LICENSED Roger L'Estrange Feb. 21. 1669. SCARBROVGH SPAW SPAGYRICALLY ANATOMIZED BY Geo. Tonstall Doctor of Physick LONDON Printed by J. M. for the Author MDCLXX PREFACE Nulla rosa nascitur sine spinis DOctor Witty in his Epistle to the Reader complains that Mr. Simpson by giving him the trouble of answering his Book hath interrupted his design of a Latine Copy upon the subject of this Spaw which he thought should have seen the light this year I would not willingly hinder any good work let this little therefore that I have writ but serve only as an Appendix to his third Volume and I shall clothe it in like fashion far be it from me to espouse the quarrel of either of them I profess my self a friend to both for if I should not walk uniformly betwixt Dr. Witty's Library and Mr. Simpson's Laboratory I might suspect my self a lame Physician Hippocrates and Helmont I declare are the two great lights that rule in my Hemisphere Galen's method of Physick may justly be named rational so far as he writes after the old man his Masters Copy I dare not speak further for him I hope in this Tract my writing is so candid that it may be observ'd what I have said is not ad personam but ad rem And that I have not concern'd my self in any word which Dr. Witty has been pleas'd to say in his two Books but only what was necessary to take notice of me defendendo It is but one Position that I have affirm'd upon the whole subject if it be daubed up with untemper'd Mortar let who will pull it down but if its foundation be built upon mechanical demonstration it must stand firmer than Hercules Pillar by the Process that I have taken the material principles which I assert to be in this Spaw are presented to our senses these are infallible judges positis omnibus requisitis of their objects Dr. Witty's failure was in that he left off where he should have begun after he had observ'd what is most conspicuous about the Spaw and tryed that the Gall tinctured the water of a dark purple colour contents himself with fair probabilities for affirming his five principles and then pag. 15. leaves it to others to try Experiments and make what new discoveries they can What unexpected things hath Anatomy discovered in the body of man these late years to derogate a tittle from the honour of these happy improvements of knowledge were to speak against the light and to bark against the Moon yet why must the usefulness of this noble Art be confined to the Animal Kingdom only The grounds of Anatomy in the vegetable and mineral Kingdom laid down by Tachenius doth neerly conduce to the discovery of the Nature Cause and Cure of diseases if I know any thing The little desection that I have made of Scarbrough's Diana gives the cause why one crys great is D. of S. and another at the same time decrys it as much the general account for this confused noise is because as the liquor is commendable so the dregs are insufferable the Essence of it fit for the Cup of a Prince the caput mortuum which is Sand and Clay fit for nothing but the Brick-layers Trowel Hence it doth follow that those who are weak in their digestive faculties and strong in their distributive these may find good by drinking this Water and no harm by the sordid feces due care being taken but those who are weak in both will experience the contrary To all those that have a petrifying character seminated in them I say of Scarbrough water Procul Ite cito abite nunquam redite SCARBROVGH SPAW SPAGYRICALLY ANATOMIZED BEfore I enter into this Discourse I am necessitated to remove an Objection lest I stumble on the Threshold Says my honoured Patient Last Year you perswaded me that Scarbrough Water was to be preferred before Knaisbrough this Year you are of a contrary opinion and therefore I know not how to trust you I answer first excusively you may note hereby that I am not pertinacious conviction of an errour will work in me conversion to the truth Again I did commend to you no worse thing than that which I took my self 'twere to be wished that all Physicians were bound with this Girdle Secondly directly for your particular trouble Gravel and Stone in the Kidneys I did prefer the Nitre at Scarbrough before the Vitriol of Knaisbrough Appello Coronam if that be not a more noble principle than this yet must it be understood only caeteris paribus Here my mistake was incurable until I got opportunity to sift Scarbrough Water in the Fire the best Microscope could not have shown me what lay in the bowels of it only Spagyrick Anatomy made the Dirt appear to open view For satisfaction to others who may censure my wandring from Knaisbrough to rise from wavering in opinion take this plain Narrative Anno Domini 1666. the famous fortunate Chyrurgeon Mr. Thomas Holiard of London may this man be blessed in his deed cut me for the Stone which weighed four Ounces and a half Six weeks after I was able to take Journey the Doctor there my friend told me his doubt that Vitrioline Waters were too sharp for me to drink because of my green wound so lately healed notwithstanding I resolv'd for Knaisbrough remembring Mr. Stones case which his Father related to me long since which was this after his Son was cut a large Stone taken out of his Bladder the wound did not perfectly heal notwithstanding he had all the help that London could afford for about three Months time at last Sir Theod. Mayrne did advise him to Knaisbrough Water he had not drunk it fifteen days till he was perfectly healed for which great Cure done by it he did frequent that Spaw for many years after this Water I mixed with white Wine which brought away by Urine abundance of mucous matter Helmont the Prince of Reason sets down the cause hereof in these words ubi custodes malè se habent continuò plorant partem proprii alimenti quod sibi assimilare debebat I was glad to see that this Spaw cleansed the Bladder from that glutenous stuff which if let alone would undoubtedly have laid a foundation for another Stone Sandy Gravel which few or none are exempted from falling amongst it and mixing with it must in continuance gather to a hard substance too great to pass away I wish all those that shall receive like mercy with me would use the like means to prevent a relapse of that formidable Disease the Stone Anno Dom. 1667. I returned thither again the season proved wet during which time the Spaw proved very weak of the mineral this discouraged me from drinking much of it I then blamed the great Ditch about the Fountain as the cause of impoverishing the Spaw of its principle for I judge it was as rational to pare an Apple and to peel the Bark off a Tree and hereby not indemnifie
Thief has lain hid so long but if a Light had been brought in by a Chymist this Thief might have been discovered before this time and then Nephritick men would have been aware of it I grant by reason of abundance of Nitre in the Water it will force out stony Gravel in the Kidneys when any is there but I am certain also because of the plenty of Stone filings that are in it the Water will occasion the breeding of Stones in the Kidneys where pro tempore there are none ask those that have quitted themselves of the Stones they voided by drinking the Water if after they returned home fits have not come on them more frequently and sharply than before they drank of Scarbrough-Spaw I protest to the world both as to my self Relations and Patients I have found it so to shew the disserence betwixt Scarbrough and Knaisbrough Water as to this petrifying property I shall mention a remarkable Observation of Mr. Henry Proctor of Farnly I had the relation of it from his own mouth when we were together this Gentleman was brought very low in an Hectick Fever and sadly troubled with shortness of breath he consulted with Dr. Henry Poor for Cure but found no Remedy he then applied himself to Dr. Neal who prepared his body and advised him to drink Knaisbrough Water which caused him cough up several Stones daily till he was perfectly cured He does enjoy his health very well ever since using those Waters once a year afterward he married and now is Father of two Children if this Patient had been sent to Scarbrough-Spaw what had become of him let others judge as the Disease of the Stone doth immediately proceed from a petrisick spirit the cause sine quâ non so Jaundise and the Gout have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from it hence it doth follow that secondarily these two Distempers are dangerously exalted in bodies that are inclinable to them by drinking this Spaw for evidence of this truth I shall give instances First the Lord Erwin went from his House at Temple-Newsam to Scarbrough upon what other account than to divert himself there with the company of his friends I know not after he had drunk the Water and was returned home presently the Jaundise seizes on him of which Disease he shortly died though Dr. Taylor used all means for his remedy now this I say all sweet Spaws in the World have a property common to them that they are of a deopilating nature and though they may not suit to every Disease yet for the removing of grand Obstructions the cause of most Diseases they are generally the best and mostly the last advice of all Physicians what reason then can be given why this Honourable Lord by drinking Scarbrough Spaw Water had not the Obstructions of his Gall opened but contrarily brought into this irrecoverable Disease that kill'd him I say what reason else if not this Scarbrough Water did petrifie that Sulphurous Saline humour in the Vesica bilaria into Stones too great to pass through the porus Dr. Witty blamed his too liberal drinking of wine with it as he said to my self this year but what harm could that do more than to increase Choler which humour unpetrified is most easily purged away of all others That Stones do as usually concrete in the Gall as in the Kidneys in men as well as in beasts who doth question I was present many years since at a Physick Lecture in London when the Professor in the Discourse of the Jaundise brought forth three or four little Stones of Gall wrapt up in his Handkerchif to shew them to the other Doctors there relating that a Gentlewoman of the City afflicted with that Disease after many fruitless attempts made by him for her Cure at last was put to it to give her a Dose of sharp working Physick which quitted her of those Stones whereby she forthwith recovered if any object that suppose the Gall be petrified yet it cannot cause death in so short a time as this Lord took his Disease and died in it For answer let him consult Helmont with Syloius and there is enough to satisfie him that the second fermentation made by the succus pancreaticus and the Gall are as necessary for the preservation of life as the first fermentation is that 's in the Stomack though in an Oxe Gall there is often found a great Stone notwithstanding the beast keeps health and liking till the Butcher slaughter him yet then there is abundance of liquid choler besides in his Vesica bilaria sufficient to perform fermentation I shall mention but two other instances of this year in our Town An Alderman whose Father some years since died of the Jaundice but himself was never troubled with it till after his coming from Scarbrough Water then did the Symptoms of this Disease appear only it did not manifest it self either by Vrine or by Colour of his body which gave me a great cause of suspicion that the water had petrified the Gall with Chalibeat and other Icterical drinks by slow degrees he recovered A Merchant's Wife with Child for company of her Husband came to Scarbrough Dr. Witty in his Book approving the Water safe for such she desired to drink of it upon her return home a tormenting pain seized on her right side for mitigation of this extream dolour and prevention of a Feaver Phlebotomy was thrice ordered then an Antimonial Vomit yet so obdurated was the Gall by the petrifying property of Scarbrough Water as I suspected that none other sign appeared of the Jaundice but a return of her pain three or four times over at length a ternary spirit of Wine Nitre and Mercury elixerated dissolved the congealed Choler and then did the Disease shine forth in its saffron colour after three recidivations she was pluckt out of the Jaws of death beyond the hopes of all her friends and is now well delivered of a lusty Boy Let it be here observed that I practise according to conscience and let those She-Tatlers who when they have done mumbling over their Beads come to a Feast and there mutter hard speeches against me for dealing so severely with this Patient take notice that it is my principle when I see my duty to pursue it to the hazard of my credit with such as them and though I be singular in this point from the most of my Brethren whose wisdom it is to secure themselves from an evil report by doing nothing in a doubtful case yet I have not so learned Christ The Maxim is true quod unicum est non deliberandum est and the resolution is Christian Let us quit our selves like men of Art and Integrity and let the Lord do what seemeth him good Pardon this digression Reader Dr. Witty gives an instance pag. 180. of a Knight and his Lady in Lincolnshire by drinking the Water at home for the Scurvy both of them took the Jaundice which they recovered not from till Christmas following
them as to cut away the surface of the earth about a mineral Fountain standing water abiding all Winter in these deep Trenches by sinking down through the softned earth makes passage into the current of the Spaw then every showre of Rain in the Summer will find the same crevices and clifts to descend into it If this may suffice to get this fault mended I shall be glad Anno 1668. being mostly concern'd to look well to my self against the threatnings of my former distemper I visited Scarbrough during mine abode there First I took notice what Doctor Witty says pag. 151. that after he had exhaled the water from the body of the minerals it would not unite with other waters but lie all at the bottom undissolved By this trial of his I was certain that in that body of Minerals there must be other things containd than his 4 or 5 principles for Allom Nitre Salt and Vitriol of Iron are amicable to water and without any force dissolvable in it neither may it be supposed that the fire in exhaling the Water can alter the texture of Salts so as to hinder their dissolution for the more Salts are calcined the more speedily do they imbibe the Water as thirsting for it as Ice doth therefore easily melt in Water because it proceeded from it for the same reason Salts must do so likewise If any one doubt of this let him try the Lord Blay's Experiment that learned Frenchman viz. calcine Sea-Salt deliquiate it then distill all that will come over repeat this process and you will find that all the Salt is turned into Water as devoid of all saltness as is distilled Rain Water Next thing I observed was these words of his pag. 13. Nor can the principles be separated further than I have already expressed namely by putting Gall to the Water notwithstanding many ingenious Gentlemen have endeavoured it I wish those he means had applied their wits about the usefulness of Experimental Philosophy as the Honourable Boyle has done and then their endeavours would have succeeded here and to higher purposes than the separating the principles of Scarbrough Spaw where the difficulty lay that obstructed the separation I cannot apprehend for fire alone is an instrument sufficient to effect it This substance if I may so call it being as subtile as the light must penetrate through the centre of every pore of the mixed Water and because of its property to ascend upward it doth incessantly disquiet the lodge of heterogeneals during this restless Motion like things do occur with like and their Nature is to unite after this manner as I conceive it comes to pass that ignis segregat heterogenea congregat homogenea by no other artifice did I extract out of the Spaw Water a pure nitroaluminous Salt and a large quantity of feces apart both which I then shewed to the Honourable Lord Faulconbridge who can remember what I said then to his Lordship of it At this time I could not be certain but that much of the Sand which settled to the bottom in the Preparation came through the carelesness of the Porter that brought me the Water and therefore I could not come to a positive determination by this Experiment only I wrote to Mr. Simpson wishing him to forbear publishing any thing concerning Scarbrough Spaw till he had spoke with me because I had made a tryal what was contained in it his answer was my advice came too late for his Book was in the Press so far was I from having a hand in the framing his Book as Dr. Witty was made to believe by the report of others This Year 1669. I returned thither and though I dropt Oleum Salis tinctured with Gold in every other Glass hoping thereby to cleanse off the sordes of the Spaw yet after a fortnights drinking it gave me a fit of the Stone which from the time Mr. Holiard cured me I had not felt before I brought the Water home with me that I might be sure that nothing extraneous to the Spaw might interrupt a critical Analysis thereof the product confirmed my first Experiment which I made at Scarbrough all the materials that can be found in it are three first Raments of Stone secondly a Nitroaluminous Salt and thirdly a gleeb of Allom their proportions are thus of the Stone-powder one Ounce and three Drams of the Nitroaluminous Salt one Ounce and six Drams of the Blew-Clay which is the gleeb of Allom three Drams the active principles and the caput mortuum are equal so that if Dr. Witty's tryal be true that five Quarts of Water give one Ounce of the body of Mineral as he calls it you take half an Ounce of Stone and Clay into your Bowels every such quantity you drink Here you see a cause as I observed before why this Body of Minerals would not dissolve in Water namely the Stone and Clay by the heat of the Fire while he exhal'd the Water dry from them become more compacted together with the Salts than when they were in the Fountain whereas when these Salts are separated from their dross they melt as easily as Snow in Water You will say how comes it about that there is so much Filth in Scarbrough Water as you speak of For answer take notice Dr. Witty tells you that the Spaw which is a quick Spring cometh out at the foot of an exceeding high Clift all the Stone and Earth that maketh up this Mountain is big belly'd with Nitre Allom-Stone here and there mingled in it after the Spring has run through this high Hill the Spaw is brought forth which is fair and clear to look to I cannot but compare it to an Harlot of whom it is said She eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I have done no wickedness This hungry esurine Water after she has devoured Stone in a large quantity as if that were not sufficient for to grate her Teeth upon she hath swallowed both Cup and Liquor of the Allom. Because I have dealt with her as Aesop dealt with the Boy that had eaten the Figs made her vomit them up again whosoever is angry with me for doing so I must bear it If any of her friends think I do bely her let them for their satisfaction first answer this Query From what cause is it after you have drunk a Month of it then if not before it takes a Resty Jadish fit will neither go backward nor forward A Noble Lord complained to me that the Water dealt thus with him his Lordship having drunk it with success about a Month it then swell'd him at stomack two or three last days and would neither work by Urine nor Stool though he took his usual Physick with it as formerly the Scotch Pill which is an Extract of Aloes I advis'd him to take one Dram and half of the pure Essence with the Spaw Water by the help of this and the said Pill he had plentiful Evacuations in that Afternoon thus being quitted
he blames the distance of place from the Fountain for this fault of the Water but all that can be charged upon drinking at a distance is that it may diminish the good and increase the bad qualities of the Water which are innate The Gouts inveterate malice is known to arise from a petrifying property of its acid Spirit hence 't is said Tollere nodosam nescit medicina podagram If losers may have leave to speak I shall mention how Scarbrough water dealt with me as to this Distemper which all my life long I never felt the least touch on before no sooner was an usual Stone slipped into the Bladder from the left Kidney of which I have spoke but immediately ictu oculi a Thunder-bolt from the right Kidney darted into the joint of the great Toe which caused me to go limping a fortnight after Thus have my Reins tryed what is that water of Scarbrough Spaw That I am not alone neither in this accusation hear Dr. Witty pag. 149. Others drinking without due preparation as was necessary peradventure to save some petty charge have fallen into the Gout the water contracting heat for want of speedy passage being thrown by nature upon the weak Joints have hence inferred that these Waters cause the Gout Answer These Gentlemen without peradventure may be supposed to have neglected that which is judged necessary for them to do before they drink Water yet I do aver no Spaw in the world has less need of preparatives and more need of Purgers than this of Scarbrough it was never observed by me that any at the first morning draught of this Water wanted a speedy passage by the back door Though I cannot approve of his Notion touching the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how and wherefore the water causeth the Gout yet in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it does so in Bodies inclinable to that Disease we are both agreed Thus having proved by all manner of Arguments both à priori and à posteriori that Scarbrough water is petrifying and have manifested that Knaisbrough Spaw which partakes of the Vitriol of Iron by a famous Instance is quite otherwise it now remains only that I make out Scarbrough water has no Vitrioline Spirit in it In this undertaking I shall approve my self a greater friend to Scarbrough than Dr. Witty who maintains the contrary for if in this water the esurine Spirit of Vitriol be joined with the Volatile Spirit of Nitre of which this Spaw doth chiefly partake how then doth it differ from Aqua Fortis that deadly corrosive water which is nothing else but these two acid spirits inseparably united together if he say these two are not all there is Allom and Salt also this makes the Water worse for a Spirit from all these will make an Aqua Regia which doth corrode Gold it self the hardest of all Metals to dissolve If it be said these corrosive Spirits are extorted by stress of fire from their bodies which extraordinary heat will not be granted to be in the bowels of the Earth I answer this possibly may excuse à tanto but not à toto for first the prolifick Seminals of all things generated in the Earth doth come to their proper matrixes in a vapour If any question this let him try Platt's Experiment put bituminous and combustible substances into two Glass Retorts filling their necks the one with lean Earth the other with peet-earth set them in an open fire and by gradual heat the Vapours that ascend will petrifie the one Earth into Stone and the other Earth into a plain coal Secondly this Vapour if it be of ill quality hath the same pernicious effects upon our bodies as those that are sublimed by Art in the fire This truth the Miners do sadly experience the Sulphurous Vapours that are in every Coal-pit will soon stifle any that goes into it before it be purged by air conveyed to it Thirdly this Vapour Nature can no more cause to ascend upward which it doth perpetually without heat than Art can sublime without fire Suppono says Kircher omnes vapores nihil aliud quà m tenuissima subtilissima ac insensibilia corpuscula esse quae calore exaltata ingentis in terreno mundo mutationis causa sunt Wherefore I say though we know that Nitre and Vitriol distill'd divisim are both of them severally good and of daily practice yet we experience also that distill'd conjunctim they send forth the most deadly corrosive Vapour which by the coldness of the Receiver is condensed to a Spirit there can be no doubt but if both these as Dr. Witty would have it be joined in Scarbrough water it must be highly corrosive though not to such a degree as Aqua Fortis is twenty drops whereof will kill a Cat notwithstanding I shall examine his proofs for this Vitriol of Iron as I find them in his Book pag. 9. he says a small quantity of Gall being put into the Spaw Water doth turn it into a dark Claret Colour ergo there is Vitriol in it this is a non sequitur for thus will the Gall turn a Coal-water if it has gotten any touch of the Spirit of Sulphur to sharpen it for dissolution of the black Mine that it passeth through but we will suppose there is no Coal-Mine about Scarbrough therefore I say it is only the Allom-Stone in the Spaw that gives the tincture by the Gall let experience prove it take any Allom-stone unhurnt powder it adde Spring-water sharpened with the Spirit of Nitre that it may dissolve it and silter it so will you have to appearance a water as clear as the Spaw put Powder of Gall thereto and it gives you the same tincture I am witness that the Chymical Apothecary of York did pick out of the Hill near the Spaw an Allom-stone that was not hardened in the air but made soft in the Nitre which abounds there and after he mixed only Spring water with it and added the Gall to it it gave as high a Claret colour as the Spaw it self doth The Reason of these Experiments is plainly thus the acid water dissolves the black Coal or the blew Stone and hides the colour of them in its pores because every Atome of the continens must be outward to the contentum The Gall being put in and stirred amongst it by its Alcaly imbibing the acidity of the water what is included therein is extruded towards the bottom where what is precipitated appears in its own colour the Spirit of Salts adding lustre thereto I will not mention here how Dr. Witty commends this black sediment for Physical use pag. 10. Against this Experiment of Allom Stone giving its tincture by the Gall let be observed how Dr. Witty mistakes in his tryals says he in his answer to Mr. Simpson pag. 91. I have tryed the Allom Mine having broken it to powder and infused it in Spring water some hours and it received no tincture from the Gall. Good reason for he did but