their Effects they will soon grow warm 'T is evident they do not stand still but move very briskly before they are warm And what is the Heat of these Bodies occasioned by but their Fermentation or intestine Motion Surely it cannot be by Accension Remark That the Life of Man is a Flame I think I have sufficiently demonstrated before and shall here endeavour to make it somewhat more plain The Phosporus is a thing that is to be obtained from all Animal Substances and that the Phosporus is a Fire is past dispute it performing all those things that common Fire will do viz. enkindle inflammable Bodies give heat and warmth to those things that are near it afford Light in the Dark c. and yet in very many things doth differ from common Fire Now if this Fire were not actually existent in Animal Bodies how is it possible that it should be extracted from them Common Brimstone Tallow Pitch c. do abound with Sulphur and so of consequence are inflammable yet from none of these by any Artifice now known is there the least quantity of Phosporus or any thing like it to be obtained The Phosporus won't burn without a free access of Air any more than common Fire But herein is a very great difference between the Phosporus and common Fire Let any inflammable Body be never so well enkindled and afterwards the Flame or enkindled part of it immerged in water and it will instantaneously be extinguished so as not to be able to recover it self tho exposed to never so free an Air without being again applied to some enkindled Body Let a piece of Phosporus in a dark night be placed upon a sheet of Paper it will immediately or its own accord afford a Light will heat your Fingers and burn the Paper this piece of Phosporus being put into water will in all appearance be totally extinguished but tho it has lain in the Water for a whole Year upon being taken out will of it self burn c. in the same manner it did when put into the Water Upon stroking of some Cats in the dark multitudes of small flashes of Fire will follow ones hand as I have frequently experienced Now this gentle stroking can never cause so violent a Motion as you make Fire to be and indeed is unless it were actually existent in the Animal before Altho I confess Fire to be a Substance that is constantly in motion and that this motion is a very brisk one yet all brisk motion is not a Fire which from the Cartesian Hypothesis seems to be a necessary conclusion But I can assure you I know several Fluids that the more briskly they are moved the colder they are as for instance a River is always colder in that part where there is a quick Current than where the Water stands still The Air is always more or less cold according as the Motion of it is greater or less and I can assure you I have been almost starved when forced to travel in high Winds in the Winter-time at which season the Air is most full of Nitrous Particles which you own to be inflammable and behold here your Nitrous Particles in violent motion and yet a Man almost starved by them nay several have actually been so so that you may see it is not all kinds of violent motion tho of Particles inclined to take Fire that will cause a Flame So that you see I have sufficient reason to maintain my assertion that meer Motion tho never so much excited will not occasion Heat in fluid Bodies and that there is a difference in some respects between the Vital Flame and common Culinary Fire tho in many things they agree I shall here again enumerate some things wherein Animal Fire and Common Fire do agree and disagree Animal Fire won't burn without a due access of Air no more won't Common Fire Animal Fire causeth Heat and Warmth so doth Common Fire Animal Fire cannot subsist without a constant supply of sulphurious-Acid Particles neither can Common Fire subsist without a supply of the same Particles c. Animal Fire for so I call the Phosporus being immerged in Water and afterwards taken out again will regain all its properties of Light Heat c. without being applied to other enkindled Bodies This Common Fire will not do for let it be once extinguished by immersion in Water or otherwise and it is never able to recover it self I do still assert that those Bodies which are the proper Pabulum for Fire are those which are composed of Acid and Sulphur but those which abound with most Sulphur burn with the greatest violence those which abound most with Acid more slowly and some Acid Substances which have little Sulphur in them will scarce burn at all especially if much diluted with Phlegm such as Vinegar Juice of Lemons Spirit of Vitriol c. and therefore when the Heat of the Body is too intense I give those Acids which are least impregnated with Sulphur to abate the violence of the Flame when the Heat is too remiss I then give sulphurous Acids to excite the Flame You say you know but one Acid in Nature which is inflammable and that is Niter Now I do assure you it is my opinion nay I am very well able to demonstrate that most if not all the pure Acids in Nature have their origins from the Niter of the Air but pure Niter alone will scarce burn at all unless mixed with some kind of Sulphur As for fixing a particular place for the existence of the Vital Flame I did not think there was any reason for so doing but now I tell you that I suppose it is diffused through all the parts of the Body and if by accident any part is destitute of it a mortification ensues But then again you say it is a hard matter to conceive a Flame in that Body of which no part is inflammable Pray what do you think of the Oily Fat Particles contained not only in the Blood but all other parts are not they inflammable The reason why we are warmer in Bed and after violent exercise is not to be attributed to any unknown Doctrin of Fermentation but because we have a freer Perspiration at these times and so of consequence the Flame must burn more freely The Comparison you make between the Heat of the Blood and that occasioned upon the mixture of the Spirit of Harts-Horn and Spirit of Vitriol will not hold good for in the mixing of those two Liquors or in any kind of Fermentation there is a very sensible commotion and hurry in all the parts of the said Liquors whereas in the Blood of well Persons there is no such thing to be discerned I confess by the impulse of the Heart it is driven progressively from the center to the extremities to supply the necessities of the Parts but besides this progressive Motion I know no other it has all the Secretions being performed by proper
Strainers not from any Fermentation Nay it is a very easie thing for a man to perceive that there is no such thing as a Fermentation in the Blood by the following easie Experiment viz. let a few ounces of Blood run out of the Veins or Arteries of Man or other Animal into a very clear Glass Vessel which vessel you may put into a Sand Furness wherein the heat may be such as to keep the Blood in the same degree of warmth as it came out of the Vessels and if there be any commotion to be seen with the best Light and best Eyes like unto what may be seen in such Liquors which are in a state of Fermentation upon information I shall gladly own my self mistaken There is I confess a Froth to be seen upon the surface of some Blood after it is let out into the Porringer which looks like the surface of Liquors which are fermenting But this Froth is so far from being the effect of Fermentation that it proceeds from nothing else but the different stream that the Blood runs in For in the same Person let one Parcell run out in a rapid stream and it will occasion froth or bubbles let another Parcel run out gently and it will produce no such thing Will not simple Water or any other Liquor do the same but Blood being a Liquor of greater consistence the bubbles when raised will not so soon disappear as in Water or other Liquors that are more fluid from which I hope it is plain that the constant natural heat of the Blood does not proceed from Fermentation And if the progressive Motion from the Heart to the Extremities gives it its heat by the same reason I think the Water that runs from our Cocks should be warm also whereas I dare be bold to say that instead of gaining any heat by its rapid propulsion through the Pipes it is much colder than the Water in the River at the place from whence it was received into the Engine I had like to have forgot to take notice of what you have said concerning the production of Alkalies but it being a very material thing I shall here expatiate a little upon what I have before said upon that Subject and shall take care as much as may be to avoid repetitions I have already own'd that Alkalies do actually exist in several Bodies as the principle of their death and destruction but I never could yet see or hear of any one that has seen any such thing as either a volatile or fixt Alkalizat Salt that was any other ways to be obtained out of Vegetable or Mineral Bodies than from the Bodies after they had been burnt viz. out of the Ashes or Soot of them which are their Excrements or rather the Excrements of Fire or else after the Body had undergone a Putrefaction which is analagous to Fire Now this being so in relation to Vegetables and Minerals I think in may not be amiss to infer that the Alkaly to be found in Animal Substances is the Excrement of their Fire and which mightily confirms me in this Notion all the Excrements of Animals are Alkalious viz. a Matter thrown away either as useless or incommodious and of consequence all the Alkaly to be met with in the Blood or elsewhere is an Excrement in a way of being carried off More upon this Head I shall not say at this time by reason I shall have occasion to enlarge upon this and upon the Heat of the Blood in my Tract of Fevers But what I have now and before said is I think sufficient to satisfie any one who is not a meer Sceptick But for manifest Acids they are to be met with every where almost both in the Mineral and Vegetable Kingdoms even in those Bodies that have never undergone a Putrefaction but are in the greatest state of Perfection and for Vinegar and the like it is so far from being the effects of Putrefaction that it is the last degree of Perfection Nature alone is capable of bringing those Liquors to It is also to be observed that those Fruits of which Wine is made were first Acid before they came to a state fit to make Wine of and that Putrefaction is the Cause of the Acidness of Unripe Fruits I believe none will assert This Subject is also too long to treat fully of in this place and therefore I shall also omit the further prosecution of it for a Practical Discourse Reply If Alkalies are the Original of Distempers whence is it that in Dropsies Catarrhs some Gouts and other Diseases we find the Texture of the Blood so thin 'T is observable that those Particles you term Alkalies the more the Blood is saturated with them of the more thick Consistence it is as we see in Plurisies Rheumatisms and other Inflammatory Cases in which Distempers if in any the Alkalies abound Is not then its Tenuity rather to be imputed to Acids Do not Acids immediately put the Blood in a Fusion and render it thin Your Answer to this is that 't is not the Thinness of the Blood is the only Cause of these Distempers but a Destruction of the Tone of the Parts Here methinks you do not argue so fairly For you mention little or nothing of the Destruction of the Tone of the Parts in your Etymologies of Distempers till now And why may not I as well say in Inflammatory Cases the Blood is not affected with any Alkaline Particles These Inflammations only arise from a Destruction of the Tone of the Parts especially if you consider what you asserted in your Notion of Fevers For there the Emunctories are very much out of order But you object since Acids will reduce the Blood to its due Consistence it is not reasonable to suppose they should be the Cause of its Fusion Answ Whether Acids will restore the Consistence of the Blood I shall examin by and by I fear they will not But this I am certain of they will put it in a Fusion 'T is well known that you celebrated Oyl of Vitriol taken alone or tho in a Vehicle if in too great quantity kills Now how does it kill Does it not by dissolving the Mass of Blood by separating the Grumous Parts from the Serous and breaking its Texture after the same Manner as it does that of Milk Sure I am that Blood coagulated by the aforesaid Oyl does much more resemble Whey and Curds than Jelly of Harts-horn Now then what is all this but an Extraordinary Fusion And if a large Dose will make such mad Work and put the Blood into so great a Fusion certainly a less Dose must cause somewhat of a Fusion And 't is rational to believe that Oyl of Vitriol is proper only in those Distempers where the Blood is too thick very pernicious in such as have it too thin And here I am very glad that you so opportunely give us your Sentiments of Dropsies A Dropsie say you or the Thinness of Blood in that
have lost their Tone and therefore the Secretions not rightly to be performed a man that drinks two Quarts in twenty four hours not being able to piss perhaps above four Ounces perspiration also being greatly hindred upon the same account Now for want of a due secretion by the excretory Vessels the Blood is clogged with too great a quantity of Serum which Serum being admitted into the Lumphatick Vessels and being impregnated with Alkaline Particles cannot freely pass along these Vessels by reason of its Gelatinous quality by which means they are distended to a vast Magnitude and sometimes broke and from the broken Lympheducts it is that so great a quantity of Liquor is thrown into the Cavity of the Abdomen which distends it to such a bigness But for all this great quantity that is thrown into the Abdomen the Blood is still loaded with three parts in four more of Serum thatn it ought to be and therefore the Oral Glands cannot want sufficient Moisture But here lies the thing the Matter that in a state of health is separated by the Oral Glands is impregnated with a Noble Volatile Acid as does manifestly appear But in this Case the said Acid is almost if not totally destroyed and the said Lympha impregnated with Alkaly which is the occasion of the great Thirst that attends Hydropical People But since I have attributed an Acidity to the Lympha in a state of Health and yet assert that there is no such thing as a Pure Acid to be obtained from the Blood either in a Morbid State or in a State of Health that being inveloped in the Oily Particles I shall presume to avoid further Objections to make a little excursion concerning the general use of the Glands I shall at present divide the Glands into two kinds or sorts the first of which separate the Excrementitious Particles from the Blood and throw them quite off by some proper Emunctories such are the Excretory Glands of the Skin the Glandulae Renales the Glands of the Liver c. all which do separate an Alkaly from the Blood to be thrown off as Excrement and if by any accident these Glands are made uncapable of performing their office so that the Blood cannot be rid of its Excrements why then a Distemper of some kind or other must necessarily follow The Second Kind do receive a Noble Substance into them to be again mixed with the Blood or for other Uses of universal Advantage to the whole Body The Glands of the Mouth do separate the thin Juice impregnated with a Volatile Acid which Juice was never designed by Nature to be thrown away as some Tobacco-takers lavishly do but to impregnate our Food as it is chewed in the Mouth and afterwards to dissolve it in the Stomach and turn it into a Substance fit for the Nutrition of our Bodies The other Receptory Glands for so I presume to call all those which do not separate Excrements from the Blood do by the extraordinary providence of Nature receive into them that fine Substance which is superfluous in the nourishing of the Parts and by means of the Lympheducts in a gentle and easie course do convey it to the Ductus Thorachicus where it is mixed with the Chyle just before it is admitted into the Blood and that this Lympha is a Mild Acid has already been owned by many So that here you see if there be any Acid in the Body superfluous Nature is very provident in the preservation of it and equally careful in throwing off the superfluous Alkaly by a multitude of Emunctories or Excretory Glands From what has been said concerning the Use of the Glands a great many Phaenomena concerning Dropsies and other Distempers may with ease be solved In Dropsies for instance as is before observed the Excretory Glands not being able to perform their Office the Excrementitious Alkaly together with its Watry Vehicle is detained in the Body by which means altho the Body may increase in bulk yet none of the Parts receive their due Nourishment and the Tone of the whole being relaxed and spoiled the Receptory Glands forget their duty also and instead of receiving into them a pure acidulated Serum only they are forced to let pass some Alkalized Excrementitious Serum which makes the whole of a kind of Gelatinous Consistence which not being able to pass along the Tracts of the Lympheducts distends them to that degree that it causeth swellings in the Belly and Aedematous Tumors in the Legs c. And Belly-Dropsies having for the most part a Jaundice as their Forerunner nay frequently goes along with them through the whole course of the Distemper is no small Argument to prove the Truth of what I have before taken notice of viz. that some of the Excretory Glands have been defective in their duty by which means the whole Body is impregnated with this Yellow Die and the whole Aeconomy put out of order And that the Yellowness of the Body does proceed from a redundancy of Bile no body denies and that Bile is an Alkaly you don't disown But now come we to the Curative part of this Damnable Distemper which altho it be rarely to be performed in a confirmed State yet in the beginning nay after it has made some progress is frequently to be done and that as effectually by Calibiats and Bitters as by any sort of Medicines But here for want of making Experiments by which means only we are capable of arriving to any sort of Certainty in the knowledg of things you say that Steel and the bitter Herbs are Alkalies and the reasons you give for it are because Steel being mixed with Acids will cause an Effervescence and the bitter Herbs after burning do afford a fixt Alkaly Solid Reasons indeed For all Sulphurs being mixt with Acids will cause an Effervescency nay some of them take Fire and that all Metals are full of Sulphur is past dispute and from the Ashes of all Plants even Sorrel it self may be extracted a fixt Alkaly therefore by this way of arguing Sulphur must be an Alkaly and so must Sorrel also But the manner of the Production of Volatile and Fixt Alkalies having been spoken to before I shall say no more to that Matter I shall touch a little upon what I take to be the General Principles of mixt Bodies not that all these Principles are to be separated from all Bodies some containing all some two three or four of them and according to the different mixture of them different Substances are produced Acidum and Sulphur I take to be the Vital Active Principles in Bodies Alkaly the Principle of Death and Corruption Water and Earth the two Passive Principles From these five Principles I think I can more easily account for the Various Phenomena in Natural Bodies than from the old Five of Salt Sulphur and Mercury Water and Earth or from any other Principles that have yet been broacht in the World I have only mentioned this matter