be doubted whether it be wholsome Ans The Famous Lord Bacon having written learnedly of this Subject had not the least thought that the Sea-water after it had been Dis-salted without any Noxious addition was Unwholesom and it neither now is nor ever was really doubted whether it were wholesom However because invidious Persons who are no well-wishers to Ingenious Designs may possibly raise Scruples the Gentlemen who are concerned in this Grant have purposely to give Publick Satisfaction sent a large quantity of this Water to Doctor King a very Ingenious Physician who is a Member of the Colledge and of the Royal Society who finds 1. That it is Lighter than most of the Waters about the Town 2. That it is without Sediment and Transparent as any other Waters 3. That it Lathers as they call it with Wash-Ball or Soap better than other Water and with less Soap 4. That Sugar dissolveth sooner in it than in other Water 5. That it Evaporates sooner than common Water 6. That whereas common Water Putrifies and yields a Stinking Smell within a few Weeks this has continued Sweet and unaltered several Months and may yet do so much longer being still in as good condition as it was above Eight Months ago November the Fifteenth 1683. 7. That it makes Gellies as firm and good as any Water 8. That it Boils Pease to Tenderness Beef Mutton Fish and all other Meat without giving it an ill Taste or Colour 9. That it has no kind of ill Taste in it self and Boils in Milk without Curdling 10. That Flowers Plants and all Vegetables grow in it at least as well as any other Water 11. And that small Animals live and grow in it Several men of great Quality viz. The Earls of Shrowsbury Westmorland Mulgrave and Burlington the Lord Dunbar Lord Lumley Lord Falconbridge and Lord Chumley besides very many Gentlemen of Quality who frequently drink Water Officers of Sea and Physicians have Drunk of this Water without being in the least indispos'd after it but lest any doubts may remain after this of the Salubrity of the said Water the following Testimonial of these Learned and Eminent Physicians is here inserted Since the former Editions of this Treatise most of the Foreign Ministers several Persons of Quality eminent Merchants Seamen and others have eat of Pease Fish and Flesh boyled in this prepar'd Water and some hundreds have drunk of it often and in great quantities without the least ill effect by it and several of the East and West India Ships now ready to sail have already agreed with the Patentees and have taken Engines from them and some since they have had them on board their Ship have made Tryal in the Downs of the Operation of the said Engine at Sea to the great satisfaction of several Persons residing in and about Deal and other Maritime Places near the Downs The Approbation of the Colledge of Physicians and other Doctors of Physick Practising in and about London WHereas we have received an account in a Gazet published some Months since that the Honourable Robert Fitz Gerald Esq hath found out the way and means of reducing salt-Salt-water into Fresh in quantities sufficient to serve Ships at Sea And for as much as some Persons may possibly make a doubt if the said Water be wholsome after the Salt is taken out of it We therefore considering of what general Advantage this useful Experiment may be having fully inform'd our selves from Mr. Boyle that the said Experiment is made by Fire And having also seen an account of some Experiments made by some Members of our own Body do declare our Opinion that We believe the said Water is very wholesome and may be safely used And being further acquainted by the said Mr. Boyle that the very few ingredients made use of in the said Operation are fixed in the Fire and give no noxious quality to the Water We are therefore of Opinion that the same may be safely used and is at least as healthy as any other Water us'd at Sea All which we certifie at the Request of the Honourable Robert Fitz-Gerald Dr. Cox President Sir C. Scarborough Knt. Dr. Daniel Whistler Dr. Weatherly Dr. Will. Deuton Sir T. Millington Knt. Dr. Walter Needham Dr. Thomas Short Dr. Thomas Allen Dr. Edmund Dickingson Dr. William Croone Dr. Richard Lower Dr. John Windebank Dr. Daniel Cox Dr. James Rufine Dr. Charles Conquest Dr. Edmund King Dr. Willoughby Dr. Tho. Sydenham Dr. Edward Tyson Dr. Nehemiah Grew Dr. David Abercromby Dr. Andrew Creagh Though Physick has always flourished in this Kingdom yet in this Age it is in greater Perfection than ever being improv'd both as to the Practical and Speculative part by the present Fellows of the Famous Colledge of Physicians who being Men of great Practise and Eminent Learning cannot but give full satisfaction to all such as inquire concerning the healthfulness of this Water Their Opinion being in this particular the more valuable because it is to their own Disadvantage since the Brackish Waters of the Sea-Coast and the puâ—â—ifying Waters made use of at Sea might probably have afforded them a great number of Patients which may hereafter be lessened by the use of this wholesome Water Since the first Edition of these Papers his Majesty has been pleas'd to see some Experiments which has so convinc'd his Majesty of the healthfulness of this Water that he has resolved to have it generally made use of in his Sea-Port Garrisons of which an account has been given in several Guzetts by His Majesties special Order The Benefits and Advantages of Sea-Water made Fresh MUch Stowage will be saved so that a Ship of 50 or 60 Tun and proportionably of greater Bulk may take in several Tuns of Goods more than formerly they used to carry which will considerably advance the Trade of all Merchants and be of vast profit to the Masters or Owners of Ships The Charge of Casks is very considerable especially when bound with Iron as all Sea-Casks must be And by means of this Engine three fourths of that charge will be saved The tear and wear of Boats often going from Ship board and frequent loss of the Boats and men in Stormy Weather and the Opportunity of the Sea-mens being Drunk on shoar by which many fatal accidents do happen by means of having this Water-Engine will be prevented Ships in long Voyages have been forc'd to run many Leagues from their intended course which much retards their Voyage and makes them lose fair Winds and maintain more Sea-men at charges of Diet and Wages than they have occasion for which inconveniencies may be prevented by having Water within themselves Ships are often forc'd to leave their Anchors and Cables behind them by being forc'd into dangerous Shoars upon account of taking in Fresh Water In the African East and West India Voyages great quantities of Fresh Water are necessary which the Sea-men are forc'd to put above Deck for want of room which is great
Farther Additions To a Small TREATISE Called salt-Salt-Water SWEETNED SHEWING The Great Advantages BOTH BY SEA and by LAND OF SEA-WATER made FRESH TOGETHER In the Honourable Mr. BOYLE'S Letter and the Approbation of the COLLEDGE of PHYSICIANS of the Wholsomness of this WATER The Ninth Edition Octob. 13. LONDON Printed by John Harefinch in Mountague-Court in Little Brittain 1684. TO THE KING'S Most Excellent Majesty SIR WHEN Mr. Boyle with my Partners and my self attended Your Majesty with the Experiment of Reducing Salt Water into Fresh Your Majesty seem'd so well pleased with an Invention of that Vniversal Benefit that we cannot but with our Humblest Duty acknowledge Your Gracious Reception of it However as Your Great Wisdom and Judgment is not easie to be surpriz'd and Your Royal Approbation never known to be Your hasty Act of Grace Your Favour and Patronage was not fully obtain'd till with the strictest Scrutiny you had first examin'd those Hopes and Probabilities you vouchsaf'd to incourage in Vs But when upon jurther consideration We had obviated all Difficulties and solv'd all Objections against this Vndertaking which We hope will appear in this Printed Paper Your Majesty was Graciously pleas'd to give us your Approbation and to order us your Letters Patents which Grace and Favour ought to be and is receiv'd by Vs with the deepest sense of our humble Acknowledgments and Gratitude And if the Fruits of your Royal Grant has not hitherto been deriv'd to Vs 't is partly by some Obstacles we met from the suggestions of a private Person but more especially by the late Horrid Conspiracy when not only our Loyal Apprehensions for your Majesties Danger diverted our Thoughts from all other Concerns but likewise we judged it a part of our Duty not to be pressing on your Majesties Goodness or on your Ministers of State in so Important a juncture of Affairs But having now regained Leisure and Fredom after the dissipation of the greatest part of our Fears We presume a second time to lay these Endeavours at your Feet as best Entituled to the Patronage of so great an Vndertaking by your own Subjects and best able to Recommend it to the World by your Royal Approbation This Experiment is in a great degree owing to the Eminent Mr. Boyle and indeed well worthy so Ingenious a Promoter being so much the more the Favorite of his happy Genius as it is Vniversally useful to Mankind But whatever Advantages this Country or indeed the World may receive by it his whole Ambition is bounded in the publick Profit contenting himself with no other Benefit from it than the satisfaction and pleasure of seeing it accomplish'd by his Friends The Advantages in regard to Navigation especially in long Voyages which are subject through often Calms and on several other accounts to distress for want of Water and the Benefits to Sea-Towns which are incommodated by Brackish Waters Together with the Easiness Cheapness and Wholsomness of this prepared Water are the principal scope of these ensuing Papers which are Humbly Dedicated to Your Majestys Perusal Favour and further Approbation by Your Majesties most Dutisul and Obedient Subject R. FITZGERALD The fore-going Dedication Humbly offered to His Majesty having discovered the Intention of this undertaking it remains now to satisfie all Reasonable Scruples which have been raised concerning the Wholesomness and Cheapness of Water thus prepared The Queries and Answers follow Quest 1 IF this Water can be made in sufficient quantities to serve the Vses of any Ship at Sea Ans About Ninety Gallons may be Prepared in every Twenty four Hours by an Instrument of 33 Inches Diameter which will stand under the Deck of any Ship and it 's computed that less than three Quarts is a good Allowance for any man in that time And if a large Ship wherein there are many men aboard should require more Water then two or more of the Instruments may be had upon reasonable Terms and one man may attend several of them Quest 2. In case the Operation be by Fire it may require a Skilful Chymist or one knowing in such Operations to be on Board every Shi who will require great Wages Ans There will be no occasion for any such Person for any Sea-man may be Instructed in an Hour or two to prepare this Water Quest 3. It 's probable that the Engine may be frequently out of Order and being so at Sea where Artificers and Tools are wanting to repair it there must necessarily follow want of Water which will be of Ill Consequence Ans This Engine is of such Contrivance that it 's never likely to be out of Order Q. 4. Can this Engine be of use in Stormy-weather Ans Since a sufficient quantity of Fresh-water may be so easily had by this Engine the Mariners will be careful to make a good Provision of it before-hand however 't is not to be doubted but it will answer the worst Accidents of the greatest Storms and have its Effect sufficiently in the worst Weather especially considering that in such desperate Extremities men must be content with smaller Allowances Quest 5. The Operation being by Fire it may endanger the Ship and the Smoak be very offensive Ans The Engine may easily be placed in any Ship without danger of Fire offence of Smoak Quest 6. Will not the Charge of this Instrument and Materials belonging to it be very great Ans It is difficult to make exact Answer to this but an Instrument of the largest Size with all the Materials belonging to it will not amount to above 18 pound and may last many years and according to the Rates of Ships they may be proportion'd both in Bulk and Price And where it may be thought necessary to make use of this Experiment on Shore for Brewing or other uses of a Family Instruments and Materials may be very large and very much cheaper on Shore than at Sea Quest 7. Will not the Fewel be very Chargeable and take up much room in the Ship Ans The quantity of about ninety Gallons of Water may be prepared with less than three pecks of Coals and proportionally with any other Fire and the whole Room that will be taken up in the Fire and in the few Casks to be imployed in the making and receiving this Water will be less than the tenth part of Stowage now employed for Water only and upon a strict Computation made by the Persons concern'd in this Grant the whole charge of Water will come to about a farthing per Gallon Quest 8. Will not the Ingredients take up much Room and be very Chargeable Ans A Vessel less then a Barrel may contain enough of the Ingredients to catty a Ship to the East Indies and back again and the Ingredients for near one hundred Gallons of this Sea-water will not amount to above 12 Pence and will be cheaper when great quantities are used at Land Quest 9. Admitting this Preparation of Water may be made and insufficient Quantities it may
hindrance to a Ships Sailing and much endangers and weakens a Ship In case of Calms which often happen in the narrow Seas but especially near the Line this Instrument will be of vast advantage by affording fresh and wholsome Water instead of that which is unwholsome and offensive Essex Kent all other the Sea-Coasts in any part of the World that want wholesome Water may be easily and and cheaply supplied by this means as also Venice Amsterdam Roterdam and all other Towns or Places that lye near the Sea and either want good or have Brackish Water In time of War whole Navies may be relieved by this Engine and Opportunity given of making the greatest Discoveries imaginable It is further to be considered that hitherto the richest and ablest bodied Sea-men have been averse horn undertaking long Voyages by reason of endangering their Healths and Lives by making use of putrified Water which inconvenience is not now to be feared there being such hopes of useful Fresh Water by the use of this Engine and possibly a smaller number of men may serve the use of Ships than do at present by which much Charges will be saved to the Masters and Owners of Ships and Merchants may Trade upon easier Terms In Portsmouth Rochester the Fenns of Lincolnshire and any other places near the Sea where Waters are Brackish and consequently unwholsome this Engine c. may be very useful and where there is room enough to place it very great quantities of Water may be had for the use of whole Families and the Ingredients when used in great quantities may be afforded at a cheaper Rate A LETTER of Mr. BOYLE's to the Learned Dr. JOHN BEALE Fellow of the Royal Society concerning Fresh-water made out of Sea-water Printed at the desire of the Patentees SIR TO give you a short Account suitable to the little time I have to do it in of the Transaction which I suppose must have given he rise to the Mention made of my Name in the publick Gazette I must inform you that one of my nearest Relations Captain Fitz-Gerald and some other Worthy Gentlemen having acquainted his Majesty that They had an Invention for making Sea-water sweet and wholsom in great quantity and with small charge and that I had examin'd and did approve the Water so prepar'd His Majesty was pleas'd with very Gracious Expressions to command Me to attend him with a further and more particular Information Having readily obey'd this Order and been made acquainted with the Objections the King thought fit to make against the Practicableness of the Invention which tho a private Man had urg'd them I should think the moll Judicious that have been fram'd against it I humbly presented to him that I look't upon this Invention as comprizing two differing things a Mechanical part which related to the Engine it self and the use of it a Ship-board and a Physical part which concerns the Potableness and Wholsomness of the Liquour About the former of these I did not pretend to clear the Difficulties especially such strong ones as His Majesty had propos'd but left it to the Patentees to give him Satisfaction which they were in a readiness to offer But as to the Wholsomness of the prepar'd Water I had made some Tryals upon the Liquour which gave me not just Crounds of suspecting it to be unwholsom but several Motives to believe it well condition'd and of great use to Navigators and not to them only And having hereupon briefly acquainted His Majesty with the chief Tryals I had made to examin this Sweetned Water He was pleas'd to look upon them as Satisfactory and vouchsafed on that occasion to Discourse as a virtuoso of the Sea and Brackish-maters and gave me some new as well instructive Observations about them and in conclusion dismiss'd the Patentees with a Gracious Promise of his Royal Protection and peculiar Favour To this short Narrative it now remains that I briefly Subjoyn the chief things that perswaded me of the Salubrity of this Water whence may be justly and easily inferr'd the Utility the Publick may receive by a cheap and easie way of preparing it First then I consider'd that almost all the rain-Rain-water that falls from the Clouds on the Main Ocean and which except perhaps in very few Places in Torrid Climates is unquestionably receiv'd as wholsom must be afforded by the Sea and consequently be but Sea-water freed from its Salt according to the famous Motto Redit Agmine dulci. Next I found as his Majesty himself had done that the Liquour was well tasted and without any sensible Brackishness and some of it continued for between 4 or 5 Months in a large Christal Bottle that I purposely kept unstopt and for the most part in a South Window where it neither did not probably in a long time will putrifie or so much as appear troubled or less transparent during which time it was with Approbation tasted and smell'd by several Learned Physicians of the famous Colledge of London Thirdly I found it laver very well which most Pump-waters and many others that have some little tho unperceiv'd common Salt in them will not do Fourthly this Water will boyle Pease tender which amongst Seamen is one of the principal signs of good Water Fifthly In very good Ballances with an Instrument that I purposely caus'd to be made for the nice weighing of Liquours I found this Water far less heavy than one would expect for if it differ'd at all in weight from the like quantity of undistill'd Water I speak with an If because it is far more difficult to be exact in such nice Tryals than the unpractic'd will imagine the difference was not considerable being but one part in 400 and that difference is very small in comparison of that which Navigators and learned Authors relate to be observable in natural Waters all of them good and potable I might tell you on this Occasion that the last Great Duke of Tuscany who was an Eminent Virtuoso and the Patron of the celebrated Academy of the Lyncean Philosophers is affirm'd among other prudent Courses that he took for his Health whereof he was very Sollicitous to have constantly made use of distill'd Water when he us'd any Water for his own Drinking And I could add other things favourable enough to the Patentees Water if Haste and perhaps Discretion too did not oblige me to leave them yet unmention'd that I might now have time to say somewhat of the main thing of all that convinced me of the Saltlessness of the Water I speak of I consider'd then Sixthly that the thing that was aim'd at by those ingenious men that at differing times and in several Countries have attempted to make Sea-water sweet and the thing that was requir'd by proposing Recompences or otherwise to encourage the Makers of such Attempts was to free the Sea-water from the Brackishness without any noxious Additament so that on all sides it was taken for granted that the only thing
that kept the sea-Sea-water from being safely Potable was its Brackishness From which reflection it was natural for Me to infer a Condition very favourable to our prepar'd Water For having long since written a short Discourse of the Saltness of the Sea I had been industrious to devise ways of comparing Waters in point of Brackishness And by these I found the Patentees water to be more free from Common-salt than Waters that are usually drunk herein London of which I remember I shewed those Gentlemen an experiment that surpriz'd as well as convinc'd them And that which more satisfi'd me myself was a Tryal that I carefully made by a way which having mention'd but not yet for want of opportunity disclos'd to His Majesty the Respect I owe Him forbids me to impart without His leave On which account I hope you 'll be content to be at present assur'd of these two Things One that by this way of Tryal I found what possibly you will think strange that if there were in Water so much as one Grain of Salt in above two Ounces of Water I could readily discover it The other that even by this critical Examen I could not detect so much as a thousandth part of Salt in Our Prepar'd Water whereas I found by Tryals purposely and carefully made that our English Sea-water contain'd a 44 or 45th part of good dry Salt or which is all one that 44 Pints or near so many Pounds of Marine Water would yield about one Pound of dry Common-Salt Thus Sir you have a short and Art-less Account such as my haste will permit and the nature of the Subject requires of my Part in promoting this prositabl Invention to which I own my self a great well-wisher not out of any private Interest tho that was obligingly proffer'd me by the Patentees but as I think the bringing it into general use may prove a real Service to Mankind upon the Score of divers Utilities and Advantages which yet tho I had leisure I should think very needless to enumerate to so discerning a Person as Dr. B. to whom I shall therefore hasten to subscribe my self SIR A very Affectionate Friend and Humble Servant R. BOYLE AFter so many forcible and convincing Testimonies in favour of this great Design I shall make an Addition of the Approbation of His Majesty of Great Brittain who after the publication of the first Impression having seen the convincing Proofs of the healthful Quality of this Water hath resolv'd to have the same to be made use of in all his Sea-Port Garrisons The which he caused to be published by express Order in several Gazetts and particularly in that of Munday Novemb. 5. 1683. An ABSTRACT out of the Gazette Numb 1676. HIS Majesty was pleas'd to Command the Honourable Mr. Boyle to attend Him to give His Majesty an Ocular Proof of the Nicety of his way of examining the freshness and saltness of Water and to apply it to the Sea-Water prepar'd according to the Patentees Invention which being done before His Majesty his Royal Highness and the Duke of Grafton several Persons or Quality being also present it was made apparent by a certain prepar'd Liquid which Mr. Boyle had brought with him that a Discovery could be made if there were so much as a thousandth pare of Salt in a propos'd Water By which Trval His Majesty finding that the Prepar'd Sea-Water for which he has granted his Royal Patent was at least as free from Salt as the best Waters used in this Town received such Satisfaction as to the wholsomness of the said Water that He was pleased to declare his Royal Intentions both to encourage the said Invention and to have the said Water made use of in his several Maritime Garrisons which Nature has not furnished with wholsom Water A Copy of a Letter from Captain Macdonnel from aboard his Majesties Ship the Greybound near the Coast of Spain to one of the Patentees of Sea-Water SIR FOR these Four Months past I kept your sea-Sea-water for its better Tryal Buried in my Ships Hold where had it not been extraordinary good it must infallibly have been of no use and offensive but I 'll assure you it prov'd quite contrary for yesterday having several both of Sea and Land Officers on board for me I made them insensibly taste of your Water which I pretended to be from a Spring I watered my Ship at Ten Leagues to the Southward of Sallie they all affirm'd it to be as good as Tangier Water the very best counted in the Streights but when I discovered the Water to be yours they hardly would give it Credit and approv'd of it as really it is as good as can be drank which they desired me to let you know Novemb. 3. 1683. I am Your Humble Servant Rand. Macdonnel The Extremity of the last Winter having occasioned the loss of the President a Rich East-India Ship and many other of His Majesties Ship and Subjects to perish for want of Provision and Fresh-Water at Sea His Majesty for prevention of the like Misfortune was pleased to Order the following Advice to be inserted in the Gazette of March 6. 1683. White-Hall Feb. 28. HIS Majesty having heard several Relations of die great Distress some of his Subjects have lately been in at Sea for want of fresh Water hath been pleased for their Relief in such Cases to command the Patentees for the new Invention of making Sea-water Fresh to give the most publick notice they can of the Usefulness of the said Invention of which his Majesty has received so great satisfaction that his Majesty is pleased that those Instruments shall be provided for his Ships and Garrisons where they ate not naturally provided with good Water And in obedience to His Majesties Order the Patentees do hereby give notice That two Treatises have been written on this subject which may be had at the Ship against the Royal Exchange and at the Marine Coffee house whereunto all Persons are referred for more particular Information in which the great benefit and many Conveniences of this Invention the casiness both as to the Trouble and Expence of making the Salt Water fresh and the Wholsomness thereof is clearly demonstrated by the Testimony of many Eminent Physicians To which is added a Letter written by the Honourable Mr. Boyle by which he assures the Wholsomness Durableness and Sweetness of this Water And a Letter from Captain Rand. Macdonnel of the third of November 1683. from on Board the Grey-hound Frigat near the Coast of Spain wherein he affirms that he kept of the Patentees Water some that was given him in his Ships Hold from his leaving England being four Months and then having several Officers on Board him gave them a taste of it pretending it to be of the Spring near Sally where he had watered and which is as good as the best in the Streights and they drank of it as such till he discovered what it was and then they approved of it to be as good as could be drank FINIS White-Hall Novemb. 2. 1683.