only observed in the sublimate of the first Distillation for those obtained by rectifying the Salt and distilling it again were of a considerable bigness and solidity tho' differently shaped some of them being Cubes others Parallelopipeds others Octoedrons being almost like grains of Allom but most of them prettily shaped being comprehended by Planes smooth finely figured and aptly terminating in solid Angles as if the concretions had been cut and polished Another way I took to discover the figures of the Salts of the Blood was to rectifie the Spirit so that it may be fully satiated with the Salt whilst the Liquor continues warm for when it is refrigerated a number of saline Concretions of different sizes several of which shoot into very smooth Crystalline Plates prettily figured having their broad and parallel Surfaces of an Hexagonal or an Octogonal figure regular enough A drachm of dry Volatile Salt of Blood being dissolved in some distilled Water we dropped into it good Spirit of Nitre till the two Liquors would no longer manifestly act one upon another and when the conflict ceased we slowly evaporated the superfiuous moisture which steamed almost all away before the saline part would coagulate At length it became dry and the middlemost part appeared in the form of thin Crystals not unlike those of Salt Petre but the rest which was by much the greatest part of the Concretion seemed to be a confused mass without any distinct figure and this mass weighed but twelve grains above a drachm so that Volatile Salt of Blood may be satiated with a fifth part of its weight of the saline Parts of Spirit of Nitre This Salt exposed to the open Air in a window was very apt to run per Deliquium and a little of it being put upon a live Coal it melted and seemed to boil and towards the end made a noise and afforded a flame yellower than that of common Nitre XX. Of the Phlegm of distilled Human Blood XXI Of the two Oyls of Human Blood By distillation in a Retort it affords an Empyreumatical and a very fetid Oyl whose colour is almost black which seems to be occasioned by the increase and opacous redness of the Liquor since some of it being spread thin upon Glass and held against the light appeared yellow or of a reddish colour as they lay thicker or thiner upon it but when it was well dryed before committed to Distillation it yielded a greater quantity of Oyl so that once out of a Pound of not over-dryed Blood we obtained an ounce and a half of Oyl and from another we had a much greater quantity of Oyl And having once prepared Blood by a convenient Digestion and rectified very carefully the distilled Liquor that came over with the flame of a Lamp I obtained amongst other things two Oyls of very different colours the one being of a pale Amber or yellow colour and the other of a deep red and tho' these Oyls were both of them afforded by the same Blood and were clear and pure enough yet they would swim in distinct Masses one over another and if mixed by shaking would again separate like Oyl and Water Whether the difference in specifick Gravity betwixt these two Oyls kept them from mixing permanently as well as it kept them distinct before they were mixed or whether the seeming incongruity proceeded from the Texture of these Liquors I shall not now stay to dispute To shew that the Oyl of Human Blood contains several saline Particles capable of being separated from it we put a parcel of unrectified Oyl to a convenient quantity of distilled Water and having mixed them sufficiently by agitation so that the Water might rob the Oyl of its separate saline Particles the event was that after the Liquors were well setled the Water was found to be impregnated with saline Particles that it obtained by dissilution from the Oyl so that it acquired a moderatly brisk taste and would readily turn Syrup of Violets green and precipitate a white Powder out of a solution of Sublimate but whether the like will succeed with other Empyreumatical Oyls or not drawn from Bodies belonging to the Animal Kingdom I shall leave others to determine Having put some unrectified Oyl of Human Blood into a concave piece of Glass and then dropped as much Oyl of Vitriol into it as might amount to a third or fourth part of the fetid Oyl we stirred them together with a slender piece of solid Glass upon which the Mixture emitted store of whitish fumes or Smoak and acquired a considerable degree of Heat so that tho' it amounted to not much more than a spoonful yet I was not able to hold my finger under that Part of the Glass that contained the Liquor Having taken some Empyreumatical Oyl of Human Blood unrectified tho' it was dark and gross and muddy yet it would easily in the cold dissolve in rectified Urinous Spirits to which it gave a reddish colour deep enough XXII Of the fixed Salt of Human Blood To obtain but one ounce of it there is requisite to employ a considerable quantity of Blood and duly prepared by a very obstinate fire for the Caput Mortuum being kept three or four hours in the fire it will yield no fixed Salt at all But having by an obstinate Calcination obtained three or four drachms of this Salt I found that it was of the Nature of common or Sea-salt tho' a little different for it tasted like it and a strong solution did not readily turn Syrup of Violets green nor precipitate a Brick colour or brownish yellow no more than a white Powder out of a solution of Sublimate nor did the Spirit of Salt dissolve it as an Alkaly And having put a little Oyl of Vitriol upon our dryed Salt it immediatly as it several times did upon common Salt corroded it with great violence and with much foam and Smoak We also dropped a little of it dissolved in Water upon a solution of Silver made in Aqua Fortis upon which a white Powder was immediatly precipitated And having put some Leaf-Gold upon Aqua Fortis which would not work upon it whilst it was swimming there without being so much as discoloured I put a little of our powdered Salt into it which being thereby turned into a kind of Liquor did without the assistance of Heat presently dissolve it XXIII Of the Terra Damnata of Human Blood From twenty four ounces of dryed Blood we got after two days Calcination but two drachms and nine grains of Earth which probably was not pure Earth since it had a red colour like that of Colchotar of Vitriol XXIV Of the Proportion of the differing Substances Chymically obtain'd from Human Blood they are scarce to be determin'd not only because of the sometimes great disparity as to proportion that may be met with of the fibrous part to the Serum in the Blood of several Persons but of the same according to different Circumstances and also because it is hard to
we could readily precipitate with the Spirit of Blood a Substance which looked like a white Earth and such a Substance I obtained in a far greater quantity from that which the Salt-makers call Bittern which usually remains in their Salt Pans when they have taken out about as much Salt as would coagulate in figured grains This Spirit of Human Blood does likewise precipitate a Solution of Dantzik Vitriol in Water but that Solution is not a total one TITLE XII Of the Affinity between Spirit of Human Blood and some Chymical Oyls and Vinous Spirits THAT there is an Affinity betwixt Spirit of Human Blood and Spirit of Wine appears since we have formerly observed that being put together they will concoagulate and continue united a long time and tho' a rectified Spirit of Wine will not draw a Tincture from Blood yet Spirit of Blood will But as for Lixiviate Liquors such as are made of Salt of Tartar fixed Nitre c. we find not that they will strictly associate with it Spirit of Blood readily mixes with that Adiaphorous Spirit formerly mentioned but dephlegmed Spirit of Blood mixed by agitation with its Oyl will presently separate again tho' with Spirit of Wine it will permanently unite tho these two Liquors belong to a different viz. the one to the Animal and the other to the Vegetable Kingdom With the essential Oyls of Aromatick Vegetables the Spirit seems to have a greater Affinity for an equal proportion of this Liquor and of Oyl of Aniseeds drawn in an Alembick per Vesicam being shaken together they made a soft or Semifluid coagulation which continued in that form for a day or two and would probably have longer done so if I had not had occasion to proceed further with it To shew that Spirit of Human Blood may either communicate some of its saline Parts to essential Oyls or work a change in them I digested a while in a Glass with a long neck some recstified Spirit of Human Blood with a convenient quantity of Oyl of Aniseeds drawn in an Alembick and found that the Oyl grew coloured of a high yellow and afterwards attained a high redness which may afford us a hint of the cause of some changes of colour that are produced in the Liquors of the Body To take off the stinking quality of Human Blood and to render it more grateful we mixed with it in a Glass about an equal quantity or half as much Oyl of Aniseeds and having shaken them together in the Glass we placed it in a Furnace with a gentle Heat by which means the slight Texture of the Coagulum being dissolved part of the Oyl appeared floating upon the top whence being separated by a Tunnel the Liquor was whitish and without a stinking smell it smelling and tasteing strong of Aniseeds tho' the saline Particles retained a considerable degree of their brisk and penetrating taste Another way I took to deprive Spirit of Human Blood of its offensive smell was by employing a Medium to unite it with essential Oyls for having dissolved an eighth part of Oyl of Aniseeds in highly rectified Spirit of Wine and added an equal quantity of Spirit of Human Blood and upon a convenient agitation we suffered the Mixture to settle a considerable time after that it appeared that some of the Oyl swam in drops distinct from the other Liquors which consisted of a Mixture of the two Spirits impregnated with a few particles of Oyl which they had detained This Liquor abounded with little Concretions made by the Coagulation of the Sanguineous and Vinous Spirits which by a gentle Heat were sublimed in the form of a Volatile Salt to the upper Part of the Glass and this Salt had not only a much less penetrating Odour than the meer Volatile Salt of Human Blood but had quite lost its stink and yet retained a considerable quickness and something of the scent of Aniseeds and the remaining Liquor was likewise deprived of its ill smell and moderately imbued with that of the Oyl To try whether there would be any Affinity between our Spirit and the highly rectified Oyl of Petroleum I shaked a convenient quantity of them together in a new Vial upon which they presently turned into a white Mixture and tho' after a few hours the greater part of the Oyl swam above the Spirit yet there appeared betwixt the two Liquors a good quantity of whiteish Matter which seemed to be produced by the Union of many Particles of the Spirit and Oyl which were most disposed to combine TITLE XIII Of the Relation betwixt Spirit of Human Blood and the Air. TO try whether the Air will have any considerable effect on the Spirit of Human Blood after Distillation as it evidently hath on the Blood before I spread thinly upon a piece of white Paper some small filings of Copper and wetting them well without covering them quite over with a few drops of Blood by that means they being well exposed to the free Air the Action of the Liquor was so much promoted that within a minute or two it did even in the cold acquire a blueish colour and in fewer minutes than one would have expected that colour was so heightned as to become Ceruleous but another parcel of the same filings being put into a Vial the intercourse of the Air being excluded the Liquor would not in some hours acquire so deep a colour Having in a clear Cylindrical Vial of about an Inch Diameter put more filings of Copper than was requisite to cover the bottom and poured so much Spirit of Blood upon them as rought about a fingers breadth above them it in a few hours acquired a rich colour which after a day or two began to grow more faint and afterwards gradually declined till it was almost lost yet the Liquor was not altogether limpid or colourless as I have often had it with Spirit of Urine or Sal-Armoniack and these remains of blueishness I attributed to the effects of the Air included in the Bottle with so small a quantity of Liquor And tho' I thought it not impossible but that length of time might destroy it's blueishness yet unstopping the Vessel I observed that in two minutes of an hour the Surface of the Liquor where it touched the fresh Air became Ceruleous and in a quarter of an hour the whole Body of the Liquor had attained a deeper colour than that of the sky which colour grew sensibly paler again when the Vial was stopped But one thing I must add is that I have found the Experiment to succeed with some Analogy when another Volatile Spirit hath been made use of in which there was no Volatile Salt of Human Blood but the Experiment being repeated the Air produced a green and not a Ceruleous colour which makes me suspend my Judgment till satisfied by further experience whether the event of the former tryal depended on any Affinity of the Spirit with Blood or not And here I shall add that a parcel of
Spirit of Human Blood being kept in Vacuo Byliano when the Air was pumpt out it afforded fewer and less bubbles than an equal quantity of common Water TITLE XIV Of the Hostility of the Spirit of Human Blood with Acids whether they be in the form of Liquors or Fumes IT exercises its Hostility against more than one sort of Acid Spirits as Spirit of Salt of Nitre Spirit and Oyl of Vitriol Aqua Fortis Aqua Regis c. And not only against Facitious but natural ones as the Juice of Lemons upon its Mixture with which there presently ensued a great commotion with noise But there is not only an Hostility evident betwixt the Parts of these Liquors but also their Effluvia for if Spirit of Salt of Nitre be put into a Vial somewhat wide mouthed and Spirit of Blood rectified into another when these Liquors are held near one another their invisible Emanations joyning together will form a manifest Smoak Some pure Volatile Salt of Human Blood being just satiated with Spirit of Nitre we slowly evaporated the superfluous moisture which being done we took the compound Crystals which the Mixture afforded and put it into a Bolt-Head with a slender and a long neck and then adding to it a convenient quantity of Salt of Tartar and as much distilled Water as made the Mixture Liquid enough the Salt of Tartar detained the Spirit of Nitre and a good proportion of the Volatile Salt ascended in a dry form to the neck of the Vessel Spirit of Blood and Nitre being mixed together there ensued a conflict in which thick white fumes rose plentifully and circulating in the Vessel ran down the sides of it in a white stream untill the fumes ceased to rise again the Mixture in the mean time appearing reddish Being setled and seeming to have been so discoloured by a fattish Substance we put to it a little rain Water and having by filtration separated the Faeces and slowly evaporated the thus clarified Liquor the saline Parts shot into Crystals like those of Salt-Petre but after a while seemed yellow as if tinged with the Oyl N. Tho' on several occasions the Spirit of Blood appears Oyly yet I not long since dissolved another parcel of Blood whose Liquor was clear and limpid a year after Some of the before mentioned Crystals being put upon well kindled Charcoal presently melted and burnt away like Salt-Petre but the flame seemed not so halituous and differed in colour being not at all blue but yellow and after the Deflagration ceased there remained upon the Coal a lump of dirty coloured matter which had scarce any taste nor was that little it had Alkalious This brittle Substance being held in the flame became red hot without any sensible imminution and so it did upon a live Coal TITLE XV. Of the Medicinal Virtues of Spirit of Human Blood outwardly applyed SINCE we meet not with any Acid Substance except in the Pancreatick Juice of a sound Person And since the fixed Salt of Blood does much resemble Sea-salt whether its Spirit be Acid or no and since several Parts of the Body whether Solid or Liquid afford a Liquor impregnated with store of Volatile Salt it is not amiss to think that the Spirit of Human Blood may have considerable effects in several Diseases even when externally applyed And that Spirit of Sal-Armoniack hath been found successful in assisting several People in Apoplexies Epilepsies c. when applyed to or put up the Nostrils it 's confirmed by the experience of several learned and able Physicians and upon the like reason I prepared a Volatile Salt sublimed from a compound Salt obtained from Spirit of Blood satiated with Nitre And for a like purpose to bring over the Saline Part of Blood in a liquid form we mixed two Parts of dryed Blood with three of Spirit of Blood and distilling them with a pretty strong fire we obtained a pretty deal of Spirit unaccompanyed with any Volatile Salt in a dry form and this Spirit seemed to have a stronger taste and smell before rectification than Spirit of Human Blood prepared another way had after rectification and had we made use of more Lime I question not but that we should have obtained a more piercing Spirit since it would have retained more of the Oyl and the superfluous moisture And on this occasion I shall add that I have often found Head-aches cured by the separated application of Spirit of Human Blood which is likewise good in Hysterick and Hypochondriacal Cases and in fainting Fits and if the smell of it makes it too nauseous that may be corrected according to the method already laid down in this Chapter to which I shall add that a few drops of Oyl of Rhodium being dissolved in Alcohol of Wine if that be mixed with Spirit of Human Blood it will give it a very grateful and odoriferous smell And here I shall add that Medicines made of Amber have been found successful not only in Convulsions and other Distempers of the Genus Nervosum but the Tincture of it in Spirit of Wine hath proved successful enough in Diseases both of Men and Women And this Tincture may not inconveniently or unsuccessfully be added to correct the Odour and increase the Virtues of Spirit of Human Blood and tho Oyl of Amber will not mix readily with Spirit of Wine yet if they be shaken together and left to settle at leisure tho' they settle in distinct masses yet the Spirit would even in the cold extract a high and a yellow Tincture little different from the Oyl it self which may be mixed with the Spirit of Blood till the smell of the Amber be predominant To what hath been said of the external use of Spirit of Human Blood I shall add that if the Oyl in these Mixtures should be too much predominant it may be easily separated by runing it through a Tunnel whose Orifice at the bottom is formed so small and sharp as to give way for the Spirit to run off first which may when thus separated be kept in a distinct Vessel And since if the Vinous Spirit be sufficiently rectified there will by the Coagulation of the Saline and Urinous Parts be produced a kind of Salt you may either pour the Liquid part into another Vessel and then use them separate or else separate the Salt by sublimation in a dry form and Spirit of Human Blood thus separated will have a fragrant brisk and piercing Odour But To conclude this Spirit is not only good in respect of the Virtues ascribed to its scent but it may be good likwise when used as a fomentation as Spirit of Sal-Armoniack hath been effectual in removing the Pains of the Gout and in the Erisipelas And since upon the account of its Alkalizate Nature it may be good to correct Acidities it may be for that purpose made use of both by Physicians and Chirurgeons TITLE XVI Of the Medicinal Virtues of Spirit of Human Blood inwardly used I Have been
with a highly rectified ardent Spirit upon their being kept all Night in the cold no coagulation ensued nor could we perceive any when it had been kept several hours in a moderate Heat But the Mixture acquired a yellow colour and let fall a pretty deal of darkish powder Some of this Spirit being mixed with good Spirit of Salt they smoaked at their first meeting but produced neither bubbles or noise Another Portion being mixed with Oyl of Vitriol there was produced a great smoak and an intense degree of Heat without any visible Ebullition or any bubbles or noise but the colour of the Oyl was heightned and grew almost red From whence it appears that this Alkalizated Spirit of Blood is very different from simple Spirit of Blood but whether upon this account it becomes a more violent or a less safe Medicine further Experience must discover EXPERIMENT II. Two Ounces of Tartar calcined to whiteness by an equal weight of Nitre being distilled in a Retort in a Sand Furnace with an equal weight of dryed and powdered Blood it appeared that Quick-Lime acts on this occasion otherwise on Blood than other Alkalies do for whereas the Blood distilled with that yielded a strong Spirit before rectification and unaccompanyed with dry Salt this Mixture afforded us at the first Distillation a weaker Spirit but so much Volatile Salt with it as covered the whole internal Surface of the Receiver Besides there was a manifest difference in their Caput Mortuums And tho' the Spirit drawn from Quick-Lime did not ferment with Acids yet this Salt upon an affusion of Spirit of Salt would EXPERIMENT III. An equal quantity of the powder of Human Blood and Oyl of Vitriol being mixed together in a little time they grew warm and then placing the Retort in a Sand Furnace by degrees of fire we obtained a Spirit which was preceded by a good deal of Phlegmatick Liquor of an odd Sulphureous smell and very strong and lasting The Caput Mortuum seemed to be of a very compounded Nature But one thing observable in our Experiment was that tho' Oyl of Vitriol usually exercises a fixative Power on many Bodies wherewith it is mixed in Distillation yet this Experiment afforded us a pretty quantity of Volatile matter in the form of a white Salt but of an uncommon smell and taste EXPERIMENT IV. We prepared an Aurum Fulminans by precipitating a Solution of Gold made in Aqua Regia with Spirit of Human Blood and by dulcifying the precipitate with common Water and then drying it leisurely EXPERIMENT V. Having immersed the Ball of a Weather-Glass in Spirit of Blood contained in a wide mouthed Glass we poured on some Spirit of Verdigrease which made a conflict with it and excited bubbles there was likewise produced a degree of warmth not insensible on the outside of the Glass and the Liquor was raised in the Thermoscope a considerable height tho' when the conflict was over it began moderately to subside again EXPERIMENT VI. Having gradually mixed Spirit of Blood with as much Spirit of Nitre as it would work on it they produced bubbles with a considerable noise and when the Liquors had setled in a cool place it appeared that an Oyl had been separated from it in this operation since a red colour was not only produced by it but the Surface of the Liquor was covered with such a film as Liquors copiously impregnated with Antimony or other sulphureous Bodies usually are And when it was looked upon with Eyes conveniently placed in reference to it and the Light it appeared to be adorned with vivid colours of a Rain-Bow as Red Yellow Blue and Green and that too in their natural order EXPERIMENT VII Spirit of Human Blood which had been kept twelve years being when it was looked upon not well stopped it appeared to be a Spiritless Phlegm but not of a red florid colour and but little wasted EXPERIMENE VIII Spirit of Human Blood being exposed to the Air in a frosty Night in which Oyl of Vitriol was froze it was not in the least altered or coagulated by it but being put into a frigorifick Mixture it was presently frozen EXPERIMENT IX A piece of black clotted Blood being put into Spirit of Human Blood it became of a florid colour and retained that all Night EXPERIMENT X. Spirit of Blood being poured upon powdered Blood presently dissolved part of it and acquired a deep pleasant colour But Spirit of Wine being poured upon another parcel acquired not a Tincture till urged with Heat and then only a yellow one but common Water presently dissolved a pretty deal of another parcel EXPERIMENT XI Spirit of Human Blood poured on lumps of Vitriol dissolved them slowly without a froth but upon the powder the solution was quicker and with a froth And both the Solutions were of a more lovely blue than the Mineral it self nor was there a dark Precipitate as in a Mixture of ordinary Vitriol and Spirit of Urine EXPERIMENT XII Spirit of Human Blood employed for an invisible Ink is much better than Serum of Blood EXPERIMENT XIII Having immersed the Ball of a Weather-Glass in distilled Water contained in a wide mouthed Glass upon an affusion of two or three spoonfuls of Spirit of Human Blood the tinged Spirit of Wine did presently subside in the Stem within a little as I have observed it with Spirit of Urine And here it may not be amiss to take notice that the reason why I employ distilled Water instead of common Water or Pump Water is because it is not impregnated with Salts which may vary the success of the Experiment EXPERIMENT XIV Spirit of Blood being poured upon filings of Copper and stopped up in a Glass extracted a Ceruleous Tincture which in a few days gradually growing fainter I opened the Glass upon which its Ceruleous colour was renewed and extended it self downwards towards the bottom of the Vial and so strong as to render the Liquor almost Opacous And tho' the Liquor was stopped up several days after yet it lost not its colour EXPERIMENT XV. Some of the same Spirit being poured upon Lapis Armenus extracted from it a lovely and a deep blue almost like a Solution of filings of crude Copper in the same Menstruum Postscript To conclude this Chapter I shall add that tho' I have laid down these notes with what exactness was possible yet I question not but that the Blood of several and even of the same Animals is so different at different times that were they to be tryed over again they would scarce have the same effects yet it will not be a just reason to discourage others in further Tryals since the advantage natural knowledge may attain by it will be a sufficient reward CHAP. XI Of the Reconcileableness of Specifick Medicines to the Corpuscular Phylosophy Of specifick Medicines BEfore I descend to shew that the notion of Specifick Medicines is agreeable to specifick Medicines I shall first represent that I am induced to
p. 123 Several Experiments about Freezing p. 164 Fire and Flame made Ponderable p. 205 206 210. Of the Relation betwixt Flame and Air. p. 218 220 223. Flame preserved under Water p. 225 Of the Propagation of Flame in Vacuo p. 226 227 Of the Relation betwixt Air and the Flamma Vitalis of Animals p. 229 G The effects of Gun-Powder dissolved in Water p. 4. Of the Perviousness of Glass p. 213 A comminution of Gold into Powder p. 363 Of the Nature of Granates Ibid. Of the Origin of Gems p. 380 Of the Virtues of Gems p. 397 H Heat produced by a Mixture of Salt-Petre and oyl of Vitriol p. 4 Of the Mechanical production of Heat p. 191 Hydrostatical Paradoxes made out p. 279 A new Hydrostatical Instrument and its uses proposed p. 311 Observations about Hurricanes p. 365 I Of the Levity of Ice and its cause p. 68 Observations and Experiments concerning Ice p. 91 What Liquors soonest dissolve Ice and Snow p. 96 The Qualities of Ice p. 172 L The Expansion and Contraction of Liquors measured p. 75 Of the Relation betwixt Light and Air. Of the Levity of Bodies under Water p. 265 A self moving Liquor p. 351 A Preparation of Liquid Laudanum described p. 354 M Of Mercury growing hot with Gold p. 203 Of the growth and increase of Metals p. 318 Medicina Hydrostatica p. 329 The weight of several Bodies weighed in Air and Water p. 346 Passages relating to the Art of Medicine p. 355 Of Specifick Medicines p. 528 Their operations Mechanically solved p. 531 That by their uniting with a Distempered Humour a third Body may be produced not so offensive to Nature p. 547 N Nitre not the Grand Efficient of Cold. p. 104 Of the effects of Nitre in Freezing p. 131 Of the Aerial Noctiluca p. 245 Of the Reason of Noctilucas p. 247 Of the Icy Noctiluca p. 255 Of the Subtlety of its Parts p. 259 O Oly of Vitriol and Sal-Armoniack mixed together p. 8 A Hydrostatical way of estimating Ores p. 321 P Of the Primum Frigidum p. 99 A Chymical Analysis of Pearls p. 370 Of the Porosity of Bodies p. 440 Of the Porosity of Animal Bodies p. 450 The effects of Putrefaction and Fermentation on Human Blood p. 485 R What Refrigeration depends on p. 6 Strange Reports p. 373 S Of the different Pressure of Solids and Fluids p. 272 Of the Serum of Human Blood p. 474 Of the Spirit of Human Blood p. 483 Spirit of Human Blood what p. 487 Of what Classis of Saline Bodies it is of p. 488 Whether different from Spirit of Vrine c. p. 490 Of its proportion to the Substance it is drawn from p. 491 Of its Consistence and Specifick Gravity p. 492 Of its Odour Taste and Colour p. 494 Of its dissolving power p. 495 Of the Coagulating power of Spirit of Human Blood p. 499 Of its Precipitating power p. 500 Of its affinity with some Chymical Oyls c. p. 501 Of the Relation betwixt Spirit of Human Blood and Air. p. 504 Of its Hostility with Acids c. p. 506 Of its Medicinal Virtues p. 508 511 T The effects of a Mixture of Salt of Tartar and Water p. 193 What Tinctures may be drawn with Spirit of Human Blood p. 497 V Titles for the Natural History of Human Vrine p. 472 W Of the ascent of Water in Weather-Glasses p. 30 Of the Expansion of Water and other Freezing Liquors p. 62 187 Of the Expansive force of Freezing Water p. 79 Water not the Primum Frigidum p. 702 The weight of Bodies froze and unfroze p. 126 Whether â—ot Water freezes sooner than Cold. p. 134 Of the weight of Water in Water p. 277 FINIS
sufficient quantity of Liquor to give them liberty to move in order to their more Curious and Congruous Coalitions I continued them in a moderate Heat for some time and then breaking the Crust I had a variety of figur'd Lumps of Crystalline Salt transparent and not much unlike white Sugar-Candy From Oyl of Vitriol and a Solution of Sea Salt Likewise having several times distill'd Oyl of Vitriol and a strong Solution of Sea-Salt together till the Matter left behind was dry that Salt Substance when dissolv'd in Water filtrated and evaporated would shoot into Salts of Figures differenr according to the various Proportions of the Ingredients yet nevertheless tho' sometimes in the same Glass the Salts would be of different Figures yet would they be more exquisitely figur'd than those of Vitriol often are And from a Mixture of Spirit of Wine and Spirit of Nitre digested long together From a Mixture of Spirit of Wine and Nitre I have got Crystals much like in shape to Crystals of Salt-Petre and I have obtain'd Plates of Crystals made up of solids very curiously shaped and so congruously adapted as to make a very plain Surface much different from what I have elsewhere mention'd from a Solution of Silver in Aqua fortis or Spirit of Nitre when I have order'd it so that it should shoot leisurely Thirdly I have several ways made it appear That Insensible Parts of Matter of various tho' very curious Shapes guarded with plain as well as smooth sides will convene into Bodies differently shap'd And tho' Blood Urine and Hart's-Horn might probably have their Substantial Forms destroy'd by the Fire yet forasmuch as the Saline Parts with which they are impregnated are of the Figures just now mention'd in the Liquors they have been expos'd to shoot leasurely I have observ'd several Masses the surface of some of which were Plains very curious and delightful and the Figures of others exactly Geometrical And stillatious Acids as well as the Bodies they are appropriated to dissolve into Crystals variously figur'd according to the Nature of the Menstruum or the Bodies it works upon as I have experienc'd with a Menstruum which would dissolve Gems and likewise with Coral dissolv'd in Spirit of Verdigreece For which Reason when I try'd whether the Shapes of the Particles of Silver dissolv'd in Aqua fortis would dispose them Salts obtain'd from a Solution of Copper without a Coagulation with Salts to shoot into smooth and flat Concretions I observ'd that Part of the Solution being diluted with distill'd Rain-water and a Copper-Plate immers'd in the Liquor after it had remain'd there a while Clusters of Metalline Bodies devoid of Transparency settled about it joyn'd together in Plates very thin yet very glossy and flat the Edges of the largest being prettily shaped From Gold And that the Particles of Gold are apt enough to associate with Congruous Salts and to compose Bodies of determinate sizes I have observ'd in Crystals afforded me by Gold dissolv'd in Aqua Regis and being preserv'd in a cold place till the superfluous Moisture was evaporated And from the Parts of Gold divided by a stronger Menstruum so minutely as to be capable of being sublim'd I have obtain'd Crystals much of the same shape tho' different in size from one another And I remember having long since dissolv'd several Saline Bodies together in Water by a gentle Evaporation they have yielded Concretes different in shape from each of the Ingredients but it oftentimes is very difficult to associate them because some are dispos'd to Crystallize sooner than others As may be observ'd in purifying Barbary Nitre from the common Salt it is mix'd with and as Agricola lib. 12. de re Metallica takes Notice where a Vitriolate Substance and that from whence Allom is drawn are joyn'd together yet Venetian Borax Crystals obtain'd from Venetian Borax tho' made up of several Salts yields Crystals of very Regular and Geometrical Figures And the Caput Mortuum of common Aqua fortis which consists of Bodies disagreeable in Nature by frequent Solutions and Coagulations of their Saline Parts yield Salts of very curious Figures as Triangles Rhomboids Hexagons Prisms and Pyramids compos'd of several Triangles meeting in a Vertical Point and as curiously shap'd as Cornish Diamonds But the Acquisition of new Shapes by being compounded is not only practicable in these Grosser but even in Chymical Salts which affect one another with an Ebullition because in that Conflict the Volatile Spirits unite and lose much of their Force so that being less apt to fly away upon Evaporation Salts obtain'd from Spirit of Urine and Nitre c. they form curiously shap'd Crystals as I have Experienc'd with Spirit of Urine and Spirit of Nitre Spirit of Sheeps Blood and of Salt Spirit of Nitre and Oyl of Vitriol and likewise with Spirit of Salt and Spirit of Urine the last of which shews how much Compound Figures are owing to the Union of the Particles of the Ingredients of which they are compos'd the Spirit of Vrine and Salt affording Concretes different from those of Oyl of Vitriol and Spirit of Vrine the shape of the first being like that of a Comb whose Teeth stand out on each side or like a Feather the Crystals on each side being so much inclin'd Crystals of a like Figure to which From Soot and Sal Armoniack arise from a just Proportion of Soot dissolv'd and coagulated with common Sal Armoniack Fourthly To confirm what I have above deliver'd concerning the Origin of Vitriol and also to make it appear That the Figure of its Parts depends on the Texture of its Ingredients I shall add another Particular which is That having compar'd the Composition of Artificial Vitriol I thought it might reasonably be rank'd under the same Species with the Natural To which I shall subjoyn that having also consider'd that Oyl of Vitriol and Spirit of Salt were improper Menstruums to dissolve several Metals I made use of Aqua fortis which with Copper made a Curious Vitriol and with Silver it afforded Crystals shooting into thin Plates and with Lead and Quick Silver it yielded Crystals far more thick and differently shap'd from each other Now if from hence it appears That the Curious Figures of Salts generally alledg'd as Arguments of the Necessity of Substantial Forms depend meerly upon Texture why may not the more Ordinary Phaenomena of Nature since it is manifest that Matter and a Congeries of Accidents are sufficient to account for what is usually attributed to Imaginary Forms Neither can I see Reason why Arguments grounded on the Qualities and Effects of Bodies esteem'd factitious may not be sufficient to shew us what may be ascrib'd to the Mechanical Affections of the universal Mass of Matter since it is not agreed how factitious shall be distinguish'd from that Species of Body call'd The Productions of Nature In favour of which Gun-Powder is no despicable Instance where by a bare Mixture
strong enough to produce Heat and Fire Besides the Former Experiment having try'd what Effect the Exhausted Receiver would have on Camphire whose Parts are so fugitive as to fly away when put into Motion by the Action of Ambient Air we found that it was not in the least alter'd EXPERIMENT XL. Whether Rarify'd Air will sustain Flying Insects HAving conveigh'd a Flesh-Fly a Butter-fly and a Humming-Bee into our Receiver the former presently dropp'd down from the Place she was walking on and after a few Exsuctions the Butter-Fly which before flutter'd up and down dropp'd down void of Motion except a Tremulous one in her Wings And the Bee in a little time was wholly depriv'd of Motion But whether the Falling of them depended on the Thinness of the Medium which was unapt for them to swim in or not will appear from the following Experiment EXPERIMENT XLI Concerning Respiration HAving conveigh'd a Lark into our Receiver and clos'd it up upon plying the Pump the Bird presently began to droop and when the Receiver was further exhausted being first taken with violent Convulsions and Tossing up and down the Cavity of the Vessel it died with it 's Back contiguous to the Receiver it 's Head directed down towards the Stop-cock and it's Neck awry And tho' at ten Minutes Distance after this Bird was clos'd up the Air was again let in at the Stop-cock yet did it not recover again And the like succeeded upon Inclosing a Hedge-Sparrow except that the Air being let in again at the end of seven Minutes it recover'd by degrees but when it seem'd able to fly away the Receiver being again exhausted it died in five Minutes Time Having inclos'd a Mouse in our Receiver it continu'd to leap up for some Time after the Air began to be exhausted but in a little Time after that it appear'd sick and faint and very giddy and at the last fell down dead yet upon a Re-ingress of Air presently recover'd but the Air being again pump'd out in about ten Minutes it died moderately convulsive And it was not only observable in this but all the other Experiments of this Nature that I try'd that the Included Animals died convulsive And to make it appear that in the Foremention'd Tryals the Animals died for want of Air and not by being chok'd up with Fuliginous Recrements I inclos'd another Mouse in our Receiver which the Air not being drawn out liv'd 3 Quarters of an Hour but upon pumping out the Air in ten Minutes died convulsive And another being left in all Night was alive the next Morning and had eat Cheese which was for Tryal's sake put in with him A Digression containing some Doubts touching Respiration HAving made these Experiments relating to Respiration it may perhaps be expected that I should say something concerning the Usefulness of Air in Respiration In doing of which it is not requisite that I should take Notice of the Structure of those Parts since they have been sufficiently describ'd already Nor shall I any further engage in that Controversy Whether the Motion of the Lungs depends on the Motion of the Thorax or not or how the Lungs are distended by the Air any further than it may be Illustrated by our Engin. As for the First Part of the Controversy it seems to be determin'd in favour of the Affirmative by what the Learned Dr. Highmore and Bartholinus have observ'd the former having taken Notice That the Lungs subside if the Intercostal Muscles be so wounded as to lay the Thorax open and the latter having observ'd the same upon a Division of the Diaphragm But what it is that conveighs the Air into the Lungs is yet undetermin'd since some think it to proceed from the Dilatation of the Thorax impelling the Air contiguous and what it contiguous to that successively into the Lungs But this Supposition is fairly answer'd since it is possible to breathe out of a Glass where the External Air press'd on by the Thorax can only press on the outside of the Bottle But a more easy Solution may be taken from our Engin since it appears That if the Lungs be dilated by the Thorax the Spring of the Air is sufficient to force it in there being less Resistence made by the Rarify'd Air in the Lungs than that in the open Atmosphere And tho' there are some Observations which testify that when the Diaphragm hath been considerably wounded without damaging Respiration yet since the Lungs are void of Musculous Parts to dilate themselves we are rather inclin'd to believe that they are dilated by the Expasion of the Thorax and fill'd by the Gravity and Pressure of the Atmosphere But to proceed to the Use of Air in Respiration besides the Usefulness of it in Modulating Sounds and the Conveying of Odours it is beyond Doubt That it is in a great Measure necessary to the Preservation of Life tho' as to the Manner of it's Contributing to the Continuance of Life several disagree since it is by some thought only to keep the Blood from growing too hot in the Ventricles of the Heart But that this is not all that the Air in Respiration performs is evident since not only Old People but several Creatures have no need of Cooling their Blood and Humours being cold enough without it yet they cannot live without Respiration Others hold that the Air being convey'd into the Left Ventricle of the Heart contributes to the Generation of Spirits but since there appears no such Passages as are fit for it's Conveyance we shall not here recite what other Arguments might be alledg'd against it But others as Moebius and Gassendus are of Opinion that it chiefly serves to Ventilate and Carry off the Excrement of the Blood for as a Candle may be extinguish'd by it's own Smoak so the Heat of the Blood might be prejudic'd were not it's Fuliginous Recrement carry'd off by mixing with the Air upon Inspiration Which is Congruous enough to what hath been observ'd by several Travellers viz That there is a certain Consistence requisite in the Air to carry off such Fumes for it is observ'd That if the Air drawn in be too much impregnated with Vapours as in some Cellars when Damps arise in Mines it becomes so unfit to Breathe as to stifle those that do not avoid the Latter or use some Method to rarify it as by holding a Chaffing-dish of Coals near their Faces to disperse and scatter those Fumes And to confirm these Observations I shall add That having clos'd a Bird in our Receiver I observ'd that the Air being thicken'd by frequent Respirations it began in a little time to pant and gape and at the last grew so sick as to throw foul Matter off it's Stomach and in 3 Quarters of an Hour to be ready to die And that the Receiver should be so fill'd with Steams needs not seem a Wonder to any one that considers what Sanctorious hath observ'd viz. That the greatest Part of our
of Salt I am induc'd to believe that the Air abounds with Volatile ones For besides that an Acquaintaince of Mine obtained a Spirit and Salt of Similar Qualities with Spirit of Harts-horn from Earth dug up some Yards deep we may observe in favour of what I propose that the very Soot which rises from fires near great Towns a great part of which is dispersed in the Air abounds with a Saline Spirit which may be obtain'd from it by Distillation as likewise a great quantity of Volatile Matter may be raised in the form of Vapours from Animal substances putrified and corrupted But besides these more simple Salts there may be several others compounded in the Air which may result from several Coalitions of simple Salts and several Compound Salts may not unlikely arise from Subterraneal Parts In favour of which I shall add that in America the Effluvia of a Vulcano not only offended the Faces of some that approach'd too near but caused a manifest alteration in the Colour of their Hair And it hath been observ'd that several Sulphureous Exhalations have been gathered about the Crannies of Mount Vesuvius which issuing out of small Crannies stick to the Edges like Flower of Brimstone To which I shall add that I had a Stone brought me from another Vulcano whose Pores were full of a White Salt compounded of a fixed one and another Volatile much like Sal-Armon The Salts we have hitherto taken Notice of are such as may be referred to a determinate Species But I am apt to believe that there are others which are such as are not known nor have they any Names given them this appears from what we have elsewhere taught of Subterraneal Fumes and may be further illustrated by intimating that I have observ'd Old Glass-windows sometimes corroded as if Worm-eaten which probably proceeded from some corrosive Particles carried thither by the Wind. As for the Nature of these several Salts that at different times and in various Places impregnate the Air amongst the different Methods that might be taken to investigate them I shall mention the following Several ways to discover the Nature of the Salts in the Air. First We may expose such Bodies to the Air as we think will most likely be work'd upon by the Salt we judge Predominant in that place as Lime where we think Nitre abounds as also we may hang up Silks of such Colours as Nitre is most apt to fade or discolour In places where we think Vitriol abounds we may expose Preparations of Sulphur which it usually turns Black In other Places we may spread White Linnen Cloths and observe what Salts they imbibe along with the Rising Vapours and Falling Dew A Second way to discover the Nature of the Salts in the Air may be by exposing some Body which several Salts have different Effects on EXPERIMENT I. CLean Copper Plates being placed over Glasses under which Spirit of Salt and Spirit of Nitre diluted with Water were set I Oserved that they were discoloured alike by the ascending Fumes it being common for these Spirits to draw a green Tincture from Copper as Spirit of Soot and Urine do a Blew one I have observed a piece of Copper brought from a Mine overcast in several Parts with a Verdigrease which effect I judged to depend on the Efficacy of some Effluvia in the Air. And possibly with other Bodies discovering different discolourations we be enabled to learn what kind of Steams those Effects are produced by And it hath been observ'd not only at Amsterdam but elsewhere that Plate in a little time in those Airs would acquire a Rusty Colour or one partaking of Yellow and Black A Third way which may be taken to discover the different Nature of Effluvia may be by exposing Preparations of Mineral Bodies whose Colours are apt to be changed by the Air. EXPERIMENT II. IF a Solution of Silver in Aq. Fortis be precipitated with Spirit of Sea Salt the Powder will be at the First White but after a while being exposed to the Air the Surface of the Liquor will acquire a dark Colour which may perhaps vary as the Air is differently impregnated EXPERIMENT III. AN equal Weight of Filings of Copper and Powdered Sal Armoniack being mixed and put into a Covered Crucible and kept over a moderate Fire till the Sal Armon had done Smoaking as much of the remaing Mass as could be parted was taken out and looked of a Dark Colour but being grossly beaten and exposed to the Air looked like Verdigrease a substance whose Colour commonly varies according to the Nature of the Salts concerned in the production of the Pigment But a Parcel of the same Mass being grosly beaten and Hermetically Sealed up from the Air and left in a South Window was not discoloured when that exposed to the Air had acquired a Virdigrease Colour EXPEREMENT IV. SPirit of Soot of Wood dissolved Copper into a lovely Azure but the substance growing dry in the Air changed it's Ceruleous for a Cyanious Colour such as may be seen in good Turquoises Which Change depended not on the Saline-Sulphureous Salt Which I rather believe because I had the same success when I made use of an Urinous Spirit drawn from an Animal substance Most of the Inland Parts of our Country abound not with Corrosive Vapours the Bars of Iron being not so subject to be corroded and Rust So that I believe this Salt may proceed from Sea Vapours or a dissolution of some Corroding Salt upon the burning of a Sea or Mineral Coals Mox ollam ex igni removent Agricola de re Metal Lib. 12. postea ex refrigerata eximunt halinitrum purissimum quod candidi marmoris speciem gerit aetque tunc etiam id quod terrenum est in fundo residet At terra ex qua dilutum fuit factum Rami quernei vel consimilis Arboris alternis sub dio ponantur aqua quâ combibit halinitrum conspergantur quo modo quinque vel sex annis rursus apta fit ad conficiendum dilutum Halinitrum quodammodo purum quod dum terra tot annos quievit interea ortum fuit quod lapidei parietes in Cellis Vrinariis locis opacis exudant cum primo diluto permistum decoquatur Si verò locus aliquis talium venarum copiam suppeditaverit ipsae statim non conjiciantur in cast ella sed primò convehantur in areas atque cumulentur quanto enim diutius aeri pluviis expositae fuerint tanto meliores fiunt Nam in ejusmodi cumulis aliquot post Mensibus quam Venae in are as fuerint conjectae nascuntur fibrae longe venis bonitate praestantes deinde vehantur in sex plurave Castella longa lat a ad novem pedes ad quinque alta Si verò dum dilutum recoquitur seperata non fuerint mox ex minoribus Vasis infundatur in Majora eaque concludantur in quibus item atramentum sutorium seperatum ab alumine
condensed by Cold the Air breaks in to prevent a Vacuum For that Water is expanded by Cold appears from what I have said besides nothing is more commonly observ'd than that Water being froze in a Vessel whose sides are strong enough to keep it from bursting them the Superficies of the Ice is generally protuberant and convex And that the breaking of Bottles depends not on Nature's abhorrency of a Vacuum appears since should we suppose That the Fluid contain'd in a Bottle would be so far condensed as to possess less space than before it is possible there might be a Vacuum there and the Bottle not burst since Glass-Bubbles much thinner than ordinary Bottles will endure the frost tho' stopped close with Air in them But not only Water expands it self upon freezing but other Aqueous Bodies so Eggs being froze burst their shells asunder And Milk Urine Rhenish Wine and good Spirit of Wine being set to freeze in distinct Glass-Eggs the Wine being froze swell'd an Inch above the first Surface the Milk two Inches and the Urine six or seven And a Solution of Dantzick-Vitriol did not only become Opace but rose considerably higher in a Cylindrical Pipe upon Congelation Whether more stable and consistent Bodies are capable of being expanded by Cold would be worth enquiring since it hath been observ'd That in Nova Zembla the very Clocks have been froze so that they would not goe and the like hath been observ'd by Capt. James in his Voyage at Charlton-Island his Watch being froze as well as his Clocks Whether these Effects depended on any Swelling of the Ropes or whether the Spring of his Watch might be weakned by Cold or whether some Iceicles stuck to the Internal Parts of it I shall leave as bare Conjectures to be further examined into by Experience The Phaenomena of an Experiment about Freezing referrable to the VII Title read before the Royal Society Having filled a Bolt-head which was as big as two Turkey Eggs with Water till it rought a pretty height into the slender Stem being put into a Mixture of Snow and Salt it subsided a little but when it began to freeze it would sensibly swell The Experiment being repeated with a Glass whose Stem was as thin as a Raven's Quill when first the Ball of it was immersed in the frigorifick Mixture the Water presently ascended the height of a Barly-corn and presently subsided again which the Florentine Virtuosi would attribute to a Constriction of the Glass upon the Application of the frigorifick Mixture Secondly And tho' the Florentine Virtuosi relate That they have observ'd the Water after it had subsided a little to rest and then subsided again yet in all the Tryals I made I did not observe it Thirdly When the Water had subsided a little it would be at a stand till the Liquor began to freeze Fourthly The Experiment being try'd with Glasses whose Stems were unequally big upon Glaciation the Ascent of the Water in the large ones would be indiscernible but in a slender one it would ascend several Inches in a Minute till it rose up to the top of the Stem Fifthly Tho' the Forentine Academians say they have observ'd the Water to rise again before Glaciation yet I could never see such a Phaenomenon Sixthly If the Glass was taken out of the Mixture when first it began to freeze as soon as the small Iceicles were melted it would subside again yet if reapply'd to the Mixture a second time it would freeze in half a Minute TITLE VIII Experiments concerning the Contraction of Liquors by Cold. Of the Contraction of Liquors by Cold. 1 THO' the Liquors we have mention'd expand themselves upon an Intense degree of Cold yet we are not thence to couclude that all will since we have found it by experience not only in Spirit of Wine Aqua fortis Oyl of Turpentine and several other Liquors which would not be brought to freeze but also in Oyl congeal'd by the vehemence of the Cold. 2. Amongst the several Experiments made of the Efficacy of Cold to condensed Liquors I shall lay down the following 3. Spirit of Wine being put into a small Glass-Egg with a slender Stem in a Mixture of Snow and Salt subsided ¾ of an Inch. 4. Mercury being freed from Air and placed in a Bold-head in a Mixture of Snow and Salt subsided 2 Inches Common Oyl placed in the same Mixture subsided till it froze but if it were immediately thaw'd near the fire it would expand it self so much as to rise about the Mark. The Experiment succeeded a second time and being try'd a third time the Lumps of the congeal'd Oly would sink in the fluid Oyl Oyl of Aniseeds artificially froze subsided considerably in a small Pipe Empyreumatical Oyl of Gaujacum being exposed to the utmost degree of Cold would not freeze but evidently subsided Particulars referrable to the VIII Title 1. Two seal'd Weather-Glasses the one made of a Tincture of Cochineele in Spirit of Wine and the other of a blew Tincture of Spirit of Man's Blood and Copper in Spirit of Wine were immersed in Water till it began to freeze and then being remov'd into Oyl of Turpentine set in a Mixture of Snow and Salt we observ'd That the Liquor in both Thermometers subsided Oyl of Aniseeds being put into a small Glass with a large Stem and placed in a frigorifick Mixture made by a Solution of Sal-Armoniack subsided 3 Inches the substance of the Oyl being turn'd into a white Concrete which when it was leasurely dissolv'd the fluid Part emitted several Bubbles and it was further observ'd in this Concrete That tho' when thaw'd it swims upon Water yet when congeal'd it will not TITLE IX Experiments concerning the Bubble from which the Levity of Ice is supposed to proceed Of the Levity of Ice and its Cause 1. IT is usually accounted an Argument of the levity of Ice above Water that it swims upon it For tho' the superficies of small Portions of it are not sensibly emergent above the Surface of the Water yet in Greenland where huge Rocks of Ice float in the Sea they are observ'd to be as high above the Water as the Masts of Ships which could we suppose to float in an erect Posture and to be of a prismatical Form that Part immersed would be nine times as much as that above the Water As for the Reason why Ice is born up above the surface of the Water so much in Greenland more than in our Climate besides that the size of those pieces of Ice contributes to the rendring the Observation more remarkable the Water's expansion in that cold Climate may cause it to be further expanded there than here and consequently lighter 2. Pieces of Ice free from Bubbles floated in Spirit of Wine drawn from Brandy and likewise from Quick-lime and tho' if that Spirit were warmed it would presently subside yet as it cooled the Ice would ascend nevertheless some part of it being thaw'd
learned Maignan sufficient to ballance what Zucchius hath delivered and therefore I shall deliver it in the Authors words Expertus ego sum says he Thermometro fidelissimo a praecedente hyeme in sequentem aestatem prorsus invariato instructo etiam tali aqua nempe in hoc ipsum ex praescripto Trebellii ita comparata ut non exhaletur neque minuatur expertus inquam sum in supradictis optimis cellis Vinariis maximum quod ardentissima aestate fuit frigus non adaequasse illud quod ibidem erat brumali tempore ut dixi si quidem in Tubo vitrei Thermometri quatuor circiter palmos longos in octo gradus Graduumque minuta diviso aqua hyeme ascendit ad Gradus 7 cum semisse aestate autem vix gradum sextum superavit cùm tamen ad sensum multò magis vigerat frigus istud aestivum CHAP. VII An Examination of Mr. Hobbes Doctrine of Cold. Mr. Hobbes Doctrine of Cold. Mr. Hobbes in his Doctrine of Cold tells us That the Air being put into an Expansive motion by the Beams of the Sun it is beaten down upon the Surface of the Earth where finding a resistance below it spreads it self every way towards the Poles and as the Parallel Circles grow closer towards the Poles so the Air being straitned and more condensed causes a greater degree of Cold. To which he adds That as the Air moves betwixt these Parallers it rakes upon the Surface of Water more or less as the Air is more or less straitned by which means the Water not only tending towards its Centre by its own Gravity but being also condensed by the rakeing Pressure of the Air the Surface of it is first congealed and then it gradually descends and for a like Reason when Water is immersed in Snow and Salt the Mixture melting those very Parts which lodged in the Pores of it they rakeing against the sides of the Glass give it such a motion as when communicated to the Water contain'd in it causes it to congeal And for a Reason not unlike the former the Particles of Air contain'd in Clouds being in their descent squeezed out rake the drops of Water in their passage and so harden them And the Reason why serene weather is Colder than rainy weather he says is because the force of the Wind is broken and dissipated by the falling drops which Reason he likewise alledges why Water in Wells is not froze the Wind not being able to beat strongly enough upon the Surface of the Water And as for the Reason why Ice is lighter than Water he attributes it to Airy Particles forced into it whilst it is congealing But it may easily be urged against this Doctrine Examined that all congealed Liquors instead of having their Parts pressed inwards and so condensed manifestly expand upon Congelation And as for Animal Bodies such an inward indeavour of the Humors as his Doctrine supposes is not requisite to produce a sensation of Cold since a decrease of the motion of the fluids about our Sensories or an Impulse made upon the sensitive Parts by some alteration in the motion of the Blood and Spirits or a turbulent motion of some excrementitious Particles hindred from flying away is sufficient so some Hysterick Women perceive a Coldness on the top of their Heads and the Vertebra when they are otherwise hot and Avicen tells us That the biting of some Vipers in hot Countries causes a sensation of Cold And I know a Noble Man who feels an extraordinary Coldness upon him when he is seiz'd with a fit of the Stone And an inward compression of the Parts of a Body is so far from being sufficient to produce Cold that compression in some Bodies produces Heat But to examine what he assigns as the Grand Cause of Cold viz. Wind which according to him is Air moved in a considerable quantity and that either forwards only or in an undulating motion But against this Doctrine I have several things to offer And first that several frosts are begun and continued when the Wind is serene and calm and that a gentle North-east-wind is much Colder than a boisterous Southerly Wind. Secondly That the Wind which issues out of an Aeolopile is not Cold but Hot tho' it moves more violently than the Wind which is blown from the Mouth Thirdly We have made it appear That Water will freeze tho' sealed up in a Glass and tho' that Glass be inclosed in another so that the Wind cannot beat upon it and even an Egg frozen will be crusted over with Ice when suspended in Water so that the External Air cannot Effect it And tho' he tells us That all Winds produce Cold Prosper Alpinus in his Medicina Aegyptiorum acquaints us that he hath found the Winds in those Torrid Regions insufferably hot And Marcus Paulus Venetus tells us That the Winds near Ormus have been so hot as to destroy an Army of Men at once And tho' some Winds put into motion feel Cold yet that depends on the Predisposition of our Sensories and the deeper penetration of that fluid into the Pores of the Body in respect of which it hath a comparative Coldness and that it is but a comparative Coldness is evident since the same Wind blowing upon a Weather-Glass affects it not at all except sometimes by accident when by that means some calorifick Atoms swimming in the Air are driven away by it And tho' Mr. Hobbes tells us that all Winds cool by diminishing former Heat yet we see that Water actually Cold becomes still Colder by freezing where the Heat cannot be said to be diminished in a Body actually Cold before But to proceed tho' Mr. Hobbes says that Wind is generated upon the Surface of the Earth by the action of the Sun yet he tells us not how that Wind must produce Cold nor does the motion of it towards the Poles help the matter since we have shewn that motion in it self is not sufficient to produce Cold and should he say that the Coldness is derived from the Mixture of freezing Vapours in it's passage then those steams would rather be taken for the cause of Cold than the Wind and then I should ask him Whence the Coldness of those Cold Vapours proceeded Besides since in his account of the freezing of Water he says the Parts of the freezing Water will be raised in Congelation I see not how it will happen since Oyl and several other Liquors are contracted by it and I have not yet seen any one Instance in which Water was ever congeal'd by a Compression Since when we inclosed Water in a Pewter-Bottle and beat the sides of it together till the Water made its way out we perceiv'd not that that powerful compression had in the least inclined the Water to Congelation And tho' we should allow that the Superficial Parts of the Water might be froze as Mr. Hobbes tells us yet I see not how the Air can beat upon
Frost and Tiles of Houses and stone-Buildings scale upon a thaw for which Reason the North side of Buildings first decay Alabaster and Marble that have chinks in them usually break with the Frost but solid Marble does not nor does Frost affect those stones or Bitumens which will bear a Polish Ice laid on a Table and having Salt strowed upon it it stuck so fast that it could not be separated without being broke in pieces and the Salt made its way through the Ice down to the board but if Salt be strowed betwixt the Ice and the board it will not be froze to it but thawed The following Salts cause not so firm an adhesion as common Salt viz. Kelp Sandever Sal Indus Gem Prunel Armon and Pot-ashes A nail held betwixt my lips could not be remov'd without difficulty and Pain A Tincture of Cochineel with Spirit of Wine and another with a little Sea-Salt Water being froze throughout retained an equal colour in all Parts and so did a Tincture of Mades-weed and Indico A Decoction of Soot was froze without any Concentration yet Mr. Hook a worthy Fellow of the Royal Society hath observed the contrary effect Eggs and Apples-froze differed not in weight nor do Bodies weighed in sealed Glasses Frost renders Wood Iron Steel and the Bones of Animals more friable in frosty Weather especially in those that are tainted with the Lues Venerea Frost preserves Bodies from Putrefaction and confirms the Tone of Animals and fattens some it clears the Air so that musty Stone-Bottles being fill'd with Water and froze after a Thaw were very sweet it likewise destroys Animals and Vegetables so that in Greenland nothing but Glass grows as also in Nova Zembla The qualities of Ice As for the qualities of Ice it is slippery smooth hard firm and strong diaphanous interposed betwixt the Eye and a Candle appears in many round Circles from whence proceed Rays in the form of a Star a quarter of an Inch in diameter I have seen the Ice in the Thames eight Inches thick and in Garden-walks the Earth froze near two Foot thick but in rich Soils it did not penetrate above a Foot and a quarter Ice generally swims but I have seen Snow-balls compressed and moistned with Water sink Congealed Oyl of Vitriol sinks Ice is colder than Water and that quality is increased by adding Salt or Snow It hath no smell but checks that quality in other Bodies It yields both Reflection and Refraction North and North-east Winds the absence of the Sun the highest Parts of Mountains a mixture of Snow and Salt promote freezing Water falling upon Ice or Snow freezes and a mixture of beaten Ice with Sea-Salt Kelp Allum Vitriol or Nitre and Oyl of Vitriol will promote freezing and if Water be set upon such Mixtures it begins to freeze at the Bottom Salt Petre dissolv'd in Water and agitated in a cold Season turned not the Water into Ice A Bolt-head being placed in Snow in a Pan tho' the Pan was set on the Fire and thawed gradually yet the Water in the Bolt-head froze not Water frozen in Pans being set on New-castle Coals in a Cellar and likewise on Sand and on the Earthen Floor they thawed in the same order and so did Eggs and Apples A Syphon may be made of Ice through which Water will run very fast Another use which may be made of Ice is for Refraction of which Mr. Hook hath given a learned Demonstration Having formed Ice into various Figures the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were the same as those mentioned by Dioptrick Writers We may likewise make a Speculum of it by holding a piece of Paper behind it The Learned Bartholinus delivers the following Propositions of it 1. That the more subtil distilled Spirits gain a clear splendour and elegancy from Snow placed about them 2. The Rayes of Snow newly fallen glitter and dazzle the Eyes by reason of the multitude of Globuli by which they are reflected 3. A Cabbage putrified in that part which was above the Snow And I have observed great Housleek or American Aloes destroy'd by Cold in an upper Room and Sea-Onions as well as common Onions will be putrified by the Cold. 4. Snow yields Vapours plentifully when melted by the Sun-beams 5. It melts and falls off from Ivy. 6. It contains a little Earth in it which I have found true by Evaporation 7. Viscosity with Softness is greater in new than old Snow 8. Water-Cresses and Scurvy-grass will grow under Snow in Gardens but I am apt to believe they are at a perfect stand the nutritious Juice being congealed 9. Air is included in Snow Whites of Eggs being beaten into a frothy Consistence and this being laid on a Trencher soon appeared to be Snow A Pail being filled with warm Water and Hair Moss and a piece of Rosemary hung over it the rising Vapors sticking to them formed a Hoar-frost and the like is observed on the Beards of Men and the Hairs of other Animals 10. Snow abounds with Fat 11. Snow with Ice swims on Water 12. Snow-water boils Meat sooner and makes Flesh whiter I could not find that this bolds in Fish or Flesh 13. Snow newly fallen hath no taste but when it hath lain on the Ground it bites the Tongue This I could not discern 14. Worms are sometimes found in Snow I could never observe this 15. A strong Salt may be drawn from Snow by a peculiar Art 16. After much Snow plenty of Nuts It sometimes fails The Duke of Tuscany distill'd a Spirit from Wine only by putting Snow upon the Alembick and the Duke of Mantua had a Powder which would freeze Water in the middle of Summer Weather-Glasses being framed after the Italian mode and in part filled with tinged Spirit of Wine I placed one of them in a North-west Window and the other in Mr. Pullyn's Ware-house under St. Paul's Church in the warmest place the Spirit of both when they were settled on the fifteenth of Octob. 62. having the Altitude of three Inches and when that in my Study-Window was depressed an Inch that in the Cellar receiv'd no manifest alteration But when the other was depressed two Inches it subsided ¼ of an Inch which was the lowest Station it subsided to all Winter and in April following it rose not above the three Inches it first stood at above ¼ of an Inch tho' that in my Study was raised four Inches ¼ In this Cellar Liquors that were froze above Ground would be thawed in the Morning The Spirit in the Glass above ground subsided into the Ball after two days hard Frost Whence it appears that Cellars are not hotter in Winter than Summer One thing observable was that the tinged Spirit had lost its Colour in the Cellar In January a Pint-Bottle of Claret a Glass-Cane filled with Canary a Solution of Sal Gem. Train-Oyl and the Oyl of fructus Musae in a Night's time were all froze except the Sal Gem in the bottom of which
Titles for the Natural History of Blood I. Of the Colours of Human Blood Arterial and Venal II. Of the Taste of Human Blood III. Of the Odours of Human Blood IV. Of the Heat of freshly emitted Human Blood which is observed to be much violenter after it hath run a while than when it first began The Blood that came out of the Veins of a young Gentlewoman falling upon the Ball of a Thermoscope caused the Liquor to ascend above an Inch nearer the smaller and upper Ball of the Glass And in another Tryal it was raised almost as high as to the Ball of an ordinary Thermoscope but being held in the Blood of a healthful and lusty Man the Heat raised the tinged Liquor a good way into the upper Ball which was higher than the Heat of the Air in the Dog-days usually does and the Blood of a healthful Man continued its Heat so lo long that it raised the tinged Liquor three or four Fingers breadth when it was coagulated V. Of the inflamability and some other Qualities of Human Blood A piece of Human Blood being dryed 'till it was fit to be powdered and then held in the flame of a Candle it took Fire and afforded a flame not much unlike that which caused it burning with a Crackling noise and here and there melting and if it was laid upon live Coals and now and then blown it would yield a very yellow Flame and during its Deflagration would seem to fry upon the Coals and in a great measure to melt into a Black Substance almost like Pitch And some of the Powder of Blood being cast into the flame of a Candle they took Fire in their passage and flashed not without some noise as if they had been Rosin VI. Of the Aerial Parts naturally mixed with Human Blood and also found in its distinct Parts VII Of the Specifick Gravity of Human Blood entire It may be different in several Persons according to their Sex Age Constitution c. as also in the same Person according to the time of the Year the Day or as it is taken out at a less or greater distance from a Meal But to make an Estimate of its Specifick Gravity we took the Blood of a sound Man and put it into an oblong Glass and when it was setled we marked with a Diamond that part of the Glass to which the Liquor wrought and then weighing the Glass and the Blood contained in a very Tender Ballance we poured out the Blood and having washed the Vessel we filled it up to the same Mark and then weighed it in the same Ballance and then weighing the Glass and deducting that from the weight of the Glass and the two Liquors the Water weighed nine Ounces six Drams and fifty Grains And the Blood equal to it in Bulk weighed ten Ounces two Drams and four Grains so that the Blood being three Drams and fourteen Grains heavier it was about â— 2â— part heavier than Water VIII Of the Specifick Gravity of the Fibrous and Red part and of the serous part of the Blood IX Of the Consistence of entire Human Blood X. Of the Disposition of Human Blood to Concretion and the time wherein it was performed XI Of the Liquors and Salts that coagulate Human Blood Clotted Blood being kept some Hours in Spirit of Wine which is a Menstruum fit to dissolve some Bodies it was taken out as hard as if it had been dryed by the Fire XII Of the Liquors and Salts that obstruct or dissolve its Coagulation XIII Of the Liquors c. that preserve Human Blood XIV Of the Mixture that Human Blood may receive from Aliments XV. Of the spontaneous or Natural Analysis of Human Blood into a serous and a fibrous Part. XVI Of the respective Quantities of the serous and fibrous part of Human Blood XVII Of the differences betwixt the serous and the Red part of Human Blood XVIII Of the Artificial or Chymical Analysis of Human Blood and first of its Spirit XIX Of the Volatil Salt of Human Blood and of its Figures This Salt is so fusible that one part of it may be brought to boil whilst the other flies way and this Observation will hold in most Volatil Salts And tho' this Salt when sublimed looks white and Clean and a very homogeneous substance yet I am apt to think that it is made up of Parts of Matter of sizes and shapes different enough for having weighed some Grains of re-sublimed Salt of Human Blood that seemed pure its smell was very strong and diffusive so that one would have expected it to fly away in a little time but we observed that it was very little diminished in seven or eight days time yet what remained had lost its Odour but retained a saline Taste and being put upon a Solution of Sublimate in common Water turned it White so that its diffusive and penetrant Humour seemed to depend on some more volatil Parts of the Blood But it may be a Question to be solv'd by further Experience whether the fixedness of this Salt may not proceed from the Coalition of an Acid Salt in the Air. A Dram of Volatile Salt of Human Blood sublimed in a Lamp-furnace was put into common Water and when a Thermoscope was brought to its right temper being immersed in this mixture the tinged Spirit of Wine manifestly subsided about 2 10 parts of an Inch tho' a considerable part of the Salt lay undissolved in the bottom of the Water And when the Liquor would descend no further we added to the Solution strong Spirit of Nitre 'till it would no longer make a manifest Conflict with the Salt and then we observed that whilst the Conflict lasted the Spirit of Wine rose above three Inches and a half higher than the station it stood at before The figure of this Salt may be either considered in reference to single Grains or an Aggregate of them when they are raised and sublimed to the top of the Glass the latter of which may be best observed when they fasten themselves to the inside of the Glass that is set to receive them for in the begining of the Operation one may observe the little saline Concretions to lye in rows sometimes straight enough and sometimes more or less crooked with different Coherings and Interferings so that they sometimes represent either Trees or their Branches or Harts-horn c. which are casual figurations depending on several accidental causes and circumstances as the degree of fire made use of to sublime the Salt the quantity of the ascending matter in reference to the Capacity of the Vessel that receives it And the like diversity of Configurations I have observed amongst the Salts of other Volatile Salts as well as those of Human Blood And as for the single grains of the Salt of Human Blood I discovered a good many of them to be finely shaped but whether they were accidental or not experience must determine But these figures were
distil the pulverised part of the Blood since no one hath so much as taken notice of the Necessity of shifting the Retort to gain as much Volatile Substance as may be obtained and leave as little as may be in the Caput Mortuum For having distilled a quantity of dryed Blood the same Heat which made the lower part pass in the form of Exhalations into the Receiver made the matter to swell so that it lifted up a considerable quantity of Black Matter to the upper part of the Vessel which a common Distiller would have called a Caput Mortuum tho' to a discerning Eye it appeared to be of the same Nature with the Matter first put in tho' blackened by the ascending Fumes therefore taking it out and mixing it with the remaining Substance that was more of the Nature of Caput Mortuum it was committed again to Distillation in another Retort whereby we obtained more Oyl c. And perceiving that even this Caput Mortuum had upon the top of it a pretty deal of Matter which was not sufficiently despirited I caused it to be distilled again in a fresh Retort in which it afforded a not contemptible quantity of Volatile Matter And having thus in three Retorts distilled twenty four Ounces of dryed Human Blood we obtained of Volatile Substances viz. Spirit together with a little Phlegm White Salt and very high colour'd Oyl thirteen Ounces and one Dram besides several parcels of thick Oyl that stuck to the Retorts and the Receiver which we judged to be seven Drams more so that the whole Quantity of the Volatile Part amounted to fourteen Ounces of which the Oyl was six Ounces six Drams and the clear Liquor six Ounces three Drams and a half besides the Volatile Salt which when the Spirit was drained from it appeared white but wet so that it was not possible to determine exactly neither how much Liquor it yet retained nor how much it self weighed but it will be no hard matter to guess near the Truth to any Man that knows that having carefully sublimed the Salt there remained in the Glass two Drams and five Grains of Phlegmatick Liquor which was not wholly void of Salt and of Volatil Salt in a dry form we obtained one Ounce and two Drams and a half the Caput Mortuum amounting to eight Ounces and a half and somewhat more which being calcined for two or three Days together afforded not White but brounish-red Ashes whence we obtained seven Drams ¼ of White and fixed but not a truly lixiviate Salt and two Drams and nine Grains of Earth But indeed considering the great proportion of each of these Substances lost in distillations it will upon that account be a hard matter to determine the true proportion of the Principles of Human Blood XXV Of the Fermentation or Putrefaction of Human Blood and its Phaenomena XXVI Of the Mechanical Uses of Human Blood as in Husbandry c. XXVII Of the Chymical Uses of Human Blood XXVIII Of the Medicinal Uses of Human Blood XXIX Of the difference betwixt Human Blood as it s found in sound Persons differently constituted and circumstantiated as Men Women when Monstrous and when not Children Moors Negroes c. XXX Of the affinity and difference betwixt the Blood of Men and that of several other Animals as Quadrupeds Birds Fishes and Sanguineous Insects XXXI Paralipomena relating to the History of Human Blood XXXII Micellaneous Observations Experiments and Enquiries about Human Blood Were this Treatise applyed to any other than extravasated Blood to these we might add the following Titles I. Of the process of Sanguification or the series of changes that the Aliment successively undergoes from its first being taken in at the mouth till it be turned into Blood II. Of the motions of the mass of Blood and particularly its Circulation III. Of the Chyle Lympha and other Liquors that are supposed to enter and mingle with the Blood IV. Whether Phlegm Gall and Melancholly be constituent Parts of the Blood V. Whether some other Substances may not with as much reason be admitted into the composition of the Blood Titles of the first Classis for the natural History of Human Vrine 1 Titles for the Natural History of Human Urine I. Of the colours of Human Urine II. Of the taste of Human Urine III. Of the Odours of Human Urine fresh and putrified IV. Of the Heat and Cold of Human Urine V. Of the specifick Gravity of Human Urine VI. Of the Consistence of Human Urine as to Density Viscosity c. VII Of the Aerial Parts contained in Human Urine VIII Whether Human Urine is a fit Liquor for Fermentation properly so called IX Of the differences betwixt fresh and stale Human Urine X. Of the Fermentation or Putrefaction of it and the time it requires XI Of its Spontaneous separation of Parts XII Of its Vulgar Analysis by Distillation XIII Of some other ways of distilling Human Urine XIV Of the proportion of the Principles or Ingredients of Human Blood XV. Of the Spirits of Human Urine XVI Of the Phlegm of Human Urine XVII Of the Volatile Salt of Human Urine XVIII Of the fixt Salt of Human Urine XIX Of the compounded Salts of Human Urine XX. Of the shining Substance obtainable from Human Urine XXI Of the Salt that is Predominant XXII Of the Empyreumatical Oyls of Human Urine XXIII Of the Mellago or Rob of Human Urine and its uses XXIV Of the Terra Damnata XXX Of some accidental differences of Human Urine as it 's emitted in the Morning or at certain distances from Meat or after the use of certain Aliments or Medicaments as Asparagus Turpentine c. Or at different seasons of the year as Winter Summer c. XXVI Of the affinity of Human Urine with divers other Bodies especially Vegetables and Minerals XXVII Of the Hostility of Human Urine with Acids c. XXVIII Of the affinity and difference betwixt Human Blood Urine Gall Milk c. and divers Liquors or Juices belonging to the Animal Kingdom particularly of the comparison betwixt Human Urine and that of Beasts XXIX Of the Mechanical uses of Human Urine XXX Of the Chymical uses of Human Urine and its Parts especially as a Menstruum XXXI Of the Medicinal uses of Human Urine External and Internal XXXII Paralipomena relating to the History of Human Urine XXXIII Promiscuous Observations Experiments and Enquiries about Human Urine The second Part of the Natural History of Human Blood containing Miscellaneous Experiments and Observations about Human Vrine The third Part containing Promiscuous Experiments and Observations about the Serum of Human Blood HAving separately weighed the Serum and the consistent part of the Blood the latter weighed four ounces six drachms and a half and the former three ounces six drachms And having taken the same measures with the Blood drawn from another Person the fibrous part weighed four ounces five drachms and the Serum four ounces But from these Experiments it does not follow that
the fibrous part is alone heavier than the Serum since a great deal of the latter is dispersed through the Pores of the former which appears since four ounces five drachms and thirty four grains of the fibrous part of Blood being distilled in a digestive Furnace the dryed Blood remaining weighed but one ounce three drachms and thirty four grains whereas the serous Liquor distilled from it amounted to three ounces fifty three grains and the like tryal being again repeated with another parcel of Blood the dryed mass amounted to one ounce six drachms and fifty grains and the Phlegmatick Liquor distilled from it to seven ounces Red Sealing-Wax suspended at a Hair weighed in the Air one drachm fifty six grains in Water thirty five in Serum thirty three And having made use of an Instrument purposely made when common Water weighed 253 grains an equal bulk of Serum weighed 302 and the Serum of the Blood of another Person being weighed it wanted but two grains of the weight of the former Serum which was tinged with Blood being strained through Cap-Paper the Liquor which passed through it was of a yellow colour Spirit of Salt being dropped into Serum coagulated some Parts which subsided in the form of Cheese-Curd and Oyl of Vitriol had the same effect but more powerfully But Spirit of Sal-Armoniack rather made it fluid Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium produced a white Curd by uniting with some Parts of the Serum but not so powerfully as the other had done Spirit of Wine rectified produced a copious white Curd but so soft that it swam upon the top of the Liquor Upon an infusion of a solution of Sublimate it yielded a white Curd but some of the Serum of Human Blood being poured upon filings of Iron the Liquor dissolved some of the Steel which appeared since upon an addition of some of an infusion of Galls the Liquor which before was muddy and thick laid down a whitish Sediment and a convenient quantity of the infusion being added the two Liquors united into a consistent Body wherein the Eye discovered no distinct Liquor at all But having put some of our Liquor upon filings of Copper which when wrought upon by Bodies that have in them any thing of Urinous Salt usually give a conspicuous Tincture we accordingly found that the Metal was in a few hours discoloured by the Menstruum and afterwards it began gradually to grow more blue and in a day was of a deep Ceruleous colour And to shew that this colour proceeded from some Volatile Salt latent in the Serum we mixed some of it with Syrup of Violets and found that it appeared of a fine green And one thing observable in the Serum impregnated with Copper was that I kept it several weeks in my Window without perceiving that it in the least sunk About two ounces of Serum was left in a South Window three weeks in the Month of July but did not appear in the least putrified but had let down a considerable Sediment and in three or four days after it stunk offensively and that at the same time it was void of Acidity appeared since it would not take off the blue colour of a Tincture of Lignum Nephriticum This fetid Serum being distilled in a low Cucurbite the Liquor that first came over was so little Spirituous or Saline that it would not in an hours time turn Syrup of Violets green yet that it was not without a Volatile Alkaly appeared since being dropped into a good solution of Sublimate it caused it to lay down a white precipitate Serum of Human Blood filtred through Cap-Paper being distilled in a small Retort placed in a Sand Furnace we obtained only a few drops of a darkish red Oyl some of which subsided to the bottom of the other Liquor but the greater part swam upon it and after a good deal of insipid Phlegm had been drawn off there came over a good proportion of Spirituous Liquor which smelled almost like the Spirit of Blood and contained a pretty deal of Volatile Alkaly so that it would readily turn Syrup of Violets green and cause a white precipitate and ferment with Spirit of Salt And this Spirit being rectified in a small Head and Body a good quantity of a thick Substance like Honey was left in the bottom of the Glass which was for the most part of a dark red and seemed to contain more Oyl than appeared upon the first Distillation The Liquor that came over the Helm was purer but not stronger than the first but having put it into a Glass-Egg with a slender Neck and given the Vessel a convenient Scituation in hot Sand we obtained a Volatile Alkaly that sublimed into the Neck in the form of a white Salt from whence it seems to follow that the serous part of the Blood affords the same Elementary Principles or Similar Substances both as to number and kind as the fibrous and consistent part tho' not as to quantity that of the Oyl and dry Salt being less in a determinate proportion of Serum than of Blood Tho' it be necessary to loosen the Spirit of Urine from the more drossy Parts of it that before Distillation it should putrefie for about six weeks yet if fresh Urine be poured upon Quick-Lime a great part of the Spirit will presently be united and ascend in Distillation Encouraged by which Observation I mixed Serum with Quick-Lime upon which there ensued a transient Heat and this mixed Body being committed to Distillation first it afforded a Phlegm in a gentle fire and then in a stronger a moderate quantity of Liquor that was thought to smell manifestly of the Lime but had not a brisk taste and this was accompanyed with a greater quantity of fetid Oyl than was expected The other Liquor being slowly rectified the Spirit which first came over had a strong and piercing smell but less rank than common Spirit of Human Blood Its taste was somewhat fiery and being dropped upon Spirit of Violets it presently turned it green in a solution of sublimate with Water and another of Quick-silver in Aqua Fortis it presently made two white precipitates And being mingled with some good Spirit of Sea-Salt there appeared a thick and whitish Smoak but neither any visible conflict nor bubbles yet the colour of the Spirit of Salt seemed much heightned by this operation And here I shall observe that having set the lately mentioned Mixture of the Spirit of Serum and of Salt to evaporate the Salt afforded by it was not like that of Sal-Armoniack but the colour produced in the Mixture whilst fluid was so heightned in the Concrete that it appeared of a Blood-red colour but of such a confused shape that it could not be reduced to any kind of Salt by all which Phaenomena this Spirit of the serous part of the Blood seems to be very near of kin to that of the concreted mass To try whether the fixed Salt of Pot-ashes would have the same effect on Serum
of Human Blood to four Parts of Liquor we put one of Salt and having distilled them slowly in a Glass-Head and Body we obtained a good store of a Liquor but not near so strong as that drawn off from Quick-Lime and having rectified this Spirit by a gentle Heat the two first spoonfuls which rose were not Spirituous but Phlegmatick nor would it turn Syrup of Violets green tho' it afforded a light Sublimate when put upon a solution of Sublimate Having put one part of Salt of Pot-ashes into three of Human Urine and slowly distilled them in a Head and Body first a Spirituous Liquor ascended which being set aside we continued the Distillation till the remains appeared dry in which operation we obtained not one drop of oyl besides which it was observable that this Spirit of Urine was not near so fetid as that made the common way and that that Liquor which came over at the latter end of the Distillation was so unlike that which the Serum of the Blood affords us that it was not only considerably strong and manifestly stronger than that which first ascended but had a penetrateing and fiery taste which left a lasting impression upon the Tongue and made a notable Ebullition with Spirit of Salt which the Spirit of Urine drawn from Quick-Lime did not and whereas in the last Liquor I never observed any Volatile Salt to ascend in a dry form in the operation made by the help of Salt of Pot-ashes there ascended without Rectification several grains of Volatile Salt one of which was Crystalline and very large so that it appeared to be like a Plate curiously figured but some lesser corns of Salt hiding one part of it I could not clearly discern whether it were Hexagonal or Octagonal And this Experiment being repeated a second time the Liquor ascending was more Phlegmatick tho' we both times applyed Salt of Pot-ashes taken out of the same Vessel and the Urine of the same Person but this Liquor being rectified per se afforded more of a brisk saline Spirit from which we obtained a pretty quantity of Volatile Salt in a dry form and of a very white colour Having put betwixt two and three ounces of Serum of Human Blood into a Bolt-head capable of holding four times as much and having sealed the Glass Hermetically and set it aside we observed the following Particulars First No alteration appeared in the Liquor for twelve Months nor were any Worms or Magots bred in it and tho' it be generally believed that Insects naturally breed in the fluid Parts of Human Bodies yet I have observed that if Blood be so exactly closed up that Flies cannot blow upon it and that too before it is putrified or blowed upon it will not breed them But Secondly In this Liquor there appeared not the least Mother which usually accompanies Putrefaction but the tip of the sealed Glass being broken off a pretty deal of Air rushed out with a considarable noise and that this Air had been considerably compressed whilst it was penned up appeared since upon its eruption a multitude of bubbles remained on the Surface of the Liquor as upon the opening of Botled Drink or other Liquors when the Vessels they are contained in come to be unstopped And to these Observations I shall add that some Sheeps Blood being shut up in Vacuo upon a gentle Putrefaction the Elastick and Aerial Particles that were produced blew it up with a surprizing noise But Thirdly The smell of our Serum was strong but not Cadavarous rather resembling that of the Tincture of Sulphur made with Salt of Tartar and Spirit of Wine or some such Sulphureous preparation Fourthly This Serum being committed to Distillation in a small Glass Head and Body in a digestive Furnace the Liquor which first came over first smelled strong enough yet tasted not at all brisk or spirituous like that distilled from putrefied Urine nor did it presently give a manifest greenness to Syrup of Violets but in a solution of Sublimate it had the same effect with Spirit of Urine or a Volatile Salt And having mixed some of it with Syrup of Violets spread all night upon white Paper and another parcel of it with filings of Copper the former in the Morning was turned green and the latter was so far dissolved as to leave a large blue stain upon the Paper One part of Salt of Tartar being dissolved in eight Parts of Serum of Human Blood and stirred over a gentle Heat it was not turned red by it as Milk is That Blood will be coagulated by Heat in a short time into a kind of Gelly is a common Observation But having put Spirit of Human Blood into Serum and kept it a convenient time over a fire the Volatile Alkaly seemed to make the coagulation more slow And this effect was more considerable when we tryed another parcel of Serum with Salt of Tartar instead of Spirit of Blood The fourth Part containing the History of the Spirit of Blood begun BEfore I proceed to the Titles belonging to this Part of the History it will be requisite to advertise First that the Spirit made use of in the following Tryals and Observations was drawn from Human Blood without any Sand Clay or other Additament and that the firâ—â— Distillations were performed in Retorts placed in Sand care being taken that the Vessels should not be too much filled because Blood if not well dryed is apt to swell and pass into the neck of the Retort if not into the Receiver Secondly It is to be observed that the Blood we made use of was such as was drawn from People who frequently bleeded by way of prevention Thirdly There is so great a Cognation betwixt the Spirit and Volatile Salt of Human Blood that the latter seems to be the former only in a dry form A List of Secondary Titles concerning the Spirit of Human Blood Of the History of Human Blood I. Whether Human Blood may be so ordered by Fermentation or Putrefaction as that in Distillation a Spirit either Urinous or Vinous may ascend before the Phlegm II. Whether Spirit of Human Blood be really any thing but the Volatile Salt and Phlegm well commixed III. Of the Species of Saline Bodies to which Spirit of Human Blood is to be referred IV. Whether Spirit of Human Blood be differing from Spirit of Urine and other Spirits that are called Volatile Alkalies V. Of the quantity of Spirit contained in Human Blood whether accompanyed with Serum or dryed VI. Of the specifick Gravity of Spirit of Human Blood VII Of the Odour Taste Colour transparency and consistency of the Spirit of Human Blood VIII Of the dissolutive power of the Spirit of Human Blood IX Of the Tinctures that may be drawn by Spirit of Human Blood X. Of the coagulative power of the Spirit of Human Blood XI Of the precipitating power of Spirit of Human Blood XII Of the Affinity betwixt Spirit of Human Blood and some Chymical Oyls and Urinous
Spirits XIII Of the relation betwixt Spirit of Human Blood and the Air. XIV Of the Hostility of Human Blood with Acids whether in the form of Liquors or Fumes XV. Of the Medicinal Virtues of Spirit of Human Blood externally applyed XVI Of the Medicinal Virtues of Spirit of Human Blood internally given in Pleurisies Head-achs Coughs Fevers Scurvies Cachexies Dropsies Fits of the Mother XVII Paralipomena and promiscuous Experiments and Observations concerning the Spirit of Human Blood TITLE I. Whether Human Blood may be so ordered by Fermentation or Putrefaction as that in Distillation a Spirit either Vrinous or Vinous may ascend before the Phlegm COnsidering that Fevers have been looked upon to proceed from a Fermentation in the Blood and likewise that Human Urine which hath a great Cognation with Human Blood will not whilst fresh afford a Spirit till the Phlegm be first drawn off this Subject of this Title may not appear Groundless But I am not much encouraged to expect a Vinous or ardent Spirit from Human Blood nor am I sure there is any such thing as Fermentation in Human Blood And on this occasion I shall add that having once kept Blood Hermetically sealed up in a Glass for twelve Months when it came to be opened it smelled so offensively that we could not make any tryal upon it and another time having digested in a pretty large Vial Hermetically sealed some Sheeps Blood when it had been a good while in the digestive Furnace it suddenly broke with a considerable noise and blew off the long neck of the Vial. And here to what hath been laid down I shall add That some Ounces of Serum of Blood being added to a fourth Part of Raisins of the Sun stoned and kept in a Glass in a warm Room for several days the event of this tryal was that within in a few Days the Raisins began to emerge and whilst they floated yielded a considerable quantity of springy and permanent Air from whence it appeared that there had been some Degree of Fermentation But when this Serum came to be distilled tho' it did not stink as if it had been putrified yet the Spirit which first ascended tasted not like a-Viscous Spirit nor like a meer Phlegm Whether the Fermentation observed in this Liquor depended on the whole Serum or only on the Aqueous Parts distinct from it I shall leave to Experience to determine To try whether Digestion or Putrefaction would so open the Texture of Blood as to make it part with its Spirit more easily and before the Phlegm I kept a quantity of Serum for that purpose four times as long as was sufficient to make Urine part with its Spirit before its Phlegm but the Liquor which came over by a gentle heat had but little strength either in Smell or Taste nor would it readily turn Syrup of Violets Green yet like a Volatile Alkaly it would soon turn a Solution of Sublimate in fair Water into a White Opacous and almost Milky Liquor TITLE II. Whether Spirit of Human Blood be really any thing but the Volatile Salt and Phlegm well commixed FOR several Reasons I am inclined to believe that the Spirit of Human Blood is totally composed of a Volatile Salt and a Phlegm which is not so pure and Elementary but that some Particles of Oyl and others of Salt may be mixed with it and whether by frequent Rectifications this Phlegm may be rendered Homogeneous I much question since I am not sure but that in frequent Distillations some Particles of the Fire mny be from time to time associated with the Liquor and even in the first Distillation the Fire uniting with the Liquor may form one different from the Ingredients or Principles of the Body and I have found that Woods afford by distillation a Liquor which is not an Oyl nor an Acid or an Alkaly and yet no true Phlegm but an Adiaphorous Liquor And on this occasion to shew That the Composition of a Body may as well be made known by investigating the way of generating or producing it as by that of Analysing or resolving it I shall add that having dissolved as much Volatile Salt of Human Blood in distilled Water as the Liquor would take up and then having distilled it in a conveniently shaped Vessel with a regulated degree of Heat the Distillation afforded us such a Liquor as was desired since by Smell and Taste it appeared to be a good brisk Spirit of Human Blood And this Experiment was again repeated with the like success TITLE III. Of the Species of Saline Bodies to which the Spirit of Human Blood is to be referred THO' it be generally allowed that Saline Spirits are of two sorts yet it may not be amiss to add That some of them are Acid in Taste as Spirit of Nitre Vitriol c. Others are rather like common or lixiviate Salts and their different Effects and Operations are much less alike than their Taste for upon their mixture there ensues a manifest conflict and usually one will precipitate the Bodies the other will dissolve And amongst Salts called Alkalies some are fixed in considerable Degrees of Fire and others who take Acid and Alkalies for the true Principles of mixed Bodies call the one Fixed and the other Volatile Alkalies And tho' I who question this Doctrine often call the Salts made by Combustion simply Alkalies or lixiviate Salts and those that ascend sometimes Vrinous and sometimes Volatile Salts yet since the Names of Fixed Alkalies and Volatile ones are in request now I shall now make use of them in that Sense These Things being premised I shall proceed to observe that notwithstanding that some Physicians and Chymists ascribe Digestion to an Acid Ferment in the Stomach yet the Spirit of Human Blood is referrable to that Classis which many call Volatile Alkalies since it generally performs what Volatile Alkalies are said to do for it will ferment with Acids turn Syrup of Violets Green and precipitate a Solution of Sublimate in common Water Were I sure that the Ferment of the Stomach were Acid I should be apt to believe that the Blood retains something of Acidity in it but yet that would not be an Argument why I should not refer the Spirit of Human Blood to the Class of Alkalies because so few Acid Particles would either be destroyed by the Alkalizate ones that are so abundant in the Spirit or at least they would be so very much predominant as to give us Reason on their account to denominate the Mixture Alkalious As if some drops of Spirit of Vinegar were mixed with stale Urine they would be either depriv'd of their Acidity by some Particles of a contrary Nature or be so overpowered by the Fugitive Salts they abound with that the Mixture might well be referred to the Classis of Volatile Urinous Salts TITLE IV. Whether the Spirit of Human Blood be differing from Spirit of Vrine and other Salts called Volatile Alkalies UPON this Occasion I shall offer
that not to intimate that a Body may have many similar Qualities in respect of another Body and yet distinct Operations on a third Substance I say not to intimate that there may be a considerable difference betwixt Volatile Salts or Spirits as they are commonly prepared and when prepared as they may by reiterated Rectifications and other ways of Depuration by a dextrous Chymist to bring them to a greater degree of Purity and Simplicity a greater degree I say because it may be difficult to bring them to an absolute Purity since unheeded commixtures may be made upon the Account of some Corpuscles of Fire with the Body they work upon And that there is a manifest difference betwixt Spirit of Human Blood and other Alkalies as Spirit of Urine and Harts-horn is evident to several People who tho' they abhor the Odour of Spirit of Blood yet they will with Pleasure hold their Noses a great while over Spirit of Urine and Sal-Armoniack And tho' from a due proportion of Spirit of Urine or Sal-Armoniack with Spirit of Salt I have got a Salt which shoots into the shape of that of Urine or Sal-Armoniack yet I have seldom if ever obtained a Salt of the like shape from a Mixture of the Spirit of Humane Blood with that of Common Salt for tho upon an Evaporation of the superfluous Moisture the Salts would coagulate together yet the Concretion seemed confused and not of the Regular shapes of those Salts resulting from a Mixture of the Spirit of Sea-Salt with Urinous Spirits And Helmont tells us that the Spirit of Human Blood will cure Epilepsies which Spirit of Urine will not do TITLE V. Of the Quantity of Spirit contained in Human Blood whether accompanied with its Serum or dryed THIS is not easie to determine since some Mens Blood is much more Phlegmatick than others or more Serous which may of it self be more Spirituous according to the Complexion Age Sex c. of the Person that Bleeds Twelve Ounces of Healthy Human Blood afforded us seven Ounces and a half of Phlegm and consequently about Four Ounces and a half of dry stuff And haviâ—g distilled in a Retort in a Sand Furnace seven Ounces of well dryed Blood we obtained about an eighth part of Spirit which tho' not rectified left in the Receiver and Viol I kept it in a good deal of Volatile Salt undissolved which a Phlegmatick Liquor would not have done And if Spirit of Blood be but a Salt and Phlegm united We may well suppose that Human Blood yields a far greater Proportion of Spirit than this since from the seven Ounces of dryed Blood we obtained about five Drachms of Volatile Salt which had it been united with a due quantity of Phlegm it would probably have afforded us near two Ounces more of a Liquor deserving the Name of Spirit TITLE VI. Of the Consistence and Specifick Gravity of Human Blood A Compact Body which in the Air weighed fifty eight Grains and in Water weighed six Grains and ¾ in rectifi'd Spirit of Human Blood weighed but five Grains and ¼ and what was considerable was That a piece of Amber would not subside to the Bottom but kept floating upon the Top and if plunged into it would emerge again As for the Degree of the Fluidity of the Blood or its immunity from Tenaciousness tho' divers other Alkalizated Liquors as Oyl of Tartar per deliquium fixed Nitre resolved per deliquium a Solution of Pot-Ashes are sensibly unctuous and but languidly fluid yet I observed that Spirit of Human Blood did not appear more Unctuous than common Water And whereas it is commonly found That as Liquors are more spirituous so the Bubles raised by Agitation soonest disappear I have observed that the Spirit of Blood was almost as soon clear of them as Spirit of Wine and when some Drops of it were let fall they manifestly appeared less than Drops of Water To discover the subtlety of the Parts of Human Blood we so prepared common Water by Infusions made in it without Heat that by putting one single Drop of our Rectified Spirit of Human Blood into ten Ounces and four Scruples of the prepared Water and lightly shaking the Viol there appeared throughout the Liquor a manifest Colour whereof no Degree was discernible before so that it dispersed it self through a thousand times as much Water and produced a manifest Change in the Colour of it And tho' this Computation is made upon the common supposition that a Drop of Water weighs a Grain yet tho' it weighs more a little the Difference is recompensed since having dropped ten Drops of common Water into a common Ballance well adjusted and having likewise dropped ten Drops of this Spirit we found that the last were not only less in bulk but lighter since they weighed not above four Grains so that the Proportion to which it extended it self may be said to be as one to betwixt 4000 and 5000 and this subtlety of the Parts of the Spirit of Human Blood will appear to be yet much greater if we consider that some Part even of this Drop must needs be Phlegm TITLE VII Of the Odour Taste Colour and Transparency of the Spirit of Human Blood THat the Spirit of Human Blood is in respect of some Liquors potentially Cold since it refrigerates them and with reference to others potentially Hot since being mixed with them it renders them Hot may appear from the following instance for having put the lower end of an Hermetically sealed Weather-Glass into a slender Cylindrical Glass we poured as much moderatly strong Spirit of Blood into it as covered the Ball and then dropped on that Liquor some good Spirit of Salt upon which ensued a conflict accompanyed with a Noise Bubbles and Heat which made the Spirit of Wine presently ascend above two Inches and a half which Experiment seems to be the more remarkable because several other Volatile Alkalies being mixed with Acids produce a notable degree of coldness and whereas I had several times found by Tryal that the Spirt of Verdigrease would with Volatile Salt of Sal-Armoniack or Urine produce a real coldness This Spirit of Verdigrease being mixed in the small Cylindrical Glass with Spirit of Blood moderately strong not only produced a hissing Noise and store of Bubbles but an actual Heat upon which the Liquor in the Thermoscope ascended above an Inch and a half tho' both the Liquors employed amounted not to above two spoonfuls TITLE VIII Of the dissolutive power of Spirit of Human Blood THAT this Spirit is not only a good Medicine for several Diseases but is also a good Menstruum will appear from the following instances And first having poured Spirit of Human Blood upon Crude Copper in about a quarter of an hour the Liquor was tinged blueish which colour grew higher and higher till in some hours it was deeply Ceruleous And to this I shall add that having dropped a drop or two of Spirit of Blood upon a piece of
bright Copper within about half a minute of an hour the Verge of the moistened part of the Surface appeared blueish and in a little time after the rest of the wetted Part acquired a fine Azure Having poured Spirit of Blood upon filings of Zinke or Spiltre it presently began to work manifestly in the cold and when assisted by a little Heat it dissolved the Zinke briskly and not without producing store of bubbles being also a little discoloured by the operation of this Experiment Having put a piece of clotted Blood which had been exposed to the Air into a slender Vial of clear Glass and then poured on a little rectified Spirit of Human Blood and shook the Glass a little the blackness of the superficial part of the Blood presently disappeared and became a florid Scarlet and the Liquor was tinged with a fairer red and from a succession of bubbles passing from time to time out of the cold into it seemed to work somewhat like a Menstruum but in a little time after the Blood was degenerated from its former colour to a little more dark one But another clot of Blood one side of which was red and the other black being put into the Vial and Spirit of Blood poured upon it the red side had its colour improved but the other continued black and dirty And I once preserved twelve drachms of Blood in two of the Spirit of Blood and found that twelve months after it remained fair and florid and little less than totally fluid and when the Vessel was opened there appeared little sign of Putrefaction but only a small clot was fastened to the bottom the rest passing readily through a strainer so that the Spirit seemed to have a great embalming Virtue since it was able to preserve six times its weight of a Body so apt to putrefie But to what hath been observed I shall add that having comitted the Mixture to Distillation the first Liquor was a kind of Phlegm which was succeeded by a Spirituous Liquor and Volatile Salt in a dry form Having poured some of our Spirit upon filings of Iron where they were not in the least Rusty and kept them together a while in digestion we found as we expected that that Liquor by working upon them had produced a light substance something paler than a Crocus and there appeared likewise in the Liquor good store of thin Plates which after a gentle Agitation being held against the Sun-Beams exhibited the colours of the Rain-Bow very vividly but the taste of the Liquor appeared not at all Martial TITLE IX Of the Tincture that may be drawn with Spirit of Human Blood SPirit of Blood being put upon Saffron presently acquired a yellow colour and from Tu merick a Tincture like a solution of Gold which may doubtless prove a good Medicine in the Jaundice and some of this Spirit being put upon powder of Blood it presently extracted from it a colour as red as that of French Claret but when I made use of another parcel of Spirit well rectified I found that it extracted not a Tincture so soon and after several hours the colour it obtained was brown which in some hours after was heightned into redness and in a longer time it became almost as red as the former Tincture To shew that Spirit of Human Blood may extract Tinctures out of the hardest Bodies we put filings with it into a small Egg and kept them all night in digestion in a moderate Heat and the next day we found the Liquor tinged with a deep brownish red and those filings which stuck to the sides of the Vessel and were above the Liquor were turned by the Exhalations of this Spirit into a yellow Crocus But the Mixture being kept some days longer in the same Vessel the colour of it was grown Opacous and appeared to be black when it was looked upon in a considerable bulk but it seemed of another colour when looked upon as it was spread thin upon white Paper Some of this Ticture being poured upon an infusion of Galls it would not make it of an Inky colour nor was the precipitate which presently fell to the bottom of an Inky colour From which Experiments it appears that it is unsafe either to suppose that if Chalybeates be dissolved in the Body it must be by some Acid Juice or to conclude that if Steel be dissolved by the Liquors of our Bodies they must be ex predominio Alkalizate since a Liquor that is very different from Acids dissolves it but without touching further upon this account I shall rather commend it to the consideration of Physicians to pitch upon some other method of explicating the effects of Chalybeates upon Human Bodies and whether martial Medicines may not be made use of which are prepared by Volatite Alkalies instead of Acids Spirit of Human Blood being kept in digestion with powder of Amber it extracted no considerable Tincture but whether the fault was in the fineness of the Amber or the weakness of the Spirit I shall leave undetermined Some Spirit of Human Blood being put upon some of that Gum called Seed-Lac soon became tinged which I supposed to proceed from a superficial colour of some Parts of the Gum proceeding from some adhering Blood of the little winged insects who by their bitings occasioned this Gum upon the twigs of the Trees where it is found so that the colour seems not to be given by the Gum but the Blood of those Animals and may probably be a good solvent Medicine since most of the insects used in Physick consists of Parts very subtle and penetrating and of considerable Efficacy TITLE X. Of the Coagulating power of the Spirit of Human Blood HIghly rectified Spirit of Human Blood being well mingled by shakeing it with a convenient quantity of Urinous Spirits there will presently ensue a Coagulation or a concretion of Parts either of the whole Mixture or a Portion of it into corpuscles of a Saline form which cohering loosely together make up a mass of a fluid and consistent soft temper in which form it will continue in a cool place several months TITLE XI Of the Precipitating power of Spirit of Human Blood IT hath a power of Precipitating as other Volatile Spirits most Bodies dissolved in Acid Menstruums I say most because there is no need this rule should be general or hold when the Body is of such a Nature that it may be as well dissolved by an Acid as an Alkaly and that there are such Bodies appears since Spirit of Human Blood will dissolve both Copper and Zink which may be likewise dissolved by Aqua Fortis and other Acid Menstruums But that this Spirit will precipitate other Bodies dissolved in Acid Menstruums I am convinced by several tryals made on red Lead dissolved in Vinegar Silver in Aqua Fortis Gold in Aqua Regia and Tin dissolved in an appropriated Menstruum and several other Bodies And out of a Solution of common Salt made in Water
long apt to think that the same peccant matter may produce several Distempers as its effects are diversified partly by its greater or lesser quantities as well as more or less active qualities and partly by the particular Natures or Structures and Scituations of the Parts that it invades which seems to be favoured by the frequent Metastases of Morbifick matter in several Distempers since the same Acid or sharp Humours sometimes occasion a Colick sometimes after that a Palsey at other times a Cough a flux of the Belly an Opthalmia a Violent Head-ach Convulsions c. As the peccant Humour falls upon this or that part upon which account one or two Medicines may be able to cure several Distempers especially if endewed with any variety of active Virtues and upon these grounds I am inclined to believe that the Spirit of Human Blood may be a good Remedy in several internal affections of the Body and indeed Volatile Alkalies in general have been so prosperously made use of in Physick since the year 1656 as to invite several Physicians to employ them instead of other Medicines which clog and weaken the Patient and want several advantageous qualities which may be found in Volatile Alkalies And indeed Spirit of Human Blood mortifies Acid Salts which occasion several Diseases It is likewise a great Resolvent and fit to open Obstructions which produce not a few Diseases it is also Diaphoretick and Diuretick and able to discharge several noxious Salts and to expel several Malignant and Contagious Particles of matter It resists Putrefaction and Coagulation and gives a briskness and Spirituousness to the Blood which promotes free Circulation upon which account it is a good Cordial and an Antidote against some Poysons It is very friendly to the Genus Nervosum and to cure its Distempers and Balsamick in some sort of Asthams it neither causes great evacuations nor does it clog the Stomach or is disadvantageous in any manifest qualities And it may likwise be very good in such cases as Spirit of Sal-Armoniack hath been found successful in Helmont commends it in Epilepsies which he says it will cure in Adult Persons And I have known it cure an inveterate Consumptive Cough and a very bad Head-ach which had a long time baffled very eminent Physicians But besides the Virtues it hath when simply used its Virtues may be enobled and diversified by a long digestion or frequent Cohobations of the Spirit with the Oyls Salt or Phlegm of the same Concrete or by uniting it with Acids as Spirit of Nitre or Vinegar Verdigrease Oyl of Vitriol c. either used in a Liquid form or when reduced by evaporation into Crystals Or the Virtues of it may be enobled by uniting our Spirit with Metalline Solutions as of Gold Silver or Mercury and with Solutions of Minium made with Spirit of Vinegar by a Mixture of which Liquor and a slow evaporation of them I have obtained finely shaped Crystals Or again either by uniting with it Sulphur opened with Salt of Tartar or by dissolving in it Metalline Bodies as Copper Zinke and Iron Or by adding about a double weight of Alcohol of Wine for these Liquors being shaken together will in a very great measure coagulate into a Salt which will retain a considerable degree of quickness and penetrancy And why such Salts as these should not be efficacious I see no reason since such a kind of a Mixture tho' made with another Urinous Spirit hath had extraordinary effects in Fevers nor is the Liquor this Salt leaves behind useless in Medicine when well dephlegmed But this Spirit may be rendered still more commodious if impregnated with essential Oyls and by that means several Oyly Volatile Salts may be produced which may be useful in peculiar Distempers as those Oyls respect this or that part in their Medicinal Virtues CHAP. X. An Appendix to the Memoirs for the Natural History of Human Blood Containing first particulars referable to the second Part of the foregoing History EXPERIMENT I. HAving caused twelve Ounces of dryed Blood to be carefully distilled the Substances obtained from it were of Volatile Salt and Spirit together five Ounces the Liquor poured off from the wet Salt being thirteen Drachms fifty four Grains so that the Salt was three Ounces two Drachms and six Grains of fetid Oyl there were two Ounces of Caput Mortuum four Ounces and two Drachms so that about six Drachms of the whole was consumed in the Operation The Caput Mortuum being calcined yielded but six Drachms and a half of ashes the fixed Oleaginous Parts being consumed by the accension the colour of the ashes was reddish when cool tho' in the fire they appeared white as soon as the Oyl was consumed these ashes being turned into a Lixivium afforded five scruples of white fixed Salt besides a little which got into the contiguous Sand which being recovered by Water and reduced to a Salt made a scruple more So that there remained for the Terra Damnata fourteen Scruples and a half which is a good deal above twice the weight of the Salt whence it appears that the pure fixed Salt is but between the fifty seventh and fifty eighth part of dryed Blood and therefore probably amounts to no more than about the 170th part of the mass of Blood and the fixed Earth is to dryed Blood as about nineteen and about a half to one EXPERIMENT II. A parcel of Blood weighing ten Ounces and seventy three Grains being slowly distilled to dryness in a Head and Body on a digestive Furnace afforded of Phlegmatick Liquor seven Ounces two Drachms and forty seven Grains and of Caput Mortuum or dry Substance two Ounces two Drachms This pulverable matter being distilled in a Retort by degrees of fire yielded two Drachms forty eight Grains of Oyl The Spirit being poured off the Salt weighed but forty eight Grains and the Salt being washed out with the distilled Water we obtained thence by Sublimation into the neck of a Glass-Egg one Drachm five Grains of dry Salt The Caput Mortuum weighed six Drachms twelve Grains which being carefully calcined yielded two Scruples and four Grains of ashes which were red and these being elixivated afforded eighteen Grains of Salt besides the remaining Earth which is of a red colour with an Eye of Purple Particulars referrable to the Primary Title of the Natural History of Human Blood EXPERIMENT I. Spirit of Vinegar put upon Blood turned its red colour of a dark or dirty colour EXPERIMENT II. Juice of Limons poured upon the superficies of Blood impaired its florid colour EXPERIMENT III. Juice of Oranges changed Blood less than Limons EXPERIMENT IV. The black part of clotted Blood exposed to the Air presently became of a pleasant and florid colour EXPERIMENT V. Spirit of Sal-Armoniack dropped upon black clotted Blood presently rendered it florid but not so much as the open Air. EXPERIMENT VI. Fixed Alkalies or lixiviate Salts resolved per Deliquium turned it red but not so florid as the
Urinous Spirit EXPERIMENT VII The Juice of Scurvey Grass fresh drawn inclined the black Surface of clotted Blood to redishness EXPERIMENT VIII Blood being closed up with an eighth or fourth part of Spirit of Wine about three years was coagulated but neither stank nor was it in the least putrified EXPERIMENT IX A small piece of concreted Blood being left three days in Spirit of Wine was rendered moderately hard and friable throughout EXPERIMENT X. Upon tryal we found that an Ounce of distilled Water would dissolve at least two Drachms of Volatile Salt of Human Blood and by the help of Heat it was able to dissolve twenty five Grains more nor did any of this Salt shoot into Crystals upon its Refrigeration EXPERIMENT XI The aforementioned Solution being put into a Retort to be drawn off with a pretty quick heat we obtained a distilled Liquor that contained almost all the Volatile Salt except a little which escaped in a dry form and this Liquor being as strong as moderate Spirit of Human Blood it may give us a hint what proportion of a Liquor to Salt may be sufficient for such a Spirit And one thing here may be worthy our notice viz. That the Liquor which was too much impregnated with Salt having been exposed to the Air in a frosty Night we perceived at the bottom of the Glass a good deal of Volatile Salt shot into Crystals tho' the Crystals that were this way obtained were fine and clear and some of them larger than Spangles yet being very numerous and sticking together we could not discover the shape of particular Grains nor whether they were all of the same shape but divers of them appeared to be flat thin Plates with fine rectilinear Angles so that we conjectured if the whole Plates could have been seen their broadest Surface would have been found Hexagonal or of some Polygone figures very near of kin to that EXPERIMENT XII An Ounce of distilled Water was shut up in a Glass-Egg with as much Salt as could be dissolved in it and exposed to congeal in a frosty Night but the Salt was neither congealed nor the Water tho' afterwards it was removed into a frigorifick Mixture which would perhaps have froze Beer or Ale or the weaker sort of French Wine yet we did not perceive the least Glaciation EXPERIMENT XIII Tho' Sea-Salt dissolved in Water renders it less subject to be froze yet being joyned with Ice or Snow and externally applyed it conduces to the freezing of it Wherefore we mixed about a Scruple of Salt of Human Blood with Ice to try whether it would have the like effect and accordinly we found that a slender Pipe of Water being immersed in it the Water in the bottom of the Pipe was froze EXPERIMENT XIV Some of the fibrous part of Human Blood being exposed to the Air in an open and shallow Glass in a frosty Night the next Morning it was lightly frozen and the Surface of the Ice prettily figured with resemblances of Combs with Teeth on both sides not much unlike Sal-Armoniack coagulated in common Water And not here to mention what hath been said by some of the Virtues of Human Blood I shall propose a couple of Medicines to be prepared from it one of which may perhaps have no inconsiderable effects The first Medicine I attempted to make was by putting to Salt of Tartar Oyl of Human Blood instead of Oyl of Turpentine and by stirring them long together in the open Air to make such a saponary concretion as Matthew's Corector which is esteemed and employed with good success by some London Physicians The other Medicine I endeavoured to make was by uniting by long digestion the Salt Spirit and Oyl of Human Blood into a Mixture which some Chymists call a Clyssus Particulars referrable to the third Part of the History EXPERIMENT I. THE Blood of a young Man when cool having its Serum and fibrous Parts separately weighed the latter weighed about six Ounces and the serous part not many Drachms from that weight EXPERIMENT II. The very ingenious Mr. Hook and my self having often observed on the Surface of frozen Urine figures which much resemble Combs or Feathers considering the Affinity usually agreed on betwixt the Serum of Human Blood and Urine we exposed some of it strained through a linnen rag to separate the Grumous part to the Air in a shallow Vessel several Nights consecutively and observed that being froze there appeared upon the Ice contiguous to the Air certain figures which did not ill resemble those of conglaciated Urine EXPERIMENT III To try whether Serum as well as Urine might not as well be made use of for invisible Ink we traced some Characters with it upon white Paper and when they were dryed we held the unwritten side over the flame of a Candle keeping it always stirring that it might not take fire upon which the Letters on the upper side appeared of a dark colour tho' not of an Inky blackness Particulars referrable to the fourth Part of the History SINCE according to the several ways of distilling Human Blood the Spirit of Salt c. produced may be considerably diversified I distilled three Portions of Human Blood each with a different additament The first which was distilled with Quick-Lime we shall subjoyn the following account of viz. Four Ounces of coagulated Blood being mixed with an equal proportion of Quick-Lime we distilled them by degrees of fire in a Retort placed in Sand by which means we obtained a proportion of reddish Spirituous Liquor which seemed not very Phlegmatick together with some Oyl the quantity of which was but small the rest being probably detained by the Lime and a small Portion of that little Oyl that came over sunk in the Spirit the rest swiming upon it The Spirit being set in a digestive Furnace in a small Head and Body to rectifie with a gentle Heat the Receiver was three or four times removed and we observed that the first Spirit that came over was not near so fetid as that which ascends when it is distilled per se and the like was observed in the succeeding Portions the Oyl being detained behind by the Quick-Lime the rectified Spirit was clear and colourless and had a taste much stronger than its smell and so strong that it made me think some Volatile Alkalious Parts of the Quick-Lime were carried up with it to be satisfied of which we dropped some of it upon a Solution of Sublimate with fair Water and on the first contact we perceived a precipitate a little inclining to yellow as Quick-Lime in a greater quantity usually turned it But afterwards the Precipitate appeared white like that made with ordinary Volatile Liquors of an Urinous Nature Some of this Spirit put into a Glass-Egg afforded not any Volatile Salt in a dry form and the tryal being continued we found that the Spirit by the action of the fire lost its limpidness and became muddy or troubled Another Portion of it being mixed
Glass full tho' it will have such an effect upon Stones and Metals as can scarce be matched And if specifick Medicines may act upon Humours in the Body after the manner of Menstruums we may easily guess why they have peculiar Virtues viz. By reason of their aptness to work upon peculiarly disposed Bodies so as I have elsewhere noted Aqua Fortis will not work upon Silver if too strong till diluted with Water And as the dissolution of a Body may partly depend in its disposition to be acted on by such a Menstruum from thence may be deduced a reason why a Medicine which hath good effects in one Disease may have but indifferent ones in others for tho pure Spirit of Wine will easily dissolve Gumm Guajacum and that Rosinous matter lodged in the Pores of the Wood yet the same Menstruum will not work upon the Wood it self And if so no wonder that those Medicines which cure one Distemper in one Person will not cure it in another since a Variation in the Texture of the Morbifick matter is enough to vary the effects of the Medicines And that a slight alteration of Texture varies the effects of a Menstruum appears since tho' Spirit of Nitre or Salt separate will each dissolve Copper and tho' the Spirit of Nitre will dissolve Silver yet if Spirit of Salt be added to it it soon loses that Quality And here tho' some object against specifick Medicines that since they rove up and down in the Blood they cannot act well on particular Humours yet if we suppose the Medicines act by impregnating the Blood and that they turn it into a kind of Menstruum it is possible that both the Menstruums may be appropriated to the peccant Humour so as to resolve it more easily than any other Humour of the Body As if you take some Bone ashes Crocus Martis Saw-dust Powdered Sea-Salt and filings of Gold and mix them together common Water will dissolve the Salt and leave the others untouched and Quick-Silver will alone dissolve the Gold And those that work in Spanish Gold Mines tell us that Quick-Silver poured upon powdered Ore of Gold and Copper mixed it will scarce meddle with the latter till the former is licked up And from what hath been said we may be furnished with a reason of the effects of Periapta Amulets and Appensa especially if we consider what hath already been delivered of the Effluviums of Bodies and the Porosity of Animal Bodies and tho' these Effluvia be very small in quantity yet their effects may be more considerable in as much as they are neither altered nor consumed by previous digestions and circulating through Parts in which they might be in a great measure dispersed and carried off a-long with the Excrements PROP. II. Sometimes a specifick Medicine may mortifie the over Acid or other immoderate Particles that infect the mass of Blood and destroy their Coagulatory or other Effects Tho' I believe not that all Distempers are yet I question not but that a great many are caused either by Acids or their ill effects or Productions and which may be cured by specifick Medicines two ways viz. either by mortifying them by a positive Hostility such as Alkalizate Salts whether fixt as the lixiviate Salts of Plants or Volatile as those of Urine c. Or by taking off or blunting their edges as a Knife may lose its power of cutting by putting it in a sheath or sticking something upon the edge for the edges of an Acid may be taken off as well by being lodged in a Porous Alkaly as by having their edges broken off and thus it is that Minium takes off the Acidity of Vinegar Chalk takes off the edge of Aqua Fortis and Lapis Calaminaris lessens the Acidity of Spirit of Salt and Spirit of Nitre and that Acids are rather sheathed than altered by these Bodies I am apt to believe because as Glauber tells us they may by a strong fire be drawn out of Lapis Calaminaris much stronger and more dephlegmed than before And tho' it may be urged by those that plead against specifick Medicines that they act by a manifest Quality viz. their Alkalious Nature or their Acid yet there is so great a variety betwixt Acid and Alkalious Medicines themselves that I am perswaded they perform a great deal upon the account of something else besides their Acid or Alkalious Nature since Aqua Fortis will not dissolve God tho' it will Silver but if it be altered by an addition of Spirit of Salt it will dissolve Gold and not Silver And a different Modification may not only make a difference betwixt Acids but a contrariety since Spirit of Salt will precipitate Silver which Aqua Fortis hath dissolved And Spirit of Nitre will precipitate out of Butter of Antimony an Antimonial powder with a considerable Conflict and Effervescence yet this Butter of Antimony is so highly Acid that a little quantity of it put into a little Water makes it so sower that many Chymists call it Acetum Philosophorum And as there are several kinds of Acids and of Alkalies too so every Alkaly will not mortifie the same Acid for tho' Chalk will precipitate a Solution of Copper in Aqua Fortis yet a Volatile Alkaly will not And indeed when I consider what difference there naturally is betwixt Acids it is not unreasonable to expect that there may be Acid Humours produced in the Body utterly unknown to us and which may require a specifick Alkaly to correct them as it is observed that tho' neither Spirit of Vinegar nor Spirit of Salt nor Oyl of Vitriol will dissolve a Calculus Humanus yet Spirit of Nitre will and by that means loses its Corrosiveness And to what hath been said I shall add that I am of opinion that particular Acids may be the occasion of Distempers which they are by some rather taken to be Remedies for tho' Acids are looked upon to be of an incisive Nature and tho' in some cases I am willing to allow them those Virtues yet I believe that Obstructions and the Diseases depending therein are caused by Acids coagulating some fluids disposed to be thickned by them which might be exemplified by the Coagulation I have made of some Acid Salts as Spirit of Salt of the white of an Egg which by being beaten is reduced to an Aqueous consistence And Milk will be coagulated not only by Spirit of Salt but Rennet and Juice of Limons and it hath been found by experience that some Acids transmitted into the mass of Blood have coagulated it in living Animals But tho' I believe a great many Distempers are occasioned by Acids yet I conceive some are occasioned by Acid Salts uniting with other Saline Bodies as Spirit of Salt and Spirit of Urine produce a Sal-Armoniack And Spirit of Nitre with Salt of Tartar dissolved in common Water will coagulate with it into Salt-Petre and the same Spirit of Nitre with Spirit of Urine will produce a very
part without altering the Blood yet when once it hath caused a change in it the Blood it self as it successively circulates through that Part may in some measure act Specifically upon it And tho' a Medicine may communicate to the Blood Particles of matter so modified that they may not immediately relieve the Part by either strengthening it or causing the Distempered matter to be carried off by a gentle irritation yet it may do it by both these ways as when Rhubarb is taken it not only purges the Liver of Choler but strengthens the Tone of the Parts by its astringency And Osteocalla is observed to be a Specifick by promoteing the Generation of a Callus to cement broken Bones PROP. V. Sometimes a Specifick Medicine may act Prop. V. by producing in the mass of Blood such a disposition as may enable Nature by correcting expelling or other fit ways to surmount the Morbifick matter or other cause of the Disease And this is agreeable enough with what most Moderns hold viz. That Distempers chiefly depend upon the Temper and ill Constitution of the Humours And a change in the Humours may be effected By furnishing the Blood with some sort of active Corpuscles which may agitate and ferment it and to quicken the Circulation of the Blood Upon which occasion it may be necessary to advertise That the Medicines usually made use of for that purpose being very hot there are several Constitutions of Patients and several other Circucumstances upon which account they do more harm by their Heat than good by their Spirituousness besides the sluggishness and want of fermentation in the Blood may proceed from causes which this sort of Medicine will not correct for I have tryed that a Vinous Spirit would not dissolve Blood which was a little dryed nor draw a Tincture from it tho' an Urinous Spirit presently did so that a Specifick Medicine in such a case may perform what is intended without the inconveniences which other Medicines are liable to For we know that experienced Physicians call some Medicines cold Cordials as Sorrel which hath an Acid taste and it is possible sometimes those Humours whch make the Blood sluggish may not be of a cold but a hot Nature in which cases hot Remedies may rather increase than diminish their ill effects as if the white of an Egg be reduced to Water by beating Spirit of Wine will instead of diminishing increase its Viscidity And I once prepared a Vegetable Substance which upon an addition of Wine became much more Viscous than before But to proceed a Specifick Medicine may alter the mass of Blood by contributing to its Tenacity without respect to its Fermentation for if the Blood be too thick it cannot readily pass through the small Capillary Vessels by which Circulation is in a great means retarded as on the other Hand if it be too thin it gets out of the Capillary Vessels and first Stagnates and then Putrifies but these ill consequences may be prevented by such Medicines as either on the one Hand divide the Parts of the Blood and make them more minute or on the other such as associate them and stick them together Another way by which a Specifick Medicine may rectifie the state of the Blood is by working so upon the Heart as to make it transmit Blood more advantageously and that either by corroborating its fibres or dissolving some ill distempered matter that obstructs the Contraction of it and that a small alteration in the Constitution of the Heart may do much in respect of the Circulation of the Blood will be easily granted by any one that does but consider what insensible Agents actuate it And that the almost insensible Obstruction of Circulation produces considerable effects in the Body is evident from the effects of Sorrow which presently puts the whole Body out of order and also from the effects of Joy or shame both of which promote the Circulation of the Blood and it hath been observed that Joy hath had so sudden and considerable an effect as to take off the sharpness of Hunger and that Medicines may affect the Heart after the same manner I am inclined to believe especially since I knew a Lady who was so affected upon the smell of perfumed Gloves that the Blood flew into her Face and put such a colour into it as if she had blushed And if the state of the Blood may be thus altered it may much contribute to the removal of some very troublesome Distemper induced for want of a due Circulation of the Blood PROP. VI. Sometimes a Specifick Remedy may unite with the peccant matter and compose a Quid Nutrum which may be less offensive to Nature tho' not so easily expelled And this seems to me to be the most genuine effects of a Specifick Medicine and when peccant Acids are lodged in the Spleen or any other part less sapid Alkalies may unite with them without creating any manifest disturbance and form a harmless Liquor as Aqua Fortis by being digested and distilled with a very ardent Spirit loses its corrosive Acidity and ill scent and becomes a harmless sweet and fragrant Liquor and I knew one who relieved a Nephritick Patient with the use of inflamable Spirits And I have elsewhere shewn that Spirit of Wine acts not upon all Acids uniformly but variously according to the Nature and proportion of the Acid. And Spirit of Wine mixed with rectified Spirit of Urine will in a great measure take off the corroding Qualities of it and composes a Salt which is weaker than the Spirit and being sublimed or reduced to a Liquor becomes a good Medicine and with a little skill will make a very good Menstruum in several Chymical Experiments A few Grains of Glass of Antimony taken inwardly will both Vomit and Purge but if instead of Spirit of Wine we make use of that of Vinegar and when by digestion the Liquor is sufficiently impregnated it be abstracted Antimonial and Acetous Corpuscles will emerge several Grains of which may be taken without either Vomiting or Purging from whence it appears that all Correctors are not to be esteemed Alkalies since Acids themselves prove to be Correctors too And after a like manner not improbably the Poysons of Animals and others may be subdued And it is not improbable that by a Combination of a Distempered Humour with a Medicine a Salutiferous Liquor may be formed and tho' sometimes a Medicine is altered before it comes to the part affected yet that alteration may render it Medicinal An instance of the former we have in the Preparation of Mercurius Dulcis where by uniting Poyson with Quick-Silver an Efficacious Medicines is made and an Illustration of the latter may be brought from that Odour which it gives to the Urine of the Person who takes it different from any smell it had of it self before And tho' against what hath been been said for Specifick Medicines some may offer that there are some which are only
externally applyed yet from what hath been said of the Porosity of Bodies and the effects of Effluvia it will easily appear how they may influence the Body and alter the Humours which circulate in it and to what is there offered we may reasonably add the ill effects of Amulets of Arsenick mentioned by Diemerbreck and the effects of Cantharides upon some Persons who only wore them in their Pockets And indeed there are a great many Medicines externally Specificks which one would not take to be so as Camphire which internally is very hot and good in some Malignant Fevers yet outwardly it is used to take off Heat Pimples in the Face and in cooling Oyntments and against Burns and Spirit of Wine tho very hot when internally used yet it if presently applyed takes out the fire of Burns And so mild a Body as Bread if chewed and outwardly applyed hath considerable Virtues in external affections And I have several times eaten a thing without any such effect which a Physician told me externally applyed would Purge Children being neither offensive in colour smell or Gripeing And to these instances I shall add That Galen tells us that an Epileptick Boy was free from such Fits as long as he wore only Piony Root as an Appensum And I knew one who was Paralitick that was suddenly relieved in violent Cramps only by handling the Tooth of a River-Horse and I as well as others have been relieved in the Cramp by putting a Ring made of an Elks Hoof upon my finger And I knew another cured of an Incontinentia Vrinae by the sole use of an Appensum And a Lady had a Scrophulous Tumor dispelled only by successively applying the Body of a dead Man to the part affected till the cold sensibly penetrated into it And I my self had not only a violent Haemorrhage speedily stopped by holding moss of a dead Man's Skull in my hand but a Gentleman told me that if when he was let Blood he held it in his hand no Blood would flow out till he laid it aside And another told me that he had been freed from a Palpitation of his Heart which usually fell upon him after a few hours sleep with great terror only by wearing smooth and flat Cornelians in a bag over the pit of his Stomach Galen tells us That Jaspers worn after the same manner are good for the Stomach and Monardes tells us that the Bleeding of the Hemorrhoids have been stopped by wearing a Ring made of a Blood-Stone upon the fingers And not only Boetius and Johannes de Laet commends Lapis Nephriticus but the experienced Monardes and others And Untzerus tells us that by wearing this Stone some Parts of the Stone were made so minute as to be expelled out at the Eyes And that one that had a Catarrh was Purged fourteen times in one day by wearing of it and it had the like effect tho' not so strongly upon another But To conclude this Discourse I shall here advertise the Reader that tho' I have laid down several ways by which Specifick Medicines might operate yet I think not those always singly effectual but that sometimes they joyntly contribute to the producing of the effect without enlarging upon this account I shall only subjoyn that I hope from what hath been already delivered it may appear that the Doctrine of Specifick Medicines is not irreconcileable to the Principles of the Corpuscular Philosophy CHAP. XII A short account of Ambergrease communicated in the Transactions of October 6. 1673. I Received the following account from one of the Committee of the East-India Company Ambergrease is not the Scum or Excrement of the Whale c. but issues out of the Root of a Tree which always shoots out its Roots towards the Sea seeking the warmth of it thereby to deliver the fattest Gum that comes out of it Which Tree otherwise by its copious fatness might be burnt and destroyed Wherever it is shot into the Sea it is very tough and can scarce be loosened from the Root except by its own Weight or the Motion of the Sea If you Plant the Trees where the stream sets to the shore it will cast it up to great advantage March 1. 1672. in Batavia Journal Advice From c. FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THE Works of the Honourable Robert Boyl Esq Vol. 1st and 2d Sold by J. Phillips at the Kings-Arms and J. Taylor at the Ship in St. Pauls Church-yard The Table A AIR not the Primum Frigidum Page 103 Of the Air 's Temper p. 107 The Doctrine of Antiperistasis examined p. 145 Of the Pressure of the Airs Spring on Bodies under Water p. 268 271 Of the â—tmospheres of Consistent Solids p. 412 Of Ambergrease p. 551 B To preserve Birds c. p. 353 Of the Bladders of Air in Fishes Ibid. The natural History of Human Blood p. 459 Of the Colour of Human Blood p. 460 516. Of its Taste Ibid. Of its Odour Ibid. Of its Heat Ibid. Of its Inflamability Ibid. Of the Acid Parts naturally mixed with Human Blood p. 461 Of its Specifick Gravity Ibid. Of the Specifick Gravity of the Consistent part p. 462 Of the Consistence of Human Blood Ibid. Of its Disposition to Concretion Ibid. What Liquors or Salts Coagulate it Ibid. What hinder its Coagulation Ibid. What Liquors preserve it c. Ibid. Of the Volatile Salt of Human Blood Ibid. Of the Phlegm and Oyls of Human Blood p. 465 Of the fixed Salt of Human Blood p. 467 Of its Terra Damnata p. 468 What substances may be Chymically obtained from it Ibid. C Of the Mechanical Production of Cold p. 1 189 Cold produced by a Solution of Sal-Armoniack p. 2 by a Mixture of Spirit of Salt and Vrine p. 3 by Spirit of Rock Allom. Ibid. by oyl of Vitriol and Sal-Armoniack p. 4. Potential Coldness Mechanically explained p. 5 Degrees of Cold neither to be judged of by our Sensory nor Weather-Glasses p. 11 Of the degrees of Coldness in several Bodies p. 48 Of the Circumscription of the Sphere of activity of Cold. p. 53 85 Of the Preservation of Bodies by Cold p. 55 Of the Contraction of Liquors by Cold. p. 66 Of the Expansive force of Congelation p. 83 What Mediums Cold may be diffused through p. 88 Of the strange effects of Cold. p. 120 Promiscuous Experiments concerning Cold. p. 129 Mr. Hobbes's Doctrine of Cold examined p. 158 Of the Positive and Privative Nature of Cold. p. 180 D Observations about Diamonds and other shining Bodies p. 138 139 141. E What the success of Experiments depends on p. 9 The Earth not the Primum Frigidum p. 100 Earth the Summum Frigidum p. 102 Experiments about Explosions p. 232 Of the strange Subtlety of Effluviums p. 415 Of their Efficacy p. 424 Of their determinate Nature p. 431 F Of Bodies capable of Freezing others p. 38 Of Bodies disposed to be Frozen p. 42. Of Bodies not disposed to be Frozen p. 45 The effects of Frost on Solid Bodies