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A28998
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Memoirs for the natural history of humane blood, especially the spirit of that liquor by Robert Boyle.
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Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing B3993; ESTC R25642
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88,272
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318
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caus'd them to be kept stirring over a very gentle Fire though the Volatile Alcaly did not hinder the Coagulation yet it seem'd to make it both more slow and more soft or laxe And this effect was yet more considerable when we try'd another parcel of Serum with Salt of Tartar instead of Spirit of Blood The Fourth Part Containing the History of the Spirit of Humane Blood Begun In an Epistolary Discourse to the very Learned Dr. J. L. Sir HAving by want of leisure and opportunity been reduced to treat of the History of Humane Blood in so imperfect and desultory a way that several of the Titles have been left wholly untouch'd and others have been but transiently and jejunely treated of I thought fit to handle more fully some one of the Primary Titles and branch it into its several subordinate or secundary Titles And for this purpose I pitch'd upon the Spirit of Humane Blood being willing on so noble a Subject to give a Specimen of what might have been done to Illustrate the other Primary Titles if some requisites had not been wanting And since the Spirit of Humane Blood is at least one of the noblest of Urinous or Volatile Alcalies so that most of the things that shall be taught concerning that may with some little variation be apply'd to Spirit of Urine Hartshorn Sal-Armoniac Soot c. I thought fit to lay down a Scheme of subordinate Titles whose Heads which amount to above half the number of the Primary ones that belong to the whole History of Blood should be so numerous and comprehensive that this Paper may pass not only for an Example but for a kind of summary of the History of Volatile Salts in general and so supply the loss of a Paper that I once begun on that Subject And now I should without further Preamble proceed to the intended History but that I think it requisite to premise three or four short Advertisements Whereof the First shall be That the Spirit I employ'd in making the following Tryals and Observations was drawn from Humane Blood without any Sand Clay or other Additament save perhaps that by a mistake that could do no mischief a small parcel had some Vinous Spirit put to it to preserve it a while and that the first distillations which I so call to distinguish them from Rectifications were perform'd in Retorts plac'd in Sand and not with a naked Fire care being taken that the Vessels were not too much fill'd because Blood N. B. if it be not well dry'd is apt to swell much and pass into the Neck of the Retort if not into the Receiver Secondly I desire to give notice that the Blood we made use of was drawn from Persons that parted with it out of custom or for prevention which was the main reason why I was so scantly furnished with Blood that of sound persons being in the place I resided in very difficult to be procur'd in quantity and that of sick persons being unfit for my purpose Thirdly It may not be amiss for obviating of some Scruples to advertise that there being so great a Cognation between the Spirit and Volatile Salt of Humane Blood that as we shall see anon 't is probable that the latter is little other than the Spirit in a dry form and the former than the Salt united with Phlegm enough to give it a Liquid form 't is presum'd that it may be allowable to consider the Volatile Salt of Blood as its dry Spirit Lastly To the three foregoing 't will be fit to add this Fourth Advertisement That tho in comparison of the Particulars thrown in to the Second and Third Part of those Memoirs the ensuing Fourth Part is methodically written yet you are not to expect to find in the Method any thing of Accurateness since the Experiments and Observations whereof this Fourth Part consists were written in loose Papers at distant times and on differing occasions and because of this and of my haste will be found without any regular dependence or connexion referr'd to the Titles under which they are ranged in that order or rather disorder wherein they chanc'd to come to hand A List of the Secondary Titles concerning The Spirit of Humane Blood a. 1. WHether Humane Blood may be so order'd by Fermentation or Putrefaction as that in Distillation a Spirit either Urinous or Vinous may ascend before the Phlegm b. 2. Whether Spirit of Humane Blood be really any thing but the Volatile Salt and Phlegm well commix'd c 3. Of the Species of Saline Bodies to which Spirit of Humane Blood is to be referr'd d. 4. Whether Spirit of Humane Blood be differing from Spirit of Urine and other Spirits that are call'd volatile Alcalies e. 5. Of the Quantity of Spirit contain'd in Humane Blood Whether accompanyed which its Serum or dry'd f. 6. Of the Specifick Gravity of Spirit of Humane Blood g. 7. Of the Odour Tast Colour Transparence and Consistence of the Spirit of Humane Blood h. 8. Of the Dissolutive Power of the Spirit of Humane Blood i. 9. Of the Tinctures that may be drawn with Spirit of Humane Blood k. 10. Of the Coagulating Power of the Spirit of Humane Blood l. 11. Of the Precipitating Power of the Spirit of Humane Blood m. 12. Of the Affinity between Spirit of Humane Blood and some Chymical Oyls and Vinous Spirits n. 13. Of the Relation between Spirit of Humane Blood and the Air. o. 14. Of the Hostility of Spirit of Humane Blood with Acids whether they be in the form of Liquors or of Fumes p. 15. Of the Medicinal vertues of Spirit of Humane Blood outwardly applied q. 16. Of the Medicinal vertues of Spirit of Humane Blood inwardly us'd in Pleurisies Headachs Coughs Fevers Scurvies Cachexies Dropsies Fits of the Mother c. App. An Appendix containing Parralipomena and Promiscuous Experiments and Observations concerning the Spirit of Humane Blood The I. Secondary Title Whether Humane Blood may be so order'd by Fermentation or Putrefaction as that in Distillation a Spirit either Vrinous or Vinous may ascend before the Phlegm IT is not unlike that you will think the Question propos'd in this Title more curious than necessary and I shall not quarrel with you if you do so But that you may not think it groundless I desire two things may be consider'd first how ordinary it is especially since the Learned Dr. Willis's Writings came to be applauded to look upon Fevers as inordinate Fermentations of the Blood And the second that tho Humane Urine which has a great cognation with the Humane Blood will not whilst fresh afford by Distillation a Spirit or Volatile Salt till the Phlegm be first drawn off and then requires a good Fire to make it rise yet if it be kept for a competent time which usually amounts to divers weeks in Fermentation as Chymists commonly call that which in this case I would rather stile Putrefaction the Spirit and Volatile Salt will with a gentle Fire ascend
that was quickly produc'd was of a black much less of a true Inky colour Though I have found means to produce in a trice a black mixture with other Martial Solutions and Tinctures which for curiosities sake I sometimes made Green sometimes Red sometimes Yellow and sometimes if I mistake not of neither of those colours I have been the more express in setting down the Particulars above delivered because I hope they may be somewhat helpful to Rectify the Judgment of divers very ingenious modern Physicians especially among the Cultivaters of Chymistry who build much upon a supposition which though I deny not to be specious I doubt is not solid and I fear may be of ill consequence For by the above recited Tryals it may appear that 't is unsafe either to suppose that if Chalybeates be dissolv'd in the body it must be by some Acid Juice or to conclude that if Steel be dissolv'd by the Liquors of the Body it must be ex praedominio as they speak Alcalisate since a Liquor that exercises a great Hostility against Acids dissolves it and by parity of reason one may probably infer the quite contrary of what they suppose in regard that Steel in our Experiment was partially at least dissolv'd by what they call an Alcaly and consequently ought to be ex praedominio of an Acid nature But of this Hypothesis we elsewhere purposely discourse and therefore shall here add nothing concerning it but leave it to be consider'd whether it would not be requisite to seek out some other way than Physicians have hitherto pitch'd on to explicate the manner of operation of Chalybeate Medicines in the Humane Body and whether some use may not be made in Medicine of Martial Remedies prepar'd by Volatile Alcalies instead of Acids I put some Spirit of Humane Blood upon powder'd Amber sifted through a fine Sieve and kept it in Digestion for some days giving it a pretty degree of heat but we obtain'd not hereby any Tincture at all considerable whether it was that the Spirit was not yet highly enough rectify'd or that the Amber which was of a finer sort of white Amber was not so proper to yield its Tincture as I have several times found courser but deeper colour'd Amber to be To this IX Title may be refer'd the event that followed upon our having put some Spirit of Humane Blood upon that sort of Gum-Laccae that comes out of the East Indies in Grains and for that reason is commonly call'd Seed-Lac For the Spirit we put upon this tho this be a resinous Gum and of no easy Solution soon became tincted which I expected it should because I conjectur'd that the Redness wont to appear in many of the Seed-like Grains is but superficial and proceeds from some adhering Blood of the little winged Insects that by their bitings occasion the production of this Gum upon the Twigs of the Tree where the Lac is found on which Twigs I have more than once seen store of these Gummous Grains So that the Tincture seems not to be drawn from the Lac it self but rather to be afforded by the Blood of these little Animals which the Spirit of Humane Blood that will draw Tinctures from dry'd Mans Blood dissolves and this Tincture may probably be a good Medicine since most of the Insects us'd in Physick as Millepedes Lice Bees Aunts c. Even in our colder Climates afford Medicines of very subtle and pierceing parts and of considerable efficacy The X. Secondary Title Of the coagulating Power of the Spirit of Humane Blood THough the Spirit of Humane Blood have such a dissolving power as we have mention'd in reference to some Bodies yet upon some others it seems to have a quite contrary Operation I say seems because it may be question'd and I am not now minded to dispute it whether the effect I am going to speak of be a Coagulation properly so call'd that one Body makes of another or a Coalition of Particles fitted when they chance to meet one another in a convenient manner to stick together But whatever name ought to be properly given to the thing I am about to speak of I have found by Tryal purposely made that the highly rectifyed Spirit of Humane Blood being well mingled by shaking with a convenient quantity which should be at least equal of Vinous Spirits that will burn all away for if either of the Liquors be Phlegmatick the Experiment succeeds either not at all or not so well there will presently ensue a Coagulation or concretion either of the whole Mixture or a great portion of it into Corpuscles of a Saline form that cohering loosly together make up a Mass that has consistence enough not to be fluid though it be very soft and in this form it may remain as far as I have yet tryed for a good while perhaps several weeks or months at least if it be kept in a cool place The XI Secondary Title Of the Precipitating Power of Spirit of Humane Blood OF the Precipitating Power of Spirit of Humane Blood I have yet observ'd nothing that is peculiar and therefore it may suffice to say in general that as far as I have had occasion to try it has in common with those other Volatile Spirits which I elsewhere call Vrinous a Power of Precipitating most Bodies that are dissolv'd in Acid Menstruums I say most because as I have elsewhere more fully shewn it is an Error though a vulgar one to suppose as Chymists and Physicians are wont to do that whatever is dissolv'd by an Acid will be Precipitated by an Alcali as such whether Fixt or Volatile which latter sort they take the spirits of Urine Blood c. to be of For there is no Necessity this Rule should hold when the Body is of such a nature that it may be dissolv'd as well by an Alcaly as by an Acid. And though the Hypothesis of Alcali and Acidum allowed them not to think there were any such Bodies yet I have in another Paper Experimentally evinc'd that there are so And it may be prov'd without going very far since we lately observ'd that good Spirit of Humane Blood Would in the cold dissolve both Copper Zink which are Bodies that will each of them be readily dissolv'd by Aqua fortis and some other Acid Menstruums Bating such Bodies as those I have been speaking of I have not found but that Spirit of Humane Blood Precipitates other Bodies dissolv'd in Acid Menstruums much after the same manner that Spirit of Urine and other such Volatile Alcalies are wont to do Of this among other Instances I remember that I made Tryal upon Red-lead or Minium dissolv'd in the Acid Salt of Vinegar Silver in Aqua fortis Gold in Aqua Regia and Tin dissolv'd in an appropriated Menstruum I also with our Spirit Precipitated the Solutions of divers other Bodies which need not here be nam'd But in regard of the great and frequent use that men make