whether they or your Patients do ever discern aâ— taste or smell of Iron from such Waters Doth no I pray the main reason of Chalybeat Extraction depend upon the reduction of Iron into a Croâ—â— or the acuation or Menstruums by Saline Spirits 〈◊〉 either of which there happens a solution of some the body of Iron into the Chalybeat Liquors which give them a sapor not a vapour It 's true if you â—â— rusty silings of Iron Water upon its affusion â—â— thereby have an Iron taste but this is by reason an acid Salt in the Air which hath fretted the 〈◊〉 and tâ—â—ned it into a Crocus of Iron and theâ— makes it yeeld a solution of some of its parts And now Hydroph by this time I think you and your Apothecaries Boyes have done laughing and may take time to turn your Vapours into Tears and spend them at your leasure Doth not Falopius p. 29 34. who had great experience in Mineral and Metalline Waters say Arbitror non reperiri aquam ferream for certainly if Iron would give it self immediately to Water then should we find frequently those aquae ferreae in places where Waters run through the minera thereof but no such by experience are found therefore our Argument will be strongly inforc'd a majore ad minorem viz. that if in the minera where the parts are more loose it will not yeeld its Vapour or Tincture to Water much less will the compact Body thereof which hath undergone the violence of the melting Forge do any such thing And whereas you cavel at my Philosophical Description of Ink made forth by Colateral Experiments of the Spaw if you could have carpt at any thing therein no question but you would or if you had given a better then you had done like an Artist and so might have passed it over with a joke for though the Subjects sometimes we treat of be but common obvious things yet they require a searching diligence and deep diving Philosophically to solve the abstrusities of the nice Compositions and Commixtures of Bodies to make their Phaenomaena obvious I pray saith my Antagonist p. 35 36. Are Iron and Vitriol all one I think they do as really differ as your Knife and your Ink. Do not all Authors as well Chymical as others that treat of them do it severally And doth not Paracelsus say Natura genorat salem vitriolum dictum c. Do not Gallen Mathiolus Sennertus Pliny Renedeus speak to the same purpose To which I answer That Iron and Vitriol may indeed be two distinct things but then the Vitriol must be such as is made out of some other Metal oâ— Mineral but if you query concerning natural acid Salt Iron as coexistent in the same Concrete theâ— I say they are both one viz. they both together make up that Concrete we call Vitriol from which if you separate the Iron what remains falls short oâ— being a Vitriol and becomes only a Salt which iâ— more simple than Vitriol as being indeed but one Ingredient thereof And out of such a Vitriol oâ— Iron if you be a good Metallurgist and skilful Mechanick you may make as good a Blade as you have a Haft for as to what you urge how that those Authors speak in confirmation of your supposition I am not much sollicitous especially if what they write come in competition with truth as iâ— results from matter of fact besides some of these Authors as they have occasion treat severally oâ— these Concrets as different Subjects and not as they bear any relation to each other in Mineral Solutions and Concretions and so indeed they are different and may be discoursed of as differently And as to what you repeat out of Paracelsus 〈◊〉 am not concern'd seeing he doth not confirm it by matter of fact nor by any evident demonstration I find Paracelsus very incautious in his assertions and as for true Physiology not much to be regarded besides what he there saith doth diametrically oppose what may be made evident by Experiment for he calls that a Salt which after separation of other Ingredients is yet reducible into a more simple Salt witness the Salt of Vitriols which is separable out of any natural Vitriol after the separation of the Mineral or Metalline parts Yea I will tell you Hydroph that if you can produce out of any of the aforesaid Authors so much experiment as to make evident by matter of fact what you would prove yea if you can shew me from any ingenious Chymical Artist to whom you must be beholden if ever it be done such a Vitriol either extracted from this Spaw or elsewhere that is such a simple Salt as from which I cannot separate a Mineral or Metalline Body or if you can separate a Vitriol out of the Spaw after the precipitation of the minera of Iron The Game I assure you shall be upon your side For where you instance what I say p. 47. of my Hydrol. Chym. in p. 105. of your Mamick viz. that I arguing against Vitriol as being inconsistent with that of Iron in the Spaw the reason you blusht not to urge why though Vitriol be in the Water yet it should not vomit was that we used it said you in Juleps and Cordials which doth not cause Vomiting which you confirm and say That the main part of the Vitriol in this Water is the Spirit which is as much yea far more diluted with the Water wherein it is than the force of the Vitriol is corrected by the vehement heat of the fire in the distilling of the Spirit thereof Now to come to the point Hydroph if it were certainly true what you say that the main part of the Vitriol in the Water is the Spirit then it would without controversie demonstrate it self by distillation For seeing according to your own supposition the Vitriol is in Spirits in the Water and these Spirits are also very subtile volatile and penetrative therefore of necessity upon distillation of these Waters fresh from the Spring these Spirits should arise first but that they do not I can assure you by matter of Experiment for I distilled some fresh Water from the Fountain in a Glass Retort at Scarbrough whose joynts was exactly closed up I sav'd the first half ounce yea and in another distillation of fresh Water the first quarter of an ounce of Water which came over supposing that if any volatile vitrioline Spirits would come it would be at the very first whose taste or smell did not I affirm at all resemble the Spirits of Vitriol which according to your Hypothesis they should have done But suppose that what had come off at the first had been of the nature of vitrioline Spirits and had by the sharpness of their taste and sulphureousness of their odour demonstrated themselves to have been such which yet I assure you hapned to the contrary yet would it not thence have followed that these had been Vitriol as you assert for it is if I mistake
Hydrological Essayes OR A VINDICATION OF Hydrologia Chymica Being a further Discovery of the Scarbrough Spaw And of the right use thereof And of the Sweet Spaw and Sulphur-Well at Knarsbrough With a brief Account of the Allom Works at Whitby Together with a return to some QUERIES propounded by the ingenious Dr. Dan. Foot concerning Mineral Waters To which is annexed An ANSWER to Dr. Tunstal's Book concerning the Scarbrough SPAW With an Appendix of the Anatomy of the German-Spaw And lastly Observations on the Dissection of a Woman who died of the Jaundice All grounded upon Reason and Experiment By WILLIAM SIMPSON Dr. in Physick and Practitioner at Wakefield in Yorkshire London Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the two Angels Crown in Little-Britain 1670. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Impartial candid Reader IT is my hap once more to appear in publick being necessitated thereto in vindication of the truth I have asserted touching the Scarbrough-Spaw c. Were I not constrained and did not the expectation of many oblidge me thereto I could I confess as willingly have laid my Pen aside as have taken it up At the first glance upon my Antagonist's Book I thought he had some colour of Authority on his side but upon second and therefore more mature thoughts unravelling his Clew I found his quotations of Authors in general either impertinent nothing to the purpose in the main or their sence perverted and wrested or their words falsly translated out of the Latin This he who gives himself the trouble of reading his Book will find all along that where he falls short in strength of Argument he makes supplies in an over measure of Calumnies Taunts Scoffs and groundless Accusations Unto all which ungentile and unscholar-like usages I shall only answer by desiring thee Reader to consider That hereby he hath given me so much the advantage over him that I could not have wished for more or better for first I will remarke that his Morals and his Naturals are much of a scantling and it seems probable that he that taught him Physicks read Ethicks to him also and his mind in which they are implanted is equally productive of both measure one by the other and they differ not a â—airs breadth and either extends not beyond the dimensions of vulgar and weak Souls and Intellectuals Next let it be observed that it is the common guize of persons less fraught with right conceptions of things to defend them with disingenuous and discurteous Apologeticks as we see some soyls that naturally bear unsavory Weeds will amongst them put forth also Nettles and Thistles which shall prick and sting the fingers of that Weeder that aims at the improvement of that ground Again consider that thus he hath rendred himself an object of reproof not to say contempt and forgiveness which last I will only take the advantage of and here publickly give it to him and though it was his business to throw dirt mine shall be only to wipe iâ— off and calmly to tell thee Reader â— who threw it and why I should entertain thy eye but coursly enough to repeat his Repartees suffice iâ— therefore that I think them noâ— worthy a Reply not that I want sufficient Arguments or a competent testimony from others to vindicate my self and invalidate his unjust reproaches but judge it my concern to imploy my time at an other guess rate then to trifle it away with such impertinencies His Epistle goes off at the wrong end it was aim'd at me that stood before it but like a foul Gun it strikes the Discharger Can you Reader or I now help it However I shall prompt thee to carry it with thee to the Spaw for there both that and the whole Book may be of use to thee I confess I could have wished he had used his silence not for my sake but his own for then he might have passed for a wise man who now hath told you himself what he is and what he contains let this dragm of his Ethico-Physical Spirit inform your taste But I injure my assertions demonstrated by Reason and Experiments if I overween not truly sufficient Therefore Reader take no notice of immoralities which I am sure were once no Ingredients amongst the rest of the Spaw and their existency therein did appear as little as that of Vitriol yet oh the riddle I find by experience after all that they are therein for my Antagonist first discovered them there and of this I yeeld him the glory and tryumph but whisper to him it was his own infused addition and shall for the Drinker's sake desire him to throw no more such stuff and filth into those Waters which God and Nature have intended for other purposes Therefore once for all I shall desire the Impartial Reader to determine by the eye of his judgment which Arrow of the two stick nearest the mark levelled at without taking notice which hath the most or greatest Goose-feathers in their other ends and let his Opinion prevail of us two who hath wrote most truth and least calumny The method that I have observed is first to clear up those difficulties and to answer the most material Objections which my Antagonist urgeth and that too as they lay in my way confirming what I have before said by undeniable demonstration grounded upon Experiments adding new Observations pro re nata And for a further discovery of the nature of the other Medicinal Waters at Knarsbrough I have given a particular Discourse both of the Sweet-Spaw and Sulphur-Water found there where I have propounded some Experiments which not onely demonstrate the Nature and Essence of their constitutive Ingredients but also by the same may any simple Spring-Water plentifully to be found any where be made an artificial Mineral Water of the same taste and operation with those made by the wonderful Chymistry of Nature in the bowels of the Earth The Experiments which concern the sulphur-Sulphur-Water by an analogy all other the like Sulphur-Springs are such as no Author which I have yet met with who write upon those Waters have taken notice of which may probably yield no very small light for a further advancement of the knowledge of Sulphurous and other Mineral Waters And because the Essence of the Scarbrough Spaw consists most what of an Aluminous Salt therefore I judg'd it necessary to give an account of the Alom-Works at Whithy describing also the difference betwixt the natural and the factitious Alom comprizing the sum of the whole matter upon that Subject in a few short Corolaries When my Antagonist apprehended that he ran by a wrong byas in his opinion of the existence of Vitriol in the Scarbrough Spaw and that he had spent so many Pages of his Book to so little purpose indeavouring to prove right or wrong that to be in the Water which was ocularly demonstrated not to be even before his own face and in the presence of several Physitians Scholars and other
ingenious Gentlemen and after his last refuge to the ipse dixit of Doctor Tunstal when he had nothing to say for himself but that Dr. Tunstal told him that Vitriol was in it last year was it not a poor not to say childish way of Philosophyzing to ground what a man publisheth to the World upon the bare word and that but conjectural of an other man Now when my Antagonist was thus touched to the quick he call'd my ingenious Friend who had made the Experiment before him aside and told him That if I would then lay down the Cudgels he would not only look upon me as a Brother but also when occasion offered would sooner take me into consultation then any other By which may be concluded one of these two things viz. That either my Antagonist has given a wrong Character of me in his Book drawing my portraiture with as rude as well as unskilfully handled Pensils or he is willing to be accounted of as a Bifrons or else be likened to a Ferry-man who looks one way and rows another speaks one thing and thinks another and writes another But after and notwithstanding all this if my Antagonist shall at any time make any Experiments to the purpose and shall thence deduce due observations whereby the mechanical part of Philosophy may be improved I should as willingly receive them from him as from any other till then I advise him to lay aside his undue and improper contentions and let us love like Brethren for I do declare to the World that I have no enmity to his Person nor hath what I have done been trom any particular prejudice to him but to contend for the truth in things that respect my Profession and the publick good I must confess that as he has behav'd himself as a Magisterial Browbeater of ingenuity and has indeavoured to eclipse the Light of Truth made forth by Experiments discovering his darkness and ignorance in the things he treated of so far very probably I have been as a Remora to his proceeds yea and perhaps by my means he has reflected upon his high presumption of infallibly curing Diseases and knocking them down to use his own expression with the great Hammer whereas indeed the more a Physitian knows daily eying the conjectures whereon depends the practice of Physick the more cautious he is as to his Prognosticks and that in respect of the ignorance of the causes of things and whether such presumptuous Prognosticks if I should use them as my life for his he shall recover he is safe I wish I had a lease of his life c. in the management of the cure of Diseases when yet notwithstanding all these the Patient frequently dies would not be more an Argument that I am a Quack and Emperick rather then a sober Physitian let the Judicious determine And now I shall appeal to thee Reader whether what I have most-what urg'd both in my Hydrol. Chym. as also in this do not tend rather to an illustration of Truth in the discoveries of the Nature and Essence of Mineral and Medical Waters c. then to any verbal jangling Lastly Because I find not only my Person and my Apprehensions but also my Practice under his censure and contempt all styled by him as Chymical I cannot decline that none of the smallest measure of generosity I lay claim to but will now propose to him as a final decision of this matter under debate that we may measure abilities by that unerring Rule Dignoscitur Medicus à Medendo Let us now opportunely at this Spaw-time choose by lot such a number of persons chronically diseased not less then twenty and he of us that shall Citiùs tutiùs jucundiùs cure his number or the greater part thereof let him win both Field Spring and the other depart thence as vanquished either onely for this year or for ever Provided that if the agreement happen to be made only for this year that the vanquished may enter the next with new recruits and attempt afresh then and as often after as he pleaseth but every time the conquered shall depart for that year Pardon me Reader if herein I seem vain-glorious I can reflect so upon it as well as another but I submit to thy judgment whether a better expedient can be proposed to confront a man of words or whether my own just repute absit jactanctia verbis doth require less of me Or lastly whether the matter it self does not naturally lead thereunto And now to add more words will ill sute with this effort Therefore it onely remains that I inform thee I was willing to fill up some vacant Pages of this Tract not then finished with two particular Anatomies freshly made the first of the German Spaw-Water usually to be had in Amsterdam the other of a Woman who recently expired at Leiden of the Yellow-Jaundice both not so repleat with inconsiderables as not to purchase thy favourable acceptance of them from him who every way endeavours to exhibit himself Thine W. S. Hydrological Essayes OR A VINDICATION OF Hydrologia Chymica BEING A further Discovery of the Scarbrough Spaw And of the Sweet Spaw and Sulphur-Well at Knarsbrough With a brief Account of the Allom Works at Whitby Together with a return to some QUERIES propounded by the ingenious Dr. Dan. Foot concerning Mineral Waters To which is annexed An ANSWER to Dr. Tunstal's Book concerning the Scarbrough SPAW All grounded upon Reason Experiment By WILLIAM SIMPSON Dr. in Physick and Practitioner at Wakefield in Yorkshire London Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the two Angels Crown in Little-Britain 1670. Hydrological Essayes OR A VINDICATION OF Hydrologia Chymica THat I may not be too prolix in ushering in this following Discourse by any Praeliminaries nor seem to make flourishes before a pass I shall therefore without making him a Leg forthwith close with my Antagonist at down-right Club-Arguments and my Weapons shall be taken up from his own Authors Yea I shall sometimes turn his own Artillery upon him to the wounding of himself The matter therefore that first and mainly offers it self in Controversie is this viz. Whether Vitriol or Iron are two distinct Ingredients or constitutive Principles of the Scarbrough-Spaw Now my Antagonist asserts that they are two distinct Principles of this Spaw I take it saith he to be Iron Mineral with a touch of the Vitriol or if you please ferrum vitriolatum or vitriolum ferragineum this is a natural Vitriol generated in the Veins of the Earth through which the Spring runs which hath by its acidity or esurine Salt actuated the Waters which thereby is inabled to corrode a Vein of Iron By which I perceive he looks upon Vitriol as a simple Salt without any dependance upon any Mineral or Metalline Body And as such hath no relation to Iron being quite another thing yet calls it ferrum vitriolatum or vitriolum ferrugineum hooking the Iron to partake of the Vitriol
you expresly say That this precipitated black Pouder hath its colour from the Vitriol and yet is the Iron Ingredient of the Spaw therefore according to your own words it should follow that the Vitriol is yet left behind in the Water which if so Why doth it not upon a new addition of Galls give fresh tincture Why is it that upon the precipitation of this Crocus by long carriage of the Water it will give no more tincture by Galls as we find by experiment For I observe that when the minera of Iron is separated by precipitation out of the Spaw Water that neither Galls nor solution of Galls either of which would have done before will cause any alteration either of Red Purple or Black Colour which it would certainly do if the Vitriol were there which according to your own words gives the colour So that of necessity either the Vitriol is not in the Water or what you speak of it is not true chuse whether you please Hydroph you are pinch't and that no Vitriol remains after the falling down of the minera of Iron is apparent because if you then pour a dissolved lixiviate Salt thereon instead of precipitating a terra vitrioli which in all solutions of natural Vitriols will happen you shall have nothing but a white troubled milkie Liquor which will in a little time let fall the several contained fabulous Concretions which had been dissolved before in the Water and the Esurine together with the Nitrous Salt which acuated the Water and made it as a menstruum will be imbrac'd and complicated for the most part with the Lixivial Salts into a kind of Tartarum Vitriolatum So that by this it 's as plain as the Sun at noon day that there is an inconsistency of Vitriol and Iron as two distinct Ingredients of the Spaw The presence of which as two distinct constitutive principles thereof was what I opposed with sufficient grounds and now farther confirm which I think may byas any unprejudiced Reader All Authors saith my Antagonist whether Chymists or others account the Esurine Spirit or Juyce of Vitriol enough to impregnate a Water with an acidity that shall make it corrode other Minerals or Metals by which it passeth So as we may very well lay aside this Esurine Salt or primum eus salium as wholly precarious How now Hydroph do you accuse me of contradictions which I hope e're long I shall take of for the most part and yet your self guilty of the same even within the compass of half a dozen lines Can the Esurine Spirit or Juyce of Vitriol impregnate Water as a menstruum and yet the same thing viz. the Esurine Salt for by Esurine Spirit Esurine Salt or primum ens salium the same is understood be wholly precarious how doth this hang together I perceive you have imbib'd but a very sleight touch of Helmont otherwise you would have been better impregnated with his Principles than to have denyed the same thing you had before owned in a very little different expression Do not you frequently mention the Esurine Salt p. 5 6 7 17. viz. That by its Esurine Salt speaking of the Spaw it more freely corrodes the Iron and that Vitriol hath an Esurine Salt or Spirit in it self and yet here you say It may be laid aside as wholly precarious this is quidlibet ex quolibet justly retorted But why do I trouble my self these are only sudden flashes of your gnis fatum soon in and soon out apt to lead the timerous and unwary aside But pray if Iron be in this Spaw as a distinct Ingredient thereof from Vitriol What is that which is the menstruum in the Water to dissolve Iron viz. to make it appear in the form of a Liquor I tell you saith he what will do it besides the Alkahest of the Chymist Vitriol imbib'd at the first doth by its Esurine Salt make the Water corrosive and fit to take that or any other Mineral that is in its way Well this is a confirmation of your late Contradiction yet you hover and endeavour to gain the Forts you formerly quitted for first you own an Esurine Salt p. 5 6 7. and then p. 11. you lay it aside as wholly precarious and here p. 17. you very fairly take it up again and p. 96. you say you have with good reason exploded Helmonts primumens I 'le refer you saith my Antagonist to your grand Master Paraceisus where treating of Acid Waters Harum ortus est inquit ex resolutione Metallorum antequam ad maturitatem pervenerint And presently after saith Interdum ex vitriolo a lumine hujusmodi aquae promanant You are mistaken Sir I pretend not to be a Paracelsian in Physiology not much valuing his Theory your self quote him five times I may say I think for my once what I esteem him for was his Medicinal Arcana's by which he was enabled to perform great Cures maugre yours and others malice against him and other searchers of Nature As to that first sentence you urge if you consult a little further you will find he saith Aurum plumbum dant dulcedinem cuprum ferrumque aciditatem Now as for Gold that will give no Vitriol and for Lead that requires an Acid Salt either Vegetable or Mineral to make a Saccharine Vitriol thereof and Copper or Iron with an additional Acreal or Mineral Acid Salt gives in a Water Spring an acidity that is in short makes a Vitriol either of Iron or Copper But to proceed There are four wayes saith my Antagonist p. 21. whereby Water may imbibe the Nature or Vertue of a Mineral or Metal The first is By receiving its Vapour thus Water standing some while in a Brass or Iron Vessel will taste of the Brass or Iron Not to say Hydroph that those four wayes of imbibitions you reckon are pillag'd out of Doctor French his Book of Knarsbrough Spaw and out of Falopius cap. 8. without taking notice of the Authors is a crime you can indulge your self and not another Falopius tells us in that place where he speaks of the several commixtures of Minerals and Metals in Water Omnes mixtiones pendent a triplici causa Scilicet a calors a mora ab aptitudine materiae ad Eliquationem The last of which insinuates an aptitude of the Solvent solvable or both Non solum he goes on telluris species sed vapores succi metalla in subterraneis cavernis reperiuntur c. Amongst those he calls succi he reckons the Mineral Salts which as Basilius Valentinus who was much conversant amongst Minerals and Metals saith are the Keys to unlock the Mineral Kingdom and that whether naturally in the Bowels of the Earth or artificially upon solid Minerals or Metals and amongst the succs Minerales Falopius reckons the succus Calcanthi which whether ever it fell in his or some others way that treat cursorily thereof to anatomize that Mineral so as to rightly understand its constitutive Ingredients may
being urg'd by force of fire in a Crucible yours is but a slight exiccation Now if you had proved that Vitriol by a strong calcination in the fire would have become white and have continued so you had followed your Argument closely But this contradicts matter of fact easily experimented by any person who was willing to be satisfied in the truth thereof in as much as Vitriol in a gentle degree of heat whether of fire or the Sun by an exiccation of the redundant moisture becomes white after which if the fire be increased it turns yellow then calcines red and lastly purple driving away thereby the menstrual Salt which had incorporated it self with the metallick body Now to prove that these Minerals upon their dissolution in this Water-Spring must necessarily deposite what other colour they had you quote Paracelsus in these words Videtis metalla mineralia similitudinem nullā habere cum corporibus illis ex quibus generata sunt In the englishing of which I perceive you soyst in two or three words of your own to make him the better to speak your sence you translate the words thus to wit you see that Metals and Minerals dissolv'd in Water have no resemblance with those bodies out of which they are generated those words dissolv'd in Water I find not in the Author But Paracelsus explains more fully what he means even in his very following words which you leave out viz. Haec enim aqua sunt cujus similitudinem metalla non exhibent sicut autem metallum aqua fuit sic visissim aqua fit lignum fit gramen c. Here Paracelsus is as by the scope of his words may be discerned discoursing of the dissimilitude of bodies amongst themselves though from the same subject matter and therefore urgeth that Metals and Minerals though originally from Water yet while such bear a dissimilitude to their first subject matter Water for that Water which was the material principle of those bodies by the superinduction of metalline and mineral Seeds was before the determination thereof by such a Seed as equally alterable into another body as for instance of Trees or Grass c. as into that of metalline or mineral bodies And this is the genuine sence of Paracelsus in that place which yet he further illustrates by that next instance you quote Videtis vitriolum aliud viride c. id si in aquam resolvatur colorem omnem deponit where again in your translation thereof you miss his sence and wrest it to your own and that either designedly or ignorantly for you translate i◠thus viz. You see one sort of Vitriol is green another blew but if it be resolv'd in Spring Water it layes down all its colour how id 〈◊〉 in aquam resolvatur will bear that translation I do not understand and here would I appear Pedantick I might severely chastise you as you have indeavoured to lash me for smaller matters for it is not in aquâ but in aquam and how it should bear the interpretation of Spring Water I know not but let that pass Now as in the former instance Paracelsus urged That Metals and Minerals have their original from Water to which whilst such bodies they carry no resemblance So in this latter Example he affirmeth that Minerals for instance Vitriol may be resolved again into Water and then they loose their colour yea other properties which otherwise whilst mineral bodies are essential to them and that it was so I may Hydroph take leave to tell you that both Paracelsus and Helmont could by their Liquor Alkahest reduce mineral and metalline bodies into simple Water to confirm which you have instances enough in my Hydrolog Chym. In the third instance out of Paracelsus you are as much if not more besides the cushion as in the two former it runs thus Similiter auri colur flavus est qui tamen in transmutatione fit purpureus si per transmutationem hanc resolvatur tunc aquam nullam tingit amplius nec colorem in se continet You may remember Hydroph that at our last Discourse before the Gentlemen at the Spaw I pressed you to signifie what you meant by that instance and why you brought it in you replyed very gravely after a little pause let Paracelsus speak for himself A fair return Paracelsus must speak for himself truly so he doth and properly enough for ought I know as to what he is there treating of But indeed Hydroph either he or some else ought to have spoken for you seeing you had so little to say for your self why you forced an Author to speak in your sence when you your self did not know nor could give any account of your reason of transcribing that Sentence out of Paracelsus For first you make your additions in the translation thereof the better to colour your pretence though without reason you translate it thus viz. In like manner though the colour of Gold be yellow and in transmutation it become purple yet if it be resolved by this transmutation that is in Spring Water it tinges the Water no more nor does it keep its own colour Your addition to wit that is in Spring Watet is a seeming interpretation whereas indeed Paracelsus speaks nothing at all in that place of Spring Water I say besides your own figmental additions to and half constructions of this quotation out of Paracelsus you do not notwithstanding make it fadge to your purpose For what Paracelsus meant by transmutation by querying with you I found you knew not and what his resolution of Gold by this transmution was you did as little understand But that I may give you a little help to what you might possibly mean even at the best for your purpose We will suppose that you imagin'd Gold dissolv'd in Aquâ Regiâ of what sort soever and that after precipitation with Sal Tartari or any Alkali it should come to be purple which yet it doth not witness the Aurum Fulminans which is yellow or that by edulcoration let us suppose at the best that it may become purple Now Hydroph if you could produce any such purple coloured Gold made by what skill or art you can that would thereby be resolved in Spring Water and yet would not tinge that Water nor keep its own colour Eris mibi magnut Apollo Here perhaps Hydroph may return as a French Man once did to the learned Kircher who having sent him a Scrowl of a Character which he had writ at random to explain which when Kircher had undertaken and with a great deal of pains dexterity of Art as he thought had interpreted it according to the sence and meaning of the Author returned him an answer to this purpose pag. 60.61 Sir You have explained my Character singularly well for you have interpreted that of which I knew not the meaning my self having scribled it carelesls and at randome Had these saith Hydroph been perfect Minerals in their kind viz. Vitriol
much more of those Minerals then else the Mine would yeeld as the learned Dr. Jorden in his Discourse of Natural Baths and the ingenious Dr. Power in his Micros obs Confirmes yea and that Brass lumps which are a sort of Marcafite being laid in heaps and exposed to the moist Air or sprinkled with Water will smoke and grow exceeding hot and sometimes take fire and burn all that is about it as the foresaid Dr. Power proves So the Mines of Tin-Glass exposed after the same manner to the moist Air will become very hot and Quick-Lime will do the same The like Dr. Jorden observes in those Stone Coals called Metal Coals which are mixed with a Marcasite containing some Mineral Juyce which receiving moisture doth dilate it self and grow so hot as oftentimes great heaps of those Coals are kindled thereby and burnt before their time as hath been seen at Puddle-Wharf in London and at Newcastle although these last I account do not much differ from the aforesaid Coperas Marcasite Now seeing that all combustible Concretes may contract a heat yea may actually take flame and burn from some of the foresaid causes witness the heating and firing of a Coach-Wheel by too rapid a motion the burning of Houses Trees Men c. by Lightning and Thunder the taking flame of one combustible matter by another and lastly the self-inkindling of a Ryck of Hay or Corn which hath been laid up too moist and the taking fire of several Marcasites by being exposed to the moist Air as aforesaid Therefore I see no reason why a Meteor or Comet which suppose brought to that body of sulphurous Exhalations and taking flame from its own motion or from Lightning or from what other cause should less be reputed an Elementary Fire sub Concavo Lunae then those subterraneal fires kindled according to all probability occasionally not to say accidentally quoad nos from some of the foresaid causes should be accounted native to the Earth or naturally implanted therein for the production of all Mineral and Metalline bodies so that as the one is irrational and is exploded by our modern Philosophers so consequently the other may seem as irrational if we do but further consider First How impossible it is for actual fire to become the cause of generation of Minerals or Metals as some suppose who imagine the Fire as a Native born in the Earth seeing fire I mean flaming or glowing fire is by the gravest of Philosophers so far rejected from amongst the causes of Generation as it is rather justly to be reputed mors rerum artificiosa the death or destroyer of all things committing actual rapine upon all the Seminary Principles of bodies which fall under its tyranny dispersing and dissipating those Concretions suddenly which Nature helped by a generative heat working upon imbred Seminals had taken a long time to compile together making havock of the neat Structures of Bodies Secondly How unlikely it is for Water to be so disposed in the Earth in what Vessels can it be imagined to lodg Yea how these fancied Hydrophylacia can be so well placed as they may best be capable to receive the fires from the as much fancied Pyrophylacia without danger of the Waters falling upon the fires and quenching them so as to make the heated Hydrophylacia the cause of Hot Baths for cannot Water as easily descend or slip down those small Chinks and Cranies and smother that Demigorgon as the fire could ascend to heat these Cisterns of Water unless we imagine the Water included in some vast Kettles and so was heated by the playing of the flames about and then we must be forced to think of a Vulcan to be before his Fires who must first hammer out these large Caldrons preparing empty Vessels for us to fill with our watery conceits Thirdly If we should grant the possibility of these actual Subterraneal Fires as connatural to the Earth why should we not find Minerals and Metals melted instead of being generated and why we should not where these fires meet with Vitriol and Nitre or Vitriol and Salt find store of Aqua Fortis and meeting with Sulphur should not give us plenty of Oil of Sulphur tanquam per campanam being the winding Crevices of the Earth would do the like as Glass Bells for condenâ—ing the Vapours of fired Sulphur into a Liquor and meeting with Vitriol or Alom-stone should not calcine them to our hand so as instead of Vitriol we should find Colcothar and instead of Antimony we should find either stibium or regulus or the sublim'd flowers and so I could hold on to number up many more absurdities that would necessarily follow Fourthly If we consider how easily combustible Concrets in the bowels of the Earth where plenty of bituminous and sulphurous matter is found may and probably hath been kindled either by Lightning or by catching flame from some burning body or lastly by some of their Marcasites expos'd to the moist Air or to whom a moist Air hath had access for being once fired vires acquirit eundo it burns on as long as it finds Fuel and where store of combustible matter is as without doubt there is in all the Vulcano's there cannot but be plenty of Heterogeneous mixtures as of Stone Gravel Earth c. which together with the combustible matter is thrown up at the mouths of those subterraneous Furnaces which if they as by continuance of time may by constant burning so undermine the ground as at some times a vast quantity of Earth and other Rubbish fall upon it then being forc't to seek another passage forth and cannot suddenly or at least not so much as the force of the fire requires it being obstructed in its passage causeth Earthquakes but at last finding vent makes new Eruptions thrown forth in such abundance of Stones and Earth as sometimes is sufficient if it happen under the Sea to make a new Island witness what Kircher reports hapned Kirch Mund. Subter pag. 77. Anno. 1638. ad insulam Sti. Michaelis in Mari Athlantico Stimulantibus ignibus subterraneis tantum lapidum in medio Maris egestum fuit ut inde insula lapidibus in montes custervatis nata sese ad quinque milliarium latitudinem extenderit As also in Agro Puteolano Novus mons ex Mari unius noctis saevientis naturae subterraneae violentia protuberans also Vulcanus Liparitanus he further adds Tantum cinerum saxorum que ante annos circiter sexaginta speaking from the time his Book was writ ejecisse fertur ut juxta sese in medio Mari quem ideò vulcanellum veluti filium a patre genitum vocant produxerit which he confirms by his own Observation And to confirm further what we say concerning the occasional or accidental inkindling of combustible matter in the intrals of the Earth I shall call in a Testimonial Instance out of Mr. Burton's History of Leicestershire who saith That at Coal-Eaton in that County in the beginning of the
hardens that Stone and makes it unfit to give any Solution in Water and then the actual Fire loosneth it and makes it yeeld it self more readily to a Solution by moisture To illustrate which we can as easily apprehend that the Air doth harden these natural Lime-stones which while succulent are soft and in the form of a white Earth or Marl by its continual access in a long tract of time as we can imagine the same Air to harden a blew Clay found upon the Banks in Lincolnshire which being exposed to the Air doth in continuance of time harden into a sort of Stone like a blew Marble For Workmen generally observe that all manner of Stone yea even Marble it self which they dig out of the Ground becomes more and more hard by being long exposed to the Air which to me seems to give no small grounds of reason for the possibility of the Liquor Alkahest or Universal Solvent for seeing all bodies are but concretions and as I may say hardnings of their primitive Juyces under various disguises generally performed by the efficiency of Air Therefore to prepare a Menstruum by Art which may work wonders in this kind is no more as I apprehend then to make such a one as may soften these Concretions made by Air and by taking away their hardness may reduce bodies into their first jucy Liquors for what is the shell of an Egg but a soft film or membrane hardned and petrified by the influence of the Air and as easily reduceable into its first membranous softness by being boyled a while in Vinegar What are the Bones of Animals but Spermatick Juyces hardned and consolidated And were it not for the perpetual circulation of the Juyces of the body constantly transpiring through the pores thereof we should either become petrified and walk about like so many movable but sensless Statues or we should be incircled with a Bark and appear like so many Plant-Animals or sensitive Plants What are all Vegetables from the Hysop or Rosemary of the Wall to the tallest Cedar but seminal Juyces congealed into those bulky substances which are presented to our eye Lastly What are all Mineral and Mecalline Marcasites Stones c. but the primitive liquid succulencies concreted into more solid bodies by a hardning ferment or what other name we may call it by aequipollent to the Air And amongst all these what are the Marcasites of Lime-stone but a hardned concretion of its first imbred Juyce or soft marly Earth whose Minera whilst thus in solutis principiis is one of the chiefest Juyces in the Fabrick both of hot Baths and sulphureous Waters That this is the chief cause of hot Baths is confirmed by that Experiment made by that Noble Person the Lord Fairfax of a piece of a white Marcasite found about the place of those hot Springs in Sommersetshire which put into Water gives a heat not but that there may be other causes of hot Waters as from the coincidence of two Springs impregnated with different Mineral Salts and Juyces which before union are probably both actually cold and yet by a fermentation caused by their mutual contact may cause a considerable heat which can no better be resembled then by supposing a current of Water indued with a lix vial or volatile Salt to meet another saturated with an esurine acid Spirit or Salt though these before union are both actually cold yet forthwith upon their mutual contact they make a strong ebullition and fermentation which produceth a heat sufficient to warm those Liquors which are or pass through where the contest is made not to say that an other cause of some hot Baths may be from some Marcasites contracting a heat by moisture let into their Minera by some crevices of the Earth which may give heat to some Springs that pass over them nor to insist upon any other cause viz. of some Salts which in the Minera of Sulphur may cause such a fermentation as may cause hot Springs witness Dr. Rech his Experiment Yea that this natural Lime-stone may be reckoned amongst the chief causes of hot Baths is further confirmed by a lixivial Salt though small in quantity which I have by evaporation of Buxton hot Water found left behind that it is an alkalizate or lixivial Salt appears both by its salty taste its easie solution per deliquium and lastly The Ebullition it makes with an acid Spirit all which are demonstrative Arguments of its alkalizate nature for Buxton Bath consists of Water which by distillation ariseth insipid over the Helm and therefore contains no volatile Minerals and of an inconsiderable quantity of a solution of the Alkali of the natural Lime-stone where plenty of the Lime-stone hardned by the Air is found in the Countrey thereabouts And that this Minera of Calx Vive is the chief if not the sole apperient that opens the body of Sulphur in its Minera for the making sulphurous Waters is evident from our lately proposed Experiment for all sulphureous Waters as I hinted before are either such as have a sulphureous or bituminous matter swimming upon them witness the instance aforesaid or they are such whose bodies being opened by proper Solvents do then easily give forth their volatile odors and sapors to Water which may be made evident by the addition of acid Salt or Liquor And now that we have found out what the first Menstruum is which opens the body of Sulphur in the Marcasites found near the Sulphur Well Let us now consider what these Marcasites are I find them to be a spongy or porous Stone hard and wrought with a kind of Net-work which in it self contains both Vitriol and Sulphur besides a body of Colcothar and that it doth so appears by exposing some of these Marcasites to the Air till they be covered with a hoary sweet vitrioline Floscule which then being washed gives a vitrioline Solution that being filtred and evaporated to a cuticle shoots into a green Vitriol These Marcasites thus washed we set before the fire to dry so long till they began to send forth a sulphurous fume then being pounded grosly we distilled or rather sublimed them in an Earthen Retort what would arise by degrees of fire we so placed a Receiver with Water in it as that the fumes were thrown upon the surface thereof which first swam like Oil upon the Water then by degrees hardening fell down to the bottom which when the sublimation was over we washed dryed and then melted it and in small lead Pipes cast it into Magdaleons in colour and inflammabity exactly resembling the common Sulphur of which at one distillation I got near half a pound That they contain a Colcothar or Metalline Crocus is evident by burning the Sulphur of one of these Stones in the fire and when cold it will be red just like the Colcothar of the Vitriol of Iron The Caput Mortuum left after the sublimation of the Sulphur from the Marcasites is very like those Cinders or Scoria
of Iron which is melted from the Iron-Mass in the Forge where Iron is made out of its Minera From what hath been already said there seems to be no small incouragement towards prosecuting a further discovery of the nature of this Water by digging the Spring and following it to the fource or original where it receives the first impregnation with Sulphur for I see nothing yet to the contrary that may perswade why it should not be found to be a hot Spring at that place where the first imbibition of Sulphur is especially if the succus Laâ—â—is calcari or Minera of Calx Vive be found with it which for ought I know might be found quivalent in vertue to the Aqua Aponensis that â—â—mâ—d hot Bath near Padua so much discoursed by â—â—lopius whom I find to enumerate the very same mineral Ingredients in that which I find by Experiment aforesaid to be in ours before its precipitation by an aluminous acid Juyce for he saith Certò tellegi illa tantum tria i. e Sal copiosum succum lapidis calcarii vaporem sulphureum in illâ Apounsi aquâ conteneri and saith further Est aqua ferventissima dum calida est sapit sulphur â—itumen refrigerata neutrum per se fert and speaking on of hot Waters saith Aquae Thermales quae actu frigidae scatent in suâ origine esse ferventes and that onely happens from the distance of space betwixt the impregnation of Waters first with their Minerals and their place of breaking forth And as Dr. Jordan saith That all hot Waters are not Sulphurous witness the Baths of Caldenella and Avenian c. which are all hot and yet give no sign of Sulphur proceeding rather from the Minera of Calx Vive or from other the like causes of hot Waters as aforesaid nor are all sulphurous Waters hot and that because of the distance of the Minera where the Water first receives heat from the eruption of the Spring-head Amongst these sulphurous Springs as some are replenished with a common Fossil Salt witness the Sulphur-Well we discourse of So there are found others no less sulphurous in taste and smell which yet have not the least specimen of any such Salt for instance One of the Springs which is in the black Bog where the Marcasites are got and one at Braughton not far from Skipton in Craven as also one I found in Ferndale upon Blacomore all which are caused by a combination of a mineral Sulphur and a natural Lime-stone the one opening the body of the other without the addition of any common Salt onely these Springs having imbibed these Minerals meeting afterwards with an acid Juyce of the Alom-Salt make a precipitation of the body of Sulphur and onely leaves the Water perfumed with the odor thereof That this Sulphur Water should coagulate Milk if boyled therewith proceeds from a sleight touch of the acid Juyce of Alom which although in the coagulation of the Sulphur it also precipitates a great part of its own body yet so much thereof remains as doth make it capable of curdling Milk for the Sulphur doth not in as much as it retains that coagulating property after the sulphurous odour being evaporated yea the very Salt left after distillation or evaporation will do the same nor may the common Salt the chief Ingredient of that Water do it because we see the contrary in putting Salt to Water and Milk which doth not curdle it therefore it must be from some small imbibition of the Alom-Salt which yet is so little in quantity as doth not alter the cubical figure of the common Salt And to try whether we could separate the common Salt from the body of the Sulphur Water and the Water only to retain the odour thereof I took of the sandy Earth which lies upon the Bank opposite to the Well wherewith I caused a tap'd Vessel to be filled upon which I ordered the Sulphur Water to be poured and about two hours and a half after during which time I was digging in the Bog above I caused some of it to be let forth at the Tap into a Glass and found its brackishness not only much diminished but that also it lost its sulphurous odor quite having not the least smell or taste thereof From which experiment may probably be confirmed these two Suppositions first That the breaking forth of this Spring is not far from the place of its imbibed Minerals for although it be so far as the first contracted heat is lost in its passage yet it 's not so far but that it retains its odor after the precipitation of the most part of the Sulphur by the acid aluminous Juyce Next That if this Sulphur Water had been carried through a longer tract of a supposed Strainer before its eruption it would not only have been diminished in its Salt but also its sulphurous odor would have been very weak if not wholly spent That the Earth about the Sulphur Well is replenished with variety of Mineral Glebes is evident from the diversity of Waters found thereabouts for near the Sulphur-Well there is not more then ten or twelve yeards distant upon the Banck on the other side of the current of Water a Spring which drills out of a small Alom Rock which leaves a red Sediment behind it and runs forth with so great a disadvantage as to the saving any of it clear that I could not that little time I had to stay procure any clear Water to make tryal thereof but it promiseth much for an Alom Spaw And in the black Bog about two hundred and forty yards above the head of this Well where the Marcasites are chiefly found are several slow Springs all which I have caused to be digged further that which lies on the North side of the Bog is that which the Water-women call improperly an Alom-Water this with a little Gall strikes a deep purple and in taste is very strong of the Vitrioline Marcasites yea the most of the Earth digged up is Vitrioline That Spring towards the West hath a both sulphurous odor and taste also but not very brackish this I caused to be digged a little depth to find out the Marcasites where we found many little metalline Stones perforated and corroded into Shells or Scales and worn as I may say into Sceletons I found in the Earth lying along the current of the Spring a bright Floscule which runs in streaks very thin and almost impalpable which lay much in Veins I look upon it as a crude mercurial Juyce which with its connate embryonative Sulphur was as a Seed laying a foundation for a mineral or metalline production the Spring by digging proved more large and fluent the Earth about it was a black soft marly Ground very unctuous and appeared as if it were much impregnated with Mineral Juyces the Earth grained dryed and burnt gives a Brimstone-like smell Those Marcasites we found were below the current of the Spring and therefore it
Seburg in Germany three Lakes in Sicily and besides an infinite number in other Countries the Lake of Lakes the Sea all which as Dr. Jorden saith receive their saltness from Mines of Salt in the Earth which are very frequent and huge in bigness as may appear by the foresaid Rocks of Salt Yea Marcus Paulus Venetus tells of a Rock or Mountain of Salt in Thaican able to furnish all the World with Salt So that it is no marvel saith the ingenious Dr. Jorden that the Sea is salt seeing it pierceth into the bowels of the Earth and discovereth many great Rocks of Salt which dissolve in it and this is the true cause saith he of the saltness of the Sea What is premised will be sufficient without any more adoe to take off his accusation of a second Contradiction p. 122. in that I say in one place the Sulphur-Well at Knarsbrough is saturated from Fossil Salt and in another place that Sal marine is the cause of that Sulphureous Spring seeing it is evident as also witnesseth the learned Dr. Highmore that the Salt of Sea-Water and Salt-Springs are the same with Fossil Salt his objection against the Seas having its saltness from Fossil Salt is frivolous viz. That it should if made by Fossil Salt kill all Fish as well Sea-Fish as Fresh-Fish for so saith he Salt put to fresh Water doth which is even as true as that Fish should being kept over-night in a clean Copper Vessel with the Water they swim in be found dead the next morning by the mortal Steam or Vapour of the Copper both which are found false by matter of fact the one by that Experiment I made of Fish which not only out-lived one but two nights in a Brass Pan the other by that Experiment of Oysters made by Dr. Highmore I shall now conclude with the addition of a few Mechanical Experiments made upon this Sulphur-Water thus First It takes no purple or red tincture from infused Galls as having nothing of the praecipitable parts of Vitriol or Alom Oil of Tartar being added it becomes muddied into a white curdled Liquor and with Oil of Vitriol or Oil of Sulphur it becomes clear again but with fresh Oil of Tartar it is presently turn'd to a colour inclining to a red and with the addition of more Oil of Vitriol or such like it becomes transparent and of the colour of Sack or English Beer If upon fresh Sulphur-Water Oil of Vitriol be poured it makes neither a precipitation nor any other alteration and that because of a praevious saturation with an aluminous acidity but by adding Oil of Tartar thereunto and after that Galls then follows an effervescence and it becomes of a reddish colour Lastly By the addition of Oil of Tartar this sulphur-Sulphur-Water turns white and that because it is impregnated with a small quantity of the simple natural Alom-Salt A return to some Reflections and Queries made on the enlarged account of my Antagonists Answer to Hydrologia Chymica in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Numb 51. chiefly concerning the cause of the sudden loss of the Vertues of Mineral-Waters by the Learned Dr. Daniel Foot Philosoph Transact Numb 52. p. 1050. THE Ingenious Publisher of the Philosophical Transactions in his enlarged account of my Antagonists Answer hath these words viz. That these meaning Scarbrough Waters lose all their Vertues yea their quantity and bulk also though in Glasses and under the Hermetick Seal if removed from the Fountain Head and then they become suddenly putrid ill-coloured losing their reste and scent c. doubtless through the loss of the Volatile Spirits What ever saith he further these Sprits be that will neither indure to travel from the place nor will be confined in any Bottle nor under any Seal c. So that the sum of his conjucture as the Doctor concludes p. 1051. is That this loss consists in the avolation of some most subtil and pâ—â—â—trating spirituous parts not to be imprisoned by any inclosure imaginable but will find their way out and leave the Waters bereast of vertue and decreased in quantity too and what is more perhaps of their weight also especially if they lose of their quantity Now to evince whether this be a conjecture or no and to clear up this point of Philosophy in the Mineral Hydrologia which hath gravelled many Writers yea made them run ashore or to cast Anchor in shallow Fords for want of a depth in Mechanical Experiments This ingenious Doctor hath proposed these following Queries First Whether by Chymical Researchers it was ever yet or can be found that such Waters as the abovesaid ever yeelded a vinous or an acid or any other sort of Spirits that was either inflammable or uninflammable or flying over the Helm from the fire Secondly Whether all those sorts of Water when they are most closely stopt up and so let stand or conveyed to some distance do not let fall a Sediment most commonly yellowish or of some such colour when they are become effaete in their Vertues Thirdly Whether when they are let stand onely and not moved by carriage they do not sooner becomes castrated and sooner precipitate an Ocre to the bottom Fourthly Whether such an Ocre is not found in all their Spring-heads and Strenms also but more in the Head than in the Streams especially if issued therefrom to a good distance Fifthly Whether it may not be found upon due observation that two Bottles of the said Waters whereof the one being industriously stopped the other left unstopt and both equally permitted to stand still or equaly moved will not easily â—ose their 〈◊〉 Medical in the same space of time and have the same precipitated Sediment and be of the same taste colour and a like diminished in quantity with divers such like Circumstances Sixthly Whether two Vessels diversified in their matter c. filled with such Waters will not yeeld the like Phaenomena in all circumstances as in the fifth Query are mentioned Seventhly Whether it may be devised how to prevent all precipitation of a Sediment in the Waters vessell'd up and then to observe thereupon whether their Vertues would not be kept entire during such a prevention Eighthly Whether any Observer ever found the Waters enervated but found withal an Ocre let fall to the bottom or sides of the containing Vessel Ninthly Whether the Phaenomenon of loss of vertues in such Waters may by an Hypothesis of an intestine precipitation of their parts wherein those Vertues consisted be as well if not better explicated than by the Hypothesis of an avolation of spirituous parts through all Vessels and Closures whatsoever These Queries I shall by the help of a few Experiments indeavour to resolve As to the first therefore I conclude in the Negative for I have distilled the Spaw-Waters of Scarbrough and Malton the Sweet as well as the Sulphur-Water at Knarsbrough c. none of which ever did yeeld either a vinous or acid or any other sort
Chamber and about two hours after the last Glass of Water let them drink a Glass or two of the best White Wine well refined from its Tartar and about one hour after that take some warm Broth then to eat of a few Dishes of Meat and those to be as well ordered as may be nor is it a little respect that is to be had to the Drink at Meats viz. that it neither be new thick or unwrought nor that it be hard or tart So that four things are to be regarded in the drinking of the Waters First Moderate exercise after drinking the Water Secondly To drink a Glass or two of Wine two hours after the Water to help the passage thereof Thirdly Not to eat too soon after the Waters for either by too immoderat exercise that which should pass away by Urine by the short way is preposterously carried into the habit of the body or by eating too suddenly before the Waters have passed the like disorder may happen viz. That the Latax wherein the sabulous matter is dissolved is thereby in danger to be carried by the Thoracical Vessels into the fourth digestion of the heart and thence into the habit of the body where it may lay a foundation for the Gout Stone Scurvy Feavers c. Fourthly A moderation in Dyet having good Meat well ordered and to keep a restraint upon the Stomach not overcharging it with too much nor with too great variety of food for sometimes what the Water builds in order to health the irregularity of dyet in some persons pulls down Fifthly Good wholsome Drink is to be chosen at Meats which should neither be very small nor hard or tart nor lastly new thick or unwrought but should be soft clear and healing Ale or a middle sort of Beer fresh and lively all botled Ale especially that which flies is to be avoided in short it should be kindly Ale such as may well dilute our other solid Food and be a sutable Vehicle of our nutritive Juyce for from a due contemperature of our Drink and Meat by the efficiency of the ferments ariseth the wholsomness of our nourishment When the Patient hath drank for two or three dayes of the Spaw Water after the former directions then is he to take a Dose of Solutive Pills viz. one over-night and two the next morning observing much what the former instructions and to omit taking any Water for that day These Pills ought to be so contrived by the Physitian as to contain in them such Ingredients as may chiefly respect the Scurvy and that because the Scurvy is most-what the ground to other Diseases and next that they may be such as may give the Patient four or five stools without griping as his strength and the indications of his Disease may require not neglecting in the interim other specificks seasonably to be exhibited as the Physitian shall think meet from the indications of the Disease Then if the Physitian think fit is the Patient to rest a day or two from taking the Spaw-Water and that to prevent a sudden precipitation of the stony matter upon the Tunicles of the Intestines after their abstersion or cleansing by the former Solutive and after that to begin again observing the former instructions and so on in a round with such diversifications as the Physitian from a critical observation of the Symptoms and Indications shall judge requisite until the Patient be cured at least in so hopeful a way towards it as that Nature may without much stress tug through the rest And by this means will all the inconveniencies which happen as afore-said to incautious Spaw-Drinkers be prevented hereby Patients will not miss of their aim viz. their desired health c. This course being taken I see no cause of suspition of any harm from the Waters for supposing at the worst a precipitation should happen which cannot be much the next Dose of Antiscorbutick Pills together with a good Diuretick and a glass or two of Wine will absterge it off and carry it câ—â— verly away Nor need we be altogether so fearful of harm from the stony Concretions in the Water if we confider That Physicians often prescribe Coral Crabs-eyes Pearl Crabs-claws Hyacinth Smaragde Saphire Bezoar c. which are the Ingredients of several compound Species as of Pulv. è chel cancrorum species Cordiales c. frequently ordered by them for the cure of Diseases which sometimes dulcifie the Blood and other essential Juyces of the body by coagulating their acidities which otherwise cause obstructions in the bowels and give beginning to Apostemations c. being frequently carried off by Siedge Yea I know a Gentlewoman who being troubled with a spurious and therefore superfluous acidity upon her Stomach amongst the hundred of Remedies she hath used finds nothing comparable to the eating plenty of Chalk which is a stony Concretion This more powerfully then any other thing she has yet met with dints the overflowing acidity sweetens it which otherwise with an acid flatus afflicts her Intestines causing unufual tormina or griping of the Guts Of this she has eaten as I remember she told me some pecks in some late years and yet is no more afflicted with the Stone or Gout then she was before the taking thereof So that all those who are not originally inclined to the Stone or Gout may very safely drink of the Waters and that with very good success for the cure of most other inflrmities by the due management of the Spaw according to our prescribed Method where we are not so magisterial in our advices but do leave the judicious Physitian to vary as he seeth cause I giving only hints and opening a Casement for more light for the better discovery of the improvement of this Noble Spaw in order to the cure of many Diseases for Art is not only to imitate Nature but also help and supply its deficiencies separating what is superfluous and adding what is necessary But if any who are inclined originally to the Stone or Gout shall upon the consideration that the Scarbrough-Water is so esurine or acid by its imbibed Nitro-aluminous or duplicate Salt as to dissolve and carry along in its bowels the several Raiments of Stone shall I say thereupon become jealous of drinking the Water To those I shall first advise the drinking the Water according to our prescribed Method which if it do not answer their expectation upon tryal at least doth not satisfie then would I thus farther add viz. That doubtless when these stony Concretions are separated by Art or Nature the foresaid Salt being dissolved in fresh Water which upon evaporation yeelds no sabulous Sediment must needs I say become very powerful against all those Diseases whose seminaries consist in a sabulous petrifying property as the Stone Gout Jaundice c. especially if dissolved with the addition of Salt of Steel and drunk with great plenty of Spring-Water so acuated And therefore lastly would I propound to all those who