and very strongly pressed till all the Juice be squeezed out it is afterwards dryed in the Sun and so made into the Meal of which they make their Bread And this very Root though as we said it be poisonous they cause their old and almost toothless Women for the better breaking and macerating it to chew and spit out into Water This Juice will in a few hours work and purge it self of the poysonous quality affording them a Drink which they esteem very wholsome and at the Barbado's call Perino and account it to be the likest in taste to our English Beer of any of those many Drinks that are used in that Island This nasty way of preparing Drink Pyrophilus may seem strange to you as it did to me when I first heard of it but besides the consenting relations both of French and English concerning it it may be confirmed by the strange assertion of Gulielmus Piso in his new and curious Medicina Brasiliensis where having spoken of several of the Brasilian Wines he tells us That they make Liquors of several Plants besides the Root of Mandioca after the same nasty manner Idem fit saith he ex Mandioca Patata Milio Turcico Oryza aliis quae à vetulis masticantur masticataque multa cum salira exspuuntur hic liquor mox vasis reconditur donec ferveat faecesque ejiciat In Muscovia it self notwithstanding the unskilfulness of that rude People Olearius informs us That the Embassadors to whom he was Secretary weâ—e presented at one time with two and twenty several sorts of Drink And at a Country House here in England where I was by a very Ingenious Gentleman that is Master of it presented with divers rare Drinks of his own making I was assur'd that he had lately at one time in his House at least the former mentioned number of various Drinks and might easily have had a greater if he had pleased And on this occasion I am not willing to pretermit what is practised in some of our American Plantations as I am informed by the Practisers themselves where finding it very difficult to make good Mault of Maiz or Indian Corn by reason of hinderances not to be discoursed of in few words they brew very good Drink of it by fiâ—st bringing the Grain to Bread in which operation the Grain being both reduced into small parts and already somewhat fermented is disposed to communicate easily its dissoluble and Spirituous parts to the Water it is boyled in To which I shall adde That I have to think that the Art of Malting may be much improved by new skilfully contriv'd Furnaces and a rational manâ—gement of the Grain Nor are we alone defective in the knowledge of fermenting Drinks but even in that of the Materials of which Drinks may be prepar'd In that vast Region of China which is inriched with so fertil a Soil and comprizeth such variety of Geographical parallels they make not as Semedo informs us their Wine of Grapes but of Barley and in the Northern parts of Rice where they make it also of Apples but in the Southern parts of Rice onely yet not of ordinary Rice but of a certain kinde peculiar to them which serves onely to make this Liquor being used in divers manners And of the Wine there drank even by the vulgar our Author gives us this character The Wine used by the common People although it will make them drunk is not very strong or lasting 't is made at all times of the Year but the best onely in the Winter It hath a colour very pleasing to the sight nor is the smell less pleasing to the sent or the savor thereof to the taste take altogether it is a vehement occasion that there never wants Drunkards c. And of the Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Japan I remember also Pyrophilus that Linschoten in his description of those Islands tells us That they drink Wine of Rice wherewith they drink themselves drunk We have here in England at the House of our experienced Mint-master Dr Gordon tasted a Wine which he made of that sort of Cherrys which are commonly call'd Morellos that was when we drank of it about a Year and a half old but it was somewhat sower and needed Suger And therefore I shall rather take notice to you of my having since drunk Wine made of the Juice of good but not of extraordinary Kentish Cherrys which with the help of a Tantillum of Suger added in the Fermentation kept so well that though it were above a Year old when I tasted it I found it a strong and pleasant Wine not inferior to many Wines that are brought us from foreign parts But this is nothing to what is averr'd upon his own experience by a Learned Divine to whom you Pyrophilus and I am related who affirms himself to have made out of some sort of wilde Apples and Pears by bare Fermentation such Liquors as though at first somewhat harsh will not onely keep divers years but at the end of two or three attain such strength and so pleasingly pungent a taste that they may compare even with choice out-landish Wines and excel those that are not of the very best sorts of them But till we have in another Essay an opportunity of presenting you something out of the Observations of Olearius the newly mention'd Divine and our own concerning Fermented Liquors we shall content our selves to manifest our want of curiosity about the materials of which Drinks may be prepar'd by this That the Drinks of one whole Country are oftentimes unknown to the Inhabitants of another That the Wine made of Rice which we lately mention'd to be of frequent use in the Kingdoms of China and Japan is of little or none in Europe I need not prove to you I have been in divers places where Beer and Ale which are here the common Drinks aâ—e greater rarities then the medicated Liquors sold onely in Apothecaries Shops In divers parts of Muscovie and some other Northern Regions the common Drink is Hydromel made of Water fermented with Honey And indeed if a due proportion betwixt those two be observed and the Fermentation be skilfully ordered there may be that way as experience hath assur'd us prepar'd such a Liquor both for clearness strength and wholsomeness as few that have not tasted such a one would readily believe The French and English Inhabitants of the Canibal Islands make by Fermentation a Wine of the dregs collected in the boiling of Suger A like to which Piso tells us That they make in Brasil and commonly call Garapa which though made by the mixture of Water the Inhabitants are very greedy of and when it is old finde it strong enough to make them drunk And how also in these colder Countrys a good Wine may be made of onely Suger and Water we may elsewhere have occasion to teach you And in Brasil they likewise as the same Author informs us make
one ounce of White Vitriol four ounces Boyl the Camphire and the Vitriol together in a little Black Earthen Pot till they become thin stirring them together till they become hard in setling then Bruise them in a Mortar to Powder and Beat the Bole-Armoniack it self to Powder and then mingle them together and keep the Powder in a Bladder till such time You use it then take a pottle of Running Water and set it on the Fire till it begin to Seeth then take it from the Fire and put in three good Spoonfuls of the Powder into that Water whilst it is hot and after put the Water and Powder into a Glasse and shake it twice a day to make the Water strong But before You use it let it be well setled and very Clear and apply it as hot as the Patient can well suffer it and lay a clean Linnen Cloath four double to the Sore it being wet in that Water and bind it fast with a Rowler to keep it warm do it Morning and Evening till it be whole This Water must be put into an Oyster-shel not in a Sawcer when you dress the Sore for the Pewter will suck it up Remember You put three as good Spoonfuls of the Powder as you can presse into the Spoon Take heed no one Drink of this Water for it is Poyson To make it stronger beat an ounce of Alom to Powder and mingle it with the other Powders Take of Bole-armoniack half an ounce White Vitriol one ounce of Camphire 2 ounces make them all into Powder then take a Pottle of Smiths-water and as much Spring-water and mingling them set thew upon the Fire assoon as it begins to Seeth put in the Powder very softly stirring it all the while assoon as the Powder is in take it off the Fire and dresse the wound with it twice a day laying a Cloath folded four times and wetted in the Water it being very Hot and so apply'd to the Wound N B. This is the Receipt Verbatim as I find it among my old Papers but I am not sure that among those I cannot now come by there may not be something concerning a way of making a small pliable Tent that may accommodate it self to the crooked Figure of the Cavity of many Fistula's For methinks I remember that the Chirurgion prescrib'd the conveying his Medicine by the means of such a flexible tent a great way into the cavity if not to the bottom of the Fistula which was thereby to be cleansed To the One Hundred fifty first Page VVhere Soot is mentioned SOot Pyrophilus is a Production of the Fire whose Nature is almost as Singular as is the manner of its being produc'd for it is if I may so call it a kind of volatile Extract of the Wood it proceeds from made instead of a Menstruum by the Fire which hastily dissipating the parts of the Body it acts on hath time enough to sever it into smaller Particles but not leisure and aptitude to reduce it into such differing substâ—nces as pass for Chymical or Peripatetick Elements but hastily carries up the more volatile pâ—rts which being not yet sufficiently free'd from the more fixt ones take them up along with them in their sudden flight and so the Aqueous Spirituous Saline Oleaginous and Terrestrial parts ascending confusedly together do fasten themselves to the sides of the Chimney in that loose and irregular Form of Concretion which we call Sooâ— An enquiry into whose Nature as it may be consider'd in the Survey of the distinctions of Salts must be elsewhere look'd for Our mentioning it at present being only to take occasion to tell You that as ill scented and despis'd a Body as it is Hartman one of the most experienc'd and hâ—ppy of Chymical Writers scruples not to reckon the Spirit and Oyle of it among the Noblest Confortantia such as prepar'd Pearl Coral Ambergreese and other eminent Cherishers of Nature His preparation is for substance this Take of the best Soot such as adheres to the lower part of the Chimney and shines almost like Jet what quantity you please and with it fill up to the Neck a very well coated Glass Retort or an Earthen one and luting on a capacious Receiver distil the matter in an open fire intended by degrees whereby you will drive over the Phlegm the whitish Spirits and the Oyl first of a Yellow Colour and then of a Red separate the Phlegme and for a while digest the Spirit and Oyle together on which afterwards put half the quantity of Spirit of Wine and Distil them several times whereby you will obtain together with the Spirit of Wine the Spirit of Soot and also a very depurated Oyl smelling like Camphire Out of the Calcin'd Caput mortuum after the common way extract a Salt which Hartman commends as a most excellent curer of exulcerated Cancers This Salt saith He is drawn with Vinegar in which Liquor in a Cold moist place it is again Dissolv'd and therewith the Cancerous Ulcers being once or twice anointed the venenosity will be visibly drawn out like a Vapour and then the foremention'd Oyl being lightly sprinkl'd upon the place will breed on it a kind of Crust like a skin which Spontaneously coming off in five or six Days will by its falling off argue the Consolidation of the Ulcer What this so extoll'd Remedy will perform I know not having never made trial of it nor thinking it very likely that a bare Alcalizate Salt should have such Specifick Vertues nor is it requisite I should insist on it being here to discourse to You of the distill'd Liquors of Soot in prosecution of which design let me tell You that Hartman prescribes the administring of the Spirit from six to ten Grains of the Oyl from two to three drops in Wine or any other convenient Vehicle and concerning the Oyl he adds That if three Drops of it be given in Vinegar to an almost gasping Man he will be thereby wonderfully refesh'd and as it were reviv'd to which he annexeth this Prognostick that if the Remedy produceth Copious Sweats it will recover the Taker but if not he will Die That this spirit of Soot describ'd by Hartman may be a very good Medicine I am very apt to think but because 't is not a meer spirit of Soot but a mixt one of Spirit of Wine and spirit of Soot we have rather chosen to proceed with the Soot of Wood without addition both as to the distillation of it and the ordering of the Distill'd Liquors after the manners to be mention'd ere long when we shall acquaint You with our preparations of Blood and Harts-horn which if You please to apply to Soot You may save Your self and me the labour of Repetitions Yet it may be not amiss to advertise You here of two things the one that if You employ very good and fat Soot and fill up the Retort with it to the Neck You must be very careful to encrease the Fire
he had staid there two Moneths he return'd Free from the Stone and brought home with him all the Durt which he had voided by degrees in a Paper coagulated as it were into fragments of Stone Ad pag. 85. Hic c. He loaths nothing that stinks or is otherwise unpleasant He hath been often seen to chew and swallow Glasse Stones Wood Bones the Feet of Hares and other Animals together with the Hair Linnen and Woollen cloath Fishes and other Animals alive Nay even Mettals and Dishes and Globes of Tin Besides which he devours Sewet and Tallow Candels the Shels of Cockles and the Dungs of Animals especially of Oxen even Hot assoon as it is voided He drinks the Urin of others mixt with wine or Beer He eats Hay Straw Stubble and lately he swallow'd down two living Mice which for half an Hour continued biteing at the bottome of his Stomack and to be short Whatsoever is offer'd him by any Noble Persons it goes down with him without more adoe upon the smallest reward insomuch that within a few Daies he hath promised to eat a whole Calfe Raw together with the Skin and Hair Among divers others I my self am a Witnesse of the Truth of these c. Ad pag. 86. Causam c. To find in the Carcas the cause of this Vocacity will be questionlesse very difficult Some one perchance would referre it to that which Columbus observ'd in the Carkasse of Lazarus the Glasse-eater and resolve that the fourth conjugation of Nerves which nature ordain'd for tasting come neither to the Palate nor the Tongue But so there would onely be rendred the cause of his want of Tast and not why he should be able to take such uncouth things without offence to his Stomach and digest them which without doubt ought to be the particular and singular constitution of his Stomach and Guts which yet may not appear to the Eye by the Effects Ad pag. 91. De Laudano c. Of his Laudanum that Name he gave to little Pills which in the extremity of Diseases he administred as a most Divine Medicine allwaies giving them in an odde Number he scrupled not to affirm that by that Medicine he could put life into those who were as good as Dead and that while I was with him he made good in some Experiments Ad pag. 94. Oportet ubi c. Where a Medicine answers not we ought not so much to esteem the Author as the Patient and to try somewhat farther and farther Ad Pag. 97. Idem fit c. The same is made of Mandioca Potato's Turkish Mullet Rice and other things which being chew'd by old Women and Spit together with much Spittle This Liquor is strait put up into Vessels and there kept until it ferments and cast down a Sediment Ad pag. 103. Hoc est c. This Birchwater hath a sweet Sharpnesse and very pleasant Tast it allaies Thirst and the drinesse of the Entrails It tempers the Heat of the Blood It opens Obstructions and drives out the Stone Ad pag. 111. Conficiunt c. They make Drink of that Mulli rubbing it gently in their hands in hot-Hot-Water until they have rubb'd out all the Sweetnesse they strain that Water and keep it three or four Daies until it settle and then it becomes a very clear Drink The same Water boil'd turns into good Hony Of this Fruit boil'd with Water according to different Manners is made Wine or good Drink or Vinegar or Hony Ad pag. 112. Porro Then by cutting the Shoot with a Razorblade made of a Flint there runs out of the Cut a certain Liquor in such a quantity that which is wonderful out of one single Plant sometimes Fiftie or more Arobae run out From which Liquor there is made Wine Vineger Hony and Sugar For the Liquor Sweet of it self is by being boil'd made much sweeter and thicker so that it is at length kernes into Hony Ad 113. Semel c. If once in a Moneth one eat or Drink to excesse the Day following if he be weigh'd though he hath suffred no sensible Evacuation Yet then he will weigh lighter then is Usual A constant Diet wants the help of those that once or twice in a Moneth do exceed For the Expulsive Faculty being oppress'd by too great Repletion stirr's up so much of perspiration as vvithout the Staticks no one would believe Ad pag. 123. In urbe c. In the City St James's that is in the Province of Chyle certain Captive Indians cut off the Calves of their Legs and for hunger eat them â—nd which is strange applying the leaves of a certain Plant to their Wounds immediatly they stanch the Blood Adde pag. 124. Memini c. I remember that the Limbs of Souldiers wounded with Gâ—nshot to have been cut off by the advice of our European Surgeons both Dutch and Portugall those Barbarous people by recent juices Gums and Balsams to have freed them from Knife and Cauteryes and happily cured them I also am an Eye witnesse that which the juyce of Tobacco alone they have cured Wounds given over by our Surgeons Adde pag. 131. Experimentis c. It is approv'd by many Experiments that its Vertues are excellent against the Plague Malignant Feavers the bitings of Venemous Creatures the Diarrhaea and other Fluxes Adde pag. 135. Nam Venena noluit c. He made not Venome to be our Poison for neither made he Death nor any Deletery Medicament upon the Earth but so that by a slight industry and endeavour of our own they might be turn'd into great pledges of his love for the Use of Men against the cruelty of Diseases which were in processe of time to arise For in those Vemomes is the help that more benigne and familiar simples cannot yield and those most frightful Poisons are yet preserv'd in Nature for the more great and Heroick uses of Physitians Adde pag. 136 That the Lapis Cancrorum resolv'd into the forme of its first Milk affords an Antidote against the violence of many Vegetables that are infamous for their being over laxative Adde pag. 150. Mille c. Our Court hath try'd the Efficacy of this Salt in a thousand Experiments in the Diseases of Melancholly in all Feavers continuous and intermittent in the Stone Scurvy c. Nay more we have observ'd more then once that it hath procured sleep especially in persons Melancholly The Dose is from one to two Scruples we use divers pounds of it in a Year Adde pag. 150 151. Caeterum quantum c. But for the exceeding and portentous Vertues of the Bezar-stone I have found by a thousand trials that they are not so very great Ib. Nil porro c. I speak no more of these Stones least I should seem by my Commendation of their Vertues to provoke Lithotomists to make dissections at any rate This I have most certainly Experienc'd That the Stone found in Mans bladder doth well provoke Urine and Sweat And particularly in
Fingers The Hearts of others of them were taken out at an Incision no greater then was requisite for that purpose when we had stitched or pin'd up the Wound we observ'd them to leap more frequently and vigorously then the former They would as before they were hurt close and open their Eye lids upon occasion Being put into a Vessel not full of Water they would as orderly display their fore and hinder Legs in the manner requisite to swimming as if they wanted none of their parts especially not their Hearts they would rest themselves sometimes upon the surface of the Water sometimes at the bottom of it and sometimes also they would nimbly leap first out of the Vessel and then about the Room surviving the exsection of their Hearts some about an hour and some longer And that which was further remarkable in this Expeâ—iment was that we could by gently pressing their Brest and Belly with our Fingers make them almost at pleasure make such a noise as to the By-standers made them seem to croak but how this Experiment will be reconcil'd to the Doctrine ascrib'd to Mr. Hobs or to to that of the Aristotelians who tell us That their Master taught the Heart to be the seat of Sense whence also though erroneously he made it the original of the Nerves let those that are pleas'd to concern themselves to maintain all his Opinions consider And whereas Frogs though they can move thus long without the Heart yet they cannot at all bear the exemption or spoiling of the Brain we will adde what we have observ'd even in hot Animals whose Life is conceived to be much more suddenly dissipable and the motion of each part much more dependent upon the influence of the Brain We open'd then an Egge wherein the Chick was not onely perfectly formed but well furnished with Feathers and having taken him out of the Membrane that involved him and the Liquors he swam in and laid him on his Back on a flat piece of Glass we clip'd away with a pair of Sciffers the Head and the Brest-bone whereby the Heart became exposed to view but remain'd fastned to the Headless Trunk and the Chick lying in this posture the Heart continued to beat above a full hour and the Ears seem'd to retain their motion a pretty while after the Heart it self had lost his the motion of none of the other Parts appearing many moments to survive the loss of the Head and which is most considerable the seemingly dead Heart was divers times excited to new though quickly ceasing motion upon the puncture of a Pin or the point of a Pen-knife And to evince that this was no casual thing the next Day we dealt with the Chick of another Egge taken from the same Hen after the above recited manner and when the motion of the Heart and Ears began to cease we excited it again by placing the Glass over the warm steam of a Vessel full of hot Water bringing still new Water from off the Fire to continue the heat when we perceiv'd the former Water to begin to cool and by this means we kept the Heart beating for an hour and an half by measure And at another time for further satisfaction we did by these and some other little industries keep the Heart of a somewhat elder Chick though exposed to the open Air in motion after we had carefully clipt off the Head and Neck for the space of if our memory do not much mis inform us two hours anâ— an half by measure Upon what conjectures we expected so lasting a motion in the Heart of a Chick after it had lost the Head and consequently the Brain would be more tedious and less fit to be mention'd in this place then the strange vivacity we have sometimes not without wonder observed in Vipers Since not onely their Hearts clearly sever'd from their Bodies may be observ'd to beat for some hours for that is common with them to divers other cold Animals but the Body it self may be sometimes two or three days after the Skin Heart Head and all the Entrals are separated from it seen to move in a twining or wrigling manner Nay what is much more may appear to be manifestly sensible of punctures being put into a fresh and vivid motion when it lay still before upon the being pricked especially on the Spine or Marrow with a Pin or Needle And though Tortoises be in the Indies many of them very large Animals yet that great Traveller Vincent le Blanc in his French Voyages giving a very particular account of those Tortoyses which the East Indian King of Pegâ— who was much delighted with them did with great curiosity cherish in his Ponds adds this memorable Passage as an Eye-witness of what he relates When the King hath a minde to eat of them they cut off their heads and five days after they are prepar'd and yet after those five days they are alive as we have often experienc'd Now although I will not say that these Experiments prove that either 't is in the Membranes that sensation resides though I have sometimes doubted whether the Nerves themselves be not so sensible chiefly as they are invested with Membranes or that the Brain may not be confined to the Head but may reach into the rest of the Body after another manner then is wont to be taught Yet it may be safely affirm'd that such Experiments as these may be of great concernment in reference to the common Doctrine of the necessity of unceasing influence from the Brain being so requisite to Sense and Motion especially if to the lately mention'd Particulars we adde on this occasion what we have observ'd of the Butter-flies into which Silk-worms have been Metamorphosed namely That they may not onely like common Flys and divers other winged Insects survive a pretty while the loss of their Heads but may sometimes be capable of Procreation after having lost them as I not long since tryed though not perhaps without such a Reluctancy as Aristotle would have blam'd in a Naturalist by cutting off the Heads of such Butter-flies of either Sex Quamvis enim Mas cui prius amputatum est caput nequaquam adduci posset quaecunque Insecti illius est salacitas ut Faeminam comprimeret Decollata tamen Faemina marem alacriter admisit Et licet post horas aliquot coitu insumptas it a requierit immota ut mortuam per multas horas cogitarem non solum quia omnem penitus motum perdiderat in Thorace satis magnum apparebat foramen quod à parte aliqua Corporis simul cum capite à trunco disruptâ factum videbatur verum etiam quoniam eodem permansit statu idque per plures horas ultra tempus quo post coitionem cum Mare hujus generis Animalcula solent ordiri prolificationem Tandem vero postquam jam diu de Vita ejus desperatum esset Ova faetare tam confertim coepit ut vel exiguo temporis
those things as they are discoverable out of mans body may well be suppos'd capable of illustrating many things in man's body which receiving some Modifications there from the nature of the Subject they belong to passe under the notion of the Causes or Symptomes of Diseases If I were now Pyrophilus to discourse to you at large of this Subject I think I could convince you of the truth of what I have proposed And certainly unlesse a Physitian be which yet I fear every one is not so much a Naturalist as to know how Heat and Cold and Fluidity and Compactnesse and Fermentation and Putrefaction and Viscosity and Coagulation and Dissolution and such like Qualities are generated and destroyed in the generality of Bodies he will be often very much to seek when he is to investigate the causes of preternaturall Accidents in men's bodies whereof a great many depend upon the Presence or Change or Vanishing of some or other of the enumerated Qualities in some of the Fluid or Solid Substances that constitute the body And that the Explications of a skilfull Naturalist may adde much to what has hitherto commonly been taught concerning the Nature and Origine of those Qualities in Phisitians Schools a little comparing of the vulgar Doctrine with those various Phaenomena to be met with among Naturall things that ought to be and yet seem not to be explicable by it will easily manifest to you And questionlesse 't is a great advantage to have been taught by variety of Experiments in other bodies the Differing waies whereby Nature sometimes produces the same effects For since we know very little à priori the observation of many such effects manifesting that nature doth actually produce them so and so suggests to us severall wayes of explicating the same Phaenomenon some of which we should perhaps never else have dream'd of Which ought to be esteem'd no small Advantage to the Physitian since he that knows but one or few of Natures wayes of working and consequently is likely to ignore divers of those whereby the propos'd Disease or Symptome of it may be produc'd must sometimes conclude that precisely such or such a thing is the determinate Cause of it and apply his Method of relieving his Patient accordingly which often proves very prejudiciall to the poor Patient who dearly paies for his Physitians not knowing That the Quality that occasions the Distemper may be as probably if not more rationally deduc'd from an other Origine then from that which is presum'd This will scarce be doubted by him that knowes how much more likely Explications then those applauded some ages since of divers things that happen as well within as without the body have been given by later Naturalists both Philosophers and Physitians and how much the Theory of the Stone and many other diseases that has been given us by those many Physitians that would needs deduce all the Phaenomena of diseases from Heat Cold and other Elementary Qualities is Inferiour to the Account given us of them by those ingenious Moderns that have apply'd to the advancement of Pathologie that Circulation of the Blood the Motion of the Chile by the Milky vessels to the Heart the consideration of the effects deducible from the Pores of greater bodies and the motion and figuration of their minute parts together with some of the more known Chymicall Experiments though both of those and of the other helps mention'd just before them I fear men have hitherto been far enough from making the best use which I hope it will dayly more and more appear they are capable of being put to He that has not had the curiosity to enquire out and consider the severall waies whereby Stones may be generated out of the body not only must be unable satisfactorily to explicate how they come to be produc'd in the Kidnies and in the Bladder but will perhaps scarce keep himselfe from imbracing such errors because authoriz'd by the suffrage of eminent Physitians as the knowledge I am recommending would easily protect them from For we find diverse famous and otherwise learned Doctors who probably because they had not taken notice of any other way of hardning a matter once soft into a stonelike consistence have believ'd and taught that the Stone of the Kidneyes is produc'd there by slime baked by the heat and drinesse of the Part as a portion of soft Clay may by externall heat be turn'd into a Brick or Tile And accordingly they have for cure thought it sufficient to make use of store of Remedies to moisten and cool the Kidneys which though in some bodies this be very convenient are yet far inferiour in efficacy to those Nobler medicines that by specifick qualities and properties are averse to such coagulations as produce the Stone But not to mention what a Physitian skill'd in Anatomy would object against this Theory from the nature of the part affected 't is not unlike the imbraces of this Hypothesis would not have acquiesc'd in it if they had seen those putrefactions out of the bodies of men which we elsewhere mention'd For these would have inform'd them that a Liquor abounding with petrescent parts may not only turn Wood as I have observ'd in a petrifying Spring into a kind of Stone and may give to Cheese and Mosse without spoiling their pristine appearance a strong hardnesse and weight but may also produce large and finely shap'd Christalline bodies though those I try'd were much lesse hard then Chrystall in the bosome of the cold water which brings into my mind that I have diverse times produc'd a body of an almost stony hardnesse in lesse then halfe an hour even in the midst of the water by tying up in a rag about the quantity of a nutmeg of well and recently calcin'd Alabastre which being thus ty'd up and thrown into the botome of a bason full of water did there speedily harden into a Lapideous Concretion And that even in the bodies of Animals themselves such concretions may be generated much otherwise then the Hypothesis we have been speaking of supposes may appear by what happens to Craw-fishes which though cold animals and living in the waters have generated at certain seasons in their heads Concretions which for their hard and pulverizable consistence divers Authors call lapides Cancrorum though in the Shops they are often but abusively styled Oculi cancrorum And such strong concretions are affirm'd to be generated in these Fishes every Year which I the less scrupled at because I have not found them at all times in the Head of the Fish And besides these and many more Concretions that had they been observ'd by the Physitians we have been speaking of might easily have kept them from acquiescing in and maintaining their improbable explication of the manner of the Stones nativity There is yet another kind of Coagulation which may both be added to the former and perhaps also serve to recommend the use of Chymical Experiments in investigating the Causes
from such Impressions as will make none on a sound body let me put you in mind that those subtile Steâ—mes that wander through the Air before considerable changes of Weather disclose themselves are wont to be painfully felt by many sickly Persons and more constantly by men that have had great Bruises or Wounds in the parts that have been so hurt though neither are healthy men at all incommodated thereby nor do those themselves that have been hurt feel any thing in those sound parts whose Tone or Texture has not been alter'd or enfeebl'd by outward violence I have known several also and the thing is obvious whose body's and Humours are so fram'd and constituted that if as men commonly speak they ride backward in a Coach that Motion will mâ—ke them giddy and force them to Vomit And it is very ordinary for Hysterical Women to fall into such Fits as counterfeit Epilepsies Convulsions and I know not what violent distempers by the bare smell of Musk and Amber and other strong perfumes whose steames are yet so farre from having great much lesse such Effects in other Humane body's that almost all men and the generality ev'n of healthy Women are not affected by them unless with some innocent delight And that even on men Odours how minute and invisible bodies soever may sometimes have very great power may be gathered from the story told us by Zacutus Lucitanus of a Fisherman who having spent all his life at Sea and being grown Old there and coming to gaze upon a solemne reception made in a Maritine Town to Sebastian King of Portugal was by the perfumes plentifully Burnt to welcome the King immediatly cast upon the ground thereby into a Fâ—t which two Physicians judg'd Apoplectical and Physiâ—k'd him accordingly 'till three daies after the Kings chiefe Physician Thomas à Vega guessing at the cause of his disease commanded him to be remov'd to the Sea side and cover'd with Sea Weeds where within four Houres the Maritime Air and steames began to open his Eyes and made him know those that were about him and within not many Dayes restor'd him to health We may also conjecture how much the alteration produced in the Body by sickness mâ—y dispose it to receive strong Impressions from things that would not otherwise much affect it by this That even a man in perfect health and who is wont to Drink cold without the least harme may when he has much heated himself by exercise be cast by a draught of cold Drink into such sudden formidable and dangerous diâ—tempers as did not daily Experience convince us we should scarce think possible to be produc'd in a Body free from Morbid Humours by so familiar a thing as a cup of small bear or water insomuch thâ—t Benivenius relates a Story of one who after too vehement exercise Drinking a Glasse of very cold Water fell into a swoun that was quickly succeeded by Death And yet to adde that on this occasion in Bodies otherwise dispos'd a large draught of cold Water Drunk even without thirst may vâ—ry much relieve the Dâ—incker and prevent great Fitâ— of the Mother and partly of the Spleen especially upon suddâ—in fâ—ights to which purposes I know some Hysteâ—ical Ladies that find in this Remedy as themselves assure me more advantage then one woâ—ld easily imagine And further to shew you that the Engine we are speaking of is altâ—rable as well for the better as for the worse by such Motions of outward Bodies as in themselves consider'd are languid or at least may seem despicable in reference to sickness or recovery Let me call upon you to consider a few not unobvious things which may also serve to confirme some part of what has hitherto been deliver'd The true Mosse growing upon a Humane Skull though I do not find Experience warrant all the strange things some Chymical Writers attribute to it for the stanching of Blood yet I deny not but in some Bodies it does it wonderfull enough And I very well know an Eminent Virtuoso who has assur'd me as his Physitian likewise has done that he finds the Effects of this Moss so considerable upon himself that after having been let Blood his Arm falling to Bleed again and he apprehending the consequences of it his Physitian who chanc'd to be present put a little of the abovemention'd Mosse into his hand which barely held there did to the Patients wonder stanch his Blood and gave him the cuâ—iosity to lay it out of his hand to try whether that Mosse were the cause of the Bloods so oddly stopping its course whereupon his Arm after a little while beginning to Bleed afresh he took the Mosse again into his hand and thereby presently stanch'd his Bleeding the second time and if I misremember not he added that he repeated the Experiment once more with the like successe The smoak of burnt feathers or Tobacco blown upon the face of an Hysterical Woman does oftentimes almost as suddenly recover them out of Fits of the Mother as the odour of perâ—umes did cast them thereinto And now I speak of Cuâ—es performable by fumes it brings into my mind that a friend of yours and mine and a Person of great Veracity professes to have strangly cur'd Dysenteries by a way unusual enough which is to make the Patient sit over a Chair or Stool close on the sides and perforated below so that the Anus and the neighbouring parts may be expos'd to the fumes of Ginger which must be thrown upon a Pan of Embers plac'd just under the Patient who is to continue in that posture and to receive the Fume as long as he can endure it without too much fainting And when I mention'd one of the Cures that was thus perform'd to one that is look'd upon as a Master of Chymical Arcana against Diseases he preferr'd before it as he saies upon experience the shavings of Harts-horn us'd after the same manner and the Remedy seems not irrational But if in this distemper the Actual heat applied to the abovemention'd parts of the Body concurre not to the Effect we may too warrantably enough adde that Cures may be perform'd by far more minute corpuscles then those of smoke insinuating themselves from without into the Body For I know a very dextrous Goldsmith who when he over heats himself as he often unawares does at hammering of Plate is subject to fall into Gripings of the Belly which lead to Fluxes but his usual and ready Cure is assoon as conveniently he can to heat his Anvil and sit upon it for a great while together heating it hot again if there be need But to return to our Medicinal Smoaks 't is known that some find more good against the Fits of the Colick by Glysters of the Smoak of Tobacco then by any other Physick they take so that I know wealthy persons that relying upon the benefit they find by this Remedy have left off sending for their Physitians to ease them of the
I am apt to think the vulgar Method may be shewn to be as to some particular Diseases Of this I may perhaps elsewhere acquaint you more particularly with my suspicions and therefore I shall now only mention the last Observation of this kind I met with which was in a Gentleman You and I very well know who being for some Months much troubled with a difficulty of breathing and having been unsuccesfully treated for it by very Eminent Physitians we at last suspected that 't was not the Lungs but the Nerves that serv'd to move the Diaphragme and other Organs of respiration upon whose distemper this suppos'd Asthma depended and accordingly by a taking or two of a Volatile Salt of ours which is very friendly to the genus Nervosum he vvas quickly freed from his trouble some distemper which afterwards he was fully perswaded did not proceed from any stuffing up of the Lungs To be short how much esteem soever we have for Method yet since that it self and the Theories whereon men ground it are as to divers particular Diseases so hotly disputed of even among Eminent Physitians that in many cases a man may discerne more probability of the successe of the Remedy then of the truth of the received Notion of the Disease In such abstruse cases me-thinks it were not amiss to reflect upon that reasoning of the auncient Empericks though on a somewhat differing occasion which is thus somewhere express'd by Celsus Neque se dicere consilio medicum non egere irrationabile Animal hanc artem posse praestare sed has latentium rerum conjecturas ad rem non pert nere Quia non intersit quid morbum faciat sed quid tollat And as the controverted Method in the abovemention'd Diseases is not yet establish'd or agreed on in the Schools themselves so divers of those that are wholly strangers to those Schools do yet by the help of Experience and good Specificks and the Method their Mother-wit does according to emergencies prompt them to take perform such considerable cures that Piso sticks not to give this Testimony to the utterly Unlearned Brasilian Empericks Interim saies he seniores exercitatiores eximii sunt Botanici facilique negotio omnis generis medicamina ex undiquaque in sylvis conquisitis conficiunt Quae tanta sagacitate internè externè illos adhibere videas praecipuè in morbis à veneno natis ut quis illorum manibus tutius securius se tradat quam medicastris nostris sciolis qui secreta quaedam in umbra nata atque educata crepant perpetuo ob has Rationales dici volunt Secondly There are divers Medicines which though they want not some one quality or other proper to encrease the Disease against which they are administr'd are yet confidently us'd by the most judicious Doctors because that they are also inrich'd with other qualities whereby they may do much more good then their noxious quality can do harm as in a Malignant Feâ—ver tâ—ough the distemper be Hot and though Treacle anâ— sâ—â—e other Antidotal Suâ—or ficks be hot also yâ—t they are usefuâ—â—y adminâ—stred in such Diseâ—sâ—s because the reliefe they bring thâ— pâ—tient by oppugning the Malignity of the peccâ—nt matter anâ— perhaps by easing him of some of it by sweat is more consiâ—erable then the hâ—rm they can do him by encreasing for a while his Heâ—t The very experienced Bontius Chief Physitiâ—n to the Dutch Plantation in the East Indies in his Methodus medendi Indica Treating of the Spasmus which though here unfrequent he reckons among the Endemial Diseases of the Indies commends the Use of Quercetanus's Laudanum of Philonium and principally of an Extract of Opiumâ—nd â—nd Safron which he describes and much Extols and leâ—st hâ—s Readers should scruple at so strange a prescription he aâ—â—s this memorable passage to our present puâ—pose Fortafâ—â—s sues he Sciolus quispiam negabit his remediis propter vim stupefactivam ac narcoticum nervisque inimicam esse utendum Speciosa quidem haec prima fronte videntur sed tamen vana sâ—nt Nam praeterquam quod calidissima hujus Climatis tâ—mpâ—râ—es non requirat certissimum est in tali necessitate sine his aegâ—um evadere non posse Adde quod nos tam rite Opium hic praeparamus ut vel infanti innoxie detur sane ut verbo abâ—â—lvamâ— si Opiata hic nobis deâ—ssent in morbis calidis hic grassâ—ntibus frustra remedia adhiberemus quod etsi imperitis durum ex progrâ—ssu tamen me nihil temâ—re dixâ—sse patâ—bit The drincking freely especially if the Drâ—nk be cold Water is usually and in most câ—ses nor wâ—thout much reason strictly forbidden as very hurtful for the Dropsie and yet those that frequent the Spaa tell us of great cures perform'd by pouring in plenty of Waters â—nto the Patients already distended Belly and I know a Person of great Quality and Vertue who being by an obstinate Dropsy besides a complicâ—tion of other formidable diseases brought to a desperate condition was advis'd to Drink Tunbridg Waters when I happn'd to be there by her very skilful Physitian Who told me that the Doctors having done all their Art could direct them unto in vain she would be cur'd by Death if she were not by these Waters from whence the weather proving very seasonable for that sort of Physick she return'd in so prosperous a condition of recovery as exacted both his and my wonder That the Decoction of so heating a Simple as Guajacum would be lookt upon by the generality of Physitians both Galenists and Chymists as a dangerous Medicine in Pâ—hisical and other consumptions you will easily grant and yet some eminent Physitians and particularly Spaniards tell us of wonderful cures they have perform'd in desperate Ulcers of the Lungs by the long use of this Decoction notwithstanding it s manifestly and troublesomely heating Quality And I know a Physitian eminently learn'd and much more a Methodist then a Chymist who assures me that he has made trial of this unlikely way of curing Consumptions with a successe that has much recommended these Paradoxical Spaniards to him 'T is also believ'd and not without cause by Physitians that Mercury is wont to prove a great enemy to the Genus nervosum and often produces Palseys and other distempers of the Brain and Nerves and yet one of the exactest and happiest Methodists I know has confess'd to me that Mercurial preparations are those which he uses the most succesfully in Paralytical and the like distempers of what Physitians call the Genus nervosum And on this occasion I remember that a Gentlewoman being confin'd to her Bed by a Dead Palsey that had seis'd on onâ— side of her Body a Physitian eminent for his Books and Cures giving her a dose of a certain Preparation of Mercury corrected with a little Gold which I put into his hands for that purpose was pleas'd to bring me word that by the first taking of the
did me the favor to tell me by word of mouth as a thing himself had also made was in short this That the Remedy was made by precipitating Quick-silver with good Oyl of Vitriol and so making a Turbith which is afterwards to be dulcified by abstracting twenty or twenty five times from it pure Spirit of Wine of which fresh must be taken at every abstraction But I would not advise you to recommend so furious a Powder to any that is not a very skilful Chymist and Physitian too till you know the exact Preparation and particular uses of it the reason of my mentioning it here being but that which I expressed at the entrance upon this Narrative CHAP. XX. YOu will perchance wonder Pyrophilus that having had so fair an opportunity as the subject of this Essay afforded me of discoursing to you about the Universal Medicine which many Paracelsians Helmontians and other Chymists talk of so confidently I have said nothing concerning the existence or so much as the possibility of it But till I be better satisfied about those Particulars then yet I have been I am unwilling either to seem to believe what I am not yet convinced of or to assert any thing that may tend to discourage Humane Industry and therefore I shall onely venture to adde on this occasion That I fear we do somewhat too much confine our hopes when we think that one generous Remedy can scarce be effectual in several Diseases if their causes be supposed to be a little differing For the Theory of Diseases is not I fear so accurate and certain as to make it fit for us to neglect the manifest or hopeful Vertues of noble Remedies where ever we cannot reconcile them to that Theory He that considers what not unfrequently happens in distempered Bodies by the Metastasis of the Morbifique matter as for instance how that which in the Lungs caused a violent cough removed up to the head may produce as we have observed a quick decay of Memory and Ratiocination and a Palsie in the Hands and other Limbs may enough discerne that Diseases that appear very differing may easily be produced by a peccant matter of the same nature only variously determined in its operations by the constitution of the parts of the body where it setleth and consequently it may seem probable to him that the same searching Medicine being endowed with qualities destructive to the texture of that Morbifique matter where ever it finds it may be able to cure either all or the greatest part of the Diseases which the various translation of such a Matter haâ—h been observed to beget Moreover it oftentimes happens that Diseases that seem of a contrary nature may proceed from the same cause variously circumstantiated or if you please that of divers Diseases that may both seem primary the one is but Symptomatical or at most Secundary in relation to the other as a Dropsy and a slow Feaver may to unskilfull men seem Diseases of a quite contrary nature the one being reputed a hot and dry the other a cold and moist Distemper though expert Physitians know they may both proceed from the same Cause and be cured by the same Remedy And in women experience manifests that a great variety of differing Distempers which by unskilful Physitians have been adjudged distinct and primary Diseases and have been as such unsuccessfully dealt with by them may really be but disguised Symptomes of the distempers of the Mother or Genus Nervosum and may by Remedies reputed Antihysterical be happily removed To which purpose I might tell you Pyro That I not long since knew a Practitioner that with great success used the same Remedies which were chiefly Volatile and Resolving Salts in Dropsies and in not Symptomatical but Essential Feavers And our selves have lately made some Experiments of not much unlike nature with a preparation of Harts-horn of equal use in Feavers and Coughs both of them primary I might on this occasion recur to divers of the Remedies formerly mentioned in several places of this Essay since divers of them have been found effectual against Diseases which according to our common Theory seem to be little of kin one to another And by telling you what I have observed concerning the various operations of Helmont's Laudanum of our Ens Veneris and even of a Medicine devised by a Woman the Lady Kents Powder I might illustrate what I have lately delivered But it is high time for me to pass on to another Subject and therefore I shall rather desire you in general to consider whether or no several Differing Diseases and ev'n some commonly supposed to be of contrary natures be not yearly cured by the Spaa waters in Germany And to assist you in this Enquiry I shall address you to the rare Observations of the famous and experienc'd Henricus ab Heer and to his Spadacrene in the 8 â—h Chapter of which he reckons among the Diseases which those Waters cure Catarrhs and the Distempers which according to him spring from thence as the Palsie Trembling of the Joints and other Diseases of kin to these Convulsions Cephalalgiae I name them in the order wherein I finde them set down Hemicraniae Vertigo Redness of the Eyes of the Face the Erysipelata Ructus continui Vomitus Singultus Obstructions and even Scyrhus's if not inveterate of the Liver and Spleen and the Diseases springing thence the Yellow Jaundise Melancholia flatulenta seu Hypochondriaca Dropsies Gravel Ulcers of the Kidnies and Carunculae in meatu urinario Gonorrhoeas and resembling affections Elephantiasis or the Leprosie fluor albus mulierum Cancers and Scyrrhus's of the Womb Fluxes and even Dysenteries the Worms though very obstinate and sometimes so copious as to be voided in his presence even with the Urine Sterility and not onely the Scabies in the Body and Neck of the Bladder and clammy pituitous Matter collected therein besides Ulcers in the Sphyncter of it but he relates upon the repeated Testimony of an eminent Person that he names and one whom he stiles Vir omni fide dignissimus That this Party being troubled with a very great Stone in his Bladder and having had it search'd by divers Lythotomists before he came to the Spaa did by very copiously drinking these Waters finde by a second search made by those Artists that his Stone was much diminâ—shed the first Year and by the same way of tryal that it was so the second Year And of the Cures of these Diseases the Physitian mentions in the same Chapter as to many of them particular and remarkable Instances and in the beginning of the next Chapter having told his Readers that he expects they should scarce believe these Waters can have such variety of Vertues Caeterum saith he si in Spaa maturè constantibus naturalibus vitalibusque facultatibus venerint aquasque quo dicemus modo biberint indubiè quae dixi vera esse fatebuntur And though we be not bound to believe nor doth he â—ffirm
per se in a Glass Retort as before and if you please you may once more elevate this second Sublimate but we have not found That allwayes needful And for the better understanding of this Process be pleas'd to take notice of the following Particulars First We have alwaies preferr'd such Vitriol as abounds with Copper before our common English Vitriol about the making of which those that keep the Copper as work at Detford are wont as themselves have upon the place inform'd me to use good store of Iron to increase the quantity of their Vitriol Secondly If You be unwilling to loose the Phlegm Spirit and Oyl of that Vitriol with which You design to make Ens Veneris You may distill them away in an earthen Retort or one of Glass well coated But though it be well known that the distillation of Oyl of Vitriol requires a very intense and lasting Fire so that unlesse you have need of the Liquors the best way will be without any Ceremony to calcine the Vitriol in a naked Fire and open yet afterwards it will be for the most part requisite further to calcine the Caput Mortuum in an open Vessel For you must take notice that unless the Vitriol be very throughly calcin'd it will be very troublesome for you to dulcifie it and sometimes we have observ'd that the Caput Mortuum which look'd Red and seem'd indifferently well calcin'd hath been almost like Crude Vitriol dissolv'd in the fair Water which was pour'd on it to dulcifie it The weight of the Calx in reference to the Vitriol of which it was made we cannot easily determine but we have sometimes found it necessary to reduce the Vitriol to lesse perhaps much lesse then half its weight to make it fit for Dulcification Thirdly The Water that hath been pour'd on the first and second time to edulcorate the calcin'd Vitriol may be filtrated and steamed away till it come almost to the consistence of a Syrrup or Honey and then may be put into a cold place to shoot for after this manner we have sometimes had many very regularly figur'd Chrystals or Graines of Salt I say sometimes because sometimes also you may find it necessary to abstract all the Water to obtain the Whitish Salt of Vitriol which we have known us'd as a good Vomit and which Angelus Sala none of the least sober of the Chymical Writers doth highly extoll as an excellent Emetick in his Ternary of Vomitive Remedies where he discourseth at large of the Vertues of it and the way of administring it And of this Salt as Chymists are pleas'd to call it we have had out of calcin'd Copper as a very great quantity and have sometimes observ'd it to have been almost as deeply colour'd as the Vitriol it self was before Calcination Fourthly We several times tryed to sublime dulcified Colcothar with Sal Armoniack in Retorts and Urinals plac'd in Sand but whether by reason of the fixedness of the Colcothar or because the Furnace we were fain to use though no very bad one was none of the best we never could that way obtain any considerable Quantity of the desir'd Sublimate and that which did ascend was but of a faint colour wherefore unlesse you have an extraordinary good Sand Furnace if you will make use of Glasse Vessels which is the cleanliest way You will find it expedient to sublime Your Colcothar in coated Retorts with an open Fire except you have the Dexteritie to sublime in a naked Fire with Glass Retorts uncoated which we have divers times seen perform'd by heating the bottome of the Retort by degrees and then placing it upon Embers with Coales round about it but to be kindled at a distance from it for if this course be watchfully follow'd the Retort will be so well neal'd before it be reduc'd to endure any intense degree of heat that after a while You may safely lay thorowly kindled Coales not onely round about it but upon the top of it which needs not to be done till towards the end of the Operation and thereby drive most of the Sublimate into one lump and into the Neck of the Retort And by this way you may sublime without any Furnace upon a bare Hearth but if you desire to give a more intense heat you may lay first some warm ashes in an ordinary Iron pot and having with them and a few small Coals well kindl'd neal'd your Retort you may afterwards prosecute the Sublimation in the same Pot which being once throughly heated it self by the Fire will afterwards considerably increase the heat of it Fifthly Though it be most commonly requisite to resublime the Sublimate that comes the first time up that the Salt and Colcothar may be more exquisitly mix'd yet as far as we can guesse by some trials it will not be expedient to resublime it above once or at most twice For in those Trials we have found the Ens Veneris oftener resublim'd of a paler colour then that which was resublimed but once And N B. perhaps by further sublimations the Salt instead of being more intimately united with the Colcothar may be almost totally sever'd from it according to what we elswhere in other cases declare Sixthly Of these Sublimates that which hath the highest Colour seems to be the best as being most enrich'd with the Colcothar from whence the rednesse proceeds But at the first Sublimation I have often observ'd a pretty part of the Sal Armoniack to come up first white by it self especially if it had not been very diligently mix'd with the Colcothar But at the second sublimation the Ingredients which we have sometimes almost totally forc'd up without leaving a Caput Mortuum in the bottom of the Retort will be more accuratly mix'd and the Sublimate will appear Yellow and perhaps Reddish of which sort we have sometimes had when the Operation hath been very carefully manag'd Seventhly How great a proportion of the Ingredients committed to Sublimation will arise in the form of Ens Veneris we dare not precisely define but a Sublimate amounting to the fourth part of the whole Mixture you will scarce if you work skilfully faile off Eighthly We sometimes made a Sublimate of equal parts of pure Sal Armoniack and Salt of Tartar both of them very throughly dry'd for else they will be apt to yeeld rather a Spirit then a Sublimate well ground together and so sublim'd And with this Sublimate instead of Simple Sal Armoniak we intended to make Ens Veneris but by some intervening Accidents and Avocations we were not able to perfect the Experiment of which we nevertheless think it fit to give You this hint because of the great Efficacy which an excellent Physitian of my acquaintance to whom I gave some of it assures me he has found in it against Obstructions and some Distempers that are wont to spring from them Ninthly When you are about to make Your first Sublimate You may if You please lute to the Retort
a Wine unknown to most other Regions of the World of the Fruit of Acaju which yet upon his experience he much commends telling us That it is strong enough to inebriate and may he doubts not be kept good many Years and that though it be astringent yet both in himself and others he found it diuretical In the Barbada's they have many Drinks unknown to us such as are Perino the Plantane-drink Grippo Punch and the rare Wine of Pines by some commended more then the Poets do their Nectar some of which we therefore make not because the Vegetables whereof they are produc'd grow not in these colder Climats But others also they have which we have not though they are made of Plants to be met with in our Soil as for instance the drink they call Mobbie made of Potato's fermented with Water which being fit to drink in a very few days and easie to make as strong almost as the maker pleaseth would be of excellent use if it were but as wholsome as it is accounted pleasant In the Turkish Dominions where Wine properly so call'd is forbidden by Mahomet's Law the Jews and Christians keep in their Taverns a Vinous Liquor made of fermented Raisons after a manner which when we shall elsewhere acquaint you with it you will easily discern to be capable of much improvement from the knowledge of Fermentation And indeed by the bare fermenting of Raisons and Water in a due proportion without the help of Barm Leaven Tartar or other additament to set them a working we have divers times in a few days prepar'd a good Vinous Liquor which having for tryals sake distilled it afforded us greater store then we expected of inflammable Spirit like that of other Wine But I have sometimes wondered that Men had no more curiosity to try what Drinks may be made of the Juices obtainable by wounding or cutting off the parts of several Trees and some other Vegetables For that in the East Indies their Sura is made of the Liquor dropping from their wounded Coco Trees we have not long since out of Linscoten informed you And sober Eye-witnesses have assured us That in those Countrys they have but too often seen the Seamen drunk by the use or Liquors weeping out of the Incisions of wounded Vegetables and afterwards fermented And that even in Europe the Alimental Liquor drawn by Trees from the Earth may receive great alterations from them before it be quite assimulated by them may be gathered from the practice of the Calabrians and Apulians who betwixt March and November do by Incisions obtain from the common Ash Tree and the Ornus which many Botanists would have to be but a wilde Ash a sweet Juice so like to the Manna adhearing in that Season to the Leaves of those kinde of Trees that the Natives call it in their Language Manna del corpo or Trunk-manna and least we should think they draw all this sweetness from the Soil of that particular part of Italy where they grow you may be satisfied by the Learned Chrysostomus Magnenus in his Treatise De Manna that it is to be met with in several other places And he adds That in the Dukedom of Milane where he professeth Physick there is no other Manna used then that which is as he speaks Vel è trunco expressum which he somewhere calls Manna Truncinum aut in ramis stiriatim concretum and that yet it is safely and prosperously used I had communicated to me as a rarity a secret of the King of Polands which is said to do wonders in many Diseases and consists onely in the use of the Liquor which drops about the beginning of the Spring from the bar'd and wounded Roots of the Walnut-tree but because I have not yet made tryal of it my self I shall pass on to observe to you that in some Northern Countries and even in some parts of England bordering upon Scotland the almost insipid Liquor that weeps in March or the beginning of April out of the transversly wounded Branches not Trunks of the Birch-tree is wont to be used by Persons of Quality as a preservative from the Stone against which cruel Disease Helmont highly extols a Drink made of this Liquor and semen dauci and Beccabunga and I think not without cause For not to mention all the commendations that have been given me of it by some that use it I have seen such strange relief frequently given among others to a Kins-man of mine to whom hardly any other Remedy though he tryed a scarce imaginable variety was able to give ease and in whose dissected Bladder after another Disease had kill'd him a Stone of many Ounces was found that I usually every Spring take care to provide a quantity of this Water with which alone without the other Ingredients mentioned by Helmont my Kins-man used to be relieved as long as he could keep it which you may do the longer by pouring upon the top of it a quantity of Sallet Oyl to defend it from the Air and perhaps also by Distillation By which last named way I know an Ingenious Man that is wont to preserve it for his own use and says he findes it not thereby impair'd in virtue But the most effectual way that ever I yet practiced Pyrophilus to preserve both this and other Liquors and Juices is dexterously and sufficiently to impregnate them with Fume of Sulphur which must be at divers and often times as it were incorporated with the Liquor by due agitation the manual Operation belonging to this Experiment I may hereafter have occasion to describe more fully together with the particular Effects of it in several Bodies And therefore it may here suffice to tell you that if you practice it carefully you will perhaps think your self oblig'd to thank me for the discovery of it though a heedful Reader may finde it not obscurely hinted in Helmont's Writings I might here annex the great commendation which I have found given to this Birch-water by eminent Writers against the hot dâ—stempeâ—s of the Liver and divers other affections and especially how Freitagius commends it very much to dilute Wine with and adds Haec est dulcacida grati saporis sitim sedat viscerum sanguinis fervorem temperat obstructiones reserat calculum pellit But I suppose you will think it high time for me to proceed to another subject and indeed I should not have spent so much time in discoursing of Drinks but that I am apt to think that if there were greater variety of them made and if they were more skilfully ordered they might by refreshing the Spirits and insensibly altering the mass of Blood prevent and cure without weakning or much troubling the Patient almost as many Diseases as the use of our common unwholesome and sophisticated Wines is wont to produce For in Fermentation the Sulphurous as Chymists call them the Active and the Spirituous parts of Vegetables are much better loosened and more intirely separated