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
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
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
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
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
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
wear them tho' by a Sick Man the latter is more to be priz'd Fifthly But tho' it be so difficult to distinguish Valuable Forms from those of less Esteem yet there may be allow'd some Distinction amongst Subordinate Forms in as much as some belong to Similar and others to Organical Parts Sixthly amongst the Parts of Plants or Animals there may be some Parts so modify'd as to put on the Form of Seminal Principles which upon the Dissolution of that Body may act as such in actuating and guiding some Parts of Matter so as to convene into Insects c. Seventhly Upon the Dissolution of the Specifick Form of a Body the Body is to be consider'd as beset with other Substances which may act upon it as the Sun Air or some other Agent by means of which the Seminal Principles may be put into Action or new Forms may result from new Contextures of that Matter Sennertus his Opinion agreeable to the Corpuscular Philosophy These Observations being premis'd I shall endeavour to shew That what the Learned Sennertus delivers is agreeable to the Corpuscularian Philosophy I agree then with the Learned Sennertus That the Faculties of Plants and Animals depend not on the Materia Prima and Vegetative or Sensitive Soul nor on the Form of Mix'd Bodies consider'd barely as such but that there is something else requisite to produce that Variety of Effects observable in Specifick Medicines But tho' I allow these things yet I disallow their Way of Explaining them as well as a great deal more which they assert as That Subordinate Forms act under the Superintendency of Specifick Forms Subordinate Forms act not under the Superintendency of the Specifick Forms forasmuch as we may as easily attribute the Effects of a Compound Body to the mix'd Action of the Compounded Ingredients as to the Subservient Actions of Subordinate Forms which united will have an Action in common and proper to their Complex Modification it being different from what each of those Ingredients would produce separately As in a Ballance the Scale which by its Specifick Gravity ought to tend downwards is rais'd upwards by the Addition of a Weight in the other Scale So an Arrow by the Spring of a Bow is forc'd to flie in a Line different from what its Specifick Gravity would incline it to and with greater Violence And as a Clock whose Parts concur to the forming of an Engine proper to produce such Effects as usually are produc'd in that Machine does not act by Virtue of a Superintendent Specifick Form but the Parts are set on Motion and move Mechanically by the help of Weights so several Subordinate Ingredients may have a Joynt Effect each of those Bodies cooperating and modifying each other's Actions Likewise Gun-powder acts not by Virtue of a Specifick Form superintending Subordinate ones but Mechanically by Virtue of the Joynt Effects of its Ingredients which is evident since the Effects of the Composition are so different from what the separate Ingredients would produce and as from hence it appears that the Efficacy of it depends on its Mechanick Texture so to make it appear that the Ingredients were but slightly mix'd I boyl'd the Powder of it in Water and evaporating the filtred Liquor obtain'd Cristals of Salt-Petre the black stuff remaining in the Filtre being insipid and inflamable like Sulphur And this black Matter being boyl'd in a strong Lixivium so as to dissolve the Sulphur the Sulphureous Liquor will run through a Filtre leaving the Charcoal behind into which Liquour if an Acid Spirit be dropp'd the Sulphur precipitates in the Form of a white Powder But to illustrate our Doctrin of Forms and Qualities a little further I shall add That a blue and yellow Powder being mix'd in a just Proportion produc'd a green Colour which did not happen because those two Ingredients were subservient to a Predominant Form but because they both being joyn'd made a Compound Impression upon the Eye And likewise in making Sublimate or Vitriol all that is requisite to enable them to produce Effects proper to such Bodies is that the Parts should be in a proper manner contex'd and modify'd together and then they are not only capable of performing what is usually ascrib'd to them upon the Account of their more specifick properties but some which are not different as Vomiting and Purging c. from those Effects which are said to be produc'd upon Vegetables upon the account of a Superintendent Form So that tho' the Operations of Compounded Substances depend on the United Texture of Subordinate Forms Neither are the Actions of Compounds wholly to be attributed to their Union yet as I have before taken Notice the Actions of those Bodies are not wholly to be attributed to their Union since upon the Dissolution of that Contexture each Body hath its determinate Form and Virtue as when the Ingredients of Gun-powder are again separate or as when a Rose loses its Specifick Form by being taken from the Tree But To conclude this Discourse we shall again take Notice of what we have before hinted at in the beginning viz. The unfixt use of the Word Form and that a Body is said to be of this or that Form upon the Account of a very few Qualities If then the Form be nothing but a Congeries of Accidents it may by proper Agents lose that Form the Subordinate ones still remaining undissolv'd The Modifications of Bodies twofold till a more powerful Agent destroys them too so that a Body may have a twofold Modificatiod As for Instance The Spring of a Watch may by being put into the Fire lose that Elastick Virtue yet nevertheless the Substance is Iron and retains Qualities proper to such a Substance Again another Instance we have in a Rose which when it hath lost its Faculty of receiving a Nutritious Sap from the Tree yet it retains other Qualities which depend on the Texture and Modification of its solid Parts the former being only Qualities in respect of the Specifick Form but the latter the Result of its Contexture To illustrate this Notion a little further I shall make use of the following Comparison viz. That as a Mill which is an Organical Machine performs what belongs to it as such as long as it is supply'd with Water so a Plant is enabl'd to effect several things whilst actuated by a Vital Spirit And further as a Mill upon the Consumption or Congelation of that Water still retains the same Parts it had before so do the Parts of a Plant tho' the Soul ceases its communicative Virtue And to continue the Parallel further as the Constituent Parts of a Mill are not destroy'd tho' the Faculty of Operating as such be lost so neither is the Water but only by reason of Congelation or Evaporating in the Form of Exhalations ceases to coexist in a Form fit to turn the Mill So tho' a Plant or Flower be lopt off and retains the same Texture of its solid
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
Mass in a Viol cover'd with Ashes and being preserv'd in Fusion for a little time afforded a Luna Cornea But if instead of dropping the Salt upon the Solution the same Method just before laid down be taken with the Crystals yielded by that Solution moderately evaporated they will shoot into Diaphanous brittle Crystals much different from those of other Metals endu'd with several other Qualities the Quantity of Salts interpos'd betwixt the Parts of the Metal weighing but a third part of the Compounded Mass In the Foregoing Process the following Phaenomena may be taken Notice of to our present Purpose First That tho' Acids and Alcalyes have generally contrary Effects yet both Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium and Spirit of Salt have the same Effect in Precipitating Silver which evinces That the Precipitation of Bodies is neither to be attributed to Alkalyes nor Acids consider'd as such But to a mutual Interposition and Texture of the Parts of the Matter whereof those Bodies consist Secondly It may be observ'd That Bodies Diaphanous and void of Colour may be chang'd into Opacous and white ones Thirdly That a white Powder may be turn'd into a Yellow Body in some measure Transparent Fourthly That Silver by a Mixture of Saline Parts may be render'd so apt to Fusion that it will melt like Wax at the Flame of a Candle Fifthly It is remarkable That tho' either of the Ingredients of this Mix'd Body would readily dissolve in Water yet the Composition would not Sixthly It is to be admir'd that a Body in Texture not unlike a piece of Horn should be the Result of an Association of two rigid Bodies Wherefore to be satisfy'd That the Alteration depended on the Texture of Parts of the Ingredients I made use of the Oyl of Vitriol instead of Spirit of Salt and found that the Concrete resulting from an Union of that with the Crystals of Silver differ'd from the former it being much more brittle and easily divided into Parts But what is more remarkable is That a Body compounded of one of the most Bitter and another of the sowerest Taste should be it self insipid or of a different Taste from either of them And it is yet as strange that Salts so fugitive and apt to dissipate in the Air as those of Aqua fortis and Spirit of Salt should by acquiring a New Texture put on such a degree of Fixedness as to melt with a Metal and that without the least perceivable Evaporation EXPERIMENT IV. Several Phaenomena in Proof of the Doctrin of Forms and Qualities Having made a Salt of very different Qualities from all others and which is so nice in the Preparation that it is as difficult to direct how it is to be made as to make it I shall rather chuse to mention what Phaenomena it afforded me The First Thing Observable was That tho' the Ingredients of this Salt were Eminently Saline yet the Salt it self was judg'd by a Stranger to be Sweet tho' it had a Sweetness peculiar to it self as every Sweet Body hath Another Thing Considerable is That tho' it be of an Inoffensive Smell when cool yet if expos'd to a considerable Heat it emitted Effluviums more strongly faetid than those of Aqua fortis Spirit of Armoniack Salt or Distill'd Urine whereas those Fumes being again united into a Salt became Inoffensive as before And it is further to be Observ'd That tho' all Volatile Fix'd and Lixiviate Salts are so specifically different from each other that being mix'd together they ferment and by that means destroy each other and unite into a Substance different from each yet this Salt is so powerful as to be destroy'd by none of them but being mix'd with any of them remains quiet and without the least Ebullition But to be further satisfy'd that it was different from each of the foremention'd Salts I try'd several Experiments by which I sound that it would neither turn Syrup of Violets red as Acids do nor green as Volatile and Fix'd Salts usually do and tho' Spirit of Armoniack Salt or Urine will turn a Solution of Sublimate in Water white and Salt of Tartar will give it an Orange Colour yet was it not in the least alter'd by this Nay tho' this Salt was dropt into a Solution of Syrup of Violets along with Acids and Alkalyes yet did it not hinder their Effects Tho' in Dissolving several Substances this Salt exceeds both Aqua fortis and Oyl of Vitriol And it is further Observable That tho' by a gentle Heat this Salt wholly Sublimes yet when mix'd with Liquors it does not fly away as other Volatile Salts do and tho' it be Volatile yet it will run per Deliquium as soon as any Salt can do and as present reassumes its own Form the Superfluous Moisture being taken from it add to this That by a gentle Heat it may be dissolv'd in a Limpid Liquor And it is endu'd with a Quality yet more Admirable for it will readily dissolve either in Spirit of Wine or Water or Oyls themselves whereas some Bodies which may be dissolv'd in Water cannot incorporate with Oyls or Spirit of Wine and è conversò EXPERIMENT V. Several Changes in Bodies may be effected by the Addition or Substraction and new Modification of Matter The Experiment which I am about to deliver I presume will be sufficient to shew That Considerable Alterations in Bodies may be effected by the Access of some Parts and a Recess of others the Remaining Parts being Modify'd afresh The Experiment is the following viz. Digest for some Time one Part of Sea-Salt with a double Proportion of Spirit of Nitre which being distill'd in a Retort till the Caput Mortunm remains dry the following Changes of Qualities will be observable First That it becomes an Aqua Regis and would dissolve Gold but not Silver yet would precipitate the Latter when dissolv'd in Aqua Regis Secondly The Taste is more mild affecting the Sensory rather like Nitre than common Salt Thirdly It becomes Fusible like Salt-Petre and like Nitre dissolves in the Flame of a Candle But Fourthly Tho' it be a Quality of Sea-Salt to resist the Action of Fire and of Acid Spirits to cool Inflammations yet a Lump of this Matter cast upon Coals flam'd like Nitre as also by an Addition of Charcoal when melted in a Crucible it wou'd burn with a lasting and splendid Flame which would again renew upon a fresh Addition of burning Charcoal But what I chiefly design'd in this Experiment was to turn an Acid into an Alkaly An Acid may be turn'd into an Alkaly which was effected by consuming the more Fugitive Parth of the Salts by repeated Deflagrations whereupon it acquir'd instead of an Acid a Lixiviate Taste would turn Syrup of Violets green precipitate a Solution of Sublimate into an Orange Colour and as other fix'd Salts would ferment with even Spirit of Salt which Alkalyzate Nature could not be suppos'd to proceed from the Charcoal Ashes because the
Sounds as Amber continues warm a considerable time after the Sound made in rubbing of it ceaseth Several Qualities flow from an Alteration of Texture We observ'd likewise That the Fix'd Petre was of a Colour betwixt Blue and Green which it presently lost upon the Mixture of the Acid Spirit the Disposition of Parts being so alter'd as to reflect the Rays of Light differently to the Eye A Change not unlike which happens upon the Exposing Fix'd Nitre to the Air And it is not less to be admir'd That Soot which is Black and a Congeries of Opacous Exhalations should by the help of a good Fire fill the Receiver with Fumes as white as Milk And the Colours to be observ'd upon the Sublimation of Black Antimony and White Sal-Armoniack are no less pleasant But to return to the Experiment Having not long ago attempted to make Salt-Petre of Salt of Tartar and Aqua fortis the Mixture united prov'd to be of a very Green Colour which resided more peculiarly in some Parts of it than others tho' the Salt of Tartar was a particular Preparation whose Crystals were as white as Sugar Candy It is on this occasion likewise further to be observ'd That tho' Fumes of Nitre rais'd Distillation be of a Red Colour yet they condense into a Liquor altogether void of it and also That Fix'd Nitre tho' an Opacous Body yet does it unite with the imbib'd Spirit into Diaphanous Crystals Several Qualities destroy'd and regained by the Redintegration of Salt-Petre There is likewise to be observ'd Upon the Mixture of these two Ingredients a very offensive Smell caus'd by the Spirit of Salt-Petre emitting stinking Exhalations stirr'd up by the Mutual Conflict betwixt it and its Fix'd Salt where it is strange that this Mixture should have a Smell which is neither in Nitre nor either of the Ingredients and yet that it should lose that Smell again when turn'd into Nitre Besides the Taste of the Spirit being strongly Acid and the Taste of Nitre like that of Salt of Tartar it is surpizing that these two should unite into a Body of so much less pungency in Taste as Nitre bateing that it is a little sharper by reason of some Spirituous Parts sticking to the Particles of the Nitre But besides these there are several other Reflections may be made on the preceding Experiment for it seems a Question whether there is any real necessity of a distinct Sulphur to render a Body Inflammable or whether rather Inflammability depends on a disposition of Matter to be put into Motion by the help of adventitious Bodies as when the Ingredients of our Experiment are mixed or when a Piece of Iron is cast into Spirit of Nitre for the Parts of that Liquor which before were quiet and cold meeting with Pores which disorder their Motion they presently begin to move among one another with a strange Rapidity and to cause such a Heat that the Vessel would burn the Hands of them that held it And here it may not be amiss to take notice of one thing further that Occurs in our Experiment viz. that tho' Nitre put upon a burning Coal or a burning Coal being cast into it will consume it self in a Blue Flame yet when it is contiguous to the Sides of the Crucible which is red Hot it melts without the least Flame It may be also worth Enquiry why Nitre which is a solid Body should not rather stick in the Form of Sublimate to the Receiver like Sal Armoniack than condense only into a Liquor which does not again coagulate as some Volatile Spirits do But leaving these Phaenomena I shall observe further that though Spirit of Nitre exposed to the Air Insensibly exhales yet when associated with it's own fixed Salt it admits no such Effluviums Another thing to be observed is that upon a Mixture of these two Liquors several Saline Parts are tossed out of the Glass into the Air which falling down again several Grains of Salt will remain on the outside of the Vial which will be visible if the Experiment be tried in the Sun Beams And that there is a very brisk Motion amongst the Parts of Spirit of Nitre is evident by dropping some of it into a solution of Salt of Tartar for immediately some Grains were shattered in Pieces and thrown up to the top with a seeming Violence till the strength of those Liquors was mutually diminished by their frequent Occursions And that the Parts of each have contrary tendencies in their Motions is plain from this viz. if when the Ferment ceases more of one of these Liquors was dropped in there followed no Ebullition till some of the other was added to Ferment with it The same Particles of Matter have different Effects when in a Fluid from what they have in a solid Form And here it is seasonable to observe what different Effects the Parts of these Bodies have when at liberty and disjoyned in Liquids from what they produce when locked up in Concretes tho' their Effects even then are not wholly to be attributed to the briskness of their Motion but also to their determinate Sizes by which means Aqua Fortis which leaves Gold untouched will dissolve Silver yet by an Addition of Sal Armoniack it having acquired a new Figure and a peculiar Motion it Works upon Gold and for the like Reasons a Solution of fixed Nitre will dissolve Vnctuous Bodies which the Acid Spirit will not Work upon Again we may observe that the several substances into which Salt-Petre is reduced viz. the fixed Salt and the Volatile Liquor are both different from the Concrete it self which is an Argument against those Chymists that pretend that Bodies Distilled retain the Virtues of those Bodies they are Distilled from Chymistry rather destroys than discovers the Principles of Bodies for the Acid Spirit of Nitre will precipitate the same Bodies which fixed Nitre dissolves And so Spirit of Nitre will turn a Tincture of Brasil into a Yellow Colour which it will lose and in some Measure by an addition of a Tincture of fixed Nitre regain the former whereas a Solution of Salt-Petre changes neither of these Tinctures Eut to proceed This Experiment gives us Reason to believe that the Air is considerably concerned in the Production of Salt-Petre and in giving a Figure to it's Salts since the Crystals which shoot in the Solution exposed to the open Air are of a more exact Size and Figure than those obtained after a quicker Evaporation Besides which we have observed that a Mixture of Aqua Fortis and Salt of Tartar yielded Crystals much more like Nitre when it had been exposed to the the Air for some time than what it afforded upon an immediate Crystallization As for the Reason why the Crystals which shoot in the Air are more naturally Figured than others I conceive it to be because the Air is a more quiet and undisturbed Vehicle for them to move leasurely in by which means they have
black but also One saturated with Copper a Succedaneum to which may be made by adding to Sulphur as it melts over the Fire and equal Proportion of Salt of Tartar finely powder'd stirring them till they incorporate and become red Which Mixture being put into a Glass Retort with half it's weight of Sal-Armoniack dissolv'd in Water let it be distill'd in Sand shifting the Receivers as the Liquor drawn off is ting'd more or less so that the strongest may be preserv'd by it self And such Tryals as these will be of more use than those usually made with a bare Tincture of Galls since there are several Mineral Substances and other Bodies which Mineral Waters may be impregnated with which discover not themselves in an Infusion of Galls As Sulphur or Copper may be so lock'd up in these Waters as not to be perceiv'd till the Body of the Liquor is open'd by some proper Additament And even Arsenick it self may be so disguised as not to be perceiv'd when mix'd with the Waters yet if Spirit of Urine or Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium be dropp'd into a Solution of it it presently precipitates in the Form of a white Powder and so likewise if a Solution of Sublimate be added to it Whether Mineral Waters have Arsenick dissolved in them But to discover whether Mineral Waters be impregnated with Arsenick or not I put Dantzick or English Vitriol into a Solution of it either of which caus'd a dark precipitate gradually to subside 14. Whether Spirituous Acids volatile Alkalys or Lixivial Salts will precipitate such Waters 15. The Manner of Extracting Salts from such Waters and what Quantities may be extracted Guesses may be made concerning the Saltness of these Waters by trying whether they will Lather with Soap and if not what Quantity of Curdled Matter they will yield I have observ'd that even the lightest Waters will yield a small Quantity of common Salt 16. How to discover what Acidity is to be found without Evaporation Having taken a peculiar Method to try the Acidity of Mineral Waters by mixing them with an Infusion of Lignum Nephriticum in simple Water I found that tho' German Spaw yielded a small Quantity yet in that of Action there was none discernible 17. What may be observ'd by Distillation in Balnco 18. What and whether the same Quantity of Caput Mortuum be afforded by Evaporation and Distillation 19. Whether Mineral Waters will acquire the same Qualities and Texture by a Reunion of their Caput Mortuum when distill'd to such a Consistence in Glass-Vessels exactly luted which they had before 20. What Changes if any Mineral Waters undergo by being boil'd in Water in a Glass Hermetically seal'd From whence might be learn'd whether a Change of Qualities would succeed an Alteration of Texture without a manifest loss of Parts And whether an Agitation of Parts without the Influence of the Air would precipitate any thing or deprive it of it's Power to turn a Tincture of Galls Purple 21. How much the Mineral Waters exceed their Caput Mortuum in Proportien 22. What Parts are contain'd in the Caput Mortuum and whether dissoluble in Water 23. How much the Saline and Terrestrial Parts differ in Proportion 24. Whether in strong Fires the Salts be Volatile or Fix'd and to what Degree 25. Whether the Salts will Crystallize per se or with other Salts and what 's the Figure of the Genuine or Compounded Crystals 26. Whether Acid or Alkaline Qualities are most predominant The Acidity will either appear to the Taste or Smell or may be discover'd by turning Syrup of Violets red as also by making use of an Infusion of Lignum Nephriticum which upon a Mixture of Acids loses it's Blue Colour Their Acidity may likewise be discover'd by trying whether they will be precipitated by Alkalys or ferment with them And if Alkaly be predominant it on the contrary discovers it self by a Lixivial Taste and Smell and may be discover'd by turning Syrup of Violets Green or precipitating a Solution of Sublimate or Fermenting with Aqua fortis or lastly by increasing the Colour of a Tincture of Brasil or Log-wood in Common-water And tho' we have no such Springs here in England as afford Alkaline Salts yet without question in Egypt such may be found since their Latron or the Egyptian Nitre abounds with a Salt of an Alkaline Nature and I have obtain'd such an Alkaly from that Famous Water of Bourbon in France which would turn Syrup of Violets green and ferment with Volatile Acids If such Waters abound with Vitriol they 'll turn an Infusion of Galls black and Vomit those that drink them and if an Alkaly be added will yield a yellow Precipitate upon dropping of Spirit of Vrine or Salt of Tartar into them I have not found any of the Waters about London to be impregnated with Vitriol and I am told that in France the Mineral Waters are so far from being impregnated with Vitriol that there is a Vitriolate Spring in that Kingdom As for the Nature of the Salt which most Mineral Waters are impregnated with I think that it is not to be referr'd to any Glass but is either sui generis and a peculiar one or a Compound Salt made up of such as the Water is impregnated with in it's Passage through the Earth and that Purgative Salts may by a Change of Texture be made of Salts not at all Purgative I the rather believe because I have been told by an Ingenious Emperick That a Salt which I made of Salt of Tartar and Common Sulphur mix'd together had a gentle Purging Virtue 27. In what Menstruums the Caput Mortuum may be dissolv'd and in what it may not Whether Volatile or Fixt and what Qualities it hath in Respect of Colour or Smell What Proportion of Salt Mineral Waters afford It is to be admir'd what a great deal of Caput Mortuum some Mineral Waters yield in Comparison of others since those Waters which are purely Diuretick have very little if compared with the Caput Mortuum of Purging Waters For tho' a pound of Barnet Waters yielded a Drachm yet the same weight of Tunbridge afforded but a Grain And It is not a little strange that so small a Quantity of a Mineral should impregnate so much Water as I have by Tryal found a Grain of Iron Stone did enabling it to Tincture an Infusion of Galls deeper than Tunbridge or German Spaw Water would And I have try'd that half a Grain of Marchasite dissolv'd in Spirit of Nitre communicated a Tincture to 61440 Parts of Water tho' Part of that Marchasite was Sulphur and Part of it Caput Mortuum And here it may be seasonable to take notice That if so small a Portion of a Metalline Substance would when grosly dissolv'd impregnate so large a Quantity of Water how much more may it when rais'd in the Form of a Subtile Mineral Fume and as in such a Form it may impregnate a larger Quantity of Water so will it be
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
with Steel afforded Sparks of fire much bigger than those that are usually struck from Flint Whereas two cubial pieces of Load-Stone being struck together afforded Sparks but not so large as the former EXPERIMENT V. IF an oblong Load-Stone be cool'd in a perpendicular Posture the lower End becomes it's Northern Pole yet if that End instead of being expos'd to the Effluvia of the Earth be cool'd whilst resting on the Northern Pole of a strong Load-Stone it will be the Southern Pole and will attract the North End of a Needle EXPERIMENT VI. IF a Load-Stone which hath lost it's attractive Virtue be heated red hot and cool'd in a perpendicular Posture upon the North Pole of a vigorous Load-Stone and continue there for some time the attractive Virtue is renew'd EXPERIMENT VII A Load-Stone that hath lost it's attractive virtue by Ignition will not acquire so durable an attractive Virtue by being apply'd cold as hot to a Load-Stone N. B. Tho' several Load-Stones lose their attractive Virtue by Ignition yet the Observation does not hold in all since English ones not only retain a Directive but an Attractive Virtue after it EXPERIMENT VIII HAving heated two Load-Stones red hot and placed them upon a Plate of Silver we found that as they grew colder it had a more sensible Operation on them EXPERIMENT IX WE observ'd that one of the two Magnets just now mention'd not only retain'd something of it's Magnetical Qualities when twice ignited but being thrust into Filings of Steel carry'd a considerable Quantity of them up with it which shews how firmly the Qualities of some Magnets are lodg'd in it EXPERIMENT X. BUT we observ'd that the Magnet which would thus carry Filings of Steel along with it being heated again and suddenly immers'd in Water when cool would not carry Filings of Steel along with it as before nor would not move a well-pois'd Needle except held near to the Point of it EXPERIMENT XI AN oblong Load-Stone of a black Colour which weigh'd about three Drachms by being kept some time in a Charcoal Fire lost much of it's Colour and about â…š of a Grain in Weight And to discover the Affinity betwixt a Load-Stone and Iron Ore I took a Lump of it which was almost like white Stone and observ'd that it did not only manifestly move a Needle but when ignited underwent a sensible Change in Colour and would attract the North End of a Needle EXPERIMENT XII TO prove that some Bodies not usually class'd amongst Magnetical ones have nevertheless Magnetical Qualities I shall subjoyn That a Brick being divided into two oblong pieces and heated in the Fire acquir'd a Verticity by cooling North and South it 's Southward End being in some measure able to draw the North Point of a Mariner's Needle which the other End of the Brick would drive away EXPERIMENT XIII HAving without the help of Iron Instruments powder'd a black Load-Stone and pour'd Spirit of Salt upon the fine Powder it caus'd such an Ebullition as usually succeeds the Effusion of that Liquor upon Filings of Iron and likewise rais'd fetid Fumes And being kept for about two Nights in Digestion extracted a strong Tincture being almost red and not green like that of Mars yet would like that of Iron turn a Tincture of Galls black which in several Positions would appear Blew And to this I shall add that a Solution of Load-Stones being made in Aqua Regia the Tincture appear'd to be of a golden Colour EXPERIMENT XIV HAving powder'd an ignited Load-Stone and digested Spirit of Salt upon it it extracted a Tincture which was much like that of troubled Gold and would turn an Infusion of Galls black This Tincture being evaporated would not shoot into Crystals but upon an Affusion of Salt of Tartar yielded a Precipitate much resembling a Solution of Vitriol whereas another Part of it upon an Addition of Spirit of fermented Urine afforded a yellowish red Precipitate EXPERIMENT XV. HAving wet a red Mineral which I suspected to be Iron Ore with Linseed Oyl and preserv'd the Powder in a red hot Crucible for about two hours it was turn'd black and when cool had acquir'd a Magnetical Virtue which another Portion of it did tho' it was not as the other wet with that Oyl CHAP. XXV Experiments and Notes about the Mechaninal Origin and Production of Electricity Of the mechanical Production of Electricity THO' Electricity be a Quality generally reckon'd amongst the Number of those that are term'd occult ones yet there is no need to ascribe it to the power of a Substantial Form since it may be mechanically produced by material Effluviums issuing from and returning to the Electrical Body assisted in it's Operation by the External Air. There are several Modern Hypotheses which endeavour to account for Electricity as the Learned Cabeus's who supposes that the Steams of the electrical Body discussing and expelling the ambient Air that when driven off is violently oppos'd by the Atmospherical Air and being driven back upon the Body said to be attracted forces it up to the electrical Body Another Hypothesis propos'd by the Ingenious Sir Kenelm Digby and embrac'd by Dr. Brown and several others is that the Electrick Body being rubb'd emits unctuous Steams which being cool'd by the External Air shrink back and carry along with them those light Bodies which lie in their way Of this Opinion is Gassendus who supposes these unctuous Steams to cross each other and by getting into the Pores of Straws and other attracted Bodies take faster hold of them and when they shrink back draw those Bodies along with them Cartesius rejecting these Hypotheses supplants another which I cannot in few Words lay down but all the Reason he rejects them being because he supposes Glass incapable of emitting Effluvia it will be sufficient to remove that difficulty to Observe that if two Pieces of Glass be rubbed together they emit odorous and sometimes very Stinking Effluvia But without taking any further Notice of what Moderns have laid down about Electricity since they allow it to be performed by Virtue of subtle Emanations from the Attracting Body It may suffice that I proceed to mention some Phenomena that make us probably believe it done by Virtue of Mechanical Affections either of the Attracting Body or both And First it is Observed that most if not all Electrical Bodies attract not till warm'd by which heat they are enabled to send forth Eufflvia Secondly Amber attracts most vigorously when warmed by rubbing and Chafing by which Action the Motion of the Effluvia as well as of it's internal Parts are more agreeably modified than by the Action of Fire but if the Parts of the Amber be first put into Motion by the Fire and then Modifi'd by Chafing it sooner becomes Electrical Thirdly Tersion as well as Chafing promotes Electricity by removing those Bodies which might choak the Pores of the Amber and obstruct the Efflux of Emanations by sticking to the surface of it
prius de eadem ab eo interrogatus quod tum certior aliis de hâc pluvia factus esset tanquam testis oculatus ut qui aliquos horum pisciculorum videram confirmavi is porro ingeniosissime summâque veri specie nodum ita solvit ut diceret hos pisciculos unà cum aquis furentium ventorum gyro in turbinem actis evectos esse nubes è quibus non procul inde pondere rursus suo relapsi fuerint in vicinam terram TITLE XLVII Promiscuous Experiments and Observations of the Air. TITLE XLVIII Desiderata in the History of the Air and Proposals towards supplying them THE WORKS Of the HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE Esq EPITOMIZED BOOK IV. CHAP. I. Experiments and Observations about the Mechanical Production of Tastes THAT Taste which is Quality of a Body by which it is enabled to cause such a Sensation upon our Sensory may be caus'd by the Peculiar Size Shape Motion and mechanical Texture of a Body will appear from the following Instances whether they be simple or compound Bodies EXPERIMENT I. To divide a Body almost Insipid in two Bodies of very strong and very different Tastes Two Corrosives obtain'd from an insipid Body SAlt Petre refin'd tho' almost an Insipid Body distill'd by the way of Inflammation or by the Help and Addition of a Tastless Clay will yield a nitrous Spirit so sharp and corrosive that it will dissolve Metals and a corrosive fixt Salt different in Taste from the former and this will dissolve Substances that the other will not work upon and precipitate several Metals and other Concretes out of those Solutions made of them by the Spirit EXPERIMENT II. Of two Bodies The one highly Acid and Corrosive and the other Alkalizate and Fiery to produce a Body almost insipid An insipid Body produc'd from two Cirrosives IF a sufficient Quantity of Spirit of Nitre be dropp'd upon the fixt Nitre made per Deliquium till it is satiated upon a gentle Evaporation it will afford a Salt Petre and I have often obtain'd the like from Spirit of Nitre and Salt Petre which new Taste I am apt to believe proceeds from the new Figure and Size of the component Parts which they acquire upon a mutual Attrition in the Preparation For as the Prismatical Figure of Salt of Nitre by being broke and render'd more minute may have a more free Access to the Organ of Taste and by it's new figur'd Angles be able to corrode it these again uniting and forming Prisms may become as inoffensive to the Taste as before So Wedges may be made of a piece of Iron and those again united after a convenient Manner may form blunt pieces of Iron again and tho' a Stick cut in two be inoffensive enough to the Hand yet if violently broken the ragged Ends will be apt to prick into the Flesh EXPERIMENT III. Of two Bodies the one very bitter and the other extremely salt to make an insipid Substance An Insipid obtain'd from a bitter and saline Body IF strong Brine made of Salt and Water be cast upon Crystals of Silver dissolv'd in Aq. Fort. or Spirit of Nitre the dry'd Mixture being brought to Fusion in a Crucible and kept in that state a competent time will afford a tough Luna Cornea insipid which will not easily dissolve in more powerful Menstruums than Spittle PROPOSITION IV. Of two Bodies the one very sweet and the other salter than Brine to obtain an insipid Mixture An Insipid obtain'd from a sweet and a salt Body IF a just Proportion of Spirit Sal Armon or Urine be cautiously pour'd on a Solution of Minium in Vinegar or Saccharum Saturni dissolv'd in a proper Menstruum if the Taste be not destroy'd by the Mixture it will by being dry'd and flux'd as in the foregoing Experiment EXPERIMENT V. Of an Insipid and Soure one to make a Substance more bitter than Aloes A Bitter obtain'd from an insipid and a sour Body WHich is done by dissolving a sufficient Quantity of Silver in Aq. Fortis to satiate the Menstruum which if it be filtrated and it 's superfluous Moisture abstracted it will yield Crystals more bitter and no wonder since if one touch the Powder of the Crystals with ones Finger or Nail it would so stain them that it cannot easily be remov'd EXPERIMENT VI. Of an insipid Body and a highly corrosive one to make a Substance as sweet as Sugar A sweet Body obtain'd from a corrosive and an insipid IF good Aq. Fortis be put upon Minium and kept together in a gentle Heat till the Menstruum is satiated it will be as sweet as Saccharum Saturni but the Ingredients must be both good EXPERIMENT VII Of obtaining without Addition from the sweetest Bodies Liquors corrosive enough to dissolve Bodies A corrosive obtain'd from a sweet Body SUgar distill'd in a Retort will yield a red Spirit which being rectify'd will come over clear and colourless And the Caput mortuum will be altogether insipid The Spirit is of a very penetrant Taste and tho' taken to be a homogeneous Body yet I have found it to consist of two Spirits one of which would dissolve Copper Yet these sour Spirits being incorporated with Minium would acquire a saccharine Sweetness part of which they will dissolve in Digestion And a like Spirit to this may be obtain'd from Hony EXPERIMENT VIII To divide a Body bitter in the highest Degree into two Substances the one extremely sowre and the other perfectly insipid A sowre and an insipid obtain'd from a bitter Substance THis is done by distilling Crystals of Luna in a Retort with a strong fire in a Sand Furnace by this means the Spirits being driven away unite into an Acid corrosive Menstruums leaving an insipid Substance behind them EXPERIMENT IX To produce Variety of Tastes in one insipid Body by associating it with divers Menstruums Divers Tastes produc'd in an insipid IF Zinke be dissolv'd in Aq. Fortis Aq. Regis Oyl of Vitriol Spirit of Nitre Spirit of Salt distilled Vinegar Spirit of Sal Armon or of Urine it will by a Conjunction with those sapid Bodies so alter their Textures as to produce a different Alteration in the Tastes of each EXPERIMENT X. To produce Variety of Tastes with one Memstruum by associating it with insipid Bodies Various Tastes caus'd by an insipid AQua Fortis with refin'd Silver will produce a Bitter with Lead a saccharine sweet Taste with Tin a different Taste tho' not odious with Copper an abominable Taste with Mercury and Iron bad Tastes of different kinds It will likewise produce different Tastes with Tin Glass Antimony Brass Emery and Zinke EXPERIMENT XI Of two Liquors the one highly corrosive and the other very pungent and not pleasant to compose a Body of a pleasant and Aromatick Taste An Aromatick obtain'd from two corrosives MIX gradually an Ounce of good Aq. Fortis or Spirit of Nitre with an equal Quantity of inflammable
of Tartar being digested with several times it's Quantity of Onions acquir'd a Garlick Smell EXPEEIMENT X. With an inodorous Body and another not well scented to produce a Musky Smell A Perfume made of an inodorous and another Body not well scented THIS we have done by casting small Pearls into Spirit of Vitriol for whilst the Menstruum was dissolving them we could evidently perceive a strong Musky Smell EXPERIMENT XI With fixed Metals and Bodies either inodorous or stinking to produce strong and pleasant Smells like those of some Vegetables and Minerals To imitate vegetable Smells c. THO' Gold is inodorous and Aqua Regis of an offensive strong Smell yet the Solution being precipitated with Oyl of Tartar and the Precipitate fulminated per se in a Silver Vessel we observ'd that when the Fulmination was newly made the Steams were of a very pleasant Smell like Musk so that Art by lucky Contextures may imitate natural and specifick Odours And not only so but Nature may endew several differing Bodies with similar Smells for in the West-Indies there is a sort of Seed which for it's Smell is term'd Musk-Seed and in Muscovy the Skins of Musk-Rats have such a kink of Smell and Ducks at a certain Season of the Year if violently chased emit a Musk Scent And on the other hand there is a certain Wood in the East-Indies which smells like Stercus Humanum And I remember that having distill'd Saccharum Saturni with a strong Fire besides the Empyreumatical Liquor the Caput mortuum which was of a grayish Colour emitted a pleasant Scent And we may observe that Nature sometimes takes the same way to produce different Effects since tho' the Dung of most Animals is faetid yet that of a Musk Animal is well scented So that it is enough to introduce into a Body noble Qualities that it hath a due Contexture and Constitution of Parts And on this Occasion I shall add that the Excrements of other Animals are sometimes so much vary'd by the Temper and Dispositions of our Constitutions that Dung hath at a certain distance smell'd well and like Musk to some People And not to mention what hath been said of Alexander the Great I knew a Gentleman whose Sweat was very fragrant And Civet which is so well scented in a lax Air is as offensive to those that come too near great Quantities And it hath been observ'd that a Monky upon eating Spiders would cause a Scent like Musk. EXPERIMENT XII To heighten good Smells by Composition To inrich Smells by Composition IT is observ'd that a due Proportion of Civet or Musk mix'd with Amber-grease promotes the Scent of it for it is not the Quantity but the Justness of Proportion that inriches the Scent The best Proportion being 8 parts of Amber-grease two of Musk and one of Civet And it hath been observ'd that Bodies inodorous mix'd with the Ingredients of Perfumes promoted their Scent for which End Wine Vinegar hath been made use of by some And I my self prepar'd an Essence of Musk by digesting some of it in Spirit of Wine for some Days and then decanting the Tincture and a weaker sort may be made by pouring Milk upon the remaing part of the Musk and decanting it after a cold Digestion And one thing in this Tincture observable is that tho' it of it self hath but a weak Scent yet if a few Drops of it be mix'd with good Sack it perfumes the whole very richly both in Smell and Taste CHAP. III. Many Changes of Colour produced by one simple Ingredient Several changes of Colour produced by one simple Ingredient TO make it appear how much the Colours of Bodies depend on the Variation of Texture and their Modification I try'd the following Experiments in which several Phaenomena are exhibited by the Mixture of a colourless Ingredient such as Spirit of Salt I. If a little Spirit of Salt be mix'd with Syrup of Violets upon a piece of Paper it is presently turn'd from a Blew to a red Colour inclining to a Purple II. But if Spirit of Salt be dropp'd in a just Proportion into a Solution of Filings of Copper made with Spirit of Sal Armoniack the Blew will be turn'd into a green Colour III. Having mixed Syrup of Violets with Spirit of Urine Harts-horn or Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium and by that means turn'd it green I mix'd Spirit of Salt with it which turn'd it red IV. If Spirit of Salt be dropp'd into Water in which Red Rose Leaves well dry'd are put it will make the Tincture to be of a lovely Red. V. But if Tincture of Brasil be heightned by an addition of Spirit of Hartshorn or Urine Spirit of Salt will make it as pale as Sack so that that which heightened the Red Tincture in the former Experiment destroys it in this VI. Tho an Infusion of Lignum Nephriticum in Water betwixt it and the Light appears yellow yet when held so that the Eye may be placed betwixt it and the Window it appears to be blew yet upon the dropping of Spirit of Salt into it it loses that property VII Having dropped Spirit of Salt upon Paper stained with Ink the black was presently changed into a yellow and blew colour VIII If Filings of Steel be dissolved in Spirit of Salt the filtrated Liquor will upon Evaporation shoot into green Cristals which if when they are dry they be kept in a Crucible a moderate Heat will turn them red IX We found that the red Precipitate of Mercury per se would dissolve in Spirit of Salt tho crude Mercury will not we likewise found that the Redness of Minium was wholly destroyed by boyling it in Spirit of Salt and that the Tincture of Coral extracted with this Menstruum was wholly void of colour X. If Filings of Copper be long digested in a Sand-Furnace in a good quantity of Spirit of Salt viz. as much as will cover it the breadth of two Fingers the Metal being in part dissolved will be of a colour not unlike a muddy Red if held betwixt your Eye and the the light XI But if it stand some hours in a wide-mouthed glass it will be of a green colour finer than that which is made by a solution of Mars XII If Spirit of Salt be dropped into a Solution of Silver or Quicksilver in Aqua Fortis the mixture will be of a milky whiteness and presently deposite a white Precipitate XIII And the same Phaenomena will likewise happen if Spirit of Salt be dropped upon a Tincture of Benjamin or a Solution of Resinous Jalap XIV Having mixed a sweet Solution of Red Lead in Spirit of Vinegar with a Tincture of Red Roses I dropt Spirit of Salt into the mixture which precipitated the red and turned the green mixture into a durable Scarlet which if disturbed by a mixture of the white precipitate will be of a Carnation colour XV. Spirit of Salt which was muddy by standing upon Filings of Copper
being boyl'd to a clearness and set in a wide-mouth'd Cristal Glass in a small time puts on the colour of a German Amethist and in three hours time a lovely Green XVI Having gathered by filtration the Precipitate of Sublimate dissolved in water and when it was dry poured Spirit of Salt upon it in a glass Vessel the precipitate at the first will become white and when the ebullition which succeeds the mixture is ended it becomes a transparent Liquor XVII Having dropt Spirit of Salt upon a fourth part of Calcined Copper we found that the mixture produced a Tincture of a muddy Red and a white Powder which being acted on by the fire exhibited several colours XVIII The Solution of Copper just now mention'd being put into a Cylindrical Vial and 2 or 3 Spoonfuls of highly rectify'd Spirit of Wine poured upon it by shaking the mixture we obtained a Liquor of a green Colour like that of Emeralds XIX A few drops of Spirit of Wine being dropt upon a Taffety Ribband chang'd its Green into a Blew Colour and being dropt on a black Ribband alter'd that and made it put on that which is call'd a Fading Leaf XX. If Spirit of Salt be dropt upon Purple Paper it presently turns it Red. XXI Powder of Antimony being boyl'd to a Dissolution in Spirit of Salt in a glass Vessel lost its blackness and the Solution being dropt into Water it in a little time subsided in the Form of a white Precipitate These Experiments being laid down it may be necessary for us to observe how unexpected the Result of most Mixtures are which may be an Argument against the too frequent use of Compound Prescriptions since it often not only is uncertain how those Ingredients may destroy the Vertues of each other but somtimes whether they will duly mix according to Physitians expectation CHAP. IV. An Experimental History of COLOURS begun Containing Part the First THO there are some especially Chymists who think that a considerable Diversity of Colours Diversity of Colour not always an Argument of a variety in Qualities must always imploy a Diversity of Nature yet we see that Taffaties are endued with changable Colours as well as the Feathers of several Birds which have as great an Affinity in Nature as in Place and not only several Feathers vary in Colour from one another but sometimes several parts of the same Feather And there is no less variety of Colour in several Leaves of Flowers tho no difference can be discovered in their Properties A considerable Instance in which we have in Marvail of Peru which tho it produces several Scores of Flowers in its Season yet I have scarce found two coloured alike Yet changes of Colour oft signify Alteration in the Properties of Bodies But tho I believe that a variety of Colours does not always imply a Diversity of Properties yet I question not but that an alteration in point of Colour signifies a Variation in the Disposition of Parts of Bodies which is evident in the Extraction of Tinctures and several other Chymical Operations wherein the Change of Colours is the only Observation by which the Artist regulates his Process So we see that several Degrees of Maturation produces various Colours in Fruit and Steel if it be heated glowing hot in the fire and held over a Basion of Water till it changes its white to a red Colour so far as is then quench'd will be hard'ned and when polish'd at the end will look whitish but if the end of the Steel be held in a Candle so that the polish'd part may not be sully'd that which is almost contiguous to the Candle would change from a bright Yellow to a deep one or a sanguine Blew and from that to a fainter and then to a deeper Blew and in each of these diffetent Appearances its Texture is so much different that if whilst it is yellow it be cooled it is fit for Gravers Drills but when blew it is softer and fit for Springs of Watches and if it be kept long in the flame after this blew appears it will be too soft for Drills till hardned again And it is not a little pleasant to see how these Colours will succeed one another and run along the Steel very fast But because the flame of a Candle usually sullies the Steel we generally make use of a red-hot Iron to heat it with But not to prosecute these Experiments out of their due Place before I descend more Particularly to present you with my Considerations concerning Colours What is meant by Colour I think it requisite to premise That Colour being a Word of a twofold Signification in the following Discourse I shall sometimes use it to signifie only the Sensation of those reflected and modified Rays of Light which cause that Effect on the Sensory and generally in the vulgar Acceptation intimating by it the Disposition in the Object which causes the Rays of Light to be reflected so as to produce on the Sensory this or that Colour What the Perception of Colours depends upon And perhaps it may not be inconvenient to add that it is the Opinion of several Modern Atomists that the Sensation of Colours depends not so much on the inherent Qualities of the Object in the Sense but that such a Motion is given to the Spirits in the Retina that that communicated to the Brain and causing a Local Motion in some part of it we always think we see such a colour when the slender strings of the Retina are put into a like Motion whether the Light concurs to the Production of that Motion or not whence dreaming Men often think they see several things in their sleep and distracted Persons fancy they see several things before them which depends only upon an Internal Local Motion of their Spirits And so upon a violent blow upon the Eye we sometimes fancy we see Lightning and flashes of Fire and even upon a blow on the Head or when internal Humours cause such a Concussion in the extremities of the Optick Nerves as is wont to produce a Sensation of Light And I remember that having my self a violent Cough I fancy'd I saw flashes of Light which presently disappear'd again and a very discreet Lady observ'd that the day before she was seiz'd with some violent Hysterick and Hypochondriacal Fits which for the time gave her a bastard Palsey every thing before her seem'd to be dyed with bright and vivid but unusual colours And I am told by an ingenious Gentleman that several that were seiz'd with the Plague sometime before fancy'd every thing coloured over very beautifully and this Symptom was successfully remov'd as well as the other Symptoms of that Distemper by a Vomit The Vomit which was successfully given in this was made of about 8 or 10 Drachms of Crocus Metallorum and half a Drachm of white Vitriol But further as the Apparition of a Colour may be caus'd by the Motion of the Humors
Ingredients and leave the Gold appearing with its genuine Colour Thirdly A Liquor may alter the Colour of a Body either by destroying or subdividing the Parts of it as when Wood is cut into Chips or a piece of hot Crystal quench'd in cold Water for it being by that means crack'd will not reflect the Rays of Light as before Fourthly A Liquor may change the Colour of another Body by collecting together Parts of Matter scatter'd and dispers'd so Quicksilver pour'd into a Solution of Gold acquires a thin Film of a yellow golden Colour and by a like Method all those Colours that seem to be produc'd by Precipitation are generated tho' Resinous Gums dissolv'd in Spirit of Wine being unites into a Mass again and so rectifyâ—d transparent Butter of Antimony upon a Mixture of Water precipitates that white Substance which when it's Salts are wash'd off is called Mercurius Vitae A Fifth way by which a Liquor may alter the Colour of another Body is by altering the Texture of it's Parts as when Quicksilver is kept long in a convenient Heat Metals are corroded or Fruit is bruised or when the Parts of a Liquor are agitated by the Affusion of another Body or when Chymical Oyls are shaken in a Bottle for the Bubbles by that means rais'd will exhibit very lively Colours Another way is by putting the Parts of a Body into Motion after which they may unite in a new Form so Vitriol rubb'd upon the Blade of a Knife imparts not any new Colour to it but if the Vitriol be moisten'd it will impart a true Copper Colour to the Iron Another way by which a new Colour may be imparted to a Liquor is by an Association of it's saline Parts with those of the Body it is made use of to work upon by which means the superficial Parts of a Body may be alter'd both in Shape and Figure and not only a greater number or a less may be compriz'd in the same space but the Pores betwixt the Protuberant Parts may be much straitned and the old ones partly fill'd up as well as new ones intercepted as when Quicksilver is dissolv'd in Aq. Fortis the saline Parts of the Menstruum associating themselves with the Mercurial Corpuscles will afford a Green which afterwards degenerates easily And so Minium by being dissolv'd in Spirit of Vinegar yields a clear Solution and if Aqua Fortis be dropp'd upon a Copper Plate the Parts of the Metal being corroded acquire an Asperity and coagulating with the Menstruum form Grains of blew Vitriol whereas Spirit of Urine will produce a much deeper Blew And Aqua Fortis which will give Red Lead a dark Colour with crude Lead will produce a white one with Iron a reddish and upon white Quills a yellowish Colour And that in Chymical Dissolutions and Precipitations the saline Parts of the Body made use of to precipitate unite with metalline Parts they precipitate we shall have reason to believe if we consider how much Vitriol and the Calces of Metals are heavier than the Metals themselves After what we have laid down concerning the Causes of Changes of Colours there are two things to be taken Notice of The one is that there are other ways to vary Colours speedily besides those we have taken notice of by the help of Liquors as in Tempering Steel c. The second Particular requisite to be noted is that tho' a Change of Colour may be effected any one of the ways above-mention'd yet generally at least three of them are at once concerned Several Bodies generally esteemed opacous semidiaphanous From what we have been discoursing of the Asperities of Bodies in causing a Reflection of the Rays of Light one would think that the Substances themselves are perfectly opacous and impenetrable by the Rays of Light and so contribute to the Variety of Colours reflected to the Eye But I am apt to believe that even those Bodies which we call Insensible are compounded of Parts still more minute whose Commissures are not utterly impervious to the Rays of Light and that the Bodies compounded of those are in some degree Diaphanous For in a dark Room where the Light is only permitted to enter at one Hole I have observ'd that those Motes which were otherwise insensible in the Beams of Light would represent several vivid and florid Colours like those of a Rainbow or of sparkling Fragments of Diamonds and as soon as that Position which they had at that time in reference to the Eye and the Light was lost they ceas'd to represent those Colours tho' still remain'd visible so that from hence it appear'd that these small Fragments of Matter commonly reputed Opacous did not barely reflect but also refracted the Rays of Light And it is not a Phaenomenon altogether to be slighted that Water tho' a diaphanous Body hath a manifest Power in refracting the Rays of Light so that by passing through it they represent the lively Colours of a Rainbow And it is further observable that several Bodies which are generally esteem'd Opacous appear in a great measure transparent when they are reduc'd into thin Parts and interpos'd betwixt the Eye and a Powerful Light which is evident in thin Plates of Ivory thick Leaves of Trees Shells of Fishes and shavings of Wood. And in a darkned Room I found that the Substance of my Hand was in a great measure transparent when it was held betwixt my Eyes and the Rays of Light which came in at a small Hole And not only white Marble of a convenient Thickness but Lapis Specularis or Muscovite Glass being divided into thin Plates will be considerably transparent and even Coral it self will manifest the same Transparency if held near the Light But on the other hand I must own that having look'd upon Mercury precipitate per se Filings of Copper and Steel the Red Calx of Lead and the Red Colour of Vitriol they appear'd not to have the least Transparency How far the Transparency or Semidiaphaneity of Bodies may contribute to the Variety of Colours produc'd by them I shall not take upon me to determine since beaten Glass Snow and Ice whose superficial Parts are manifestly transparent represent not the lively Colours which they do when conveniently qualifi'd by their Bigness Shape and Texture But to draw an Inference from what hath been said of the Cause of Colours It appears that according to the Hypothesis we have laid down Bodies can only be said to be coloured when placed in the Light but that according to the Antients if we take the Sense of the Word Colour to mean only that Disposition of the superficial Surface of a Body which enables it to modifie the Rays of Light They may be said to have Colours in the Dark since they have that Disposition which enables them to reflect the Rays of Light in such a Form as to produce Colours The short duration of Colours no Argument of their not being genuine And from what
Macrocephali mention'd by Hypocrates And it hath not only been observ'd that a sort of Hens want Rumps but I have seen a Raven perfectly white To which I shall add that a Lady who was a devout Catholick looking upon the Pebbles at the Bottom of St. Winifred's Well some time after bore a Child whose Skin was cover'd with the Resemblance of Red Pebbles To what hath been said of Negroes I shall add that the Epidermis only is black the Skin under that being as white as that of the Europeans so that a Child who had the Measles or small Pox after those Pimples had broke was cover'd with a multitude of white Spots And it is attested by several that the Negroes when first born are red or white like other Children but in a few days acquire the Colour of their Parents Nevertheless some of them that are born under the Torrid Zone continue white and are presented to the King and always wait on him These are usually as Purchas witnesses brought up in Witchcraft and the People stand in great Awe of them EXPERIMENT XII NOT only common Crab's Eyes and Pearls but Coral and Minium dissolv'd in Spirit of Vinegar may be precipitated by Oyl of Tartar into white Powders And not only Silver and Tin but Lead and Quicksilver dissolv'd in Aqua Fortis will yield a white Precipitate upon an Affusion of salt Water and so will Tin-glass and the Calces will be much better colour'd if they be precipitated with Oyl of Vitriol instead of Oyl of Tartar And black mineral Antimony may by the Salts which concur to the Composition of Sublimate be turn'd into a rectify'd Butter of Antimony which upon an Affusion of fair Water will precipitate the white Powder call'd Mercurius Vitae and the like Powder may be made of Antimony without any Addition at all And the like white Substance will be precipitated by an Affusion of Water upon a Solution of sulphureous Gums in Spirit of Wine And to these I may further add that Water being pour'd upon a red Tincture of Benjamin drawn with Spirit of Wine will turn it white But if such seemingly white Bodies stand for some time unstirred a resinous Substance will of it self subside And if acid Spirits be dropp'd upon a red Solution of Sulphur in Pot-Ashes or some other sharp Lixivium the precipitated Sulphur before it subsides will turn the red Liquor white But tho these several Bodies yield white Precipitates yet all will not since Gold yields a yellow one whether precipitated by Oyl of Tartar or Spirit of Sal Armoniack And Mercury tho when reduc'd to a Sublimate whether precipitated by Spirit of Urine or Hart's-horn it yields a white Precipitate yet with a Solution of Pot-Ashes or other strong Lixiviate Salts it will let fall an Orange Tawny colour'd Powder And so will Crude Antimony upon an Affusion of an acid Liquor To which we may add that any of these fix'd Salts being pour'd upon a Solution of Vitriol it will yield a Sulphur of Vitriol not at all white EXPERIMENT XIII THO it be in some measure true that White is a Colour like the Materia Prima fit to take any Form and that Black is a Colour which is not to be changed for another yet it does not hold universally true for tho' the Ingredients which dye a Body Black by infecting other Ingredients usually hinder it from taking a higher Colour yet we have made it appear that Inks of different kinds might be depriv'd of their Blackness And I have sometimes turn'd black Pieces of Silk yellow with Oyl of Vitriol And as for Whiteness we ought not to believe it so easily destroy'd without Caution and some Restrictions For Lead is by Calcination turn'd into a red Body and Tin is reduc'd into a white Calx and the common Putty sold in the Shops is made up of half Tin and half Lead and yet notwithstanding the Lead the Putty is white without discovering any Mixture of Minium And so if Copper be mix'd by Fusion with half the Quantity of Tin they will yield a Substance in which the white Colour is much more transparent than the reddish Colour of the Copper And on this occasion I shall add that Arsnick being colliquated in Copper blanch'd it but the white Mixture being kept upon the Cupel till the Arsnick flew away the Copper return'd to it's Pristine Colour And to shew how much the white Colour of a Metal may obscure the Colour of those it is mix'd with I shall add that a fourth Part of Gold being mix'd with Silver the yellow Colour of the Gold was not to be discern'd but when it was rubb'd on a Touch-stone Aqua Fortis would take off the Silver and leave the Gold behind it upon the Stone EXPERIMENT XIV A Polish'd Piece of black Horn being scrap'd with a Piece of Glass and laid upon a black Beaver Hat seem'd white enough but being plac'd upon white Paper the Colour of that eclipsed the Whiteness of the Horn and made it appear like dirty Linnen From which Experiment it appears that Colours depend neither on substantial Forms nor the Hypostatical Principles of the Chymists but on a Reflection of the Rays of Light variously modify'd by their new superficial Texture EXPERIMENT XV. IT is Taught by the Chymists that Blackness depends on Sulphur adust But besides what hath been already offer'd as the cause of Blackness I shall add in reference to the Opinion here propos'd that common Sulphur sublim'd is far from black but it is in a great measure yellow and rather more than less white than before and when set on fire to make Oleum Sulph per campanam it yields very little Soot and the Flame yields so little that it will scarce black a white Sheet of Paper and it is observ'd rather to whiten than to black Linnen and makes red Rose Leaves grow pale and not black And I have seen a Piece of fix'd Sulphur which was kept several Weeks in a violent Heat yet it had no other Colour when cool but a pure red And not only Sulphur but that sulphureous Body Camphire may be kept in a violent Heat without acquiring any thing of Blackness Nor will inflammable Spirit of Wine discolour a piece of Paper held over it whilst it consumes And Tin calein'd yields not a black but a white Calx and not only the Charcoal made of Oxy-Cedar is white but the Smoak of Tinby Coals is observ'd rather to blanch Linnen than black it To what hath been said we may add that the Ingredients of our Ink were not hot but cold and Juice of Limons will blacken the Blade of Knife except it be quickly wiped off tho' no actual Heat intervenes to adust the Sulphur And if the Blackness of the Ink depended on adust Sulphur it might be demanded what became of those adust Particles when the Liquor by a few drops of Oyl of Vitriol lost that Colour Besides Soot it self may have it's Texture so far
both weakening the Spirit on which it falls for as Crimson is a Red with an Eye of blew so Yellow is but a dilated Red and therefore Alkalizated Salts will not only restore the Infusion of Cochinele and Brasil to Crimson but will turn the yellow Juice of Madder red and an Infusion of Brasil to a Crimson And here it may be worth while to consider why Blew and Purple seem to bee deeper Colours than Red and therefore the Juices of Plants of either of the two former Colours may be turn'd red by Spirit of Salt or Aqua Fortis yet Syrup of Violets should be on the contrary turn'd green by Oyl of Tartar and Spirit of Urine which is a more dilute Colour than Blew EXPERIMENT XXXVIII SALT distill'd at a certain time of the Operation yields red Fumes and Vitriol tho green or blew comes over in white Fumes and the like I have observ'd in the Fumes of several other Concretes And I have observ'd that even Soot hath fill'd the Receiver with white Fumes yet neither Spirit of Nitre is red nor that of Vitriol or Soot white And to these Observations we may add that the Empyreumatical Oyls of Woods are of a Colour betwixt black and red And tho' there is so great a difference in the Colours of Plants yet the distilled Liquors vary not And it is observ'd in Sublimation that the Flowers differ much in Colour from the Fumes that compose them as red Benzoin yields white Flowers and Antimony affords Flowers some of them Red and some Gray and some of them purely white And it is the Practice of some Glass Men to make a Blew sublimate of a convenient Proportion of Brimstone Sal Armoniack and Quicksilver And it is observ'd that Orpiment which is a yellow Substance yields a Sublimate amongst which several red Fumes ascend and I have seen a Sublimate whose lower Parts were set with reddish Particles which glitter'd prettily EXPERIMENT XXXIX IF good Spirit of Urine be dropp'd into a Tincture or an Infusion of the Flowers of Pomgranates the Red will be turn'd into a Green Colour but by Spirit of Sea-Slat it will become come a transparent Liquor which red may be tur'd into a dirty Green by Spirit of Urine Oyl of Tartar being dropp'd into Water wherein Leaves of Senna were immers'd it presently appear'd red but the same would not happen upon an Affusion of Oyl of Vitriol Yet red Rose Leaves being put in warm Water Oyl of Vitriol extracted a red Tincture but Oyl of Tartar would not But we observ'd that the Oyl of Tartar only hasten'd the Tincture of the Senna since the Leaves in a Nights time will yield a Tincture in cold Water which will not be heighten'd by Salt of Tartar And it may be said of the red Rose Leaves that the Tincture was rather extracted than produc'd by the Oyl Yet this is observable that in extracting the Tinctures the one will not do what the other will but I have found that Aqua Fortis will do as well as Oyl of Vitriol If upon the red Tincture of Roses decanted you drop Spirit of Urine and shake the Viol it is contain'd in it will acquire a greenish Blew which is observable since the turning of red into blew is a very unfrequent Observation And in the Passage of this red Tincture to a blew if it be taken as the Liquor is dropp'n in it will afford a pretty variety of Colours so as sometimes to represent the Tincture of Lignum Nephriticum And if the Tincture be very high the Spirit of Urine will turn it to a deep Opacous blew but the Liquor being left open two or three Days both the blew and the red Colour vanish'd the Liquor being of an Amber Colour and having a feculent Sediment of the same Colour which seems to be form'd of the Roses drawn together by the Acid and precipitated by the Volatile Salt of the Spirit of Urine in whose room other sulphureous Salts may be substituted And on this occasion I shall add That Having dropp'd Spirit of Urine into an Infusion of Galls it presently turn'd the Red Liquor into a Purple one but if the Infusion of Logwood were impregnated with acid Spirits of Salt it would yield neither a Red nor a Purple but a yellow Liquor EXPERIMENT XL. TO shew that Colours may be generated de novo and again destroy'd We dropp'd Oyl of Tartar into a Solution of Sublimate in Water and the Liquor being agitated it was turn'd into a deep Orange Colour but upon dropping in some Drops of Oyl of Vitriol and continuing to shake the Glass strongly the whole will presently become transparent again In which the Colour results from a Coalition of the Mercurial Particles with the saline ones and with the Alkalizate Particles of the Salt of Tartar which swim up and down in the Oyl But how these uniting come to form such a Substance as reflects such a Colour I confess my self at a loss to explain But in Confirmation of the Reason I have given for the Colour of this Precipitate I shall add that having sublimed together equal Parts of Sal Armoniack and Sublimate and dissolv'd the ascending Flowers in Water and siltred it the limpid Liquor turn'd white upon the Affusion of an Alkaly and not yellow And not only by altering the Texture of the Mercury but by varying the precipitating Liquor the Success of the Experiment will be different For if Spirit of Urine be made use of instead of Salt of Tartar the Precipitate will be of a different Colour from the former And from Quicksilver it self without Sublimate we may prepare a Pricipitate dissoluble in Water without discolouring it And the Colour of such Substances so much depends on the Texture of the Parts concurring to the Composition that tho' in our Experiment Oyl of Vitriol destroys the yellow Colour yet by the Assistance of Oyl of Vitriol we may make a yellow Precipitate with Quicksilver and Water alone And I the rather employ Oyl of Vitriol in such Experiments because it is not only void of Colour but strong and incisive for notwithstanding common and undephlegmed Aqua Fortis will not effect the same thing yet being carefully dephlegmed it will in some measure answer Expectation But one thing to be noted in this Experiment is That tho' by dropping in Oyl of Tartar and Oyl of Vitriol successively the Liquor will regain and lose it's yellow Colour yet the Proportion of the Liquor growing less in respect of the successive additional Drops the yellow Colour will gradually appear more faint An Improvement of the fortieth Experiment If Crude Antimony be boil'd in a strong Lixivium it will yield a sulphureous Sediment which will settle in yellow Flakes in the Bottom and will be more apt to take fire than the Powder of Antimony Therefore considering that Sulphur boil'd in a Lixivium may be precipitated by Rhenish or white Wine and likewise that by Acids I could precipitate other sulphureous
Concretes out of lixiviate Solvents such as crude Antimony And tho' common Sulphur yields a white Precipitate call'd Lac Sulphuris yet I concluded that Antimony would yield a yellow one as well by being made by Oyl of Vitriol as Length of time Wherefore I put a fresh Solution of Antimony into one Glass and some of the Orange colour'd Mixture into another where by dropping Oyl of Vitriol into the latter it would become transparent whereas the same Oyl would turn the other clear Solution into a deep Yellow But in this Experiment we are to observe that the Solution of Antimony must be fresh otherwise in Winter it will scarce succeed Reflections on the XL Experiment compar'd with the X and XX. Tho' the X and XX Experiments shew how Acids may be distinguish'd from Urinous and Alkalizate Salts yet thence we cannot distinguish Urinous Salts from Alkalous But by the Preceding Experiment I was enabled to distinguish Lixiviates by their precipitating an Orange Tawny from a Solution of Sublimate in Water whereas Urinous Salts would make it either White or Milky So that by this Experiment I could discover that Sal Armoniack drawn from an Alkaly is but a Urinous Salt more refin'd the Alkaly separating and retaining the Sea-Salt mix'd with it for it would not only turn Syrup of Violets green and Verdigrease Azure but would precipitate a White Substance from a Solution of Sublimate And from hence we may not only learn to conclude Affirmatively but Negatively of the Nature of Salts since Spirit of Wine and Essential Oyls have either no Salt in them or it is of a peculiar kind since they will neither turn Syrup of Violets Red nor Green nor a Solution of Sublimate White or Yellow I found that Spirit of Oak tho' it be a Chymical Principle yet it would turn Syrup of Violets Purple and destroy the Blewness of a Tincture of Lignum Nephritium as Acids do and would corrode Coral like Spirit of Vinegar but when the Acid Part of this Spirit was separated from the other it would have no more Effect upon any of those Liquors as Spirit of Wine or Essential Oyls And by this Method we may discover the Nature of most Salts produced either by Art or Nature And by the same Method here laid down I have observ'd several Liquors which tho' run per Deliquium would have no other Effect than Spirit of Wine And I know how to make a strong saline Body which will neither Work upon Syrup of Violets or a Solution of Sublimate And now to what I have said it may be seasonable to add that the Effects of Salts upon a Solution of Sublimate depend on the peculiar Texture not only of the Solution but of the Bodies by which it is precipitated for a Solution of Gold in Aqua Regia will yield a yellow Precipitate whether Oyl of Tartar Spirit of Urine or Sal Armoniack be added to it yet Oyl of Vitriol which precipitates a Solution of Silver in Aqua Fortis will have no such Effect And the Crystals of Silver dissolv'd will yield a White Precipitate whether an Alkaly or an Acid. was dropp'd into the Solution yet Sal Armoniack would not produce the like Effect So that the Superfluous Moisture being evaporated the metalline Corpuseles with the saline ones that had imbib'd them coagulated into Salt as such Solutions usually do when the Metal hath been precipitated EXPERIMENT XLI AN Azure Solution of Copper in Spirit of Urine being shaken with Oyl of Vitriol would become clear as Water And tho' Aqua Fortis usually extracts a Blew greenish Solution from French Verdigrease yet being dropped into a Solution of it in Water it almost render'd it Colourless but upon an Affusion of Oyl of Tartar or Spirit of Urine it will disclose a Colour somewhat different from the Solution of Verdigrease it self EXPERIMENT XLII THE dry'd Calx remaining after an Evaporation of a Solution of Quicksilver in Aq. Fortis gave a yellow Tincture but Quicksilver being put into a Retort with four times it's Weight of Oyl of Vitriol and the saline Menstruum being drawn off in a Sand-heat till a dry Calx remain'd in the Bottom tho' this Calx was of a White Colour it would pass through a Milky Colour to a Yellow upon an Affusion of Water And Beguinus Tyr. Chym. Lib. 2. cap. 13. Prepares Turbith Mineral which he calls Mercurius praecipitatus Optimus by digesting and then two or three times Cohobating one Part of Quicksilver with two of Oyl of Sulphur and by frequent Ablutions in hot distill'd Water c. But tho' this Yellow of ours be a much finer than any in the Painters Shops yet it is too dear for ordinary use were we certain it would agree with oyl'd Colours From whence it appears that a Menstruum which is devoid of Colour may produce a Colour being mix'd with a White Calx EXPERIMENT XLIII TO shew that a Colour may be produc'd by a Liquor that hath neither Colour nor saline Parts we pour'd Water on a gray Calx of Vitriol and tho' at the first the Mixture was of a muddy Colour yet being shut up in a Viol for some days the Calx being partly dissolv'd and shot into Vitriol gave the Water a vitriolate Colour and so it did to fresh Water pour'd on the Calx when the tinged Liquor was decanted EXPERIMENT XLIV BY dropping a few Drops of a Tincture of Cochinele or Brazil into Water it will acquire a Pink Colour from which by successive Additions it will pass from that to a fine Red and from that to a Crimson and after that to an Opace Red and several intermediate Colours may be perceiv'd in it's Passage from one Colour to another But these variations will be more conspicuous if we make use of cylindrical Pipes instead of Viols And I have observ'd that a Tincture of Brazil being put into a Viol that in the Body of it appear'd Blew but that in the Neck which the Rays of Light trajected more plentifully appeared green and I had a Piece of Glass which being held betwixt the Eye and the Light seem'd clear and when the Eye was placed betwixt it and the Light it appear'd slightly discolour'd yet being apply'd to the Glass it was knock'd off it appear'd as green as Grass And I have had Bottles which tho' they were made of the same Materials with the Stopples were nevertheless different in Colour And I have a flat Glass which obverted to the Eye flat appears like ordinary Window Glass but if the Edge of it be obverled to my Eye in a convenient Posture it will appear like an Emerald And I have had a certain Pigment which if it lay thick upon a Piece of Paper would appear to be of a Crimson but being spread thin on the Paper it would seem green And I have likewise observ'd that that blew Substance call'd Litmase being dissolv'd in Water gave it a Tincture betwixt Crimson and Purple yet it stain'd Paper Blew
and the like Colour was afforded by it on a Piece of flat glaz'd Earth And some of the same being dropp'd into a Glass of Water of the Figure of an inverted Cone exhibited great-Varietys of Crimson and Purple and when the Litmase was perfectly mix'd with the Water it afforded a glorious Yellow like that of a Topaz when a few Drops of Spirit of Salt were dropp'd into it And if a few Drops of a Solution of Pot-ashes were dropp'd into it they Subsiding into the bottom of it would afford a bright dilute Colour in the bottom of the Glass a Purple above that and a deep Crimson betwixt that and a Yellow which rought to the top of the Glass And if Spirit of Sal Armoniack were pour'd upon that it would turn Part of the Yellow into a Purple or Crimson From which Experiments it appears that as the Particles of a Pigment are nearer or more dispers'd the Colours represented by them Vary EXPERIMENT XLV A Preparation of Steel us'd as a Succedaneum of Spaw-Waters and whose Colour was like that of German Amethist being dropp'd into Rhenish-Wine afforded a lovely Green but Water or Spirit of Wine will not receive that Tincture from it And to satisfie my self that the Effect depended not on any Acidity in the Wine I impregnated Water with Spirit of Salt but notwithstanding it would not receive a green Tincture from the Liquor And to vary the Experiment I dropp'd Alkalizate and urinous Salts into the Green Tincture by which it put on a dirty and a turbid Colour but if this essense of Steel was drop'd into Water impregnated with Spirit of Salt a Solution of Salt of Pot-ashes or of Spirit of Sal Armonick would turn it Yellow the Vitriolate Salt being precipitated by them And Olaus Wormius takes Notice of a rare kind of Turn-sole which would communicate a red Tincture to Water and tho' it would to Wine yet Spirit of Wine would not be at all Ting'd by it so that Tincture both depends on the peculiar Textures of the Body that receives and that which gives the Tincture EXPERIMENT XLVI THe Adventitious Colours of Metals are either such as they acquire by the Action of the Fire upon them or such as result from the Coalition of Metaline Particles with the Mestruum which dissolves them or lastly when they are mix'd together by Fusion And first Tin by the Action of the Fire being calcin'd affords a white Calx and Lead a Red one and Copper calcin'd per se yields a dark blackish Powder and Iron by reverberated Flames may be turn'd into a Crocus and Mercury may be turn'd into a Red Powder And Besides these more obvious Colours there are several intermediate ones whilst by the Action of Fire Metals are a Calcining And not only the Calces but the Glasses of Minerals vitrifi'd per se are of Colours different from the Metal so that I have seen a Glass made of Silver of a dark Colour And not only Metals but Minerals may be brought to yeild Colours by the Action of the Fire different from their own as Antimony affords a whitish Gray Calx and Flowers variously Colour'd and the Calx by being flux'd will yield a Glass of a yellow or reddish Colour And Vitriol Calcin'd passes through several Colours before it comes to be of a dark Purple EXPERIMENT XLVII AS for the Adventitious Colours produc'd by the Union of Metals with their Solvents Gold gives Aqua Regis it 's Yellow Colour but Mercury gives no considerable Colour to Aqua Fortis except a Greenness or Blewness at the first which presently disappears Tin corroded by Aqua Fortis subsided in the form of curdl'd Milk or Eggs. Lead dissolv'd in Spirit of Vinegar affords a clear Solution and if the Menstruum be drawn off appears White Iron dissolv'd by Oyl of Vitriol diluted with Water yields a Green Vitriolum Martis but gives a Saffron Colour to Aqua Fortis or a yellowish Red. Common Silver such as is coin'd gives a Copper Tincture to Aqua fortis but such as is refin'd perfectly gives a blewish Green to Aqua fortis and Spirit of Vinegar and being sublim'd with Sal Armoniac it affords a blewish Sublimate And indeed Copper dissolv'd in several Menstruums will yield a great Variety of Greenish Blew or blewish Green Colours But with Spirit of Sugar and Turpentine it affords a Blew Tincture with a mixture of Green And to shew that the Adventitious Colour may result from the Copper it self as well as the Salts which Corrode it I moistned Dantzick Vitriol with Spittle and then rubbing it upon a Knife it gave it a redish Colour like that of Copper Saccharum Saturni with Spirit of Turpentine will yield a red Balsam and that Stone which Helmont calls Paracelsus his Ludus in a proper Menstruum affords sometimes a yellowish and sometimes a red Solution And before I leave this Experiment I shall add that if Quicksilver be precipitated out of Aqua fortis with Spirit of Sea-salt or Sea-salt dissolv'd in Water it will subside in the form of a white Powder but if it be precipitated with an Alkaly it yields a yellow tawny Powder but if the Menstruum be drawn off without precipitating it the remaining substance will vary it's Colour as it is expos'd to different degrees of Heat so that once I observ'd the white Calx to remain partly in the bottom of the Vial of a deep Yellow and in some part Red the remaining Part being elevated in the form of a reddish and ash-colour'd Sublimate And Vermilion is only a Sublimate of Mercury and Brimstone EXPERIMENT XLVIII TO shew that Metals Associated with other Bodies will afford different Colours I have given an Instance in Silver which gave Glass a lovely golden Colour And I shall now add that I am told that Artificers paint Glass yellow with Calx of Silver And I have obtain'd a Substance of a saphirine Blew from Shel-silver mix'd with Powder of crystal Glass kept in Fusion two or three Hours which I attributed to some Copper latent in the Silver And tho' Copper calcin'd per se yields a dark colour'd Calx yet it tinges Glass Green But being kept in Fusion with 100 times it's Weight in Glass it afforded not a green but a blew Substance which whether it proceeded from the Action of the Mineral or it 's saline Parts only or both I must not stay to enquire But to proceed Putty made of Tin and Lead Calcin'd together being a white Calx gives colliquated Glass the resemblance of white Amel which will receive into it the Colours of divers Minerals which will indure the Fire And I have elsewhere taken Notice that blew and yellow Amel being compounded will afford a Green And it is commonly known that the dark Substance call'd Zaffora will give Glass a blew Tincture And that dark Substance term'd Magnesia from it's similar Colour to that of a Load-stone gives Glass not only Colours different from its own
but in themselves as a Red Purplish or Blackish as the Quantity of it varies yet it is us'd to free Glass from that blewish green Colour that it is subject to and this may serve to confirm what we deliver'd in the XLIV Experiment viz. that as the Parts of a Pigment are more closely or set at distance the Colour will vary And here it may not be altogether fruitless to advertise that it may be a good way of trying Ores and what Metal they most abound with to try what Colour they give Glass when mix'd in a due proportion and kept in Fusion in an equal Degree of Heat and length of time But to proceed to other Instances agreeable to those we have laid down yellow Orpiment and Sea-salt Sublim'd together constitute white Arsnick and tho' Orpiment is the greater Part of the Composition yet Arsenick gives Copper a white Colour within and without In counterfeiting Factitious Gems by Vitrification it is observ'd That calcin'd Lead Colliquated with white Sand or Crystal powder'd by successive Ignitions and extinctions yields a Decoction of the Colour of a German Amethist And I have observ'd in calcin'd Lead it self something like the Colour of such an Amethist And with Glass of Lead overpower'd with other Pigments you may emulate the Greenness of Emeralds tho' in several Cases the Colour of the Lead may vitiate that of the Pigment and these Colours so much depend upon Texture that before the aforemention'd Mixture acquir'd an Amethistine Colour it passed through several intermediate Colours and the Colours of such Substances may be so much vary'd by degrees of Fire that I have had a Mass of the size of a small Nut of four distinct Colours ANNOTATIONS BUt besides the aformention'd Ways by which Metals may acquire adventitious Colours there are yet two unmention'd For I am told that it is impossible to strike that Colour term'd a Bow-dye without the Materials be boyl'd in Vessels either made of or lin'd with a Particular Metal The other way of dying Bodies is with the Solution of Metals in their proper Menstruums so Gold dissolv'd in Aqua Regis will dye the Nails and Skin and Hafts of Knives made of Ivory not with a Golden Colour but a Purple scarce ever to be wash'd out And I have already told you that a Solution of Silver will dye the Nails Black So Brine colours Beef Green or Red and a certain proportion of Salt-Petre and common Salt Colours Neats Tongues Red and such Flesh as would be otherwise White And to these I shall add that a Solution of Sulphur of Vitriol or common Sulphur will Colour Silver with a golden or reddish Colour for which Reason the Bath Water causes that Effect And the Juice of Alcanna which is Green dyes the Skin and Nails of a lasting Red. EXPERIMENT XLIX BOyl a sufficient Quantity of powder'd Turmerick with Water adding to every pound of Water two Spoonsful of a filtred Solution of Pot-ashes in a clean glaz'd Vessel till by immersing a Piece of Paper you find the Turmerick to have given it's Tincture then drop into the filter'd Tincture a Solution of Roach Allom the ting'd Parts being curdl'd will swim up and down in Flakes and the Liquor will pass through a Filtre clear leaving the Yellow Parts behind it which may be dulcifi'd by an Affusion of Water but this vegetable Lake may be seperated from the decanted Liquor without filtration by pouring on a sufficient Quantity of Water for then it will either swim on the Top or subside to the Bottom and may be made fit for use by being dulcifi'd with fresh Water after it hath been gather'd by Filtration and then it must be dry'd upon a Cloth under which Bricks Chalk or Paper is plac'd to imbibe the Moisture ANNOTATIONS THo' it be generally believ'd that this Magistracy of Vegetables is only made up of the colour'd Parts of the Plants yet to favour the contrary I shall represent that Allom contains a stony Matter as well as an Acid Spirit and tho' Workmen in the making of it use a Sea Weed call'd Kelp and Urine yet natural Allom hath been found in England a Solution of which by an Affusion of Lixivium of Pot-ashes would depose a white Curd which being filtred would leave behind it a metalline stony Calx very White little Bits of which being plac'd upon a live Coal would neither melt nor fly away nor would they wash away in hot Water so that they were unlikely to be seperated from the Vegetable Lake by Ablutions And to this I shall add that from the filtred Liquor I have obtain'd saline Parts which would Flame at a Candle and fly away with some Noise and I have obtain'd such a Substance from Allom by precipitating it with urinous Salts and even Urine it self so that sometimes we may think that we obtain a Precipitate from a Liquor when it is in a great measure yielded by the Solution of Allom made use of to precipitate it The abovemention'd way of making Lakes being try'd with Madder it yielded a Red one and with Rue it afforded one of the same Colour with the Leaves But since the Colour is extracted from the Vegetable by the addition of a Lixivium it is a Question whether the Lake will always be of the Colour of the Herb since Lixiviate Salts may not only extract but alter the Tinctures of Vegetables And tho' Acids sometimes do yet we have found by experience that they will not always restore Colours destroy'd by Alkalies since Syrup of Violets turn'd Green by an Alkaly will not be restor'd to a Blew by an Acid but is chang'd to a Red. And I have found that when the Colour of the Lake was not alter'd by the Alkaly it would be much fainter than the Vegetable it was drawn from But to conclude this Experiment I shall add that Allom is not only of use in such like Experiments as these but also in the Dyers Trade EXPERIMENT L. HAving a Mind not only to change the Colour of one Body into another but also to obtain two Substances of distinct Colours from one Body in order to it I consider'd that since Spirit of Vinegar wholly loses it's Acidity by working upon Minium the Solution would alter the Juices of Plants as Oyl of Tartar usually does and acordingly I found that it turn'd an Infusion of red Rose Leaves Green And further considering that Oyl of Vitriol will precipitate Solutions of Minerals especially in Spirit of Vinegar and that the Calcesare usually fair and White Considering these things I dropp'd a Solution of Minium into an Infusion of Roses by which it was turn'd Green but dropping on that Oyl of Vitriol it would precipitate the Lead in the form of a white Powder and leave in the Liquor a clear and high Tincture of Roses which appear'd when the Experiment was try'd in a Glass shap'd like an inverted Cone And this Experiment likewise succeeded when Spirit of Salt was made use
of instead of Oyl of Vitriol but with Aqua Fortis it would not succeed for tho' that Liquor will heighten the Colour of the Tincture of Roses yet it will not precipitate the Lead And as by this means from a Green we obtain'd a white and red colour'd Substance so a Purple will yield a yellow and a red Liquor for if instead of an Alkaly which turns an Infusion of Logwood Purple I made use of a Solution of Minium and put one Part of this to two of the Infusion Spirit of Salt would precipitate a red Substance and leave the Liquor above Yellow But an Infusion of Logwood being turn'd Purple by a Mixture of a Solution of Minium Spirit Sal Armoniack dropped upon them precipitated a Blewish deep Purple Substance partly in the form of a Powder and partly Curdl'd but upon an addition of Spirit of Salt the remaining Part of the Lead was precipitated in the form of a white Powder so that there were in the Glass three distinct Colours viz a Purple at the bottom a white Carnation upon that and upon the top a transparent Liquor Yellow or Red. But to conclude I shall add that I would not have my Readers too hastily to think any of the foregoing Experiments false tho' they should not succeed upon first Tryal since very slight Circumstances may alter or frustrate the Event of several of them to Confirm which I shall add the following Instance viz. that if the Ingredients made use of to dye Scarlet be weighed and mix'd never so exactly and all other circumstances be observ'd yet if they are not boyled in a Vessel lin'd with Tin the Cochineel will not be able to strike a right Colour FINIS Advertisement THE Works of the Honorable Robert Boyle Esq Epitomiz'd Vol. I. By Richard Boulton of Brazen-Nose Colledge in Oxford Illustrated with Copper Plates Printed for J. Phillips at the Kings-Arms and J. Taylor at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard Price bound 6 s. ☞ The Third Volume of the said Abridgment is now in the Press and will be Publish'd in Michaelmas Term and sold at the same Places THE TABLE A. THE Effects of AIR on Feathers in an exhausted Receiver page 6 7 The Force of the Airs Expansion p. 9 13 14 15 16 17 The Specifick Weight of a determinate Proportion of Air and Water page 19 20 Air produced from Bread page 38 from Grapes page 39 79 115 Grapes bruised page 41 Must page 42 Apples page 42 121 164 164 182 Plums and Apricocks page 72 77 168 Pears and Apricocks page 116 The Production of Air obstructed from Dough page 44 from Pears page 45 Paste page 48 49 56 58 Raisins page 49 Plums and Apricocks page 51 Grapes with Spirit of Wine page 54 Without page Ib. Peaches page 55 from Ale in Vacuo page 59 Pease page 60 Amber burnt in Vacuo page 113 Aq. Fortis mixed with Nitre page 139 with Spirit of Wine page 146 Ale in Vacuo page 198 199 Whether Air be contain'd in the Pores of Water page 205 Ants and Mites in a Receiver page 227 Attraction what page 234 Of the admirable Rarefaction of the Air without Heat page 249 Air expanded to 8000 times its Natural Dimensions page 250 To 10000 times its Dimensions page 251 Of the Duration of the Air 's Spring page 253 Of the Condensation of the Air by Cold page 255 Of the different Extension of Air rarified compressed page 257 Of the weakened Spring and unheeded Effects of the Air page 259 Of the Efficacy of the Air 's Moisture page 272 273 341 Of the Insalubrity of the Air page from 276 to 299 The General History of the Air begun page 330 What is meant by Air Ibid. Its Ingredients page 331 Of the Air 's Spring page 334 Of the Generation of the Air c. page 336 Of the Air 's Weight page 363 AE Whether Aether is contained in Vacuo Boyliano page 4 5 6 B. A small Bird included in a Receiver page 93 103 209 221 A Bee in Artificial Air page 96 A Butterfly in Vacuo page 105 227 Beef inclosed in a Receiver page 68 124 176 180 187 188 192 197 198 Beans included in a Receiver page 133 144 Butter page 178 Bread in Vacuo page 195 Beer in Vacuo page 198 Blackberrys in Vacuo page 199 Blood and other Humors expanded page 218 The reason of Bubbles in Vacuo page 230 Observations about the Barometer page 243 A statical Baroscope proposed page 247 Of the Production of Blackness page 461 469. C Colours produced in Vacuo page 10 11 Cherries inclosed in a Receiver page 61 62 63 64 117 153 Perfumed Cones in Vacuo page 109 110 111 112 Camphire in Vacuo page 114 Cabbages in Vacuo page 118 Coral page 167 Cow-heel page 194 Cream in Vacuo page 197 CLARET in Vacuo page 199 A Crawfish page 207 Catterpillars in Vacuo Of the Changes of Colours in several Mixtures page 259 260 261 262 263 305 405 Of Clouds page 344 Of the Mechanical Production of Colours page 436 440. Promiscuous Experiments of Colours page 483. D. A Duck in Vacuo page 200 212 New Diseases caused by Subterraneal Effluvia page 296 E. The Heart of an Eel in Vacuo page 210 An Eft in vacuo page 223 Of the Mechanical Production of Electricity page 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 355 F. Flies inclosed in a Receiver page 86 105 225 Frogs in compressed Air page 87 In Artificial Air page 99 101 In Vacuo page 108 203 210 Fly-blowings in a Receiver page 106 148 Frog-Spawn page 106 148 Flies Eggs in Vacuo 107 Flesh and Broth page 185 186 192 193 Of Frogs page 344 The Influence of the Air on Fire and Flame page 401 The Relation betwixt Flame and Air Ibid. Of the Air in reference to Fermentation Ibid. G. Grapes inclosed in a Receiver page 64 135 162 Gilliflowers in compressed Air page 90 Goosberrys in a Receiver page 101 126 131 133 Gillyflowers in a Receiver page 71 197 A Gudgeon in Vacuo page 208 A Greefinch in Vacuo page 211 214 H. Hartsborn burnt in Vacuo page 113 194 A Statical Hygroscope proposed page 264 Of the Utilities of Hygroscopes page 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 Of Hail page 419 K. A Kitling in Vacuo page 204 L. Why Liquors ascend in Syringes page 2â—â— Of the Production of Light in Vacuo page 10 A Limon inclosed in a Receiver page 90 120 Melted Lead in a Receiver page 138 Larks with Beef page 181 with Butter page 185 A Linote in Vacuo page 213 A Lark in Vacuo page 214 A Leech in Vacuo page 224 Of Light ning page 350 An Extract of Mr. Lock 's Letter page 367 Of the Effects of the Air in reference to Life page 410 M. Milk in a Receiver page 121 184 196 Mercury in Vacuo page 151 Must page 42 Minium page 167 A Mouse page 212 220 Why Contiguous Marbles are not easily separated page 228 Marchasiâ—es
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
colour and taste of Wine In thirty eight hours Canary exposed in a spoon was covered with a thin film which grew no thicker in four days But neither Claret or Canary would freeze in Tubes or Bottles Two ounces of Spirit of Wine exposed in a spoon all evaporated in twelve hours but the same quantity of Brandy left about a spoonful of Ice void both of taste and it 's Inflammable Quality but being held betwixt my Eye and a candle it discover'd several bubbles An Ox and a Sheep's Eye were both frozen through in one Night the three Humours being Opacous hard and inseparable The Chrystalline humour was white like Whitings boil'd the waterish and glassy humour seemed to be made of flakes of Ice Sheeps Blood exposed to freeze the Serum was turned to Ice which being separated from the Blood and thawed at the fire congealed a second time into a Membranous substance but the Blood was not in the least froze The Heart and Blood in the Vena Cava of a Dog and Cat exposed dead to the Air were both froze Milk froze into white flakes being soft and with few bubbles in it and retaining the proper taste of Milk The yolks and Whites of Eggs were froze in one Night they thaw best by lying on New-Castle Coals or in a deep Cellar I am told that Eggs tho' they have been froze will produce Chickens-Eggs held near the Surface of the Water when froze will acquire a crust of Ice on the outside the inward Parts of it still remaining froze and if those Eggs whilst froze be poched they will be very tough An Egg and an Apple being suspended two Foot deep in a Cistern and taken up after twenty four hours tho' both of them were full of Ice within yet neither of them had contracted Ice on the outside Horse-Radishes and Onions froze yet Beer in which Horse-Radish and Scurvey-Grass are infused will not freeze so soon as strong Beer without them Oranges and Limons froze have a hard and tough rind and lose their genuine taste and when thawed they soon become rotten Apples Cut in the middle will have a thin Ice on both plains which may be discerned by a knife or the touch The skins of these Apples soon turn brown and they begin to corrupt there Oyl exposed look'd like Butter melted and coagulated again but in Caves and Cellars it would never appear more than Candied White Wine-Vinegar froze in a Tube without apparent bubbles Whatever hath a watry humour in it will coagulate But what will not the next Paragraph contains Spirit of Wine Aq. Mariae Coelestis c and Canary in large Vessels Soap-Boilers Lees Spirit of Salt Vitriol Salt-Petre Aqua fortis Spirit of Sulphur and Spirit of Soot will not freeze but the two last afford a Precipitate the first of the colour and taste of Brimstone but not inflammable the latter a yellowish powder more bitter than the Spirit and inflammable But tho' these Spirits would not freeze yet being mixed with twelve Parts of Water all of them froze except Spirit of Salt Nitre and Aqua fortis I am told that one having dissolv'd Ice in the North Seas found it Salt As for the figures of Liquors froze Allum appear'd in lumps Salt-Petre Tartar Milk Ale Wine and Sal-Armoniack in plates And other Liquors which composed a soft Ice seened to be composed of Globuli adhering to each others Water Kelp and Frits resembled the fibres of an Oaken leaf the interstices being filled up with smoother Ice and the middle Fibres as in Plants appeared larger than the others and made acute Angles at the lesser end of the leaf But as for the figures of frozen Urine those having been accurately describ'd by the curious Mr. Hook I shall pass that part of my task by I took the Salts of Rosemary Rue Scurvey-Grass Mint and Plantan and putting ½ or ¾ of an ounce of each into ½ of a pint of their distilled Waters the Rue and Plantan being sealed up none of them froze resembled the Plants they belong'd to but the Aromatick Waters were much enriched in their scents especially the Rosemary Kelp froze represents the leaves of Alga Marina A Recipient full of Water being froze and the top of the Ice broke there appeared a Cavity within which was thick set with Plates of Ice from which Stiriae appeared on each side like the Teeth of Combs some of which stood at such a distance that I could put my finger betwixt them A flask full of Water being froze it appear'd full of bubbles like tailed hail-shot the sharp points of all of them pointing upwards They had Cavities which would admit a Pin into them and might be discerned in the Ice appearing like black spots And in the middle of the Ice was contained a Cavity filled with Water in which were several of these bubbles imperfectly formed All the Liquors I made Experiments with did sensibly rise above the mark before they froze and more after congelation Vinegar and Urine rose ½ an Inch and Lees made of Salts of Rosemary Kelp and Frits about ½ of an Inch. Solutions of Allum and Copperas less and Saline Liquors in general less than Water which rose a full Inch and small Beer in a narrow Tube four Inches Oyl of Vitriol alone subsides below the mark hot Water subsides till it is cool and then rises again Water being froze in Beer-Glasses rises up and forms solid Triangles but the rising of it is more visible in narrow Glasses Ice in a flask rose four Inches above the Water-mark and hung two Inches out of it but in a Bolt-head it rose five Inches above the Water-mark If Glasses be filled about ⅔ full they seldom break Round Spherical Glasses usually break uniformly A Bolt-head being filled up to the neck with Water the top which was twelve Inches above it was sealed up upon which the Water being froze was raised three Inches into the neck and the Glass breaking in the thinnest Part from that point several Lines ran as from a Pole to the Meridian but none of them went round the Glass nor were they all of the same length In a flask cracked in many places the cracks were irregular Glass Bottles and stone-Jugs kept little order in breaking and Metals none at all but Woods cleave with the Grain Two oval Boxes one of Box and another of Maple containing each two ounces were fill'd full and by the Frost in one Night were cracked from the bottom to the top A Pepper-Box of Latin had its neck broke off and the joints at the bottom loosned Lead-Pipes above ground were broke in many places and some that lay a foot under ground Brass-Locks and Barrels of Pumps usually break with the Frost A Copper-Box of the shape of a Pear was cracked the fourth time it was froze The Cylinder of a silver Ink-horn bore the Frost but a silverball was considerably extended by the Frost Tobacco-Pipes and Earthen Ware were burst with the
artificial Spaw whose Taste not only agrees with that of the Natural Spaws but it will like Tunbridge or the German Spaw turn a Tincture of Gauls Purple EXPERIMENT V. The Bezoar Stone being a Medicine of great use not only in malignant Feavers but the Plague and by reason of its dearness apt to be counterfeited I shall add the following way of distinguishing betwixt good and bad viz. by disgesting about fifty grains finely powdered with six drachms of Spirit of Nitre in a digestive Furnace for after they have been mixed some time the Spirit begins to dissolve the Powder and extracts a red Tincture which being placed in a North-ward Window about eight and forty Hours shoots into Chrystals much like those of Salt-Petre To shew that the purging or astringent Qualities of Bodies depend on the Disposition of the Patient as well as of the Agent I shall intimate that a certain Lady having eat a Toast with Cinnamon upon it was so violently purged for about two days that it brought Convulsions and a Spasmus Cinycus upon her which was not removed in three Years A Physician to whom I communicated several things sent me the following Account in a Letter from Dublin dated Feb. 27. 1682. viz. That he found the good Effects of Ens Veneris in removing the Subsultus Tendinum in a Febris Petechialis which was fatal to many for about fourteen Months The Method I took in this Feaver was if the Patient was costive first to prescribe a Glister and a large blistering Plaster between the Shoulders keeping it running 'till the Declension of the Distemper all this time I prescribed Emulsions of Aqua Aronis Card. Bened. Citri totius Syr. Gratorum cum Aceto Orange and Butter-milk Posset c. I avoid the use of all those things that quicken the Circulation of the Blood and I rather prescribe Blistering to prevent than cure Affections of the Genus Nervosum because the Matter being once fixed in those Parts they become ineffectual A designed Chymical Medicine Considering that the Menstruums usually employed in opening and preparing the Body of Steel were Acids I tryed to do it in the following method Having dissolved fresh filings of Steel in a warm place in a sufficient quantity of Spirit of fermented Urine highly rectifyed per se the filtrated solution had a taste different from all other Chalybeat preparations and being set in a cold Window in three days precipitated a powder of a green colour yet the decantated Liquor by Evaporation would not in the least Cristalize This Preparation hath effects quite different from those Preparations made by Acids and is much more agreeable to some Persons A designed Chymical Medicine That I might try whether a Metalline Sulphur might be obtained from Steel I pitched upon a Menstruum void of Sulphur that if the Preparation should yeild Sulphur it might not be suspected to come from the Menstruum Wherefore I dissolved Steel in Spirit of Sea-salt and upon Evaporation obtained very curious Cristals from which we drew by Distillation in a Retort a good quantity of Liquor which came over in the form of Steams which had a very Sulphureous smell which being rectifyed and mixed with Aqua Fortis would dissolve Gold and give it the colour of Silver which may intimate to us how much the Vitriols of Metals may differ according to the difference of the Menstruums which dissolve them since our green Vitriol affords Liquors different from that made with Oyl of Vitriol Besides which it may be worth while to note that though neither common or Roman Vitriol will dissolve in Spirit of Wine which is Inflamable yet our Vitriol would readily and here it will not be unnecessary to hint by the by that a solution of our saline Vitriol may not improbably be of use in Wounds being a very powerful Astringent and fit to prevent the breeding of Worms in Wounds disposed to abound with such in cold Climates But what we cheifly designed in this Experiment and what is most to be taken notice of is that the dry substance raised by the fire was distinguished by accidents into three kinds of substances First a Powder which when exposed to the Air turned yellow Secondly a deep coloured substance betwixt red and brown of Parts much grosser than the former Thirdly a substance of a shining red whose Parts were very fine and subtle The Caput Mortuum was changed into a Talky substance consisting of Lamelloe situated and connected much after the same manner as the thick Plates which make up Muscovia Glass CHAP. VII Experiments and Observations Solitary EXPERIMENT I. A notable Comminution of Gold into Powder that will sink in Water A Comminution of Gold into Powder WE dissolved a grain of refined Gold in Aqua Regia adding about two spoonfuls of Water to the Solution in which Mixture a small piece of Metal being suspended it in a few days afforded a deep coloured Precipitate which was so light that it was a considerable time in subsiding and as easily raised in the form of Mud upon an Agitation of the Vessel where it was to be noted that tho' upon an Agitation the Liquor at the first seemed Opacous yet in a little time it appeared to be of a fine Purple colour so that the Particles of Gold were so far divided as by being scattered through two ounces of Water to give a Tincture to it EXPERIMENT II. A Proof of the Metalline Nature of Granates The Metalline Nature of Granates c. In Confirmation of what I have elsewhere delivered viz. That the Virtue of Gems depends on a Mixture of Metalline Juices with the Particles of those Gems whilst in fluid forms I shall take notice that a Granate of a dark colour being applyed to a Load-stone it so strongly attracted it as not without violence to be separated from it EXPERIMENT III. I am told by an Ingenious Gentleman that he saw a flat Saphir in the East-Indies which had a small Cavity in the middle of it filled with a fluid substance which was not so apt to petryfie as the rest EXPERIMENT IV. To prove that Fishes hear under Water I shall here lay down a Relation which I received from an Ingenious Gentleman who in a Garden near Genoa observed the Gardiner to assemble the Fishes in the Pond together by a certain noise which he made EXPERIMENT V. To illustrate and confirm what hath elsewhere been observed concerning the various colours refracted by the minute and Parts of Solids I shall here note that a Globe of Rock-Crystal being sawn in two the new superficies refracted the Rays of the Sun so as to exhibit colours more lively than those of a Rain-Bow which were refracted this way or that as the superficies of the Stones were differently situated in reference to the Sun-Beams and the like Phaenomena succeeded the like Tryals with a Touch-stone Which Experiments may confirm what hath elsewhere been delivered concerning colours of Bodies depending on a
which being dryed in the Air formed Bodies like Moss and here and there small Mushrooms prettily coloured And from other Granates I obtained a Tincture which after evaporation did in the Cold afford saline Concretions but so small that their figures could not be determined And probably were tryals made other Mineral Concretes might be wrought on by appropriated Menstruums for tho' the Spar that is found in Lead Mines next the Veins of Ore be Semidiaphanous and usually breaks in smooth and Glassy Superficies and looks like a Talck and also for the most Part is made up of figured Particles shaped like Rhombuus's or Rhomboides yet I found it was a more open Body than Talk being dissolved in Spirit of Salt without the assistance of Heat But I am apt to believe that besides the methods already mentioned there are other methods to discover the Metalline Ingredients of a Body by Fusions and proper Additaments And to conclude this Chapter I shall subjoyn the following Experiment viz. Having dissolved Stony Stiriae of petrifyed Water in Spirit of French Verdigrease and after a gentle Evaporation placed it in a cool place it yielded â—…stals figured much like those of pure Nitro◠〈◊〉 some of this Stony solution being mixed wiâ—â— a solution of Copper they did not precipitate each other but upon Evaporation yielded Crystals transparent and colourless and that were richly adorned with a greenish blue Tincture of the Metal CHAP. II. Containing a Conjecture about the Causes of the Virtues of Gems FROM what hath been elsewhere and in the preceding Chapter laid down it appears that the Earth does not only abound with several Mineral and Metalline substances a great many of which are undiscoverd and a great many already known but also that several Mines are furnished with Water which being impregnated variously may be no dispicable Menstruums but may likewise concur to the Production of Mineral Bodies and not only serve as corrosive Menstruums but pure Solvents to Mineral Earths And that common Water is able to impregnate it self not only with Saline but Mineral Parts is evident from the various tasts of Waters and their uses some being fitter for brewing others for washing some for dying particular Colours and some to temper Steel and others again for other uses And amongst the most remarkable â—…ies are Thermae and Acidulae reckoned up by various Authors as also Salt Springs and those Waters of Hungary and other Parts which yield a Vitriol which is a substance compounded and decompounded containing a saline a Sulphureous a Metalline and an Earthy Part and if Water may be thus impregnated with Metalline Parts it is no difficulty to apprehend how a Lapidescent Humour being sufficiently mixed with and proportioned to it may be coagulated into Stony Stiriae and from such like Coalitions may arise those precious Stones and transparent Gems for the Virtue of specifick Juices are so powerful that I have seen Vegetable substances sufficiently hardened by them to grave on Iron and I had a substance which I looked upon to be a petrifyed Gum which was hard enough to grave on Glass And if the Parts of Minerals may thus by being dissolved in Water be mixed with a petrifyed Body by this means Gems may not only be impregnated but thence receive their Medicinal Virtues as the Nature of the Mineral is different in Qualities and abounds in Quantity which Original of their Virtues may be rendeed probable not only by what hath been said in the foregoing Chapter but by their different colours And that their Impregnation with Mineral Parts enobles them with Medicinal Virtues is evident from the Testimony of Experience and is rendered probable by the Effects of a Loadstone which tho a much harder substance than some Gems emits Effluvia very copiously and hath not only manifest Effects on Iron but Humane Bodies And even those Pebbles with which they counterfeit Diamonds have been caused in a trice to emit copious and strongly scented Steams and even Diamonds the hardest of Gems may by rubbing be caused to emit Electrical Effluvia And tho' it be thought by some that the digestion of a Man's Stomach is not able to extract the Metalline Parts yet there may be a greater Congruity betwixt the Juices of our Bodies and the Mineral substances with which they were impregnated than we are aware of besides we see that the Stomach hath manifest Effects on Chalybeate Preparations and even crude Steel it self And I have obtained a Tincture from several hard Bodies and even Gems themselves by a Liquor distilled from a Vegetable substance as temperately qualifyed as Bread And that the natural Heat of our Bodies may contribute to the extracting of the Virtues of precious Stones I am perswaded since it makes an evident alteration in the hardest of them so as to render a Diamond Electrical and I have had one which by warm Water would be excited to shine in the dark And indeed it is not altogether improbable that Gems having the most subtile Mineral Steams in them being not dispersed by the action of fire they may be more Effectual considering their quantity than Preparations of Metals which have undergone a Fusion And their Virtues may sometimes be much different upon the account of a great quantity of Mineral Particles since Vunzerus tells us that amongst those Stones which are called Nephritick Stones some are much more effectual than others besides the petrifick Juices themselves may have distinct natures and peculiar Qualities upon the account of their Coalitions with Adventitious Liquors And if petrifying Liquors may have such manifest effects on several Bodies one would think indisposed to petrify why may not such a Liquor subdue transparent Minerals abounding with Saline Sulphureous and Bituminous Bodies which being excited may emit their most subtil Parts and as in the Earth there are severl Bodies compounded by the action of Subterraneal fires those petrifyed may enable the Body with correspondent Qualities on which occasion I here subjoyn that I have seen a saline substance which was formed in the Bowels of the Earth like that which is artificially made And I have seen Volatile Salts and Sulphurs shoot into transparent Crystals in a fluid Medium after Distillation which have been more curiously figured than several Gems And if it be objected in disfavour of the Medicinal Virtues of Gems that they grow no lighter when they are said to emit Effluvia I shall add that not to urge that the Antimonial Cup impregnates Wine without losing of its substance and that Mercury will give Water a Virtue of killing Worms by being boiled in it tho' by these means it loses nothing of its weight I shall rather demand how it appears that Bodies grow no lighter by the loss of their Effluvia And tho' in some cases the Gem may be lighter than Crystal yet it is no argument of their more languid Effects since the specifick Gravity of those Bodies they are impregnated with may be of a saline Nature
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
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
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
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
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
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
fusible Salt different from either of the Ingredients and Oyl of Vitriol or Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium will produce Tartarum Vitriolatum in which both the Acidity and Alkaliousness of the Ingredients are much infringed the Body resulting from the composition being different from both the Ingredidients And if besides these instances we consider how many different Substances may be produced by Nature I am apt to believe that specifick Qualities are requisite to alter or destroy them in the Medicines made use of for that purpose And to what hath been said I shall further add that I have mixed two Liquors together neither of which were Acid or Alkalious and yet the resulting Body was a consistent Coagulum And I have prepared a certain Liquor which upon the affusion of Spirit of Urine will be turned into a Gelly And the like I have produced without the help of either an Acid or an Alkaly And I have had a Substance prepared without the help of a Volatile Alkaly which would in a trice coagulate highly rectified Spirit of Wine and as Spirit of Salt will coagulate the white of an Egg so will dephlegmed Spirit of Wine so that an Animal Substance may be coagulated without an Acid. PROP. III. Sometimes a Specifick Medicine may help the Patient Prop. III. by Precipitating the peccant matter out of his Blood or the other Liquors of the Body in which it harbours Tho' Precipitation be generally a Consequent of the Mortification of Acids or Alkalies by Corpuscles of a contrary Quality yet some Acids and Alkalies may be mixed without a precipitation of any thing and several Precipitations may be caused without any such manifest Hostility As in certain mixtures of Spirit of Sal-Armoniac made with Salt of Tartar or Pot-ashes and Spirit of Nitre or Aqua Fortis and also when Spirit of Urine and Salt are mixed in a certain proportion make Sal Armoniac which the Phlegm of those Liquors will keep swimming and that there may be Precipitations without any appearance of contrariety is evident when Silver being dissolved in Aqua-Fortis the Menstruum is diluted with Thirty or Forty Parts of Distill'd Water for if clean Plates of Copper be immersed in the Solution the Metal will be slowly precipitated out of it in the form not of a Calx but pure shining Scales of Silver and if you rub Dantzick Vitriol upon the Blade of a Knife well wetted with Water the Steel in a trice will be overlaid with a reddish substance which by its Colour and Signs appears manifestly cupreous And here I shall add that there are in Nature Precipitants which silently precipitate some Bodies dissolved in Urinous Menstruums And tho' against the Use of Precipitating Medicines it may be urged that the Heterogenous Particles precipitated may be of dangerous consequence yet they may be less pernicious than those hostile Particles that produce the Disease And further they may not be so big but that it is possible for them to be carried out of the mass of Blood since those Mineral Substances dissolved in Tunbridge Waters and the Sulphureous ones in the Bath chiefly perform their effects by being dispersed through and acting on the several Parts of the Body But moreover it is possible Precipitations may be made in the mass of Blood without the Medicine getting into it which is observed in the use of Chalybeat Medicines where were it urged that they pass through the Pores of the Guts then there is no reason why there are not Pores in the Body large enough to carry off the Precipitated Parts of the mass of Blood And not only Sennertus makes use of Medicines in Fevers to Precipitate the febrile matter but Kergerus very solemnly declares that he cured thousands only by a Precipitating Medicine And that Precipitating may be of use in Physick I am the more inclined to believe if a Putrefaction of Humours be rightly assigned as the cause of some Distempers because I know a Liquor which being dropped into stinking Water Precipitated a light Feculency out of it upon which the Liquor was wholly freed from its stink nor could I perceive that the Feculency it self had any and what was more remarkable was that the taste of this Precipitant was neither Bitter Acid Urinous or Lixiviate PROP. IV. Sometimes the Specifick Remedy may work by peculiarly strengthening and cherishing the Heart the part affected or both That a Medicine may have peculiar effects on this or that Part I am inclined to believe for the following reasons First because the several Parts of the Body are of differently framed and have different Humours lodged in them and consequently the Parts of a Medicine dispersed through the Body may be more aptly appropriated to be received or detained in those Parts and the Parts being thus strengthened may be more able to resist the influence of Morbifick Humours by which means they are thrown upon more ignoble Parts for which reason some Persons are seised with the Gout and I know a Gentleman who tho' he could drink Wine without much hurt yet Brandy would cause him to have a severe Tooth-ach But to illustrate what I was saying of the disposition of some Parts of Medicines to associate themselves with those Parts they seem friendly to I shall add that in nourishing Children Milk does not only afford grosser Faeces and various other Excrements as Urine Mucous and a Humour by insensible Transpiration but Particles which upon their being assimilated increase the bulk of the Body and whereas it is observed that some Cartilages in Children acquire a Bony hardness in older Persons this change cannot be supposed to be the bare effect of Exsiccation And as Specifick Medicines may confirm the strength of a Part so they may conduce to the restoreing of strength to the weak Part by removing Distempered Humours and this they may do not only by altering the whole mass of Blood but their peculiar disposition to act on the Distempered Humour And as the Morbifick matter is diversify'd according the disposition of the part it is lodged in so must the Medicine be Specifically appropriated And as they contribute to the removal of a Distempered Humour so consequently they will to the strengthening of the fibres of those Parts either by giving them a firmness or by correcting their immoderate Heat or Cold or correcting the Humours lodged in the Pores of the Part or by takeing away the Convulsive or inordinate motions of the Parts or by relaxing or otherwise altering their Pores or causing the matter lodged there to be expelled by a gentle or violent agitation as when Cantharides cause an Excretion of Urine or Gravel by irritating the fibres of the Bladder And the effects of this Medicine alone are sufficient to prove that there may be Specifick Medicines which chiefly respect particular Parts since Cantharides pass through the Body without affecting any other part but the Bladder And tho' at the first a Medicine may chiefly respect a particuler
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