A LETTER TO Dr. Charles Goodall Physician to the Charter-House OCCASIONED By his late Printed Letter Entituled A Letter from the Learned and Reverend Dr. Charles Goodall to his Honoured Friend Dr. Leigh c. To which is Annexed An Answer to a Sheet of Paper Entituled A Reply to Mr. Richard Boulton c. Writ by the aforesaid Honoured Charles Leigh by Name M. D. Resident in Manchester not far from the Well near Haigh and the Well prope Boulton in Lancashire By R. BOULTON of Brazen-Nose College in Oxford Nor hath the great Number of those Escaped my Observation who finding it a much easier Task to Censure than to write endeavour to acquire the Title of Judicious by condemning all things themselves have not written or thought on Boyle Phis Es p. 1. LONDON Printed for A. Baldwin 1699. THE PREFACE to the READER THE following Sheets containing an Answer to Dr. Goodall's Letter and also an Answer to a Sheet of Paper writ by Dr. Leigh I think my self bound to make an Apology to the World upon a double Score And first for what I have said in Answer to Dr. Goodall's Letter And upon this Account all that I need to say is that had the Doctor not suffered his Letter to be Printed I had not Writ or Published what I have but since he began first he I hope or at least the World will pardon me for Relating Matter of Fact so plainly that they might judge of the Sincerity and Truth of his Letter But perhaps there are some and I hope a great many that will be unapt to believe the Grounds of the following Relation true I say I hope they will be unapt to believe it because I would not wish them to have the same Reasons to change their Thoughts of him as I have and that I have fufficient Reason to think the Character I once gave him rather what I could have wished him to be than what he is I conceive the following Certificates together with his own Letter will be self-evident Arguments I have the Copy of his Letter writ by his own Hand and the Certificate signed and witnessed by the Persons whose Names are Subscribed so that if any Body should question the Truth they shall be convinced with those Papers As for Dr. Leigh all the Apology I need to make is That I beg their Pardon for taking Notice of his Libels since Envy and Malice needs no other Answer but Cantempt And if the Doctor takes such a delight in writing Penny and Two-penny Books he may look out for some other Adversary that thinks it worth his while to hearken to him I for my Part shall entertain the same Opinion of him as the World does viz. That his Remarks are his true and real Representatives And here I shall let the World know that I take so little delight in opposing such Adversaries that for the future except I have great Reason for it I shall leave such as have not the use of their Reason to confute themselves and shall rather spend my time in making what Improvements I can in the Profession I have made choice of And as Truth and Reason shall always be the Rules by which I shall write so far as I can so if I think my self upon that Score concern'd to oppose any one that may be mistaken I shall shew that respect which is due both to their Learning and Characters but if on the contrary their Ignorance and Contempt of Learned Men deserves ill Usage I shall leave it to some body else to gave them their Merit who shall not think it time mispent to answer them I shall conclude this Epistle with this Advertisement viz. That whereas a Party of Men have imagined that by Vindicating the Colledge I opposed them I profess that by the Colledge I meant no separate Party but all such Members which had not adopted that Doctrine which I writ against and except they include themselves in that Number I shall declare that no Party shall engage me further than Truth and Reason either for or against any Body and what is the Product of that small share I have of either I shall always submit to the Candid Censure of the Learned to whom I subscribe my self London Jan. 18. 1698 9. Their Most Humble Servant R. BOULTON AN ANSWER TO Dr. Goodall's Letter Dated Decemb. 6th 1698. in a Letter to Himself SIR I Must confess it was not without a little Concern and Surprize that I found a Letter against me with Doctor Goodall's Name to it I once thought and had I not evident Reason to the contrary I should think still that Doctor Goodall was a Man of more Courage and Honour as well as Justice than to desert a Cause he had once engaged himself in of more Courage and Honour I say because it is an Argument against both to turn your Back upon what you thought Just and of more Justice because it would be unjust to engage your self in Encouraging or Patronizing that which in your Opinion was not Approved And give me leave to say this Letter which Dr. Leigh hath Printed will I am afraid call in Question your Judgment as well as Honour and Justice for if in your Judgment you thought my Book was faulty why did you Patronize it with such Zeal If the contrary why should you not have the same Opinion now as before At least Doctor it had been better to have been Silent and much more Prudent than to force me to prove what in your Letter you deny It is a thing I confess I am very loth to do and would not did I not think my Reputation concern'd in it For I am yet ready to acknowledge that I not long since thought my self very much obliged to you and as Favours received from any one shall with me be perpetual Obligations of Respect to them that bestowed them on me so I would be unwilling to do any thing which should look like Ingratitude to you For I must beg leave to say that with me Ties of Friendship shall be held inviolable if it lies in my Power and Obligations I shall ever hold as Sacred But as the Case now stands the greatest Respect I can shew you is to prove the Contents of your Letter in respect of your Reflections false without that Severity which your Usage of me really deserves for whatever you may think I am bold to say that I shall make it appear that your last Obligations and Favours have made your former of very little value Therefore to justify my self and to do you no wrong I shall answer your Letter in the same Method you have writ it first returning you thanks for the good Character you are pleased to give of my other Books The First Words which concern me are these I own your Writing to me about Mr. Boulton ' s Book as a Particular Favour he having by no means obliged me by his Rude and Unmannerly Reflections upon you who I
am sensible are not therein treated like a Gentleman or a Scholar The Language and Reflections I own to be such as no Man of good Breeding much less any Censor of the College of Physitians would pass with an Imprimatur To this Doctor I must answer That as for an Imprimatur to such a thing as that I never desired it for there was no need of it it being an Answer to such Ridiculous Reflections on me as you were pleased to say at your own Table were the Rudest and most Malicious that ever you saw in your Life and that you thought that no Doctor in Physick could write such Stuff This was your Opinion of Dr. Leigh's Remarks and as for my Answer to them I will certify any Body upon Oath that you Read the greatest part of them whilst I sat by you and that when you were weary I read the remaining part to you and that you were so far from finding Fault that you smiled almost all the while and not long after gave your favourable Opinion of them to a Learned Man of Merton Colledge in Oxford this I affirm to be true with as much Solemnity as if I were to say it upon Oath But supposing you had neither approved nor disapproved the thing I leave the World to judge whether you have not much more reason to reflect on Dr. Leigh than me he having reflected on me who never was in the least acquainted with him and consequently could not possibly disoblige him and as for me I have only turned his own Dirt upon him again The next Words I shall take notice of in your Letter are these As to his writing against Mr. Colbatch I must own that did encourage him thereto he having so rudely treated the Universities Colledge of Physitians and the most Learned Men of our Faculty and likewise Published and Defended such an Erroneous Hypothesis and raised such a Dangerous Superstructure thereon as I fear will prove fatal to many Yet notwithstanding Mr. Colbatch hath deserved Ill of Learned Men c. I cannot commend Mr. Boulton ' s Treating him in the manner he hath done which was so far from my Opinion and Good liking c. Really Doctor I am concern'd for your Reputation that you should suffer such things to be Printed which you could not but think highly disingenuous and contrary to Truth if not inconsistent with Reason it self For here you declaim against my way of treating Mr. Colbatch yet say he hath deserved Ill his Hypothesis is Erroneous Dangerous and Fatal to many Where you Justify what I have done for if his Hypothesis be Erroneous Dangerous and Fatal to many and deserved Ill if what I have writ be ill Usage it is what you here pronounce to be his Merit though in the following Words you say it is contrary to your Approbation and Good Liking Which Words if true it follows that your own Opinion is contrary to your own good Liking because what I have writ is according to it and if you fall out with your own Opinion well may you with mine But give me leave to say my Book is not only Justify'd by what you say now but was Printed and was Writ or altered according to your good Liking For before I writ one Word of it when you enourag'd me to it I told you I thought it was not worth my while to take notice of his Books and that I hated to write in such a manner as it was by some thought he ought to be treated in but to this you told me I could not handle him too roughly or some such Words and this to put it into your Memory you told me as I was walking with you cross Smithfield Again you declaimed upon the same Subject coming down Floulborn where you told me It would do the Faculty of Physick a great deal of Service which prevailed with me to gratifie your Humour though contrary to my own Inclination I then thinking your Opinion preferable to my own especially in a City where I was almost a Stranger then and the Temper of which I was then unacquainted with But you did not only approve it then but when I had writ but a small part of it you gave me leave to Dedicate it to you for though in your own Parlor you seem'd with a Smile to refuse it yet upon Reading over the Dedication you were pleas'd with another Smile to accept it telling me modestly It was more than you deserved And really I fear you have given me Reason to think it so yet I confess I am heartily sorry if I was so much mistaken in you But to proceed to your further Good-liking you not only accepted the Dedication but read over the Sheets from the Press and altered or put in what Zealous and Fervent Words you had a Mind and at the same time approved of them To convince the World of which I add these Certificates I Whose Name is hereunto Subscribed do certify that I carried several Sheets of Mr. Boulton's Book against Colbatch to Dr. Goodall who read them over whilst I was by and not only put in several Words but blotted out what he thought fit and withal repeated these Words This will Maul him And this I am ready to Testify upon Oath Witness my Hand Edward Midwinter I whose Name is hereunto Subscribed do Testify that I carried several Sheets of Mr. Boulton's Book against Mr. Colbatch to Dr. Goodall's House and delivered them to him one of which I received back from him my self several Words being put in according to his Direction And this I am ready to testify upon Oath Witness my Hand Henry Lloyd Besides these Certificates I could add Two more were there Occasion but these I suppose may be sufficient to shew that you approved of them besides when the whole Book was Printed I carried the Dedication to you which you consented to nor did you express the least Dissatisfaction concerning the Dedication when the Book was Published but only said there was to instead of of in one Place But you further say you requested me to read the Learned Mr. Boyle's Book and to imitate that Learned Author in my Answer to Mr. Colbatch Truly I remember you were commending Mr. Boyle and said He had mauld the Unmannerly Dr. Bently when I had writ about half my Answer but I can never think your Judgment so weak as to have proposed it for a Pattern Since there is no Parallel in the Case for tho' I remember you said One might see how a Gentleman could manage a Clown yet it is on all Hands agreed that as Mr. Boyle is an Ingenious Man so Dr. Bentley is a Learned Man as well as the former but Mr Colbatch sure is not a Doctor Bentley tho' you think sit to parallel them for you say Mr. Colbatch hath rais'd a dangerous a fatal and an Erroncous Hypothesis but Dr. Bentley hath not for it is not dangerous or fatal to read any thing about
to you the Week before about it But that it might not be for nothing you got me to Translate Dr. Groenvelt's Book about Cantharides into English for you which to please you I did Why you could not answer that Book for you threatned it mightily in Latin as well as in English I will not say But this was not enough to send for me from Oxford for but you so tyred me with one thing after another that I must either spend my time wholly for you or you would not be pleased But you will be apt to say I am still obliged to you and truly I am not insensible of your last Obligations since to make Tryal of them I only deferred Writing some Unreasonable things you desired upon which the Storms rose and the Winds blew and presently untied the Bonds of Friendship But since I have made this Relation Publick it perhaps may be wondered why I should be your Humble Servant so long having no more Reason than your sending for me to London for nothing almost since to disappoint me and serve me so handsomly was none of the most worthy Actions of the Physician to the Charter-House That this then may seem less strange I must own that you made me such Promises of your Interest in Oxford that I was willing to spend a little time to see the Event but when I saw you had deceived me in that as well as your Letter to Oxford I thought it high time to make better use of it than to consume it with Dr. Goodall Thus Sir I have I hope satisfied the World that you have dealt if I may be so bold to say so very disingeniously with me yet I was willing to say nothing had you not Maliciously done me the favour to publish your Spleen against me Yet I can easily forgive you and am from my Heart sorry that your Reason should be so prevail'd on by the violence of your Passion But since it is so and past help I hope you will pardon this Freedom which you your self have been the Occasion of And this I will assure you of though it lies in my Power to say much more to your Disadvantage I shall not except you give me further Reason And I could wish there were no just Cause given to prevent me from Subscribing my self SIR Your Humble And Obliged Servant R. BOULTON ADVERTISEMENT SInce the former Sheets were put to the Press I am told by several that Dr. Goodall does own that he consented to the Dedication and that he wonders Dr. Leigh should pretend to say that I presumed to dedicate my Book to him since it was done with his Consent and he likewise declares that he is not a little displeased that Dr. Leigh should be so unfair as to print his Letter without his Consent But I thank Dr. Leigh for it because had it not been printed I could not have vindicated my self AN ANSWER TO Dr. Leigh c. THAT Doctor Leigh may be satisfied I am the very same Man I ever took my self to be I have by Certificates from the Persons who carried my Sheets to Dr. Goodall's House from the Place where I have lodged ever since I came to London proved that Dr. Goodall did correct and approve of my Book and that he was concerned in it appears from his Letter sent to me at Oxford And how disingenuously and dishonourably the Doctor hath dealt with me let the World judge But of this I have said enough before I shall therefore take a View of what the Doctor hath said either against me or in Defence of himself in doing which I shall only lay down Matter of Fact and leave the World to judge whether I have given him his Answer And First in his Title he calls my last Book my Last Piece he calls my Book of the Heat of the Blood a Piece so that all I can write in the Language of the Famous Doctor Doctorum Doctor Leigh must needs be Pieces But I leave it to the World to judge whether what he writes be not more like Pieces than Books for in the first Place he writ a Penny Book against me next he writ a Three penny Book against Mr. Colbatch and now I have got a Two-penny Book again So that I cannot for the Heart of me stretch the Doctors Phancy to write a Book as valuable as a common Almanack and it 's strange that all the Doctor can say against me is not worth more than Two pence in his own Opinion but perhaps he hath squeezed more Sense into his Pieces than usually sticks in so small a Compass and therefore I shall examin their Merit In his first Piece he hath made Remarks on Pigs Mice Elephants Cheesmongers Irish Men C w T d. The Pudenda of a Salt Bitch Duck-Shot Roger a Coverly the Wise Men of Gotham the Cuckow and Diego and his Spanish Geese And all these wonderful Phaenomena hath he declaimed on instead of Answering me But truly in his last Piece he hath condemned himself And Page the 12th says They were writ in a Stile too light for the Gravity and Sobriety of Philosophy so that in this we must expect something like a Philosopher truly a happy Change And I hope my last Prescription hath taken effect But let us see what Alterations it hath wrought Page 5th he makes his Observations on Sportive Rattles of unthinking Striplings Page 6th He says a Snail will make a swift New-Market Courser which may be true if a Horses Name Page 7th he hath coined a New Metaphor viz. Faeculent Brain derived from Bog-house in his first Piece Page 7th But Page 8th He says if the Lapwing would stay till the Shell dropt off his Head he might fly Page 9th He says The Crane and the Pâ—gmies might have fought about the Knots in a Bull-rush â— 10th He tells us a Story of a Tartar that defaces thâ— Plains he was foraging in and straight removes to a 〈◊〉 Clime Whence it 's evident that his Notions of Feveâ—â— and Inflammatory Diseases could not be borrowed from Dr. Willis A strange Consequence p. 14th he says The Weash-man purchased the Pompion for the Mare 's Egg and got never a Colt from it and these are things not too light for the gravity and sobriety of Philosophy Strange how the Dr. Philosophized when he wrote these things of Weight and Sobriety and how much they differ from the admirable Contents of his first Peice But if this be the Dr's Philosophy unenvied by me may he phylosophize till he hath gathered enough to compleat his Theory I for my Part shall leave him to hug and admire his Peices till he is weary and shall only take notice of what he further dogmatically denies in my Book without giving any Reason for it and what he says for himself And First all that sticks with the Doctor as to my Books is That he cannot See or Taste the Mucilage which I conceive to be Animal Spirits and that the
Metaphorical Glands which are made up of the Extremities of the Vessels cannot be discerned by Microscopes This is all that the Doctor alledges against my Books the remaining part of his Sheet being either Enlargements upon the wonderful Stock of Philosophy but just now mentioned or a Vindication of his own Book As to the First he tells me I no where prove Animal Spirits to be an Oyly Mucilage and he asks me Whether I ever saw it or tasted it To this I answer that I have both seen and tasted it and have already proved the Animal Spirits to be an Oyly Mucilage in my Book of the Heat of the Blood and therefore I shall refer the Reader thither it not being requisite that I should trouble my self to repeat what is there said as often as Dr. Leigh shall ask the Question afresh And since he here says Their Agility in Voluntary Motion demonstrates that they do not move slower than Blood I answer That it is no Demonstration for though the Spirits move slowly in the Nerves yet when they come to be mixed with the Blood and meet with Particles which are of a different Temper and Texture they may then become Active and many degrees more active than before So the Particles of Alkalies and Acids when kept separate in distinct Vessels have not half the Agility and Activity in their Parts as when mixed together the Result of their Mixture if Volatile being a strong Fermentation which was in neither of the separate Liquors And altho ' Gun-powder be slowly squeezed through a long pipe and out of that falls upon the Fire yet it 's Explosion when worked upon by so powerful an Agent is no argument that the Corpuscles of the Gun-powder were in as violent a Motion before the Explosion since it 's evident that they are not so that the Spirits may move slowly in the Nerves when kept separate from the Blood yet be put into a more violent Agitation when mixed with it that Agitation being no Argument of their equal Agility before but a consequence of their Mixture But to proceed to his other Objection viz. That the Metapborical Glands cannot be seen with a Microscope To this I answer that by Metaphorical Glands I mean nothing but a Commixture of the Extremities of Vessels Metaphorical Glands implying no more which appears from what I have said in my Book of Muscular Motion to which I shall refer the Reader it not being necessary to repeat what is there tho' Dr. Leigh should for Information sake ask the Question again and again But that what I have said there is sufficient to prove that there are such Glands I presume undeniable till what I have offered with submission to Reason be confuted by it and then if I cannot maintain it let it fall It is Knowledge and Truth I shall ever value above my own Opinion if it be not so but if it be I shall value it as Truth and only content my self with the satisfaction of contributing my Endeavours to the General stock of Knowledge But to satisfy the World that we are not to dis-believe what I have said of those Glands because we cannot see them I shall add a Quotation from the Honourable Esquire Boyle's Works which will shew him that there are several Truths in Nature which we believe because we have Reason for it tho' as to Sight they are imperceivable for that most ingenious and experimental Promoter of useful Knowledge who was a profound and one of the greatest of Philosophers in his History of Fludity Page 189. Sect. XX. admits of Reason to be proof where the minuteness of Bodies renders them imperceivable For he says If it be objected that the Various and Insensible Parts of Water and resembling Bodies wherein we make the Nature of Fluidity chiefly to consist is but an Imaginary thing and but precariously asserted since by our own Confession they are so small that the Particles themselves and more the diversity of their Motions are imperceptable by Sense c. We shall not deny the Objection to be plausible but must not acknowledge it to be unanswerable And the like may be said for those Glands for if we have Reason to believe there are such we are not to deny what our Reason tells us because it is not an Object of Sight and that it is the Smallness of those Glands that makes them to be imperceiptible by Sight is evident since the best Microscopes will not make the Terminations of those Vessels visible which compose them Yet I hope no Body will say that the Vessels have no ends because they cannot see them If then we allow what is beyond Contradiction viz. That the Terminations of the Vessels cannot be perceived we must allow that these Glands must be Invisible because made up of those Vessels which are too fine to be perceived and that those Vessels do communicate with one another and consequently make up such Glands I have given such Reasons in my Book and also laid down such Experiments that I need not to bring any more till those are deficient Having answered all the Doctors Objections against my Book I shall consider what he says for himself And First to pass by all that heap of loud sounding Words which is vulgarly called Bombast or Sound without Signification I shall briefly take notice that tho' I quoted Doctor Willis and shewed him that his Notion of Heat was the same with it as also that Doctor Willis had the same Notion of the Cause of Intermitting Fevers and tho' I shewed him that in Dropsies he mistakes the Effect for the Cause and that in his Dissertation of Mineral Waters he only proves what no Body denies he thinks it an Answer sufficient to deny what is evidently true and matter of Fact For he says he did not borrow his Notions from Dr. Willis neither do I say so but he acted the Plagiary to use his own Words or he stole them from him for those Words he makes use on himself But he says Dr. Willis assigns Fermentation to be the Cause of Heat and that he assigns Collision but any Body that knows the least of the Corpuscularian Philosophy would not think to come off with such mean Evasion since Fermentation implies Collision and Collision which is the Effect of Motion where it is violent enough is but calling Fermentation by another Name since Fermentation and Collision of the Parts of hot Bodies are significatively the same tho' different Sounds Again he says He does not endeavour to prove an Acid in Vitriolated Waters but that there is a perfect concocted Vitriol which is as much as to say he does not argue for an Acid but for a perfect Acid since Vitriol is an Acid so that to prove Vitriolate Waters have Vitriol in them is to prove Acid Waters have Acid in them which I suppose none denies But let the Doctor dispute the Case it 's a fine easie Subject for him he may tell his