be yet it needeth not to be for they are also many and compoundable infinite ways as hath been shewed So that we have no need to perplex our selves with any of those difficulties that arise from the Doctrine of the Alteration of Elements The ground of which conceit is that of there being but four Elements and that all the Elements must needs be in every Body And so men being puzled how from thence to make out the infinite variety of Bodies they feigned them to be alterable and alter'd upon every perfect Mixture Not considering that if their four Elements be alterable as few as they are no fewer then three of them may be spared for one Element if alterable may be made any 2. Hence secondly may be solved that great Dispute Whether such as we call Lixivial Salts are made by the fire For first No Principle is made by the fire all Principles being unalterable and therefore unmakeable Secondly We must therefore distinguish betwixt the Principle and the Modification of a Principle or its various Mixture with other Principles whence it may receive a various denomination Wherefore a Lixivial Salt qua Lixivial is certainly made by the fire But quatenus Salt it is not that Principle being extractable out of most Bodies and by divers other ways then by the fire For whether you Calcine a body or Ferment it after the manner shew'd by the diligent and curious Improver of Chymical Knowledg Dr. Daniel Coxe or else putrifie it under ground or drown it in the Sea it still yieldeth some kind of Salt All which Salts are made not by making the Saline Principle but only by its being variously Mixed upon those various ways of the Solution of Bodies with other Principles from which its various Mixture it receives the various Denominations of Marine Nitrous Volatile or Lixivial 3. Hence thirdly the most perfect Mixture of Bodies can go no higher then Contact For all Principles are unalterable and all Matter is impenetrable as hath been said In the most visible and laxe Mixture there is Contact and in the most subtile and perfect as in Generation it self there is nothing more 4. Hence fourthly we easily understand how divers of the same Principles belonging both to Vegetables and many other Bodies are also actually existent in the Body of Man Because even in Generation or Transmutation the Principles which are translated from one body to another as from a Vegetable to an Animal are not in the least alter'd in themselves but only their Mixture that is their Conjugation Proportion and Location is varied 5. Hence also the difference of Mixture arising from the difference of Contact is intelligible sc. as to those three degrees Congregation Vnion and Concentration Congregation and Inconsistent Mixture is when the several Atomes touch but in a Point or smaller part In which manner I have divers arguments inducing me to believe the Atomes of all Fluid Bodies qua Fluid do touch and in no other Vnion is when they touch in a Plain As in the Crystals and Shootings of all Salts and other like Bodies For if we pursue their divided and subdivided parts with our eye as far as we can they still terminate on every side in Plains Wherefore 't is intelligible That their very Atomes do also terminate and therefore touch in Plain Concentration is when two or more Atomes touch by Reception and Intrusion of one into another which is the closest and firmest Mixture of all as in any fixed unodorable or untastable body the Atomes of such bodies being not able to make any Smell or Tast unless they were first dissolved that is to say unpin'd one from another 6. Hence sixthly we understand how in some cases there seemeth to be a Penetration of Bodies and in what sense it may be admitted viz. if we will mean no more by Penetration but Intrusion For the Intrusion of one Atome into the Concave or hole of another is a kind of Penetration whereby they take up less room in the mixed Body then they would do by any other way of Contact As a naked knife and its sheath take up almost double room to what they do when the knife is sheathed Whence we may assign the reason Why many Liquors being mixed take up less room or space then they did apart as they very Ingenious M. Hook maketh it to appear by Experiment that they do I say the plain reason hereof or at least one reason is the Intrusion of many of their Atomes one into another Which yet is not a Penetration of Bodies strictly so called 7. If all that Nature maketh be but Mixture and all this Mixture be but Contact 't is then evident That Natural and Artificial Mixture are the same And all those seeming subtilties whereby Philosophers have gone about to distinguish them have been but so many Scar-crows to affright Men from the Imitation of Nature 8. Lastly Hence it follows That Art it self may go far in doing what Nature doth And who can say how far For we have nothing to Make but only to Mix those Materials which are already made to our hands Even Nature her self as hath been said Maketh nothing new but only Mixeth all things So far therefore as we can govern Mixture we may do what Nature doth Which that we may still the better understand let us before and in the next place see the Causes of Mixture For since Natural and Artificial Mixture are the same the immediate Causes of both are and must be the same SECT IV. NOW all the Causes of Mixture we can conceive of must I think be reduced to these six in general viz Congruity Weight Compression Solution Digestion and Agitation 1. Congruity or aptitude and respondence betwixt the Sizes and Figures of parts to be mixed whereby bodies may be truly called the Instrumental Causes of their own Mixture As when a plain answers to a plain a square to a square a convex to a concave or a less to a greater or an equal c. according to which Respondencies in the parts of Bodies they are more or less easily mingleable 2. Weight by means whereof all Fluid Bodies upon supposition of the Congruity of their parts must unavoidably mingle 3. Compression which either by the Air or any other body added to Weight must in some degree further Mixture Because that Weight it self is but Pression For further proof of all the said Causes I made this Experiment Let Oyl of Anise-seeds and Oyl of Vitriol be put apart into the Receiver of an Air-Pump And having exhausted it of the Air let the two said Oyls be then affused one upon the other Whereupon First It is visible that they here mix and coagulate together that is their parts are wedged and intruded one into another without the usual compression of the Air for that is exhausted and therefore only by the Congruity of their receiving and intruding parts and by their Weight by which alone they are so compressed
to reckon them amongst Mineral Bodies As for Nitre by mixing of four Liquors together and then setting them to shoot I have obtained Crystals of true and perfect Salt which have had much of a nitrous tast and would be melted with a gentle heat as Nitre is and even as easily as Butter it self I mean not by the addition of any sort of Liquor or any other body to dissolve it but only by the fire And as for a Sea-Salt that I might Imitate Nature for the making hereof I consider'd That the Salt so called was nothing else but Animal and Vegetable Salt freed from its true Spirit and Sulphur and some Saline particles specifically Animal or Vegetable together with them For both Animal and Vegetable bodies being continually carried by all Rivers into the Sea and many likewise by Shipwrack and divers other ways immersed therein they are at last corrupted that is their Compounding parts are opened and resolved Yet the Resolution being in the Water is not made precipitately as it is in the Air but by degrees and very gently Whence the Sulphurious and other more Volatile parts in their avolation make not so much hast as to carry the more fixed Saline parts along with them but leaveth them behind in the Water which imbibeth them as their proper Menstruum And the Imitation of Nature herein may be performed thus Put as much of a Lixivial Salt as you please into a wide mouth'd bottle and with fair Water make a strong Solution of it so as some part thereof may remain unresolved at the bottom of the bottle Let the bottle stand thus for the space of about half or three quarters of a year all the time unstopped In which time many of the Sulphurious and other more Volatile parts gradually flying away the top of the unresolved Salt will be incrustate or as it were frosted over with many small and hard Concretions which for their nature are become a true Sea-Salt Whereof there is a double proof First In that most of the said Concretions are of a Cubical or very like Figure Especially on their upper parts because having a fixed body for their basis their under parts therefore contiguous thereto are less regular Whereas the parts of Salt in the Sea being environed on all sides with a fluid their Figure is therefore on all sides regular Secondly In that a strong Acid Spirit or Oyl being powred upon a full body'd Solution hereof yet it maketh herewith no Ebullition which is also the property of Sea-Salt And thus much for the more general Imitation of Bodies Instance III. FROM the aforesaid Premisses and by the aforesaid Means there is no doubt to be made but that also the other sensible Qualities of Bodies may be Imitated as their Odours and Tasts And that not only the general ones as Fragrant or Astringent but also those which are specifical and proper to such a species of Bodies Thus for example by mixing several Bodies together in a due proportion I have Imitated the Smells of divers Vegetables as of Tansy of Lignum Rhodium and others And I conclude it feasable To Imitate the Tast or Smell of Musk or Ambergreece or any other body in the world Instance IV. HENCE also we may be Taught How to Imitate the Faculties as well as other Qualities of Bodies The reason is because even these have no dependance upon any substantial Form as in the first Part of my last Book of the Anatomy of Vegetables I think I have in a few lines clearly made out but are the meer result of Mixture effected by the same Causes whether in Nature or Art as also in the premisses of this Discourse hath been shew'd Instance V. FROM whence again it is likewise a Key to Discover the Nature of Bodies For how far soever we can attain to Mingle or to Make them we may also know what they are For Bodies are mingleable either of themselves or by some third As to those which mingle of themselves we may certainly conclude That there is a congruity betwixt them in some respect or other So upon various tryals I find that Essential Oyls do more easily imbibe an Acid then an Alkaly Whence it is evident That there is some congruity and similitude betwixt Essential Oyls and an Acid which there is not betwixt the said Oyls and an Alkaly As to those that mingle only by some third we may also certainly conclude That though the two extreams are unlike yet that they have both of them a similitude to or congruity with that third by which they are united Moreover We may make a Judgment from the Manner or Degree of Mixture Thus the Acid Spirit of Nitre as is said will coagulate Oyl-Olive and render it consistent Whence it might be thought That any other strong Acid will do the like and that therefore there is no great difference in the Nature of the said Acid Liquors But the contrary hereunto is proved by Experiment For having digested the same Oyl in the same manner and for a much longer time with strong Oyl of Sulphur although it thence acquired some change of Colour yet not any Consistence Again Because the said Spirit of Nitre coagulates Oyl-Olive it might be expected it should have the same effect upon Oyl of Anise-seeds or at least that if other Acids will coagulate Oyl of Anise-seeds that this should do it best But Experiment proveth the contrary For of all I have tryed Oyl of Vitriol is the only Acid that doth it instantaneously Oyl of Sulphur if very strong will do it but not so soon nor so much Aqua fortis and Spirit of Salt for the present do not at all touch it And Spirit of Nitre it self will not coagulate it under eight or ten hours at least Instance VI. LASTLY and consequently It is a Key To Discover the Medicinal Vse and Operation of Bodies Thus for example by the Imitation of Rosins and Resinous Gums we certainly know what all of them are and when and wherefore to be used For what are Mastick Frankincense Olibanum Benzoin and other like Rosins or Resinous Gums for their principal and predominant parts that is qua Rosins but Bodies resulting from Natural in like manner as I have shewed they may be made to result from Artificial Mixture That is to say the Oleous and Acid parts of Vegetables being both affused and mingled together per minima in some one Vessel of a Plant they thus incorporate into one consistent and friable body which we call Rosin Now from hence it is that the said Rosins and Resinous Gums as also Amber and Sulphur for the same reasons are of so great and effectual Vse against most thin and salt Rheums sc. as they are Acido-oleous Bodies For by their Acid parts which in all these Bodies are exceeding copious they mortifie and refract those salt ones which feed the Rheum And by their oleous parts the same salt ones are also Imbibed Whence they are all in some degree incorporated together that is the Rheum is thickned which is the desired effect Whereas on the contrary if the Cough proceed not from a thin and especially a salt Rheum but from a Viscous Flegm the use of many other Bodies which are also more oleous and abound not so much with an Acid as these do especially some of them is more proper such as these in this case proving sometimes not only ineffectual but prejudicial Since the very Cause of the said Viscousness of Phlegm is chiefly some great Acidity in the Blood or in some other part as may be proved by divers arguments Many more Instances might be hereunto subjoyned and may hereafter be offered to the acceptance of such who are inquisitive into matters of this Nature If I shall not herein anticipate or reiterate the Thoughts and Observations of those two accurate and Learned Persons Dr. Willis and Dr. Walter Needham as to what the one hath already published and both have put us in expectation of But the Instances already given are sufficient to evidence what I have said And I hope this present Discourse to prove in some measure thus much That Experiment and the Common Notions of Sense are prolifick and that nothing is barren but phancy and imagination FINIS * First Book of the Anatomy of Plants
Thursday Novemb. 15. 1677. At a Meeting of the Council of the Royal Society Ordered That a Book entituled Experiments in Consort of the Luctation arising from the Affusion of several Menstruum's upon all kinds of Bodies exhibited to the Royal Society April 13. and June 1. 1676. by Nehemiah Grew M. D. Fellow of the R. S. be printed by John Martyn Printer to the said Society Thomas Henshaw Vicepraeses S. R. EXPERIMENTS IN CONSORT OF THE LUCTATION ARISING From the Affusion of several MENSTRUUMS Upon all sorts of Bodies To which is added The Nature Causes and Power of Mixture Exhibited to the Royal Society By NEHEMIAH GREW M. D. and Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed for John Martyn Printer to the Royal Society at the Bell in S. Pauls Church-yard 1678. EXPERIMENTS IN CONSORT OF THE LUCTATION ARISING From the Affusion of several MENSTRUUMS Upon all sorts of BODIES Exhibited to the Royal Society April 13. and June 1. 1676. By NEHEMIAH GREW M. D. and Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed for John Martyn Printer to the Royal Society at the Bell in S. Pauls Church-yard 1678. TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS THE ROYAL SOCIETY THE FOLLOWING EXPERIMENTS ARE MOST HUMBLY PRESENTED BY THE AUTHOR NEHEMIAH GREW THE PREFACE THE intent of the following Experiments is twofold The one To be as a Demonstration of the Truth of one amongst other Propositions laid down in my Discourse of Mixture sc. That it would be a Key to let us easily into the knowledge of the Nature of Bodies The other and that consequently To be as a Specimen of a Natural History of the Materia Medica that is to say a multifarious Scrutiny into the intrinsick Properties of all those Materials which have been or may be used in Medicine for the performance whereof the following Method is exhibited as one amongst others necessary to be insisted upon For what Dominion a Prince hath over the Moral that a Physician hath as one of God Almighty's Vice-Roys over the Corporeal World Whence therefore nothing can more import than a particular knowledge of the Genius of all his Subjects those several Tribes of Matter supposed to be under his Command The Experiments may seem too numerous to be of one make But no less a number would have answered the design of an Universal Survey which though less pleasing proves the more instructive in the end not being like angling with a single Hook but like casting a Net against a shole with assurance of drawing up something Besides the advantage of comparing many together which being thus joyned do oftentimes like Figures signifie ten times more than standing alone they would have done How far the Corollaries all along subjoyned have made this good is left to the Reader to judge And also to add to them so many more as he pleases for I make my own thoughts no mans Measure Those I have set down if compared will I presume appear easie and natural which is all I shall say for them Let them go and take their fortune without a Flambeau which being prefixed to things of so glimmering a shew would not serve to blazon but extinguish them EXPERIMENTS IN CONSORT OF THE LUCTATION Arising upon the Mixture of Bodies CHAP. I. ALthough there are some known Obervations of this nature yet there is no Author I think who hath given us a Systeme of Experiments in consort upon the Subject the performance whereof therefore is here intended The Bodies whereupon I made tryal were of all kinds Animal Vegetable and Mineral Amongst Vegetables such as these scil Date-stones Ginger Colocynthis Pyrethrum Hawthorn-stones Staphisagria Euphorbium the Arenulae in Pears Semen Milii Solis Tartar Spirit of Scurvygrass Spirit of Wine c. Amongst Minerals several sorts of Earths Stones Ores Metals Sulphurs and Salts Amongst Animals such as these scil Hairs Hoofs Horns Shells and shelly Insects Bones Flesh and the several Viscera Silk Blood Whites and Yolks of Eggs Sperma Ceti Civet Musk Castor Gall Vrine Dungs animal Salts and Stones The Liquors which I poured hereupon severally were these scil Spirit of Salt Armoniac Sp. of Harts-Horn Sp. of Nitre Aq. fortis Oil of Salt Oil of Sulphur and Oil of Vitriol In the mixture of these Bodies two things in general are all along to be observed viz. First which they are that make any or no Luctation For as some which seem to promise it make none so many contrary to expectation make a considerable one Next the manner wherein the Luctation is made being with much variety in these five sensible effects 1. Bullition when the Bodies mixed produce only a certain quantity of froth or bubbles 2. Elevation when like Paste in baking or Barm in the working of Beer they swell and huff up 3. Crepitation when they make a kind of hissing and sometimes a crackling noise 4. Effervescence then only and properly so called when they produce some degree of heat 5. Exhalation when not only fumes but visible steams are produced Of all these sometimes one only happens sometimes two or more are concomitant Sometimes the Luctation begins presently upon mixture and sometimes not till after some intermission In some bodies it continues a great while in others is almost instantaneous Examples of all which I shall now produce beginning with Vegetables as affording the least variety And first if we take Spirit or Oil of Salt Oil of Vitriol Spirit of Nitre or Aq. fortis and pour them severally upon the several parts of Vegetables as Roots Woods Stones c. we shall find that they are generally far less apt to make a Luctation than either Animal or subterraneal Bodies Whence as from one argument it seemeth evident That in most Vegetables and in most of their parts the predominant Salt is an Acid. But that on the contrary the predominant Salt in most Minerals and parts of Animals is an Alkaly in the former usually a fixed in the latter a volatile Alkaly Again although the Luctation which most Vegetables and most of their parts make with Acids be but small yet some they make especially with some Acids as with Spirit of Nitre and Aqua fortis Whence it seemeth plain That there is an Alkalizate Salt existent in many Vegetables even in their natural estate and that it is not made Alkalizate but only Lixivial by the fire Or there is some quantity of a Salt call it what we will in the said Bodies which is so far different from as to make a Luctation with an Acid. But to give particular instances of the several proportions wherein it appears to be in several Vegetables And first of all vegetable Bodies Date-stones are amongst the least apt to make a Luctation with Acids if they may be said to make any at all Hence they are not so potent Nephriticks as many other Stones which make a more sensible Luctation Ginger makes a small Bullition with Aq. fortis only observable by a Glass Hence the pungency of Ginger lyeth
in a sulphureous and volatile Salt which yet is very little Alkalizate Scurvygrass-seed makes a very small Bullition with Aq. fortis like that of Ginger So doth also the seed of Purslane Hence although there is much more of a certain kind of volatile Salt in Ginger or Scurvygrass than in Purslane yet there is as much of an Alkaly in any one as the others Colocynthis Fruit-stones the stony Covers of the seeds of Elder white Bryony Violets and others with Aq. fortis make a Bullition just perceivable without a Glass Hence it appears That the great Cathartick power of Colocynthis lyeth not in an Alkaly but an Acid as making a much less Bullition than some other vegetable Bodies which are less Cathartick For which reason likewise it is That the best Correctors or Refractors of the force of Colocynthis are some kinds of Alkalies as particularly that of Vrine as Riverius hath somewhere observed The Root of Pyrethrum with Aq. fortis makes a Bullition and huff in a short time Hence the Cause of a durable Heat upon the Tongue is an Alkalizate Sulphur For the Heat of Ginger though greater yet abideth nothing near so long as that of Pellitory or Pyrethrum which as is said maketh also a more sensible Bullition with Acids Kermes-berries commonly but ignorantly so called with the said Liquor huff up to an equal height but in a somewhat longer time Hence they are gently astringent scil as their Alkaly binds in with some preternatural Acid in the stomach Hawthorn-stones with Aq. fortis huff up equally with the former Body but the Bullition is not so visible The like is also observable of Medlar-stones Hence as they contain a middle quantity of an Alkaly they are not insignificantly used against the Stone Seeds of Staphisagria with Aqua fortis make a Bullitiâ—n still more visible But it quickly ends This confirms what was said before sc. That the cause of a durable Heat is an Alkalizate Sulphur these Seeds producing a durable Heat as doth the Root of Pyrethrum The seeds also of red Roses Borage and Comfrey do all with Aq. fortis make a considerable Bullition and huff and that very quickly So that amongst all Shells and Stones those generally make the greatest Bullition which are the hardest and the brittlest Euphorbium makes a Bullition yet more considerable with much froth and very quickly From which Experiment compared with two of the former it appears That Euphorbium is not an acid but an alkalizate Gum. As also that the cause of its so very durable Heat is an alkalizate Sulphur as of Pyrethrum and Staphisagria hath been said It seems also hence evident that the power of all great Sternutatories lyeth not in their Acid but their Alkalies The Arenulae or little stones in Pears cluster'd round about the Coar with Aq. fortis presently huff up and make a great Bullition and Effervescence much greater than do any of the Bodies above-named Whence although so far as I know they have never yet been used in Medicine yet is it probable that they are a more potent and effectual Nephritick than any of the Bodies aforesaid and some of them usually prescribed It is hence also manifest That according to what I have elsewhere said for the sweetening of the Fruit and Seed the tartareous and alkalizate parts of the Sap are precipitated into their stones stony parts and shells The last Instance shall be in the shells of the seeds of Milium Solis which not only with Aq. fortis but some other Acids make a greater and quicker Bullition and Effervescence than any other vegetable Body upon which I have yet made tryal in its natural estate Hence as well as from divers of the last fore-going Instances we have a clear confirmation of what I have towards the beginning of this Discourse asserted sc. That there is an alkalizate Salt existent in Plants even in their natural estate As also that they are as significantly used against the Stone quatenus alkalizate as Millepedes Egg-shells or any other testaceous Bodies of the same strength To these I shall subjoyn one or two Examples of Vegetable Bodies which are more or less alter'd from their natural estate Neither Crystals of Tartar nor Tartar it self although they have some store of alkalizate mixed with their acid parts make any Effervescence with Acids but only with Alkalies as Spirit of Harts Horn c. Hence the calculous sediment of Vrine not so properly called the Tartareous part of the Vrine from the quite contrary events following its mixture with the aforesaid Salts as will be seen hereafter Spirit of Scurvygrass maketh no Luctation with any acid Hence as from a former Experiment was above-noted it seems That there may be a kind of volatile Salt which is neither acid nor alkalizate such as this of Scurvygrass and other like Plants seems to be scil such a Salt as is not properly alkalizate and yet contrary to an acid as experience shews in its efficacy against the acid Scurvy Rectified Spirit of Wine both with Spirit of Nitre and with Oil of Vitriol severally maketh a little Luctation Which argues that there is contained even in this Spirit some portion of a volatile Alkaly Spirit of Wine and double Aqua fortis as the strongest is called make an effervescence so vehement as plainly to boil Besides the vehemence hereof there is another surprizing circumstance For whereas all other Liquors which make an Effervescence together will do it in any quantity assigned to either of them although but one drop to a thousand on the contrary these two sc. rectified Spirit of Wine and Aqua fortis require a certain proportion the one to the other For if into no more than six drops of Spirit of Wine you put in but two or three of Aq. fortis they stir no more than if you put in so much Water but drop in about seven or eight drops of Aq. fortis and they presently boil up with very great vehemency Hence we may conceive the reason of the so very sudden access of an acute Disease and of its Crisis These not beginning gradually with the Cause but then when the Cause is arrived unto such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or such a certain Proportion as is necessary to bring Nature to the contest And these may serve for Examples upon Vegetables CHAP. II. HAving given several Instances of tryal upon Vegetables I next proceed to Minerals which for some orders sake I shall distribute into five or six sorts sc. Earths Stones Ores and Metals Sulphurs and Salts First for Earths Oil of Vitr upon Fullers Earth doth not stir it or cause the least Bullition Nor upon yellow Oker Nor upon the Oker which falls from green Vitriol The same Oil of Vitr and Spir. of H. Horn poured severally upon Bolus Armena of two kinds and upon one kind of Terra sigillata stir none of them Hence Bolus's are the Beds or as it were the Materia prima
difficulty and expence CHAP. III. I Now proceed to the several Parts of Animals as Hairs Hoofs Horns Shells and shelly Insects Bones Flesh and the several Viscera Silk Blood Eggs Musk Castor Gall Vrine Dungs Salts and Stones And first of all the Hair of a mans head with Oyl of Vitriol maketh no Bullition at all Nor yet with spirit of Nitre So that although it contains a good deal of volatile Salt yet it seemeth either not to be alkalizate or else is centred in so great a quantity of Oyl that the acid menstruum cannot reach it Hares Furr with spiriâ— of Nitre maketh although a short yet very plain Bullition and huff Hence the Hair anâ— therefore the Blood oâ— some Animals is fuller oâ— Salt at least of an alkalizate Salt than that oâ— some others And perhapâ— the Hair of some men aâ— of Blacks may be so fulâ— of Salt as to make a Bullition like Hares Furr The shavings of Naiâ—â— stir not at all either witâ— Oyl of Vitriol or spirit oâ— Nitre only with the latter they turn yellow Elks Claws with spirit of Nitre make a small and slow Bullition Horses Hoof with Oyl of Vitriol stirs not of many hours But with spirit of Nitre allowing it some time makes a very plain Bullition and huffs up very high Cows Horn neither with Oyl of Vitriol nor with spirit of Nitre maketh any Bullition only turneth to a yellow colour Rams Horn stirs noâ— with Oyl of Vitriol buâ— with spirit of Nitre makeâ— a small and slow Bullitioâ— Harts-Horn makes â— considerable Bullition aâ—â— huff even with Oyl of Vitriol which the rest of thâ— Bodies above-said will nâ—â— do But with spirit of Nitre it makes yet a greater From the foregoing Experiments and almost all that follow what waâ— formerly asserted of the Salts of Vegetables and Minerals is here also evident concerning that of Animals scil That it is not made but only separated by the fire It likewise hence appears That the proportion of Salt in the fore-mentioned parts is very different and that therefore some of them are never and none of them but with good discretion to be substituted one for another in Medicine As also that there is a different proportion of Salt in the several Animals themselves to whicâ— the said Parts belong Next for shells as thosâ— of Lobsters Eggs Snailâ— and Oysters all whicâ— make an Effervescence both with Oyl of Vitriol and spirit of Nitre Buâ— with spirit of Nitre thâ— greatest Lobster-shells make a considerable Bullition and huff but no noise nor steams Egg-shells make a Bullition and huff with some noise but no steams Snail-shells make an Effervescence with noise and steams Oyster-shells make one with the greatest noise and thickest steams Hence we may judge in what case to administer one more appositely than another As also in what proportion according to their different strength Some may be better for Children as being milder Or for a Body whose very sharp Blood or other Humors are very easily kindled into Ferments Or else may be safest to avoid a sudden precipitation of the Humors or for some other cause Oyster-shells and the rest above-said make a quicker Effervescence not only with spirit of Nitre but even with spirit of Salt thaâ— they do with Oyl of Sulphur or Oyl of Vitriol So that these Bodies as well as Metals have their proper Menstruums whereby they are best dissolved Egg-shells calcined make with Oyl of Sulphur or Oyl of Vitriol or spirit of Nitre a greater Effervescence than when uncalcined As also with steams which uncalcined they produce not The like is seen in calcined Oyster-shells The longer the Calcination is continued the quicker and stronger will be the Effervescence This I tryed at several terms from a quarter of an hour to five hours So that after so long a Calcination they make an Effervescence almost instantaneous The reason hereof is Because the Sulphur being for the greatest part driven away by the fire the remaining Salt lies now more open and naked to the attaque of the Menstruum so soon as ever they are mixed together From hence it is plain That Egg-shells and the others above-said being burnt are far stronger Medicines than when unburnt It is hereby likewise evident That a great portion of their Salt is not a volatile but a fixed Alkaly To these may be subjoyned all kinds of shelly Insects I will instance in three or four And first Bees with Oyl of Vitriol stir not in the least With spirit of Nitre they make an exceeding small Bullition without any elevation Cochinele makes some Bullition with Oyl of Vitriol but very small for the bubbles are not to be seen without a Glass But with spirit of Nitre the Bullition is more visible and joyned with some elevation Cantharides make no visible Bullition with Oyl of Vitriol But with spirit of Nitre they do and huff up rather more than Cochinele Yet is this done very slowly and comparatively with many other bodies is not much Hence it is not the quantity but the quality of their volatile Salt which makes them so strong an Epispastick For most of those bodies above and hereafter named make a greater Bullition and yet are neither Caustick nor Epispastick in the least It is hence also evident as hath been before suggested That there are divers kinds of volatile Salts eminently different some being highly alkalizate others very little and some scarce any thing so such as those of Scurvygrass Anemone Crowfoot and many the like Plants to whose Salts this of Cantharides seemeth to be very near of kin Millepedes make a Bullition and huff much greater and quicker than any of the Insects above-named and that both with spirit of Nitre and Oyl of Virtriol it self Yet is this Insect of a very temperate nature Whereby is further demonstrated That the being simply alkalizate is not enough to make a body to be Caustick Again although Millepedes make a Bullition greater than any of the Insects above-named yet is it much less than that of Oyster Snail or even Egg-shells and of divers other bodies above and hereafter mentioned Hence being given to the same intent as any of those bodies it is the mildest and gentlest in its operation of them all Millepedes likewise calcined make a stronger Effervescence than when uncalcined as do Oyster-shells c. So that it appears That all Testaceous Salts are at least in part fixed Salts I next proceed to Bones And first Whale-bone maketh no Bullition at all with any acid A Cartilage with spirit of Nitre makes some very small bubbles not to be seen without a Glass The Bone in the Throat of a Carp makes a little and slow Bullition with spirit of Nitre The Spina of a Fish that which I used was of a Cod-fish maketh a Bullition one degree higher All sorts of Teeth as of Dogs Boars the Sea-Horse Elephant make the like As also the Bone of an Oxes heart So that all these are very
by observing the Luctations which thence arise betwixt them How much more then if a diligent remarque be made of all those various Colours Smells Tastes Consistencies and other Mutations thereupon emergent FINIS At a Meeting of the Council of the R. Society January 21. 167 4 5. Order'd THAT a Discourse made before the R. Society Decemb. 10. 1674. by Dr. Nehemiah Grew Concerning the Nature Causes and Power of Mixture c. be Printed by the Printer of the R. Society Brouncker P. R. S. A DISCOURSE Made before the ROYAL SOCIETY Decemb. 10. 1674. Concerning the Nature Causes and Power of MIXTURE By Nehemiah Grew M. D. and Fellow of the R. Society LONDON Printed for John Martyn Printer to the Royal Society and are to be Sold at the Bell in St. Pauls Church-yard 1675. To the Right Honourable WILLIAM Lord Viscount BROVNCKER PRESIDENT of the ROYAL SOCIETY My Lord ONE Reason why I dedicate the following Discourse to Your Lordship is because by Your great and undeserved respects You have obliged me to do no less How much more I cannot say unless I were able to compute the value of Your obligation Another Reason my Lord is because I could not but publickly return Your Lordship thanks for minding the Royal Society of so good a way as they are lately resolved upon for the management of a great part of their business Wherein my Lord I do more then presume that I also speak the sense of the whole Society I think not any one excepted I may with the same confidence intimate my Lord how happy they account themselves in having a Person so fit to preside their Affairs as Your Lordship The largeness of Your Knowledge the exactness of Your Judgment the evenness of Your Comport being some of those necessary Qualifications which His Majesty had in His eye as right well understanding what He did when He fixed His choice upon Your Lordship I know my Lord that there are some men who have just so much understanding as only to teach them how to be ambitious the flattering of whom is somewhat like the tickling of Children till they fall a dancing But I also know that Your Lordship unconcerneth your self as much in what I even now spake as Caesar did himself when his Souldiers began to style him King For as he said Non Rex sed Caesar so let Your Lordship be but once nam'd and all that follows is but a Tautology to what You are already known to be Your being President of the Royal Society Your being the first that was chosen and chosen by so Wise a King amounteth to so high and real a Panegyrick to Your Lordship as maketh verbal ones to be superfluous and leaves them without any sound Whence my Lord I have a third Reason most naturally emergent which is that I dare to submit my self as to what I have hereafter said to Your Lordships Censure You being so able and just an Arbiter betwixt the same and all those persons therein concern'd that You can neither be deceived nor corrupted to make a Judgment in any Point to the injury of either And truly my Lord were it only from a principle of self-interest yet I could not desire it should be otherwise For the World if it lives will certainly grow as much wiser then it is as it is now wiser then it was heretofore So that we have as little reason to despise Antiquity as we can have willingness that we our selves should be despised by Posterity Yet some difference there is to be made viz. betwixt those of all Ages who have been modestly ignorant and those who have thought or pretended that they were Omniscient Or if knowing and acknowledging that they were ignorant have yet not been contented to be so unless with as good manners as sense they did conjure all Mankind not to offer at the knowing any more then themselves Vpon the whole my Lord I desire not You should be a Patron any further then You are a Judge For if this small Essay hath deserved the least acceptance I am sure that in being one You will be both Whereby my Lord You will not a little nourish and inspire my future endeavours of the like nature being very sollicitous to approve my self My Lord Your Lordships most faithful and obedient Servant Nehemiah Grew A DISCOURSE Made before the ROYAL SOCIETY HAVING the honour to perform the task of this day I shall endeavour to conform to the Philosophy which this Society doth profess which is Ratiocination grounded upon Experiment and the Common Notions of Sense The former being without the latter too subtle and intangible the latter without the former too gross and unmanageable but both together bearing a true analogy to our selves who are neither Angels nor meer Animals but Men. The Subject I have chosen to speak of is Mixture Whereof that our Discourse may be the more consistent and the better intelligible all I have to say shall be ranged into this Method viz. 1. First I shall give a brief account of the received Doctrine of Mixture 2. Next lay down some Propositions of the Principles whereof all Mixed Bodies consist 3. Then open the true Nature of Mixture or say What it is 4. And then enumerate the Causes of Mixture or say How it is made 5. Lastly I shall shew the Power of Mixture or What it can do SECT I. FIRST As to the received Doctrine of Mixture not to trouble you with tedious quotations of what Aristotle Galen Fernelius Scaliger Sennertus Riverius and others say hereof we may suppose the whole summed up in that Definition which Aristotle himself hath given of it and which the greater number of his Followers have almost religiously adhered to viz. that 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. de Gener. Corrupt Cap. ult that 't is Miscibilium alteratorum unio Which Definition as it is usually explicated is both Vnintelligible and Vnuseful Two things are unintelligible what they mean by Alteration and what by Vnion In this Alteration they say That the very Forms of the Elements are alter'd And therefore lay it down for an Axiom Quòd in Mixto Formae Elementares tantum sint in potentia But let us see the consequence For if in a mixed body the Forms of the Elements are but in potentia then the Elements themselves are but in potentia for we all say Forma dat esse And if the Compounding Elements are only in potentia then the Compound Body it self can be only in potentia yet to say it is no more is most absurd As for the Vnion of Elements in a mixed Body they make it such as brings them at last to assert the Penetration of bodies and that the Vnion of mixed bodies is nothing else For they say it is made in such sort that every particle of the mixed body partaketh of the Nature of the whole Which Nature ariseth from the contemperated Qualities of the four Elements Whence they
as to make that Intrusion Secondly It is also evident That although they do Coagulate yet not altogether so much as when powred together in the same manner and quantity in the open Air. Wherefore Compression whether made by the Air or any thing else doth somewhat further the Mixture of Bodies and the greater the Compression the more 4. Solution For all bodies mix best in Forma fluida And that for two reasons First Because the parts of a body are not then in a state of Vnion but of Separation and therefore in a more capable state for their Mixture and Vnion with the parts of another body Secondly Because then they are also in a state of Motion more or less and therefore in a continual tendency towards Mixture all Mixture being made by Motion Wherefore all Generations and most perfect Mixtures in Nature are made by Fluids whether Animal Vegetable or Mineral Which is also agreeable to the Doctrine of the Honourable Mr. Boyle in his excellent Treatise of the Nature and Vertues of Gems And 't is well known That bodies are ordinarily petrified or Stones made out of Water That is out of petrifying parts dissolved per minima in Water as both their Menstruum and their Vehicle Wherefore if we will talk of making Gold It must not be by the Philosophers Stone but by the Philosophers Liquor 5. Digestion For which there is the same reason as for Mixture by Solution For First All heat doth attenuate that is still further separate the parts of a body and so render them more mingleable with the parts of another And therefore Secondly Doth also add more Motion to them in order to their Mixture 6. Agitation Which I am induced to believe a great and effectual means of Mixture upon divers considerations As First That the making of Blood in the Bodies of Animals and the mixing of the Chyle therewith is very much promoted by the same means sc. by the Agitation of the parts of the Blood and Chyle in their continual Circulation Again From the making of Butter out of Milk by the same means whereby alone is made a separation of the oleous parts from the whey and a mixture of them together Moreover From the great Effects of Digestion well known to all that are conversant in Chymical Preparations Which Digestion it self is but a kind of insensible Agitation of the parts of digested bodies 'T is also a known Experiment That the readiest way to dissolve Sugar in Wine or other Liquor is to give the Vessel a hasty turn together with a smart knock against any hard and steady body whereby all the parts of the Sugar and Liquor are put into a vehement Agitation and so immediately mixed together And I remember that having with intent to make Mr. Mathews's Pill put some Oyl of Turpentine and Salt of Tartar together in a bottle and sent it up hither out of the Country I found that the continual Agitation upon the Road for three or four days had done more towards their Mixture then a far greater time of Digestion alone had done before And it is certain That a vehement Agitation especially if continu'd or joyned with Digestion will accelerate the Mixture of some bodies ten times more then any bare Digestion alone as may be proved by many Experiments I will instance in this one Let some Oyl of Turpentine and good Spirit of Nitre be stop'd up together in a bottle and the bottle held to the fire till the Liquors be a little heated and begin to bubble Then having removed it and the Bubbles by degrees increasing more and more the two Liquors will of themselves at last fall into so impetuous an Ebullition as to make a kind of explosion sending forth a smoak for the space of almost two yards high Whereupon the parts of both the Liquors being violently agitated they are in a great portion incorporated into a thick Balsam in a moment and that without any intense heat as may be felt by the bottle And thus much for the Causes of Mixture SECT V. HAVING enumerated the general Causes we shall lastly enquire into the Power and Vse of Mixture or into what it can Do and Teach And I shall Instance in fix particulars First To Render all Bodies Sociable whatsoever they be Secondly To Make Artificial Bodies in Imitation of those of Natures own production Thirdly To Make or Imitate the sensible Qualities of Bodâ—es as Smells and Tasts Fourthly To Make or Imitate their Faculties Fifthly It is a Key to discover the Nature of Bodies Sixthly To discover their Use and the Manner of their Medicinal Operation Instance I. FIRST To render all Bodies Sociable or Mingleable as Water with Oyl Salt with Spirit and the like For Natural and Artificial Mixture are the same as we have before proved If therefore Nature can do it as we see in the Generation of bodies she doth 't is likewise in the Power of Art to do it And for the doing of it two general Rules result from the Premisses sc. The Application of Causes and the Choice of Materials As for the Causes they are such as I have now instanc'd in And for the Application of them I shall give these two Rules First That we tread in Natures steps as near as we can not only in the application of such a Cause as may be most proper for such a Mixture but also in allowing it sufficient time for its effect For so we see Nature her self for her more perfect Mixtures usually doth She maketh not a Flower or an Apple a Horse or a Man as it were in a moment but all things by degrees and for her more perfect and elaborate Mixtures for the most part she requireth more time Because all such Mixtures are made and carri'd on per minima and therefore require a greater time for the compleating of them A second Rule is Not only to make a due Application of the Causes but sometimes to Accumulate them By which means we may not only Imitate Nature but in some cases go beyond her For as by adding a Graft or Bud to the Stock we may produce Fruit sooner and sometimes better then Nature by the Stock alone would do So here by accumulating the Causes of Mixture that is by joyning three or four or more together or by applying more in some cases where Nature applyeth fewer we may be able to make if not a more perfect yet a far more speedy Mixture than Nature doth As by joyning Compression Heat and violent Agitation and so continuing them all together by some means contrived for the purpose for the space of a week or moneth or longer without cessation Which may probably produce not only strange but useful effects in the Solution of some and the Mixture of other Bodies And may serve to mix such Bodies as through the small number of their congruous parts are hardly mingleable any other way Agitation being as carrying the key to and fro till