an excellent Appendix to the Noble Art of Physick and if the Gentlemen had been but good natur'd and modest I do confidently affirm they had in all things found a sutable respect from us all but why they should go about to make Chymistry an Art of its own kind and like a viperous brat to eat through the bowels of its dam in designing to root up the Ancient and Rational Practice of Physick which has in all Ages been successful and continues so to be in our hands as with modesty I hope I may say I see no cause for it Has not the Honourable Society of the Colledge of Physicians of London owned the Art and appointed a multitude of Chymical Medicines in their Pharmacopeia which suit variety of Indications And had not they an Operator whom they encouraged for the making up of those their Remedies till Death came which made a Caput Mortuum of him And had not they a Laboratory in London till the Dreadful Fire made a Calcination of it which now they are preparing to set up again What cause then is there that this man should complain thus or that he should need to rise up in Vindication of that which no man opposes It is well known to the Learned that many Antient Writers have treated of Chymistry as Avicen Rhasis Albumazar Haly c. in Arabick Democritus Myrepsus Zosymus Marcellus Heliodorus c. in Greek and an abundance of Latine Authors that would be tedious to reckon up for these two or three last Centuries no man of learning or worth ever opening his mouth or using his Pen against it although some are more affected towards it than others and truly methink every man should be left to his liberty in that point to use or not use this or that method as he shall see cause without being imposed on or censured by another so long as he is faithful and honest in his business as also learned and rational and willing to give convenient satisfaction to others and able to make it out by success Nay I could make it out if it were needful that the most eminent profest Galenists have spoken honourably in their Writings of this Art of Chymistry and prescribed a number of Medicines so prepâ—red both out of the Vegetables and Minerals and Metals As Sennertus Mercatus Pereda Rodericus a Castro Horstius Freitagius Crato and of our own Nation Dr. Glysson Dr. Primerose Dr. Willis Dr. Wharton and many others eminently learned both who have written and have not whom I know to be Lovers of the Art and the useful discoveries which we have by it Upon all which account Mr. S. might very well have spared this Vindication No difference among the learned And as the Galenists approve both in their Writings and Practice of Chymical Medicines so the most learned among the Chymists do use the Galenical Thus Zwelfer has made his Comment upon the Pharmac Augustana and left one of his own which he calls Pharmacopaeia Regia which are as full of all sorts of Medicines viz. Syrupes Distilled Waters Electuaries Extracts Pills Powders Cordial Species Lohochs Trochisks Oyls Ointments and Cerates as our London Dispensatory and made out of the very same matter viz. the Vegetables though Mr. S. cries them down saying P. 161. That there are not above a score that are good for any thing Thus also Schroderus and Excellent Chymist has writ another after the same Method Likewise Hadrianus a Mynsicht so Libavius Renodaeus Crollius Hartman go this way describing Medicines both out of the Vegetables and Minerals and Metals all which we know and make use of in our Practice at least so many as we approve of to be good and wholesome And why may not this be done without reproaching one another Indeed of late some Controversies have been started betwixt some who call themselves Chymists and others but in those it plainly appears the Chymists have been the Aggressors and the other only defensive Or else they have risen from some personal quarrel in which other ☜ wise and learned men on both sides have not thought fit to interess themselves but have rather privately endeavoured to compose their differences and so to keep the Peace in the Faculty And even in these also if I mistake not the Chymists have begun the Controversie And thus it is betwixt my Adversary and me while I had never disobliged either him or any man else nor meddled with any thing in Controversie save only with the Dispute about the Original of Springs which I modestly carried on by Argument without any the least personal reflexion upon any man that had engaged in it leaving every man to believe as he saw cause and in treating of the ☜ Mineral Ingredients and Vertues of the Spaw was modest in all my Assertions even then and therefore does he flie in my face with uncivil personal reflections and takes thereby occasion to throw dirt in the face of the most Learned Physicians in the World and the Universities as we shall see by and by and then to make a Vindication of Chymical Physick as if it were opposed And all this meerly to carry on a design of over-turning the Rational Practice and advancing his own way of Practice which whether it be so safe or no I shall now examine yet without the least intention to reflect either upon the Chymical Way in general or any Learned and Candid Professor thereof He says P. 158. That till within this ten or a dozen years this Noble Science bath undergone much ignominy I have reckoned up a number of Authors who have writ in Commendation of it and mentioned several in these our own dayes and Nation who are Fautors of it and therefore I judge there is no cause for this complaint But if it has sustained any ignominy it has proceeded either from the ignorance of such as were pretenders to it but did not prepare their Medicines aright or else from those that use them preposterously I grant that this Noble Art which doubtless is more proper than to call it a Science has got more reputation of late than formerly and I wish it may never lose it again by the folly of its Professors P. 159. We see says he that in all Concretes whether Animal Vegetable or Mineral there is a mixture of pure and impure of gross and tenuious parts c. Yet as to medicinal use it s the pure nimble and spirituous parts of Vegetables or Animals or the depurated fixt part or the re-union of both after purification which assists Nature against the Malady First Gross parts not unfit for Medicine I do not think that the gross parts are always impure and the thin parts pure but that even the gross parts may be as pure as the thin and in some drugs are more useful than the thin Thus Water and Earth though they be more gross yet are as pure Elements as Fire and Air and equally joyned with them in the
said enough to that point already And whereas he says I blusht not to instance in Spirit of Vitriol that we use it in Juleps and Cordials and t is not Emetick I answer Nor need I since the main part of the Vitriol in this Water is the Spirit as I have now proved which is as much yea and far more diluted with the Water wherein it is imbibed than the force of the Vitriol is corrected by the vehement heat of the Fire in the distilling of the Spirit And what follows in that Section wherein he runs a risque concerning the Vomiting property of Copper is altogether pillaged out of Helment after whose Pipe I find him constantly dancing using his very words as confidently as if he were the Author himself and also nothing to the point in hand P. 50. He returns to our Conference at the Spaw and particularly about the Nitre which I had affirmed in my Book P. 13. to be of all the Minerals the most predominant shooting into Ice-sickles or Stiria which is the peculiar form of Nitre whereby it is distinguisht from all other Minerals whatsoever Of Nitre in the Spaw I queried with the Doctor says he how he came to know that Nitre was an Ingredient and the most predominant Here he forges a confused Narrative which was never in my Heart nor on my Tongue to say but perhaps it may be a lapse of his Memory I made it out from that Analogy and Resemblance that is betwixt the Minerals that remain after the Evaporation of the Water and the Nitre that breaks out of the Cliffe within 6 or 8 yards of the Spaw which is white like a hoar-frost in hot and dry weather but is washt off by every shower of Rain both that and the Minerals extracted out of the Water shooting alike in Stirias and also agreeing in Taste But that this was Nitre at that time he confidently denied He said indeed it was nothing but an Aluminous Salt but when I urged that Alome does not shoot in Stirias and upon that very account that it could be nothing but Nitre then he would have it to come from the Air of the Sea which has Nitre in it I replied that then the whole Sea Coast should abound with it which we see it doth not Hence it follows that it can be nothing but Nitre which proceeds out of the Earth that is exceeding Nitrous Neither yet is this Nitre discernable in every part of the Cliffe throughout but runs in certain Veins and much more plentifully near the Well That this is Nitre several learned Physicians have been abundantly satisfied and those both of London and elsewhere the shooting of Nitre into Stirias being as peculiar to that Mineral as the form of any Plant is to all of the same kind This and the rest of the Minerals which are apparent upon this Cliffe have put many Naturalists into no small amazement which made Dr. Tonstall of Newcastle ☜ an Eminent Physitian and Chymist say He thought it was the most fertile Bank in the World Let him further know that all the Earth about Scarbrough is full of Nitre from whence it is that the Meadows about the Town are more eminently fertile than any other that I have observed upon the Sea-Coast which gave too much encouragement to an Ingenious Gentleman a Friend of mine to begin a Project there of Making Nitre which for his own sake I wish had succeeded according to his expectation but the truth is it proved but an imperfect Nitre especially that which is extracted out of the Water and so in refractis viribus and also joyned with the other Salts which perhaps do enfeeble it more And yet I have observed many years ago this Sediment of the Water having been laid aside in a cool place some dayes to shoot into Stiria's half an Inch long especially after Calcination Filtration and Separation from the grosser parts of the Minerals This I have expresly touched on in my Book and did also sufficiently urge it in our Conference at the Spaw which yet prevailed nothing with this Gentleman though it was abundantly satisfactory to all else that were by and yet it seems ev'n now while he writ this he was of the same mind That these Volatile Nitrous Particles as he calls them which float in the Aire are magnetically attracted by the aluminous Salt that is in the Body of the Minerals extracted from the Water as also by the Mineral Earth of Alome which is upon the Cliffe and consequently that which is in the Water is nothing but an aluminous Salt And this is such a truth as he endeavors to illustrate in Sect. 4. p. 53 in a long Discourse with several Experiments after all which and a large Harangue of hard words fit only to breed admiration in the ignorant and laughter in the learned he gives us his definitive Sentence in short by way of Recapitulation in these words P. 61. The Esurine acid Salt having in its solution got a slight touch of a Vein or Minera of Iron and passing through a rocky Mineral Glebe of Alome becomes specificated in an aluminous Salt with which the Water of the Quick-Spring is impregnate which makes the Spaw we discourse of Now if his Assertion Note which by all those Experiments he endeavors to illustrate be false as I am certain it is and shall prove from his own Concession under his hand then there needs no more to satisfie the World that I was all this while in the right And if so then is not mine Antagonist an able man indeed that can thus draw Quidlibet ex quolibet plainly to prove that which is clearly false One would think almost this Batchelour were playing the Sophister again intending to deceive the World with a Fallacy which yet a Wiseman would have couched more cunningly in the premisses and ta'n care to end with a plausible Conclusion but just thus we have him 20 times in this Book building upon a sandy foundation illustrating by far-fetcht Experiments that which to every mans reason is evidently false and from false and mistaken premisses drawing necessary Conclusions Let me now remind the Reader of ☜ what we have been doing all this while The summe total of what Mr. S. has said He denied all the Principles of the Spaw except Alome and disputed if so it deserve to be called against me with hard and harsh language for asserting them I think I have answered all his Objections and fully proved them all to be there by sufficient Arguments of Demonstration which I willingly submit to the Judicious Reader He severely carps at many of my expressions which I used in my Book which I have plainly made out to be the forms used by Learned Writers upon such Subjects and particularly of the Chymists themselves whom it seems he understood not He throws dirt in my face ever and anon while he argues against the four wayes I mention of a Waters
when we meet with stubborn Diseases in robust bodies and are approved of by the Galenists and therefore the Galenists do approve of them and when they see cause use them to wit such as they know to be safe and prepared by a good Artist Nor did ever the Art of Physick want strong and efficacious Medicines such were those I mentioned before which were in ordinary use among the Ancients viz. Colocynthis Peplium Hellebore Elaterium c. That which we glory in and our Patients find benefit by is that in this Age we have more benigne Medicines which operate without ill Symptomes and now it appears Mr. S. condemns these and flies again to such as are more violent than those of the Ancients which we have in a good measure laid aside Well I suspect at length his Patients will experience by the Operation of his Medicines a difference betwixt his and others when they shall have given him leave to make his Experiments upon them and so become competent Judges in this point betwixt him and me and therefore to their decision I will for this tâ—me refer it But here is one thing more I may not pass over that Mr. S. le ts flie sharply against some bragging Chymists that expose their Medicines to sale and thereby are a reproach to the Art If I understand him aright he means such as do post up their Medicines upon the Gates or Corner Posts of the City to call in Customers as the Quacks and Mountebanks use to do Could he ever think that this Book of his would not be read at York where all men know that he himself exposed his Amulet ☜ for the Plague to sale posting up his Bills on every Corner of the Streets and may we not have as good reason to expect the same for the vending of his Ternary Thus I have closely traced Mr. Simpson through the greatest part of his Book and have throughly sifted all his Arguments against my declared Principles of Soarbrough Spaw wherein I have discovered him plainly canting and recanting which I have further established by evident demonstration I have asserted the Terms which I used in my Book concerning a Springs imbibing of Minerals to be those of Art used by the very best Chymical Authors and agreeable to sound Reason I have answered all his Objections against the Rational Practice of Physick which he calls Galenical and confirmed my assertions from the Practice of the most Learned Chymical Writers I have manifested the Congruity that is betwixt the most learned on both sides and made out the Minerals and Metals together with the Animals and Vegetables to belong in common to the Art and to be the matter of Physick wherein both the Galenical and Chymical Physician are equally concerned and do heartily desire that every man in the Faculty would endeavour what in him lies that since they do convenire in eodem tertio they may also convenire inter se and that we may all joyn hand in hand as there shall be occasion for the Peace and Honour of the Faculty and the health of our Friends that employ us Of his Constitutive Principles of all Concretes There are some other Digressions in his Book concerning the Constitutive Principles of all Concretes wherein he carps at the two Principles of Helmont at the three of the Ancient Chymists at the four of the Peripateticks and at the five of Dr. Willis resolving all into one to wit Water But since it may justly be said of that Discourse as once of the young Prophets Axe Master it was borrowed I therefore matter not much whether it sink or swim since the Subject is not of such common concern nor yet relates to me I refer the Reader to Helmont out of whom he fetches what he says on that Subject When I consider what abundance of Experiments borrowed from variety of Authors are patched up together to make up this Book of his as also what a company of impertinent Subjects that relate not at all one to another nor to the general scope of the Book our Author has drawn in by the head and shoulders to make up this Composition it makes me call to mind what I read in Nonius Marcellus concerning an Elogium that old Lucilius that famous Roman Wit gave to such an Author upon the like occasion viz. Sarcinator est summus suit Centonem optume Concerning The Original of Springs I Am now come to this Appendix concerning the Original of Springs where he designs to confute what I have said in my Book of Scarbrough-Spaw concerning that Subject wherein I have examined the variety of Opinions among both Ancient and Modern Philosophers some ascribing it to the Sea the Water whereof they will have conveyed by subterraneal Channels to all the Springs at Land and to that purpose they fancy the Sea to be higher than the Land and consequently the Water to run per-declive in a Natural Motion to any even the highest Springs at Land This I have examined and according to my Model have proved to be but a fancy by several Arguments from Page 55 to Page 76 of my Book of Scarbrough-Spaw Edition 2. too long here to be recited But others that are for the Sea to be the Original of Springs being with me unsatisfied with the former fancy of the Seas altitude above the Land have their various opinions concerning the conveyance of the Water from the Sea to the Springs as there I instance out of their Authors the disagreement of whom among themselves may well save me the labour of refutation Others there are that will have the Water conveyed from the Sea into some large Caverns that are in the Earth and there by heat from Subterraneal Fires kindled by Naphtha and Bitumen will have Water resolved into Vapors which ascending towards the Superficies of the Earth are by a more remisse degree of heat condensed again into Water and so make the Springs which was the Opinion of Empedocles as also Seneca to which Eallâ—piuâ— Mr. Carpenter Mr. Lydiat and Dr. French adhere This I have weighed according to my Cubit and find it of no weight from Page 77. to P. 89. A second Opinion concerning the Original of Springs is that of Seneca lib. 3. Nat. Quest cap. 7. zid by a transmutation of Earth into Water in the Caverns of the Earth which since I discern it has not many Fautors I waved as not needing Confutation and so came to that of Aristotle vid. that the Springs are generated from the transmutation of Air into Water in the Subterraneal Caverns This also I considered of and found invalid from P. 89. to 93. being attended with inextricable difficulties and absurdities I then proceeded to consider of Rain and Snow being the Cause of the Springs of which Opinion I found Albertus Magrus and Georgius Agricola to have been the most eminent Patrons and to them I did with modesty joyn in my judgement I have lately heard that Lessius
his Pilgrimage Page 439. and Mr. Sandys in his Travails Edit 3. P. 222. who relate the same Story And I pray what other means of knowledge have we of matters of fact done before our Times but to take them upon trust of those that commit them down to us And so I find did Doctor Heylin and the rest for they have the substance of it I guess from Mattheaus Quadus his Fasciculus Geographiae and he seems to setch it from Boterus whom as yet I cannot meet withal Quadus his words are Boterus istuc addit Constantini Imperatoris tempore continuis septemdecim annis nullae hic fuere pluviae unde deserta mansit Insula donee D. Helenae beneficio in Olympo Monte Templum aedificaretur c. exinde pluviae redierant ac habitari denuo caepit To wit Boterus adds this that about the time of Constantine the Great for 17 years together here was no Rain at all so as the Island was forsaken by the Inhabitants till the time that Helena the Empress built a Church in Mount Olympus c. about which time the Rain returned and it began again to be inhabited Mr. Sandys and Doctor Heylin do agree in their mention of the number of 36 years but out of whom they had it I discern not for they cite not their Author But it s all one to my purpose the failure of the Rain made the Island unhabitable for want of Water in their Rivers and Springs and consequently the Rain was the Proximal Cause of them I have other Arguments wherewith I did confirm this Opinion in my Book As concerning one of the Fortunate Islands or Canaries called Ombrion now Fierre which I mention P. 98. of my Book where it never rains but the Inhabitants are supplied with Water by an admirable Providence of God from a certain Tree that grows there plentifully which distills from its leaves every Night an abundance of Water enough to supply the Inhabitants and their Cattle with Water Ovetanus and Martyr do both say there are no Springs in the Island nor Rivers But to this Mr. S. gives no return So when P. 118. I deduce an Argument from the full and perfect Agreement that is in all Qualities perceptible to the Senses betwixt Rain and Spring-Water so as its hard to distinguish the one from the other Mr. S. takes no notice of it And when I mention there another from the exact Identity of the Water of those he calls Quick-Springs and of that which flows out of the other which he calls Land-Springs and grants that they proceed wholly from Rain and Snow which if they proceeded from several Causes must probably differ in some respect He leaps over it will you ☜ know the reason even because he could not answer it And yet so dis-ingenuous is he P. 301. as to say That he had run through all that I had offered in order to the confirming of this opinion of Rain and Snow to be the Original of Springs and probably if not demonstratively overturned the Opinion together with my grounds arguments and reasons It 's apparent to many that have read his Book that he had a wrathful design against me which all along he has prosecuted with as much rancour as possibly he could aiming at victory rather than verity and particularly in this Dispute about the Springs while he has not the least ground of pretence that he has answered my Arguments wherein the force of the Opinion laid Certainly no man that ever pretended to Learning or Reputation writ at this rate But while I was answering an Objection of Seneca's which he made against this Original I made a Concession that there may be some transmutation of Air into Water in the Earth or above from whence it comes that Churches become wet before Rain falls I find Mr. S. extreamly severe against me I wonder says he P. 299. the Doctors Philosophy in his Second Edition should not come out more maturate than to adhere to this old and long since exploded transmutability of Elementss In so much that he seems willing to hang the point in controversie upon that hinge So sure says he as the Aire is transmuted into Water which moistens the Stone Walls of Buildings so sure is the Air in the Bowels of the Earth transmuted into Water yea and so sure is the Original of Fountains from Rain and Snow Water Well! Let the cause go upon that I desire no more and then I am assured the learnedest men of the World will be of my Opinion about the Original of Springs Is not that Air which we breath in and that Water which we drink under that Notion Now its plain that some of that Air that we breath in within a Church will in a few hours be turned into Water upon the Walls and Floors before Rain which being collected together may be drunk into the Stomach and quench thirst I know where it pinches Mr. S. I do not take this Air and Water to be pure Elements for so we could not live in them it s enough that they are such as all the World câ—ll Air and Water and these we see may be turned one into another the grosser parts of Air into Water and the purer parts of Water into Air. I mentioned just now a Story out of Ovetanus concerning Ombrion where there is a Tree from whâ—se leaves every night doth distill an abundance of Water to the supply of the Inhabitants for all uses the like Story is â—old by Pliny lib. 6. cap. 32 and Mr. Hawkins in his second Voyâ—ge recorded by Mr. Hackluyt tells the like of some frees in Guiny Now I would gladly know of Mr. S. from whence that Water comes if the â—ir be not turned into Water unless he will h ve it to be a Miracle and so a new Creation Again I would ask Mr. S. whether he thinks Fromundus or Cardanus understood a Point of Philosophy or no as well as he in whom I find an admirable Story in Meteor lib. 5. cap. 2. art 3. which he has from Cardanus devar rerum lib. 8. cap. 44. Anno 1481. Quaedam Aegra in Italia In English thus A certain Maid of 18 years of age in Italy did every day void 36 Pints or Pounds of Vrine while yet both in Meat and Drink she did not take in above 7 so as her Vrine exceeded them both every day 29 Pounds and thus she continued for the space of 60 dayes during which time were collected 1740 Pounds of Vrine more than the weight of all her Meat and Drink that she had taken when yet the while body of the Maid did scarce weigh 150 Pounds ☞ It was demanded saâ—y my Authors byMarlianus how it came to pass It was answered That the Air which was contained in the Arteries was converted into a Watery Substance and that being cast out what more came in its place was presently turned again into Water and so was multiplied into that large proportion
This it appears to have been the sense of Cardane Marlianus and Fromundus although it pleases not Mr. S. I would also enquire of him whether he thinks Sir Kenelm Digby understood what he writ in his Book of the Cure of Wounds by the Sympâ—thetical Powder where P. 67. of his English Copy he tells a stupendious Story of a Nunne at Rome the truth whereof was confirm'd to him both from her own Relation and the attestation of Petrus Servius who was Pope Vrbane the 8th his Physician and several other Doctors of Physick at Rome that assured him of the truth of it This Nunne by excessive Watching Fâ—sting and Devotion had so heated her Body that she seemed to be all on fire this heat and internal fire drawing the Air so powerfully I use his own words the Air did incorporate within her Body as it uses in Salt of Tartar and the Passages being all open it got to those parts where there is most serosity viz. the Bladder and thence she rendred it in Water among her Vrine and that in an incredible quantity for she voided during some weeks more than 200 Pounds of Water every 24 hours Now as to the Salt of Tartar he had been treating of it in the fore-going Page that being exposed to the open Air it converts the Air into moisture in almost an incredible ☜ proporion to wit a Pound of the Salt well calcined will afford ten Pounds of good Oyl of Tartar by drawing and incorporating with it the Circumjâ—cent Air. Now while so many learned Philosophers do sâ—tisfie themselves and the World in so speaking concerning this Transâ—â—utation of Air into moisture why should Mr. S so severely carp at me for using the same forms of expression I know well enough what he runs at Helmont according to whose Pipe I find him ever dâ—ncing says it is a Vapor which is in the Air that is condensed into Water and not the Air it self to wit not the Element of Air that is turned into Water But is it not more properly called Air which we breath in than Vapor and it is that which we breath in which is turned into Water to wit the grosser parts of it for as to the pure Element of Air we have nothing to do with it in this Dispute nor do any Philosophers or other wise men doubt in the least to call it the Air. Hence the several Expressions in use among them concerning the 3 Regions of the Air and the Atmosphere of the Air c. A Term used by himself in several places of this his Appendix about Springs but he will not allow me to call it so If this be not properly called Air I do not know where we shall find it in the World nor will Mr. S. ever be able to describe its ubi by Ocular Demonstration nor yet Helmont whom he follows For my own part I chuse rather to retain the wholesome Grounds and Terms of Philosophy now used for many Ages than to fall into the new way of Canting in frothy words much in use among some late Writers especially such as go this way who while they have no new matter do yet coyn new terms to obscure truth on purpose to amuse ignorant Readers as if themselves had been Inventors If what now I have said be sufficient in the judgement of wise and learned men to evince a possibility of the transmutation of Air into Water then I need say no more as to Mr. S. in the proof of the Point in hand concerning the Original of Springs from Rain and Snow Nor has he any way to evade it but by calling in Question the Credit of the Relators in matter of Fact as he does with Dr. Heylin And I must confess were it not for the Credit of the Relator and his plain and undeniable circumstances of evidence whereby he makes it out a man would very much doubt of the verity of the last But without all peradventure a Person of that Honour Prudence and Learning would take care that he might not be imposed upon As for the former Story of Cardane and Fromundus which is also rare there is less ground of admiration since something extraordinary not much different has been observed among our selves I my self knew a Sergeant belonging to the Garrison at Hull who in a Diabete did void above 6 Quarts to wit about 12 Pounds of Urine every 24 hours for some weeks together till all his musculous parts were dissolved into Urine and he became a Skeleton the measure whereof did far exceed the weight of his whole Body and of his Meat and Drink while yet he drank not 3 Pints of Drink in a day But But P. 296. Mr. S. tell us He meets with two great difficulties which he cannot get through the solving of which he says will prove ominous to my Thesis The first is how the Rain Water shall sink into the Earth by empty Crevices or Clefts and what is that which must bring the intermediate particles of Water which fall betwixt one Crevice or Cleft and another into the distant Crevices Why where is the difficulty Water is thin in substance and also a heavy body and he grants the Crevices or Clefts are empty what then should hinder its sinking Nothing in the World is more plain than that it does so But it seems by what he says P. 297 that he would have been pleased if I had otherwise expressed it Supposing the Earth to imbibe Rain Water as a Sponge where it meeting with capillary Veins or small Pores not Clefts or Crevices which he says are scarce to be found but among Rocks sinks down by degrees into larger Veins and those into Subterraneal Channels where it makes Springs and this he acknowledges would have been truly said Well if this be true in his Judgement then Mr. S. has given up his cause while he is starting a difficulty Only his distinction of Land-Springs and Quick-Springs saves him for he grants the former but is not satisfied in the latter But I wonder Mr S. should observe no better what he is doing than to taxe me for not saying so when in effect he says nothing but my own words in the 94th Page of my Book where treating of the Sinking of Rain and Snow Water into the Earth I express it thus It finks down by secret passages into the Earth with which the Superficies doth abound which are like unto the small fibres of Veins not discernable by the Eye terminating in the Skin in all the parts of our Bodies and in rocky ground it sinks through the Clefts and by them is conveyed to the Subterraneal Channels more or less deep in the Earth where it is concocted by the Earth and moves as Blood in the Veins Now this I having said and he owning it to be truly said the difficulty is vanished and it becomes an Argument of demonstration for the proof of my Opinion I wonder either at his dis-ingenuity in denying me to have
to that of Iron Copper and Vitrielum album Why then does he enquire which of the two I meant since possibly I might mean the third or some other Really here is an ill beginning Tiâ—uâ—are in Vestibule malum omen To stumble at the Threshold is a sign of ill luck Did not Mr. S. say P. 1. he had seen my Book I wonder then how he could over-look what I say P. 10. since here is the Cardâ— Controversiae the state of his quarrel turns upon this hinge My words are these I take it to be the Iron Mineral with a Touch of the Vitriol Or if you please Ferrum Vitriolatum or Vitriolum Ferrugineum Here I desire the Reader to take notice that he does frequently leave out my words or matter wherein the main scope of my business consists on purpose to make himself Elbow-room to abuse me Although I intend not hereby as if I meant this Vitriol in the Spaw to be made out of Iron for what have we to do with factitious Vitriol But this is a natural Vitriol generated in the Veins of the Earth through which the Spring runs which has by its â—â—idity or Esurine Salt actuated the Waters which thereby is enabled to corrode a Vein of Iron which is there also and likewise some other Minerals of which more anon Now this Water thus impregnated with a Vitrioline Odour or Vapour since it has no Emetick or Vomiting Quality joyned with it I account it to be of the Nature of that which is made out of Iron not of Copper and therefore I called it Vitriolum Ferrugineum But I do affirm that common Spring-Water it self is a Menstruum proper enough to take in any of the Minerals we are treating of and will not fail to do it if they lie in its way although if it meet with any Acid Salt as this is of Vitriol it will do it the more freely And this a grees with that which Paracelsus himself has said provided the Minerals or Metals be not come to Maturity Lib. 3. de Natur. Aquis cap. de Aq. Gustabilibus Yea and Mr. S. himself confesses it P. 59. Number 10 11 and 12. Dr. Jordane asserts the same concerning Simple Waters that by reason of their tenuity they may imbibe either Spirit or Juice or Tinctures from Metals before their Consolidation Nat. Baths cap. 14 Yea and Kircherus who in his Mundus Subterraneus treats at large of this Subject accounts Simple Spring Water a Menstruum fit enough to imbibe a Mineral or Metal for he mentions not any Primum Ens or other Mineral Acidity I say by its Esurine Salt it more freely corrodes the Iron and carries it in gremio out with it which is the more easily done because the Iron is not here a perfect Solid Metal but in solutis principiis and in some tendency to it being yet of the same nature with Iron And this Vitriol is not so properly said to be made by an Esurine Salt as to have an Esurine Salt or Spirit in it self And this does agree with the general Suffrage of all Learned Writers as well Chymists as others as Libavius in his Syntag. Geber Caesalpinus Dr. Jordan and not only Vitriol but Nitre also they say dissolved in Water will enable it to corrode Metals and to this also consents Fallopius cap. 7. de Thermal Aq. This being premised that Supposition of Vitriol of Copper to be dissolved in the Water is not to be supposed and what follows thereon is altogether impertinent However B. 3. he says This being granted in FAVOUR of his Mineral Ingredients or Principles c. Iron will be found impertinent and insignificant as to the body of it Sir Keep your Favours for others Timeo Danaos etiam dona ferentes I look for none of your Favours nor need them I suspect your very mercies are cruel what I would have in this Dispute I shall by and by force you to grant me and have no cause to return you any thanks But whereas he says Iron is not here in its body What would Sir S. have A Horseshooe Naile It is not here indeed to be found nor will 100 Gallons of the Water afford so much Iron as to make one But here is a palpable Powder which when a little Gall is put into the Water by which it turns black which Colour it takes from the Vitriol there will settle after some hours upon the agitation of the Vessel a black Powder near a Dram in a Gallon which by powring the Water gently from it per inclinationem will be found in the bottom which if you dry in the Sun or over the Fire has a Stiptick or drying taste like Crocus Martis and being taken inwardly in any form whatsoever doth tinge the Excrements with a blackish Colour as all our preparations out of Iron do Besides if this Water be carried abroad to York or Hull which is 30 mile off there will be found in the Vessel a yellowish Sediment according to the quantity of Water which being dried has the same taste with Crocus Martis or prepared Steel and surpassing it in vertue and efficacy and this separation or precipitation of this Metalline Substance is furthered by Agitation in the Carriage especially if in Oaken Vessels although I have also observed the same in Glasse Bottles which were carried abroad But Mr. S. objects as he thinks strongly against these two Minerals Iron and Vitriol to be there imbibed because says he P. 3. The Esurine Salt which goes to the dissolving of Vitriol of what sort soever and he supposes Copper is thereby terminated in its action and though the Water of the Spring so impregnated should afterwards meet with a Vein of Iron yet it can take nothing thence being already satiated and having lost its sting Of Ens Primum To this I reply The Esurine Salt is that which P. 5. he calls Ens Primum out of Helmont which he says gives the Medicinal Vertue to Vitriol I do not at all like the use of that Name Ens Primum in this sense which the Old Philosophers that wanted better light gave to some thing of a higher Nature even to God himself from whom doubtless both Vitriol and all Minerals Metals and Vegetables have received whatever Medicinal Vertue they have in them for it is he that created Medicine out of the Earth Secondly This is Petitio Principii to suppose such a thing to impregnate this Water where we can without any Hypothesis at all directly point at the Water it self as a proper Menstruum as I have made out already and if that will not serve then here is the Esurine Spirit of Vitriol of sufficient Efficacy in the Judgement of Reason to do the work we expect and indeed find to be done and this agrees also with what Helmont himself says in his fourth Paradox where he says That which is volatile viz. a Spirit whether is be Concrete or Liquid may corrode other Mineral Bodies
with me in judging by this Token De Natur. Baln Tract 3. c. 9. Thermae nonnullae sunt quae acetositatem dulcedinem babent Hae si ex nativa constitutione tales sunt ex vitriolo oriuntur Id enim si ex prima sua materia resolvitur acetosas aquas profert To wit There are some sort of Baths or Waters that have an Acidity and Sweetness in them I suppose he means a pleasant Acidity these if from their Natural Constitution they are so do arise from Vitriol for if it happen to be resolved from its first mater in Waters it makes them to become Acide Vnde Vitrioli virtutes illis assignandae sunt and therefore says he the properties of Vitriol are to be ascribed to the Waters P. 189. So Fallopius counts the Acidity to be a sufficient token of the imbibition of Vitriol De Therm Aq. cap. 7. p. 217. who treating of the Spaw in Germany and that at Rome concerning which I have met with several Gentlemen speaking That they are not so Acid as this at Scarbrough He says Arbitror eas esse acidas quia habeant in se Chalcanthum purissimum therefore I think them Acid because they have pure Vitriol in them Another token of Vitriol is that Aporrhaea Mineralis or Vitrioline Vapor which any one of an indifferent smell may observe which is somewhat like that of Ink though more pure A third Argument is that deep Tincture that the Water takes from Gall more than any other I have seen or read of which cannot come from the Alome notwithstanding Mr. Simpson's perswasion as I shall evince in its due place nor any other of the Minerals And lastly There is in this Cliffe within Six score Paces of the Spring a Vitrioline Salt which sweats out of the Cliffe of Dark Yellow Colour very sharp to the Taste even far beyond Nitre or Alome which affords good ground of probability that it is in the Spring Iron in Scarbr Spaw Touching Iron it is me think plain that here it is in its Body which is precipitated to the bottom of the Vessel after it has stood some hours tinctured with Gall there being in every Gallon near a Dram when the Water is evaporated which being calcined yields a scoria like Iron and of Reddish Colour as I shall have occasion to make out by and by Besides that there is a Body of the like Nature and Vertue that falls to the bottom of the Vessels wherein this Water is carried abroad into the Countrey the like to which falls to the bottom of the Vessel wherein the Water is set upon the Fire for Evaporation upon the first approach of the hear Again The Blackish Colour which is imparted to the Excrements of those that drink of these Waters denotes Iron it being peculiar to all the preparations of Iron which we have occasions to use And lastly The Cliffe out of which this Spring flows is plainly Iron which though at the first when it falls it be like ordinary Earth yet at length by the weather it becomes hard as Iron and heavy and is fusible in the Fire To all these I might adde the singular Vertues which are evident in the Water for Hypocondriack Diseases the Stone and advancing the Tone of the Stomach both in point of Appetite and Digestion do sufficiently make out the presence of them both Thus much may suffice to be said concerning the Exceptions made by Mr. S. against the first way I mentioned whereby a Water might imbibe the Vapors of Minerals The second is when some of their Juice is dissolved in the Water and that is while the Minerals are young or in solutis principiis This he passes over Is it not kindness I can please him in any thing Of the Corrosion of the Substance of Metals But he quarrels at my third way and that is by corrosion of the substances of the Minerals mentioned by Galen lib. 1. de Simpl. Med. fac cap ult and this I said is done by the help of the Concrete Juices which extract and corrode Mineral substances Here we find a Galenical way says W. S. of Selution it is out of their road to discourse of these Mineral Solutions for want of Chymical Experiments which they are not at leasure to take notice of Ay! this is the Choak-Pear the very Name of Galen is a Bugbear to W. S. I find him ever running into a rage where I had occasion to name him This is that which frets him that the Galenists meddle with these Notions and I confess I am not at very great leasure now to trouble myself with them save that I am willing to step out of my Road to curb the Cracks of a Thraso Nor is there any Contradiction in what I say in this Assertion viz. That the Concrete Juices corrode and extract Mineral and Metallick Substances For the Concrete Juice of Vitriol which is of a Corrosive property being imbibed in a Spring Water will corrode other Minerals or Metals so says Helmont himself in the place before cited that it passes through as Iron and Alome whose Bodies are firmer especially before Consolidation which is the case of Iron here as now I made out and also of the Alome for the Solvent and Agent is Vitriol the Soluble and Patient is Iron And in this Water upon Evaporation or otherwise as I have newly made out we have the very Substance of Minerals and Metals And to this agrees Fallopius who was Chymist enough de Mâ—tal P. 216. who treating de Balneo Aponitano and that which is at Coâ—sena says In istis Aquis dispersa sunt ramenta minimae particulae lapidis In those Waters are dispersed some Shreds and small Particles of Stone and afterwards in the same Chapter he gives an account how it comes to pass that they imbibe Metals viz. Quia non sunt adeo dura solida ut in hac terrae superficie viz. because they are not so hard and solid within the Earth as they are upon the Superficies And thus also say Galen Vitruvius and Livius In P. 13. he repeats what he said before of his Esurine Salt or Ens Primum P. 3. and how that it cannot imbibe any more Minerals than one which I have there with good reason exploded and sufficiently confuted And these will appear much more frivolous when I shall by and by discover him confessing that This very Water at Scarbrough has imbibed four Minerals or Metals viz. Vitriol Iron Alome and Nitre But he frets at the Example I mention concerning Aquafortis which corrodes the substance of a Metal put into it and converts it to its own nature whereby it is become all liquid the solid Metal being become fluid as its Menstruum This Example does sufficiently illustrate what I am designing it for notwithstanding the Metal upon the Evaporation of the Menstruum may be found in the bottom A thing I no more doubted of then I do the residence of the
yet it is a strange thing that he will not allow any the least Tincture of Marine Salt to this Spring which bubbles upright through the Sand that is frequently overflown by the Sea and yet can suppose the Sulphur Well at Knaresbrough to have a Body of the same Salt in it which is 40 miles from the Sea ☞ P. 37. He tells that he made a Journey to Scarbrough Mr. S. at Scarbrough where in truth he so behaved himself that he had found a very rough welcome if I had not prevented it But it may very well be chronicled that he was at Scarbrough where I am almost confident he was never two dayes before in his life notwithstanding his great pretences to treat of this Subject He tells what discourse we had at the Well where what he got by it I appeal to the Gentlemen that were present and shall now again further make out His design he said was to enquire whether I had made a true report of the Mineral Ingredients of the Water or no and at the very first he resolved that they were not there I asked him if he had evaporated the Water to observe the Sediment he said no. Then I told him it was not just to pass a Sentence till the party arraigned was heard to speak for himself When he came to the Well I then being absent he began to talk among a great many Gentlemen that were drinking the Waters at the same rate that now he writes and pulled out of his Pockets half a score Glasses The truth is the Gentlemen at the first took him to be a Jugler but perceiving his errand sent me word he told me he had brought the solutions of the Five Minerals before mentioned in fresh Water with mixing of which he would make an Essay if he could imitate the Spaw I told him that the Water had passed under the Trial of very many Learned and Ingenious Gentlemen both Physitians and others and I doubted not but would abide his and further I said that Nature was more compleat in its Operations than to be fully imitated by Art I also said That he could not parallel those Minerals which had undergone the Fire with those that were in the Water that had not passed the Fire nor judge of the one by the other He said they were naked and bare solutions made without Fire though now in this Narrative he says They were made without STRESS of Fire and so might well be taken to make experiment withal But I pray what have we to do here with Fire at all since there is none in the Spaw which certainly must alter the case Besides what he means by STRESS OF FIRE I know not it 's an ambiguous expression even a small degree of heat will serve to unlock a Mineral and dissolve its compact substance making it speak sometimes that which of it self it would not do And further I told him that the Accidents to be observed in the Water were such as did proceed from the dissolution of Minerals and Metals not yet come to maturation which of necessity must be far different from those of his which were made out of perfect Minerals and Metals as I have evinced already out of the Testimony of Paracelsus lib 3. de Nat. Aq. which I mention'd in my reply to P. 3. of his Book and am not now willing to repeat P. 38. He says the Vitriol of Iron made it taste very like the sweet Spaw at Knaresbrough which for my own part I could not say that there was the least resemblance of it to that Water which I know as well as he for these 20 years together He then proceeded to try what Tincture the solution of Gall would give to the solutions of the Minerals he had brought thereby to imitate the Water of the Spaw and he found that the solutions of Alome and Vitriol would both take the like Tincture from Gall and so become clear again by the putting in of Spirit of Vitriol By which says W. S. I demonstrated to the Doctor what he would not otherwise believe had not his eyes convinced him viz. that the bare solution of the Calx of Alome having nothing of Iron and Vitriol doth give exactly the same alteration and hence he infers that this Mutation comes from the Alome and that there is nothing of Vitriol in it What a Crack he gives and yet he bursts not why there is not a word in my Book of Scarbrough Spaw that could in any reason lead him to make out such a demonstration I said indeed and so I do confidently say still that it is the Vitriol alone that being dissolved by its Mineral Juyce in this Water takes the Tincture from the Gall. Ay says he but the solution of Alome will do so too therefore there is no Vitriol but Alome This is a pure non sequitur especially if we consider that this solution he talks of was made of Calcined Alome as himself confesses in the next P. 39. in these words Seeing a solution of calcined Alome will do the same And so again P. 40. By all which it appeared that the solution of the Calcined Stone of Alome admitted the same precipitations c. with that of the Spaw Now I pray with what Logick can he argue from Calcined Stone Alome to this Aluminous Juyce that is here in the Water Had he tried whether the Crude Stone of Alome would qualifie simple Spring-Water to take a Tincture from Gall or impart any sapor to Water he had acted according to reason But the truth is I have tried it of that sort of Alome Mine which is in the Cliffe near the Well having broken it to Powder and infus'd it in Spring-Water some hours and it received no Tincture from Gall nay I did calcine that very Stone and then dissolv'd it in Spring-Water and yet it receiv'd no Tincture from the Gall so that I very much question whether his Calcined Alome of which he made his solution were of that Mine or no. There is at Whitby on the same Coast 12 miles from Scarbrough an Alome Mine out of which Alome is wont to be made and sent abroad in great quantities in the middle of which a Spring of Fresh Water breaks out having above 12 fathom of the Mine above it and how many 12s below it let him enquire this I have got Captain Francis Cummin and Mr. Christopher Wright a Minister both ingenious Gentlemen and of good repute at Whitby to try whether it would receive any Tincture from Gall at the Fountain and they do both assure me it doth not They also sent me a Glass Bottle of the same to York which I tried with Gall and it changed not at all Nay I do with them further averr that it is like ordinary Spring-Water having taken no Vapor Odor or Sapor from the Mine and being evaporated it yielded no Sediment I calcin'd also a piece of this Mine which I had from Whitby and
it Concerning his Quaerie How I would demonstate those to be Vitrioline Spirits which were lost in the Waters carrying at distance I returned the same Answer which here I have already laid down and need not to repeat onely to that which I urged out of Fallopius I 'l subjoyn the Opinion of Dr Heer 's in his Spadacrene cap. 6. p. 44. where he is proving the German Spaws to have imbibed Vitriol Conjecturam hanc duae rationes firmant utraque nifallor evidentissima c. These two reasons says he do evidently confirm this Opinion One is because where such acid Waters are found there is usually found something of the Minera of Vitriol near at hand and thus it is at Scarbrough within Sixscore Paces of the Spaw where Vitriol sweats out of the Cliffe His other reason is from the eminent acidity that is in Vitriol sutable to that which such Waters have imbibed wherein he appeals to the Chymists themselves and declares that no man but he that has a snotty Nose will presume to deny it Cujus nasum pituita obstruxerit c. P. 46. But an ingenious Person being by asked the Doctor Whether if the Water was sealed up in a Glass Bottle hermetically and so carried abroad it would be altered by carriage or no He answered he thought it would If so says Mr. S. then it was not from any volatility of parts because it was sealed up and so not from the loss of the Vitrioline Spirits It is very true I said so and now upon trial I am sure it is so Vitrioline Spirits in the Spaw nor is his consequence of any validity but rather the contrary for if there be any loss it must be of the volatile parts there being nothing else that can be lost since it is supposed to be sealed yet says Mr. S. it is not from the loss of Vitrioline Spirits but it is an Aporrhaea Mineralis whether Vitrioline or Aluminous It seems hereby that he is in doubt which of the two but certainly I judge it from Vitriol since both the acidity and the Vitrioline smell and the tinging quality will be all lost together Notwithstanding they will all keep longer being sealed up in Glass Bottles than in Woodden Vessels and therefore I did advise in my Book that it should rather be carried in Bottles well stopt although in these also it will not keep long but be subject to Putrefaction and become whitish in Colour Nor let any man think it strange that though stopped it should yet lose its Spirits since Frambesarius reports as much of the Sauvenir in Germany for causing 12 Lagena to be carried but two dayes journey which is near so many Gallons of English Measure taking a Lagena to contain 6 Sextaries and a Sextary to be 20 Ounces and that in Bottles well sealed up there wanted to every Lagena one Glass of its measure which probably might be half a Pint through the loss of the Volatile Spirits and the Water became like Common Spring Water Dr. Heer 's his words are Has nihil a communibus discrepasse ut quibus ☜ singulis lagenis aquae vitrum decesserat cum tamen apud fontem picatae subere obseratae lagenae fuissent Spad cap. 5. And Dr. Heer 's affirms the same on his own Observation in the same Chapter Decedit etiam inquit quantitati aquae nam vase optime obturato nec ulla gutta dilabente si fons hic alio transferatur minuitur quia spiritu turgentia plus loci quam eo privata occupare amant ☞ Thus it appears my assertion is no Paradox and indeed I do really think the main part of the Vitriol in this Water is its spirits rather than any body of the Mineral it self yet do think it has also something of the untipe juyce While I in my Book discoursed concerning the extracting the Minerals that are in the Water I said P. 10 they may be found either by DISTILLING off the Water or otherwise by evaporating the Water away in a Skellit over the Fire Mr. S. very disingenuous He exclaims P. 47 of my Tools that they are very rude und of a low rank to wit a Skellit a Culinary Fire but not a word of a Glass still which an Ingenious Artist would have chosen c. Here I find constantly the young man in the same temper owning nothing of Modesty and knowing as little of Moderation ☞ Is it not enough that I say they may be extracted BY DISTILLATION but must I needs tell what Metal my Still is made of I designing to speak to the capacity of all men mention both wayes and do particularly point out such Tools for trial of the truth of what I say as are most ready at hand however any thing will serve this man to rail on me who walks excentrick to all the Rules of Reason If the Reader ☜ please but to look into P. 360. he shall find him using the very same Tools viz. A Skellit and a Culinary Fire Of the said quantity of Spaw Water I took about 2 Quarts which having filtred I put it in a SKELLIT and boil'd away two thirds What a strange spirit is this man of especially to me that he will not allow me that liberty of expression which he takes to himself Yet let him do what he can by Distillation so volatile are these spirits that they will yet be gone as upon trial I have often observed The same did Doctor French discover in his Distilling of the Sweet Spaw at Knareshrough which though he did it in a Glass still luted and closed up carefully in the ioynts thereof so as the spirit of Wine could not evaporate out thereat yet so subtil were the Vitrioline Spirits and so volatile that he says they are sooner sublim'd than the Water and do penetrate even the Glass it self or the Lute and he believes that neither Glass nor Lute can hold them P. 67 So again he lets flie because I say â—â—e Minerals when the Water is almost gone do rise up in Bulla's making a bubbling noise like the boiling of Alome c. Our Naturalists observe that of all Minerals or Vegetables Alome makes the greatest noise when it is boiling as I have observed in those Mines at Whitby which a Stranger would wonder at and there being Alome in these Minerals hence they bubble with more noise than ordinarily Minerals use to do where that is away ☞ Doctor Jordan a very learned Chymist speaking in Chap. 7. of the boiling of Vitriol has this very Expression It ariseth up in Bulla's like Alome Had I to deal with any Man of Reason or Ingenuity who being unsatisfied had undertaken this task against me I had not met with such measure nor to my knowledge did I ever read any man of the like temper As for what he saith concerning the Emetick or Vomiting Property of Common Vitriol it is altogether extraneous to our Subject and I have
imbibition of Minerals or Metals which by the help of the very Chymical Authors themselves who speak the same words I have calmly and clearly wiped off I did not think it fit to call in the Testimony of the Antients and Princes in Physick whom I had cited before in my Book since I see he so insolently spurns at them but rather to convince him with the Verdict of the Chymists whom he ought better to have understood and cannot deny I shall now open the Curtain and let in more light to the Reader that he may the better discern the temper of my Antagonist and on which side is the truth in the Dispute that lies before him and this ex ore suo What needs any more Habemus reum confitentem In P. 20. Thus says Mr. S. we discard these two Pillars of his Spaw Mr. S. his Recantation viz. Vitriol and Iron as to the Body of them Now turn to P. 39. I do not says he deny Iron to be an ingredient So again P. 44. ☞ This Mineral acidity pervading a Minera of Iron makes a slight solution of it and being equally contempered together makes up the Body of the Spaw Now consider this Body of Minerals which is in the Spaw is of an Ounce Weight at least sometimes ten Drams in a dry Summer as this last was viz. 1668. in 5 Quarts of the Water and this is that which he stiles a slight solution And for Vitriol turn to P. 359. That I might says he inform my self more satisfactorily of the true Constituent parts of Scarbrough Spaw I took 3 Gallons and 3 Pints which I let stand whos 's first precipitation was a Reddish Sediment from which I filtred the Water and this dried in the Sun proved to be a Red Earth or kind of Ochre OR RATHER TERRA VITRIOLI ☜ So again he argues against Nitre from P. 50. to P. 61. asserting onely an Aluminous Salt with a slight touch of Iron but turn to P. 360. and we have these words Then I evaporated the clear filtred Water in Glasses to a driness which I found to have an ALUMINO-NITROUS ☜ TASTE or rather indeed MORE NITROUS and would relent in the Air. So P. 364. Where you meet in our Hydrological discourse with the word Aluminous Salt you are to read it ALUMINO-NITROUS SALT ☜ OR NITRO-HERMETICAL SALT this Salt if duly ordered is Crystalline shoots into LONG STIRIAS ☜ Here let the Reader observe in his Hydrological Discourse where he is directly denying Nitre several times and says its only an Aluminous Salt that is in the Water what woful Nonsense it would be to turn the word Aluminous into Nitro-Aluminous or Alumino-Nitrous or Nitro-Hermetical Certainly never any man writ at this rate before Besides if a Galenist should talk of Nitro-Hippocratical or Nitro-Galenical Salt what a comely Canting would it be and yet it would gingle as well as Nitro-Hermetical Risum teneatis amici After all this ranting what a woful case is this POOR GENTLEMAN brought into that he must be forced to crowd in Nonsense But it appears in this and many more things that I have hinted at and I shall find more before I have done with him that to say and unsay is no strange thing with our Author here right or wrong Sense or Nonsense he is not ashamed to tell what is in his heart But yet if we observe him Mr. S. in a strait he would fain sumble out an excuse to blind the unwary Reader that he may not find his contradicting of himself for he says P. 364. Therefore what we said against Nitre in our foregoing discourse is to be understood the Common inflammable Nitre which is vulgarly used But I pray will this go down with any man of ordinary understanding What have we to do here with Common Nitre of the Shops we are treating of Natural Mineral Nitre as it is here in this Water or this Earth never known or taken notice of nor used till I discovered it and brought it into use which indeed will not blaze in the Fire perhaps because it is but in Embryone not in statu perfectione or else so diluted with the Water that it lies down or loses its inflammable property as the Vitriel does the Colcotar Really I am ashamed that a man that pretends to Learning and Reputation should write such palpable Contradictions attended with so many gross circumstances of abuse to another for asserting that which himself is forced to acknowledge for truth upon deliberate consideration and I am as sorry to be put to this unpleasant task of ripping up a weak Brothers Infirmities which I would had I not been forced to the contrary much rather have covered with a Mantle of Love So severely to reject Iron Vitriol and Nitre and before his Book be done to be forced to recant To charge those things upon me as great faults wherein himself can have no plea for it but his rashness contracting thereby a great guilt to himself This is that which it seems the liberty of the Press doth afford an opportunity to do but yet that which no ingenious man or good Christian ought to take to himself The best of us all have our failings and it s well if we live to repent Ev'n Salomon left his Ecclesiastes St. Augustine his Confessions and Retractations and my Antagonist his Epilogue or Recantation However this with the aluminous part he calls in his Epilogue the Essence of Scarbrough Spaw and he undertakes P. 365. to tell what proportion it bears to the Water viz. as 1 is to 128. A rare Arithmetician indeed if you will believe him his Confidence in this is like all the rest deeming himself to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for we must believe him without reason as if all the vertue in the Spaw should lie in this Salt and with this alone he pretends to do wonders especially if we will but take in his Ternary But I wonder why the Vitrioline Spirits which by his own Confession are not here in this Salt or the Terra Vitrioli which he acknowledges he found or the Iron which I proved and he has confessed to be there should be excluded from being of the Essence of the Spaw Two Minerals of the Spaw are lost by Carriage For my own part I do seriously profess I never saw any considerable Cure done by the Water at distance and 't is no marvel since two of the principal Minerals are wanting viz. the Vitriol which loses its volatile parts by Carriage which should help its penetration into the narrow Meanders of the Hypochonders and the Iron which is alwayes found precipitated in the bottom of the Vessels besides that in a few dayes it begins to putrefie and so spoils the Stomach and taints the Blood and lays a foundation for the Jaundies or Cachexia as I have made appear by good Testimony in my Book But here some may wonder how it comes to pass that Mr. S.
That though he seemed to have performed great Cures by his Medicines prepared out of the Fire yet almost all of them died within a year or more notwithstanding even the Patients themselves did think they had found excellent Cures And he observes very well in the same Epistle that which is also agreeable to our own Observation in these dayes that Chymical Medicines do rather cure the Symptomes than the Diseases and do for the most part aliquid malignitatis corpori imprimere viz. Leave some impressions of malignity upon the Body which afterwards discover themselves And further he adds Our remedies perhaps may be somewhat slower in their operation and more nauseous in taking yet this I may confidently say they are far more safe than those fiery Drugs of the Paracelsians For as I had occasion to observe before Note it is much to be suspected that their Medicines which are out of such virulent corroding and oft times poysonous Drugs as he has here confessed being given in substance by lying in the Tunides of the Stomach and cleaving to the Bowels may from the contact of the Acid Humors of the Body resume their Ancient Arsenical Properties as Zwelfer says concerning Antimonium Diaphoreticum And the same Author affirms concerning Vitriol calcined even till it has deposited all its sharpness that yet being exposed to the Air it will contract an Acrimonious Salt in Pharm Aug. p. 675 And may there not be as good reason to suspect it from the Acid Humors in the Body as from the Air Now this is plainly apparent to every mans eye that that which has deposited its malignity may yet from the Air take it up again Suppose a piece of very strong Tobacco dried in the Pocket till it has lost all its strength lay but this in the Window when the Air is moist and it shall become as strong as before and as uneasie to be taken by a new Beginner P. 183. A strong Fire is as requisite in some Mineral Preparations as a mild Fire to some easie Vegetable Separations c. Why the Question in difference is not whether a strong Fire be requisite for Mineral Preparations but whether Mineral Preparations be necessary in Physick If Mr. S. loses his Question he gives up his Cause Certainly the Materia Medica was full enough to answer all Indications in Physick before this new process by Chymical Medicines was found out and the Ancients yea the Modern Physicians that wave them cure Diseases as well if not better than the Chymists can with their Medicines alone without the other But Mr. S. goes on and says Would not a Cook Maid be accused of ignorance if she intending to roast a piece of Meat should lay it down at a disproportionate distance from the Fire and then he tells how roasting of Meat is performed A piece of good Chymistry indeed and of general use I could wish they would take his advice in the Kitchin and let him partake with them in their Fees P. 184. What are all the Spirits and Cordial Waters but Chymical Separations of Vrinous Spirits by Distillation by the Fire What are the best of their Purging Pills as Extr. Rudii but a Chymical Extraction of Tinctures c. He still misses the Mark no wise man that I know condemns Chymical Preparations especially such as these and a hundred more which were in constant use in Physick even for many Centuries before Paracelsus was born for which we are not in the least beholden to any that ever assumed the name of Chymists in contradiction to Galen's Method and such Candor have Physicians ever since had towards the Inventors of such Remedies that to this day we reserve to them the honour of their Invention and call them by their Names as is observable in the Pharmacopaeia But the Objection is still valid against such as the Pseudochymists do use at this day and such as I find our Author here describing and â—dministring What are the best Emeticks in the Shops but such as are chymically prepared as the infusion of Croc. Metall and Mercurius vitae This is indeed very true these are good and safe Medicines and therefore the Galenists use them and both found them out and prepare them by their own hands or their Apothecaries and are not beholden at all to the Chymists for them but yet the Infusion of them is safer than the substance We use such as are safe and leave the rest to you to make Experiments withal P. 188. He charges it upon the Galenists A false Charge That they cry out of Antimony as a dangerous thing and then the next Prescription shall be the Infusion of Croc. Metal or Antimonium Diaphoreticum By this time the World well discerns that this man's Pen is no slander How unworthily this is said against Gentlemen of eminent and approved integrity I shall leave it to any Ingenuous Reader who has made any Observations since this matter of fact Nor do I know whom he levels at it had been but just for him to have cited his Author and not charge particular mens faults upon the whole party for my part I never read nor heard any man cry out of Antimony more than himself who says it has in it an Arsenical Sulphur and if upon this account it be dangerous yet the Infusion may be safe What are their best Medicines for Worms which they also frequently use against Venerial Diseases but a Chymical Preparation called Mercurius Dulcis It is very true it is a good Medicine but yet not the best and therefore I told you the Galenists were no Enemies to Chymistry My dear Friend Doctor Primerose says as much lib. 4. de Vulg. Error cap. 1. Mercurio dulci utimur innoxie We use Mercurius Dulcis without any danger at all Eadem siquidem est materia medica Pharmacopaei Chymici vulgaris exvegetabilibus animalibus mineralibus omnibus tam benignis quam violentis quae in usum Medicum venire solent Both the Chymical and the Vulgar Apothecary have the same matter of Physick And I have given this very Medicine an hundred times to Children of three or four years old but it 's alwayes best to joyn it with some Cathartick to carry it speedily through or at least to follow it soon with one lest it lie in the Tunicles of the Stomach and resume its corrosive property And yet great care must be had that this Medicine be opportunely prescribed and in a due Dose as indeed it is requisite in others and therefore not to be meddled withal by every good Wife or temerarious Quack Sennertus tells de Consens Chym. cum Gal. cap. 18 of an Eminent Physician of his acquaintance who had often prescribed Merc. Dulcis to his Patients with good success and yet had hazarded his life by the taking of it himself And I know of another Learned Physician of my acquaintance who never recovered after the taking of a Dose hereof being then upon the brink
said so or at his inadvertency in not observing that which in his own Opinion has so much of truth in it and is so materiâ—l to the point in controversie But this proceeds I suppose from his Combination with others in this Work while one takes one piece in hand and a second another and in the mean time he that undertook to make his inferences did not well discern the state of the Question The next difficulty which Pag. 297. he says is most considerable is How the Rain Water sinking into the Earth should supply the Springs that are in Hills or high Heaths To this I reply That as 't is very râ—re to fiâ—d Springs upon the tops of Hills so where ever they are they are very penurious Springs affording but little Water and break out ordinarily upon the dependant sides of the Hills which they may very well receive from the Rain and Snow that falls above them upon the tops of the Hills which may settle to that dependant part these not suffering such expence of Water from Men or Beasts and being supplied by every Shower and not so much scorched by the heat of the Sun as lower grounds are may very well be supposed to be so caused and perpetuated Besides that Hills are usually even in the dryest seasons kept moist by Clouds and Mists that do encompass them as upon my own Observation I can speak of some Hills that have Springs in them And if it be thus with those Springs that break out upon the Hills much more plain is it in them that break out upon Heaths where the ground being level they receive the Rain and Snow more plentifully and afford Springs accordingly Besides we see that Water is of it self apt to motion for being poured out it doth immediately spread it self which it is well fitted to do by reason of its fluidity and much more it is prone to motion in the Bowels of the Earth where it loses much of its gravity being out of its proper place assigned to it by the Creator viz. the Convex part of the Earth to which it has a natural inclination and tendency not resting till it meets with its natural Correspondent the Air under which it must needs lie by reason of its greater gravity as above the Earth by reason of its levity Hence it is as I conceive that it ceases not to move towards the Superficies of the Earth so long as the Channels have a supply of Water nor is there any difference of site to it as to up or down while it is in its Channels like the Blood in the Veins of our Bodies but it breaks out where ever it finds vent and so makes Springs and that so forcibly too as that it brings out with it the Sabulum or Sand which is a far heavier body than it self from whence we see that the bottoms of Rivers are covered with it And this agrees with what Helmont says P. 47. in contemplation whereof he seems to be rapt up into an admiration and breaks forth into a high Doxology Aqua inquit intra vividum terrae fundum sorbetur trahitur unde communem nacta vitam Regem cui omnia vivunt venite adoremus lecorum situs nescit cacumina montium sine molestia facile adscendit una cum Quellem ut indesinentes inde fontes evertat viz. Water is suckt and drawn into the Vivid Bowels of the Earth whence it being made partaker of common life Come says he let us praise God to whom all things do live it knows no site of place but naturally and easily ascends even to the tops of mountains together with the Sand which he calls Quellem and so makes ever-running Springs Thus I have solved these 2 great difficulties in order to the establishing my assertion concerning Rain Snow Water being the Original of â—prings But will not the Reader wonder if I point out my Adversary himself granting me the facility of Waters rising up â—rom the Subterraneal Channels to the highest Hills or Heaths Turn then to Page 305. where we find these words We see that Blood while circulating in its proper Vessels ☜ knows no such difference as either going up and down c. In like manner Water whilest circulating from Seas c. knows neither up nor down and can as easily while in those Channels climbe up to the tops of Hills and Mountains and there make Springs as break forth in Valleys and in the Level of Plains yea it can as well mount tops of Hills and high Heaths as the Blood in the Arteries can ascend into the Head and all this saith he by the Natural Circulation of Water set on work by the Original Fiat So that upon the whole matter we see Mr. S. is not invincible in his Objections nor yet so fully resolved in this point but that he can change his mind upon a sleight cause and even as his interest carries him assert Contradictions I shall now proceed to examine what he has to say concerning the Establishing of another Original of Springs wherein as in all things else that he has treated of I find him very Positive for so in P. 303. he calls it a new and positive Thesis and that is from a Circulation of Water in the Terraqueous Globe by the mediation of Subterraneal Channels along the Sabulum Bulliens from the Sea to the Heads of Springs and from them into Rivulets and thence into Rivers and so back again into the Ocean thereby making the Sea to be the Original of Springs Thus far it is no new Thesis but as old as Thales and Plato and is followed by Valesius Mr. Lydiat Mr. Carpenter Dr. Jordan and Dr. French What Reasons they have propounded in their Writings to perswade them to this Opinion I have examined in my Book of the Spaw from P. 55. to 89. but could not receive satisfaction from them on the grounds I there laid down besides the great disagreement among themselves in seeking out a passage to the Springs And for the making out of this Positive Thesis Mr. S. makes an Hypothesis in Pag. 317. which certainly is not a sufficient foundation in the Judgement of wise and rational men viz. He supposes That the Seas are perforated at the bottom in many places with Subterraneal Channels and secret Vortices through which the Water of the Sea finds passage into certain Hydrophylacia or common Cisterns of Water where it comes to a Level with the Surface of the Sea and from the pressure of the Atmosphere of the Air and also of the Winds Clouds and Storms and the oblique Motion of the Tides upon the Surface of the Sea the Water is forced up from those Cisterns even to the highest Hills or Plains and so makes Springs Here is much said but nothing proved Indeed a Grand Supposition for so he calls it which he ought necessarily to have proved before he had given his Definitive Sentence against my Thesis lest he be to
seek for a true Original of his Springs And yet to speak out neither is this his own but wholly borrowed from Kircherus de Origine Fontium in his Mundus Subterraneus where he discourses at large upon this Subject making no less than five Suppositions in order to his Design of illustrating the Sea to be the Original of Springs although he differs from others about the manner of Conveyance which with submission to better Judgements seem to me to be no other than the begging of the Question affording very little satisfaction to any man that shall well study the Point But to return to Mr. S. He supposes that the Seas are perforated at the bottom or to have holes through which the Water runs into Subterraneal Channels or as Kircherus calls them Rivers which he fancies to be far larger than those we have above the Barth But how knows he this to be so since no man ever saw them De non apparentibus non existentibus eadem est ratio is a good Rule in Reason I cannot believe there are such holes because they do not appear to the eye of Reason In our Lincolnshire and Norfolk Washes where at every Low Water or Ebbe of the Sea the Water goes out and leaves the Land bare for many miles together no such holes were ever seen nor on the Coast of Holland where the Seas are very shallow at Low Water for some leagues together is there the least Symbole of these holes which probably should be if any such thing were in Nature and so ordinary as is implied in this Hypothesis I speak not here of those Extraordinary Subterraneal Gulphs which some Authors tell of and our Seamen confirm to us as that on the Coast of Norway called the Malstrondt and another at the bottom of the Baltick Sea where the Water runs with a mighty stream into the Earth by which some ships they say have been swallowed up nor yet of the Subterraneal Passages that are supposed to be betwixt some Seas in Asia which I mentioned in my Book of the Spaw Again If the Seas were so perforated and that the Water should pass so plentifully through the Holes as it must necessarily do to give being to so many Springs there would be found Suctions in the Sea whereby Ships especially small Vessels would be in constant hazard which we hear not oâ— Moreover it seems to be repugnant to Reason and our Observations at Land for the motion of the Sea in the Constant Circulation of the Tides and also from Wind and Storms would be in danger to stop up the Holes by washing Earth into them and so choak up the Channels and consequently the Springs As we see in the Roads where sometimes we meet with dangerous Holes in the Latches if there happen a Spowt of Rain so that the Water run in a stream but a day or two over those Latches the holes are closed up and they become passâ—ble and firm Another Branch of Mr. S. his Supposition is this That there are Subterraneal Channels or Rivers as Kircherus has it whereby the Salt Water is conveyed to the Hydrophylacia or Cisterns c. This I cannot in his Sense grant because they appear not For never did any that dig in Mines either near the Sea as at Newcastle and Sunderland in the Coal-Pits or farther off at Land as in the Lead Iron or Tin-Mines make any reports of Streams of Salt Water that they meet withal which they should probably do if this Hypothesis were true They tell us indeed of swift Currents of Fresh Water that sometimes they meet with but not a word of Salt Again Those Subterraneal Channels must be supposed to be sometimes 2 or 300 miles long even in a right line nay perhaps so many thousand in great Continents where the middle parts of the Land are at that distance from the Sea and have their durable Springs and how many hundred or thousand miles long must we suppose them to be if these Channels have such crooked turnings and windings as the small Rivolets have that we observe at land I confess this surpasses my understanding how it can be Moreover This supposes multitudes of his Hydrophylacia or Cisterns of Salt Water in every Countrey and those of an immense Magnitude which as yet never any man found and is in my weak Judgement repugnant to Reason for the Earth and Sea compressing on all sides of this Terrestrial Globe should make it a Solid Body and such as cannot admit of such large Chasmata or Vacuities Furthermore Mr. S. supposes This Water is forced up through those long Channels and from the Hydrophylacia to the Springs by the weight of the Air Clouds Winds Storms and Tydes depressing upon the Surface of the Sea That the Air has a weight and may depress a little upon the Sea I shall not question the Torricellian Experiment evinces the Air to depress by its gravity yet how the Winds Storms and Tides should further that Depression I see not but that their motion being oblique should rather hinder it forasmuch as it interrupts the motion of gravity which is evermore in a right line towards the Center But how it is possible that this depression of all these upon the Sea should hold so strong which yet we discern is very inconsiderable as to force the Water through those Subterraneal Channels so many scores hundreds or thousands of miles long and that by such Crooked Meanders as we have reason to suspect I cannot conceive Indeed Mr. S. P. 318 tells of a Pneumatick Engine like the Wine-Coopers Bellows which will by the pressure of the Air force up Wine or Water into other Vessels that are at distance and on higher grounds and he suposes that after the same manner the pressure of these upon the Sea forces the Water through the Channels to the Springs on Hills or Heaths at distance He has also 2 or 3 more Schemes whereby he endeavours to make out the facility of the conveyance but both the other and these are all fetched out of Kircherus in his Mundus Subterraneus where P. 230 and 231 the Reader may see them all To these I shall say they are only such in Mente Machinantis but here is no proof to make them out to be so in Mundi Machina But lastly If the Springs should be supposed notwithstanding all these difficulties and absurdities to proceed from the Sea-Water there would certainly appear some difference perceptible to the senses betwixt that sort of Spring-Water that comes from this cause and those that assuredly himself confessing proceed from Rain when yet we discern there is none at all And how comes it to pass that those Springs especially such as are near the Sea have not after so many thousand years as the World has continued somewhat of saltness in them and that the Channels are not tainted after so long time Indeed Mr. S. tells us that the Sea-Water lays down its saltness in the Channels of the Earth and so the Water runs fresh out of the Springs But did he not also say in P. 54. That the Salt of the Earth is conveyed through the Subterraneal Channels into the Sea and that thence it has its Saltness and its Minera from Fossile Salt Now how the same Channels should convey Salt to the Sea and also drain the Seas Water from its Salt and become Conveyances of contrary Streams I cannot reconcile to my Reason To conclude all I find that this new and positive Thesis of Mr. Simpson is but a borrowed Hypothesis and so far as he has here endeavored to make it out to have no bottom and therefore I must adhere to my Opinion of Rain and Snow Water to be the Original of Springs which still farther I can defend with more Arguments of Demonstration but those I shall wave till I have further occasion I confess this is an abstruse point in Philosophy and difficult to determine upon But difficulty in finding should not discourage us from seeking but rather whet us on to more diligence in searching so as whatever our Opinions are in things of this Nature provided we assent or dissent according to reason and with readiness to submit when our reason shall be convinced we are out of all danger of Heresie though perhaps we may be subject to error I had here thought to have entertained the Kind Reader with some Animadversions upon another small Book of Mr. Simpsons called Zenexton Antipestilentiale where there are many things worth observing and that may merita Comment but this having far exceeded what at first I intended I shall respit it till a further provocation being also desirous to continue on the defensive hand and so at present I bid Farewel From my House at York May the 28th 1669. FINIS