this kind that came to my knowledge I shall add only by and by the Product of a more recent Tryal 2. As far as I have hitherto observ'd those Ferruginous Waters that are not heavier than common Water and in most Drinkers prove but diuretick afford but very little Caput Mortuum or dry Substance upon the total Evaporation of the Liquor whereas Mineral Waters that are purging and manifestly more ponderous in Specie than common Water leave upon Evaporation a considerable quantity of residence thô some far less than others 3. At once to explain and partly prove what I have been saying I shall here recite that from a pound of Barnet VVater which is known to be purgative slowly evaporated we obtain'd a Dram of VVhite Powder But from the like quantity of Tunbridge VVater we obtain'd but about one grain of Caput Mortuum And if I misremember not we had but about a grain and a half from 25. Ounces of the German Spaw Water 4. It may seem scarce credible to many that so small a quantity of matter of which perhaps not one half is Saline or Metalline the rest being teresstrial should impart a manifest vertue to so great a proportion of VVater But this difficulty did not much trouble me who have purposely made divers Experiments to discover how small a proportion of Mineral matter may suffice when dissolv'd to impregnate common VVater I remember I took one grain of Iron stone casually found near the Springs at Islington from which Mineral 't is probable those VVaters derive their vertue this being open'd by the fire and dissolv'd as far as it would be in a little Spirit of Salt we let fall a drop or two of the yellowish solution into a great proportion of Infusion of Galls to which it presently gave a deeper colour than Tunbridge Water or even the German Spaw VVater was wont to give here at London with the Powder of Galls So that we guess'd that if we had then had at hand a competent quantity of the infusion the remaining part of the Martial Solution would have been able to colour ten times a greater quantity of the Infusion than our Tryal was made upon This will be easily believ'd by him that shall consider an Experiment we afterwards made to the same purpose which was this VVe dissolv'd a half grain of a good Marcasite taken up not far from London in a small quantity of Spirit of Niter which for a certain Reason I made choice of thô other Acid Menstruums as Aqua-fortis and Spirit of Salt would have dissolved the Mineral This small solution we put into a pound of pretty high Tincture of Galls made by infusing them in common Water and finding as we expected that this mixture grew very dark we fill'd a Vial with it and emptying that Vial into a larger Glass we fill'd the same Vial three times with common Water to dilute it notwithstanding which this new mixture being put into one of our usual Glasses appeared of a colour much deeper than that which the Water of Tunbridge or the German Spaw had formerly given with the Powder of Galls So that probably if another Vial of common Water had been added it would yet have afforded a purple colour if not a deeper so that one part of dissolv'd Marcasite communicated a Tincture to 61440 sixty one thousand four hundred and forty parts of Infusion of Galls And that which makes this Experiment more considerable is that this small quantity of Marcasite was not it self all Martial or Metalline For from our English Marcasites as well as others I have obtain'd a pretty quantity of Sulphur like common Sulphur besides that they afford a not despicable quantity of Terrestrial Substance about whose nature I have not yet satisfy'd my self 5. I shall now add this reflexion that since the Marcasite impregnated so much Water with its corporeal Parts if I may so call them obtain'd by bare dissolution it seems highly probable that the same quantity of Liquor may be impregnated by a far less quantity of Mineral matter attenuated into a kind of Spirituous slate by being rais'd in the form of Fumes or exhalations and that imperfect or embryonated Iron may be so will scarce be deny'd by them that consider the way that I have in another Paper deliver'd to make Iron manifestly emit copious Fumes without the help of external Fire And if it be with some such Spirituous and volatile Exhalations that a Mineral Water as that of Tunbridge or of Islington is impregnated 't is not hard to conceive that they may easily lose their chief vertue by the avolation of most or many of their fugitive Parts upon their being remov'd to a distance from the Spring head And to make it probable that vitriolate Corpuscles may be made to ascend without losing their nature I shall here mention an Experiment that I devis'd to give some light in this matter I had often found by Tryal that a Spirit richly impregnated with volatiliz'd Sulphur would with vitriol whether in the form of a powder or a solution produce in a trice a very dark or blackish colour And guessing that in Mercury turn'd by the addition of Salt and Vitriol into corrosive sublimate many of the Vitriolate Corpuscles might ascend with the Mercurial ones I took such a Volatile Sulphureous Tincture as I have been mentioning which for this purpose ought to be deep and having dropt it upon good Sublimate I found it turn presently of a very opacous colour To show also that to make a great dilatation or dispersion of the Martial Corpuscles of an Ore or Mineral there needs no Spirit of Salt or the like distill'd Menstruum I procur'd from a copperas-work or place where vitriol is made by art some of the Liquor they imploy before they cast in Iron that being corroded by it it may increase the weight and give solidity and some other Qualities to the designed Vitriol Now thó this Liquor be made without any Chymical Menstruum barely by Rain or Snow-Water that impregnates it self with Saline or Metalline Particles in its passage through Beds of Marcasites that lye expos'd to the Sun and Air yet in this Water such numbers of Martial Corpuscles are dispers'd that having shaken four drops of it into 12 Ounces and a half of common Water this Liquor as I expected was thereby so impregnated that with powder of Galls it presently produc'd as deep a colour as good Tunbridge Water would have done So that supposing a drop of this Liquor to weigh about a grain as by some Tryals purposely made we found it to do it appears that one part of the vitriolate Water was able manifestly to impregnate 1500 Parts of common water And yet of these 4 drops or Grains of Vitriolate Liquor a considerable part may very probably be concluded from the way of its production to have been Rain Water as will easily be granted when I shall have added that to examine this supposition or
powder must be stale 34 35 16. The best way for producing of new colours with Mineral Waters is to make the infusion of Galls with a certain weight of the Powder in a determinate weight of Water 35 36 17. Oaken leaves dryed red Rose leaves the Juice the Peel of Pomegranates the Blossoms called commonly Callaustia and some other astringent vegetables may be substituted to Galls 38 18. The Eye must be Judge of the Impregnation of the Water by the infusion or Powder of Galls 37 19. The way of trying Mineral Waters by the change of colours that Galls produce in them is neither of that extent nor of that certainty 't is vulgarly presumed to be of 39 20. There are divers Metalline Oars and other Mineral Bodies which not particpating of Iron will not be discoverable by the infusion of Galls ib. 21. A Body of a Metalline Nature and not participating of Iron may with infusion of Galls afford a very dark colour 40 22. 'T is not certain if all the Liquors impregnated with Iron will be discovered to be so by the colour they afford with Galls ib. 23. That it is a mistake generally taken for granted viz. That the infusion of Galls will certainly discover by becoming black or Purple of a Mineral Water that is mix'd with it be to vitriolate 41 24. An odd kind of whitish Earth to be found in the Northern Countreys of England where there come divers Mineral Waters 42 25. Galls being cast into the solutions of several Metals produc'd no blackish colour except with the solution of Gold 44 26. A Sulphureous Liquor proclaiming notable changes of colours with several solutions of Metals ib. 27. 'T is fit if not necessary that the experimenter look upon the change of colours made by Galls both while'tis a producing and where'tis produced in a good light and with a heedful eye 46 28. That there may be a kind of Physiognogmy of natural Bodies as well as of Humane faces ib. 29. A way to vary the Shades and other Phoenomena of Colours produc'd with Mineral Liquors 47 30. Another way somewhat differing from the former 48 31. 'T is convenient to use besides Galls or Oaken-leaves for the producing of new Colours with Mineral Waters Red-Roses Balerustium Leolewood Brasil and other astringent Pigments 50 32. A way of making a Liquor which will turn black with a solution either of Martial or Capreous Vitriol 51. 33. Many Waters may partake of Sulphur without being taken notice of to do so 54 34. That Copper that hath been melted into a body may be so subtilised and disguised as to have a multitude of its metalline parts made ascend with others in the form of a transparent Liquor like common Water and yet by putting to it another substance as volatile and colourless as it self it will presently discover the Copper it contain'd by turning as blew as Saphire 55 35. Experiments discovering the inexistence of Arsenick in Water and somewhat of the nature of that dangerous Mineral 56 36. The deleterious nature of Arsenick consists not only or mainly in a transcendently Acid nor in a lixiviate causticle quality but in a corrosiveness sui generis ib. 37. An useful way for Water-drinkers of examining a Mineral Water suspected to contain Arsenick 60 38. Why the Author hath insisted so much upon the Thirteenth Article of the set of Titles 61 39. To what the knowledge of the degree of coldness in the Water especially if it be extraordinary may be useful 63 40. Divers ways of estimating the degrees of coldness and heat in the Water 64 41. The usefulness of the knowledge of the specifick gravity of a Mineral Water ib. 42. The difficulty of weighing exactly Liquors 67 43. The most exact way of measuring the weight of Waters 68 44. The determinate weights of most Mineral Waters and others about London as likewise of the German Spaw-water 69 45. How to discover the kind of Soil through which the Water hath passed 71 46. No difference observed between Mineral Waters and common Water look'd upon through good Microscopes 72 47. That the little Creatures we discover through magnifying Glasses in Water wherein Pepper has been infused are not inanimate concretions but really living creatures 73 48. Where the Scent of several Mineral Waters are best judged of 74 49. That there are some Springs of â—â—l Viny odour ib. 50. That men are apt to take all stinking Waters for sulphureous whereas sometimes they are bituminous tho the Spring may sometimes partake both of Sulphur and Bitumen 75 51. That there is a manifest difference in reference to transportation in such Ferruginous Waters as are lighter than common Water 76 52. how we may ghess at the Saltness of Waters 79 53. That it is not easy to discover the accidity of Liquors 81 54. By what waies we may know the predominancy of Acidity in the Salt proposed 85 55. How we may know the predominancy of an Alcaly in the Salt of a Mineral Water 86 56. Salt afforded by the famous Waters of Bourben in France found to be Alcalisate 88 57. Several ways of discovering Vitriol to be predominant in the Saline part of a Mineral Water ib. 56. What Salts our English waters are impregnated with and from what Salt the purgative vertue that is found in many of them as in Epsom Barnet and Acton Waters c. does proceed 90 57. That two Bodies which are neither of them Cathartick may by change of texture wrought in one another compose a third Body that is briskly purgative 92 58. How great an inequality may be sometimes met with in the proportion that the same quantity of two differing Mineral Waters bear to the Caput Mortuum they respectively afford 94 59. That a small quantity of matter of which perhaps not one half is Saline or Metalline the rest being terresstrial may impart a manifest vertue to a great proportion of Water 95 60. A Spirit richly impregnated with volatiliz'd Sulphur produceth with Vitriol in a trice whether in the form of a powder or solution a very dark or blackish colour 99 61. Titles for the natural History of a Mineral Water propos'd consider'd as a Medicine being the third part of the design'd work 102 62. A short discourse of the Author relating to this present Treatise 110 63. If the fall of Rains weakneth the Vertue of the Mineral Waters 6 113. Short Memoirs FOR THE Natural and Experimental HISTORY OF Particular Mineral Waters Address'd to his Learned Friend Dr. S. L SECT I. SO many years Sir have past since I had occasion to consider Mineral Waters and opportunity to make Tryals on them with any Application of Mind that tho' since that time some Virtuosi have been pleas'd publickly to declare that they found some directions they received from me not unuseful to the Examen of such Waters yet having sorgotten many of my past thoughts and lost on mislaid most of my Memorials about matters of fact relating to
their curiosity great enough if they inquire what colours the Mineral Water will strike with Galls or Oaken leaves and do observe what kind and quantity of Salt will remain after the evaporation of the Liquor And I much fear that some even of your profession will think I cut them out a great deal too much work by so many troublesome Queries and Tryals But I confess that nature or long experience having made me tho'not a Sceptical yet a suspicious and diffident Philosophiser I think my self obliged on difficult occasions to ask more than ten Questions before I presume to answer one Nor do I think that the slightness of anothers curiosity dispenses me from industriously exercising mine I might on this occasion represent that tho' the greatest Naturalists and Physicians among the Ancients did not only mention but admire and discourse of the Loadstone yet our Gilbert thought fit to examine it further and was thereby able to discover far more numerous Phaenomena than all them put together had taken notice of And I might add other instances to the same purpose but to answer more closely and directly I say that to discover the nature of Mineral Waters being a thing far more difficult than those that have not try'd do imagine I think we ought to view the Subject in as many differing lights as we can expose it to and take in as many helps to discovery as we can since a great many particulars that singly or at the first view seem not very pertinent if they be survey'd in conjunction and be skilfully apply'd may much conduce to the desir'd end And perhaps hereafter it will be found useful if not necessary to make large additions to the Topicks whose number is now thought redundant For the more qualities and other particulars we are acquainted with in any Subject the better grounded and the more enlarged knowledge we have of it As for the trouble it may cost to make the proposed Enquiries and Tryals it may be said 1. That they are not all necessary though useful nor yet of equal moment and therefore the omission of some that are less important may not disappoint the main Searches 2. I have purposely made most of the Tryals as easy and short as the matter and Scope will permit and those that will not undergo some trouble in seeking an useful truth do not deserve to find it especially since in the chase of noble discoveries as in hunting the nobler game the toyl oftentimes makes a part of the pleasure And I have made the less scruple to be somewhat ample in the enquiries I propound because divers observations have perswaded me that Physicians ought to consider very well both the nature of the Waters they ordain and to what persons for what Diseases and in what manner they prescribe the use of them For tho' many look upon them as such innocent Medicines as if they do no good can at least do no harm yet the effects that have too often insu'd the unskilful use of them especially when it was long continued allow me not to look upon the drinking of Mineral Waters as a slight thing that may safely be plaid with but as that whereby we have seen as very much good so a great deal of mischief done especially some time after the operation is thought to be quite over and perhaps almost forgotten 8. I look upon the examen of the Properties and other Qualities of Mineral Waters as a thing that is therefore of the greater importance because I am apt to think upon probable grounds that by a diligent inquiry there may be discover'd in England and in divers other Countries too a far greater number than is yet imagin'd of Mineral Waters especially Ferruginous ones which I therefore guess will be found very numerous because by some uncommon wayes of Tryal that I have imploy'd I have found that divers Minerals that either men knew not what to make of or by reason of their passing under other names did not suspect to be Martial did yet partake of and perhaps abound with parts of a Martial Nature And I shew in another Paper about the Magnetism of the Earth that kindly provident Nature or rather its Divine Author has under various disguises furnish'd our Globe with a far greater plenty and variety of Iron Ores and Minerals that partake of that Metal the most useful by far to mankind than of any other Metal And as Martial Minerals do thus abound in the Earth so they are more dispos'd than one would suspect such hard Bodies could be to impregnate even such Liquors as are not manifestly acid and seem unlikely to be able to work upon Minerals far less hard than they To make this probable we took not Iron Ore or Embryonated Mars but pure Steel it self the same as Needles were made of and upon the minute Filings of it we put some Tincture of Galls made with common Water and filtred through Cap-paper that the present colour of the Liquor and the change we expected to be made in it might the better appear And by this Tryal we found that in less than an hour the transparent infusion of Galls was so alter'd as to be grown not only opacous but of a dark and almost inky colour which it retain'd even after Filtration and this tho' the Vial that contain'd it was very slender A not unlike effect was produc'd by small Filings of steel but somewhat slow lier in the red Tincture of Brazil and in that of Logwood made with common Water 9. I know not whether it may not be fit to be represented on this occasion that in Countries manifestly abounding with Metalline and other Minerals it may perhaps be worth while that mens Curiosity descend much lower than the superficies or Turf of the ground and make search both after Subterraneal Springs and Wells and their operations upon Humane Bodies For I have upon Inquiry been assur'd by those that in several places have visited Mines that they have met with in them and sometimes at very great Depths running as well as Stagnant Waters of differing Tasts and sometimes other Qualitie and that the Diggers venturing to make use of them to quench their Thirst as they found some of them mischievous as Corrosive Petrific c. so they met with others that were not only innocently Potable but Medicinal Of both these sorts we have Instances in our Tin-Mines of Cornwal in Devonshire And of the latter sort I receiv'd from an ingenious Gentleman that has the oversight of some Cornish Water-works this memorable Answer to an Inquiry I sent him The strangest Account saies he of Mineral Waters that I have yet had was of that in the bottom of a Tin-work call'd Karnkey wrought above 60 fathom that is 360 foot deep the Mineral being a mixture of Tin and Iron and the Water Red and Puddle yet drunk was cool and not nauseous and would pass by Urine near as Red as it was drunk
conjecture we slowly evaporated some Ounces of the Vitriolate Liquor and found that the remaining dry Substance did not fully amount to the 4th part of the weight of the whole At which rate 't was easy to conclude that one grain of Vitriolate substance would have been sound capable of so impregnating six thousand times its weight of common Water as to make it sit to produce with Galls a purple tincture We afterwards found upon Tryal purposely and warily made that the experiment will hold thô the proportion of the Water to the grain of tinging substance should exceed that lately mention'd by the weight of some hundreds of grains TITLES For the Natural History of a Mineral water propos'd Consider'd as a Medicine Being the III. Part of the designed work SECT VI. THough the effects of a Mineral Water upon Humane Bodies as well as upon other Subjects may challenge a place in the Natural History of it yet because the Titles of this Third Part of this Scheme for the most part directly regard the cure or prevention of diseases which are held to be the proper Offices of Physicians as such I forbore to make any comments upon the particular Titles of this Part of our Historical Idea contenting my self for the sake of those that are strangers to Platforms of Natural History to have set down a series of Titles which may point out to them what particulars may be fit for their Inquiry and furnish them with heads whereto they may refer and Receptacles wherein they may lodge what upon Tryals or otherwise they shall meet with worthy of observation And so the accounts that shall be given on these Subjects may be somewhat more distinct and less incompleat To what Temperaments and constitutions the Mineral Water propos'd is the most proper to what less proper and to what noxious or inconvenient In what stated Diseases and in what particular cases the Mineral Water is proper or to be suspected of being dangerous if not certainly hurtful What difference there is if any between the Water taken up and presently drunk at the Spring it self or other receptacle and that which is carryed to some distance off whether in open or in well stop'd Vessels Of the manifest Operations of the Water in those that take it whether it be by vomit by seige by Urine by several or by two or all of these waves Whether any occult vertues or other hidden Qualities can be discovered in the Mineral Water And if any what What variation in the effects of the Mineral Water proceeds from its being drunk all of it quite cold or hot or lukewarm or one part when 't is in one of those tempers and the rest when in another Of promoting or facilitating the operation of the Water in some by taking it in Bed and in others by Moderate exercise What assistance may be given to the operation of the Water by giving with it especially in the first draught something to make it pass the better or to correct its Crudity or to strengthen the stomach and Bowels What advantages may accrue from preparing the Patients Body before he enters upon his course of drinking the Waters And what inconveniences may attend the neglect of such preparation especially in gross foul or much obstructed Bodies Of the assistance the Water may receive by gently purging Medicines discreetly given from time to time Of the best Dose or quantity of the Water to be taken at once of the compass of time wherein it should be all drunk and of the gradual increasing and lessening the Dose at the beginning and sometimes before the end of the whole space of time appointed for the taking it How much the greater or lesser length of time spent in taking the Water conduces to its good Effects and what is the fittest measure of time to continue the drinking of it respect being had to the Patients strength Disease the time of the year the accidental temperature of the Air and other considerable circumstances Whether the drinking of the Mineral Water for several years together be found almost necessary or more beneficial than to intermit it sometimes for a year or two or perhaps longer and then to return to the use of it Of the Diet as to meat drink exercise sleep c. That ought to be observ'd by those that take the Water and of the inconveniences that are wont to follow the neglect of it Of the signes that declare the Water to work kindly and effectually and of the Tokens of not doing so and those of its being already hurtful or likely to prove so Of the Inconveniences or unwelcome accidents if there be any as usually there is that have been observ'd to happen during or some time after the drinking of the Mineral Water especially to Persons of such constitutions or that are in such and such circumstances and of the waies to prevent or remedy such inconveniences Whether there be any necessity or great use of taking Physick after one has done drinking the Water And if there be what are the fittest times and medicines to be imploy'd for the prevention of any bad effects of it and what is the danger of neglect to make use of them VVhether and how the Mineral VVater may be usefully given by being simply commix'd with other Liquors or Bodies as by boiling meat in it or by receiving together with the Additament a further preparation as when the VVater is mingled with VVine or some other Drink when with Milk 't is made into Posset drink when brewed with Mault alone or with that and hopps 't is turn'd into Ale or Beer VVhether any such saline or other substance may by evaporation Inspissation Calcination c. be extracted or obtained from the Mineral VVater as being given in a small Dose may be substituted as a Succedaneum to large quantities of the Water as nature affords it Of what uses if of any the Mineral VVater is when outwardly apply'd as by washing sore Eyes or Ulcers bathing in it c. And whether the mud or Sediment it leaves where it passes or stagnates being externally apply'd have the same or other Medicinal vertues and if so how the mud is to be administred to make it exert them Of some Mechanico-Medical Trials that may be made upon Animals to help us to guess at the Qualities of the Mineral VVaters as by injecting it into the veins of a Dog to try whether it will coagulate his Blood or make it more fluid or operate powerfully by Vomit Siege or Urine as also by keeping a Dog very long without allowing him any other Drink at all than the Mineral VVater But I propose such Particulars as are mention'd in this Article but as Analogous Experiments or Succedaneums to Tryals that should but cannot well because of the worthiness of the Subject be try'd in living Humane Bodies And indeed all the Titles of this third part of our design'd History belong porperly to Physicians many of whom
at least if they resemble you are far better qualifi'd to cultivate this Medicinal Subject than I who being as little desirous as fit to incroach upon their Province shall not inlarge upon this third member of our History but willingly resign it into their and especially into your own more skilful hands The Conclusion ANd now Sir it may be seasonable to put an end at least for the present so this Rhapsody of Papers by telling you That theforegoing Idea or Platform of a History of Mineral VVaters being a draught of or a First essay upon so difficult and and uncultivated a Subject as I have ventur'd to treat of as I know you are too Iudicious to expect any thing of exactness and compleatness in what I now present you so I hope you will be so equitable or so favourable a Reader as to forgive those omissions and other imperfections that I cannot doubt but you and even I my self upon a review shall discover in the first edition of the foregoing Papers And thô if hereafter they shall be thought worthy of a Second I may possibly be able if God be pleas'd to grant me health and Leisure to rectify some oversights and supply some omissions yet to deal freely with you I much fear that it will be very difficult for far skilfuller Pensthan mine to deliver such Histories of Mineral VVaters as the curious would wish and those Criticks that have never made Tryal of the difficulty of attempts of this nature will be forward to require And this difficulty will I presume be found a great one not only as I have already noted by him that shall undertake to give a good account of Mineral VVaters á priori but to him also that shall take in all the help he can obtain à posteriori For there are so many circumstances of seasons VVeather place and a multitude of contingencies that may vary the Phaenomena and effects of Mineral VVaters that 't is extreamly difficult either to comprize so many different things at once and as it were survey them at one view or without having such a comprehension and multitude of various regards to be able to pronounce with certainty about the nature the Medicinal Operations and the other effects of a Subject that may be influenc'd and diversify'd by so many causes and accidents as a Mineral VVater may And therefore till further disquisitions and Tryals shall have better clear'd up the Subject I shall without pretending to more think the past discourse not altogether useless if it can well perform the office of the virgula divinatoria which supposing the truth of what many Chymists and Metallists deliver of how little value soever it be of it self is fit to point at Mineral treasures and show men the places where they are to seek for them Farewel This belongeth to the 16th Title of the first Part. 'T Is known that the drinking of Ferruginous Waters such as those of the German-Spaw and our Tunbridge is usually prescrib'd for many Weeks during which time it often enough happens that the Fall of Rains makes men doubt whether the Mineral Water be not so much diluted as to be spoil'd in its Medicinal Capacity And indeed I have more than once observ'd that some such Martial Waters after considerable Rains lost their Power of producing the wonted Colour with Galls And therefore it may in some cases be of good use to be assisted to Conjecture whether or no the Rain have made the Mineral Water unfit for Drinking In order to this I shall take notice that usually a small Rain does little or no harm to the Medicinal Spring And sometimes even a moderate Rain especially after a long Drought may instead of weakning it increase its vertue by washing down into its Channel some Salts that during the dry weather were concreted in the Pores of the Ground and perhaps also by heightning the Water in the Channel so as to dissolve some Salts concreted there which it could not reach before But if the Rain have long continu'd the Estimate may best be made partly by the greater or lesser depth of the Spring beneath the surface of the Ground and partly and indeed chiefly by the peculiar nature or strength of the Mineral Water For some Springs are much more copiously impregnated than others and therefore will bear a greater dilution by Rain-Water of which I shall give you this notable Instance That whereas I found as I lately noted that more than one of our English Martial Springs especially those near London were too much weakned by the Water that Rained into them I had the Curiosity to try how much of that kind of Liquor some German-Spaw-Water that came to me to London very well conditioned would bear In pursuit of which design I warily made some Tryals which showed what probably will be thought strange that when the Mineral Water was diluted with no less than thrice its Weight of Rain-Water it yet retained strength enough to produce with newly powdered Galls a Purplish colour FINIS A Catalogue of late Physick Books sold by Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Pauls Churchyard Fol. BOueti Anatomia 2. Vol. 1680. Mercurius 1682. Medicina Septentrionalis 1684. Breinii Plantarum Exoticar Cent. cum Figuris 1680. Fabritii Hildani opera cum Severino 1682. Hippocratis Opera Foetii Hartmanni Opera omnia 1684. Paracelsi Opera 2 vol. Dioscoridis Opera G. Lat. Saxoniae Opera Med. 1680. Piso Hist naturalis de rebus Indiae Schenkii Observat Med. Mentzelii Index Plant. cum Figuris 1683. Lepenii Bibliotheca Med. 1683. Riverii Opera 1679. Zwelferii Pharmacopeia Quartoes Alpinus Medicina Aegypt Borrichius de ortu progressu Chimiae Hermetis Aegyptiorum Chym. Sapientia Bauhini Pinax cum Prodromo Broeckhuysen Oeconomia Corporis Anim. 1683. Boyle Opera omina 2 vol. Blasii Anatomia 1681. Borellus de motu Animalium 2 vol. Blegny Zodiacus Galen Med. Chymic 1682 Bartholini Acta Medica 4 vol. Castelli Lexicon Med. 1682. Cardilucii Officina Sanitatis Clauderi Methodus Balsamandi Collect anea Chymica Leydensia 1684. Clauderi Inventum cinnabaricum 1684. Cleyer Specimina Medicinae Sinicae 1682. Charas Pharmacopeia Regia 1683. Charas Theri ca Andromachi 1684. Diemerbroeck Anatomia Davissomi Comment in Medicinam Severini Dolaei Encyclopedia Med. 1684. Fernelii Opera 1683. Van Helmontii Opera 1682. Glisson de Naturae Substantia Hoffmanni Praxis Med. 1680. Helwigii Observationes Med. 1680. Hoffmannus in Schroderum Joel Opera medica Kyperi Anthropologia corporis humani Konig Regnum Animale 1682. Kirckringii Specilegium Anatom Licetus de Monstris Museum Hermetic Miscellanea Curiosa M. Physica 7 vol. 1682. Id. Decuria secunda Anni Primi 1683. Margravi Materia Medica Prodromus Pauli Quadriparti tum Botanicum Plateri praxis Pechilinus de potu Theae 1684. Regii Medicina Rolfinchius de purgantibus 1683 Ordo Methodus Med. Specialis Conoilia Med. Sacra Eleusinia patefacta 1684. Schonckii Histde humor totius corporis
those Liquors I fear I shall not be able to satisfy either you or my self by what I now write about them But how ever since you will needs have me say something upon this Subject since it is a noble one as that where in the health of thousands is concern'd since 't is of late grown to be more priz'd and discours'd of than ever and since I have observed mens curiosity about it to have been confin'd to very narrow Limits most men contenting themselves with the discoveries they can make by the Infusion of Galls or their Body and perhaps a slightly improv'd evaporation Since I say I have these invitations to obey you I am content to offer you my Advices such as they are for the drawing up of such a natural History of a Mineral Water propos'd as being comprehensive of many Inquiries and Wayes of Indagation that even Physicians have either not known or overlook'd may probably afford a more reaching notice and inlarg'd knowledge of the Subject treated of Upon which account I have I confess a desire and an aim tho' no great hope that this rude Essay may by your Improvements and those of your Learned Friends be made of some service to the Publick 2. But here I must ingenuously own to you that notwithstanding the many wayes I propose of discovering the natures or Qualities of Mineral Waters yet I think the surest way of knowing them is a long and sufficient Experience of their good and bad effects For I strongly suspect and it may be partly know that there are beneath the surface of the Earth divers Mineral Substances some fix'd and some volatile some in the form of hard Bodies some of soft ones some of Liquors and some of Fumes divers of which the generality even of Learned men are altogether strangers to besides those that tho' some men may chance to have seen have their natures so little known that they have not so much as names assign'd to them So that when I consider that of the Ingredients we are unacquainted with to pass by all the rest that the Earth may conceal the proportions wherein they are mingled may be numberless and the Qualities resulting from these Commixtures may be very differing from those of the separate Ingredients I am apt too look upon the difficulty of Securely determining the Effects of Mineral Waters à priori as little if at all less than insuperable to Humane Understandings 3. But this difficulty is not such as ought to make us think it useless to have a good Project of the natural History of a Mineral Water For 't is no small advantage to know what particulars are fit for our Inquiry to be furnish'd with a Sett of heads to which one may conveniently refer whatever he tries or observes about the Subject propos'd And which is yet more considerable to be furnish'd with variety of Methods or ways to make Tryals fit for investigating the Nature or examining the Qualities of the propos'd Water since by the number and variety of purposely and fitly devis'd Experiments he that makes them may as it were view his subject on all sides and be much assisted to conjecture what Saline or other Minerals known to us and what quantities of them do impregnate the Water he examines and consequently what effects they are like to produce in Humane Bodies 4. Though there be three sorts of things fit to be taken notice of by him that would give an Historical account of a Mineral Water whether cold or hot yet contenting my self to treat but very cursorily of those that belong to the first and to the third of the three sorts I have made a more full and particular Enumeration of the Titles that peculiarly belong to the second sort of observables namely those that mention the various Tryals Chymical and Mechanical that are to be made with the Water after 't is taken out of the Spring This I purposely did chiefly because 't was only of this sort of particulars that you desir'd my thoughts and partly also because they are most wanted and desir'd by Naturalists and Physicians and are like to prove the most instructive to them having also this to recommend them that to make the greatest part of them by far it is not necessary that a man repair to the place where the Spring rises but he may at leisure examine the Water at home where he may be accommodated with Furnaces vessels and other conveniences to make his Tryals upon it 5. A much less discerning Reader than you may perceive that in sorming the insuing Project of a Natural History I aim'd much more to assist practical Physicians to find the vertues and effects of Mineral Waters than to insorm Speculative Naturalists of their causes and manner of being generated But yet a heedful peruser may find that I have so endeavour'd to gratify Physicians that I have not been altogether â—anting especially in the First Part which is almost wholly Mineralogical to the curiosity of Philosophers as it relates to all sorts of Mineral Waters Tho' you may easily enough discern and readily confess it that the following Paper does much more regard those cold ones that from the Acid Tast that is found in most of them are call'd Acidulae than those other Waters that from their heat are commonly styl'd Thermae because the former sort of Mineral Waters is that which I have had the opportunity to be the more conversant in as well as that about which alone you have desir'd my Observations 6. I had once thoughts of illustrating the following Setts of Titles with a kind of Rationale briefly declaring the reason of their order and their number sor both these were considerately pitch'd upon not lighted on by chance But I was obliged to omit it when I sound as I quickly did that I had too little leisure and health to imploy much of either upon a troublesom work of no greater importance And therefore knowing your Perspicacity to be more than sufficient to make you discern some reason for the order wherein I have marshall'd the Articles of the last Sett of Titles which fall under the Cognizance of your own Profession I have not been solicitous to assign that Reason And I presume 't will be no great harm if my hast have made me also omit to perform at present the Intention I had to make here and there some Brief Marginal Notes upon some of the Articles of the first Part. And I thought it sufficient if not also capable of making some amends for the newly mentioned Omissions to make them somewhat numerous and some of them large Annotations upon the Titles or Articles of the II Part This being indeed the chief that I design'd to insist on and present you 7. I expect it will be wonder'd at that so many Inquiries should be propos'd and so many things directed to be taken notice of about a Subject that hath been thought so barren that men are wont to think
as I have been inform'd by those that drunk of it whilst it the Mine was working being now struck out that is the vein of Ore being degenerated or lost However I believe Experiments might yet be made with Water much of the same nature Thus far he from whom notwithstanding the remoteness of the place he lives in I hope to get some of this Liquor to make Tryal of which if I do I design you an account of the Effects I could enlarge upon the Subjects of these two last the 8th and the 9th Numbers But after so long an Introduction to short Memoirs 't is high time that I come at length to set down the Topicks themselves that I design to propose SECT II. TITLES For the Natural History of a Mineral Water propos'd consider'd as being yet in its Channel or Receptacles Being the first or mineralogical part of the designed work HE that would draw up the History of a Mineral Water to have its qualities some examin'd and some investigated should in my opinion make three sorts of observations about it For first he ought to take notice of those particulars that relate to it whilst 't is yet under ground or in its native receptacles Next he is to examine the properties and other qualities of it when 't is drawn up by men at the Springhead or other receptacle Lastly he is to consider the operations and effects of it upon Humane Bodies whether sick or sound according to the several ways and circumstances made use of in administring it To the first of these three sorts of observations may be referr'd such heads or titles as these 1. In what climate and parallel or in what degree of Latitude the Mineral Water do's spring up or stagnate 2. Whether the Spring-head or other receptacle do chiefly regard the East the West the North or the South 3. Whether the Water be found in a Plain or Valley And if not whether it arise in a Hillock a Hill or a Mountain 4. And whether it be found at or near the top the middle or the bottom of the rising ground 5. Whether the waters leave any secrement or other unusual substance upon the Stones or other Bodies that lie in the Channels they pass through as they glide along or the Receptacles that contain them 6. Whether there be beneath or near the Medicinal Water any subterraneal fire that hath manifest chimney's or vents and visibly by night only or also by day burns or smoaks either constantly or at certain periods of time 7. Whether at or near the mouth or orifice of the abovementioned chimneys or vents there be found either flowers of Brimstone or a Salt like Sal-Armoniac or some other Mineral Exhalations in a dry Form 8. Whether there be under or near the course or channel of the Water any subterraneal Aestuary or latent mass of hot but not actually or at least visibly burning matters And whether such Aestuary afford an uniform heat as to sense or have periodical hot fits as it were and if so whether these come at certain and stated times or uncertainly or irregularly 9. Whether it be observed that over the Aestuary or in some other neighbouring part of the place where the Mineral Water springs there arise any visible Mineral fumes on smoak which when they do appear are wont to do it early in the Morning or late in the evening and if such fumes ascend how plentiful they are of what colour and of what smell 10. What is the more obvious nature of the not manifestly Metalline nor Marcasitical part of the Soil which the Medicinal Water passes through or touches And what are the Qualities of the neighbouring Soil and the adjacent Country As whether it be rocky stony clayish sandy chalky c. 11. Whether there be any Ores marcasites or Earths especially highly colour'd ones impregnated with Mineral Juices to be met with in the course of the medicinal Spring or in the receptacle of the same water stagnant And what these Minerals are whether copperish ferrugineous Marcasitical c. And whether the Ores do or do not abound in the Metalline portion As also with what other Ingredient as spar cauke Sulphur Orpiment Arsenick c Whether Innocent or hurtful they are mingled or else compacted together 12. Whether it can be discover'd that the Spring of the Medicinal Water was common Water before it came to such a place or part of the soil it runs through there begins to be manifestly impregnated with Mineral Bodies 13. And whether in this case it makes any effervescence or other conflict with the Mineral it imbibes or with any other Water or Liquor that it meets with in its way and whether the conflict produce any manifest heat or no 14. Whether if the Mineral Water propos'd be manifestly hot or extraordinarily cold the Springs it flows out at or the Receptacle it stagnates in have near it and if it have how near a Spring or well of Water of a contrary quality as 't is observ'd in very neighbouring Springs in some few places of France and elsewhere 15. Whether when the Water appears in the Spring or Receptacle there appear also either floting at the Top or lying at the bottom or swimming between both any drops or greater quantity of Oyl like Naphta or Petroleum or some other bituminous inflammable substance 16. Whether the Water be considerably altered in quantity or quality bythe different seasons of the year as Summer Winter c. By the much varying Temperatures of the Air as to heat coldness drought c. By the plenty or paucity frequency or unfrequency of falling Rains or Snows And what may be the bounds and measures of these alterations of the Mineral Water 17. Whether any thing considerable can be certainly discover'd or any very probable conjecture made of the nature and qualities of the substances that impregnate the Water by Chymically and Mechanically examining the Mineral Earths through which it flows or in which it Stagnates And particularly by observing their colour whether native or acquir'd by being kept in the fire their specifick gravity their affording or not affording any Salt or other soluble substance by decoction their being soluble or indissoluble in particular Chymical Menstruums of several sorts as Aqua fortis Spirit of Salt c. And their being committed to destillation in Vessels of differing sorts and various degrees of fire with care to receive separately the differing substances they afford whether in the form of Liquors or of Flowers and by examining these substances by fit and proper wayes as also the Cap. Mort. by calcination elixiviation and if it will bear such a fire vitrification SECT III. TITLES For the Natural History of a Mineral Water propos'd consider'd as being drawn out of its Spring or Receptacle Being the II. or Physico Chymical part of the designed work THat this Scheme of Titles may be the better understood and the more instructive and useful tho'
I have not time to write an ample com ment upon it all yet I thought fit to illustrate most of its Particular Articles by such Notes as may either explicate the meaning of what is but briefly couch'd or deliver some of the practical ways of Tryal that I make use of on occasion of the Subject mention'd in the Title or Article whereto the Notes belong These being divers of them too large to be conveniently plac'd the Margin are all of them set down together after this Sett of Titles TITLE 1. Of the actual coldness or heat of the Mineral Water propos'd 2. Of the specific Gravity of the Mineral Water propos'd 3. Of the Transparency the Muddiness or the Opacity of the Mineral Water 4. Whether the Mineral Water will by slading for a competent time let fall of it self any Oker or other earthy substance especially tho' the Liquor be kept from the Air. 5. Whether any thing and if any thing what can be discover'd in the Mineral Water by the help of the best Microscopes adapted to view Liquors 6. Of the colour or colournes of the Mineral Water 7. Of the odour of the Mineral Water as Acetous Winy Sulphureous Bituminous c. 8. Of the tast of the Mineral Water as Acid Ferruginous Vitriolate Lixivial Sulphureous c. 9. Whether any change will be produc'd in the transparency colour odour or tast of the Mineral Water by its being taken up at the Spring-head or other Receptacle or remov'd to some distance by its being kept stop'd or unstop'd for a greater or lesser space of time and by its being much warm'd or refrigerated and also by naturally or artificially produc'd cold turn'd into Ice and thaw'd again 10. Of the thinness or viscosity of the Mineral Water 11. Whether the Mineral Water be more easy to be heated and cool'd and to be dilated and condens'd than common Water 12. Whether the Mineral Water will of it self putrify and if it will whether sooner or later than common Water and with what kind or degree of stink and other Phaenomena 13. Of the change of colours producible in the Mineral Water by astringent Drugs as Galls Pomgranate-peels Balaustium red Roses Myrobolans OakenLeaves c. as also by some Liquors or Juices of the Body 14. Whether any thing will be precipitated out of the Mineral Waters by Salts or Saline Liquors whether they be Acid as Spirit of Salt of Niter Aqua Fortis c. Or volatile Alcali's as strong Spirit of Urine Sal-armoniac c. Or Lixiviate Salts as Oyl of Tartar per deliquium fixt Niter c. 15. How to examine with evaporation whether the Mineral Water contain common Salt and if it do whether it contains but little or much 16. How to examine without evaporation whether the Mineral Water have any acidity tho' it be but very little 17. Of the Liquor or Liquors afforded by the Mineral Water by Destillation in Balneo and other wayes 18. Of the residence Cap. Mort. of the Mineral Water when the Liquor is totally evaporated or distill'd off and whether the Cap. Mort. be the same in quantity and quality if produc'd by either of those wayes 19. Whether the propos'd Water being in Glass-Vessels exactly luted together slowly and warily abstracted to a thickish substance This being reconjoin'd to the distill'd Liquor the Mineral Water will be redintegrated and have again the same Texture and Qualities it had at first 20. Whether a Glass-full of the Mineral Water being Hermetically seal'd and boil'd in common Water deep enough to keep it always cover'd will have its Texture so alter'd as to suffer an observable change in any of its manifest Qualities And if it do in what Qualities and to what degree of alteration 21. Of the proportion of the dry Cap. Mort. to the Mineral Water that affords it 22. Of the division of the Cap. Mort. into saline and terrestrial and other parts not dissoluble in Water in case it contain both or more sorts 23. Of the proportion of the Saline part of the Cap. Mort. to the Terrestrial 24. Of the fixity or volatility of the Saline part in strong fires 25. Whether the Saline part will shoot into Crystals or no and if it will what figure the grains will be of and if it will not whether being combin'd with a Salt that will as purify'd Sea-Salt Peter c. it will then chrystallize and if it do into what figures it will shoot especially if any of them be reducible to those of any species of Salt known to us 26. To examine whether the Saline part be ex praedominio acid alcalizate or adiaphorous 27. Of the observables in the Terestrial portion of the Cap. Mort. as besides its quantity in reference to the Saline its colour odour volatility or fixity in a strong fire it s being soluble or not dissoluble by divers Menstruum's as Spirit of Vinegar Spirit of Urine Oyl of Tartar c. 28. Whether and if any thing how much the mineral waters Earth looses by strong and lasting Ignition What changes of colour c. it thereby receives whether it be capable of Vitrification perse and what colour if any it will impart to fine and well powder'd Venice glass if they be exactly mix'd and flux'd into a Transparent Glass 29. Of the Oeconomical and Mechanical uses of the Mineral Water as in Brewing Baking VVashing of Linnen Tanning of Leather or Dying of Cloth Callico's Silks c as these may assist in discovering the Ingredients and Qualities of the Liquor propos'd 30. Of the imitation of Natural Medicinal Waters by Chymical and other artificial wayes as that may help the Physician to guess at the quality and quantity of the Ingredients that impregnate the Natural Water propos'd An Appendix Containing 1. PAralipomena or things directly belonging to the History and pretermitted in it 2. A Chaos of Observations and Experiments remotely or indirectly referable either to one or more of the foregoing Titles or to the common Subject of them all SECT IV. Experimental Remarks upon the usual way of examining Mineral Waters by the help of Galls Deliver'd by way of Larger Annotations upon the XIII Article of the II. Part. SInce the change of colour that Mineral Waters produce in the Infusion or Tincture of Galls is the most usual way that many Physicians and the almost only that some of them endeavour to discover or examine Mineral Waters by it may be worth while in this place to set down some remarks that I have made about this way of probation the rather because it may mutatis mutandis be not unusefully apply'd to the exploring the Quality's of Mineral Waters by Colorations tho' made with other Materials than Galls First then it may be observ'd that one need not make an Infusion or Tncture of Galls in common Water to try if by their means a new colour will be produc'd For I am wont to beat them to Powder and keep them in a Glass not too
big exactly stop'd by which means I have them alwaies in readiness to mingle with the Mineral Water and alter the colour of it if Galls be able to do it almost in atrice whereas to draw the Tincture of Galls with Simple Water often takes up several hours and the tinging parts are much weakn'd by being diluted by the Menstruum If you would have a Tincture the Powder of Galls ty'd up close in a Ragg and with it hung in the Liquor makes the Infusion less muddy If you be in hast and have none of the Powder at hand you may scrape as much of a Gall-Apple as you need into the Mineral Water 2. I have observ'd those Parts of the Infusion of Galls especially it made by heat that produce the new Colour with Ferruginous Waters to be more apt to fly away than one would think the Infusion becoming often unfit to alter the Colour of the Martial Waters whilst yet it self appears sufficiently high colour'd Upon which account I choose to make a Tincture of Galls not long before I mind to use it And if I imploy dry Galls to take Powder that is not stale 3. 'T is no safe way and may be very erroneous that is usually taken in mixing Galls or their Infusion with the Water to be explor'd so carelesly as is wont to be done For those that are curious to make good Ink will easily believe that much of the deepness of the Colour depends upon the Proportion of Galls to the other Ingredient and accordingly that by putting a much greater or a much lesser quantity of Galls into such a quantity of the Mineral Water the resulting Colour may be more or less intense To obviate which inconvenience I take this course when the occasion deserves it I make my Infusion of Galls with a certain weight of the Powder in a determinate weight of Water As for instance I put about five gr of powder'd Galls to sleep for so many hours in an Ounce of Water But if I make use of the dry Powder then I am wont to put three or four grains into an Ounce of the Liquor to be examin'd which is a way far more certain than the Common wherein the Ingredients are aestimated but by Guess I have have mention'd various proportions of powder'd Galls to the same quantity of Liquor because I have observ'd that there is really a great inequality among the Mineral VVaters in which it may be put and I have found by Tryal that in an Ounce of the German Spaw a single grain of Powder would immediately produce a sufficiently deep purple colour 'T is an inconvenience that not only Galls but the other Drugs hereafter to be mention'd impart a high Tincture of their own to the common VVater they are infus'd in and therefore it were to be wish'd and is fit to be endeavour'd that we had some Drugg that without imparting a colour to the common VVater it impregnates would afford an Infusion fit to strike a blackish or a purple colour with Martial VVaters Though it be useful yet 't is not necessary to imploy Galls to produce a colour in the Mineral VVater propos'd For besides that 't is known that usually tho' not alwayes as I have try'd the same thing may be done but somewhat more faintly with Oaken Leaves we may successfully enough substitute for the same purpose some other astringent vegetables as dry'd Red-Rose Leaves the Peel and as we have try'd the Juice of Pomegranates and what I find to be a notable stiptick the blossoms of the same plant which are vulgarly call'd in the Shops Ballaustium To which may be added Myrobolans Logwood and some others that need not now be mention'd whose strong Infusions have yielded me a Tincture very dark and blackish with some Martial Liquors 6. In regard that the Galls or other Drugs to be infus'd in common VVater are not alwayes of the same goodness or strength 't is adviseable not so to trust to any determinate proportion of the Pigment to the VVater as not to take in the help of the Eye to judge by the Colour of the Tincture whether the Liquor be duely and not too much or too little impregnated 8. Whereas there is an intimation in the Close of this thirteenth Article of the present Sett of Titles that Animal Liquors may be imploy'd to produce new colours with Mineral VVaters I gave that hint not only because 't is usually observ'd in Martial VVaters such as those of Tunbridge the Spaw c. that the gross excrements of the lower belly are blacken'd by a commixture of their Metalline Parts but in Tunbridge VVaters particularly I have observ'd that after the drinking of larger doses of them the root of the tongue and perhaps some neighbouring parts would also acquire a dark colour by the operation of the transient Liquor Though the way of trying Mineral VVaters by the change of colours that Galls produce in them be useful and recommended by being easy cheap and expeditious yet I do not take it to be either of that extent or of that certainty that 't is vulgarly presum'd to be of For its main if not only considerable use is to discover by striking or not affording a black or blackish or at least a purple or a purplish colour with a Mineral Water to manifest the Liquor to be or not to be either of a vitriolate or a ferruginous nature But there are divers Metalline Ores and other Mineral Bodies which not participating of Iron will not by this way be discoverable and yet may strongly impregnate the VVater propos'd As for example to try whether if Arsenic were mingl'd with VVater Galls would discover it by producing with it a dark colour I put some of the Powder of them into a Decoction of arsenic but did not perceive that it gave the Liquor any deeper colour than it would have done to common VVater And as the extent of this explorer of VVaters is not very great so neither do I find the informations it gives us to be so certain as they are presum'd For if I much misremember not I long since found upon tryal purposely made that another Body of a Metalline nature and that did not partake of Iron would with infusion of Galls afford a very dark colour that might easily among ordinary Beholders pass for the colour produc'd by a Martial VVater and I do somewhat doubt whether so much as all Liquors impregnated with Iron will de discover'd to be so by the colour they afford with Galls for I have sometimes made such a Liquor with no Mineral Substance in it save steel or Iron but I did not find it would turn the Infusion of Galls either blackish or purple which made me suspect that these colours are afforded only by such Martial VVaters as have been wrought upon more or less by some Acid Salts or Fumes 9. Unto these things I shall add that I found that to be a mistake which is generally
that of Fennell seed if it be that by its being or not being able to melt Bodies of somewhat differing dispositions to Fusion as Butte Tallow Bees-was c. Or to coagulate the whites of Eggs or to boyl Eggs in the Shell c. But the best way is to plunge into the Water propos'd or least the whole Ball or globulous part of a good hermetically seal'd Thermoscope whereon the degrees of cold and heat are carefully mark'd Notes on the Second Title II. The knowledge of the specifick Gravity of a Mineral Water may be of great use to him that endeavonrs to discover its nature not only as this knowledge inables him to distinguish the propos'd Water from others but because it may afford him a considerable and double information For by comparing the weight of the propos'd Liquor with that of common Water he may be in case the former be heavier as it usually happens to be assisted to estimate what proportion of Salt or Martial or other Mineral Substance it is impregnated with And if it be very light and much more if it be lighter than common Water he may probably conclude that the Substance that impregnates it is either very small in quantity or proportion or is not near so gross as is to be found in other Mineral Waters but of a Spirituous and Volatile nature which is a discovery of no small moment in this affair And thó that may seem a paradox which I here suppose that a Water impregnated with a Metalline or Mineral Substance should be as light or even lighter than common Water Yet upon Tryal carefully made I have found some Mineral Waters as particularly that of Tunbridge well taken up and thô they be somewhat less light that of the German Spaw and of some of the Islington Springs to be manifestly lighter than common Water and some taken up at Tun bridge I found to be lighter than common Water even purified by Distillation And thô it be very hard to conceive yet I think it not impossible that a Subterreneal Substance that impregnates Water should be lighter in Specie than it but yet I would not refer this surprizing Levity in all cases nor all of it in most cases to the admixture of lighter Corpuscles because some Tryals justify'd the suspicion I had that much of the Comparative Lightness proceeded from this That the Mineral Water was imbued with a smaller quantity of vulgar or culinary Salt than common Water uses to contain But yet these Tryals did not satisfy me that this paucity of common Salt was the sole or adequate cause of the lightness of the mentioned Waters But to discover such minute differences one must have good Instruments and indeed to speak freely there are few upon whose Reports I durst confidently relye for the Specific Gravity of Mineral Waters For to weigh Liquors any thing exactly there is requisite more Heedfulness and more Skill and better Instruments than are easy to be met with together and than we usually imagine And when Physicians and others weigh Mineral Waters they are wont to do it in some Apothecary or other Trades mans Shop where if the Ballances be small the Vessels and the Water are commonly too heavy for them and oftentimes wrong them And if as is usual the Bottles or other vessels be great they require far better Ballances than are usually imploy'd in the Shops of Apothecaries or Grocers whose Ballances a Critical Examiner will too often find to be far from being accurate insomuch that usually without at all altering the weights thô perhaps not great ones he may easily make which Scale he pleases manifestly preponderate and continue in that position and may as easily afterwards give the other Scale the same advantage The diligent and experienced Mathematician Mersennus much complains of the difficulty he found to weigh Liquors exactly even by the help of his Nicer Instruments The accuratest way I know is by comparing the differing weights that the same sinking Body has in common Water and in the Liquor propos'd But this way which I elsewhere circumstantially deliver requiring besides good Instruments skill in Hydrostaticks is practicable but by few And the way of comparing Waters by the greater or lesser sinking of the same Cylinder or other swiming Body into them is scarce accurate enough Wherefore I chose to make a very skilfull Artist blow at the flame of a great Lamp a thin round vial with a flattish bottom that it might stand upright and be very light and this was furnish'd with a neck as large as a Goose quil drawn very even into a hollow Cylinder of above 3 Inches long and fitted at the top with a little Gap that hinder'd the Water from ascending above the due height This Glass contain'd ℥ iiiss and 43 grains of common Water and yet when empty weigh'd but ʒvi+ 42 grains So that I could use it when full of Liquor in such a Ballance that the addition or detraction of half a Grain or less would make either Scale preponderate The length and evenness of the stem was design'd for uses not needful to be mention'd here where it may suffice for my purpose to say that this Glass was judged capable of holding Water enough for not uncurious Tryals and yet not to be thô well fill'd too heavy for a tender Ballance In this Vessel herefore we carefully weighed several Liquors whose Gravity belongs not to this place and among them diverse Mineral Waters some of which at least known here at London were found to be of the annexed weights The Glass being fill'd with several Liquors to the same height and weighed in the same Ballances  Ounces dr gr Common Water was found to weigh 3 4 43 Common Water distill'd 3 4 41 Acton Water 3 4 48 ½ Epsom Water 3 4 51 Dulledge Water 2 4 54 Straton Water 3 4 55 Barnet Water 3 4 52 North-Hall Water 3 4 50 The German Spaw Water 3 4 40 Tunbridge Water 3 4 38 Islington Water from the Musick House 3 4 36 Islington Water from the Vault with Steps 3 4 39 Islington Water from the Cellar 3 4 39 By this short account it may appear that as divers Mineral Waters that contain Salts in them are considerably heavier than Common Water so some especially Ferruginous Waters are impregnated with so fine a substance as to be lighter than common Water Notes on the Fourth Title IV. This Article may in divers cases give some light to the discovery of the kind of Soyl through which the Water has pass'd and is also useful to distinguish the Spontaneous residence if I may so call it that the Liquor le ts fall by meer standing from that which they call the Caput Mortuum that remains after the total evaporation of the Water by which means also the weight of this last residence may be more truly known Besides some other Mineral Waters I found that the German Spaw Waters brought very well stop't to London afforded by
long standing a pretty quantity of Terrestrial substance that look'd almost like yellow Oke◠and perhaps was of great affinity to it in nature 3. That clause in the Article thô the Liquor be kept from the Air was therefore set down because I had found by Tryals that some Liquors by being expos'd to the free Air would have copious and sometimes surprizing substances separated from them as if the Air contain'd some Precipitating Salts fit to work on the Liquors so as to make in them such notable separations Notes on the Fifth Title V. An accidental weakness I had in my eyes when I had the best opportunity to endeavour satisfying my self about this Inquiry forc'd me to leave the prosecution of it to others Only two things I shall take notice of on this occasion One is that having caus'd one that had young Eyes and was accustom'd to make use of such Microscopes as are mention'd in the Article to look upon some Mineral Waters through them he said he could discern no difference between them and common Water Notwithstanding which the Tryal ought to be repeated by various persons on several Waters with differing Engyscopes and in differing Lights and other circumstances The other is that whereas it is by divers learned men objected against the goodness of these magnifying Glasses we now make use of to look on Liquors that the little Bodies that the ingenious Mr. Lewenhoeck and since him divers other Virtuosi have observ'd in Water wherein Pepper has been infus'd are not as he pretends living creatures but little inanimate concretions that are casually form'd and carry'd to and fro in the Liquor To convince these Doubters of whose number I was my self at first inclin'd to be I devis'd the following experiment Having laid upon the magnifying Glass a part of a drop of Water wherein I could see store of these little Animals frisking up and down we put to the Liquor with a bristle or some such very slender thing part of a drop of Spirit of Salt which as was expected presently kill'd these little tender creatures and depriving them of their Animal Motion left them to be carry'd so slowly to and fro in the Liquor as to make it visible that they were then dead and had been before alive Notes on the Seventh Title VII 1. The Odours of divers Mineral Waters are best judg'd of at the Spring head or other Receptacle whence some of them being remov'd scarce afford any Odour at all perceptible by us men 2. Perhaps the Sulphureous scent that is sometimes perceiv'd in Tunbridge and some other Waters in their sources may in part proceed from loose Exhalations that casually happen to be mingled with the Waters but do not constantly belong to it 3. The winy odour is mention'd among others Because I am credibly inform'd that in France there is a Mineral Spring if not more or less than one that has such a smell 4. I mention the Bituminous Odour distinctly from the Sulphureous because men are too apt to confound them and take all stinking Mineral Waters for Sulphureous whereas divers are manifestly Bituminous as may be gather'd to omit other signs not only from their proper odours but from more or fewer drops of Petroleum or a kind of course Naphtha that are found swimming upon the Water 5. I think it also not unlikely that sometimes a Spring may partake both of Sulphur and Bitumen mingl'd together by the Subterraneal Heat since I have found that I could easily enough melt and incorporate these two substances here above ground Notes on Ninth Title IX 1. This is an almost necessary Article because many Persons that drink Mineral Waters cannot well either for want of strength or conveniency repair immediately to the Spring head but are oblig'd to drink them in their Beds or their Lodgings and perhaps to have them transported to a great distance or even to another country 2. Many Purging Waters are found to retain their Laxative vertue and that perhaps for a considerable time thô they be transported to places distant from those they rise in 3. In such Ferruginous Waters as are lighter than common Water I found a manifest difference in reference to transportation For most of them even such as will bear removing have something of freshness and quickness at the Spring head perhaps from some Spirituous and Fugitive Exhalations that there arise with them but presently vanish that they have not any where else And some do not only lose this briskness by being remov'd thô in vessels well stop'd but they lose also the power of producing with the powder of Galls a Purple colour as I found by Tryal purposely made in more than one of these Mineral Waters which to prevent fraud I sent for to the Springs themselves by servants of my own For thô these carryed their Glass Bottles along with them and had no other Errand there but to fill and stop them carefully yet by being transported less than one league I found them so alter'd that they would no longer make a Purplish colour with powder'd Galls but a deep reddish one whereas the German Spaw Waters did almost alwayes here in London afford me with the same Powder of Galls a rich Purple Colour And Tunbridge Waters afforded me the like but not so deep a one when I receiv'd them at London very well stopt 4. This last clause was not to be omitted because the exact or negligent closing of the vessels wherein such Waters are transported is a circumstance of great moment For more than once I receiv'd at London Waters sent me from Tunbridge by Physicians themselves who us'd at least a moderate care in putting them up which yet would by no means afford with Galls a purplish Colour And I found that even the German spaw-Spaw-Water would almost presently lose its capacity of being made Purple by Galls if it were considerably heated 5. But the same spaw-Spaw-Water being in Summer time kept all night in an open Vessel did the next morning till it was late if not till Noon retain a disposition to be made Purple by the admixture of Galls but that disposition it lost before the next day Notes on the Fifteenth Title XV. 1. Because it often happens that men have not the leisure and the conveniency totally to evaporate the proposed Mineral Water it may be an useful thing to be able without evaporation to discover whether it contain any common Salt and if it do to make some estimate how copiously or sparingly the Liquor is impregnated with it This might easily be done with nicety enough if I were not by very just Reasons restrain'd for a while from communicating that way of examining the saltness and freshness of Waters of which I did by the Kings command show his Majesty some proofs whereof mention was presently after made in the printed Gazets But till it be free for me to impart that way to the publick I shall only intimate that some guess may be made
at the Saltness of Waters by observing whether they will lather with wash-balls or Soap and if they will not what quantity of curdled matter they will produce as also whether the Waters will serve for washing of Linnen and will boil Peas tender Which two are the most usual wayes that many Sea men take to examine the goodness of unknown Waters by In divers Purging Waters this way may be difficult to be practis'd with certainty because of other Salts that may be predominant in them but in the Examen of lightly Ferruginous Springs it may be more rely'd upon 2. It may not be unworthy observation that when I made use of my own way of examining the Saltness of Mineral Springs I did not find even the lightest sort of them devoid of common Salt which I found but not in equal proportions to be contain'd not only in the several Waters of Islington Hamstead VVater and if I misremember not in some others but also particularly in Tunbridge VVaters and those of the German-Spaw which I did not much wonder at because I had long known that more or less of common Salt is very usually harbour'd thô not observed in many Soils through which all sorts of Springs and consequently Mineral ones have their course Notes on the Sixteenth Title XVI Thô Acidity be so usually a manifest Quality of Mineral Waters that Authors are wont to divide them into Acidulae and Thermae yet I have found by several Tryals that 't is not near so easy as men presume to find a manifest Acidity in all Mineral Waters that are not Sulphureous or Hot. For several Ferruginous Waters having probably spent the Acidity they had upon the Iron Ore which they dissolv'd in their passage retain so little Acidity that 't is hard to discover they have any either by their working upon Coral or by any conflict with Spirit of Urine or the like or by mixing them with Syrup of Violets to change the colour of it insomuch that sometimes I should have concluded some such Waters to have no Acidity at all if I had not had a way of discovering a far less degree of it than I could discern it to have by other Tryals The circumstances that made this way of examining so critical will cost me too many words to set down here and I have done it in another Paper expresly written of the way of discovering the Qualities of divers Bodies by changes of colour made in or with them And therefore I shall here but briefly tell you that I discover the Acidity of Liquors by their operation upon the colours of an Infusion of Lignum Nephriticum made in Lympid Water and order'd after a certain manner By this means I found the German Spaw Water to retain a little Acidity even here at London but more than one of our own Ferruginous Springs did not even upon this Tryal appear to have any And which some may think strange I did not find even some of the Purging Springs particularly that of Acton to have any discernible Acidity Notes on the Twentieth Title XX. The Scope of this Inquiry was twofold The first to discover whether a change of Texture would notably alter the Qualities of the Liquor when the Hermetical Seal hinder'd the Avolation of any Saline Ferruginous or Spirituous parts And the other was to see whether such an Agitation by heat as in the open Air would as I had found deprive the Spaw Water of the vertue of making a Purple colour with Galls would cause any manifest separation of parts in the Liquor and make any grosser substance to precipitate or subside But thô we did twice not without difficulty make the experiment with Spaw Water yet we made it without success For the first time the Glass broke at the bottom before the Water we immers'd it in was near boyling hot And thô the other Glass resisted longer and indur'd a greater heat yet in not very many Minutes that also broke at the bottom Which disappointments a faithful Historian ought as little to conceal as better successes And I chuse to leave this 20th Article of Inquiry in its place among the rest of the Titles because possibly some other may be more happy than I was in endeavouring to answer it And I hold it not amiss in drawing up Platforms of Natural History to set down what Questions we think fit to be propos'd to nature because we cannot be sure before Endeavours for Tryal be us'd whether the thing to be attempted be practically performable or not Notes on the Twenty sixth Title XXVI 1. Divers wayes may be propounded to discover which of the Qualities mention'd in this Article is predominant in the Salt to be examin'd but I confess I somewhat doubt whether these waies of Tryal be so certain as many will be forward to think them 2. If Acidity be guess'd to be predominant in the Salt propos'd it will probably appear by such waies as these By the Tast odour or both By working upon Coral or Crabs eyes finely powder'd By curdling of Milk By making Syrup of violets reddish By the power of destroying the blew colour of the Infusion of Lignum Nephriticum By not being Precipitable by Potent Acid Liquors as Oyl of Vitriol Spirit of Salt and by being Precipitable by Oyl of Tartar per deliquium as also by strong Spirit of Urine and other volatile Alcaly's as they are call'd But as I was noting above I doubt whether these proofs be absolutely certain for if I mistake not I found some Purging Mineral Waters that would not give even so slight a proof of acidity as to destroy the blewness of the Nephritic Tincture Which yet would curdle Milk and turn it to a kind of Posset and on the contrary I found that some German Spaw Water would not curdle Milk yet would readily deprive the newly mention'd Tincture of its ceruleous colour which yet I did not find that some of our English Ferruginous Waters were at least when brought me to London able to do 3. The predominancy of an Alcaly in the Salt of a Mineral Water may be probably discover'd by such waies as these By the Lixiviate Tast Smell or both the former of which may be observ'd in the true Niter of the Ancients which I have had brought me from Aegypt and a neighbouring Country whose name I do not now remember By the turning of Syrup of violets green By the Precipitation of solution of sublimate made in Spring-Water By an effervescence or conflict with some potent Acid as Aqua fortis or well dephlegm'd Sprit of Salt By heightning the red Tincture of Logwood or Brazil drawn with common Water to which may be added a Nicer way or two that I have elsewhere mention'd But I propose these waies but as appearing rational upon the score of my having successfully try'd them with other Saline Bodies that were Alcalisate For as to those Mineral Waters I have had occasion to examine I do not