of Sea Salt in preserving and seasoning what they eat it may not be amiss particularly to mention that out of a solution of common Salt made in common Water we could readily Precipitate with the Spirit of Blood a substance that looked like a White Earth and such a substance I obtain'd in far greater quantity from that which the Salt-makers call Bittern which usually remains in their Salt pans after they have taken out as much or near as much Salt as would Coagulate in figured grains The Spirit of Humane Blood does also make a Precipitation of Dantsick Vitriol dissolv'd in Water but not that I have observ'd a total one which you need not wonder at because it will dissolve Copper which is one of the Ingredients of Blew Vitriol The XII secondary Title Of the Affinity between Spirit of Humane Blood and some Chymical Oyls and Vinous Spirits THough in another Paper I declare my self for Reasons there express'd dissatisfy'd with the Vulgar Notions of Sympathy Antipathy Friendship Affinity Hostility c. that are presum'd to be found among Inanimate Bodies yet in this place nothing forbids to employ the Terms Affinity Cognation and Hostility in the laxe and popular sense wherein they are us'd not only by the Vulgar but by School Philosophers and Chymists It seems then according to this acception of the Word Affinity that there is such a thing between Rectifyed Spirit of Humane Blood and pure Spirit of Wine since we have formerly under the Tenth Title observ'd that being put together they will readily Concoagulate and continue united a long time It is very probable that the like Association may be also made with other Ardent Spirits prepar'd by Fermentation We have likewise formerly noted that our Spirit will make a Solution of the finer parts of Humane Blood well dry'd which Instance I mention on this occasion because it seems to be the Effect of some Affinity or Cognation as most men would call what I would call Mechanical Congruity between the Spirit and the Body it works on in regard I found by more than one Tryal purposely made that a highly Rectifyed Vinous Spirit for if it be Phlegmatick the Water may dissolve some of the Blood would not at least in divers hours that my Tryals lasted draw any Tincture from it With Lixiviate Liquors such as are made of Salt of Tartar fix'd Nitre c. resolv'd in the Air or otherwise the Chymist will expect that the Spirit of Blood should have an Affinity since they esteem all these Liquors Alcalies though this be Volatile and those be fix'd But though these Liquors comport well with one another yet we find not that they strictly Associate by Concoagulation as we lately observ'd the Spirit of Blood to do with Spirit of Wine The same Spirit of Blood mingles readily with that Spirit of Vegetables that I have elsewhere given a large account of under the Title of Adiaphorous Spirit which argues that there is some Affinity between them or rather that there is not any manifest Hostility or contrariety The like Relation may be found between Spirit of Blood and many other Liquors which it were needless and tedious to enumerate It may better deserve the consideration of a Chymist that though there is manifestly a near Cognation between the Spirit of Humane Blood and the Oyl since they both proceed immediately from the same Body yet even dephlegm'd Spirit of Blood being shaken and thereby confounded with its Oyl will quickly separate again from it though with Spirit of Wine which is according to the Chymists a Liquid Sulphur as well as the Oyl it will permanently unite notwithstanding that these two Liquors do to speak in their Language belong even to differing Kingdoms the one to the Animal and the other to the Vegetable With the Essential Oyls as Chymists call them of Aromatick Vegetables or at least with some of them the well Rectifyed Spirit of H. Blood seems to have a greater Affinity For having taken a dram of this Liquor and an equal weight of Oyl of Anise-seeds drawn in a Lembick per vesicam and shaken them well together they made a soft or semifluid White Coagulum that continu'd in that form for a day or two and probably would have longer done so if I had not had occasion to proceed further with it It may not be impertinent on this occasion to take notice that because I presum'd that though Spirit of Blood would not totally mix with Essential Oyls as Chymists call them it might either communicate some Saline parts to them or work a change in them I digested a while in a Glass with a long neck some Rectifyed Spirit of Humane Blood with a convenient quantity of Oyl of Anise-seeds drawn in a Lembick and found as I expected that the Oyl grew colour'd of a high Yellow and afterwards attain'd to a Redness which Experiment I the rather mention because it may possibly afford you a hint about the Cause of some Changes of Colour that are produc'd in some of the Liquors of the Body Upon the foremention'd Affinity or congruity of the Spirit of Blood with that of Wine and with some Essential Oyls I founded a way of taking off the offensive smell of Spirit of Humane Blood which is the only thing that is likely to keep the more delicate sort of Patients from employing so useful a Medicine as this will hereafter appear to be But to deal with a Philosophical candor I must not conceal from you that till Experience shall be duly consulted I shall retain a Doubt whether the way employ'd to deprive our Spirit of its stink will not also deprive it of part of its Efficacy But on the other side I consider it as a thing probable enough that these Aromatis'd Spirits may by being impregnated with many of the finer parts of the Oyls employ'd to correct their Odour be likewise endow'd with the vertues of those Oyls which are Liquors that Chymists not improbably believe to consist of the noblest parts of the Vegetables that afford them To Aromatise the Spirit of Humane Blood we employ'd two differing ways the first whereof was this we took a convenient quantity of well Rectifyed Spirit of Blood and having put it into a Glass Egg we added to it as much or what may in many Cases more than suffice half as much Essential Oyl of Anise-seeds for instance And having shaken these Liquors together to mingle them very well we plac'd the Glass in a sit posture in a Furnace where it should not have too great a heat by which means the slight Texture of the Coagulum being dissolv'd part of the Oyl sometimes a great portion of it appear'd by it self floating at the top of the Spirit Whence being separated by a Tunnel or otherwise the remaining Liquor was Whitish and without any stink the smell predominant in it being that of the Anise-seeds of which it tasted strongly though the Saline Spirituous parts of the
has been often complain'd of by me as well as others in the way Chymists are wont to imploy when they are put to make repeated Sublimations of Volatile Salts whether alone or with Additaments of this Instrument I cannot now stay to give you an account but if it continue to appear as usefull as expeditious I may hereafter do it by presenting you one ready made Experiment I. TO some Naturalists and Physicians that delight to frame Hypotheses perhaps it may not be unwelcome to know that for curiosities sake we attempted to make Aurum fulminans by Precipitating a solution of Gold made in Aqua Regia with Spirit of Humane Blood by dulcifying the Precipitate with Common water and then drying it leisurely and that by this means we succeeded in the attempt Experiment II. HAving into a wide-mouth'd glass put as much Spirit of Blood as would more than cover the Ball of a small seal'd Weather-glass and suffer'd this Instrument to stay a while that the Ambient Liquor and the Included might be reduc'd to the same temper as to Heat and Cold we pour'd on some Spirit of Verdegreece made per se and observ'd that tho this Spirit with some other Volatile Saline Liquors had a very differing operation yet working on our Spirit of Blood with which it made a conflict and excited Bubbles there was produc'd in the Mixture a degree of Warmth that was not insensible on the outside of the glass but was much more sensible in the Thermoscope whose Liquor being hereby rarified ascended to a considerable height above the former station towards which when the conflict of the two Liquors was over it began tho but slowly to return Experiment III. HAving by degrees mix'd our Spirit of Blood with as much good Spirit of Nitre as it would manifestly work on there was not without noise produc'd great store of Bubbles by their mutual conflict which being kept in a quiet place till after the Liquors had quite ceased to work on one another it began to appear that notwithstanding all our care to free the Spirit of Blood from Oyl something of Oleaginous that had been concealed in it had been manifested and partly separated by this Operation since not only a somewhat red Colour was produced by it but after a while the surface of the Liquor was covered with a film such as I have often observed in Saline Liquors copiously impregnated with Antimony or other Sulphureous Bodies And this thin Membrane had its Superficies so disposed that looking upon it with Eyes placed Conveniently in reference to it and the Light it did to me and other Persons that did not at all look on it from the same place appear adorned with vivid Colours of the Rainbow as Red Yellow Blew and Green and as I remember in the same order that these Colours are to be seen in the Clouds Experiment IV. HAving unexpectedly found amongst some other long neglected Glasses a Vial that was written upon above twelve years before and inscrib'd Spirit of Humane Blood it appear'd to have been by I know not what Accident very loosely stopt and yet not so as to give me cause to think that the Liquor was much wasted But notwithstanding this and that the Liquor had acquired a deep Colour almost like that of Red Wine yet it was so dispirited and strengthless that it appear'd to be very little other than nauseous Phlegm Which Observation I therefore think not unworthy to be preserv'd because by it we may guess how little a portion of the noble and genuine Spirit or Salt may suffice to make a Liquor pass for Spirit of Humane Blood Experiment V. IN a Frosty season we expos'd late at night two or three spoonfulls by guess of Spirit of Humane Blood that was not of the best being at the utmost but moderately strong And tho the Cold of that season had throughly frozen a Vial almost full of Oyl of Vitriol and the night wherein our Spirit was exposed was at least moderately Frosty yet the next morning we did not find so much as any Superficial Ice upon it But having remov'd the Vial into a mixture of Powder'd Ice and Common Salt we found in no very long time that most part of the Spirit was turn'd into thin Plates of Ice which joyn'd close together and had their edges upwards like those of the Leaves of a Book when it is held with its back downwards Experiment VI. TO make a further Tryal of that imperfect one mentioned in the Subordinate Title we took a Clot of Humane Blood of the bigness of a Bean or thereabouts and having put it into a Vial in such manner that that part which before was contiguous to the Air and for that reason was florid was now the undermost and the other which was blackish lay now uppermost we made haste to pour upon it as much Spirit of Humane Blood as was more than sufficient to cover it and perceiv'd that the contact of it presently began to lessen the blackness of the surface of the Blood and bring it to a considerable degree of Floridness and to try whether that would continue we stopt the Vial and set it by till the next morning for it was then night when looking upon it we found the Superficial Colour not to be Black but still Red. Experiment VII UPon the Powder of dry'd Humane Blood we put in a small Vial some of the rectify'd Spirit of Humane Blood which quickly dissolv'd part of it and acquired a deep and pleasant Colour But highly rectified Spirit of Wine being put upon some of the same Powder in a like glass did not in many hours acquire any manifest Tincture and got but a pale Yellow one even after having been for a longer time kept in a moderate heat And yet Common water being put upon another portion of the same Powder did quickly enough appear by the Colour it acquir'd to have dissolv'd a pretty deal of it Experiment VIII SOme of our Spirit of Humane Blood being put upon some curious Vitriol that I had as a Rarity if I mistake not from the East Indies part whereof was in lumps and part beaten to Powder that Liquor which was put upon the former being able to dissolve it but slowly made little or no Froth but the Spirit that was put upon the latter by hastily working on it produc'd a manifest one And the Solutions made of both parcels of Vitriol were of a deeper and more lovely Blew than the Mineral it self had been nor did I observe in them any Precipitate of a dark Colour as I have done upon the Mixture of Spirit of Urine and Ordinary Vitriol Experiment IX HAving with a clean Pen drawn some Letters upon white Paper with Spirit of Humane Blood and as soon as 't was dry mov'd the unwritten side over the Flame of a Candle we found that this Liquor may for a need be imployed as an invisible Ink that seemed to be somewhat better than
MEMOIRS FOR THE NATURAL HISTORY OF Humane Blood Especially The Spirit of that Liquor By the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Fellow of the Royal Society Etsi enim haud pauca eáque ex praecipuis supersint absolvenda tamen consilium est universum opus potiùs promovere in multis quà m perficere in paucis Verulam in Praefat. ad Histor Natural Experiment LONDON Printed for Samuel Smith at the Princes Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683 4. THE Preface Introductory ADDRESS'D To the very Ingenious and Learned Doctor J. L. I Willingly acknowledge that divers Physicians have Amply and Learnedly and some of them very Eloquently set forth the praises of the Blood and manifested how noble and excellent a Liquor it is But I must beg their pardon if I doubt whether their Writings have not better celebrated its Praises then discover'd to us its Nature For tho the laudable curiosity of the Moderns has acquainted us with several things not deliver'd to us by the Ancients yet if I mistake not what is generally known of Humane Blood is as yet imperfect enough and consists much more of Observations than Experiments being suggested far more by the Phaenomena that Nature her self has afforded Physicians than by Tryals industriously made to find what she will not unsolicited by Art discover I will not be so rash as to say that to mind as too many Anatomists have done the Solid parts of the Body and overlook Enquiries into the Fluids and especially the Blood were little less improper in a Physician than it would be in a Vintner to be very solicitous about the Structure of his Cask and neglect the consideration of the Wine contain'd in it But though I will not make so bold a Comparison yet when I consider how important a part of the Humane Body the Blood is and that as when it is well constituted and does orderly move it conveys nourishment and vigour and motion and in a word health to the rest of the living Engine So the Mass of Blood being either vitiated or which is very often the effect of that Depravation disorderly mov'd is the Seat of divers and the Cause of most Diseases whose cure consequently depends mainly upon the rectifying of the Blood when I say I consider these things I cannot but think it an Omission that so important a Subject has not been more skilfully and industriously enquir'd into But I hope you were not in earnest when you solicited me to repair that Omission For you know I have not the Vanity to pretend to be a Physician And being none I must want both the Skill and many Opportunities wherewith a Man that were professedly so would be advantag'd And though I deny not that many years ago I propounded to some Ingenious Physicians a History of the Fluid parts of the Body such as the Humours and other Juices and also the Spirits of it and did particularly draw up a set of Enquiries and make divers Experiments in reference to the Blood yet those Papers being since lost and a long Tract of Time and Studies of a quite other nature having made me lose the Memory of most of the Particulars I find my self unable to contribute any thing considerable to your laudable design And as all the search your Commands oblig'd me to make after my Papers has hitherto prov'd fruitless so they having been written when I had far more Health Vigour and Leisure than I now have and when my Thoughts were much more conversant with Medicinal Subjects any thing that I shall now present you about the Blood will not only be extremely short of what ought to be said but will also be short even of what if I mistake not I did say of it But yet all this is said not to excuse me from obeying you at all but to excuse me for obeying you so unskilfully For since you will have me set down what I can retrieve about Humane Blood you shall receive it in the following Paper which consists of Four Parts The First whereof contains a set of Titles which I call Of the First Order for Reasons to be given you in the Advertisements about them towards the Natural and Medical History of Humane Blood which may direct those that want better Guides what Enquiries to make and to what Heads to refer what they have found by Observation or Tryal But because this Part contains but bare Titles whose Systeme yet perhaps I look upon as likely to make the usefullest part of the ensuing Papers and because I have neither leisure nor Materials to answer all or most of the Titles I thought fit in a couple of Subjects namely the Serum of Humane Blood which is a Natural and the Spirit which is a Factitious part of it to give some instances of what I had thoughts to do on others and propose some Example to those that may be more unpractis'd in drawing up Natural Histories than the general design and course of my Studies of Natural Things permitted me to be And what is said on these two Subjects makes the Third and Fourth Part of these Papers As for the other Titles of the History of the Blood I contented my self in compliance with my haste to set down what occur'd to me in the Casual Order wherein they offer'd themselves without scrupling to mingle here and there among the Historical Notes some Experiments that I formerly but design'd as Tryals that might prove Luciferous whatever the event should be This Rapsody of my own Observations makes one of the Four Parts and the Second in Order of what your Commands embolden me to offer you at this time And I shall be very glad to be so happy as to find that by doing a thing that I am wont to do so delightfully as to obey you I have by breaking the Ice contributed something to so noble and useful a work as the History of Humane Blood About which that I may not make the Porch much too great for the Building I shall add to this Preamble nothing but these two Advertisements of which the First shall be That it is not my design in these Papers to treat of my Subject as it may be consider'd to borrow a School Phrase in fieri which would have oblig'd me to trace the Progress from the reception of Aliments at the Mouth to the full Elaboration which were to write the History of Sanguification as well as that of Blood but to treat of this Liquor as 't is compleatly elaborated and that too not as 't is form'd in the Vessels of a living Body but as it is Extravasated and let out by the Lancet such Blood alone being that on which I had some opportunity to make Tryals and to this first Advertisement I shall subjoyn as the Second That in the following Papers I have as the Title intimates treated but of such Humane Blood as was taken from sound Persons both because being no profess'd Physician I had not the Opportunities
the Corpuscles lye so thick and confus'd as to leave no distinct figures yet at first one may often observe the little Saline concretions to lye in Rows sometimes straight enough and sometimes more or less crooked with differing Coherencies and Interferings so that though sometimes these Rows of concretions may especially if a little befriended by the Spectators fancy represent either Trees or their Branches or Harts-horn c. yet these seem not to be constant Representations depending upon the particular Nature of Humane Blood but casual figurations that depend upon several accidental causes and circumstances such as the degree of Fire employ'd to sublime the Salt the plenty or paucity of the ascending Matter the capacity and figure of the vessel that receives it besides several others not needful to be here enumerated Nor is the Salt of Humane Blood the only Volatile one among whose elevated concretions I have observed the above named Circumstances to produce diversity of Configurations But as to single grains of the Volatile Salt of Blood I discerned a good many of them to be finely shap'd But whether it were accidental or not further Tryal must inform me I could not that I remember observe these handsom Figures in the concretions that compos'd the Sublimate that was obtained by rectifying or elevating again the Salt that first came over but in the grains that in the first Destillation fasten themselves to the upper part and sides of the Receiver For of these divers were of considerable bigness and solidity and though they were not all of the same shape some of them being not unlike to Cubes others to Parallelopipeds others to Octoedrons being almost like Grains of Alum yet most of them were prettily shaped being comprehended by Planes smooth finely figur'd and aptly terminating in solid Angles as if the Concretions had been cut and polished by a Jeweller To the same Title Experiment 6. THere is another way that I have used to observe the Figures of the Salt of Blood which was to rectify the Spirit of Blood so as it may be fully satiated with the Salt whilst the Liquor in the Receiver continued yet somewhat warm For then setting aside this over impregnated Liquor when it came to be quite refrigerated which should be done very slowly there appear'd at the bottom of the Vial a good number of Saline concretions of differing Sizes several of which as far as the rest would suffer me to see them were shot into Crystalline Plates very smooth and prettily figur'd having to the best of my conjecture their broad and parallel Surfaces of a Hexagonal or an Octogonal Figure regular enough To the same Title Experiment 7. ACcording to the Hypothesis of divers Learned Naturalists and Physicians I suppos'd it would be thought considerable to know what would happen upon putting together the Volatile Salt of Humane Blood and the Spirit of Nitre with the more fugitive parts of which Salt they conceive the Air to be plentifully and some of them to be vitally impregnated To gratify some of these Philosophers we took a dram of dry Volatile Salt of Blood which we made choice of rather than Spirit because we had a mind to know what quantity of Acid Salt it would retain and having dissolv'd it in some distill'd Water we drop'd into it good Spirit of Nitre till the two Liquors thô they were shaken would no longer manifestly act upon one another the Conflict being ceas'd we slowly evaporated the superfluous moisture which steam'd almost all away before the Saline part would coagulate At length it came to driness and then the middlemost part appear'd in the form of thin Crystals not unlike those of Salt Petre but the rest which was by much the greater part of the concretion seem'd to be a confus'd mass without any distinct figure This mass weighed but 12 gr more than a dram So that as far as this single Experiment can inform us the Volatile Salt of Blood may be satiated by so little as a Fifth part of its weight of the Saline Corpuscles of Spirit of Nitre This compounded Salt being laid in a Window did appear to be very prone to be resolv'd by the moisture of the Air or in the Chymists Phrase to run per deliquium A little of the same Salt being put upon a well-kindled Coal readily melted and seem'd to boil and towards the latter end made a noise and afforded a flame very like common Nitre save that its colour was more yellow The strong smell that accompanied this deflagration was like that which is peculiar to Spirit of Nitre To the XXI Title OF THE HISTORY Experiment 1. HUmane Blood as most of the other Subjects of the Animal Kingdom that I have had occasion to examine afforded by Distillation in a Retort an Empyreumatical and very fetid Oyl whose colour was almost black but that seem'd to me to proceed only from the intense and opacous Redness of the Liquor since some Portions of it being purposely look'd on against the Light when they were spread very thin upon Glass appear'd of a deep yellow or of a Reddish colour as they chanc'd to lye more or less thick upon the Glass Experiment 2. WHen the Blood was well dry'd before it was committed to Distillation I found it to afford a greater quantity of Oyl in proportion to the weight of the dry Body than was at first expected Once out of a pound of not over-well dry'd Blood we had near an ounce and a half of Oil and from another parcel we had it in a far greater proportion to the quantity of Blood that afforded it Experiment 3. I Remember that having many years ago had the curiosity to â—repare Blood by a very convenient Digestion and to rectifie very carefully the Distill'd Liquors that came over with the Flame of a Lamp I obtain'd among other things two Oyls of very differing colours the one being of a Yellow or pale Amber colour and the other of a deep Red. But that which surpriz'd even ingenious Spectators was that thô these Oils were both of them afforded by the same Blood and were clear and pure enough yet they would not only swim in distinct Masses one over another but if they were confounded by being shaken together would little by little separate again as common Oil and Water are wont to do Whether the difference in Specifick Gravity between these two Oils could keep them from permanently mixing when they were mingled as well as it kept their Masses distinct before they were shaken or whether this seeming Antipathy proceeded from some particular Incongruity in the Textures of these Liquors I shall not now stay to dispute Experiment 4. IT may be of some use especially to those that aim at making Medicinal uses of Humane Blood to know that having had a suspicion that the Oil of Blood might contain or conceal divers Saline Particles capable of being separated from it we took a parcel of unrectifi'd Oil and having put
least in number the Vertues of Spirit of Humane Blood And because it requires some skill and not seldom a pretty deal of time to draw this Tincture from Crude Amber tho finely powder'd I bethought my self of the following way to draw speedily a strong Tincture from the Oyl it self for tho this Oyl will not even by long shaking dissolve throughly in Spirit of Wine as the Aromatick and other Oyls lately mentioned will do yet I found that by well shaking those two Liquors together and leaving them to settle at leisure tho they would separate into distinct Masses yet the Spirit of Wine would even in the cold extract from the Oyl a fine Tincture of a high Yellow colour little if at all different from that of the Oyl it self Of which Tincture I afterwards mix'd as much with Spirit of Blood as suffic'd to obscure the Urinous smell and make that of the Oyl of Amber somewhat predominant and as we judg'd more subtile and brisk than it was before Three things more I have to intimate concerning the external use of our Spirit of Blood The first is that by what has been said of the good effects it may have when after it has been by the lately mentioned or other preparations imbu'd with Chymical Oyls it is smelt to I would by no means be thought to deny that it is after these changes fit to be also inwardly employ'd as I shall have ere long occasion more particularly to declare My second Admonition shall be that whereas in some mixtures it will be hard to hit upon the proportion of the Chymicall Oyl or other things employ'd to correct the smell of the Spirit of Blood so exactly but that after the mixture has had some time to settle a separation of some oleaginous parts will be made The bulk of the mixture may be freed from it by pouring all into a Glass Tunnel somewhat sharp at the bottom after the manner us'd among Chymists to separate Oyls from other Liquors and then the mixture that will run through before the Oyl may be kept close stopt in a Vial by it self and the fragrant Oyl unless it be of Cinnamon or Cloves reserv'd for other uses And whereas frequently if not most commonly if the Vinous Spirit were sufficiently Rectified there will by the Concoagulation of the Saline and Urinous Particles be produc'd a kind of Salt you may either pour the Liquid part from it into another Vial and use each of them separately without more ado or else without thus separating them you may sublime with a very gentle warmth as much as will ascend from the rest of the Mixture in a dry form And this Sal Volatile Oleosum of Spirit of Blood when it was duly prepar'd I found to be depriv'd of its former bad scent and perhaps endow'd with a fragrant one and yet to have an Odour more subtile brisk and piercing than I had thought it reasonable to expect The third and last thing I would advertise is that besides those Medicinal uses that may be made of the Odours of Spirit of Blood Simple or Compounded it may have considerable Vertues apply'd in substance as a Liquor by way of Fomentation or otherwise which I think the more likely because the Spirit of Sal-Armoniac has been much commended for mitigating the sharp pains of the Gout and is said to have been successfully us'd in the Erysipelas And when I consider that our Liquor is very Spirituous and Penetrating and so fit to strengthen and resolve and also of an Alcalisate nature which fits it to mortify Acidities it seems very probable that by vertue of these and other friendly Qualities it may by being apply'd in its Liquid form prove good in divers cases where the Chyrurgions or the Physicians help is wont to be requir'd But 't is high time for me to proceed from the External to the Internal uses of the Spirit of Humane Blood The XVI Secondary Title Of the Medicinal Vertues of Spirit of Humane Blood inwardly us'd I Have long been prone to think that 't is not necessary the number of specifically different Morbific Matters as Physicians call actually noxious Humours or other substances in the Humane Body should be near so great as that of the Diseases 't is obnoxious to and consequently that every Disease that has a distinct Name assign'd to it does not always require a distinct sort of Peccant Matter to produce it but that the same hurtful Humour or other Agent may produce sicknesses that pass for differing ones and accordingly have distinct Denominations only as the same Morbific Agents bad effects are diversify'd partly by its own greater or lesser quantity and more or less active Qualities and partly and indeed chiefly by the particular Natures or Structures and Situations of the parts that it invades To this Opinion I have been led by divers Inducements that I shall not now stay to set down especially since the probability of it may be easily deduc'd from what frequently enough occurs among sick persons of the Metastases of Morbific Matters the same Acid or Sharp Humour for instance producing sometimes a Colic sometimes after that a Palsey sometimes a Cough sometimes a Flux of the Belly sometimes an Ophthalmiâ— sometimes a violent Head-ach sometimes Convulsions and sometimes other Distempers as the Peccant Humour or other Noxious Matter happens primarily to invade or afterwards to be translated to this or that particular part of the Body And to the hitherto propos'd Notion 't is very agreeable that one Remedy by being capable victoriously to oppugn one or two of the principal kinds of Morbific Matter may be able to cure differing Diseases especially if it be endow'd with any variety of active Vertues And upon this ground I am apt to think that the Spirit of Humane Blood skilfully Prepar'd and Administred may be a good Remedy in no small number of Internal Affections of the Humane Body And indeed Volatile Alcalies in general have been in England so prosperously made use of in Physick since the year 1656 about which time I had the good fortune to contribute so to introduce them as to bring them by degrees into request by divulging easy ways of making them as well as by declaring their Vertues that I see small cause to doubt but that they will hereafter be more generally esteem'd and employ'd than yet they are and will little by little invite Physicians to prefer them to a great many vulgar Remedies that for want of better are yet in common use tho they clog or weaken the Patient and want divers advantageous Qualities that may be found in Volatile Alcalies For to apply what has been said to our present Subject as an instance that may serve for other Urinous Spirits the Spirit of Humane Blood is endowed with divers Qualities that are both Active and Medicinal For it mortifies Acid Salts which are the causes of several Diseases and if I mistake not of some that are not wont