Bodies especially Animal ones that they are mixt with In Animal Bodies there is no such thing to be found unless in the Bile which is an Excrement and seems to be as genuine an Excrement of Fire as any thing whatsoever both from its burne Tast Colour c. and I am sure if it be detained in the Body will play the Devil As for Volatile Alkalies they are to be found in Soot in Plants after Putrefaction in Urine in Horns and Hoofs of Animals and in Blood and altho Sweat abound with a great quantity of it yet that is not to be obtained in quantities sufficient to draw Volatile Salt from it Soot is the Volatile Excrement of Fire or of the Matter of which Fire is made Urine is an Excrement of our Bodies and the Volatile Salt in it the Excrement of Animal Fire or of that which is its Pabulum or Fuel The Horns and Hoofs of Beasts are generally allowed to be excrementitious Parts of their Bodies and they afford the greatest quantity of Volatile Salt of any thing besides As for Blood the Volatile Alkaly to be obtained from it is only the excrementitious part of it or rather of the vital Flame or the Pabulum of it in a way of being carried off by some of the Emunctories which if it chance to be obstructed in its Passage affects the Body with some Distemper or other As for the Volatile Salt to be obtained from Plants after Putrefaction I shall give you a particular account of it by reason that some Men have made a great stir about it and spent a great deal of time in quest after it supposing it to be one of the grand Medicines of Nature Most if not all Vegetables do principally consist of a Volatile Acid and a Sulphur which make them a proper Fuel for Fire Now let any of the Aromatick Plants such as Rosemary Sage Lavender Mint c. be well dried and afterwards be put into a Hole in a moist Cellar and rammed down very hard let them lie without a Cover till they grow hot after they have done so some time and the Acido-sulphureous parts are exhaled which is much the same as if they had been burnt they will then contract a stinking ill Smell when they are in this state put them into a tall glass Bottle with a glass Head and in gentle Heat of Sand you will obtain a Volatile Alkalious Spirit and Salt good for nothing else that I know of but to bring other Bodies into the same state of Corruption that the Plants from which it was extracted were before it was drawn from them Thus I have let you see what is my Judgment concerning Alkalies and how they are produced But as for the Acid that we take in as Food and otherwise that together with the Sulphur are made use of as a Pabulum or Fuel for the vital Flame and were not the sulphureous Particles in some measure suppressed and detained by the means of an Acid the Thred of our Lives would be but very short Dr. Andre of Caen in Normandy in his Discourse of Alkaly and Acid speaking of Acid pag. 21. Engl. Translation he saith There is nothing in this World which owes not its birth to an Acid Salt Nothing can live nor be multiplied without it It is that Soul of the World of which the Antients have so often told us Tachenius in his Clavis Hippocratis Medicinae from pag. 3 to pag. 11. gives strange Encomiums of it some of which I shall here transcribe Speaking of Acid he brings in Lullius Nos multi alii inquit vocamus illum Filium Solis nam primò per Solis influentiam fuit generatus per naturam sine adjutorio scientiae vel artis ideò Aristoteles vocavit Solem patrem Terram matrem omnium vegetabilium c. He afterwards says Acidum itaque est pingue antiquissimum principium omnium rerum vita fons quod variis nominibus nominarunt Scriptores ut ignem solem aurum spiritum sulphur forma sexcentis aliis nominibus quae omnia synonima sunt estque eadem res cui tamen diverso respectu diversa nomina imponuntur nobis tamen eam hic ubique commodiore opportunitate Acidum vocare libet Again A Sole itaque ut a fonte defluunt Acidum naturale lumen vitale quae reipsa sunt idem sed officio distinguuntur Acidi enim munus est ad interiora Naturae penetrare luminis verò exteriora patefacere utcumque solis radii operentur adeoque Sol est primum naturale organum cujus accessu recessu omnes naturae operationes variae reguntur intenduntur ac remittuntur Hinc Cosmopolita ingeniosissimus si non esset vis vegetabilis sulphuris id est Acidum pingue filius solis non coagularetur aqua in herbas si itaque Acidum à sole fluens infunditur in materiam ex gr mineralem statim recipit determinationem naturae virtutis mineralis sic de caeteris animalibus de Vegetabilibus rebus dixit Luilius proptereà quòd haec aciditas naturalis omnibus mundi Materiis copulatur Mercurii nomen à sapientibus adepta est Et licet oculus vulgi quotidie videat Acidi naturalis multiplicationem nec non incorporationem attamen illud non cognoscit exempli loco sit minera salis petrae Patavii jam evacuata quae quinque vel septem annorum decursu rursus repletur est enim terra ejus nutrix Hermete teste unde hic spiritus in illa corpus assumit atque fit inflammabile nitrum Acids are without doubt the most perfect Bodies in Nature since they cannot undergo a Putrefaction and what we take in by our Mouths is so far from being too much for us that besides it we are not able to live without drawing in fresh Supplies from the Air every moment and that the Air is filled with Acid Salts a Multitude of common and obvious Experiments do evince as for instance Let Vitriol be distilled with the most violent Fire imaginable so that it will not yield the least drop of Acid Spirit more do but take out the Caput mortuum or Colcathar and expose it to the open Air under a Shed where it may not be rained upon and in a few months time it will become good Vitriol again and yield as much Acid Spirit as it did at first time and this it will do ad infinitum The same thing may be done by the Caput mortuum of Sea-salt Nitre c. Now if the Air did not abound with Acid Particles from whence came those insipid Bodies that were totally deprived of the Acid they had in them by the first Distillation to regain the same quantity of Acid that they had before they were distilled If you expose the Caput mortuum of those things that by Distillation had afforded an Alkalious Spirit or Salt that Caput mortuum will never regain its Alkaly
again let it lie never so long which argues plainly that the Particles of the Air are not Alkalious And therefore were Acids so injurious to Mens Bodies as some would have us believe they are every Draught of Air we take in must poison us since the Air is full of Acid Particles and I believe no body doubts but that the Air has a free Communication with the Blood if not by the Lungs at least by the receptory Pores of Skin But I think it 's plain that there is a Communication with it both ways By all the ways I could yet contrive I have not been able to procure one Grain of pure Acid from the Blood of either healthy or sick People But in the before recited Experiments you find there is always a proportion of fetid Oil with which Oil the Acid is imbodied to make it a proper Pabulum for the vital Flame and when once Acid and Oleaginous Bodies are well united which they will very readily do it is no very easy matter to cause a Separation of them Now the reason that this Oil hath such a very ill Savour is from its coming over the Helm along with the Volatile Alkaly all Alkalies whether Volatile or fixt giving a very ill Smell to sulphureous oleaginous Bodies especially if together they are exposed to a great degree of Heat and the Heat that is required to bring them over the Helm is much greater than that of our Bodies tho in a burning Fever Yet from the Action of the Volatile excrementitious Alkaly upon the sulphureous parts of the Blood may I think a very good reason be given for the Symptoms that attend most if not all Fevers for all Alkalies destroy Sulphurs as may be seen in the making of Soap Hepar Sulphuris c. Sulphurs are the active Principle in both Animal and Vegetable Juices Alkalies by breaking and dividing the Particles of the Sulphurs excite Fermentations and by degrees cause a total Dissipation of them Acids are a sort of Vinculum to Sulphurs and therefore they suppress Fermentations and keep the Sulphur from Dissipation From whence I infer that a true Oleosum must be the great Medicine but it must not be such a one as commonly goes under that Name which is only a Combination of Volatile Alkaly with Spirit of Wine and Aromatick Oils or Spices instead of which it must be an Acido-oleosum an exalted Acid combined after the foresaid manner The Life of Man it self being principally supported by an Acido-oleosum If any one asks me what I mean by Sulphur My Answer is whatsoever is inflammable And with such kind of Substances the World is almost every where filled For without them neither the Lives of Men nor Beasts could be any way supported and therefore those places that are best supplied with them are best stockt with Animals of all kinds whereas those that are deficient in them such as the Desarts of Arabia c. are almost wholly destitute of all kinds of living Creatures Letter But secondly there is another way of discovering an Alkaly besides that of its Appearance and that is by its effects to wit its Fermentation with Spirit of Vitriol Now I aver this green Serum will not ferment with the foresaid Spirit Wherefore if it be an Alkaly it is an Alkaly of a particular nature It must be granted that we oftentimes find in the Blood some Particles of a very warm nature predominant in which cases I have found Acids to be of great use but whether they are of an Alkaline Nature or not I leave to the Learned to determine If they are Alkalies then either fixt or Volatile if fixt how comes it to pass that on the Dissolution of the Texture of the Blood they claim the highest place and nothing will serve their turn but they must needs swim in the Serum if Volatile how is it that we many times find this warm Serum to be little better than insipid Volatile Salts you know are aculeated and affect the Palat strongly May they not rather be of a sulphureous nature since it is the Nature of such Substances to sit uppermost on the Dissolution of Bodies Answer I own it is one of the genuine and constant Effects of an Alkaly to cause an Effervescency when mixt with Spirit of Vitriol or any other Acid Spirit but whether this Effervescency be to be accounted a Fermentation I greatly question Tho Alkalies will excite Fermentation in fermentible Liquors as is well known to many Mechanicks and I fear too well by the Brewers about this City As for what you mean by the green Serum which you say will not ferment or effervesce with Spirit of Vitriol I cannot tell But sure I am that if you put a little Spirit or Oil of Vitriol into a small Bottle and upon that pour some Serum of Blood that will turn Syrup of Violets green it will immediately become intensly hot and a great many Bubbles will immediately rise which looks very like a Fermentation if it be not one therefore when you made this Experiment upon which you are so confident there must needs be some Error committed for upon your urging this thing the first Opportunity I had I made the Experiment afresh and it succeeded the very first time and I doubt not but if you will give your self the trouble of making this Experiment again it will not fail of succeeding As for those warm Particles that you say are often predominant in the Blood I must confess I don't understand what you mean by them the Blood whilst we are in a state of Health is always warm the reason of which I have before given you If we have a Fever upon us the Blood exceeds its natural Temper according as the Fever is more or less violent Now the Cause of this Excess of Heat in a febrile state I take to be as follows in most Fevers especially in the beginning of them there is a Constipation of some of the Emunctories so that the excrementitious Alkaly which should be carried off by them is detained in the Blood which by breaking of its Globules and dividing of the sulphureous Particles which are the Pabulum of the vital Flame does either excite what we call a Fermentation or rather by dividing the sulphureous Particles and subduing the Acid that held them together does increase the Flame to an intense degree An Instance of which we have in common Fire as I have elsewhere taken notice of and shall here again repeat viz. let the Matter of which Fire is made be laid close together and then kindled and it will consume leisurely and by degrees whereas let it be laid at some little distances one from another and it will consume with a rapid and intense Flame Salt-Peter also and Brimstone being mixt together will burn with a gentle and easy Flame but by adding a Proportion of Charcoal-Dust as is the Method in making Gun-powder wherein is contain'd the fixt Alkaly of the
Wood the said Alkaly by causing a Division of the Particles of the Nitre and Sulphur does so alter the Property of it that instead of burning placidly and easily the least Spark of Fire falling into it will cause an Explosion viz. make it take Fire all at once and so be consumed as 't were in an instant Are not the Attacques of some Fevers and other acute Distempers much like to this Explosion wherein Nature seems to be overthrown and the whole Course of it put out of order almost in an instant This is all at present I think necessary to take notice of in relation to the warm Particles you speak of and that Acids are the only Medicines to suppress this unnatural Heat I think I have already made appear As for the Inferences you are pleased to draw from them I think I have nothing more to do with them but slightly to touch at them they having already fallen under my Consideration And I have sufficiently demonstrated that Alkalies are the Causes of all preternatural Heats in our Bodies But supposing that preternatural Heats are occasioned by the superabundance of Alkalies in the Blood you still seem to be dissatisfied about them also For say you if they are fixt ones how comes it to pass that on the Dissolution of the Texture of the Blood they claim the highest Place and nothing will serve their turn but they must needs swim in the Serum if Volatile how is it that we often-times find this warm Serum little better than insipid Volatile Salts you know are aculeated and affect the Palat strongly May they not rather be of a sulphureous Nature since 't is the Nature of such Substances to sit uppermost on the Dissolution of Bodies First I don't remember that I have any where said that fixt Alkalies do claim the highest Place in the Dissolution of Bodies and that they swim uppermost in the Liquors in which they are dissolved But this I believe you infer from my Experiment with the Serum which is the lightest part of the Blood and therefore is uppermost in the Poringer after it hath stood some time and that a Separation is made in the Parts thereof Now I did not make use of the Experiment with the Serum and Syrup of Violets thereby to intimate that Serum only was over impregnated with Alkalious Particles but that being the most colourless part of the Blood was therefore most proper for such an Experiment For should I have made such an Experiment with the fibrous and globulous Parts of the Blood which are combined together in one Mass they are so imbued with a scarlet Dye that a small quantity of it would tinge a great quantity of Solution of Syrup of Violets with the same Colour altho at the same time it were greatly overcharged with Alkalious Particles Therefore in my plain and easy way of analizing the Blood I have made use of it altogether as it came out of the Veins But if a Man considers with what Rapidity the Blood moves along the Vessels it is impossible but all the Parts must be so mixt together that if the Serum be overcharged with Alkalious Particles the other parts must be so also or if the other parts be overcharged the Serum must be in like manner so But however as for sixt Alkalies the Blood is very rarely overcharged with them the Substances we take in for our Nourishment affording very little of them after burning and therefore Nature has provided but one Emunctory for the carrying them off viz. the Ductus Biliaris which empties it self into the Duodenum and is conveyed off along with the Excrement of our Food by stool Whereas there are Millions of Emunctories besides that great Discharge that is made by Urine to carry off the Volatile Alkaly But if at any time the Glands of the Liver are obstructed that the fixt Alkaly cannot be separated from the Blood what fatal Effects does it produce I have scarce ever known a true Ascites which is that kind of Dropsy that is scarcely ever to be cured which hath not had its Origine from an Obstruction of those Vessels in the Liver which separate the Bile from the Blood Nay frequently they have a Jaundice upon them thro the whole Course of the Distemper But if not so I never yet knew an Ascites that had not a Jaundice preceded it and in what manner the whole Oeconomy of the Body is destroyed in this Distemper is but too well known But this is not the only Distemper that hath its Origine from the Obstruction of these Vessels tho it be one of the most dangerous Secondly As for what you say concerning the Insipidness of the Taste of the warm Serum I suppose you mean that Serum which is overheated in Fevers c. the Serum being always warm whilst People are alive I can assure you it is contrary to my long Experience for of many Years it has been my Custom to taste the Serum of the Blood not only in Fevers but all other Distempers where I have had occasion to prescribe Blood-letting and in some Fevers I have found the Volatile Salt to bite my Tongue very severely but never once could find the Serum insipid and by this way of tasting I can better judg of the Condition of my Patient than from the Colour of the Blood But in those Cases where the Serum is much inviscated as in most Pleurisies Rheumatisms and many Fevers the Volatile Alkaly is so involved that it doth not very strongly affect the Taste tho it is never insipid that I could ever yet find As for Volatile Salts being aculeated and affecting the Palat strongly I am very glad you take notice of it since the general Notion that most people have of all Alkalies is that they are of such a sweet soft mild Nature that they carry a sanative Virtue along with them wherever they go Thirdly I own that sulphureous Substances are wont to sit uppermost in the Dissolution of Bodies and that the Blood is impregnated with such Substances I am far from denying but they appear in all respects to be equally distributed through all its parts but suppose they should sit uppermost here and the Serum more impregnated with them than the globulous and fibrous parts of the Blood Sulphureous Substances won't change Syrup of Violets from blue to green and the Serum abounding with those Particles that will do so which are Alkalies these Alkalious Particles by breaking and dividing the Particles of the Sulphur will increase and excite the Flame I have before taken notice of to a more intense degree For the Serum would not be the more hot supposing it did abound with sulphureous Particles unless the said Particles were some way or other enkindled Letter But thirdly if Alkalies are the Original of all Distempers whence is it that in Dropsies Catarrhs some Gouts and other Distempers we find the Texture of the Blood so thin 'T
in the Cure of some sorts of Fevers When I considered the thing as an Exalted Acid I could scarce give the least Credit to what he said tho at the same time I knew he had no design to impose upon me however considering the fatal Success that frequently attended the Use of Alkalies and Alexipharmicks which however at that time I durst not attribute to the Medicines but the Malignity of the Distempers I was resolved upon the first poor Patient I had in a Fever to try what the forementioned Acid would do and after a Multitude of Trials both upon Poor and Rich I found I could by the means of my Acid cure most sorts of Fevers much more effectually and certainly than ever I before could by the means of Alkalies and Alexipharmicks The Effects of this Medicine which is a very cheap one and known to every body back'd with some other Observations put me upon thinking that Fevers and other Distempers did not proceed from the Blood 's abounding with Acid Particles but on the contrary with Alkalious ones for if it had abounded with Acids the giving of more Acids must have aggravated the Symptoms whereas on the contrary I found by the means of my simple Acid which however was communicated to me as the greatest Secret I could take off the most dreadful Symptoms attending most Fevers with all the Ease imaginable Upon which being greatly in love with Chymistry and Chymical Operations and having a convenient Laboratory and all Necessaries at hand I was resolved to examin the Blood of Persons in all Distempers as fast as I could conveniently procure it to see what Substances abounded and after a multitude of Experiments in most Cases I could never find any reason to charge Acids in any one And that I may not be defective in my Duty to so friendly and ingenious an Objector I shall here trouble you with some of my first Experiments Experiment I. JUly the fifteenth I committed to Distillation the Blood of a corpulent Lady of a sanguine Complexion who eats and drinks highly and who had formerly had for some Years together an inveterate Leprosy which I cured by Cinnabarine Medicines c. But at that time she had a severe Fit of a Rheumatism occasioned by Cold taking This Blood and Serum as it came out of the Veins weighed two Ounces one Dram I obtained from it nine Drams of a clear Phlegmy Liquor a little impregnated with Volatile Alkalious Salt which altho it was scarce manifest to the Taste yet it might readily be discerned by pouring a little of it upon some good Syrup of Violets which it presently would turn green Besides which Phlegmy Liquor I obtained five Drams ten Grains of a strong Volatile Alkalious Spirit as strong as the Spirit of Harts-horn usually sold in the Shops sixty five Grains of fetid Oil and in the bottom of the Retort there remained seventy Grains of a light Caput Mortuum Experiment II. JUly the thirtieth I committed to Distillation seven Ounces three Drams of the Blood of a Woman who had for about three Weeks laboured under great Obstructions of her Nerves she had a Lassitude and Faintness upon her and in this time from Fatness she became very lean and so weak as not to be able to go about the House she likewise complained of a wonderful Coldness and Numbness in her Head and was so deaf as not to hear any thing unless People spake very loud to her She had always before this Illness been used to eat and drink well and was of a Constitution somewhat Phlegmatick This seven Ounces three Drams of Blood Serum and all together such as it came out of the Veins without standing to putrefy afforded four Ounces five Drams of Phlegm and in the Neck of the Receiver that caught the Phlegm a few Grains of Volatile Salt in a dry form with which the Phlegm was so impregnated that it would readily turn Syrup of Violets green One Ounce five Drams and 15 Grains of a strong Volatile Alkaline Spirit two Drams six Grains of fetid Oil and in the bottom of the Retort there remained two Drams two Scruples of a very light Caput Mortuum Experiment III. AUgust the first I committed to Distillation two Ounces and a half of the Blood of a Person in a deep Consumption who had a constant Hectick and coughed much bringing up by Coughing a great quantity of purulent Matter He was worn away to a meer Skeleton his Appetite quite gone and so short-breathed that he was not able to walk at all He sweat much for the first part of the Night and when the Sweats left him he burnt prodigiously It produced one Ounce six Drams of Phlegm three Drams and a half of a strong Alkaline Spirit thirty five Grains of fetid Oil and sixty two Grains of Caput Mortuum as light as a Feather Experiment IV. AUgust the fourth I committed to Distillation the Blood of a Gentleman who had scrophulous cancerous Tumours in two parts of his Body which at some times would be ulcerated and at other times after the use of a certain Remedy the Ulcers would be healed but the Tumors still remained This Blood weighed three Ounces six Drams and a Scruple It produced two Ounces one Dram of insipid Phlegm seven Drams and a half of Volatile Alkalious Spirit of fetid Oil forty Grains and of Caput Mortuum one Dram eighteen Grains Experiment V. AT the same time I committed to Distillation the Blood of a Gentlewoman who had for many Years been afflicted with the Stone in the Kidneys and at that time laboured under the most terrible Fit of the Gout that ever I saw It weighed two Ounces seven Drams two Scruples and seven Grains It afforded two Drams of a most volatile Alkalious Spirit before the Phlegm one Ounce four Drams of Phlegm and six Drams twelve Grains of Volatile Alkalious Spirit of the common sort two Drams of fetid Oil and one Dram and half of Caput Mortuum The Volatile Alkalious Spirit that came over before the Phlegm in this Experiment was what I never saw before but her Fit of the Gout was also the most extraordinary that ever I met with there being scarce a Joint of any of the extreme Parts that was not at one and the same time affected Experiment VI. AUgust the tenth I committed to Distillation four Ounces two Drams of the Blood of a young Man of a sanguine Complexion and in a state of Health It afforded two Ounces six Drams of Phlegm that was perfectly insipid and so destitute of Volatile Alkaly that an Ounce of it would but just discolour a very small quantity of Syrup of Violets It afforded also five Drams of an Alkalious Spirit three Drams of heavy Oil and two Drams four Grains of Caput Mortuum which being broke into small Atoms each Atom appeared in my Microscope to be so many little Bodies of Fire This Phaenomenon very rarely appears but when it
c. But my Hypothesis doth not altogether hang upon so slender a Thred as the change of Colour tho that be a better Foundation than a great many Hypotheses are built upon You may very well remember that I brought this Experiment upon the Stage only to satisfy Gentlemen who have not the conveniency of making more elaborate ones And all Mankind having imbibed the Notion that if any thing ailed them they immediately concluded that it proceeded from an Acidity of their Blood I therefore thought it my Duty to convince them of the contrary in the most familiar manner I could but I never expected that Physicians should take up with it I referring them to a more certain Method viz. to analize the Blood of their sick Patients and to compare the Substances produced from it with the Substances produced from the Blood of People in a state of Health And if once they will but take that Method I am morally certain that the number of my Enemies will every day decrease But let People continue to say what they will of me I shall endeavour to satisfy my self and to act for my Patients with as clear a Conscience as possibly I can And if after all I am reproached by my Brethren I must bear it as well as I can It never will be in any Physician 's power to make people Immortal but at the same time I am absolutely certain that peoples Lives are frequently prolonged by the use of proper Remedies and I doubt not but that they are also shortned by the use of improper ones And if we are mistaken as to the Cause of Diseases I don't see how we can readily find out proper Medicines Letter For first if this Alkalisated Serum is the Original of Distempers then it must follow that wheresoever we find this Serum there must be likewise a Distemper now I appeal to your self if the Blood of a healthy Person will not give Syrup of Violets a green Tincture does not then the Argument labour may we not then impute this Phaenomenon to arise rather from a due mixture of the Principles than from any vitiated Habit of Blood Answer I confess this is close arguing and much to the purpose But you may remember that I no where say that the Serum of well Persons Blood will not turn a Solution of Syrup of Violets from a blue Colour to that of Greenness But on the other hand I have asserted that the Blood of those labouring under any Distemper I have met with will do it in order to prove that the said Distempers did not proceed from Acids because if it had abounded with Acids instead of turning it from blue to green it would as is before observed have turned it from blue to red Well but still the Serum of the Blood of a well Person will cause the same change in the Solution of Syrup of Violets as that of a sick one and therefore to rid my self of that Difficulty is the great thing I have now to do First I all along throughout my Tract of the Gout the Piece you refer to and elsewhere do endeavour to prove that the Blood of Persons in a morbid state doth more abound with Alkalious Particles than that of well Persons but no where say that the Blood of well Persons hath no Alkaly in it And that the Blood of sick People in all or most Distempers doth abound with such Particles more than that of those that are in a state of Health is to be demonstrated several Ways First If you take an equal Proportion of the Serum of the Blood of a healthy Person and of that of a Person in a Fever Pleurisy c. and pour them into the same Quantities of Solution of Syrup of Violets of equal Strength you will find that wherein the Serum of the sick Person 's Blood was poured to be much greener than the other Secondly If you take two Ounces of the Blood of a healthy Person as it comes out of the Veins Serum and all together and two Ounces of the Blood of a Person in a Fever Pleurisy a Fit of the Gout c. and commit them to Distillation in the same degree of Heat you will find that the Blood of the sick Person will produce a much greater quantity of Alkaly than that of the Person in a state of Health Secondly What shall I do with this Alkaly that is to be found in the Blood of healthy Persons Because every Body has some Alkaly in their Blood must every Body therefore labour under some Distemper Why truly I can't say that I ever yet met with that Person who upon strict Enquiry had not some Complaint or other to make Mankind since the Fall is subject to Death every moment there being since that time a Principle of Death in opposition to that of Life implanted in our Natures and not only in our Natures but in the Natures of every thing else for our sakes And God said to Adam upon his Fall Cursed be the Ground for thy sake c. I confess there are many in our Age who will laugh at and ridicule me for having recourse to Sacred Writ especially to the Writings of Moses which they look upon as a kind of Romance but let them laugh on If there were not a Principle of Death within us how is it possible for a Man one Hour to be in a good state of Health and the very next to be expiring How this may be I shall endeavour to demonstrate as clearly as possibly I can All the Alkaly that there is to be found in the Blood is most certainly an Excrement and in a way of being carried off by some of the Emunctories and if any of the Emunctories chance to be stopt that this excrementitious Alkaly hath not room to pass out by them why then there is a Distemper of some kind or other caused the Blood being overcharged with this excrementitious Matter How many Distempers are occasioned by what we call taking of Cold which is nothing else but a Constipation of the Pores What is the Occasion of the Jaundice but an Obstruction of those Vessels in the Liver which separate the bilious Particles from the Blood and what dreadful Distempers does the Jaundice frequently cause How are Mortals tormented by the Stone in the Kidneys and Bladder and what is the original Cause of them but an Obstruction in the Kidneys whereby the excrementitious Alkaly which should be carried off that way by its over long stay in those Parts is converted into that Substance we call a Stone And whoever will give themselves the trouble of distilling Stones either from the Kidneys or Bladder will find that they are composed of Alkalious Particles I could expatiate and I doubt not give an Account of the Cause of all or most of the Distempers attending Human Bodies from the excrementitious Alkaly being hindred from being carried off by the proper Emunctories And I appeal to all
is observable that those Particles you term Alkalies the more the Blood is saturated with them the more thick consistence it is of as we see in Pleurisies Rheumatisms and other inflammatory Cases in which Distempers if in any these Alkalies abound is not then its Tenuity rather to be imputed to Acids Do not Acids immediately put the Blood in a Fusion and render it thin Answ In most inflammatory Cases where the Blood is immediately affected there the Serum is viscous and sizy being overcharged with Alkalious Particles but in those Cases you mention and in some others where the Blood is over thin it is not the over Thinness of the Blood which is the only Cause of those Diseases but a Destruction of the Tone of the Parts and where the Tone of any Part is once spoiled the great quantity of excrementitious Matter is soon thrown thence and so the Violence of the Malady is increased Besides in Dropsies the Quantity of fluid taken in they being always thirsty is so very disproportionate to what is carried off they always making Water but in very small quantities in proportion to what they drink that it 's no marvel that their Blood is over thin I have frequently in Dropsies known People drink three Quarts in a day when they have not pissed a Pint And that Acids should occasion the Thirst that attends Hydropical People is ridiculous to imagine when they are the only things in the World that will quench Thirst Besides do but consider the Nature of the Medicines that are most effectual to bring the Blood to a Consistence when it is over thin I have scarcely ever met with any thing equal to Calibeats and that Steel is an Acid I have elsewhere endeavoured to prove And as a farther Proof of it I shall produce the Testimony of Beckerus no contemptible Man in his Minera Arenaria pag. the 88th Non recensebo jam qualiter ille spiritus esurinus in aquis subterraneis latitans varia sibi Salium Aluminum Vitriolorum Sulphurum Realgarium mineralium compositionum species producat nec demonstrabo quâ ratione supra terram in Aeris regione tractus quidam hujus Acidi spiritus de uno Polo ad alterum perillum acus Magnetica feratur Hoc tantum hic loci allegabo omne Acidum substantiae martialis esse in quocunque oleo pinguedine fuligine limo silice arena imo etiam ipsa flamma reperibile ac ad oculum demonstrari posse quaecunque ergo naturae Acidae martialis sunt illa potestatem habent Alkali tanquam substantiam metallorum mercurialem alterandi transmutandi Now if this Thinness of the Blood be to be taken off and the Blood brought to its due Consistence by the means of Acids it is not reasonable to suppose that Acids should be the cause of its fusion But then I confess here lies a great Difficulty viz. how is it possible for Acids to make the Blood thin when 't is too thick and viscous and to bring it to a due consistence when it is over fluid To which I answer That should I pretend to give an account what Acids taken in the proper Latitude would do I should be guilty of the greatest Arrogance imaginable for that would be to pretend to as much Knowledg as Solomon had who knew the Virtues of Plants even from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hysop which grows upon the Wall And Divine Providence had determined him to be the wisest of Men that had ever been before him or that should come after him All Plants from the greatest to the smallest are principally composed of Acido-sulphureous Particles for what Comparison is there to be made between the small quantity of fixt Alkaly that is to be found in the Ashes after burning and of Volatile Alkaly in the Soot in relation to the great quantity of Acido sulphureous matter that is spent in Flame Or to come nearer to the matter let a Pound of any Vegetable which affords the greatest quantity of fixt Alkaly viz. Broom or any such Plant be sufficiently dried so that the superfluous Humidity may be evaporated after that is done let it be committed to Distillation per se and it will afford between two and three Ounces of an Acid Spirit with a good quantity of Oil when all the Art of Man is not able to procure from the Caput Mortuum above two Drams of fixt Alkaly and as is before observed Broom is one of those Plants that affords the largest quantity of fixt Alkaly Now the Acid Spirit and Oil are those Substances which in burning serve to supply the Flame and from the Caput Mortuum unless it be afterwards burnt there is no fixt Alkaly to be obtained But here again to obviate the Objection before taken notice of viz. that the Fire may produce new Substances which were not existent in Bodies before or that for instance the fixt Alkaly to be produced out of the Ashes of the Caput Mortuum of the Broom is only the Product of the Fire If this were so why then the Ashes after all the Salt has been once extracted being again committed to a Violent Fire must produce more Salt whereas on the contrary let it be committed to the Fire in the most violent degree of heat and continued there for never so long a time yet it will never after afford the least quantity of Salt of any kind But that I may return to answer the former Objection viz. how Acids are capable of making the Blood thin when over viscous and also to reduce it to its consistency when it is over thin All the Bodies in Nature are differently specificated by the all-wise Author of Nature and at the same time are all animated by one Universal Acid Spirit which is what the Antients were wont to call the Soul of the World and I think not improperly Now the more any Bodies are impregnated with this universal Acid Spirit and its beloved Sister Sulphur the more perfect they are and Gold which is one of the most perfect and durable Bodies in Nature seems to be composed of nothing else but a pure Acidum and Sulphur as I think has been sufficiently made appear by some of the most strict Enquirers into Nature's Secrets Now the more perfect any Bodies are the more Acidum and Sulphur they contain and afford the least quantity of Excrement viz. Alkaly that being the only Destroyer of all Bodies and is what brings them to a state of Putrefaction and Corruption Well but what 's all this to the answering of the Objection twice started Why it 's only to make my way clear But I shall now apply my self to it There are two general sorts of Acids viz. manifest and inveloped ones the manifest ones are such as immediately appear to the Taste and these altho originally the same proceeding from the same universal Fountain yet have different Operations upon Human Bodies The inveloped ones are such as
satisfied in a few Points The Grand Argument on which you build your Hypothesis is taken from the green Colour of the Serum which arises from its mixture with Syrup of Violets It must be confest that Alkalies usually give it this Tincture and there may be something of an Alkaly or at least analagous to it in the Serum But notwithstanding this the many Inferences which you are pleased to draw from this Phaenomenon in my Opinion will hardly hold good For 1. If this Alkalizated Serum is the Original of Distempers then it must follow that wheresoever we find this Serum there must be likewise a Distemper Now I appeal to your self if the Blood of a healthy Person will not give Syrup of Violets a green Tincture does not then the Argument labour may we not impute this Phaenomenon to arise rather from a due mixture of the Principles than from any vitiated Habit of Blood But secondly there is another way of discovering an Alkaly besides that of its Appearance and that is by its effects to wit its Fermentation with Spirit of Vitriol Now I aver this green Serum will not ferment with the aforesaid Spirit Wherefore if it be an Alkaly it is an Alkaly of a particular nature It must be granted that we oftentimes find in the Blood some Particles of a very warm nature predominant in which cases I have found Acids to be of great use but whether they are of an Alkaline nature or not I leave the Learned to determine If they are Alkalies then either fixt or Volatile if fixt how comes it to pass that on the Dissolution of the Texture of the Blood they claim the highest Place and nothing will serve their turn but they must needs swim in the Serum If volatile how is it that we many times find this warm Serum to be little better than insipid Volatile Salts you know are aculeated and affect the Palat strongly May they not rather be of a sulphureous Nature since it is the Nature of such Substances to sit uppermost on the Dissolution of Bodies But thirdly if Alkalies are the Original of all Distempers whence is it that in Dropsies Catarrhs some Gouts and other Distempers we find the Texture of the Blood so thin 'T is observable that those Particles you term Alkalies the more the Blood is saturated with them of the more thick consistence it is as we see in Pleurisies Rheumatisms and other inflammatory Cases in which Distempers if in any these Alkalies abound is not then its Tenuity rather to be imputed to Acids Do not Acids immediately put the Blood in a Fusion and render it thin Besides if Alkalies did always offend and cause Pain it must follow that Acids must give ease But I assure you I have often experienced the contrary for upon the exhibition of Rhenish White-wine and other Acids I have found the Pains immediately exasperated and many times it has been a long while e're they went off Again if the Gout proceed from an Alkaly what is the reason you use so much Sassafras in its Cure Is Sassafras an Acid and so proper to subdue this Alkaly I have only a word or two to speak concerning the green Colour of Syrup of Violets and so I have done I believe it may be turned green without an Alkaly On the exhibition of it to Infants it comes away green very often and brings away a great deal of green Matter by stool and yet I believe they do not abound with Alkalies You may read in a late Author of undoubted Credit that upon an Infant 's swallowing of a Dose of Testaceous Pouder an extraordinary Ferment was raised in the Stomach of the Child Now how could this Ferment be raised if it had not an Acid to work upon Besides does not Experience shew that nothing is so proper in Infants Distempers as Alkalies I have some more things to offer but I desire you would be pleased to satisfy me as to these I should be glad to close with your Opinion and embrace any thing that is new for I believe Medicine tho it has met with great Improvements of late to be capable of far greater I 'll give you no farther trouble only after Thanks to you for your indefatigable Labour in searching out the Truth of things subscribe Your Humble Servant F. TUTHILL The Doctrine of ACIDS in the Cure of DISEASES farther asserted c. Worthy Sir I Have read your Letter with all the Pleasure and Satisfaction imaginable the Objections you have raised against my Hypothesis being the most solid and substantial I have ever yet met with And you may assure your self that I have so great a Value and Esteem for Truth that I would not dare to contend for any thing which is the Product of my shallow Understanding that in the least stands in opposition to it But as I would not by any means in the World oppose Truth so at the same time I would not be guilty of so much Cowardice as to quit its Interest because I meet with a multitude of Opposers Altho your Objections do carry the fairest shew along with them of any thing I have met with of this kind yet I don 't at all doubt but very easily to clear my self from them the which I shall endeavour to do with as much Candor and Friendship as you propose them Letter I have perused your ingenious Treatise of the Gout in which you seem to accuse Alkalies as the Original of all Distempers Before I subscribe to this Opinion I desire to be satisfied in a few Points The Grand Argument on which you build your Hypothesis is taken from the green Colour of the Serum which arises from its mixture with Syrup of Violets It must be confest that Alkalies usually give it this Tincture and there may be something of an Alkaly or at least analagous to it in the Serum But notwithstanding this the many Inferences which you are pleased to draw from this Phaenomenon in my opinion will hardly hold good Answer As for my accusing Alkalies as the Cause of all or most Distempers I must confess it was a very bold Undertaking especially when by so doing I opposed such Multitudes of Great and Learned Men who by very strenuous and learned Arguments asserted the quite contrary whom I could not suppose but that I should greatly displease by disturbing them in the quiet possession of an Opinion that had long been embraced by all sorts of people I my self as I elsewhere acknowledg was formerly as great a Stickler for the Use of Alkalies in the Cure of Diseases and did as little believe that they were the Causes of them as any one of my hottest Opposers now doth The Methods by which I came to change my Sentiments I shall here faithfully relate to you Whilst I was fairly jogging on in the ordinary Method of Practice a certain Gentleman recommended to me a powerful Acid which he told me I might rely upon
And that there is both Heat and Warmth in the Body of Man none that is Master of his Senses will deny But why should I make a Distinction between Heat and Warmth when they only differ in degree But not to stand any longer about that matter How is it possible for the Heat of our Bodies to be sustained unless there were a Fire within us to do it We are generally as hot if not hotter in Bed altho we use no Exercise to excite the Motion of our Blood and Juices than when we are up and in motion Nay mere Motion let the great Des Cartes and his Followers say what they will will never cause any Heat in fluid Bodies altho excited never so much I confess in solid ones upon violent Friction or the like there will a Heat arise but what relation hath that to us when we are asleep There is a received Maxim that there is no Smoak but there is some Fire Every Body must be sensible what vast quantities of Steams there are continually discharged from all Parts of our Bodies and how that comes to be unless occasioned from some Fire within us I cannot understand I confess I have the Concurrence of some of the greatest Men perhaps the World hath afforded that the Life of Man is a Flame but at present I have not leisure to peruse their Writings to see what they have said upon this Subject If any Man shall ask me how this Flame came to be first kindled I shall make no other reply but desire him to inform me how the Ovum came to be impregnated with the Masculine Seed so as to make it capable of producing a Human Body and when he hath done that I will quickly tell him how this Flame came to be first kindled The next thing I have to do is to confider what is the proper Pabulum or Fuel for Fire and this every body knows must be something that is sulphureous Now there is scarce a Sulphur we know of that is not combined with an Acid Sulphurs seeming to be the genuine Vehicles for Acids with which they are generally united few Sulphurs being devoid of Acids and few Acids devoid of Sulphurs and as the one or the other predominates so they are denominated either Acido-Sulphurea or Sulphureo-Acida As Sulphurs are the Vehicles of Acids so Acids seem to be a sort of Vinculum to Sulphurs by the means of which they are hindred from Dissipation Whenever a Sulphur is devoid of Acid it is of so Volatile a Nature that it is scarcely to be preserved from Dissipation Not that I suppose any Sulphurs to be perfectly destitute of an Acid but the less Acid they have mixt with them the more Volatile they are such are Rectified Spirit of Wine Camphire c. And Mr. Godfry assures me that he can make Spirit of Wine so Volatile that a Drop of it won't fall to the Ground but disappear almost as soon as it is disingaged from the Mouth of the Bottle in which it is contained Now the purer the Pabulum is the less Excrement is produced Spirit of Wine and Camphire produce little or no Excrement at all whereas Oil Olive Bees-Wax Tallow c. afford a great deal of Soot in which is contained the Volatile Alkaly Most Vegetables commonly in use for burning afford a great quantity both of Ashes and Soot some more of one and less of the other as Oak a great quantity of Ashes in which is contained the fixt Alkaly and but a little Soot in which the Volatile Salt is contained Beech on the other hand produces but a small quantity of Ashes but a large quantity of Soot this is what I have been informed of by those who burn quantities of Wood. The Substances we live upon and are nourished with are not to be reckoned amongst the number of those which afford no Excrement upon burning and by the way I can't understand what should become of all we eat and drink unless as is before observed there were a Fire or Flame within us to consume it and the Consumption is so great that we are not able to live without a constant and frequent Supply And which to me is none of the least Arguments to prove that our Life is a Flame is what is manifest by every day's Experience viz. Let a very fat Man be seized with a Fever or any such Distemper attended with a total loss of Appetite and the Fat which is the proper Fuel for Fire will first be consumed and in such Distempers it is frequently seen that very corpulent Persons will in a small time be wasted to a Skeleton when at the same time the sensible Evacuations of Urine and Stool are less than in a time of Health which thing could not be unless there were a Flame to cause that Consumption And wherever there is a Fire or Flame especially when supplied with gross Matter there must be a throwing off of Excrements which is the reason that the Blood in Fevers and other Distempers of that nature abounds more with Volatile Alkaly than that of well People because the Flame is more excited at that time and the secretory Vessels designed for that purpose being some way or other obstructed cannot carry off the Excrements so fast as they are produced Let us consider what all the Alkalious Salts whether Volatile or fixt are I suppose no one can produce me a fixt Alkaly which is the bare Product of Nature The very Name it self being derived from the Salt of the Ashes of the Herb Kaly as I have observed in the Appendix to my Essay of Alkaly and Acid in concurrence with several Authors who have written upon the same Subject tho none that I know of have ever written upon it with the same design that I have done But that you may see I am not singular I shall produce two or three Authorities Swalve in his Treatise of Alkaly and Acid pag. 48. does thus define it Originem Nominis Alkali ab incineratâ Herbâ AEgyptiacâ Kali desumptam haud ignoras Salibus illud fixis lixivialibus abhinc applicatum illudque primariò judicatum Alkali quod Gensin suam è cinere lixivio traxerat Tachenius in his Hippocrates Chymicus defines it much after the same manner Fit itaque Sal Kali ex Herbâ Kali magna copia in Aegypto proveniente quae ibidem viridis exuritur ad nos transfertur à quibusdam vocatur etiam Soda Alumen catmum vero nomine Sal Kali appellatur non reperitur tamen Sal Kali in Natura nec in omnibus tribus Regnis nisi ab Artifice ignis ope producatur For my own part I could never yet see any such thing as a fixt Alkaly to be obtained any other way than from the Ashes of Plants which are that part of them that is altogether unfit for Fuel for common Fire they plainly appearing to me to be an Excrement and as such will rot and destroy all
doth so it is for the most part in the Caput mortuum of the Blood of people in a state of Health Experiment VII THe same day I committed to Distillation the Blood of a Gentlewoman who for many Years had had a short convulsive Cough and always subject to an Obstruction of her Menses she was then big with Child and besides her Cough she then complained of a Sickness in her Stomach and a loss of Appetite with a lurking Fever and an Inflammation in her Face It weighed seven Ounces six Drams and afforded four Ounces four Drams and a half of Phlegm impregnated with a highly Volatile Alkalious Gas that would readily turn Syrup of Violets green and in quantity would effervesce with Spirit of Niter Sea-Salt Vitriol c. It afforded also one Ounce four Drams of highly exalted Alkalious Spirit one Drop of which would turn a considerable quantity of a strong Solution of Syrup of Violets as green as Grass about ten Grains of light Oil that swam upon the Spirit and three Drams of a heavy fetid Oil that sunk to the bottom of it and two Drams two Scruples of Caput mortuum Experiment VIII AUgust the eleventh I committed to Distillation three Ounces two Drams of the Blood of a Man of a black swarthy Complexion and of a highly scorbutical habit of Body It afforded one Ounce three Drams and ten Grains of Phlegm with a little volatile Alkalious Gas mixt with it one Ounce fifteen Grains of a highly strong Alkalious Spirit two Drams of fetid Oil which all sunk to the bottom and two Drams of Caput mortuum Experiment IX AUgust the twelfth I committed to Distillation the Blood of a Maid of a pale Complexion who had what we call the Green-sickness It weighed three Ounces six Drams and afforded one Ounce seven Drams of Phlegm unmixt with Gas one Ounce two Drams and a half of a strong Alkalious Spirit one Dram two Scruples and a half of fetid Oil which all sunk to the bottom and one Dram and a half of Caput mortuum Experiment X. I Committed to Distillation three Ounces two Drams of the Blood of a very worthy Gentleman who was very Hypocondriacal and had had a very great Pain in his Back and Hips of many Years and once a month had violent distending Pains in his left Side and at that time was much troubled with Wind. It afforded me of an insipid Phlegm one Ounce six Drams of a highly impregnated Alkalious Spirit one Ounce two Drams and a half of fetid Oil which all sunk to the bottom one Dram seventeen Grains of Volatile Alkalious Salt which stuck in the Neck of the Retort in a dry form seventeen Grains and of Caput mortuum one Dram five Grains Experiment XI SEptember the ninth I committed to Distillation three Ounces of the Blood of an Honourable Lady who had had for two Years a scrophulous Tumor in one of her Breasts and of a very scorbutick habit of body and subject to wandring Pains and nervous Obstructions It afforded one Ounce six Drams of Phlegm six Drams of strong Alkalious Spirit one Dram seven Grains of fetid Oil and one Dram ten Grains of Caput mortuum I could add a multitude of Experiments of this kind but they belonging to another Piece I have thought fit to trouble you with no more and in relation to these few I think it necessary to premise a few things that I may make things as clear as may be To avoid the grand Objection that by exposing things to violent Fires there are new Substances produced which were not existent in the Concrete before which Objection I shall take occasion to make appear to be but a very trifling one I took the following Method as the only one by which I could most clearly satisfy my self being the most plain and easy one imaginable I first of all put the Blood as it came out of the Veins Serum and all together into a glass Retort with a very wide Mouth to which I had a Receiver adapted as fit as possibly I could I afterwards put my Retort into a sand Furnace under which I made a very gentle Fire which I increased by degrees till the Drops began to fall at about a Second's distance one from another in which state I continued it till the Phlegm was all come over and unless in one or two very extraordinary Cases I have always found the Phlegm come over first which perhaps to some may appear a Paradox that what we commonly call Volatile Spirit and Salt should not rise before the Phlegm but upon trial I am sure whoever will give themselves so much trouble will find it true When it had dropt so long that one Drop being dropt upon two Drams of a strong Solution of Syrup of Violets would turn it green I then changed my Receiver and continued my Fire till nothing more would come over and this last I call Spirit having always a proportion more or less of a fetid Oil mixt with it Now what we call Spirit of this kind is only a proportion of Volatile Alkalious Salt mixt with so much Phlegm as will well dissolve it Therefore I confess the most nice way of making these Experiments is to separate the Volatile Alkalious Salt by it self without any mixture of Phlegm but every Experiment requiring a fresh Vessel and the Vessels themselves being very chargable it would be almost impossible for any private Man to make a sufficient number of Experiments without the assistance of the Publick which occasioned me in the Preface to my Tract of the Gout to propose a Publick Stock to carry on this Work to bring things to an absolute certainty if possible However altho these Experiments are not the most accurate that might be made yet they are plain and easy and are capable of being made by those who want the common Apparatus for a Laboratory An Iron Pot set up in the Corner of a Chimny with a few Retorts and Receivers are all that are necessary for the making of these Experiments whereas for the other sort there are required long bolt Heads each of which will serve but for one Experiment with nice Furnaces and so much other charge and trouble that few private Men are either capable or willing to be at to make such a number of Experiments that are requisite But by the way I have set down a Man may make a vast number of Experiments for a small charge it is but going by one Rule in the making of them and I don't see but a Man may act with as much certainty as in the other only I must confess it is more liable to the Objections of Cavillers but for such I have no value it being only for such candid ingenious Persons as your self for whom I am willing to take pains Let a Man but nicely observe to change the Receiver when one Drop will turn the Syrup of Violets green and that