here I expect that People will think that I have caught my self in a trap when I bring in Calibiats amongst the number of Acids when they are generally owned by all Mankind to be Alkalies to confirm the truth of which they tell you it is plainly manifest that filings of Iron will make as great an Effervescency with all sorts of Acids as any of the Alkalies I have mentioned therefore it is plain I must be much in the wrong in reckoning Calibiats amongst the number of Acids From this difficulty I shall endeavour to extricate my self and likewise to prove That Iron or Steel until it be converted into a Vitriol and every body will allow Vitriol to be an Acid cannot act upon the Blood or Serum to cause any alteration in it nor so much as any way enter into the Veins or Arteries It is the Custom of Skilful Practitioners before they give Steel Medicines to enquire of their Patients Whether they are sensible of any Acidity in their Stomachs in which part I do allow Acids oftentimes to abound and that exorbitantly If they are sensible of any Acidity there it is then found necessary to give Iron or Steel without any Preparation at all by reason that by the means of the Acids in the Stomach it is turned into a Vitriol and so made capable of being carri'd into the Blood whereas in such cases if it hath been before satiated by a precedent Preparation it hath little or no effect at all On the other hand if there be no sensible Acidity in the Stomach Iron or Steel being given Unprepared are carri'd off by Stool without the least alteration or any part of it being admitted into the Blood All or most of the Preparations of Steel that I know of that are good for any thing are performed by the means of Acids which tend to the dividing of their parts and turning them into a Vitriol Now according to the difference of the Acids used the result is a different sort of Vitriol which hath different operations But on the contrary Alkalies do so lock up the Body of Iron as to make it unfit to be taken as Medicine by reason of its extraordinary hardness and firmness of Texture The Preparations of Steel I generally use are that which goes by the name of Dr. Willis's Preparation of Steel and is now almost every where to be had which altho it be grown common is for all that no despicable Medicine and that which follows Take of filings of Steel or rather Iron very clean and free from dust one pound and half Sal Armoniac two pound make the Sal Armoniac into very fine Powder then mix them well together in an iron or stone Mortar then put the mixture into a moist Cellar and let it stand a week Then put it into a very large Crucible which cover with 〈◊〉 piece of Tile afterwards put the Crucible into a Charcoal Fire which increase by degrees till the Crucible be almost red hot after it has continued in this state about an hour take away the Fire and let your calcined matter cool by degrees when cold take it out of the Crucible and make into fine Powder in a glass or stone Mortar then put it into a Bottle with a wide mouth which stop with a glass Stopple and keep in a warm place These two Preparations properly given and with convenient Vehicles I have known of very great use in Rheumatisms And the last when all other Medicines have proved ineffectual has never once failed me in the most inveterate Obstructions of the Menses in Women Besides the forementioned Preparations of Steel I have frequently found Cinnaber of Antimony or even common Cinnaber mixt with a due proportion of Gum Guaiaci and given in large quantities to be of great use not only in confirmed Rheumatisms but even in Sciatica's of long standing by the means of which alone I have known many cured I did formerly believe Cinnaber of Antimony and common Cinnaber to be Alkalies but since I have more nicely inquired into it I find that by a peculiar management a large quantity of an acid sulphurious Spirit may be obtained from it Before I conclude upon this Head it will not I suppose be amiss to observe one thing more about the Preparation of Steel before-mention'd and that is that whilst it is kept dry and in a Powder it is one of the greatest Deoppilatives or openers of Obstructions imaginable But let it be put into a Cellar and run per deliquium which it will do in a few days fifty or sixty drops of the said Oil per deliquium given twice a day in a strong Decoction of Oak Bark I have of late found never to fail me in stopping a seminal Flux which all People will allow has hitherto been found as difficult a thing to do as any whatsoever Some People having told me that they supposed the Stipticity to proceed from the Decoction of Oak Bark only I have purposely tried it alone and altho I own Oak Bark to be a Noble Stiptic and to do Wonders the Decoction being taken in at the mouth and by way of Clyster in common simple Diarrhea's and even sometimes in bloody Fluxes yet in the case before-mentioned it would do nothing at all but adding some drops of the Oil of Mars to the Decoction it had soon the desired effect CHAP. V. Of Consumptions I Have little to say upon this Subject but that I have seen great numbers of People under this Circumstance to whom have been given large quantities of Alkalies and all sorts of Balsamics and those things called Pectorals without the least advantage in the world tho I have seen others who have had the manifest signs of a confirmed Phtisis or Consumption who by the plentiful use of proper Acids have been reduced from a state of dying to that of perfect health My Reasons in short according to my best Observations for the use of Acids and the disuse of Alkalies are as follow The Globules of the Blood by reason of so great a quantity of Acrid Alkalious Lixivious Particles being mixed with it being broken and confusedly mix'd with the Serum are together with the Serum admitted into the small Glandules of the Lungs and not being capable of being discharg'd cause Inflamations there and by consequence Hectick Fevers which always precede and accompany a Pthisis or Consumption Now by the use of Alkalies and Balsamicks these extravasated Globules are so far from being thrown out and the depraved state of the Blood from being altered that instead of it the state of the Blood is made much worse by Alkalies and by Balsamicks the Pustles occasioned from the extravasated Globules being admitted into the small Glandules are brought to Suppuration the necessary consequence of which is an Ulceration and when so tender a part as the Lungs are is once Ulcerated he must shew himself an Artist indeed that can heal such Ulcers Now proper Acids being given
Author at the same time throws himself at the Readers mercy to make him or esteem him what he pleases But of all Authors those who encounter with prejudices ought most infallibly to reckon upon their condemnation Their Works sit too uneasie upon most mens minds and if they escape the passions of their enemies which I have not done they are obliged to the Almighty force of Truth for their protection However time will do every man Justice and Truth which at first appeared a Chymerical and ridiculous Phantasm by degrees grows sensible and manifest Men open their eyes and contemplate her they discover her charms and fall in love with her The Books that encounter with prejudices leading to Truths through unbeaten Paths require much longer time than others to obtain the reputation their Authors expect them And I find it but too true in my self that all those Writers who combate with prejudices are much mistaken if they think by that means to recommend themselves to the favour and esteem of others Possibly some few will speak honourably of them when they are dead But whilst they live they must expect to be neglected I speak experimentally by most people and to be despised reviled and persecuted even by those who go for the wisest and most moderate sort of men There is nothing but Truth contained in my Novum Lumen Chyrurgicum and I did think that I should have been put into a condition this Summer to have made it evidently appear But instead of that I have been abused and delivered up into the hands of my enemies to do with me as they pleased My Novum Lumen is built upon a pair of Medicines the which as yet I think not fit to make publick but here lyes my misfortune common to all those who make new Discoveries A great many believe the Truth of what I have said and that my Medicines are capable of performing what I have promised for them But amongst the number of those who are so ingenuous as to believe matter of fact a great many say this man was not the Author others that they have the same Medicines and some that they imparted them to me As for these Gentlemen I can very easily excuse them I very well knowing that it is the Nature of most Men not to allow any Person the honour of his own Discoveries they thinking that thereby their own Glory is eclipsed But there are another sort of Men whose Interest will not give them leave to embrace the Truth and for the same reason they do what in them lies to keep others from so doing And the greatest part of Mankind not being judges in my cause any further then their eyes direct them and it being altogether impossible that there should be any great number of Spectators by which means I am evil spoken off by many upon no other grounds then because an interested party have told them that I have pretended to what I can't perform I expect the mouths of my enemies will be opened very wide against me but I have already born so much that I can with a great deal of contentedness bear with the greatest indignities that can be offered me My great satisfaction being that I have peace in my own breast having proposed nothing but what tended to the good of Mankind And very well knowing that if my Medicines are faithfully and skilfully used they are capable of performing much more then I have promised for them but the best Medicines unskilfully used or with a design that they should not succeed by prejudiced Persons may be brought into disgrace The following Essay I humbly offer to the candid Readers serious consideration nothing doubting but that it will meet with a favourable reception from some few And I must needs say that I more value the good Opinion and good Word of one candidly ingenuous then all that can be said against me by ten thousand clamarous ill-natured Persons I have endeavoured to act and behave my self so as to deserve no mans ill Word but if I am abused and my Undertakings misrepresented without any just cause I shall never break my heart about it I very well knowing that the justice and integrity of my Undertakings will one time or other be made appear From my House in St. Anns Court in Dean-Street near Soho-Square October the 12th 1695. A Physico Medical ESSAY c. CHAP. I. Of the Small Pox. THE first thing I shall begin with is the disuse of Alkalies in the Small-Pox that fatal Distemper to three Kingdoms and even all Europe In that by the means of it God was pleased to deprive 〈◊〉 of a Princess whose worth was such that a value sufficient can never be set upon it and whose loss sufficiently be lamented It is a common practâ—ce both of Nurses and the generality of Practitioners as soon as they perceive the least Symptoms of this Distemper to give either Gascons Countess of Kents Lapis de Goa or some other Testaceous Powder which are known Alkalies The one Party as they pretend to drive the Malignity from the Heart the other to correct the Acidity which they conjecture for beyond conjecture they can't go to be in the blood In the subsequent Discourse I shall endeavour to shew upon what false suppositions both Parties go For the first sort it will not be worth while to spend much time about them by reason every one will readily grant that they generally act upon wrong and mistaken Notions For for any Malignity to be lodged in the Heart more than any other part is altogether impossible by reason that the Blood moves ten times at least faster through the Heart than any other part the Lungs excepted For the Cavities being large no Stagnation is to be feared and so by consequence no danger If there be any danger of the Malignities setling any where it must be in those parts where the Vessels are very small and the Blood moves but slowly which must be near the extream Parts For the second sort who give the same Medicines but with quite different Intentions I shall endeavour to prove that their suppositions are altogether as false and groundless as the sormer They give their Alkalious Medicines to correct the Acidity they suppose to be in the Blood and which is as they pretend the occasion of all the ill Symptoms that attend People in the Small-Pox Now I could never hear of any one that by Analyzing the Blood of Persons in the Small-Pox that could ever find the least footsteps of Acidity in it though on the contrary it doth appear after many trials that the Blood of such Persons doth more abound with Alkalious Particles then that of sound People So by consequence the giving of Alkalies in this case must be at least superfluous if not highly pernicious and as I have frequently observed and shall instance in some particulars The cause of the Small-Pox common with most other Fevors and acute Distempers 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 mixt with it causes a hurry and disorder there which is what I * Nov. Lum Chyr elsewhere observe to be the occasion of both continued and Symptomatick Fevers Now it is well known that a Fever always precedes the Eruption of the Pustles in the Small-Pox And when the Pustles are well come out that is when the Heterogeneous or Particles of a different Texture from those of the Blood are thrown out to the Surface of the Body then the Fever ceases Now to assist Nature in throwing those Heterogeneous Particles out of the Blood to the extream Parts which they pretend to be mightily hindred by a great quantity of Acids in the Blood they give repeated and large quanties of Testatious Alkalious Powders and other Diaphoreticks Which indeed seldom fail of answering their Intentions in throwing out large quantities of Pustles even more than Nature is able to supply or bring to maturity and if she doth chance to cope with them is the only occasion of spoyling so many angelick Faces as we every day observe But the spoyling of Faces is not all for besides the throwing out of so great a quantity of Pustles by breaking off the Globules of the Blood when it is brought to the Cataneous Glands instead of those Glands separating the Excrementitious Serum which in a State of Health is all or most part of it to be carried off by sweat or insensible transpiration but at this time to supply the Pustles till they are brought to maturity I say by breaking off the Globules of the Blood when it is in its confused State Serum and all together the Excrementitious Serum only according to the Rules of Nature ought to be separated those Glands being so many strainers adapted to receive into them the Serum only and not the least drop of Blood when it is in its natural State and its Globules unbroken I can liken the separation of the Serum from the Blood by the mediation of the cutaneous Glands to nothing better then to a mixture of oyl and water made by continued agitation when that compound mixture seems to be one intire white liquor tho' with good eyes or a good glass the oyl may be seen floating in the Water in small Globules as the Blood doth in the Serum as I elsewhere * Nov. Lum Chyr observe Yet this mixture of Oyl and Water let it be done never so exactly if it be poured into a funnil lined with brown Paper wet before hand the Pores will be so disposed as to let all the Water run through though not the least Particle of the Oyl yet if there be some Alkalious Salts boyled with this mixture of Oyl and Water the Globules of the Oyl will be so broken as to pass readily with the Water through the forementioned brown Paper which before it would not in the least do In like manner the Globules of the Blood being broken by the means of Alkalious Medicines together with too great a quantity of Alkalious Particles being before admitted into it is by that means made capable of being received into the Cutaneous Glands which is the only occasion of those purple spots upon the surface of the skin not only in the Small-Pox but other Fevers which spots seldom or never fail of being the certain Prognosticators of future Death But this is not all for by the foresaid breaking of the Globules of the Blood by Alkalious Medicines these small broken Globules getting into the small Meanders of the Brain hinder the Motion of the Animal Spirits through the Nerves and so cause Deliriums and all those fatal disorders of the Brain that are but too frequently seen Likewise the Blood not being capable of being contained in its proper Channels is the occasion of violent Bleeding at the Nose bloody Urine c. which are none of the best Symptoms but what too frequently happen by the aforesaid means Besides breaking of the Globules of the Blood and causing the ill Symptoms before-mentioned with many others I don't think fit here to enumerate By their Diaphoretick quality there is so vast a waste made of the Serum of the blood that there is not a sufficient quantity left to supply and bring to maturity those many Pustles even more than Nature designed that those Medicines alone had thrown out So that about the ninth eleventh or thirteenth day for want of a sufficient quantity of Serum to supply them the Pustles fall and the Acrid corrosive matter being absorbed into the Blood causes secondary Fevers which oftentimes prove of very dangerous consequence I might expatiate a great deal more but I design brevity It may be said you have gone far enough in condemning the ordinary Practice as to the use of Alkalies and Diaphoreticks not having substituted a better and safer Method and Medicines in their room but not too fast that follows in its proper place The Small-Pox is a Distemper that requires the giving of as few Medicines as in any Distemper whatsoever unless in some extraordinary cases But yet I think it the most unreasonable thing in the World that People as is the common practice in this case should be left to the sole management of old Women and Nurses which thing alone I verily believe has been the destruction of more people than the Sword it self And although but very few Medicines as I said before are generally necessary yet the eye of a careful skilful Physitian and that from the beginning is as convenient as in any Distemper whatsoever that he seeing Natures operations may also see the fit time when to give the Medicines requisite I confess I have heard some people complain that such a Physitian has had so many Fees and never wrote one Bill for them for such people let me tell them that they complain without cause for in many cases especially in this the Physitian deserves his Fees better for not writing at all then for so doing I own my self to be a profest Chymist and in many things though not all a Disciple of Helmont and know nothing in this World so delightful to me as Chymical Operations Yet in this case nor indeed in scarce any acute Distemper do I judge Chymical Medicines to be absolutely necessary though many of them may do well and are sometimes to be used But I don't know any reason we have to flye to elaborate Preparations when Nature has provided Medicines ready to our hands Acids are the things skilfully and timely given which I have seen not only by my own but by other Great mens Practice to be the only safe effectual and seldom or never erring Medicines in this Distemper so that they are rightly timed and given with discretion and why should we flye to Acids Chymically prepared when as I
under that Distemper complain of My Friends have a little patience and I will presently make it appear to you that those Symptoms are not occasioned by Acids but from Acrid Lixivious Alkalious Particles which I doubt not to evince by plain matter of fact First of all by a Chymical Analysis it doth appear that the Blood of Scorbutick Persons hath by much a greater quantity of Volatile Alkalious Particles then that of sound Persons besides which some quantity more or less of a Lixivious fixt Alkaly which for as much as ever I could find the Blood of sound Persons is altogether destitute of And by the way give me leave to add this It is my opinion that if Physitians would give themselves the trouble of Chymically Analyzing the Blood of Persons in all Distempers and making nice Observations of the different substances to be obtained from it By that means the cause of Distempers would be certainly known and by consequence the cure of them much more certain then now it is But that I may return to my business Another considerable Argument besides that beforementioned to prove that the Scurvy hath its rise from Alkalious substances in the blood and not from Acids is this which follows I have been frequently told by some Seamen and Surgeons that have been long Voyages at Sea especially towards China and the Indies that of a hundred Men that have been in a Ship not two of them but have been almost eaten up with the Scurvy their Skin squallid and full of blotches their Gums eaten away and their Teeth ready to drop out Pains and Aches all over their bodies c. and yet upon their landing at Cadiz or thereabouts where are plenty of Oranges and Lemmons upon eating large quantities of them in one Fortnights time at farthest scarce one hath failed of being perfectly cured This is not a bare relation of one or two Persons only but what is generally agreed-upon and allowed by all people Although these moderate Acids plentifully used may have such effects in that hot Country yet I have not observed that in our cold Climate they have always always I say the same effect because in slight cases they generally do very well yet in more stubborn ones we are forced to have recourse to more powerful penetrating ones As for Alkalies I don't believe that ever any one was cured by them of this Distemper although I have known some People that have taken a vast farrago of Testacious Powders c. without any good effect at all which afterwards has been done in a small time with a small quantity of proper Acids Before I conclud I shall insert a Preparation of Antimony the which I have found of extraordinary use in the most inveterate Scurvies Take of white Flowers of Antimony eight ounces Volatile Spirit of Tartar two pound put them into a large Bolt-head and digest in a gentle heat in Balneo for fourteen days then take out the Bolt-head and let it cool by degres when cold decant the clear Tincture from the Feces Then put the decanted Liquor or Tincture into a long Cucurbite fit a head to it exactly and with a gentle fire destill off the one half the remaining part keep for use in a Bottle well stopped with a glass stopper That which comes over by Distillation may be kept for the same use To make the Volatile Spirit of Tartar Take of very fine and clean Rhenish Wine Tartar twenty pound put it into an Iron-pot fit to the said Pot a Moors-head made either of Iron or Copper the which fix to a large Worm fixed in a Tub of Water fit a very large Recipient to the end of the Worm Lute all the joynts except that of the Receiver with very good Lute and when the Lute is very well dried make a very gentle fire under your Pot at first which increase by degrees and continue as long as any thing will come over then let the fire go out undo your joynts and take out the Caput Mortuum which Calcine to Greyness in a large Crucible then put three pound of the calcined Caput Mortuum into a long Cucurbite then pour upon it all the Spirit that came over being before hand freed from the fetid Oyl that came over with it by running through a Funnel lined either with wet brown Paper or Cotton Put on your Head which lute very well with a wet Bladder then put to a Receiver which lute also very well and with a moderate fire draw off one half of the Spirit Pour out that which remains in the Cucurbite as useless and put in two pound more of the Calcined Caput Mortuum upon which pour the Spirit before drawn off and with a gentle fire draw off one half whick keep for the aforesaid use It being a noble volatile Spirit of Tartar and is as noble a Menstruum as most I have met with not only for this use but several others Of the aforesaid Tincture I use to give about four six eight or ten drops according to the age and strength of my Patients Morning and Evening in about half a pint of strong Infusion or Decoction of Juniper Berries without any precedent Purgation this Medicine performing that office where there is occasion it answering every thing that is generally said of a true Panacca sometimes working by Vomit sometimes by Stool and sometimes by Urine but mostly by a gentle Diaphoresis or Sweating And I have once known it to cause a Salivation without any of the ill Symptoms that usually attend it when raised by Mercurial Medicines Whoever hath a mind to see more of this Tincture may read Glauber Op. Mineral Par. Prim. from whom I had it though I have something varied from him I have found it of great use not only in the Scurvy but many other Chronical Distempers as Rheumatisms Sciaticas Dropsies c. and by some few Observations that I have made I believe it may do great things even in the Gout it self Before I conclude I shall mention one Objection more against my opinion made to me by several and that is that a more than ordinary saltness is to be perceived in the Blood of Scorbutick Persons and this saltness they take to be an Acidity But if they would but enquire a little narrowly into the matter instead of finding it to be an Acid saltness on the contrary they will find it to be a Lixivious Alkalious one CHAP. III. Of the Gout I Shall here make only some few Observations concerning the Gout it being cousin German to that of the Scurvy Though I must confess the Gout to be a Distemper I have not had much to do with but by that little I have seen of it I am fully convinced that it is not from Acids as is generally said that that troublesome Distemper is occasioned I have observed considerable large Nodes in which are sometimes contained a hard chalky substance and of which I have seen large quantities extracted
which by many experiments I have found to be as much an Alkaly as either Crabs Eyes Corral Pearls c. the which I suppose no man will deny Now it being granted that the matter contained in the aforesaid Nodes to be an Alkaly how is it possible for this Distemper to proceed from Acids when in those very parts where the Distemper most violently rages there should be produced such large quantities of an Alkalious substance For if the Distemper proceeds from Acids as 't is generally agreed upon the Patient need not clog his Stomach with Alkalies as is generally practised there being a Remedy already placed in the part affected And I verily believe that the only reason why this Distemper has been accounted amongst the Opprobria Medicorum has been from the mistaken Notions they have had concerning it But if men will still persist to assert that this Distemper proceeds from Acids and at the same time own the chalky substance before-mentioned which is only the Morbifick Matter indurated to be an Alkaly they must tacitely believe the Doctrine of Transmutation though openly they are ashamed to own it and will laugh at and ridicule those that do But this is not all for suppose the Acid Matter causing this Distemper to be transmuted into a chalky alkalious substance the Distemper must never more pretend to come in or near the part where this substance is lodged it being placed as a Centry to guard it off Nay the Blood at times must all or at least great part of it pass through the Part or Parts where this chalky substance is lodged by which means a man would think it should be sufficiently guarded from any more growing Acid and so by consequence when the chalky Nodes are once setled people have not the least reason for the future to be in fear of the return of their Distemper The contrary of which a great many honest Gentlemen to their sorrows experience So that a man would think that these very Nodes alone were sufficient if there were no other reasons to be given for it to satisfie any man who is master of his reason that Acids are not and that Alkalies are the cause of this Distemper And if the Blood abound with too great a quantity of Alkalious Particles the giving of Alkalies must be preposterous is being to add Fuel to the Flame which instead of quenching or extinguishing makes it so much the greater 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 the means of which Salt the vinous Spirit is coagulated and turned into that substance or somewhat like it which Helmont calls his Offa Alba which coagulated substance not being capable of moving with the Blood and Juices through the small Vessels causes obstructions and violent pains and in time by the addition of other gross terrestrious Particles into the beforementioned chalky substance By the foresaid coagulation of vinous Spirits with the volatile Alkaly of the Blood may a very good reason be given for the Generation of the Stone in the Bladder and Kidneys And Mr. Boyle tells us being what Helmont had before done that having obtained some Stones of a certain Lythotomist he put them into a Retort and exposed them to a strong fire and found that the better half consisted of volatile alkalious Salt like unto that obtainable from Humane Blood and a considerable quantity of heavy Oyl so that it is plain that the Generation of the Stone is not from Acids but Alkalies From which may be inferred that it is not from the Acidity of Rhenish Wine that makes the drinking of it pernicious to Gouty People but from its abounding with spirituous Particles more than most other Wines CHAP. IV. Of Rheumatisms THIS is another of the Distempers generally said to proceed from Acids in the Blood but very falsly as I hope fully to make appear I having had to do with multitudes under this Distemper and that thanks to God with very good success I. shall not trouble my self to investigate the original causes of this Distemper which are various that being foreign to my design but shall immediately proceed to the business I have undertaken First of all Having by the fire analyzed the Blood of Rheumatick Persons I have found it to abound more with Alkanious Particles than that of sound Persons but not the least grain of any Acid substance in it from which alone it may readily enough be inferred That it proceeds not from Acids but on the contrary from Alkalies But it may be Objected From whence proceeds that syziness and viscosity of the Serum which is generally observed in the Blood of Rheumatick Persons if not from Acids For we know that Milk which is a sort of Serum of the Blood let it be in never so fluid a state by the addition of any Acid though never so gentle a great part of it will be immediately congulated and turned into Curds To which I Answer That the foresaid Objection is altogether invalid the viscousness that is observed in the Serum of the Blood being quite different from that of the Curds in Milk Though there are those substances contained in Milk that are fit to make both Blood and Serum but Milk is a much more compound liquor than the Serum of the Blood so the comparison being made between subjects so vastly different it is of no validity at all But suppose the comparison between the two Liquors good What agreement is there between Curds and a substance like unto Gelly None at all that I know of But if instead of curdled Milk they had made the comparison between the inviscated Serum and Hartshorn Gelly they had been in the right on 't for indeed I know not any two subjects more fit to be compared together But then this comparison will not in the least prove the inviscation of the Serum to proceed from Acids but on the contrary from Alkalious Particles for every body that knows what Harts-horn is know that the reason of its making a Gelly is from its abounding with volatile alkalious Salts And for the same reason it is that Calves Feet Izing-glass Ivory c. make Gellies By what I have said I hope I have freed Acids from occasioning the viscousness of the Serum of the Blood in Rheumatisms which viscosity if it can be once taken off every one knows that the Distemper immediately vanishes But this is not to be done by Alkalies that ever I could see although I have given them in large quantities But it is expeditiously to be done by proper Acids such as the before-mentioned Tincture of Antimony c. and Calibiats But
People to Sweat in Under my Pot I made a fire which both warmed the Room and made the Brine to boyl and from the boyling Brine arose such quantities of Steams as filled my Room which when it was warmed and full of steams was fit for use I had beside the large Pipes which supplied the whole Room several others of different lengths by the means of which I more forcibly conveyed the Steams to any particular part By this way of Sweating I have known a Gentlewoman Cured as wa◠also one at Droyt-Wych of an Inveterate Leprosy which had eluded the Efficacy of all other Medicines and Baths It rarely failed taking off the most violent Old Aches and Pains In all Relaxations of the Nerves and Tendons I have never met with any thing comparable to it To be short I found it as good as the Bath in most things and in many out-did it and I believe Mr. Hodges computing the time he has used the way of Sweating at his Brine-Pits and the number of People he has had can produce a greater Catalogue and more considerable Cures wrought than hath been at the Bath I hope by the means of Experimental Philosophy so happily begun and encouraged by that Admirable and never-sufficiently to be valued Mr. Boyle to see the Art of Physick arrive to as great Certainty and Perfection as other Arts and Sciences are arrived to For as I before observed by Chymically Analyzing the Blood and Juices both in their Natural and Morbid state we may arrive to some certainty in the Knowledge of the Cause of Distempers which I am afraid we have hitherto been greatly ignorant of and when once the Causes of Distempers are throughly known the Cure of them will be no difficult matter I shall conclude in the Words of that Industrious Philosopher by the Fire Helmont in his Treatise De Lichiasi In nostris furnis legimus non esse in Natura certius Sciendi genus ad cognoscendum per causas radicales constitutivas rerum quamdum Scitur quid quantumque in re quaque sit contentum Ita quidem ut cognitio connexio causarum non constent clarius quam cum res ipsas ita recluseris ut coram prodeant ac velut tecum loquantur Siquidem entia realia duntaxat stantia in suis primor dialibus succedentibus seminum Principius adeoque in verâ entitate Substantiali dant notitiam proferunt causam cognoscendi Naturam Corporum Mediorum extremitatum Quippe sunt causa generationis existentiae permutationis secundum ipsorum radicem quoniam teste Raimundo utcunque Logicus habeat profundum ingenium Argumentabile aut Naturale de rebus extrinsecis tamen nunquam per aliquam rationem quae venit ad sensum poterit directè cognoscere nec judicari cum quali natura aut virtute per fortitudinem intrinsecus habeat Multiplicatio grani crescere super terram nisi pro similitudinario ab observatione desumpto Nec sciet unquam quomodo semen in terra pullulet crescat coligat fructum Nisi cum doctrina experimentali prius intraverit in nostram Philosophiam Naturalem non Sophisticam sermocinalem illam quae nascitur Logicis per diversas praesumptiones Phantasticas qui cum prognosticationibus sequelarum contra vim Naturae faciunt multos pertinaciter errare in Sophisticatione mentis Quia per nostram Mechanicam Scientiam intellectus est rectificatus vi experientiae respectu Oculi verae notitiae mentalis Imo experientiae nostrae stant supra probationes Phantasticas Conclusionum ideoque nec eas tolerant Sed omnes alias Scientias ostendunt Vivaciter intrare in intellectum Unde deinceps intelligimus per Naturam intus illud quod est quale est Quia per talem Scientiam Intellectus stut denudatus Superfluitatibus erroribus qui ipsum ordinariò removent à veritate propter praesumptiones praejudicata credita in conclusionibus Hinc enim nostri se direxerunt ad intrandum per quamlibet scientiam in omnem experientiam per artem juxta Naturae cursum in suis univocis principiis Spagyria enim sola est speculum veri intellectus Monstratque tangere videre veritates earum in claro lumine Nec fert argumenta logicalia quia nimis remota longuinca de claro lumine Ideoque habet tabula smaragdina Per hoc genus demonstrandi fugiet à te omnis obscuritas acquiritur tibi omnis fortitudinis fortitudo fortis vincens omnia subtilia solida penetrans propterea vocor Hermes Trismegistus habens tres id est omnes Partes Philosophiae atque totius mundi Telesmon Haec ille inter orare ergo pulsare supponitur Medium in Naturalibus quaerendi per ignem FINIS ADVERTISEMENT I Design God Willing in a short time to Publish a Compleat History of Human Blood both in its Natural and Morbid State BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Daniel Brown at the Black-Swan and Bible without Temple-Bar NOVVM Lumen Chirurgicum Or A New Light of Chirurgery Wherein is Discovered a much more Safe and Speedy way of Curing Wounds than hath heretofore been usually Practised Illustrated with several Experiments made this Year in Flanders Novum Lumen Chirurgicum Vindicatum Or The New Light of Chyrurgery Vindicated from the many unjust Aspersions of some unknown Calumniators With the Addition of some few Experiments made this Winter in England Both by Jo. Colbatch Physician