CHAP. I. Of simple Water, its qualities and use.

THat there is naturally pure simple water to be found, without any heteroge­nial admixture at all, is paradoxical, therefore by simple water I only mean such as hath a proper colour, taste, smell, weight, and consistence, thin, light, cold, and moist, and no other thing dis­cernable, [Page 2] either by senses or effects: And 'tis requisite that water should have these qualities, in regard of the many and necessary uses of it, both for Men, Beasts, Vegetables, and Minerals; in so much as there is no living for any Creature where there is no water. [...] begins Pindar's Olymp. Od. 1. It was our first drink to quench thirst, and by its tenuity distributes our nou­rishment as a Vehicle, nay after the invention of Wine it was usually mixed therewith, as Virgil saith of Bacchus,

I could heartily wish, that even Bacchus himself might herein be­come our President, especially since in other things he hath taught our too docil world, as v. g. by the same [Page 3] purity and tenuity of the parts of water, how to make Beverages of sundry sorts. The Aegyptians have their Zythum, the Spaniards their Cerea, the Turks their Coffee, and we our Ale and Beer; all extracted by water, the fittest Menstruum for receiving the Faculties of all Me­dicaments and nourishment, espe­cially the second qualities of mixt Bodies, and for this reason was it called Panspermia. That simple wa­ter is cold, is without question, for being heated accidentally, it soon returns to its natural coldness, the cause of heat being removed; but whether it be colder than Air is much to be doubted. I shall not now undertake the determining, whether Air be bred of water ori­ginally, or whether it be not a di­stinct substance of it self, and re­ceives only watery vapours, and after mature condensation in the [Page 4] middle Region, exonerates it self by Rain, Hail, Snow, &c. Only thus much I dare affirm, that the Sun beams are of much more force to elevate substances from the Earth, than most imagin, and consequent­ly, those that hold the materiality of the Air to be from water, are not in opinion altogether paradoxi­cal, but verisimilitudinary. And to prove this vigorous extraction of the Sun from sublunary Bodies, give me leave to give you an instance of what Athanasius Kircherus (whose company much honour'd me from Marseilles to Rome) most faithfully re­lates, in Magicae Parastaticae, Parastisi I▪ Naturae, thus:

In the midst of Summer, when the Sun boils the Tyrrhene Ocean with most fervent rays, then is it [Page 5] that wanton Nature entertains the wondering Eyes of the Inhabi­tants of Rhegium, (a Town in Ca­labria, most ancient, and no less famous, for having been the Seat of many Philosophers) with a pro­digious Spectacle in the Air. There may you (whether with more de­light or wonder is not soon deter­mined) behold a spatious Theatre in the vaporous Air, adorned with great variety of Scenes and Ca­toptrick Representations, the I­mages of Castles, Palaces, and other Buildings of excellent Ar­chitecture, with sundry ranges of Pillars, presented according to the Rules of Perspective. This Scene withdrawn upon the Sayling by of the Cloud, there succeeds ano­ther, wherein by way of excel­lent Landskip were exhibited spa­tious Woods, Groves of Cypress, Orchards with variety of Trees, [Page 6] but those artificially planted in uniform rows, like a perfect Pha­lanx, large Meadows with com­panies of Men, and herds o [...] Beasts walking, feeding, and cou­ching upon them: And all these with so great variety of respon­dent colours, so admirable a com­mixture of light and darkness and all their motions and gesture [...] so counterfeited to the life, tha [...] to draw a Landskip of equal perfection seems to humane Natur [...] altogether impossible.

Now to our purpose: This parastatical Phantasm was not cause [...] in the Cloud from any reflected appearance of any such things, eithe [...] on the shore or adjacent fields, because no such thing was there which indeed increased the ardou [...] of curiosity in renowned Kircher t [...] cross over from Messina to Rhegiu [...] at the usual time of the apparition [Page 7] where he detected the Causes of the whole Phaenomenon; observing first, the Shores subjacent to the Mountain called Tinna, as also the bottom of the Sea, to be covered with shining Sand, being the frag­ments of Selenites, Antimony, and other pellucid concretions devolved from the eminent parts of the Land and contiguous Hills, that are rich­ly fraught with Veins of those Mi­nerals. Then he observed, that these translucid Sands being, toge­ther with Vapours from the Sea and Shore, exhaled into the Air by the intense fervour of the Sun, did coa­less into a Cloud, in all points re­spondent to a perfect polyedrical or multangular Looking-glass, the va­rious superficies of the respondent Granates making a multiplication of the Species; and that these, be­ing opacated behind by gross and impervious Vapours, directly facing [Page 8] the Mountains, did make reflection of the various Images of Objects, respective to their various positions, to the eye. The several rows of Pillars in the Aerial Scene are caused by one single Pillar erected on the Shore, for being by a manifold re­flection from the various superficies of the tralucent particles, opacated on the hinder part by dense vapours in the speculary Meteor, it is mul­tiplied even to infinity; no other­wise, than if one single Image, po­sited betwixt two polyedrical Loo­king-glasses confrontingly disposed, is so often repercussed or reflected from superficie to superficie, that it exhibiteth to the eye almost an in­finite multitude of Images exactly consimilar. Thus also doth one Man standing on the Shore become a whole Army in the Cloud, one Beast a whole Herd, and one Tree à thick set Grove▪ Some perhaps [Page 9] may judge this assertion, of the ele­vation of those shining Grains of Vitreous Minerals into the Air by the meer attraction of the Sun, and the coalition of them there with the Cloud of Vapours, to be too large a morsel to be swallowed by any throat, but that cormorant one of credulity. If so, all we require of them is only to consider, that Hairs, Straws, grains of Sand, fragments of Wool, and such like festucous Bodies, are frequently found immu­red in Hailstones, which surely are sufficient arguments, that those things were first elevated by the Beams of the Sun, recoiling from the Earth into the middle Region of the Air, and then coagulated with the Vapours, condensed into a Cloud, and frozen in its descent. The truth hereof is evicted by the conspiring testimonies of many o­ther Authors, whose Pens are not [Page 10] dipt in the fading Ink of an unjusti­fiable Tradition, nor their Minds deluded with the affectation of fa­bulous wonders. Now to reassume the debate, I shall only give my judgment of the temperature of the Air, as to heat or cold, and that it is of its own nature cold is most ma­nifest, (though Aristotle concluded the contrary, from its efficient cause which rarified it.) The Stoicks were also of this opinion, because they made the matter of Air to be water; and this is also confirmed by its re­turn to coldness (as formerly was said of water) in case it be acciden­tally heated; and we know that under the Zona torrida, so long as the Sun is within their Horizon and strikes the Air with its perpendicu­lar Beams, 'tis exceeding hot, but after Sun-set the Air reassumes its natural coldness 'till Sun-rise again, nay though Aristotle thought it [Page 11] uninhabitable because of the extre­mity of heat, yet being the days and nights are there of the same length, Josephus Acosta concludes that the only Paradise upon Earth is under or near the Aequinoctial; nei­ther can there any other reason be given why the Mountains which reach the middle Region of the Air are continually cold, and mostly covered with Snow, but because they wanting the reflection of the Sun-beams, the Air doth then enjoy its natural qualification. As for that whimsey of an Antiperistasis in the middle Region from the Element of Fire above, and the reflection of the Beams beneath, it's an equal phan­tasm with the Man in the Moon, who would have hot sitting if Ele­mentary Fire were immediately un­der him. But this opinion is explo­ded, and if such Fire were, it would rather heat than cool the [Page 12] Air. Is not the Air most cold near the Poles, where the long absence of the Sun, and its oblique Beams when present, give way to its na­tural coldness? Nay 'tis very pro­bable that it is colder than water, since we see by a condensative fa­culty it congeals water into Ice, Snow, Hail, &c. which certainly is from the Air, being that under­ground, where the water is not free­ly ventilated with Air, there's no congelation; neither do I think other but the great coldness that's in Ice and Snow, depends meerly upon the mixture of Air, which being per minima interwoven with Salnitrous particles, is heightened to such a degree of coldness as makes it vigorous for producing a conge­lative effect. That water is most moist is the opinion of Galen, and very probably true, notwithstan­ding Aristotle's reason to the con­trary, [Page 13] concluding Air to be most moist, because it's hardly contained within its bounds, which indeed is by reason of its tenuity and in­contiguity of parts, being that dry exhalations extend themselves as well as moist vapours, and as den­sity compacts, so rarity causeth ex­tension. I shall need say no more of the qualities which simple water ought to have, being such as are every where obvious in Authors, and the senses will discover either by taste, colour, smell or touch, or else the effects will make manifest.

CHAP. II. Of the Original of simple Waters and Springs in general.

GReat controversies have been betwixt the Stoicks and Peripa­teticks, and are yet amongst the Moderns, concerning the original of true Springs, which are no o­ther than those of mixt waters. All difficulties and arguments touching this grand Debate are reducible into three heads; for either our perpe­tual and lasting Springs, called Fon­tes perennes, proceed from vapours congealed by cold in the second Re­gion of the Air, and so fall down upon the Earth in Rain, Snow, or Hail; or they are ingendred in the bowels of the Earth; or they are [Page 15] percolated through sandy subterra­neal channels from the Sea. For the first, it may be granted that divers Springs and Rivers receive supply of waters from the Rain, as we see our Rivers do; the Rhine and Danubius swell upon the dissolution of Snow, and in much drought our Springs fail us, but those are such as materially depend upon the fall of Rain or Snow, and these sur­ceasing the Springs also become dry, they being principally ordained by Nature for fertilizing and irrigating the Earth in its production of Her­bage, Fruit, &c. for the benefit of Mankind; but such are only Land-springs, and in no sort to be called perpetual Springs, which notwith­standing the want of Rain or Snow for a long time are still the same, and though great Rivers may almost be dried up, by a long and lasting dis­continuance of wet, by the driness [Page 16] of the superficies of the Earth im­bibing it in its passage, for the satis­faction of its drought, being ele­mentum siccissimum, yet the heads of those Rivers flow plentifully at the same time; so that another causality must be found out than Aerial sup­plies; and supposing there were (which some wittily contend for) certain commissures, chinks, and hollow veins in the Earth, to re­ceive much Rain that falls, yet what sinks into those clefts and ca­verns bears no proportion at all with that plenty which hurries headlong into Rivers, and thence conveyed into the Sea, and consequently ve­ry improbably proposed to be in a manner the adaequate causation of lasting Springs, there being also subterrraneal generations, which for their production require also a con­tinued supply of water. The second opinion seems much less plausible [Page 17] than this, for if the cause be ingen­dred in the bowels of the Earth, then it either proceeds from Earth it self changed into water, as Seneca, which being a thing against all rea­son and experience, and back'd by no other authority than his own, needs no other confutation than pre­termission; or which is more pro­bable, these Springs are made of Air pent up in the caverns of the Earth, and by the coldness thereof condensed into water; this like­wise, by Master Aristotle's good leave, who here philosophiseth after his manner abstrusely and metaphori­cally, exceedeth all rational belief; for how is it imaginable, that there are so vast and so many empty spaces in the Earth as to contain so much Air for the making such a quantity of water, and that in a moment, as springs daily out of the Earth; nay how can so much Air be al­lowed, [Page 18] as to furnish such aboun­dance of water, without exhausting the whole stock, and consequently make a Vacuum, not only dissemina­tum, which according to some is [...] and natural, but also co­acervatum and [...], to wit, such as is totally repugnant to the fundamental Constitutions of Na­ture; this I say cannot be granted, especially being that very many parts of Air serve for the making of one part of water containable in the same place, as Dr. French hath well observed; neither can any such transmutation of Elements be gran­ted, for though according to Hel­mont water is convertible into va­pours, and the same vapours into water again, yet are these vapours nothing else but rarified water ma­terially, and Air will yield no more water that it contains vapours; but Air taking it purely of it self, qua­tenus [Page 19] Air, is meerly Aetherial, with­out any mixture at all, or the least atoms of vapour, such as is only above the Atmosphere, and wholly unfit for respiration, or a pabulum, for sustaining the flame of Life, which necessarily must have a Niter therein for that intent. The third opinion is most ancient and most true, being also a divine Epiphonema of Ecclesiastes, Omnia flumina intrant in mare, & mare non redundat, ad locum unde exeunt flumina revertuntur ut iterum fluant. All Rivers, saith Solomon, run into the Sea, and yet the Sea overflows not, into the place from whence the Rivers come, thither they return again. Some one Man, desirous to prove all Springs to be from Rain and Snow, puts a strange gloss upon this evident place of Scripture pro­ving all Springs to have their origi­nal from the Sea, and he tells us, [Page 20] that the question is not about Rivers but Springs, and therefore Solomon's asserting the Rivers to come from the Sea, makes out nothing for that of Springs; Quasi verò; as if Rivers were not from Springs, and if Ri­vers, then by necessary consequence Springs also are from the Sea. The same Assertor tells us also, that So­lomon speaks of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea in great Ri­vers, into which the Tide runs, they being near the Sea, which truely is but too great a stress put upon the Text; first, because he tells us, that all Rivers, as well such as admit of Ebbings and Flowings of the Sea as those where no such thing is, come from the Sea; and second­ly, it cannot be imagined that the whole bulk of water, which is running continually into the Sea, comes up again with the Tide, since the fresh is many Miles distant from [Page 21] the Tide, and no more of the River comes back again by tiding than what the Sea forc'd up at the time of its tiding, which shortly after at ebbing is again by the current of the River hurried back from whence it came. How then is it possible that the wisest of Men should positively affirm all Rivers to come from the Sea, since 'tis evident that the whole River can in no sense be called the Tide, no more than the Tide can be called the whole River? Sure­ly such as venture thus to paraphrase upon so plain Texts, must either conclude the Writers of the Holy Writ endowed only with natural ratiocination and not inspiration, or which is as bad, they must admit in Divinity what's now in Physick, a legality or promiscuous toleration as to Scriptures interpretation. But of this no more. Let us proceed now in proving the Seas sole suffi­ciency [Page 22] of affording so great and lasting a supply of water for feeding of Springs. This Assertion certainly is of a most indubitable truth▪ being we see in almost innumerable places waters bursting out of the Earth, not after the manner o [...] boiling Fountains, but like vast impetuous Rivers, which in no pro­bability can be granted to arise either from the condensation of Air or Rain and Snow falling, or any such like imaginary causation. Bu [...] to make good the truth of this Hypothesis, by evidencing the manne [...] how the Springs are at such distan­ces deduceable from the Sea, even to the tops of highest Hills; Hi [...] labor hoc opus est. I imagin the only difficulty herein consists (as I have said) in this, that the adverse party cannot conceive (granting the Sea to be lower than the tops of Moun­tains) how it should, contrary to its [Page 23] natural propension, be elevated to such a height. For the better sol­ving of which doubt, I will first tell you, that not only Tully and Aristotle, but many solid Divines, hold that the Sea is as high if not higher than the highest Mountains, otherwise the Sea and Land make not up one global figure, and if so, the motion of the Sea to the tops of Hills is natural, and not at all beyond its level; but I go not about to defend this opinion. Granting therefore the Sea to be lower, I then argue thus, that 'tis not un­known to any that this Terrestrial Body, especially the bottom of the Sea, hath innumerable meatuses, and is perforated with sundry vora­ginous inlets and patent mouths, in­to which and through which, as so many hydragogical channels, water may freely pass, otherwise why do winds proceed more apparently, [Page 24] and after a more violent manner from the Sea than from the Land they being caused by the eruption of exhalations from those fissures in the bottom of the Sea: which be­ing granted, 'tis no hard matter to allow the afflux and reflux of the Sea pressing the other water with their exceeding great weight, to exalt the same through those subter­raneal channels even to the tops of highest Mountains; for the water being thus pressed with the adven­titious access of water, either drawn thither by the Moon, or caused as some think by the Earths motion, must needs force it self downward spontaneously; and finding those patent passages, is (as I may well say) thrust into those hydrophalacia of the highest Mountains, where seeking out an exit, being thus bur­dened with weight, bursts forth into Springs and Rivers. If it should [Page 25] be objected, that the flux of the Sea and Tides are spent in their course into Rivers; I answer, that these subterranean caverns will be first ser­ved, as being more immediately under the weight, and what is to spare only runs into Rivers, it be­ing natural to all heavy bodies, even having no force put upon them, to descend perpendicularly, rather than in an oblique line. Others may say, that if the flux of the Sea, or weight of accumulated waters, should cause Springs, then would our Springs cease running when the Tide or flux of waters is out from our parts, and so the like of other parts of the world; to which I re­ply, that the Sea ebbs and flows every twelve hours over the face of the world where ever any such reci­procation is, and therefore little or no time is left for such a surcease of weight, as to alter the current of [Page 26] Springs, and not only those that have the same Meridian as London and Dunbar, though some Degrees different in Latitude, have every twelve hours full Sea at the same time, but also such as have a diffe­rent Meridian, and not the same in Longitude, have notwithstanding the same returns as to space of time, though not at the same time. If any Seas be without these Tides, as the Baltick Sea is said to be, its be­ing so near the Northern Pole, and some part thereof within the Artick Circle, where the Air is thick and gross, may supply the want of Tides as to Springs. Which that I may make good, and thereby answer all other imaginable doubts and objecti­ons against this assertion, I shall take occasion of producing a second reason perswading to this original, viz. the mighty Tempests and tur­binious Winds, the descent of Va­pours, [Page 27] and chiefly the incumbency of the Air it self, by all which the water is both pressed and expressed; and for further manifestation hereof, give me leave to illustrate as a most convincing argument, the great weight of Air upon this terraqueous Globe, which is apparently made out by Torricellius his Experiment in a Vessel of Quicksilver, instanced by that truely Noble and Illustrious Gentleman Mr. Boyle, thus: Ha­ving prepared a Glass Tube, and stopped up one of its extremities with a Seal hermetical, fill it with Quicksilver, and stop the other extream with your middle finger, then having inverted the Tube, immerge the extream stopt by your finger into a Vessel filled with Quicksilver, not withdrawing your finger until the end of the Tube be at least three or four Inches deep in the subjacent Quicksilver, [Page 28] for so you prevent all insinuation of Air. This done, and the Tube fixed in a perpendicular position, upon the subduction of your finger from the lower orifice, you may observe almost half the Quicksil­ver contained in the Tube to de­scend speedily into the restagnant or subjacent Quicksilver, leaving almost half of the superiour part of the Tube, according to all ap­pearance, at least void and empty. Now place this Vessel thus fitted upon the top of an high Hill, for example, where the Air is less weighty and incumbent than at the bottom of the Hill, and you shall perceive the Quicksilver in the Tube to descend, and that in the Vessel made higher; whereas if you remove the Vessel to the bottom of the Hill, where the Air is grosser and more incumbent, that Quicksilver in the Tube will [Page 29] ascend, and the other in the Vessel descend; so that the variety of places where the Air is various, makes a variety of motion higher or lower in the Quicksilver, which cannot be from any other cause than the different gravity of Air in different places; for the Air of its own nature is heavy, and can be said to be light only comparitively, or as it is less ponderous than Wa­ter or Earth, nor can there be given any more manifest reasons for the Airs tendency upward from the convexity of the Earth than this, that being in some de­gree ponderous in all its particles, these descend from the upper Re­gion of the Atmosphere, and bear upon and mutually compel each other until they beat upon the sur­face of the Earth, and are by rea­son of the solidity thereof reper­cussed up again to some distance, [Page 30] so that the motion of the Air up­ward is properly a resilition not natural but violent.Now whe­ther this gravity be congenial and inherent in the Air, or whether it be caused by a conformity to the magnetick attraction of the Earth, matters not at all as to our present purpose, being we have a depres­sion amongst the particles of the Air, in their tendency from the At­mosphere down to the surface of our Globe, and the diameter of the Sphere of Air being much larger than that of the terraqueous Globe, we have thereupon from the convex to the concave thereof a compres­sing weight upon the surface of wa­ters equivalent to that upon the re­stagnant Liquor in the foresaid Ves­sel. I shall further urge some Ar­guments de facto, and tell you, that Pliny writes of a Spring which pun­ctually observes the Seas motion in [Page 31] its ebbing and flowing. Antonius Vasconzello, a Father of the Society, in his Description of Portugal, men­tions a strange and remarkable Lake on the top of the Mountain Ermi­nius, whose nature is, saith he, ut aestuante oceano & ipse pariter aestuans sit lacus, that is, punctually to ob­serve the Seas reciprocation, even as to its raging more or less with fourges; luculentum sanè (saith Kir­cher) occulti cum oceano per hydragogos canales corresponsus signum, an evident sign of the subterraneal correspon­dence this Lake hath with the O­cean through hydragogical convey­ances and caverns. And learned Kircher also assures us hereof when he saith, Aliqui fontes fluxum & re­fluxum maris aemulantur, and in par­ticular, relates a lepid story of a Fountain, or rather a River in West­phalia, in a sabulous Plain, breaking out with the Tides twice every na­tural [Page 32] day, with such a violent force and noise (whence 'tis called Boller­brum) that it overflows all the cir­cumference of that Valley, and de­creasing after the same manner as it increased, at last hides it self totally in its head. Bishop Theodorus (saith he) in media hujus superficie mensam opiparè lautéque construxit, &c. made a most magnificent Banquet in the middle of this Valley, and thither invited and brought with him di­vers Ladies, when on the sudden the River bursting forth, whilst they caressed Nature and made merry, did so wet them, even more than mid-way up, that they were forced to wade out, when as those that were conscious to the design, with­drew themselves by time, and suf­ficiently derided the poor Females infortunity. Interdum seria ludis, & è contra. And thus much, as far as we poor haggard Mortals can [Page 33] reach by the Light of Nature, being Moles rather than Men ever since our first Fall, whose weak and nar­row Opticks lead us only to the in­spection of the exteriour and ob­vious parts of Nature, not perspi­cacious enough to penetrate her in­teriour and abstruse excellencies; nor can we speculate, faith Doctor Charleton, her glorious beauty in the direct and incident Line of Es­sences and formal Causes, but in that reflected and refracted one of Ef­fects, nor that neither, without so much of obscurity as leaves an incer­titude in our apprehensions, and re­strains our ambition of an Apodi­ctical Science, to the darksom Re­gion of meerly conjectural Specu­lation. If therefore I have erected any verisimilous conjecture concer­ning the causation of Springs, and their derivation from their proper Originals, and given but any pro­bable [Page 34] Solution of that abstruse Phae­nomenon, I hope others as well as my self will rest contented.

CHAP. III. Of the true Essence and consti­tuent Principles of Vitriol.

GReat, pregnant, and teeming Constitutions, and such as are constellated unto knowledge, think they come short of themselves, if they outgo not others; and indeed they may well think they do no­thing, 'till they outdo all. But my Minerva bids me say, Nos numeri sumus, and I shall think I have done well, if in the disquisition of the true nature of Vitriol, I hold the stirrop to Pyrotechnical Philosophy, and so urge nothing, but what Au­toptical [Page 35] experience, reason and au­thority, shall illustrate. First then, I define▪ Vitriol to be a Mineral Body, generated in the Bowels of the Earth from a sulphureous Spirit, Water, and the Mineral either of Iron or Copper, or both; and that these are the material Ingredients of its composition appears from hence, because its acidity and caustical acri­mony it necessarily hath from the Spirit of Sulphur, its clarity and fluidity from Water, and its colour and metalline taste either from the Mineral of Copper or Iron; and of these three, viz. Spirit of Sul­phur, Water, and an Ironish or Copper Glebe, is Vitriol composed, which is also called Atramentum Sutorium, and by the Greeks [...]. Some notwithstanding will have it composed of Allum and Sulphur, because, say they, take a Vitrioline Loam or Clay, and dilute it with [Page 36] water, and upon standing in a cold Cellar you may gather thence an alluminous Efflorescence; to which I yield so far, as that there may be a mixture of Allum with Vitriol, in regard of their affinity, but it follows not thereupon, that Allum makes up its composition of parts; for though as all other Minerals have their acidity from Spirit of Sulphur, and are both under that general notion of Salt and Concrete Juyces, yet cannot they, Vitriol especially, be called purely and pro­perly Salts, but make up specifick differences of such Salts. Others deny Sulphur to be an ingredient, because in the calcination of Vitriol there's no smell of Sulphur, as is when Antimony, Orpin, or Mar­casites, are calcin'd, though these be far more compact solid Bodies; but the reason of this is, because it par­takes only of the Spirit and more [Page 37] subtil parts of Sulphur, the others of the grosser substance. Now to shew you how Vitriol becomes a specifick Salt, I must first premise this general Hypothesis, that there is a common Salt of Nature, and Water, which diffuse themselves throughout all the particles of this Geocosm, and being considered in themselves, are indifferent Subjects for the reception of various forms, accordingly as they meet with di­versity of Glebes in the bowels of the Earth; therefore when Water impregnated with Spirit of Sul­phur, or a Vapour from that accen­sed Body of Sulphur, passeth tho­rough a salsuginous Glebe, already endowed with the common Salt of Nature, it produceth Salt, when thorough nitrous Veins Niter, when thorough alluminous Allum, when thorough a Copperas white Vitriol, when thorough a Silver Mine blew [Page 38] Vitriol, and lastly when thorough an Ironish Glebe it shares of some particles of Iron (more or less ac­cording to the proportion of the Waters acidity and the fertility of the Vein) and produceth green Vi­triol. So that if Water be thus tinged with this acid Spirit, it be­comes the true and proper Men­struum for the dissolving of all sorts of Glebes whatsoever, and this Liquor thus replenish'd, v. g. with the raments of Iron, is condensed into this Vitriol which now I speak of. And that I may further declare some genuine Effects of this Vitriol, I say that 'tis caustical, and eateth into and corrupts all sorts of Me­tals, excepting Lead, which it can­not penetrate by reason of its Mer­curial parts, which resisteth and represseth its activity. But to ana­lize it more intrinsically, this Vi­triol consisting of the aforesaid three [Page 39] sustances yieldeth spagyrically seven several Medicaments; first, there is extracted from it per Balneum vapo­rosum Water, which is called Ros Vitrioli, because of its Aerial light­ness, and partakes least of all of the Spirit of Sulphur; this corroborates the Bowels, mitigates the inflam­mation of the Blood, and streng­thens the Brain with its heat and siccity. Secondly, there's another Water drawn per arenam, and this partakes more of the Spirit of Sul­phur, and is called the second Wa­ter of Vitriol; it purgeth the Reins, opens obstructions in the passage of Urine, and helpeth all internal cor­rosions, if taken in Veal Broath fasting. Thirdly, there's extracted another substance of Vitriol, which is the most subtil portion of Sulphur, and called the Spirit of Vitriol, a most admirable Prophylacticon or pre­servative against all sorts of Di­seases, [Page 40] for whatever it finds in the Body putredinous, poysonous, or ap­parently disposed to any capital Di­sease, it presently incides, attenuates, and wastes, it purifies the Blood from all fuliginous damps, prevents the Stone, purgeth the Reins and Bladder, consuming all mucilaginous and tartarous viscosity whatever. Fourthly, being tortur'd with a fur­ther degree of Fire it gives a certain Oyl, not so safe to be taken inward­ly, though some, by reason that it's a Narcotick, use it in Maniacal Di­stempers; but outwardly it is used for curing Imposthumes. Fifthly, a certain Vitriol is brought over the Helm, which Chymists call Purificatum or Sal Vitrioli, being on­ly the remaining Dregs from the acid Spirit, representing a purplish thin Earth, and good externally used as aforesaid; this is not Sal Vitrioli Vomitivi so much used at [Page 41] present, being a repeated Solution of white Vitriol, with frequent filtrations. Sixthly, all the Spirits being drawn off, there remains a certain Aerial substance, being a most subtil dust of Vitriol, which may be called Ferrum or Aes Vitrioli, being it may be reduced into either of them; this cleanseth rotten Sores, and is an Incarnative. And seventhly and lastly, all Distillation ended, there remains in the bottom of the Retort or Reverberatory a Caput mortuum or Colcotar, or Terra Vitrioli, and inservient for mixing with cicatrizing Plaisters.

Thus have I, to my weak ability, analyzed the whole Body of Vitriol; In quod quid resolvi potest, ex illo ne­cessario debet constare. But before I advance further in my journy home­ward, I will instance only in one process of making artificial Vitriol, for the better clearing and under­standing [Page 42] the nativity of natural Vitriol, which Dr. Browne, as an Eye-witness, saith in Hungary to be thus: There is (saith he) a Vitriol Mine nigh the Golden Mine, the Earth or Ore whereof is reddish, and sometimes greenish, infuse this Earth in water three days, then poure off the water, and boil it seven days in a leaden Ves­sel, 'till it comes to a thick gra­nulated whitish or greenish sub­stance, according as the Ore is either of Brass or Iron, and this is then pure Vitriol, and being reduced to a Calx in an Oven ser­veth to make Aqua fortis. But there is besides the Ore or Glebe of Vitriol, a natural crystallized Vi­triol in a Mine in Paradise-Hill in Hungary, and the same Doctor was conducted by a Mine-man at Schem­nitz under ground, 'till he came where he shewed him great quan­tities [Page 43] of natural Vitriol, it shooting upon the stones and earth, upon the floor and sides of the passages, as it doth by Art in the pans and about the sticks, not hanging from the top, as ordinarily it doth, like Isicles. The Principles and Nati­vity of Vitriol being thus cleared, I shall now only evidence the great affinity betwixt Iron and Copper, and consequently betwixt the Vi­triols of them both, and if you please of their Effects also, and this not only as much conduceable to my present purpose, as for the oppug­ning that receiv'd Opinion of Phi­losophy, which admits no transmu­tation of Metal. This aforesaid lear­ned Traveller writes of two Vitriol waters in the Copper Mine of Heron­grundt, which turns Iron into Cop­per; these Springs lye very deep in the Mine, and the most useless old Iron is hereby turned into the purest [Page 44] Copper; the Iron being left therein about fourteen days is rendred more ductil, malleable, and easily melted Copper than any other. The mi­raculous, because universally lear­ned Kircher, and other sound Natu­ralists, will not have this to be a transmutation of one Metal into another, and their reason is, because this water saturated with a Vitriolum Veneris, and meeting with such a Body, so ready to receive it as Mars, it deposeth Venus, who immediate­ly insinuates her self so far into Mars, that she doth dividere and imperare, and at last substitutes her own Body, and precipitates that of Mars. But Dr. Browne averreth, that though in the changing of Iron into Copper in these Springs, many parts are precipitated and lye at the bottom in powder, yet these parts, saith he, are not Iron but Copper, for that he took of this powder out [Page 45] of the Spring and melted it into excellent Copper, so that if the Iron be not totally changed into Copper, God knows what becomes on it. If this be so, (and we have no reason to think the contrary) why Art, in the imitation of Na­ture, may not make the same trans­mutation I know not, and then welcome to Town the Philosophers Stone. I am sure I saw in the Grand Duke of Florence his Gallery of Rarities, a Horse-shooe, half Gold half Iron, that part which is now Gold having been formerly Iron, as the universally received tradition of that place asserteth. But this is not all, for the same Doctor saith, he drank out of an handsom Cup made out of this sort of Copper, which formerly was Iron, and gilt all over, and had a piece of Silver Ore fasten­ed in the middle of it, with this In­scription graved on the outside.

I would willingly beg pardon, and expatiate a little further into this large field of Physiology, and say something of the Seeds of Petri­faction, or lapidifical Principle, which converts all Materials it meets withall into a stony concrete; but I shall only hint at some one president, with the definition of the thing it self; whereby you may be more confirmed in that opinion of a corporeal transmutation of of Substances. Succus lapidificus (saith Kircher) nil aliud est quam humor in­sensibilium corpusculorum ex lapidosis veris nitrosis salinisque locis abraso­rum misturá constitutus elaboratusque; [Page 47] and these corpuscula being perfectly mixed together and united, make up this Succus lapidificus, or humour, and being they have a natural ten­dency of reduction to their own for­mer state and condition, hence is it, that through their spirituous Subtil­ty they penetrate the most abstruse and most minute fibrous particles of whatever convertible Body they meet withall, and by their acrimo­nious acidity consume, and as it were eat up their softer parts prin­cipally, and in their place substitute themselves, by means whereof they imbody themselves into a stony con­cretion. This definition thus evi­denced, is made good by a Mani­festo from the forenamed Doctor: For (saith he) the hot Bath of Ei­senbach petrefieth, so as those Trees with which they built the sides of the Bath, next above the wa­ter, are entirely turned into Stone, [Page 48] and it's not unpleasant to observe, how Nature doth here assist Art, and out of the Body of a Fir frames a most stately Column of of Stone. I will end this Chapter with a remarkable piece of Dif­course this Doctor had at Buda, the digression I hope is pardonable. One Mortizan Ephendi, (a Turkish Person of Note, and who had been Envoy Extraordinary with our Emperour at Vienna) treated this Doctor very kindly, and amongst other discour­ses asked him what was the King of Poland's Name, and after he had told him his Name was Michael Wis­nowitski, his Reply was, What? Mi­chael, that's a good Name, that's the Name of the greatest Saint in Heaven, excepting Mary. An Expression I must confess no less admirable in a Turk, than commendable in a Chri­stian.

CHAP. IV. Of our Vitrioline Spaw at Durham.

I Confess I have even shipwrackt your patience, and kept you out too long at Sea. If I have been your faithful Pilot, so far as to land you at the safe harbour of the know­ledge of Truth, I have much more than I can deserve, and as much indeed as I can desire; especially since our Voyage hath been full of difficulties, which have cast us upon those inevitable Rocks of in­certitude and obscurity; but how­ever, though I have been through those Foggs and Mists of various Opinions so benighted, that I dare not be magisterial in any of my [Page 50] Physiological Disquisitions, yet I can boldly take the confidence to wel­come you to Durham, where you shall find the entertainment of a most delightful Field, raised and heightened almost round from its adjacent continents, ventilated with a most sweet and open Air, accom­modated naturally with convenient Walks, and neighboured with an useful Wood. Out of the midst hereof riseth this our wholesom and plentiful Spring, which as it en­richeth our Inhabitants with an ine­stimable Treasure of Health, so will it compensate the pains of Foreigners in order to the same. And that I may the better evidence the truth hereof, and come directly to the prosecution of our main Design, I will draw a Map or Scheme of the Heads of our intended Enquiries, that so we may prepare the Minds of our Readers to accompany us [Page 51] more smoothly and easily to a right understanding of what we intend to prove. First then, let me de­mand, what is wanting in this our Vitrioline Spaw to make up the true Body of Vitriol, and compleat its definition expresly laid down in the foregoing Chapter? That it hath Water in a most plentiful current is evident, that it hath also a Spirit of Sulphur is apparent from the acid taste thereof, for nothing can make this taste in Minerals but Spirit of Sulphur, as the renowned Kircher expresly manifesteth in these words, Basis unica & absoluta origo omnium aciditatum Mineralium est à Spiritu Sulphuris acido; neither need we much doubt of Sulphur and its va­porous Spirit where we have so much Coal. The only doubt then will be, whether this our Water thus impregnated with acidity hath in it a Mineral Glebe of Iron or not? [Page 52] And that this may clearly appear, I first call in the Senses of Smelling and Tasting to attest, it having both a Vitrioline or Ironish taste and odour. Secondly, let our own Ex­periments witness the same, for ha­ving distilled it, both after the manner expressed in the former Chapter and by Retort ex arena, from a Pottle thereof there remained in the bottom a rusty Iron-like pow­der, in quantity about ten grains, which in taste had a piercing sharp Vitrioline pungency, somewhat harsh. After distillation I tryed it by coction, 'till a third part was consumed, the remainder I let settle for three days, that the contentum might be the better separated, and the sediment was the very same as formerly. Indeed by evaporation I had much less sediment remaining, which makes me more than pro­bably conjecture, that it is impreg­nated, [Page 53] not so much with the cor­poreal substance as with the spiritual and subtil particles of the said Vi­triol; for the Water being acuated with a sulphureous acidity, and passing swiftly through some hun­gry Vein of Iron, corrodes lightly its more tenuous and Aerial parts, resolving them so, as the Water imbibes in a manner only the vola­tile Atoms, with which it becomes thus saturated; I say volatile, be­cause though distilled in a Glass Still and luted hermetically, yet are the Spirits sooner sublimed than the Water, and take wing so swiftly, that before any Water come over they are unbodied and evaporated, no odour nor taste at all remaining in the Water, neither will it then become any otherwise tinged with Gall than common Spring-water, though before distillation, with the mixture of two or three grains of [Page 54] the powder of Galls, an ordinary Glass full becomes as purpureously red as our genuine and best coloured Claret. And hereupon I now come to my third Argument, desumed from the tincture it hath from the powder of Galls, and truly this is a work easily performed upon one legg, notwithstanding a Gyant­objection, or rather Assertion, of a learned, industrious, and Pyrotech­nical Physitian, to the contrary. I remember the Hyperaspistes of Scar­borough-Spaw is highly charged with a Non sequitur, in saying, a small quantity of Gall being put into the Spaw-water doth turn into a dark coloured Claret, Ergò, there is Vi­triol in it. I hope I have no great guilt in intermedling with others Affairs, having, God knows, but but too much to mind at home, but when Justice, Truth, and my own present Concern command, I must [Page 55] though with reluctancy affirm, that his Ergò stands good, and if the un­burnt Allum-stone Experiment be the same with that his Antagonist relates of Coal, they neither will hold water, I mean tinctur'd water. For having followed his own di­rections, I took a pretty quantity of Coal, powder'd it, added Spring­water, sharpened with Spirit of Sulphur for its dissolution, filter'd it 'till 'twas clear, then put pow­der of Gall thereto, and what thence was the result? truely the adding of the Gall added no more change as to colour, than what was be­fore the Gall was added, that is, the water both before and after had a dark dusky colour, such as is the natural tincture of all Coal, and that was all. Let not my good Friend say, (which was his Answer to the Scarborough-Buckler) that I made only an infusion, and no dis­solution, [Page 56] for I sharpened the water to divers degrees for its more intim penetration and dissolution. I am confident this conscientious good Man grounded this position upon some imaginary probability, no au­toptical attestation, but I shall ex­cuse him better presently. I have made no tryal of the tincture from unburt Allum-stone, but I dare aver, that if it tingeth upon the mixture with Gall, 'tis quatenus there's Vi­triol mixed therewith, there being such an analogical agreement 'twixt Allum and Vitriol, both as to sense and sensible operations, that 'tis no hard matter to admit of a combi­nation, they being both under the genus of saline concrete Juyces, and whether so differenced as to make a distinct species of Salt I shall not here endeavour to determin; especially since Kircher affirms from experience, in vitriolo alumen conti­netur, [Page 57] luto enim ejus aqua diluto, alu­men ex eo efflorescit; and if in Vitriol Allum, why not in Allum Vitriol? The same also may be said of Coal (to make good my late promise to my Friend) that, it may be, all Coal is not alike, some without, and some with an intermixture of Vi­triol, disseminated and interspersed amongst its sulphureous Veins, and therefore it may be our good Bro­ther in his Experiment light ca­sually of a Coal thus vitriolated, but then we must not conclude the Coal, but the Vitriol in the Coal, to give the tincture with Gall. And that this my precarious Hypothesis may have some Pillar to lean upon, I must confess I have seen much, and have divers pieces of a Mineral Marchasite or Pyrites, in which, though doubtless there be much Sulphur, as appears by its scintil­lation and odour, the powder there­of [Page 58] being cast into the fire, as also from its unctuosity upon distillation; yet may this be only the embrio­nated Sulphur of Copper or Iron, and the acid water passing through the Coal Mine interspersed there­with, licks up only some corpuscles of the Metalline parts of this Mar­chasite in its passage, as being its desired Alkali, and being impreg­nated herewith, renders it self thus inriched for our use; neither can it be rationally said, that the Sulphur is likewise imbibed, for being an unctuous and inflammable ingre­dient in the compositum, it resists the activity of the acid Vehicle, as is manifest from the very Essence of Sulphur, out of which is made an Oyntment for preserving Cables and such like from corrosion, and makes them live, (speaking meta­phorically,) in the water everla­stingly. But admit this water [Page 59] should participate of the Sulphur, is it therefore to be rejected? 'Pray how many wholsom Preparations of Sulphur are taken inwardly and successfully in Phthysical Disaffecti­ons? But however it be, as to this, here we certainly have a Vitriol yielding a proper tincture upon the access of Gall, which is all I con­tend for. I will yet argue further for this our Vitrioline Spaw. Let any one drink Vitrioline of Iron dissolved in water, and he shall see his Excrements tinctur'd either black or greenish, from the preci­pitation of the Vitriol by the inter­nal Alkali, and the very same effect is produced by drinking of this our Spaw: This cannot be from the Vi­triol of Copper, because this Metal makes white Vitriol, not green as Iron doth, neither will any say we have any Copper Mine, as we have Iron, in these parts. Moreover, [Page 60] write what you please with the So­lution of ferrugineous Vitriol, and after it is dry there shall nothing ap­pear, but besmear what is written with a simple Infusion of Gall, and in a moment the Alkali of the Gall makes the Letters black; and again by any potent acidity, as v. g. Aqua fortis, they are quite deleted; and yet again by any fixt Alkali, they be­come black as before: By which foundation of Cryptography 'tis ap­parent, not only that the acidity of Vitriol tingeth not black, with­out it be imbibed and absumpted with an Alkali, but also that no Alkali tingeth black without a vi­trioline acidity. This my positive Assertion is sufficiently back'd by that inquisitive Chymist and expe­rienced Philosopher Ot. Tachenius, who after much pains taken in this Disquisition concludes thus: Unde liquet (saith he) quod Sal volatile vel [Page 61] Alkali gallarum vel corticum granato­rum vel herbarum vulnerariarum, non tingunt colore▪ nigro, nisi cum ferro in minerali acido soluto. But why is not our Urine tinged black as well as the Excrements? This I say is because the Colcothar is precipita­ted before the Liquor comes into the Miseraicks, so as it necessarily re­mains in the Guts. Cyprus Vitriol indeed, being much from Copper, turns black with Galls, but this is by reason of its intermixture with Iron, for Vitriolum Veneris purely without Mars turns not black with Galls, as that of Mars without Ve­nus will, though they being as Man and Wife joyned together, cannot well be found the one without some mixture of the other. White Vi­triol of Corinth partakes of both, but more of Venus, for which cause, as being also not enriched much with the Acidum naturale, it slowly [Page 62] becomes black with Galls. But Roman Vitriol, which partakes most of Iron, presently tingeth black; so doth artificial Vitriol that is made of the shavings of Steel and Spirit of Vitriol, the Vitriol corrodes and resolves the shavings and becomes sweet; and hence it is indeed, that all chalybiate Medicines are so pow­erful in all cochectical and obstinate Diseases, the Alkali of the Steel im­bibing the acidity and sowreness of the Blood, and consequently dulci­fies the same. And this is the prin­cipal reason our Spaw, being impreg­nated with Vitriol of Iron, pro­duceth such rare effects. If it be demanded, why these ferruginous or vitrioline acid Fountains make not the Tongue and Mouth black, as it doth the Excrements? I an­swer, that this happens, because the acid Spirit, mixed with the water, corroding the immature [Page 63] Vein of Iron, or whilst it is in prin­cipiis solutis, is not as yet saturated, we drinking it whilst it is in the very action of corrosion, and hath not yet time to precipitate in the Tongue, but so soon as this grate­ful acidity is snatched into the Sto­mach, the Colcothar being preci­pitated gives the tincture, the aci­dity being then perfectly coagulated with its Alkali, and whatever mu­cilaginous matter it meets withall in that coagulation, it turns all into its own nature of constriction, as we may see in the nativity and con­cretion of that Herculean Disease the Stone, and this coagulum is that which ordinarily Physitians call Op­pilation or Obstruction, a noted hard word amongst our Water-casters, those pedantick Pretenders to Sci­ence, who if they can but shake an Urinal, and gravely tell you of cru­dities and obstructions, or that the [Page 64] Archeus is inraged, &c. believe them­selves wise enough to rival Solomon, when indeed they are as truely ig­norant of the original of those words as their deluded Patients, who even gape with admiration of their profound Physiology. But to return home from the country, this our water is therefore to be drunk at the Fountain-head, for if it be let stand and settle any long time, the action, and consequently the benefit and virtue ceaseth, the acid Spirit being imbibed and drunk up by the immature Iron or Vitriol thereof, enfeebled and disarmed of its acidity, and together with the resolved Mineral is precipitated into Oker, which lyes at the bottom in a yellowish, not a black colour, as it is seen in all Vitrioline Spaws, it having then no other proper Alkali that it meets withall, as it doth in the Stomach or elsewhere, to cause a [Page 65] blackish precipitation; neither is its acidity so disarmed by the corrosion of the Iron Vein, that it quite lo­seth its resolving and coagulating force, with other Alkalies in the Stomach, &c. for the acidity is yet predominant, and after it hath spent part of its virtue upon the Iron raments, there is yet sufficient re­maining for resolution and coagu­lation elsewhere, accordingly as it shall meet with other Alkalies for that purpose; for if this were not so, we should not have that acidity which sensibly we perceive and taste in this water, and then divites dimittuntur manes. Besides this sul­phureous acidity in the water, there are unspecificated acids in the hu­mours of our Body, which run headlong with a natural propensity to the Vitriol or Esurine Salt of Iron, and therewith coagulated and ejected, together with the obstru­ctive [Page 66] humours, upon a strong irri­tation of Nature to expel her Ironish Enemy, and upon this account it is, that Iron and Steel, or rather their Vitriol, are said to open Ob­structions. I would not have any think, that because Nature riseth in arms against all that's offensive, as Iron is, and endeavours its ex­pulsion, that therefore Purgatives are not convenient, for even then are they most fitting, when the coa­gulation after fermentation is most prevalent; Nature can but do her utmost endeavour, and when that is not sufficient, then the Physitian takes up the Cudgels for her assi­stance. And here, to rectifie the misapprehensions of some, I must beg pardon to tell them, that what Purgatives we administer work not by attraction or election (unless we of that freedom to Druggs which some deny to our selves) but by irri­tation [Page 67] in the primis viis and Bowels, and by fermentation in the Blood and Humours, and this purgative power by irritation depends not of the five Principles, Salt, Sulphur, Water, Earth, and Spirits, disjun­ctim and singly, but of most or all of them conjunctim, though I con­fess the fermentation is almost only from the Salts. I fear I have spoken Aenigmatically and in the dark to somes understanding, in so often repeating the word Alkali, I will therefore briefly explain the Etymo­logy and signification thereof. By Alkali therefore, or Sal Alkali, is meant all such Salts as mortifie whatsoever acidities they meet with­all, not only in the Vegitable, but also in the Animal and Mineral Kingdom; I say, whatsoever im­bibes or sucks up the acid Salts, and consequently sweetens the Blood and Humours, is called by the name [Page 68] of Alkali, whether it be a fixt Salt or volatile, manifest or occult. This Alkali is made of the Herb Kali, brought to us out of Aegypt, being there burnt into ashes, and so trans­ported: Some call it Soda, others Alumen catinum, but properly 'tis called Sal Kali or Alkali. I will now hasten to speak of the Virtues of this our Spaw, which indeed was my main Design proposed in this trifling Treatise.

CHAP. V. Of the Virtues of this Spaw.

I Must confess the subtil and pene­trating Spirit, called by Theo­phrastus his Arcanum, and by Hel­mont primum ens Salium, Spiritus esuriens, by Paracelsus Sal circulatum, which indeed is his Albahest or uni­versal embrionative Solvent; this Spirit I say cannot be extracted out of this water, neither can it scarce be found in its pure spirituality, but as infolded and lock'd up in the arms of some Mineral after coagu­lation, yet by a skilful Artist it may be extracted out of the totum mixtum or entire Body of Vitriol, without being any way corrosive at all. And with this Spirit it is, that our Spaw [Page 70] hath its great affinity, and conse­quently its excellency, penetrating by its tenuity of parts the most se­cret and secluse parts of our Bodies. This being premised, 'twill be ob­vious to every ones capacity, to know and acknowledge the great advantages which are accrued, as well for preventing as curing most stubborn and lasting Diseases. How­ever for the better satisfaction, of the Vulgar principally, I shall briefly say something in general, and not omit in particular what autoptical Observations I have made these two or three last Summers by-past. Ha­ving in the precedent Chapter ex­presly demonstrated the manifold Operations of Vitriol, and conse­quently not a few of this our Spaw, my Province now will be of an easie charge, and therefore I will briefly acquaint you, that the first qua­lities of this water, quatenus water, [Page 71] actually moistens and cools, but as it is befriended with a Mineral mix­ture it heats and drys, so that it becomes hereby effectually preva­lent for the accomplishing of diffe­rent indications, and reducing even contrary Distempers to their natural tone and constitution; Nature her self being more prone to help on, being accompanied with an Assi­stant, her own welfare and restitu­tion to her beloved enjoyments, than to yield to the assaults of a de­structive Enemy.

The second qualities indeed are such as conquer our greatest Anta­gonists, and give a total rout to the most obstinate Diseases; for be­ing most powerfully diuretical, af­ter they have attenuated, cut, resol­ved, and so altered the mucous and tartarous humours of the Body, and prepared them for excretion, they then carry them off by urine, which [Page 72] is the most safe and effectual con­veyance (for all sharp and saline juyces especially) of all other sorts of evacuation whatsoever. This water also thus enriched, ferrets out such latent passages and abstruse retirements of the Bowels and other parts, as other Medicines cannot reach, and after a discovery made, doth not only dispossess what is pre­ternatural of its usurped jurisdiction, but also by a corroborative and re­inforcive power, intitles Nature to her former right of inheritance, so firmly, that scarce any other than an act of old age can cut off the intail. 'Tis an easie thing for Cri­ticks to raise doubts, make obje­ctions, and lavish out there censures against these Encomiums; but that work needs not smell of Oyl that answers them: Some may say, Oh I drunk it so long that it swell'd me all over, whose fault was that? [Page 73] even so may the best Purgative, not finding a Body duely prepared, either naturally or by Art, fall short of its performance, and in stead of relieving, poyson the Body, swell it, and often times break out (an acci­dental good turn) into Scabs, and other sordid impurities of the skin. For preventing of this, and the like inconveniences, I shall give di­rections in the ensuing Chapter. In the interim I will set down such Diseases as it both prevents and cures, as Apoplexy, Epilpsie, Carus, Vertigo, Cephalalgia, and Cephalaea, but this only if they be symptoma­tical and depend upon the disaffe­ctions of the Stomach, Hypochon­ders, Womb, or other Bowels, as most of them do. It is good against Diseases of the Nerves, as Convulsions, Cramps, Scorbutick Palsie, &c. especially if they proceed, as generally they do, from Sal-nitrous vellicating and [Page 74] twitching humours. It specifically respects the Stomach, because there the water partakes both of its gros­ser and more spiritualized particles, dissolves all crudities, the true o­riginal of all obstructions, restores a decayed, and advanceth a present Appetite to meat, and by that means begets much more acquaintance with the Kitchin than the Buttery; it openeth and strengtheneth the Lungs, and consequently is good a­gainst Astma's and difficulty of breathing, provided they be not consumptive that drink it. The like it doth to the Liver, Spleen, Mesen­tery, and Pancraeas, dispersing there­upon all Hypocondriacal Winds and Melancholy Vapours, which are now become our Epidemical Di­sease; as also the Palpitation of the Heart, being ordinarily a result from the aforesaid flatulencies and winds. It helps the Dropsie, Black and Yellow [Page 75] Jaundice, Rickets, and Scurvy, by being briskly operative, purging and purifying the Blood by urine. It cures the Gonorrhea, Diarrhea, Disenteria, and such like Fluxes of the Abdomen. It openeth the suppres­sion of Urin, and carries off the con­junct cause thereof, allays its sharp­ness, and expells such gravel and stones, as either the Ureters or U­retra can discharge; and when any Exuleration happens in the passage of Urine, causing pissing of blood, it consolidates and heals it perfectly. It is exceeding good against most of the Distempers of the Womb, suppressing all overflowings there­of, as well the white as the red, procures the menstruous purgati­ons; and by its tenuity of parts, and penetrating Faculty, cures the Chlorosis or Green-sickness, and con­sequently changeth that chachecti­cal colour in the habit of the body [Page 74] [...] [Page 75] [...] [Page 76] into a florid and rosie complection: It helpeth much the Mother, makes often the barren fruitful, and in di­vers cases may successfully be used by way of insession or injection, for then it acts more immediately upon the parts affected. It is good for such as bleed often, and whoever are troubled with a pricking and itching in the skin, with certain lumps arising thence, it infallibly remedies them by urine and insen­sible transpiration also, in case you exercise whilst you drink it, ad ru­borem only, not ad sudorem, 'till you be prety warm but not sweat; and this I have often experienced. If you drop it into the Eyes, it quells their inflammation and strengthens the sight. Moreover it is peculiarly good for all Wounds, Ulcers, Itch, Sores, and Scabs, being both drank and outwardly applied, in so much as I have known divers inveterate and [Page 77] malign Ulcers in the Legs and else­where cured, nay even the Kings Evil it self much relieved thereby.

Briefly, I know no Distemper in the Body, which depends on ob­structions or acid sharp griping hu­mours, but it much helps it, and which is most praise-worthy it strengthens the parts after the mor­bifick matter is removed. How far and how safely this Water may be used by Children, old Men, and Women with child, I shall refer you to Dr. French and Dr. Wittie's Books of the Spaws, and others Animad­versions thereon. Only I will say briefly, for Children and old Men, that if their temper and constitu­tions be otherwise good, they may safely drink thereof, proportionably to their vigour and strength of na­tural heat; but for Women with child, for some important reasons I would advise them to forbear.

CHAP. VI. Directions concerning the ratio­nal and methodical use of this Spaw.

'TIs a vulgar and unpardonable errour to drink these waters without a due preparation of the Body, therefore let every one, who expects the true benefit thereof, con­sult some honest and able Physitian for their instruction, such an one as can judge aright of the age and constitution of the Patient, the na­ture of the Disease, its motion, and the strength both of the Party and the Medicine. Such an one will surely direct some gentle Vomit, in case the Stomack be fowl, and the Patient hath an inclination and be [Page 79] apt to Vomit; otherwise some Ca­thartick, such at least as may dis­burden the primas vias, and remove such viscous and vitious matter, as may either hinder the waters jour­ney into the parts affected, or that may be carried along therewith in­to the narrower passages and nobler parts, and there produce stronger and more dangerous obstructions, Dropsies, Tensions, Gripings, &c. yet if any Purgation in general may be recommended, I dare prefer the use of chewing Rubarb before any other, or in case this disgust, then those delicious hydragogical Ta­blets, which are to be had at Mr. Dents an Apothecary of Dur­ham, together with the true Dose and manner of using the same. The Body thus prepared, let him drink cheerfully about three half pint glasses at a time, more or less, as his Stomach can bear it, then exer­cise [Page 78] [...] [Page 79] [...] [Page 80] according to strength for a quar­ter of an hour or thereabout, a­voiding all such exercise as may cause them to sweat, for by swea­ting the water may be drawn into the habit of the body, and produce that Dropsie called Anasarca; whilst he walks or rides, &c. he must eat some Orange Chips, Caraway Con­fects, Citron or Limon Pills, or chiefly Elicampane Roots candied, for these comfort the Stomach, pro­mote the waters passage, and make its operation more effectual; when he finds his Stomach somewhat emptied, then three or four more glasses, exercising as formerly, and so on 'till he hath taken his full Dose, which will be when his Sto­mach cannot conveniently receive any more without vomiting, op­pression, and naufeating the same. Next day he may advance to one, two, or three glasses more than he [Page 81] took the first day, and so every day more, 'till he arrive unto a pottle or three quarts, more or less, ac­cording as his Disease requires, and his Stomach can pass it off, and then stand at that quantity 'till he thinks of giving it over, and then, as he encreased daily at the begin­ning, so must he decrease and lessen his Dose, 'till he come to the same quantity he began withall. The time of continuing its drinking must be proportion'd to the nature of the Disease, for some two weeks, some three, others a month or more, may be necessary; during all which time, 'twill be requisite to take something to keep your Body so­luble. If any one, by reason of his weakness, can neither exercise nor come to the Spaw, let him drink it in bed, the natural warmth thereof compensates the benefit re­ceiv'd by exercise. Now, though [Page 82] this water may of it self in some good measure help most Diseases, yet can it not be thought, but for rendering it more successful in some particular cases, 'twill be conve­nient to take such other things of­ten times as the Disease specifically requires, and these may be inter­mixed with the first two or three glasses, v. g. some Steel-wine, or other Preparations thereof, in case of great obstructions or other Di­seases of the Liver, but then no more water for about half an hour after; nay I altogether admit of Sugar, or some opening Syrup, in the first glass, it being thereby the better accelerated to the Liver, as also a glass of White or Rhenish­wine mixed with three or four glasses of the water, or some drops of Spirit of Salt or Vitriol, or Cry­stals of Tartar, so that the Crystals be made of Tartar and not of Al­lum, [Page 83] as some do, for having with less labour the greater quantity of Crystals. All these I say, and such like, being piercing and attenua­ting, make way for the speedy and free conveyance of the water, and of themselves contribute much to some Cures.

After you have drunk all you in­tend, you must then necessarily use some hydragogical Medicine, or such as evacuateth waterish humours, which for the most part remain in the abstruse crannies of the Body, as likewise such things as cool and moisten the Bowels, otherwise they may partake too much of the po­tential virtue of this chalybiate wa­ter, being hot and dry, and thence incur the prejudice of Sore Eyes, and other Inflammations, as I my self have experienced. Before you drink the water, every morning, disburden Nature of her ordinary [Page 84] excrements, either naturally or by Art. Those who have strong di­gestions may drink half the quan­tity in the Afternoon, about four or five hours after Dinner, but then they must eat little or nothing at Supper, others had better forbear.

If any one find himself, after due preparation and several tryals, not able to drink the water, without reluctancy and oppression there­upon, let him forbear, and address himself to other Remedies more a­greeable to his constitution.

CHAP. VII. Directions in order to Diet, and time for drinking it.

THe truth is, though a regular Diet be commendable, and of [Page 85] great concern at all times, espe­cially when we run any course of Physick for repairing health, yet I approve not so much of being so sceptically scrupulous, as many are, either in directing or observing so precise and narrow compass of Diet. The only great fear is that of excess, the quantity is much more consi­derable than the quality, and the rather, because the water in most, if not in all, begetteth appetitum ca­ninum, a devouring appetite, so as Men are apt to receive more than they can well digest, and thence arise crudities and corruption, in stead of concoction and chylifica­tion. A temperate Diet both pre­vents and cures many Diseases, and is the chiefest medium we have for a lasting and possibly an everlasting life; hence it is that Italians say, Manger molto è manger poro, who desires to eat much must eat little, [Page 86] for by eating little he lives long, and consequently eats much.

All things that are of laudable juyce, and of easie digestion, may be admitted; I shall only forbid Meats too much salted, Geese, Eels, Salmon, all sorts of fat, and in fine such things as are found disagreeable to the temper and constitution of the party; but if otherwise Nature takes delight in a Meat, though not at all proper for the Disease, yet is it allowable; and therefore Hipp. l. 2. Aphorism. 38. affirmeth, Paulo pejor sed suavior cibus & potus meliori qui­dem sed ingrato praeferendus. Some­times we must permit Meat and Drink, though something worse for the Disease, if otherwise it be grate­ful. Your Drink also must be suited to your Stomach and temper, cold Stomachs may drink strong Ale or Sack, hotter and stronger Stomachs must be content with smaller Beve­rage and Wine diluted.

'Tis not good to eat any thing 'till the water be most, if not all, passed thorough your Body, which is known best by the colour of your Urin, changing from a pale to a higher tincture. To close all, as to Diet, I advife all never to eat so much as their appetite may crave, but, as we commonly say, to leave off with a stomach.

As to the time and season of the year, 'tis certainly then best (gene­rally speaking) when the weather is hottest and dryest, which happens most commonly in June, July, and August; though we have by no little cost and labour; (having the benefit of a declivity) so ordered the adja­cent parts thereof, that the Rain glides off without sinking any wise considerably into the ground, and consequently it may be drank in rainy weather without any apparent diminution of its virtue. I have ob­served [Page 88] it before Sun-rise to be incli­ned to luke-warmness, which after two or three hours of a Solar influ­ence, becomes briskly cold, which alteration is doubtless from the con­striction and dilatation of the pores of the earth, locking up or venti­lating the fuliginous Vapours, ac­cordingly as the coldness of the night or heat of the Sun disposeth them, and therefore 'tis fittest to drink) it after the Sun hath by its lustre and beams dissipated those Va­pours, and enlivened the Mineral Spirits.

What further may be said (in imi­tation of the Rabbins Revealments by Elias) rescrvetur in adventum al­terius.