HYDROLOGIA PHILOSOPHICA OR An ACCOUNT of ILMINGTON WATERS In Warwick-shire With Directions for the Drinking of the same Together with some Experimental Observations touching the Original of Compound Bodies By SAM DERHAM Bachelour in Physick lately of Magd. Hall OXON OXFORD Printed by Leon. Lichfield Printer to the University for John Howell Bookseller 1685. TO HIS Honoured Friend WIâ—â—IAM LENTHALL Esq of Haseley Sâ—â— Iâ— was not my Ambitious Design but the importunity or rather Command of several Gentlemen to commit to the Press these Experiments I had made on Ilmington Waters that maketh me thus appear however was resolved it should pass as from an unknown Pen until I found Concealment was impossible and by absconding should seem to impose falsities on the World which are the only Reasons of my Name in Print And seeing that hereby I do expose my self to the Censure of all men although it is but a mean Return for your Kindness and Civilities to me to entrench farther upon your good Nature yet I hope you 'l allow this following Treatise a propitious Acceptance whose Prudence and Learning is able to withdraw me from the Calumny of mine Enemies Although the greatest Patron that ever liv'd was never able to protect Books from Censure neither is it reasonable to impose Opinions in Philosophy as Truths necessarily to be believed against the Arguâ—ngs of more solid judgement yet as just Umpire may advance Truth against the malicious Cavils of them that neither consider the Sureness of the Experiments nor whether the Deductions be a forced Consequence or the Sence of Authors perverted but through Envy quarrel at the Treatise because Delivered by such an Author Flattery for Patronage I shall avoid true praise being not more pleasing to You than Counterfeit is ungrateful but shall presume the more because of your imbred proneness to the Advancement of Scholastick Undertakings Neither shall I endeavour an Encomium of Him whose Merits and Excellent Endowments have already become their own Herauld beyond the Praise of Your truly Affectionate and Humble Servant SAMUEL DERHAM THE PREFACE READER PErhaps it may seem strange that I should thus undertake an Hydrological Essay seeing that many Eminent Writers have given their judgement of the Cause and Vertues of Mineral Waters such as Georgius Agricola Libavius Solinander Andr. Baccius Fallopius and of our own Countrymen Dr. Jorden Simpson Turner and many others both Ancient and Modern Authors Yet there were several Reasons inducing me to publish this my Scrutiny into the Nature and Operation of this New-found Spring by some called Balmoore Waters naming the Spring from the Place which is near Ilmington a Town in Warwick-shire This may also deserve the Name of Ilmington-Spaw from its brackishness according to Van Helmonts's Appellation Parad. 3 and 4 of Fontes aciduli Spadanae or Spaw-Waters Which name I shall retain in my following Treatise My chief Inducements hereto were First The Common Good seeing Multitudes dayly flocked to this Fountain of whom many were poor illiterate Country-men that inconsiderately without preparing their Bodies or Physitians advise repairing hitherto might as well have hastened to their ruine as to recover their impared Health For The most ingenious Dr. Cole who first tryed and applauded these Waters by his recommending a Person of Quality to the Drinking of them did so alarum the Ordinary sort of People and the rude Mobile as if Waters had been found with some Supernatural Vertue like the Pool of Bethesda or the Waters of Jorden when they cured Leprous Naaman the Syrian Secondly The Doctor being called away by his Employment I was desired by several Gentlemen to commit the Tryals I had made on those Waters to the Press on no other design then to give Caution to the incautelous Multitude among which many are as an * Auth. of the Query about Driâ—king the Bath-water prefixed to Dr. Jordâ—n oâ— the Bath Author observed like so many Animals that follow one another and are apt to go the broader way though it lead to ruine Thirdly Ancient Authors did usually take a general Survey of Mineral Waters not descending to a strict Scrutiny by Experiments into Particular Springs Vpon which account many things have been left false and imperfect which an Examination of Particulars may descry and perhaps afford more of knowledge to Posterity though in a few Experiments than in great Volumes of Conjectural Philosophy As Dr. Tyson in his Phocaena Page 9. rightly saith Malpighius in his Silk-worm hath done more then Jonston in his whole Book of Insects and He and the ingenious Dr. Crew have taught us more of Plants than either Gerard or Parkinson Yet I desire not to contemn but to speak with due honour and reverence of the writings of the Ancients to whom we owe great part of our knowledge but withal hoping that I may have as much freedome to communicate my Sentiments as others have done theirs before me As for the Calumny and Reproach which I shall occur from mine Enemies and especially those that out of a Disgust to the Author verify the Proverb Try the Man and not the Cause I shall pass by remembring the Saying Habent sua fata libelli But least that by making use of some words mentioned by Helmont and other Chymists such as Archeus Leffas terrae Acid and Alkali c. I should seem far short of answering my Design I shall by the way hint out the Sence of them least that by obscure Terms I should seem to darken the Matter and amuse the Reader that is unacquainted with Chymistry Helmont De Form Ortu Sect. 61. thus explaineth himself Repetam seminum massam recipere in se corporalem Auram vulcanum Quem Archeum nomino Now the Aura Vitalis by him termed Archeus is but that Stamp or Divine Impress made at first by God Almighty to direct blind Matter in the Composition of an Object For we cannot suppose that an Embryo is formed by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms and that Animals do propagate after their kind by an accidental Conjunction of Matter but the Divine Fiat in the Creation made an over-ruling Power to the work of Generation and Specification of the Individual whether it be called Archeus vis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forma c. Which was at first made by God the Creator and as Helmont else-where telleth us is as a Faber or Workman to the shaping of a Concrete in its Generation Leffas terrae is that Succus terrae fracidus unde surgit omne plantarum genus visibili carens semine sataque semina promoventur in Destinationes Helm Imag. Ferm Parag. 31. viz That fracid juice of the Earth that is the Nutritive Juice to Vegetables For Water on the Earth exposed to heat and air will be soon endowed with a putrid Ferment which is a Leffas convertible by the Archeus into Vegetables Salts are either Acid or Alkalizate upon the mixture of which contrary Salts an Effervescence will follow So that an Alkali may
be thus described It is a fixed Salt which will make an Ebullition with an Acid and by taking off the Edges of its Particles will sweeten an Acid Liquor As for Mineral Waters Libavius giveth us this Notion Quae a simplici vulgari mera discedentes cum aliquo subterraneorum conspirant aut spiritaliter sunt tinctae aut mistae corporaliter Judicio Aquar Lib. 1. Cap. 1. viz. Waters that besides their own Nature have imbibed something of the quality or substance of some Subterranean Mine What are the Subterranea he afterwards telleth us Lib. 1 but Gab. Fallopius De Therm Aq. Cap. 8. ranketh them under Five Heads viz. Vapours Juices Metals Stones and Earth As for Vapours impregnating Waters in their Current I see no reason to make them a distinct Ingredient from the others Fallopius alloweth only Vapours to be found in Waters that are Poisonous Bituminous and Sulphureous yet of what kind soever they seem not to differ from the Evaporating Object as the Vapour of Water is but Water rarisied whose Particles recollected in a Receiver may appear again under the form of Water As Helmont Parad. 2. hath observed Vapor reipsa nil aliud est Materialiter formaliter quam Atomorum Aquae in altum sublata Congeries To the same effect speaketh Libavius de Jud. Aq. Lib. 1. Cap. 6. Dr. Jorden On Natur. Bath and Min. Wat. Cap. 4. not content with what Fallopius hath done especially because New Minerals have lately been discovered as Calaem in the East Indies Rhusma and Terra Ghetta in Turky c. and perhaps future Ages may discover many more hath comprehended them under Seven Heads taking a Mineral for An inanimate Perfect Body bred in a Mine in the Bowels of the Earth His Genera are 1 Earth 2 Stone 3 Bitumen 4 Salts or Concrete Juices 5 Spirits 6 Mean or half Metals 7 Metals Of all which in as much as they cause Alterations in Waters I shall take a short Survey Brevity here beeng intended First Earth is a cold dry sluggish Body altogether effete in its vertue except when it containeth some active Principle such as a Nitrous Salt by which fullers-Fullers-Earth doth scour Cloth and Marle laid on Land doth cause Fertility or an Aluminous Salt such as is found near Scarbrough Spaw c. Vpon which account the Chymists rightly call Simple Earth Caput Mortuum or Terra damnata Water hereby may become turbid and muddy but not impregnate with any Vertue Secondly Stones by their Qualities of Cold Dryness and Stipticity come near that of Earth Yea as Dr. Jorden Cap. 4. hath hinted to us Stones in their simple Nature distinct from any other Ingredient are but as a Caput Mortuum and untamable by â—ire or Water 'T is true some Stones will melt others by Calcination turn as it were to Ashes but that is from a Heterogeneous Mixture of some Salt Metal c. And this may be concluded hence The more pure and free from Mixture Stones are by so much the more indissolvable by Water or the devouring flames of Fire as Diamonds Amiantus or Alumen plumosum Glymmer Saxum Arenarium all which stony Concretions will endure the Fire yea I suppose had we but a pure stony Body it would endure the washings of Water and the utmost degree of Fire Pliny Natur. Hist Lib. 36. Cap. 19. saith Amiantus lapis nihil igni deperdit Not only the Terra Damnata left after the Active Principles are drawn off in Distillation will endure the Fire but the Asbestum which is an Efflorescence of the Amiantus and many such like Stony Concretions I doubt not were they free from Heterogeneous Mixtures Stones then in their simple Nature yield no Vertue to Springs except whilst in their Primitive juices or Solutis principiis for then they may cause an Alteration as we may perceive by many cold petrifying Springs of which almost infinite Examples might be produced here in our own Country But when there is a mixture with a Minera then Stones by Fire or Water may soon suffer a Dissolution as Marcasites of Iron Copper Alum c. not only by fire may undergo a Change but also may communicate their Vertue to Waters having a proper Menstruum Thirdly Bitumina are either hard as Amber Carbofossilis or Liquid as Petroleum and Naphtha We find by dayly Experience that unctuous Matter or Oyls will not undergo a perfect mixture with Water yet by some Mineral juice may have its body so opened as to come floating with the Spring Water though in a confused Posture Yea saith Fallopius de Aq. Therm Cap. 8. It is sometimes so confused that a Separation from the Water is very difficult Instances of Bituminous Waters he giveth us as the River Lipparis in Cilicia which by its plenty will as it were anoint the Bodies of them that swim in it the Fountains of Mount Gibbus near Modena in Italy many Fountains likewise near Baia in Campania so also Springs at the foot of Vesuvius many also we read of in Saxony Swedland and at Avergne in France and of one famous in our own Country at Pitchford in Shropshire and that Bitumen is the predominant Principle in our Springs at Bath Dr. Jorden hath proved De Nat. Bath Min. Wat. Cap. 6 Fourthly Concrete Juices called Salts which are not only found in Waters but being dissolved make the Current Springs as so many Menstruums to unlock the Bodies of other Minerals The Species are usually reckoned Four viz. Alum Vitriol Nitre and Common Salt but as for the Number I shall not here dispute 'T is true different Salts will shoot by Chrystallization into several Forms as Vitriol and Alum into Glebas although these of Alum differ something from them of Vitriol Nitre into Stirias and Salt into Tesseras so likewise will other Species of Salt comprehended under these by reason of their Glebes and difference of Particles As for the Vertues of such Springs we must look to the Nature of the Ingredients and whether the Waters are not impregnated with several Mineras from whence there must needs follow great Variety in Mineral Waters That Salt Nitre Alum and Vitriol are Ingredients of Mineral Waters we have the Testimony of several Authors too many here to relate As Salt-Springs at Saltzburgh and Halstat and many other places in Germany the Salt-Springs in Tuscany and as our Springs at Droit-Wich and at Nant-Wich will testify Nitrous Springs we read of at Calestria in Macedonia in many places of Aegypt in many places in France mentioned by Du Clos Classe Second and Third and Nitrous Springs by Baccius De Therm Lib. 5. Cap. 6. Alum Springs are frequent in Tuscany and many other Places of Italy and also in Germany and in Spain with us at Okenyate in Shrop-shire and that famous Spaw at Scarbrough in York-shire Vitrioline Waters are also found although the truth thereof is questioned by Dr. Lister De Font. Med. Angl. Cap. 7. Instances of which Dr. Jorden de Nat. Ba.
immediately to Water or to a Succus transformed by the Seminal principle into the proposed Object But shall only instance some particulars leaving a further prosecution to another's enquiry Dr. Sharrock giveth us a Catalogue of Plants that would grow and encrease by simple water in a Glass-bottle as Mints Sedum multifidum Pennyroyal Bugle Prunella Water-cresse Scordium Marsh-mallows Nummularia c. Sedum multifidum in a month encreased in weight half a Scruple Scordium as much in a fortnight Dorias his Woundwort in six weeks gr 13. Bugula in less time gr 15. Water-cress in a month gr 25. Ranunculus in 6 weeks half a Scruple Periwincle as much Prunella Brooklime and most of the sorts of Mint got weight proportionably Shar Veget p. 102. For experiment sake I took several small young slips of Mint diligently weighed which I kept in Glasse-bottles of fair water the space of Twelve weeks as the water wasted I poured on fresh at the end of which time I weighed each Plant for every Slip was now become a Plant with large roots and branches and found the former weight of several of them to be tripled but the least of them doubled Famous are the Experiments of Mr. Boyle I caused said he my Gardiner to dig out a convenient quantity of good Earth and dry it well in an Oven to weigh it to put it in an Earthen Pot almost level with the surface of the ground and to set in it a selected seed he had from me of Squash which is an Indian kind of Pompion which grows apace this Seed I ordered him to water only with Rain or Spring water c. and a little after giveth us the account of it from his Gardiner I have weighed the Pompion with the Stalk and Leaves all which weighed Three Pound wanting a quarter then I took the Earth baked it as formerly and found it just as much as I did as first which made me think I had not dryed it sufficiently then I put it into the Oven twice more after the Bread was drawn and weighed it the second time but sound it shrink little or nothing Boyle Scep Chy. He giveth us also another Experiment from the same Gardiner in these words To give you an account of your Cucumbers I have gained two indifferent fair ones the weight of them is Ten pounds and a half the branches and the roots weigh'd Four pounds wanting two Ounces and when I had weigh'd them I took the Earth and baked it in several small earthen Dishes in an Oven and when I had so done I found the Earth wanted a pound and half of what it was formerly yet I was not satisfied doubting the earth was not dry I put it into an Oven the second time after the Bread was drawn after I had taken it out and weighed it I found it to be the same weight So I suppose there was no moisture left in the earth Neither do I think that the Pound and half that was wanting was drawn away by the Cucumber but a great part of it in the ordering was in dust and the like wasted Famous is also that Experiment of Helmont Who took of earth dryed in an Oven 200 pound put it in an earthen vessel and moistened it with rain-rain-water and planted in it a Willow tree of Five pounds weight this he kept and watered with rain or distilled water to prevent an addition of fresh earth he covered the vessel with a plate of Tin full of holes At the end of Five years he dug up and weighed the Tree and found the Tree computed with the leaves fallen off in four Autumns to weigh 169 Pounds and about three Ounces and the Earth in which it was set to want only about two Ounces so that 164 pounds and upwards was the encrease by Water Had this Tree or other Plants encreased by simple water been distilled undoubtedly there had been found the same principles with others of the same Species that sprung in open Gardens or Fields Water we see by these Experiments was disguised by the Plastick virtue of the Seeds into various formes as it is evident by the Experiments of Mr. Boyle One of the Vegetables cherished only by water having obtained a competent growth I did for tryal sake cause to be distilled in a small Retort and thereby obtained some Phlegm a little Empyreumatical Spirit a small quantity of adust Oyl and a Caput mortuum which appeared to be a Coal I concluded it to consist of Salt and Earth And a little after The water I used to nourish this Plant was not shifted or renewed I chose Spring water rather than rain-water because the latter is a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 containing steams of several bodies wandring in the Air and a certain spirituous substance c. Scept Chym. p. 112. Here are the Chymical Principles extracted from a Subject whose matter before transmutation was Water That Water is the material Principle for the growth and encrease of Vegetables may be collected from these observations viz. Rain-water or Dews refresh the fading Herbs That flooding of grounds causeth fertility That Grass cut down by the want of a supplemetal Succus soon withereth That exceeding Droughts have caused Famines and that the Corn of Aegypt dependeth on the overflowing of Nile And truly whence is the lustre of the Fields bedecked with flowers but from Water transformed into this or that Species according to the Idea of the semen or Archeus for according to the Plastick or Formative power Water is changed into roots stalks leaves yea to make the glorious Lilly As Vegetables so Animals receive their growth and sustenance immediately from Water or else mediately viz. From Herbs Flesh c. which is but Water metamorphized and run through former alterations An Ox feedeth on grass or plants viz. Water transformed thereto a Man feedeth on the flesh of the Ox whose material Principle is but Water transformed into a Plant thence into Flesh by divers fermentative alterations of the Ox and now farther according to the ferments of Man But to shew more particularly how that Water or at least a succus is necessarily requisite to the nutrition of every Animal Aliment taken into the stomach before it is fit for nutrition is turned into Chyle which is a Succus from whence blood then Chyme to be assimilated into each part As for example Bread or Flesh eaten by a man is by concoction turned into a fluid Chyle by the ferment in sanguification the Saline and Sulphureous parts work upon each other and turn the Chyle into Blood out of which a succus is separated and by the innate ferment of each part assimilated thereto What is Flesh but a Leffas or watery succus first turned into Grass Corn c. and at length by succeeding alterations by ferments shaped into Flesh And the more probable it is seeing that the Flesh Blood Urine or Milk of Animals by bare distillation is turned for the greatest
Author a fourth or fifth part of Water may be obtained without any addition which for ought he could find could not be reduced to Mercury so that it appeared to be plain Water As for that Objection why Metals should weigh heavier than water or that a Spoonful of Quicksilver is in proportion nigh fourteen to one if Metals should be made out of or else Water disguised This I say doth depend on the Seminal Principles collecting more matter in less space in some bodies then in others Bodies which have few Pores or Interstices of parts but Particles of matter closely united so they are more heavy or light although the same Elementary matter compose all but not compact in all bodies alike And the inspection through a Microscope on the Pores of bodies will clear up this answer to the Objection The first Change of Water in order to Metals is into a Mineral Mercury the next change by coagulation with Sulphur is into some metal according to the Specification of the Seed the repurgation from Sordes or feculent matter and the tincture of the Sulphur either Solar Lunar Saturnine c. so the diversity of Metals arise Although the foregoing Experiments prove the more immediate matter of Generation and Nutrition to be Water yet they do in effect prove one material Principle which is the ultimate Result of Water and all other Bodies as by the Experiment of Monsieur de Rochas and by Conversion of water into the roots and branches of Vegetables may be collected For as Helmont by his alkahest could convert Stones Earth Glass yea any body into water so water may again be transmuted into fixed matter As it is proved by the encrease of Mints or other Vegetables in water by Helmont's Experiment before cited of a Willow Tree by Mr. Boyle's Experiment of a Squash in which water is transformed into a body according to the nature of the thing nourished Yea in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdome as the Aliment is converted into a Succus or at least is a succulent matter before Nutrition so the Succus is again converted into flesh bones roots branches leaves or metalline Concrete according to the individual and its parts of this or the other Species So that it may be as well urged That fixed matter is the first Element of all things as well as Water For as all Concretes may be converted into Water so Water may be converted into fixed matter As for Instance Vegetables that from a watery nourishment are become a gross and hard aliment taken into the stomach of an Animal is by the ferment thereof turned into a liquid Chyle which by the ferment of the Heart c. is turned into a balsamick blood and from thence again into bones flesh or other gross and fixed Substances From the transmutations and reductions of Matter into its pristine form may be concluded the truth of the Fourth Opinion viz. of Epicurus and Democritus That Matter is the first and only Principle out of which all concrete bodies are made And according to the divers figurations motions and fixation of the Atoms or minute parts of matter so are bodies of this or that Species I cannot close with the opinion of some that to matter would add Chance for a Principle as if the glorious bodies of the Sun Moon Stars c. were made by Chance or by an accidental collection of Atoms as if a Dog or other Animal were but as a Clock or other mechanical Engine but that Matter was shaped at first by the Divine Fiat and is now metamorphized according to the Plastick power of the Archeus or Seminal Principles planted ab origine by God Almighty which by the Celestial influences are set at work and out of convenient matter form to themselves a Body We must not rely on Secondary Causes to explain all the secrets of Nature as Mr. Boyle in his Vsefuln of Experim Phil. Essay 2. hath observed That Gods power is conspicuous in all Creatures and even in the least of them the Wisdom of God is manifest Des-Cartes telleth us Materia in toto Vniverso una eadem existit Princ. Nat. Phil. Par. 2. parag 23. And a little after Omnis materiae variatio sive omnium ejus formarum diversitas pendet a motu Matter in the whole Universe is one and the same and that all variation or diversity of Forms which matter hath put on doth depend on Motion Which Philosophers seemed to observe by their Definition of Nature Natura est Principium motus quietis For then they understood saith he Id per quod res omnes corporeae tales evadunt quales ipsas esse experimur But then if we consider what is the First Movent that setteth Secondary Causes in action we must with Cartesius § 36. acknowledg God to be the Universal and Primary Cause of motion Ingenious is his Phansy That God made all the parts of matter equal in the beginning both in magnitude and motion which whilst moving by Attrition did break off their angulous parts that became a subtile matter fit to make the Sun and fixed Stars but these that became Spherical globuli were for the structure of the Heavens but the parts of matter which by their figures were unfit for motion did remain gross and fit to make the Earth Planets and Comets But seeing I have disowned imaginary Philosophy I shall enquire how far Experience giveth light to this opinion viz. That Matter Indeterminate is the only Elementary Principle ex Quo is made every compound Body If we take a survey of the whole frame of sublunary Concretes we shall find Matter of it self to be unconsined to any One Species but the same Matter according to the determination of Forms runneth through any Species and according to the disposition of its parts doth put on the forms of different Elements which gave occasion to Philosophers so much to dispute the number of Ingredients in a mixt Body which really are but Secondary things made out of Matter that first Principle of Concretes From that Experiment of Mr. Boyle Scep Chym. p. 112. before mentioned of his Distillation of a Vegetable nourished only by Water out of which he procured according to some the Five Chymical Principles Spiritus Sal Sulphur Aqua Terra we may conclude thus much viz. That Matter which made up the body of Water was converted into Salt Sulphur c. Having proved before that a Succus or Water is the immediate matter for nutrition of Vegetables Let us take for Example a Vine which requireth a great deal of moisture as may be concluded from its hasty growth and bleeding of broken slips The increase of its bulk is by liquid Sap which through different strainers and coagulation is turned into leaves branches Grapes c. The juyce of the Grapes by fermentation will cast a Tartar to the sides of the Vessels which by distillation will yield a Salt and Terra damnata the Wine will
yield a Phlegm and a Sulphureous Spirit and yet all from the Sap as the more immediate matter So that here was but one thing in common viz. Matter indeterminate to this or that Species As the Leffas terrae is converted into Grass so Grass into Chyle Blood and after various Alterations into the Flesh of a Brute whose flesh may be converted again into Chyle Blood and parts of a Man that did eate of that Brute and by the corruption of the humane Carcase is turned again into Earth which may by Nature be again converted into Water as well as by Helmont's Alkahest and so pass over a new Stage The parts of this Brute distilled would yield the Chymical Principles yea the Aristotelian so far as they are consistent with truth as may be easily seen by the Distillation of the Horns Hoofs Flesh and Blood of Animals In all which changes we shall find One ultimate result viz. Matter indeterminate to any One particular Species I shall easily grant That a Body may be made out of Spirit Salt Sulphur Phlegm and Earth or of Salt Sulphur and Mercury according to others yet these are but Elementa secundaria seeing they admit of a farther Resolution as well as a Tree or any compound body admiteth a Resolution into these That cannot be accounted for a First Element which deriveth its Original a Priori as from the configuration disposition motion or quiescence of the particles of Matter not only mixed bodies but others more simple assigned for Principles by Sects of Philosophers may be derived To instance in Particulars How that the parts of Matter free from cohesion and as it were in fluore with perpetual motion make Water that the opace gross fixed parts of Matter make Earth the agile Spherical Particles in a raped motion make Fire c. would be beyond my intention Only thus much we find by experience That in generation and corruption there is One ultimate result from all compound bodies which Aristotle rightly called materia prima out of which all Natural bodies are first made and at last resolved into As for example take a Plant such as Mint Pennyroyal Bugle Nummularia c. by a Chymical Analysis it may be resolved into Spirit Salt Sulphur Phlegm or Water and Earth or according to some Chymists that look a little higher or to more remote Principles into Salt Sulphur and Mercury seeing that Spirit and Earth are but Products of the other three Yet all these as Dr. Sharrock by the encrease of Vegetables in pure Water and the foregoing Experiments have proved are but Water transformed And although Water is necessary to Nutrition and that all Aliment before assimulation to its Substance must be converted into a Liquid yet Water cannot claim the Property of a First but Secondary Element seeing that Water it self is convertible into the Substance of Animals Vegetables and Minerals as these are by Van Helmont's Experiment into Water So that the Ultimate result in all Corporeal transmutations will be Matter the only constitutive Principle from which according to the Plastick Power of the Semen or that Divine Impress stamped at first by God Almighty that is the Formative Cause in Concrete Bodies is produced the difference of Species and Individuals Which bringeth me to consider how cometh the Variety of Animals Vegetables and Minerals and the Difference of Waters that our Soil doth afford PAR. I. SECT 2. BY the History of the Creation we find that God created the Heavens and the Earth but first created Matter out of which He afterwards made bodies different according to their kind For as Divines tell us quoting S. Augustine Quod caelum terra appellatum est materies erat confusa quaedam de quâ mundus qui duabus maximè partibus caelo scil terrâ constat digestis Elementis acceptâ formâ fabricaretur Aug. lib. imperf ad literam de Genesi cap. 4. That which was called Heaven and Earth was a confused matter out of which the world that doth chiefly consist of two parts Heaven and Earth by digestion of the Elements and putting on a form was made And a little after telleth us In principio fecit Deus coelum terram id est materiam quae caeli terrae formam capere posset quae materia terra invisibilis incompleta erat id est informis luce carens profunditas quae tamen quoniam moventi operanti artifici subjecta esset propter hoc ipsum quod cedit operanti Aqua etiam nominata est The making of the Heaven with its proper form was the work of the second day Gen. c. 1. v. 8. The making of the Seas and the Earth with its vegetables was the work of the third day v. 13. So that the Heavens and Earth mentioned v. 1. must be understood only of the matter or the dark abyss on which the Spirit of God moved in order to posterior formation And indeed the next following words intimate as much to us The Earth was without form and void This undigested Lump of matter the Ancients called a Chaos as we may see by Hesiod in his Theogonia by Apollonius in Argonauticis lib. 1. lin 496. who there speaketh to the same effect that Ovid metamorph lib. 1. Ante mare terras quod tegit omnia coelum Vnus erat Which are excellently rendred by Mr. Sandys thus The Sea the Earth all covering Heaven unfram'd One face had Nature which they Chaos nam'd An undigested lump a barren load Where jarring Seeds of things ill-joyn'd aboad I might cite also many more Heathen Philosophers and Poets which I shall pass by only taking notice of their Opinion concerning the Seminal principles of Bodies lodged in that undigested lump of Matter All which I suppose received their opinions from the writings of Moses from whom we are taught that God created all things but some he made actually existent other things he left to be produced by the Seminal Principles which He planted in the Chaos or confused Matter As we may see by Gen. 2. v. 5 God made every plant of the field before it was in the eartb and every herb of the field before it grew viz. the semina of vegetables which by the primitive Fiat so soon as the Matter was digested into form were set on work and brought forth according to the formative vertue of the latent seeds The Waters brought forth Creatures abundantly after their kind the winged Fowl after his kind the Earth brought forth the living Creature after his kind Cattel and creeping things and Beast after his kind and of the dust of the ground made He Man Upon all which we find a Divine Impression stamped or Generative faculty by which they might be fruitful and multiply The Earth before Adam's transgression brought forth of its own accord grass and herbs for the Use of man which we may well believe to be from latent Seeds which now are more manifestly requisite to
its Colour which is far more pale then Rock-spring water With Syrup of Violets it would turn green like Alkalizate Liquors with that syrup with Galls to a Purple like Martial Vitrioline Waters for Cuprous Vitrioline with Galls turn muddy with a very little Purple or Black but of this more afterwards It s body being of a thick muddy consistence I weighed in a very dry Season a Pint of this Spaw-water against a Pint of ordinary Water but the Spaw exceeded near half a Drachm Another time after a wet Season and when the Ocre was fallen an old Pint pot of common Pump-water weighing 18 Ounces did equalize and if either did turn the Scales the same quantity of the Spaw-water which may caution us from prefixing a determinate Weight to any Spring-water Variety in the Weight of Waters may appear by comparing That Salt spring water of Droit-wich with sweet springs yea to him that compareth the Waters of several sweet springs together For the Esurine salt many times being carried along with the water sliding through its secret Meanders or veins of the Earth of which part insinuateth it self into and part corroding occurrent bodies it fretteth off fragments such as fragmenta ferrea from Iron-stones and particles from ordinary stones which are carried along with the water and lie latent to the naked eye in its pores but by Distillation Evaporation c. will appear Whence of necessity followeth a great variety in weight according to the greater or less quantity of sabulum or fragments therein contained Then I proceeded to enquire after the Mineral with which this Spring was impregnated And first I took about half a pint of new milk upon which in a Porringer I poured this water fresh from the Spring-head but could not discern any coagulation yea for any thing did appear this mixture differed not from a mixture of milk and ordinary spring water After four miles carriage of the water when the reddish Ocre began to subside I poured upon warm milk from the cow a pretty quantity of this water and let it stand at least twelve hours but neither in this mixture nor in milk and this Spaw-water boiled together did any Coagulum appear Hence I began to suspect that its brackish taste was not from an acid Salt therefore on this spring-water I instilled some oyl of Tartar but upon the instillation and the standing of the water all night a very small curdling did ensue only the mixture looked more white than the Spaw-water it self which alteration of colour proceeded from the oyl of Tartar Whereupon I concluded that no Acid salt was here predominant yea rather as such scarce discernable in this Spring it being as I shall hereafter prove far nearer to an Alkali than to an Acid salt Upon an Oaken leaf bruised I poured a pintglass full of this Spring-water and immediately it inclined to a Purple colour I then try'd it with Galls and it turn'd first to a Purple but with an addition of more Galls to a black But desiring more exactness I caused one single grain of Galls finely powdered to be divided into twenty parts another grain into nineteen another into eighteen equal portions c. Upon tryal I found that the eighteenth part of a grain did something incline a pint of this water to a Purple colour as might be perceived in a chrystal glass set in a clear light but the sixteenth part of a grain put into a pint of water did presently cause a tincture plainly discernable and inclining to a purple but the eighth part of a grain fully turned a pint to a Purple much resembling in colour Syrup of Damask Roses mixed with ordinary Spring-water Afterwards the more Galls were added by so much the more it altered towards a black until it turned into a muddy inky Liquor Which Liquor by the instillation of spirit of Vitriol was cleared but by oyl of Tartar or spirit of Harts-horn was again muddied with spirit of Nitre oyl of Vitriol or Aqua fortis c. became clear again for what an Alkali muddieth an Acid again cleareth Now considering the small quantity of Galls with which a Pint of water was thus tinged I believe we may compare our new found Spaw in this particular with any of the English Medicinal waters yea with the German Spaws so much in request But it being sufficiently proved by the Learned Dr. Simpson in his Hydrologia Chymica that a solution of the Calx of Alum or of Alum-stones with the addition of Galls will turn to a deep Purple and from thence with more solution of Galls added becometh blackish and opacous almost like Ink. Upon which spirit of Vitriol being poured it becomes clear again with oyl of Tartar again muddied and with spirit of Vitriol of Nitre Aqua fortis c. reduced to its pristine clarity He also in his Hydrological Essays writeeth thus Not only Galls will strike a purple tincture with the Alum-salt got before the addition of Kelp and Urine dissolved in distilled or fresh spring-water but also the same may be done by other bodies whose texture of parts are congeneal as for example the inner part of the Oak the roots of Tormentile Avens Bistort Clove-gillyflowers and the flowers called Balaustia All which like Galls will strike a purple with water wherein the Alum salt is dissolved yea and will also become clear again by the instilling a few drops of oyl of vitriol and with the oyl of Tartar will become turbid and muddy c Hydr. Ess p. 132. I began to enquire farther into this Spaw upon consideration that a Purple colour and from thence a dark muddy liquor like Ink might be made with Galls from another Liquor than from a Vitriolick water or Solution And that Vitriol dissolved by an addition of Galls will strike a good black is evident from the ordinary way of making black writing Ink Whereupon I compared Aluminous waters and this Spring I made a Solution of Mineral Alum with fair wâ—ter which presently upon the instillation did curdle Milk but upon the mixture of Milk and this Spring water no Coagulation did ensue And that Alum consisteth chiefly of an Acid salt all-sufficient to coagulate milk is apparent by the mixture of a Solution of simple Alum salt with a Solution of salt of Tartar Wormwood or any Vegetable fixed Salt from whence will arise a turbid liquor with Coagulations in it which Coagula are caused by the mutual conflict of different Salts destroying each other until a Third and Neutral Salt result therefrom Besides Aluminous Springs are purgative witness the Scarbrough Spaw Epsom and Barnet Waters c. but this near Ilmington worketh most what by Urine Yea perhaps and truly I might conclude That this Spaw in respect of its mineral ingredients worketh not by Siedge I know it may be objected That some persons drinking of this water do thereupon find a loosness perhaps to the number of four or five stools or more To which
burning coals waste so the flame decays but by putting on fresh coals the flame is renewed and so until all the volatile parts of Nitre are gone as Monsieur Lemery well observed App. Cour. Chym Remar on fix Nitr p. 83. As for the Red vapours yeilded in Distillation they are not without Sulphur capable of flame and the sudden Explosion thereof in Gun-powder is from the quick accension of Charcoal and Brimstone to which doth concur the flatulent Explosion of the volatile parts of Salt-peter in a rapid motion Arguments against any sulphureous principle of Salt-peter might also be taken from the Whiteness of the flame when mixed with Sulphur and from its cooling Quality which is contrary to the effect of a sulphureous body Upon farther Tryal I could not find Nitre to be any Ingredient in this Spaw For in the whole Anatomy of this Water by Evaporation Distillation Crystallization c. I could not find the least footsteps of Nitre much less any of its Salts shot into its usual Styria's Besides the Powder left after Evaporation sheweth its self to be far different from a Nitrous salt as I shall hereafter prove But observing this Water after its being exposed to the open air for some time either stagnating at the Spring-head or else as it is set in open vessels hath a blewish Cremor swimming on the top or surface of the Water much resembling waters that stand long upon sulphureous bogs I began to enquire whether this might not be a Sulphureous Spring like that at Knarsbrough c. By an Analysis of this Water into its Principles not one grain of combustible Sulphur is to be found In its Distillation in close stopped vessels the Water that first comes over is insipid it will not strike a Purple by an addition of Galls so neither will the Spring-water when its Ocre is precipitated by being long exposed to the open air neither will any Sulphureous Smell of the distilled Water strike the Nostrils What remains in the bottom after Distillation and also the Sediment precipitated after long stagnation I tryed with burning Coals and a red hot Iron but could not perceive the least flagration Now were there any Sulphur I mean as to the body thereof it would shew its self a combustible matter on the Top after stagnation like the mare Asphalticum and in Italy the Springs at Maiamum Sassalo and at the foot of Vesuvius with many more mentioned by Dr. Jorden nat Bat. c. 6. to which I may add that famous Rivulet spoken of by Agricola Sulphureâ Nar albus aquâ Nar is white with its sulphureous Cream Agr. de natur cor Effl. ex ter l. 2 Or else the Sulphur must subside with the Vitrioline Ocre of this Spring for as the Water letteth fall its vitrioline Ocre so it becometh effete in its vertues But as no Oyl nor Bitumen so neither Sulphur will mix per minima with Water its parts being heterogeneal to these of Oyl or Sulphur whence there can be no mixture unless by a ferment The Compages of the Water then being dissolved and by letting fall its vitrioline Ocre becoming effete and insipid the Sulphur must have shewâ—d it self by a combustible Cream or Sediment had any been there as to its body It may be then Queried What maketh this Cream on the top after stagnation and what is it that giveth a strong Odour to this standing Water Answ A blewish skin or Cremor is common to all Vitrioline or other Mineral waters and to all waters that stand long upon a Bog which skin taken off and put upon burning coals giveth a fetid smell But as I have said before Mineral Sulphur as to its body is not here How comes then this fetid smell Waters may yeild a sulphureous Cream and smell two ways First when a bituminous matter issueth forth with the spring-Spring-water as in the Springs about the Mare Asphalticum at Averne in France at Pitchford in Shropshire and at many places as we are informed by Agricola de nat eor Eff ex ter lib. 1. and 2. For the Watery and Oyly parts being heterogeneal there can be no perfect Union whence the Oyl must either subside or else turn to a Cream at the top Or secondly Waters may get a sulphureous Cream and Smell by putrefaction For Waters but more especially Mineral by standing in the air let fall their ingredients and cast up sulphureous particles to the top Because the Air by its ferment dissolving the Compages of Water doth generate a Sulphur de novo as in long standing Ditch-water or else doth cause the particles of Embryonative Sulphur or Sulphur in fieri to swim at the top for combustible or Mineral Sulphur I cannot find in this Spaw as of water standing on Bogs or black moorish ground So that this Water exposed to the air may by a putrefactive ferment generate a sulphureous Cream de novo or else cast up its Embryonative Sulphur all-sufficient to cause the Cream and Smell which it hath got from the Marcasites of Iron or Vitriol that are the main Ingredient in this Spaw as I shall anon prove And that Marcasites of Vitriol do contain an Embryonative Sulphur take that Conclusion deduced from Experiments by Dr. Simpson That the Marcasites of Vitriol and Alum have an Embryonative Sulphur connatural with them produced out of the same Mineral Seed for instance the Sulphur crust separated by calcination of the Alum-stone and in the Vitriol Marcasites I find that putting them into the fire they burn of a blew flame and have a sulphureous smell in both these the Sulphur is really answerable to the common Sulphur or Brimstone Hydrol. Ess p. 61. But by way of Objection there is an usual Observation that may seem to prove the common Mineral Sulphur and not an Embryonate to be in this Spring in case Marcasites of Iron do concur to the making up of this Spaw viz. many Iron-stones contain a plain Brimstone as may clearly be discerned by the naked eye by the fetid smell and blew flame in burning them at the Forge or Iron Mills Answ Although there is found many times among Iron-stones a plain Brimstone yet we have no Demonstrations to conclude that it is here But suppose that it should be among the Marcasites that are chiefly concerned to the effecting this Mineral Spring yet Sulphur whether in its own proper Earth or Mineral veins must have its proper Menstruum in order to its Dissolution Now an Alkalizate Salt and not an Acid is the proper Menstruum to open the body of Sulphur that it may shew it self a part but a Lixiviate Salt I cannot perceive to be the Menstruum to unlock the Minera of this Spring for then must the Sulphureous part have plainly manifested it self by tinging of Silver and combustible Cream neither of which are here apparent And besides Lixiviate liquors are unâ—capable of dissolving Iron for Mars partaketh most what of an Alkali Salt upon which account Chalybeat Preparations wherein the Body
of Iron is to be opened do require an Acid Menstruum as the Crocus or Saffrons of Mars with many more might testifie For let the Preparation of Crocus be performed by exposing the Iron for some time to the Dew or Rain or by spirit of Nitre Sulphur c. yet still by examination we shall find an Acidity in the Dissolvent by which it is able to corrode Mars The Odour then and Cream of this stagnating Water must be by its small quantity of Embryonate Sulphur brought along with the Mineral and manifested by a putrefaâ—tive ferment For a Minera in its crude parts or in succo primitivo will sooner shew it self than in its fast compact substance that requireth a stronger or more peculiar Menstruum It being a consequent to vitrioline Solutions to turn to a Purple by addition of Galls by addition of more Galls to turn dark and from thence to a thick muddy inky Liquor I began to Query Whether this Spring was vitrioline As for Vitriol or Copperas I find it agreed upon by the most eminent Authors to be made of an Acid Salt preying upon a Mineral whose Particles it combineth with into a close texture So that a Mineral containing sulphureous Earth the Parts of Natural vitriol may be concluded An Esurine or Acid Salt Metalline Particles and a Sulphureous Earth According to the Diversity of Minerals on which the Acid preyeth and combineth with so different Vitriols do arise All which as yet known may be reduced to two Heads viz Vitriol of Iron and Vitriol of Copper Vitriolum album hath but little of the Metalline part and therefore by some is reckoned for a distinct species Because of its Mildness it may with a little Preparation not only become an Internal Remedy witness the Sal Vitrioli vomitivus but also may be applied to tender Parts as it is usual in Eye-waters Vitriol of Copper called by some vitriolum caeruleum from its blewish colour by so much the more it partaketh of Copper the more blew it is such as the Hungarian and Cyprian Vitriol Among the Particular sorts of Vitriol of Copper there is difference according to the quantity of the Acid or Esurine Salt and as it partaketh more or less of the Copper Vitriol of Iron is commonly Greenish as the Goslarick Swedish English and Roman Vitriols These partake most of Mars and consequently are not so Caustick as them of Copper for the more Copper the more Caustick are the Vitriols and by so much the more fit for composition of Corrosive Menstruums As for instance the German greenish Vitriol containing more of Iron than of Copper is reckoned among the vitriols of Iron but by reason of a small quantity of Copper therein comprehended is found to be more Corrosive than the ordinary green Vitriols although far short of the Blew whose Metalline parts are Copper yet I deny not that there may be a complication of Iron with Copper in the same Marcasite As for the Red Vitriol our Druggists have lately obtained from Germany and by some esteemed as a distinct species of Vitriol it seemeth to be nothing but a Terra Vitriolica from which the Mineral Salt is separated by preterlabent Springs or else is not as yet endowed with an Esurine Acid but remains as a Mater Vitrioli or proper Bed for its generation By its aspect it resembleth the Cholcothar of vitriol of Iron which is redish but that of Copper like a yellow Oker Besides these Natural vitriols already mentioned there are many Artificial such as vitriols adulterated by way of cheat in imitation of the Natural as much is to counterfeit the Roman Vitriol By Solution Evaporation Crystallization c. we may find a great deal that passeth for true Natural Vitriols to be but Factitious adulterated Compositions by addition of Salts made shoot into strange Crystals with variety of colours Notwithstanding that all the sorts of Natural Vitriol will strike a Purple and from thence a muddy Inky liquor by a mixture of Galls yet I conclude the white Vitriol and Vitriol of Copper not to have existence in this Spring for these Reasons 1. White vitriol is vomitive witness the Gilla vitrioli so also is the vitriol of Copper yea excepting some Preparations of Mercury the greatest Emetick of Metals And besides vitriol of Copper is a violent Caustick as Chirurgical practice assureth us neither of which Properties do agree to this Spring Secondly the red Oker that subsides out of this stagnating water and is to be found among the stones at the Spring-head in a considerable quantity doth exactly resemble the mineral Earth of Iron and not of Copper which is carried along with the Metalline parts dissolved by the Esurine Acid which Earth as the mater ferri because of the body of Mars in it being preyed upon doth become as a Crocus Martis or Rustings of Iron If it be Queried Whether the Mineral of this Water may not be Copper but in so small a quantity as not to have so powerful an Operation as is required to an Emetick like spirit of vitriol although a Caustick yet a few drops may be safely taken inwardly when there is a large Latex as it is frequently and with good success in cooling Juleps Answ This Spring is very strong of the Mineral witness the Tincture with so small a quantity of Galls as before I have mentioned any herein not any water in England doth exceed so that were it from an Emetick or Purgative Mineral as from Alum or Copper This must have been a Cathartick but we have no such assurance from Experience Besides were it from Copper a great vomitive then the Mineral being mixed in a less quantity must purge by Stool for as Dr. Willis Pharm ration sect 2. c. 1. de vomitione hath proved When the irritation of the intestinal fibres is less than is required to cause a Vomit it worketh by Siedge In vomiting the Spasms of the Fibres being violent Nature is necessitated to evacuate the next way but less violent by the irritation of a Cathartick which is not of so quick an Operation nor to nauseous and offensive to the Stomach as an Emetick wherefore the Natural motion of the fibres is not inverted but continued usque ad Anum to work by Stool Now had here been so much Copper as clearly to have manifested it self this Spaw if not an Emetick must have been a Cathartick at least in an inferior degree Upon consideration that a Solution of vitriol of Iron with Galls would strike a Purple and from thence a black by addition of more Galls I began a comparison betwixt this Spring-water and vitriol of Iron otherwise called Sal Chalybis made out of filings of Steel and oyl of Vitriol I took a Pint of fair Spring-water in which I dissolved a quarter of a Grain of Sal Chalybis then I took a Pint of Spaw-water into each of them severally put a quarter of a grain of Galls finely powdered and
upon the mixture both became Purple The mixture with the Sal Chalybis turned more to a blewish but that of the Spaw more to a redish Purple much resembling fair water mixed with a little Syrup of Damask Roses The dissolution of the Sal Chalybis in fair water and the Spaw-water had the same taste as near as Art could imitate Nature A small variation in Colour and as little as may be in taste may well be allowed by reason of the redish Oker contained in the Spaw that upon stagnation of the Water will subside which must needs cause it to incline something more to a right Purple and to be something more styptick than the solution of vitriolum Martis containing none of this red Oker Neither can it be expected that the Spaw-water after its Oker is fallen should be of the same colour with a solution of Sal Chalybis For the Oker that falleth is not a simple Earth but carrieth with it a great deal of the Mineral and Saline parts for in so much as the Oker falleth the Water looseth its Tinging property yea degenerates from a Mineral water and at length becometh effete in its vertue By addition of more Galls to the Solution of Sal Chalybis and to the Spaw-water both began to turn to a dark and at last to a black inky Liquor Then I poured into each a few drops of spirit of Vitriol and both returned to their pristine clarity then I instilled upon each a few drops of oyl of Tartar per Deliquium and again they became muddied but with spirit of Nitre both became clear again From whence I infer a Similitude betwixt this Spaw-water and a Solution of Sal Chalybis or Vitriol of Iron being alike in their vaâ—riation of Colours Precipitation and reduction to Clarity again But before I shall proceed to more Experiments to prove a farther Similitude betwixt this Spaw-water and vitriol of Iron I shall speak something as a Rationale Why these have alike Precipitation Variation and Reduction which may farther illustrate an Affinity betwixt them from the forementioned Experiments Why there is some difference in colour betwixt a Solution of sal Chalybis in fair water which inclineth to a Blew and this Spaw-water I mean when Galls are added to both which inclineth more to a Purple as I said before is from the red Ocre in the Spaw-water For all Natural vitriol containeth in it a terra Metallica whose Colour may be changed into a brown black c. according to the different Analysis of Vitriol by fire But before any Chymical Preparation of this Spaw-water its Oker is red as may appear by the Stagnation of the water to them that make Inspection at the Spring-head Now if we look into the Nature of the thing we shall scarce find any or no difference betwixt the Spaw-water and a Solution of vitriol of Iron For Blew and Purple are but a Black in a remiss degree for proof hereof I could cite the Tryals of experienced Authors all-sufficient to confirm the Assertion But instead thereof take one or two Observations First that Blew and Purple do only differ by addition of a little Red Take a Blew as Indy-blew c. ground into a fine powder which being divided into two parts add to one part a little Vermilion finely powdered and it giveth a Purple by reason that the Blew and the Red particles do refract their rays intermixtim which cannot be distinguished but by good Microscopes If this be the result from dry Powders much more then and farther from distinction when Bodies are in fluore and the Particles of one implexed and insinuated into the Pores and interstices of the other Secondly That Blew and Purple are but a remiss degree of Black take this Observation to the present business By an addition of a small quantity of Galls to the Spaw-water and also to a Solution of vitriol of Iron doth arise a Purple and a Blew inclinable to a Purple even so it doth in making of Ordinary ink when to a solution of Vitriol there is made an addition of a small quantity of Galls a Purple is the Result but by addition of more and more Galls it turneth to a Black or inky Liquor So that Blew or Purple is but a medium to a Black for the same thing by variation in its quantity maketh both But let us suppose a difference in colour betwixt the Spaw-water and a Solution of sal Chalybis yet that will rather prove a different Position of the Parts of Matter causing a different refraction of Light than a Difference in the Nature of the Subjects For the same Thing by altering the modification of its Particles may alter its Colour So Syrup of Violets by instillation of a little Oleum Tartari per Deliquium changeth from a Blew to a famous Green A few drops of spirit of Nitre instilled on a considerable quantity of this mixture or on fresh Syrup will change it into a Carnation Red. But neither of these Liquors had any resemblance of Red or Green before the Mixture Divers changes in colour I could instance made by instillation of clear Liquors upon a Decoction of Logwood c. and by mixture of Tinctures By the frequent practice of Dyers we are informed that the same thing viz a Decoction of Glastum will produce a Green from a Yellow and a Russet from a Red only by a previous preparation with Alum Yea I could produce a Liquor I have got from a vegetable which Experiment I lighted upon by accident whilst making some scrutiny into Colours that by instillation of another Liquor as clear as rock-water will strike an excellent Scarlet which colour seemeth not to have the least footsteps in the ingredients before they are mixed Many such like Observations I question not may be found by Tryal on mixtures yea for ought I know to compare with our Bow-dye without the least recourse to Chochineel But this being to dive â—nto the Dyer's Trade I shall only take notice from such Experiments That Colour dependeth more on the Texture of Parts differently reflecting the Light than from a difference in Matter So that a Blew or Purple will be no Material difference betwixt a Solution ef Salt of Mars and this Spaw-water with Galls added to both And that this Oker is the main occasion thereof may be hence concluded I made a Solution of English vitriol in fair water which with a small quantity of Galls did strike a Purple very near as deep as this Spaw-water but let vitriol be distilled and reunite all its parts except the Colcothar and with fair water and Galls you shall fail as to the former Purple and in all vitrioline Solutions with Galls may be observed The more Terra Metallica the deeper the Purple When Galls are added to this Spring-water and also to a Solution of Sal Chalybis an Alteration in Colour as I said before and an inky smell doth also ensue The reason hereof is
first it becomes a Mineral water which is whilst the Esurine Acid preyeth on the minera of Iron is hot but by long running through a Colander of earth or gravel loseth its heat and becometh almost a cold Spring Almost I said for by comparing the water of this Spaw with other ordinary Spring-water but especially with a Rock-spring a sensible warmth may be discerned And that the Effervescence is scarce over at the Spring-head may be gathered from the Sparkling of the Water in a glass like bottled Sider newly emptied and as I have it by good information doth much resemble the German spaw-Spaw-water sealed up in bottles and brought to Leyden and several places in the Low-countries I took about a Pint of Ilmington Spaw-water fresh from the Spring-head into which I let fall a few drops of Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium which made a white Coagulation dispersed through the whole body but so small that it was scarce discernable I then made a Solution of sal chalybis with fair water upon which I droped some oyl of Tartar and found a Coagulation in it exactly like the Spaw-water with oyl of Tartar The coagula in both by an addition of spirit of Vitriol were dispâ—rsed but by Alkali's were reduced c. Now it may be questioned How come Alkali Salts as oyl of Tartar c. to make these Coagulum's when as spirit of Vitriol or other Acids cause no Alteration Answ There are two sorts of ordinary Menstruums for Bodies Ordinary I say because I must except Paracclsus's Sal circulatum and Helmont's Liquor Alkahest the grand Solvents of Bodies into their first Principles First Menstruums impregnated with acid Spirits or Salts whether they be Natural Acids such as the Juice of Crabs the sowr juice of Plants the Acid of Marcasites of Iron Alum c. or Artificially made from natural Salts as spirit of Vitriol sp of Sulphur per campanam c. Secondly Menstruums endowed with Alkalizate Salts either fixed Alkali's as salt of Tartar Wormwood c. or volatile as spirit of Urine Harts-horn or of the horns and hoofs of Animals Sage c. Some add a Third sort of Menstruum viz. a vinous Spirit which is the common Menstruum for making of Tinctures and Extracts because it is apt to imbibe the sulphureous Principle from Compounds But for my part I take a vinous Spirit not as a distinct Menstruum from the two former For spirit of Wine is nothing but an oyl highly advanced by its volatile Salt with a small quantity of Phlegm The quantity of oyl is manifest by its inflammability for good rectified spirit of Wine once kindled will almost totally consume In Distillation the volatile Salt implexed in the sulphureous parts striving to get free doth tear and divide them until they be rarified into a Spirit to which is added a little phlegm for the better seperation of the Salts fermenting and exalting the oyl Now chiefly for its volatile Salt spirit of Wine is the Menstruum in making the Tinctures and Extracts of Senna Rhubarb Aloes Mirrh Saffron Hellebore and of all dry Roots Seeds Flowers Woods and Barks For by addition of volatile Salts the Extracts are stronger than when made with spirit of Wine only Having this premised I may return to the Question thus That upon the mixture of Acid and Alkalizate Salts they ferment and close together in a Neutral Salt as I have already intimated and forsake or rather thrust forth the Metalline Body dissolved and buoyed up in the Menstruum which with some of the Salts of the Liquor falls down to the bottom The Salts combined together and floating up and down in the Menstruum with some of the Mineral body as yet unprecipitated do represent these Coagula even as oyl of Tartar poured upon a solution of Vitriol made with fair Water causeth a separation of the Metalline and Colcotarine Parts subsiding to the bottom and Coagulums of the contrary Salts for a time buoyed up in the Menstruum So oyl of Tartar with Ilmington Water maketh a white Coagulum because it combineth with the Esurine Acid of the Water But the Curdling is very small because of the small quantity of Acid that doth free and as it were unsheath it self from the minera of Iron or is yet lodged in the pores of the Water and is not as yet fixed and joyned to the Alkalizate part of Iron To try what figure the Salt bore that was contained in this Water I took about two or three Gallons of the Water and evaporated it ad siccitatem At the bottom and sides of the vessel I found a redish white Powder which I dulcified with warm Water And there was left behind an insipid Earth like red Ocre or Colcotar The Water I filtred evaporated and then set to chrystallize which yeilded a Salt of an irregular figure it was of a palish colour but as to its operation answered vitriol of Iron It being asserted by some Authors but the Truth thereof I much question That many Mineral Waters will loose in Weight by carriage by loss of Spirits as They say or rather if at all I suppose by an Aporrhea Mineralis I filled a glass bottle with this Spaw-Water and stoped it up close at the Spring-head where I weighed it with an exact pair of Scales After four or five Miles carriage I tryed and found it continue the same weight After it had stood a day or two by examination I found the weight not at all diminished so that by this way nor by Distillation could I find any volatile spirits wherein the vertue of this Water consists The Bottle thus stoped I kept for a fortnight and then could perceive the Sediment just begin to fall to the bottom But in another Bottle carried with This and left open to the air I found great part of the Sediment fallen in twelve hours Which confirms my former Assertion viz. That not only Heat Motion by carriage c. but the Air also precipitates its Sediment Upon Tryal I found that the Water out of which the Ocre was fallen would not tinge with Galls but the Water kept close stoped for a fortnight did with Galls readily strike a Purple and so would more or less until the Terra Metallica was all fallen To sum up then that which hath been laid down I may say of this Spring as Helmont said of the German Spaws Pawhont and Saveâ—ir Distillavi aliquando serio Savenirium Pauhonteum sanè non tantum mineralium catalogum imo nil quicquam in iis offendi praeter Aquam fontanam vitriolum ferri Helm paradox Quar. de aq Spad So in this Spring the Acid Salt with which the Water is impregnated doth in its passage through the subterrestrial channels meet with a Minera of Iron which it partly dissolves and bringeth along by its Current to the Spring-head And by a Fermentation betwixt the Esurine Acid and the Metalline Parts of the Minera is made a vitriolum
increase but especially for a time the Appetite after meat or Hunger so an irregularity in Diet in a Water-course will not only take off the Appetite but may also lay a foundation of many Distempers yea may produce more Evils than the Water is able to correct Wherefore I shall propose some Observables about Diet. First Fast at least two or three hours after drinking the Waters that they may have time to pass off but by eating too soon may hinder the Digestive Ferments in their Operation or mix with the Chyle and so be carried into the Habit of the body and leave much of the feculent sordes in the remote parts that may endanger the Drinker with a Fever Dropsie Scurvy or Obstructions very difficult of Cure Secondly Take that Advice of Helmont de Aq Spad Parad. 6. sect 5. Spadanas bibenti consulo ut sobrietati consulat edatque parcè instar Accolarum And a little after Eâ solâ Diaetae normâ Aquae permeabunt tutò celeriter ac jucundè sec â— Whereby Moderation in Eating and Drinking is recommended lest that by over-glutting the stomachical and subsequent Digestions should be over-powered and unfit to perform their proper functions which of necessity must cause future Enormities For in most cases over-charging Nature will pluck down Health faster than the Physitian is able to repair Thirdly Meat well ordered and of an easie digestion must be observed in all these Courses of Physick For well known it is that Salt meats and Seamens fare will alter the sweet Temper of the Blood into a saline scorbutick Ferment which if continually supplied will be able to withstand the Operation of a Vitriolum Martis Fourthly The Drink is to be of a middle sort not too small and thin to depauperate and dilute the blood nor too strong to over-ferment it not too stale and sharp to produce an Exotick Acidity nor too muddy to fill the vessels with a faeces but rather clear mellow Ale and now and then a Glass or two of good Wine that will be a convenient Vehicle for the dry Aliments and fit to renew the sweet Balsamick temper of the Blood Last of all I shall advise the Drinkers hereof to use such Specificks in their Water-course as shall be peculiar to their Distempers besides Solutive Pills to carry off the sordes that the depraved Ferments of the body may be amended For so long as the Diet is good and regularly taken and the Ferments of our Bodies are entire Health will remain safe and sound FINIS The CONTENTS PAR. I. Sect. 1. THe Aristotelian Principles inconsistent with Experience p. 2 3. Spirit and Earth are not distinct Chymical Principles from Salt Sulphur and Mercury p. 4 5 6 7. The Chymical Principles are but secondary Elements made out of Water or a Succus according to Helmont Thalesius and others and so are Bodies in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdom made out of Water or a Succus as the more immediate Matter specificated by the Plastick Power or Archeus p. 8 9 c. Not only Water but all sublunary Compound Bodies are made out of Matter indeterminate as the First Principle according to the Operation of the Archeus or Impress stamped at first by God the Creator p. 22 23 24 c. PAR. I. Sect 2. The first Matter created was a Confused Chaos or undigested Lump of Matter in which were lodged the Seminal Principles of future Vegetables and Minerals p. 30 31. c. According to the Diversity of Mineral Glebes or different Seminal Principles lodged in divers Parcels of the Earth are made different Salts from the Esurine or common Salt of the Earth as the more immediate Matter in order to their Composition contrary to Dr. Lister p. 34 35 36 c. The Variety of Mineral Waters as at Ilmington Astrap Tunbridge c. is caused by Water impregnated with the Esurine Acid or Mineral Salts meeting with and preying upon Mineraâ—s as of Iron Copper c. p. 41 42. c. PART II. THE Weight of this spaw-Spaw-water p. 48. No Acid Salt is here predominant p. 49. A Pint will tinge with the sixteenth part of a grain of Galls p. 50. It is the strongest in England in its kind p. 51. Not Aluminous p. 51 52 c. A Paradox that Nitre is not an Acid salt p. 56. No Sulphur in Nitre p. 57 58. No Nitre in this Spaw p. 59. No Mineral Sulphur in this Spaw p. 59 60. c. The Nature of Vitriol and its Species p. 64 65. No white Vitriol nor Vitriol of Copper in this Spring p. 66 67. A Comparison betwixt a solution of Sal Chalybis and this Spring-water and the Cause of the Difference in Colour p. 68 69. c. Colour is caused by Refraction of Light p. 72. The Medicinal vertues of this Spring is from a Vitriolum Martis p. 75 76. Acid and Alkalizate salts fermenting together do work themselves into a Neutral salt p. 77. PAR. III. Sect. 1. A Summulary of the fermental Digestions of our Bodies p. 90 91 92. The three principal Fermental Digestions p. 93. How Chylification is performed p. 94 95. Experimental Observations about Sanguification and Motion of the Heart p. 103 104 c. The Third principal Digestion in the Brain p. 112. Other particular Digestions as that of the Spleen c. p. 115. PAR. III. Sect. 2. A Survey of Diseases arising from the lost or depraved Ferments p. 118 119 c. PAR. III. Sect 3. THE difference betwixt Steel and Iron p. 132. The usual Preparations of Mars with an Enquiry into the Nature and Operation of each p. 133 134. c. Against what Diseases Ilmington-Spring may be beneficial or what Distempers this Spaw will cure p. 140 141 c. PAR. III. Sect. 4. DIrections for Drinking of these Waters or how to avoid all its ill Consequences and receive Benefit there1by p. 154 c.
Cap. 7. giveth us as that at Cyprus described by Galen where the Water is Green at Smolnicium in Hungary in Transilvania c in which saith he the very Body of Vitriol is found Besides the Testimony of Helmont Paradox 4. of Pauhont and Savenir two German Spaws and the Experiments of Dr. Simpson on our Scarbrough Spaw and as I shall prove of Ilmington Spaw As for the distinction of being vertually or by its quality contained I cannot allow of not finding any solid Reason how an Accident can be seperated from his Substance and remain Existent in another for I look upon that Rule as true Accidens non migrat a Subjecto in Subjectum Fifthly Spirits so called from their Volatility by fire that enter the Composition of Metals will not endure fusion by fire but easily fly off such as Quicksilver Auripigmentum Sandaraca Chrisocolla Cadmia which by some Authors are reckoned for Concrete Juices but by others for Spirits from their Volatility and Waters endowed with these kind of Ingredients are generally poisonous Agricola Lib. 1. 2. telleth us of waters betwixt Seburgh and Strapela that by their Malignancy will kill Fishes and other Animals that drink thereof Arsenical Waters we read of as at Circum in Thracia at Perant near Mompelier of many such waters Fallopius de Therm Aq. giveth us an account Now Dr. Jorden reckoneth some Waters that contain Quicksilver for wholesome waters as that at Serra Morena and La Nava in Spain Almagra and Toletum But if we consider how that Mercury is an Enemy to the Nervous Parts especially when unprepared how it abounds with Arsenical Particles before it is purisied we may much doubt of the wholesomeness of them yet I shall not dispute against the Possibility of the Thing So also are these from Sulphur very dangerous because they often partake of a Poisonous Minera These that partake of Cadmia are to be avoided because the Natural Cadmia is Poisonous and a strong Caustick Cadmia foffili Aquae infectae acres esse consueverunt Agricol de Natur. Eor Efflu ex Terra Lib. 1. Sixthly Mean or half Metals so called because they are fusible but not malleable like Metals as Antimony Bismuthum or Tin-Glass found in England and Germany These may be Ingredients to Mineral waters and for the Vertues of such we must look to the impregnating Object Seventhly Metals as Lead Tin Iron Gold Copper and Silver for Mercury from its Volatility by fire is reckoned by Dr. Jorden among Mineral Spirits These saith Fallopius de Therm Aq. Cap. 8. May be Ingredients in Mineral waters but telleth us that he never knew any Particular Spring in which Metals had their share But we have sufficient Testimony of Particular Springs that are impregnated with Metals Baccius De Therm Lib. 6. Cap. 3. giveth us an account of several waters that have preyed on Iron and several whose Vertue is from the Magnet which indeed is a better sort of Iron-stone Solinander De Font. Temperat Cap. 6. Instanceth divers Springs containing Metalline Ingredients as that impregnated with Copper at Baia in Campania and that at Luca called St. John's Bath with Lead as the Lead-Waters in Lotharingia with Iron as at Siena Verona and Luca. To which I might add our Chalybeat waters at Tunbridge Astrap and Scarbrough with our late found Spring at Ilmington The same Author telleth us that waters are found impregnated with Gold Silver Lead and Precious Stones although very rarely because of their Scarcity and the compact Substances of Pearls Multitude of Examples of Mineral waters we have cited by Dr. Jorden On Min. Wat. Nat. Bat. Cap. 10. to whom I may refer the Reader But it may be questioned how can Earth be reckoned as a Mineral and one of the foregoing seven Genera taking a Mineral for an Inanimate perfect Body bred in the Bowels of the Earth Answ Minerals are here taken in a large sense under which Earth is comprehended in as much as it is the Receptacle and Matrix of Subterraneous Conceretes whose Particles may also be communicated to water in its Current Stones also in this respect may be taken for Minerals Concrete Juices or Salts are reckoned as a Distinct Genus although as I shall hereafter prove that all Compound Bodies in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdome are made out of a Succus as their more immediate Matter from their Properties resulting from their peculiar texture of Parts Thus Salts are reckoned from their easy Dissolution in water and their reconcretion Bitumina from their burning and wasting by fire although they enter not the Composition of a Metal Sulphur will burn and wast by fire and is also often a Metalline Ingredient and is reckoned with Mercury c. among Mineral Spirits which are so called from their Volatility by fire although they enter the Composition of Metals Antimony and Tin Glass are accounted as half Metals because they are fusible but not malleable like Metals which are both Fusible and Malleable Mineral Substances I need not Apologize for the Vsefulness of Mineral Waters seeing they have been for several Hundreds of years in great Estimation The Romans we are informed by Baccius De Therm had their Baths in great request and for the greater splendor had many Magnificent Buildings erected at Rome And of the frequent Bathings of the Turks although only with pure Water Alpinus De Medic. Aegypt Lib. 3. Cap. 17. giveth us an Account I need not likewise relate the Superstition of the Ancients who when a Mineral Spring was found from the strangeness of its Effects soon dedicated it to some Saint or Deity because they made little Scrutiny into the Nature of Mineral Waters And since that Experimental Philosophy hath found favour in the world knowledge herein hath dayly encreased and for the Promotion hereof let us make enquiry into each Particular that at length we may arrive to Vniversal Conclusions In the Prosecution of my Design I shall observe this method and accordingly divide the following Treatise First To enquire into the Nature of Compound Bodies either in the Animal Vegetable or Mineral Kingdom under Minerals will fall in a Consideration of the Original and Difference of Glebes that chiefly give Essence to Mineral-Waters Secondly To make Experimental Essays into the Nature of Ilmington-Spring Thirdly After taking a short Survey of most Diseases incident to the Body of man as to their Causes or Original to enquire how far Ilmington-Spaw may conduce to their Cure and to preserve Health whilst entire But by the way take notice That whereas I made the Experiments on Ilmington-Spaw in a dry Season and was very careful and exact in the weight of the water which I have given Pag. 48 it may admit of a Variation not only in weight but be weakned in its Vertue in a wet Season when the Springs are rank by a mixture of Rain-water and also by the breaking in of any fresh Spring Hydrologia Philosophica OR An Account of
in the Neck or to the sides of the Receiver in the Distillation of Harts-horn mix it with so much Phlegm drawn off as sufficeth for its dissolution you 'l have an excellent Spirit which according to the Quantity of Salt dissolved will be stronger or weaker So that the Phlegm rising with volatile Salt in Distillation or afterwards mixed with it liquisieth and turneth it into a Spirit The same may be said of the Spirits of all Animals and is manifestly apparent by the Distillation of Vipers whose Salt sticketh for the greatest part to the sides of the Receiver or head of the Limbeck but mixed with the Phlegm doth become a Spirit of Excellent Use This Salt in Distillation carrieth with it a little yellowish Oyl but by instillation of Sp. Vini Tartarizatus is preserved except the Spirit of Wine containeth a considerable quantity of Phlegm which will soon dissolve the Volatile Salt of Vipers Acid Spirits as of Vitriol Vinegar Sulphur c. is but an Essential acid Salt liquified by Phlegm or by Violence of Fire Spirit of Vitriol is Salt Liquified by force of Fire which hath freed the Saline from the terrestrious parts this we may conclude from the Caustick quality both of the Spirit and Oyl which only differ in as much as the Oyl is the more Acid part of Vitriol with a little Phlegm and Sulphur and improperly called Oyl but the Spirit with more Phlegm and less of the Acid Part. And that Spirit of Vitriol chiefly consists of a Salt in fluore is more fully manifest by instillation of an Alkali for Example pour Olcum Tartari per Deliquium upon Spirit of Vitriol as in the making of Tartarum Vitriolatum the Acid of Vitriol and Alkali of Tartar combine together into a Neutral Salt but the Phlegmatick part is evaporated as an insipid Water So may any Acid Salts in fluore being mixed with Alkalis be revived again into dry Salts by Evaporation Precipitation Chrystallization c. so that Saline Spirits either Acid or Alkalizate in as much as they contain a Salt highly exalted or volatilised are called Spirits Sal quatenus volatile Spiritus dici potest Helm Paradox 4. Against this Opinion Thales Milesius Helmont and others oppose themselves Thales observing Vegetables to grow and flourish by Moisture that Plants fade by drougth and Trees cast their leaves but after showrs of Rain revive look fresh and green that Moisture is requisite to Nutrition of Animals that Minerals take their Original and encrease from a concretion of their proper Succus that Stones take their Rise from a petrifying juice upon such like Considerations hath assigned Water for the Original of Concretes To which Principle Van. Helmont hath added Semen making the Chymical Principles Salt Sulphur and Mercury but posterior products of Water and Seed He telleth us indeed Primordialiter duo tantum in Vniverso esse Elementa aerem videlicet aquam à Textu sacro satis insinuata per spiritum in mundi incunabulis aquarum abysso supernatantem Paxad â— But then speaking of the Elements as the first matter of Compounds telleth us by his own experience he could convert all Concrete bodys into Water as into the only and first Principle And if so what becomes of Earth the Fourth Aristotelian Principle and the Fifth Chymical according to Dr Willis Nostra Mechanica mihi patefecit arenam marcasitam argillam terram lapides coctos vitrum calcem sulphur c. transmutari in salem actualem aequiponderantem suo corpori unde sactus est quòd iste sal aliquoties cohobatus cum sale Circulato Paracelsi suam omnino fixitatem amittat tandem transmutetur in liquorem qui etiam tandem transit in Aquam insipidam quòd Aqua ista aequiponderet sali suo unde manavit Plantam verò carnes ossa pisces quicquid similium est novi redigere in mera sua Tria unde â—ostmodum aquam insipidam confeci Helm in Elementa So that by his Alkahest at least assisted with Paracelsus's Sal circulatam he could reduce all Concrets into Water yea the Tria Chymicorum Principia whence we may suppose them but secundary things made out of Water by the efficacy of Seminal Principles planted ab origine Lantent in Elemen torum condo an ditissimo promptuario hospitaâ—â— ab initio rationes in aevum durabiles scientiâ rerum sibi in tempore futurarum instructae c. Haelmont Parad. 1. So that he granteth but Two first Principles viz. Water for the subject matter and Semen for the efficient and plastick cause From this experiment we must necessarily conclude allowing the truth thereof That the Quaternary of the Aristotelian principles and also the â—ria for Spirits and Earth are but products of the other of the Chymists must fall excepting that of Water with the Seminal Principles for we must allow that argument of the Aristotelians into which bodies are ultimately resolved of such they do consist but into the Principle Water bodies are ultimately resolved Ergo They consist of the Principle of Water For the truth of which Analysis we have the experience of that profound and learned Helmont who with his â—â—kahest could reduce Animals Vegetables and Minerals into a pure water only telleth us that the greatest difficulty was in the Reduction of the Sabulum bulliens or Quellem yet by industry the thing was fecible Paracelsus his Predecessor did arrive almost to that height who could with his Circulatum majus resolve Metals into an Oyl which Helmont by the addition of an Alkali did change into water Besides the testimony of Helmont led as he tells us by thirty years experience and not trusting to probable conjectures Lullius and others have contended for the same thing and pretended to have been experienced in the same grand and noble Menstruum But to lay aside Authority Reason built upon Experience seemeth to conclude that Water is the main and perhaps I might truly say the only subject matter of Concretes Which by the Seminal Principles and ferments thereof is transmuted into this or that Bodie according to the nature or species of the Semen or Idea of the Archeus It may perhaps seem a strang Paradox and a renovation of an old Philosophical Hypothesis exploded by most of the Ancient and Modern Naturalists But were it not beyond my intended subject I might prosecute the assertion and prove That all bodies in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral kingdom do take their material Principle from Water I mean not that all sublunary bodies do immediately owe their Original to a pure elementary Water but either to simple Water or else to a Succus sui generis nutritius which is matter run through some alterations from that first pure Element of Water And in this sense are the Assertions of the Hydroplasticks comprehending Succus under the notion of Water I might only propose Let any man shew me an Animal Vegetable or Mineral that I cannot prove to owe its Original
part into Phlegm The flesh of Eeles as Mr. Boyle hath observed by distillation doth yield a great quantity of water and whilst distilling they seem to boyl like a pot of water seeming to be nothing else but a congealed water The semen of Vegetables before roots and branches are formed do require a moist body which according to the Plastick power of the Archeus doth Proteus like turn its shape and that which was in the form of Water is turned into a Vegetable which by the Ferments of our body may become blood or flesh which at length by Putrefaction may be resolved and turned in Worms c. But even to the generation of Worms and Insects a putrid juice is required If we look to the first formation of an Animal we shall find the Sperme to be but a Liquor disguised by the Ferment of Seminal Vessels which by circulation through the parts of the body whilst blood is impregnated with an Efflorescence of the whole And when it is thus prepared before the Aura vitalis can exert its operation it must have a convenient Matrix as a place but an Addition of moisture for encrease of the Animal formed As Vegetables and Animals have their Seeds so likewise Minerals in the Bowels of the Earth and not only to the encrease but also to the first formation of a Particular in either of these Species we still find a Succus required 'T is true the Mineral Seeds are inconspicuous and fall not under our sense of Seeing So by an exact enquiry we shall find these of Animals and Vegetables For the prolifick part or Genitura is properly the Seed but the Sperme in an Animal and the Grains or Corns among Vegetables are but convenient Receptacles to lodge the more active part which is indiscernable by the best instruments in Opticks until set at work by some External cause in its proper place But however we see by dayly experience that by the plastick power of the Seeds a juice is formed into roots and branches so from Metaline and Mineral Seeds placed in the body of the earth rather in divers parcels thereof ab origine whence the variety of Mineral Glebes which turn a Succus into their own nature These Mineral Principles being set at work by the Celestial influence upon appropriate matter form to themselves a Mercurial Juice and Sulphur as the more immediate matter to the production of Metals or Minerals which by the specifick Ferments of the Seeds at length are compleated That Mineral Glebes will appropriate a juice and therefrom perfect a Metal is hence evident As Earth out of which Nitre is extracted and afterwards exposed to the open Air will centre upon it the floating Saline Particles the like effect we shall find upon the Caput mortuum of Vitriol so as to be again impregnate with a fresh Vitriol or Nitre in like manner Mineral Glebes after the Metal is extracted will again convert a Succus into a Metal as the Miners of Tin Lead c. can testify who find a fresh Ore where All was for sixty or seventy years before extracted Dr. Jorden hath observed that the Tinners in Cornwall within thirty years have found Tin generated de Novo where it hath been all digged up and the place filled with earth Jord Natur. Bath Cap. XI Many examples he citeth as the great Income witnessed by Fallopius that the Duke of Florence hath by Metals and Minerals produced where all Ore was before exhausted So also that of the Iron Mines at Ilva an Island of the Adriatick Sea where the Venetians find Iron generated afresh yea as fast as they can work it this is testified by Georgius Agricola de Ortu Cauj Subt. Lib. 5. p. 61. Who farther confirmeth the Reproduction of Metals Putei ex quibus materia metallo gravida est effossa aliquot annis eadem replentur And a little after In Lygiis ad Sagam oppidum eruitur è pratis ferri vena quae fossae decennio replentur venâ renatâ Agric. Lib. 5. p 64. Remarkable aâ—so is that of Erastus Vidi ego argentum purissimum in valle Joachimicâ in arbore sive trabe cuniculi cujusdam concretum quae vix ante annos 25 aut 30 ad sustinendum cuniculum ibi collocata fuerat Erastus de Medicin Nov. Paracels de Metallis p. 19. That in the Mines of S. Joachims Valley Silver was generated on a Prop of Wood that had not above 25 or 30 years supported the Mine-works We cannot suppose the reason of the new Eruptions of fire after hundreds of years at Aetna and Vesuvius and these prodigious burnings of the Mountains Popochampeche and Popocatepec mentioned by Mr. Gage in his Survey of the West Ind. Cap. 13. Except a production of Bituminous or Sulphureous matter generated de Novo is the cause of perpetuating these Vulcano's For else how could the fire burn round these Hills and perhaps return violently to the same place it had burned in about a hundred years before It must certainly find new matter seeing that in former Eruptions of fire Ashes have been cast forth yea the very stones and earth have been as it were calcined to Powder So that we cannot imagine Sulphureous matter to be there left but by the Seminal Principles and a convenient Succus to be newly begotten But I need not proceed to produce the testimony of more Authors as I might out of Caesalpinus de Metallis and Libavius in his Alchem de Metal seeing most Authors as to this particular have allowed a generation of Minerals de Novo not approving the Opinion of some few supposing them to have been latent from the Creation The difference is whether with Erastus in defence of Aristotle we suppose the matter before concretion into a hard Mineral or Metalline Substance to be a Vapor or with Agricola we believe Succus est ex quo formatur Metallum de Ortu Subt. Lib. 5. p. 71. but it will not be very material For if the Matter do arrive to the Mineral Glebes under the form of Halitus or Vapor What is Vapor but a Succus or moist body whose Particles are seperated and elevated apart but may be collected again into a greater Bulk by a Receiver c. as Helmont hath sufficiently proved In Distillation of Water the vapour that ariseth is but Water rarified whose Particles collected in a Receiver make up again a body of Water That Minerals may be made out of Water we have that Experiment cited by Mr. Boyle out of Monsieur de Rochas I took saith he water which I well knew not to be compounded nor mixed with any other thing then the Spirit of Life By a well proportioned artificial heat I so ordered it that with it and coagulations congelation and fixation I turned it into earth which earth produced Animals Vegetables and Minerals Here Water was turned into Earth which at length was converted into either of the Three States Out of Mercury saith the afore-cited
continue the species After Adam had drew a curse on the ground we still find that the Earth should bring forth but it should be such as were more useless an unfit for meat as thorns and thistles but the more useful plants it should not unless by humane labour and industry In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread Gen. 3 19. As God implanted various seeds of Herbs in the earth which as at first sprung therefrom so yet from seeds continue their species being set at work by the Divine Fiat so soon as the celestial influences and appropriate secondary Causes are rightly applied with convenient Matter so in like manner hath God the Creator placed variety of Mineral seeds in divers parcels of Earth from which cometh a Diversity of Mineral glebes as here Clay Marle there Marcasites of Iron Alum c. as Dr. Jorden Nature Bath and Min. Wat. c. 7. argueth That Minerals have their Seeds to perpetuate their species And that there are Metallick seeds in the bowels of the Earth may be concluded from the Generation and Maturating of a crude Mercurial and sulphureous juice until a perfect Metal is formed As hath been proved p. 18. how the caput mortuum of Vitriol exposed to open Air will be again impregnated and fresh Ore of Tin or Lead where 60 or 70 years before aâ— was extracted and old mines replenished with fresh Iron stones All which productions depend on the Seminal Principles lodged in several parcels of Earth which from a succulent Matter from a Body according to the Specification of the Archeus The succus of the Earth by the operation of the Seminal Agent is at first converted into a crude Mercury and embrionate Sulphur which at length by maturation doth become a perfect Metal So from the Esurine or common Salt of the earth according to the diversity of Glebes do arise different Mineral Salts such as that of Vitriol Alum Nitre and Sal Gemma These Salts being dissolved in spring-spring-water sliding through the veins of the earth and meeting with a Vitriolick or Aluminous glebe c. doth become a natural Menstruum to open the body of a Minera These Salts as so many Keys to unlock the Mineral Kingdom make the current Springs impregnated with the vertues of them and hence is the Original of Medicinal Waters Against the opinion of an Universal or one Common Salt of the Earth out of which all Mineral Salts according to the different Glebes are made into different species Dr. Lister de font med c. 6. objecteth several reasons and endeavoureth a confutation of Helmont's Assertion of an Esurine or Vniversal Salt His Reasons are reduced to four Heads 1. The Esurine Salt as it doth participate of no Quality to assert the existence thereof is but a gratis dictum 2. A Pyrites or Marcasite cannot perfect its vitriol under water 3. It is scarce credible that a vein of Iron can be corroded of that Esurine Salt 4. Vitriol is not made suddenly or in a moment but by a gentle assiduous germination Against which reasons I shall offer these Experimental Observations proving that there is an Universal Salt or Common Matter to them all 1. There is one thing in common among them because of the Convertibility of one Salt into another as a Vitrioline by Alterations may be turned into an Aluminous Salt witness the making of Turbith Minerale thus Add four ounces of oyl of Vitriol to one ounce of Mercury by setting the mixture on a digestive furnace the Phlegm will be evaporated but there will remain in the Bolt-head a Citrine powder from the Alkalizate Mercury fixed by the acid parts of the oyl of Vitriol From this powder edulcorated by washings of water and distilled with Quick-lime or Pot-ashes may be revived a current Quicksilver yea to its full weight as at first The water that by washings edulcorated this powder boyled up yieldeth an aluminous Salt Here Vitriolick salt is turned into Alum for the Mercury may be restored to its full weight so that the Vitrioline is the only salt transformed This is mentioned by Dr. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. p. 60. where an Experiment of his own he giveth thus Distill oyl of Vitriol and common Salt with a gentle heat in a glass body or Retort you will find a very volatile spirit of Salt will come over the helm which will fume exceedingly the Caput mortuum or remaining Salt being dissolved gives a Salt exactly resembling Alum To which I may annex that Observation of Dr. Jorden Natur Bath c. 7. That in Distillation of oyl of Vitriol the Lute wherewith the glasses are joyned will yield a perfect Alum The affinity or rather transmutability of Vitriol and Alum are so great that he telleth us it may be doubted whether they are distinct species of Salts 2. Set several plants in the same soyl as Scurvigrass Wormwood c. These by distillation shall yield different salts as the greatest part of that of Wormwood will be a fixed but of Scurvigrass a volatile salt Which variety of salts must proceed from the different fermentations and alterations of the nutritive succulent Matter If it be objected that each plant attracteth a peculiar succus whose particles are answerable to the pores of the Vegetable and so some Plants take in more of the volatile and others more of the fixed salt Answ The same Plants as Wormwood Beans yea I had almost said All vegetables by distillation yield both volatile and fixed salt although they differ as to the quantity thereof For the division of Salts into Fixed and Volatile is only from the degrees of volatization The fixed or Alkali salt is not easily sublimed but will endure calcination in as much as it is deprived of spirits and incorporated with earth but the volatile is endowed with spirits and may be easily sublimed either of which containing all the vertue of the Plant may be called an Essential Salt Yet the proximate Matter before formation might be the Common universal Salt determined by different Strainers and Ferments of Vegetables 3. The production of Sal fossilis is from the Acid of the Earth insinuating it self into the pores of stones that are an Alkali it being once penetrated is united with the stony parts into a saline Concrete which from its transparency is called Sal Gemma Thus an Acid of the Earth sliding through mountains of stone have converted them almost all into a fossile Salt as Authors of credit do testifie of mountains in Poland 4. That Salts have something in common among them may be hence concluded Expose the Caput mortuum of Vitriol of Nitre of Alum and of Sal Gemma to the open air Each will center upon it the floating saline particles of the Air or else imbibe a saline succus so as to become again impregnate with a peculiar Salt So that the saline particles are indifferent to which kind they are to be appropriated by the latent Seminals And that all Minerals stony
and saline concretions do come from a succus which is afterwards congealed into a hard substance may be concluded from Animals that are found enclosed in stones such as a Toad in the midst of a Stone a petrified Fish a Spider in Amber so also Fljes Worms Ants c. For Stones and Minerals whilst in solutis principiis or in succo may environ an Animal as a petrifying juice doth a piece of wood which being congealed will be as a coat of defence to preserve them from putrefaction as Gilbertus speaking of Amber hath well described it Mollis primùm viscosa materia fuit quare muscas vermiculos culices formicas in frustulis quibusdam comprehensos tumulatos aeternis sepulchris relucentes continet Qui omnes in liquidum cùm primum efflueret involârunt vel irrepserunt vel inciderunt Gilb. de magnete lib. 2. cap. 2. Upon such like considerations Helmont might well conclude one Common Salt indifferent to which species it should be determined but not void of Qualities as Dr. Lister urgeth who assigneth an Acid liquor sliding through the veins of the earth for the Original of all Salts Quocirca notandum est Sal quoddam existere hermaphroditicum metallorum quod defectu nominis Esurinum sive Acetosum re nomine vocari coepit Generale equidem ad omnia metalla accommodabile adeoque si non primam velut remotissimam eorundem materiam putare placeat saltem est metallorum scundina quibuslibet metallis congenialis Helm parad 3. The second argument against one chief Salt out of which others are formed is taken from the Pyrites which saith Dr. Lister cannot perfect its Vitriol under water But the making of vitriolum Martis or Veneris doth evince the contrary For Vitriol being but a Mineral Salt that hath preyed on and combined with a Metal as with Iron or Copper the Menstruum may be aqueous if there be a convenient quantity of Salt therein to incorporate with the dissolved part of metal In making vitriolum Martis water added to oyl of Vitriol doth only weaken the Menstruum that the more soluble parts of Iron may be dissolved and incorporated with the saline parts of the liquor for were the Menstruum too corrosive it would insinuate into the body of Mars and make an impure Salt or Vitriol of Iron His arguments against the possibility of the Esurine salt dissolving a vein of Iron suppose no distinction betwixt the crudity and maturity of the minera Although Aqua fortis or spirit of Nitre will not dissolve Ocre nor the Haematites yet either will strongly ferment with filings of Iron or the more maturate parts of Mars Although the Haematites be a sort of Iron-stone and Ocre be the Terra metallica yet thence it will not follow that the Menstruum for Iron are the Menstruums for the Haematites which many times is soft and like clay and the Ocre a meer metalline earth For Bodies must have their proper Dissolvents which may undo the fast and hard contexture of some Bodies but leave untouched the softer compages of others Witness an Aluminous liquor will corrode a bar of Iron but leave safe and sound a piece of cloth as Dyers daily find by experience So also by the testimony of them at the Alum-works a Lee made by the decoction of the calcined minera of Alum is boyled in a leaden Cistern which it leaveth uncorroded but a furnace of Iron or a plate thereof put into the boyling liquor is soon torn to pieces So likewise Aqua fortis will corrode a bar of Iron but leave entire a ball of soft Clay As this Esurine Acid doth prey upon a vein of Iron it doth incorporate with the more pure metalline parts and make a Neutral Salt To the effecting of which a long tedious delay is not requisite for we find by the making of vitriolum Martis the saline parts of the Menstruum do soon insinuate themselves into the pores of the metal Whence Helmont Constat martis vitriolum sale Esurino embryonati sulphuris vena non ferro ferri quam sal esurinum adhuc volatile lambendo corrosit in quo corrosionis actu fit aliqualis dissolutio ipsius venae coagulatio sive fixatio salis volatilis Helm Parad. 4. To the difference of Salts then in the bowels of the earth these three things do concur 1. An Esurine Acid 2. Water to convey this Acid to an appropriate Glebe 3. a Mineral Glebe As Water impregnate with this Acid runneth through the subterrestrial Channels and meeteth with a glebe of Alum Nitre Marcasites of Iron or of Copper c. so it is determined to this or that specifick Salt whether Alum Nitre Sal Gemma Vitriol of Iron or Copper The Esurine Acid thus coagulated into Salt may by the subsequent streams of water or by a free Current of the same bring along with it some particles of the mineral salt either floating or dissolved in it the more indeed in case the Minerals are in solutis principiis or their Succulencies If water floweth from a Nitrous glebe it giveth a cold spring as many there are in England if from an Aluminous glebe and bringeth some of the salt thereof and thereby is the more able to prey on an occurrent minera of Iron it yieldeth fontes â—eidulos or Spaw-waters such as Scarbrough Spaw Barnet and Epsom waters c. all which Aluminous waters though Chalybeat work by Siedge If the Esurine Acid prey chiefly on a minera of Iron the water will be most what Diuretick and colour the excrements black such as Tunbridg Astrap and Stallbridg Waters among which that near Ilmington in Warwick-shire may be accounted the principal no water in England being a stronger Chalybeat as I shall hereafter prove If water wherein is this Esurine Acid meet with no Mineral glebe as of Iron Copper c. it remaineth only a sower brackish water which with Galls will strike no Purple Of this sort there is one famous near Chesterfield in the County of Derby the salt of which by Chrystallization and Evapoâ—ation is of an irregular figure and not a Calcarious Nitre or common Salt as Dr. Lister would have most of our medicinal Fountains to consist of But against what hath been said concerning the Esurine Acid meeting with Marcasites of Iron or Copper and being by them converted into a Vitrioline salt which may give essence to some Springs Dr. Lister de font med Ang. c. 7. opposeth himself telling us that mature Vitriol is not to be found in any of our medicinal Waters and that he cannot credit Helmont who saith that by distillation he found Pauhont and Savenir two German Spaws to contain a Vitriol of Iron His Reasons are intimated to us Pyrites qui in aere in merum vitriolum c. The Pyrites or Marcafite in open air is turned by its proper germination into a meer vitriol but under water doth as it were dissolve into a spirit sulphureous
halitus or Ocre And afterwards saith Vitriol is resolvable into three Principles Salt Sulphur and Ocre but the Saline principle is only owing to the Germination in Air. But had the Docter considered how that Vitriol is found under ground where we cannot suppose a free access of air if any at all he would not have been so positive in his assertion For the Hungarian and Cyprian blew Vitriol is digged up near the Copper-mines the English Roman and German Vitriol which last partaketh of a little Copper lie near to Iron stones All which without exposing to the air will from their Marcasites yield their distinct sorts of vitriol And what should hinder the germination of vitriol under ground seeing that vitriol is but a Compound body of an acid Salt and sulphureous Earth The sulphureous Earth is but the Ocre or Terra metallica that Mater ferri vel Veneris which receiveth the Acid and determineth the same according to the Power of the Semen latent in the Earth which may as well convert the Acid of the Earth as the Saline particles floating to and fro in the air As for the dissolution of the Pyrites in water I shall easily grant that much of its saline part may be thus resolved especially whilst it is near its first succulency but thence see no reason to lay its Original upon the Air neither could ever find any of these spirits flying off from mineral waters which the Doctor calleth ipsum metallum vegetans for if so then certainly there might be by the help of an Alembick and Receiver such a spirituous substance preserved from fresh Spring-water which none that ever I heard of could obtain T is true some steams will fly off from mineral water as by our sense of smelling may be perceived but these Aporrhea are but some particles winding off and are the effect of fermentation or heat yet cannot be collected retaining the full nature of the mineral ingredient All mixt bodies are subject to change by internal or external ferments and by the active agile parts and motion many vapours as in insensible transpiration may fly off and enter the pores of other bodies or perhaps put on a new form but never could be found an essential spirit of Mineral water But by spirit perhaps the Doctor might mean Ocre for he tells us c. 7. that Ocre doth evaporate from our Baths and that spirit which flyeth off is a Metal and elsewhere will not allow Ocre to be a sulphureous Earth but a meer Metal merum ferri metallum est Lâ—st de font med c. 2. because after burning in the fire it may be drawn by the Loadstone But Gilbertus hath proved that not only Iron but many other things will answer the operation of the Magnet Non ferrum tantùm magnes à magnete attrahitur volvitur magneticè sed ferreae venae omnes lapides etiam alii ut fissiles Rhenani Andegavenses nigri quibus pro tegulis utuntur aliorumque colorum substantiarum plurimi si praeparati fuerint tum omnis argilla glis saxaque nonnulla atque ut planiùs dicam omnis terra firmior modò pinguioribus humidis corruptelis defoedata non fuerit ut lutum coenum And a little after Omnia magnete attrahuntur solis ignibus praeparata à recrementitio humore liberata Gilb. de mag lib. c. 17. Not only Iron and a Magnet which is but a more pure minera of Iron or finer Iron-stone may be drawn by a Magnet but Stones white Earth Potters clay yea all firm Earth in case the Excrements and putrid moisture are purged off by fire T is true the Operation betwixt the Magnet and Iron is great and consequently by how much the more of metalline parts of Iron there are in a mineral Earth by so much the more conspicuous is the Magnetism yet simple Earth after Calcination will though in an inferior degree shew the like effect But this leading me to the enquiry of a new subject I shall return to my proposed matter in hand Du Glos observ on the Min. wat. of Fran. p. 8. rightly telleth us That the first Beings or Embryo's of Mineral Salts are nothing else but vapours or juices unconcrete wholly vapourable And pag. 9. The Embryonate Salt in the Chalk-stones is a stony juice which mixeth it self with waters that pass between the beds and interstices of the stones in the rocks but is not easily discern'd in the waters impregnated therewith The Seminary of Alum and Vitriol is also necessary in the substances whence these sorts of Salts are drawn Waters current in their chanâ—els meeting with and dissolving them become a proper menstruum to unlock the Mineral Kingdom and according to the dissolved minera so Waters differ in their qualities Upon the variety of Salts and Mineral Earths dependeth variety of Springs For there are four sorts of Salt commonly known to us according to Dr. Jorden and others viz. Alum Vitriol Nitre and common Salt which others and perhaps with as great reason reduce to three Alum Vitriol and common Salt which last may be again divided into Sal gemma or fossilis Fountain-salt and Sal Marine because these three sorts partake near of the same nature and work almost the like effects Only the Sea-salt being dissolved in water hath lost many of its sharp points and consequently is not so penetrating as Sal fossilis from mountains and rocks of which according to most of our modern Authors the saltness of the Sea doth take its original An affinity betwixt these Salts Monsieur Lemery hath observed who aâ—so in his Cour. Chym. Remar on Salt-peter giveth us this Experiment When Salt-peter is boiled a long time in water and over a great fire some part of the spirits fly away and there at last remains nothing but a Salt like unto Sea-salt or Sal Gemma which serves to prove that Salt-peter is only a Sal gemma fuller of spirits than the other And if so then Salt-peter may be ranked under the other and make no different species of Salt From these Salts with which waters may singly or joyntly be impregnated to which for ought we can tell species of Salt as yet unknown to us may be added preying upon divers Minerals must needs depend great variety of Mineral waters As for the Calcarious salt asserted by Dr. Lister I suppose it to be but a kind of Nitre which is centered upon the Lapis Calcarius mentioned by Falopius de Therm Aq. c. 8. and by the seminary principle thereof doth become a stony salt discernable enough by some clear but cold petrifying Springs The variety also of Earths as white red or yellow Marle Clay Chalk or other mineral Earths may cause great variety as to the weight colour sediment smell c. more especially when there is a complication of many in the same water PART II. NOw I shall proceed to Enquire what are the Ingredients of Ilmington-Spaw first taking notice of
to the bottom and by their mutual conflict or ferment having broken off and dulled the edges of each others Particles and combined together do become a Neutral Salt Some Authors have asserted That from a Tartarum vitriolatum put into a Retort by the force of fire may be drawn off a spirit of vitriol again as if the Salts clasping together had not as it were destroyed each others pristine texture of parts by breaking off and dulling the edges of the saline Particles Nevertheless Experience proveth That what is drawn over the Helm from Tartarum vitriolatum is not a spirit like the oyl or spirit of vitriol at the first For the Taste and Operation of it plainly sheweth that the Alkalizate salt of Tartar hath almost wholly taken off its Acidity yea I think I might positively affirm That it is an impossibility from these Neutral Salts such as Tartarum vitriolatum vitriolum Martis c. to restore an Acid to its pristine lustre and efficacy I said before when the Acid and Alkalizate Bodies are mixed in a proportionate quantity together For the Acid in too great a quantity dissolves and destroys all these Coagula that it made with the Alkali when mixed in a small quantity Whilst these Contraries are proportionate the Alkalizate Particles maintained their part against the Acid so that both lay fixed and free from motion but by addition of more Acid its strength is increased so as to scatter and dissolve the Coagulation And this may be seen as I intimated before by instillation of spirit of Vitriol upon this Spaw-water or a Solution of sal Chalybis with Galls wherein the vitrioline parts of the Water with the Galls make coagula but by addition of more spirit of vitriol or other Acid are scattered that the Liquor becomes again clear The same reason is when the Alkali is too strong for the Acid it destroys and expells the acid particles floating in the Liquor and maketh them unable to bear up a conflict So also when Milk is curdled by an Acid the Acid hath entered the Cheesy part and lost its motion but upon the pouring on of more Acid the Cheesy part will be precipitated but at last the Coagulation will dissolve away and quite disappear Many Instances I might produce which I shall pass by seeing they allow the same Rationale As in the making of Tartarum vitriolatum the Salts combine and work themselves into a Neutral Salt so also in this Spring-water where by an Esurine acid Salt acuating the Water is made a Solution of the Minera of Iron whose Alkalizate parts combined and clasped with the Esurine acid Salt are become a Neutral Upon the instillation of a contrary Salt whether volatile or fixed Alkali the Salts presently make an assault upon each other and by their closing together and taking off their edges by the ferment become a third or Neutral Salt In the conflict or duel they thrust forth and partly leave the Mineral body dissolved by the Esurine Acid which precipitates to the bottom and carrieth down with it some of the Salts of the Menstruum For more than a Colcothar must be here separated because of the ebullition following an instillation of Acids thereon But least that it should be imagined that there may follow a fermentation by instillation of Acids because of the Alkali added to make a Precipitation but not belonging to it as a Mineral Water we must consider that a precipitation may be made besides that by droping thereon or mixing contrary Salts out of mineral Water three ways 1. by exposing to the air which causeth a putrefactive ferment the Mineral parts will subside 2. by heat as in boiling distilling c. the Ocre falls 3. by motion ab extra as by carriage c. The Powder thus precipitated did with Acids make a great ebullition which could not be from any Salts not belonging to it as a Mineral Wherefore the Sediment thus precipitated is not a simple Colcothar but with the Colcotar do fall some of the Salts of the Menstruum for by pouring on fresh water and dulcifying the Sediment a Salt is extracted from the Colcotar that may by Evaporation Chrystallization c. be brought to a dry body and exactly answereth sal Chalybis as to its Operation Experiments and Effects I distilled a considerable quantity of this Water in a Glass Retort and Receiver closely luted to it The first Water that came over the Helm I found by taking off the Receiver to be insipid which would not with Galls Balaustia flowers Avens Bistort roots c. like vitrioline waters strike a Purple Then I distilled off more insipid Water but to the sides of the Retort when cooled I found sticking a redish powder like that I found by Evaporation the Residue of the Water in the Retort by Evaporation ad siccitatem yeilded more Upon this Sediment dryed I let fall a few drops of spirit of Nitre of Vitriol oyl of Sulphur per Campanam and Aqua fortis an ebullition with a great effervescence did immediately follow But upon instillation of oyl of Tartar per Deliquium spirit of Harts-horn or other Alkalizate Liquors not the least ebullition or efferverscence could be perceived From which Experiments as also from the former may follow these two collateral Conclusions First That this Spaw like other Mineral Waters by the precipitation of its Ocre or Sediment doth lose its tinging Property with Galls and also is weakened in its Operation And although some of the Salt yet remain dissolved in the Water after the falling of the Sediment its former vigour and efficacy is decayed for by so much the Water hath let fall of its Ocre and Sediment which as I proved before is not a simple metallick earth but doth carry down with it some of the salts of the Menstruum by so much the water is weakened and by the falling of more Sediment groweth weaker and weaker in its Operation Secondly from the ebullition and effervescence of Acids poured upon this Powder left after Evaporation or precipitated by Motion Heat or Air but upon instilling of oyl of Tartar or other Alkalizate Salts no fermentation follows I conclude that the Salt in this Powder is rather Lixivial than Acid although it be as I have hinted before a Neutral Salt from the combining of the Esurine Acid in the Water and the Alkalizate part of Iron yet like Tartarum vitriolatum or vitriolum Martis it inclineth much to an Alkali And whereas an Ebullition and Effervescence followed the instillation of Acids on the precipitated Sediment like as upon vitriol of Iron or Tartar vitriolated c. and that an effervescence and ebullition follows the pouring of oyl of Vitriol on filings of Mars in the making of sal chalybis and the oyl of Vitriol upon the Tartar in making Tartarum vitriolatum both which Compositions like the sediment of this Spaw will strongly ferment with Acids I conclude it is highly probable that this Spring when
like quantity of Ale and Wine mixed into his Crural vein This he continued by turns until a paler tincture instead of the blood issued out of the vein like water wherein flesh hath been washed or like Claret diluted with much water 4. Observ I shall in the next place lay down the Observation of Dr. Harvey de gen Anim. Exerc. 16. The Bulla or Punctum saliens which saith he maketh the Heart is made before the Brain that elaborateth the Animal Spirits The same also doth Langly Obs gen Anim. affirm and common Experience teacheth it So that although it be questioned Whether or no the Blood be formed before the Heart yet it is certain that the Bulla saliens is formed before the Brain From which Experimental Observations I shall gather these Conclusions First the motion of the Heart in fieri cannot proceed from an influx of Animal spirits 〈…〉 panctum saliens which is the Heart in 〈…〉 its motion before either Brain or 〈…〉 are framed to elaborate and convey 〈…〉 spirits to it according to the 〈…〉 Observation 〈…〉 neither can the Pulse be from the 〈…〉 or Ebullition of blood in the 〈…〉 of the Heart for according to the second and third Observations That which came from the Arteries was far enough from Accension being pale and dilute like broth and as Dr. Lower intimateth was far from the colour and nature of Blood From the two Observations before cited from Dr. Lower Dr. Gibson in the Anat. Hum. Bod. Epitom l. 2. c. 5. concludeth a full confutation of that Opinion viz. Pulsation is from Ebullition and Accension of Blood in the ventricles of the Heart Which may be farther denied by the first Observation for the blood was all poured out of the ventricles of the Puppie's heart so that there was none left to make either Ebullition or Accension Thirdly Neither could the Pulse be from a continued influx of Animal spirits from the Brain For according to the first Observation All influx of Spirits was stoped because the Puppie's and Frog's Hearts were cut off from their Nerves by which the spirits do flow if any at all Fourthly Neither can it be from the Respiration of the Lungs for by the first Observation the Hearts of them Animals cut off from the Lungs much more the pieces did yet continue Beating And in an Embryo there is Pulsation of the Bulla saliens before the Lungs are formed and long before they have any Respiration Fifthly Neither from the impression of Subtile Matter for that concludeth for a general but not a particular motion nor why the Heart should keep a Regular Systole and Diastole Because the subtile Matter being in continual motion would press against all the fibres at all times so that the Heart would remain either in a Systole or a Diastole Besides as Diemerbroeck argueth This subtile Matter would restore the motion of the heart whist warm and so always recover life in creatures that are strangled Sixthly Neither can it be from the vivifick spirit in the blood for by the first Observation The Pulse continued after the blood was poured out of the ventricles and a stop put to all influx of fresh blood And by Observ 2. and 3. it s proved That when the whole mass of blood was almost emptied and the rest watery and dilute the heart retained its Pulse yet the vivifick spirit of the blood must have been for the greatest part evacuated with the blood I shall now proceed to lay down what I guess to be the genuine cause of Sanguification and Motion of the Heart although this may be accounted one of Nature's Secrets and too abstruse for Us peremptorily to determine And first for Sanguification In the begining of Conception the Spirituous part of the Seed by heat is excited and collected into the Punctum or Bulla saliens from this Spirit as from a Fermentative substance by the vis Plastica or Archeus are all the Parts of the body deduced For according to Dr. Harvey's Observation the Bulla saliens is first formed from which are derived Sanguincous fibres and one part after another framed until the whole Compages of the Body is perfected Whether according to the sentiments of Dr. Harvey the blood be first made and the Heart afterwards for the motion of the Blood or according to Diemerbroeck the Heart be made before the first Blood it is not very material For on both sides it is concluded That the vivifick spirit of the Semen is the first Former either of Blood or Heart This Spirit having got some Blood for his Vehicle and being by Heat stirred up and dilated doth enlarge its Domicile the Punctum saliens for being too close pent up doth endeavour for an eruption by particular assaults which is the first cause of Pulsation As the Ferment is increased by the addition of new Matter from the Colliquamentum Seminis at first and other Matter afterwards so the vivifick Spirit doth farther dilate it self in the blood uutil it hath formed the Veins and Arteries for its Channels and as a Workman according to the Divine Impress stamped at first by God Almighty on blind Matter or by the Direction of the Archeus as Helmont calls it but as for the Name of that Directive Power call it as you please hath made every part of the whole Body This vivifick acrimonious Spirit doth not only forme out of convenient Matter but also inhere in the Parts formed more or less and giveth to every Part a peculiar Property or Ferment as That of the Stomach for Chylification That of the Heart for Sanguification c. But suppose that the first blood should be formed before the Punctum Saliens and the Heart contribute nothing thereto Yet it must be granted that Things proceed otherways in Adult Animals then they do at the first formation As for Instance There is Motion before the Brain or Nerves are formed yet none now deny that Office to the Brain of elaborating the Animal Spirits that serve for Motion The Embryo is nourished and encreased before the Stomach and other parts serving for Concoction are made yet after they are made in a perfect Foetus and in adult Persons none except through a Spirit of Contradiction will deny them to serve for Concoction so that the Heart by his Acrimonious Spirit implanted therein may serve for Sanguification which I imagine to be as thus So soon as the Chyle is mixed with the Blood the Vital Spirit and other active Principles do work upon the Chyle to assimilate it to its own nature By the Stomachical Ferment the Salt Sulphur and Spirit of the Chyle are almost set at liberty from the grosser parts of the Aliment so that the Active Principles of the Blood soon add to their Exaltation When the Chyle with the Venal blood is entered the right ventricle of the Heart the Heart addeth a new Ferment thereto and sendeth it into the Lungs where it receiveth a farther Alteration from the Nitrous
entered with and defiled them Animal spirits that are generated it causeth an Explosion of the Spirits until they have shaken off the heterogeneous Matter offending as in an Epilepsie Convulsions Swoonings c. If for a Nutritive juice to be conveyed to each part that by its proper digestive ferment assimilateth a convenient matter to repair that which was lost a sowr fretting Humor is advanced in its place instead of Nutrition many Diseases are occasioned For the peculiar ferment of each part being hereby depraved That matter which should be Nutritive will become a sharp corrosive substance or humor as in Cancers Fistulas Vlcers Aposthumations Leprosies Inflammations Strumas Scabies and many other maladies If the thus depraved Aliment reach the Genus Nervosum but not so powerfully as to produce a multitude of Infirmities incident to that kind yet sufficient to cause the Succus nervosus to degenerate from a volatile spirituous Ferment into an Acid humor and by the extremities of the Nerves to be laid down in the Synodia of the joints and the extremities of the Organs where the nervous fibres end and it there meeteth with a Tartareous or fixed humor from the blood the Gout taketh its off-spring or at least is excited from a latent hereditary Seed From the combination of these different saline humors even as from spirit of Vitriol and oyl of Tartar cometh white hard Coagulums or Nodings and by the irritation of the nervous fibres a flux of Humors and consequently Solutio Continui is the Result whence the Gout attended with his various symptoms or wracking Torments approacheth Champion-like almost irresistible The Gout Enemy-like having one displayed his Colours how easily are its forces increased by the eating of Salt-meats drinking of Acid liquors and French-Wines much abounding with a Tartareous Salt which maketh the aforesaid Cause very probable It may be objected That if a spurious Acid or depraved Fermental juice of the first Digestion be thus transferred from the stomach through the subsequent Digestions as to lay a foundation of so many Distempers then from a depraved stomachical Ferment the Diseases resulting from the second and third Principal and other peculiar Digestions will all arise together because the same depraved Alimentary juice is carried in a very small time through them all Answ An Error in the first Digestion being not corrected in the second or subsequent thence it will follow That an Error in the stomachical Ferment will be as a Proximate or at least as a Procatartick Cause of many Diseases immediately ensuing the Digestions subsequent to the first Yet it may not be concluded that it always concureth as a necessary Cause For many times Distempers are the very Products of and are derived from the Depravation of latter Digestions without any previous disposition from the primary Ferment as the Depraved ferment of Sanguification or Production of Animal Spirits may be no less hurtful to our bodies when it is immediately derived from the Errors of subsequent Digestions than when it is laid in the stomachical or first Ferment Thus the Blood wanting a vital Ferment in the Heart and Arteries or its usual volatising Ferment from the Air for want of a due Secretion of its recremental sordes by Obstructions of the vessels want of Perspiration and inordinate use of the Sex Non-naturalia c. will cause Fevers Scurvies or other Distempers incident to the blood when the stomachical Ferment may be entire The Brain also being too lax or weakened by the irregular use of the Six Non-naturalia or by the illness of them or otherways having lost its saline volatising Ferment may of it self give occasion to many Distempers incident to the Genus Nervosum The Womb in the Female sex by its peculiar Ferment causeth an inturgescence of the Uterine blood-vessels so as to open them and make a Lunar Evacuation of the superfluous blood which by the intention of Nature is designed for the nourishment of the foetus but if there be no Conception excepting impediments then a Menstrual flux If the blood-vessels be obstructed by gross humors or their orifices closed by Cold c. then the superfluous blood ready for Expulsion contracts a violent acrimony and regurgitates with the circulating blood to the Heart and Brain whence Syncopes Palpitations of the Heart Faintings Convulsions Suffocation of the Lungs yea many other Distempers according as the Blood and the Vital Spirits are tainted or the Animal deâ—iled Instances might be given of an Epilepsie Palsie Tumors Scurvy c. occasioned by the stopage of the Menstrual course which seem to be from the enormities of the second and third Digestion but the febris alba peculiar to this sex with its usual symptoms plainly illustrateth that the Menstrual Obstruction may ill affect the second and third Digestion Not only in the Female but also in the Male the Spermatick vessels exorbitant or deficient in their Ferment may produce direful disasters The Spleen by its ferment helpeth to sublime and exalt the seculent and terrestrious parts of the blood brought by the Arteries so that by the Splenical ferment the blood returneth in the veins far more pure with its exalted Principles and â—itter to deposite the the â—ile in the Liver But when the Spleen is ill-affected the blood either over-fermenteth as in the Scorbutick and Hypochondriacal diseases but if obstructed or Scirrous the blood is deprived of its due ferment and thence may occasion a Dropsie Cachexie c. To these may be added the depraved ferment of each Part all-sufficient to produce Maladies in them yea when the foregoing Digestions are in good plight But I shall not insist thereon having taken a short Abridgment of most of the Distempers incident unto our bodies which may lead me to an Enquiry after the Vertue of this Ilmington-Spaw PART III. SEC 3. AFter a short Cursory of Diseases I come next to enquire into the Medicinal Use of this â—â—mington-Spaw and finding it to be a Chalybeat Spring a little Scrutiny into the 〈…〉 Artificia Preparations of Mars 〈…〉 to our business in hand 〈…〉 a Chymical Analysis is found to 〈…〉 Sulphur and Earth as the three 〈◊〉 Constitutive â—ngredients with a 〈…〉 of Water and a less of Spirit 〈◊〉 say not that These are the first Principles 〈…〉 other Metals is derived from Water or a Nutritive Succus as a more remote 〈◊〉 Matter indeterminate as the real primary Element but that They are such which do immediately make up the Body of Iron and 〈◊〉 it as such an Object to our Senses Chalybs or Steel doth differ from Iron only by Calcination with Horns Claws and Hoofs of Animals or with such like Alkalis laid stratum super stratum Which by their Alkalizate volatile Salts do carry away in Calcination many of the soluble parts of Iron and destroy much of its Acidity So that Steel is of a more fast and hard body or of a closer texture of Parts than Iron and doth much partake
dissolved in water will with oyl of Tartar or spirit of Salt Armoniack be precipitated in form of a Powder called Mars Diaphoreticus which taketh its Sudorisick quality from the volatile penetrating parts of Salt Armoniack carried with and fixed in the Chalybeat particles in Sublimation These volatile Salts will soon open the Pores of our bodies especially seeing they carry with them Chalybeat Particles all-sufficient to cut tough viscous humors obstructing the Pores or Passages 6. Vitriolum or Sal Martis is made from the parts of Iron dissolved in an Acid Menstruum such as oyl of Vitriol oyl of Sulphur Aqua fortis c. but most commonly with oyl of spirit of Vitriol which giveth the Denomination to the Composition yet if we look into the nature of the thing we may form a like Composition of other Acids with oyl of Sulphur spirit of Nitre c. as well as with oyl or spirit of Vitriol only changing the name into Mars sulphuratus or Sal Martis cum Sulphure cum Nitro c. In the making of Sal Martis with oyl of Vitriol and Iron either filed or in its gross substance some Chymists will add an equal weight of spirit of Wine to the oyl of Vitriol or else two pounds of ordinary Water to one pound of good spirit of Vitriol The reason of it is because the spirit of Wine by its Alkalizate Salt or else the Water may dilute and weaken the oyl or spirit of vitriol that it may not incorporate with the main body of Mars but with the saline and more soluble parts that there may be gained a more pure Salt freed from most of the sulphureous and terrestrious parts of Iron In the Dissolution the saline parts of the Menstruum do joyn with these of Mars and in the mutual conflict of Fermentation they take off and dull the edges of each other and by combining together become a Neutral Salt In this Preparation the sulphureous and terrestrious parts of Iron are separated from the saline from which dissolved in fair water by Evaporation Chrystallization c. is made sal Chalybis or vitriolum Martis Sal Chalybis being actuated by the Vitriol â—s of a stronger operation against Obstructions than Crocus Martis but for want of the sulphurcous principle of Mars will not add so stronger Ferment to the blood and consequently is not so effectual in Cachexies nor against Diseases proceeding from a cold watery constitution But where the blood is over-fermented where it is either Pontick acrious or fiery and in Obstructions proceeding from such a Dyscrasie of the Blood it may be of excellent use This Ilmington water as I have proved before doth derive its vertue from an Esurine Salt preying upon a Minera of Iron which by working upon and combining with each other do become a vitriolum Martis I shall then in the next place shew more fully as to particulars wherein this Spring may be serviceable to our Country in respect of its Medicinal vertue and then lay down some Cautions and Rules to be observed by the Drinkers of this Chalybeat Water After a short Account in the foregoing Section of Diseases how they may be derived from the Depraved digestions of our body I shall now consider how far this Ilmington Spring will conduce to the Restoration of the lost or vitâ—ated Ferments and consequently be a Preservative for Health or restore that which is impaired First the Scurvy being caused by a Dyscrasie of the blood either when its saline or sulphureous parts are too predominant may be much corrected or curbed by this Chalybeat Spring In as much as the Mineral Salt is herein become near a plain Alkali and will penetrate to the second Digestion is able to correct the sowr saltish Blood And being freed from the sulphureous parts of Iron will much correct the sulphureo-saline Dycrasie when the blood like Wine is become over-fermented or fretted This Spring being a great Diuretick will help to carry off that which is superfluous and being a good Aperient in obstructions of the Spleen may correct its vitiated acid Ferment that with other Enormities may concur to alter the sweet balsamick temper of the Blood But considering that a Crude Digestion or spurious Acid Ferment of the Stomach doth many times as a Procatartick Cause lay a foundation of the Scorbutick Ferment this Water must be assisted with Purgatives to carry off the recremental Sordes of the Stomach and other Digestions more especially for Cautions hereafter laid down and be also assisted with some peculiar Medicine to restore the blood to its sweet and well-poised Temparament according to the Cause from whence the Dyscrasie took its Original which requireth the Advice of a skilful Physician Secondly the Spleen by a Specifick Ferment conduceth to a Secretion of Bilis but if by Obstruction or Depravation it be deficient in its fermental Operation the blood not purged from its sordes doth become obscure and muddy so that the Animal Spirits thence elaborated are neither pure nor refined but dark and gloomy fit for melancholy Phansies From a long supply of such feculent blood are the Spirits spoiled and Hypochondriacal Fitts and Melancholy take their growth This Spaw-water containing a vitriolum Martis is a good Deoppilative in Splenical obstructions for being of a penetrating nature is good for these abstruse Recesses By the Reaction and Combination of the acid salt of the Menstruum with the Alkalizate of Mars is made a Neutral Salt but most inclining to an Alkali Whence it may be of good use to correct the spurious acid Ferment of the Spleen but now communicated to the blood By restoring the Spleen to his natural Ferment in destroying that spurious Acidity by opening Obstructions and its Diuretick property carrying off many of the feculent parts the blood may be freed from the opace Melancholy steams that defile the Brain the workhouse of Imagination and Judgment and so be restored to its natural Crasis But withal observe That this Water must be helped with Purgatives to cleanse the blood from its faeces lest that instead of being an Aperient it should prove to be an Obstructer especially in the Extremities of the small Capillary vessels where the Blood in its Circulation is hindred by a viscous dreggy Matter but besides Catharticks where other Digestions are deficient in their office Specificks must also be applied Thirdly the Dropsie consisteth in a dilute watery blood or rather in a Non-separation of Serum or Urinous Latex that regurgitateth into the blood-vessels until it be laid down in the Habit of the body and sometimes with a flatus The loss of secretion of this Latex is frequently from the want of a Ferment in the bood which chiefly dependeth on the Saline Principle as the main cause of laxing the Compages of the blood for the separation of Serous Humors Besides the loss of a Ferment Obstructions in the Urinous vessels and Lympheducts many times do lay a foundation to the structure
upon rash Undertakings in this kind these Ill consequencies may ensue First this Spaw-water containing in it a great quantity of Ocre or Terra Metallica for out of a Quart of this Spring-water I have got the best part of a Spoonful of an Earthy sediment which being drank with the Water although as I have proved by the Experiments on the Spaw it is not a simple Earth but containeth much of the Saâ—t of the Minera and of the Menstruum may endanger the Drinkers with Obstructions in the Capillary blood-vessels or in the Lacteals conveâ—ing it from the Intestines to the Blood And what may be the Result from Obstructions perverting the right use of the Spleen Liver or other viscera of the middle and lower Region I have above Par. 3. sec â— 3. sufficiently hinted But if the Sediment enter not the Lacteal vessels it must needs load the Intestines of these it being not Purgative that drink it without Physick or Advice Secondly Too frequent drinking of this Spaw and also of other Mineral waters in a large quantity and especially when not taken gradatim will relax the fibres of the Stomach extend the vessels and other membranous parts upon the Relaxation of the Stomachical fibres a loss of Appetite will ensue and upon the Extension of the blood-vessels Lympheducts and Membranous parts will follow Weariness Difficulty of Breathing and Increase of a Dropsie in them that are far gone besides otheâ— Distempers according to the Inclination and Habit of the body Thirdly This Water like most other Vitriolick will cause a Vertigo or light giddiness in the Head especially in them that unprepared drink it to the quantity of three or four Quarts at the first onset Not only a Vertigo but also a Lethargie Apoplexie or other Cephalick Distempers caused by an oppression of the Brain and stoppage of the Animal spirits may ensue the taking of a large quantity when neither faeces nor the restagnating water are carried off I shall therefore propose this Method to the Drinkers of this Spaw water for the avoiding of these Enormities yet shall not be Dogmatical but leave the Physician to direct his Patient according to the Indication of the Distemper and thereby directing his judgmen And First Purge off the Recremental sordes of the Stomach and Intestines but rather if the habit of body and strength will bear it begin with a Vomit Such as a Dose of Sal Vitrioli the Quantity is usual from One scruple to Four but may be increased or dâ—minished according to the condition of the Patient This Medicine I propose because it usually worketh both by Vomit and Siege and not only cleanseth the viscera of the Abdomer but also by its Stipticity will notably fortifie the membranous fibres of the Stomach against Relaxation that often ensueth upon drinking large Draughts of Water and also it will help to reduce the fibres to their proper state when too much extended and consequently are weak and unfit to embrace the Aliment taken in at the mouth The fibres of the Stomach and Intestines being well fortified will the better contain a large quantity of Water without Relaxation and by the Peristaltick motion of the Guts the Lacteal vessels will sooner imbibe the Water when their Orifices are scoured and like the little holes in a cleansed Strainer Yet other Catharticks accordiug to the particular case of the Patient may be requisite Secondly Then begin to drink of the Spaw-water They of an ordinary Constitution may begin with a Pint but they of a stronger with a Quart or three Pints and so increase each morning a Pint until they come gradatim unto four Quarts which may be the measure for a strong Constitution and as some few may exceed so many may fall short of it Thus may they continue in their Water-course for a Month and cease gradatim as they increased at first lest there should be left a distention of the fibres and membranes But withal observe That the Water must not be drank to its full Dose at once but rather with walking up the Hill or moderate Exercise after every full Draught that it may have time to searse through the Drinkers body especially until it begineth to shew it self by its Diuretick faculty For the sudden drinking of a large quantity will cause a distention of the Stomach with cruel Tormina or Gripings in the bowels Thlrdly In case the Water lieth long and heavy on the Stomach and Intestines and at last worketh off in a Diarrhe or loosness it signifieth the body to be unprepared and probably Obstructions in the â—esenteryor viscera which requireth a Preparation by some Deoppilative Pills or Medicine with convenient Solutives to carry off the feculent Matter But in these cases I cannot lay down any one Prescription general serving for particular Persons that according to their Distempers must have different Directions from their Physicians Fourthly Because of the great quantity of Ocre or Vitriolick Earth contained in this Spring water let the Drinkers hereof observe to take at least twice a week a Dose of Physick to carry off the filth of the water free the Stomach and Intestines from incrustation of the Earthy sediment and the vessels from Obstructions But the Water-drinkers must forbear the Spaw on the days he designeth for Purgation except he take such a small quantity of Pills c. on the over-night or very early in the morning only to keep his body from being Costive For which purpose Van Helmont recommendeth a Dose of Ruffy Pills the Dose may be from a Scruple to a Drachm taken three days together in the morning before drinking of the waters This he adviseth for the German-Spaw Pauhont and Savenir whose Mineral Ingredients are like this at Ilmington though not so highly impregnated as this new found Spaw Ruffy Pills may be of good use to purge off the filth of the viscera and also the sediment of the Water and being gentle in operation may be taken on the over-night or in the morning designed for drinking the Water But according to the Observations of Physitians undoubtedly the best method will be to compose Pills or Physick in such form that the Patient shall like best of Deoppilating Ingredients and Antiscorbutick or with such Specificks that may answer the Indication of Patients Distemper but yet with such purgative Ingredients that may make the body soluble to the number of three or four Stools and may be taken through the Water course Fifthly For a more speedy passage of this Water through the body let the Drinkers take a Glass or two of good White or Rhenish Wine about an hour or something longer time after the full Dose of Water is drank This is convenient but especially for them upon whose Stomachs and viscera the water lieth long and heavy and if the water lieth still lodged in the vessels and habit of body Catharticks and Diureticks may be helpful As the waters drank in a regular course will