defends it by calling Roman Priests Whoremasters but it is a Wonder Mr. Colbatch did not quote Hypocrates his Aphorisms for this Observation Page 28. He says Fifthly Overmuch Sleep and to explain how overmuch Sleep does Gouty People so much prejudice he tells us that his Worthy Friend Dr. Cole hath made it appear that the Nervous Fibres during Sleep are relaxed and receive a large quantity of Nutritious Juice the Superfluities of which are thrown off when awake but when we sleep too long so much is heaped up that Nature cannot throw off the Excrementitious Particles Page 30. This is the substance of what fills part of his 28th 29th 30th and most of the 31st Page only repeated in a different Form three or four times over I shall not here dispute what he inserts as Dr. Cole's Opinion but shall shew that granting it were true it would not be of any service to him for as it is remarkable in that Observation of Dr. Lowers that Transpiration is much more plentiful when we sleep than when we are awake and more particularly may be observed by any Ingenious Gentlemen that more of the substance of our Bodies is consumed by lying in Bed three Days than we can recover in six so it evidently from thence appears that Alkalies are not the cause of Distempers because it Alkalies were according to what Mr. Colbatch said a little before Sleeping much would cure the Distemper for he there would have that Juice that is carried off by Sweat to be Alkaly and Page 24. says moist Air does harm by hindring the Evacuation of that Alkaly but if that were true the more we sleep the less subject we should be to the Gout because more of that Alkaline Humour would be carried off by Insensible Transpiration and consequently we must be induced to believe that the Blood is made more dull and gross for want of Moisture and Alkalies to dilute it and it would be more reasonable to say that the reason why People are so sluggish after so much Sleep is because the Humours are more gross and thick and circulate through the parts with less ease so much alkalized Serum being carried off by Sweat in Sleep and the gross parts being left behind in which Acids abound But one may see that not only Alkalies turn Acid and Acids Alkalies to do him a kindness but when he hath a mind Transpiration being stoped promotes the Gout Page 24. But now in contradiction to that Sweating much hath the same effect so that his Alkaly is so mischievous that whether it be in the Body or not it hath the same Effects there Page 31. He says Sixthly Overmuch Watching and Fasting and Study and Sorrow and Care and much Labour occasions the Gout the Nerves and nervous Fibres being kept in a state of Laxity too long by being overcharged with slimy moist Particles Here he hath coupled no less than six words in a Gang with a whole Troop of and 's to link them together perhaps in Imitation of and Compliance with a late Act of Parliament in which it was ordered that not above six Horses should be linked together in Service upon the High Road but whether that was his reason or not I shall here take notice that it being allowed that the Fibres are overcharged with a slimy Moisture proves nothing to his purpose but against him for since I have already so plainly shewn that Acids are the cause of Coagulations and that Alkalies are not it must needs follow that the cause of that slimy Juice is acid and that Acids do cause Coagulations is further plain by applying of Vitriolick Acids to stop Bleeding which presently obstructs a small Orifice by coagulating the Blood Page 32. He says Seventhly Overmuch Rest and Ease do greatly contribute towards the producing this Distemper c. And then he says Eighthly Sudden Rest and exposing the Body to cold or moist Seasons And then Page 33. Ninthly A total bearing off of any accustomed Exercise But his Seventhly and Ninthly being both comprized under what he said Fifthly and what he says Eighthly but the same he said First these are to be carried to their proper Heads to receive the same Answer and I can see no reason why his Tenthly should not be comprized with the First since keeping the Feet too hot or too cold would not influence our Bodies much otherways than moist or dry Weather only a little more violently and he had no need to have proceeded so far as Eleventhly since what he said might be comprized under six Heads answerable to the six Non-naturals But I remember Page 24. the Devil turned Hydra and so he was resolved to give his Hydra as many Heads as he could tho they were all like one another and perhaps he did it to imitate Nature in the forming of that Creature But Eleventhly Since an odd Number is lucky let 's see how Fortunate he is with it Page 34. The stopping of any usual Evacuation as the Monthly Courses in Women and a Flux of the Hemorrhoids in Men. Poor Man Here according to his usual Failings and his laudable Custom of contradicting himself and mistaking his own meaning he is safe but hath the ill Fortune to mistake in another Method and judiciously takes the Cause for the Effect for the stopping of the Courses and Hemorrhoids is not the cause of the Gout but that vicid acid Juice that causes the Gout also causes the obstructions of Courses and Hemorrhoids for as long as the Blood is in a Natural State the Courses never are obstructed but when it is thickned by Acids it obstructs in those parts so that that vicid Matter which causes the Gout also precedes a stoppage of the Courses and causes both Having shewed you how he hath furnished his Hydra with eleven Heads he now comes to another and says Secondly That the Blood and Juices during the time of the Fit abound not with Acid but Alkalious ones I abominate Tautologies c. Truly there is great sign that he abominates Repetitions since this hath been repeated in almost every Page of his Book and I have so often shewed that these Distempers proceed from Acids that should I repeat what I have so often confuted it would be but unnecessary Repetition I shall therefore refer the Reader to what hath gone before Page 35. He says It will raise ones Admiration to see how we have groped in the dark for want of making Experiments I have often found the quantity of Alkaly that is obtained from the Blood of People labouring under a Fit of the Gout to exceed that obtainable from People in a state of Health Now supposing this were true and I only suppose it for he that hath told so many Untruths in his Novum Lumen Chirurgicum may very well be suspected any thing that he says still Mr. Colbatch can by no means leave off his groping in the Dark and shewing People that he 's got out of his way in
mentioned does afford a much greater Quantity than that of the Healthy Person But this I say proves that there is a great deal more Acids in the Blood of those Distempered People and does not at all prove that there is more Alkalies for the Blood of Healthful People hath as much Alkalies in it as distempered Blood as I have shewed in answer to his Introduction in his Treatise of the Gout and the difference of the Blood and Serum in respect of the Distemper is only this that the distempered Mass abounds more plentifully with Acids by which means it is more viscous and soapy and is subject to those Coagulations that healthful Peoples Blood is free from And this being already proved the reason why distempered Blood yields more of that Spirit than healthful Blood is very plain from that Observation I in another part of my Answer to that Book have laid down For I there observ'd common Distillers who draw Inflamable Spirits from Wort take notice that before it is sowre and degenerated into an acid Liquor it yields less Spirit than after it hath acquired that acidity those acid Particles being a more compact Subject for the Fire to work upon and as that Wort yields more Spirit the more it degenerates from its Sweetness to an acid State so the sweet Mass of Blood the more it is impregnated with those Acids that cause it to coagulate the more it yields of that Spirit the Volatile Parts of the Blood being made sharper by the Union of those more compact pointed Particles and also being more plentifully yoked together and kept from flying away by which means greater Quantities of that Alkaly is raised by the Fire and carried off by Distillation All that is contained further in favour of his Hypothesis from Pag. 24. to Pag. 29. is That the Fire produces no new Substances which were not existent in Bodies before and if any one will demonstrate such a thing without Fallacy he will own himself his humble Servant How far he will be my humble Servant I value not I would only desire him to be humble where he hath reason and then he would like an honest Man follow his Trade again for he cannot long make People believe that giving two or three Medicines without Reason or Judgment is cutting off Hydra's Heads or performing any such Exploits and if he does not draw in his Horns in a little time he may expect that Ingenious Gentlemen will be undeceiv'd and laugh at his Knight-Errantry but if he hath a mind to be my humble Servant I shall demonstrate it to him from his own Words that new Substances are produced which were not existent before not only by Fire but without it For Page 12. He says That Bodies of very different Natures may and do receive Nutrition and increase from one and the same Substance which in it self seems to be simple and homogeneous And this is what he had learned from Mr. Boyle and that not only the Honourable Mr. Boyle but all Philosophers of any Note have agreed That tho Fire cannot create a new Substance yet by Fire the Form of Matter may be so changed and modifyed anew as to produce a new Substance out of any Body which in respect of its Form is a new Body different from all others and not existing in that Body from whence it was drawn and I appeal to all those Gentlemen he hath so oft appeal'd to whether those Substances which he draws from Blood by analizing it be not different in colour and taste from Blood it self from whence it is drawn All that is further contained in what he says from Page 27. to Page 32. is That the Inferences he draws from the Serum of the Blood turning Syrop of Violets Green prove the Blood to abound with Alkalies and to shew that two or three besides himself have used the same Experiment to as little purpose as he hath done How far that Experiment pleads against him I have already sufficiently shewn in the beginning of his Treatise of the Gout so that there is no need I shou'd repeat it again so oft And as for what he says of Dr. Fran. Andre of Caen. and Swalve the same Answer I gave to him will be an Answer to them so that all the Service these two Doctors will do Mr. Colbatch is to shew that the Experiment he there laid down was none of his own he only having borrowed it from another Man as much mistaken as himself in this Point Page 34 35. He says That the Blood of sick People in all or most Distempers doth abound with such Particles more than that of those that are in a State of Health and if you take an equal proportion of the Serum of the Blood of a Healthy Person and that of a Person in a Fever Pleurisie c. and pour them into equal quantities of Syrop of Violets of the same Strength you will find that whereon the sick Person 's was poured will be much greener than the other and if you commit the Blood of a distempered and a healthful Person to Distillation the former will yield more Alkaly How distempered Blood comes to yield more Spirit I have already shewed viz. because there is more acid to inviscate and embody the Spirit and how in some Cases as the Gout c. the Serum of the Blood comes to turn Syrop of Violets greener notwithstanding the Distemper proceeds from Acids I shall here briefly explain and to make it more intelligible we are to consider what State the Mass of Blood of a distempered Person is in taken collectively and with respect to the whole and how it differs from healthful Blood and here we may remember that I observed before that the Essential Difference betwixt healthful Blood and distempered was that Viscidity observable in the whole Mass of Humors from whence it appeared that this Experiment had no power in trying the different degrees of its Viscidity but only shewed the difference betwixt the thin Serum which our Author says turns Syrop of Violets greener when distemper'd and as I there shewed of what little force his Experiment was except against himself I shall now shew that tho it turns Syrop of Violets greener than healthful Peoples Blood it is of no use to him for we are to observe that whereever there are fiery acid Salts in a State of Fluidity in the Blood these meeting with the Spirits at the Extremities of the Vessels where the Blood and Spirits are mixed together cause a preternatural Ferment by which means the Volatile and most Spirituous parts are put into a more brisk and violent motion than what is consistent with the Natural Temper of the Blood and thus accidentally being put into motion too much exagitate the Mass of Blood by which means it's volatile parts are dissolved and as the Learned Dr. Willis expresses it carried forth into a State of Fluidity or Exaltation the distempered Matter being partly or wholly thrown
give against his Book and therefore I shall give him a Philosophical One and shall leave him to consider whether there be fire in a green and growing Tree and if it be how comes it not to shew it self when we are certain most of it's Substance may be turned into Fire Page 31 He says I do still affirm that Fevers in general do proceed from a Constipation of the Emunctories And this Affirmation is very little to his purpose for since he elsewhere says that all the Excrements of our Bodies are Alkalies Alkalies cannot hinder their Evacuations but only Acids which by contracting the Pores of those Emunctories and withal thickning the Serum make it unfit to be carried off Page 34 He says By the way I beg of you that you will not rank the Rad. Serpentariae with the Pulv. è chelis and Spr. CC. for the Rad. Serpentariae belongs to me Truly Mr. Colbatch does well to claim his Priviledges but there is no other Reason why it should not be classed with Pulv. è chelis but this that it corrects Acids abundantly more powerfully and if that which evidently tastes Bitter and destroys Acids can be an Acid then Acid is Bitter and Black is White but till Mr. Colbatch can prove that Rad. Serpentariae will be no Acid. Page 35 He says I do boldly assert that in no Fever that ever I have yet met with let them be either Benign or Malign have I ever yet observed that the Patient hath been in the least Sensible of any Acidity in the Stomach or Mouth But notwithstanding Acidity is not perceivable in the Mouth yet it is probable and true that Acidity is the occasion of the foulness perceived there by making it too thick and clammy to go off by other proper Passages and Mr. Colbatch so far is Block-head-like in the Right of it for sometimes they have a clammy bitter Taste in their Mouths but yet according to his own Confessions Acids are the Cause of that Bitter Taste for he says Acids are Bitter Namely Rad. Serpentariae Again if Acids are Bitter perhaps he will say Choler is an Acid and no doubt but if it were for his purpose he would say so had he not elsewhere called it an Alkaly But that it may be more evident that Acidity is the Cause of all those ill Tastes which Feverish People have we are to remember that he often asserts that all the Excrements of our Body are Alkalies and if so Acidity is the Cause of those ill Tastes in the Mouth because they alone according to the Doctrin of Acids and Alkalies can hinder these Alkalies from going off by their proper Emunctories which I have sufficiently proved before and therefore need not say any more here Page 41. First He says The Life of Man is Flame c. And Page 42 he asks If Fire is not actually existent in Animal Bodies how is it possible it should be extracted from them As for the first of these I have Answered it sufficiently in my Treatise of the Heat of the Blood and therefore I shall refer the Reader to that for an Answer it being not necessary to transcribe all that I have there said in Answer to Dr. Willis his Opinion All that he further says from Page 42 to 54 is to assert that there is Flame in the Blood and that there is no Fermentation But it being only Dr. Willis his Opinion I shall also refer the Reader for an Answer there and I wonder Mr. Colbatch did not think fit to Vindicate Dr. Willis from those Objections but the Reason I believe is because he could not for when I was lately in London he told me he had writ something to this purpose and when I asked whether he had answered my Book he told me he did not love to mix his Notions with other Men's and that he would not read my Book till his was printed which I conceive was only an Excuse because at that time he had writ most of this Book against Tuthill and was willing to print it against him tho' at the same time he knew my Book contained a Confutation of it all that he says coming to no more than that the Blood grows hot by Accension and not by Fermentation the former of which is sufficiently confuted in my Answer to Dr. Willis and tho' I have asserted that the Blood grows hot by Fermentation yet any one that reads my Book and compares it with what he says will see that I don't mean by Fermentation such a Fermentation as he here denies but only such a Degree of Motion of the Minute Particles of Matter as are able to cause a Sensation of Heat upon our Sensory Page 44. To prove that Heat is not produced after the Cartesian Hypothesis He says I can assure you I know several Fluids the more brisk they are moved the colder they are as for Instance a River is always colder in that Place where there is a quick Current than where the Water stands still The Air is always more or less cold according as the Motion of it is greater or lesser and I can assure you I have been almost starved when forced to Travel in the high Winds in the Winter time at which Season the Air is most full of Nitrous Particles And again Page 50 He says If the progressive Motion from the Heart to the Extremities gives it it's Heat by the same Reason I think the Water which runs from our Cocks should be warm also Now from hence we way easily gather what an extraordinary Philosopher Mr. Colbatch is who attributes the Heat or Cold of Fluids to a collective Motion of a whole Mass instead of the Particles which constitute that Mass for he says a River is Coldest where the Current is greatest and to this I Answer that I having given the Reason of Heat in my Treatise of the Reason of the Heat of the Blood I need not repeat it again but least Mr. Colbatch when he finds it there cannot apply it I shall tell him that the Reason why Wind and Water tempestuously moved cause Cold is because those Parts are more forcibly driven upon the Sensory and how they cause a Cold Sensation there is plain from what I have said concerning the Vse of the Lungs in admitting Nitre into the Blood where I have asserted that tho' Nitre be in a gentle Motion it self when Fluid in the Air yet it is Naturally inclinable to rest and disposes those Humors to a rest with which it is mixed for which reason Water freezes in the Winter and tho' the Water and Air in which this Nitre swims be in Motion yet that is not such a Motion as causes Heat for a Sensation of Heat depends on Matter in such a degree of Motion as is a little above Nature which preternaturally affecting us causes Heat and that Motion is not a Motion of a whole Mass collectively but a swift intestin Motion of the Parts of that Matter
the Distemper To this though what I said in the last Paragraph is a sufficient Answer I shall add that though the Blood should sooner than he can suppose it run through that Part yet the Substance he calls Alkaly when it is once sufficiently impregnated could cause no Alteration in the Acidity of it besides though it had it's full Force active and vigorous so much as makes up the Nodes would no more prevent the Acidity of the Blood than a Grain of Alkaly would prevent a Hogshead of Drink from growing stale Moreover so little Blood could be laid down at once in those Parts that the whole Mass being depraved we must conclude that that little Blood as soon as it was mixed with the Maâ—â— of Blood again would be again depraved and tainted all these Objections I say would occur if we would suppose what he says to be true concerning the Blood circulating through those Parts but he should take notice that the Blood Vessels have no Communication with those Nodes they being as it it were Matter extravasated and out of the way of Circulation but one hath always more Trouble to confute one Blockhead that three ingenuous Men I don't mean convince one for that is a thing not to be expected but the Reason why it is so difficult to confute such a one is because Fools make such Blunders that have neither Sense nor Meaning and are so widely absurd that one must run out of Method and Order to trace them Pag. 59. He says It may not be amiss to take Notice that few People are troubled with the Gout but those who drink large quantities of Wine or some other generous Liquors abounding with Vinous Spirits so that the Blood and other Juices being impregnated with the said Vinous Spirits these Spirits meeting with the Volatile Alkalious Salt of which even the Blood of sound People is never destitute by means of which Salt the Vinous Spirit is Coagulated c. What is the Reason that drinking of Wine is so hurtful I shall not here explain but shall only shew that he is so far from explaining it that he confutes himself and that he is at a loss how to make even trifling Explanations of it And first I ask him if it be caused by drinking of much Wine and that being Coagulated by the Alkalies in the Blood why does not those Alkalies also Coagulate his Acids that he would cure it by and how comes it to pass that they sooner Coagulate Spirituous Acids than more crude ones But this Objection he did not foresee and truly no body can blame a Man to be thus bold that 's so short sighted and inapprehensive of Danger but certainly if an Alkaly in the Blood would cause so Spirituous an Acid as Wine to Coagulate it would much sooner Coagulate a more crude one and consequently his Medicine must do more harm than Wine so that here I leave him to condemn himself A second Question I ask him is whether it is not impossible to cure this Distemper by Acids if Acids cause the Alkalies in the Blood to Coagulate to which the true Answer is that it is impossible for as long as the Blood is so impregnated according to him all the Acids we can take must be Coagulated so that they would increase Coagulations and not cure them But not to ask a Man any more Questions who does not understand common Reason I shall prove from what he says and also from Reason that Acids cause this Distemper and first from what he says it is plain for if he says upon taking of Acids the Alkalies Coagulate them it implies there was no Coagulation in the Blood before those Acids were taken now if our Blood when so full of Alkalies can be without Coagulation and upon the taking of Acids it presently thickens it must needs follow that those Acids cause this Distemper there being no Coagulation before those were taken so that the Acid Coagulates the Alkalizated Blood and not the Alkaly the Acids for that is said to be the cause of a Distemper or a Coagulation whose Mixture with the Blood produces such a Distemper and in whose Absence there is no such Effect so that here he is judged by his own Words For as a Man's head is not the cause of it's being cut off till the Instrument is applyed that separates it from his Body and when Water is thrown in the Fire the Water is properly said to extinguish it so Acids taken into the Body cause the Coagulation and not those Humors that are vitiated by the mixture of it and these Instances I have given that it may be plainer to People that understand not Physick I mean those Gentlemen he so oft makes his Appeal to Besides Acids being of a cold Nature and cool Bodies Naturally Coagulating those Bodies that are subject to Coagulation and it being the Nature of Alkalies to take off Coagulations and to prevent them it would be absurd to say that they cause such Effects as are quite different from their Nature And That it is the Nature of Acids to Coagulate is not only plain from what he hath said but it is also manifest that Phlegmatick Constitutions are injured and that Indisposition increased by them whereas by Alkalies that Phlegm is attenuated and made fit to be carryed off The next Page he would suppose that the Coagulations in the Stone proceed from Alkalious Particles Coagulating Acids but it appearing from-what I have already said that Alkalies are not and that Acids are the Causes of such Effects I need not say any more to this the same being an Answer to both I shall only here take Notice of the Strain and Humour of our Philosopher who when he found it would be necessary for his purpose does not only change the Names of things but also calls those Humours that are Passive Active and on the contrary CHAP. V. Of Rheumatisms THe next Distemper that he gives us an Instance of his weakness in is A Rheumatism where Pag. 74. he says Having by the Fire Analized the Blood of Rheumatic Persons I have found it to abound more with Alkalious Particles than that of sound People But as I said before the Analized Blood is not sufficient to determine what Blood was before it was Analized but if by mixing those Substances together which he draws from Blood by Analizing it they will make just such a Composition as Blood then I will believe he takes the right Method to discover the Causes of Distempers but if they will not then it is evident that the Fire modifies the Parts of the Blood anew and rather destroys than discovers it's Principles Pag. 75 and the 76. he would suggest Acids are not the Cause of the Bloods Viscocity and says those that affirm that they are don't prove it And I say neither does he prove that Acids are not But it appearing from what I have said the Chapter before that Acids cause Viscocity there is
and that the Sick or Healthful Person must be let Bood at an equal space of time viz. 5 or 6 hours after a moderate Meal Now to any Ingenious Gentleman it appearing thus by observing Nature that the Gouty Blood differs from Healthful thus by such Viscidity of the Blood and some white Coagulated Matter which swims upon it we must consider what is the Cause of that Viscidity and then we know what is the Cause of the Distemper The Cause then of this Viscidity is either Acid or Alkaly if it were Alkaly then the whole Serum of the Blood would be Viscid like that white Viscid Matter that sticks to the Blood because it appears the whole Serum abounds with Alkalies by mixing it with Syrup of Violets so that here his own Experiment confutes himself but that the Cause of that Viscidity is Acid is plain because drinking much Wine which is Acid or any thing which causes Acidities in the Stomach brings a Fit of the Gout on sooner and more violent and any Gentleman may be further satisfied that Acids are the Cause of Coagulated Serum because all Acids curdle and thicken Milk which is much of the same Nature with Chyle For a further Confirmation that this Viscidity proceeds from Acids I might here bring all those Arguments I used in Answer to what he said of the Gout in his Book of Alkalies and Acids but what he said there I have already Answered `and I have here shewed that he hath alledged this Experiment against himself and therefore I need not repeat what the Reader may easily turn to before From what I have said here it appears that the Result is this that in a Natural State the Blood abounds with Alkalies that is that it hath a great deal of Alkaly and but a little Acid so as to make it moderately tender and that in a Distempered State it also abounds with Alkalies but hath too much Acid mixed with it so as to make it preternaturally Viscid from what I have said it also appears that the Experiment he has alledged is only in reference to the thin Serum and makes no Proof of that Viscid Matter which is the Cause of the Distemper and in both Natural and Preter-natural Blood it only proves that there is no Cause of this Distemper perceivable in the Serum because it abounds with Alkalies and consequently Alkalies cannot cause the Distemper because they cannot cause Coagulation the Serum of the Blood being full of Alkalies in a Healthful State so that the Conclusion from the whole is that Acids abounding too much cause Coagulations and consequently thicken that Matter which is the Cause of the Gout So that tho' there is more Alkaly than Acid in Gouty Blood and in Respect of the Acid the Alkaly abounds yet since Alkaly in a Healthful Body does not cause the Gout but it is the superabundant Acid by Coagulating that Serum and Blood which causes those ill Effects in the Gout and because there is more Acid in Gouty than Healthful Blood the former in Respect of the latter abounds with Acids and the Gout consequently must proceed from too much Acid which causes those Coagulations Now from hence it appearing that his Experiment is not only invalid to his purpose but very strong against it and that he hath drawn false Conclusions from it and that too by an Observation equally as easy as the Experiment I shall proceed to take Notice how upon this fair Demonstration of his Ignorance he boldly values himself and not only so but imperiously and with Contempt rails at the whole Learned World as if he alone had gained the Victory when alas It is he alone that gropes so miserably in the Dark And what Usage must this Man deserve Who upon Grounds so slight tho' true and much more since they are false takes occasion to huff the whole World and to tell them no Body is in the Right but himself But that I may not pass too severe a Sentence upon him I shall take notice how he hath condemned the World without Grounds and then sure it cannot be thought unreasonable that he should have as severe a Sentence who hath given such just Reasons for it Page the 3. He says Every Gentleman is able to Reason thus with himself my Physician tells me my Blood abounds with Acids and upon that score gives me Alkalies to Mortify and Correct those Acids in my Blood But if my Physician should be mistaken and instead of Acids my Blood abounds with Alkalious Particles his giving me Alkalies must increase the Matter of my Distemper c. therefore since I have so fair an opportunity put into my Hands and by so easie an Experiment am capable of being Judge my self what Particles my Blood abounds with my own Eyes shall be the Judge whether Acids or Alkalies are to be blamed if the Blood abounds with Acids he ought to be kicked out of the Common-Wealth for endeavouring to impose upon Mankind This is the Sentence he thinks good enough for himself if it could be proved that he was mistaken I having therefore proved that he is in an Error may venter to enlarge a little and say he does not only deserve to be kicked out of a Common-Wealth but out of all Ingenious Mens Company and this Paragraph can no otherwise be answered than thus Every Gentleman is able to Reason with himself Mr. John Colbatch tells me the Cause of my Distemper is Alkalies and upon that score gives me Acids to Mortify and Correct those Alkalies in the Blood But if Mr. John Colbatch should be mistaken and instead of Alkalies the Cause of my Distemper should be Acids his giving me Acids must increase the Matter of my Distemper therefore I have so fair an Opportunity given me to see the Insufficiency of this Experiment by an easie Observation am capable of being a Judge my self and my own Eyes shall be the Judges whether Acids be not the Cause of my Distemper and truly it so plainly appears that Mr. John Colbatch is mistaken and that my Distemper proceeds from Acids that Mr. John Colbatch deserves to be kicked out of the Common-Wealth for endeavouring to impose upon Mankind Page 4. He says He hopes from Gentlemen he shall have Justice tho' Physicians have endeavoured to expose him As for Physicians they surely have Reason to expose him for a vain Pretender since he hath given such pregnant Proof of it and as for Gentlemen I have made it plain enough to them by an Observation as easie as they can wish that he hath no worse Usage than he really deserves and then what he pronounces is his own Merit And now the Reason is plain why Physicians have endeavoured to expose him to wit because he hath endevoured to expose Mankind when himself alone deserves it Pag. the 6th He goes on to value himself upon this Experiment and says an Ounce or two of Blood is to be spared in any Case and pray let People
see with what Reason Alkalies have been hitherto given in Small Pox Rheumatism c. It will plainly appear by this Experiment that the Blood of such Persons abounds with Alkalies and if so why should we croud in more Alkalies unless it were to prolong the Distemper or to encrease the Number of Fees All that I need to say to this is since I have manifestly made it appear that Acid is the Cause of those Distempers and that the Serum of healthful Peoples Blood will turn Syrop of Violets green and that the only observable Difference betwixt Distempered Blood and Healthfull Blood is that the Distempered Blood as well as some Part of the Serum is Viscid and that Viscidity proceeds from Acids and since an Ounce or two of Blood is so easily spared in those Cases Pray let People see with what great Reason Alkalies have been given and with what danger Acids are given for in his Chapter of the Gout I have shewed that since the Blood in a Natural state abounds with Alkalies even what he confesses about Drinking of white Wine which is an Acid proves that the more Acids we take the more that Alkalious Serum will be coagulated and consequently the Distemper encreased and it plainly appears by the Experiment he alledges and the Observation I have laid down to satisfy Ingenious Gentlemen that Acid is the Cause of Distempers and since it is so plain why should Mr. Colbatch croud in more Acids unless it were to prolong the Distemper to increase the Number of Fees He goes on People must long since have known the Truth of this Hypothesis or they must not if they have not known it it is plain they have groped in the Dark and they have cured Diseases with as much Certainty as a Blind Man can catch a Hare if they have known it before then the giving of Alkalies at the rate that hath been done is a plain Argument against them that they have not acted like honest Men but I dare acquit them from this Charge I do believe they have sworn in Verbo Magistri Wonderful what close arguing and what sensible Expressions of a blind Man and groping in the Dark this groping in the Dark is such a familiar Expression with him that one would think he were used to nothing else and the Absurdities his whose Books are made up of prove he is the only Blind Man in the Proverb or hath not Acted like an honest Man but tho' he were not an honest Man he is a mighty Piece of a Scholar and hath put in two Latin words here In verbo Magistri to shew that either he did not go to School long enough or hath forgot what he learnt there for that Piece of a Verse in Juvenal that he hath catched by groping in the Dark is not in verbo Magistri but in verba Magistri and indeed the Sence of in verba Magistri is so much different from in verbo Magistri that it is plain he was groping in the Dark most miserably when he wrote it for first it shews he knew not what he wrote or secondly that he did not understand it for what greater Mark of his Ignorance than instead of saying they were sworn to maintain the Words of their Master he says they were Sworn in maintaining the Words of their Master as if to defend the Words of their Master were to take an Oath He says further And because a few Book Learned Gentlemen have Dream't that the Bloods abounding with Acids hath been the Cause of Diseases therefore right or wrong it must be so tho' it be contrary to the most obvious and plain Experiments What a Block-head is this to tell all Learned and Ingenious Men they have Dream't what hath been confirmed and certified by all the Experience of learned Practioners in Physick but he would have those Gentlemen that he writes thus plain for to think that is only because Physicians are his Enemies but I ask those Ingenious Gentlemen that have been so imposed upon whether they think Men that writ their Observations 30 or 40 years ago and ever since could write what they did in opposition to him before he made his Pretenees and tho' all Physicians now were his Enemies those were not so that I would have Gentlemen consider that Physicians now in Opposition to him only confirm by daily Experience what was the Universal Observation of all Learned Men before his time and as for his most obvious Experiment I have shewed that it does him no Service at all but is against him so that we have Reason to think he alone has Dream't being in the Dark for want of Book Learning He goes on When I appeal to the Analizing of the Blood by the Fire my Appeal is then made to Physicians only and this I have already done but they have refused to do me Justice As to his Appeal to Physicians I have where he hath made it sufficiently answered it and proved that his Analizing the Blood as he calls it will do him little Service but that Physicians may do him no Injustice I shall refer Ingenious Gentlemen to a Book of the most famous and ingenious Mr. R. Boyle called his Sceptical Chymist which was writ before his and which will satisfy them that the Blood is turned into Substances very much different from any thing observable in the Blood by Chymical Analize and that Author who had such good Designs in all his Writings cannot be called his Enemy nor Truths having writ before him Page the 6th He says Now since Justice has been refused me by my Brethren they cannot be angry with me for making my Appeal to those whose Interest it is to do Justice to me and encourage me in my Honest Undertakings I really don 't see any Reason his Brethren have to envy him nor to be angry with him but whom does he call his Brethren The Apothecaries Physicians are not to be ranked with Mr. Colbatch yet except those as Ignorant as himself But as for those Gentlemen who value the World to come above this and the Happiness of a better Life above Mortality their Interest it undoubtedly is to encourage him by all means I shall not envy their Happiness in another World but may the Number of the Elect be soon accomplished but those that have a mind to live deserve to give him no other Encouragement but what Substantial Shoo-leather will according to his own Sentence Page the Fourth in kicking him out of the Common-Wealth In the same Page he says None can blame him for writing in that warm Manner he hath done because he hath not reserved one Secret to himself But for good Reason because there is not one thing worth Reserving but he is more to be blamed for his warm Writing except he had made some Secret known that would have shewn he had Reason sawcily to contradict all Mankind But in the latter End of his Page he complains He hath been too much
with most noble Acids lie silent in the Grave Page the 19th He says The Gout may in general be defined to be a Pain of the Joints and Parts adjacent occasioned from an extravasated Alkaline Humour which irritates the Membranes of the Joints and Parts adjacent A very Learned Definition of the Gout How can it properly be called a Pain of the Joints when it is an Irritation only of the Membranes of the Joints except a Membrane were a Joint but he might as well call an Acron an Axle Tree But the Gout he says is nothing but a Pain he forgets how the Parts adjacent are swelled and that an Obstruction accompanyes it But no wonder when such a short sighted Man turns Definition maker that his Definitions are so defective But further He says The Pain is occasioned from an extravasated Alkaline Humour which irritates the Membranes of the Joints But truly he is to be excused he only contradicts himself either he knows not how or he forgets himself for the Page before he said He laid it down as a positive Assertion that all Pain is caused by a Stagnation of the Juices which causeth a Compression of the Membranes But supposing it were as he here says an Irritation of the Membranes and the first Account he gave were false yet an Alkalizated Humor such as the Serum of the Blood would be incapable of causing Pain if it were not Healthful People would never be without Pain but here I will appeal to those Ingenious Gentlemen that he hath so often made his Appeal to and shall instance another easie Observation whereby they may be satisfied that an Acid Juice is capable of causing very violent Pains whereas Alkalizated Humours are not at all subject to irritate the Membranes and to this end let them take a little Vinegar and wash but a cut Finger with it so that the sensible Membranes may be irritated by it and it will cause a most violent Heat and Pain yet it tastes cool on the Tongue from whence we may gather that an Acid sharp Humour when extravased so as to fall upon the sensible Membranes will cause a violent Heat and Pain in the Gout this is a very plain and obvious Experiment and any Body may be assured of the Truth of it very easily Now as this proves that Acids will cause Pain and Heat and consequently inflame so if those ingenious Gentlemen will but take a little Vinegar and put an Alkaly into it as Chalk or Crabs-Eyes and put that Alkalizated Vinegar upon a cut Finger they will find that it will not cause much Pain but they must be sure to put none of the Powder upon the Wound along with it and this shews not only that an Alkalizated Humour will cause less Pain than an Acid but also that Alkalies will abate the pain of the Gout for if Alkalies take ocff the sharpness of Vinegar why will they not from those Humours that corrode the Membrances in the Gout And here I would desire ingenious Gentlemen to taste Vinegar and then that into which they put Chalk and they will plainly perceive the good Effects of Alkalies in correcting sharp and irritating Humours Page the 20th He says Now Acids being the only things that hinder Fermentations and prevent Fevers it is impossible they should be in the Fault but Alkalies exciting Fermentations and by consequence causing Fevers they are necessarily here to be blamed and were timely Care taken to correct the Luxuriant Alkalious Particles I am sure it would be no difficult Matter to prevent a Fit But what is curing these Luxuriant Particles in Fevers to the Gout he might as well say if Dogs were kept from pulling the Hedges in Pieces on the High-Way there would not be such Wars in the World nor Countries spoiled and plundered for Fevers and Gout ingenious Gentlemen know are two different things and he might as rationally conclude that Killing a Mouse would Kill a Man as that curing a Fever would prevent the Gout The remaining Part of the 20 Page the 21 22 and Part of the 23 are taken up with a Description of the Manner of this Distemper's Invasion transcribed from Dr. Sydenham amongst which some simple Sentences of his own are interspersed which already have been sufficiently answered In the latter Part of that Page He says There are several Things occur in order to this Distemper But what he calls Things he should have called accessory Causes in the delivering of which I shall proceed to observe his Dexterity and then make Remarks upon the whole collectively Page the 24. the first of the Things as he calls them is Too moist a State of Air which hinders free Transpiration by which Means the Excrementitious Alkaline Particles which should be thrown out by the Cutaneous Pores are retained and the Quantity of Excrementitious Alkaly which is thrown out that way those Passages being free is not inconsiderable which Particles being retained in the Blood do greatly contribute towards the Raising of this Unruly Devil which the wisest of Physicians hitherto have not been able to lay which hath been the occasion of that Saying Solvere Nodosam nescit Medicina Podagram But here I must tell him that if the Moistness of the Air only produced such ill Consequences by preventing Transpiration all People would be equally prejudiced by it and we should as soon see poor People troubled with it who labour continually in moist fenny Countries and how dangerous would it be for poor Country Men to encompass their Ground with Ditches if the Dampness and Moisture that affects their Bodies there should throw them into the Gout by stopping Transpiration and hindring Nature from throwing off Excrementitious Alkaline Particles but were stopping Transpiration all the Prejudice moist Air could do that would be easily helped another way for as it is observed by the Famous Dr. Lower that which supplies Transpiration in Bed runs off by Urin when we are out of Bed so although in moist Weather Transpiration should be stopped more then in dry Weather it would do them no harm because the less runs off by Transpiration the more does by Urine and à converso But the Reason why moist Air is so prejudicial is because the Circumference of our Body is so Relaxed by that Moisture as to leave the Pores open which by admitting too much Niter into the Mass of Blood the Natural Heat of our Bodies being depressed Crudities are bred in the second Concoction as the Antients called it which External Accessary Cause concurring with a Natural Predisposition and the Acid Particles of the Air joyned with those Predisposed Humours cause such Coagulations as the Obstructions in the Parts affected in this Distemper are accompanied with so that besides the Moisture of the Air there is a Natural inclination and predisposition in our Bodies which makes that Moister Air prejudicial to Gouty People the Acid Coagulating their Blood and disposing them to Crudities and not because insensible
off into some Part or the Habit of the Body but the coagulated distempered Matter is not only thrown off by this preternatural Ferment seperating it from the purer Mass and leaving it in these Parts but the Serum of the Blood is also by that means more plentifully impregnated with those Spirituous Particles which turn Syrop of Violets green From whence it appears that tho the Viscidity which causes the coagulated Serum to obstruct proceeds from Acids yet the volatile parts of the Blood being thus accidentally exalted by fermenting with more Spirituous Acids accidentally cause the Serum of the Blood of such Persons to turn Syrop of Violets greener than that of healthful People does But perhaps Mr. Colbatch may have it put into his Head That if the Cause of the Distemper should proceed from Acids the Alkalies thus exalted would correct those Acids and cure the Distemper without Medicines To this I should answer that it would and does so which is the reason so many of those Distempers go off without the Assistance of Physick that acid coagulated Humour being at the last digested and by destroying the Acids reduced to a State of Tenuity and as in a Pleurisie c. the Mass of Blood is apparently more clammy than healthful Blood so it is observed that when that acid that causes it thus to coagulate is conquered it again becomes thin and tho alkalious yet healthful that Viscidity being taken off which caused the Distemper as in the Gout Rheumatism c. But if the quantity of acid be so much that the volatile Parts of the Blood thus exalted cannot over-power it then that is never conquered without the assistance of Medicines which correct and carry off the Acidities of the Blood But to proceed Page 36. He says If there were not a Principle of Death within us how is it possible for a Man one Hour to be in a good State of Health and the very next to be expiring What Mr. Colbatch means by a Principle of Death no Body on this side the Grave can well tell for amongst all the Philosophy I have yet read I never heard of such a Principle but Poor Man he writes like one that groped in the Dark and since all along throughout his Books he hath been in it we must not think strange that he is so now From Page 37 to Page 42 He makes a long Speech in which all that is contained is That all the Alkalies in the Blood are Excrement and are in the way to be carried off but being hindred by Obstructions or by taking cold and so preventing these Excrements from being carried off What Excrements are Alkalies according to his Notions and what are not or whether any are I shall not now determine but granting that they all were Alkalies I shall shew that those Distempers are caused by Acids for we must take notice that as long as this alkalizated Serum is carried off so long our Bodies are healthful and free from Distempers but as soon as this Alkaly is hindred from going off then our Bodies are distempered from whence it appears that whatever hinders that Alkaly from going off is the Cause of those Distempers which he says are either Obstructions or taking Cold. As to the first viz. Obstructions Whatever causes Obstructions must hinder the Excrements from going off that way and that Alkalies cannot cause those Obstructions is plain because all that goes off that way in a Natural State according to him is Alkaly and yet does not obstruct so that all Substances if what he says were true being either Alkalies or Acids from the first to the last it appears that Acids must cause those Obstructions which cause the Distemper and that Acids will thicken and coagulate is plain from his own Words and also because taking Cold occasions such Obstructions as prevent the Alkaly from going off which taking Cold can no otherwise do but by the Acid Nitre of the Air coagulating and obstructing those Humours So that granting the Excrements to be Alkalies all Distempers must proceed from Acids coagulating those Alkalies And Mr. John Colbatch hath Vindicated his Hypothesis prettily here we may see what a penetrating Judgment he has and what vast short Foresight And is not this a fit Man to have Peoples Lives intrusted in his Hands How must he give Medicines with any certainty as to the Event who speaks thus without understanding the Consequence of his Words Page 42. He says All Alkalies that I know off will presently cause Rottenness and Putrefaction in Animal Substances as may be seen in making of Glovers Leather an Instance of which I have given in my Tract of the Gout c. This truly is very ingeniously done who would ever have thought he could have kept any thing in his Head so long who throughout his Book hath been so forgetful but to speak the Truth he hath reason to remember his Philosophical Companion who furnish'd him with such a neat Phrase as through-stitch in the beginning of his Book and communicated to him also that Wonderful Observation of the Skins of Animals but why will all Alkalies presently cause Rottenness and we who are so full of Alkalies live a great many Years and are no more Rotten than himself But in his Preface to the Gout he hath observed that when we Die our Flesh presently rots but what advantage is that to him It only shews that in a Natural State our Bodies ought to have more Alkalies in them than Acids and consequently if Alkalies Naturally abound in our Bodies Acids must be most prejudicial which are quite contrary to the Natural Constitution of our Blood From Page 43 to Page 64 all he says being an Attempt to prove that Life is a Flame and also what supplies it I having already in a late Treatise Of the Heat of the Blood and of the Use of the Lungs made it appear in Answer to Dr. Willis his Opinion of which his seems to be but scraps that there is no such Thing as Flame in the Blood I shall not here repeat that but refer him and the Reader to that Book for an Answer and shall here proceed to consider what he further asserts in favour of Acids all that is contained in those Pages being already answered From Page 64 to Page 89 his Book is filled up with nothing but an Answer to some Objections raised by Mr. Tuthil but as there is nothing Material either in the Objections or the Answers to them they being inconsiderable and simple I shall pass them by and leave them two like Children to squabble it out since in such Nonsense it is no great matter which overcomes Page 90 Mr. Colbatch says But supposing Acids to be the most proper Medicines in the World to ease Pain as I believe they are yet it is not improbable but upon giving a small Quantity of Acids in such Cases where there is a large Quantity of Alkaly lodged up in any Part so as to
Surfeits proceed from something that lyes upon the Stomack and affects it Preternaturally we have Reason to believe and that his Fever and Inflammation proceeded from those hot Liquors he had Drank and that the Obstructions of Pleura was caused by that Mutton which he eat for his Stomach being surfeited with Drink and unfit to digest what he eat and those Crudities being carried along with those Liquors into the Capillary Vessels of the Pleura would undoubtedly be subject to Obstruct there and were together with the Liquors he drank the Cause of his Distemper and as for his Nausea it is a common Symptom after a Surfeit Thus I have briefly taken a view of the cause of this Distemper and shall now with all the Brevity the Case will admit of proceed to consider whether of them took the true Method to remove these Symptoms and for that end I shall take a View of the Medicines prescribed by each And First I shall shew how Rationally and Judiciously Dr. Fry ordered Mr. Turner which Method had it been continued might undoubtedly have saved his Life The Medicines prescribed by Dr. Fry were according to Mr. Colbatch his Account as follow For Mr. Turner August 31. 1697. â„ž Ol. sem lin rec sine igne extract lib. semis â„ž Syr. Balsam Tolut unc quatuor What more Rational could any Physician have prescribed than by Balsmatick Medicines to heal the Stomach and Lungs and to guard them from the sharpness of those Liquors but Mr. Colbatch was afraid the Oyl would increase the Nausea at the Stomach but what a groundless Fear was that for nothing is more common than for common Drunkards after a Surfeit to drink great Quantities of Oyl to heal their Stomachs and that Balsamicks are proper when the Lungs are so affected is found by Experience nothing being more common than to take Balsams for to heal the Lungs and to correct those humours that inflame them so that so far Dr. Fry proceeded according to Reason and Experience the next Prescriptions were â„ž Antimon Diaphoret Corall Rub. pp. Margarit pp ana Drach duas m. f. pulv in Chart. 12. aeq reponend â„ž Aq. Hyssop cichorei an unc sex Limacum Mag. Lumbricor Mag. an Unc. unam sem Cinnam hord Unc. unam syr Capill ven Violar an Drach sex m. f. Julap â„ž Emp. de Cicut cum Ammon uncias duas â„ž Sem. Cum. Pulv. Unc. sem But for what end Mr. Colbatch hath set down those Medicines is plain viz. for the honour and credit of Dr. Fry for considering the cause of Mr. Turner's Distemper viz. that it proceeded from hot Liquors inflaming his Lungs and crude raw Chyle obstructing his Pleura what more Rational Method could be taken than by Coral and Pearl prepared to attenuate and dissolve that crude indigested Matter which obstructed the Pleura and at the same time by Diaphoretick Antimony to carry off those hot Liquors by a moderate Sweat for as long as they remained in the Mass of Blood the Inflammation could never be taken off the Cause remaining in it But Dr. Fry not only prudently gave these Medicines to attenuate the Coagulated Matter and to carry those hot Liquors out off the Mass of Blood by a moderate Sweat but at the same time gave the aforementioned Balsamicks to heal the Lungs in the mean time and to abate the Inflammation of the Pleura And that those might be the more serviceable to Mr. Turner Dr. Fry along with the Powder gave also the Julep which is made up of extraordinary good Pectoral Medicines The Hysop and Succory Water together with the Syrup contributing to heal his Stomach and Lungs and the Aq. Limac. and Lumbricor Mag. help to dissolve that Matter which caused his Pain and also to carry off Part of his Distemper if possibly it might by Urin and again that nothing might be wanting that could relieve Mr. Turner Dr. Fry also used outward Applications applying Empl. de Cicut cum Ammon to dissolve that Matter that obstructed the Pleura that it might be carried off with less difficulty And now what Fault can be found with this since there was all the Reason that can be expected to make one hope for Success from Good Medicines judiciously prescribed And what were the Effects Mr. Colbatch himself truly confesses when he came to him the Pain in his side was gone and that he sweat prodigiously with a shortness of Breath little Reason then had they to discharge Dr. Fry and Mr. Turner deservedly fell a Victim to Ignorance and Mr. Colbatch for had he been continued under the Care of Dr. Fry undoubtedly he was in a fair way of Recovery for the Pain in his side being taken away was a good sign that Dr. Fry's outward Application together with the Medicines he gave inwardly had all the success could be hoped for and now all that was to be done was to carry off those hot Liquors that he had drunk which were discharged by Sweat and had Dr. Fry been there who had Judgment and Skill to manage him without Question after that Sweat the Matter of his Distemper being carried off his Peripneumony with his shortness of Breath would have gone off and as for his Pulse it would have easily been raised by a moderate Cordial But for as much as I can guess by the Account that Mr. Colbatch himself gives all the Reason that Dr. Fry was discharged was because Mr. Turner was so weak with Sweating but that was a Reason too small to part with a Physician that had his Expectation so far in the removing of his Pleurisy For what is more common than for an Healthful Person if he takes a Sweat to almost faint under it if it be violent yet after that Sweat is over they presently recover and find themselves better in a short time and weakness in Mr. Turner's Case was nothing but what might be expected in two such severe Distempers But one that would be cured in two Days would not have Patience to stay three and therefore Mr. Colbatch was in all hast sent for to be his Physitian Accordingly Mr. Colbatch came and finding Nature throw off the distemper'd Humor by Sweat he presently pour'd in Acid Medicines and was not content with this but presently ordered him to be laid in clean Linen by which means he endeavoured all he could to stop that Sweating so that the distempered Humor that ought to be carried off was in great measure prevented which oppressing Nature with it's Quantity Mr. Turner from that time by degrees began to yield to the Distemper and submit himself Mr. Colbatch's Victim But that it may more plainly appear that Mr. Turner's Death might rationally be laid to his Charge let us consider how Mr. Colbatch his Acid inwardly and his exposing his Body outwardly would influence him and first it is plain that let them be never so cautious when his Body was in such a Sweat and all his Pores open the Circumambient Air must needs affect
subtilized and rarified to a certain Degree from whence it appears that tho Water and Air be in Motion yet the Nitre which swims in them being laid down upon the Sensory disposes those Fluids about it to rest by which means there being a lower degree of Motion than is requisite to preserve a Natural Temper we feell a contrary Sensation to Heat and if so the more these Nitrous Parts are forced upon our Body the greater must be the Cold. And as for what he says of the Progressive Motion of the Blood in the Vessels I never heard that any ever affirmed it to be the Cause of Heat so that there he might have spared what he hath said against no Body but tho' Water in a River moved by some accidental Cause in a whole Stream does not grow hot yet if it be set over a Fire where it hath an Agent subtile enough to work upon it's Minute Parts and to put them in Motion it soon changes it's Temper Page 61 He says I am very glad you own Alkalies to abound in Pleurisies and Rheumatisms and other Inflammatory Distempers But Mr. Colbatch must not think that all the World grants it because Mr. Tuthill cannot defend Truth and therefore I having proved that all those Distempers proceed from Acids I expect he should confute what I have said or he gives up his Cause Page 64 He says Now for want of a due Secretion by the Excretory Vessels the Blood is clogged with too great a Quantity of Serum which Serum being admitted into the Lymphatick Vessels and being impregnated with Alkaline Particles cannot freely pass along these Vessels by Reason of it's gelatinous Quality c. And again Page 65 and 66 He says Such are the Excretory Glands of the Skin the Glandulae Renales the Glands of the Liver c. all which seperate an Alkaly from the Blood to be thrown off by Excrement and if by any Accident these Glands are made uncapable of performing their Office so that the Blood cannot be rid of it's Excrements then a Distemper of some kind or other must necessarily follow and Page 69 This damnable Distemper really a very pretty Epithite which although it be rately cured in a confirmed State yet in the beginning nay after it hath made some progress is frequently to be done and that as effectually by Chalybeats and Bitters as by any sort of Medicines But here for want of making Experiments you say that Steel and the Bitter Herbs are Alkalies And again Page 72. He says As for Bitters I will be bound to lay a good Wager with you that if you put a Pound of Centuary or Wormwood into a Retort and distill it with an easie Fire till all be come off that will and afterwards calcine the Caput Mortuum and extract the fixed Alkaly from the Ashes if you don't find a much greater quantity of Acid than Alkaly c. And from hence he would infer that Bitters are Acids But he hath rather taken an effectual way to prove the Insufficiency of Chymistry in discovering the Principles of Bodies for if it will alter Bitter and turn most of it Acid who can be so stupified as to believe that this discovers the Nature of Bitter Can Aloes be turned into Juice of Oranges and Aloes not be destroyed It 's in vain to reason with such Ideots yet this is not all we may throughout these Quotations see how miserably the dull Soul forgets himself having repeated the same things often in other Books and also how blindly he contradicts himself here according to his Custom and how fully he confutes himself For first Page 64. He says The Serum being too much impregnated with Alkaline Particles cannot pass free through the Vessels by reason of its Gelatinous Quality as if the Gelatinous Quality depended on a Mixture of Alkalies whereas it appears from the Experiment he mentions in his Treatise of the Gout that the whole Serum of Healthful People is Alkaline and abounds with Alkalies where there is no such Gelatinous Quality and therefore as I have often taken notice we are to conclude that the Gelatinous Quality depends on a mixture of too much Acid because as I before said that is said to be the Cause of an Effect in whose Absence there is no such Distemper but on the contrary when mixed with it From whence it appears that the Reason why the Excretory Glands cannot perform their Office in evacuating Excrementitious Alkaly as he says Page 65 66 is because Acid is mixed with it and this is certain from his own Words for if the Excrements be Alkalies naturally they would not obstruct were there no Acids to coagulate them But let us see how coherent Mr. Colbatch is in his Thoughts Page 69. He asserts That the Distemper which in a Passion he calls Damnable if curable is to be cured by Chalybeats and Bitters the former of which I have before proved an Alkaly and that Bitter is not Acid any Body knows that can distinguish betwixt Tastes but if Mr. Colbatch can perswade People that Wormwood is Acid he may make any thing go down with them but since Children have too nice Palates to be so deceived I hope those of riper Years have not lost their Taste All that I need further to take notice of Mr. Colbatch his Productions in these Quotations is another Wonderful Confutation of himself For Page 66 He says The bitter Excrement of the Liver to wit Choler is an Alkaly Yet Page 72. Bitters are Acids and consequently Choler as may be seen in the Words I have quoted I might take notice of other Absurdities and Falsities contained in the foregoing Quotations but what I have said being sufficient I shall not extend a Book of this kind to too large a Compass Page 91. He says The Blood cannot super abound with Acids Because the Stomach will not receive or retain more than it hath occasion for The Reason he gives a little before is If at any time People are not sufficiently cautious of that Matter but load the Stomach with more manifest Acids than the Body hath occasion for she won't fail of rejecting them by Vomit That this is false every Body knows that have but lived in the World long enough to take notice of what occurs daily for nothing is more common than for Children to bring Distempers upon themselves by eating of unripe Fruit and not only Children but grown People and these Mr. Calbatch cannot deny to be Acids surely if he remembers what he ascribed long Life in Herefordshire to viz. eating Fruit besides it is too commonly known that many People almost ruin their Constitutions by drinking Vinegar the very same Acid he mentions And thus I have gone through all that he further says concerning the Use of Acids and proved it to be as absurd and ridiculous as the rest of his Incoherences and now shall leave him to consider when he writes again whether it will not be prudent to
turn to Dr. Willis de Fermentatione where Chap. 11. Paragraph the 4th you will by the Assistance of your Spectacles at Mid-day see these Words Rei cujusque Temperies quoad Calorem à Sulphure imprimis dependet i. e. The Temper of all hot Bodies in Respect of Heat chiefly depend on Sulphur where you see you are of the same Opinion with Dr. Willis exactly and it is good Luck to agree with such an Author but pray Doctor did you take this Notion of Heat from Dr. Willis or did he take it from you think of it and when you do remember that his Book was writ long before yours but again look back to Page the 32 of your own Book where you quote these Words from Monsieur le Grand Provenit ergò Thermarum calor à Bituminis Sulphuris Misturâ quae dum inter se confunduntur per quandam Fermentationem Calorem concipiunt i. e. The Heat therefore of hot Baths proceeds from a Bitumen and Sulphur which whilst they are mixed acquire Heat by Fermentation now Doctor what does this differ from your Opinion you say Heat depends on a Mixture of sulphureous Particles so does le Grand for a Mixture of Bitumen and Sulphur is but one sulphureous Body with another now it is strange that Dr. Leigh should be so angry at me when he hath so much more Reason to be angry at himself and really he is so for when Dr. Willis says Heat proceeds from Sulphur and le Grand is of the same Opinion Dr. Leigh cannot bear it he contradicts them and keeps the Reasons to himself yet when he himself affirms the same thing as his own he thinks he hath done well phy Doctor I thought you had not been quite so crazy if you go on at this Rate Bethlem will not hold you And now Doctor must not this argue that your Brain is extreamly hot that you cannot discern your self of the same Opinion with these Men but there are further Instances than this nothing will serve you but my Notion of the Heat of the Blood must be taken from Dr. Willis le Grand and the Exercitationes Quinque truly had it been taken from one it had been taken from all because there is no Difference betwixt them but no body that pretends to Knowledge will pretend to say that my Notion of the Reason of the Heat of the Blood is to be compar'd to yours I mean Dr. Willis his for the formal Cause of the Heat of hot Baths is widely different from the formal Cause of the Heat of the Blood for the Heat of Baths according to Dr. Willis depends on a Mixture and Fermentation of sulphureous Parts but the Heat of the Blood I say depends on a Mixture and mutual Fermentation of animal Spirits and Blood which Account in my Treatise is different from all others yet laid down and which I believe I have sufficiently proved and if what I have said will not be sufficient to prove Truth I conceive I am furnished with Reasons which will which I did not lay down in my Book because what is there is enough N. B. That where I have said the Heat is caused so or otherwise I mean a Power to cause such a Sensation upon our Sensory for Fire is not actually hot in it self but as it affects our Sensory as I have proved in my Treatise of the Reason of the Heat of the Blood But how came I to forget I was talking to Dr. Leigh Doctor I beg your Pardon for being so serious and for talking of Reason I did not remember such Talk would disturb your Head come come Doctor let 's divert you a Windmill Diego and his Spanish Geese Roger a Coverly the Elephant Cheesemonger or what you please chuse your Subject and pray talk to your self for it 's usual for one in your Distemper I for my part shall pass my time on Subjects which are more proper Objects of Reason Your next Exercitation Doctor contains an imperfect Account of a Fever in Lancashire which since it only appear'd in a small part of Lancashire it would be as impertinent to trouble the World with a Refutation of what you say as it was useless for you to write it had you done it ingeniously I shall therefore only take notice of the first Page of it which seems to be very ominous Page 54. Vix datur Lunae Circuitus quin Febris quaedam exaestuans populariter grassatur ac si Ignis elementaris sub concavo Lunae hospitans c. i. e. There is scarce a Month but some burning Fever is abroad as if that Fire in the Concave of the Moon continually broil'd Mankind c. But you should rather have said as if Mens Constitutions and Way of living were the Cause of it then Fire in the Concave of the Moon for to say as if Fire in the Concave of the Moon caused it is as much as to say as if there were no Cause for it because there is no such Fire but poor Man Diego and his Spanish Geese and the Moon have influenc'd you the one hath made you a Goose the other a Mad-man In the next Place let us consider the Substance of your fourth Exercitation de Febribus intermittentibus where Page 87 you say Supponimus Febres omnes intermittentes Particulis salinis esse ortis i. e. This is your Opinion of the Cause of intermitting Fevers now pray Doctor turn to Dr. Willis of intermitting Fevers Chap. 4. Paragraph the 4th where you will find these Words Haec Sanguinis Constitutio in hac sita est quod Sulphuris ac Salis plus debito impregnatur And again Chap. the 6th he says Quod in hoc Morbo Sanguinis Liquor à Natura dulci spirituosa balsamica in acidam nonnihil austeram instar Vini acescentis transierit nimirum adest Sanguinis Penuria Sanguinis Pars terrestris seu tartarea quae constat imprimis Sale Terra nimis exaltatur Where you see Dr. Willis and you both agree that there is too much Salt in the Blood in intermitting Fevers now you see how much you are mistaken for in your Remarks you told me that I had taken my Notions from Dr. Willis but it seems you are still under the Influence of the Moon for instead of me it 's your self bless me Who could imagine you so much out of your Senses to take me for Dr. Leigh does not Dr. Leigh know himself No alas Tertius è Coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but tho' you don't know your self Doctor one would think you might know your own Book but how should you when it 's plain you don't know your Name at all times for in your Exercitation de Thermis calidis in a heat you cry experto crede Roberto i. e. believe experienc'd Robert instead of Charles but perhaps you thought no body would believe Charles Leigh and therefore you cry Crede Roberto but perhaps there may be another Reason why
you cry experto crede Roberto because Carolo would not stand in the latter end of the Verse if this Doctor was your Reason you might have put a Negative before it and then it would have stood in Prose viz. ne experto crede Carolo Leigh Why Because he 's under the Influence of that Fire in the Concave of the Moon I come last of all to your last Exercitation and could really wish the first had been the last for how much soever you may be pleased with your own Book sure I am it is an ungrateful task to me to read over such Stuff Page 119 you say In duas itaque tantum species nos Hydropes dividimus c. i. e. We divide Dropsies into two Species to wit Cholerick proceeding from thick Cholerick obstructing the Pores and Glandules of the Liver c. Bless me Dr. I wonder at you that you should trust to your own Head as long as you borrowed from Dr. Willis and le Grand you were pretty safe and came off pretty well But now we find a Notion of your own and really it belongs to you this Exercitation I never suspected you for but Dr. is this a Production of yours that in your Remarks could divide betwixt the North and Northwest side of a Hair and can you divide Dropsies no better nay Doctor look as gruff as you please you are basely mistaken tho' you don't know where and therefore in compassion to you I shall show you your Faults for the obstruction of the Glandules of the Liver are an Effect of an Hydropical Disposition and by no means the Cause of it for as long as the Humors are in a right State they pass through those Parts without Obstruction but when for want of Spirits and good Blood an Hydropical Disposition is brought on then the Blood degenerating into a more phlegmatick State consequently obstructs the Glandules so that it is evident if the Indisposition proceeds the Obstruction the Obstruction cannot be the Cause of what went before And now Dr. I have taken a short View of your Remarks and also of your Quinque Exercitationes and if we reflect on the whole we may see there is little difference betwixt your Exercitationes and them and now Doctor you may see how ridiculous your Exercitations would be were they Printed in English but is is well they are in Latin because none can read them but those that think them not worthy to be taken Notice of And here Doctor I cannot but admire why you should be so angry with every Body that is not of your Mind and of Dr. Leigh's Opinion for we may observe that you are not only very angry at me but even with Dr. Lister whom you Reverence but why should I wonder at it it is the Nature of Men in your Condition and truly I pity it withal my Heart and am sorry that you have lost the Use of your Reason And Doctor may I ask you this Question what Reason have you now to complain of my Age And pray who is the younger Physitian I don't say the younger Man you have long enjoyed a head which I by no means envy you for may the Pudenda of a salt Bitch divert you make your Observations on Pigs Mice and Bog-houses I shall not in the least envy no not if you should take a Voyage with Diego and his Spanish Geese to the Moon for they would be very agreeable Company only consider whether you are not too near it already Pray do and keep out of Bethlem if you can But Doctor how came you to write your Remarks in English I thought you had too great Thoughts of your self to writ any thing in English vvas it because vvhen you vvere peevish and cross in Latin no Body took notice of you if so really you have got your self taken notice of vvith a Witness for vvhen I received your Remarks at Brazen-Nose having never seen such stuff in Print before I vvas very inquisitive to knovv vvhat Part of the World liked it and vvhat they said of it vvherefore I asked the Opinion of a fevv of the Younger sort and truly they told me they thought such things had never been Printed but it made them Laugh heartily but vvhen I consulted Men of Sense they advised me not to take notice of such Nonsense and truly Doctor I had taken their advice but vvhen about a Month ago I came to London and heard that Dr. Leigh vvas the Jest of the merry Philosophers of the Tovvn and that you had so miserably exposed your self as to be taken for a Mad-man I thought it necessary to let the World knovv that Dr. Leigh vvas in Manchester vvithout Bethlem or a Keeper But I have Reason to think that there is another Reason why you writ your Remarks in English viz. Ob defectum alterius to Use your own Phrase This Dr. Perhaps may startle you but for all you have writ a Book in Latin it 's true and you have Reason enough to write in English for the future for when your Book was Printing at Oxford there was such obscure Latin in it that several People could not tell what you meant for which Reason you may remember there were several things sent down to you to alter before they could be understood and pray let us see what a polished Piece it is at the last Page 2 you have this Piece of Latin at hanc semper vellet esse veram quia desiderium pati non potest adeoque Dogma tenacissimum ni fallor usque ad Iracundiam eorum quae annis prioribus edidit quod in Philosophia est maximum malum se in numerum plurium adduxit truly Doctor it is as like a Letter which I saw a Mad-man write to his Physician as any thing could be for the meaning is so Dark that one can scarce see what you aim at and it so posed two or three Scholars in Brazen-Nose that there were as many Opinions about the meaning of it as standers by and therefore Doctor for the future write English that People may understand your meaning and never let Ambition make you write in a Language you know so little of Page 3 and 4 you say Qui se solum intuetur mater Philosophatur opinioni haud Naturae se credidit O the wonderful Obscurity observable in Dr. Leigh And how well he understands Latin Opinioni haud Naturae se credit pray Doctor have you forgot what you Learnt at School quem casum regunt verba credendid A Dative but you had forgot and writ false Latin against your Will poor Man But let me tell you were you at School you would be taken up and Whipt soundly for such a Fault what Credidit se Phy Doctor I thought you had been too old to be Whip'd but it seems not too old to deserve it but suppose it did not deserve Whipping it is not Sense for credidit se Opinioni haud Naturae is most absurd
AN EXAMINATION OF Mr. John Colbatch HIS BOOKS viz. I. Novum Lumen Chirurgicum II. Essay of Alkalies and Acids III. An Appendix to that Essay IV. A Treatise of the Gout V. The Doctrin of Acids further Asserted c. VI. A Relation of a Person Bitten by a Viper c. To which is added An Answer to Dr. Leigh's Remarks on a Treatise concerning the Heat of the Blood Together with Remarks on Dr. Leigh's Book intituled Exercitationes Quinque Printed at a private Press in Oxford without the License of the Vniversity AS ALSO A short View of Dr. Leighs Reply to Mr. Colbatch c. By RICHARD BOULTON of Brazen-Nose College in OXFORD LONDON Printed for A. and J. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row 1698. Liber Coll. Omnanim Fidel. defunct in Oxon. TO THE Learned and ever Honoured CHARLES GOODALL Doctor in Physick Physician to the Charter-House AND CENSOR to the COLLEGE of Physicians London Learned SIR AS no one can be more concerned than your Self in Vindicating Learning and discouraging it's Opponents so without Presumption I may say no one is more able to take upon him such a Task of which You have long ago satisfied the World by appearing Publickly in the Defence of That College of which You are now a very worthy Member And as you have given a very full Proof that you are sufficiently qualified to Defend Learned Men from the Attempts of those who endeavour to Oppose them so it consequently follows that I could not possibly make choice of a fitter Patron for this Book which is a Vindication of all Learned Physicians from the vain and false Pretences of an ignorant Man And tho' I presume to ask your Patronage of this Book yet it is not because I think the Adversary I appear against nor all his adherents formidable Opponents but because any thing that carrys with it a Vindication of that Learned Society of which you are a Member cannot have a more proper Name prefixed to it than Yours who have so signally appeared in their Defence But tho' it be an Honour to appear in such a Cause yet it is not that which bears the highest Place in your Character For Religion and Vertue which are the Measures and Rules of all your Actions make you Useful both to the Church and State it being Part of your continual Care to instil into young Men a just Veneration for a Deity and noble and great Notions of the extraordinary Merit of so great a King And your Prudence is not more remarkable in respect of the Publick than your own Private Affairs where Judgment and Learning are the sure Guides of successful Practice and Vertue and Tranquility extend themselves throughout your Family These are but short Hints of so great a Character as the Conduct of your Life affords materials for a Character which claims a better Pen than mine to take a Draught of and which one that is intimately acquainted with those Vertues in their utmost Extent can only describe For which Reason I fear that whilst I only endeavour to shew my self sensible of those Obligations your Favours have laid upon me and for which Gratitude can be the least Return I shall rather be condemn'd by those who know how far I come short of your Merit for undertaking to mention any thing that belongs to a Character so much above my Reach Yet from your self I can easily hope for Pardon since you are so free to give it to all those that transgress not too far Divine and Human Laws nor unreasonably triumph in their Ignorance to the Dishonour of Learning and Learned Men for all which you have so great a Veneration and therefore I am more hold humbly to subscribe my self Learned SIR Your most Obliged Servant at your Command R. BOULTON THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE Doctrin of Acids and Alkalies hath been so long since rejected as False and Erroneous by the Famous and Honourable Robert Boyle Esq and others that it is a wonder any Man should have so much Impudence as to advance it afresh without answering those Objections which have sufficiently proved the Insufficiency of it much more to dare with so much Boldness to Contradict all Learned Men upon such false Grounds as Mr. Colbatch hath done And therefore I think it fit to acquaint my Reader briefly with the true State of the Controversy that he may more clearly judge how far he is from Truth in what he hath writ and what Reason I had to write in the Method I have In short then they must understand that Mr. Colbatch hath endeavoured to Account for and to cure most Distempers upon so false a Bottom as the Doctrin of Acids and Alkalies which hath been long since rejected and laid aside by all the most Rational Physicians and that herein he hath been so bold as not only to tell all the World that they were mistaken but hath taken upon him to call University-Learning nothing but fusty Philosophy and all Rational Physicians all the ill Names he could invent impudently complaining that he was sorry to see Physick a Scene of Slaughter These Imputations with a great many more hath he laid upon the World and if we look into his Books we shall see very little Reason for it for he hath not only Err'd with the Vulgar in building all his Writings on a false Doctrin but to shew how grandly he is mistaken he hath proved himself two Removes from Truth for granting the Doctrin of Acids and Alkalies true what he hath said will not hold so that he must needs be doubly mistaken And therefore in Answering his Books and laying open his Faults I all along proved that granting the Doctrin of Acids and Alkalies true what he says it false And here it is not amiss to declare a little more clearly that tho' I have argued against his Books as if the Hypothesis he built upon were true yet I don't at all grant it to be so only to shew how widely he is distant from Truth for to have shewn that he only Erred in assuming the Doctrin of Acids and Alkalies would but have proved him guilty of a Fault that hath been common to others as well as himself but his Faults are of a more absurd kind for which Reason it is excusable that I have treated him in such a proper Manner as to represent the Man as well as the Physitian However I must confess that tho' I have proved him guilty of such grand Faults both in Physick and his Behaviour towards the Learned World yet it wants an Apology and perhaps may be no small Disadvantage to my Arguments to mix such Remarks as I have amongst them for which Reason I desire my Reader to consider the State of the Controversy and the Person against whom I write it is not a Man who hath the good Opinion and Approbation of Learned Men but like a Mountebank the Cry of a few of the Rabble and one that
overcome by his weakness and misled by him who want Judgment and Knowledg to perceive his Errors and to arm themselves against large Pretences For the greatest Part of Mankind know so little of Physick nay are so Ignorant of it that when a Man is bold and positive they cannot imagin that he can have so much Impudence to pretend to Knowledg if he was really Ignorant that this is the Case of Mr. Colbatch I shall take Pains to shew what he writes being an Inconsiderate piece of confused and incoherent Assertions I shall therefore lay open his Errors so fairly that the World may be no longer imposed upon in a Matter that is of such Consequence as the Health or Destruction of some tho' a small Part of Mankind for if such fatal Absurdities as those which Mr. Colebatch hath broached were not corrected what Mischief might be done Or rather what might not be done By such Methods as he irrationally and injudiciously asserts and practises by his own Hands as well as other Physicians who are too easily credulous and misguided by him But it is not only to undeceive the Vulgar and Unlearned that are thus easily imposed upon that I engage my self in this Cause But to defend and vindicate the Royal Learned and Judicious Society the College of Physicians and all other Learned Men from his ungrounded Impudence his rude assuming Behaviour and the Aspersions he hath boldly cast upon all rational and regular Physicians daring to assert without Reason or Foundation what is repugnant to the most Celebrated Writers whose Writings are backed and confirmed by the daily Experience and Universal Consent of those Members who are not byassed by Interest or that dont value the Cry of the Vulgar above the Approbation of Learned Men and that have not engaged themselves to cry up one another tho' by never so dishonourable Methods or absurd Means And the Consideration of the Greatness of such a Design encourages me to slight and contemn all the Aspersions that may be made by such bold Impertinent Pretenders for I am so far from valuing the displeasure of half a Dozen of such above the meritorious Cause of a whole Body of Learned Men that I profess I had rather deserve the good Opinion of one ingenious Learned Man than oblige a hundred Block-heads And now if a Reason should be asked why I should be so zealously concerned in defending a Body of Men who are much more able to vindicate themselves I must also answer for them that it is below them to take notice of such mean and weak Assaults and to appear in Disputes with such impotent Assailants where so little is contained that the most suitable Answer to such an insolent vain Person from Men placed by eminent Learning and Judgment so far above him would oblige them in Justice to themselves and him as well as the Cause they Defend to reprimand him and correct his Folly with Words and Language more severe perhaps then what their Manners and Civility would permit them to make Use of For if such Men as the greatest Part of that Learned Society is made up of should so far condescend as to use Civil Language to him where he deserves the contrary they would by that means bring Reflections by the Learned upon their own Judgments and too much demean themselves in such sordid Company for should they convince that small Part of Mankind who are so easily captived by Mountebanks and such vain Pretenders that his Methods and Practice were never so distructive the Conquest would be no Advantage to them nor tend to their Honour it being below them to take notice of a Man Unlearned Ignorant and Vain yet Rude Self-conceited and Impertinent And truly had I any great Opinion of my self I should think my self no Gainer by such a Victory which the least Degree of true Sence and Reason can assure any Body of And as the Matter now stands I should think my time ill spent and should blame my self for making no better Use of it if the Reasons I have already given did not prevail with me viz. To undeceive the Vulgar and to Vindicate the Honour of so many Learned Men for what strange Notions must those that admire him frame of the College of Physicians and Him and what hard Thoughts must they beyond Seas have of our English Physicians to see such a poor Patch of a Phylosopher that hath but three Words of any thing that looks like Phylosophy in all his Scribling and those Nonscence set up for a Champion and one that boldly asserts without Reason or any shew of it undertake to be a Reformer of Physick in England a Nation that hath always abounded with the most Sagacious Learned Men and the greatest Improvers of Physick I say what must these think Should not his Vanity be corrected and deservedly exposed so that the Honour of such a Profession will yet be another Addition to my Apology for using him according to his Desert And it will be yet more excusable when by Representing truly his Character and Behaviour to all Learned Men and his Erroneous Absurdities in Contradiction to all Reason and Experience it appears how ill he deserves not only of Physitians but Mankind and how Impudently he is mistaken I shall therefore give a true Account of his Character and Behaviour which I shall do by way of Remarks on his Writings that they may not seem to be without Grounds and I shall unvail his Weakness and Mistakes in what he hath asserted and writ and shall prove that he hath more Reason to be ashamed than boldly fond of such Mistakes in which all I have said of him already or can will be but the same Measure that he hath Measured others and tho' he did not at all deserve it I might have more Reason to take any Liberty in the worst Sence with him and might make a better Apology for it than he can for what he hath said to Men to such his Superiours But this being a public Accusation and the Charge I have laid to him being also Public it is fit the Proof of it should be so too to which End it is necessary to take a View of those things he has wrote wherein the Grounds of this Charge is laid by his own Pen. The First Elaborate Piece of Service this famous Author was bold enough to do the World was to pass away two or three hours time for those that had two much leisure in Reading about six sheets of Paper to which he perfixed a Title and would have the Book to be thought Novum Lumen Chirurgicum a Title that made very fair Promises and might probably raise ones Expectation but when I look'd a little further upon the Title And saw his Name writ in Latin and withal his Book in English I was very impatient to read it over which when I had done I began to think that there was more Sense and Learning in the Title Page
Apothecaries Shops and consequently he hath been very little acquainted with them But as I believe Angels are always imployed in Divine Affairs so they chiefly are concerned in Spiritual Prescriptions and here Mr. John Colbatch hath fetch'd his Metaphor too far Secondly he says The second Qualification for an Apothecary is that he understand the Nature and Operation of Minerals and Mettals To understand the Nature of Minerals is the Business of a Chymist not of an Apothecary and as for their Operations that chiefly belongs to a Physitian whose Business it is to apply them But he would needs have Apothecaries to understand every thing because he hath been one himself Thirdly he says They must understand the Nature of Animal Bodies but I am sure they may be as good Apothecaries tho' they do not for what Business hath an Apothecary with Human Bodies since it only belongs to him to be serviceable to Physicians in preparing his Medicines and obeying his Orders and not in administering He might as well say a Clerk who only writes according to the Directions of his Master and whose Business it is to do nothing else must understand those things that don't belong to him viz. His Masters Business What some Apothecaries know I won't say but I am certified by his Writings and also by the Rules he hath given for the Qualifications of an Apothecary that he is so far from being qualified for a Physitian that he is by no means qualified for an Apothecary But to understand how faintly he is qualified for either I shall pass on to his Book and shew what grand Mistakes he is positively and boldly guilty of CHAP. II. Of the Small-Pox THe first Distemper he there takes upon him to give an Account of is the Small-Pox and here contrary to Truth and all Experience he would suggest that the Small-Pox do not proceed from Acids but Alkalies And Page 4th he says Now I could never hear of any one that by Analizing the Blood of Persons in the Small-Pox could ever find the least Foot-steps of Acidity in it though on the contrary it doth appear after many Tryals that the Blood of such Persons doth more abound with Alkalious Particles than that of sound People That no Acidity can be found by Analizing the Blood of Persons in the Small-Pox is not sufficient to determin whether there be Acids in the Blood before Analized or not for in Analizing Blood as the Chymists call it the Volatile Particles of the Fire which is the Agent in the Operation may soon destroy those Acidities for if when our Stomach abounds with Acids we find by taking of Volatile Alkalies that that Acidity is soon destroyed and if we find that those Effects which are produced in our Blood upon a plentiful Use of crude Acids or Astringents which are Acids in Potentia are taken away on the contrary by the Use of Alkalies we have much Reason to believe that the Particles of Fire being more powerful when in Action than those Alkalies will soon destroy that which is called Acidity in the Blood so that the Fire Volatilizing that Acid Matter and exalting it to a higher Degree of Maturity it quite looses it's pristine Qualities the Fire and it being united into a Quid tertium and that united and again embodied in a Vehicle looses it's old Form and is modified anew But to determin whether there be Acidity in the Blood or not there would be no need to analize it tho' by that means it would not be destroyed for when a Person in the Small-Pox is let Blood we may see a manifest Ropy Viscocity in the Blood which is a certain Sign of Acidity it being the Nature of Acids to coagulate and thicken those Humours with which they are mixed And to understand in what Sense the Blood may be said to have more Alkalies than the Blood of healthful People we must consider what is the Cause of that Distemper but as my Design here is not to give an Account of the Cause of this Distemper any further than tends to shew how far he is mistaken and how little he understands it so I shall only take notice that the first Onset of this Distemper is accompanyed with the Initia of a Feaver where we may observe that the Mass of Blood being naturally impregnated with a great deal of Sulphur and that Sulphur being as if it were depressed or rather inviscated in a Viscous Mucus whose Viscocity proceeds from Acids these Sulphureous Particles are by some accidental Cause whether it be Internal or by the Influence of circumambient Bodies I shall not now determine exalted in some Measure and caused to exert themselves by which Exertion they endeavour to clear themselves of that Mucus Phlegm which being separated from them the whole Mass does as if it were run into two Parts just as we see sweet Milk and Eggs mixed together and heated over a Fire begin to break as it is usually termed I mean just when it begins to break so little that we can scarce discern it with a Microscope and then that Mass in some measure cleared from the Viscocity hath more Sulphur in it and more fierce Volatile Parts in it than the Blood of a healthful Person But as for Alkaly I cannot find any in it except Alkalies are Sweet and Balsamick But yet if the whole Mass of Blood and Serum together be compared with the whole Blood and Serum of a healthful Person there is more Acid in the Blood of a Person in the Small-pox and less Alkaly than in a Person that is healthful But this new Reformer of Physick sets about his Work like one that neither understood common Sense nor Reason all that he says against a truly rational and confirmed Opinion is that it is not so as they say and the Grounds upon which he concludes so are an Observation nothing at all to the purpose but to shew that he neither understands the Works of Nature nor Art so that thus far he wants the Qualifications of an Apothecary But to proceed Page the 5th He says The cause of the Small-pox I suppose to be from a Quantity of such Particles being some way or other admitted into the Blood which being of a quite different Texture from that of the Blood and so not capable of being mixed with it cause a Hurry and Disorder there What a very fine Account this is of the Reason of the Small-pox and who will be the wiser for it by such a Method as this we may answer all the Questions that can be asked in Physick Geometry Mathematicks Astronomy Navigation and Geography without any other Qualification than the Assistance of Nature and a common Plow-man if this be Knowledge might give as good an Account of things as he does For ask a Plow-man what is the Cause of the Small-pox and he will give just such an Account as he hath done viz. That the Small-Pox proceed from something that causes them and disorders
no need I should make a Repetition here Page 77. By what I have said I hope I have freed Acids from occasioning the Viscousness of the Blood in Rheumatisms which Viscocity if it can be once taken of every one knows that the Distemper immediately vanishes but this is not done by Alkalies but by Acids as Tincture of Antimony and Chalybeates What he hath said he hopes is sufficient but truly I don't see that he hath said any thing to the purpose as Grounds of such hopes but if we believe him that Rheumatick Peoples Blood abounds with Alkalies more then healthful Peoples which is false it does not therefore follow that this Distemper is caused by Alkalies because Alkalies according to him cannot Coagulate without Acids so that it thence follows that as Acids differ in quantity more or less so the Blood is accordingly Coagulated and then we must conclude that the Coagulation depends on the Acids and then as I said before Acid Medicines would increase it But here to prove that Acids cure this Distemper he calls two Medicines eminently Alkalious Acids by which Rule he may say with as much Reason that a company of Statues took Barcellona from the Spaniards and if any Body should contradict him and say that they were Men he must Answer but they ought to be called not Men but Statues as I call them and this is just his Case to which I having before said enough I shall here say no more to it but refer the Reader to what hath gone before Pag. 79 80 and 81. He makes an Harangue that Steel is turned into a Vitriol before it can be carried into the Blood and consequently acts as an Acid upon it But granting it so I have already shewn what would be the Effects according to his Supposition viz To encrease the Distemper but as he is not the first that hath supposed it to work upon the Body by that means so he is not the first mistaken in that Point for Chalybeats don't cause such Effects as we see they do by being turned into a Vitriol but by absorbing those Acids in the Stomach and Pancreatick Juice by which means the Ferment of the Liver is more powerful and helps to correct the Acidity of the Chyle and the Blood not being supplyed with Acid Chyle those Acidities in it's Mass are soon altered and digested to a higher Degree of Maturity by a long continued Circulation and Fermentation Pag. 82 83 84 and 85. are filled up with two preparations of Steel which he account Acids and a story to tells us that Cinnaber which he once thought an Alkaly proves to be an Acid. But it only proves so for his Conveniency for there is no Reason that he gives for it and therefore we have Reason to believe that it is what all Learned Men know it to be for it does not only correct Acids in the Stomach but is of very great Use almost always where the Mass of Blood hath a manifest Viscidity And here before I leave this Chapter I shall observe that those Acids in the Stomach which he says Page 80 cannot get into the Blood till vitriolized is a Mistake for we may take notice that some People if not most that are subject to Rheumatick Pains and the Gout feel a manifest Acidity upon their Stomachs sometime before their Paroxysms and when that Acidity is carryed off they feel the dreadful Effects of it in the Mass of Blood But supposing it to be turned into a Vitriol a Vitriol is but a stronger Acid than that in the Stomach and consequently would do more Mischief than if it were not turned into a Vitriol as I have elsewhere shewn CHAP. VI. Of Consumptions THe last Distemper that this Gentleman pretends to give an Account of is Consumptions but if he had consider'd and understood what an Ingenious and Learned Tract Dr. Morton hath writ on this Subject he might have been ashamed to offer such a small Parcel of Nonsense But as there is no Reason in what he says so there is as little he had in Writing Page 89. He says my Reasons in short for the Use of Acids are as follow The Globules of the Blood being broken and confusedly mixed with the Serum by Reason of so many Acrid Alkalious Particles mixed with it and together with the Serum admitted into the small Glandules of the Lungs and not being capable of being discharged cause Inflammations there and by consequence Hectick Fevors What he means by broken Globules thrown into the Glands I profess is such a Peice of Philosophy that I neither see that it hath any Meaning or Sense in it for I have already shewed that those Particles of Blood which he takes Notice of swim in the Serum confusedly must be divided into an innumerable small Particles before they can pass through the capillary Vessels and consequently can do no Prejudice by being broken but suppose they were forced into Vessels which they ought not Acids by Coagulating the Alkaly would rather fix them there than remove them Nay allowing his own way of Assertion which I have before confuted viz. that Alkalies coagulate Acids it would not help him because those Alkalies in the Glands could not be removed according to his own Assertion but by Acids and what a Removal would it be when as his Acid Medicines were laid down in the Glands the Alkaly would coagulate the Acid and so fix it there as much as the Alkaly As for what he says Page 90 and the 91 of the Use of Alkalies I don't believe any rational Physician would ever give any Alkalies in such a Case so that here he might have kept this Advice to himself Page the 92 and 93 he makes a very simple Objection against his foolish Assertion and makes an Answer to it agreeable to so great a Peice of Nonsense but both of them being not worth while to take notice of I shall leave them to the consideration of those that think they deserve any thing else besides a sharp Reprimand Page the 94 He tells us a story that Riverius cured one of a Consumption by Conserve of Roses and Oyl of Sulphur by the Bell but any one may guess what a Consumption it was since the same Remedy will scarce cure an ordinary Cough From Page the 94 to the 100. He tells a long story of an old Man and a Pot of Oyl of Sulphur But that being nothing at all to this Distemper but a Story by the by to fill up his Book and least he should seem to say not only nothing to the purpose but to little for a Chapter of Consumptions I shall take Notice of it no further Page the 100 101 and the 102 he tells another story of a Man who that being bit with a Viper could not be cured by Alkalies and no wonder for no rational Man would depend upon a Medicine he knew not the Effects of in such a Case but would have immediate Recourse to a
affording a Salt of the same Nature with those of the Herb Kaly are equivocally called Alkalies and all other things of the same Nature as Crabs-Eyes Oyster-Shells Now what he here says being granted it is plain that those Medicines that he alters the Names of and calls Acids are properly by this Rule of his own to be called Alkalies they being of the Nature of Crabs-Eyes Oyster-Shells and that they are of the Nature of Crabs-Eyes is very evident because as Crabs-Eyes cure Acidity in the Stomach so do they only more powerfully and also Acidities in the Blood so that he here undermines himself and contradicts his own Judgment but it is a good while since he wrote the last and his treacherous Memory as he calls it is to be blamed but yet one would think that the same that is Truth now would have been so then when he thought of the same Matter Page the 6 He supposes Acid to be derived from the Arabian Word Acaid which signifies Acetum Upon my word a mighty profound Schollar He understands no less than a whole Word of Arabick and it 's a wonder he did not write his whole Book in it but lest he should be too proud of himself and value himself too much upon this mighty Piece of Scholarship I shall do him a kindness as to keep his Stomach from rising and tell him that Vinegar or Acetum is not Acid but Acrid and had he understood one word of Latin along with his Arabian Word he would have found that Vinegar takes it's Name from Vinum Acre or sharp Wine and that Acrimony is derived from Acre so that he is mistaken if he calls those things that are like Vinegar Acid for they are Acrid And As for Fruits and the Natural Juices of Plants there are but very few Acid Ones like Acrid except that sweet be like bitter Page 7. All metaline Sulphurs are to be ranged amongst the Number of Acids But if we compare the Effects of Sulphur with the Effects of Acids there is so little Reason to call Sulphur Acid that Acid is as like Alkaly as Sulphur is like Acid the Effects being quite contrary for whereas Acid cools and abates the Heat of the Blood Sulphur exalts and encreases it so that Sulphur is a Body of as distinct a Nature from Acid as Bitter and Sowre But to what purpose would it be to reason with a Man who calls Oyls and Balsoms and Bread Acids since any Body that can Taste will tell that Balsam hath a different taste from Juice of Lemmons And one might as well say Iron is Wood because one may make a Chair of it as that Bread is Acid because an Acid Spirit be made of Part of the Substance of it Page the 10th in order to a well Performance of I know not what he begins to compare Sal Kaly as he calls it with Vinegar and here Page 11 and 12 he takes care to mention a mischievous sort of Alkaly to represent the whole Class of Alkalies which is never at all used in Physick and takes no notice of all those Alkalies as Steel Antimony Cinnaber c. with many more which are the best and most valuable Medicines supplyed by Nature or Art for their universal Success in Physick and then he says Alkalies by breaking the Globules of the Blood cause Scurvey Rheumatisms Gout c. whereas before in his Essay he told us that the Coagulations of the Blood in these Distempers proceeded from Alkalies Coagulating those Acids which were taken into the Blood But Contradictions Forgetfulness and Mistakes are so Natural to him that he must not be blamed poor Man That this is a Mistake of the first Magnitude is as plain as that Coagulation and Dissolution two Opposites can make it Having thus represented Alkalies from Page the 12 to Page 17 he takes all the care he can to represent Acids with all possible Advantage by Vinegar of which he takes care to say all the Good he can but not a word of the Mischief it does to Scorbuticks Phthisicks and sore Throats c. so that if we reckon up but what Mischief Vinegar might do if it were made ill use of they would out-ballance all the Good and more than the ill Effects of Alkalies do their Good ones But now he hath made his Comparison betwixt Alkaly and Acid I might take the same Liberty and compare the best of Alkalies with the worst of Acids which would represent his Acids worse than he can do Alkalies but we are not to judge of any thing by the ill Use that may be made of it but by the good Effects and every thing is valuable for the Good which it does though in different cases and by the same Method he takes to perswade People from using Alkalies we might perswade People from the Use of Fire for it will burn and cause ill Effects worse than the Sal Kaly yet if moderately is almost of universal Use So that though Sal Kaly should have such Effects there are a great many Alkalies as Steel Crabs-Eyes c. which do as much Good But by the Method he takes Christians would be represented worse than Heathens for if he should compare Seneca with a Christian who is a Thief a Murderer and the worst of Men how odiously must Christians be if all were to be judged by that one but what Ill will not a Man do to carry on a bad Design From Page the 17 to the 21 he reckons up all the ill Effects he can of Arsnick as an Alkaly but what poysonons Design he hath in it he best knows for this can signifie nothing to the crying down of Alkalies though it were Alkaly since none are so wicked as to give such without a Design to poyson People But since he thinks it a way to cry down Alkaly by shewing that Arsnick is an Alkaly I shall hear only two Witnesses against him who writ long before his simple Books were writ to prove that it is a dangerous and a pernicious Acid. And first the Ingenious Sir John Floyer in the first of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 27. says Arsenick is like common Sulphur and is compounded like it of an Oyly part which in Arsnick is more peircing and an Acid. And again Page 231 of the second Part. Arsnick is corrosive by a particular Texture of Sulphureous Particles and Acids And Secondly the Famous Ettmuller in his Schroderi dilucidati Mineralogia says Arsenicum quod reverà est minerale volatile Sublimatione exaltatum Recte vocatur Arsenicum ab authore fuligo quaedam Mineralis pinguis inflammabilis Nam reverà est Sulphur summe Volatile propter Volatilitatem valde corrosivum valde venenosum Arsnic which is really a Volatile mineral Sulphur and exalted by Sublimation Arsnic is truly called by the Author a kind of mineral soot fat and inflamable for it is really a most Volatile Sulphur and by it's Volatility very corrosive and a
strong Poyson Now by the former of these Authors it is asserted to be an Oyly Acid and by the latter who was a profound Judicious Man it is affirmed for the most Part to be a Mineral Sulphur from which two according to Page the 7. of his own Appendix it is proved to be an Acid because he there Classes all Balsams and Sulphurs amongst Acids so that all the Prejudice that a Sublimed Acid can do may be done by Mr. John Colbatch his Acid. From Page the 21 to the 25. He reckons up all the good Effects of Oyl of Vitriol but mentions not the Mischief that might be done with it which is a great deal more for it corrodes and eats away the Flesh causes an intolerable Heat Page the 28 He says As for Balsams if I should take upon me to describe their Excellencies it would be fitter for a Volum than an Appendix but if he had cast out a great deal of his stuff that he hath put in and which was brought in by the Head and Shoulders and hath no Relation to his Discourse only to fill it up he might have had room enough for Balsams which makes me believe he had very little towards a great Volum From Page the 39 to 71. He lays down several Objections to shew that he cannot Answer them and that it may appear he hath not done it I shall take notice of them in that Order he has laid them The first Objection is how comes it to pass those People that live upon nothing almost but highly Salted Meat are more troubled with the Scurvey To this he Answers That it is not because they eat more Salt but because they eat more Flesh than other People which abounds with Alkalious Particles and as for the Sea Salt is most carried off by Urin. But to this I answer that if it were not the Acid Sea Salt then fresh Beef would sooner create the Scurvey than Salt because according to him it being Alkalious altogether and not being tempered with the Sea Salt it would increase the Alkalies of the Blood I think more But for my Part I am sure Beef is nothing like an Alkaly for as much as I and all the World besides can discern it abounding with a sweet Balsamick Juice the Mass of Blood but that Mass of Blood abounds with Alkaly he 'll say but then he must remember what he said the seventh Page of his Appendix viz. that all oleaginous Balsamicks are to be reckoned amongst Acids and then it will follow that the Taste of the Blood being sweet and Balsamic it must be reckoned amongst Acids so that our Quick-sighted Reformer of Physick hath once more contradicted himself But suppose Beef to be Alkaly it will be no more for his purpose because Page 59 of his Essay he says that a Mixture of Acids with Alkaly causes a Coagulation so that Acid and Alkaly thus carried into the Blood together must thicken the Blood but then that this Distemper may by all means proceed from Alkaly he will suppose the Accid to run off by Urin stil he is never the better for in that same Page of his Essay it appears that as long as the Alkaly is not mixed with Acid there is no Coagulation till it is impregnated by drinking Wine from whence it appears that if the Acid were so carryed off there would be no such Coagulation in Scrobutic Serum Having shewn how he contradicts himself backwards and forwards in Answer to this first Objection I shall pass to the second The second Objection is how it comes to pass that when the Stomach abounds with Acids the Blood does not He Answers The meat we eat being dissolved by a Spirituous Acid Juice it is turned into a Substance for the Nutrition of our Bodies and that this in People that live a Sedentary Life lying too long in the Stomach is turned Acid But this is no Answer to the Question it only tells us how the Stomach becomes full of Acids but how comes it to pass then that when the Stomach is emptyed of this Acid stuff part of it is not squeezed through the Lacteals into the Blood Truly he can give no Reason for it so that the Blood must needs according to the course and tendency of Chyle be tainted with that Acidity The third Objection is That this Acid being kept from going into the Blood would according to him prevent Distempers He Answers That People who are troubled with Acidity in their Stomach make great quantities of Water are very lean and costive which he will prove to be because Acids are not carried into the Blood And first when we make Water much the attenuated Chyle runs off by Vessels which carry it from the Stomach to the Kidneys through the Omentum which prevents it from going into the Blood And from Page 39 to the 40 he would suggest that there are such Vessels for it to pass off by Secondly the Reason why People are so lean is because the Acid Chyle so diluted is carried off and the Oyly Particles of the Blood want Acid to thicken them and to turn them into Fat. Thirdly the Reason why they are costive is because so much Moisture turning off by Urin the excrements are hardned and the Guts want Moisture to Lubricate them To this Objection he gives no direct Answer no not so much as a false one for what he offers for an Answer is so far from being one that it has not the least Relation to the Objection as he explains it for the Objection relates to Distempers in the Blood whereas as he explains those three Phaenomena they are not Distempers of the Blood for he makes Acidity in the Stomach the Cause of too much Urin and of Costiveness and as for Leanness the more Oyly and Sulphureous the Blood is the Fatter is the Body and according to him in the beginning of this Appendix Page the 7th the more Acid it is and consequently cannot find any Inconveniency by his new Reason of making too much Water for though the Acids run off by Urin and never come into the Blood yet since the Blood abounds with Fat Particles accoding to him it would not want Acids But as I have often taken notice of him already so I may still that Contradictions and Incoherency are natural to him and we may expect nothing else from him but I shall not only shew how that his Answer is not direct to the Objection but that he explains those Symptoms he mentions very falsely And first the Reason why People who have Acidity on their Stomachs make much Water cannot be because the Acid Chyle is carried off by such Passages as he supposes because there are no such Passages to be discovered for not all the Anatomists nor Glasses could ever as yet discern the least Foot-steps of them and if there were such Vessels as he supposes to convey so much Urin into the Bladder they must be of a considerable size
almost tastes like Mace be of the same Taste with those Oranges the same Method they may take with all the Medicines he uses and if they find Juniper Berries c. taste like Oranges then Mr. John Colbatch is in the right otherwise they know he is mistaken But the last Medicine he mentions is Tartar Vitriolat but there is so little in that Medicin of it and the Effects of it will be so small that it is not much matter whether it be Alkaly or Acid. In his Third Case for Convulsions he gives Vitriolated Tartar Crem Tartar and Costor Ag. Paeon Rorismarin and Puleg all of which are known to be Absorbers of Acids and Correcters of them except the two first for they manifestly abound with a Volatile and Spirituous Oyl and if the two former were Acids yet the latter being of a quite contrary Nature and more in Quantity all that can be said of this Medicine is that it neither did good nor harm the one part of it answering the other and obstructing the Force of it and it was all one as if one should mix hot and cold Water together to cool ones thirst and if that Patient recovered it was not to be ascribed to the Vertue of his Medicine but the Mildness of the Cause of that Distemper which would have gone off as soon without it The remaining Pages of this Book are filled up with a Catalogue of Distempers sent to him by Dr. Jones who because Colbatch hath Imposed upon some part of the Kingdom would needs be seen in so Meritorious a Cause but what will not some Men do when they value a private Design before Truth and Honesty and an Account of the Use of Beverage at Sea but this being not at all to the purpose but to fill up his Book I shall only further take notice That Pag. the 86th He says he could never hear that the Peruvian Bark cured one Consumption neither from Apothecarys nor Phisicians but I can tell him that I knew more than one cured of a very Violent Hectick Fever only by the Use of that Bark and Balsamick Syrup in which it was given and a Composition of Laudanum Pil. de Styrace with Safron which the Learned Dr. Morton hath in this Phythiologia Having hitherto travailed through Clouds Ignorance and Absurdities through Contradictions Mistakes and Forgetfulness through an indigested Mass and a confused Congeries of incoherent Rubbish which though it is nauseous yet I shall not think a little time ill spent to undeceive the World from such a vain pretending Impostor that knows nothing but Nonsense and who and whose sole Support is Impudence and Boldness All that I have now to do is to examin his Treatise of the Gout and to shew what Absurdities and Mistakes he is guilty of there and the ill Consequences of his Erroneous Practice AN EXAMINATION OF Mr. John Colbatch HIS TREATISE OF THE GOUT Wherein his Absurdities and False Opinions in Physick are truly Represented and fully Confuted AS ALSO It is made evident that the EXPERIMENT he there alledges in Vindication of his Hypothesis is strong Proof against himself AND LASTLY That his Practice is very Dangerous though his ill grounded and erroneous Hypothesis were allowed LONDON Printed in the Year 1699. AN EXAMINATION OF Mr. John Colbatch HIS TREATISE Of the GOUT c. CHAP. I. In which are contained Remarks on his Dedication and Preface with an Application to Dr. Cole THE next and last Part of this nauseous Task that I have undertaken is to examin and lay open the Mistakes of his Book concerning the Gout but before I set about that there are two Things which lie in my way and which I must take notice of viz. a Dedication and a Preface The first thing I shall take a View of is his Dedication where he begins and says My Love to Truth and the Good and Welfare of Mankind have ingaged me in Publishing of the following Piece But however specious this Pretence is it appears that it is not for the Good nor Welfare of Mankind but on the contrary will tend to their great Destruction and the Ruin of their Constitutions since it will easily appear that it is made up of the same Materials that the rest of his Books are viz. notorious Mistakes and Blunders and such plain ones too that one can scarce think but that he was either conscious of them or very ignorant But as I would not have him thought to be quite so ignorant so I rather think that he was conscious of the Falsness of what he asserted and only did it with a Design to get a Reputation amongst the Injudicious which he designed to impose upon how much soever he exposed himself to the Ridicule and Contempt of the Judicious and Learned by his weak and inconsistent Falsities And truly thus far he is in the right It wants a much better Champion tho' he 's pleased to call himself a Champion to assert and defend a false Cause against so many Potent Adversaries who have Truth on their side for were he in the right all that could be said of his Book is that he is dully and foolishly in the Right but since it will presently appear that he is so much mistaken he is much less to be valued for daring and endeavouring to impose on the World But the remaining Part of his Dedication being most of it a Compliment to Dr. Cole which were it true would but sorrily recommend Dr. Cole to the Learned World I shall make Remarks on what follows and then make my Apology to Dr. Cole for presuming to shew the Absurdities of a Book which the Author tells the World tho' I believe falsly is agreeable with his Practice The Compliment bestowed on Dr. Cole is I presume to prefix your Name before it knowing that if you but please to espouse it my Business is done and the Conquest gained But I dare venture to say that though Dr. Cole should espouse his Cause which I believe he will not the Victory would not be gained since the Cause hath neither Truth nor Reason on it's side and here I shall for some Reasons make a short Apology to Dr Cole An Apology to Dr. COLE Learned Sir IT is now almost a Year and half ago since I was brought into your Company by a very Ingenious and Experienc'd Chirurgeon Mr. Geeke living in Salisbury-Court And Sir that Civility you were pleased to shew me and the Freedom you took in Conversation with me who was both a Stranger and so much Inferior to your self both in Learning and Judgment as well as Reputation gave me Reason to entertain such Thoughts of you as I believe one of your Years and Character might deserve And truly I had such an Opinion of you that I could not then imagin that you would ever be concerned in Patronizing of a Book that is not only False and Absurd but Weak and Inconsistent and not only so but rudely contradictory to all
the Expence of his Experiments is so chargable that it would be fitter to be carryed on at the Expence of the Nation Nay and he states the Charge too a Thousand Pound a Year would not be felt by the Nation O! what a mighty Projector He has a Thought as extensive as the Nation 't is a Wonder he is not sent for to Court he 'd put them upon Ways and Means with a Witness if not to raise Money yet to lay it out But O! Vanity of Vanities verily every thing in Mr. John Colbatch is Vanity No less than a Thousand a Year must be spent upon Experiments made by a Man who hath neither Discretion nor Judgment to make them nor Philosophy to direct him how to make and how to apply them Truly it is a Wonder and a great one too that the Nation does not take Notice of him for he would be a mighty Jest were he known to the bottom Pag. xvth He says we do now grope most miserably in the dark and it grieves me to the very Soul when I see People in Distress and know not how to help them Poor Soul But I hope he hath a Cordial and a most noble Acid by him to take a Lick of now and then or else he might pine away for he looks very thin and what must then become of all those Angelic Faces that brought such a mighty Qualm over his Stomach in the Small-Pox Ah! Beauty and Distress are two great Causes of his Grief but I believe Money is the Root of all the Evil. Really if turning his Books would do good poor Man though he does not understand them he 'd never cease to do it but it hath proved in vain and now he confesses himself ignorant and truly I think not without reason for through all his Books I have yet examined he hath groped so miserably in the dark that I had sometimes much ado to find where he was or what Cloud he was lost in he was so far from Truth and the Light which ought to be in his Expressions but God be thanked he 's come to Moon-shine at the last but his Misfortune is that glimmering Light has led him into a Wilderness where he is no better then in the dark having lost his Way in Experiments that he misapplies and makes bad Use of because he does not understand them But why must it be we grope in the dark Is Mr. John Colbatch more then one or does he speak for his Companions As for rational Physicians they are not so miserably in the dark but that they have Reason for what they do and know what to do tho' Distempers are sometimes so violent as not to yeild to proper Medicines But well may Apothecaries grope in the dark when they pretend to things they don't understand since even in the Light they mistake their Way most miserably Pag. xvi He says He hath grounded his Hypothesis upon plain Experiments and he expects an Answer should be backed with Experiments And so far I shall satisfy his Curiosity by and by Pag. xvi He says he remembers he said in his Essay of Alkalies he had not had many Patients and really the Number has not been much increased yet what little Reason then hath he to write upon a Subject where were what he says true as to his Pretensions in the Cure of Distempers general Rules are not to be made by a particular Constitution but since what he says is false he had much less Reason to be so bold and it is but a sorry Recommendation to his Book that he grounded it upon such small Reason Pag. xvii If People are once satisfy'd that the Bloods abounding with Alkalious Particles is the Cause of the Gout and other Distempers it necessarily follows that Acids are only proper to correct the said Alkaline Particles And further Pag. xviii He says I do assert that the Cause of the Gout is not the Bloods abounding with Acids but Alkalies But in Opposition to this Assertion I say I assert that it is not from Alkalies but Acids and this I shall prove from what he hath said of the Gout in his Book of Alkaly and Acids and because he desires that Arguments against this Book should be backed with Experiments I shall bring as substantial Experiments against his Hypothesis as he hath for it to wit the same and shall shew that he hath so overlooked these Experiments and understands them so little that he hath drawn false Conclusions from them and this I shall do when I come to his Book in its proper Place Page xix He asks if Acids abound in the Blood how comes a Dead Body to stink so soon every Body knows that Acids preserve Animal Substances from Stinking and Corruption But this relating to the Cause of the Gout I should answer it when I come to that Cause which he hath laid down in his Book But for once I shall answer this Question where it is asked for that a dead Body stinks so soon only shews that a Body in a Natural State abounds with Alkalies for a Body that is killed by some sudden Accident will stink as soon as one that dyes by a Distemper so that this proves nothing at all in Relation to Distempers Page xxiij He says He hath had wonderful and astonishing Success in the Cure of Fevers And truly It is astonishment to me for I wonder how any Body ever scaped with their Lives considering the Methods he takes in most Distempers but perhaps he used his Acids moderatly so that the Mischeif might be less conspicuous Page xxv He says I must needs confess that I have been the warmer in some of my Expressions that thereby I might exasperate those who are my professed Enemies to convince me of my Errors and if so he did well but he only saith this to suggest to his Friends that they must take all that write against him to be his Enemies lest they should believe what they say but I profess I am so far from being exasperated towards him or being his Enemy that I write only to detect such notorious Errors and for Truth sake and did it lie in my Power to make Interest for him in his own Trade I would do all I could to set him in it as far as he deserves it for I am sorry to see him grope in the Dark so miserably in a way he hath no Understanding to lead him and were I his Friend I should cordially advise him to follow Light rather than Darkness and like an honest Man to fall to his Trade again now he has broke that Impostume in his Head that filled him so much with Vanity and a corrupted Mass of dismal dark Thoughts But I am afraid he is not capable of Advice being so much blown up with Conceit that though a Wise Man would hear Instruction yet a Fool hates Knowledg as the Wise Man says Page xxxij He says If any one will by well grounded and
substantial Experiments convince me of the contrary instead of being angry with him I shall never cease to Love and Admire him Indeed I had once about a year and half ago at the College of Physcians a little Discourse with him and he was so complacent as to tell a Friend of mine he had a great Opinion of me but truly as I believe I neither did then nor deserve it now so I was sure I had no such Opinion of him for all that he said was nothing but what a Parrot might have learnt by conversing with Dr. Cole But whatsoever good Opinion he had of me then I dare say he will turn his Note now though I shall take the way to deserve his Love and Admiration by shewing him by substantial Experiments that he is mistaken CHAP. II. Contains Remarks on his Introduction HAving gone through his Preface and made my Remarks on what is Material I shall now proceed to his Introduction where Page I st He says This Book will fall into the Hands of many Ingenious Gentlemen who are not Physicians for whom it will be very Natural to say you here pretend to advance a new Hypothesis in opposition to almost all Mankind and we therefore would be glad of some more familiar Demonstration whereby we might be satisfied without being put to much Trouble For the satisfaction of whom I will here lay down a Method whereby every Man is capable of being Judge whether my Hypothesis be true or false Here I must needs say he is in the right for it will be very Natural for them to say so and I am glad he hath the Luck to make use of so plain an Experiment which without much trouble will very easily let People see that his Hypothesis is false and therefore for the Satisfaction of those Gentlemen I shall shew that this familiar Experiment will prove he is mistaken and that he hath drawn false Conclusions from it because he did not understand it which I shall make so plain that every Man may be capable of being a Judge that what he asserts is false for In the latter End of Page I st and Page 2d He mentions his Experiment viz. It is well known that all Acids being poured upon Syrup of Violets or into a Solution of it will immediately turn it from a Blew into a very Red Colour and as the Acid is more or less strong so will the Red Colour be of a deeper or paler Dye On the other hand all manifest Alkalies will turn Syrup of Violets or a Solution of it from a Blew into a Green Colour from whence he infers that if the Serum of the Blood will alter the Colour of Syrup of Violets from Blew to Red it would then be plain that the said Serum did abound with Acid Particles But if on the otherhand the Serum of the Blood be mixed with Syrup of Violets instead of changing it's Colour from Blew to Red as Acids do It changes it to Green as Alkalies do it must abound with Alkalies And this Experiment He puts Page 3. into a Logical Form to shew how much Logic he hath got But to wave his Logic and come to the Experiment that all Acids will turn Syrup of Violets Red is false but I shall take notice of that further when I come to his 8th Page and here I shall shew that granting that all Acids will turn Syrup of Violets Red and that all Alkalies will turn it Green yet this Experiment is not for him but against him And tho' all Acids will not turn Syrup of Violets Red yet it 's true a great many will and a great many Alkalies will turn it Green this is all plain and I allow it to be true I likewise grant that the Serum of the Blood mixed with Syrup of Violets will turn it Green which I take to be a Sign in his Sense that the Serum of the Blood abounds with Alkalies so that I grant both that the Experiment is true and that allowing the Doctrin of Acids and Alkalies it proves what he would have it viz. That the Blood abounds with Alkaly But for all his Logic it does not therefore follow that Alkalies are the Cause of Distempers for the Blood of healthful People abounds with Alkalies as appears by the same Experiment nay the Blood of those that have no Distempers at all abounds with Alkalies and will turn Syrup of Violets Green so that to say Alkalies are the Cause of Distempers because the Blood abounds with them is to prove that healthful People abounds with Distempers because it appears by this Experiment that their Blood is full of Alkaly but healthful People do not abound with Distempers Ergo Mr. John Colbatch is mistaken And this I hope is so plain that any Gentleman may see he is mistaken for this is so far from shewing that Alkalies are the Cause of Distempers that it shews they cause Health for healthful Peoples Serum abounds with Alkalies and turns Syrup of Violets Green so that this Experiment does him no Service that he so much depends upon but on the contrary shews his Error And since he so much depends on this Experiment And since this is to qualifie every Gentleman to judge I have laid the Insufficiency of it open so plainly that they may be certain if what he says be true there is no such thing as a healthful Person because every Bodies Blood abounds with Alkaly But to make it clearer to every Gentleman that he not only alledges an Experiment that proves nothing for him but also to make it appear that he does not understand what he is about and that the Gout proceeds from Acids we are to consider what is the Temper and Constitution of the Blood in a Natural State and how it differs from that in the Gout And first in a Natural and Healthful State if a Person be let Blood eight or ten Ounces any Gentleman may take notice that if it be of a right Healthful Person when that Blood hath settled and the Serum and Blood are parted the Blood will be pure and Red on the outward side and if pressed with ones Finger or any thing else will be moderately tender and the Serum of the Blood will turn Syrup of Violets Green Secondly If one that hath the Gout be permitted to Bleed when that Blood is separated the Blood will be more Viscid and the Serum will turn Syrup of Violets Green So that the difference between the Healthful and Distempered Blood will appear to any Gentleman to be this viz. That the Distempered Blood is more Viscid Again Those Gentlemen may observe that whereas the Healthful Blood is nothing but pure thin Serum and Blood the Distempered Blood will have a thick Viscid white Skin over it which is part of the Distempered Matter But perhaps Mr. Colbatch will misguide his Friends in making this Observation wherefore I foretel them that the Persons must not be let Blood after a full Meal
that they never fail to answer the end for which they were given us they are never guilty of deceiving us This Quotation I suppose is only to let us know that he hath seen Malbranch and must needs have a scrap out of him tho' nothing to his Purpose for what signifies it to tell People to what end their Senses were given them when he is only endeavouring to discover what Pain is but he and his Father are here for once mistaken for they fail to guard us from Injuries and very often deceive us they fail to guard us from Injuries so much that they are the only Causes that make Things Injuries that otherwise would not be offensive as every small Blow or bitter Taste every terrible Sound and threatning Word it is true our Senses are the only things that make us capable of Pleasure yet are those the Instruments which lay us open to as many Injuries and that they are guilty of deceiving us is plain since we have such an Instance in himself Pag. 17th He goes on As for Instance our Taste never tells us that bitter is sweet or sweet bitter our smells never fail of distinguishing heat from cold and cold from heat and so on and all these proceed from a Placid Vellication of the Membranes Pain proceeds from a Contraction of the fibers and Pleasure from a pacid Relaxation of them What he means by a placid Vellication and a placid Relaxation I believe is scarce common Sense but I cannot but take notice here how prettily and considerately Father Malbranch presides his Contradiction for first He says Pleasure and Pain proceed from a Placid Vellication of the Membranes and then that Pain is a Contraction and Pleasure a Pacid Relaxation but the Pain that Cold causes can scarce be a Vellication and a Contraction too there being as much Difference betwixt stretching of a Rope and twisting of it when they make them as there is betwixt hanging and not hanging whether he deserves it or not The latter End of the 17 and the beginning of the 18. He says And I do lay it down as a possitive Assertion that all Pain is caused by a Stagnation of the Juices which causes a Compression of the Membranes But here He is positive a little too soon for tho' it were granted that there were a Stagnation of the Juices yet Pain is not caused by a Compression of the Membranes but by Preternaturally affecting that which is the Sensitive Being which Membranes by no means are but since he does lay it down as a positive Assertion that all Pain is caused by a Stagnation of the Juices I that being granted lay it down as another Assertion that were there Reason to draw such a Conclusion from the Pain of the Gout proceeds from Acids for since it is the Nature of Acids to thicken the Blood and it 's Serum and since the more Acid it is the thicker it will be and since Acid will thicken the Serum and Alkalies will not and again since Coagulation make the Serum subject to obstruct it must needs follow that those Obstructions in the Gout proceed from Acids but because he appeals to ingenious Gentlemen I shall give an Instance that Acids thicken the Serum and consequently cause Obstructions and so pain that those ingenious Gentlemen may see the Truth of it and because he shall have no way to perswade Gentlemen that the Instance is not true I desire them for their own satisfaction to look back to the first Page of his Introduction where they have his own Confession that Niter is an Acid now almost any Gentlemen and I dare Appeal to them knows that upon taking cold some Peoples Heads will be stuffed with Phlegm or else they will spit a great deal of Phlegm which shews that Acids cause the Serum of the Blood to thicken and consequently obstruct and sometimes cause Pain in the Head but some People are not subject to spit Phlegm nor to the Pain of the Head and for those Gentlemen I have another Instance viz. that the Niter of the Air thickens most Liquids with which it is mixed as Blood c. And in Frosty Weather when it is Violent enough even Milk and Water will be Frozen which is a fort of Coagulation by a Mixture of Acids And here I shall let all ingenious Gentlemen nay and all knowing Women understand that Acid causes most Distempers for any Observing Woman out-does Mr. Colbatch so far that she knows taking cold which is caused by Acid Nitrous Particles causes People to fall into Rheumatisms c. And they know likewise that taking cold often occasions Stitches up and down in the Body in which there is Pain and consequently by Mr. Colbatch confessed to proceed from Obstructions And that they may know Alkalies do not cause Obstructions they must remember that the Serum of the Blood in Healthful People turns Syrup of Violets Green and consequently according to Mr. Colbatch abounds with Alkalies yet they are not troubled with Pain or Obstructions in the Pleurisie it is also observed that their Blood abounds with a siezy Gelly which Distemper happens often upon taking great Colds the Blood being thickened by the Acid Nitrous Particles of the Air and these Observations I have laid down because they are suited to the Apprehensions of ingenious Gentlemen and discerning Women who are imposed upon by him And I have another plain Observation that will satisfie all Observing Women that Acids cause Distempers for nothing is more common than that taking cold stops Womens Courses the Acid Particles of the Air coagulating their Blood and causing Obstructions and nothing is more common that that Children and young Women drive themselves into the Green-sickness by eating Fruit which Mr. Colbatch in his Appendix of Alkaly and Acid owns are Acids so that it appears very plainly to all ingenious People that are not Physicians that all Pain and Obstructions proceed from Acids and not Alkalies and consequently not only the Gout but Rheumatisms Scurvy Small Pox c. proceed from Acid and consequently are to be cured with Alkalies so that all that he hath said or has to say about the Use of Acids must be false and dangerous and I need not go any further in the Proof of it for all ingenious People are already satisfied only for the Authors sake I shall shew him what little Reason he hath to be so proud of himself for I would fain have him humble because Humility may correct a Multitude of Sins and God knows how much need he hath of it who alone can tell Quot aegros Autumno occiderit uno Or in other Words how many such a one as Mr. Coblatch hath sent to their long Home but truly Mankind takes less Notice of it because as he says Page 26. of this Treatise Quoniam successus ejus Sol videt Errores autem tellus opperiret In other Words those he hath not killed cry him up but those he hath overcharged
Transpiration is stop'd But the wonderful Discoveries of this Mr. Colbatch are not a little to be Admired For he is the first Man that ever perceived the Devil to appear in the shape of the Gout I heard indeed when I was a Boy that the Devil was to be distinguished from a Man by a great Cloven Foot but I could never have thought that Mr. Colbatch would have compared his Gouty Patients to so many Devils except he had Dream't he was a Physician to such before he wrote this Page in his Book He says The Wisest Magicians being not able to cure the Gout was the occasion of that Saying Solvere Nodosam nescit Medicina Podagram But why they should say Physicians cannot Cure the Gout because Magicians cannot I see not any Reason except a Physician and a Magician are equally the same Page 23. But this is one of those Devils which are not to be cast out but by Prayer and Fasting that is Nature her self without help is not able to get the Mastery of it to rid her self from it It seems it is a Devil in earnest and truly I believe they are worse than Possest that make Use of such a Physician but he hath too soon concluded that this kind is to be cured by Prayer and Fasting I scarce think he ever cured any by such Prescriptions And I cannot but admire what a pretty sort of a Divine he would have made who hath such an excellent knack at interpreting Scripture who calls Prayer and Fasting Nature Page 24. Nature hath hitherto been rather Oppressed than Assisted this Hydra being not to be overcome but by pouring in of fresh Battallions armed with pointed Spears and Launces upon him viz by giving large Quantities of Medicines whose Particles are pointed O what a strange Metamorphosis The Devil is turned Hydra And what 's more ingenious Gentlemen must swallow whole Battallions of Armed Men with pointed Spears and Launces Truly a hard Task and a very strong Prescription this sure was a Dream in Flanders where he had reason to think of such terrible Medicines but he unriddles this and calls Acids Armed Men and Spears and really not without reason but Gentlemen have reason to fear that such pointed Medicines would rather increase than ease their Pains since I have shewed them what ill effects Vinegar hath when applied to any Sensible part Page 24. Secondly The use of many sorts of Meat and the too great Ingurgitation of them and then he says The Stomach being put out of order a foundation is laid for Distempers and for that reason Page 25. he says As his Predecessors have explained Distempers by Acids so he will by Alkalies A very noble design and upon very good Grounds but it were unreasonable for either him or his Predecessors to ascribe Acids or Alkalies for the Cause of Distempers merely because the Stomach was foul but he ought first to consider whether of these two were predominant in the Stomach when the foundation of such Distempers was laid which is the way to make it appear whether Alkaly or Acid be the cause of that Distemper So that in order to a right knowledge whether of these two are predominant we are to consider how Digestion is carried on naturally and then it will appear what is the reason that two much Meat hinders it I shall not here go about to explain Digestion any further than is necessary to our present Purpose and shall therefore refer the Reader to his own Observation who cannot but take notice that the better his Meat and Drink is the better he digests it if what Mr. Colbatch says were true in his Novum Lumen Chirurgicum viz. The more generous our Drink is the better so that were he to be judged by his own Words which I have shewed how far they are false Indigestion when we eat too much must proceed from the Fermentation in the Stomach being too low and consequently Crudities or raw undigested Chyle must be carried into the Blood to lay the Grounds of a Distemper now in all Crudities it must needs be acknowledged that Acids abound so that according to Mr. Colbatch his own canting Scraps of Philosophy there wants Alkalies to break the Globules and consequently the Gout must proceed from too much Acids Page 25. he says The same Alkaly which being thrown upon the Joints cause the Gout being thrown upon the Membranes of the Brain may cause a Staggering and may occasion an Apoplexy Really since Mr. Colbatch said it it is very much to be wondered at that Alkalies should be so mischievous as to coagulate the Morbifick Matter of the Gout and cause Apoplexies and yet in the Small Pox break Globules and be guilty of a contrary mischief by thining the Blood and throwing it out through Vessels through which it was before too fine to pass but any thing that 's mischievous hath such a kindness for him that it will be black or white as he wou'd have it otherwise one would think to thin and to thicken are widely different Actions for Alkalies to do but I have before shewn the Absurdities of what he said as to these Distempers and shall not now enlarge upon them The remaining part of Page 25. and Page 26. he fills with a Repetition of an Account he formerly gave of the Reason why drinking Wine does Men that are inclined to the Gout so much harm which I having in his Chapter of the Gout published in his Essay of Acids and Alkalies and also in this shew'd to prove that the Gout proceeds from Acids there is no need to repeat what I there said Again Page 27. He says Fourthly The immoderate use of Venereal Exercises every Body experiences that by a few Venereal Embraces his Spirits become more Languid Poor Man one may see what comfort his poor Wife hath if he hath one if he hath not one may learn how he came to be so compassionate to Angelick Faces in the Small-Pox he speaks so sensible in the case but he says every Body experiences it truly then the World is worse than I thought it had been for one might reasonably expect a Boy at Ten had never experienced such things but one may see he begun to enervate himself betimes But to be serious If Alkalies were the cause of the Gout then Venery would cure the Gout because it draws off the Alkalies of the Blood and Spirits by taking away those parts that invigorate the heat of the Blood but since taking away Alkalies makes Men subject to the Gout by leaving the Blood weak and flaggy it follows that the Gout proceeds from Acids which always most abound in Blood that is least Spiritous as more in Old People than Young Page 27. Few or none are ever troubled with the Gout before Marriage or the use of Venery and yet the Roman Priests who abjure Matrimony are frequently troubled with this Distemper O strange What a mighty stickler for the Church of England That only
leave it to the Consideration of those Ingenious Gentlemen who are troubled with this Distemper since they by dreadful Experience find that when they take Medicines the Symptoms are almost Intolerable whether it be not more reasonable to think the violence of those Symptoms proceeded from the violence of the Distemper since I have so plainly made it appear all along in answer to his Books that Acids are the Causes of this Distemper and what more plain and obvious an Experiment can there be to prove the Reasonableness of using Alkalies in the Cure of this Distemper than that which I have before mentioned viz. by applying Vinegar it self to a fresh Wound and at the same time to another Vinegar whose Acrimony is dulled by the use of Chalk or some other Alkaly for if the strength of so sharp a Liquor as Vinegar is taken off by the mixture of Alkaly this is the strongest and plainest proof in the World that Alkalies are very useful in the Gout and always to be made use of by Rational Physicians since I have so evidently and beyond Rational Contradiction proved that the Gout proceeds from Acids for Alkalies do not only take off the Acrimony of that Humour which irritates the sensible Parts but also by absorbing part of the superabundant Acid attenuates that matter which by coagulating the Humour fixes it in the part affected and conseqently dispose that Matter to be absorbed into the fluid Mass of Blood again to be carried off by proper Excretories so that nothing can be plainer than that the use of Alkalies in the Gout is highly reasonable since it so evidently appears from so many Instances as I have throughout this Book given that Acids cause Coagulations and consequently are to be taken off and corrected by the proper Use of Alkalies Page 58. He says The Medicines here prescribed are those that are generally used by most Physicians and if any Body ever received Advantage by them I dare be Burn'd and that ever Men should have such dull Phansies as not to vary from a Method that hath never once stood them in any stead looks very odd And as for Alkalious Medicines in general I dare be positive that they never yet cured any one Distemper but very frequently have done a great deal of Mischief they being given in Foul Distempers What mischief they do when used by absurd Practicers as himself that know not how to manage them I don't now dispute that being nothing at all to the Gout but since I have so manifestly made it appear that this Distemper proceeds from Acids and that Alkalies are of very great Use I think it is all the Answer I need to give to this that the Medicines he prescribes are never given by Rational Physicians and never by Quacks without ruining Mens Constitutions in a little time and except he leaves of such ill Practice he really deserves what he so zealously dares viz. to be Burn'd and I am amazed that this Man should have such a dull Fancy as all the reason in the World cannot persuade him from it tho it be so very pernicious and dangerous and truly it looks odd enough to use his elegant Expression that Peoples Constitutions must be ruined to please his dull Phansie and as for his Acid Medicines I am positive they have ruined more Constitutions than he 's aware of but some People are lead into their own Destruction by blind Promises which they know not how to perform which is the reason he does so much Mischief Page 59. He says In Chronical Distempers such as the Gout c. there poor Mortals are let alone to languish under their Oppression and the Physician will be for putting the poor Wretch into a Course of Alkalies to correct those luxuriant Acid Particles which he would fain persuade his Patient that his Blood abounds with but yet he never found any such thing there to the pauling of his Stomach and exasperating his Distemper and if ever the poor Patient finds relief it is from Opium that is between whiles given and if from that he hath any little intermission of his pain they are generally so ungrateful as not to set the Saddle upon the right Horse to give the Opium its due but presently hug themselves and cry God a Mercy Alkalies and so go on with a repetatur pulv è chelis c. Now as this was to be laid upon all Rational Physicians upon condition that their Practice was false so having all along in answer to him made it appear that their Practice is Rational and Good and that his is false and erroneous it must needs fall to his own share and in his own words to lay the Saddle on the right Horse I must say in Chronical Distempers such as the Gout c. there poor Mortals are let alone to languish under their Oppression and Mr. Colbatch neither understanding their Distemper nor the true Method that he should take with them would be for putting the poor Wretches into a Course of Acids and would fain persuade his Patient that his Blood abounds with Alkalies contrary to Truth and Experience to the Detriment of his Constitution depressing of his Spirits and encreasing of his Distemper And alas If ever the Patient he imposes upon finds relief he may thank God for it and the strength of his Constitution which helps to carry off and abate the Distemper But what a tender compassionate Creature is Mr. Colbatch who hath such a tender Love for poor Gentlemen that will give him Money For he is so enraged at that Hydra That Devil That Gout that he calls it all the ill Names he can and hath such esteem for Opium that gives them all the ease they must hope for from him that he 's offended they don 't fix some Mark of Honour upon it it hath such an excellent stupifying Quality and truly no Body knows how much he is ingaged to be zealous for the Honour of any thing that relates to dulness and stupidity he hath so much of it himself and indeed he may well hug himself and cry God a Mercy Stupidity O the wonderful Effects of Opium where Acids would increase the Distemper Page 60. He says If we do not look about us and regain our Reputation we may chance to be laid aside in other Distempers as well as the Gout This is a mighty considerable piece and shews the honest Endeavours of the Man who is so much afraid of being laid aside that he uses all the means he can only to get Patients and truly without this by his whole Writings one would guess that the Man only Huffs and Contradicts and Writes that People might think he hath something in him but alas poor Man He hath so much ill luck along with it that he cannot long impose upon People for those very Writings shew according to the old Maxim Nil dat quod in se non habet that he hath nothing at all in him but Pretence
Page 60. He says What I have said is not to reproach the Physicians of our own Nation who are many of them as great Men as ever were of the Profession and generally this City abounds with such but my design is to undeceive Young Physicians who are imposed upon by Foreign Authors But our Author Mr. Colbatch must think himself a strange sort of a Wit or the Physicians in London very easily imposed upon to be flattered with such a dull pretence as this for if he did not reproach the Physicians of this City who does he mean When Page 58. He says The Medicines here prescribed are those that are generally used by most Physicians surely most Physicians must needs comprize the generality of this City but if he would pretend only to undeceive Young Physicians why did he in his Preface to this Book call Physick a Scene of Slaughter since Young Physicians scarce kill before they have Practice enough to be Subjects of Slaughter But this is to let us know that he is Conscious that he hath laid that to Physicians Charge which properly belongs to himself and would thus stop their Resentments with this dry Complement But did he not say what he hath done was only to reproach as great Men as ever were of the Profession but those that are imposed upon by Foreign Writers why did he not then direct his Book against those Writers But we must give him leave to contradict himself to say and unsay as odd as it looks for his Head is made up of nothing but short Raptures without thought or foresight Besides were what he here says true it had been his best way to have gone amongst his Adversaries where by a total Conquest he would have got Credit more than he must expect by thus weakly exposing himself amongst Men he hath nothing to say against as he here says Page 61. He goes on If the Blood 's abounding with Alkalious Particles be the Primary or Fundamental Cause of the Gout how can the giving of Alkalies be of any Use Of no other Use than the throwing of a Company of dryed Fagots upon a House that is on fire would be to extinguish the Flame and whoever should attempt such a thing would I suppose be accounted little less than a Mad-man To this I answer that since I have so often made it appear that the Acidity of the Serum from whence its Viscidity proceeds is the cause of this Distemper and it hath been plainly proved by evident Observations and Reasons that giving more Acids is the way to encrease the Distemper He alone is the Mad-man that can give no reason for what he does but what is plainly contradictory to his own Practice but this is a strange sort of a Man to call all Physicians Mad-men Page 61. and Page 58. He says He will be Burn'd if ever they did good yet Page 60 says He does not do it to reproach the Physicians of our own Nation Whether does he talk like a Wise-man or like Mr. Colbatch now But Page 61. further to let the World know that he hath a mighty Insight into a Glover's Trade he tells a Story of a Philosophical Glover from whence he seems to draw his Conclusions and upon which one would guess he had built his Hypothesis He says They first throw their Skins into a Pit filled with a strong Alkalious Lixivium which makes them in a manner rotten afterwards they make a strong Acid Solution into which they throw their almost rotten Skins which again reduces them to their Texture nay makes them firmer than they were at the first Truly Mr. Colbatch was very happy in so Philosophical a Companion for doubtless he received wonderful hints from one that was used to grope Philosophically in Lime-Pits and had he been Seven Years an Apprentice to him without question Mr. Colbatch would have been a very notable Man at the Trade and would have handled Hides very Philosophically nay and for ought I know might have made as Ingenious a Man at it as Mr. Yardly for he would have got wonderful Improvements by such weighty Debates as would have passed betwixt them two but of what advantage soever it might have been to him to have improved his Knowledge in that Trade I am sure Mr. Yardly's Story does him little service here for it directly proves that Acids are most pernicious in the Gout and that Alkalies are the only Remedies to be depended upon for if Alkalies so softned the Skins there is a great reason to hope that they will also dissolve and soften those Humours that swell the Parts affected being hardened and obstructed there but if Acids will harden the Skins when soft consequently they must harden that Alkalious Matter lodged in the Gouty Parts and so do more harm by fixing it there But Page 62. He is happy Quoniam successus ejus sol vidit oneres autem tellus operiret otherwise because those he does not Kill think he Cures them but those he sends packing to another World have not the advantage of telling their Friends the dismal Cause of their Departure and how they were sent to another World by Mr. Colbatch his Acids From Page 62. to Page 67. he tells a long Story of a Man that was troubled with an Iliack Passion but why that comes in this Chapter I cannot tell except he wanted something to fill it up with Page 67. he says The Skin abounds with Receptory as well as Excretory Pores which I have frequently observed in the Skins of many Animals by the means of my Optick Glasses Really he seems to be mighty inquisitive into the Skins of Animals since he hath been acquainted with the Ingenious and Philosophical Glover Mr. Yardly but it seems he is not content with Mr. Yardly's Enquiry into Skins but hath got his Opticks to them as if he had a mind to be the Author of some new Discovery and would help his weak sight by Spectacles But perhaps he remembered that Malpigius and others who had made great Discoveries in Anatomy made use of Microscopes and so he being a great Man in his own Conceit must needs peep through a Glass too But to what purpose Truly he hath discovered Receptory Pores as well as Excretory Pores But I ask him how he knew which were Receptory Pores by looking at them Which is utterly impossible And I am afraid he hath stared so much on the outside that he hath scarce looked enough within or he would have understood things a little better than he does and I am sorry to see one that hath so little Reason pretend to be so saucy with all Learned Men and not only so but Dogmatical and Positive where he ought to be humble and repent of what ill Practice he hath hitherto followed endeavouring to impose upon Mankind CHAP. VI. Contains Remarks on his Fourth Chapter I Come now last of all to his Method of Cure to undeceive these Ingenious Gentlemen that he hath hitherto imposed
not attribute to the Medicines but the Malignity of the Distempers I was resolved upon the first Poor Patient I had in a Fever to try what the forementioned Acid would do and upon a Multitude of Tryals I found by my Acid I could Cure most sorts of Fevers much more effectually and certainly than ever I could before by the Means of Alkalies and Alexipharmicks The Effects of this Medicine backed with some other Observations put me upon thinking that Fevers and other Distempers did not proceed from the Blood 's abounding with Acid Particles but on the contrary with Alkalious ones Truly whatever Mr. Colbatch may think 't is scarce to his Advantage for whatever Good he did with that Acid it was not to be ascribed to him but the Gentleman But why should he not give Credit to it Since he was jogging on in the ordinary Method for Acids were always used in most sorts of Fevers before his time tho highly prejudicial in the Gout Rheumatism Small-Pox Consumptions c. but it seems he was as ignorant in those Days as he is now and most absurdly gave them Alkalies and Alexipharmicks which are never to be used in Fevers except Malignant which I have more fully taken notice of in my Answer to his Book of the Gout But to proceed it seems being instructed by a Gentleman he fell to use Acids as other Physicians did and as long as he kept within bounds had the like success but he at the last finding that Physicians were in the right and he had been all along mistaken not only gave Acids in most Fevers but transgressed the bounds of Reason and Experience and boldly gave Acids in Malignant Fevers which by all the Learned and Experienced Physicians for an hundred Years past and also at this time are known to be very dangerous But this was not all those that are Ignorant fear nothing because they are not apprehensive of danger he went on boldly in a false way and wittily drew this Conclusion Acids do good and have good Effects in Fevers and therefore other Distempers proceed from Alkalies Very strange and worthy of Mr. John Colbatch and it must be a very great Specimen of his Wonderful Judgment for he might as well say Water will set a House on Fire because Fire will as that Alkalies cause the Gout Rheumatism Small-Pox c. because they cause some sort of Fevers were it allowed that those Fevers proceeded from Alkalies From Page 6. to Page 21. is filled up with a Parcel of Stories nothing at all to his Purpose but to tell us that he hath distilled the Blood of eleven Persons to no purpose but to get so much Spirit as will turn Syrop of Violets green and what Service that will do him I have already shew'd viz. that he does not truly ascribe the Cause of the Gout c. to Alkalies but that they proceed from Acids and I shall make it appear more fully by and by in its proper place I shall in the mean time take notice that Page 21. It would be almost impossible for any Private Man to make a sufficient number of Experiments without the Assistance of the Publick which occasioned me in the Preface to my Treatise of the Gout to propose a Publick Stock to carry on this Work O strange Has this mighty Projector this Thought in his Head yet Sure it makes him very uneasie to see the Publick not take notice of him Alas Poor Man It 's a most Noble Acid that keeps up his Spirits or how would such a mighty Champion dispense with such Slights He that in his Book of the Gout has the sole Faculty of casting out that Devil which is not to be cast out without Prayer and Fasting who tamed the Raging Lyon cut off the Hydra's Heads and expelled the Mighty Tyrant Why are they not afraid of his Resentments Page 23. He says Now if such a Substance as this be not to be called an Alkaly meaning the Spirit which he draws from Blood I should be glad to be informed what is I shall not here inform him what Medicines are truly called Acids and what Alkalies It is sufficient to shew that he does not know which I have already done since he calls Steel and Antimony Acids which have always been found to correct Acidities and by their Effects to be Alkalies but he asks whether this Spirit be not an Alkaly To this I shall give him this brief Answer That if all Substances were either Alkalies or Acids it would be more properly called an Acid than an Alkaly but since all Substances are not to be classed under those two Heads it is neither an Acid nor an Alkaly and because he knows not what else to call it I shall tell him he must call it a Spirit and since it is drawn from an Oily Substance the Blood according to what he says Page 7. of his Appendix to his Essay of Alkalies and Acids it must consequently be an Acid all Oily Substances according to him being Acids But he says it is an Alkaly because it turns Syrop of Violets Green if for that reason it were to be called an Alkaly then what he says in his Appendix is not only prov'd false by what I have there said but by his own Words here also but that it may appear he is mistaken here also I must put him in mind that Acids will turn Syrop of Violets Green as well as Alkalies viz. Arsnick and Sublimate the first of which I have proved to be an Acid in his Appendix to his Essay and the latter in the beginning of his Book of the Gout and indeed it is the most unreasonable thing in the World thence to conclude any thing either to be an Acid or Alkaly because both Alkalies and Acids will turn Syrop of Violets Green and we may not only observe different Substances to have the same Effects in respect of Colour in this Experiment but even throughout Nature for Aloes and Cinnamon are much of the same colour but different in all other respects Sugar and Sublimate are of the same colour yet the one is innocent and the other strong Poyson but tho all are not to be esteemed Alkalies that turn Syrop of Violets Green yet it is certain a great many will and I have therefore in Answer to his Book of the Gout granted That allowing the Doctrine of Acids and Alkalies to be true which is by no means his Experiment was good and upon those Grounds I shewed also that the Experiment is very strong proof against what he builds upon it I shall also here upon the same terms grant that this Spirit is an Alkaly and also shew that tho' it be allowed to be so it will prove against him viz. that Acids are the Causes of Distempers In order to which I shall further take notice that Page 23. He says In examining the foregoing Experiments it plainly appears that the Blood of People labouring under the Distempers there