to please the Learned I intend to shew a greater Use thereof in Medicine by the Explication of Diseases and their Symptoms and the Remidies we may obtain therefrom with the manner how they act Errata Pag. 7. l. 4. read but they p. 9. l. 10. r. Harts-horn p. 13. l. 8. different ib. l. 9 -gulations p. 14. l. 3. a salt ib. l. 5. disssolve it p. 50. l. 13. absorbed p. 56. l. 17. it self p. 59. l. 9. leaves p. 63. l. 20. Retine p. 64. l. 22. Retine p. 65. l. 16. dele of p. 68. l. 11 Retine p. 72. l. 2. and. ib. l. 20. hath p. 79 l. 14. or one p. 99. l. 19. with p. 101. l. 21. dele the. p. 105 l. 21. dele the. p. 106 l. 10. it p. 115. l. 1. become p. 127. l. 15. you have p. 139. l. 16. add one p. 165. l. 3. be as CHYMICAL DISCEPTATIONS Or SOME DISCOURSES UPON Acid and Alkali EUBULUS DEar Pyrophilus We shall at last arrive at the End of our Errors and Draw from the Fountain of Nature it self Those Necessary Lights which can make us Philosophers PYROPH What say you Eubulus EUB. I say nothing but what I can convince you of by evident Reason and certain Experiments PYR. How have you discovered the Truth EUB. The Reading good Authors and the Converse which I for some time have had with learned Men have quite demolished all my Prejudices and made me Examine things with as much Freedom and Impartiality as I had before of Antipathy I have constantly observed That Authority eveâ— to this present time hath been an Invincible Enemy both to Physick and Medicine and the very Rock upon which all the Famous Men of the past Ages have rely'd and is indeed at this day the Cause of so many Sects and different Opinions which we see in the Schools Whereas Reason and Experience are the only True KEYS which can give Admittance inâ—o either of these Sciences for â—o be a Philosopher it is absoâ—utely necessary to banish Auâ—hority and to follow Reason â—nd Experience I am not â—ble sufficiently to admire the â—rosperous Success and Exactâ—ess of the Anatomists and Chyâ—ists of our Age The first â—aving discovered to us in the Body Parts Humours and Uses â—nknown to the Antients and â—he Last have withdrawn us â—rom that erroneous Darkness wherein the Four Elements and â—heir First and Occult Qualities had plunged us giving us Principles as clear as those were obscure PYR. I have alwaies told you That Anatomy and Chymistry were great Assistants to Physick and Medicine and that they enlighten us much where we attain it only by their Experiments EBU. I do not design to Entertain you here with the New Discoveries of Anatomists upon Humane Bodies I shall only speak of those which Chymists have made us take Notice of in the Dissolution of Mixts Know that for this Effect They acknowledg two sorts of Principles of which some they call Active Principles and others they stile Passive Principles The Active Prinâ—iples are the Causes of all the Actions and all the different Motions which are done in Nature The Passive Princiâ—les on the contrary are not â—apable of any Action but serve only as Matrixes to the active Principles for them therein to make their Productions PYR. VVe cannot desire an exacter Distinction of Principles but how many have you of either EUB. There is some Controversy amongst Chymists about the Number of Active Principles Some will have Three which they call Salt Sulphur and Mercury pretending that these are the last Bodies they find in the Resolution of Mixts By Mercury they understand the most subtile most penetrating and most aetherial Substance in the Mixt. By Sulphur all that which is therein oleagenous and inflamable and By Salt and that is dissolved in Water and coagulated by Fire they say The Mercury or Spirit is the Soul of Bodies That it gives Motion and Life to Animals That it makes Plants grow brings forth blowers and ripens Fruits also that it renders Stones and Mettals perfect That the Sulphur or Oil Causes the Diversity of Colours and Odors the Beauty and Deformity of Bodies and That the Salt is the cause of the Tastes Weight Solidity and hardness of Mixts Others acknowledg that there are Salt Sulphur and Mercury in all Bodies they demonstrate also by several Experiments That these Three Substances are composed of Two others a great deal more simple viz. of Acid and Alkali Salts and that Salt Sulphur and Mercury are no other but these Two Salts at liberty or intangl'd In effect you shall observe That there are Two sorts of Salts there are some Simples which are not compounded of any other Substance and some Compounds as are all the compound Mineral Salts and essential Salts of Plants which are composed of simple Salts and passive Principles notwithstanding in such sort as the Acid which is the first of these simple Salts predominates therein And these Salts are called Salts because they are dissolved by Moisture and coagulated by Driness The simple Salts are either Alkali or Acid the Alkali Salts are either Fixed or Volatile the Acid Salts are alwaies in a Liquor therefore called Acid Spirits nevertheless these Acid Spirits are no other but Acid Salts dissolved in a little water The Alkali Salt on the contrary is almost alwaies in a Body it is as I said but even now either fixed or volatile the fixed Alkali Salt is never elevated by the action of Fire as Salt of Tartar and all those Salts which are drawn from Plants by Incineration which we call Lixiviate Salts as those of Scordium Tamarisk c. The Volatile Alkali Salt on the contrary is elevated with the least heat of fire and is drawn chiefly from Animals as the Volatile Salt of Vipers Harts c. There are Three Sorts of Mercury or Spirit an Acid Spirit as that of Niter Allum Vitriol c. A sharp or biting Spirit as that of Harts-horn Urine Vipers c. and a burning Spirit as that of Wine Beer Cyder c. The Acid Spirit is an Acid Salt dissolved in a little Flegm The sharp biting Spirit is an Alkali volatile likewise dissolved in a little Flegm and the burning Spirit is a Sulphur and a Sulphur is an enveloped Acid. All Chymists in effect agree That there are two passive Principles viz. Water and Earth or Flegm and Caput Mort. The Water serves as a Menstruum and Dissolvant to the Acid and Alkali Salts and it is extracted by Distillation from those Bodies which contain it The Earth serves as a Bond to these Two Salts it is extracted commonly after the Extraction of the Lixivious Salt. It is to be noted That according to the different Mixture of these Four sorts of Substances and the different Rangings of their Parts there are made different Productions in Nature sometimes of Animals sometimes of Vegetables and sometimes of Minerals PYR What do you mean by Acid Salt and Alkali Salt EUB.
Effervescence as of spirit of Niter with oil of Tartar if on the contrary one of these two Salts is weak and the other strong as are the Alkali of Water and the Acid of Oil of Vitriol well deflegmed there is only made a little heat without effervescence if the Acid which is mingled with the Alkali is dis-intangled from its own Alkali and passive Principles as the Acid of Oil of Vitriol there is made a Fermentation with Heat and Effervescence and if on the contrary the Acid is intangled as in Vitriol in its Body there is only made a Fermentation with Effervescence without Heat In like manner if these two Salts are exalted and dis-intangled one from the other and from the passive Principles they take fire at the same time that they ferment as Calx vive doth when it is sprinkled with some Vinegar In a word if these two Salts are weak the Fermentation is insensible There are few Fermentations made but there is at the same time made a Precipitation tho' there are several Precipitations made without Fermentation as in the Precipitation which is done by Acids of Mercury sublimate dissolved in Water Precipitation is a Dis-uninion of a dissolved Body from its dissolvant in such manner that being separated therefrom it falls by its own weight to the bottom of the vessel which contain'd it Precipitation is made several wayes for either it is an Acid which holds an Alkali in dissolution or it s an Acid which is dissolved by an Alkali as it happens in the Composition of Regulus of Antimony in which the Sulphur of Antimony which is an Acid is separated from the Regulus and remains in the Foeces dissolved by the Alkali's of Tartar and Niter If it is an Acid which holds an Alkali in dissolution where the union is so perfect that there is not the least Pore empty as in all the compound Mineral Salts as Vitriol the Precipitation cannot be made but by an Alkali or else where the union is not so perfect and there remains a great many Pores which are not filled by this Acid as in corrosive sublimate The Precipitation may be done as well by Acids OTHER DISCOVRSES UPON Acid Alkali PYROPH THOSE Arguings which we had at our last Meeing have almost wholly persuaded me of the Verity of the Hypothesis of Acid and Alkali But I must confess dear EUBULUS that I have been extreamly shaken by the Reflections of the Incomparable Mr. Boyle upon these Principles which are lately fallen into my hands and the Objections which he makes are so strong that it seems impossible to bring a solution thereof EUB. I doubt not but that the Objections which the leared Mr. Boyle makes against Our Hypothesis have much seeming Truth in them but nevertheless I believe that they may be resolved with great Ease when one very exactly considers what I have said to you concerning the nature of these two Principles and all their force will serve to make the Truth of this Hypothesis the more conspicuous PYR. Mr. Boyle thinks it strange That they should explain all the Qualities of Bodies and the other Phoenomena's of Nature by this new System and that they attribute to it an Extent which ought only to be given to Matter and Motion EUB. You may easily conclude by the several Phoenomena's of all sort of Species which I have explained to you according to these Principles That it will be easy to Explain all those which they shall be able to prefer and I do not see Why the Extent that is given to this Hypothesis ought to be different from that of Matter and Motion since that in it self is found the Existence of the Matter and Cause of Motion PYR Our illustrious Englishman pretends That they have not made Experiments enough nor sufficient Inductions to prove That Acid and Alkali are to be found in all Bodies and in all the sensible Parts of Mixts and That they ought not to conclude that these Two Salts are to be found therein because such or such Effects are the Emanations of these Principles as for Example When the Patrons of Acid and Alkali see Aqua Fort. or Spirit of Niter dissolve Filings of Copper they conclude thereupon That the Dissolvant which is Acid meets in those filings of Copper with an Alkali upon which it works Whereas they do not take Notice That a well deflegm'd Spirit of Urine which in their Hypothesis is a Volatile Alkali dissolved in a little Flegm do's dissolve filings of Copper as readily and much more naturally than Aqua Fort. doth EUB. I believe you have sufficiently proved by those Experiments which I brought you That there is Acid and Alkali in all parts of Mixts It is most easy to separate these Two Principles from Animals Vegetables and the most part of Minerals but as for Metals These Principles are therein so strictly united one with the other That it is almost Impossible to dis-unite them Nevertheless we see therein the same Effects as we know are produced in other Bodies by Acid and Alkali and therefore we have good ground to believe That these principles are also to be met with therein and That the same effects are produced by the same Causes Thus when we see Spirit of Niter and the volatile spirit of sal Armoniack dissolve filings of Copper we conclude That there is Acid and Alkali in those filings and That the Acid spirit of Niter acts on the Alkali which it finds therein and the sharp spirit of sal Armoniack on its Acid for 't is a sure Maxim That Acid spirits never act nor ferment but with Alkali's and Alkali's on the contrary never act upon any other Bodies but Acids and thus Mr. Boyle's Objection is of no force seeing Spirit of Niter and Spirit of sal Armoniack meet in the filings of Copper with different Parts upon which they act differently and they act not any otherwise on the same subject PYR. He continues his Objections by an Experiment like the former He saies That in the Solution which is made of Iron by Acid Spirits they are wont to attribute this Effect to the Acidity of the Liquor which dissolved it although Iron is dissolv'd redily enough and also in the Cold too in sharp Spirits EUB. This Objection is as easily resolved as the former for there is found in Iron as there is in Copper Acid and Alkali The Spirit of Niter acts on its Alkali and the Spirit of sal Armoniack on its Sulphur or Acid and 't is sufficient that the one or other of these Two Liquors act upon the Alkali or Acid of the Iron to make the Metal change its Form as for the rest it is sufficiently easy to know That there are Acid and Alkali in Iron by this That Iron cast into Cream hinders that the Butter cannot be made in as much as it charges it self with the Acid which ought to make the Coagulation and there are none but Alkalies which have the Priviledge to
also it is That fat persons are the smallest Eaters by reason of the lack of internal Heat But a little after the Doctor speaks yet more fully to the Purpose Qui sanguinem habent sale volatilizato bene suturatum â—i sunt minus Febribus obnoxii hinc etiam qui saepius sanguinem emittunt ad Febres aptiore sunt Thus far he whose single Testimony in sufficient And since it appears That it doth so little hinder the approach of a Feaver that it rather furthers it it seems impossible That it should absolutely and alone cure any Fever For it is granted by all Physicians That a Fever has a property to pollute the Blood and that this can be taken away à posteriori that is by withdrawing what is putrified and contaminated seems very absurd to think being contrary to that Philosophick Axiom Manente causa manet Effectus Besides It is generally believed That the material cause of a Fever do's not possess the Vessels about the heart but rather the Vena cava and therefore how can Blood-letting be supposed to remove either the efficient or material causes thereof Wherefore consequently it can be no true Remover of a Fever but only an Abater of one of its most troublesem Symptoms viz. Heat which it do's by impoverishing the Stock of vital Spirits which maitaining Contest with the Radix of the Fever does by that contentious Motion cause that preternatural excessive Heat and Ebulition of the Blood which is particularly affected therewith hence it is That old Persons whose vital Spirits are poor in quantity and consequently not able to combate so strongly with the Disease do not appear so hot in a Fever as those whose Spirits are stronger and in a larger quantity and other persons after a tedious Warfare with this cruel Disease some small time before Death the Spirits having given up the Victory as not being able any longer to oppose the same do seem to be totally freed from all the Symptoms of their Fever For as I said the Spirits by reason of their Paucity and Imbecility do then resign up their noble Members to the Mercy of the Disease whose truculent Forces quickly invades the very Royal Pavillion of Life it self and as suddenly subverts it by committing it into the frozen Arms of a drowzy Death Whence it is held as a dangerous Prognostick when a Fever abates in the Violency of its Symptoms without any CRISIS or natural Assistance or without any medicinal Aid or without any certain Signs of approaching Health as well as sure Tokens of Nature's obtaining the Victory over the Disease So that it is no Wonder why Phlebotomy seems to afford so great Refreshment to the afflicted even in the most troublesom Symptoms because by depriving Nature of some of her provoked Forces it compells the rest for want of Power to suffer patiently the Cruelty of the Disease which if it be not very malignant as those Fevers called Ephemera Synochus non putrida and sometimes in those putrid ones called Synochus putrida and the continual Quotidian Tertian and Quartan the Contention ceasing and the corrupted blood being partly let out and the rest by some proper Medicament being corrected and amended Nature doth with much Difficulty and with great Debility at length obtain a pleasing Health Now if Phlebotomy did only let out the corrupted Blood and left still behind those Spirits which used to flow with it then Blood-letting by partly removing the Effect might ease Nature of a great deal of that which she otherwise must with abundance more Toil cast out And Reason would tell us That the natural Forces being still the same in Quantity and Power and the Inimical vitiated Blood being diminished and partly let out Nature must needs be the better able to cast out and purge the rest But since we find that the Blood and Spirits are Correlatives and do issue out together the Spirits going forth in such Quantity and the Blood let forth could be Vehicle too This proves then That Phlebotomy as it doth take away some of the corrupted Blood so it takes away also those Spirits which might have assisted to its correction some better way thereby rather weakning than assisting Nature But Phlebotomy being used in any malignant Disease is utterly destructive without a Miracle for in the Meazles Small Pox Plague c. It most commonly obstructs Nature in her Intentions so much debilitating her strength that she oft proves unable to cast forth the malignant Matter but by its poison is wholly over-come and destroy'd or at least is not capable of making an exact Purgation and though with extream hazard she escape Death yet there is such a stock of malignant matter left behind secretly lurking in the Mass of Blood which will upon a small Excitation discover its presence there by untoward troublesom Symptoms unless by powerful Remedies it be dispossest before it has fermented it self to that height It has been the Audacity of some Physicians to prescribe Blood-letting even in the Small Pox and Plague supposing That in the first the corrupted Blood being partly let out it would be impossible that the afflicted persons should have so many of those deforming Pussles as they otherwise would have had and therefore Blood-letting in such Cases might be lawful if it were upon no other account but the preserving the threatned Beauty of a youthful Face 'T is true by allaying the Effervescence of the Blood and weakning the expulsive Faculty partly as they say by reason part of that Corruption is let forth which otherwise perhaps might have made some hundreds of those filthy Pussles There is if the Diseased escape Death a great diminution of them and thereby those sweet Features which they before possest are not wholy rased But that this cannot be performed without â—â—nifest Hazard of the Patient's Life Experience and Reason hath shewen since so many great Persons have fell meerly to save a handsome Face The Spirits by Blood-letting being diminished and enervated so that they can no longer endeavour for their own Recovery for as Hippocrates saith Natura est morborum Mediâ—aâ—riâ— Besides Phlebotomy generally by weakning the retentive Faculty produces a Diarrhaea which was ever accounted a dangerous Symptom in maligâ—â—â— Diseases but most particularly in the Small Pox and upon this Account it is That Phlebotomy sometimes by producing 〈◊〉 accident on the a simple Feaver But in the Plague they pretend That the opening of a Vein is necessary for Prevention sake Beâ—ause the less Effervescence is in the Circulation of the Blood the less obnoxious we are to the Contagion The most noted man of this Opinion I find to be the above mentioned Dr. Willis in his Book of Fevers pag. 157. Where he saies Vbi adest Plethora cum magna sanguinis Turgescentia â—ut quibus longa Consuetudine sanguis solenniter mitti solebat iis venam secare convenit quo enim sanguis minus effervescet sine tumultu in
The Acid Salt is easily known by the Tast and Smell and by the Firmentation which it makes with Alkali's as Spirit of Sulphur This Salt is composed of small sharp pointed parts which insinuate themselves into the Pores of those Bodies they meet with and make either a Dis-union of their Parts or a Coagulation for according to the different Motions particular Figure Subtilty or Grosness of these Points and the disposition of those Bodies they either pass through them with Violence and scatter their parts one from another or else they are Entangled therein in such sort that they lose their Force and their Motion in them Remaining very often sticking to them We observe in effect That Acid Salts dissolve hard Bodies as Stones and Metals except Gold which cannot be dissolv'd but in salt Menstruums and coagulates the most part of soft and fluid Bodies such as Milk Blood. c. PYR. Then there are Acid Salts of different Natures EUB. There are as many different sorts of Acid salts as there are different Bodies in Nature and though the Particles or Attoms which compose them are all sharp yet that hinders not but they have nevertheless all different Figures which causes all the compound Mineral Salts in which the Acid salt predominates as Niter Vitriol c. and also the Essential Salts of Plants to take all different Figures in their Coagulations according to the Nature of the Acid which determines them whence some are formed Pyramidical as Niter others winding like a Screw as Vitriol c. PYR. Whence comes it That Acids dissolve Silver and other Metals and do not dissolve Gold and on the contrary salt Liquors dissolve Gold and touch neither Silver nor other Metals EUB. Gold being almost all Sulphur cannot be corroded by Acids of what nature soever they be it must be salt Liquor and as perfect a Spirit of Salt as can dissolve which in Corrosion must re-take the Nature of Salt Silver and other Metals having on the contrary more Mercury than Sulphur can never be dissolved in salt Menstruums for there is none but Acid Spirits that can dissolve them To confirm both to you You ought to take Notice That those that work in Slat Petar after they have extracted it draw forth yet a Salt a great deal less acid which is of the Nature of common salt which they call Sal centrique which when it is Resolved into a Liquor dissolves Gold after the same Manner as Spirit of Salt doth and in corroding re-takes the Nature of Salt and dissolves neither Silver nor other Metals PYR. Suppose that Gold be almost all Sulphur and then it is easy to comprehend Why it cannot be dissolved by Acids but only by salt Menstruums EUB. Have you never observed That when Gold is in flux if the end of an iron Rod be put therein it will be calcined and reduced into Scoria after the same manner as if it had been burnt with common Sulphur and that Argent vive forsakes all Metals to join it self with Gold which it renders as brittle as Glass How should Gold calcine Iron and be in such wise penetrated by Mercury as to become brittle as Glass if it did not abound with Sulphur first you know That Iron can't be calcin'd but by Sulphur which seeing Gold calcines consequently Gold must be a Sulphur Secondly Mercury being a powerful Metallick Alkali though imprisoned which is not joined but with a Sulphur of its own Nature would not quit other Metals to be joined to Gold if Gold had not more Sulphur than others and the Mercury renders it not otherwise brittle but because it absorbs its Sulphur and dis-unites the parts thereof PYR. Mercury nevertheless does not destroy the Body of Gold which it would do if it absorbed the Sulphur and disunited the parts thereof EUB. That is not a Consequence That because the Mercury absorbed the Sulphur of Gold and scattered the parts thereof It must therefore destroy it for the Sulphur of Gold being most fixed and the Mercury on the contrary being most volatile there cannot be made an exact Union betwixt them two that is to say by small parts and the Mercury being cast into the fire quits in that moment the Sulphur of the Gold which it had absorbed and flies away and the Sulphur of the Gold is re-united to its own Mercury and the Gold becomes as hard as fixed and as solid as it was before Moreover how should Gold become fulminant if it did not abound in Sulphur The composition of Aurum fulminans makes us sufficiently sensible of it They cause Gold to dissolve in Aqua Regis which they afterwards precipitate by little and little with Oil of Tartar made per Deliquium there is then made a Union of the Alkali of Tartar with the Acid spirit of the Nitar which composed the Aqua for t and there is produced therefrom a new-made Nitar this Nitar being united to the Sulphur of the Gold is inflamed and produceth all those surprizing Effects which we take Notice of therein PYR. The Nitar would Produce these Effects alone or being mingled with the Sal Armoniack or common Salt which was put into the Aqua Regia EUB. Salt-Petar is never inflamed but when it is mingled with some Sulphur as with common Sulphur in Gun-pouder and Pulvis fulminans or with the Sulphur of Antimony when one makes Regulus and Liver c. Common salt and Sal Armoniack are so far from rend'ring Salt-Petar inflamable that they extinguish fire with more force than common Water doth it therefore follows That the Sulphur of the Gold is united with the Salt-Petar and causes this Deflagration PYR. We see neverâ—â—â—less That Salt-Petar is inflamed at the same time that one puts it on burning Coals EUB. The Salt Petar is not inflamed then but because it is united to the Sulphur of the Coals for if one put some Salt-Petar into a Crucible and make the Crucible red-hot it simply melts and is not inflamed but when one casts some Sulphur or some Coal thereinto And to convince you fully That Gold contains a great deal more Sulphur than other Metals You may take Notice That one cannot make either Silver Lead or Tin fulminant because These Metals have only a very little Sulphur which is wholy absorbed by their Mercury There is nothing in the world which ows not its Birth to Acid Salt nothing can live nor be multiplied without it It is that Soul of the World of which the Antients have so often told us Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat Molem The Spirit within and the Mind infused through the Members nourisheth and agitates the whole Body In a word The Acid Salt is the Author of the Construction of every Body and the absolute Master of Alkali Salts it prints them as a Seal is made on Wax with all sorts of Characters and makes thereof several different Bodies according to the diversity of its
sibi ipsis Utrumvis vero seorsum neque ulli alteri neque sibi ipsi sufficiens est All living creatures saith he as well all other things as Man himself are constituted of two Principles different in Faculty but concording and fit for use These two together are sufficient for all other things as well as for themselves but either of them severally and apart is neither sufficient for any other nor for themselves These two Salts are never at rest if they be not united one with the other and as soon as they are once united have nothing but love and sympathy one for the other which we take notice of by an Infinity of Experiments as by the sympathetical Inks. The first Sympathetical Ink. THere must be made two different Liquors in two separate Vessels The first which is that we must write with is made with distilled Vinegar and Ceruse which must be made to boil together for the space of an hour in a well stopt Vial then filter them through grey Paper and reserve the Liquor which comes therefrom in another bottle well stopt The Second which causeth the writing to appear is made with Calx Vive Orpiment and common water after the same manner as the former We Write with the first of these two Liquors and we apply upon the Writing a paper imbued with the last the Writing that was invisible appears at that instant as black as if it had been writ with the best Ink in the world For to understand clearly the cause of this so surprising Effect we must take Notice That the Calx vive and Orpiment abound with Alkali and that these Alkali's wherewith we did imbue the Paper quits the Paper to absorb the Acid of the Vinegar and so the Writing appears But that which is more surprising is That the Alkali's of Calx Vive and Orpiment can pass through a Ream of Paper a Table and a Wall to absorb the Acids of the Vinegar which is observed by the Writing which at the same time appears and by the Impression and odour which it eâ—aves on the Paper The Second Sympathetical Ink. WE must write with an Ink made of Cork Coals and Gum-Arabick and the Writing will appear most black then rub this Writing with the Liquor made with the Calx Vive and Orpiment and it wiâ—l at that instant disappear and will never reappear if it be not rubbed with some acid liquor as with that which was made with distilled Vinegar and Ceruse The Alkali's of Calx Vive and Orpiment absorb as you see the Acid of the Cork Coals and Gum Arabick and so obliterates the Writing which reappears as soon as it is rub'd with some Acid liquor because the Alkali which had absorbed the Acid of the Ink quits it to absorb that which one casts thereto thus the Writing re-appears The Third Sympathetical Ink. THis third Experiment teacheth the way to transcribe in a Moment all sort of Books and Characters and to draw out all sorts of Prints Take Venice Soap cut into little bits and Oak-ashes equal parts and about as much Calx vive cause them to boil in a new bottle with common water then philter them through grey Paper and rub with a fether dipt in the Liquor which shall come therefrom the Book or Image which you would draw put some white Paper which you shal also rub with the said Liquor between each leaf of the Book put this Book between two pressures in a quarter of an hour it wil be drawn the Letters or Picture not being in any wise hurt The Reason of this Experiment is That the Acid of the Ink which always over-powers its Alkali and which in process of time blots out the print or writing does fortify the Acid of the Liquor wherewith we did imbue the Paper in uniting it self with its Alkali and consequently prints all the Characters of the Book on the Paper after such fashion as they are in the book printed or written only as much Acid as the Alkali thereof could absorb so that the writing becomes fairer and nearer than it was before It is for the same Reason that Acids as spirit of Niter obliterates writing because they choke the Alkali thereof and that strong Alkali's such as the Infusion of Gall-nuts causes them to reappear when they are rub'd therewith and renews antient defaced Books and Writings because they charge themselves with the Acid which had blotted out the Writing These two Salts are at rest as soon as they are united they cause the Diversities of all the Phenomena's which we see in Nature They are the cause of the permanent colors which we behold and of the Odours we scent and Savors which we perceive for according to the different Mixture of these two Salts the different Nature and the different Ranging of their parts the Retain is differently struck and we behold different Colours and the olfactory Nerves papillous Nerves of the Tongue are also differently struck and we taste and smell differently PYR. I earnestly desire you would yet more explain to me how Acid Salt and Alkali Salt joined together cause in us all these different Sentiments 〈◊〉 of which you tell us EUB. Whether the diversity of Colors which we behold comes only from the divers Reflectâ—on of the Light whether they com only from the different Impression which a coloured Body makes upon the Air and the Air upon the optick Nerves or whether lastly they may be no other but Attoms or Corpuscles which go out continually from Bodies and striking the Retain cause in us different colours it 's alwaies constant That the principal cause of permanent colours comes only from the different Nature and different Mixture of Acid Salts with Alkali Salts which we may observe by divers Experiments The first Experiment ALl Acids destroy blew colours and all Alkali's make them re-appear The Second Experiment SYrup of Violets which is a Composition of Acid and Alkali becoms of the fairest Green in the world when it is mingled with some Alkali as with oil of Tartar made per deliquium and reddish when some Acid is mingled therewith The Third Experiment OIl of Vitriol is a powerful Acid makes a black Composition with an Infusion of Gall-nuts which is a powerful Alkali The Fourth Experiment A Decoction of Red Roses becomes ruddy by Mixture with Acids and black by Mixture with Alkali's The Fifth Experiment MErcury is elevated into Cinabar by common Sulphur and becomes a fair Red and the same Mercury sublimed dissolv'd in water and then precipitated by Alkali's falls down in a pouder sometimes red somtimes white yellow citrine c. according to the nature of the Alkali which precipitated it and as the Alkali absorbed more or less the Acid which held the Mercury in Dissolution The Sixth Experiment SSpirit of Niter which is a great Acid renders the Juices of Herbs which abound in volatile Alkali as white as Milk. Distilled Vinegar doth the same with Litharge in
into the Heart where it is subtilized and begins to be changed into Blood and by circulating several times from the Heart into the arteries from the arteries into the Veins and from the veins into the Heart again it is rendred proper to nourish the animal the subtiler parts whereof penetrating as vapours thro' the Tunicks of the arteries and joining and uniting themselves to the Parts nourish and augment them and the rest is drained into the Liver Reins Pancrea's c. and according to the Laws of Circulation repasses into the Veins and from the Veins into the Heart where it is refurnished with Spirits by the means of a Ferment which is contained in its Ventricles and by the Mixture of the Air which insinuates it self through the Lungs into the Heart I could prove by many Experiments That the pancreick Juice comes not from the Spleen to the Pancrea's Pag. 79. as you pretend But as the thing is of it self sufficiently clear and that we need but observe the structure of these two Viscera's and the communication that they have one with the other to convince you thereof It will be sufficient to cause you to take Notice of that which modern Anatomists have several times experimented That after the Spleen hath been taken from Dogs the Wound being consolidated these Dogs have been as well as if they still had their Spleen and we draw a pancreick Juice therefrom altogether like that which we ordinarily draw Wherefore if the Spleen did communicate this Juice to the Pancrea's it is certain That these Dogs whose Spleen was cut out would languish and Nutrition would no longer be perfectly made because the Chyle is not fermented with the Bile for want of the Pancreick Juice which is the Menstruum that dissolves these two Bodyes and which puts them in action there would also be no longer any secretion of the Cream of the Chyle from the Excrements and we could not be able to draw a Pancreick Juice from these Animals for the Cause being remov'd there is no longer any Effect sublata Causa tollitur Effectus The pancreick Juice comes not then from the Spleen to the Pancrea's but is a Liquor which is strained in the Pancrea's as the Serocity in the Reins It is not a vain Fancy as you go on to believe Pag. â—3 That the Lympha is a Serocity which is separated from the Blood and from the nervous Juice in the Glands if you had examined the substance of the Glans and the Vessels which terminate thereto you would judge otherwise thereof You would see that the Glands are as so many strainers through which the Serosity is strained and there terminates thereto four Sorts of Vessels namely Nerves Arteries Veins and the Lymphatick Vessels the Arteries carry Blood thereto which the Veins re-carry to the Heart according to the Laws of Circulation the Nerves carry the animal Spirits or nervous Juice thereto and the Lymphatick Vessels draw thereto the Lympha and is discharged thereof as I have already said into the thorachick Pipe and into the descending Vena cava You see from hence That since the Glands have no other Vessels which administer thereto but Nerves and Arteries it neceassrily follows That the Lympha is a Serocity which is separated from the Blood and from the nervous Juice in the Glands You say There is neither Acid nor Alkali in the Seed because that being the Decidu of or that which is fallen off from all the Body Pag. 109. and the Recidu of the last Aliment it suffers neither the one nor the other since they have been separated therefrom in the first Concoction of the Aliment and are not to be ound in the second which is the Haematose and yet less in the Third which is the assimilation or Nutrition of Parts You add That if there were Acid and Alkali in the Seed it would be destroy'd by the continual Ebbulition and Fermentation which is made thereof It is to be admired that you can be of this Opinion seeing according to the Doctrine which you would establish you cannot deny but the seed hath the same Principles as Flesh Blood Bones Horns and other parts of Animals and 't is otherwise indisputable That Meat Blood and Milk which grow sour when they corrupt contain Acid and the Volatile Alkali's which are drawn in abundance therefrom are Proofs no less certain That there is an Alkali therein whence it follows That these two Salts are also to be found in the Seed since according to what you affirm It is only the Residue of the last Aliment of of those parts as for the Objection which you make That if there were Acid and Alkali in the Seed it would be corrupted because of the continual Fermentation which is made theteof You shall also observe That these two Salts never act except they be dissolved or excited by some external Agent as Heat or by the mixture of some other Body as it happens when the Seed of the Male and that of the Female come to be mingled together and to be heated in the Womb for then all their parts are put into Motion and there is made a Patern or rough draught of all those of the Foetus the more subtile parts of the seed retire themselves to the Center and scatter to the Circumference those which their grossness or figure render less proper for motion from which are produced the Membranes which environ the Foetus and the more subtile parts continue their motion in the middle dis-intangling themselves from those whose figure is not proportionable to theirs and uniting themselves to those which are with them conformable and so those which are Decidued or fallen from the Brain or more properly those which are found proper to form the Brain unite together and produce the Brain Those which ought to form the Heart unite together and form the Heart and so of all the other parts and when it happens that the Man's Seed overpowers that of the Woman's there is formed a Man as there is formed a Woman when that of the Woman's is stronger than the Mans and we may believe that there may be an Hermaphrodite when both Seeds meet together in a perfect Equality Where you begin to treat of Acid and Alkali you tell us You can hardly give your Opinion thereof Pag 89. because it is difficult to declate it upon a matter which 'till now is undetermined yet nevertheless you as it seems decide it so absolutely as if it were the most known and determined Truth in the World. You pretend that Acid is a principle of Death and the Alkali a principle of Life Pag 96. that is to say That Acids are the Destroyers of Bodies and Alkali's on the contrary the Authors of their Construction For to make the Probability of this Maxim disappear one needs only to make reflection upon what I have spoken thereof in my Discourses upon Acid and Alkali where I have spoke of
form of Salt by the disposition position of the fire it would most easily be destroy'd and consequently as Volatile as you pretend it fix'd That which you say of the Liquor Alkahest of Helmont and the Doves of the Diana of Philalethes appears to me so frivolous That I think it not worth my stay to refute it no more than several other Passages of your Letter It sufficieth me to make you know the principal Points wherein you have deviated from Experience and Reason and also to make you take Notice That it is much more honorable to keep Silence than to employ your Time and Pen unjustly to censure the Works of others and to rage and rail without Reason or any seeming Truth against a Faculty whose Credit and Reputation you are in Justice obliged to vindicate FINIS Errores PHLEBOMIAE DETECTI Errores PHLEBOMIAE DETECTI Or The ERRORS OF PHLEBOTOMY DISCOVERED For the USE of Tyro's By J. W. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by Thomas Dawks 1689. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sive Errores PHLEBOTOMIAE detecti THAT Phlebotomy should be without its Errors is strange since all humane Operations are subject to Mistakes for Humanum est errare but That these Errors should be maintained with so much Stifness when Reason and Experience daily demonstrates them to be contrary to the safest way of Healing is most strange because such Persons must needs either obstinately despise the Dictates of Reason and go on in their old Dangerous roads meerly for want of knowing better or to excuse themselves from those more troublesom tho' safer wayes Or else such persons shew themselves Uncapable to be taught by Reason or Experiments by paying too great a Veneration â—o some few Opinions of our ancient Physicians as well as to the Male-practice of our European Neighbours Methinks where the Lives of our miserable fellow Brethren are so nearly concerned we might be the less rash and inconsiderate in our Practice especially if we are not so horridly wicked as to be void of all Thoughts of a Future State wherein we shall either receive the just Merrit of our unchristian Actions in endless Torments or the gracious reward of our charitable and just Endeavours in eternal Enjoyments And That Phlebotomy as it is now rashly and carelessly used may appear to be in many Cases dangerously and cruelly inflâ—cted upon Mankind by unthinking and partial Physicians Give me leave to present you with these following Reasons to prove it First The Blood is by all granted to be the Vehicle of Life and that whereby Nature performs all her Operations and as the Blood is an Instrument of Nature so it is a Product of Nature which is proved by comparing Childhood and Maturity together a Child hath not so much Blood as a man therefore it is necessary it should have its generation and augmentation which can only be by what it had a beginning from Nature also doth not generate or augment the Quantity of the Blood in vain and this is apparent because all Philosophy maintains She doth none of her Works in vain but for the end of Health and conservation thereof Now it follows That the Diminution of that which Nature hath ordained for Conservation must produce a Chasm in the matter to be conserved this may be proved in any continued Matter whether Lines Superficies or Solids for the matter conjoined being dissolved the Matters conjoined are separated Now a Chasm cannot be made without Loss of some Intention of Nature if it could it would necessarily follow That the thing making the Chasm was made in vain which is notoriously against the Principles of Philosophy and a Loss of any of the Intentions of Nature is in order only to her Dissolution because it obstructs Nature in her Constructive and Conservative Operations and a Dissolution of Nature will produce a Destruction of the humane Frame And it must needs be so because Nature her self being Conservatrix is taken away In Nature lies the band of Union by which all Particles and Parts of the Body are knit and joined together and this Band is only in the Medium of Life for there is no Difference between the Medium of Union and the things to be united This Medium is the Blood and the things to be united are the humane Frame and Life Indeed it is the Life it self that is the Real uniting Principle which because it is immaterial and so without Parts and not capable of Division of it self so it is impossible to be disunited from any thing it is joined unless the Medium of that Conjunction be first destroyed which is first begun by a Chasm and as a Chasm is the Medium of the Separation of united things so the Diminution of the Medium of union is a Diminution of the United Forces and consequently an Inlet to the Destruction of the adâ—jâ—ined Principles for the Medium of Uniâ—ion adds strength to the things united by Virtue of their Conjunction or being made one for Vis unita fortior hence it is evident That the Abstraction of that Medium must be the Dissolution of that Strength and proportionable as that Medium is augmented or diminished so must the Strength of the conjoined things either increase or decrease and I have before proved Nature doth nothing in vain From all which it follows That the taking away of the Blood First Hinders Nature in performing her Operations Secondly Diminisheth her Generation Thirdly Frustrates her Intention Fourthly Diminisheth the Medium of Unition Fifthly Impares the Strength Sixtly Opens a Casm which being sufficiently wide lets our Life and introduceth Death Wherefore since a diminution of the Quantity of the Blood cannot be done without manifest Dammage the Alteration of the Quality when it is hurt ought to be attempted some safer way And whereas it is generally believed That Blood-letting often prevents a Fever yet if we examine the thing more accurately we shall rather find That it makes us obnoxious to a Fever It is the Opinion of that great and learned Champion for Blood letting Dr. Willis in his Book of Fevers pag. 75. Prae coeteris vero observatione constat quod Crebra sanguinis missio homines febri aptiores reddat and again he saies Hinc fit ut qui Crebra mittunt sanguinem non tantum in febres sunt proclives verum etiam pinguescere soleant propter cruorem succo sulphureo plus impregnatum But whether this sulphurous Juice is the true Cause of either I shall not at present examine since it is also the Opinion of divers learned Physicians That Blood-letting by cooling the Body in depriving it of its vital Spirits does so qualify it as it cannot cast out that dewy excrementitious substance which sweats through the Tunicles of the Veins which is the Matter of Fault by Perspiration but suffers it to congeal under the skin in that thick pingueons Substance called Fat hence Pesons that are coldly constituted are fat without Phlebotomy and hence
least Harm yea be very Beneficial by accident in some Respects in some few Diseases of which the most noted are a Frenzy Quinsy Pleurisy an inveterate and stubborn Head-ach and in some Fevers which be in no wise malignant as also in Contusions Rheumatisms and Intermitting Fevers but it must be in young and strong Bodies if it be done without any cause of Fear and in some few other Diseases But especially it is most proper to temper the plethorick Bodies of our age who by an extravigant Destruction of vious Liquors cause themselves to abound in that pretious balsamick vital Liquor It helps a Frenzy by abating the Effervescence of the Blood in diminishing the Vital Spirits It helps a Quinzy by Revulsion and drawing back the Blood into the Veins which would have putrified there that it may supply the loss of that which was let out In a Pleurisy it obstructs also the Apostumation of the Blood collected in the Pleura and Intercostal Branches of the Aorta by Revulsion for that Blood there ready to putrify by reason of the great heat of the Parts and its own Disposition to Putrefaction does as the Blood is drawn out of the Arm repass into the Superiour Arteries and so becomes again circulated in them the Abscess thereof being thereby prevented It cures an inveterate Head-Ach by reason it appeases the Fury of the Spirits there and by reason it depleats the Veins and Arteries wherefore 't is they are not so distended and pained as before And as for Fevers I have told you already how it comes to be assisting to their Cure only intermitting Feavers accidentally are cur'd by altering the Cirlation and by putting Nature into a Fear of Death wherefore she musters up all her Forces to oppose it whereby very often the Root of the Fever is in this great Hurry and Commotion cut off and expellâ—â— for as Duretius saith Animi act ones incidente aliqua occasione fortius agunt presertim in morturis Whence also in Swoonings and Aopoplectick fits it proves beneficial and hence also it is That great Fears have often been a means by stirring up all the natural Forces for their own Safety to rid some Persons of chronick accute and almost incurable Diseases as Experience has often manifested Rheumatisms it cures by Derivation and so it doth som Coughs by causing the sharp Lympha which Tickles the Lungs by its sharp pointed Corpuscles the which also afflict the Nerves and Tendons with accute Pains to be discharg'd from thence mediately into the subclavian Veins to supply the loss of the Blood let out and into the Mesenterial Glandula's to be mixed with the Chyle also to promote the speedy making the like quantity of Blood hence sometimes doth the Cause of a greedy Appetite proceed afteâ— Blood-letting and after the retreat of a sharp Disease for Nature being studious to repair her loss and especially When she has not been too much weakned by the Disease or Blood-letting do's manifest her wants by these hungry Symptoms It seems to assist the Circulation of the Blood when it is congealed by reason of the Obstruction of its Circulation in the small Veins which by the Contusion are so squeezed that they wholly deny its flux because it seems to afford it more Room for that Circulation but if we consider That the Blood is Conglebated only as I said in the smallest Veins and that the thinnest and most fluid Blood spins out at the Orifice we cannot think it can much further its quiet Circulation since fluidity is the greatest Promoter of it Lastly By its wasting the Spirits and depriving us of that pure nutritive Juice the Blood it keeps us back not suffering Nature to store up so much Nutriment to her self and thereby renders us equally as needy as if we put a greater restraint upon our Appetites and indulged them far less than we do To the former Advantages by Phlebotomy here is added by another hand this further Benefit viz. That it is of excellent use for Women wheâ— their Terms dodg with them and begin to leave them and to prevent the settling of them in their Limbs or in their own Vessels putrifying and causing Ulcers Sores Piles and Fistula's in the inferiour Parts c. to prevent all which Evils Women so affected ought to bleed once a month for 3 Months together FINIS Errores Phlebot p. 10. l. 18 Crebrò p. 11. l. 5. Fat. p. 12. l. 6. above p. 15. l. 5. as the. Advertisement All Dr. Salmon's Works are certainly to be sold by Tho. Dawks living on Addle hill in Carter-lane near S. Paul's Church-yard Also the said Doctor 's Medicines truly prepared are in his absence to be sold by his Wife at his House at the Blew Balcony by the Ditch-side near Holborn Bridge There is also preparing for the said Dawks's Press A Practical Discourse concerning Swearing Not only-sharply reprooving the vain false rash inconsiderate Swearer but also chiefly reprimanding the Over-wise Quaker in the midst of all his vain-glorious Shew of seeming Holiness proving that he most abominably abuseth all those Scriptures he brings for Refusing to take an Oath before Authority when the Law of God commands it and the Glory of God as well as the Necessity of his Neighbour require it c. Place this leaf last of all