bind Ev'n Natures self does all her Treasures yield And quits to you the Trophies of the Field Her in her dark Recesses you have view'd Thro' ev'ry Maze her wond'rous Paths pursu'd What Magick late and Mystery they call Now Art appears and Demonstration all Nature exalted rears her shining Crest And in her Works th' Omnipotent's confest You chiefly teach this curious Age to know What Mineral Seeds in Purling Waters flow In raging Fevers how the Blood takes Fire And how in tedious Chronicks we expire In darksom Mines where noisom Damps offend Ev'n there your conquer'd Empire you extend What Air or Earth or liquid Seas contain Your comprehensive Genius does explain Old Rome to Britain once again returns And Heroes rise out of their dusty Urns Their Votive Spoils proclaim their Grandeur here Speak how prevailing once their Legions were Rescu'd from Rust of Time they live in you Whilst we their Pow'r in their great Ruins view May you these high Discoveries still pursue If ought remains of that great Task to do Your Labours will the Test of Time endure Whilst you beyond the Critick's Rage secure Lord of your self are pleas'd with future Toil And spread your healing Wings o're all your Native Soil R. J. Some of the Names of the Nobility Clergy and Gentry Subscribers to this book Many are omitted several Persons Subscribing for different Numbers whose Names are not known to the Author A SIR Willoughby Aston Dr. Robert Andrews Dr. Archer of Kendall Thomas Ashurst Esq Iohn Atherton of Busy Esq Edward Ayde Esq Iohn Aglonby Esq Thomas Ashton Esq Mr. Alonson A. M. Mr. Henry Ashton Mr. Thomas Askue Mr. Thomas Armatryding Mr. Adir Mr. Atherton B Sir Iohn Bridgeman Bar. Sir Benjamin Bathurst Sir Roger Bradshaigh Sir Rich. Blackmore Sir Rich. Brooks Sir Tho. Billet Sir Will. Busby Sir Iohn Bland Sir Henry Bunbury Reginald Britland Serjeant at Law Dr. Bateley Arch-Deacon of Cant. Dr. Birch of Westminster Dr. Breech of Christ-Church Dr. Baynard Dr. Daniel Brown Ioseph Brown M. D. Thomas Brotherton Esq Geor. Birch Esq Thomas Brooks Esq Humphrey Booth Esq Allen Bathurst of Trin. Coll. Esq Iohn Braddyle Esq Henry Brown Esq Henry Bradshaw Esq Geo. Beach Esq Lawrance Booth Esq Nath. Booth Esq Orlando Bridgeman Esq Orlando Bridgeman Esq Rich. Bold Esq Beâ—â—ford Esq William Blencore Esq Brockhall Esq Mr. Bradshaw of New Coll. A. M. The Reverend Mr. Hugh Barrow B. D. Roger Bolton M. A. Adam Budle M. A. Mr. Becinsall B. D. Braz C. Capt. Booth Madam Brookes Mr. Robert Brewer Mr. Thomas Bennet Mr. Thomas Barbon Mr. Tho. Briggs of Lostock Mr. Tim. Bancks Mr. Thomas Bradshaw Mr. Butterworth Mr. Michael Burton Mr. Nathaniel Boothhouse Mr. William Burhell Mr. Iohn Bradshaigh Mr. Iohn Brenand Mr. Henry Brooks Mr. Iohn Brown C Lord Cavendish Lord Cholmondeley Lord Bishop of Carlisle Lord Bishop of Chester Sir Robert Cotton Sir Edward Chisnal Sir Iohn Crew The Reverend Dr. Charlott Master of University Colledge Oxon. Dr. Chamberlain of London Dr. Cox of London Dr. Covel Master of Christs College Camb. Dr. Carmichal Dr. Carter Henry Chetham Esq Iohn Cheshire Esq Robert Cholmondeley Esq Tho. Cliffton of Litham Esq Samuel Crook Esq Allen Chamber Esq Lawrence Charter Prof. of Divinity Colonel Codrington Daniel Chaddock Gent. Mr. Carswell Mr. Iohn Charleton Mr. Robert Cheshire of Runchorne Mr. Francis Cholmondeley Mr. Iohn Clayton Mr. Clark of Wicham Mr. Thomas Clopton Mr. Iames Crayle of London Mr. George Corbishley Mr. Thomas Crowther D His Excellency the Duke of Devonshire The Earl of Derby Countess Dowager of Derby Sir Thomas Delves Dr. Drummond Samuel Daniel Esq Cha. Dartigueneve Esq Christopher Dauntesy Esq Domvil of Linn Esq Mr. Delves M. B. Edw. Denham A. M. Mr. Delves of Manchester Mr. Davy of Fradsham Mr. Charles Du-Bois Mr. Davenport E The Honourable Madam Egerton Edmund Entwistle D. D. Dr. Eives Peter Edgerton of Shaw Esq Iohn Eglenby Esq Thomas Ewer Esq Mr. Ioseph Eaton Mr. Robert Eskrigg of Eskrigg F Sir Daniel Fleming Dr. Thomas Fern London Dr. Fenton Dr. Pet. Fulwood at Stampford Lin. Lawrence Fogg D. D. D. C. William Farrington Esq Thomas Foster Esq Edward Fleetwood Esq Iohn Ferrers Esq Iohn Franks Esq Thomas Fleetwood of Bank Esq Richard Fleetwood Esq Roger Fleming Esq Thomas Fleetwood of Staffordshire Esq Mr. Stephen Fox Valentine Farrington Gent. Mr. Iohn Farrington Mr. Fiswick Mr. Fernill of Ridgeley Mr. Henry Fean Mr. Barwick Fairsax G Sir Christopher Greenvil Dr. Gibbons London Dr. Goodall London Dr. Gould London Dr. Grundy Thomas Gerrard Esq Thomas Glasier Esq Thomas Gardiner Esq Henry Gilberson Esq Greenvill Esq Iohn Grosvenour Esq Greenvill Esq The Reverend Parson Gibbs of Bury Mr. Gwin Fellow of Iesus Col. Ox. Iosiah Gregson Gent. Mr. Thomas Gibson Mr. Iohn Gadbury Mr Henry Glibberton Mr. Edward Graves Mr. Francis Gregg Mr. Green London H The Marquess of Hartington Sir Henry Hunloke Dr. Halkat Dr. Lancelott Harrison Dr. Henshaw Dr. Hicks London Dr. How London William Haddock Esq Thomas Hanmore Esq Iohn Harrison Esq Richard Hardy Esq Iohn Harleston Esq Thomas Hesketh Esq Robert Hesketh Esq Henry Hodgkinson Esq Iohn Hodgson Esq Iames Holt Esq Benjamin Houghton Esq Holt of Crisleton Esq Iohn Hopwood Esq Edward Hornby Esq Hurleston Esq Hulme Esq William Hulton Esq Hulton Esq The Reverend Mr. Iames Hamer B. D. The Reverend Mr. Hall Mr. Holbrooke M. B. Mr. Haydock Capt. Hambleton Mr. Haddon Mr. Haywood Mr. Iohn Harrison Mr. Iames Harvey of Knutsford Mr. Harrison of Poulton Mr. Thomas Haworth Mr. William Hawkins Mr. Iohn Hawkins Mr. Hargraves Mr. Hyde Br. Coll. S. Mr. Thomas Hodgson Mr. Thomas Hunt Mr. Robert Hyde Mr. Francis Hopson Mr. Iames Holland Mr. Hunt Mr. Hulme Mr. Hind Mr. Humphrey Hutchinson Mr. Christopher Hopkins Mr. Charles Halstead Mr. Iames Hardy Mr. Hall of Knutsford Mr. Hall of Hulms Chap. I Alexander Iohnson Esq Mr. Michael Iohnson Mr. Nicholas Iackson K Lord Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Lord Killmorry George Kenyon Esq Mr. Aaron Kinton of St. Martins in the Fields Mr. Keil of Ball. Coll. Mr. Knaplock L Lord Bishop of London Sir Fancis Leicester Sir William Lowther Dr. Levett Robert Law M. D. Rich. Legh of High Legh Esq Peter Legh of Lime Esq Peter Legh of Booth Esq Obad. Lane Esq Iohn Legh of Adlington Esq Peter Legh of High Leigh A. M. Mr. Rich. Langon Mr. William Law Mr. Iohn Legh Mr. Iohn Leadbeater Mr. Roger Langton Mr. Arthur Laundres Mrs. Ann Loveday Mr. Rich. Lownds M Sir Iohn Manwareing Sir George Markham Sir Strencham Masters Sir William Meredith The Reverend Dr. Iohn Mear Dr. of Divinity and Principal of Brazen-N Col. Thomas Mather Esq Iohn Minshall Esq Minshall of Grays-Inn Esq Minshall of the Temple Esq Alexander Moson Esq Ralph Milbank Esq Thomas More M. B. Mr. Ioseph Milner Mr. Iohn Markland of Wigan Mr. Bevin Mr. Valentine Moneston Mr. Thomas Moss Mr. Richard Mostyn Mr. Francis Moult Mr. George Moult N George Nodes Esq Roger Nowell of Read Esq Mr. Thomas Newby Mr.
Madam Katharine Preston Daughter and Heiress of Thomas Preston of Holker Esq Tho' this Digression be foreign to a Natural History yet I hope the Reader will pardon it since I could not well pass by so considerable a Building Some Waters we have which cast up Marine Shells as Latham Spaw did formerly but that being troublesome to the Drinkers has been prèvented by laying Mill-stones upon the Spring so that the Sand and Shells cannot boyl up so high as formerly This is one of the best sorts of Vitriolic Chalybeates and is remote from the Sea or any Salt Rivers whence therefore these Shells come may be worth our enquiry and a clear decision of that may farther illustrate those other Marine Shells found in Marle as the Echini Cochleae Torculars Whilks and Periwinkles of which I have great Numbers by me and took them my self out of firm Marle at three Fathom deep some being entire others broken but all soft and friable yet grew hard as Coral being expos'd to the Air. The Decision of this Phaenomenon in a great measure depending upon the Origin of Fountains I think it a pardonable digression if I a little expatiate on that subject before we descend to the particular Case Springs by the French Virtuosi are suppos'd to flow from the Dews Rains and Mists imbibed in the Earth and afterwards form'd into various Currents which are those we commonly call Springs Now this being a Notion inconsistent with Reason I cannot adhere to it for were this Hypothesis true it would hence follow in the various Seasons of the Year as Summer and Winter they would vary very much in their Currents as to quantity which in several Springs is not discernible Secondly Several Springs are found in Mines in the Bowels of the Earth deeper than the Dews and Rains are suppos'd to descend Thirdly Some Countries abound with Springs where Dews and Rains are never known to fall from all these it is evident continual Springs can never be imagin'd to be caused by Rains and Dews it remains therefore that they either proceed from the Ocean or a subterraneous Abyss The latter of these the Learned Dr. Woodward adheres to and could such a thing be made out his Hypothesis would be undeniable but such a thing as an Abyss being no where to be discover'd in Nature and that what Notions we have of it are only from Moses that divine Philosopher In what sence the inspired Legislator might take the Abyss we pretend not to determine whether the Ocean in general or a subterraneous collection of Waters equal to it and keeping a Communication with it as Dr. Woodward supposes Wherefore we rather assert what the great Aristotle supposes concerning Springs that they have their Rise from the Sea of this Caesar had a clear Demonstration when he Invaded this Island and Encamp'd upon the Sea Coasts where by digging in the Sands he was instantly supply'd with a sufficient quantity of fresh Water which by filtring through the Sand became sweet the saline Particles sticking in the Sand. A Phaenomenon like to this was observ'd when that great General Duke Schomberg Encamp'd upon a Plain call'd the Mels near Hile-Lake This granted then that Springs have their Rise from the Ocean it is easy to imagin how they may bring up Marine Shells and unless this be allow'd I think the Phaenomenon cannot otherwise be fairly illustrated but how this becomes a Mineral Water is from the Mineral Bass from which it springs Against this Hypothesis there remains yet one material Objection viz. If Fountains have their Rise from the Sea how comes it to pass that there are Springs upon the Tops of Mountains which are higher than the Sea since it is evident from Hydrostatick Experiments Water will not naturally rise above its level To this I answer in the first place it is no wise demonstrable that there is any Mountain higher than the highest part of the Ocean since it is suppos'd to be a Globe of equal Magnitude with the Earth Secondly Granting it were so yet it is probable those Mountains lying in the middle Region a sufficient quantity of aqueous Particles might be imbibed by the Earth to produce Springs there and yet this particular Instance does no ways invalidate the general Hypothesis in which is meant the generality of Springs and not each particular Fountain It is true subterraneous Eruptions of Waters especially after Earthquakes as at Port-Royal in Iamaica and at Kirby in Furness in Lancashire have happen'd which have drove down Houses and Rocks of that magnitude that many Teams of Oxen could not move by which it may be concluded there is a subterraneous Abyss of Waters To this I say it is not certain whether these come from the Ocean or from an Abyss and shall not therefore pretend to determine it but shall proceed to what I next propos'd and that is to treat of Mineral Waters In doing of which I begin with those impregnated with Vitriol The Vitriol Spring in the Kennel-Pits at Haigh when I first try'd it yielded an Ounce of Vitriol from a Quart of Water nay it was so highly impleted with Vitriol that any common Alkaly wou'd raise a Fermentation with it and cause a Precipitation The Vitriol it yields is White for the greatest part tho' there is some Green mix'd with it it is not now of that strength several fresh Springs having broken in which yet might easily be diverted of this the Rev d Dr. Wroe our Warden has been frequently an Eye-witness Notwithstanding this Dr. Lister with unequal'd Assurance tells the World Vitriol is not to be found in any Waters in England but that all Waters of a Vitriolic Taste are only impregnated with a Pyrites which we vulgarly call Fire-Stone Germinating in the Waters and this must be impos'd upon the World as implicitly as if it was an Article of Faith in Philosophy For any Man to oppose him he brands him strait with the Character of Mean and Impudent and such like opprobrious Epithets a Language if I mistake not unaccountable for one of his Gown and Dignity For my part what I relate is matter of Fact and the Dr. may be fully convinc'd if he pleases if not it is no fault of mine and since I cannot as firmly believe the Germination of the Pyrites in our Chalybeat Waters as they are commonly called to be like that of Mint in Bottles of Water I hope the Dr. will pardon my Infidelity till he give me better grounds for it at which he has not yet offer'd any farther than a capricious ipse dixit Adjacent to a Place call'd Humblesco-Green in a small Farm in Maudsley is a Spring impregnated with Sulphur and a Marine Salt the Water is extremely foetid tinges Silver a Copper colour by its Sulphur in Distillation a Quart of Water yields half an Ounce of sulphur Salt This Spring no question would answer all the Intentions of the sulphur Water near Knaseborough in Yorkshire either as
the Mouth of the Glass and the Flame expires yet by the sulphureous Fumes dashing upon each other the sides of the Glass wax warm a certain signal this must needs be that where sulphureous Particles are deny'd a passage or where they force their way through uneven Sinuosities by beating upon and encountring one another an Heat must be produced as is apparent by the Sun-beams in Convex Glasses And this is farther confirm'd by the Learned Dr. Browne in his Treatise of the Mines in Hungary in some Places of the same Mine it was extreamly Cold in others so intensely Hot that tho' his Cloaths were never so thin the Heat would be troublesome to him The Miners work all Naked and Eight Hours are as much as most can endure The Heat in these Waters cannot arise from Fermentation because no fermentation can be discover'd in them nor by any Experiments either in Distillation Precipitation or any other Method cou'd I ever observe such a Contrariety of Matter in them that one part wou'd ferment upon another so as to cause any sensible Heat From subterraneous Fires they cannot proceed because in these parts such were never known or were there any cou'd not but discover themselves since no Fires will burn without admission of Air and there must likewise be Flues and Chasms whence they vent their Smoke and foeculent parts but since none of these were ever disclos'd in these parts it is not probable the Baths should grow hot by any such cause and when the Heat of the Baths may be sufficiently explain'd by the Collision of sulphureous Particles what necessity is there we should have recourse to any such unwarrantable Hypothesis as a Fermentation in the Waters or to subterraneous Fires Those two Notions are lately espoused by Dr. Guidot and Dr. Pierce of Bathe but I am apt to think those Gentlemen rather fancy than observe the Phaenomena of Nature For I am very well satisfy'd had they made strict Enquiries into those Waters they wou'd never have troubled the World with such Chimerical Hypotheses Dr. Pierce indeed does not much trouble himself or the World with any Scrutiny into the Contents of the Baths or the Causes of the Heat of them but only gives you an Instance from Savoy which is as remote as that place to his Undertaking And as for Dr. Guidot he is so Inconsistent with himself that unless he have the Art of reconciling Contradictions I am sure his Thermae Britannicae are not to be accounted for I do not speak this as any wise arrogating a greater Genius to my self or to lessen those worthy Persons but only from the Phaenomena I have observ'd in Nature and if they please to do the same I despair not of their Pardons Having now done with the sulphureous saline Waters in the next place I shall proceed to treat of saline Ones only as those at Northwich Namptwich Middlewich Dunham in Cheshire and Barton in Lancashire Various have been the Notions concerning the Rise of these Springs some imagining they proceeded from the Sea others from subterraneous Rocks of Salt which have of late Years been discover'd and first made Useful by my self in refining that Rock to a White granulated Salt which is now practiced in many places These Springs sometimes break out in the Rock but oftner either above or under it some of them in a Quart of Water contain about seven or eight Ounces of Salt whence its plain that quatenus Salt-springs they proceed not from the Sea because a Quart of the best of that Water affords seldome above an Ounce and Half of Salt Some of these Springs will tinge with Galls but most refuse it whence its plain Dr. Lister in his usual manner is much mistaken in forcing the Pyrites upon us 'T is true from the sulphureous Smell that may be observ'd in the Fermentation betwixt this Salt and Oyl of Vitriol that there is a Sulphur contain'd in the Salt but that no wise warrants a Pyrites since that is an aggregate of different Principles viz. Ocre and Vitriol besides Sulphur which Bodies by the Dr's own Confession Salt does not contain which is the only true Notion he lays down about those Waters and that he may assume as an Observation of his own It is likewise observable that the Salt made from the Brine-springs and the Rock-salt dissolv'd in fresh Water that these Salts will shoot into different Figures whence it is evident the Brine-springs proceed not from the Rocks of Salt that are discover'd but from Rocks of Salt that lie deeper in the Bowels of the Earth Besides in different Springs I have observ'd the Figures of the Salt to differ as some in Middlewich from those at Northwich where by Chrystallization they shoot into quite contrary Figures so that the Sal Mediterraneum as the Dr. stiles it is like to lose its Character Nay Rock-salt it self will never shoot into any regular Figure at all whence it may be averr'd these Salt-springs have not their Saltness from any subterraneous Rocks of Salt yet known it follows therefore if they are not saturated either from the Sea or from subterraneous Rocks of Salt we may then form another Hypothesis and conclude them to arise from Aerial saline Particles impregnating a proper Bass and so by various Solutions and Impregnations keeping a continual Circulation and so constantly supplying us and what chiefly gives umbrage to this is the Renascence of marine Salt which is so prodigiously made out by Untzerus in his Account of those Mountains of Salt that supply Russia Persia Mesopotamia Media and those vast Countries which as he affirms every Year Vegetates and the places whence the Salt was digg'd is the Year following as full of Salt as before Phaenomena like to this may be observ'd in the Vitriol-stone near Hesse-Cassel and in those Iron-Mines belonging to the Duke of Florence as is related by Fallopius Besides the marine Salt these Springs do likewise contain the Nitrum Calcarium Its observable the Salt of some of these Springs will not easily precipitate but a little Allum and fresh Butter will effect it and then it makes a larger Grain and stronger Salt than any of the rest In the Evaporation of these Salts there is likewise observ'd a white Sand which is thrown to the Corners of the Pan and this by frequent Evaporation and Filtrations I found to be the Particles of the Bass out of which these Salt-springs arise The most noted Purging-Waters in these parts are those in a Village call'd Rougham adjacent to the remarkable Sands which are the great Road into Furnace nine Miles in breadth and at each Spring-tide entirely cover'd with Water these in calm Weather afford us very pleasant Travelling but in tempestuous Seasons no less dismal than we can suppose the wild Desarts of Arabia From the bottom of an high Rock near these the Water issues forth in a very plentiful Current it is a little brackish taken inwardly it purges both by Urine
the Shores but I do not remember that I ever saw them growing Corals we have not any but Mosses and Alcyonia of various sorts The Alga Saccarifera is frequently found upon these Coasts and by hanging in the Air it will yield repeated Efflorescences of a white Sugar as sweet as any prepar'd from the Sugar-Canes it is not for the present of any known use but perhaps by Experiments which may easily be made upon it succeeding Ages may farther inform us however I can only add this that the quantity of Sugar that may be had from one of these Alga's is very considerable There are other kinds of Alga's which the Inhabitants commonly call Mermaids Purses of these there are Two sorts the Black and the Yellow I do not remember any One to have given an account of these nor can I inform my self to what Species they belong having never yet seen them growing and I only found them scatter'd on the Sea-shores The Sea-Grapes may likewise be observ'd on these Coasts and these I think are the most remarkable of Amphibious Plants in these parts The perfect Marine Plants are not very numerous but the following are common enough Eringo Soldanella Buckthorn Plantain Sea-Colewort Spurge Squills Sea-Purslain Sedum Minimum Sea-Spurge Thrift Marsh-Pinks Rock Samphire Marsh Samphire Horned Poppy Flore Luteo Sea-Scurvy-grass Serpillum Carduus Mariae Verbena Rocket Absinthium Abrotani Folio or Sea-Wormwood The Eringo is of frequent use in Scorbutic and Consumptive cases and makes a most pleasant Ale by infusion Soldanella is commonly used in Hydropic Cases and often with success nor have I observ'd it to be so rough an Hydragogue as some Botanists have pretended Squills that grow here are not used but I see no reason why they may not answer all the ends of the other Serpillum is a Plant often successfully made use of in Catarrhs and in the Fluor Albus Rock Samphire makes a most delicate Pickle and may be ranged in the first Class amongst Anti-scorbuticks Sea-Wormwood is a Plant of extraordinary Virtues yielding an Aromatic Oyl a volatile and fixed Salt and is of great use in Hysteric Hypocondriac and Hydropic Cases Carduus Mariae in Pleuritic Cases may be styl'd amongst the first and no doubt but the Juice of it taken in inflammatory Distempers may be of great use Marsh Samphire has a Tast perfectly Saline makes an agreeable Pickle and doubtless helps Digestion These Plants may be counted Specifics for the Distempers incident to those Coasts which if duly consider'd give us pregnant reason to admire the Goodness of Him that made them The amphibious Plants are not of use in Physick but their Ashes are serviceable to Glass-makers and spread upon Ground make very good Tillage Some have pretended that in dulcifying sea-Sea-Water these have been made use of and it may be the Mucilage of these Plants may bridle the Sulphureous part of the Salt which makes the Water unhealthful but however this method can never be serviceable at Sea nor is there any necessity for it Having now dispatch'd the amphibious and perfect marine Plants I shall in the next place proceed to the Inland Plants of these Countries but shall not give an account of each particular Plant but only of those that are esteem'd rare The Vaccinia Nubis or Cloud-berries are found upon Pendle-Hill in Lancashire a Fruit of a pleasant Tast and a good Anti-scorbutic The Lilly of the Valley is in many of our Woods and is a noted Sternutatory Herba Paris is in many places and is an eminent Counter-poyson Androsaemum grows frequently about our Mosses a most excellent Balsamic and Vulnerary Nummularia grows in many of our Mosses a Balsamic Ros Solis is very common carries a pellucid Mucilage in which I presume consist its Vertues in Atrophies and no doubt were these fully enquired into they might give reason to enlarge farther upon its Qualities for where there is a necessity to bridle an Acid as there is in most chronic and acute Distempers this may doubtless be a proper Vehicle to entangle those Salts besides which it yields a volatile Oyl and Salt which sufficiently correct Acids The Services we have growing in great quantities upon the Rocks near Rougham which yield a delicious Acid. The Dwarf Cynorhoidon grows in great plenty the Conserve of its Fruit is a good Antiscorbutic and of great use in Consumptive cases Scolopendrium grows frequently upon the Rocks Ophioglossum or Adder's-Tongue grows near some of our Meers as Martin-Meer Calamus Aromaticus grows in several places as Osmund Royal frequently upon the Morasses the Root of which is of great use in the Worms Rickets and Consumptions and I think I may aver that I was the first that in that Case prescribed it Virga Aurea grows upon the Sea Coasts in Furness A particular kind of Scurvy-grass grows upon the Rocks near Castleton in Derbyshire more acrid and pungent than any I have observ'd and has a small Leaf exactly resembling that call'd the Danish Scurvy-grass The fresh Water Plants in these parts are common with most others therefore I shall not insist upon them Lunaria is in some places but very rare Origanum is common Mountain Sage and Buckbane are likewise so and I think amongst the Vegetables they may be esteem'd Two of the best Anti-scorbutics either in infusion or decoction Rocamboes grow in the Meadows near Preston and make an agreeable Sawce The Dutch Myrtle or Gale is common upon the Mosses Erica or Cypress-Heath is common in these parts and of great use in Hydropic cases Telephium is in plenty and useful in curing the Piles We have the Filipendula Aquatica as likewise Solanum Lethale Sphondylium Hyoscyamos and other Herbs of poysonous qualities The Viscus Corilinus is common but I have not observ'd the Quercinus but either of them will answer in the Cases directed for These by the Ingenious Mr. Ray are supposed to Vegetate from a Seed devour'd by some Birds which in their Bowels receives a Fermentation and by a Mucus which is injected with it adheres to the Tree and so by the imbib'd ferment begins its Germination An Instance not much unlike this Tavernier gives us of the growing of Nutmegs in East-India which he affirms are swallow'd by the Birds of Paradise which by intoxicating them urge them to vomit them up again then by a ferment which adheres to the Nutmegs ejected from the Stomachs of the Birds they begin to germinate and cannot any otherwise be propagated But this by some is looked upon only as a Stratagem of the Dutch to keep the world in Ignorance they having engross'd all the Nutmeg-Islands and to divert others from attempting the planting of them Tavernier is positive in the Instance so that what he lays down whether true or not I shall not pretend to determine but if it be so it fairly illustrates the other Instance The Lady-slipper we have in several of our Woods and the Geranium Robertianum which is of
the same Effect nay even the drops of Rain that fall from its Leaves are of so poysonous a Nature as to blister and inflame the Skin Here doubtless is more than a bare Contexture of Earth and without question the most corroding sulphureous and penetrating Particles we can have any Idea of Besides were Vegetation from Earth alone I cannot see how one Plant could be distinguish'd from another wherefore to me it seems rational to infer That the Body which the Dr. calls Earth consists of as many different Bodies as that which the Chymists call Water so that from either of these two Bodies simply consider'd as such it is equally absurd to derive Vegetation but these two Bodies do indisputably consist of variety of Corpuscles e. g. Saline Terrene Aerial and Bituminous and as the Vessels in Plants by their various Orifices and Contextures admit of different proportions of these so accordingly the Plant is differently modify'd and from their different digestions and proportions receives its Form Colour Substance and Virtues And by this Hypothesis we may account for Plants physical poysonous fragrant foetid and of other kinds hence Ialop and Scamony a sort of Spurge in the West-Indies by their resinous saline Particles become purgative and if taken in too large quantities poysonous the same may be affirm'd of Laureola Aloes Spurge Senna and Agaric It is manifest from the Dissection of those Creatures to which Night-shade Nux Vomica Calculus Indicus and Water-Hemlock are given that the Poysons of these consist in acrimonious saline Particles corroding and inflaming the Stomach of which the learned Wafer gives us various Instances others by exalted Sulphurs quit from saline Particles doubtless become Fragrant Aromatic and Cordial being by their size and figure which we presume to be Spherical the more readily adapted to assist the animal Spirits by their activity When these Sulphurs become pointed with Salts 't is most likely that the Plant becomes foetid and unpleasant as the stinking Garden Orach and Herb Robert I might likewise account for the Heat Blisterings and other qualities of Herbs but those being in part done before and not properly within the Verge of this Undertaking I shall not recapitulate but to the ingenious Sr. Iohn Floyer of Lichfield on that Head refer the Curious in whose Works they may find variety of Experiments on those Subjects I must confess that the Experiments which Dr. Woodward has made relating to Vegetation are exact as well as learned he having besides the dispendium of the Water in so many Days fully demonstrated the Plant to have gain'd a considerable Weight which he affirms to have been from Earth but then as I affirm'd before the question is what he calls Earth for if by that he means a pure simple Element viz. a Body consisting only of one size and figure then from what has been hinted before it is as absurd to deduce Vegetation from that as from Water I shall only beg leave to add an Experiment or two and so conclude I took the Seeds of Nymphaea or Water-Lilly when full ripe and put them in glass Vials in which they continued twelve Months I added fresh Water to them as the other evaporated the Seeds at the bottom of both Vials stood erect and emitted a pellucid Mucilage which stood in opposite Globules near the upper end of the Seed the Water deposited a great deal of green and earthy Matter but the Seed never vegetated or sprouted at all tho' this be a Water Plant. From this Experiment it is evident that besides Earth and Water barely consider'd as such other Bodies are necessary to the Vegetation of various Plants and probably to this a fat sulphureous Ouze in which it usually grows and has Roots of an immense Magnitude some I have seen as thick as the Thigh of a Man which were taken out of the Pond at Tabley in Cheshire when it was drein'd where the remaining Earth or Mud which was black and foetid was wholly over-spread with them This Instance I think may fairly serve to illustrate the Hypothesis that I have laid down concerning the Vegetation of Plants To these may be added those extraordinary Improvements made by Chandlers Ashes consisting of oily and saline Particles as likewise the Impost of Malpighius prepared with an Infusion of Sheep's Dung Pigeon's Dung and a small quantity of Nitre of which I saw an Instance the last Year at Edgecroft in Lancashire by which from a fourth part of Seed in the most barren part of the Field I saw a very luxuriant Crop It might do well for our Gentry who inhabit their Country Seats and Husbandmen thorowly to consider this since the right application of it to a proper Soil may be of so great Advantage and who knows what this even in the most cold and barren Ground may effect which hitherto for the greatest part hath lain useless but besides what is here offer'd their Interest may be a more inciting Argument to induce them to Tryals of this Nature But can there be had a more ample Demonstration of this Hypothesis than even from Water and Earth themselves How common is it to observe Earth by being long pent up to emit sulphureous Effluvia Hence we have foetid Smells by opening of Ditches and Sluces and hence probably it is that in Consumptive cases from plowed Grounds that have for a considerable time been Pasture many persons have received Benefit which must assuredly proceed from sulphureous benign Particles loosen'd from their Cells and convey'd to the Mass of Blood which by their activity obtund the saline Particles that make the Coagulum and in short prevent the putrifaction which brings on a Phthisis or Consumption And as to Water nothing is more common than it to grow nauseously foetid by long keeping which Phaenomenon sufficiently evinces the Existence of sulphureous Particles in that Element besides some sulphureous Waters in four Days by being close stopt become extremely foetid as St. Ann's at Buxton in Derbyshire which expos'd to open Air alters not at all nor has the least ungrateful smell The reason is because those sulphureous Effluvia which have spent themselves in a free Air are now forc'd by their confinement to unite with saline Particles and thence by their Points grate upon the Organ and are foetid and offensive It is likewise to be observ'd that if these sulphureous Particles are pent up in any Aquaeduct that then by their Collision upon one another they become excessive hot hence it is that the hot Baths at Aix la Chappel in the Bishop of Leige's Country are caused by retarding the hot Spring with a Stoppel and in a little time after by giving it Vent the Waters are render'd very hot and even too intense to be endur'd This Instance farther confirms our Hypothesis concerning the Heat in Baths and by this Phaenomenon it is evident that if the same Essay was put in practice at Buxton the Bath there might be brought to any
Eastern Countries To conclude from all the recited Phaenomena if we will but appeal to our Senses it is evident that Moses's Narrative of the Deluge is not only the most true but the most compleat I cannot therefore but admire at the Theorist and Mr. Whiston who affirm that before the Deluge there were no Mountains In the first place the Arguments they offer are no way conclusive but barely Hypothetical a meer begging of the Question they have indeed supply'd us with polite Schemes and witty Allegories and where they do not by dint of Reason convince us like Sirens by their Wit they charm us but it is not Paint that can long preserve the Features after that is once discover'd the Face appears more deform'd I can no more think the World before the Deluge was form'd like an Egg or that there were no Mountains or that upon the breach of the Shell the Waters gush'd out and overwhelm'd the Globe than I can espouse that wild Notion of the Philosopher who fancy'd himself an Egg and dreaded lest the Heavens should fall and destroy him What Moses has deliver'd upon that Subject exactly quadrates with Nature and from his History it is very clear that there were Mountains before the Flood in the seventh Chapter of Genesis he says the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered Whence it is plain that before the Deluge there were Mountains otherwise how could they be cover'd he may as well reconcile the contradiction of a Man covering his Head with his Hat when he had none upon his Shoulders and the one Absurdity is as easily defended as the other In the same Chapter that inspir'd Philosopher very clearly conveys to us the beginning progress and conclusion of the Deluge all which throughly consider'd one would think to any unbiass'd Person are Arguments too plain and convincing to be obviated for let us take him barely and literally as an Historian where he acquaints us that the fountains of the great deep were broken open the windows or the clouds of heaven poured down their waters for it rained forty Days and forty Nights What can we imagin those Fountains to be but the Freshes separated by the Earth from the Sea which upon those Convulsions of the Earth when it was broken open issued forth upon its surface And then that great fall of Waters from the Clouds which doubtless incessantly and vehemently pour'd down Night and Day joyning with them might easily cause that general Inundation To those that alledge the deficiency of the Waters to accomplish so universal a Flood let us by plain Text and Demonstration answer in the first Chapter of Genesis when the earth was without form and void then darkness was upon the face of the deep which plainly shews as was asserted before that this Globe was a meer immense Liquid for the Earth surely would have had a Form tho' Darkness had been upon it had it then been separated from the Waters but upon their subsidence dry Land appeared and received a Form wherefore then by a very reasonable Consequence could not that Power that made the first great separation of Fluids from Solids once again cover all with Fluids or why could not the same proportionate quantity of Liquids that could dilute such a Mass of Solids once again overwhelm them but where was then the necessity of a total dissolution of all the Strata of the Earth at the Deluge or why must all again return to its primitive Chaos without form Besides the Evidence of all the recited Phaenomena Moses very readily clears that difficulty for Chap. 7. he tells us that the Ark was lifted up above the Earth that all the high hills and mountains were covered which lifting or floating of the Ark above the Earth and covering of the Hills and Mountains seems to be very dissonant to a Dissolution not but that a strange Catastrophe occur'd to the superficies of the Earth by the resistless motions of the Waters which gave so many evidences of their Power and Universality at that time Again Chap. 8. The waters returned from off the earth not separated as at the Creation and again that they decreased continually till the tops of the mountains were seen Upon the whole I can see no reason why any should so elaborately endeavour to answer Difficulties where none present themselves and that by so quaint a Method as to amuse the Reader by starting greater Having now from Observations in Nature and Divine History given an account of the Deluge that we may form some Idea of it I thought it not inconsistent with my Design to insert the following Phaenomenon About three Years ago near Hyde in Cheshire happen'd an unusual Flood which overwhelm'd the Banks of the River and violently broke in at the Eye of a Coal-Pit the Water in its impetuous Current thro' the hollows forc'd the Air before it which when pent up in the Extremities of those Passages by its Elasticity divided a solid Rock at least 20 Yards perpendicular the Water over the greatest part of the Field appear'd in large Columns not much unlike the Spouts in Africa when having spent its force the Rock clos'd again and all over the Field were to be seen various pieces of Coal scatter'd Hence we may imagin when all the Springs of the Deep were broken up and the Clouds pour'd down their Waters in continued Cataracts for forty Days and Nights in so strange a Convulsion I say from the recited Phaenomenon we may form some inadequate Idea how that terrible Destruction was accomplish'd And since we are treating of Floods I think it a pardonable Digression if I give an account of a Spout seen by my Brother within these two Years in his Voyage to Virginia The figure of it as he affirms was like a Spire-Steeple inverted and hung for a considerable time from the Clouds to the surface of the Sea it afterwards divided and then the Sea was in a most violent Commotion which was observ'd by the flowering of the Water as he stiled it the lower Pillar hung for a considerable time upon the surface of the Water but at length vanished the upper part from the Clouds remain'd longer His Conjecture is that the Spout was not a Column of Water that ascended out of the Sea but a Cloud only that hung down to the surface of the Water and he gives these Reasons for it first because the upper part of the Pillar continued much longer than the lower part after its division in the second place before the Spout appear'd the Air was extreamly dark and by that the Sea-men predicted the appearance of a Spout What former accounts we have of Spouts in Authors are different from this whether therefore there may be various sorts of Spouts I shall not determine as being forreign to this Undertaking Dampier confirms
by an easy corruption may be reduced to Britannia As to the Brigantes it is reasonable to conclude a greater part of them Phoenicians a People of Syria very industrious Improvers of Navigation since we have a remarkable River in Lancashire call'd Ribbel by Ptolomy stiled Bellisama which word undoubtedly he derived from the Phoenician words Belus and sama signifying in that Language the Moon or Goddess of Heaven she being suppos'd to have a particular Influence over Waters and at that time the Deity they Adored Hence it is evident That before the Greeks Traded into Britany the Phoenicians had been there and no doubt discover'd the greatest part of the Island Since therefore a River in this Country in those early days retain'd a Phoenician Name as the Greek Geographer Ptolomy makes it manifest it did to me it seems an undeniable Conjecture to suppose that that Name must be attributed to it from the People of that Country viz. Phoenicia that resided near it probably in the pleasant and beautiful Town now stiled Preston To this we may introduce one reasonable Allegation more That these People were of an Asiatic Origin that is from their manner of making War which was in managing their Chariots as the Eastern Nations practiced a Custom not made use of in any European Kingdom save this Island only This Iulius Caesar found upon his Invasion of the Isle which way of Fighting he had not met with either in Germany Gaul Belgium or other his conquer'd Countries To these may be added the Reverse of a Roman Coin of Asia minor which shews the Expertness of those People in Navigation above all the World which may still more easily induce us to believe they were a great part of 'em a People of that Nation but that will be explain'd in its proper place viz. in the Chapter of Antiquities However thus far we may venture to conjecture since the Asiaticks were so great Masters of that Art that they might easily Transplant themselves hither For the further Confirmation of what is here laid down I shall only produce one Instance more and so close this Head It is affirm'd by Strabo and several others that the most Northern part of Britany was anciently stiled Thule which at this Day the Scots term Orkney and the Latins Orcades Now Thule being a Phoenician word signifying Darkness by an easy Train of Thought we may reasonably infer the Phoenicians might give that Name to those Islands either from the great Shadows of their Woods which were then numerous or the Shortness of their Days many of which are but Five Hours Since therefore we may reasonably suppose the Phoenicians were in those more Northern parts to me there appears no difficulty to conceive how they might Transplant themselves into Lancashire and other Counties Inhabited by the Brigantes Having now accounted for that River stiled by Ptolomy Bellisama and likewise made it highly probable that the Phoenicians were in those Parts it remains in the last place that I assign some Conjectures why afterwards that River was call'd Ribbel Concerning this the Suppositions are various some deriving it from the Greek Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which to me seems irrational since Bel which is a Phoenician word cannot be accounted for in the Greek Language Others would make it British but I do not see how in that Language that can be made out since in British Avon or Savon are the Names for River which Words cannot bear any relation to Ribbel Wherefore with submission to the more Knowing in those Languages it is my Thoughts that since from the preceding Topicks we may reasonably infer the Phoenicians were in those Parts and cohabited with the Britains who being a People of vast Industry and Experience in Navigation might from their Neighbours the Persians with their Colonies send hither several of that Country The Persians as well as they in those Days Deify'd their Rivers sometimes stiling them Heaven and the God and Goddess of Heaven Wherefore Arribel in the Armenian Language which is the Language commonly spoke in Persia signifying Heaven thence Ribbel may be accounted for and not otherwise So far as from the Harmony of Languages I am able to conjecture the radical Letters in the Armenian Tongue and in the River now stiled Ribbel being in a great measure the same and the Rivers then by those People being sometimes stiled Heaven I do not see how that consent of Languages and History can be reconciled but by supposing People from that Country inhabiting amongst the Britains The more clearly to illustrate that the Brigantes were a mixt People of Phoenicians and Britains I shall produce but one Instance more and upon that Head not further presume upon the Reader 's Patience The Instance is taken from a Rivulet a Branch of that River before treated of stiled Ribbel this Rivulet is at this day vulgarly stiled Savig Now ig in the British Language being a Diminutive to shew the distinction betwixt a River and a Rivulet which is therefore added to Avon which in that Language signifies a River Afonig and Savonig in the British Language signifying Rivulet from thence may easily be accounted for the Name of that Rivulet now stiled Savig Since therefore in those Parts we find a mixture of Phoenician Armenian and British Languages we may thence make this reasonable Corollary that those People lived together And why they were stiled Brigantes I presume may be accounted for from Tacitus who very likely might take 'em to be a People from Gaul or Belgium that is from the Brigantines Rovers and Pirates since in those Countries to this very time the Vessels commonly made use of for expedite Sailing are stiled Brigantines The Air for the most part is mild serene and healthful excepting on the Fenny and Maritime parts of the County where they are frequently visited with malignant and intermitting Fevers Scurvies Consumptions Dropsies Rheumatisms and the like occasion'd by Sulphureous Saline Effluvia sometimes extremely foetid which I have frequently observ'd to be so before the approaching of some extraordinary Storm and it is most certain the Inhabitants upon the Sea Coasts from the hollow murmuring Noise which is frequently heard from the Ocean and the offensive Smells perceiv'd from those Coasts will make as early and certain a Prognostick of the Change of Weather as the Modern Virtuosi can do by their Mercurial Tubes It is observable whilst this Noise is heard in the Ocean the Surface of the Water is elevated after an unusual manner and upon the subsiding of the Water it is observ'd the Storm immediately succeeds From which Phaenomena it is reasonable to conclude the following Tempests to be occasion'd by Eruptions from the Bowels of the Earth strugling with that mighty Element till they had forced their way through its immense Body which afterwards flying about in the circumambient Atmosphere frequently occasion tempestuous Commotions and sometimes pestilential Distempers These being the Phaenomena which are almost each
Numbers There was kill'd upon that Water an Asper of which I prepar'd the Oyl but did not find that it answer'd the Character generally given of it for taking of Fish These Meers lie in low Grounds have Rivulets or little Rivers that discharge themselves into them and having but little Vent out form themselves into these large Area's In the Meer that was drein'd were found great Numbers of Firr Stocks and Firr-Apples so that Mr. Cambden is certainly mistaken when he asserts those Stocks not to be really Firrs but other Woods only made Resinous by a Bituminous Earth in which they have been lodg'd as is commonly conjectur'd since the noted Deluge however the Woods might be alter'd its certain the Apples could not belong to any other Tree But I shall have occasion to treat more fully of these when I come to treat of the Mosses The Rivers of most Note are the Mersey Ribbel Lune and Wire the Dee and the Dove in Cheshire and Derbyshire Mersey runs by Warrington anciently remarkable for its Lords the Butlers who obtain'd for it the Privilege of a Market-Town in Edward the First 's Time and is now a Town famous for its Trade and Market where I think I may safely affirm Maulting is brought to as great Perfection as at Derby or elsewhere the Liquors brew'd from it being no ways inferior to the most noted Ales in England From Warrington the Mersey grows broader and soon after contracts it self again but at last opens into a wide Mouth very Commodious for Trade and then runs into the Sea near Leverpool a Town formerly but mean but now the Third Sea-Port of England and as well Built as any I have seen In this River are taken vast quantities of Sparlings or Smelts a Fish remarkable for its Smell as well as Tast. Ribbel called anciently Bellisama has its Rise from amongst the Mountains in Yorkshire and runs by Ribchester and Preston from thence grows wider and in the Meales empties it self into the Sea This River affords us plenty of Salmon Codfish Flounders Turbut and Plaise but a River by reason of its Sands very unfit for Trading The Lune from what will hereafter be observ'd may take its Name from Luna the Moon or the Goddess of Heaven runs by Lancaster and arises from the Mountains in Westmorland Upon this River is a noted Salmon-Fishing the best I have eat any where and is very Commodious for Trading which is there now blooming Wire issues from the Mountains in Wiresdale runs not far from a Market-Town call'd Poulton as Commodious for Trading as any of the rest This River affords us a Pearl-Fishing which are frequently found in large Muscles call'd by the Inhabitants Hambilton-Hookins from their manner of taking them which is done by plucking them from their Skeers or Beds with Hooks but of these I shall have occasion to treat more fully when I come to speak of Shell-Fishes and the Germination of Pearls The River Dee is the most Noted in Cheshire in Latin called Deva as appears by the Roman Tiles dug up there upon some of which are these Letters in Roman Characters COLL. DEVA LEG XX. V. V. In British it is called Dyfyrdwy as springing from two Fountains in Wales from which some believe it had its Denomination dwy in the British Language signifying Two Others say those words signify black Water but why that Epithet should be apply'd to this River I see no ground for it the River being large and open and the Water clear and pellucid Some allege these Words signify a divine Water and hence a Fountain sacred to the Gods was call'd Divona and upon some Roman Tiles dug up at Chester I have seen that word in Roman Characters Nor is this Conjecture altogether improbable since in those Days divine Honours were paid to Rivers as Gildas informs us the Thessalians paid them to Peneus upon account of its Pleasantness the Scythians to Ister for its Largeness the Germans to the Rhine because it was their Judge in Cases of Jealousy betwixt Married Persons It is said moreover of this River Dee it seemed Holy to the Christian Britains for when they were drawn up in Order of Battle ready to engage the Saxons they first kiss'd the Earth then devoutly drank of this Water in Memory of the Blood of their Holy Saviour The River Dove in Derbyshire called so by the Inhabitants from its Transparency I imagine as resembling the silver Feathers of that Bird is remarkable for a Fish call'd the Grailing and likewise Trouts said to be the best in England It runs for the greatest part thro' a Lime-Stone which renders its Water so fertile a Manure that even in Winter the Meadows on both sides of it appear fresh and green and if it overflows them in the Spring like another Nile it enriches them In Commemoration of which high Improvements the People have this Saying In April Dove's Flood Is worth a King's Good But of this River in a far loftier Strain the Ingenious Charles Cotton Esq writes for by his witty Flights on these Streams one would rather conclude they wash'd the Banks of Helicon than the rugged unpolish'd Mountains in Derbyshire This River swells sometimes so much in twelve Hours time to the great terror of the Inhabitants that it carries down their Sheep and other Cattle yet in the same Compass of Time falls again and returns to its old Mounds whereas the Trent when it overflows its Banks keeps the Fields in float four or five Days these Reasons are manifest because in one the Country is Mountainous the other is a large extended Flat This River runs to Ulcester seated upon an Hill of easy Ascent where it draws to the Trent it inclines towards Tutbury-Castle formerly very large and also called Stutesbury commanding as it were the lower Country by its high Situation on an Alabaster-Hill where there is a little Monastery built by Henry de Feriers a Noble Norman to whom William the First gave large Possessions hereabouts but they were all lost by Robert de Feriers Earl of Derby upon his Second Revolt from Henry the Third There are now Proposals for making the River Dee Navigable which if effected will doubtless be very advantageous to that ancient City where that Honourable Legion viz. the Twentieth was fixed stiled by the Romans Valens Victrix which was of those by Tacitus term'd Emeriti or Veterani Having done with the Meers and Rivers according to my propos'd Method I come now to treat first Of the Springs not properly to be call'd mineral-Mineral-Waters but yet remarkable either for their Lightness Coldness Perspiration Flux and Reflux and of these some are continual others at certain Seasons as after wet Weather and some are remarkable for throwing up several Marine Shells Secondly of Mineral-Waters and the various Kinds of these with an Account of their Principles and Uses and of those these Counties afford us a great Variety Near to a Noble Seat call'd Ashton-Hall about
two Miles from Lancaster which Seat is now in Possession of the R t Hon ble the Lady Gerrard of Bromley from a white Marle issues a pleasant and smooth Water remarkable for its agreeable Tast and Lightness This Water is lighter by an Ounce in a Pint than any I have seen in these Parts Now all Waters containing more or less of Earthly Particles and in the various Consistencies and Quantities of those differing one from another in Gravity it may be imagin'd this Water to receive its Oily Tast and Lightness from the white Marle that being an Oily and light Body and the best Tillage this Country affords A Spring remarkable for its Perspiration is that near Stalo-Bridge in Cheshire This Water if put into a Glass Bottle closely Corked will force its way thro' the Pores of the Glass or the Water by emitting cold Effluvia upon the external Superficies of the Glass condenses the aqueous Particles of the Air and so forms that Dew or Sweat so often observable there For my part considering how difficult it is for any Menstruum whatever to penetrate the Pores of Glass nay even for Air it self as is sufficiently evidenced by the Experiments in the Air Pump I must own my assent to the latter and this may be farther illustrated by the Dews upon Bottles in Wine-Cellars which are wholly insipid and consequently cannot be spirituous Liquor that perspires through the Pores but the aqueous Particles of the Air there condensed Springs remarkable for their Coldness in these Countries we have none save One near Larbrick which is a Water extreamly Cold and of which I shall treat in its proper place this Water is the Coldest I have seen in these Parts and may no doubt answer the ends perform'd by that of St. Mungus in Yorkshire We have only One Spring that Ebbs and Flows and that is call'd Tideswell in the Peak in Derbyshire tho' nothing so Noted as that near Gigleswig in Yorkshire where I have seen the Water to ebb and flow several times in an Hour and always upon the subsiding of the Water heard a gutling Noise within the Mountain not unlike that obvious to us in pouring Liquors out of Bottles only it is much louder Conjectures about this Flux and Reflux are various some imagining it to be caused by the return of a Stone that in an Aqueduct hangs in aequilibrio as the Learned Mr. Hobbs others that a large Receptacle fill'd with Water by subterraneous Winds from the opposite part is blown over as LeGrand and others of the French Virtuosi Tho' Mr. Hobbs's Hypothesis seems to carry the greater stress of Reason along with it yet at the same time if we consider the Effects Water has upon Stone upon which it continually falls or runs over in diminishing its Superficies or over-turning those of a prodigious Bigness upon Floods or other Eruptions it will be as difficult to conceive how a Stone should be so exactly poised in an Aqueduct so long a space of time as this must needs have been so as to occasion a Flux and Reflux of the Waters as is observable in these Fountains Wherefore I shall venture to form a different Hypothesis and that it may be perform'd with all the Perspicuity so dark a matter will admit in the first place I will describe the Spring and its situation as exactly as I remember The most noted Spring of this Nature is at Gigleswig in Yorkshire as above-mention'd The Well lies at the Bottom of a Mountain of a considerable Height and is almost contiguous to a great Road betwixt Settle Lancashire and Westmorland The Diameter of the Spring as I think is about a Yard and the Perpendicular near the same dimension The Flux and Reflux is not always certain being sometimes only once again twice sometimes thrice an Hour and I think the Water upon the Flux may subside about three quarters of a Yard and then you always hear an hollow gutling Noise within the Mountain as is above recited From these Phaenomena it seems reasonable to conjecture that within the Mountain is a considerable Cavity impleted with Air from which the Aqueducts that form the Spring run and that those and their Exits are but small and it is very probable from this Cavity they do not run in direct but spiral Lines like those in a Worm used in Distillation Now when the Water that ascends out of the Earth which composes these Springs reaches this Cavity they must necessarily as it fills gradually press the Air into the spiral Aqueducts and force it forward to the end of the Aqueduct it is there then obstructed by the Water in the Well only a little Air and Water getting vent raises gradually the Spring the Duct still continues to fill higher and higher with Water till at length by its Gravity the Air is forced through and then it is the Flux happens and the hollow gutling Noise is heard occasion'd undoubtedly by the external Air rushing in and strugling with the Water to supply the Cavity of the Mountain which is now discharg'd of that Water but still impleted with Air it is now the Flux ceases and again renews as before and so it reciprocally succeeds Such spiral Aqueducts I have frequently observ'd in the Mountains in Derbyshire particularly near Tideswell where that other Spring ebbs and flows hence it seems rational the same may be here also However here is not any thing dogmatically asserted nor am I so bigotted to this Hypothesis but can easily quit it when any more reasonable is offer'd and more exactly quadrates with the Phaenomena of these Springs Now as these Aqueducts are more or less Spiral or of different Dimensions from the Sinus within the Mountain impleted with Air or as the Spring that fills the Duct with Water is but easy or rapid so its probable the Flux and Reflux becomes so uncertain for in some it flows not once in several Hours as in that call'd Tideswell the Water perhaps being sometimes diverted by other Aqueducts and reaches not the Cavity or Sinus within the Mountain this may happen by several accidents as the falling in of Earth or Pebles which for a time may divert the common course of the Spring till by a continual currency it forces its passage again Several Springs we have which are only at certain Seasons as some near the Manour in Furness these are occasion'd by Rains or an hazy Atmosphere At this Abbey are the most stately Ruins I have any where observ'd as most beautiful Pillars spacious Windows noble Arches and subterraneous Vaults Near this place is a considerable Salmon Fishing and a large Park in which are variety of Deer as Red Fallow and White and is by much the most curious Seat in these Parts It was formerly possest by Sir Thomas Preston who quitted it and as I have been inform'd is one of the Religious and amongst them one of the meanest Order But is now possest by the noble and virtuous Lady
to Bathing or Drinking and no doubt by the addition of Rock Salt might be made an advantageous Salt-work having Coals so convenient The Salt at the first boyling is brown and foetid but dissolv'd and evaporated again makes as good a Salt as any I have seen it springs out of Bass and has I presume from that its sulphureous and saline Particles The various Kinds of Bass I shall discourse of in their proper place and there shew how they are impregnated with different Principles There are other Springs that arise out of Bass and are sulphureous and saline yet different from the former as St. Anne's and the hot Baths at Buxton in Derbyshire here the Waters are sulphureous and saline yet not foetid but very palatable because in these Waters the Sulphur is not united with any Vitriolic Particles or but very few saline it tinges not Silver nor is Purgative by reason its saline Parts are dispensed in such small proportions which saline Particles make up a compound Salt constituted of a marine Salt and the Sal Catharticum Amarum which indeed is the Nitrum Calcarium that impregnates Epsom Northall Dulech and the rest of the Purging-Waters in those Parts These Waters if drank create a good Appetite open Obstructions and no doubt if mix'd with the Chalybeat Waters that are there may answer all the Intentions of the Bath Waters in Somersetshire and that of St. Vincent's near Bristol so noted for Curing the Diabetes of which I have seen several Instances in these Parts and likewise for Curing of Bloody Urines arising from the weakness of the Urinary Vessels of which I saw a most noted Instance in Leverpool This Bath is of a temperate Heat and without question by reverberating the Halitus might be brought to any degree of Heat but I think in its own natural Heat it may in general be said to be more agreeable to the Constitutions of those Parts and where the hot Baths cannot be safely used this may This last Summer I saw remarkable Instances of its Effects in scorbutick Rheumatisms in Persons that could not go before without the help of Crutches who came from thence to Manchester on Foot without them distant from Buxton full sixteen Northern Miles But the Virtues as well as Use of Bathing are so particularly described by my Honoured Friend Sir Iohn Floyer of Lichfield that for your further satisfaction I refer you to his elaborate Piece and shall only abridge those Cases he recites These hot Baths spring out of a Bass not unlike Marble and it is pleasant to see in what Bubbles the sulphureous Halitus breaks out of its Matrix and impregnates the Waters After our worthy Author had given us a most exact Account of Perspiration from his Own and Sanctorius's Observations in rightly considering which consists the Basis and Usefulness of all Bathing in the first place he enumerates the Mischiefs of the hot Baths In his 2 d Part p. 2. I observ'd says he that many Persons came to the hot Baths at Bathe without any good Advice or they who came with it used it indiscreetly and imprudently manag'd their Bathing by using it without any due Evacuation or continuing it too long that they went from thence worse than they came some having enflamed their Blood and thicken'd its Serum so as to renew their Rheumatick Pains others Died of Fevers Consumptions Convulsions Bleeding and Imposthumes Instances of these I have seen in several in these Parts but this Point Dr. Pierce is pleased to touch as tenderly as an Hypothesis about the Waters of which he seems afraid but wou'd have us rest satisfy'd without asking Questions and bring the Ingenuity of the most polite Parts to an equal level with the most unthinking Animal For my part I shall not fear to deliver my Sentiments since I have no other end in it than to inform the World in the Phaenomena I observ'd in Nature and if these be exposing One's self to be thrown at like a Shrove-tide Cock as he observes if I escape the terrible Blow of being Neck'd and survive the Combate the Comb shall be at his Service These Instances as he proceeds may convince all considering Persons that we ought not to use hot Baths for Pleasure especially where there is a fulness of Humours and a hot Constitution and since the following Accidents frequently happen upon Bathing they will certainly over-balance all the Pleasure of it the Inconveniencies he reckons are profuse Sweats and Haemorrhages Apoplexies Sleepiness Vertigo's Convulsions Asthma's debility of the Sight Swooning a general lassitude and dejection of the Appetite Torpor of the Mind and Effeminacy of the Flesh pag. 4. My Journey to Buxton this last Year discover'd to me a Bath very different to that at Bathe it being a very temperate one producing no Sweating after it but rather a Coldness and upon a due Consideration I found the Bath very useful in many Cases in which that of Bathe did Injury as in Comsumptions hot Scorbutick Pains and all Defluxions of Humours and Bleedings and all hot inordinate Flatulencies of the animal Spirits in Hysteric and Hypocondriac Cases The farther Particulars may be seen at large in his third Chapter to which I refer you as likewise to his Extract out of Dr. Iones and the Observations annex'd to his ingenious Treatise Before I close the Discourse of this Bath it may be enquired why the Sulphur in one Bath tinges Silver a Copper colour as that at Knarseborough and Maudsley why others of a Golden or Yellowish colour as those in Somersetshire and why others impregnated with Sulphur tinge not at all To these I answer Where Sulphur tinges a Copper colour it is from the addition of a Vitriolic Salt as is common to observe from the solutions of Sulphur and Vitriol but where a Golden colour ensues it is from a greater proportion of mineral Sulphur and but little of Vitriol as in the sulphur Auratum of Antimony and the golden Pyrites But where they Tinge not at all it s from Sulphur only as that at Buxton which seems to arise out of a Bassy Marble The Waters we shall next consider are the Acidulae or those commonly call'd Chalybeats with which these Counties abound The most Notes are those near Lantham Wigan Stockport Burnley Bolton Plumpton Middleton Strangeway near Manchester Lancaster Larbrick Chorley and of these Stockport is much the strongest these Waters spring out at the Bottom of a great Rock in strength are much the same in Winter as Summer which is a Conveniency very few in England besides them have these Waters give as deep a Tincture with Galls as any I ever saw and where Chalybeats are indicated exceed those of Knarseborough and Tunbridge they will in twenty-four Hours by being expos'd to the Air become insipid and then yield no Tincture these Waters lie very light not heavy upon the Stomach which is a Convenience the Drinkers of Knarseborough and Tunbridge have not These Waters are impregnated
with Sulphur Vitriol and Ocre a little of the Lapis Scissilis and a marine Salt united with the bitter purging Salt as in the Chalybeat Water at Latham but these Two last it yields in small quantities a Gallon of Water not affording many Grains of Salt but Ocre and Vitriol they contain plentifully the Ocre is impregnated with Iron and for that reason and no other may these Waters be call'd Chalybeats the Sulphur is only discernible early in the Morning and that chiefly by their smell tho' there is a Chalybeat near Manchester whose smell is very Sulphureous at all times these Waters most commonly spring out of a Bass that is impregnated with Sulphur Ocre and Vitriol which I demonstrated to the Hon d Sir Iohn Floyer at Buxton I shew'd him the Shale or Bass and by infusing various Proportions of it in common Water you may have all the various Colours of the Acidulae viz. A pale Red a deep Red a Violet and a Purple As therefore the Acidulae are differently impregnated with this Bass their Colours are likewise different At the same time I shew'd him an Acidula springing out of this Bass and likewise that the Bass was impregnated with Sulphur Vitriol and Ocre tho' Dr. Lister vehemently affirms no Stone but the Pyrites contains Vitriol but when a Man writes only what he fancies and not what he sees it cannot be imagin'd but he must assert many Paradoxes and by too tenaciously adhering to a well woven Hypothesis in effect makes himself one of the meanest of Philosophers It is not the mechanisme of Reason and the espousing of a Word which sounds pleasantly that illustrates the Phaenomena of Nature but that which is plain easy and intelligible and what may rationally from Experiments be deduced that gives a Man a true Gust in natural Learning The Dr. then may rail as long as he pleases but he can never make me disbelieve my Senses or assent to that which is contrary to the common Reason of Mankind Of these I have given a full Account in my Tentamen of Mineral Waters and my Exercitations to those therefore I refer my Reader I shall only presume so far upon the Reader 's Patience to annex the following Experiments and shall not expatiate further on this Subject The First is to shew Why Galls Oak-leaves c. will give a Tincture with those Waters vulgarly Chalybeats and why other Acids will not The Second is to illustrate How by mixing Acids with those Waters before you put the Galls to 'em that then the Galls c. will not To clear these Phaenomena we must premise these Hypotheses viz. That several of the mineral Particles are suspended in the fluid perhaps as near to an Equilibrium or Balance as can easily be conceiv'd so that the least addition of another Body to 'em must instantly cause a Precipitation and consequently then give a Tincture to these Waters by impleting their Pores and so in different Angles transmitting the Light which must needs introduce a Diversity of Colours viz. A pale Red Agat Violet Purple or intense Red according to the various Proportions of the Mineral impregnating the Water Hence therefore it is that the Galls containing a volatile Acid or rather austere that by their hooked Particles they easily clasp themselves about the mineral Particles and must therefore as is evident from the Premises laid down necessarily cause a precipitation of the Mineral which I shall more fully illustrate by making it probable that the mineral Particles are suspended in the fluid in the manner recited It is observable that the Earth over which these Springs run is always cover'd with an Ocre which to me seems evidently to hint that the mineral to the fluid retains so equal a balance that the least motion occasions a separation and thence it is that in those places where they have their currents they constantly drop an Ocre and colour the Earth as before observ'd The second Experiment is this If before you put in the Gall you add an Acid to the Water as for example Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur the Gall then gives little or no Tincture to the Water and the Reason I take to be this the Acid you mix with it being specifically heavier than either the mineral Particles or the fluid by their rigid inflexible Particles keep the Mineral suspended so that consequently the acid of the Gall being volatile it is not powerful enough to bring 'em down and thence it is that by this method they usually hover upon the surface of the Water in an azure Cloud the Mineral as well as that being Volatile which is abundantly evident both in the Evaporation of those Waters and likewise by exposing them to the Sun which in twenty-four Hours makes them insipid and in that space of time so sequester'd of the mineral Particles that then they will not yield any Tincture with a Gall or if any but a faint one So volatile is the Vitriol in those Waters which no doubt is carry'd off by the Sulphur which from its Volatility might justly be drawn like the Statue of Mercury wing'd and still pointing upwards To these I thought necessary to add the following Experiments that I might do Justice both to the publick and to that most Learned and Ingenious Gentleman Richard Townley of Townley Esq who Communicated them to me In the Water at Burnley in Lancashire he has observ'd the following Phaenomena First That if that Water be expos'd to the Air there will subside a Scarlet sediment This being a Phaenomenon never observed before in any Water in England I ever heard of it may therefore justly challenge our Conjectures about it Ocre and Lapis Scissilis which are the usual Hypostases of those kind of Waters it is most evident it cou'd not be the one being of a Yellow the other of a Greyish colour but to me it seems to be a Bituminous exalted Sulphur and this will more fully appear when we come to examine its Salts of which it contains Three different species First A small proportion of Natron or Aegyptian Nitre which if exposed to the Air will like that or Salt of Tartar dissolve per deliquium will ferment with any Acid and has a strong lixivial Taste After the Natron has run per deliquium there remains another Salt entire which if dissolv'd in Spirit of Wine or Water totally flies off by which it is plain the Salt is volatile and most probably the volatile Salt of the Natron which is the only fix'd Alcali in the World I know of that by this method or by the fix'd Salt of Tartar will yield a volatile Alcalisate Salt From which Phaenomena it is undeniably evident Dr. Lister was mistaken when to use his own words he violently affirms No Waters in England contain'd Natron a Gallon of this Water contains about twelve Grains of Sediments and four or five of Salts the Salts when separated from their Earths are White but will not
shoot into any regular Chrystals have a smell much like that of Natural Balsam which to me seems to be the scarlet Sulphur that precipitates in the Water by exposing it to the Air this Water has a vitriolate Taste and with Galls yields a Tincture of an Agate colour has been experimented in scorbutick Cases and answered the desired end The Hanbridge Water a small Spring which lies betwixt Burnley and Townley yields a Natron or natural Alcali as those Bourbon Waters in France cited by Monsieur Du-Closs and another alcalious Salt which like a Terebinthinate or Resinous Body will melt with a small degree of Heat it is plain the Reason why this Salt melts by Heat is only from a volatile Bitumen united with it for the Salt being long kept in a glass Vial will not melt by any moderate degree of Heat but is then purely Alcalious the Bitumen being wholly evaporated as I found in my Observations at Townley This Water at the Fountain with Galls yields a Tincture inclining to a faint Orange if kept any considerable time in Glass Bottles a perfect Citrine contains the greatest quantity of Natron of any in these parts purges by Stool and Urine and is of great Use in the Stone and Scurvy as hath been found by several Persons who in those Cases have try'd them with great success The Water near Emmet which is about two Miles distant from those fore-mention'd Waters is of a vitriolate Taste and sulphureous Smell which with a solution of Sublimate yields a white Precipitate which no other Waters in those parts will do nor any in France as the French Virtuosi have observ'd and indeed only those at Spada in Germany and if so it may be highly worth our time by frequent and strict Tryals both in Cases in Physick and Experiments in Chymistry to find out the Principles and Use of it which may perhaps save us the Expences of a tedious Fatigue to Spada At the same time I saw there a Salt prepared from a Water in Yorkshire which had exactly the smell of Hipposelinum or Horse-Parsley a Phaenomenon never yet observ'd in any Salt before this smell proceeds from a certain proportion of bituminous saline and terrene Particles for what remain'd after evaporation was of a Yellowish colour and contain'd a great deal of terrene Matter but the Salt when separated is perfect concocted Vitriol Dr. Lister may here again be satisfy'd of his Error for not only the Waters in Lancashire but those likewise in Yorkshire contain perfect concocted Vitriol Nay in the same Coal-Mines near Burnley there are Springs of perfect Vitriol and under these others that contain Natron or Aegyptian Nitre as the above-mention'd ingenious Gentleman fully demonstrated to me when I was last there Another Salt the said Richard Townley of Townley Esq shew'd me which was perfect Salt-petre prepared from a very rapid Spring a Gallon of which contain'd half an Ounce of this Salt which upon Chrystallization shoots like Salt-petre from India into long Striae and fulminates with Sulphur This Salt he had from a Gentleman that discover'd the Spring but at present conceals the Place So that what my self and others have alleged in affirming no Waters in England to contain Salt-petre is erroneous let others retract when they think convenient for my part I fairly own my Error and from repeated Observations can positively affirm there is no marine Salt but what contains more or less of Indian Nitre but the proportion is so small and the method of preparing it so tedious it wou'd not be of any farther use than to satisfy the curious Enquirer but the Advantages that may accrue from the before recited Spring may for ought I know be one of the greatest Treasures as well as Secrets in Nature The next Mineral-Waters I shall consider are those springing out of Bass and Sulphureous only of these the most Noted is One near a Place call'd Inglewhite this springs out of a Black Bass which by Calcination I found to contain Sulphur the Water has a very sulphureous Smell as strong as that near Harrigate in Yorkshire but contains little or no Salt which is the reason it is not Purgative like that but by adding the like proportion of common Salt to it viz. about a Dram to a Pint of Water that Inconvenience is remedy'd and then you have either sulphureous Baths or purging Waters for my part I shou'd rather choose to add the bitter purging Salt as being most agreeable Having now examin'd all the various Waters springing out of Bass we proceed in the next place to give Account of saline sulphureous Waters arising out of other Minerals And I shall begin first with the sulphur Water near Wigan call'd by the Inhabitants of that place the Burning-Well this is a very diverting Phaenomenon and for its Rarity is visited by most Persons whose Curiosity leads them to Natural Enquiries It is about two Miles from Wigan in a Village call'd Aucliff in the Ground of William Mollineux of that Place Esq The Well is at the Bottom of a Tree the Water Cold and without any Smell when any Person comes to see it a Man clears the Well from all its Water that done you will immediately hear a hissing Noise in a Corner of it and by holding a lighted Candle near to it the sulphureous Halitus immediately takes Fire and afterwards spreads it self upon what Water has issued in and 't is only then indeed it ought to be call'd the Burning-Well 'T is observable tho' this sulphureous Halitus continually mixes with Water yet the Water continues Cold nor will it tinge Silver wherefore I imagine this Halitus is purely sulphureous consisting only of Oily inflammable Particles without any mixture of Vitriol or if any but inconsiderable and 't is reasonable to suppose this kind of Sulphur to impregnate the Baths at Buxton 'T is plain from these and the sulphur Wells at Maudsley and those at Harrigate in Yorkshire which are all sulphureous and yet all Cold Waters that it is only by accident that sulphur Waters become hot viz. by Collision of the sulphureous Particles when in the Spiracles of the Earth they have not a free open passage they beat and dash one upon another and by that Collision grow hot as we may observe in the rubbing of the Phosphorus which immediately takes Fire likewise in new Hay and in Wheels taking Fire by Motion only For to imagine the Heat of the Baths to proceed from Fermentation in the Waters or from subterraneous Fires is no wise consistent with Experience which after all our Hypotheses must be the true Touchstone of our Reason The foregoing Instances may convince the World that sulphureous Particles grow hot without Ignition and that there are sulphureous Particles in all hot Baths is abundantly demonstrated But for a farther Illustration of this Hypothesis take this following Experiment Let some Brimstone be set on Fire in a Glass Body immediately upon its taking Flame stop
and Stool and no doubt by a due preparation of the Body they become of extraordinary use in the Scurvy Worms crude Digestions and Distempers of that Nature the Water by Evaporation at the last becomes lixivial and is then extremely brackish as the Water evaporates there successively arise Films at first reddish and afterwards of a grey Colour these Films will ferment with any Acid and contain a little of a natural alcalious Salt which I take to be the Natron of the Ancients the Salt which remains after Evaporation seems to be a Marine but by frequent Filtrations and Chrystallizations I found it likewise contain'd a bitter purging Salt which is truly Dr. Lister's Nitrum Calcarium and is that purging Salt which impregnates Epsom Dullech Northall and other purging Waters in England as is hinted above besides the Salt there likewise remains a greyish Earth which will ferment with any Acid. When the Water is evaporated to a lixivial Colour if you then drop Spirit of Harts-horn into it it immediately makes a Coagulum and precipitates which Phaenomenon is only observable in those Waters that contain the Sal Catharticum Amarum which demonstrates that Salt likewise to contain a natural Acid and if in the like Water you drop any acid Spirit as that of Sulphur and Vitriol you will then perceive a very sulphureous smell From these it is plain these Waters contain three different sorts of Salts as the Natron the Marine and the Sal Catharticum Amarum likewise two sorts of Lapis Scissilis either of which will ferment with an Acid and Sulphur too From a mixture of such Principles as these what Effects may not be hoped for in Scrophulous and Leprous Persons and other Distempers of that nature Nay I have been assur'd by some of the Inhabitants there that some Persons by drinking these Waters have been recover'd from periodical Epilepsies but again I say the Body ought to be rightly prepar'd before the drinking of them and that Consumptive Persons ought not to meddle with them at least very sparingly some Persons by drinking of these have been freed from the Jaundice others from Quartan Agues and in the Pica Virginis if the Patient be not emaciated you may reckon it a specifick by drinking of these prodigious Worms as the Cucurbitae the Ascarides and Bunches of Worms have frequently been voided and I do not think in that Distemper the like to these are to be had There are other Purging-Waters which arise out of a Morass in a Village call'd Witherslack these Waters contain a marine and a bitter purging Salt but are inferior to the former There is another purging Water which springs out of the Sand near a Place call'd Mine-End which is the Mouth of the River Wire This no doubt is the sea-Sea-Water which filters thro' the Sand but by reason of the shortness of the Filtration the Spring lying so near the River or the looseness of the Sand the marine Water is not perfectly dulcify'd but retains a pleasing Brackishness not unlike that which is observable in the Milk of a Farrow Cow or one that has Conceiv'd this Water purges a little but is much inferior to either of the other These Waters give no Tincture with Galls tho' Dr. Lister violently affirms all saline Springs will do it These are the most noted Purging-Waters that I have seen in these Parts I shall therefore in the next place proceed to those which may be ranked amongst the Acidulae but do likewise contain Natron and those are the Waters near Burnley and Emmett which were first discover'd to me by that most Learn'd and Accomplish'd Gentleman Richard Townley of Townley Esq The like to these Mons. du Clos affirms are in several places in France for a full Account of which I refer the Reader to that ingenious Author From the Experiments made by the Royal Academy in Paris in the Bourbon-Waters and the parallel Observations those in these Parts entertain us with we may make a probable Conjecture of their Principles and I think may safely affirm that in the Cases where those are proper these as a most natural Succedaneum may be made use of and will I question not answer what Intentions may be expected from the former These Waters with Galls give a Citrine Tincture and the Gall immediately precipitates in white perpendicular Lines but you must note these Experiments were made in the Waters remote from the Fountains I evaporated several Quarts of the Water and towards the latter end found it to have a little of a lixivial Tast after the surface was cover'd with a thin greyish Film this Film consisted of saline alcalious and terrene Particles and would make a brisk Fermentation with any Acid afterwards the Salts rise in perpendicular Lines upon the sides of the Retort The like Phaenomenon I observ'd in evaporating the Water that came from Nitria in Egypt and the like may be observ'd in Evaporation of other alcalious Salts After the Water was wholly evaporated there stuck to the sides of the Retort a greyish Matter of a very lixivial tast and would ferment with any Acid. By Filtration the Earth is easily separated from the Salt and then you have a natural alcalious Salt the true Natron of the Ancients as is manifest from those Specimens of Egyptian Nitre brought from Nitria to the Musaeum at Oxford by the Learned Dr. H. and likewise by the Description of Natron recited by Dioscordes tho' our Countryman Dr. Lister boldly affirms there is no such Salt in any Waters in England but this is not the first piece of Boldness he is pleas'd to arrogate and if his Reason be not totally screen'd he may if he pleases be satisfy'd he 's mistaken These Waters are of great use in the Stone Scurvy and other Chronical Diseases of which I have seen several Instances There are other Waters of an austere styptick Tast that will coagulate Milk but give no Tincture with Galls as some Pumps near Bury and Chorley these I conjecture arise out of Allum Ore or Marle they lather not with Sope but make a perfect Coagulum from the Acid and the Alcaly fixing together Some Springs we have that petrify as one in a Wood near Bury and another by the side of a Rivulet near Manchester these Waters superficially incrustate as the Chymists call it stratum super stratum are of an austere Tast like those in Yorkshire in Evaporation they yield a great quantity of a greyish Earth that will ferment with an Acid and some little proportion of Salt By these Phaenomena I do conjecture the terrene Particles are dissolved in Minimis by the natural Acid or as Helmont calls it the Esurine Spirit and when on the surface of any Body they are united they form these Incrustations I am the farther confirm'd in this Hypothesis because I have observ'd Petrefactions where only there could be an Acid halitus as in several Plants and Roots adjacent to the petrefying Waters near Knarseborough These
Phaenomena Dr. Woodward supposes the Stalactites to be form'd by the Water in some Strata of Earth filtring from the Spar and so according to the position of Particles to constitute various Lamellae of Spar. I shall not deny but this in part may be true yet in those Cavities it is most certain the Water forms various Lamellae of Spar after it is fallen from the Rock as is very discernible in those little Hills call'd Hay-cocks upon which the Water is continually dropping and each Year forms various Lamellae of the Stalactites the Water is clear and of a pleasant Tast and in Distillation yields a good quantity of this Sparry Matter Wherefore it is most probable there is a continual solution of this kind of Matter by some acid Esurine Halitus which may likely be the Effluvia of some of the Mines or Minerals in those parts I am farther confirm'd in this because the Sparrs by Calcination are of a very austere styptick Tast therefore it is most rational to think that they may be some Vitriolate Effluvia which make this solution but are not to be discern'd in the Water because the Saline Particles are sheath'd in the Terrene and so cannot exert their pungent Qualities until they are disentangled And hence it is that the Water tho' it be highly saturated with these Spars is yet of a pleasing Tast and no doubt but a thorough Discovery of the Principles of these Waters wou'd give us a satisfactory Account of the Formation of Gems and might likewise be of Use in Physick There are different Kinds of these Sparrs as to their internal Qualities some if taken inwardly will Vomit and Purge most violently as that in the Lead Mines near Andlesack in Lancashire and this no doubt consists in a great measure of Salt and Sulphur which I take to be the reason that it is Emetic But the Nature of this Spar will be more fully made out from the subsequent Instances and the first is by Calcination in which you may easily discover that a Pound of this will yield a Dram of Arsenic at the least lying betwixt the Lamellae of the Spar. Whence therefore this comes to be of so Poisonous a Nature is plainly evident Notwithstanding this the Neighbours thereabout will frequently take a Scruple at least of this in Fits of the Stone in whom it vomits purges and works violently by Urine in this Case as they have frequently assured me they have found great Relief Whence the Vomiting and Purging proceed is evident as we have before observ'd viz. from the Arsenical Sulphur as likewise from that profuse quantity of Urine which may sufficiently hint to us what kind of morbifick Matter it is that causes the Diabetes both from the Quickness of its poysonous Quality and likewise the Sweetness of the Urine There are some have been so daring as to venture to take a Dram of this particularly One Iames Barns's Wife and Child but alas to their woful Experience they found the sad Effects of it for in about Nine Hours afterwards they both Expired The like Quantity of this in about Three Hours time will Kill a Dog and it is observable that the Dog while living is deeply Lethargick which may farther illustrate to us in malignant Feavers attended with those Symptoms what kind of Matter probably it is that causes those Symptoms but that is more fully Discussed in its proper place Nay so spreading is the Poyson of this Spar that it has not only been fatal to the Creature that has taken it but a Dog by licking the Blood of a Swine which had accidentally taken it mix'd with Meal and Butter expired likewise and it is farther observable that the Flesh of the Swine was afterwards Eaten and did no mischief tho' the Blood was poysonous because as we may reasonably conjecture the Arsenic had not spread it self farther than the Mass of Blood There is likewise in the same Mine a Black Spar which affords a diverting Phaenomenon or perhaps by some may be esteem'd a melancholly Scene which is in the following manner If you calcine this Spar in a Crucible its sulphureous Particles so diffuse themselves in the ambient Air that the Persons standing by by their Paleness resemble the Corps of so many deceas'd Persons It is further remarkable that there are sometimes Cavities in the Body of this and likewise in the Lead-Ore which are impleted with Water tho' there are no apparent Aqueducts leading to them these by the Miners are stiled Self-Loughs Whence this Water is deriv'd may merit our Consideration but it is most probable it is rais'd from the more remote Bowels of the Earth by a subterraneous Heat and collected in those Cavities so that it is undeniably demonstrable that the aqueous Particles must penetrate the Pores of the Rocks Sparrs and Ores which will more plainly illustrate to us how sometimes in those kinds of Cavities there are found living Toads which some have had the vanity to fix there ever since Noah's Deluge but from the Ova or Eggs floating in the Particles of the Water it is most probable to conclude they bred there Others are Diuretical and are frequently taken with success in the Gout and Stone which no doubt they effect by their saline Particles inciding the Lentor in the Blood and so consequently give ease in those Cases Instances of this kind I have seen several but to insert them here is forein to this Undertaking These are the most remarkable Phaenomena I have observ'd of Sparrs I shall therefore in the next place hasten to Talcs and Amianthus or that which is call'd Feather'd Allum The Talcs are pellucid and frequently found in Marle and will easily calcine into brittle white Lamellae and would no doubt make a very good Plaister which in the Malt-Kilns might be of great use being far better than those common Clay-Floors this is not at present made use of any farther than a common Mortar but its farther Improvement succeeding Generations may discover The Amianthus is likewise found in Marle it consists of various Filaments and is that which the Ancients made their perpetual Lamp with I have seen Cloath and Paper made of this which would stand Fire and doubtless it would be highly worth the while of some of our ingenious Mechanicks to make farther Essays upon it It is call'd by some the Salamander's Wool because as I imagin like that it is able to withstand the fury of the Flame Iuncker and Etmuller give us an account of its Principles and likewise of some Tryals they have made upon it I shall therefore refer the Reader to those Authors It is used by some Physicians in Unguents in Distempers of the Nerves but for my part I cannot see what use it can be of in those Cases I cannot conceive how so sluggish and unactive a Body can penetrate and open the Obstructions of the Nerves nor is it likely that its Particles should be absorb'd by the Capillary Vessels
this Account by the Description which he gives us of a Spout in his first Volume pag. 451. he says It is a small ragged piece or part of a Cloud hanging down about a Yard seemingly from the blackest part thereof commonly it hangs down sloping from thence or sometimes appearing with a small bending or elbow in the middle I never saw any hang perpendicularly down It is small at the lower end seeming no bigger than ones Arm but it is fuller towards the Cloud from whence it proceeds When the surface of the Water begins to work you shall see the Sea for about 100 Paces in circumference foam and move gently round till the whirling Motion encreases and then it flies upward in a Pillar about 100 Paces in compass at the bottom but lessening gradually upwards to the smallness of the Spout it self there where it reacheth the lower end of the Spout thro' which the rising Sea-Water seems to be convey'd into the Clouds this visibly appears by the Clouds encreasing in bulk and blackness then you shall presently see the Cloud drive along altho' before it seem'd to be without any Motion the Spout also keeping the same course with the Cloud and still sucking up Water as it goes along and they make a Wind as they go thus it continues for the space of half an Hour more or less until the sucking is spent and then breaking off all the Water which was below the Spout or pendulous piece of Cloud falls down again into the Sea making a great noise with its fall and clashing Motion in the Sea Pag. 452. he adds farther ' One Capt. Records of London bound for the Coasts of Guinea in a Ship of 300 Tuns and 16 Guns call'd the Blessing when he came into the Latitude of 7 or 8 Degrees North he saw several Spouts one of which came directly towards the Ship and he having no Wind to get out of the way of the Spout made ready to receive it by furling his Sails it came on very swift and broke a little before it reach'd the Ship making a great noise and raising the Sea round it as if a great House or some such thing had been cast into the Sea The fury of the Wind still lasted and took the Ship on the Starboard-Bow with such violence that it snapt off the Boltsprit and Fore-Mast both at once and blew the Ship all along ready to over-set it but the Ship did presently right again and the Wind whirling round took the Ship a second time with the like fury as before but on the contrary side and was again like to over-set her the other way the Mizen-Mast felt the fury of the second Blast and was snapt short off as the Fore-Mast and Boltsprit had been before it came on very swift making a great noise and raising the Sea round it as if a great House or some such thing had been cast into the Sea From these Instances it is undeniably evident that a Spout is rather a Cloud than a Pillar of Water rising in a pyramidal form out of the Sea as some affirm in their Voyages upon the Coasts of Africa or such a Column of Water occasion'd by a Commotion in the subterraneous Abyss as Dr Woodward in his Philosophical Essay alledges To these I will only add an Instance or two more which might easily slip an undiscerning Eye and tho' the Observation to some may seem trivial yet I doubt not but the Matter when rightly consider'd carries weight along with it and may justly challenge our Enquiry I have in some Parts several Leagues from the Ocean two Yards within Marle seen Stones of a considerable magnitude most exactly divided yet adapted to that height of Symmetry and nice proportion of Parts when join'd that no Tallies nor the most curiously divided Bodies could more exactly close their Fissures and in an horizontal Line betwixt these 8 or 10 Yards of Marle interposing Considering therefore that those Stones in all probability were originally but one the distance betwixt them and their depth in the Marle it must surely be most consonant to Reason to conclude that they were only split not dissolved in that unaccountable hurry at the Deluge and embalm'd there to perpetuate its Veracity betwixt these are often to be found marine Shells which sufficiently evidences this Hypothesis Nor have we those Disports only of Shells and fossile Plants in Bodies that are impregnated with Spar Alabaster Bitumen and the Pyrites but likewise other Phaenomena of the like Nature particularly at the Kennel-Pits at Haigh in Lancashire in several Slates of which I have seen long parallel Cylinders join'd together and running in direct Lines imprinted in solid Stone twice the length of a Man's Finger and the breadth or more of his Hand an evident Demonstration that this firm Substance must originally be a Fluid which allowed it will be no difficulty to account for the various representations of Shells and Vegetables These were first communicated to me by that honoured and learned Lady the Lady Guise Mother to the present Lady Bradshaw of Haigh But farther to demonstrate that Solids were originally Fluids a more convincing Instance cannot be produc'd than in the Stone call'd Buphthalmos or Ox-Eye so stiled from the analogy it bears to that Organ In this there is a Pebble of a sable Colour included in an Alabaster Spar and the Spar so strictly adheres to the surface of the Pebble without the least unevenness and composes so exactly a Convex figure like that of an Eye that it is impossible they should come into that shape but as the Chymists term it In statu fluoris These are found on the Sea-Coasts in Lancashire and Wirehal in Cheshire CHAP. VII Of Fishes THE Curious here have a large Field of Philosophy to range in since both the Seas and Rivers in these Counties present us almost with an infinite variety of these Creatures I shall not expatiate upon each particular Species of Fishes but only take notice of the most remarkable which have occur'd to my Observation in the Seas Rivers Ponds and Meers The Seas frequently afford us Seales or Sea-Calfs and those of different Magnitudes they are often thrown up in Salt-Rivers form'd by the Tides some I have seen eight some twelve Foot long but these are most common in the Baltic Ocean where the Russes take them in great quantities the Method is very remarkable They generally go out in great Numbers to hunt them sometimes they find three or four Thousand together basking themselves upon the Ice these then they surround which when the Sea-Calfs discern they pile themselves upon an heap as it is probable by that means to break the Ice and quit themselves from the Enemy which they sometimes do and frequently so bend the Ice that they are oblig'd to wade to a considerable depth to attack them so remarkable is the Principle of Self-preservation in all Creatures whatever Their Food is upon Fish but I found by one
such a Bed The Oyster and Lobster are very common and likewise the Shrimp and Prawn the Prawn is a Fish not much unlike the Shrimp but much larger and far better Meat and in my thoughts the most pleasing of any Shell-Fish whatever it generates in Eggs and of these it deposites an infinite number which by a clammy Matter it fastens to the Rocks and piles them one upon another till they look like a Pyramid inverted and hang like Icicles on the Verge of a Penthouse We have the best and largest Cockles in England here and Muscles in that number that upon the Sea-Coasts they manure their Ground with them The Pearl-Muscles are very common Which leads me to give an account of the Germination of Pearls The Formation of the Shells of Muscles I have observ'd from the bigness of a Pins head to 2 Inches in length and find in their first Formation that the Shells are pellucid but afterwards as the Lamellae are constantly formed they become opaque their substance at first seems to me to be a Gluten thrown off from the Fish and indurated by the Air as the Fish grows in bigness it still emits a greater quantity of this and so the Shell continually encreases till it arrives to its full hardness and maturity In these Shells and likewise in Oyster-shells I have frequently found Pearls some just appearing thro' the innermost Lamellae others half thro' some hanging like Fruit upon a Pedestall others dropt from the Mother of Pearl and sticking on the out-side of the Fish whence it is plain that Pearls are not form'd by Dews as some have observ'd nor within the Fish as others but in the Shell it self I find the Pearls as well as the Shells to consist of various Laminae wrapt one within another and betwixt the Mater Perlarum and the Pearl I could never observe any extraordinary difference only I think the Pearl makes a greater fermentation with an Acid whence it is most probable that the most Volatile part of the Mater Perlarum protrudes it self from the rest of the Laminae and so constantly presses forwards till it forces its passage into the Shell it self and so forms the Pearl They are generally of a Sphaerical figure made so I conjecture by the figure of the Shell these Pearls are of great use in Physic and did the People industriously apply themselves to the getting of them considerable quantities might be acquired at a less Price than Crabs Eyes which they infinitely surpass tho' they were genuine but for the most part they are adulterated and instead of Crabs Eyes we have meerly a Composition of Chalk and Mucilage or perhaps Tobacco-pipe Clay to the infinite prejudice of the Patient From what has been observ'd in the Germination of Pearls it is evident that what Christophorus Sandius from Hamburgh transmitted to the Royal Society at London must necessarily be a Mistake which that the Reader may more easily apprehend I shall transcribe the Account he gave to that learn'd Body and leave it to any unprejudic'd Person to judge of his Error since any of the most Curious may any day in the Year in the River Wire near Hambleton in Lancashire have a full Demonstration to the contrary The first Letter runs thus being translated by the Publisher of the Philosophical Transactions March 25. A. D. 1674. Touching the Origin of Pearls of which I formerly gave an Intimation be pleas'd to receive the following Account The Pearl-shells in Norway and elsewhere do breed in sweet Waters Their Shells are like to those which commonly are call'd Muscles but they are larger the Fish in them looks like an Oyster and it produces a great cluster of Eggs like those of Cra-Fishes some white some black which latter will yet become white the outer black Coat being taken off these Eggs when ripe are cast out and being cast out they grow and become like those that cast them but sometimes it happens that one or two of these Eggs stick fast to the sides of the Matrix and are not voided with the rest these are fed by the Oyster against its Will and they do grow according to the length of Time into Pearls of different bignesses and imprint a Mark both in the Shell and Fish by the situation conform to its figure Upon which I cannot but remark in the following manner and indeed in doing that can scarce confine my self within the Rules of Decency there being not one true Line in the whole Letter For in the first place they do not always breed in fresh but likewise in salt Waters as is evident in the River Wire where the Water is continually salt and when the Tide flows little less brackish than the Sea it self in the second place the Shell is not only like that of a Muscle but the Fish also is a real Muscle and not an Oyster in the third place in those Fishes never any Eggs are discern'd consequently it is not possible that the Pearl should be the Egg of the Fish but on the contrary it is demonstrable by the Instances above-recited that the Pearls are various Protrusions from the Laminae of the Shell and those I have observ'd as well in the black as in the chrystalline Laminae having frequently seen black Pearls as well as the chrystalline ones which are so many Envelopments of the Mother of Pearls Fourthly by what is alledg'd it is evident that these are not fed by the Oyster against its Will and that they do not any farther imprint a Mark into the Shell than by dropping out of it but indeed after that they do commonly leave a Bruise there by which you may easily discern how many Pearls have vegetated from each particular Shell A Phaenomenon not much unlike this I once observ'd at Oxford in a Water-Rat that was pregnant upon a Dissection of her for by opening the Ovaria we found as many Knots in those as there were young ones in the Uterus His second Letter was dated the 27. of February 1674. and is as follows As to the Authority I have to assert such an Origin of Pearls as I have done in my former I here declare that a certain Dane call'd Henricus Arnoldi an ingenious and veracious Person having by his own Experience found it so at Christiania in Norway did in that manner relate it to me as I imparted it to you he having with great seriousness assur'd me of the truth thereof besides the thing seems highly probable neither do any considerable Objections appear against it if I should chance to go into those Parts or at least into the Country of the Duke of Brunswick where also Pearls are found not inferior to the Oriental ones of the same size I should not fail to endeavour to make the Observation my self From what has been before observ'd it is plain his Hypothesis is not probable and that there are unanswerable Objections against it so that his very All centring only in a Relation
from the foremention'd Dane is altogether fictitious nor do I believe there are Pearls either in Brunswick or any other part of the World yet known comparable to those in East-India the Mother of Pearl of the Oysters in those Parts being much finer than any discover'd here or in the West-Indies And if so by what has been observ'd it is most certain that the Pearls must be finer also which are only the most refin'd parts of those defecated Laminae of the Shell It is true indeed there are in fresh Waters hereabout Muscles of the magnitude he mentions which are commonly call'd Horse-Muscles of these vast numbers were found in the Pond at Tabley in Cheshire when it was drein'd but not any of them contain'd Pearls nor was the Fish palatable These I think may serve for a full Answer to Sandius's Hypothesis I shall not therefore transgress longer on the Reader 's patience but only take notice of the Phosphori or flashes of Fire in the Night-time frequently observable in Muscles and Oysters and so close this Head It is observable that these Fishes abound with a great quantity of volatile Sulphur and hence it is that in Tabid Cases as in scorbutic Atrophies they are of extraordinary use for their sulphureous Particles being communicated to the Mass of Blood they afresh inspirit and restore it to its due Circulation and then the Blood distributes its nourishment to the Body which before stagnated in several Capillaries where for want of a daily supply the Body emaciated Another confirmation of their great quantity of Sulphur is their extream foetidness upon Putrefaction which is as offensive as any preparation of Sulphur whatever These granted and that Flame it self is only a due quantity of sulphureous Particles put into a particular Motion and then again considering what vast numbers of those Particles abound in those Fishes and their extraordinary Activity it is easy to imagin how those Noctilucae or flashes in the Night-time when their Particles are not scatter'd by the Beams of the Sun may frequently be observ'd in them and it is probable that if some of our Virtuosi made their Experiments upon foetid Oysters they might more easily prepare the Phosphorus than from Blood Flesh or Urine which is the common but very tedious Process The Echini are common as likewise Torculars Whilkes and Periwinkles we have likewise another Fish shap'd like the Head of a Rabbit and thence call'd the Rabbit-Fish The Pap-Fish is common so call'd from the likeness it bears to a Nipple the Country People use them for their Nipples when sore which by guarding them from fretting on their Cloaths give relief These are the most remarkable of Sea-Fishes that I have observ'd in these Parts wherefore I shall in the next place descend to River and Pond-Fish and of these the most remarkable are the Salmon Sparling or Smelt and the Char as likewise Eeles in the River Erke near Manchester And of these I shall shew the difference and their manner of Generation and so conclude this Chapter The Rivers abound with great quantities of Salmon but chiefly those into which the Sea flows daily as Ribble Lune Wire and the Mersey in these there are considerable numbers taken but the most in Ribble and the Lune Concerning the Growth of these the Opinions are various some asserting that after the Salmon leaves the Sea she makes to fresh Rivers and constantly presses forward till she gains the Shallows and in the Sands Stones and Pebbles deposites her Spawn or Eggs upon which the Male ejects a Milk which fecundates them and so the formation of the Foetus is begun which first is stiled a Salmon-Smelt the second Year a Sprod the third a Mort the fourth a Forktail the fifth a Runner and the sixth a Salmon Others assert that the Salmon comes to its Maturity in one Year and the Morts Forktails and Runners are a distinct species of Salmon and will never attain to the magnitude of a grown Salmon and that because as they alledge several of these have been put into Ponds and never arriv'd to any other pitch of greatness Now it is certain that the Salmon are always best and grow most when they immediately leave the Seas and by their continuance in fresh Waters they still decline and wax leaner when they first quit the Seas their Flesh is firm and well-tasted and at that time they have often abundance of little Insects upon them which the Fishermen call the Salmon Lowse and it is then that she is best in season The Fishermen will actly tell you by observing of these how long they have left the Seas but upon their continuance long in the Freshes they become extreamly lean and not at all palatable so that 't is probable if these Morts and Sprods which were taken into Ponds and did not encrease at all 't was because they were out of their proper Food and so consequently instead of growing did emaciate for 't is most certain when they deserted the salt Water 't was not for any Food they expected in fresh Rivers but indeed to reach the Shallows as well for the preservation as propagation of their Fry which in the Deeps would be destroy'd by other Fishes so admirable is the Conduct of Providence even in the meanest of Creatures Tho' the Rivers are frequently stemm'd and barricado'd with Weares of a considerable height yet 't is wonderful to observe how they will leap over these to gain the Shallows to deposite their Spawn since therefore the Smelt comes down from the Shallows and makes towards the salt Waters 't is probable that the fresh Rivers are disagreeable to them and since the Sprod seems to be the same Fish of another Years growth and the rest likewise gradually till they compleat the Salmon it self I am rather inclin'd to adhere to the former Opinion for why should not there in this as in other Creatures be a gradual Encrease I apprehend not any convincing Reason to the contrary nor do I believe Nature here alters her establish'd Methods in arriving to a full Growth and Maturity The next remarkable Fish is the Char and that is found in Winder-Meer in Westmoreland and no where else that I know of except in Conningston-Meer in Lancashire This Fish is not very unlike a Trout only the Flesh is much more red and when Potted 't is most delicious Meat of these great quantities are yearly sent to London from Kendall and Lancaster 'T is likewise observable that these Fishes are only found in one part of Winder-Meer the other part being destitute of them which perhaps may be occasion'd by the Pikes taken there in great quantities There is another Fish taken there not unlike the Char but something less nor is the Flesh quite so red The Water is extraordinary clear and contains several small Islands in one of which Sr. Christopher Philipson once resided and in another a Hermite a Relation of Sr. Francis Sawcole's who for some
Years subsisted only on Roots and Fish and never went to Bed but is now dead What farther may be said in relation to the Char was communicated to me by my honour'd Friend and Relation Sr. Daniel Flemming of Rydall in the County of Westmoreland Winder-Meer says he according to the English Saxon is Windal-Meer which some think to be so denominated from the great Winds frequent there others from its winding and turning in and out and others from a Person 's Name as well as that of Thurston-Meer now call'd coningston-Coningston-Water in Lancashire and that of Ulfes now stiled Uls-Water in Cumberland which are both near thereunto which makes the last Conjecture the most probable This Lough Lake or Meer is about a Mile in breadth and ten Miles in length with great variety of crooked Banks which afford an agreeable Prospect it is in several places of a great Depth and produces many kinds of Fish as the Char Salmon Pike Bass Pearch Eeles c. This Lake by some is plac'd in Lancashire but by others in Westmoreland which is the more likely since the Fishery thereof belongs to the Barony of Kendall a Town of great Trade particularly for Cottons and the most noted in that County This Meer is the largest in England and looks as if it was pav'd or flagg'd at the bottom with square Stones a sight diverting enough in Fishing Our learned Clarenceux was impos'd upon when he was inform'd that the Char was a Fish peculiar to Winder-Meer since in Coningston-Meer within five Miles a Char much fairer and more serviceable is caught The Char is a sort of Fish about a quarter long somewhat like a Trout and generally red belly'd there are three sorts the Male which is large with a red Belly but the Flesh thereof somewhat white having a soft Roe and is call'd the Milting-Char the Female Char is large but not so red-belly'd the Flesh is very red within being full of hard Roes or Spawn which our Philosophers in their Discoveries sufficiently demonstrate to be the Ova or Eggs of the Fish which are fecundated by a Milk injected on them by the Male and perfected by the kind influence of the Sun the Ova thus impregnated are buried by the Female in Slutch or Sand near the adjacent Banks and so receive Invigoration these are commonly call'd the Roving Charrs the third sort having no Roe is commonly call'd the Gelt Char. These Charrs differ from the Welsh Torgough a Fish taken in Carnarvan-shire and the Switzerland Rentel these being probably the same with the Case a sort of Fish something like the Char but spawning at a different time and caught in the River Brathy that runs into Winder-Meer The Char is not to be caught by Angling or any other Method but by Nets they keep generally in the deepest parts of the Water and are most commonly caught in the coldest Weather when the Banks are cover'd with Snow the Char never swims out of the Meer but the Case is taken in divers Rivers The River Erke is remarkable for Eeles which I think I may affirm to be the fattest in England and indeed to that degree of fatness that they almost nauseate and this a late Author a Gentleman of a considerable Estate near Manchester chiefly attributes to the Fat Grease and Oyls which by the Woke-Mills are expressed from the Woolen Cloaths and so mixed with the Water And indeed considering the number of these Mills standing upon that River and the extraordinary fatness of the Eeles I do not think the Conjecture amiss It may now be worth our time to make Enquiry into the manner of the Generation of this kind of Fish I could not in these by any Dissection I ever made observe the distinction of Male and Female which has given occasion to some to conjecture they came from the middle Region since Ponds and Pits are found frequently full of them in w ch none had ever been deposited and therefore 't is concluded that their Ova being so small as not to be discern'd by ocular Inspection they might be exhal'd with the Waters and consequently fall down with the Rains and when these happen'd to fall into Rivers and Ponds they by the influence of the Sun begin and compleat their Generation But whence arose those Ova to be thus exhal'd they must needs claim some Origin or Formation before they ascended to the middle Region there is no doubt but the Rains are oftentimes saturated with Ova of divers Species as may be seen by Putrifaction of the Water in which an infinite number of small Worms are discern'd these indeed may be small Ova wafted up by the Winds and descending with the Rains It is affirm'd in Russia and Lithuania after excessive Showers that the Ground is almost cover'd with Creatures not unlike Mice which often produce by their corrupting pestilential Fevers which in some occasion'd the like Conjecture yet this Phaenomenon may admit of another solution for why may not those Creatures be there generated and after the fall of those Rains desert their Cells or Latebrae to bask upon the surface of the Ground as we daily see here in Frogs and Worms and other Reptiles However it is the Ponds that were never stored may be supply'd other ways for it is usual for Eeles to quit the Pits and creep into the Grass and Ditches and this I have often observ'd having found Eeles in the midst of Fields remote from any Pit by which means other Ponds may be replenish'd with this kind of Fish for my part I shall not determine the Point but these being industrious Ages by the assistance of Microscopes which are daily improv'd others may give us farther satisfaction in this Matter But I cannot here omit that remarkable Experiment of the most ingenious Lewenhooke who in this Creature was the first that gave us an ocular Demonstration of the Circulation of the Blood and beyond contradiction has made it manifest that the Vein and Artery are one continued Canal shewing a Pulsation in one part of the Vessel and none in the other but that the Blood slowly creeping on the Arteries at their Extremities form a kind of Semicircle so that the strait Line being terminated the Systole of the Heart at so great a distance is not able to affect a Curve for we must imagin the Pulse to be extreamly weak at the Extremities of the Arteries for when a Vessel deviates from the direct Line of the Power it thence ceases to be affected with it and hence it is that the Veins tho' they are continued Vessels with the Arteries have no Pulsation at all What is said of this Fish generating with Vipers is trifling and ridiculous for whoever examins the Parts of these two Creatures subservient to Generation will find it wholly impossible the Male Viper containing a Penis and the Female Ova and Ovaria but in Eeles neither are discernible The next remarkable Experiment in this Fish is the long continued Systole
a Man purely for the Sake of Contradiction will oppose the Universality of the Deluge I am apt to think he will scarce be able to account for all these surprizing and different Phaenomena's by any other Method so that whoever considers the Account given of the Deluge by Moses will find him one of the greatest Philosophers as well as most faithful Historians that ever writ since the Creation his Style being throughout nervous and his Thoughts sublime insomuch that as 't is said Longinus that great Master of Sublimity could not but admire his Eloquence Fig. 5. is the Rana Piscatrix or Sea-Toad found frequently in the River Wire in Lancashire It has an extream wide Mouth and is said to be a very voracious Creature it is not eaten as Food by the People but I have seen them eagerly devour'd by the Sea-Gulls and some of them almost peck'd to a perfect Skeleton the Rows of its Teeth are not much unlike those of a Shark wherefore I conclude its usual Food is upon small Fishes It yields a great Quantity of Oyl but extreamly faetid TAB VI An Explication of the Cutts contain'd in the Sixth Plate mark'd Tab. VI. relating to Pooles-Hole in Derbyshire THESE perhaps are the most amazing Vaults in the Universe that are Natural and not Artificial These describ'd in this Plate are Pooles-Hole and Elden-Hole the most terrible Chasm that I ever yet beheld How therefore these Cavities came to be formed in these Mountains is the next Thing to be enquired into It is very probable that these Cavities have continued in those unpolish'd Mountains ever since that terrible Deluge so fully before discoursed of and in my Sentiments absolutely demonstrates the Veracity of it for so far as I am able to conceive it is not in the Power of Humane Understanding to give any rational Account of those prodigious Cavities but either by Earthquakes or that general Inundation but since there is no Historian that gives an Account of any such Earthquake in this Island and that by the Experience of those which have happen'd in all preceding Ages in these temperate Climates we may reasonably suppose there never were any such I adhere therefore to the latter Hypothesis and do suppose that at that Universal Destruction the Strata of the whole Globe were broke asunder most of them lying in a shelving or dipping Posture as in all the Quarries we find at this Day they do it is probable therefore that they tossing to and fro in the Flood upon the receding of the Waters most of these Strata lying shelving sometimes Two opposite Summits convened and in that terrible Confusion wedg'd themselves together and by that means might easily form those prodigious Arches and Cavities which in our Days we observe in these Mountains These Phaenomena's if I mistake not absolutely evince the Universality of a Deluge but on the other Hand as clearly convince us that the World was not then converted into a Fluid for had the Globe then been an Universal Fluid and all Things subsided by Specific Gravity as Dr. Woodward affirms there being no empty Space in the Fluid as all Philosopers averr there was was it possible that ever such Cavities could have been formed I am certain if it was so whoever considers the Immensness of these void Spaces must needs acknowledge that the Fluid then retain'd the most prodigious Pores that ever it did since the Creation This Cavity entertains us with several very diverting Objects which shall be accounted for in their Order And indeed considering the great Diversity of Figures that may be observed in the different kinds of Sparrs in these Places and the great Affinity the Substance of the Alablaster Sparr has to that of petrify'd Shells by the different Convening of these does it at all seem difficult to me to imagine how in those Mountains those Mineral Shells are frequently found But I must own they are sometimes so extreamly like those Shell-Fishes which they represent that to a vigorous Fancy they afford Subject sufficient to write ingenious Novels A. The Cutt of the Woman who had Horns whose Picture I saw at Whalley-Abby in Lancashire B. The Child that was born of a Lancashire Gentlewoman with the Representation of a Flame upon its Body the Mother being affrighted with that terrible Flame when the City of London was burned C. The Representation of Plants in Rocks in a black Bituminous Substance imprinted in that from the Rock it self like that of an Impression in Wax from a Signet the Rock seems to be a coarse sort of Marble or Lime-stone but extreamly hard Instances of this kind I have seen at Heseham near Lancaster likewise at Latham near Ormskirk and in the Coal-Mines near Townley in the same County so that in Vegetables as well as Shells the Disports of Nature are very obvious From these Instances it is very demonstrable that the Globe at the Deluge was not dissolv'd for had it been then a Fluid that Bituminous Matter in which the Plants are delineated could not have taken an Impression from the Rock since according to that Hypothesis the Rock at that time must be a Liquid also and consequently therefore could not give an Impression to the Bitumen The Observation may be further illustrated by a very familiar Instance Let us suppose an Impression made upon Wax by a Signet take another Piece of Wax and by the Heat of a Flame reduce it to a Fluid apply this to the Wax that has the Impression upon it 't is true indeed the Heat of the melted Wax will likewise turn the other Fluid but at the same time it erases the Impression so that it is plain that had the Rock been then a Fluid it could not have given an Impression to the Bitumen unless you will imagine the Rock both above and under the Bitumen to indurate before that which is both Chimerical and Absurd D. Shews the Entrance into the Cave E. The Figure of the Lion formed by the Dropping of the Water from the Top of the Sides and Top of the Arch. F. The Pillar commonly call'd the Queen of Scots Pillar consisting of an Alabaster Sparr formed after the same Manner G. The Figure of a Humane Corps formed likewise by the Dropping of the Water from the Top of the Arch and the Sides H. The Sparry Globe called the Font in the Top of which there is a small Cavity constantly fill'd with Water this consists of various Lamellae inveloped one within another and is likewise formed by the Dropping of the Water I. Is another Globular Sparry Substance commonly call'd by the Natives One of Mr. Cotton's Haycocks formed after the same Manner K. Is that Sparry Substance hanging at the Top of the Arch commonly called the Flitch of Bacon formed also by the Water which is that kind of Sparry Matter styled the Stalactites as are all the rest described in this Plate L. Are those Sparry Substances hanging at the Top of the Arch commonly
called the Chairs formed after the same Manner M. Is the Place call'd the Needle 's Eye which is a small Hole that goes quite through the Rock so that from thence a Person standing with a Light to the Person that stands at the Bottom near the Water the Light seems to resemble a Star The Current through the Cavity is in a great measure made by the Dropping of the Water and likewise the Fret-Work that resembles a Choir An Explication of the Cutts contain'd in the Seventh Plate mark'd Tab. VII relating to the Devils Arse near Castleton in Derbyshire c. THE First Figure on the Right-hand is a Piece of the Nautilus found in Lancashire in this the Disports of Nature are wonderful as may be observ'd by the various Figures included in the Shell and the curious Lines upon its Superficies The Second Figure is the Cheshire Woman who had Horns an Account is given of her in the Plate so that a further Relation needs not to be inserted here The lower Part of the Plate is that wonderful Arch commonly call'd the Devil's Arse near Castleton in Derbyshire the Area where the Persons and the Houses are where a great many of the poor Inhabitants live is within the Arch and reaches to the first Water which runs cross it as you may observe by the shadowed Figure stretching in that Line The Second shadowed Figure is the Second River and then the Rock opens again as may be observ'd in the Figure The Third shadowed Figure is the Third and Last Water where the Rock and the Water closes and then you cannot pass further TAB VII The next Thing to be enquired into is whence in this prodigious Cavity these Subterraneous Rivers have their Origin It is observable in several of the Mountains in Derbyshire that at the Bottoms of the Mountains there are several Cavities which the Inhabitants call Swallows into these run several Rivulets of Water but where the Water has its Exit is not known It is therefore my Opinion that in large Subterraneous Cavities as in that at Castleton several of those Rivulets convening it is from them these Subterraneous Rivers are formed and am apt to think that those Springs which issue out of the Mountains in such rapid Currents as some near Castleton do are from them also From all these the wonderful Disports of Nature are not only discernable as is fully demonstrated in Minerals Metals and Plants but in Animals also Why therefore some Persons should spin out such elaborate Hypotheses to amuse Mankind when these Phaenomena's may otherwise be familiarly enough solved I cannot apprehend But those Heads having been fully enough discuss'd before I shall not therefore recapitulate but shall desire each Person to make his Observations accurately and weigh the Whole together and could heartily wish some Persons of no mean Character would not violently espouse Hypotheses which are not warrantable and not fly into violent Passions when they are not opposed in any thing but what is not consonant to Experiments and Natural Observations How these Gentlemen may resent these I am in no wise uneasie and whatever their Opinions may be of themselves is not my Business to enquire into but when from Persons of Learning in Answer to the Experiments I fully try'd I receiv'd no Answer but Opprobrious Calumnies and Supercilious Arrogance let those Gentlemen be assured that I am ready to justifie what I have recited and when ever they think convenient to make and Reply either to them or these if any thing material be offered or more probable Arguments be produced I will either acquit my self or fairly drop the Argument for I am not so bigotted to any mean Performances of my own but when more probable Conjectures are offer'd can easily relinquish them but in those Matters which I have recited as Experiments or Observations I dread not their Criticisms TAB Y E I. OF BIRDS An Explication of the Plate of Birds mark'd Table the First of Birds 1. THE Sea-Crow its Food is upon Shell-Fish and its manner of Feeding is very wonderful as is observ'd in the Book These Birds are said to breed in the Hollows of Rocks in the Isle of Man and though common upon the Sea-Coasts in these Counties yet never known to breed here their Flesh is not grateful and therefore not eaten 2. The Brasilian Magype this was driven upon the Coasts by the violent Hale Storm described in Mr. Burgher's first Plate and found dead upon the Sea-Coasts in Lancashire 3. The Tropick Bird driven in at the same time 4. The copped Wren that fed the Dragoons near Durton in Lancashire of which an Account is given in the Chapter of Birds 5. The Asprey or Sea-Eagle See likewise an Account of that in the same Chapter 6. The Barnacle or the Anser Bassanus in these as in other Geese there are Males and Females and they breed after the same manner as may be observ'd in the Chapter of Birds that Species of the Shell-Fish they have formerly been said to proceed from is a Species of the Pectunculus resembling that contain'd in the second Plate Number 15. which I found in the Copper-Mines in Lancashire These Shells are usually lick'd up by the Ships in the Gulf of Florida and do not breed in these Seas which Phaenomenon still further confirms to me these Petrifactions to be nothing but different Concretions of Fluors Sulphurs Salts and Earths and may justly be styled Lapides sui generis FINIS The Author's Vindication of himself from some Calumnies lately cast upon him SO strangely Opinionative are some Persons and fondly link'd to the Wild products of their own teeming Genius that an Ocular Demonstration to these amounts not to a thorough Conviction nay so prodigiously over-weening of those are their Sentiments it is so far from attaining of it that against the most evident Truths they wilfully shut their Eyes and fall into such extravagant Expressions that they almost exceed the rudest Offals of Billingsgate and that for no other reason but because I do not as they suppose that at the Deluge the Globe was Universally dissolv'd or as some will have it converted into a Pudding and instead of Plumbs was larded with Cockles which are since petrified Those Gentlemen may be assured I shall not concern my self with their Missionaries but when they themselves judge it convenient to make a Reply that is material I shall then be at their Service Some of these have indeavoured to traduce me both at the Engravers and the Press but have in some measure been disappointed in their Expectations They have indeed out of their unexpected Candour been pleas'd to acknowledge that there was somewhat of Stile in the Work but for that reason were pleas'd to allege it was not my own in Answer to that I have only this to say in Vindication of my Self that in Composing the Work I had not the least assistance from any Person whatever and have not in any wise been defective
which hath a fermenting virtue and leav'ns a Past exposed to the Air and at that time saith Pliny and Le Chambre the Nitre Pits grow full of Nitre and sands Vanssebius and several say that though 500 in a day die at Grand Cairo of the Plague before the beginning of the Inundation of the Nile yet the very day after there does not one die which doubtless cou'd not proceed from any other reason than because at that time the Air was impregnated with this volatile Alkaly for at that time the Nitre Pits grow full and this dew falls This I think may sufficiently hint to us the great use of its volatile Spirit Especially in Pestilential Distempers Lastly about that time the Nile begins to o'erflow those Specimens which we had here grew heavier by being exposed to the Air Here it is to be noted that this Alkaly is not made so by Fire I cannot therefore conclude with Helmont that all Alkalies are made so by that Element The next thing to be consider'd is its seperation from the Water in Latron of which the Learned Dr. Huntington who was at Nitria gives us this account There is a Town in Aegypt called Nitria which gives name to the Nitrian desert where there is a Lake called Latron taking up an Area of six or seven Acres situate about thirty Miles West and by South from Terena a Town lower upon the Nile than Grand Cairo and about the same distance Northwest from the Pyramids From the bottom of this Lake ariseth this sort of Nitre call'd Natron to the top as they do apprehend and there by the Heat of the Sun condenseth into this kind of substance that all the Nitre comes from the bottom to the Top I dare not affirm I shall therefore premise some Phoenomena it afforded in Evaporation before I give you my conjecture about it I took an Evaporating Glass which held about four Ounces and pour'd into it two Ounces of Nitrian Water this I set upon a sand Furnace giving it Fire by degrees as soon as the Water was warm the particles of Nitre began to swim upon its surface in stragling and uneven numbers these after a while United and afterwards there arose a Salt sufficient to Colour the whole superficies of the Water I took then a thin Glass and skinn'd off this Ice but cou'd scarce take it all of before it was seconded by another and thus the Salt did rise successively in Films as long as there was any Water in the Glass these Films had the Colour and taste of the Nitre that came from Nitria and did like it ferment with an Acid And these are they which by Pliny are called Flos Salis and if I mistake not the same with that which Herodotus saith they make their Mummy with if therefore by the Languishing heat of a Digesting Furnace the the Nitrous Particles cou'd seperate themselves from the Water and over that spread themselves in an Ice it may be as probable that by the greater heat of the Sun the Nitre of Latron is seperated from the Water after the same manner and as in the Evaporation of other mineral Waters when the Water is not strong enough to hold up the Salt it is generally cover'd with a thin Film so I suppose in the Evaporation of Natron some Particles of the Water being flown away the Particles of the Sal Marine branch one into another and so incrustate upon the surface of the Water In this Hypothesis I was the farther confirm'd by this Experiment I took some of the Natron and dissolved it in Water and set it to Evaporate and I found that the Salt did not incrustate upon the Water till three parts of the Water was Evaporated it did not therefore seem probable that all the Nitre came from the bottom to the top and so condensed by the heat of the Sun but that they incrustated when the saline Particles branched one into another some of the Aqueous parts being exhaled The reason why its volatile Alkaly in Evaporation does not fly quite away is because it is held there by the Sal Marine The next thing to be consider'd is its use in Physick by Pliny it is commended in Ulcers and Inflammations Palsey in the Tongue Consumptions Cholick Haemorhagies Purulent Ears and Intermitting Fevers By Galen it is said desiccat digerit Multo autem majus ejus spuma By Agricola its prescribed in the same cases commended as a Cephalick of wonderful success in the Griping of the Guts intermitting Fevers and the Leprosy Mathiolus commends it in the same cases By Hypocrates it is commended when the Menstrua are obstructed and again saith he purgat humores albos convenit in abortionibus ubi puer haud exierit he likewise commends it in some kinds of barrenness and to this Kircher in his Mundus subteraneus alludes when he says Nili aqua in potum redit non modo saluberrimum sed faecundandis mulieribus mite opportanum and Petrus Giurius gives us this memorable story out of Caesius that when Philadelphus King of Aegypt Married his Daughter Berenice to Antiochus King of the Assyrians he Commanded his Daughter to Drink of the Water of Nile that she might make her Husband happy in a numerous Off-Spring By the Testimony therefore of Hypocrates Galen Mathiolus Diascorides Pliny and Agricola it appears to have been of great use in Physick But here it is to be noted that when Nitre is prescribed by the foremention'd Authors that Nitre which is an ingredient in Gun-Powder is not to be understood Amongst the Moderns we have this account of it Monsieur du Closs is of Opinion that most of the Mineral-Waters in France are impregnated with this sort of Nitre and that all their Cures are done by it Molenbrochius affirms a Tincture of Aphronitum to be of wonderful Efficacy in the Stone this I the rather Credit because it is said by Iunken in his Medicus the Nitre of Nitria is of so piercing a Spirit that it will not permit either Stone or Rock to be thereabout And Ten Rine in his Meditations de Veteri Medicina affirms it to be of wonderful success in the same Distempers The next thing to be consider'd is its use in Agriculture and in Treating of this I think it convenient to premise one Phaenomenon which it afforded in Evaporation when the Salts had spread themselves over the Water in an Ice those thin Plates after a while wou'd break and ascend in perpendicular lines to the top of the Glass I do say therefore that Nitre may be said to fertilize the ground after this manner It s volatile Particles being by some subterraneous Fire or else by the heat of the Sun they do quickly ascend into the small Tubes of the Plant and by their Elastick Nature carry along with them or force before them those Particles which as they differently convene constitute the different parts of the Plant. But this conjecture will be made
easie Parallel may be produced any one that reflects on the admirable Virtue and force of the Peruvian Tree amidst the Crouds of almost breathless Persons languishing in Fevers Hence it is that so many prolifick Wits have been exercised in explicating its qualities and the doubtful Controversy of the cause of intermittent Distempers some have placed the seat of the Disease in the Mass of Blood as the Celebrated Willis others in the Pancreatick juice grown too Austere as the noted Sylvius de Le Boe others from Salt Humours thrown by the Arteries into the Miliary Glands as the Learned Dr. Iones others in a certain Poyson oppressing the Elastick force of the Animal Spirits as the late Dr. Morton and others in the Nervous juice Vitiated as the accomplish'd Dr. Cole but to make strict enquiries into these several Opinions wou'd be too tedious a matter I shall not therefore insist upon them but passing over these Philosophical disputes shall assign the cause of all intermittent Fevers their Seat and modus In the first place therefore let us suppose all intermittent Fevers to arise from Saline Particles Coagulating the serous part of the Blood the truth of this may be thus render'd apparent as first from the Air the Season of the Year or an Errour in the six Non-naturals in those places where the Atmosphere abounds with Saline Particles as in Moist and Marshy parts there intermittent Fevers Yearly Epidemically rage as in Holland some Parts of the West-Indies in the Marshes of Kent Essex Lincolnshire Lancashire and other the like Countries that the Air does abound with such Particles in such places has been before shown from the Season of the Year it is very clear as about the Vernal and Autumnal Aequinox at which times of the Year above the rest the Air is filled with Saline Particles for at these Seasons Saline Efflorescences are more observable as may be seen on the Lime of Walls and then it is these Fevers rage most That they arise from an Errour of living is very plain from the meaner sort of People who are more subject to them and whose Diet is chiefly Salted or sour Meats to these we may add that after the fit is ended the Urine often is highly Lixivial emitting a Pleasant smell and depositing a Lateritious Sediment which is very familiar in the Scurvy in which case it is allowed by all the Blood abounds with Saline Particles hence we may take notice the Cortex may be of no small use in Scorbutick cases whose success we have Experienced more than once From what has been said it is plain intermittent Fevers arise from Saline Particles Proceed we next to shew the seat of the Distempers and this may be evinced from the following Heads First From Observations in cases and again from the Opinions of the Ancients and their Methods of Cure and after all our own conjectures in the matter As to the Historical part I will first instance in the case of Alexander Rigby of Laton in Lancashire Esq he was seized with a Quartan Ague that continued upon him some Months which Proteus like still alter'd its form many times after theCold trembling fits were pass'd upon approach of a Hot fit he became Epileptick though of no long continuance but by a regular method with the Cortex and other alterative Medicines he perfectly recover'd and lived many Years afterwards The second instance is of Mrs. Clegg Wife to the Reverend Mr. Clegg of Kirkham in Lancashire who for a whole Winter and some part of the Spring had been afflicted with a Quartan Ague which at last alter'd into a double Tertian but alas Instead of those Reciprocal returns usual Convulsive motions succeeded to that degree that for many hours her Limbs were all distorted an Aphonia or loss of Speech seized her so that the very Standers by concluded her Dead Many of these fits she had and then fell into an Hipocondriac Melancholy being called into her relief Apperitive Apozems were prescribed afterwards the use of Mineral Waters and Chalybeats withCatharticks in due intervals by the use of these and the Sulphur Spaw in Yorkshire in about a Month her Melancholy vanish'd but her Aguish fits return'd which were only weakned by the preceding Method the Cortex with the bitter alterative Decoction with Rad. Serpent Virg. were directed which being regularly pursued she recovered Another case on this Topick I 'll produce you of Ann Cambell Wife of Thomas Cambell at Stakes near Preston in Lancashire she was seized likewise with a Quartan in Autumn and for about a Month her fits were regular enough but then a very tragic alteration ensued it seized upon the Nerves and instead of Aguish fits she became Speechless except some inarticulate inward Mutterings her Sense and Memory were lost that for the time she knew no one nor remember'd any thing the day after cruel Spasms disturb'd her and thus she continued for four or five Months about three in the Afternoon the fits came on and after all she labour'd under a severe Anasarca from which and her Quartan by the use of Hydragogues Antiscorbuticks and the Cortex she recovered her former Health From these Historical cases it is evident the Genus Nervosum is effected in intermittent Fevers it now follows in the next place to confirm it by the Opinions and Practice of the Ancients That our Predecessors in Physick were Inferior to us in Anatomy is not to be disputed hence it was they transmitted to us their Sentiments in very Ambiguous expressions however by Comparing their Theory and Practice together we find they placed the cause of intermittent Distempers in a certain Spirit piercing through the Blood and ent'ring even the Penetralia of the Nerves To evince this take Hippocrates's Thoughts our Primitive Standard in Physick let any one consult his Book de Flatibus where they may find he assigns the cause of intermittent Distempers to certain Malignant Spirits commixt with the Animal Spirits I will only produce two instances relating to the thing the first is this Aphorism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On which words Duretus thus Comments The Sense of any cold Cause first arises in the Limbs then coursing through the Back effects the Head but still occasion'd by an ill Digestion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In another Aphorism thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on which words the same Author thus proceeds For a Rigour or Chilliness in the Back denotes the Seat of the Distemper there but repeats the words occasion'd by an ill Digestion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hippocrates said before it is plain from these Aphorisms and Commentaries this Cathectick Habit of the Blood affixt to the Nerves was the cause of intermittent Fevers in pag. 130. 131. he adds thus This cause may be given for the Yawnings and Stretchings which are common Symptomes in this Distemper for the Nerves Tendons and Ligaments by concenter'dBlood grow hot and are contracted and by the Flatus's force are as it were
but in dry Weather and we may reasonably suppose there was a great Number of Boats of all forts belonging to so large a Fort and City the Anchor-Hill so called being as it were a little Dock or Hithe for the Building or Repairing them and that the Anchors Rings and Nails there found were only for then use and not for Ships they being far too little either for Ships of Burden or War We cannot rightly make out what Legion of the Romans was planted here by any of the noble Ruines we disclose however by what has been discover'd both the Antiquity and Grandeur of the Place will be clearly represented and our modern Observations be no small Supplement to the more ancient Ones where Mr. Cambden and others have saved me the Trouble I shall fairly name them in order and in Conclusion add my own The first Inscription Mr. Cambden takes Notice of is at Salisbury-Hall on the Pedestal of a Pillar which is as follows Deo Marti ET VICTORIAE DD. AVGG ET CC NN. And in the Wall adjoining to it is another Stone with the Portraiture of Cupid and another little Image and in the backside of it is this Inscription SEOSEAM ROLNASON OSALVEDN AL. Q. Q. SAR BREVENM BEDIANIS ANTONI VS MEG VI. IC DOMV ELITER These Mr. Cambden supposes to be British Names of Places but I do not see how that can be made out but rather look upon 'em to be the Names of Officers in a Wing of the Sarmatians AL. Q. Q. SAR denoting the Ala Sarmatum or a Wing of the Sarmations of which Tacitus gives a full Account Osalvedn may probably signifie Oswalds Town the noble Family of the Osbaldstones still residing there so that these Names may not only be British but likewise Roman and Sarmatian His next Account is of a fair Altar with this Inscription DEIS MATRIBVS M. INGENVI VS A'SIATICVS * DEC AL. AST SS LL. M. The Signification of which as Cambden himself is silent so I refer it to other Antiquaries to discuss However upon my being last at Oxford I receiv'd there the Satisfaction to find that Iuno and Diana were constantly called by the Romans Deae Matres And the further Explication of this Altar is that Ingenuis an Asiatic one of the Decuriones of the Asturian Wing dedicated this Altar to the Mother Goddesses Iuno and Diana Another little Altar he saw cast out amongst the Rubbish with this Inscription PACIFE RO MARTI ELEGAVR BA POSV IT EX VO TO This Altar from its Smallness Mr. Cambden takes to have been some poor Man's Altar to carry about with him and to have been for offering Incense Salt and Flower But to me this Interpretation seems more reasonable from the very Words themselves at length that Elegaurba doubtless a Commander there dedicated this Altar to Mars after some signal Overthrow of the Enemy and thence Peace ensuing he styles him Pacifero but who this Elegaurba was or what Country Man I pretend not to determine He speaks also of another Stone dug up with the Portraiture of a naked Man on Horse-back without Bridle or Saddle brandishing his Spear with both Hands and insulting over a naked Man prostrate who held out before him a kind of square Piece between the Horse and the Person prostrate stand the Letters D. M. under the prostrate Man are GAL. SARMATA There were other Letters too defaced to guess at one would imagine says he both from the former Inscription and this that was found many Years agoe that a Wing of the Sarmatae had their Station here HIS TERRIS TEGITVR AEL MATRONA QV VIX AN. XXVIII M II. D VIII ET M. IVLIVS MAXIMVS FIL. VIX AN VI. M III. D XX. ET CAM PANIA DVBBA MATER VIX AN. L. IVLIVS MAXIMUS ALAE SAR CONIVX CONIVGI INCOMPARABILI ET FILIO PATRI PIENTIS SIMO ET SOCERAE TENA CISSIMAE MEMORIAE P. This Inscription as I take it may be thus translated Aael a Matron who lived 28 Years Two Months and Eight Days in this Earth lies entomb'd and Marcus Iulius Maximus her Son who lived Six Years Three Months and Twenty Days and Campania Dubba her Mother who lived Fifty Years Iulius Maximus and Alae a Sarmatian Wife to her incomparable Husband erects this to perpetuate the Memory of Simo the Son of a pious Father and his Father in Law Now the Word Asiaticus in the Inscription beginning with Deis Matribus and in that preceding it beginning with Seoseam and in this last of all that Word Sar being repeated it makes it more probable to me that Sarmatia being a Part of Asia and likewise Part of Europe containing Poland Russia Muscovy and most of Tartary from which vast Country the Phoenicians being an industrious and trading People transplanted several Colonies hither and on the Portraiture of the naked Man these Words Gal. Sarmata being found too does farther illustrate these People called Brigantes residing here to be for a great Part Asiatics of which Mr. Camden takes no Notice Thus far and no farther Mr. Camden proceeds in the Antiquities of this noted Station but as to the ancient Name of the Place he says Ptolemy stiles it Rigodunum and that being corrupted from Ribodunum may not be unlike Ribbochester It is his Opinion likewise the Town of Preston called so from the Religious quasi Priest Town sprang from the Ruines of this remarkable City which might be ruined by Wars or Earthquakes I shall now acquaint the Reader with my own Observations made in this present Year 1699 when I was upon the Place which gave me a new and different Prospect of Matters above what he has recited The first remarkable Piece of Antiquity I took Notice of was a Fortification called Anchor-Hill because Anchors have sometimes been found there under Ground with Rings and Nails of small Vessels Roman Paterae of a Mettal like that of our China Tea-Pots with the Effigies of Wolves and Flowers upon them and at the Bottom of some these Letters Fab. Pro. which doubtless must be in the Time when some one of the Fabii were Pro-Consul or Procurator From Anchor-Hill there goes a Way to Preston and a Road to Lancaster where there was another Fortification and a Roman Wall another Road likewise directs to Mancunium or Manchester where was a Fortress called the Giants or Torquins Castle and doubtless that was their High-way to Devona or Chester where the Twentieth Legion stiled Valens and Victrix was fixed Chester was then a Blockade to the Britains in Wales Not far from this Fortification called Anchor-Hill at Ribchester I saw a Common-shoar and a Floor composed of Roman Tyles which absolutely demonstrates the River there was never Navigable for had it been so that City must unavoidably have been under Water together with in that Country commonly call'd the Field from its resemblance to a Field being all Champaign Near this Shoar I saw a Pillar about Seventeen Inches Diameter with Letters upon it but those in a great
have such a Tooth though scarce so ponderous in Manchester yet it weighs Two Pounds and a Half having been found in Derbyshire with a Skull and Limbs resembling those of a Man reported to have been found with it though those are long since lost the Tooth it self is a Surprize to many Beholders who after their superficial Eyeing it conclude it absolute Bone and stand amaz'd at its Bulk and Weight when in truth it is only a Sparry Substance imprest with such a Form For do we not daily discover the Forms of Plants and the seeming Beaks of Birds Effigies of the Bones of Beasts and Fishes all of solid Stones Why Nature therefore shou'd be tied up only to these and not in her Sports and Interludes divert her self and Mankind with Humane Shapes I can see no Reason for I shall now first begin with the Baths at Buxton but having sufficiently treated in a preceding Chapter of Hot Baths in general the Cause of their Heat and their Uses I 'll refer the Reader thereto and here first give you the Distick of Verses made by Mary Queen of Scots who honour'd this Place with her Presence as Mr. Cambden has them Buxtona quae calidae celebrabere nomine Lymphae Forte mihi Posthac non adeunda Vale. Buxton whose Fame thy Baths shall ever tell Whom I perhaps shall see no more Farewel That these Baths were eminent in the Times of the Romans is most certain Lucan and others acquaint us they were extraordinary hot the high Road called the Roman Bath-gate as Mr. Cambden says further confirms it but it is especially evident from a Roman Wall cemented with red Roman Plaister close by St. Ann's Well where we may see the Ruines of the ancient Bath its Dimensions and Length This Plaister is red and hard as Brick a Mixture not prepared in these Days and indeed the white Plaister the Romans used was much firmer and harder than any made in these Times being harder than the Stone it self the red Plaister appears as if it was burnt exactly resembling Tyle but I rather am inclined to think it was a Mixture of Lime and powder'd Tiles cemented with Blood and Eggs which acquir'd that Hardness Nor is it unlikely but the white Plaister was effected by some such Method only instead of Tyle they might use Chalk I shall briefly now take a short Survey of the Wonders of the Peak tho' I confess they do not directly fall within the Heads of this Chapter however being so universally remarkable I cannot well omit them Pool's Hole within a Quarter of a Mile of the Well may be thus described it enters in at the Foot of a large Mountain with a small Arch so low that for several Paces you are compell'd to creep upon all Fours but it then opens to a considerable Height not unlike the Roof of some large Cathedral on the Right-hand stands an Hollow commonly called Pool's Chamber where by striking with a Stone upon the Walla noisie Eccho rebounds From hence you march forward over Ridges of Stones and Rocks conducted with a Guide and a Candle and in that rough unequal Passage we receiv'd the Diversion of beholding various Representations produced by the petrifying Water continually dropping from the Roof and Sides of the Rock Here indeed we must use more Caution than the Star-gazing Philosopher who being taken up with a profound Contemplation of the Heavens was surprized by a Stumble into a Ditch Here you may see the Representation of most curious Fret-work Organ and Choir-work in other Places the Figures of Animals as the Body of a Man a Lion and many other Things which a pregnant Fancy may suggest here is one Thing called a Font by others Esquire Cotton's Hay-Cocks a Chair and Flitches of Bacon with many more Varieties Now you arrive at the Queen of Scot's Pillar clear and bright as Alabaster beyond which is a steep Ascent near a Quarter of a Mile high which Terminates near the Roof in an Hollow call'd the Needle's-Eye in which a Candle represents a Star in the Firmament The whole Prospect indeed in this remarkable Cavity is augmented by the Light of Candles Near the Pillar we fired a Pistol which redoubl'd like the Noise of a Cannon You return the lower Way where there are many small Currents of Water These are what I observ'd remarkable here Elden-Hole is a terrible Chasme it was plumm'd Eight Hundred Fathom by the Ingenious Charles Cotton Esq but no Bottom found if a Stone be cast in you hear its Sound a considerable time it is about Seven Yards in breadth and double that in length and very astonishing to look into That call'd the Devil's-Arse is a large and most graceful Arch from whose Top continually drops a Sparry Water which like that in Poole's-Hole petrifies within the Arch are several small Buildings where the poorer sort of People inhabit and I cou'd not but fancy them to be like the Troglydites or Cunicular Men describ'd by Dr. Brown that liv'd not like Men but Rabbits From this Arch I passed to a Water which almost closed with the Rock however this Water may be pass'd and then the Arch opens again when you come to very large Banks of Sand at the third Water the Rock closes and is impassable any farther Mam-Tor is another Thing remarkable in the Peak this is an high Hill near Castleton under which there are several Lead Mines this Hill is almost perpetually shivering down Earth and great Stones yet never visibly grows less and has thus continu'd for several Generations indeed the Hill extends a great way in breadth so that altho' it constantly diminishes it is not discernable by the Eye The next Thing to be noted is Tide's-Well that ebbs and flows but that being accounted for in another Chapter I shall not recapitulate here Having now given an Account of the Natural Wonders of the Peak I shall proceed next to the Artificial ones which occur and are not less surprizing What I have observ'd before in the foregoing Rarities are the rough Draughts of Nature yet being nearly view'd they are of so admirable a Texture and manag'd with so unerring a Conduct that they justly challenge the Skill of the most daring Artist In what follows Art sits Triumphant and bids fair for a Corrivalship with Nature Chatsworth like a Sun in an hazy Air adds Lustre to those Dusky Mountains and attracts a general Congress to be Spectators of its Wonders It is the Seat of His Grace William Duke of Devonshire the Passage to it is of an easie Ascent the Gate it self is very remarkable adorn'd with several Trophies the Hill composes a stately Square from which through a Gallery upon Stone-Stairs so artfully contriv'd that they seem to hang in the Air you have the Prospect of a most beautiful Chappel as likewise of the Hall in both which are choice and curious Paintings perform'd by Seignior Vario Master of that Art in the Hall is the History of Caesar
being exactly conformable to the Primitive Eastern Way of their Numbring of their Days and Nights as is manifest from that in Genesis And the Evening and the Morning were the first Day And this evidently transmits to us the great Value and Antiquity of our Country and undeniably demonstrates the Veracity of the History cited from Ezekiel Chap. 27. relating to their extraordinary Merchandising and Transplanting Colonies into distant Countries which that it may not slip the Reader I shall here transcribe so far as relates to this Matter though the Head was before touch'd upon Thy Borders are in the midst of the Seas thy Builders have perfected thy Beauty They have made all thy Ship-boards of Fir-trees of Senir They have taken Cedars from Lebanon to make Masts for thee Of the Oaks of Bashan have they made thine Oars The Company of the Ashurites have made thy Benches of Ivory brought out of the Isles of Chittim Fine Linnen with broidered Work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy Sail Blue and Purple from the Isles of Elisha was that which covered thee The Inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy Mariners Thy wise Men O Tyrus that were in thee were thy Pilots The Ancients of Gebal and the wise Men thereof were in thee thy Calkers all the Ships of the Sea with their Mariners were in thee to occupy thy Merchandise They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine Army thy Men of War They hanged the Shield and Helmet in thee they set forth thy Comeliness The Men of Arvad with thine Army were upon thy Walls round about and the Gemmadims were in thy Towers they hanged their Shields upon thy Walls round about They have made thy Beauty perfect Tarshish was thy Merchant by reason of the Multitude of all kind of Riches with Silver Iron Tin and Lead they traded in thy Fairs Iavan Tubal and Meshech they were thy Merchants They traded the Persons of Men and Vessels of Brass in thy Market They of the House of Togarma traded in thy Fairs with Horses and Horsemen and Mules The Men of Dedan were thy Merchants many Isles were the Merchandise of thine Hand They brought thee for a Present Horns of Ivory and Ebony Syria was thy Merchant by reason of the Multitude of the Wares of thy making They occupied in thy Fairs with Emeralds Purple and broidered Work and fine Linnen and Coral and Agate Iudah and the Land of Israel they were thy Merchants They traded in thy Market Wheat of Minnith and Pannag and Hony and Oyl and Balm Damascus was thy Merchant in the Multitude of the Wares of thy making for the Multitude of all Riches In the Wine of Helbon and white Wool Dan also and Iavan going to and fro occupied in thy Fairs Bright Iron Cassia and Calamus were in thy Market Dedan was thy Merchant in precious Riches for Chariots Arabia and all the Princes of Kedar they occupied with thee in Lambs and Rams and Goats In these were they thy Merchants The Merchants of Sheba and Raamah they were thy Merchants They occupied in thy Fairs with Chief of all Spices and with all precious Stones and Gold Haran and Canneh and Eden the Merchants of Sheba Asshur and Chilmad were thy Merchants These were thy Merchants in all sorts of Things in blue Cloaths and broidered Work and in Chests of rich Apparel bound with Cords and made of Cedar among thy Merchandise The Ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy Market and thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the Seas Thy Rowers have brought thee into great Waters The East-wind hath broken thee in the midst of the Seas Thy Riches and thy Fairs thy Merchandise thy Mariners and thy Pilots thy Calkers and the Occupyers of thy Merchandise and all thy Men of War that are in thee and in all thy Company which is in the midst of thee shall fall into the midst of the Seas in the Day of thy Ruine The Suburbs shall shake at the Sound of the Cry of thy Pilots And all that handle the Oar the Mariners and all the Pilots of the Sea shall come down from their ships they shall stand upon the Land and shall cause their Voice to be heard against thee and shall cry bitterly and shall cast up Dust upon their Heads they shall wallow themselves in the Ashes And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee and gird them with Sackcloth and they shall weep for thee with Bitterness of Heart and bitter Wailing And in their Wailing they shall take up a Lamentation for thee and lament over thee saying What City is like Tyrus like the destroy'd in the midst of the Sea When thy Wares went forth out of the Seas thou filledst many People thou didst enrich the Kings of the Earth with the Multitude of thy Riches and of thy Merchandise In the Time when thou shalt be broken by the Seas in the Depths of the Waters thy Merchandise and all thy Company in the midst of thee shall fall All the Inhabitants of the Isles shall be astonished at thee and their Kings shall be sore afraid they shall be troubled in their Countenance The Merchants among the People shall hiss at thee thou shalt be a Terror and never shalt be any more So far concerning the first Peopling of this Island of Britain from the Eastern Nations upon which I could have farther enlarg'd very much but that not falling directly under my Cognizance I shall wholly desist and proceed to give a succinct Account of the History of the Romans in Britain We may thus by the many Relicts of Roman Antiquities in every Generation still improving form to our selves some general Apprehensions of that powerful Empire and its extensive Boundaries and by the mystick Representations on their Coins and their votive Inscriptions explain'd we very readily arrive to to their most Sacred Retreats and find laid open to our View all their exorbitant Superstitions their idolatrous Immolations the Plurality of their Gods the impious Ambition and resistless Will of the Emperors together with the Universal Complacency and Servile Flattery of all Orders of the Empire paid to them Tho' as Christians we may be too apt to pass our Resentments on their Ignorance and Worship and at the same time admire that such sublime Learning and singular Perspicuity shou'd produce no better Effects But if we duely consider the Thing and take the Roman Nation in the common Acceptation of Mankind we shall find the Subject worthy rather our Pitty than our Censure for if we reflect on the Divine reveal'd Will confin'd only to that Corner of Asia call'd Palestine and all the rest of this immense Globe involv'd in invincible Blindness erring through deprav'd Nature the Romans may admit of the same general Excuse and share the same equal Lot with their Fellow-Creatures That they were a Nation design'd for Empire their Character deservedly shows besides the Situation