fructifying of Earths These Earths are usually improv'd either by Marle Dung Lime Shell-Fishes Shells Rags Hares or Rabbit-skins Sope-maker's Ashes Sea-Mud the common Dirt of the Lanes or putrify'd Ferns The Marles where there is depth of Soil are usually the best Improvements and indeed a good Marling is often counted equal to the Purchase of the Land the Marle affords a Nitrous Salt and Oyl which I take to be the Principles that make it so fertile its Salt I conjecture is imbib'd from the Air which may be the reason that the longer it lies expos'd the more prolific it is Hence it is common amongst Persons that can afford to Marle their Ground and break it up several Years afterwards by w ch it becomes more fruitful and continues much longer The white Marle is of a brittle short Body and consequently more easily wash'd away by the Weather for this reason it only renders the Soil fruitful for a few Years not comparable to the other for continuance The like may be said of Lime and putrify'd Marine-Fishes and Shells which by their Calcination by the Sun-beams are converted into Lime these being of a looser Body than the Clay-Marle more speedily mix with the Earths and for that reason as the Country People term it will sooner white that is will sooner produce Corn the same may be said of Sea-mud however the Continuance of these are far inferior to the other The Fruitfulness of the last mention'd I judge may proceed in a great measure from their Oyls and alcalious Salts with a due proportion of Earth and no doubt but Acid and Alcaly have the same use in fructifying Soils as they have in Animals and hence I believe that from the Dung of the Sea-Fowl in Fowley-Island which takes that Name from the abundance of Sea-Fowl there the Pasture becomes so pregnant that it surpasses all in these Parts a Sheep from thence is usually sold for 50 s. or 3 l. The most noted Clays in these Parts are the Potters-Clay Tobacco-pipe-Clay and Sope-stone as the Miners call it The Potters-Clay is usually blew or yellowish or of a Dove or Coushat-Colour as the Workmen term it after it is moulded into Pots it is burned in a circular Oven and is glazed with a Slurry and Lead-Ore finely powder'd This Slurry is made of a different Clay to what the Pot is it is usually reddish and will run to a Glass which the others will not which is the reason that with this and Lead-Ore they glaze their Pots It is observable this Slurry upon one sort of Clay will be yellow upon another black on another green and on others of the Colour of the Duke of Alva's Bottles which must proceed from various Metals that flux from the Clays and consequently produce various Colours I was inform'd from my Ever-honour'd Friend Sr. Roger Bradshaw of Haigh that it was upon a whitish yellowish Earth in a Field near the Kennel-Pits at Haigh that Mr. Dwight made his first Discovery of his most incomparable Metal I have attempted several Colours with Smalts and found that by those and an azurine Spar frequently found in Lead and Copper Mines I could upon Barnstable-Clay run a Glass not easily distinguishable from Tortoise and no doubt if experimented by an Artist he would find it of extraordinary use I have likewise with several of these Earths run black Lead by which and a little Horse-Dung finely powder'd and then wrought together I have seen it stand Fire when a good German Crucible has broke in pieces Instruments of this may doubtless be made of great use to the Essayers and Refiners of Metals and be had at far more easy Rates than those brought from Germany Tiles of any sorts are likewise made from these Earths The Tobacco-pipe-Clay is usually blew or of a Colour betwixt white and yellow there are at Rainforth tolerable Pipes made of this but not comparable to those at Chester these are made of Clays brought from the Isle of Wight Poole and Biddiford which are esteem'd the best in England and if I mistake not the best in Europe Boles we have only in two places Eller and Heesham these are of a yellow Colour stick close to the Tongue and will ferment with an Acid. In the same place we have likewise a white Earth or Sope-stone this will lather with Water I have seen some Persons trimm'd with it this is usually full of the Pyrites when wet very Oily but when dry put into Water will make an hissing like unquenchable Lime Upon which Phaenomenon I shall beg your patience to expatiate a little before I proceed to the next particular Mons. L'Emery has observ'd That the reason of the Ebullition of unquenchable Lime with Water proceeds from the setting at liberty the igneous Particles lock'd up in the Lime hence they disentangle themselves and rallying with united Forces must consequently produce that Ebullition The like I think may be affirm'd of this only here the Ebullition causes not any sensible Heat which notwithstanding may be tho' igneous Particles be contain'd in the Water as I have seen in the Burning-Well near Wigan which is actually Cold. But that this Ebullition does proceed from sulphureous Particles I have reason to conjecture because out of these Earths thro' the salt Water frequent flashes of Flame may be observ'd like Lightning to dart by Intervals it appears a diverting Phosphorus in the Night-season at which time spreading the said Earth upon my Hand I have discern'd the like Phaenomenon Morasses we have several in these parts which may be distinguish'd into these Classes the White the Grey the Black It is plain from Microscopical Observations that the White is nothing but a Compages of the Leaves Seeds Flowers Stalks and Roots of Herbs and Fruits or Shrubs which no doubt increase every Year these burn to white Ashes but yield but little of lixivial Salt The Grey is harder and more ponderous and to me seems to be but a more perfect putrefaction of the former The Black is the best Fire and the most Bituminous which I take to be a consummated putrefaction of the Plants that grow upon these places as Elaeagnus Ros Solis Erica and the like and in this I am farther confirm'd because I have frequently observ'd the white Moss which is demonstrably a Compages of the recited Plants converted easily to black Moss which is done by draining of the Dales or cutting Sluces thorow the Morasses by which means the white Moss which before was like a Spunge saturated with Water now drain'd contracts to a more compact Body Besides these are the Heath-Turffs and a bituminous Earth near Ormskirk but of that I shall discourse in its proper place 'T is the receiv'd Opinion that these Morasses had their Rise from Noah's Deluge and this Hypothesis seems to be back'd by the great quantities of exotic Trees marine Shells and other Phaenomena that are observ'd there I have likewise seen a Brass-Kettle which was given me
Creatures but pretend that besides the Eight Persons included in the Ark Og the King of Basan was preserv'd But to these I reply that whoever considers those prodigious Mountains of marine Shells in Ireland Virginia the East and West-Indies cannot but conclude that they were deposited there by the Deluge and then considering the height of the Mountains and the vast remoteness of the Places one from another that the Deluge must be Universal also But this particular is fully discours'd of in a preceding Chapter The third Opinion relating to a Deluge is that of the Scholasticks who are of Opinion that Enoch who they say at that time liv'd in Paradise was not involv'd in the Deluge But since the holy Writ is silent in that matter and that neither the Aegyptian Chaldee Hebrew or Greek Versions of the Old Testament take any notice of that Opinion I cannot but conclude it erroneous and unwarrantable There was a fourth Opinion of the Jews who maintain that not only a few Persons but whole Nations never felt the Effects of this great Inundation but that the Jews only and other Inhabitants in Palestine perish'd in it but what has been said in answer to the preceding Opinion may serve for this There was a fifth Rank who affirm'd that there was a total Destruction of Mankind at the Deluge yet so as that the whole Terrestrial Globe was not overwhelm'd by the Waters which Opinion is founded on two other Hypotheses viz. That at the time of the Flood the Earth remain'd for the greatest part desolate and without Inhabitants and that all the Waters in the Universe were not sufficient to cause so general a Deluge Abraham Mylius pretends to demonstrate that if all the Waters of the Universe had been sent down upon the Earth they could not have cover'd the tops of the highest Mountains Isaac Vossius approves of both these Hypotheses but since from the vast Beds of marine Shells even upon the tops of the highest Mountains it is undeniably evident that the highest Mountains were cover'd it thence follows that the Deluge must be universal and that Mylius and Vossius are both mistaken The sixth and last are those that have chosen the truest Opinion and maintain that the Deluge was universal both in respect to the Terrestrial Globe and its Inhabitants because the Motive that induc'd God was universal God complains that the Imaginations of mens hearts were only evil continually his Threats likewise were universal I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast and every creeping thing and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made them Hence therefore it is evident from the holy Scriptures and from the Phaenomena in Natural History that there was a Deluge and that this Deluge was universal too wherefore I cannot but admire that the great St. Austin should be so far mistaken as to affirm that there were not the least foot-steps of the Deluge either in the Greek or Latin Writers since the contrary is so clearly demonstrated by Hugo Grotius I shall now in the last place lay down some Hypotheses concerning the Qualities in Plants and so close this Chapter and by drawing a Parallel betwixt Chymical Preparations and the Qualities in Physical Herbs endeavour to give a Rationale of their Effects But this having in a great measure been attempted by Pechlinius Wedelius Sr. Iohn Floyer and others I shall but briefly treat upon that Head and that in the following Method First By giving an account of Emetics and the Rationale of their Qualities afterwards of Cathartic or Purgative Plants Antiscorbutics Balsamics Diuretics Antistrumatics Stomachics Cardiacs Anti-hydropics Anticterics Antepileptics Restringents Opiates Paragorics Alexipharmacs The Emetic Plants are only two Squills and Asarum and both are of a bitter and nauseous Tast first therefore we shall enquire into the Cause of the Bitterness in these and then how that becomes Emetical Bitterness consists in rigid pungent and inflexible Particles pointed upon terrene ones hence the Points by their continual Irritations contract the Fibres of the Stomach and still pressing it by their Inflexibility at length they throw it into Convulsions and so become Emetical or Vomiting Thus we see in a solution of Silver in Spirit of Nitre that the Points of the corroding Spirit being sheathed in the metallic Particles it not only becomes extremely bitter but likewise Emetical the like may be observ'd by pouring Spirit of Nitre upon the Lapis Calaminaris and doubtless thus it is that the Leaves of Asarum are so famous an Errhine and of so great use in inveterate Head-achs viz. Their acrid saline Particles continually pressing the Glands of the Nostrils force them to discharge that acrid Serum which occasions that Distemper The most noted Cathartics are Buckthorn Monks Rhubarb Elder Damask Roses Iris Soldanella Spurge Mezereon Buckthorn is extremely bitter and affords an Oyl and a pungent Spirit neither of which are bitter or in the least Purgative whence it seems evident to me that its bitterness and Purging quality consist in its saline Particles being strictly united with terrene ones and so by that means contracting the Fibres of the Bowels they become purgative Roses Iris and the rest are likewise bitter but they all differ in their Pungency Mezereon Spurge and Iris are both Emetic and Cathartic which sometimes not only cauterize the Coates of the Stomach but the Skin it self if externally apply'd No doubt but by due Corrections these might be made most noble Medicines and the likeliest Method to effect this as far as I can conjecture would be by obtunding their saline Particles by the Lapis Calaminaris or some such Alcaly or if their Vertues consist in an acrid Alcaly a proper Acid might be thought on and I think it would be highly worth our while to make strict Enquiries into these Matters that being the likeliest Method to bring us to a Certainty in the Practice of Physick Before I close this Head I shall only offer two Experiments and then proceed The first is concerning Aloes which by being infus'd in Spirit of Wine loses its Purgative quality but yet retains its Bitterness the second is concerning a solution of Aloes which being injected into the Veins of a Dog will inevitably purge him From which Observations naturally arises this Question Whether Cathartics effect their ends in the first passages or by working Elective in the Mass of Blood as the Physicians stile it I affirm the former and to the first Experiment make this reply The volatile acrid saline Particles in the Aloes being dissolv'd by the Spirit of Wine it must of necessity for the Reasons before alledg'd be depriv'd of its purgative quality yet so as still to retain its Bitterness because it is probable some saline Particles are so inveloped with the oily and terrene ones that a separation is not easily made perhaps not without Distillation or Calcination so that the Aloes in
the same Effect nay even the drops of Rain that fall from its Leaves are of so poysonous a Nature as to blister and inflame the Skin Here doubtless is more than a bare Contexture of Earth and without question the most corroding sulphureous and penetrating Particles we can have any Idea of Besides were Vegetation from Earth alone I cannot see how one Plant could be distinguish'd from another wherefore to me it seems rational to infer That the Body which the Dr. calls Earth consists of as many different Bodies as that which the Chymists call Water so that from either of these two Bodies simply consider'd as such it is equally absurd to derive Vegetation but these two Bodies do indisputably consist of variety of Corpuscles e. g. Saline Terrene Aerial and Bituminous and as the Vessels in Plants by their various Orifices and Contextures admit of different proportions of these so accordingly the Plant is differently modify'd and from their different digestions and proportions receives its Form Colour Substance and Virtues And by this Hypothesis we may account for Plants physical poysonous fragrant foetid and of other kinds hence Ialop and Scamony a sort of Spurge in the West-Indies by their resinous saline Particles become purgative and if taken in too large quantities poysonous the same may be affirm'd of Laureola Aloes Spurge Senna and Agaric It is manifest from the Dissection of those Creatures to which Night-shade Nux Vomica Calculus Indicus and Water-Hemlock are given that the Poysons of these consist in acrimonious saline Particles corroding and inflaming the Stomach of which the learned Wafer gives us various Instances others by exalted Sulphurs quit from saline Particles doubtless become Fragrant Aromatic and Cordial being by their size and figure which we presume to be Spherical the more readily adapted to assist the animal Spirits by their activity When these Sulphurs become pointed with Salts 't is most likely that the Plant becomes foetid and unpleasant as the stinking Garden Orach and Herb Robert I might likewise account for the Heat Blisterings and other qualities of Herbs but those being in part done before and not properly within the Verge of this Undertaking I shall not recapitulate but to the ingenious Sr. Iohn Floyer of Lichfield on that Head refer the Curious in whose Works they may find variety of Experiments on those Subjects I must confess that the Experiments which Dr. Woodward has made relating to Vegetation are exact as well as learned he having besides the dispendium of the Water in so many Days fully demonstrated the Plant to have gain'd a considerable Weight which he affirms to have been from Earth but then as I affirm'd before the question is what he calls Earth for if by that he means a pure simple Element viz. a Body consisting only of one size and figure then from what has been hinted before it is as absurd to deduce Vegetation from that as from Water I shall only beg leave to add an Experiment or two and so conclude I took the Seeds of Nymphaea or Water-Lilly when full ripe and put them in glass Vials in which they continued twelve Months I added fresh Water to them as the other evaporated the Seeds at the bottom of both Vials stood erect and emitted a pellucid Mucilage which stood in opposite Globules near the upper end of the Seed the Water deposited a great deal of green and earthy Matter but the Seed never vegetated or sprouted at all tho' this be a Water Plant. From this Experiment it is evident that besides Earth and Water barely consider'd as such other Bodies are necessary to the Vegetation of various Plants and probably to this a fat sulphureous Ouze in which it usually grows and has Roots of an immense Magnitude some I have seen as thick as the Thigh of a Man which were taken out of the Pond at Tabley in Cheshire when it was drein'd where the remaining Earth or Mud which was black and foetid was wholly over-spread with them This Instance I think may fairly serve to illustrate the Hypothesis that I have laid down concerning the Vegetation of Plants To these may be added those extraordinary Improvements made by Chandlers Ashes consisting of oily and saline Particles as likewise the Impost of Malpighius prepared with an Infusion of Sheep's Dung Pigeon's Dung and a small quantity of Nitre of which I saw an Instance the last Year at Edgecroft in Lancashire by which from a fourth part of Seed in the most barren part of the Field I saw a very luxuriant Crop It might do well for our Gentry who inhabit their Country Seats and Husbandmen thorowly to consider this since the right application of it to a proper Soil may be of so great Advantage and who knows what this even in the most cold and barren Ground may effect which hitherto for the greatest part hath lain useless but besides what is here offer'd their Interest may be a more inciting Argument to induce them to Tryals of this Nature But can there be had a more ample Demonstration of this Hypothesis than even from Water and Earth themselves How common is it to observe Earth by being long pent up to emit sulphureous Effluvia Hence we have foetid Smells by opening of Ditches and Sluces and hence probably it is that in Consumptive cases from plowed Grounds that have for a considerable time been Pasture many persons have received Benefit which must assuredly proceed from sulphureous benign Particles loosen'd from their Cells and convey'd to the Mass of Blood which by their activity obtund the saline Particles that make the Coagulum and in short prevent the putrifaction which brings on a Phthisis or Consumption And as to Water nothing is more common than it to grow nauseously foetid by long keeping which Phaenomenon sufficiently evinces the Existence of sulphureous Particles in that Element besides some sulphureous Waters in four Days by being close stopt become extremely foetid as St. Ann's at Buxton in Derbyshire which expos'd to open Air alters not at all nor has the least ungrateful smell The reason is because those sulphureous Effluvia which have spent themselves in a free Air are now forc'd by their confinement to unite with saline Particles and thence by their Points grate upon the Organ and are foetid and offensive It is likewise to be observ'd that if these sulphureous Particles are pent up in any Aquaeduct that then by their Collision upon one another they become excessive hot hence it is that the hot Baths at Aix la Chappel in the Bishop of Leige's Country are caused by retarding the hot Spring with a Stoppel and in a little time after by giving it Vent the Waters are render'd very hot and even too intense to be endur'd This Instance farther confirms our Hypothesis concerning the Heat in Baths and by this Phaenomenon it is evident that if the same Essay was put in practice at Buxton the Bath there might be brought to any
Numbers There was kill'd upon that Water an Asper of which I prepar'd the Oyl but did not find that it answer'd the Character generally given of it for taking of Fish These Meers lie in low Grounds have Rivulets or little Rivers that discharge themselves into them and having but little Vent out form themselves into these large Area's In the Meer that was drein'd were found great Numbers of Firr Stocks and Firr-Apples so that Mr. Cambden is certainly mistaken when he asserts those Stocks not to be really Firrs but other Woods only made Resinous by a Bituminous Earth in which they have been lodg'd as is commonly conjectur'd since the noted Deluge however the Woods might be alter'd its certain the Apples could not belong to any other Tree But I shall have occasion to treat more fully of these when I come to treat of the Mosses The Rivers of most Note are the Mersey Ribbel Lune and Wire the Dee and the Dove in Cheshire and Derbyshire Mersey runs by Warrington anciently remarkable for its Lords the Butlers who obtain'd for it the Privilege of a Market-Town in Edward the First 's Time and is now a Town famous for its Trade and Market where I think I may safely affirm Maulting is brought to as great Perfection as at Derby or elsewhere the Liquors brew'd from it being no ways inferior to the most noted Ales in England From Warrington the Mersey grows broader and soon after contracts it self again but at last opens into a wide Mouth very Commodious for Trade and then runs into the Sea near Leverpool a Town formerly but mean but now the Third Sea-Port of England and as well Built as any I have seen In this River are taken vast quantities of Sparlings or Smelts a Fish remarkable for its Smell as well as Tast. Ribbel called anciently Bellisama has its Rise from amongst the Mountains in Yorkshire and runs by Ribchester and Preston from thence grows wider and in the Meales empties it self into the Sea This River affords us plenty of Salmon Codfish Flounders Turbut and Plaise but a River by reason of its Sands very unfit for Trading The Lune from what will hereafter be observ'd may take its Name from Luna the Moon or the Goddess of Heaven runs by Lancaster and arises from the Mountains in Westmorland Upon this River is a noted Salmon-Fishing the best I have eat any where and is very Commodious for Trading which is there now blooming Wire issues from the Mountains in Wiresdale runs not far from a Market-Town call'd Poulton as Commodious for Trading as any of the rest This River affords us a Pearl-Fishing which are frequently found in large Muscles call'd by the Inhabitants Hambilton-Hookins from their manner of taking them which is done by plucking them from their Skeers or Beds with Hooks but of these I shall have occasion to treat more fully when I come to speak of Shell-Fishes and the Germination of Pearls The River Dee is the most Noted in Cheshire in Latin called Deva as appears by the Roman Tiles dug up there upon some of which are these Letters in Roman Characters COLL. DEVA LEG XX. V. V. In British it is called Dyfyrdwy as springing from two Fountains in Wales from which some believe it had its Denomination dwy in the British Language signifying Two Others say those words signify black Water but why that Epithet should be apply'd to this River I see no ground for it the River being large and open and the Water clear and pellucid Some allege these Words signify a divine Water and hence a Fountain sacred to the Gods was call'd Divona and upon some Roman Tiles dug up at Chester I have seen that word in Roman Characters Nor is this Conjecture altogether improbable since in those Days divine Honours were paid to Rivers as Gildas informs us the Thessalians paid them to Peneus upon account of its Pleasantness the Scythians to Ister for its Largeness the Germans to the Rhine because it was their Judge in Cases of Jealousy betwixt Married Persons It is said moreover of this River Dee it seemed Holy to the Christian Britains for when they were drawn up in Order of Battle ready to engage the Saxons they first kiss'd the Earth then devoutly drank of this Water in Memory of the Blood of their Holy Saviour The River Dove in Derbyshire called so by the Inhabitants from its Transparency I imagine as resembling the silver Feathers of that Bird is remarkable for a Fish call'd the Grailing and likewise Trouts said to be the best in England It runs for the greatest part thro' a Lime-Stone which renders its Water so fertile a Manure that even in Winter the Meadows on both sides of it appear fresh and green and if it overflows them in the Spring like another Nile it enriches them In Commemoration of which high Improvements the People have this Saying In April Dove's Flood Is worth a King's Good But of this River in a far loftier Strain the Ingenious Charles Cotton Esq writes for by his witty Flights on these Streams one would rather conclude they wash'd the Banks of Helicon than the rugged unpolish'd Mountains in Derbyshire This River swells sometimes so much in twelve Hours time to the great terror of the Inhabitants that it carries down their Sheep and other Cattle yet in the same Compass of Time falls again and returns to its old Mounds whereas the Trent when it overflows its Banks keeps the Fields in float four or five Days these Reasons are manifest because in one the Country is Mountainous the other is a large extended Flat This River runs to Ulcester seated upon an Hill of easy Ascent where it draws to the Trent it inclines towards Tutbury-Castle formerly very large and also called Stutesbury commanding as it were the lower Country by its high Situation on an Alabaster-Hill where there is a little Monastery built by Henry de Feriers a Noble Norman to whom William the First gave large Possessions hereabouts but they were all lost by Robert de Feriers Earl of Derby upon his Second Revolt from Henry the Third There are now Proposals for making the River Dee Navigable which if effected will doubtless be very advantageous to that ancient City where that Honourable Legion viz. the Twentieth was fixed stiled by the Romans Valens Victrix which was of those by Tacitus term'd Emeriti or Veterani Having done with the Meers and Rivers according to my propos'd Method I come now to treat first Of the Springs not properly to be call'd Mineral-Waters but yet remarkable either for their Lightness Coldness Perspiration Flux and Reflux and of these some are continual others at certain Seasons as after wet Weather and some are remarkable for throwing up several Marine Shells Secondly of Mineral-Waters and the various Kinds of these with an Account of their Principles and Uses and of those these Counties afford us a great Variety Near to a Noble Seat call'd Ashton-Hall about
Madam Katharine Preston Daughter and Heiress of Thomas Preston of Holker Esq Tho' this Digression be foreign to a Natural History yet I hope the Reader will pardon it since I could not well pass by so considerable a Building Some Waters we have which cast up Marine Shells as Latham Spaw did formerly but that being troublesome to the Drinkers has been prèvented by laying Mill-stones upon the Spring so that the Sand and Shells cannot boyl up so high as formerly This is one of the best sorts of Vitriolic Chalybeates and is remote from the Sea or any Salt Rivers whence therefore these Shells come may be worth our enquiry and a clear decision of that may farther illustrate those other Marine Shells found in Marle as the Echini Cochleae Torculars Whilks and Periwinkles of which I have great Numbers by me and took them my self out of firm Marle at three Fathom deep some being entire others broken but all soft and friable yet grew hard as Coral being expos'd to the Air. The Decision of this Phaenomenon in a great measure depending upon the Origin of Fountains I think it a pardonable digression if I a little expatiate on that subject before we descend to the particular Case Springs by the French Virtuosi are suppos'd to flow from the Dews Rains and Mists imbibed in the Earth and afterwards form'd into various Currents which are those we commonly call Springs Now this being a Notion inconsistent with Reason I cannot adhere to it for were this Hypothesis true it would hence follow in the various Seasons of the Year as Summer and Winter they would vary very much in their Currents as to quantity which in several Springs is not discernible Secondly Several Springs are found in Mines in the Bowels of the Earth deeper than the Dews and Rains are suppos'd to descend Thirdly Some Countries abound with Springs where Dews and Rains are never known to fall from all these it is evident continual Springs can never be imagin'd to be caused by Rains and Dews it remains therefore that they either proceed from the Ocean or a subterraneous Abyss The latter of these the Learned Dr. Woodward adheres to and could such a thing be made out his Hypothesis would be undeniable but such a thing as an Abyss being no where to be discover'd in Nature and that what Notions we have of it are only from Moses that divine Philosopher In what sence the inspired Legislator might take the Abyss we pretend not to determine whether the Ocean in general or a subterraneous collection of Waters equal to it and keeping a Communication with it as Dr. Woodward supposes Wherefore we rather assert what the great Aristotle supposes concerning Springs that they have their Rise from the Sea of this Caesar had a clear Demonstration when he Invaded this Island and Encamp'd upon the Sea Coasts where by digging in the Sands he was instantly supply'd with a sufficient quantity of fresh Water which by filtring through the Sand became sweet the saline Particles sticking in the Sand. A Phaenomenon like to this was observ'd when that great General Duke Schomberg Encamp'd upon a Plain call'd the Mels near Hile-Lake This granted then that Springs have their Rise from the Ocean it is easy to imagin how they may bring up Marine Shells and unless this be allow'd I think the Phaenomenon cannot otherwise be fairly illustrated but how this becomes a Mineral Water is from the Mineral Bass from which it springs Against this Hypothesis there remains yet one material Objection viz. If Fountains have their Rise from the Sea how comes it to pass that there are Springs upon the Tops of Mountains which are higher than the Sea since it is evident from Hydrostatick Experiments Water will not naturally rise above its level To this I answer in the first place it is no wise demonstrable that there is any Mountain higher than the highest part of the Ocean since it is suppos'd to be a Globe of equal Magnitude with the Earth Secondly Granting it were so yet it is probable those Mountains lying in the middle Region a sufficient quantity of aqueous Particles might be imbibed by the Earth to produce Springs there and yet this particular Instance does no ways invalidate the general Hypothesis in which is meant the generality of Springs and not each particular Fountain It is true subterraneous Eruptions of Waters especially after Earthquakes as at Port-Royal in Iamaica and at Kirby in Furness in Lancashire have happen'd which have drove down Houses and Rocks of that magnitude that many Teams of Oxen could not move by which it may be concluded there is a subterraneous Abyss of Waters To this I say it is not certain whether these come from the Ocean or from an Abyss and shall not therefore pretend to determine it but shall proceed to what I next propos'd and that is to treat of Mineral Waters In doing of which I begin with those impregnated with Vitriol The Vitriol Spring in the Kennel-Pits at Haigh when I first try'd it yielded an Ounce of Vitriol from a Quart of Water nay it was so highly impleted with Vitriol that any common Alkaly wou'd raise a Fermentation with it and cause a Precipitation The Vitriol it yields is White for the greatest part tho' there is some Green mix'd with it it is not now of that strength several fresh Springs having broken in which yet might easily be diverted of this the Rev d Dr. Wroe our Warden has been frequently an Eye-witness Notwithstanding this Dr. Lister with unequal'd Assurance tells the World Vitriol is not to be found in any Waters in England but that all Waters of a Vitriolic Taste are only impregnated with a Pyrites which we vulgarly call Fire-Stone Germinating in the Waters and this must be impos'd upon the World as implicitly as if it was an Article of Faith in Philosophy For any Man to oppose him he brands him strait with the Character of Mean and Impudent and such like opprobrious Epithets a Language if I mistake not unaccountable for one of his Gown and Dignity For my part what I relate is matter of Fact and the Dr. may be fully convinc'd if he pleases if not it is no fault of mine and since I cannot as firmly believe the Germination of the Pyrites in our Chalybeat Waters as they are commonly called to be like that of Mint in Bottles of Water I hope the Dr. will pardon my Infidelity till he give me better grounds for it at which he has not yet offer'd any farther than a capricious ipse dixit Adjacent to a Place call'd Humblesco-Green in a small Farm in Maudsley is a Spring impregnated with Sulphur and a Marine Salt the Water is extremely foetid tinges Silver a Copper colour by its Sulphur in Distillation a Quart of Water yields half an Ounce of sulphur Salt This Spring no question would answer all the Intentions of the sulphur Water near Knaseborough in Yorkshire either as
and Stool and no doubt by a due preparation of the Body they become of extraordinary use in the Scurvy Worms crude Digestions and Distempers of that Nature the Water by Evaporation at the last becomes lixivial and is then extremely brackish as the Water evaporates there successively arise Films at first reddish and afterwards of a grey Colour these Films will ferment with any Acid and contain a little of a natural alcalious Salt which I take to be the Natron of the Ancients the Salt which remains after Evaporation seems to be a Marine but by frequent Filtrations and Chrystallizations I found it likewise contain'd a bitter purging Salt which is truly Dr. Lister's Nitrum Calcarium and is that purging Salt which impregnates Epsom Dullech Northall and other purging Waters in England as is hinted above besides the Salt there likewise remains a greyish Earth which will ferment with any Acid. When the Water is evaporated to a lixivial Colour if you then drop Spirit of Harts-horn into it it immediately makes a Coagulum and precipitates which Phaenomenon is only observable in those Waters that contain the Sal Catharticum Amarum which demonstrates that Salt likewise to contain a natural Acid and if in the like Water you drop any acid Spirit as that of Sulphur and Vitriol you will then perceive a very sulphureous smell From these it is plain these Waters contain three different sorts of Salts as the Natron the Marine and the Sal Catharticum Amarum likewise two sorts of Lapis Scissilis either of which will ferment with an Acid and Sulphur too From a mixture of such Principles as these what Effects may not be hoped for in Scrophulous and Leprous Persons and other Distempers of that nature Nay I have been assur'd by some of the Inhabitants there that some Persons by drinking these Waters have been recover'd from periodical Epilepsies but again I say the Body ought to be rightly prepar'd before the drinking of them and that Consumptive Persons ought not to meddle with them at least very sparingly some Persons by drinking of these have been freed from the Jaundice others from Quartan Agues and in the Pica Virginis if the Patient be not emaciated you may reckon it a specifick by drinking of these prodigious Worms as the Cucurbitae the Ascarides and Bunches of Worms have frequently been voided and I do not think in that Distemper the like to these are to be had There are other Purging-Waters which arise out of a Morass in a Village call'd Witherslack these Waters contain a marine and a bitter purging Salt but are inferior to the former There is another purging Water which springs out of the Sand near a Place call'd Mine-End which is the Mouth of the River Wire This no doubt is the Sea-Water which filters thro' the Sand but by reason of the shortness of the Filtration the Spring lying so near the River or the looseness of the Sand the marine Water is not perfectly dulcify'd but retains a pleasing Brackishness not unlike that which is observable in the Milk of a Farrow Cow or one that has Conceiv'd this Water purges a little but is much inferior to either of the other These Waters give no Tincture with Galls tho' Dr. Lister violently affirms all saline Springs will do it These are the most noted Purging-Waters that I have seen in these Parts I shall therefore in the next place proceed to those which may be ranked amongst the Acidulae but do likewise contain Natron and those are the Waters near Burnley and Emmett which were first discover'd to me by that most Learn'd and Accomplish'd Gentleman Richard Townley of Townley Esq The like to these Mons. du Clos affirms are in several places in France for a full Account of which I refer the Reader to that ingenious Author From the Experiments made by the Royal Academy in Paris in the Bourbon-Waters and the parallel Observations those in these Parts entertain us with we may make a probable Conjecture of their Principles and I think may safely affirm that in the Cases where those are proper these as a most natural Succedaneum may be made use of and will I question not answer what Intentions may be expected from the former These Waters with Galls give a Citrine Tincture and the Gall immediately precipitates in white perpendicular Lines but you must note these Experiments were made in the Waters remote from the Fountains I evaporated several Quarts of the Water and towards the latter end found it to have a little of a lixivial Tast after the surface was cover'd with a thin greyish Film this Film consisted of saline alcalious and terrene Particles and would make a brisk Fermentation with any Acid afterwards the Salts rise in perpendicular Lines upon the sides of the Retort The like Phaenomenon I observ'd in evaporating the Water that came from Nitria in Egypt and the like may be observ'd in Evaporation of other alcalious Salts After the Water was wholly evaporated there stuck to the sides of the Retort a greyish Matter of a very lixivial tast and would ferment with any Acid. By Filtration the Earth is easily separated from the Salt and then you have a natural alcalious Salt the true Natron of the Ancients as is manifest from those Specimens of Egyptian Nitre brought from Nitria to the Musaeum at Oxford by the Learned Dr. H. and likewise by the Description of Natron recited by Dioscordes tho' our Countryman Dr. Lister boldly affirms there is no such Salt in any Waters in England but this is not the first piece of Boldness he is pleas'd to arrogate and if his Reason be not totally screen'd he may if he pleases be satisfy'd he 's mistaken These Waters are of great use in the Stone Scurvy and other Chronical Diseases of which I have seen several Instances There are other Waters of an austere styptick Tast that will coagulate Milk but give no Tincture with Galls as some Pumps near Bury and Chorley these I conjecture arise out of Allum Ore or Marle they lather not with Sope but make a perfect Coagulum from the Acid and the Alcaly fixing together Some Springs we have that petrify as one in a Wood near Bury and another by the side of a Rivulet near Manchester these Waters superficially incrustate as the Chymists call it stratum super stratum are of an austere Tast like those in Yorkshire in Evaporation they yield a great quantity of a greyish Earth that will ferment with an Acid and some little proportion of Salt By these Phaenomena I do conjecture the terrene Particles are dissolved in Minimis by the natural Acid or as Helmont calls it the Esurine Spirit and when on the surface of any Body they are united they form these Incrustations I am the farther confirm'd in this Hypothesis because I have observ'd Petrefactions where only there could be an Acid halitus as in several Plants and Roots adjacent to the petrefying Waters near Knarseborough These
Waters inwardly taken are commended by several in Dysenteries and for the same reason they are proper in those Cases I do judge them of use in the Cure of a Diabetes These are the most remarkable Phaenomena I could ever observe of the Waters in these Parts having therefore examin'd those I shall according to my propos'd Method in the next place proceed to give an Account of the various Earths these Counties afford us An Appendix to the WATERS AFter I had finish'd my Experiments of Mineral Waters I had the fortune to meet with an elaborate Tract entituled The Natural History of the Chalybeat and Purging Waters in England with their particular Essays and Uses with likewise Observations on the Bath in Somersetshire dedicated to the R t Hon ble the Earl of Manchester by Benjamin Allen Med. Bacc. Thâ—se I shall examine in their Order and shall in the first place take notice of his Observations concerning the Rise of Chalybeat Waters Pag. 14. he says the Earth and Soil of these Springs is ever a Sand or Gravel and that the Water issues from or rather makes a Rock cemented of Stones which are never to be found but where the Water is Vitriolic How true this is the World may judge from the following Observations In the Rocks at Strangeway near Manchester in Lancashire three or four Yards in Free-stone Rock are several Chalybeat Springs which with Powder of Galls give a deep Claret Tincture and will answer all other Experiments usually try'd upon the Acidulae Eight or nine Yards within a Free-stone Rock near Stockport in the same County are several Chalybeat Springs which with Galls yield a purple fully as deep as Tunbridge or Knarseborough and will turn green with Syrup of Violets in these Rocks are found sometimes small Vitriol-stones a small quantity of which scrap'd into common Water instantly makes the artificial Chalybeat Waters but there is not the minutest Particle of the Pyrites to be found here It is plain hence that these Springs proceed not always from Sand and Gravel nor are they as he alledges Marcasitical that is Springs impregnated with the Pyrites for to satisfy his Curiosity farther the Pyrites here is neither discoverable by Ocular Demonstration nor by dissolving the Rock in Aqua fortis which he asserts if it contains the Pyrites will turn to a Gelly and yet that very Assertion is without ground for because the Pyrites will turn to a Gelly does it thence follow all Bodies that will do so participate of the Pyrites By the same reason he may aver That because Bones and Harts-horns with a little common Water in Mons. Papin's Digesting Instrument become gelatinous that either the Bones contain the Horns or vice versa the Horns the Bones Now since these Rocks answer not this end it is evident these Springs according to his own Notions cannot be deriv'd from the Pyritâ—â— but this I presume he only asserted as a Compliment to an eminent Physician and if he prefers his Friendship before strict and true Observations in Nature I envy not his Choice His other Experiments upon the Acidulae are no more than what have been before observ'd by other Authors I shall therefore pass them over As to the Purging-Waters he derives them from the Pyrites Selenites and Loame and are as he alledges impregnated with purging Salts of various kinds form'd into a saline Nature by an acid Mineral Juice in the Loame Hence pag. 117. he has this Period So I conclude the Salt of these purging Waters to be of a middle Nature betwixt Nitres and Vitriols and form'd out of the Loame by the help of a Vitriolic Juice or liquid Salt and collected in most Cavities As to this Hypothesis from the following Phaenomena I doubt not but to convince him that he is again mistaken that is that there are Springs which do contain the bitter purging Salt and yet arise not out of Loame e. g. At Rougham in Furness in the County of Lancaster at the bottom of a Rock issues a purging Spring at least twenty Yards perpendicular from its Summit where there is neither the Pyrites the Belemnites nor Loame the Spring flows in a luxuriant Current This Water upon the first Evaporation affords a Salt not much unlike Sea-Salt but the marine may be easily separated from the bitter or purging Salt and then you have a Salt which affords Bacilli or Stiriae which will easily dissolve even by the heat of the Hand nay even by the Air it self and answers all the Experiments Dr. Grew made upon Epsome-Salt It is hence evident that these Salts have not their Origin as he alledges from the Pyrites Selenites and Loame the Earth after distillation was light and of a greyish Colour and would strongly ferment with an Acid. But to give him an ampler demonstration of his Error I shall produce him another Instance or two At Thernham in the County of Lancaster there is an Earth which contains Loame and a great quantity of Selenites and the same Phaenomena may be observ'd upon the Ridge of Hills that run upon the Sea-Coasts towards Rossall in the same County out of both these Earths issue several Springs which will neither tinge with Galls nor are they Purgative hence it is evident tho' the Principles he lays down do all concur yet that thence does not necessarily follow a Marcasitical or Purging Water nor are the Salts as was observ'd before collected so superficially as he alledges 't is true indeed I have seen the Salt Bass by being expos'd to the Air shoot out various Efflorescences at the same time from a Spring issuing out of the same Bass at least 20 Yards within the Earth may be prepar'd the true bitter purging Salt So that what he has inform'd us in relation to the Purging Waters is as groundless as the former As to his Method of preparing a Salt from Loame by Spirit of Nitre it is no wise convincing since the Phaenomena he recites may happen barely from the Spirit without a Salt congenite to the Loame the different Salts he prepared from the Purging Waters may for ought I know be true and exact but what I alledge is that neither the Chalybeats are always from the Pyrites nor the Purging Waters from Loame Marcasite and the Selenites His other Experiments are but what were before observ'd by Dr. Plot and Monsieur du Clos to whom I refer the Reader I shall in the next place examine his Observation upon the Bath in Somersetshire P. 178. he says that The Salt contain'd in this Water appear'd fully to be Salt-petre in that it did not disturb a solution of Sal Saturni in fair Weather But this is no Demonstration at all of Salt-petre for the bitter purging Salt will do the same which is not at all Nitrous altho' it bears the same Bacilli or Stiriae with Nitre for since the Salt is not inflammable there is no reason to suppose the Existence of Salt-petre It now appears his Attempts
upon Bath-Waters are as fruitless as his other Experiments and in his reasoning about them he is inconsistent with himself I shall only remark one thing more that when this Purging Salt becomes stiriated if it be dissolv'd in a small quantity of Water in a few Days it drops an hard pellucid Salt which will not dissolve in the Air is bitter and pungent the Figures of it are various sometimes Cubical sometimes Pentagons and Parallelopepedons so that it is manifest it is very difficult to reduce Salts to their distinct species by determinate Figures It is certain by these Experiments that the Salt in this Purging Water which at first by its Tast and Figure seem'd only to be a common marine Salt consists of three different Kinds why therefore it should be stiled a Nitre I can see no reason I have often wondred why some Persons ambitiously affect the Imposing of Terms assuming to themselves Titles of New Discoverers without any ground at all For if from the mere Trunk of a Mole I should go about to prove it was the species of an Elephant the World would doubtless conclude me the blinder Creature I shall beg leave to add to this Appendix one thing more relating to Cold Springs in which as the Moralists assure us of the two contrary Passions Ioy and Sorrow that the former is an Expansion the other a Depressure of the Spirits so it is no less probable in these two opposite Qualities Heat and Cold that in one the Nerves are dilated in the other shrivel'd or contracted But since the Cause of intense Coldness is the Subject of this Paragraph I shall only expatiate on the latter in order to that I shall lay down a general Hypothesis and afterwards illustrate it first by the Effects of Cold and afterwards by parallel Experiments that produce it Coldness therefore in Waters I suppose to proceed from volatile saline Particles which by their Points contracting the Extremities of the Nerves obstruct the Spirits and thence proceeds an Horrour or Trembling and if the Cold be intense a Stupor or Numbness hence it is that the Capillaries in the Skin by the Punctures of those saline Particles corrugate and the Blood thereby stagnates and by the distention of those Vessels the Skin appears extremely red That Coldness in Waters proceeds from these saline Particles is evident from solutions of Snow in common Water in which those Particles are so volatile that upon Distillation I found them wholly to evaporate It is not therefore as the Peripateticks imagine that Coldness proceeds from dull unactive Principles but from volatile saline ones which by their Inflexibility or Rigidness like so many Barriers fix the Particles in Water which are of a softer Temper and thence it is that it freezes and is turn'd into Ice In Springs therefore that are naturally intensely Cold I suppose the Loam from whence these arise to have Pores so configurated as constantly to imbibe these saline Particles from the circumambient Atmosphere which doubtless are of as Volatile nature as those of Snow for I never could find in the Distillation of Cold Baths any Salt that could be reduc'd to a Chrystal except a marine one and that in so small a proportion that it is impossible to suppose that the Coldness should proceed from thence 'T is true indeed in artificial Cold Baths the Water is made violently so by solutions of marine Salt and Salt-petre but then to effect that there are those quantities of Salts that are never to be found in Baths naturally Cold whence it is evident the Coldness in them cannot proceed from a solution of those Salts but from a Volatile Aerial Nitre doubtless brought into the Atmosphere by particular Winds for it is evident in opposite Parallels from the Line in the one you have violent Frosts in the other intense Heats as the Ingenious Dr. Munday of All-Souls College in Oxford beyond contradiction has made evident The most remarkable Cold Spring in these Parts is that at Larbrick of which take the following Account Upon immersing your Hand into it the Part immediately grows extreamly red and you will then perceive a most violent Pain Fishes of several sorts I have seen put into this Spring which make but one Effort and instantly expire It is an Acidula or Chalybeat Water and therefore is accounted for in another place as likewise the Effects of Cold Baths which are consider'd in the following Treatise of the Scurvy and Rickets But more fully to illustrate the unaccountable Penetrancy Agility and Rigidness of those Particles that produce Cold take the following Experiment Let a Thermometer of a Foot long and Hermetically seal'd at both ends and about half fill'd with Spirit of Wine be immers'd in a Cold Spring for Instance in that at Larbrick and continue suspended in it about half an Hour in that space of Time the Spirit in the Tube will subside a full Inch which Instance fully demonstrates how penetrating those frigorific Particles must be that thus enter the Pores of the Glass and force the Spirit to subside to that degree This Instance likewise demonstrates their Inflexibility that by penetrating the Pores of the Glass they should so fix their Points upon the superficies of the Vinous Spirit which being of a softer Texture must necessarily give way and subside By this Experiment you may easily find out the various Degrees of Cold in Springs and by comparing those with Observations of the like nature made in the two noted Baths Holywell in Wales and St. Mungus in Yorkshire may easily find of what use the Springs in these Counties may be in the like Cases which these are eminent for I must needs own that in Leprous Distempers Scorbutic Rheumatisms the Rickets and Scorbutic Atrophies before the Hectic heat is grown too intense I have not seen any Medicines perform the Effects which these Waters frequently do CHAP. III. Of Earths Clays Boles Marles Improvements by Shells Shell-Fishes Hares and Rabbit-Skins Sope-Boylers Ashes and Putrify'd Ferns of Morasses and their various Improvements THese Countries afford us various sorts of Earths but the most noted are the Black Soil the Foxglove-Earth and the Clay-Earth which indeed is a mixture of Clay and Marle The Black Earth is commonly rich Pasture or Meadowing or good Corn-Land the Foxglove-Earth which is a tender Earth and of a brownish Colour is usually good Pasture and by Improvement brings plentiful Harvests of Corn the Clay-Earth is chiefly for Corn and in that either for continuing long or producing a well fed Corn exceeds both the other Sometimes these Earths abound with great quantities of Lime-stones and other Stones which mightily contribute to their plentiful Productions as is observable in the Closes near Lancaster and other parts in the North the Country People imagine it proceeds from the Warmth they impart to the various Earths but I rather attribute it to their Nitrous or Alcalious Salts which as I shall demonstrate hereafter conduce to the
Phaenomena Dr. Woodward supposes the Stalactites to be form'd by the Water in some Strata of Earth filtring from the Spar and so according to the position of Particles to constitute various Lamellae of Spar. I shall not deny but this in part may be true yet in those Cavities it is most certain the Water forms various Lamellae of Spar after it is fallen from the Rock as is very discernible in those little Hills call'd Hay-cocks upon which the Water is continually dropping and each Year forms various Lamellae of the Stalactites the Water is clear and of a pleasant Tast and in Distillation yields a good quantity of this Sparry Matter Wherefore it is most probable there is a continual solution of this kind of Matter by some acid Esurine Halitus which may likely be the Effluvia of some of the Mines or Minerals in those parts I am farther confirm'd in this because the Sparrs by Calcination are of a very austere styptick Tast therefore it is most rational to think that they may be some Vitriolate Effluvia which make this solution but are not to be discern'd in the Water because the Saline Particles are sheath'd in the Terrene and so cannot exert their pungent Qualities until they are disentangled And hence it is that the Water tho' it be highly saturated with these Spars is yet of a pleasing Tast and no doubt but a thorough Discovery of the Principles of these Waters wou'd give us a satisfactory Account of the Formation of Gems and might likewise be of Use in Physick There are different Kinds of these Sparrs as to their internal Qualities some if taken inwardly will Vomit and Purge most violently as that in the Lead Mines near Andlesack in Lancashire and this no doubt consists in a great measure of Salt and Sulphur which I take to be the reason that it is Emetic But the Nature of this Spar will be more fully made out from the subsequent Instances and the first is by Calcination in which you may easily discover that a Pound of this will yield a Dram of Arsenic at the least lying betwixt the Lamellae of the Spar. Whence therefore this comes to be of so Poisonous a Nature is plainly evident Notwithstanding this the Neighbours thereabout will frequently take a Scruple at least of this in Fits of the Stone in whom it vomits purges and works violently by Urine in this Case as they have frequently assured me they have found great Relief Whence the Vomiting and Purging proceed is evident as we have before observ'd viz. from the Arsenical Sulphur as likewise from that profuse quantity of Urine which may sufficiently hint to us what kind of morbifick Matter it is that causes the Diabetes both from the Quickness of its poysonous Quality and likewise the Sweetness of the Urine There are some have been so daring as to venture to take a Dram of this particularly One Iames Barns's Wife and Child but alas to their woful Experience they found the sad Effects of it for in about Nine Hours afterwards they both Expired The like Quantity of this in about Three Hours time will Kill a Dog and it is observable that the Dog while living is deeply Lethargick which may farther illustrate to us in malignant Feavers attended with those Symptoms what kind of Matter probably it is that causes those Symptoms but that is more fully Discussed in its proper place Nay so spreading is the Poyson of this Spar that it has not only been fatal to the Creature that has taken it but a Dog by licking the Blood of a Swine which had accidentally taken it mix'd with Meal and Butter expired likewise and it is farther observable that the Flesh of the Swine was afterwards Eaten and did no mischief tho' the Blood was poysonous because as we may reasonably conjecture the Arsenic had not spread it self farther than the Mass of Blood There is likewise in the same Mine a Black Spar which affords a diverting Phaenomenon or perhaps by some may be esteem'd a melancholly Scene which is in the following manner If you calcine this Spar in a Crucible its sulphureous Particles so diffuse themselves in the ambient Air that the Persons standing by by their Paleness resemble the Corps of so many deceas'd Persons It is further remarkable that there are sometimes Cavities in the Body of this and likewise in the Lead-Ore which are impleted with Water tho' there are no apparent Aqueducts leading to them these by the Miners are stiled Self-Loughs Whence this Water is deriv'd may merit our Consideration but it is most probable it is rais'd from the more remote Bowels of the Earth by a subterraneous Heat and collected in those Cavities so that it is undeniably demonstrable that the aqueous Particles must penetrate the Pores of the Rocks Sparrs and Ores which will more plainly illustrate to us how sometimes in those kinds of Cavities there are found living Toads which some have had the vanity to fix there ever since Noah's Deluge but from the Ova or Eggs floating in the Particles of the Water it is most probable to conclude they bred there Others are Diuretical and are frequently taken with success in the Gout and Stone which no doubt they effect by their saline Particles inciding the Lentor in the Blood and so consequently give ease in those Cases Instances of this kind I have seen several but to insert them here is forein to this Undertaking These are the most remarkable Phaenomena I have observ'd of Sparrs I shall therefore in the next place hasten to Talcs and Amianthus or that which is call'd Feather'd Allum The Talcs are pellucid and frequently found in Marle and will easily calcine into brittle white Lamellae and would no doubt make a very good Plaister which in the Malt-Kilns might be of great use being far better than those common Clay-Floors this is not at present made use of any farther than a common Mortar but its farther Improvement succeeding Generations may discover The Amianthus is likewise found in Marle it consists of various Filaments and is that which the Ancients made their perpetual Lamp with I have seen Cloath and Paper made of this which would stand Fire and doubtless it would be highly worth the while of some of our ingenious Mechanicks to make farther Essays upon it It is call'd by some the Salamander's Wool because as I imagin like that it is able to withstand the fury of the Flame Iuncker and Etmuller give us an account of its Principles and likewise of some Tryals they have made upon it I shall therefore refer the Reader to those Authors It is used by some Physicians in Unguents in Distempers of the Nerves but for my part I cannot see what use it can be of in those Cases I cannot conceive how so sluggish and unactive a Body can penetrate and open the Obstructions of the Nerves nor is it likely that its Particles should be absorb'd by the Capillary Vessels
Mine will be as pregnant with Ore as it was before it was exhausted Which Instance to luxurious Wits has afforded sufficient grounds to descant upon the Germination of Metals even to that excess that some fond Opiniatres who have observed the metallic Tree in a Course of Chymistry have almost reduc'd the Metals to Vegetables but he that considers the Fissures of the Rocks and the closing of those again where the Metal entirely disappears no Strings leading to the subsequent Body and likewise the preceding Instance in Lime-stone together sometimes with petrify'd Plants Shells Bones and the Exuviae of Fishes unless for the fake of being stiled an Atheist he would be esteem'd a Philosopher he cannot conclude these to be any thing else but the Ruins of an universal Deluge and in a serious Contemplation of these in those dark Recesses of Nature the Power of the Almighty is as discernible as in the great Luminaries of the Universe As to that Instance of the Iron Mine in the Grand Duke of Tuscany's Country this may be said 'T is probable it is a soft Ore which by the Effluvia continually ascending from the Central part of the Earth may carry along with them metallic Particles and consequently in such a space of time fill up those Vacuities again or the empty spaces whence the Ore was extracted which Phaenomenon to an inconsidering Eye might give reason to judge the Ore Vegetated Having now discover'd the ways of Finding Essaying the Site and Formation of Metals I proceed in the next place to the Methods of their Separation and thence to the Metallis affinia and so I shall close this Chapter The Separation of Metals from Ores is twofold either by Menstruum or the Test which Artificers call the Couple The Menstruum if the Ore contains Copper Gold or Silver is Spirit of Nitre Aqua fortis or Aqua Regia which make a solution of the metallic Particles and by Alcalies may easily be precipitated and then by Fusion you may judge what quantity of Metal the Ore contains The Separation by the Test is the common Method of the Mint and of the Silver-Smiths which being a particular Trade and not properly the Province of Natural History I shall not interfere in that Business but to those I shall refer the Curious Quicksilver is found sometimes but that rarely and in small quantities I remember once out of a Lead-Mine I saw about a Pound of Virgin Quicksilver but never any native Cinnaber in these Parts which is its usual Ore Black Lead we have near Keswick which might be got in great quantities but the Mines are open'd only once in seven Years that being engrossed by the Dutch and Germans and by them made use of in glazing Earthen Ware and in making their Melting-pots but I presume they make a farther Use of it in mixing it with Metals which is not yet communicated to us but by mixing this with Red-Lead I have seen it run upon an Earth near Haigh a Glass scarce discernible from Tortoise The Lapis Calaminaris is sometimes found in the Copper Mines and made use of in converting Copper into Brass and is likewise us'd in the Dysentery which being a strong Alcaly by imbibing the Acid may be a Specific in that Distemper I having now accounted for the most remarkable Phaenomena in Metals and Metallis affinia I shall in the next place according to my intended Method proceed to give an Account of Vegetables remarkable in these Countries and their various Operations CHAP. V. Of Plants the various Species of Marine Amphibious Sea Plants and their Vegetations illustrated of Plants peculiar to the Counties of the Physical and Poysonous Plants with a Rationale of their Effects Fossile Plants examined and demonstrated from various Observations that they are but Lusus Naturae THE Learned and Indefatigable Mr. Ray has discours'd with that accuracy and fullness of these that there is little room left to enlarge upon this Subject wherefore what I shall offer in this Chapter shall be chiefly about their Germination and some particular Phaenomena which I have observ'd in some of them Their Virtues and Classes being before by that incomparable Man so fully explain'd that to touch upon those wou'd be but to Copy him and wou'd be indeed superfluous In some of the Alga's or Sea-Oaks I have observ'd various Capsulae impleted with a pellucid Gelly and in those an infinite Number of globular Grains which I cannot imagin but to be their Seed wherefore it seems probable to me that when those Capsulae are come to their full Maturity as in those of a foetus there is a Disruption of their Membranes then that chrystalline Humour so I call it because it so nearly resembles that of the Eye with the Seeds is excluded the Tast of it is a little Mucilaginous and somewhat Saline which Phaenomena demonstrate it to be a proper ferment to propagate the Germination of those Plants I am farther confirm'd in this Opinion because upon the Rocks where these Plants grow I have frequently seen this kind of chrystalline Humour and out of that various kinds of Alga's or Sea-Oaks germinating first sprouting with two small Leaves and afterwards successively form'd into the whole figure of the Plant. What therefore the ancient Botanists and some of our modern Ones have alledged of these asserting them to be amphibious Plants only produced without Seed if we fully consider the above-recited Phaenomena I think may fairly be judg'd an Error I can only speak experimentally as to the Alga but for the Seeds of the Corals Corallines Mosses Spunges Alcyoneas I will not be obliged so strictly to account for Coralline we have in these parts in great quantities and it is almost noted to any vulgar Eye for its eminent Virtues in killing Worms and I think it may be prefer'd to any other Alcaly it being a composition of marine and alcalious Particles and by that means answering two Intentions and by reason of its safeness in giving of which there can be no mistake in the Dose it may challenge a greater Fame than Mercurius Dulcis which by being given either in too great a quantity or not being rightly sublimed has sometimes produced most dismal Effects wherefore the Person who meddles with this ought to know the right Dose for the Years and particular Constitution of the Patient and likewise be rightly satisfy'd that the Medicine is true for I am certain no one Remedy is so commonly adulterated so that he who prescribes it not only runs the risk of his Reputation but hazards likewise the Life of his Patient by mistaking this I saw Two Persons Poison'd beyond recovery which Instance I think may sufficiently caution us when and how to prescribe it and that Ladies Nurses and Apothecaries and wise Women who are not competent Judges whether it is rightly or not rightly prepared may not hereafter attempt to give it so liberally as they have done Spunges we frequently find thrown upon
some measure may retain its Bitterness yet be depriv'd of its purging quality To the second I reply thus A solution of Aloes being injected into the Mass of Blood it is most probable its Particles are again separated from the Blood by the conglomerate Glands of the Bowels it is not therefore that they work Elective in the Mass of Blood but by their contracting of the Bowels upon their separation for it is undeniably evident that several Purges will operate before they could possibly be suppos'd to have mixt with the Mass of Blood In the next place Anti-scorbutics may be said to be either Bitters Acrids or Nitrous Plants The Bitters are Lapathum acutum Mountain-sage and Water-Trefoil and these all afford an Oyl and acid Spirit and a fixt alcalious Salt but the Salt in the greatest proportion next to that the Oyl and then the Spirit hence it is that these Herbs by their saline and oily Particles attenuating the Serum of the Blood coagulated by its Acids restore it to its due Circulation and are for that reason of great use in Anti-scorbutic Cases The Acrids are the Cresses Asarum Scurvy-grass and Radishes and do all of them afford Oyls and volatile alcalious Salts wherefore for the Reasons before alledg'd they may properly be stiled Anti-scorbutics The Nitrous are the Aparine Vetches Ground-Ivy and Nettles these all yield a volatile nitrous essential Salt as may be seen in the freezing of their depurated Juices and hence it is that by tempering and diluting the bilious Particles in the Blood they allay those Scorbutic heats and are of great use in violent Bleeding particularly Ground-Ivy which by its saline Particles not only deterses and quits the Breast from an oppressive Phlegm but likewise by its Balsamics consolidates Balsamics do all of them afford terebinthinate Oyls and the chief amongst these are St. Iohn's-wort Herb Robert Tutsal and Pennywort Diuretics are generally Anti-scorbutics and those being treated of before I shall not enlarge farther on that Head Cardiacs are either mild Acids that temper too volatile a Bile which continually irritates the Spirits as in several Fevers and of this sort are Wood-sorrel Berberries Rasberries and the like or those that yield volatile Aromatic Oyls and so disentangle the Spirits strugling in a Viscid Serum and of this sort are Butter-bur Angelico Eringo Balm and the like Antistrumatics are Whitlow-grass Herb Robert stinking Gladdon and Dropwort and no doubt but they effect their Ends by terebinthinate Particles since most of them emit Effluvia of that Nature which doubtless correct the Acid that make the Gland scrophulous by coagulating the Lympha as may be observ'd in scrophulous Glands Anti-hydropics as Alteratives are in the Class of Anti-scorbutics Stomachics for the most part being Bitters I shall not enlarge further on them Anticterics consist of volatile acrid Particles which attenuate a foeculent Bile and the chief of these are Celandine Pilewort and Madder Pectorals are Maiden-hairs Ferns and Bitters the two first are Nitrous Opiates and Paregorics are the white and red Poppies and Cowslips but how these bridle the impetuous Tumults of the Spirits shall be accounted for in its proper place Poeony Misleto are Antepileptics and I am apt to think that it is by a Mucilage which contains a volatile alcalious Salt that they are of use in that Case viz. by the innate Heat of the Stomach and Bowels the Salt sublimes from the Mucilage and is there immediately imbibed by the Extremities of the Nerves and hence they become of use in Convulsive Cases whereas other volatile Salts are spent before they can reach the Nerves Restringents are all of them either of a mucilaginous or austere Taste as Comfry Horse-tail Sloes c. The one by sheathing the Acid which makes a Disruption of the Vessels and the other by austere vitriolic Particles pursuing them up no doubt effect their Ends. The poysonous Plants it is plain consist sometimes of saline corroding acrimonious Particles such as inflame and sometimes sphacelate the Stomach and contract the Branches of the Par vagum and then produce Tremors and Convulsions as is evident in the Dissection of those Creatures that have been poyson'd with these Herbs Of this sort are the Cicuta aquatica Ranunculus flammeus Solanum lethale Aconitum hyemale c. Some poysonous Plants are of a Narcotic Quality as Poppy and Henbane these are of a bitter Taste and no doubt contain a volatile acrid Salt which by fixing its points upon the Fibrillae of the Brain and the Extremities of the Nerves occasions a Corrugation in them and by that means hinders a Separation of the animal Spirits from the Mass of Blood and consequently their Dispensation into the various parts of the Body Hence they being taken in too great a quantity become poysonous Lettice likewise Melons and Cucumbers consisting of a mucilaginous Water doubtless entangle the animal Spirits and hinder their Expansion hence by being too liberally taken the whole Oeconomy of the Body is disorder'd the Spirits receding like the Sun-beams which being screen'd by thick interposing Clouds leave all in Darkness An Appendix to the Chapter of PLANTS HAving compleated my Hypothesis concerning the Vegetation of Sea-Plants I shall in the next place propose some Conjectures about the Vegetation of River and Land-Plants and give an account of the Experiments on all sides and add some Trials which I proved my self and amongst the rest offer my own Sentiments The most material Hypotheses relating to this Topic are reduc'd to Two the one asserting that Vegetation is from Earth the other from Water only A Suffragan to the latter is the L d Bacon Nat. Hist. Cent. 5. Par. 411. Where he asserts That for Nourishment of Vegetables Water is all in all that the Earth only keeps the Plant upright and guards it from too great Heat or Cold. Others in this Hypothesis are more positive as the Hon ble Mr. Boyle Helmont and his Followers these back their Assertions with the two subsequent Experiments the first is that concerning Mint and several other Plants which prosper and thrive greatly in Water the other which you have in the Sceptical Chymist writ by Mr. Boyle is as follows Take a certain quantity of Earth bake it in an Oven then weigh it and having included it in an Earthen Pot well water'd make choice of some fit Plant as a Pompion which being first carefully weigh'd and set in it there let it grow continuing to water it till it is much advanced in Bigness then take it up and tho' the Bulk and Weight of the Plant be much greater than at first yet the Earth will be found little or nothing diminished in Weight therefore it may be concluded that it is not the Earth but Water that Nourishes and is converted into the Substance of the Plant. Thus far likewise proceeds the ingenious Dr. Woodward but had the Dr. given us a full account of his Sentiments on those Authors he might likewise have
a great measure depend upon the Magnitude and Number of their Pores and according to those variously subsided Conformable to these Phaenomena is Moses's History of the Creation where in the first Chapter of Genesis he tells us that the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and that the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters But these last Words are more aptly expressed by Iunius and Tremellius those two great Masters of the Hebrew Language who from the Hebrew Text translate it not Movebat but Spiritus Dei incubabat superficiei aquarum that is the spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters a Metaphor taken from a Fowl hatching her young ones The Explication of which Text further evinces that at the Creation before any thing was reduc'd to form this Globe was an immense Liquid consisting of all sorts of Particles Hence not only from Phaenomena in Nature but likewise from Divine Writ it is evident that these prodigious Mountains were the subsidence of a Fluid wherefore how rugged soever these may appear to the Eye yet even these if we pry into their innermost Recesses undeniably evidence the Power of Nature and the Existence of an omnipotent Being so that tho' there was not an universal dissolution of their Strata at the Deluge as was before manifested yet to account for the various Phaenomena observable in those Mountains it is certain that they must once have been fluid Bodies and successively indurated into these hard Consistences by their own Gravity and the Heat and Salts of the ambient Air upon the receding of the Waters as Moses clearly evinces in the same Chapter where God said Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and the evening and the morning were the first day Which brings me to a small Digression in enquiring what in those Antediluvian Ages was meant by a Day an Hour or a Year The Latin word Hora has been judg'd by some to be deriv'd from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to limit or bound because it is the measure of Time so in Mathethematics comes the word Horizon because that terminates the sight but Macrobius and Pausanias both alledge that its original is owing to the Aegyptians because the Sun in their Language was stiled Horum the Septuagint Interpreters would have it indifferently to express a short space of time hence in St. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for Supper-time some are of Opinion that Hours anciently signify'd the four Seasons of the Year hence the Greek Annals call'd them their Hori and their Writers Horographici some there are that think the Greeks call'd that part of Time an Hour wherein the Dog-star arises hence Galen in his Book De Alimentis calls those Horean Fruits which spring up at that time wherein the Dog-star arose In general by an Hour the Ancients have signify'd an Age and by the twelfth Hour Old Age as some would have it hence in that Dialogue of Marcus Crassus and the K. of Galatia comes that Expression What Man says he art not thou now arrived at the twelfth Hour and yet talkest of building a new City but I am apt to think this might rather be Metaphorically spoken because in the computation of Time for the greatest part so many Hours terminate the artificial Day it might therefore not unaptly be compar'd to the Period of Old Age. Herodotus relates that the Grecians from the Aegyptians receiv'd the use of the Pole the Gnomon and the twelve parts of the Day and the original of that Use among the Aegyptians was because their Priests in those Days were accustomed twelve times a Day to make a noise to their Cynocephalus and Cicero takes notice of such a Ceremony to Serapis from which it seems clear that an Hour in those Days was the same as now in the computation of Time and that Dial of Ahaz where the Miracle was wrought of the Sun 's going back ten Degrees seems to confirm that the Iews in those days computed Time in the like manner for all Interpreters agree those Degrees were the Indices of such parts of the Day and the description that Pancirollus gives us of an Instrument amongst the ancient Romans farther evinces the truth of this Hypothesis They took says he a Vessel made of Glass in the bottom of which was a narrow Hole done about with Gold lest the Water should wear it away on the other part of the Vessel was drawn a right Line having the 12 Hours set upon it after which they filled the Vessel with Water which issued drop by drop out of the little Hole they thrust a Cork into the Water fastned to a little Wand the end of which pointed at the first Hour and as the Water decreased at the second and third Hour and so on this the Greeks call'd Clepsydra From all which both from the Practice of the Iews Aegyptians Greeks and Romans it is most probable that the Antediluvians computed Time as we do now and that Noah very likely transmitted those Instructions down to his Posterity The next thing therefore to be consider'd is to illustrate what is meant by Days Days by all Nations are divided into two kinds the one natural the other artificial the one consisting of twelve the other of twenty-four Hours having therefore fully explain'd what the Ancients meant by Hours I need not farther to insist upon this Point I shall then proceed to explain what is meant by a Year The word Annus or Year in the three ancient Languages is deriv'd from a thing that turns round or a Circle for so much the Hebrew word does signify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hence the Aegyptians represented the Year by a Snake biting its Tail but whether a Lunar or Solar Year is meant by the Patriarchs is next to be consider'd The Turks and Arabians use the Lunar Year and the same Custom is observed in Tartary Siam Iapan Peru and in other Places but Kepler alledges that the Iews after their departure out of Aegypt used only the Solar Year The Patriarchs says he used the Aegyptian Year of 365 Days and divided them into 12 Months and it is certain the Jewish Year until the Grecian Monarchy was wholly Solar that all their Months save the last consisted of 30 Days and Iosephus writes that there was no Innovation in their Rites as to their Year wherefore from the afore-recited Authorities and likewise from the Iewish and Aegyptian Hieroglyphical representations of a Year it is highly reasonable to conclude that the Years spoken of by the Patriarchs were Solar Years or 12 Months in which the Sun perfects its Course in the Zodiac So that what some have offer'd to prove an Hour or Month to be a Year amongst the Ancients is groundless and is only a metaphorical Allusion to a Custom very frequent in the
Eastern Countries To conclude from all the recited Phaenomena if we will but appeal to our Senses it is evident that Moses's Narrative of the Deluge is not only the most true but the most compleat I cannot therefore but admire at the Theorist and Mr. Whiston who affirm that before the Deluge there were no Mountains In the first place the Arguments they offer are no way conclusive but barely Hypothetical a meer begging of the Question they have indeed supply'd us with polite Schemes and witty Allegories and where they do not by dint of Reason convince us like Sirens by their Wit they charm us but it is not Paint that can long preserve the Features after that is once discover'd the Face appears more deform'd I can no more think the World before the Deluge was form'd like an Egg or that there were no Mountains or that upon the breach of the Shell the Waters gush'd out and overwhelm'd the Globe than I can espouse that wild Notion of the Philosopher who fancy'd himself an Egg and dreaded lest the Heavens should fall and destroy him What Moses has deliver'd upon that Subject exactly quadrates with Nature and from his History it is very clear that there were Mountains before the Flood in the seventh Chapter of Genesis he says the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered Whence it is plain that before the Deluge there were Mountains otherwise how could they be cover'd he may as well reconcile the contradiction of a Man covering his Head with his Hat when he had none upon his Shoulders and the one Absurdity is as easily defended as the other In the same Chapter that inspir'd Philosopher very clearly conveys to us the beginning progress and conclusion of the Deluge all which throughly consider'd one would think to any unbiass'd Person are Arguments too plain and convincing to be obviated for let us take him barely and literally as an Historian where he acquaints us that the fountains of the great deep were broken open the windows or the clouds of heaven poured down their waters for it rained forty Days and forty Nights What can we imagin those Fountains to be but the Freshes separated by the Earth from the Sea which upon those Convulsions of the Earth when it was broken open issued forth upon its surface And then that great fall of Waters from the Clouds which doubtless incessantly and vehemently pour'd down Night and Day joyning with them might easily cause that general Inundation To those that alledge the deficiency of the Waters to accomplish so universal a Flood let us by plain Text and Demonstration answer in the first Chapter of Genesis when the earth was without form and void then darkness was upon the face of the deep which plainly shews as was asserted before that this Globe was a meer immense Liquid for the Earth surely would have had a Form tho' Darkness had been upon it had it then been separated from the Waters but upon their subsidence dry Land appeared and received a Form wherefore then by a very reasonable Consequence could not that Power that made the first great separation of Fluids from Solids once again cover all with Fluids or why could not the same proportionate quantity of Liquids that could dilute such a Mass of Solids once again overwhelm them but where was then the necessity of a total dissolution of all the Strata of the Earth at the Deluge or why must all again return to its primitive Chaos without form Besides the Evidence of all the recited Phaenomena Moses very readily clears that difficulty for Chap. 7. he tells us that the Ark was lifted up above the Earth that all the high hills and mountains were covered which lifting or floating of the Ark above the Earth and covering of the Hills and Mountains seems to be very dissonant to a Dissolution not but that a strange Catastrophe occur'd to the superficies of the Earth by the resistless motions of the Waters which gave so many evidences of their Power and Universality at that time Again Chap. 8. The waters returned from off the earth not separated as at the Creation and again that they decreased continually till the tops of the mountains were seen Upon the whole I can see no reason why any should so elaborately endeavour to answer Difficulties where none present themselves and that by so quaint a Method as to amuse the Reader by starting greater Having now from Observations in Nature and Divine History given an account of the Deluge that we may form some Idea of it I thought it not inconsistent with my Design to insert the following Phaenomenon About three Years ago near Hyde in Cheshire happen'd an unusual Flood which overwhelm'd the Banks of the River and violently broke in at the Eye of a Coal-Pit the Water in its impetuous Current thro' the hollows forc'd the Air before it which when pent up in the Extremities of those Passages by its Elasticity divided a solid Rock at least 20 Yards perpendicular the Water over the greatest part of the Field appear'd in large Columns not much unlike the Spouts in Africa when having spent its force the Rock clos'd again and all over the Field were to be seen various pieces of Coal scatter'd Hence we may imagin when all the Springs of the Deep were broken up and the Clouds pour'd down their Waters in continued Cataracts for forty Days and Nights in so strange a Convulsion I say from the recited Phaenomenon we may form some inadequate Idea how that terrible Destruction was accomplish'd And since we are treating of Floods I think it a pardonable Digression if I give an account of a Spout seen by my Brother within these two Years in his Voyage to Virginia The figure of it as he affirms was like a Spire-Steeple inverted and hung for a considerable time from the Clouds to the surface of the Sea it afterwards divided and then the Sea was in a most violent Commotion which was observ'd by the flowering of the Water as he stiled it the lower Pillar hung for a considerable time upon the surface of the Water but at length vanished the upper part from the Clouds remain'd longer His Conjecture is that the Spout was not a Column of Water that ascended out of the Sea but a Cloud only that hung down to the surface of the Water and he gives these Reasons for it first because the upper part of the Pillar continued much longer than the lower part after its division in the second place before the Spout appear'd the Air was extreamly dark and by that the Sea-men predicted the appearance of a Spout What former accounts we have of Spouts in Authors are different from this whether therefore there may be various sorts of Spouts I shall not determine as being forreign to this Undertaking Dampier confirms
swiftest though of the smallest size But this their Velocity may I presume proceed in some measure from their Diet which as I have frequently found by dissection is a short dry Grass and sometimes the Tops of Heaths and Barks of Trees which being excellent Antihydropics may occasion the dryness of their Constitutions and in some measure their swiftness by absorbing the Serum or watry Parts of the Blood by which the Muscles consequently must have less pressure upon them and doubtless the Lymphaducts are less numerous in these than in other Creatures As to their different Colours it is observable those in colder Climes as in Russia and the High-lands of Scotland are White or Grey but in other Countries they are of a Brown Colour these variations of Colours by the Chymists are solved by their Experiments on Sulphur which by different degrees of heat turns White or Red as it is more or less Exalted and considering the Down of these Creatures abounds with a great quantity of Sulphur I think the conjecture not irrational Distempers most incident to this Animal are commonly in the Liver which are Hydatides or Blisters upon its Superficies proceeding doubtless from a Rupture or breach of the Lymphatick Vessels in that part occasion'd by violent running and afterwards the coldness of the Earth too suddenly closing the Pores and Obstructing perspiration hence those Vessels become distended beyond a natural Tone and Burst This Creature is highly commended by the Germans to be a Healthful Noble and Generous Food particularly by Ab-Heers of which in his Spadacrene you may see a full and large account But before I close my observations upon Quadrupeds I thought it not a miss to insert two Instances they being not only unusual but of great Importance the first is of two Persons who in a small Cottage near Bury in Lancashire dyed of the small Pox during the whole time of their Sickness Two Cats for the most part lay upon the same Beds with the Patients in a little time after these Persons had Expired Both the Cats fell Sick with the usual Symptoms in the Apparatus of the small Pox and so regularly proceeded to the State of Eruption and Maturation with Pustules exactly like those in Human-kind at last those subsided and soon afterwards both the Cats dy'd By this instance it is evident the small Pox is not a Distemper peculiar only to Human-kind But why to Mankind more than other Creatures is the next thing we are to enquire into The Decision of this Question depends upon two Topics The first is the particular Composition of the Blood in Mankind differing from that in other Creatures and consequently those not so subject to this Distemper That the Blood in Human-kind does differ from that in Quadrupeds is evident from the different Proportion of muriatick fixt and volatile Salts that may be obtained from it and this probably may proceed from their variety of Food and Liquors and for that reason I think it wou'd be highly worth the time of our Modern Virtuosi to take an exact Proportion in each of those and to observe the Distempers the most incident to different Creatures as likewise those that are Carnivorous and those that Feed only upon Plants and distinguish them accordingly it s most certain it is a particular Crasis in the Blood when Man is disposed to receive this Distemper some Persons I have known conversant with People in the small Pox and yet Twenty Years afterwards have themselves been infected and dyed of them when therefore by a particular Crasis the Blood is so disposed to receive the Morbisick particles of the Air partly taken into the Body by the intromitting Pores and partly by inspiration it is then by the various concretions of these the Serum of the Blood is converted into a Poisonous Ichor which by its acrimony separates the Cutis from the Cuticula and forms those Pustules we Name small Pox. A second reason why Man is peculiarly subject to this Distemper may be the variety of the Orifices in the Miliary Glands of the Cutis which doubtless in Mankind are much different from those in other Creatures it must therefore necessarily follow that where there are not proper secretory Vessels to receive such particular Coagulations those Creatures cannot as Man be alike subject to equal Distempers These may suffice for a Decision of the Question propos'd I shall therefore in the next place proceed to the second Instance and that is of a Mastiff-Dog he belonged to the Honourable Peter Bold of Bold Esq this Dog still attended his Master in his Chamber during a tedious Sickness being a Consumption of the Lungs after this generous Gentleman Expir'd and his Corps removed the Dog almost each moment enter'd the Room making a Mournful whining Noise and prosecuted his researches for several days through all the Rooms of the House but in vain He then retired to his Kennel from whence he wou'd not be Courted but refusing all manner of Sustenance died there of this I was an Eye-Witness being through the whole course of the Distemper concern'd for that Honourable Gentleman what some may Bogle at to call Reason I know not but I think a deeper Sense of Sorrow and Gratitude cou'd not be shown in any Creature whatever Which brings me in the next place to consider what the Philosophers call the Knowledge of Brutes concerning this there are various Opinions the Platonists did not seem to doubt of it and for that reason when they defin'd Man to distinguish him from other Creatures only stiled him an unseather'd Animal The Pythagoreans run into a wilder extreme and were so fully possess'd with the Opinion of the Souls of Brutes that they believed there was a mutual Transmigration of Souls And hence surely we cou'd not blame the Poet when he says the mighty Thunderer transform'd himself into a Bull. But however tho' without question there is something of a Spiritual distinguishing being that actuates the Body of a Brute by the assistance of the Animal Spirit yet the before recited Hypothesis of Pythagoras in bringing their Souls upon the level with that of Man I look upon to be groundless since Man is the only Creature in the World that has a reflex thought and can abstract from matter and that has any Notion of a Deity But alas how imperfect wou'd that be had not God out of his Infinite goodness been pleased to communicate himself to us by Revelation as we may find by too many Instances amongst the poor Americans who though they have Notions of a Being Infinitely Good yet have likewise the same of one equally Bad and therefore Worship one through Love and the other through Fear Knowledge in Brutes by the Peripatetics is stiled natural Instinct But since they are not able to define what that is it is only to explain an obscure Matter by one more dark I shall therefore pass it by as not material to this Subject But the Cartesians
when they are seperated and without it the one for seasoning the Earth and Water wherein it is Planted and the other for seasoning the Air the method of which I have elsewhere explained To these I hope without offence may be subjoined two Letters writ by my self some Years ago to that Learned Society for whatever is drawn from the Transactions relating to these parts though before published may yet give a diverting information to many Gentlemen who are strangers to those Papers the first Letter directed to Dr. Plot Secretary to the Royal Society runs thus Since you gave me some Specimens of the Water of Latron and likewise of Nitrian Nitre I have found that those descriptions the Ancients gave of it exactly agree with those Specimens we have here Their Encomiums of it were so many and so different the Names which they ascribed to it as a Sceptick indeed might equally Question whether or no they writ of any thing else or whether or no they writ of any such thing that we might therefore better understand the writings of the Ancients concerning it and the Phaenomena which it afforded here I have thought convenient to make use of this method I shall in the first place shew whence Nitre had its Denomination in the second the different Names which Ancient Authors ascribe to it in the third the different places whence it comes In the fourth a description of it as it is when a Compositum In the fifth the number of its principles when Chymically resolv'd in the sixth the rise of them in the seventh its Seperation from the Water of Latron in the eighth its use in Physick in the ninth in Agriculture and Mechanicks in the tenth wherein it differs from Sal Armoniac in the eleventh from Salt Petre. That all Nitre took its Name from a Town in Aegypt called Nitria I shall take for granted I shall therefore in the next place give an account of the different Names which by Authors are ascribed to Nitre By Hypocrates it is sometimes called Sal Aegypti Sal in Aquis crescens Nitrum Rubrum By Basil Serpens Terrenus By Vitruvius Flavilla Salis By Pliny Spuma Nitri Ros pinguioris Naturae By the Graecians Halmiraga By Encelius it is called Cryfocolla Baurac Sal Lucidum Sal Petrosum Sal Anderenae but the word Baurac by the Babilonians is less restrained for they divide Nitre into two Species the one they term Sal Petrosum Purpureum Modice Amarum the other Species they term Baurac which they used in Seasoning of their Meat the former of these may probably be the Nitre here spoke of and the latter Salt Petre. By Iungius and Hofman it is called Cerberus Chymicus and Sal Infernalis By Rulandus and Iohnson it is called Faex Vitri and Cinis Clavellatus and so by Fallopius and sometimes Cabalatar Algali Anatron Tincar Sago Here likewise is to be noted that Aphronitrum called by Schwenckfeldius in his Tracts de Fossibus Silesiae flos Asiae and Spuma Nitri is not as I conceive specifically distinct from the Natron here spoke of For according to Molenbrochius and Iunken that will Ferment with an Acid and is commended in the same Distempers as the Nitre of Nitria again it is said by Pliny fontibus quibusdam innatat Videturque nilo deferri By Encelius it is said to be found in Armenia Rabbath Africa Rome Aegypt or Babylon and therefore by him is divided into six Species Nitrum vel est Armen Afric Aegypt Rabbath Rom. Vel. Babyl By Wormius it is said to be found in Nova Hispania The Natron may be described thus it is an Alkaly Salt perforated like a Sponge and of a Lixivial taste and thus I find it described by Pliny Mathiolus and Agricola Its Principles I take to be chiefly two viz. a Sal Marine and an Urinous Salt That it contains a sal Marine seems manifest by these Experiments first because that a Solution of the Natron has much of the tast that a Solution of Sal Marine hath secondly in Evaporation the Particles of the Natron incrustated upon the surface of the Water as the Particles of Sea-Salt do in Evaporation Thirdly because the Natron is perforated which proceeds as I suppose from a Sal Marine for that when it Chrystallizeth shooteth into little Cavities Fourthly if the Natron be mixed with Salt of Tartar it emits the same Spirit as Sal Armoniac when mixt with the same Salt And Lastly That it contains a Sea Salt seems plain from Cesalpinus Says he Efflorescit etiam sponte non solum in salinis ad similitudinem lanuginis canescentis sed etiam in Vasis in quibus sal continetur But here it is to be noted that though the Nitrian Water is of a blushy Colour and makes a brisk fermentation with an Acid yet a solution of Natron looks clear and will not ferment with an Acid the reason why a solution of the Natron looks clear though the Nitrian Water which is but a solution of the same Salt is of a blushy Colour may perhaps be this I suppose that the Water of Latron receives its redness from a red clammy substance which serves chiefly to cement the two Salts together and this I the rather conjecture because after a solution of the Natron had pass'd through a Filtre there stuck to it a red clammy Matter and the solution was clear and the reason why a solution of the Natron will not ferment with an Acid I conceive to be this because in a perfect dissolution its parts being seperated one from another by the parts of the Water their struglings are too weak to make an Effervescency with an Acid and in this I was farther confirmed by these two Experiments I found that if into a solution of the Natron I pour'd an Acid while the Water looked Whitish or Disturbed the Salt not being perfectly dissolved it made a brisk Fermentation but when the Water came to be clear the Salt being then perfectly dissolved if I then poured an Acid upon it it wou'd not ferment I likewise found that this solution being Evaporated to a third part wou'd ferment again Its second Principle I take to be an Urinous Salt First because if mixed with Salt of Tartar it smells like Sal Armoniac when mixed with the same Salt Secondly when it was distilled with Salt of Tartar in a retort it afforded an Urinous Spirit as piercing as Spirit of Sal Armoniac I come now to the rise of its Principles Sal Marine and a volatile Alkaly Sal Marine being a Fossile Salt I shall take for granted it receives from the Earth and shall endeavour to illustrate it hath its volatile Alkaly from the Air First because it is said by Pliny spumam Nitri which is the Natron here spoke of Antiqui negebant fieri nisi ros cecidisset By Monsieur de le Chambre it is affirmed that three or four days before the Nile begins to overflow there falls a certain dew
two Miles from Lancaster which Seat is now in Possession of the R t Hon ble the Lady Gerrard of Bromley from a white Marle issues a pleasant and smooth Water remarkable for its agreeable Tast and Lightness This Water is lighter by an Ounce in a Pint than any I have seen in these Parts Now all Waters containing more or less of Earthly Particles and in the various Consistencies and Quantities of those differing one from another in Gravity it may be imagin'd this Water to receive its Oily Tast and Lightness from the white Marle that being an Oily and light Body and the best Tillage this Country affords A Spring remarkable for its Perspiration is that near Stalo-Bridge in Cheshire This Water if put into a Glass Bottle closely Corked will force its way thro' the Pores of the Glass or the Water by emitting cold Effluvia upon the external Superficies of the Glass condenses the aqueous Particles of the Air and so forms that Dew or Sweat so often observable there For my part considering how difficult it is for any Menstruum whatever to penetrate the Pores of Glass nay even for Air it self as is sufficiently evidenced by the Experiments in the Air Pump I must own my assent to the latter and this may be farther illustrated by the Dews upon Bottles in Wine-Cellars which are wholly insipid and consequently cannot be spirituous Liquor that perspires through the Pores but the aqueous Particles of the Air there condensed Springs remarkable for their Coldness in these Countries we have none save One near Larbrick which is a Water extreamly Cold and of which I shall treat in its proper place this Water is the Coldest I have seen in these Parts and may no doubt answer the ends perform'd by that of St. Mungus in Yorkshire We have only One Spring that Ebbs and Flows and that is call'd Tideswell in the Peak in Derbyshire tho' nothing so Noted as that near Gigleswig in Yorkshire where I have seen the Water to ebb and flow several times in an Hour and always upon the subsiding of the Water heard a gutling Noise within the Mountain not unlike that obvious to us in pouring Liquors out of Bottles only it is much louder Conjectures about this Flux and Reflux are various some imagining it to be caused by the return of a Stone that in an Aqueduct hangs in aequilibrio as the Learned Mr. Hobbs others that a large Receptacle fill'd with Water by subterraneous Winds from the opposite part is blown over as LeGrand and others of the French Virtuosi Tho' Mr. Hobbs's Hypothesis seems to carry the greater stress of Reason along with it yet at the same time if we consider the Effects Water has upon Stone upon which it continually falls or runs over in diminishing its Superficies or over-turning those of a prodigious Bigness upon Floods or other Eruptions it will be as difficult to conceive how a Stone should be so exactly poised in an Aqueduct so long a space of time as this must needs have been so as to occasion a Flux and Reflux of the Waters as is observable in these Fountains Wherefore I shall venture to form a different Hypothesis and that it may be perform'd with all the Perspicuity so dark a matter will admit in the first place I will describe the Spring and its situation as exactly as I remember The most noted Spring of this Nature is at Gigleswig in Yorkshire as above-mention'd The Well lies at the Bottom of a Mountain of a considerable Height and is almost contiguous to a great Road betwixt Settle Lancashire and Westmorland The Diameter of the Spring as I think is about a Yard and the Perpendicular near the same dimension The Flux and Reflux is not always certain being sometimes only once again twice sometimes thrice an Hour and I think the Water upon the Flux may subside about three quarters of a Yard and then you always hear an hollow gutling Noise within the Mountain as is above recited From these Phaenomena it seems reasonable to conjecture that within the Mountain is a considerable Cavity impleted with Air from which the Aqueducts that form the Spring run and that those and their Exits are but small and it is very probable from this Cavity they do not run in direct but spiral Lines like those in a Worm used in Distillation Now when the Water that ascends out of the Earth which composes these Springs reaches this Cavity they must necessarily as it fills gradually press the Air into the spiral Aqueducts and force it forward to the end of the Aqueduct it is there then obstructed by the Water in the Well only a little Air and Water getting vent raises gradually the Spring the Duct still continues to fill higher and higher with Water till at length by its Gravity the Air is forced through and then it is the Flux happens and the hollow gutling Noise is heard occasion'd undoubtedly by the external Air rushing in and strugling with the Water to supply the Cavity of the Mountain which is now discharg'd of that Water but still impleted with Air it is now the Flux ceases and again renews as before and so it reciprocally succeeds Such spiral Aqueducts I have frequently observ'd in the Mountains in Derbyshire particularly near Tideswell where that other Spring ebbs and flows hence it seems rational the same may be here also However here is not any thing dogmatically asserted nor am I so bigotted to this Hypothesis but can easily quit it when any more reasonable is offer'd and more exactly quadrates with the Phaenomena of these Springs Now as these Aqueducts are more or less Spiral or of different Dimensions from the Sinus within the Mountain impleted with Air or as the Spring that fills the Duct with Water is but easy or rapid so its probable the Flux and Reflux becomes so uncertain for in some it flows not once in several Hours as in that call'd Tideswell the Water perhaps being sometimes diverted by other Aqueducts and reaches not the Cavity or Sinus within the Mountain this may happen by several accidents as the falling in of Earth or Pebles which for a time may divert the common course of the Spring till by a continual currency it forces its passage again Several Springs we have which are only at certain Seasons as some near the Manour in Furness these are occasion'd by Rains or an hazy Atmosphere At this Abbey are the most stately Ruins I have any where observ'd as most beautiful Pillars spacious Windows noble Arches and subterraneous Vaults Near this place is a considerable Salmon Fishing and a large Park in which are variety of Deer as Red Fallow and White and is by much the most curious Seat in these Parts It was formerly possest by Sir Thomas Preston who quitted it and as I have been inform'd is one of the Religious and amongst them one of the meanest Order But is now possest by the noble and virtuous Lady
with Sulphur Vitriol and Ocre a little of the Lapis Scissilis and a marine Salt united with the bitter purging Salt as in the Chalybeat Water at Latham but these Two last it yields in small quantities a Gallon of Water not affording many Grains of Salt but Ocre and Vitriol they contain plentifully the Ocre is impregnated with Iron and for that reason and no other may these Waters be call'd Chalybeats the Sulphur is only discernible early in the Morning and that chiefly by their smell tho' there is a Chalybeat near Manchester whose smell is very Sulphureous at all times these Waters most commonly spring out of a Bass that is impregnated with Sulphur Ocre and Vitriol which I demonstrated to the Hon d Sir Iohn Floyer at Buxton I shew'd him the Shale or Bass and by infusing various Proportions of it in common Water you may have all the various Colours of the Acidulae viz. A pale Red a deep Red a Violet and a Purple As therefore the Acidulae are differently impregnated with this Bass their Colours are likewise different At the same time I shew'd him an Acidula springing out of this Bass and likewise that the Bass was impregnated with Sulphur Vitriol and Ocre tho' Dr. Lister vehemently affirms no Stone but the Pyrites contains Vitriol but when a Man writes only what he fancies and not what he sees it cannot be imagin'd but he must assert many Paradoxes and by too tenaciously adhering to a well woven Hypothesis in effect makes himself one of the meanest of Philosophers It is not the mechanisme of Reason and the espousing of a Word which sounds pleasantly that illustrates the Phaenomena of Nature but that which is plain easy and intelligible and what may rationally from Experiments be deduced that gives a Man a true Gust in natural Learning The Dr. then may rail as long as he pleases but he can never make me disbelieve my Senses or assent to that which is contrary to the common Reason of Mankind Of these I have given a full Account in my Tentamen of Mineral Waters and my Exercitations to those therefore I refer my Reader I shall only presume so far upon the Reader 's Patience to annex the following Experiments and shall not expatiate further on this Subject The First is to shew Why Galls Oak-leaves c. will give a Tincture with those Waters vulgarly Chalybeats and why other Acids will not The Second is to illustrate How by mixing Acids with those Waters before you put the Galls to 'em that then the Galls c. will not To clear these Phaenomena we must premise these Hypotheses viz. That several of the mineral Particles are suspended in the fluid perhaps as near to an Equilibrium or Balance as can easily be conceiv'd so that the least addition of another Body to 'em must instantly cause a Precipitation and consequently then give a Tincture to these Waters by impleting their Pores and so in different Angles transmitting the Light which must needs introduce a Diversity of Colours viz. A pale Red Agat Violet Purple or intense Red according to the various Proportions of the Mineral impregnating the Water Hence therefore it is that the Galls containing a volatile Acid or rather austere that by their hooked Particles they easily clasp themselves about the mineral Particles and must therefore as is evident from the Premises laid down necessarily cause a precipitation of the Mineral which I shall more fully illustrate by making it probable that the mineral Particles are suspended in the fluid in the manner recited It is observable that the Earth over which these Springs run is always cover'd with an Ocre which to me seems evidently to hint that the mineral to the fluid retains so equal a balance that the least motion occasions a separation and thence it is that in those places where they have their currents they constantly drop an Ocre and colour the Earth as before observ'd The second Experiment is this If before you put in the Gall you add an Acid to the Water as for example Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur the Gall then gives little or no Tincture to the Water and the Reason I take to be this the Acid you mix with it being specifically heavier than either the mineral Particles or the fluid by their rigid inflexible Particles keep the Mineral suspended so that consequently the acid of the Gall being volatile it is not powerful enough to bring 'em down and thence it is that by this method they usually hover upon the surface of the Water in an azure Cloud the Mineral as well as that being Volatile which is abundantly evident both in the Evaporation of those Waters and likewise by exposing them to the Sun which in twenty-four Hours makes them insipid and in that space of time so sequester'd of the mineral Particles that then they will not yield any Tincture with a Gall or if any but a faint one So volatile is the Vitriol in those Waters which no doubt is carry'd off by the Sulphur which from its Volatility might justly be drawn like the Statue of Mercury wing'd and still pointing upwards To these I thought necessary to add the following Experiments that I might do Justice both to the publick and to that most Learned and Ingenious Gentleman Richard Townley of Townley Esq who Communicated them to me In the Water at Burnley in Lancashire he has observ'd the following Phaenomena First That if that Water be expos'd to the Air there will subside a Scarlet sediment This being a Phaenomenon never observed before in any Water in England I ever heard of it may therefore justly challenge our Conjectures about it Ocre and Lapis Scissilis which are the usual Hypostases of those kind of Waters it is most evident it cou'd not be the one being of a Yellow the other of a Greyish colour but to me it seems to be a Bituminous exalted Sulphur and this will more fully appear when we come to examine its Salts of which it contains Three different species First A small proportion of Natron or Aegyptian Nitre which if exposed to the Air will like that or Salt of Tartar dissolve per deliquium will ferment with any Acid and has a strong lixivial Taste After the Natron has run per deliquium there remains another Salt entire which if dissolv'd in Spirit of Wine or Water totally flies off by which it is plain the Salt is volatile and most probably the volatile Salt of the Natron which is the only fix'd Alcali in the World I know of that by this method or by the fix'd Salt of Tartar will yield a volatile Alcalisate Salt From which Phaenomena it is undeniably evident Dr. Lister was mistaken when to use his own words he violently affirms No Waters in England contain'd Natron a Gallon of this Water contains about twelve Grains of Sediments and four or five of Salts the Salts when separated from their Earths are White but will not
those luxuriant Springs of Acidulae that it would be impossible ever to make them serviceable if they lay not in this shelving Posture For did they ly in an Horizontal Plane they wou'd most commonly not be found under some Hundred Fathoms and then the Quantities of Water wou'd be too great for any Engine to discharge It was therefore no doubt the wonderful Providence of the Almighty at the universal Deluge in the Disruption of the Earth that as the Psalmist terms it They started aside like a broken Bow to remain as everlasting Monuments of his Power as well as Kindness to Mankind And a farther Argument of his infinite Goodness is that they are most commonly found in cold Climes and not in those Regions where they have a more kindly Influence of the Sun To pretend to solve the Postures of these in so great a Confusion as was at the Deluge by specifick Gravity is I think but to trifle in Terms For Mechanically to account for these wonderful Phaenomena wou'd be an Undertaking equal to that Genius who so easily discover'd a Pacing-Saddle or preserv'd Antiphthisical Air in Bottles brought from Montpellier In these Mines it is plain no specifick Gravitation is observ'd for Coals Strata of Marle Coal Slats in all the Mines I have seen always ly promiscuously for sometimes you come to a Stratum of Marle afterwards to a Stratum of Free-stone Iron-stone or the Pyrites then to a Coal or Kennel-Mine then to a Stratum of several Kinds again and then to Coals or Kennel again and sometimes to Coals above them all from which it is evident that in their subsidence they were not determin'd to any specifick Gravitation but as Dr. More terms it were solely govern'd by an Hylarchic Spirit These things premised I shall proceed to the Phaenomena frequently observ'd in them As the constituent Principles of Coals their Mineral Waters Damps and Pyrites Coals may be said to consist of Bitumen or Sulphureous parts Vitriolic and Ferruginous sometimes interlarded with a mixture of Ocre and Terrence parts the sulphureous Particles are easily distinguishable by their Burning viz. By their Smell and the azure Colour of the Flame the Vitriolic parts are prov'd two ways first I have sometimes seen Native Vitriol in these Mines secondly By Distillation as more particularly in the Kennel near Haigh from which by Distillation in a Retort will come over a very austere Vitriolic Water Besides the Springs that issue out of these do sometimes afford us quantities of Vitriol as I have before remark'd Their ferruginous Particles are discover'd in the Cinder by their adhesion to the Magnet which I take to be a Pathognomonical Symptom of Iron in that case tho' Dr. Lister is pleas'd to stile it one of the Pyrites But when the Dr. is framing an Hypothesis he is no Slave to his Senses and by the same Parity of Reason he might put forth Comments upon Transubstantiation Ocres frequently adhere to Coal as do the Bass and Terrene parts As to the Pyrites that darling Proteus of the Dr. which at a dead-lift helps him to a Solution of any Phaenomenon and which has given him the Character of a profound Naturalist amongst several Persons perhaps because they were incapable to apprehend him nor indeed can I think he apprehends or believes himself those Assertions he lays down concerning this Pythagorical Gentleman the Pyrites This Pyrites is frequently found betwixt the Lamellae of the Coals and sometimes in Fissures and Strata These by their Configuration to the Receptacles in which they are disclosed appear to have once been fluid I have seen some Cubical others in Pentagons and some rolled up in Magdalons and Striated like Cockle-shells in lines exactly like those a Collection of these I have by me and design them for the Musaeum at Oxford Others I have seen in the Shape of the Pectinites The Pyrites consists of Sulphur Vitriol Ocre Metallick parts as Iron Copper c. Of this there are various sorts as the Aureus Argenteus Ferreus Cupreus The Sulphur is distinguishable in it by the Detonation it makes with Nitre as likewise by the sulphureous Smell which by Collision may be observ'd in it The Vitriol is known by its Germination which it frequently emits expos'd in the Air. The Ocre and Metallick parts are discover'd by Calcination and Fusion and of these I have seen several Essays These are the most noted Phaenomena I cou'd ever observe in this Minion of Dr. Lister but if he wou'd have greater Matters credited of it he surely writes not what he has seen but what he fancies Let him first oblige the World with more ample and convincing Discoveries of its Merit otherwise why should we Attribute to it more than its Value It may be freely said of this as of most of the Dr's Notions All is not Gold that glisters Sparrs there are of several sorts but the most Noted may be reduced to these Classes the Rhomboidal Pellucid Spar the Sapphirine Rhomboidal or Azure Spar the Opace Azurine Spar the Alabastrites and the Stalactites the Pellucid irregular Spar the Diamond Spar so denominated from its figure These all will run and are commonly made use of by the Miners to run down their Ores These are a Composition of Vitriolic Salts Sulphurs and Terrene Particles The Sulphur is discernible by Calcination as are likewise the Saline and Terrene Particles which are very austere and like a Bole will adhere to the Tongue The Rhomboidal Spar is frequently found in the Mines in Derbyshire and is constituted with various Lamellae which are all Rhomboidal which figure no doubt proceeds from a particular mixture of Saline and Terrene parts Sometimes I have seen Sparrs consisting of various Parallelograms these are Pellucid like Diamonds and will cut Glass and are frequently found in Mole-Hills at Downham in Lancashire These are not to be found by Digging as I have been inform'd by several of the Neighbouring Inhabitants from what Depth therefore these Earthy Pioneers do bring them up is uncertain they are call'd by the Names of Downham-Diamonds The Sapphirine or Azure Spar is frequently found in Copper and Lead Mines in Lancashire and Derbyshire some are more Opace than others which no doubt proceeds from the different mixture of Saline and Earthy parts The Alabastrites and Stalactites are found plentifully in those most noted Cavities Pool's Hole and the Devil 's Arse in the Peak in Derbyshire These are not so pellucid as the other therefore seem to contain a greater proportion of Terrene and less of Saline Particles The Figures which these Stalactites shoot into are Wonderful and to a Thinking Man the most diverting Objects in the Universe In some places the Cavity is scarce a Yard deep in others an Hundred Fathoms perpendicular of a most magnificent Arch From the Top of this vast Roof there continually drops a Water which forms various Lamellae of the Stalactites in the shape of Hay-cocks Lyons Men Fret-work and several other diverting
and so destroy that Acidity of the Blood that may occasion the Distemper The next thing to be consider'd are the Allum and Vitriol-Ores and of these there are various sorts Vitriol is a Salt so denominated from its being like Glass pellucid and of this there are three sorts White Red and Green The Red is found in the Mines in Hungary and the White and Green in Lancashire and Derbyshire The Green is either Natural or Artificial Natural such as is that in the Kennel-Pits at Haigh in Lancashire and in some Lead-Mines near Castleton in Derbyshire Artificial such as is prepar'd from the Pyrites by Calcination and Fermentation Of the Green there are two sorts the one spongy and the other solid but with Galls all yield the same Phaenomena Of the White likewise are two sorts the solid and the Trichites the solid is found sometimes in Laminae betwixt those of the mineral Bass or Shiver as the Miners term it the Trichites is an Efflorescence from the Ores in the form of Hairs and for that reason so stiled from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies an Hair the Ores of these are commonly Bass and as I suppose have their Pores so configurated as not to admit of other Salts and with these Salts we do imagin they may be impregnated from the Bowels of the Earth by the ascending Effluvia or by those Particles which fall from the Atmosphere as is evident from those Stones near Hess-Cassel in Germany which by exposing them to the Air afford at several times a greater quantity of Vitriol than the whole substance of the Stone amounts to The white Vitriol is frequently found mixed with Allum which I suppose might give occasion to some to make no difference betwixt those Salts but they may easily be distinguish'd for the vitriolic Particles will spend themselves in Efflorescences in the Air but the alluminous remain fix'd and then it is and not till then that the Allum ought to be prepar'd Roch-Allum we have at Brindle and Houghton in Lancashire where great quantities might be made those Parts being most modious of any in the Kingdom for this Business since they may be so easily supply'd with that Sea-plant which the Arabians call'd Kali and we in our Idiome Kolp Allum as well as Vitriol is most commonly found in Bass and as we suppose may challenge the like production they differ likewise in their Figure in Chrystallization yet neither of them do at all times shoot into one and the same Figure Here one Question of moment offers it self to our Enquiry viz Whether or no green and white Vitriol be specifically different or only differ in Colour as they are differently saturated with some Ore or Mineral It is certain I have in the same mineral Water observ'd both green and white Vitriol and likewise out of the same Ore both green and white Vitriol make their Efflorescences wherefore it seems probable to me that these two are not specifically different but that the one consists of a more compact and close Texture and the other of more loose Particles I am farther confirm'd in this Opinion because I find that they will both turn black with Galls and are both Emetic The Ores of Vitriol are either Marcasite or Bass the Methods of making Vitriol have been before recited both in the Philosophical Transactions and in a Piece of Mr. Ray's I shall not therefore transgress on the patience of my Reader As to marine Salts they either make their Efflorescences out of some kind of Limes or Bass as I have observ'd upon several Walls in Lancashire and upon the blew Bass in Cheshire sometimes upon old Walls may be observ'd Salt-petre and oftentimes an alcalious fix'd Salt which I take to be the Natron of the Ancients and which we likewise find in some Waters in Lancashire as in those near Townley and Burnley If the Use of this Salt was fully prosecuted it would doubtless be of great Benefit as far surpassing all our artificial Alcalies if we may judge of it either by the Phaenomena observable in it or from those Accounts which the Ancients give of it as Hippocrates and Dioscorides and Vauslebius a modern Author in his Account of the Plague at Grand Cairo assures us of the wonderful Efficacy of this Salt of which he himself was an Eye-witness for tho' Hundreds in a Week constantly expir'd of the Plague then raging yet so soon as the Nitre falls which they know by the Turgidness of the Nile and the fermenting and rising of the Nitre-Pits the Sickness immediately ceases Polyd. Virgil informs us that the first Invention of Glass was by an Accident which happen'd from this Salt viz. Some Merchants who had been at Nitria a place in Egypt where it is collected in greatest quantities taking several large pieces of Natron on board their Vessels and having a mind to go on Shore for their Diversion order'd some Piles of it to be rais'd on the Ground upon which they might fix their Kettles as on Furnaces to boil their Meat but when the Fire grew to an intense heat the Salt and Sand flux'd together and ran into a transparent Glass a Method not much unlike that which is practic'd from the Ashes of Kali how far therefore it might be useful upon this Account deserves our Consideration Rocks of Salt of a vast thickness are frequently found in Cheshire some of them twenty-five Yards or more thick but whence these came whether from the universal Catastrophe of the World at the Deluge or have been since form'd in the bowels of the Earth admits our next Enquiry It is observ'd that such a quantity of Water will only dissolve such a proportion of Salt nor will the Salt after dissolution precipitate if then we imagin these Rocks to proceed from the Deluge we must conclude that vast Globe of Water that drown'd the World to be more saturated with Salt than any of the Brine-springs in Cheshire and if so the Rocks of Salt had been universal over the World Wherefore to me the most rational Conjecture is That upon the Rupture of the Strata of the Earth Islands of those Salt-Rocks floated in the Flood and so for a considerable time might be tossed to and fro undissolv'd and in that general Confusion upon the subsiding of the Water might settle with the rest of the Mines and Minerals and so have continued in the Posture we find them ever since I have before demonstrated that the Brine-springs do not proceed from the Rocks of Salt that are already discover'd but from the Rocks that lie deeper in the Bowels of the Earth or it may be from none at all because the Figures of the Salt are different I shall not therefore insist further upon that Point but pass on to what I next propos'd and that is to give an Account of Allum and its various Ores Allum may be divided into three Classes the Roch the Feather'd and the Trichites the which
observed that they not only took Plants and put them in the Earth prepared as he recites it but likewise the Seeds of Cucumbers and Pompions which acquired their due Magnitude and yet the Earth was not diminished in Weight these Experiments indeed considering the minuteness of the Seeds of those Fruits with the largeness of their Size when grown to perfection and yet no decrease of the Earth might give them very pregnant Reasons for their Conjectures but these I shall examine in their place The other Hypothesis is that of the Ancients which Dr. Woodward asserts for the confirmation of which the Dr. has offer'd the following Experiments Common Spear-Mint was set in spring Water the Plant weighed when put in Iuly 20 th just 27 Grains when taken forth October 5 th 42 Gr. so that in the space of 79 Days it had gained in Weight 15 Gr. the whole Water expended during the 79 Days amounted to 2558 Gr. and consequently the Weight of the Water taken up was 170 8 â—5 as much as the Plant had got in Weight Common Spear-Mint was set in Rain-Water the Mint weighed when put in 28 Gr. ¼ when taken out Gr. 45 ¼ having gained in 79 Days Gr. ½ the Dispendium of the Water Gr. 3004 which was 171 23 35 as much as the Plant had received in Weight Common Spear-Mint was set in Thames Water the Plant when put in weighed Gr. 28 when taken forth Gr. 54 so that in 77 Days it had gained 26 Gr. the Water expended amounted to Gr. 2493 which was 92 21 26 times as much as the additional weight of the Mint Solanum or Night-shade was set in Spring-Water the Plant weighed when put in Gr. 49 when taken out 106 having gained in 77 Days 57 Gr. the Water expended during the said time was 3708 Gr. which was 65 3 7 times as much as the Augment of the Plant this Specimen had several Buds upon it when first set in the Water these in some Days became fair and Flowers which were at length succeeded by Berries Lathyris Sea-Cataputia Gerhardi was set in spring Water it weighed when put in Gr. 98 when taken forth Gr. 101 â—â—â— the additional Weight for this whole 77 Days being Gr. 3 〈…〉 the Quantity of Water spent upon it during the Time was Gr. 2501 which is 714 4 7 times as much as the Plant was augmented It is to be noted that the Orifices of these Glasses were covered with Parchment perforated with an Hole adapted to the Stem of the Plant. Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Conduit Water which weighed when put in 127 Gr. when taken forth 255 Gr. the whole Quantity of Water expended upon this Plant amounted to 14190 Gr. the Plant had run up two Foot in height and had shot one considerable collateral Branch to the Fibrillae of the Roots adhered a terrestial Matter Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Conduit Water in which was dissolved an Ounce and half of common garden-Garden-Earth the Mint weighed when put in 76 Gr. when taken out 244 Gr. Water expended was Gr. 10731. Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Water with the same Quantity of Garden-mould as the former the Mint weighed when put in 92 Gr. when taken out 376 Gr. the Water expended was 14950 Gr. the Earth in both these Glasses was very sensibly and considerably wasted it left a green Substance here as above Mint was set in Hyde-Park Water distilled off in a great Still the Mint weighed when put in 114 Gr. when taken out 155 Gr. Water dispended was 8803 Gr. this Plant was pretty kindly had two small collateral Branches and several Roots with terrestrial Matter adhereing to them the Water was pretty thick had many and numerous terrestrial Particles swimming in it and some Sediment at the bottom of the Glass this Glass had none of the green Matter abovemention'd in it the residue of the Water remaining in the Still was very turbid high colour'd and reddish like ordinary Beer the Mint weighed when put into this Water 31 Gr. Water expended 4344 Gr. This Plant was very lively and had sent out six collateral Branches and several Roots I took Hyde-Park Conduit Water in which was dissolv'd a Dram of Nitre the Mint set in this suddenly began to wither and decay and died in a few days as likewise did two more Sprigs that were set in it successively In another Glass I dissolv'd an Ounce of Garden-mould and a Dram of Nitre and in a third half an Ounce of Wood-Ashes and a Dram of Nitre but the Plants in these succeeded no better than in the former In other Glasses were dissolv'd several sorts of Earths Clays Marles and variety of Manures Mint was set in distill'd Waters and other Experiments I made of several kinds in order to get Light and Information what hastned or retarded what promoted and impeded Vegetation but these do not belong to the Head that I am now upon In Hyde-Park Conduit Water I fix'd a glass Tube about 10 Inches long the Bore about one sixth of an Inch in diameter fill'd with very fine and white Sand which I kept from falling down out of the Tube into the Vial by tying a thin piece of Silk over that end of the Tube which was downwards upon the Immersion of the lower end of it the Water by little and little ascended to the upper Orifice of the Tube and yet in all the 56 Days it stood thus a very inconsiderable quantity of Water had gone off viz. scarce 20 Grains tho' the Sand continued moist to the very top to the last the Water imparted a green Tincture to the Sand quite to the top of the Tube and in the Vial it had precipitated a greenish Sediment mix'd with black to the bottom and sides of the Tube as far as it was immers'd in Water adher'd pretty much of the green Substance describ'd above From these Experiments the Dr. draws these Corollaries That Earth and not Water is the Matter that constitutes Vegetables that Improvements by Nitrons and Alcalizates are only by the saline Particles attenuating the earthly ones and preparing them to be carried up by the Water and dispos'd of into the substance of the Plant that Water serves only as a Vehicle to the terrestrial Matter which forms Vegetables and does not it self make any addition to them Now if I mistake not if we must make Earth a meer simple Body and that to be the Matter only that is converted into the substance of the Plant this Hypothesis will labour under more Difficulties than the former if according to the Doctor 's Notion the saline Particles contribute no farther than in preparing this Mould for we may undoubtedly assure our selves that the Manchinello in the West-Indies that irresistable and deceiving Poyson must needs consist of more Bodies than Earth alone otherwise how comes its Fruit to be so fatal that not only the Eating of it is present Death but the very eating of the Creatures that have fed upon it produces
degree of Heat and at the same time likewise they might have temperate Baths to answer the variety of Cases and Constitutions and by that means acquire an advantage above any Baths yet discover'd Thus I have made it evident how compounded those Bodies are which we commonly stile Earth and Water nor can I see any reason to assign either of them as the principles of Vegetation barely consider'd as such CHAP. VI. Of Subterraneous Skeletons Petrify'd Shells Subterraneous Shells and Formed Stones A Midst all the Mazes and Recesses of Nature none are more common or more amazing than these following Phaenomena Near Chippin in Lancashire 20 Fathom in Lime-stone Rock I have seen Cockles Muscles and the Pectinites all of a perfect flinty Substance In High-Furness in the same County I have observ'd as to their outward appearances the Bones and Fins of Fishes and sometimes Bones of a Gigantic Magnitude and those of a sparry Substance which may be reduc'd to the Fluor Alabastrites I have likewise seen the Glossopetrae or Crow-Bills and those invested with an hard flinty Film the Matter contain'd therein being a black hard Stone Upon these Phaenomena it is that Dr. Woodward supposes them to be the Exuviae of those Creatures at the Deluge and deposited in those Rocks by specific Gravitation for he takes it for granted that there was a total dissolution of the Strata of the Earth and that the whole Globe was but one continued Fluid and that in variety of Temperatures and in some Balsamic mixtures these Shells Fins Fishes and Bones have been embalm'd ever since that terrible Catastrophe A Notion could it be maintain'd as wonderful for the profound Respect it bears to the Truth of Moses's History of the Deluge as to Static Philosophy But since the Deluge has been before fully demonstrated from other Phaenomena observable in the Earth and that against this Hypothesis there are so many concluding Arguments I shall in the first place to clear this Head enquire into the Nature of these Petrifactions and reduce them to their different Species and then lay down some Arguments to convince the World that they are not the Exuviae of those Animals As to the Testaceous Petrifactions they are either the Cockle Muscle Oyster or Pectinites the three first are of a Flinty substance of the Pectinites there are two sorts the one is Flinty and the other is the Pyrites Aureus or golden Marcasite I have likewise observ'd in that substance representations of Fibulae or Buttons these may be observ'd in the Copper Mines in High-Furness the Glossopetrae are found in some Mines in Wales and Derbyshire and of those there are three sorts the one resembling the Bill of a Crow another that of a Lapwing and a third the Bill of a Perr a small Bird very common upon the Sea-Coasts These were given me by my worthy Friend and Relation Peter Legh of Booths in the County of Cheshire Esq We therefore come in the next place to lay down some Arguments why these Bodies could not be the Exuviae of Animals at the Deluge for had these been the Exuviae of Fowls Fishes and other Creatures how is it possible but that other Shells and Beaks of other Fowls as well as of these might sometime or other have been discover'd in these Rocks but since no others are found it seems probable to me that they are but what I formerly alledg'd the Disports of Nature In some Marbles gotten near Holker in Lancashire I have seen the exact shape of a Man and that in six Inches compass In some Mines in Derbyshire I have seen a Substance bearing exactly the similitude of a Man's Tooth and that as big as a Child's Head to which was annex'd an Head which would have contain'd several Measures and the Limbs proportionable In Pools-Hole there is the resemblance of a Lyon a dead Man a Chair and a Flitch of Bacon yet no Man I suppose will assert these to be Exuviae or the Chair one of the Houshold goods of the Antediluvians no more than the foremention'd Cloak-Buttons the Appendices of their Apparel In other Mines I have observ'd the resemblances of Skrews Stars Feathers Bones and Shells and all in the same Stratum Now I say considering all these together unless we will conclude the rest petrify'd as well as the Shells there is no necessity to assert the former but that they may equally be different Modifications of Matter Once in an Earth that came from East-India I saw the the perfect shape of Cockles of several sizes where there were not the least signs of any Shell or any Petrifaction at all it was a brownish soft Earth and indifferently friable It was communicated to me by Mr. Edward Ent Son to Sr. George Ent and formerly of Balliol-College in Oxford I have feen great variety of Petrifactions perform'd by the sea-Sea-Water it self at Hagy Bar Hills in Lancashire The Marle there shelves downwards and several sorts of Pebbles are included in various Capsulae this Marle is converted by the Sea-Water into a firm Grit or Free-stone in some pieces of which we find Shells of Sea-Snails embalmed and those not in the least petrify'd Consider we then this Petrifaction of Earth and tho' the Shell is often very minute and tender yet it still retains its Identic Body I say if we reflect on this it is not so easy to imagin as some conceive that after the Deluge the Petrifaction of Shells ensued with such facility for in a multitude of Instances here the Earth only not the Shells have undergone that This Marle I presume may be petrify'd after this following manner viz. Let us allow Marle to be a substance apt to dissolve in Water it is probable then that the Sea-water by frequently overflowing it in tract of time makes a solution of its Particles and in their room deposites white gritty Particles with which even clear Sea-Water much abounds which is demonstrable in the Evaporation of that Water into a granulated Salt at which time vast quantities of Grit are collected in the corners of the Boylers but the Particles of this Grit are so minute that till they concrete into Moleculae they are not discoverable either by Microscopes or by the nicest Filtration These then being amassed together by the motion of the Sea-Water are wedg'd and riveted so close as at last to form a perfect Free-stone some large Columns there are of these on which the Country People hang their Wooden Gates and serve instead of Posts others seem exactly to resemble Persons standing in old decayed Hats From which Phaenomena it is demonstrable that there may be perfect shapes of marine Shells Bones Plants and Beaks of Birds in some Earths and yet not the Exuviae of those Creatures I must confess the most compleat Collection of these I do believe in the World is in the Custody of Dr. Woodward and could I receive a satisfactory Answer to the Arguments above recited I would willingly adhere to
his Hypothesis but since they amount to no more than a Conjecture and that those Phaenomena may be otherwise solved and indeed that there are so many convincing Reasons to the contrary I am forc'd to deviate from an Hypothesis which I could wish were true The divine Splendor of such an Undertaking as well as the irresistible Charms of his Stile almost commanding an assent to it 'T is true what Mr. Robinson has reply'd to the Dr. carries not the air of an Orator and Philosopher his Language for the most part being grating particularly those unaccountable Terms of the Miners themselves but since Truth walks naked and needs not the Embellishments of Eloquence to set her forth I must needs own that what he relates in his Observations of the lying of the Strata in several Mines is true and exact and tho' Dikes Riders and Leaders with several other Idioms may look rather like a piece of Magic than Philosophy yet surely the things signify'd by these are observable in all the Mines which I ever yet saw But amidst all the Disports of Nature there is none more remarkable occurs than that which I saw among the many and choice Curiosities of my Honoured Friend Mr. Henry Prescot of Chester Deputy-Register of the Ecclesiastical Court there The Figure is as follows There are six Calvae or Skulls contain'd in a Shell with the representation of Hats upon them included one within another with the Brims cock'd up on the back-side of the Head are four rhomboidal Figures an Ellipsis with an Ecliptic Line and the Parallels upon a Globe and branching from those the Vertebrae and Medulla Spinalis If therefore the Dr. will still pertinaciously affirm that those representations of Plants Bones and Shells in Rocks were the Exuviae of real ones deposited there by specific Gravity and embalmed ever since the universal Deluge he may with the same parity of Reason alledge these to have been the Heads of the Antediluvian Patriarchs From the Phaenomenon laid down we may now without great difficulty account for those representations of Shells Bones Fins of Fishes and Plants observable in Rocks and Quarreis and may easily be convinc'd that to solve these there is no necessity to suppose an universal dissolution of the Globe of the Earth at the Deluge but indeed are Arguments conclusive to the contrary wherefore to these I shall only add one general Remark and so close this Head Can it be imagin'd that in that general Destruction there should be such a Menstruum or universal Dissolvent in Nature that should convert all the Strata of the Earth Mines Minerals and Metals into a liquid Form and yet some few Shells Bones and Plants remain undissolved which are of a much softer Texture and as we find by repeated Experiments far more easy to be dissolved He I say that can averr this cannot fairly tax a Rosicrucian with Enthusiasm nor justly blame the Adeptist for his extravagant Notions relating to the Alchahest that Chymical universal Dissolvent which he himself does not believe yet would so far impose upon the World as to have others to do so but for this the Dr. has promis'd to account in his general History of the World Having now dispatch'd this Point I shall in the next place proceed to real Shells Skeletons and Fins of Fishes which are sometimes found under Ground and from those deduce some Corollaries The subterraneous Skeletons observable in these Parts are only two the one an human Body found in the Morasses of the Meales and the other a Skeleton of a Buck found erect in Ellel near Lancaster both which being mention'd in a preceding Chapter I shall not enlarge further upon them As to subterraneous Shells they are frequently found in Marle-Pits about four Yards deep in solid Marle and often in places remote from the Sea These marine Shells are of various sorts as Whilkes Periwincles Cockles Muscles Torculars and the Echini Marini and of these I have several Specimens in my Custody I consider next the formed Stones and those are the Bufonites the Belemnites and the Ophites or Cornu Ammonis so denominated from the figure of a Serpent or the Horn of a Ram. The Bufonites I have seen in Marle near Preston in Lancashire the Belemnites in a Free-stone Rock near Stockport in Cheshire in which Rock likewise are observable several small Pebbles that lie frequently in black Capsulae and as I have been inform'd by the Masons sometimes a living Toad has been found in Free-stone Rock in the like Cista or Cavity which doubtless must be lodg'd there in this following manner It is to be presum'd that the Ovum of some Toad was brought thither by a Spring or Vein leading to that Cavity for Springs are very often discern'd in Free-stone Rocks ouzing thorow their Pores now it cannot be imagin'd that it was lodg'd there ever since the Deluge which must necessarily follow unless we allow the recited Hypothesis Of the Lapis Serpentarius there are two sorts the one bears the Image of a Viper wreath'd up in spiral Lines and that I have seen in the Copper Slates in Furness in Lancashire the other the shape of a Serpent at length and this was found in a Free-stone Rock at Haigh in Lancashire and communicated to me by that learned Lady the Lady Guise As to the Shells remarkable in these Parts they are either the large Sea-Cockle in which I never yet saw Fish the Navel Shells the Turbo the Echinites the large Wilkes or Periwinckles these are cast upon the Sea-Coasts in great numbers there is likewise another Shell which resembles the Scabbard of a Sword and by the Sea-men commonly call'd the Sword-Fish the Echinites has several little Hairs that grow thro' small Orifices but I could never discover a Fish in any of these which that I should not has often caus'd my wonder I imagin therefore that they are brought from a great distance to the Shore by the violence of Storms and that the Fishes in those turbid Commotions quit their Shells Of the Pectinites there are various sorts and those variegated sometimes with red parallel Circles sometimes they are smooth sometimes they have little Protuberances upon their superficies as has likewise the large Sea-Cockle Let us now come to that grand Enquiry of the learned Steno viz. Whether or no Rocks were at first a Fluid and by subsidence of terrene gross Particles form'd into that substance The clearing of this point will depend upon the Phaenomena observable in them and those are chiefly Flints and a kind of Pebbles that will run into a Glass Now it is most evident that these are of a Nature very different from that of the Rock and have likewise never in any Age been observ'd to germinate we may hence reasonably allow that Rocks were first fluid and that different kinds of Fluids did then precipitate by specific Gravity that eternal standard communicated to them from the first formation of Bodies which doubtless did in
and fully continu'd preserv'd and enjoy'd by Us and our Heirs specify'd in the said Charters and by the Tenure of these presents we do upon our certain Knowledge and with the Consent of this our present Parliament grant declare decree and ordain for Us and our Heirs that as well our Dutchy of Lancaster as all and singular Counties Mannors Honours Castles Fees Advowsons Possessions Annuities and Seigniories whatsoever descended to us before the Royal Dignity was obtain'd by us how or in what Place soever by Right of Possession Inheritance or in Reversion or other way remain to Us and our said Heirs specify'd in the Charter abovesaid after the said Manner for ever And in this State and Condition it remain'd from that time saving that Edward the Fourth in the First Year of his Reign when he had attainted Henry the Sixth for Treason appropriated it as they term it to the Crown that is to say to him and his Heirs Kings of England However Henry the Seventh broke this Entail and so at this Day it has its peculiar Officers namely a Chancellor Attorney Clerk of the Court Six Assessors a Messenger Two Auditors Three and Twenty Receivers and Three Supervisors Chester the Metropolis of that County Palatine is very remarkable for the many Antiquities there discover'd and will furnish us with Variety of Matter both in relation to its self and the many celebrated Personages that have receiv'd Titles from it that it was Eminent in the Romans Days is unquestionable by the numerous Spoils of their Grandeur and Magnificence found there I will briefly give you the most noted Observations of Mr. Cambden upon it and then add what has been more lately observ'd That it was a Roman Colony the Tyles daily dug up there confirm to us on the Reverse of some is inscrib'd Col. Divana Leg. XX. Victrix It is true indeed we cannot expect to behold the stately Ruines of the Place in this Generation which preceding Ages did yet even in the last Age it was not barren of them as Ranulph a Monk of this City tells us in his Polycronicon There are Ways says he under Ground wonderfully arch'd with Stone-work Vaulted Dining-Rooms huge Stones engraven with the Names of the Ancients and sometimes Coins dug up with the Names of Iulius Caesar and other famous Men. Likewise Roger of Chester in his Polycraticon When I beheld the Foundations of vast Buildings up and down in the Streets it seem'd rather the Effect of Roman Strength and the Work of Giants than of British Industry As to its Situation Lucian the Monk who lived Five Hundred Years ago speaks very largely both for its Pleasantness and Conveniency and doubtless it was an Argument of the Roman Prudence here first to form a Camp for so the Word Chester from Castrum implies and then to build a City for as Lucian observes this Place standing in the West Parts of Britain was very convenient to receive the Roman Legions transported hither and besides it was proper for Watching the Frontiers of the Empire and was a perfect Key to Ireland its Harbour supply'd it with the Products of all Europe For says the same Author Ships come in from Gascoigne Spain Ireland and Germany so that we drink Wine very plentifully Mr. Cambden takes no Notice of any Antiquities in this City except some Pavements of Chequer-work so that our Votive Altars and Curiosities must be of more modern Discovery Mr. Gibson indeed the late Publisher of him with Additions has an Altar with this Inscription I. O. M. TANARO T. ELVPIVS GALER PRAESENS GVVA PRI. LEG XX. VV. COMMODO ET LATERANO COS. V. S. L. M. Which he thus reads * But upon this Altar Mr. Prideaux who writ the Marmora Arundeliana Comments thus That it is an Altar dedicated to Iupiter the Thunderer Tanar in the British Language signifying Thunder and makes Praesens Guna to Praeses Gunathae that is Governour of North Wales Iovi Optimo Maximo Tanaro Titus Elupius Galerius Praesens gubernator Principibus Legionis Vicessimae Victricis Valeriae Commodo Laterano Consulibus Votum solvit Lubens Merito From which Inscription he argues the Twentieth Legion was stiled Victrix Valeria and not Valens Victrix as Mr. Cambden and others wou'd have it Another Inscription he mentions is VARONIV ......... ECTVS LEG XX VV c. And here the V being doubled he appeals to Dio who says the Twentieth Legion which is call'd Valeria and Victrix is now in upper Britain which Augustus preserv'd together with the other Legion that hath the Name of Vicesima and hath its Winter-Quarters in Lower Germany and neither now is nor then was usually and properly call'd Valeria He farther proceeds that Valeria may as well be allow'd as to other Legions the Additional Titles of Ulpia Flavia Claudia Trajana Antonina c. were But as to this disputed Title we shall give the Reader full Satisfaction in what follows Before I take Notice of his other Altar communicated to him by Mr. Henry Prescot of Chester let me insert what the same Author acquaints us was found round it About the Foundation where the Altar lay were to be seen the Signs of a Sacrifice as the Bones Horns and Heads of several Creatures as the Ox Roe-Buck c. with these Two Coins 1. Brass on the first side IMP. CAES. VESPASIAN AVG. COS. III. And the Face of the Emperor on the Reverse Victoria Augusti S. C. and a Winged Victory standing 2. Copper on the first side FL. VAL. Constantius Nob. C. And the Face of Constantius on the Reverse Genio Populi Romani a Genius standing holding a Bowl used in Sacrifices in the Right Hand and a Cornucopia in the Left One of these Coins is not spoke of in the following Manuscript given me by Mr. Prescot so I thought it not amiss to quote Mr. Gibson for it But that I may now do Justice to the Courtesie and Generosity of that curious Gentleman Mr. Henry Prescot of Chester the Reader may here take a full Account of that Altar from his Manuscript To Kendrick Eyton Esq at Eyton in the County of Denbigh SIR Chester Ian. 12. 1693. THE Altar found here is a considerable Piece of Antiquity it does indeed prove it self so at first sight but because the Names of the Emperors and Consuls are wanting it requires greater Skill in Antiquity than I pretend to to fix its Aera however since you command me I will give my Conjectures upon that and other Circumstances of it In Iuly last 1693. upon Occasion of digging a Place for a Cellar in the House of Mr. Heath in the East-Gate about Two Foot deep it was found with the Inscription downward upon a Stone Two Foot square and One in thickness which is supposed to have been the Pedestal being mouldred off on three sides the Foundation lay deep and broad consisting of many great Stones the Earth about was solid but of several Colours and Ashes were frequently found About the
being exactly conformable to the Primitive Eastern Way of their Numbring of their Days and Nights as is manifest from that in Genesis And the Evening and the Morning were the first Day And this evidently transmits to us the great Value and Antiquity of our Country and undeniably demonstrates the Veracity of the History cited from Ezekiel Chap. 27. relating to their extraordinary Merchandising and Transplanting Colonies into distant Countries which that it may not slip the Reader I shall here transcribe so far as relates to this Matter though the Head was before touch'd upon Thy Borders are in the midst of the Seas thy Builders have perfected thy Beauty They have made all thy Ship-boards of Fir-trees of Senir They have taken Cedars from Lebanon to make Masts for thee Of the Oaks of Bashan have they made thine Oars The Company of the Ashurites have made thy Benches of Ivory brought out of the Isles of Chittim Fine Linnen with broidered Work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy Sail Blue and Purple from the Isles of Elisha was that which covered thee The Inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy Mariners Thy wise Men O Tyrus that were in thee were thy Pilots The Ancients of Gebal and the wise Men thereof were in thee thy Calkers all the Ships of the Sea with their Mariners were in thee to occupy thy Merchandise They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine Army thy Men of War They hanged the Shield and Helmet in thee they set forth thy Comeliness The Men of Arvad with thine Army were upon thy Walls round about and the Gemmadims were in thy Towers they hanged their Shields upon thy Walls round about They have made thy Beauty perfect Tarshish was thy Merchant by reason of the Multitude of all kind of Riches with Silver Iron Tin and Lead they traded in thy Fairs Iavan Tubal and Meshech they were thy Merchants They traded the Persons of Men and Vessels of Brass in thy Market They of the House of Togarma traded in thy Fairs with Horses and Horsemen and Mules The Men of Dedan were thy Merchants many Isles were the Merchandise of thine Hand They brought thee for a Present Horns of Ivory and Ebony Syria was thy Merchant by reason of the Multitude of the Wares of thy making They occupied in thy Fairs with Emeralds Purple and broidered Work and fine Linnen and Coral and Agate Iudah and the Land of Israel they were thy Merchants They traded in thy Market Wheat of Minnith and Pannag and Hony and Oyl and Balm Damascus was thy Merchant in the Multitude of the Wares of thy making for the Multitude of all Riches In the Wine of Helbon and white Wool Dan also and Iavan going to and fro occupied in thy Fairs Bright Iron Cassia and Calamus were in thy Market Dedan was thy Merchant in precious Riches for Chariots Arabia and all the Princes of Kedar they occupied with thee in Lambs and Rams and Goats In these were they thy Merchants The Merchants of Sheba and Raamah they were thy Merchants They occupied in thy Fairs with Chief of all Spices and with all precious Stones and Gold Haran and Canneh and Eden the Merchants of Sheba Asshur and Chilmad were thy Merchants These were thy Merchants in all sorts of Things in blue Cloaths and broidered Work and in Chests of rich Apparel bound with Cords and made of Cedar among thy Merchandise The Ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy Market and thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the Seas Thy Rowers have brought thee into great Waters The East-wind hath broken thee in the midst of the Seas Thy Riches and thy Fairs thy Merchandise thy Mariners and thy Pilots thy Calkers and the Occupyers of thy Merchandise and all thy Men of War that are in thee and in all thy Company which is in the midst of thee shall fall into the midst of the Seas in the Day of thy Ruine The Suburbs shall shake at the Sound of the Cry of thy Pilots And all that handle the Oar the Mariners and all the Pilots of the Sea shall come down from their ships they shall stand upon the Land and shall cause their Voice to be heard against thee and shall cry bitterly and shall cast up Dust upon their Heads they shall wallow themselves in the Ashes And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee and gird them with Sackcloth and they shall weep for thee with Bitterness of Heart and bitter Wailing And in their Wailing they shall take up a Lamentation for thee and lament over thee saying What City is like Tyrus like the destroy'd in the midst of the Sea When thy Wares went forth out of the Seas thou filledst many People thou didst enrich the Kings of the Earth with the Multitude of thy Riches and of thy Merchandise In the Time when thou shalt be broken by the Seas in the Depths of the Waters thy Merchandise and all thy Company in the midst of thee shall fall All the Inhabitants of the Isles shall be astonished at thee and their Kings shall be sore afraid they shall be troubled in their Countenance The Merchants among the People shall hiss at thee thou shalt be a Terror and never shalt be any more So far concerning the first Peopling of this Island of Britain from the Eastern Nations upon which I could have farther enlarg'd very much but that not falling directly under my Cognizance I shall wholly desist and proceed to give a succinct Account of the History of the Romans in Britain We may thus by the many Relicts of Roman Antiquities in every Generation still improving form to our selves some general Apprehensions of that powerful Empire and its extensive Boundaries and by the mystick Representations on their Coins and their votive Inscriptions explain'd we very readily arrive to to their most Sacred Retreats and find laid open to our View all their exorbitant Superstitions their idolatrous Immolations the Plurality of their Gods the impious Ambition and resistless Will of the Emperors together with the Universal Complacency and Servile Flattery of all Orders of the Empire paid to them Tho' as Christians we may be too apt to pass our Resentments on their Ignorance and Worship and at the same time admire that such sublime Learning and singular Perspicuity shou'd produce no better Effects But if we duely consider the Thing and take the Roman Nation in the common Acceptation of Mankind we shall find the Subject worthy rather our Pitty than our Censure for if we reflect on the Divine reveal'd Will confin'd only to that Corner of Asia call'd Palestine and all the rest of this immense Globe involv'd in invincible Blindness erring through deprav'd Nature the Romans may admit of the same general Excuse and share the same equal Lot with their Fellow-Creatures That they were a Nation design'd for Empire their Character deservedly shows besides the Situation
shoot into any regular Chrystals have a smell much like that of Natural Balsam which to me seems to be the scarlet Sulphur that precipitates in the Water by exposing it to the Air this Water has a vitriolate Taste and with Galls yields a Tincture of an Agate colour has been experimented in scorbutick Cases and answered the desired end The Hanbridge Water a small Spring which lies betwixt Burnley and Townley yields a Natron or natural Alcali as those Bourbon Waters in France cited by Monsieur Du-Closs and another alcalious Salt which like a Terebinthinate or Resinous Body will melt with a small degree of Heat it is plain the Reason why this Salt melts by Heat is only from a volatile Bitumen united with it for the Salt being long kept in a glass Vial will not melt by any moderate degree of Heat but is then purely Alcalious the Bitumen being wholly evaporated as I found in my Observations at Townley This Water at the Fountain with Galls yields a Tincture inclining to a faint Orange if kept any considerable time in Glass Bottles a perfect Citrine contains the greatest quantity of Natron of any in these parts purges by Stool and Urine and is of great Use in the Stone and Scurvy as hath been found by several Persons who in those Cases have try'd them with great success The Water near Emmet which is about two Miles distant from those fore-mention'd Waters is of a vitriolate Taste and sulphureous Smell which with a solution of Sublimate yields a white Precipitate which no other Waters in those parts will do nor any in France as the French Virtuosi have observ'd and indeed only those at Spada in Germany and if so it may be highly worth our time by frequent and strict Tryals both in Cases in Physick and Experiments in Chymistry to find out the Principles and Use of it which may perhaps save us the Expences of a tedious Fatigue to Spada At the same time I saw there a Salt prepared from a Water in Yorkshire which had exactly the smell of Hipposelinum or Horse-Parsley a Phaenomenon never yet observ'd in any Salt before this smell proceeds from a certain proportion of bituminous saline and terrene Particles for what remain'd after evaporation was of a Yellowish colour and contain'd a great deal of terrene Matter but the Salt when separated is perfect concocted Vitriol Dr. Lister may here again be satisfy'd of his Error for not only the Waters in Lancashire but those likewise in Yorkshire contain perfect concocted Vitriol Nay in the same Coal-Mines near Burnley there are Springs of perfect Vitriol and under these others that contain Natron or Aegyptian Nitre as the above-mention'd ingenious Gentleman fully demonstrated to me when I was last there Another Salt the said Richard Townley of Townley Esq shew'd me which was perfect Salt-petre prepared from a very rapid Spring a Gallon of which contain'd half an Ounce of this Salt which upon Chrystallization shoots like Salt-petre from India into long Striae and fulminates with Sulphur This Salt he had from a Gentleman that discover'd the Spring but at present conceals the Place So that what my self and others have alleged in affirming no Waters in England to contain Salt-petre is erroneous let others retract when they think convenient for my part I fairly own my Error and from repeated Observations can positively affirm there is no marine Salt but what contains more or less of Indian Nitre but the proportion is so small and the method of preparing it so tedious it wou'd not be of any farther use than to satisfy the curious Enquirer but the Advantages that may accrue from the before recited Spring may for ought I know be one of the greatest Treasures as well as Secrets in Nature The next Mineral-Waters I shall consider are those springing out of Bass and Sulphureous only of these the most Noted is One near a Place call'd Inglewhite this springs out of a Black Bass which by Calcination I found to contain Sulphur the Water has a very sulphureous Smell as strong as that near Harrigate in Yorkshire but contains little or no Salt which is the reason it is not Purgative like that but by adding the like proportion of common Salt to it viz. about a Dram to a Pint of Water that Inconvenience is remedy'd and then you have either sulphureous Baths or purging Waters for my part I shou'd rather choose to add the bitter purging Salt as being most agreeable Having now examin'd all the various Waters springing out of Bass we proceed in the next place to give Account of saline sulphureous Waters arising out of other Minerals And I shall begin first with the sulphur Water near Wigan call'd by the Inhabitants of that place the Burning-Well this is a very diverting Phaenomenon and for its Rarity is visited by most Persons whose Curiosity leads them to Natural Enquiries It is about two Miles from Wigan in a Village call'd Aucliff in the Ground of William Mollineux of that Place Esq The Well is at the Bottom of a Tree the Water Cold and without any Smell when any Person comes to see it a Man clears the Well from all its Water that done you will immediately hear a hissing Noise in a Corner of it and by holding a lighted Candle near to it the sulphureous Halitus immediately takes Fire and afterwards spreads it self upon what Water has issued in and 't is only then indeed it ought to be call'd the Burning-Well 'T is observable tho' this sulphureous Halitus continually mixes with Water yet the Water continues Cold nor will it tinge Silver wherefore I imagine this Halitus is purely sulphureous consisting only of Oily inflammable Particles without any mixture of Vitriol or if any but inconsiderable and 't is reasonable to suppose this kind of Sulphur to impregnate the Baths at Buxton 'T is plain from these and the sulphur Wells at Maudsley and those at Harrigate in Yorkshire which are all sulphureous and yet all Cold Waters that it is only by accident that sulphur Waters become hot viz. by Collision of the sulphureous Particles when in the Spiracles of the Earth they have not a free open passage they beat and dash one upon another and by that Collision grow hot as we may observe in the rubbing of the Phosphorus which immediately takes Fire likewise in new Hay and in Wheels taking Fire by Motion only For to imagine the Heat of the Baths to proceed from Fermentation in the Waters or from subterraneous Fires is no wise consistent with Experience which after all our Hypotheses must be the true Touchstone of our Reason The foregoing Instances may convince the World that sulphureous Particles grow hot without Ignition and that there are sulphureous Particles in all hot Baths is abundantly demonstrated But for a farther Illustration of this Hypothesis take this following Experiment Let some Brimstone be set on Fire in a Glass Body immediately upon its taking Flame stop