Numbers There was kill'd upon that Water an Asper of which I prepar'd the Oyl but did not find that it answer'd the Character generally given of it for taking of Fish These Meers lie in low Grounds have Rivulets or little Rivers that discharge themselves into them and having but little Vent out form themselves into these large Area's In the Meer that was drein'd were found great Numbers of Firr Stocks and Firr-Apples so that Mr. Cambden is certainly mistaken when he asserts those Stocks not to be really Firrs but other Woods only made Resinous by a Bituminous Earth in which they have been lodg'd as is commonly conjectur'd since the noted Deluge however the Woods might be alter'd its certain the Apples could not belong to any other Tree But I shall have occasion to treat more fully of these when I come to treat of the Mosses The Rivers of most Note are the Mersey Ribbel Lune and Wire the Dee and the Dove in Cheshire and Derbyshire Mersey runs by Warrington anciently remarkable for its Lords the Butlers who obtain'd for it the Privilege of a Market-Town in Edward the First 's Time and is now a Town famous for its Trade and Market where I think I may safely affirm Maulting is brought to as great Perfection as at Derby or elsewhere the Liquors brew'd from it being no ways inferior to the most noted Ales in England From Warrington the Mersey grows broader and soon after contracts it self again but at last opens into a wide Mouth very Commodious for Trade and then runs into the Sea near Leverpool a Town formerly but mean but now the Third Sea-Port of England and as well Built as any I have seen In this River are taken vast quantities of Sparlings or Smelts a Fish remarkable for its Smell as well as Tast. Ribbel called anciently Bellisama has its Rise from amongst the Mountains in Yorkshire and runs by Ribchester and Preston from thence grows wider and in the Meales empties it self into the Sea This River affords us plenty of Salmon Codfish Flounders Turbut and Plaise but a River by reason of its Sands very unfit for Trading The Lune from what will hereafter be observ'd may take its Name from Luna the Moon or the Goddess of Heaven runs by Lancaster and arises from the Mountains in Westmorland Upon this River is a noted Salmon-Fishing the best I have eat any where and is very Commodious for Trading which is there now blooming Wire issues from the Mountains in Wiresdale runs not far from a Market-Town call'd Poulton as Commodious for Trading as any of the rest This River affords us a Pearl-Fishing which are frequently found in large Muscles call'd by the Inhabitants Hambilton-Hookins from their manner of taking them which is done by plucking them from their Skeers or Beds with Hooks but of these I shall have occasion to treat more fully when I come to speak of Shell-Fishes and the Germination of Pearls The River Dee is the most Noted in Cheshire in Latin called Deva as appears by the Roman Tiles dug up there upon some of which are these Letters in Roman Characters COLL. DEVA LEG XX. V. V. In British it is called Dyfyrdwy as springing from two Fountains in Wales from which some believe it had its Denomination dwy in the British Language signifying Two Others say those words signify black Water but why that Epithet should be apply'd to this River I see no ground for it the River being large and open and the Water clear and pellucid Some allege these Words signify a divine Water and hence a Fountain sacred to the Gods was call'd Divona and upon some Roman Tiles dug up at Chester I have seen that word in Roman Characters Nor is this Conjecture altogether improbable since in those Days divine Honours were paid to Rivers as Gildas informs us the Thessalians paid them to Peneus upon account of its Pleasantness the Scythians to Ister for its Largeness the Germans to the Rhine because it was their Judge in Cases of Jealousy betwixt Married Persons It is said moreover of this River Dee it seemed Holy to the Christian Britains for when they were drawn up in Order of Battle ready to engage the Saxons they first kiss'd the Earth then devoutly drank of this Water in Memory of the Blood of their Holy Saviour The River Dove in Derbyshire called so by the Inhabitants from its Transparency I imagine as resembling the silver Feathers of that Bird is remarkable for a Fish call'd the Grailing and likewise Trouts said to be the best in England It runs for the greatest part thro' a Lime-Stone which renders its Water so fertile a Manure that even in Winter the Meadows on both sides of it appear fresh and green and if it overflows them in the Spring like another Nile it enriches them In Commemoration of which high Improvements the People have this Saying In April Dove's Flood Is worth a King's Good But of this River in a far loftier Strain the Ingenious Charles Cotton Esq writes for by his witty Flights on these Streams one would rather conclude they wash'd the Banks of Helicon than the rugged unpolish'd Mountains in Derbyshire This River swells sometimes so much in twelve Hours time to the great terror of the Inhabitants that it carries down their Sheep and other Cattle yet in the same Compass of Time falls again and returns to its old Mounds whereas the Trent when it overflows its Banks keeps the Fields in float four or five Days these Reasons are manifest because in one the Country is Mountainous the other is a large extended Flat This River runs to Ulcester seated upon an Hill of easy Ascent where it draws to the Trent it inclines towards Tutbury-Castle formerly very large and also called Stutesbury commanding as it were the lower Country by its high Situation on an Alabaster-Hill where there is a little Monastery built by Henry de Feriers a Noble Norman to whom William the First gave large Possessions hereabouts but they were all lost by Robert de Feriers Earl of Derby upon his Second Revolt from Henry the Third There are now Proposals for making the River Dee Navigable which if effected will doubtless be very advantageous to that ancient City where that Honourable Legion viz. the Twentieth was fixed stiled by the Romans Valens Victrix which was of those by Tacitus term'd Emeriti or Veterani Having done with the Meers and Rivers according to my propos'd Method I come now to treat first Of the Springs not properly to be call'd Mineral-Waters but yet remarkable either for their Lightness Coldness Perspiration Flux and Reflux and of these some are continual others at certain Seasons as after wet Weather and some are remarkable for throwing up several Marine Shells Secondly of Mineral-Waters and the various Kinds of these with an Account of their Principles and Uses and of those these Counties afford us a great Variety Near to a Noble Seat call'd Ashton-Hall about
called the Chairs formed after the same Manner M. Is the Place call'd the Needle 's Eye which is a small Hole that goes quite through the Rock so that from thence a Person standing with a Light to the Person that stands at the Bottom near the Water the Light seems to resemble a Star The Current through the Cavity is in a great measure made by the Dropping of the Water and likewise the Fret-Work that resembles a Choir An Explication of the Cutts contain'd in the Seventh Plate mark'd Tab. VII relating to the Devils Arse near Castleton in Derbyshire c. THE First Figure on the Right-hand is a Piece of the Nautilus found in Lancashire in this the Disports of Nature are wonderful as may be observ'd by the various Figures included in the Shell and the curious Lines upon its Superficies The Second Figure is the Cheshire Woman who had Horns an Account is given of her in the Plate so that a further Relation needs not to be inserted here The lower Part of the Plate is that wonderful Arch commonly call'd the Devil's Arse near Castleton in Derbyshire the Area where the Persons and the Houses are where a great many of the poor Inhabitants live is within the Arch and reaches to the first Water which runs cross it as you may observe by the shadowed Figure stretching in that Line The Second shadowed Figure is the Second River and then the Rock opens again as may be observ'd in the Figure The Third shadowed Figure is the Third and Last Water where the Rock and the Water closes and then you cannot pass further TAB VII The next Thing to be enquired into is whence in this prodigious Cavity these Subterraneous Rivers have their Origin It is observable in several of the Mountains in Derbyshire that at the Bottoms of the Mountains there are several Cavities which the Inhabitants call Swallows into these run several Rivulets of Water but where the Water has its Exit is not known It is therefore my Opinion that in large Subterraneous Cavities as in that at Castleton several of those Rivulets convening it is from them these Subterraneous Rivers are formed and am apt to think that those Springs which issue out of the Mountains in such rapid Currents as some near Castleton do are from them also From all these the wonderful Disports of Nature are not only discernable as is fully demonstrated in Minerals Metals and Plants but in Animals also Why therefore some Persons should spin out such elaborate Hypotheses to amuse Mankind when these Phaenomena's may otherwise be familiarly enough solved I cannot apprehend But those Heads having been fully enough discuss'd before I shall not therefore recapitulate but shall desire each Person to make his Observations accurately and weigh the Whole together and could heartily wish some Persons of no mean Character would not violently espouse Hypotheses which are not warrantable and not fly into violent Passions when they are not opposed in any thing but what is not consonant to Experiments and Natural Observations How these Gentlemen may resent these I am in no wise uneasie and whatever their Opinions may be of themselves is not my Business to enquire into but when from Persons of Learning in Answer to the Experiments I fully try'd I receiv'd no Answer but Opprobrious Calumnies and Supercilious Arrogance let those Gentlemen be assured that I am ready to justifie what I have recited and when ever they think convenient to make and Reply either to them or these if any thing material be offered or more probable Arguments be produced I will either acquit my self or fairly drop the Argument for I am not so bigotted to any mean Performances of my own but when more probable Conjectures are offer'd can easily relinquish them but in those Matters which I have recited as Experiments or Observations I dread not their Criticisms TAB Y E I. OF BIRDS An Explication of the Plate of Birds mark'd Table the First of Birds 1. THE Sea-Crow its Food is upon Shell-Fish and its manner of Feeding is very wonderful as is observ'd in the Book These Birds are said to breed in the Hollows of Rocks in the Isle of Man and though common upon the Sea-Coasts in these Counties yet never known to breed here their Flesh is not grateful and therefore not eaten 2. The Brasilian Magype this was driven upon the Coasts by the violent Hale Storm described in Mr. Burgher's first Plate and found dead upon the Sea-Coasts in Lancashire 3. The Tropick Bird driven in at the same time 4. The copped Wren that fed the Dragoons near Durton in Lancashire of which an Account is given in the Chapter of Birds 5. The Asprey or Sea-Eagle See likewise an Account of that in the same Chapter 6. The Barnacle or the Anser Bassanus in these as in other Geese there are Males and Females and they breed after the same manner as may be observ'd in the Chapter of Birds that Species of the Shell-Fish they have formerly been said to proceed from is a Species of the Pectunculus resembling that contain'd in the second Plate Number 15. which I found in the Copper-Mines in Lancashire These Shells are usually lick'd up by the Ships in the Gulf of Florida and do not breed in these Seas which Phaenomenon still further confirms to me these Petrifactions to be nothing but different Concretions of Fluors Sulphurs Salts and Earths and may justly be styled Lapides sui generis FINIS The Author's Vindication of himself from some Calumnies lately cast upon him SO strangely Opinionative are some Persons and fondly link'd to the Wild products of their own teeming Genius that an Ocular Demonstration to these amounts not to a thorough Conviction nay so prodigiously over-weening of those are their Sentiments it is so far from attaining of it that against the most evident Truths they wilfully shut their Eyes and fall into such extravagant Expressions that they almost exceed the rudest Offals of Billingsgate and that for no other reason but because I do not as they suppose that at the Deluge the Globe was Universally dissolv'd or as some will have it converted into a Pudding and instead of Plumbs was larded with Cockles which are since petrified Those Gentlemen may be assured I shall not concern my self with their Missionaries but when they themselves judge it convenient to make a Reply that is material I shall then be at their Service Some of these have indeavoured to traduce me both at the Engravers and the Press but have in some measure been disappointed in their Expectations They have indeed out of their unexpected Candour been pleas'd to acknowledge that there was somewhat of Stile in the Work but for that reason were pleas'd to allege it was not my own in Answer to that I have only this to say in Vindication of my Self that in Composing the Work I had not the least assistance from any Person whatever and have not in any wise been defective
by an easy corruption may be reduced to Britannia As to the Brigantes it is reasonable to conclude a greater part of them Phoenicians a People of Syria very industrious Improvers of Navigation since we have a remarkable River in Lancashire call'd Ribbel by Ptolomy stiled Bellisama which word undoubtedly he derived from the Phoenician words Belus and sama signifying in that Language the Moon or Goddess of Heaven she being suppos'd to have a particular Influence over Waters and at that time the Deity they Adored Hence it is evident That before the Greeks Traded into Britany the Phoenicians had been there and no doubt discover'd the greatest part of the Island Since therefore a River in this Country in those early days retain'd a Phoenician Name as the Greek Geographer Ptolomy makes it manifest it did to me it seems an undeniable Conjecture to suppose that that Name must be attributed to it from the People of that Country viz. Phoenicia that resided near it probably in the pleasant and beautiful Town now stiled Preston To this we may introduce one reasonable Allegation more That these People were of an Asiatic Origin that is from their manner of making War which was in managing their Chariots as the Eastern Nations practiced a Custom not made use of in any European Kingdom save this Island only This Iulius Caesar found upon his Invasion of the Isle which way of Fighting he had not met with either in Germany Gaul Belgium or other his conquer'd Countries To these may be added the Reverse of a Roman Coin of Asia minor which shews the Expertness of those People in Navigation above all the World which may still more easily induce us to believe they were a great part of 'em a People of that Nation but that will be explain'd in its proper place viz. in the Chapter of Antiquities However thus far we may venture to conjecture since the Asiaticks were so great Masters of that Art that they might easily Transplant themselves hither For the further Confirmation of what is here laid down I shall only produce one Instance more and so close this Head It is affirm'd by Strabo and several others that the most Northern part of Britany was anciently stiled Thule which at this Day the Scots term Orkney and the Latins Orcades Now Thule being a Phoenician word signifying Darkness by an easy Train of Thought we may reasonably infer the Phoenicians might give that Name to those Islands either from the great Shadows of their Woods which were then numerous or the Shortness of their Days many of which are but Five Hours Since therefore we may reasonably suppose the Phoenicians were in those more Northern parts to me there appears no difficulty to conceive how they might Transplant themselves into Lancashire and other Counties Inhabited by the Brigantes Having now accounted for that River stiled by Ptolomy Bellisama and likewise made it highly probable that the Phoenicians were in those Parts it remains in the last place that I assign some Conjectures why afterwards that River was call'd Ribbel Concerning this the Suppositions are various some deriving it from the Greek Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which to me seems irrational since Bel which is a Phoenician word cannot be accounted for in the Greek Language Others would make it British but I do not see how in that Language that can be made out since in British Avon or Savon are the Names for River which Words cannot bear any relation to Ribbel Wherefore with submission to the more Knowing in those Languages it is my Thoughts that since from the preceding Topicks we may reasonably infer the Phoenicians were in those Parts and cohabited with the Britains who being a People of vast Industry and Experience in Navigation might from their Neighbours the Persians with their Colonies send hither several of that Country The Persians as well as they in those Days Deify'd their Rivers sometimes stiling them Heaven and the God and Goddess of Heaven Wherefore Arribel in the Armenian Language which is the Language commonly spoke in Persia signifying Heaven thence Ribbel may be accounted for and not otherwise So far as from the Harmony of Languages I am able to conjecture the radical Letters in the Armenian Tongue and in the River now stiled Ribbel being in a great measure the same and the Rivers then by those People being sometimes stiled Heaven I do not see how that consent of Languages and History can be reconciled but by supposing People from that Country inhabiting amongst the Britains The more clearly to illustrate that the Brigantes were a mixt People of Phoenicians and Britains I shall produce but one Instance more and upon that Head not further presume upon the Reader 's Patience The Instance is taken from a Rivulet a Branch of that River before treated of stiled Ribbel this Rivulet is at this day vulgarly stiled Savig Now ig in the British Language being a Diminutive to shew the distinction betwixt a River and a Rivulet which is therefore added to Avon which in that Language signifies a River Afonig and Savonig in the British Language signifying Rivulet from thence may easily be accounted for the Name of that Rivulet now stiled Savig Since therefore in those Parts we find a mixture of Phoenician Armenian and British Languages we may thence make this reasonable Corollary that those People lived together And why they were stiled Brigantes I presume may be accounted for from Tacitus who very likely might take 'em to be a People from Gaul or Belgium that is from the Brigantines Rovers and Pirates since in those Countries to this very time the Vessels commonly made use of for expedite Sailing are stiled Brigantines The Air for the most part is mild serene and healthful excepting on the Fenny and Maritime parts of the County where they are frequently visited with malignant and intermitting Fevers Scurvies Consumptions Dropsies Rheumatisms and the like occasion'd by Sulphureous Saline Effluvia sometimes extremely foetid which I have frequently observ'd to be so before the approaching of some extraordinary Storm and it is most certain the Inhabitants upon the Sea Coasts from the hollow murmuring Noise which is frequently heard from the Ocean and the offensive Smells perceiv'd from those Coasts will make as early and certain a Prognostick of the Change of Weather as the Modern Virtuosi can do by their Mercurial Tubes It is observable whilst this Noise is heard in the Ocean the Surface of the Water is elevated after an unusual manner and upon the subsiding of the Water it is observ'd the Storm immediately succeeds From which Phaenomena it is reasonable to conclude the following Tempests to be occasion'd by Eruptions from the Bowels of the Earth strugling with that mighty Element till they had forced their way through its immense Body which afterwards flying about in the circumambient Atmosphere frequently occasion tempestuous Commotions and sometimes pestilential Distempers These being the Phaenomena which are almost each
positive is true that Objection vanishes wherefore I shall not expatiate further on this Topick but leave every Man to his own Conjecture CHAP. II. In which is accounted for Waters remarkable for their Levity those that have their Flux and Reflux Mineral Waters of all sorts those that have been thought to Transude through Glass Bottles Subterraneous Eruptions and the most Remarkable Rivers and Ponds AS these Counties are more subject to Rains than some of the more Inland Ones they likewise afford us greater Variety of Waters than any One or indeed than all the Counties in England The most Remarkable are either Ponds which they vulgarly call Meers Rivers or Springs The most Noted Ponds are only Two and both of them call'd by the Name of Martin-Meer The Larger of which is now Drein'd by that Ingenious Gentleman and Generous Undertaker Thomas Fleetwood of the Bank Esq and will no doubt turn to his extraordinary Advantage Part of it being a fat muddy Soil and containing a great Quantity of Marle It s Circumference is about Eighteen Miles its Diameter Two In it were found great Quantities of Fish as Roach Eels Pikes Pearch Breams and the like Upon the Dreining of this Meer were found no less than Eight Canoos in Figure and Dimensions not much unlike those used in America And in a Morass in Sawick about Nine Miles distant from the Meer was taken up a Stone not unlike a sort of Whetstone tho' different from any other Stone I yet saw and with it an Instrument of a mix'd Metal resembling the Securis or Roman Sacrificing-Ax tho' somewhat less nor unlike that which the Native Indians of Old used form'd of Stone in making Hollow their Canoos after Burning and in Barking their Trees which they call a Tomahoke how therefore in these Places these came to be lodg'd is next to be enquired into As to the Kinds of Boats the Ancient Britains made use of we have only this Tradition from Iulius Caesar that they used Wicker-Boats cover'd with Hides that his Ships of War and Galleys were an unknown Terror to the Inhabitants here He likewise tells us the Britains on the the Maritime Coasts Traded to Belgium and Gallia by which he probably means Holland Flanders c. that their Buildings were very Eminent their Manners Customs and Politeness like their transmarine Neighbours that they made use of Brass Imported that Iron was a Product of the Country but in small quantity but that Lead was discover'd in the Inland Counties and so proceeds As to these Canoos One of which had some Plates of Iron upon it 't is my Opinion they were made use of by the Ancient Britains in Fishing these Meers and passing Rivers not that the Inhabitants were so long in forming them by burning them hollow and shaping them with sharp Stones as the American's were before the European Metals came amongst them which as the Missionaries inform us with One of our Instruments cou'd in One Day dispatch as much as in Six Months before The Brittains doubtless had the Use of Iron c. and were furnish'd with it from the Maritime Ports and they from the forein Merchants these Canoos might probably be sunk here that they might be render'd of no Advantage to the Romans when the Natives were forc'd to quit their Habitations by their prevailing Arms nor can I imagine these an Effect of the Deluge neither the Metal Instrument nor Stone found in the foremention'd Moss but that they further confirm what I shall make out afterwards that Morasses Vegetate and that they proceed and encrease from the Plants that grow upon them and notwithstanding the Subterraneous Trees found there tho' we consent to omit them in the Argument there are yet so many others of different Species together with Marine Shells and other Exotic Exuviae found many Yards in Marle in the Inland Counties that without supposing Morasses to proceed from the Deluge as many contend they may fairly and fully be otherwise accounted for As to the Instrument and Stone they might casually be lost there and lie absconded for successive Generations I had almost slipt one thing which may give us a clear Idea of the Greatness and Difficulty of this noble and useful Enterprize the Dreining of this remarkable Meer in effecting of which there were sometimes no less than two Thousand Hands at once employ'd so that to surmount all the natural and artificial Oppositions of the Work there was highly needful a Person of so generous and piercing a Spirit and so extraordinary a Temper as the worthy and successful Undertaker Besides these sorts of Canoos it is unquestionably true the Britains made use of another kind of Boats the use of which prov'd of great Service to Iulius Caesar as we find in the first Book de Bello Civili cap. 11. for when he had pitch'd his Tents betwixt Sicoris and Cinga two Rivers in Spain over which he had the Convenience of two Bridges a sudden Inundation broke them both down and overflowing the Banks cut off all Communication betwixt his Foragers that were sent out and his Friends marching to his Assistance and his distressed Army He was reduc'd to great Extremity nor could he possibly repair the Bridges by all the Efforts he made the Opposition of the Enemy's Cohorts were so vigorous on the other side His last Refuge was for building these light Boats the use of which he had learn'd in Britain and which prov'd of high Advantage to his perishing Army Imperat militibus says Caesar ut naves faciant cujus generis eum annis superioribus usus Britanniae docuerat Carinae primum ac statumina ex levi materia fiebant reliquum corpus navium viminibus contextum coriis integebatur And Lucan speaking of the same thing expresses himself thus lib. 4. ver 130. Utque habuit ripas Sicoris camposque reliquit Primum cana salix madefacto vimine parvam Texitur in puppim caesoque inducta juvenco Vectoris patiens tumidum superenatat amnem Sic Venetus stagnante Pado fusoque Britannus Navigat Oceano sic cum tenet omnia Nilus Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro The Commentator upon the Place quotes Pliny lib. 4. c. 16. Ad eam Britanni vitilibus navigiis corio circumsutis navigare From the whole it may seem probable the Britains upon the Ocean might make use of their Wicker-Boats in Meers and standing Waters of their Canoos Lucan's Verses may be thus render'd Caesar the Champain leaves and spreading Ground When Sicoris Waves his daring Troops surround The twisting Willows to the Keel he joins And reeking Hides cement and close their Lines Proud of their Crews they waft them to the Shore Such Venice knows such Britain taught before Such Boats has Nile it self to Memphis bore The other Meer is about Two Miles in Length and One in Breadth and is famous for Pearches and vast quantities of Fowls as Curlews Curleyhilps Wild-Ducks Wild-Geese and Swans which are there sometimes in great
two Miles from Lancaster which Seat is now in Possession of the R t Hon ble the Lady Gerrard of Bromley from a white Marle issues a pleasant and smooth Water remarkable for its agreeable Tast and Lightness This Water is lighter by an Ounce in a Pint than any I have seen in these Parts Now all Waters containing more or less of Earthly Particles and in the various Consistencies and Quantities of those differing one from another in Gravity it may be imagin'd this Water to receive its Oily Tast and Lightness from the white Marle that being an Oily and light Body and the best Tillage this Country affords A Spring remarkable for its Perspiration is that near Stalo-Bridge in Cheshire This Water if put into a Glass Bottle closely Corked will force its way thro' the Pores of the Glass or the Water by emitting cold Effluvia upon the external Superficies of the Glass condenses the aqueous Particles of the Air and so forms that Dew or Sweat so often observable there For my part considering how difficult it is for any Menstruum whatever to penetrate the Pores of Glass nay even for Air it self as is sufficiently evidenced by the Experiments in the Air Pump I must own my assent to the latter and this may be farther illustrated by the Dews upon Bottles in Wine-Cellars which are wholly insipid and consequently cannot be spirituous Liquor that perspires through the Pores but the aqueous Particles of the Air there condensed Springs remarkable for their Coldness in these Countries we have none save One near Larbrick which is a Water extreamly Cold and of which I shall treat in its proper place this Water is the Coldest I have seen in these Parts and may no doubt answer the ends perform'd by that of St. Mungus in Yorkshire We have only One Spring that Ebbs and Flows and that is call'd Tideswell in the Peak in Derbyshire tho' nothing so Noted as that near Gigleswig in Yorkshire where I have seen the Water to ebb and flow several times in an Hour and always upon the subsiding of the Water heard a gutling Noise within the Mountain not unlike that obvious to us in pouring Liquors out of Bottles only it is much louder Conjectures about this Flux and Reflux are various some imagining it to be caused by the return of a Stone that in an Aqueduct hangs in aequilibrio as the Learned Mr. Hobbs others that a large Receptacle fill'd with Water by subterraneous Winds from the opposite part is blown over as LeGrand and others of the French Virtuosi Tho' Mr. Hobbs's Hypothesis seems to carry the greater stress of Reason along with it yet at the same time if we consider the Effects Water has upon Stone upon which it continually falls or runs over in diminishing its Superficies or over-turning those of a prodigious Bigness upon Floods or other Eruptions it will be as difficult to conceive how a Stone should be so exactly poised in an Aqueduct so long a space of time as this must needs have been so as to occasion a Flux and Reflux of the Waters as is observable in these Fountains Wherefore I shall venture to form a different Hypothesis and that it may be perform'd with all the Perspicuity so dark a matter will admit in the first place I will describe the Spring and its situation as exactly as I remember The most noted Spring of this Nature is at Gigleswig in Yorkshire as above-mention'd The Well lies at the Bottom of a Mountain of a considerable Height and is almost contiguous to a great Road betwixt Settle Lancashire and Westmorland The Diameter of the Spring as I think is about a Yard and the Perpendicular near the same dimension The Flux and Reflux is not always certain being sometimes only once again twice sometimes thrice an Hour and I think the Water upon the Flux may subside about three quarters of a Yard and then you always hear an hollow gutling Noise within the Mountain as is above recited From these Phaenomena it seems reasonable to conjecture that within the Mountain is a considerable Cavity impleted with Air from which the Aqueducts that form the Spring run and that those and their Exits are but small and it is very probable from this Cavity they do not run in direct but spiral Lines like those in a Worm used in Distillation Now when the Water that ascends out of the Earth which composes these Springs reaches this Cavity they must necessarily as it fills gradually press the Air into the spiral Aqueducts and force it forward to the end of the Aqueduct it is there then obstructed by the Water in the Well only a little Air and Water getting vent raises gradually the Spring the Duct still continues to fill higher and higher with Water till at length by its Gravity the Air is forced through and then it is the Flux happens and the hollow gutling Noise is heard occasion'd undoubtedly by the external Air rushing in and strugling with the Water to supply the Cavity of the Mountain which is now discharg'd of that Water but still impleted with Air it is now the Flux ceases and again renews as before and so it reciprocally succeeds Such spiral Aqueducts I have frequently observ'd in the Mountains in Derbyshire particularly near Tideswell where that other Spring ebbs and flows hence it seems rational the same may be here also However here is not any thing dogmatically asserted nor am I so bigotted to this Hypothesis but can easily quit it when any more reasonable is offer'd and more exactly quadrates with the Phaenomena of these Springs Now as these Aqueducts are more or less Spiral or of different Dimensions from the Sinus within the Mountain impleted with Air or as the Spring that fills the Duct with Water is but easy or rapid so its probable the Flux and Reflux becomes so uncertain for in some it flows not once in several Hours as in that call'd Tideswell the Water perhaps being sometimes diverted by other Aqueducts and reaches not the Cavity or Sinus within the Mountain this may happen by several accidents as the falling in of Earth or Pebles which for a time may divert the common course of the Spring till by a continual currency it forces its passage again Several Springs we have which are only at certain Seasons as some near the Manour in Furness these are occasion'd by Rains or an hazy Atmosphere At this Abbey are the most stately Ruins I have any where observ'd as most beautiful Pillars spacious Windows noble Arches and subterraneous Vaults Near this place is a considerable Salmon Fishing and a large Park in which are variety of Deer as Red Fallow and White and is by much the most curious Seat in these Parts It was formerly possest by Sir Thomas Preston who quitted it and as I have been inform'd is one of the Religious and amongst them one of the meanest Order But is now possest by the noble and virtuous Lady
Ore till the Sulphur is sublimed then running it down with common Salt or Pot-Ashes or the Ashes of Ferns There is another sort of Ore they call Red-shire that is such an Ore which yields an Iron which if hammer'd when red-hot proves very brittle therefore these two melted down together produce a good sort of Iron Their Fuel is Turf and Charcoal and in some places Charcoal only several trials have been made with Pit-coal but all hitherto unsuccessful that Fuel abounding with too great a quantity of Sulphur by which the Metal is render'd friable but I am apt to think if they used the Pit-coal made into Coke that Inconveniency might be avoided the dusty part of the Charcoal is useful for burning the Iron-stone to every Basket of this burnt Stone they put in one of Brimstone to make it melt freely and cast the Cinders This Mineral has a strange Effect upon Iron as we see by the various Preparations made from it by this Body the Rationale of which I take to be this That the Body of the Iron is open'd by the Acid of the Sulphur and so quits it self of the Cinder or terrence Particles 'T is strange to imagin the wonderful Effects Acids have upon Iron even the least of them making an alteration in that Body the very Acidity of a Potato which is not distinguishable by the Palate will make the Metal when polish'd livid and raise a Rust or Crocus upon its Superficies other stronger Acids make a perfect solution of it particularly Oyl of Vitriol converts its Body into a green Chrystalline Salt which may again be run down into malleable Iron So wonderfully are the terreous Particles dissolv'd in Minimis or as we express it in Miniature that they are not to be discern'd by the naked Eye or the best Microscopes This Metal if rightly prepar'd comes nearer to a Panacea or universal Medicine than any Drug yet known and in Chronic Scorbutic Cases is doubtless as much a Specific as the Peruvian Bark in Intermitting Distempers but this by the By I shall now proceed to other Phaenomena observable in its Fusion In the midst of the Furnace is a Tunnel at which they put in Charcoal where it is kindled then they add Ore broken into pieces about the bigness of a Pigeon's Egg so much as they intend to melt down then they set their Bellows at work and continue blowing about twelve Hours feeding it still with new Charcoal as it settles the glassy Cinder being very liquid is let thro' an Hole at the bottom of the Wall the Iron is left in a Conical Hole in the midst of the Hearth which they take out with great Tongs then put it under heavy Hammers moved as the Bellows by Water whereby after several heatings in the same Furnace it is melted in it is beaten into Bars About an hundred Pounds Weight of Metal is gain'd at one Melting which is the Product of about three times as much Ore This indeed was the ancient way of running down Iron Ore but of late the following Method is practic'd They have a plain and open Hearth like that of a Black-Smith without any enclosing Walls excepting where the Bellows enter there is an hollow place which they fill and heap up with Charcoal then lay the Ore broken small round it upon the flat of the Hearth to bake or as some express it to Roast or Aneel and by degrees thrust it into the hollow where it is melted by the Blast the glassy Scoriae run very thin but the Metal is never in a perfect Fusion but runs into Clods or Masses which taken out are beaten into Bars as before To some of this Ore adheres a green Chrystalline Spar which consists of ferreous vitriolic and terrene Particles the ferreous Particles may be discover'd by Fusion and the vitriolic terrene and sulphureous Particles by Calcination by which Method you may distinguish a strong sulphureous Smell and afterwards by exposing it to the Air may discern Mr. Iohn Sturdy in the Philosoph Transact vitriolic Efflorescences form'd like Needles or small Bacilli The soft Clay Ore is reddish and is that which we may stile Haematites equally good as that from East-India the Tea-Pots in London made of it and in Staffordshire for Art and beautiful Colour are not behind any from China This Ore is frequently used with success for the Murrain in Cattle and for all Diseases in Swine to which latter they will give an handful or two in Milk which may sufficiently hint to us of what extraordinary Use it may be in Inflammatory Diseases Quinsies and Pestilential Fevers and may in all likelihood by a particular Composition of ferreous saline and sulphureous Particles far surpass all those Boles and seal'd Earths which we import from the Levant and the Indies and may for ought I know in Chronic Cases likewise be a better Mixture to reduce the Mass of Blood to a right Crasis than the most eminent Chymists could yet effect by their elaborate Preparations And why may not this Ore being open'd by a Volatile temperate Acid answer all the Indications of the Acidulae in England since what Phaenomena we find in the Acidulae by Galls either as to Tincture Precipitation or Evaporation may by preparing this Ore as recited and infusing it in common Water be observed These are the most remarkable things which I took notice of in this Metal we proceed next to Copper Ores And here I shall give you a Process in making a small Essay to satisfy the Curious what quantity of Copper the yellow Ore contains it is effected in this following Method Take twenty Penny-weight of Copper Ore beat it in a Mortar and searce it fine then put it into a Crucible thorowly Anneil'd keep it constantly stirring in the Crucible placed in the Fire with an Iron Spatula otherwise it will run into minute Masses and be very difficult to flux down the Metal because the Flux-powder cannot so entirely mix with the Copper Particles so many of the Scoriae interposing Let it thus be stirred about two Hours or till it be of a dark Colour not much unlike Aethiops Mineral and emits no sulphureous Smell at all for if the Sulphur be not entirely burnt off it will carry off the Metal in Fusion or at least if there be any considerable quantity of it convert it to a perfect Regulus and be as brittle as Glass I have seen a Regulus run from this sort of Copper Ore which when taken out of the Furnace after Fusion has been hard but brittle yet it has by lieing in the Air moulder'd to a small Powder in Colour not unlike the Pyrites which I presume might be occasion'd by the Particles of the Air making a solution of the fixed Salt which the Metal was run down withal and so the Mass must necessarily be reduced to Powder not unlike Coal-slates in which by their long continuance in open Air we may observe the parallel Phaenomena After
extraordinary use in scrophulous Cases either in Powder or Decoction Spatula foetida grows in some parts but very rare Lamium album grows in several places and is a good Anti-strumatic Dulcamara grows very common and is an Anti-scorbutic good in the Jaundice and Dropsies the Bark of it is used and that in infusion Upon the Draining of Martin-Meer several unusual Plants were observable never before seen in these Parts particularly a kind of Grass which grows to a prodigious length and is as sweet as Liquorice this in a very short time fattens Sheep and other Cattle and makes them very delicious Food but then they must be slaughter'd out of it when thorowly fatten'd otherwise they are apt to grow rotten and dye Which Distemper by what I can observe in the Dissection of those Creatures is nothing but an Anasarca or Dropsy of the whole Body and in these we have the fairest opportunity of discovering the Lymphatic Vessels which if thorowly known both as to their Uses and Rise would bring Matters in Physick very near to a Demonstration and in Hydropic Cases might save the Lives of several Persons by having a clear Idea of the Cause of that Distemper in those Creatures Erysimum we have in these Parts and it is of use in Asthma's Consumptions and Dropsies Feverfew grows common a noted Anticsteric and Diuretic White Hoare-hound likewise and is an excellent Pectoral Scabios is plentiful and Tragopogon or Goats-beard of great use in Consumptive Cases Centaury and Celandine are very common and are used in the Jaundice and Intermitting Distempers Asarum grows in several places and likewise Arum or Wake Robin its Water is an Antiscorbutick and the Roots are used in Distempers of the Stomach and the Pica Virginis Enula Campana is very common as likewise Bistort Echiums and Buglosses we have both the Hispidum and Glabrum and Hieracia of several sorts particularly the Lactescens which deserves our strict Enquiry into its Vertues of which the Botanists have not taken notice Water-Plantain grows common and is much used in Arthritic Cases we have likewise the Plantago Rotundi-folio other Plantains are common which in the Autumnal Season are apt to collect a white Powder from the Air about which time Intermitting Distempers are generally Epidemical This Powder has no peculiar Taste I have given it to Dogs and Cats but never found any Effects from it Ebulum or Dwarf-Elder grows in several places and is of great use in Hydropic Cases There are several other Plants in these Counties but these being the most remarkable for their Vertues in Physick I have only given an Account of them for the benefit of the Inhabitants of these parts the other are already describ'd at large by the incomparable Dr. Morrison Mr. Ray Dr. Plackenet Dr. Sloane Dr. Robinson and Mr. Dale wherefore for a full and entire satisfaction in those Matters to those eminent and learn'd Authors refer the Reader As to fossile Plants Dr. Woodward in his Essay towards an universal Natural History seems not to give a more probable Conjecture of a total dissolution of the Strata of the Earth at the universal Deluge than by the Observations he has made upon Plants discover'd in Rocks But since this Hypothesis labours under so many unanswerable Difficulties I cannot till more pregnant Proofs are produc'd adhere to it nor can we reasonably suppose a dissolution of the Strata of the Earth and yet conceive these to be kept entire That very Instance in Coal-Mines is a demonstration against it To these I shall add another Instance I have now by me of a stony Substance of the exact resemblance and magnitude of a Cockle-shell found many Yards in Stone yet much lighter than any Cockle-shell of the same bigness which could never be perform'd by specifick Gravitation as the Dr. alledges In the next place to imagin a dissolution of most solid Rocks and Bodies of more obdurate substance this surely must be effected by some peculiar Menstruum distinct from Water and why then in the Name of common Reason should not Plants run the same risque That Menstruum that could make so severe an Impression and disunite those compact Bodies would certainly have easily reduc'd Plants to ruin That there was a Disruption of the Strata of the Earth is but reasonable to allow and likewise that various Bodies floated in that general Inundation but that these Plants are any Argument for a Dissolution or that they were the Exuviae of the Deluge is in the next place to be consider'd In the Rocks in these Parts are only found Polypody Wall-Rue Scolopendrium or Leaves of Thorns doubtless other Plants as well as these would have occur'd to our Observation had these been deposited here by Noah's Deluge Again these Leaves are never found doubled which certainly in so dismal a Confusion as the Deluge was would have happen'd had they here been deposited in that general Catastrophe My Sentiment of the whole is this That as it is observable in Chymistry that the Salts of some Plants will divaricate themselves into the figure of the Plants that these representations of Plants in Rocks are nothing but different Concretions of saline bituminous and terrene Particles and I am farther confirm'd in this Hypothesis since they as well as the Capsulae they are found in seldom fail to afford us that mixture Various Specimens we have of these in Rocks in these Counties in one particularly near Ormskirk in Lancashire in which Scolopendrium may be seen exactly delineated This was communicated to me by Mr. William Barton Apothecary in that Town and is as I remember in some Rocks near Latham belonging to the R t Hon ble William Earl of Derby to whom I am infinitely oblig'd for the Honour done me in having had the Honour to be frequently Physician to his Lordship and to that unparallel'd Youth his Son the R t Hon ble Iames L d Strange There are other Rocks in which may be observ'd Leaves of Thorns as in some Rocks near Heesham and in the Coal-Pits near Burnley in Lancashire These are all the reputed Plants that I have found remarkable in these Parts Having now fairly illustrated it to be highly improbable that these Plants shou'd be the Exuviae of the Deluge but rather Concretions of Matter or the Disports of Nature it may perhaps be expected by some that I shou'd give an account of the different Opinions concerning the Universality of the Deluge as well in respect of the Terrestrial Globe as of the total Destruction of all its Inhabitants I shall therefore give you a Scheme of the most principal amongst them The first is of the Iews who extend the Universality of the Deluge not only to all the Terrestrial Creatures but the Fish they say were suffocated by the Heat of the Rains and Waters which broke out of the deep Fountains of the Earth There are others also amongst the Jews who deny this Universality of the Deluge not only to all terrestrial
observed that they not only took Plants and put them in the Earth prepared as he recites it but likewise the Seeds of Cucumbers and Pompions which acquired their due Magnitude and yet the Earth was not diminished in Weight these Experiments indeed considering the minuteness of the Seeds of those Fruits with the largeness of their Size when grown to perfection and yet no decrease of the Earth might give them very pregnant Reasons for their Conjectures but these I shall examine in their place The other Hypothesis is that of the Ancients which Dr. Woodward asserts for the confirmation of which the Dr. has offer'd the following Experiments Common Spear-Mint was set in spring Water the Plant weighed when put in Iuly 20 th just 27 Grains when taken forth October 5 th 42 Gr. so that in the space of 79 Days it had gained in Weight 15 Gr. the whole Water expended during the 79 Days amounted to 2558 Gr. and consequently the Weight of the Water taken up was 170 8 â—5 as much as the Plant had got in Weight Common Spear-Mint was set in Rain-Water the Mint weighed when put in 28 Gr. ¼ when taken out Gr. 45 ¼ having gained in 79 Days Gr. ½ the Dispendium of the Water Gr. 3004 which was 171 23 35 as much as the Plant had received in Weight Common Spear-Mint was set in Thames Water the Plant when put in weighed Gr. 28 when taken forth Gr. 54 so that in 77 Days it had gained 26 Gr. the Water expended amounted to Gr. 2493 which was 92 21 26 times as much as the additional weight of the Mint Solanum or Night-shade was set in Spring-Water the Plant weighed when put in Gr. 49 when taken out 106 having gained in 77 Days 57 Gr. the Water expended during the said time was 3708 Gr. which was 65 3 7 times as much as the Augment of the Plant this Specimen had several Buds upon it when first set in the Water these in some Days became fair and Flowers which were at length succeeded by Berries Lathyris Sea-Cataputia Gerhardi was set in spring Water it weighed when put in Gr. 98 when taken forth Gr. 101 â—â—â— the additional Weight for this whole 77 Days being Gr. 3 〈…〉 the Quantity of Water spent upon it during the Time was Gr. 2501 which is 714 4 7 times as much as the Plant was augmented It is to be noted that the Orifices of these Glasses were covered with Parchment perforated with an Hole adapted to the Stem of the Plant. Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Conduit Water which weighed when put in 127 Gr. when taken forth 255 Gr. the whole Quantity of Water expended upon this Plant amounted to 14190 Gr. the Plant had run up two Foot in height and had shot one considerable collateral Branch to the Fibrillae of the Roots adhered a terrestial Matter Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Conduit Water in which was dissolved an Ounce and half of common Garden-Earth the Mint weighed when put in 76 Gr. when taken out 244 Gr. Water expended was Gr. 10731. Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Water with the same Quantity of Garden-mould as the former the Mint weighed when put in 92 Gr. when taken out 376 Gr. the Water expended was 14950 Gr. the Earth in both these Glasses was very sensibly and considerably wasted it left a green Substance here as above Mint was set in Hyde-Park Water distilled off in a great Still the Mint weighed when put in 114 Gr. when taken out 155 Gr. Water dispended was 8803 Gr. this Plant was pretty kindly had two small collateral Branches and several Roots with terrestrial Matter adhereing to them the Water was pretty thick had many and numerous terrestrial Particles swimming in it and some Sediment at the bottom of the Glass this Glass had none of the green Matter abovemention'd in it the residue of the Water remaining in the Still was very turbid high colour'd and reddish like ordinary Beer the Mint weighed when put into this Water 31 Gr. Water expended 4344 Gr. This Plant was very lively and had sent out six collateral Branches and several Roots I took Hyde-Park Conduit Water in which was dissolv'd a Dram of Nitre the Mint set in this suddenly began to wither and decay and died in a few days as likewise did two more Sprigs that were set in it successively In another Glass I dissolv'd an Ounce of Garden-mould and a Dram of Nitre and in a third half an Ounce of Wood-Ashes and a Dram of Nitre but the Plants in these succeeded no better than in the former In other Glasses were dissolv'd several sorts of Earths Clays Marles and variety of Manures Mint was set in distill'd Waters and other Experiments I made of several kinds in order to get Light and Information what hastned or retarded what promoted and impeded Vegetation but these do not belong to the Head that I am now upon In Hyde-Park Conduit Water I fix'd a glass Tube about 10 Inches long the Bore about one sixth of an Inch in diameter fill'd with very fine and white Sand which I kept from falling down out of the Tube into the Vial by tying a thin piece of Silk over that end of the Tube which was downwards upon the Immersion of the lower end of it the Water by little and little ascended to the upper Orifice of the Tube and yet in all the 56 Days it stood thus a very inconsiderable quantity of Water had gone off viz. scarce 20 Grains tho' the Sand continued moist to the very top to the last the Water imparted a green Tincture to the Sand quite to the top of the Tube and in the Vial it had precipitated a greenish Sediment mix'd with black to the bottom and sides of the Tube as far as it was immers'd in Water adher'd pretty much of the green Substance describ'd above From these Experiments the Dr. draws these Corollaries That Earth and not Water is the Matter that constitutes Vegetables that Improvements by Nitrons and Alcalizates are only by the saline Particles attenuating the earthly ones and preparing them to be carried up by the Water and dispos'd of into the substance of the Plant that Water serves only as a Vehicle to the terrestrial Matter which forms Vegetables and does not it self make any addition to them Now if I mistake not if we must make Earth a meer simple Body and that to be the Matter only that is converted into the substance of the Plant this Hypothesis will labour under more Difficulties than the former if according to the Doctor 's Notion the saline Particles contribute no farther than in preparing this Mould for we may undoubtedly assure our selves that the Manchinello in the West-Indies that irresistable and deceiving Poyson must needs consist of more Bodies than Earth alone otherwise how comes its Fruit to be so fatal that not only the Eating of it is present Death but the very eating of the Creatures that have fed upon it produces
Greeks that I ever yet saw along with this there was another of an odd kind of mix'd Mettal such as the Romans never used that I know of it had no Letters or Stamp but look'd like a Piece of Money and seem'd to be a Composition of Tin and Copper Since therefore that Matter so far as I am able to judge cannot be fully determined I shall leave every Man to his own Conjectures and in the next Place proceed to the Explications of the Plates and not transgress further upon the Reader 's Patience but close the Whole FINIS Postscript I Desire the Reader would be pleas'd to observe That when the Armenian Language is mention'd that he would likewise take notice of the great variety of pronunciation of the same words amongst those People in this our Lexicons and Manuscripts are so far from informing us that though a Man should be Compleat Master of most of their Idioms yet their variety of Elocution is so great that should he discourse the different sorts of People from the distant Parts of that Country he would scarce be able to apprehend their common Conversation I have been Conversant with several Natives from different Parts of that Country and find in some measure the difference of their Elocution to proceed from a mixture of Sclavonian and Persian as they differently Border upon Russia and Persia To illustrate the truth of this assertion I shall produce but some few instances which in this Book are recited relating to those Antiquities that it may be the better apprehended and doubt not then but by a thoroughObservation of those and the Arguments before premised to satisfie the Unbiass'd from what Continent this Island was in a great measure Inhabited The words are not many but are as follows The Moon some Armenians pronounce Lune others Luce others Lucen Note here that Lune is the Name of that River from which the County of Lancaster is denominated A great River some pronounce Keat others Geat some Kear others Kent where observe that the Names of two great Waters upon Kent Sands are Kear and Kent Wherefore for any Person to derive the Names of those Places as Mr. Cambden and others do from the Saxon word Can denoting a Corner to me seems to be a manifest Errour and I do with a great deal more reason surmise that they are the small Relicts of the Asiatick Colonies This to be incerted after the third Book ERRATA in the Third BOOK PAg. 10. l. 16. after Aelius dele the Comma p. 14. l. 16. for 1692 r. 1612. p. 38. l. 19. for Wallingham r. Walsingham p. 46. l. 22. before the sixth instead of after the Comma should be before ibid. l. 30. for Chisnel r. Chisnalle p. 68. l. 17. for Principii r. Principi p. 69. l. 4. for Tribunae r. Tribunitiae p. 72. l. 3. for there r. then p. 74. l. 10. for Lotium r. Lorium p. 90. l. 20. for underneath Iudea r. Iudea underneath p. 89. l. 5. after Peacock put a Comma p. 95. l. 1. for VII r. VI. TAB I. AN EXPLANATION OF THE CUTTS TAB I. 1. A Ruby found at Ribchester in Lancashire as the Earth shelved down near the River-side a Signet doubtless of some eminent Roman The Figure is Mars holding a Banner in the Left-hand with a Scutum or Target at the Bottom of it in the Right-Hand a Thunder-bolt this doubtless was one of the Genii of the Place 2. A Signet found near Standish in Lancashire in a Copper Urceolus with Two Hundred Roman Coins and Two Gold Rings of the Equites Aurati or Roman Knights these were found by a Country-man as he was plowing The Figure is Mars leaning with his Left-hand upon a Spear holding in his Right-Hand a Victoriola or small Victory with a Target at his Right-Foot 3. An Idol found near Up-holland in Lancashire by a Country-man as he was plowing this I take to be Victory the Genius of that Place 4. An Altar dedicated to the Genius of the Place found at Chester 5. An Altar to Iupiter dug up at Chester 6. An Altar to Coccius Nerva dug up at Ribchester 7. Another Altar found at Ribchester dedicated by some Asiatick one of the Decurions of the Asturian Wing 8. Another Side of the Altar at Chester dedicated to the Genius of the Place 9. An Altar to Caligula found at Ribchester 10. An Altar to Apollo found at Ribchester holding his Plectrum in his Right-hand pointing with his Left to a Quiver upon his Soulder on the other Side of the Altar are Two of his Priests in their Habits sacrificing to him holding the Head of an Ox in their Hands 11. The Vessel in which the Coins were found near Standish in Lancashire 12. A Roman Discus or Sacrificing-Cup found at Ribchester when one of the Fabii was Proconsul or Propraetor 13. The Bottom of a Sacrificing-Vessel 14. The same both these probably belonging to some private Soldiers 15. A small Altar found at Ribchester 16. A Piece of a Simpuvium 17. A Simpuvium out of which they drank by small Draughts as they sacrificed to their Gods 18. The Finger of a Copper Statue dug up at Ribchester 19. A Piece of a Roman Tyle taken out of the Common-shoar at Ribchester 20. A Roman Pillar several Yards under Ground at Ribchester 21. The Ring of a Boat found under Ground at the Place called Anchor-Hill in Ribchester 22. A Piece of the Top of a Roman Urn found at Ribchester 23. One of the Roman Fibulae found at Ribchester 24. The Ring of a Roman Boat found under Ground at Anchor-Hill in Ribchester TAB II. 1. A Piece of a Sacrificing-Cup to Iuno found at Lancaster 2. The Bottom of it 3. Two Sides of the Sacrificing-Altar found at Ribchester shewing the Thuribulum the Vessels out of which the Frankinsence was smoaking while they were Sacrificing the Vessels they melted it in with the Securis and Dolabrum the Sacrificing Ax and Knife 4. Two other Sides of the Altar at Chester to the Genius of the Place on one Side of which is a Flower-pot on the other Venus holding a Cornucopia 5. An Amethyst Fibula found at Chester 6. The same these doubtless were the Fibulae of very eminent Romans 7. Another sort of Fibula in Copper 8. Another kind of Fibula in Copper both found at Chester 9. The Horn of the Rane-Deer found under the Altar at Chester TAB II. Tab 3 RIBCHESTER AND LANCASTER COINS An Explication of the Cutts contain'd in the Plate mark'd Tab. 3. FIG 1. AUG GERM. COS. This is a Coin of Augustus Germanicus who had been Consul The Reverse is erased Fig. 2. HADRIANUS The Letters on the Reverse are AUGUS denoting Augustus a Title assum'd by most of the Emperors The Letters S. C. denote Senatus Consultum The Figure is naked standing holding in the Right-Hand a Cornucopia I take the Figure to be Quies a Goddess amongst the Romans Fig. 3. AEL ADRIANUS The Figure is standing with Two Infants
Madam Katharine Preston Daughter and Heiress of Thomas Preston of Holker Esq Tho' this Digression be foreign to a Natural History yet I hope the Reader will pardon it since I could not well pass by so considerable a Building Some Waters we have which cast up Marine Shells as Latham Spaw did formerly but that being troublesome to the Drinkers has been prèvented by laying Mill-stones upon the Spring so that the Sand and Shells cannot boyl up so high as formerly This is one of the best sorts of Vitriolic Chalybeates and is remote from the Sea or any Salt Rivers whence therefore these Shells come may be worth our enquiry and a clear decision of that may farther illustrate those other Marine Shells found in Marle as the Echini Cochleae Torculars Whilks and Periwinkles of which I have great Numbers by me and took them my self out of firm Marle at three Fathom deep some being entire others broken but all soft and friable yet grew hard as Coral being expos'd to the Air. The Decision of this Phaenomenon in a great measure depending upon the Origin of Fountains I think it a pardonable digression if I a little expatiate on that subject before we descend to the particular Case Springs by the French Virtuosi are suppos'd to flow from the Dews Rains and Mists imbibed in the Earth and afterwards form'd into various Currents which are those we commonly call Springs Now this being a Notion inconsistent with Reason I cannot adhere to it for were this Hypothesis true it would hence follow in the various Seasons of the Year as Summer and Winter they would vary very much in their Currents as to quantity which in several Springs is not discernible Secondly Several Springs are found in Mines in the Bowels of the Earth deeper than the Dews and Rains are suppos'd to descend Thirdly Some Countries abound with Springs where Dews and Rains are never known to fall from all these it is evident continual Springs can never be imagin'd to be caused by Rains and Dews it remains therefore that they either proceed from the Ocean or a subterraneous Abyss The latter of these the Learned Dr. Woodward adheres to and could such a thing be made out his Hypothesis would be undeniable but such a thing as an Abyss being no where to be discover'd in Nature and that what Notions we have of it are only from Moses that divine Philosopher In what sence the inspired Legislator might take the Abyss we pretend not to determine whether the Ocean in general or a subterraneous collection of Waters equal to it and keeping a Communication with it as Dr. Woodward supposes Wherefore we rather assert what the great Aristotle supposes concerning Springs that they have their Rise from the Sea of this Caesar had a clear Demonstration when he Invaded this Island and Encamp'd upon the Sea Coasts where by digging in the Sands he was instantly supply'd with a sufficient quantity of fresh Water which by filtring through the Sand became sweet the saline Particles sticking in the Sand. A Phaenomenon like to this was observ'd when that great General Duke Schomberg Encamp'd upon a Plain call'd the Mels near Hile-Lake This granted then that Springs have their Rise from the Ocean it is easy to imagin how they may bring up Marine Shells and unless this be allow'd I think the Phaenomenon cannot otherwise be fairly illustrated but how this becomes a Mineral Water is from the Mineral Bass from which it springs Against this Hypothesis there remains yet one material Objection viz. If Fountains have their Rise from the Sea how comes it to pass that there are Springs upon the Tops of Mountains which are higher than the Sea since it is evident from Hydrostatick Experiments Water will not naturally rise above its level To this I answer in the first place it is no wise demonstrable that there is any Mountain higher than the highest part of the Ocean since it is suppos'd to be a Globe of equal Magnitude with the Earth Secondly Granting it were so yet it is probable those Mountains lying in the middle Region a sufficient quantity of aqueous Particles might be imbibed by the Earth to produce Springs there and yet this particular Instance does no ways invalidate the general Hypothesis in which is meant the generality of Springs and not each particular Fountain It is true subterraneous Eruptions of Waters especially after Earthquakes as at Port-Royal in Iamaica and at Kirby in Furness in Lancashire have happen'd which have drove down Houses and Rocks of that magnitude that many Teams of Oxen could not move by which it may be concluded there is a subterraneous Abyss of Waters To this I say it is not certain whether these come from the Ocean or from an Abyss and shall not therefore pretend to determine it but shall proceed to what I next propos'd and that is to treat of Mineral Waters In doing of which I begin with those impregnated with Vitriol The Vitriol Spring in the Kennel-Pits at Haigh when I first try'd it yielded an Ounce of Vitriol from a Quart of Water nay it was so highly impleted with Vitriol that any common Alkaly wou'd raise a Fermentation with it and cause a Precipitation The Vitriol it yields is White for the greatest part tho' there is some Green mix'd with it it is not now of that strength several fresh Springs having broken in which yet might easily be diverted of this the Rev d Dr. Wroe our Warden has been frequently an Eye-witness Notwithstanding this Dr. Lister with unequal'd Assurance tells the World Vitriol is not to be found in any Waters in England but that all Waters of a Vitriolic Taste are only impregnated with a Pyrites which we vulgarly call Fire-Stone Germinating in the Waters and this must be impos'd upon the World as implicitly as if it was an Article of Faith in Philosophy For any Man to oppose him he brands him strait with the Character of Mean and Impudent and such like opprobrious Epithets a Language if I mistake not unaccountable for one of his Gown and Dignity For my part what I relate is matter of Fact and the Dr. may be fully convinc'd if he pleases if not it is no fault of mine and since I cannot as firmly believe the Germination of the Pyrites in our Chalybeat Waters as they are commonly called to be like that of Mint in Bottles of Water I hope the Dr. will pardon my Infidelity till he give me better grounds for it at which he has not yet offer'd any farther than a capricious ipse dixit Adjacent to a Place call'd Humblesco-Green in a small Farm in Maudsley is a Spring impregnated with Sulphur and a Marine Salt the Water is extremely foetid tinges Silver a Copper colour by its Sulphur in Distillation a Quart of Water yields half an Ounce of sulphur Salt This Spring no question would answer all the Intentions of the sulphur Water near Knaseborough in Yorkshire either as
to Bathing or Drinking and no doubt by the addition of Rock Salt might be made an advantageous Salt-work having Coals so convenient The Salt at the first boyling is brown and foetid but dissolv'd and evaporated again makes as good a Salt as any I have seen it springs out of Bass and has I presume from that its sulphureous and saline Particles The various Kinds of Bass I shall discourse of in their proper place and there shew how they are impregnated with different Principles There are other Springs that arise out of Bass and are sulphureous and saline yet different from the former as St. Anne's and the hot Baths at Buxton in Derbyshire here the Waters are sulphureous and saline yet not foetid but very palatable because in these Waters the Sulphur is not united with any Vitriolic Particles or but very few saline it tinges not Silver nor is Purgative by reason its saline Parts are dispensed in such small proportions which saline Particles make up a compound Salt constituted of a marine Salt and the Sal Catharticum Amarum which indeed is the Nitrum Calcarium that impregnates Epsom Northall Dulech and the rest of the Purging-Waters in those Parts These Waters if drank create a good Appetite open Obstructions and no doubt if mix'd with the Chalybeat Waters that are there may answer all the Intentions of the Bath Waters in Somersetshire and that of St. Vincent's near Bristol so noted for Curing the Diabetes of which I have seen several Instances in these Parts and likewise for Curing of Bloody Urines arising from the weakness of the Urinary Vessels of which I saw a most noted Instance in Leverpool This Bath is of a temperate Heat and without question by reverberating the Halitus might be brought to any degree of Heat but I think in its own natural Heat it may in general be said to be more agreeable to the Constitutions of those Parts and where the hot Baths cannot be safely used this may This last Summer I saw remarkable Instances of its Effects in scorbutick Rheumatisms in Persons that could not go before without the help of Crutches who came from thence to Manchester on Foot without them distant from Buxton full sixteen Northern Miles But the Virtues as well as Use of Bathing are so particularly described by my Honoured Friend Sir Iohn Floyer of Lichfield that for your further satisfaction I refer you to his elaborate Piece and shall only abridge those Cases he recites These hot Baths spring out of a Bass not unlike Marble and it is pleasant to see in what Bubbles the sulphureous Halitus breaks out of its Matrix and impregnates the Waters After our worthy Author had given us a most exact Account of Perspiration from his Own and Sanctorius's Observations in rightly considering which consists the Basis and Usefulness of all Bathing in the first place he enumerates the Mischiefs of the hot Baths In his 2 d Part p. 2. I observ'd says he that many Persons came to the hot Baths at Bathe without any good Advice or they who came with it used it indiscreetly and imprudently manag'd their Bathing by using it without any due Evacuation or continuing it too long that they went from thence worse than they came some having enflamed their Blood and thicken'd its Serum so as to renew their Rheumatick Pains others Died of Fevers Consumptions Convulsions Bleeding and Imposthumes Instances of these I have seen in several in these Parts but this Point Dr. Pierce is pleased to touch as tenderly as an Hypothesis about the Waters of which he seems afraid but wou'd have us rest satisfy'd without asking Questions and bring the Ingenuity of the most polite Parts to an equal level with the most unthinking Animal For my part I shall not fear to deliver my Sentiments since I have no other end in it than to inform the World in the Phaenomena I observ'd in Nature and if these be exposing One's self to be thrown at like a Shrove-tide Cock as he observes if I escape the terrible Blow of being Neck'd and survive the Combate the Comb shall be at his Service These Instances as he proceeds may convince all considering Persons that we ought not to use hot Baths for Pleasure especially where there is a fulness of Humours and a hot Constitution and since the following Accidents frequently happen upon Bathing they will certainly over-balance all the Pleasure of it the Inconveniencies he reckons are profuse Sweats and Haemorrhages Apoplexies Sleepiness Vertigo's Convulsions Asthma's debility of the Sight Swooning a general lassitude and dejection of the Appetite Torpor of the Mind and Effeminacy of the Flesh pag. 4. My Journey to Buxton this last Year discover'd to me a Bath very different to that at Bathe it being a very temperate one producing no Sweating after it but rather a Coldness and upon a due Consideration I found the Bath very useful in many Cases in which that of Bathe did Injury as in Comsumptions hot Scorbutick Pains and all Defluxions of Humours and Bleedings and all hot inordinate Flatulencies of the animal Spirits in Hysteric and Hypocondriac Cases The farther Particulars may be seen at large in his third Chapter to which I refer you as likewise to his Extract out of Dr. Iones and the Observations annex'd to his ingenious Treatise Before I close the Discourse of this Bath it may be enquired why the Sulphur in one Bath tinges Silver a Copper colour as that at Knarseborough and Maudsley why others of a Golden or Yellowish colour as those in Somersetshire and why others impregnated with Sulphur tinge not at all To these I answer Where Sulphur tinges a Copper colour it is from the addition of a Vitriolic Salt as is common to observe from the solutions of Sulphur and Vitriol but where a Golden colour ensues it is from a greater proportion of mineral Sulphur and but little of Vitriol as in the sulphur Auratum of Antimony and the golden Pyrites But where they Tinge not at all it s from Sulphur only as that at Buxton which seems to arise out of a Bassy Marble The Waters we shall next consider are the Acidulae or those commonly call'd Chalybeats with which these Counties abound The most Notes are those near Lantham Wigan Stockport Burnley Bolton Plumpton Middleton Strangeway near Manchester Lancaster Larbrick Chorley and of these Stockport is much the strongest these Waters spring out at the Bottom of a great Rock in strength are much the same in Winter as Summer which is a Conveniency very few in England besides them have these Waters give as deep a Tincture with Galls as any I ever saw and where Chalybeats are indicated exceed those of Knarseborough and Tunbridge they will in twenty-four Hours by being expos'd to the Air become insipid and then yield no Tincture these Waters lie very light not heavy upon the Stomach which is a Convenience the Drinkers of Knarseborough and Tunbridge have not These Waters are impregnated
shoot into any regular Chrystals have a smell much like that of Natural Balsam which to me seems to be the scarlet Sulphur that precipitates in the Water by exposing it to the Air this Water has a vitriolate Taste and with Galls yields a Tincture of an Agate colour has been experimented in scorbutick Cases and answered the desired end The Hanbridge Water a small Spring which lies betwixt Burnley and Townley yields a Natron or natural Alcali as those Bourbon Waters in France cited by Monsieur Du-Closs and another alcalious Salt which like a Terebinthinate or Resinous Body will melt with a small degree of Heat it is plain the Reason why this Salt melts by Heat is only from a volatile Bitumen united with it for the Salt being long kept in a glass Vial will not melt by any moderate degree of Heat but is then purely Alcalious the Bitumen being wholly evaporated as I found in my Observations at Townley This Water at the Fountain with Galls yields a Tincture inclining to a faint Orange if kept any considerable time in Glass Bottles a perfect Citrine contains the greatest quantity of Natron of any in these parts purges by Stool and Urine and is of great Use in the Stone and Scurvy as hath been found by several Persons who in those Cases have try'd them with great success The Water near Emmet which is about two Miles distant from those fore-mention'd Waters is of a vitriolate Taste and sulphureous Smell which with a solution of Sublimate yields a white Precipitate which no other Waters in those parts will do nor any in France as the French Virtuosi have observ'd and indeed only those at Spada in Germany and if so it may be highly worth our time by frequent and strict Tryals both in Cases in Physick and Experiments in Chymistry to find out the Principles and Use of it which may perhaps save us the Expences of a tedious Fatigue to Spada At the same time I saw there a Salt prepared from a Water in Yorkshire which had exactly the smell of Hipposelinum or Horse-Parsley a Phaenomenon never yet observ'd in any Salt before this smell proceeds from a certain proportion of bituminous saline and terrene Particles for what remain'd after evaporation was of a Yellowish colour and contain'd a great deal of terrene Matter but the Salt when separated is perfect concocted Vitriol Dr. Lister may here again be satisfy'd of his Error for not only the Waters in Lancashire but those likewise in Yorkshire contain perfect concocted Vitriol Nay in the same Coal-Mines near Burnley there are Springs of perfect Vitriol and under these others that contain Natron or Aegyptian Nitre as the above-mention'd ingenious Gentleman fully demonstrated to me when I was last there Another Salt the said Richard Townley of Townley Esq shew'd me which was perfect Salt-petre prepared from a very rapid Spring a Gallon of which contain'd half an Ounce of this Salt which upon Chrystallization shoots like Salt-petre from India into long Striae and fulminates with Sulphur This Salt he had from a Gentleman that discover'd the Spring but at present conceals the Place So that what my self and others have alleged in affirming no Waters in England to contain Salt-petre is erroneous let others retract when they think convenient for my part I fairly own my Error and from repeated Observations can positively affirm there is no marine Salt but what contains more or less of Indian Nitre but the proportion is so small and the method of preparing it so tedious it wou'd not be of any farther use than to satisfy the curious Enquirer but the Advantages that may accrue from the before recited Spring may for ought I know be one of the greatest Treasures as well as Secrets in Nature The next mineral-Mineral-Waters I shall consider are those springing out of Bass and Sulphureous only of these the most Noted is One near a Place call'd Inglewhite this springs out of a Black Bass which by Calcination I found to contain Sulphur the Water has a very sulphureous Smell as strong as that near Harrigate in Yorkshire but contains little or no Salt which is the reason it is not Purgative like that but by adding the like proportion of common Salt to it viz. about a Dram to a Pint of Water that Inconvenience is remedy'd and then you have either sulphureous Baths or purging Waters for my part I shou'd rather choose to add the bitter purging Salt as being most agreeable Having now examin'd all the various Waters springing out of Bass we proceed in the next place to give Account of saline sulphureous Waters arising out of other Minerals And I shall begin first with the sulphur Water near Wigan call'd by the Inhabitants of that place the Burning-Well this is a very diverting Phaenomenon and for its Rarity is visited by most Persons whose Curiosity leads them to Natural Enquiries It is about two Miles from Wigan in a Village call'd Aucliff in the Ground of William Mollineux of that Place Esq The Well is at the Bottom of a Tree the Water Cold and without any Smell when any Person comes to see it a Man clears the Well from all its Water that done you will immediately hear a hissing Noise in a Corner of it and by holding a lighted Candle near to it the sulphureous Halitus immediately takes Fire and afterwards spreads it self upon what Water has issued in and 't is only then indeed it ought to be call'd the Burning-Well 'T is observable tho' this sulphureous Halitus continually mixes with Water yet the Water continues Cold nor will it tinge Silver wherefore I imagine this Halitus is purely sulphureous consisting only of Oily inflammable Particles without any mixture of Vitriol or if any but inconsiderable and 't is reasonable to suppose this kind of Sulphur to impregnate the Baths at Buxton 'T is plain from these and the sulphur Wells at Maudsley and those at Harrigate in Yorkshire which are all sulphureous and yet all Cold Waters that it is only by accident that sulphur Waters become hot viz. by Collision of the sulphureous Particles when in the Spiracles of the Earth they have not a free open passage they beat and dash one upon another and by that Collision grow hot as we may observe in the rubbing of the Phosphorus which immediately takes Fire likewise in new Hay and in Wheels taking Fire by Motion only For to imagine the Heat of the Baths to proceed from Fermentation in the Waters or from subterraneous Fires is no wise consistent with Experience which after all our Hypotheses must be the true Touchstone of our Reason The foregoing Instances may convince the World that sulphureous Particles grow hot without Ignition and that there are sulphureous Particles in all hot Baths is abundantly demonstrated But for a farther Illustration of this Hypothesis take this following Experiment Let some Brimstone be set on Fire in a Glass Body immediately upon its taking Flame stop
the Mouth of the Glass and the Flame expires yet by the sulphureous Fumes dashing upon each other the sides of the Glass wax warm a certain signal this must needs be that where sulphureous Particles are deny'd a passage or where they force their way through uneven Sinuosities by beating upon and encountring one another an Heat must be produced as is apparent by the Sun-beams in Convex Glasses And this is farther confirm'd by the Learned Dr. Browne in his Treatise of the Mines in Hungary in some Places of the same Mine it was extreamly Cold in others so intensely Hot that tho' his Cloaths were never so thin the Heat would be troublesome to him The Miners work all Naked and Eight Hours are as much as most can endure The Heat in these Waters cannot arise from Fermentation because no fermentation can be discover'd in them nor by any Experiments either in Distillation Precipitation or any other Method cou'd I ever observe such a Contrariety of Matter in them that one part wou'd ferment upon another so as to cause any sensible Heat From subterraneous Fires they cannot proceed because in these parts such were never known or were there any cou'd not but discover themselves since no Fires will burn without admission of Air and there must likewise be Flues and Chasms whence they vent their Smoke and foeculent parts but since none of these were ever disclos'd in these parts it is not probable the Baths should grow hot by any such cause and when the Heat of the Baths may be sufficiently explain'd by the Collision of sulphureous Particles what necessity is there we should have recourse to any such unwarrantable Hypothesis as a Fermentation in the Waters or to subterraneous Fires Those two Notions are lately espoused by Dr. Guidot and Dr. Pierce of Bathe but I am apt to think those Gentlemen rather fancy than observe the Phaenomena of Nature For I am very well satisfy'd had they made strict Enquiries into those Waters they wou'd never have troubled the World with such Chimerical Hypotheses Dr. Pierce indeed does not much trouble himself or the World with any Scrutiny into the Contents of the Baths or the Causes of the Heat of them but only gives you an Instance from Savoy which is as remote as that place to his Undertaking And as for Dr. Guidot he is so Inconsistent with himself that unless he have the Art of reconciling Contradictions I am sure his Thermae Britannicae are not to be accounted for I do not speak this as any wise arrogating a greater Genius to my self or to lessen those worthy Persons but only from the Phaenomena I have observ'd in Nature and if they please to do the same I despair not of their Pardons Having now done with the sulphureous saline Waters in the next place I shall proceed to treat of saline Ones only as those at Northwich Namptwich Middlewich Dunham in Cheshire and Barton in Lancashire Various have been the Notions concerning the Rise of these Springs some imagining they proceeded from the Sea others from subterraneous Rocks of Salt which have of late Years been discover'd and first made Useful by my self in refining that Rock to a White granulated Salt which is now practiced in many places These Springs sometimes break out in the Rock but oftner either above or under it some of them in a Quart of Water contain about seven or eight Ounces of Salt whence its plain that quatenus Salt-springs they proceed not from the Sea because a Quart of the best of that Water affords seldome above an Ounce and Half of Salt Some of these Springs will tinge with Galls but most refuse it whence its plain Dr. Lister in his usual manner is much mistaken in forcing the Pyrites upon us 'T is true from the sulphureous Smell that may be observ'd in the Fermentation betwixt this Salt and Oyl of Vitriol that there is a Sulphur contain'd in the Salt but that no wise warrants a Pyrites since that is an aggregate of different Principles viz. Ocre and Vitriol besides Sulphur which Bodies by the Dr's own Confession Salt does not contain which is the only true Notion he lays down about those Waters and that he may assume as an Observation of his own It is likewise observable that the Salt made from the Brine-springs and the Rock-salt dissolv'd in fresh Water that these Salts will shoot into different Figures whence it is evident the Brine-springs proceed not from the Rocks of Salt that are discover'd but from Rocks of Salt that lie deeper in the Bowels of the Earth Besides in different Springs I have observ'd the Figures of the Salt to differ as some in Middlewich from those at Northwich where by Chrystallization they shoot into quite contrary Figures so that the Sal Mediterraneum as the Dr. stiles it is like to lose its Character Nay Rock-salt it self will never shoot into any regular Figure at all whence it may be averr'd these Salt-springs have not their Saltness from any subterraneous Rocks of Salt yet known it follows therefore if they are not saturated either from the Sea or from subterraneous Rocks of Salt we may then form another Hypothesis and conclude them to arise from Aerial saline Particles impregnating a proper Bass and so by various Solutions and Impregnations keeping a continual Circulation and so constantly supplying us and what chiefly gives umbrage to this is the Renascence of marine Salt which is so prodigiously made out by Untzerus in his Account of those Mountains of Salt that supply Russia Persia Mesopotamia Media and those vast Countries which as he affirms every Year Vegetates and the places whence the Salt was digg'd is the Year following as full of Salt as before Phaenomena like to this may be observ'd in the Vitriol-stone near Hesse-Cassel and in those Iron-Mines belonging to the Duke of Florence as is related by Fallopius Besides the marine Salt these Springs do likewise contain the Nitrum Calcarium Its observable the Salt of some of these Springs will not easily precipitate but a little Allum and fresh Butter will effect it and then it makes a larger Grain and stronger Salt than any of the rest In the Evaporation of these Salts there is likewise observ'd a white Sand which is thrown to the Corners of the Pan and this by frequent Evaporation and Filtrations I found to be the Particles of the Bass out of which these Salt-springs arise The most noted Purging-Waters in these parts are those in a Village call'd Rougham adjacent to the remarkable Sands which are the great Road into Furnace nine Miles in breadth and at each Spring-tide entirely cover'd with Water these in calm Weather afford us very pleasant Travelling but in tempestuous Seasons no less dismal than we can suppose the wild Desarts of Arabia From the bottom of an high Rock near these the Water issues forth in a very plentiful Current it is a little brackish taken inwardly it purges both by Urine
and Stool and no doubt by a due preparation of the Body they become of extraordinary use in the Scurvy Worms crude Digestions and Distempers of that Nature the Water by Evaporation at the last becomes lixivial and is then extremely brackish as the Water evaporates there successively arise Films at first reddish and afterwards of a grey Colour these Films will ferment with any Acid and contain a little of a natural alcalious Salt which I take to be the Natron of the Ancients the Salt which remains after Evaporation seems to be a Marine but by frequent Filtrations and Chrystallizations I found it likewise contain'd a bitter purging Salt which is truly Dr. Lister's Nitrum Calcarium and is that purging Salt which impregnates Epsom Dullech Northall and other purging Waters in England as is hinted above besides the Salt there likewise remains a greyish Earth which will ferment with any Acid. When the Water is evaporated to a lixivial Colour if you then drop Spirit of Harts-horn into it it immediately makes a Coagulum and precipitates which Phaenomenon is only observable in those Waters that contain the Sal Catharticum Amarum which demonstrates that Salt likewise to contain a natural Acid and if in the like Water you drop any acid Spirit as that of Sulphur and Vitriol you will then perceive a very sulphureous smell From these it is plain these Waters contain three different sorts of Salts as the Natron the Marine and the Sal Catharticum Amarum likewise two sorts of Lapis Scissilis either of which will ferment with an Acid and Sulphur too From a mixture of such Principles as these what Effects may not be hoped for in Scrophulous and Leprous Persons and other Distempers of that nature Nay I have been assur'd by some of the Inhabitants there that some Persons by drinking these Waters have been recover'd from periodical Epilepsies but again I say the Body ought to be rightly prepar'd before the drinking of them and that Consumptive Persons ought not to meddle with them at least very sparingly some Persons by drinking of these have been freed from the Jaundice others from Quartan Agues and in the Pica Virginis if the Patient be not emaciated you may reckon it a specifick by drinking of these prodigious Worms as the Cucurbitae the Ascarides and Bunches of Worms have frequently been voided and I do not think in that Distemper the like to these are to be had There are other Purging-Waters which arise out of a Morass in a Village call'd Witherslack these Waters contain a marine and a bitter purging Salt but are inferior to the former There is another purging Water which springs out of the Sand near a Place call'd Mine-End which is the Mouth of the River Wire This no doubt is the Sea-Water which filters thro' the Sand but by reason of the shortness of the Filtration the Spring lying so near the River or the looseness of the Sand the marine Water is not perfectly dulcify'd but retains a pleasing Brackishness not unlike that which is observable in the Milk of a Farrow Cow or one that has Conceiv'd this Water purges a little but is much inferior to either of the other These Waters give no Tincture with Galls tho' Dr. Lister violently affirms all saline Springs will do it These are the most noted Purging-Waters that I have seen in these Parts I shall therefore in the next place proceed to those which may be ranked amongst the Acidulae but do likewise contain Natron and those are the Waters near Burnley and Emmett which were first discover'd to me by that most Learn'd and Accomplish'd Gentleman Richard Townley of Townley Esq The like to these Mons. du Clos affirms are in several places in France for a full Account of which I refer the Reader to that ingenious Author From the Experiments made by the Royal Academy in Paris in the Bourbon-Waters and the parallel Observations those in these Parts entertain us with we may make a probable Conjecture of their Principles and I think may safely affirm that in the Cases where those are proper these as a most natural Succedaneum may be made use of and will I question not answer what Intentions may be expected from the former These Waters with Galls give a Citrine Tincture and the Gall immediately precipitates in white perpendicular Lines but you must note these Experiments were made in the Waters remote from the Fountains I evaporated several Quarts of the Water and towards the latter end found it to have a little of a lixivial Tast after the surface was cover'd with a thin greyish Film this Film consisted of saline alcalious and terrene Particles and would make a brisk Fermentation with any Acid afterwards the Salts rise in perpendicular Lines upon the sides of the Retort The like Phaenomenon I observ'd in evaporating the Water that came from Nitria in Egypt and the like may be observ'd in Evaporation of other alcalious Salts After the Water was wholly evaporated there stuck to the sides of the Retort a greyish Matter of a very lixivial tast and would ferment with any Acid. By Filtration the Earth is easily separated from the Salt and then you have a natural alcalious Salt the true Natron of the Ancients as is manifest from those Specimens of Egyptian Nitre brought from Nitria to the Musaeum at Oxford by the Learned Dr. H. and likewise by the Description of Natron recited by Dioscordes tho' our Countryman Dr. Lister boldly affirms there is no such Salt in any Waters in England but this is not the first piece of Boldness he is pleas'd to arrogate and if his Reason be not totally screen'd he may if he pleases be satisfy'd he 's mistaken These Waters are of great use in the Stone Scurvy and other Chronical Diseases of which I have seen several Instances There are other Waters of an austere styptick Tast that will coagulate Milk but give no Tincture with Galls as some Pumps near Bury and Chorley these I conjecture arise out of Allum Ore or Marle they lather not with Sope but make a perfect Coagulum from the Acid and the Alcaly fixing together Some Springs we have that petrify as one in a Wood near Bury and another by the side of a Rivulet near Manchester these Waters superficially incrustate as the Chymists call it stratum super stratum are of an austere Tast like those in Yorkshire in Evaporation they yield a great quantity of a greyish Earth that will ferment with an Acid and some little proportion of Salt By these Phaenomena I do conjecture the terrene Particles are dissolved in Minimis by the natural Acid or as Helmont calls it the Esurine Spirit and when on the surface of any Body they are united they form these Incrustations I am the farther confirm'd in this Hypothesis because I have observ'd Petrefactions where only there could be an Acid halitus as in several Plants and Roots adjacent to the petrefying Waters near Knarseborough These
Creatures but pretend that besides the Eight Persons included in the Ark Og the King of Basan was preserv'd But to these I reply that whoever considers those prodigious Mountains of marine Shells in Ireland Virginia the East and West-Indies cannot but conclude that they were deposited there by the Deluge and then considering the height of the Mountains and the vast remoteness of the Places one from another that the Deluge must be Universal also But this particular is fully discours'd of in a preceding Chapter The third Opinion relating to a Deluge is that of the Scholasticks who are of Opinion that Enoch who they say at that time liv'd in Paradise was not involv'd in the Deluge But since the holy Writ is silent in that matter and that neither the Aegyptian Chaldee Hebrew or Greek Versions of the Old Testament take any notice of that Opinion I cannot but conclude it erroneous and unwarrantable There was a fourth Opinion of the Jews who maintain that not only a few Persons but whole Nations never felt the Effects of this great Inundation but that the Jews only and other Inhabitants in Palestine perish'd in it but what has been said in answer to the preceding Opinion may serve for this There was a fifth Rank who affirm'd that there was a total Destruction of Mankind at the Deluge yet so as that the whole Terrestrial Globe was not overwhelm'd by the Waters which Opinion is founded on two other Hypotheses viz. That at the time of the Flood the Earth remain'd for the greatest part desolate and without Inhabitants and that all the Waters in the Universe were not sufficient to cause so general a Deluge Abraham Mylius pretends to demonstrate that if all the Waters of the Universe had been sent down upon the Earth they could not have cover'd the tops of the highest Mountains Isaac Vossius approves of both these Hypotheses but since from the vast Beds of marine Shells even upon the tops of the highest Mountains it is undeniably evident that the highest Mountains were cover'd it thence follows that the Deluge must be universal and that Mylius and Vossius are both mistaken The sixth and last are those that have chosen the truest Opinion and maintain that the Deluge was universal both in respect to the Terrestrial Globe and its Inhabitants because the Motive that induc'd God was universal God complains that the Imaginations of mens hearts were only evil continually his Threats likewise were universal I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast and every creeping thing and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made them Hence therefore it is evident from the holy Scriptures and from the Phaenomena in Natural History that there was a Deluge and that this Deluge was universal too wherefore I cannot but admire that the great St. Austin should be so far mistaken as to affirm that there were not the least foot-steps of the Deluge either in the Greek or Latin Writers since the contrary is so clearly demonstrated by Hugo Grotius I shall now in the last place lay down some Hypotheses concerning the Qualities in Plants and so close this Chapter and by drawing a Parallel betwixt Chymical Preparations and the Qualities in Physical Herbs endeavour to give a Rationale of their Effects But this having in a great measure been attempted by Pechlinius Wedelius Sr. Iohn Floyer and others I shall but briefly treat upon that Head and that in the following Method First By giving an account of Emetics and the Rationale of their Qualities afterwards of Cathartic or Purgative Plants Antiscorbutics Balsamics Diuretics Antistrumatics Stomachics Cardiacs Anti-hydropics Anticterics Antepileptics Restringents Opiates Paragorics Alexipharmacs The Emetic Plants are only two Squills and Asarum and both are of a bitter and nauseous Tast first therefore we shall enquire into the Cause of the Bitterness in these and then how that becomes Emetical Bitterness consists in rigid pungent and inflexible Particles pointed upon terrene ones hence the Points by their continual Irritations contract the Fibres of the Stomach and still pressing it by their Inflexibility at length they throw it into Convulsions and so become Emetical or Vomiting Thus we see in a solution of Silver in Spirit of Nitre that the Points of the corroding Spirit being sheathed in the metallic Particles it not only becomes extremely bitter but likewise Emetical the like may be observ'd by pouring Spirit of Nitre upon the Lapis Calaminaris and doubtless thus it is that the Leaves of Asarum are so famous an Errhine and of so great use in inveterate Head-achs viz. Their acrid saline Particles continually pressing the Glands of the Nostrils force them to discharge that acrid Serum which occasions that Distemper The most noted Cathartics are Buckthorn Monks Rhubarb Elder Damask Roses Iris Soldanella Spurge Mezereon Buckthorn is extremely bitter and affords an Oyl and a pungent Spirit neither of which are bitter or in the least Purgative whence it seems evident to me that its bitterness and Purging quality consist in its saline Particles being strictly united with terrene ones and so by that means contracting the Fibres of the Bowels they become purgative Roses Iris and the rest are likewise bitter but they all differ in their Pungency Mezereon Spurge and Iris are both Emetic and Cathartic which sometimes not only cauterize the Coates of the Stomach but the Skin it self if externally apply'd No doubt but by due Corrections these might be made most noble Medicines and the likeliest Method to effect this as far as I can conjecture would be by obtunding their saline Particles by the Lapis Calaminaris or some such Alcaly or if their Vertues consist in an acrid Alcaly a proper Acid might be thought on and I think it would be highly worth our while to make strict Enquiries into these Matters that being the likeliest Method to bring us to a Certainty in the Practice of Physick Before I close this Head I shall only offer two Experiments and then proceed The first is concerning Aloes which by being infus'd in Spirit of Wine loses its Purgative quality but yet retains its Bitterness the second is concerning a solution of Aloes which being injected into the Veins of a Dog will inevitably purge him From which Observations naturally arises this Question Whether Cathartics effect their ends in the first passages or by working Elective in the Mass of Blood as the Physicians stile it I affirm the former and to the first Experiment make this reply The volatile acrid saline Particles in the Aloes being dissolv'd by the Spirit of Wine it must of necessity for the Reasons before alledg'd be depriv'd of its purgative quality yet so as still to retain its Bitterness because it is probable some saline Particles are so inveloped with the oily and terrene ones that a separation is not easily made perhaps not without Distillation or Calcination so that the Aloes in
some measure may retain its Bitterness yet be depriv'd of its purging quality To the second I reply thus A solution of Aloes being injected into the Mass of Blood it is most probable its Particles are again separated from the Blood by the conglomerate Glands of the Bowels it is not therefore that they work Elective in the Mass of Blood but by their contracting of the Bowels upon their separation for it is undeniably evident that several Purges will operate before they could possibly be suppos'd to have mixt with the Mass of Blood In the next place Anti-scorbutics may be said to be either Bitters Acrids or Nitrous Plants The Bitters are Lapathum acutum Mountain-sage and Water-Trefoil and these all afford an Oyl and acid Spirit and a fixt alcalious Salt but the Salt in the greatest proportion next to that the Oyl and then the Spirit hence it is that these Herbs by their saline and oily Particles attenuating the Serum of the Blood coagulated by its Acids restore it to its due Circulation and are for that reason of great use in Anti-scorbutic Cases The Acrids are the Cresses Asarum Scurvy-grass and Radishes and do all of them afford Oyls and volatile alcalious Salts wherefore for the Reasons before alledg'd they may properly be stiled Anti-scorbutics The Nitrous are the Aparine Vetches Ground-Ivy and Nettles these all yield a volatile nitrous essential Salt as may be seen in the freezing of their depurated Juices and hence it is that by tempering and diluting the bilious Particles in the Blood they allay those Scorbutic heats and are of great use in violent Bleeding particularly Ground-Ivy which by its saline Particles not only deterses and quits the Breast from an oppressive Phlegm but likewise by its Balsamics consolidates Balsamics do all of them afford terebinthinate Oyls and the chief amongst these are St. Iohn's-wort Herb Robert Tutsal and Pennywort Diuretics are generally Anti-scorbutics and those being treated of before I shall not enlarge farther on that Head Cardiacs are either mild Acids that temper too volatile a Bile which continually irritates the Spirits as in several Fevers and of this sort are Wood-sorrel Berberries Rasberries and the like or those that yield volatile Aromatic Oyls and so disentangle the Spirits strugling in a Viscid Serum and of this sort are Butter-bur Angelico Eringo Balm and the like Antistrumatics are Whitlow-grass Herb Robert stinking Gladdon and Dropwort and no doubt but they effect their Ends by terebinthinate Particles since most of them emit Effluvia of that Nature which doubtless correct the Acid that make the Gland scrophulous by coagulating the Lympha as may be observ'd in scrophulous Glands Anti-hydropics as Alteratives are in the Class of Anti-scorbutics Stomachics for the most part being Bitters I shall not enlarge further on them Anticterics consist of volatile acrid Particles which attenuate a foeculent Bile and the chief of these are Celandine Pilewort and Madder Pectorals are Maiden-hairs Ferns and Bitters the two first are Nitrous Opiates and Paregorics are the white and red Poppies and Cowslips but how these bridle the impetuous Tumults of the Spirits shall be accounted for in its proper place Poeony Misleto are Antepileptics and I am apt to think that it is by a Mucilage which contains a volatile alcalious Salt that they are of use in that Case viz. by the innate Heat of the Stomach and Bowels the Salt sublimes from the Mucilage and is there immediately imbibed by the Extremities of the Nerves and hence they become of use in Convulsive Cases whereas other volatile Salts are spent before they can reach the Nerves Restringents are all of them either of a mucilaginous or austere Taste as Comfry Horse-tail Sloes c. The one by sheathing the Acid which makes a Disruption of the Vessels and the other by austere vitriolic Particles pursuing them up no doubt effect their Ends. The poysonous Plants it is plain consist sometimes of saline corroding acrimonious Particles such as inflame and sometimes sphacelate the Stomach and contract the Branches of the Par vagum and then produce Tremors and Convulsions as is evident in the Dissection of those Creatures that have been poyson'd with these Herbs Of this sort are the Cicuta aquatica Ranunculus flammeus Solanum lethale Aconitum hyemale c. Some poysonous Plants are of a Narcotic Quality as Poppy and Henbane these are of a bitter Taste and no doubt contain a volatile acrid Salt which by fixing its points upon the Fibrillae of the Brain and the Extremities of the Nerves occasions a Corrugation in them and by that means hinders a Separation of the animal Spirits from the Mass of Blood and consequently their Dispensation into the various parts of the Body Hence they being taken in too great a quantity become poysonous Lettice likewise Melons and Cucumbers consisting of a mucilaginous Water doubtless entangle the animal Spirits and hinder their Expansion hence by being too liberally taken the whole Oeconomy of the Body is disorder'd the Spirits receding like the Sun-beams which being screen'd by thick interposing Clouds leave all in Darkness An Appendix to the Chapter of PLANTS HAving compleated my Hypothesis concerning the Vegetation of Sea-Plants I shall in the next place propose some Conjectures about the Vegetation of River and Land-Plants and give an account of the Experiments on all sides and add some Trials which I proved my self and amongst the rest offer my own Sentiments The most material Hypotheses relating to this Topic are reduc'd to Two the one asserting that Vegetation is from Earth the other from Water only A Suffragan to the latter is the L d Bacon Nat. Hist. Cent. 5. Par. 411. Where he asserts That for Nourishment of Vegetables Water is all in all that the Earth only keeps the Plant upright and guards it from too great Heat or Cold. Others in this Hypothesis are more positive as the Hon ble Mr. Boyle Helmont and his Followers these back their Assertions with the two subsequent Experiments the first is that concerning Mint and several other Plants which prosper and thrive greatly in Water the other which you have in the Sceptical Chymist writ by Mr. Boyle is as follows Take a certain quantity of Earth bake it in an Oven then weigh it and having included it in an Earthen Pot well water'd make choice of some fit Plant as a Pompion which being first carefully weigh'd and set in it there let it grow continuing to water it till it is much advanced in Bigness then take it up and tho' the Bulk and Weight of the Plant be much greater than at first yet the Earth will be found little or nothing diminished in Weight therefore it may be concluded that it is not the Earth but Water that Nourishes and is converted into the Substance of the Plant. Thus far likewise proceeds the ingenious Dr. Woodward but had the Dr. given us a full account of his Sentiments on those Authors he might likewise have
the same Effect nay even the drops of Rain that fall from its Leaves are of so poysonous a Nature as to blister and inflame the Skin Here doubtless is more than a bare Contexture of Earth and without question the most corroding sulphureous and penetrating Particles we can have any Idea of Besides were Vegetation from Earth alone I cannot see how one Plant could be distinguish'd from another wherefore to me it seems rational to infer That the Body which the Dr. calls Earth consists of as many different Bodies as that which the Chymists call Water so that from either of these two Bodies simply consider'd as such it is equally absurd to derive Vegetation but these two Bodies do indisputably consist of variety of Corpuscles e. g. Saline Terrene Aerial and Bituminous and as the Vessels in Plants by their various Orifices and Contextures admit of different proportions of these so accordingly the Plant is differently modify'd and from their different digestions and proportions receives its Form Colour Substance and Virtues And by this Hypothesis we may account for Plants physical poysonous fragrant foetid and of other kinds hence Ialop and Scamony a sort of Spurge in the West-Indies by their resinous saline Particles become purgative and if taken in too large quantities poysonous the same may be affirm'd of Laureola Aloes Spurge Senna and Agaric It is manifest from the Dissection of those Creatures to which Night-shade Nux Vomica Calculus Indicus and Water-Hemlock are given that the Poysons of these consist in acrimonious saline Particles corroding and inflaming the Stomach of which the learned Wafer gives us various Instances others by exalted Sulphurs quit from saline Particles doubtless become Fragrant Aromatic and Cordial being by their size and figure which we presume to be Spherical the more readily adapted to assist the animal Spirits by their activity When these Sulphurs become pointed with Salts 't is most likely that the Plant becomes foetid and unpleasant as the stinking Garden Orach and Herb Robert I might likewise account for the Heat Blisterings and other qualities of Herbs but those being in part done before and not properly within the Verge of this Undertaking I shall not recapitulate but to the ingenious Sr. Iohn Floyer of Lichfield on that Head refer the Curious in whose Works they may find variety of Experiments on those Subjects I must confess that the Experiments which Dr. Woodward has made relating to Vegetation are exact as well as learned he having besides the dispendium of the Water in so many Days fully demonstrated the Plant to have gain'd a considerable Weight which he affirms to have been from Earth but then as I affirm'd before the question is what he calls Earth for if by that he means a pure simple Element viz. a Body consisting only of one size and figure then from what has been hinted before it is as absurd to deduce Vegetation from that as from Water I shall only beg leave to add an Experiment or two and so conclude I took the Seeds of Nymphaea or Water-Lilly when full ripe and put them in glass Vials in which they continued twelve Months I added fresh Water to them as the other evaporated the Seeds at the bottom of both Vials stood erect and emitted a pellucid Mucilage which stood in opposite Globules near the upper end of the Seed the Water deposited a great deal of green and earthy Matter but the Seed never vegetated or sprouted at all tho' this be a Water Plant. From this Experiment it is evident that besides Earth and Water barely consider'd as such other Bodies are necessary to the Vegetation of various Plants and probably to this a fat sulphureous Ouze in which it usually grows and has Roots of an immense Magnitude some I have seen as thick as the Thigh of a Man which were taken out of the Pond at Tabley in Cheshire when it was drein'd where the remaining Earth or Mud which was black and foetid was wholly over-spread with them This Instance I think may fairly serve to illustrate the Hypothesis that I have laid down concerning the Vegetation of Plants To these may be added those extraordinary Improvements made by Chandlers Ashes consisting of oily and saline Particles as likewise the Impost of Malpighius prepared with an Infusion of Sheep's Dung Pigeon's Dung and a small quantity of Nitre of which I saw an Instance the last Year at Edgecroft in Lancashire by which from a fourth part of Seed in the most barren part of the Field I saw a very luxuriant Crop It might do well for our Gentry who inhabit their Country Seats and Husbandmen thorowly to consider this since the right application of it to a proper Soil may be of so great Advantage and who knows what this even in the most cold and barren Ground may effect which hitherto for the greatest part hath lain useless but besides what is here offer'd their Interest may be a more inciting Argument to induce them to Tryals of this Nature But can there be had a more ample Demonstration of this Hypothesis than even from Water and Earth themselves How common is it to observe Earth by being long pent up to emit sulphureous Effluvia Hence we have foetid Smells by opening of Ditches and Sluces and hence probably it is that in Consumptive cases from plowed Grounds that have for a considerable time been Pasture many persons have received Benefit which must assuredly proceed from sulphureous benign Particles loosen'd from their Cells and convey'd to the Mass of Blood which by their activity obtund the saline Particles that make the Coagulum and in short prevent the putrifaction which brings on a Phthisis or Consumption And as to Water nothing is more common than it to grow nauseously foetid by long keeping which Phaenomenon sufficiently evinces the Existence of sulphureous Particles in that Element besides some sulphureous Waters in four Days by being close stopt become extremely foetid as St. Ann's at Buxton in Derbyshire which expos'd to open Air alters not at all nor has the least ungrateful smell The reason is because those sulphureous Effluvia which have spent themselves in a free Air are now forc'd by their confinement to unite with saline Particles and thence by their Points grate upon the Organ and are foetid and offensive It is likewise to be observ'd that if these sulphureous Particles are pent up in any Aquaeduct that then by their Collision upon one another they become excessive hot hence it is that the hot Baths at Aix la Chappel in the Bishop of Leige's Country are caused by retarding the hot Spring with a Stoppel and in a little time after by giving it Vent the Waters are render'd very hot and even too intense to be endur'd This Instance farther confirms our Hypothesis concerning the Heat in Baths and by this Phaenomenon it is evident that if the same Essay was put in practice at Buxton the Bath there might be brought to any
degree of Heat and at the same time likewise they might have temperate Baths to answer the variety of Cases and Constitutions and by that means acquire an advantage above any Baths yet discover'd Thus I have made it evident how compounded those Bodies are which we commonly stile Earth and Water nor can I see any reason to assign either of them as the principles of Vegetation barely consider'd as such CHAP. VI. Of Subterraneous Skeletons Petrify'd Shells Subterraneous Shells and Formed Stones A Midst all the Mazes and Recesses of Nature none are more common or more amazing than these following Phaenomena Near Chippin in Lancashire 20 Fathom in Lime-stone Rock I have seen Cockles Muscles and the Pectinites all of a perfect flinty Substance In High-Furness in the same County I have observ'd as to their outward appearances the Bones and Fins of Fishes and sometimes Bones of a Gigantic Magnitude and those of a sparry Substance which may be reduc'd to the Fluor Alabastrites I have likewise seen the Glossopetrae or Crow-Bills and those invested with an hard flinty Film the Matter contain'd therein being a black hard Stone Upon these Phaenomena it is that Dr. Woodward supposes them to be the Exuviae of those Creatures at the Deluge and deposited in those Rocks by specific Gravitation for he takes it for granted that there was a total dissolution of the Strata of the Earth and that the whole Globe was but one continued Fluid and that in variety of Temperatures and in some Balsamic mixtures these Shells Fins Fishes and Bones have been embalm'd ever since that terrible Catastrophe A Notion could it be maintain'd as wonderful for the profound Respect it bears to the Truth of Moses's History of the Deluge as to Static Philosophy But since the Deluge has been before fully demonstrated from other Phaenomena observable in the Earth and that against this Hypothesis there are so many concluding Arguments I shall in the first place to clear this Head enquire into the Nature of these Petrifactions and reduce them to their different Species and then lay down some Arguments to convince the World that they are not the Exuviae of those Animals As to the Testaceous Petrifactions they are either the Cockle Muscle Oyster or Pectinites the three first are of a Flinty substance of the Pectinites there are two sorts the one is Flinty and the other is the Pyrites Aureus or golden Marcasite I have likewise observ'd in that substance representations of Fibulae or Buttons these may be observ'd in the Copper Mines in High-Furness the Glossopetrae are found in some Mines in Wales and Derbyshire and of those there are three sorts the one resembling the Bill of a Crow another that of a Lapwing and a third the Bill of a Perr a small Bird very common upon the Sea-Coasts These were given me by my worthy Friend and Relation Peter Legh of Booths in the County of Cheshire Esq We therefore come in the next place to lay down some Arguments why these Bodies could not be the Exuviae of Animals at the Deluge for had these been the Exuviae of Fowls Fishes and other Creatures how is it possible but that other Shells and Beaks of other Fowls as well as of these might sometime or other have been discover'd in these Rocks but since no others are found it seems probable to me that they are but what I formerly alledg'd the Disports of Nature In some Marbles gotten near Holker in Lancashire I have seen the exact shape of a Man and that in six Inches compass In some Mines in Derbyshire I have seen a Substance bearing exactly the similitude of a Man's Tooth and that as big as a Child's Head to which was annex'd an Head which would have contain'd several Measures and the Limbs proportionable In Pools-Hole there is the resemblance of a Lyon a dead Man a Chair and a Flitch of Bacon yet no Man I suppose will assert these to be Exuviae or the Chair one of the Houshold goods of the Antediluvians no more than the foremention'd Cloak-Buttons the Appendices of their Apparel In other Mines I have observ'd the resemblances of Skrews Stars Feathers Bones and Shells and all in the same Stratum Now I say considering all these together unless we will conclude the rest petrify'd as well as the Shells there is no necessity to assert the former but that they may equally be different Modifications of Matter Once in an Earth that came from East-India I saw the the perfect shape of Cockles of several sizes where there were not the least signs of any Shell or any Petrifaction at all it was a brownish soft Earth and indifferently friable It was communicated to me by Mr. Edward Ent Son to Sr. George Ent and formerly of Balliol-College in Oxford I have feen great variety of Petrifactions perform'd by the sea-Sea-Water it self at Hagy Bar Hills in Lancashire The Marle there shelves downwards and several sorts of Pebbles are included in various Capsulae this Marle is converted by the Sea-Water into a firm Grit or Free-stone in some pieces of which we find Shells of Sea-Snails embalmed and those not in the least petrify'd Consider we then this Petrifaction of Earth and tho' the Shell is often very minute and tender yet it still retains its Identic Body I say if we reflect on this it is not so easy to imagin as some conceive that after the Deluge the Petrifaction of Shells ensued with such facility for in a multitude of Instances here the Earth only not the Shells have undergone that This Marle I presume may be petrify'd after this following manner viz. Let us allow Marle to be a substance apt to dissolve in Water it is probable then that the Sea-water by frequently overflowing it in tract of time makes a solution of its Particles and in their room deposites white gritty Particles with which even clear Sea-Water much abounds which is demonstrable in the Evaporation of that Water into a granulated Salt at which time vast quantities of Grit are collected in the corners of the Boylers but the Particles of this Grit are so minute that till they concrete into Moleculae they are not discoverable either by Microscopes or by the nicest Filtration These then being amassed together by the motion of the Sea-Water are wedg'd and riveted so close as at last to form a perfect Free-stone some large Columns there are of these on which the Country People hang their Wooden Gates and serve instead of Posts others seem exactly to resemble Persons standing in old decayed Hats From which Phaenomena it is demonstrable that there may be perfect shapes of marine Shells Bones Plants and Beaks of Birds in some Earths and yet not the Exuviae of those Creatures I must confess the most compleat Collection of these I do believe in the World is in the Custody of Dr. Woodward and could I receive a satisfactory Answer to the Arguments above recited I would willingly adhere to
a great measure depend upon the Magnitude and Number of their Pores and according to those variously subsided Conformable to these Phaenomena is Moses's History of the Creation where in the first Chapter of Genesis he tells us that the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and that the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters But these last Words are more aptly expressed by Iunius and Tremellius those two great Masters of the Hebrew Language who from the Hebrew Text translate it not Movebat but Spiritus Dei incubabat superficiei aquarum that is the spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters a Metaphor taken from a Fowl hatching her young ones The Explication of which Text further evinces that at the Creation before any thing was reduc'd to form this Globe was an immense Liquid consisting of all sorts of Particles Hence not only from Phaenomena in Nature but likewise from Divine Writ it is evident that these prodigious Mountains were the subsidence of a Fluid wherefore how rugged soever these may appear to the Eye yet even these if we pry into their innermost Recesses undeniably evidence the Power of Nature and the Existence of an omnipotent Being so that tho' there was not an universal dissolution of their Strata at the Deluge as was before manifested yet to account for the various Phaenomena observable in those Mountains it is certain that they must once have been fluid Bodies and successively indurated into these hard Consistences by their own Gravity and the Heat and Salts of the ambient Air upon the receding of the Waters as Moses clearly evinces in the same Chapter where God said Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and the evening and the morning were the first day Which brings me to a small Digression in enquiring what in those Antediluvian Ages was meant by a Day an Hour or a Year The Latin word Hora has been judg'd by some to be deriv'd from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to limit or bound because it is the measure of Time so in Mathethematics comes the word Horizon because that terminates the sight but Macrobius and Pausanias both alledge that its original is owing to the Aegyptians because the Sun in their Language was stiled Horum the Septuagint Interpreters would have it indifferently to express a short space of time hence in St. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for Supper-time some are of Opinion that Hours anciently signify'd the four Seasons of the Year hence the Greek Annals call'd them their Hori and their Writers Horographici some there are that think the Greeks call'd that part of Time an Hour wherein the Dog-star arises hence Galen in his Book De Alimentis calls those Horean Fruits which spring up at that time wherein the Dog-star arose In general by an Hour the Ancients have signify'd an Age and by the twelfth Hour Old Age as some would have it hence in that Dialogue of Marcus Crassus and the K. of Galatia comes that Expression What Man says he art not thou now arrived at the twelfth Hour and yet talkest of building a new City but I am apt to think this might rather be Metaphorically spoken because in the computation of Time for the greatest part so many Hours terminate the artificial Day it might therefore not unaptly be compar'd to the Period of Old Age. Herodotus relates that the Grecians from the Aegyptians receiv'd the use of the Pole the Gnomon and the twelve parts of the Day and the original of that Use among the Aegyptians was because their Priests in those Days were accustomed twelve times a Day to make a noise to their Cynocephalus and Cicero takes notice of such a Ceremony to Serapis from which it seems clear that an Hour in those Days was the same as now in the computation of Time and that Dial of Ahaz where the Miracle was wrought of the Sun 's going back ten Degrees seems to confirm that the Iews in those days computed Time in the like manner for all Interpreters agree those Degrees were the Indices of such parts of the Day and the description that Pancirollus gives us of an Instrument amongst the ancient Romans farther evinces the truth of this Hypothesis They took says he a Vessel made of Glass in the bottom of which was a narrow Hole done about with Gold lest the Water should wear it away on the other part of the Vessel was drawn a right Line having the 12 Hours set upon it after which they filled the Vessel with Water which issued drop by drop out of the little Hole they thrust a Cork into the Water fastned to a little Wand the end of which pointed at the first Hour and as the Water decreased at the second and third Hour and so on this the Greeks call'd Clepsydra From all which both from the Practice of the Iews Aegyptians Greeks and Romans it is most probable that the Antediluvians computed Time as we do now and that Noah very likely transmitted those Instructions down to his Posterity The next thing therefore to be consider'd is to illustrate what is meant by Days Days by all Nations are divided into two kinds the one natural the other artificial the one consisting of twelve the other of twenty-four Hours having therefore fully explain'd what the Ancients meant by Hours I need not farther to insist upon this Point I shall then proceed to explain what is meant by a Year The word Annus or Year in the three ancient Languages is deriv'd from a thing that turns round or a Circle for so much the Hebrew word does signify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hence the Aegyptians represented the Year by a Snake biting its Tail but whether a Lunar or Solar Year is meant by the Patriarchs is next to be consider'd The Turks and Arabians use the Lunar Year and the same Custom is observed in Tartary Siam Iapan Peru and in other Places but Kepler alledges that the Iews after their departure out of Aegypt used only the Solar Year The Patriarchs says he used the Aegyptian Year of 365 Days and divided them into 12 Months and it is certain the Jewish Year until the Grecian Monarchy was wholly Solar that all their Months save the last consisted of 30 Days and Iosephus writes that there was no Innovation in their Rites as to their Year wherefore from the afore-recited Authorities and likewise from the Iewish and Aegyptian Hieroglyphical representations of a Year it is highly reasonable to conclude that the Years spoken of by the Patriarchs were Solar Years or 12 Months in which the Sun perfects its Course in the Zodiac So that what some have offer'd to prove an Hour or Month to be a Year amongst the Ancients is groundless and is only a metaphorical Allusion to a Custom very frequent in the
Eastern Countries To conclude from all the recited Phaenomena if we will but appeal to our Senses it is evident that Moses's Narrative of the Deluge is not only the most true but the most compleat I cannot therefore but admire at the Theorist and Mr. Whiston who affirm that before the Deluge there were no Mountains In the first place the Arguments they offer are no way conclusive but barely Hypothetical a meer begging of the Question they have indeed supply'd us with polite Schemes and witty Allegories and where they do not by dint of Reason convince us like Sirens by their Wit they charm us but it is not Paint that can long preserve the Features after that is once discover'd the Face appears more deform'd I can no more think the World before the Deluge was form'd like an Egg or that there were no Mountains or that upon the breach of the Shell the Waters gush'd out and overwhelm'd the Globe than I can espouse that wild Notion of the Philosopher who fancy'd himself an Egg and dreaded lest the Heavens should fall and destroy him What Moses has deliver'd upon that Subject exactly quadrates with Nature and from his History it is very clear that there were Mountains before the Flood in the seventh Chapter of Genesis he says the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered Whence it is plain that before the Deluge there were Mountains otherwise how could they be cover'd he may as well reconcile the contradiction of a Man covering his Head with his Hat when he had none upon his Shoulders and the one Absurdity is as easily defended as the other In the same Chapter that inspir'd Philosopher very clearly conveys to us the beginning progress and conclusion of the Deluge all which throughly consider'd one would think to any unbiass'd Person are Arguments too plain and convincing to be obviated for let us take him barely and literally as an Historian where he acquaints us that the fountains of the great deep were broken open the windows or the clouds of heaven poured down their waters for it rained forty Days and forty Nights What can we imagin those Fountains to be but the Freshes separated by the Earth from the Sea which upon those Convulsions of the Earth when it was broken open issued forth upon its surface And then that great fall of Waters from the Clouds which doubtless incessantly and vehemently pour'd down Night and Day joyning with them might easily cause that general Inundation To those that alledge the deficiency of the Waters to accomplish so universal a Flood let us by plain Text and Demonstration answer in the first Chapter of Genesis when the earth was without form and void then darkness was upon the face of the deep which plainly shews as was asserted before that this Globe was a meer immense Liquid for the Earth surely would have had a Form tho' Darkness had been upon it had it then been separated from the Waters but upon their subsidence dry Land appeared and received a Form wherefore then by a very reasonable Consequence could not that Power that made the first great separation of Fluids from Solids once again cover all with Fluids or why could not the same proportionate quantity of Liquids that could dilute such a Mass of Solids once again overwhelm them but where was then the necessity of a total dissolution of all the Strata of the Earth at the Deluge or why must all again return to its primitive Chaos without form Besides the Evidence of all the recited Phaenomena Moses very readily clears that difficulty for Chap. 7. he tells us that the Ark was lifted up above the Earth that all the high hills and mountains were covered which lifting or floating of the Ark above the Earth and covering of the Hills and Mountains seems to be very dissonant to a Dissolution not but that a strange Catastrophe occur'd to the superficies of the Earth by the resistless motions of the Waters which gave so many evidences of their Power and Universality at that time Again Chap. 8. The waters returned from off the earth not separated as at the Creation and again that they decreased continually till the tops of the mountains were seen Upon the whole I can see no reason why any should so elaborately endeavour to answer Difficulties where none present themselves and that by so quaint a Method as to amuse the Reader by starting greater Having now from Observations in Nature and Divine History given an account of the Deluge that we may form some Idea of it I thought it not inconsistent with my Design to insert the following Phaenomenon About three Years ago near Hyde in Cheshire happen'd an unusual Flood which overwhelm'd the Banks of the River and violently broke in at the Eye of a Coal-Pit the Water in its impetuous Current thro' the hollows forc'd the Air before it which when pent up in the Extremities of those Passages by its Elasticity divided a solid Rock at least 20 Yards perpendicular the Water over the greatest part of the Field appear'd in large Columns not much unlike the Spouts in Africa when having spent its force the Rock clos'd again and all over the Field were to be seen various pieces of Coal scatter'd Hence we may imagin when all the Springs of the Deep were broken up and the Clouds pour'd down their Waters in continued Cataracts for forty Days and Nights in so strange a Convulsion I say from the recited Phaenomenon we may form some inadequate Idea how that terrible Destruction was accomplish'd And since we are treating of Floods I think it a pardonable Digression if I give an account of a Spout seen by my Brother within these two Years in his Voyage to Virginia The figure of it as he affirms was like a Spire-Steeple inverted and hung for a considerable time from the Clouds to the surface of the Sea it afterwards divided and then the Sea was in a most violent Commotion which was observ'd by the flowering of the Water as he stiled it the lower Pillar hung for a considerable time upon the surface of the Water but at length vanished the upper part from the Clouds remain'd longer His Conjecture is that the Spout was not a Column of Water that ascended out of the Sea but a Cloud only that hung down to the surface of the Water and he gives these Reasons for it first because the upper part of the Pillar continued much longer than the lower part after its division in the second place before the Spout appear'd the Air was extreamly dark and by that the Sea-men predicted the appearance of a Spout What former accounts we have of Spouts in Authors are different from this whether therefore there may be various sorts of Spouts I shall not determine as being forreign to this Undertaking Dampier confirms
this Account by the Description which he gives us of a Spout in his first Volume pag. 451. he says It is a small ragged piece or part of a Cloud hanging down about a Yard seemingly from the blackest part thereof commonly it hangs down sloping from thence or sometimes appearing with a small bending or elbow in the middle I never saw any hang perpendicularly down It is small at the lower end seeming no bigger than ones Arm but it is fuller towards the Cloud from whence it proceeds When the surface of the Water begins to work you shall see the Sea for about 100 Paces in circumference foam and move gently round till the whirling Motion encreases and then it flies upward in a Pillar about 100 Paces in compass at the bottom but lessening gradually upwards to the smallness of the Spout it self there where it reacheth the lower end of the Spout thro' which the rising Sea-Water seems to be convey'd into the Clouds this visibly appears by the Clouds encreasing in bulk and blackness then you shall presently see the Cloud drive along altho' before it seem'd to be without any Motion the Spout also keeping the same course with the Cloud and still sucking up Water as it goes along and they make a Wind as they go thus it continues for the space of half an Hour more or less until the sucking is spent and then breaking off all the Water which was below the Spout or pendulous piece of Cloud falls down again into the Sea making a great noise with its fall and clashing Motion in the Sea Pag. 452. he adds farther ' One Capt. Records of London bound for the Coasts of Guinea in a Ship of 300 Tuns and 16 Guns call'd the Blessing when he came into the Latitude of 7 or 8 Degrees North he saw several Spouts one of which came directly towards the Ship and he having no Wind to get out of the way of the Spout made ready to receive it by furling his Sails it came on very swift and broke a little before it reach'd the Ship making a great noise and raising the Sea round it as if a great House or some such thing had been cast into the Sea The fury of the Wind still lasted and took the Ship on the Starboard-Bow with such violence that it snapt off the Boltsprit and Fore-Mast both at once and blew the Ship all along ready to over-set it but the Ship did presently right again and the Wind whirling round took the Ship a second time with the like fury as before but on the contrary side and was again like to over-set her the other way the Mizen-Mast felt the fury of the second Blast and was snapt short off as the Fore-Mast and Boltsprit had been before it came on very swift making a great noise and raising the Sea round it as if a great House or some such thing had been cast into the Sea From these Instances it is undeniably evident that a Spout is rather a Cloud than a Pillar of Water rising in a pyramidal form out of the Sea as some affirm in their Voyages upon the Coasts of Africa or such a Column of Water occasion'd by a Commotion in the subterraneous Abyss as Dr Woodward in his Philosophical Essay alledges To these I will only add an Instance or two more which might easily slip an undiscerning Eye and tho' the Observation to some may seem trivial yet I doubt not but the Matter when rightly consider'd carries weight along with it and may justly challenge our Enquiry I have in some Parts several Leagues from the Ocean two Yards within Marle seen Stones of a considerable magnitude most exactly divided yet adapted to that height of Symmetry and nice proportion of Parts when join'd that no Tallies nor the most curiously divided Bodies could more exactly close their Fissures and in an horizontal Line betwixt these 8 or 10 Yards of Marle interposing Considering therefore that those Stones in all probability were originally but one the distance betwixt them and their depth in the Marle it must surely be most consonant to Reason to conclude that they were only split not dissolved in that unaccountable hurry at the Deluge and embalm'd there to perpetuate its Veracity betwixt these are often to be found marine Shells which sufficiently evidences this Hypothesis Nor have we those Disports only of Shells and fossile Plants in Bodies that are impregnated with Spar Alabaster Bitumen and the Pyrites but likewise other Phaenomena of the like Nature particularly at the Kennel-Pits at Haigh in Lancashire in several Slates of which I have seen long parallel Cylinders join'd together and running in direct Lines imprinted in solid Stone twice the length of a Man's Finger and the breadth or more of his Hand an evident Demonstration that this firm Substance must originally be a Fluid which allowed it will be no difficulty to account for the various representations of Shells and Vegetables These were first communicated to me by that honoured and learned Lady the Lady Guise Mother to the present Lady Bradshaw of Haigh But farther to demonstrate that Solids were originally Fluids a more convincing Instance cannot be produc'd than in the Stone call'd Buphthalmos or Ox-Eye so stiled from the analogy it bears to that Organ In this there is a Pebble of a sable Colour included in an Alabaster Spar and the Spar so strictly adheres to the surface of the Pebble without the least unevenness and composes so exactly a Convex figure like that of an Eye that it is impossible they should come into that shape but as the Chymists term it In statu fluoris These are found on the Sea-Coasts in Lancashire and Wirehal in Cheshire CHAP. VII Of Fishes THE Curious here have a large Field of Philosophy to range in since both the Seas and Rivers in these Counties present us almost with an infinite variety of these Creatures I shall not expatiate upon each particular Species of Fishes but only take notice of the most remarkable which have occur'd to my Observation in the Seas Rivers Ponds and Meers The Seas frequently afford us Seales or Sea-Calfs and those of different Magnitudes they are often thrown up in Salt-Rivers form'd by the Tides some I have seen eight some twelve Foot long but these are most common in the Baltic Ocean where the Russes take them in great quantities the Method is very remarkable They generally go out in great Numbers to hunt them sometimes they find three or four Thousand together basking themselves upon the Ice these then they surround which when the Sea-Calfs discern they pile themselves upon an heap as it is probable by that means to break the Ice and quit themselves from the Enemy which they sometimes do and frequently so bend the Ice that they are oblig'd to wade to a considerable depth to attack them so remarkable is the Principle of Self-preservation in all Creatures whatever Their Food is upon Fish but I found by one
from the foremention'd Dane is altogether fictitious nor do I believe there are Pearls either in Brunswick or any other part of the World yet known comparable to those in East-India the Mother of Pearl of the Oysters in those Parts being much finer than any discover'd here or in the West-Indies And if so by what has been observ'd it is most certain that the Pearls must be finer also which are only the most refin'd parts of those defecated Laminae of the Shell It is true indeed there are in fresh Waters hereabout Muscles of the magnitude he mentions which are commonly call'd Horse-Muscles of these vast numbers were found in the Pond at Tabley in Cheshire when it was drein'd but not any of them contain'd Pearls nor was the Fish palatable These I think may serve for a full Answer to Sandius's Hypothesis I shall not therefore transgress longer on the Reader 's patience but only take notice of the Phosphori or flashes of Fire in the Night-time frequently observable in Muscles and Oysters and so close this Head It is observable that these Fishes abound with a great quantity of volatile Sulphur and hence it is that in Tabid Cases as in scorbutic Atrophies they are of extraordinary use for their sulphureous Particles being communicated to the Mass of Blood they afresh inspirit and restore it to its due Circulation and then the Blood distributes its nourishment to the Body which before stagnated in several Capillaries where for want of a daily supply the Body emaciated Another confirmation of their great quantity of Sulphur is their extream foetidness upon Putrefaction which is as offensive as any preparation of Sulphur whatever These granted and that Flame it self is only a due quantity of sulphureous Particles put into a particular Motion and then again considering what vast numbers of those Particles abound in those Fishes and their extraordinary Activity it is easy to imagin how those Noctilucae or flashes in the Night-time when their Particles are not scatter'd by the Beams of the Sun may frequently be observ'd in them and it is probable that if some of our Virtuosi made their Experiments upon foetid Oysters they might more easily prepare the Phosphorus than from Blood Flesh or Urine which is the common but very tedious Process The Echini are common as likewise Torculars Whilkes and Periwinkles we have likewise another Fish shap'd like the Head of a Rabbit and thence call'd the Rabbit-Fish The Pap-Fish is common so call'd from the likeness it bears to a Nipple the Country People use them for their Nipples when sore which by guarding them from fretting on their Cloaths give relief These are the most remarkable of Sea-Fishes that I have observ'd in these Parts wherefore I shall in the next place descend to River and Pond-Fish and of these the most remarkable are the Salmon Sparling or Smelt and the Char as likewise Eeles in the River Erke near Manchester And of these I shall shew the difference and their manner of Generation and so conclude this Chapter The Rivers abound with great quantities of Salmon but chiefly those into which the Sea flows daily as Ribble Lune Wire and the Mersey in these there are considerable numbers taken but the most in Ribble and the Lune Concerning the Growth of these the Opinions are various some asserting that after the Salmon leaves the Sea she makes to fresh Rivers and constantly presses forward till she gains the Shallows and in the Sands Stones and Pebbles deposites her Spawn or Eggs upon which the Male ejects a Milk which fecundates them and so the formation of the Foetus is begun which first is stiled a Salmon-Smelt the second Year a Sprod the third a Mort the fourth a Forktail the fifth a Runner and the sixth a Salmon Others assert that the Salmon comes to its Maturity in one Year and the Morts Forktails and Runners are a distinct species of Salmon and will never attain to the magnitude of a grown Salmon and that because as they alledge several of these have been put into Ponds and never arriv'd to any other pitch of greatness Now it is certain that the Salmon are always best and grow most when they immediately leave the Seas and by their continuance in fresh Waters they still decline and wax leaner when they first quit the Seas their Flesh is firm and well-tasted and at that time they have often abundance of little Insects upon them which the Fishermen call the Salmon Lowse and it is then that she is best in season The Fishermen will actly tell you by observing of these how long they have left the Seas but upon their continuance long in the Freshes they become extreamly lean and not at all palatable so that 't is probable if these Morts and Sprods which were taken into Ponds and did not encrease at all 't was because they were out of their proper Food and so consequently instead of growing did emaciate for 't is most certain when they deserted the salt Water 't was not for any Food they expected in fresh Rivers but indeed to reach the Shallows as well for the preservation as propagation of their Fry which in the Deeps would be destroy'd by other Fishes so admirable is the Conduct of Providence even in the meanest of Creatures Tho' the Rivers are frequently stemm'd and barricado'd with Weares of a considerable height yet 't is wonderful to observe how they will leap over these to gain the Shallows to deposite their Spawn since therefore the Smelt comes down from the Shallows and makes towards the salt Waters 't is probable that the fresh Rivers are disagreeable to them and since the Sprod seems to be the same Fish of another Years growth and the rest likewise gradually till they compleat the Salmon it self I am rather inclin'd to adhere to the former Opinion for why should not there in this as in other Creatures be a gradual Encrease I apprehend not any convincing Reason to the contrary nor do I believe Nature here alters her establish'd Methods in arriving to a full Growth and Maturity The next remarkable Fish is the Char and that is found in Winder-Meer in Westmoreland and no where else that I know of except in Conningston-Meer in Lancashire This Fish is not very unlike a Trout only the Flesh is much more red and when Potted 't is most delicious Meat of these great quantities are yearly sent to London from Kendall and Lancaster 'T is likewise observable that these Fishes are only found in one part of Winder-Meer the other part being destitute of them which perhaps may be occasion'd by the Pikes taken there in great quantities There is another Fish taken there not unlike the Char but something less nor is the Flesh quite so red The Water is extraordinary clear and contains several small Islands in one of which Sr. Christopher Philipson once resided and in another a Hermite a Relation of Sr. Francis Sawcole's who for some
Years subsisted only on Roots and Fish and never went to Bed but is now dead What farther may be said in relation to the Char was communicated to me by my honour'd Friend and Relation Sr. Daniel Flemming of Rydall in the County of Westmoreland Winder-Meer says he according to the English Saxon is Windal-Meer which some think to be so denominated from the great Winds frequent there others from its winding and turning in and out and others from a Person 's Name as well as that of Thurston-Meer now call'd coningston-Coningston-Water in Lancashire and that of Ulfes now stiled Uls-Water in Cumberland which are both near thereunto which makes the last Conjecture the most probable This Lough Lake or Meer is about a Mile in breadth and ten Miles in length with great variety of crooked Banks which afford an agreeable Prospect it is in several places of a great Depth and produces many kinds of Fish as the Char Salmon Pike Bass Pearch Eeles c. This Lake by some is plac'd in Lancashire but by others in Westmoreland which is the more likely since the Fishery thereof belongs to the Barony of Kendall a Town of great Trade particularly for Cottons and the most noted in that County This Meer is the largest in England and looks as if it was pav'd or flagg'd at the bottom with square Stones a sight diverting enough in Fishing Our learned Clarenceux was impos'd upon when he was inform'd that the Char was a Fish peculiar to Winder-Meer since in Coningston-Meer within five Miles a Char much fairer and more serviceable is caught The Char is a sort of Fish about a quarter long somewhat like a Trout and generally red belly'd there are three sorts the Male which is large with a red Belly but the Flesh thereof somewhat white having a soft Roe and is call'd the Milting-Char the Female Char is large but not so red-belly'd the Flesh is very red within being full of hard Roes or Spawn which our Philosophers in their Discoveries sufficiently demonstrate to be the Ova or Eggs of the Fish which are fecundated by a Milk injected on them by the Male and perfected by the kind influence of the Sun the Ova thus impregnated are buried by the Female in Slutch or Sand near the adjacent Banks and so receive Invigoration these are commonly call'd the Roving Charrs the third sort having no Roe is commonly call'd the Gelt Char. These Charrs differ from the Welsh Torgough a Fish taken in Carnarvan-shire and the Switzerland Rentel these being probably the same with the Case a sort of Fish something like the Char but spawning at a different time and caught in the River Brathy that runs into Winder-Meer The Char is not to be caught by Angling or any other Method but by Nets they keep generally in the deepest parts of the Water and are most commonly caught in the coldest Weather when the Banks are cover'd with Snow the Char never swims out of the Meer but the Case is taken in divers Rivers The River Erke is remarkable for Eeles which I think I may affirm to be the fattest in England and indeed to that degree of fatness that they almost nauseate and this a late Author a Gentleman of a considerable Estate near Manchester chiefly attributes to the Fat Grease and Oyls which by the Woke-Mills are expressed from the Woolen Cloaths and so mixed with the Water And indeed considering the number of these Mills standing upon that River and the extraordinary fatness of the Eeles I do not think the Conjecture amiss It may now be worth our time to make Enquiry into the manner of the Generation of this kind of Fish I could not in these by any Dissection I ever made observe the distinction of Male and Female which has given occasion to some to conjecture they came from the middle Region since Ponds and Pits are found frequently full of them in w ch none had ever been deposited and therefore 't is concluded that their Ova being so small as not to be discern'd by ocular Inspection they might be exhal'd with the Waters and consequently fall down with the Rains and when these happen'd to fall into Rivers and Ponds they by the influence of the Sun begin and compleat their Generation But whence arose those Ova to be thus exhal'd they must needs claim some Origin or Formation before they ascended to the middle Region there is no doubt but the Rains are oftentimes saturated with Ova of divers Species as may be seen by Putrifaction of the Water in which an infinite number of small Worms are discern'd these indeed may be small Ova wafted up by the Winds and descending with the Rains It is affirm'd in Russia and Lithuania after excessive Showers that the Ground is almost cover'd with Creatures not unlike Mice which often produce by their corrupting pestilential Fevers which in some occasion'd the like Conjecture yet this Phaenomenon may admit of another solution for why may not those Creatures be there generated and after the fall of those Rains desert their Cells or Latebrae to bask upon the surface of the Ground as we daily see here in Frogs and Worms and other Reptiles However it is the Ponds that were never stored may be supply'd other ways for it is usual for Eeles to quit the Pits and creep into the Grass and Ditches and this I have often observ'd having found Eeles in the midst of Fields remote from any Pit by which means other Ponds may be replenish'd with this kind of Fish for my part I shall not determine the Point but these being industrious Ages by the assistance of Microscopes which are daily improv'd others may give us farther satisfaction in this Matter But I cannot here omit that remarkable Experiment of the most ingenious Lewenhooke who in this Creature was the first that gave us an ocular Demonstration of the Circulation of the Blood and beyond contradiction has made it manifest that the Vein and Artery are one continued Canal shewing a Pulsation in one part of the Vessel and none in the other but that the Blood slowly creeping on the Arteries at their Extremities form a kind of Semicircle so that the strait Line being terminated the Systole of the Heart at so great a distance is not able to affect a Curve for we must imagin the Pulse to be extreamly weak at the Extremities of the Arteries for when a Vessel deviates from the direct Line of the Power it thence ceases to be affected with it and hence it is that the Veins tho' they are continued Vessels with the Arteries have no Pulsation at all What is said of this Fish generating with Vipers is trifling and ridiculous for whoever examins the Parts of these two Creatures subservient to Generation will find it wholly impossible the Male Viper containing a Penis and the Female Ova and Ovaria but in Eeles neither are discernible The next remarkable Experiment in this Fish is the long continued Systole
which hath a fermenting virtue and leav'ns a Past exposed to the Air and at that time saith Pliny and Le Chambre the Nitre Pits grow full of Nitre and sands Vanssebius and several say that though 500 in a day die at Grand Cairo of the Plague before the beginning of the Inundation of the Nile yet the very day after there does not one die which doubtless cou'd not proceed from any other reason than because at that time the Air was impregnated with this volatile Alkaly for at that time the Nitre Pits grow full and this dew falls This I think may sufficiently hint to us the great use of its volatile Spirit Especially in Pestilential Distempers Lastly about that time the Nile begins to o'erflow those Specimens which we had here grew heavier by being exposed to the Air Here it is to be noted that this Alkaly is not made so by Fire I cannot therefore conclude with Helmont that all Alkalies are made so by that Element The next thing to be consider'd is its seperation from the Water in Latron of which the Learned Dr. Huntington who was at Nitria gives us this account There is a Town in Aegypt called Nitria which gives name to the Nitrian desert where there is a Lake called Latron taking up an Area of six or seven Acres situate about thirty Miles West and by South from Terena a Town lower upon the Nile than Grand Cairo and about the same distance Northwest from the Pyramids From the bottom of this Lake ariseth this sort of Nitre call'd Natron to the top as they do apprehend and there by the Heat of the Sun condenseth into this kind of substance that all the Nitre comes from the bottom to the Top I dare not affirm I shall therefore premise some Phoenomena it afforded in Evaporation before I give you my conjecture about it I took an Evaporating Glass which held about four Ounces and pour'd into it two Ounces of Nitrian Water this I set upon a sand Furnace giving it Fire by degrees as soon as the Water was warm the particles of Nitre began to swim upon its surface in stragling and uneven numbers these after a while United and afterwards there arose a Salt sufficient to Colour the whole superficies of the Water I took then a thin Glass and skinn'd off this Ice but cou'd scarce take it all of before it was seconded by another and thus the Salt did rise successively in Films as long as there was any Water in the Glass these Films had the Colour and taste of the Nitre that came from Nitria and did like it ferment with an Acid And these are they which by Pliny are called Flos Salis and if I mistake not the same with that which Herodotus saith they make their Mummy with if therefore by the Languishing heat of a Digesting Furnace the the Nitrous Particles cou'd seperate themselves from the Water and over that spread themselves in an Ice it may be as probable that by the greater heat of the Sun the Nitre of Latron is seperated from the Water after the same manner and as in the Evaporation of other mineral Waters when the Water is not strong enough to hold up the Salt it is generally cover'd with a thin Film so I suppose in the Evaporation of Natron some Particles of the Water being flown away the Particles of the Sal Marine branch one into another and so incrustate upon the surface of the Water In this Hypothesis I was the farther confirm'd by this Experiment I took some of the Natron and dissolved it in Water and set it to Evaporate and I found that the Salt did not incrustate upon the Water till three parts of the Water was Evaporated it did not therefore seem probable that all the Nitre came from the bottom to the top and so condensed by the heat of the Sun but that they incrustated when the saline Particles branched one into another some of the Aqueous parts being exhaled The reason why its volatile Alkaly in Evaporation does not fly quite away is because it is held there by the Sal Marine The next thing to be consider'd is its use in Physick by Pliny it is commended in Ulcers and Inflammations Palsey in the Tongue Consumptions Cholick Haemorhagies Purulent Ears and Intermitting Fevers By Galen it is said desiccat digerit Multo autem majus ejus spuma By Agricola its prescribed in the same cases commended as a Cephalick of wonderful success in the Griping of the Guts intermitting Fevers and the Leprosy Mathiolus commends it in the same cases By Hypocrates it is commended when the Menstrua are obstructed and again saith he purgat humores albos convenit in abortionibus ubi puer haud exierit he likewise commends it in some kinds of barrenness and to this Kircher in his Mundus subteraneus alludes when he says Nili aqua in potum redit non modo saluberrimum sed faecundandis mulieribus mite opportanum and Petrus Giurius gives us this memorable story out of Caesius that when Philadelphus King of Aegypt Married his Daughter Berenice to Antiochus King of the Assyrians he Commanded his Daughter to Drink of the Water of Nile that she might make her Husband happy in a numerous Off-Spring By the Testimony therefore of Hypocrates Galen Mathiolus Diascorides Pliny and Agricola it appears to have been of great use in Physick But here it is to be noted that when Nitre is prescribed by the foremention'd Authors that Nitre which is an ingredient in Gun-Powder is not to be understood Amongst the Moderns we have this account of it Monsieur du Closs is of Opinion that most of the Mineral-Waters in France are impregnated with this sort of Nitre and that all their Cures are done by it Molenbrochius affirms a Tincture of Aphronitum to be of wonderful Efficacy in the Stone this I the rather Credit because it is said by Iunken in his Medicus the Nitre of Nitria is of so piercing a Spirit that it will not permit either Stone or Rock to be thereabout And Ten Rine in his Meditations de Veteri Medicina affirms it to be of wonderful success in the same Distempers The next thing to be consider'd is its use in Agriculture and in Treating of this I think it convenient to premise one Phaenomenon which it afforded in Evaporation when the Salts had spread themselves over the Water in an Ice those thin Plates after a while wou'd break and ascend in perpendicular lines to the top of the Glass I do say therefore that Nitre may be said to fertilize the ground after this manner It s volatile Particles being by some subterraneous Fire or else by the heat of the Sun they do quickly ascend into the small Tubes of the Plant and by their Elastick Nature carry along with them or force before them those Particles which as they differently convene constitute the different parts of the Plant. But this conjecture will be made
being exactly conformable to the Primitive Eastern Way of their Numbring of their Days and Nights as is manifest from that in Genesis And the Evening and the Morning were the first Day And this evidently transmits to us the great Value and Antiquity of our Country and undeniably demonstrates the Veracity of the History cited from Ezekiel Chap. 27. relating to their extraordinary Merchandising and Transplanting Colonies into distant Countries which that it may not slip the Reader I shall here transcribe so far as relates to this Matter though the Head was before touch'd upon Thy Borders are in the midst of the Seas thy Builders have perfected thy Beauty They have made all thy Ship-boards of Fir-trees of Senir They have taken Cedars from Lebanon to make Masts for thee Of the Oaks of Bashan have they made thine Oars The Company of the Ashurites have made thy Benches of Ivory brought out of the Isles of Chittim Fine Linnen with broidered Work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy Sail Blue and Purple from the Isles of Elisha was that which covered thee The Inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy Mariners Thy wise Men O Tyrus that were in thee were thy Pilots The Ancients of Gebal and the wise Men thereof were in thee thy Calkers all the Ships of the Sea with their Mariners were in thee to occupy thy Merchandise They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine Army thy Men of War They hanged the Shield and Helmet in thee they set forth thy Comeliness The Men of Arvad with thine Army were upon thy Walls round about and the Gemmadims were in thy Towers they hanged their Shields upon thy Walls round about They have made thy Beauty perfect Tarshish was thy Merchant by reason of the Multitude of all kind of Riches with Silver Iron Tin and Lead they traded in thy Fairs Iavan Tubal and Meshech they were thy Merchants They traded the Persons of Men and Vessels of Brass in thy Market They of the House of Togarma traded in thy Fairs with Horses and Horsemen and Mules The Men of Dedan were thy Merchants many Isles were the Merchandise of thine Hand They brought thee for a Present Horns of Ivory and Ebony Syria was thy Merchant by reason of the Multitude of the Wares of thy making They occupied in thy Fairs with Emeralds Purple and broidered Work and fine Linnen and Coral and Agate Iudah and the Land of Israel they were thy Merchants They traded in thy Market Wheat of Minnith and Pannag and Hony and Oyl and Balm Damascus was thy Merchant in the Multitude of the Wares of thy making for the Multitude of all Riches In the Wine of Helbon and white Wool Dan also and Iavan going to and fro occupied in thy Fairs Bright Iron Cassia and Calamus were in thy Market Dedan was thy Merchant in precious Riches for Chariots Arabia and all the Princes of Kedar they occupied with thee in Lambs and Rams and Goats In these were they thy Merchants The Merchants of Sheba and Raamah they were thy Merchants They occupied in thy Fairs with Chief of all Spices and with all precious Stones and Gold Haran and Canneh and Eden the Merchants of Sheba Asshur and Chilmad were thy Merchants These were thy Merchants in all sorts of Things in blue Cloaths and broidered Work and in Chests of rich Apparel bound with Cords and made of Cedar among thy Merchandise The Ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy Market and thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the Seas Thy Rowers have brought thee into great Waters The East-wind hath broken thee in the midst of the Seas Thy Riches and thy Fairs thy Merchandise thy Mariners and thy Pilots thy Calkers and the Occupyers of thy Merchandise and all thy Men of War that are in thee and in all thy Company which is in the midst of thee shall fall into the midst of the Seas in the Day of thy Ruine The Suburbs shall shake at the Sound of the Cry of thy Pilots And all that handle the Oar the Mariners and all the Pilots of the Sea shall come down from their ships they shall stand upon the Land and shall cause their Voice to be heard against thee and shall cry bitterly and shall cast up Dust upon their Heads they shall wallow themselves in the Ashes And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee and gird them with Sackcloth and they shall weep for thee with Bitterness of Heart and bitter Wailing And in their Wailing they shall take up a Lamentation for thee and lament over thee saying What City is like Tyrus like the destroy'd in the midst of the Sea When thy Wares went forth out of the Seas thou filledst many People thou didst enrich the Kings of the Earth with the Multitude of thy Riches and of thy Merchandise In the Time when thou shalt be broken by the Seas in the Depths of the Waters thy Merchandise and all thy Company in the midst of thee shall fall All the Inhabitants of the Isles shall be astonished at thee and their Kings shall be sore afraid they shall be troubled in their Countenance The Merchants among the People shall hiss at thee thou shalt be a Terror and never shalt be any more So far concerning the first Peopling of this Island of Britain from the Eastern Nations upon which I could have farther enlarg'd very much but that not falling directly under my Cognizance I shall wholly desist and proceed to give a succinct Account of the History of the Romans in Britain We may thus by the many Relicts of Roman Antiquities in every Generation still improving form to our selves some general Apprehensions of that powerful Empire and its extensive Boundaries and by the mystick Representations on their Coins and their votive Inscriptions explain'd we very readily arrive to to their most Sacred Retreats and find laid open to our View all their exorbitant Superstitions their idolatrous Immolations the Plurality of their Gods the impious Ambition and resistless Will of the Emperors together with the Universal Complacency and Servile Flattery of all Orders of the Empire paid to them Tho' as Christians we may be too apt to pass our Resentments on their Ignorance and Worship and at the same time admire that such sublime Learning and singular Perspicuity shou'd produce no better Effects But if we duely consider the Thing and take the Roman Nation in the common Acceptation of Mankind we shall find the Subject worthy rather our Pitty than our Censure for if we reflect on the Divine reveal'd Will confin'd only to that Corner of Asia call'd Palestine and all the rest of this immense Globe involv'd in invincible Blindness erring through deprav'd Nature the Romans may admit of the same general Excuse and share the same equal Lot with their Fellow-Creatures That they were a Nation design'd for Empire their Character deservedly shows besides the Situation