sound Diathesis and routing the Mineras and Seminalities