to drink as the last means left to preserve their lives Which practise as it cannot replenish the veins to that measure it already emptied them so it evidently concludes that emptiness of the Vessels is not the true cause of perishing for want of food Much less can the continuation of Suction from the exhausted Vessels to the Stomack be the cause of hunger For first such hunger could not be immediately appeased after eating the Vessels receiving no part thereof till a considerable time after when distribution begins to succeed concoction as is well known and confessed Secondly 't will appear to such as shall duly consider it that the Vessels or Veins are then fullest when the Stomack is emptiest è contra the emptying of the Stomack beginning with the filling of the Guts and Veins Nor shall we need other arguments against this Suction though it were easie to charge it with more difficulties than that the owners of it will be forced to prove there is some such power of moving by attraction drawing or Suction which will be a harder matter than it appears at first sight Though as not making to our present purpose I shall not determine ought concerning it 3. In confirmation of this our Assertion viz. That the concoction of the stomack is a kind of fermentation it will not bâ— amiss to shew the reason of some circumstances of it And first concerning that preparation which meat receives in the mouth by chewing or jawing of it which is rather a bruising than mincing and it is a common observation that flesh minced very small is of much harder concoction than if eaten by bigger pieces and a sufficient reason is withall assigned that meat minced slips down into the stomack before it be duly masticated or chewed which is so necessary an antecedent of concoction that the Arabian Physitians are wont to say That he that chaws not his meat well hates his own Soul Now that any thing bruised will soon after corrupt is evident in all fruits which will sooner putrisie after bruising than if they were cut with a sharp knife into many pieces Thus a flesh-wound made without bruising will commonly heal again with little or no corruption but not if the part were bruised at the same time Thus the common practise is to bruise Whitloes to ripen and break them the sooner And thus to conclude our meat by being bruiâ—ed becomes of much easier and speedier concoction which seems to be the reason why Nature has given to most Creatures namely Dogs Wolfes Swine Foxes c. three sorts of teeth to wit Tusks to kill their prey with sharp fore-teeth or cutters wherewith they tear it into smaller pieces And lastly Grinders to chew and bruise it the better to prepare it for the stomack Birds seem to grinde their meat in their Gizards after it is first well soaked in their craps for which purpose they pick up sharp stones and their stomacks are made of two large Muscles one on either side the chief instruments in this work of Moliture or grinding The Locusta or Lobsters has his teeth placed in his stomack and so have the rest of that kind which they imploy for the same purpose 4. Our next observation shall be upon two Rules of Diet commonly given by Physitians the one is that we should not put new meat into our stomack till after a perfect digestion of what was eaten the meal before the reason of which Rule seems to be this That it is necessary thâ— stomack should continue some time empty that so the Fracid Tincture or small corrupted remaining portion of the former meat may have acquired its due acidity whereby it may the better help the succeeding fermentation or concoction And it is no more than if you should advise the House-wife not to make any new Bread till the Leven be grown ripe or sowre enough to leven and ferment the Mass of Dough. The second Rule is that we should leave eating with some small appetite to eat on or that we should rise from Table with an appetite the reason is almost the same with the former and may well be illustrated by the same instance which is that it is requisite the Leven should bear some just proportion to the Mass it is to ferment Thus if we rise with an appetite it will appear that we have not over-charged this ferment of our stomacks for appetite being as is said a sense of pain caused by the sharpness of this acid ferment it follows that this acidity is not yet quite obscured by the late mixture of good and consequently the stomack not charged with more than may be well digested at once by 〈◊〉 And these are Rules very fit to be observed as well by those which are of a more robust nature as of them especially who have weak stomacks and find themselves indisposed after eating 5. 'T is further advised by some Physitians that such as have weak stomacks should forbear drinking till they have neer dined and we commonly observe that drinking just before dinner spoils our eating which it does by diluting this ferment of the stomack whereupon the sense of pain and consequently hunger abates very much or quite ceases for a time And 't is usually seen that they who are great Drinkers are bad Trencher-men and that as well for that much drinking relaxes the tone and extenuates the coats of the stomack as more especially for that it washes away by little and little all this fracid tincture or sowre ferment of the membranes thereof which is as well the cause of concoction as of appetite or hunger 6. Bulls Blood drunk was found a present poyson by the Ancients and Milk taken plentifully and after curdling on the stomack has often been the cause of great and mortal Surfeits the reason of both is the same for that both blood and milk being curdled and brought into one hard lump becomes insuperable to the stomack Whereas if the same be suffered to coagulate before they be eaten and broken into small parts they will have no such effect and instead of poysoning will afford an indifferent good nourishment to the body So far seems Helmont to have missed the mark when he says The cause of this poyson is Imago Irae in Sanguine Taurino And I doubt not but a lump of Beef or a piece of Cheese of the same bigness whole in the stomack would as surely poyson if not more effectually And this may farther confirm what is said in the third paragraph of preparing our Food by chawing c. 7. The inward membranes or skins of the Gizards of most Birds especially such as feed on corn prepared by drying and powdring them are held a great help to concoction Now the acidity of them is very manifest and no doubt they do no otherwise comfort our stomacks than by encreasing and corroborating that ferment so often mentioned Thus the dung of several Animals prepared namely of Wolves Dogs Peacocks
of I have seen as big as a small Pullets Egg. Now upon the coming in of the Tide the water rising this weed by means of the said Bladders floats and if the Stone be not too heavy Boys it up and hangs in the water like a Net that hath Corks and Leads to it whereupon the Plant is considerably stretched and again upon the subsiding of the water receives its nourishment as in the former instance of other vegetables though perhaps not from the root being fastened to a stone but by the porose surface of its body And lastly that there is much Air disseminated through the bodies of Animals is manifest from their food herbs and water both which participate of it in good quantity A notable argument whereof in water may be that it doth upon such easie terms rise up in a vapour and mingle its minute and insensible parts with the Air. For as the water grows warm either by the heat of the Sun or fire the small parts of Air dilating make haste to the top of the water where they frame themselves with some of the water into little bubbles and are carried away by the motion of the Air or Medium like those bubbles made by Children with Soap and water And this perhaps may be one reason why Rain water is better for plants then other water because it has more air in it a testimony whereof the Scale may afford us And this is manifest in wine even to sense from which if it be brisk and fresh and poured from on high into a glass you shall first see a great number of little bubbles or floating parcels of Air rise up with such force as to mount neer a foot above the surface of the wine But it is not enough for us to have proved great quantities of Air in all mixed bodies unless it be at the same time allowed us that the Air be actually and formally there as in the Medium or open Air suffering nothing else but barely an imprisonment or confinement only which is already sufficiently made out by the uses lately assigned it in vegetables unless they may be otherways more commodiously explained besides that the possibility of converting one substance into another was yet never so clearly taught as to become intelligible and has at this day but few Asserters of it In contemplation of all which particulars and that the Air alone of all Simple Bodies is capable of dilatation and constriction or call it rarity and density yet not by any power to move it has of its self but as it is moved more or less by the presence or absence the neerness or remoteness of the Sun the heart and Center of this worldly System in which we live I thought it a matter worth my pains though perhaps exceeding my abilities to assay whether all fermentation were not reducible to this simple motion of the Air and did not depend on it as on a general and more universal cause which if I fail not in it will be no very difficult matter to reduce all other motions in the world to that of fermentation and probably to resolve many hard questions not as yet so rightly determined But because contemplations of this kind are in their own Nature very unprofitable if not reducible to practise I have as well as I could applied the same to the cure and prevention of most diseases as will somewhat more at large appear by the ensuing Treatise Which I have suffered to undergo the publick view with this assurance that if the foundaâ—ion I build on fail me not I need not at all â—â—â—bt the Superstructure CLarissimi viri Nathan Henshaw M. D. opus hoc mole quidem Exiguum sed acumine eruditione cùm variâ jucundà tum utili novà succóque plenum relegimus idque cunctis tam Medicinae non-vulgaris quà m Secretioris Solidioris Philosophiae Studiosis summoperè commendamus JOHANNES STEARNE M. J.V.D. M. Professor Publicus in Academiâ Dubliniensi Dat. è Collegio S. Individ Trin. propter Dublinium Calend. Julii 1664. CHAP. I. Of Fermentation in General 1. BY Fermentation I understand that motion observable in all compound or mixed bodies whereby the order and situâ—â—â—on of all the minute parts of the same are continually changed as well in respect of themselves as of the whole Mass whereof they are parts and that chiefly from an internal cause so moving or disposing them without the local motion of the whole whether the same be accompanied with any sensible heat in the Mass so fermented or not 2. That such a motion or fermentation 〈◊〉 every where observable we need not go 〈◊〉 to prove if we consider that there is scarce any thing sublunary which is subject to our observation that continues the least moment of time in the same tenour without alteration which if not observable to sence is yet found to be so with as little reasoning as that the shadow upon the Dyal continually moves on though our eye determine not till after some minutes perhaps of time it becomes apparent that the shadow has moved and then we straight conclude it moved all the while and that the proportional parts of space were commensurate to the respective moments in which the shadow passed from one term to the other if therefore all bodies are thus moved or fermented at all times it folâ—ows that the Doctrine of Fermentation according to our acception of the word 〈◊〉 manner as far extended as that of 〈◊〉 itself I shall only consider it so 〈◊〉 as it seems conducible and subservient to those noble ends I have proposed my self in this Treatise viz. the continuation of health the cure of Diseases and the retardâ—ng of old Age to say no more and not â—o promise too much by a new and hitherto unheard of method 3 The most general properties of fermentation are these that the Mass so fermented suffers an eminent alteration in all its usual wayes of affecting our senses as well in its first as second qualities they are either exalted or depressed they are sometimes changed for their contrary and in a word relation being had to our esteem of things thus fermented all fermentation may be said to be either perfective or destructive though in it self it be but one continued flux as for instance in an apple or the like that from a green austere bud first acquires its due perfection and after by a continuation of that fermentation that ripened it at last arrives at corruption and so changes both its name and nature together 4 Another eminent property of fermentation is that for the most part the Body fermented doth occupy more space than the same did before which is very evident in the drowned bodies of men or other animals which though at first they go to the bottom yet after a certain time do slowly boye themselves up again to the top of the water not for that the breaking of the Gall becomes the
they make that frothy head or scum observable in Sider Wine Beer and other liquors and this I take to be the natural method of all fermentâ—tion when not checked or otherwise determined by some outward circumstance And this also seems a genuine reason of the depuration and of the casting off the heavier and lighter recrement mentioned before N. 5. to happen in fermented liquors 12. That Bodies are ripened and acquire their due perfection by fermentation is asserted N. 6. but in such case it is necessary that this fermentation be checked or retarded in such sort as is there mentioned both in natural and more artificial fermentations But the most universal Moderator of this motion is what was lately call'd the tone of Air as well as its temperature which daily and hourly changing doth accelerate retard check and put backward this motion and then restores it again by which various and oft repeated course the parts are comminuted their roughness retunded and mitigated and they so disposed of after an inexplicable manner as conduces most to the beauty and perfection of the Body fermented 13. This dilatation and constriction in Bodies fermented caused by the like accidents of the Ambient Air may not improperly be compared with the pulse in Animals having its Systole and Diastole even as they have though by longer periods as of day and night warm weather and cold c. and from hence perhaps is the true cause of pulses in Animals to be lookt for which yet as forreign to our present scope we here enquire not farther after but it will not be improper to observe with common experience that Malt is best made in windy weather and that the best and most lasting Beer is brewed in March and September windy moneths and of an unequal temper Now 't is evident that all winds are moved by gusts rather then equal fluxes from whence probably it is that the Sea is lifted into Waves as it were numbring to us the several impetuous stroaks it received from the winds Thus the motion of all Animals seems to be performed by snatches and jerks and it is indeed a great question among School-Philosophers whether any local motion be strictly speaking continual and not rather consisting of short motions and frequent rests as it were compounded together This Pulse or frequent change in the tone of the Air however it may seem at first view an idle or over-subtil contemplation will upon due consideration be found not only true and the cause of those effects assigned to it in the foregoing Paragraph but that it may also with good effect be made use of in Physick as a notable instrument for preservation of health and the cure of diseases I shall hereafter endeavour to prove in the ensuing discourse That most liquors fermented especially in the beginning conceive heat and become warm even to sense the reason may be partly gathered out of what has been already said namely that the small particles of Air in such liquor become dilated which dilatation is always accompanied with an encrease of heat they mutually making way for and introducing one the other in the Air and bodies participating of Air if not hindred from without to which may be added that all motion is apt to beget heat in the Body moved which is true not only of solid Bodies though more eminently in them but also of liquid Bodies themselves Thus 't is said in making Butter you must neither make too much at once nor yet must it be too violently beaten or shaken for in such case there will be great hazard of over-heating the Butter which as you see is the meer effect of motion in a liquid Body only Besides most liquors fermented abouâ— with a kind of Tartar which afterwâ—â—â— subsideth when the Mass begins to coâ—… the collision of whose rough particles 〈◊〉 against the other may perhaps somewâ—… contribute to the production of this heâ—… though I for my part impute less to 〈◊〉 then the causes before assigned though 〈◊〉 remarkable heat arising in Aqua fortis aâ—…sed upon filings of Iron or Silver is perhâ—… best made out by the collision of its asproâ—… parts against those of the said Metals 14. As concerning particular ferments I shall only observe that congenerous Bodies suffer most and are best fermented by their own proper ferments namely Ale by yeast Dough by Leven Milk by Renet Thus Apples Pears and Grapes and generally all fruit once corrupted or rotten do more easily affect and putrifie those of their own kind then of any other I say more easily for they will though with more difficulty and after a longer time corrupt fruits of a divers kind also and those particular Levens before-mentioned will in like manner though probably not so naturally ferment â—ther Bodies of whose kind they are not â—…s Yest will ferment Dough which yet 〈◊〉 something congenerous to it as proâ—…ng it self originally from Corn or 〈◊〉 and whites of Eggs beaâ—… up 〈◊〉 snowy froth will indifferently supply â—…ant of Yest in either Wort or Dough â—…am verily perswaded that the Yesty 〈◊〉 which may be taken off the top of 〈◊〉 running Drills of water would effect â—…me mingled with Dough unless perâ—… it be not viscous enough wherein it â—…ms only to differ from the whites of â—ggs beaten as is said and it were worth the trying to understand whether a Mass of Dough made with flower and snow only would need any other raising or Leven I have read that in the Countryes about Parma and Piacenza whence those so much valued Parmisan Cheeses come the people make use of Snow instead of Renet This instance however of the white of an Egg beaten may serve very well to illustrate our Position concerning the fermentation of Bodies by the dilatation and constriction of its aereous Particles as also the kneding of Dough and shaking of liquors which is a kind of kneding too the better to make them rise and work will notably confirm what we said of the Tone of the Air its frequent alterations and of windy weather how much they conduce to the better fermentation of most Bodies 15. Note that the reason why the juices of most fruits do soon after expression acquire a strong fermentation seems to be this that not only the liquor is now more at liberty then when mixed with the fleshy parts of the fruit but likewise that the Airy Particles lay very much compressed in the fruit every particular Grape Cherry and Apple being in the nature of a little Bottle which as we see if well stopt hinders the working of Ale or Wine but once opened the liquors straightway ferment and swell very impetuously the compressed Air forcibly dilating it self and this is the reason that fruit a little eaten by the Birds or Snails will ripen much faster than if they had not been entered upon but then the taste will not be altogether so generous and sprightly Thus Apples and Pears gather'd green and hoarded ripen
their burden And in case of hanging or strangling letting of blood in great quantity has sometimes saved mens lives that have been executed and this by no other ways that I can think of than by helping to discharge the lungs of their oppression as has been already said 8. And thus we have if our Opinion fail us not discovered the true use of Respiration We have also of consequence freed the heart of almost one half of the task imposed on it by the modern Physitians For since the circulation of the blood consists of two parts viz. First the conveying it from the heart or center to the rest of the body as to a kind of natural circumference And secondly the returning or bringing back of the blood again to the heart The first part we conceive to be the Office of the heart The second part seems to be the work of every particular member to discharge it self of its own superfluities For which purpose nature hath endued them with a tone or tonical motion sufficient for that service the lungs only excepted wherein Nature hath worthily imployed her industry by the additional contrivance of Respiration through the assistance of the Diaphragme which labour of the lungs in Respiration for the returning of the blood to the left Ventricle of the heart seems to equal that of the tone or tonical motion of all the other parts of the body for the lungs convey the same quantity with all the rest that is to say the whole Mass of blood through them and that in as little time as the same passes through the rest of the body And if it carries it not so far it moves â—t so much the faster And so we shall have entitled the lungs to one full quarter part of this work of the circulation of the blood leaving an other quarter to the tonical motion of the body And the first and worthier half of dispensing blood and life through the whole body to the heart as its proper office and duty What part the lungs may justly claim to themselves in the business of Sanguification we shall more conveniently find place to consider of in the following Chapter CHAP. IV. Of Sanguification THe Chyle when separated from the remaining unprofitable parts of our Aliment is by proper vessels of its own the discovery of modern Anatomists conveyed directly into the Subclavial veins and from thence into the right Ventricle of the heart where it is mingled with a larger quantity of blood returning home by the great vein together with which it is immediately transmitted to the lungs where though it make great hast through and moves very impetuously as has been said yet by reason of the length of the way it continues a considerable time and is more perfectly mingled with the blood and wrought up together with it into one Mass and at the same time acquires both the name and form of blood as Physitians term it and so is fitted for the heart from thence to be distributed to the rest of the body where after what manner it is circulated we say not as a thing already sufficiently known and whereof we have delivered our sense already 2. That Chyle is very easily mixt with blood is evident for that it is the matter whereof all blood is made by a farther continuation of that fermentation or concoction begun on it in the stomack Nor yet is the proportion so great between them but that upon mingling the dissimilitude of parts becomes immediately the cause of an extraordinary ebullition which is very much encreased by the reciprocal motion of the lungs whereby the blood is wrought almost all into a froth or foam by that time it gets into the left Ventricle of the heart Which sudden excess of heat is not unlike what happens upon the mingling several Chymical liquors together as Spirit of Wine and Spirit of Turpentine and other such like where the heat becomes so great that it often endangers the vessel they are contained in And this is the cause of that heat a while after meals discernable in Hectical persons and others otherwise affected and which in many appears by flushings in the face Now that the blood is wrought up to that froth we speak of during its passage through the lungs is not only suitable to reason but appears most evidently in those sanguine excretions from the lungs which happen in consumptive persons nor does that frothiness then observable proceed from the mingling with it the air we breath for that at one breathing out or expiration could not be sufficiently performed 3. The blood by several very learned men has not unaptly been compared to wine and in my Opinion the Chyle may as properly be likened to the juice newly pressed out of the Grapes which if it were by certain intervals in a due proportion poured gently into new wine or must as it begins to cool would again renew its ebullition and continue the warmth of it to what degree is requisite and that so long as this practise shall be continued And from this Illustration may be clearly gather'd the necessity and use of eating at least within certain periods or intervals to wit that by the frequent affusion of Chyle the blood may again recover its motion warmth and vigour without which supply it would soon languish cool and congeal and consequently death ensue Now that the lungs are indeed the principal Officina Sanguinis may be farther collected from Consumptions of the lungs wherein all parts of the body are so suddenly extenuated by the affection of the part 4. 'T is probable that the blood during its stay in the lungs does not actually dilate it self and rise into froth but only acquires an aptness so to do as soon as it is at a little more liberty as appears in blood spit out of them and consequently when it falls into the left Ventricle of the heart it immediately dilates it self with great force in the manner of botled Beer and in this manner does for ought I know in great part become the cause of the Diastole or expansion of the heart which being extended beyond its due and natural scituation does again violently contract it self by a power almost all bodies have of restoring themselves and which we call the tone or tonical motion And as we observe in a Switch bowed down or in a Pendulum removed out of its place that they return beyond the perpendicular so it fares in this motion of the heart whereby it is again more contracted than is natural to it and so of it self returns again to expand it self and is again violently distended as before by the influx of more spumy blood from the lungs Now though it may be objected that the pulse in the heart continues many times a long while after it is taken out of the body and when there is no longer any such influx to be pretended as the cause of it To this I answer that such pulse
is what the Physitians call the Myurus or Mouse-tail for that its Diadromes or differences between greatest and least expansion do continually become less and less even as it happens in Pendulums once removed from the perpendicular which continue their motion for a long time after the hand is from them that first set them awork At least this ebullition of the blood in the heart seems not a little to contribute to the continuation and strengthening of this pulsive motion In contemplation of this Orgasmus or fury as I may call it in the blood issuing out of the lungs and now to be distributed into all parts of the body Nature contrived the Arteries with thick and double coats the better to contain it whereas the veins designed for the carrying it back again to the heart at what time the blood is very much cooled and tamed are only made of single membranes as being sufficient now to hold it And this is all the difference between Arterial and Venal blood 5. It seems of all other Opinions the most probable that the blood when arrived at the extremities of the smallest Arteries is there shed upon the habit of the body in the belly or fleshy part of every Muscle each Muscle having the proportion or likeness of one of the quarters or Acetabula in an Orange or a Lemon upon the compression of which either by local or tonical motion it is not hard to conceive how the blood is again forced into the mouths of the veins and after the same manner has every Muscle its particular membrane And thus we find that blood issues forth upon pricking the flesh in any place although it cannot be imagined we should always prick a vein or Artery or we must conclude there is nothing else in flesh but a multitude of capillar veins and arteries which were absurd to be asserted 6. To make short Life it self is but a continuation of this vigorous fermentation of the blood which is so long maintained as the Mass of blood is kept hot and circulating through the veins and arteries and if done by those means and in that manner which is suitable to Nature so long the body is in perfect health If it be too violently fermented or moved it does in general become the cause of Fevers and other acute diseases as contrariwise if the fermentation be too weak from thence all chronical diseases take their original and that particularly according to the several irregularities that may happen either in excess or defect in this fermentation and circular motion of the blood We descend not now to particulars the most we aim at in this Treatise being but a general method either of preventing or curing diseases after a way not yet treated of 7. Since the discovery of the circulation of the blood it has been the Opinion of many great Assertous of it that where the indication is of letting blood it matters not out of what vein it be taken provided so many ounces be let out as the disease requires And this their Assertion is made probable by many arguments alledged by them for that purpose and but for the tonical motion of the habit of our bodies would be as great a truth as any is in Physick But the tonical motion of the parts once admitted We must likewise grant that those parts will empty themselves first that lie nearest to the incision as well for that there is less strength required to force any liquor to a shorter than a longer distance as also because the more remote parts or Muscles do exercise a kind of Antipraxia or Contranitency and so become of mutual impediment one to the other whereas the nearer parts do almost immediately discharge themselves upon the Orifice or incision 8. From this tonical motion of the whole body it happens that any particular part is sometimes preternaturally swelled either from a stroak the application of cupping-glasses or generally any other cause which may weaken the tone of the part for in such case the heart continuing its motion for the distribution of the Mass of humors it is very easie to conceive that more of them will pass into that part where least resistance is made than otherwise would have happened had the part continued in its natural tone and vigour 9. From hence likewise the reason is to be sought how it happens in letting blood that so large a quantity should in so small a time issue out at the incision made in one vein and that perhaps none of the largest For if we duly consider how quickly a man may bleed to death by the opening for instance of a vein in his arm we must conclude that the blood passes not much faster through the heart than it does at the same time out at the Orifice in his arm and that consequently there is but little blood received during this evacuation into the rest of the body which doth then by its tone discharge it self into the great vein of its Plethora or superfluous blood which returning again from the heart toward the habit the greatest part takes its way to the part where the incision was made it finding there no other opposition than what it has while it is travasated from the arteries into the veins through the smallness of their mouths which yet is in part recompenced by the multitude of them Now if it be agreed on that in half an hour a man may bleed to death or thereabout if a vein in the arm be kept open and that there will in such case be about one half of his blood let out computing what is likewise contained in the capillar vessels and what remains in the habit of the body it will follow either that the whole Mass is compleatly circulated twenty four times in twenty four hours or a natural day Which seems a little too often or that the blood circulates much faster while a vein is breathing than at other times which is not improbable or that a man may continue bleeding longer than half an hour which is not so likely or that there is not in such case of bleeding to death one full half of the Mass let out All which may deserve a more exact scrutiny but must now be left to be decided by the experiments of such as are conversant in the dissection of live Animals 10. It is frequently seen in horses that upon long and much labour they lose the sight of their eyes nay I have known some horses that have lost one or both eyes with one days over-straining either by draught or course and so became blinde of a sudden And then we commonly say they have drawn their eyes out But how the eyes should suffer or what part they take in the labour or violent exercise of the body is not so easily made out unless by this tonical motion of the body which now becomes much strengthened by the violent local motion either in drawing or running whereby the Muscles
cause of their ascending as some even knowing men have suffered themselves to be perswaded but because such bodies formerly heavier than water quantity for quantity and consequently apt to sink have now acquired a larger dimension while they however increase not their weight and so becoming lighter than the water contained in the like space are protruded by it to the top where they by degrees swell yet bigger so that sometimes I have seen a dog lye with more than one halfe of his body above the surface of the water and it is no more than happens in a pound of Glass metal or other heavy material which in a solid Mass sinks to the bottom but if blown or wrought into a bottle it keeps the top of the water all which together with the reason is well enough known to such as have been conversant in statick Experiments 5 Another very useful property of Fermentation is that while it separates all Heterogeneous parts it leaves the Basis as it were or main ingredient of the Mass clear and limpid if not hindred by the density of the body and throws off two recrements or superfluities one a heavier descending to the bottom the other of a lighter more frothy substance which takes its place at the top of the liquor as is manifest in Wine Sider and the juices of other fruits in Beer made with Barly and the decoctions of other grains first maulted and grown'd This happens not in Bread because the greatest part of the Mass being the more solid the less or watry par◠takes its flight on all sides to the circumference though somewhat more slowly and there coagulates into a blew mould 6. Another noble property of Fermentation is that it exalts the body fermented to what perfection it is capable of but then it is requisite that the body fermented be of such a consistence as may not be fermented too fast as in fruits upon trees or if thin that it be close stop't in some full Vessel as all kind of drinks or if o◠〈◊〉 middle consistence that it be often stirred which is observed by Apothecaries in the making of Treacle and other such Compositions which afterward will keep a very long time For thus it is necessary that that spirit as we will call it for the present which ferments the Mass be for a while detained either by the tone of the body by some strong vessel or that it be often re-effused as it were upon its body that so by its long difficult and reiterated working it may at last find out some congruity amongst the less Heterogeneous parts and cause a kind of complanation of the whole Mass and it self with less reluctancy be detained in the Body or Mass 7. Another very General property of Fermentation is that all bodies almost by it at last become acide as is manifest in all liquors decoctions of flesh or herbs electuaries sirups c. by which acidity I understand not that sowre taste observable in most green fruits which is rather to be termed acerbity and differs as much from what we here speak of as Agresta the juyce of green grapes exprest doth from Vinegar 8. In the next place let us briefly consider the causes of Fermentation the most immediate of which seems to be the Air contained in every mixt body for as I noted before all bodies fermented do occupy a larger room than they did before fermentation which cannot be duely ascribed to any other ingredient in mixt bodies than to the air for that it hath not yet been found by sufficient experiment that any body whatsoever is capable of rarifaction and condensation or dilation and construction besides air as for Leaf Gold what it got in one dimension it lost in the other and all the parts of Gold calcined do but equal the Mass they were made of no more than if the same had been reduced to an impalpable powder by means of a very fine file The same is to be understood of water evaporated by heat which is only a comminution of it into exceeding small parts and no way a conversion of it into air as hath been formerly received which is from hence evidenced that such vapours by the Alembic are again reducible to the same liquors from whence they were first raised viz. into Rosewater or spirit of Wine which were no more possible if they had been really converted into air then out of common air to draw Rose-water or spirit of Wine and if water or milke or other liquor take up more room when boyling on the fire then they did cold 't is by reason that the particles of air formerly not visible are now considerably dilated so as to become observable to the eye 9. As the Air contained in mixt bodies is the most immediat efficient cause of Fermentation so it needs exciting and actuating for the most part as well by the temper and tone of the Medium as from the addition of this or that particular Ferment as of leven yeast Renet or the like of which perhaps we shall have farther occasion to speak more hereafter and at present only consider how the Medium especially the Ambient Air excites the internal air in the work of Fermentation 10. By the Tone of the Air I understand the measure of its rarity and density and especially its reciprocations or frequent access and recess to this or that degree of rarity and density Now that one Air is rarer than another as that of hills then that of the valleys that of southern Regions then that of the more Northern is I think an undoubted truth also that the Air of every particular place is sometimes rarer sometimes denser according to the several seasons of the year times of the day and night c. needs no other proof then that of the Weather-glass By the temperature of the Air I mean its degree and difference of heat and cold which admits of the same considerations of place and time as before and is not only proved by the Weather-glass but even by sense it self 11. The manner how the Ambient works upon the internal air in mixed bodies is the same with that of the Weather-glass where the inclosed air is rarified and condensed heated and cooled accordingly as the Medium is affected So in bodies fermented especially liquors the imperceptible particles of air being gently and by degrees dilated become the cause that the whole Mass doth occupy more and more room or encreases its dimensions under the same weight whereupon this effect immediately follows that several Heterogeneous Particles which before floated in the liquor and were as I may say equilibrous with the same do now gently descend toward the bottom in order according to their weight The small Particles of air in the mean while being more and more dilated do together with the more viscous parts of the liquor of which they form themselves Coats or Integuments gently ascend to the top of the Mass where
of the whole body are much more compressed than in their natural state of rest and consequently do not only not admit of the usual quantity of blood and humours due to them by circulation but by their violent and frequent contraction do return them back in much a larger proportion than they now receive them whereupon the lungs become over-charged which causes frequent breathing and makes the pulse quicker and stronger than formerly distends the great vein and artery with a greater quantity of blood than is usuall Whereupon the Artery by its pulse and tone endeavours to discharge it self upon the habit of the body which not receiving it in its due and accustomed proportion the blood does in a more than a usual manner fill the vessels of the eyes and other weak parts and either by dissention compression or extravasation of blood or other humor the order and disposition of the parts of the eyes becomes so confused and disturbed that no wonder if blindness immediately or soon after do ensue Now 't is manifest from hence that where the body of an horse is clean that is to say not so full of humors and where blood abounds not over-much this accident shall not easily happen And here we are to observe that though the native tone of the eye do rather exceed that of the other parts than come short of it yet it is not sufficient to resist this influx when the tone of the other parts is so much strengthened by the violent local motions of the body 11. If we a little reflect upon the manner of the Circulation of the Blood and how by very modern discovery the Chyle is first mingled with the blood in the axillary or subclavial veins from whence it passes by the right Ventricle of the heart through the lungs into the left Ventricle from thence to be distributed into the whole body One thing very remarkable will arise to our observation namely that what part of the blood is sent toward the head by the carotides or arteries of the neck flows thither very crude and accompanied with all its excrements it having not yet received or suffered any depuration or alteration from the Reins or Spleen like that which passes into almost all other especially the lower parts of the body though indeed it seems not to be cleansed of the gall till it returns home again through the liver Now though Natures purpose herein be very obscure that the blood thus impure should be designed for the service of the most Noble part yet that so it is will farther appear by the several Emunctories or sinks wherewith the head is in a particular manner provided as the ears eyes nose palat every of which discharge the brain of a several excrement and that no longer useful to the body except what is secerned by the palat which is for the most part again returned to the stomack for the better separating of which Nature has industriously placed about the head so many of those serous vessels called the Ductus Salivares which seem here to perform the same Office to that part of the blood sent to the head which the Reins do execute to the remaining Mass Hence no wonder it is if excessive drinking do so much weaken the brain cause Catarrhs which is nothing but an over-flowing of the Ductus Salivares weaken all the faculties of the Soul and senses and at length enervate the whole body although at the same time the Reins do their duty indifferently well and this especially if the native tone of the brain be weak it being then so much the less able to discharge it self of such superfluous excrements This may be said in general that the blood is thus sent to the brain before depuration in regard of its publick Office that the same may there be farther elaborated as shall best suit with its service in that Noble part Thus much by way of an useful digression may suffice concerning tonical motion and some considerable circumstances of it which as well for the assistance it gives the heart in the circulation of the blood as for the many useful indications from thence arising in the Doctrine of Phlebotomy was most properly to be handled in this Chapter of Sanguification 12. And now I do not much doubt but whoever shall have carefully perused what has been lately said concerning Sanguification and the use of the lungs will as readily conclude with me that the lungs do bear a very principal part in the work of Sanguification for in them the Chyle is perfectly mingled with the blood in them one half part of the circulation is performed and in them the blood seems to free it self first of all from any excrement to wit a fuliginous or rather a vaporous watry superfluity which passeth out together with our breath And this seems the first and chiefest part of Sanguification The second is a farther elaborating the Mass of blood in the arteries which is performed by the pulsive motion of the heart The third and last part is the depuration of the blood whereby its superfluous excrements are separated from it and this is performed by the rest of the bowels thus by passing through the Reins it is dreined of its serous parts Another excrement it seems to leave behind it in the Spleen though of what kind is not yet well determined among the modern Physitians But on all sides it is concluded that while it passeâ— through the liver as through a Streiner iâ— is there purged of choler which in mosâ— Animals is collected in a little bladder oâ— Cistis from whence it is transmitted to thâ— Intestines where it becomes a kind of natural Clyster and provokes to the excerning the excrements of the first ways as they use to term them And this is what lay in our way to say at present concerning Sanguification CHAP. V. That often changing the Air is a friend to health Also a discovery of a new method of doing it without removing from one place to another by means of a Domicil or Air-Chamber fitted to that purpose HAving hitherto shewed what part the air acts in all fermentations and that in respect of its tone and temper Viz. its difference of rarity and density and of heat and cold and that in general only not considering what other dispositions of the Air may make it apt to promote or retard the motion of fermentation whereby it may also powerfully operate to the continuation or destruction of mixt bodies as not so directly serving for the illustration of the Subject we principally intend in this discourse Having farther made it probable that the work of our stomacks upon our Aliments as also that Sanguification it self is a kind of fermentation And lastly having asserted the publick Office of the lungs together with the use of breathing as well in promoting the circulation as elaborating of the blood And having likewise said something of the tonical motion of the body and all this
obtain an Air in it of what rarity or density you please The measure of which variety that you may the more exactly take an account of and that there may be very little or no mistake in the use of this Chamber it will be absolutely necessary to have constantly with you a large Weather-glass And you may likewise have a Tub of glass of some forty inches long filled with Quick-silver and inverted into a little Earthen or Wooden Vessel half filled with a quantity of the same material after the manner of the Torricellian experiment and these are to serve you for Registers for by the ascent and descent of the Water in the Weather-glass will be noted to you by the degrees on the neck of the Glass in what propâ—rtion you have either rarified or condensed the Air within the Room and you may by help of it rectifie the tone of the Air to what degree is requisite or injoyned The use of the Quick silver Tub is the very same but will not give so exact an account of every small difference as the former by reason of the small quantity of Air contained in it but yet will not want its use in other experiments not relating to Physick which I shall not here touch upon as too remote from what we here handle Such therefore as imploy this contrivance only in Relation to their Health may content themselves with a Weather-glass which will prove much an exacter Register than the Quick-silver Tub as hath been already shewed 11. As to the particular application of the use of the newly described Domicilium or Air-Chamber 't will not be amiss to repeat what we before asserted in the precedent Chapter namely that as health it self is maintained by a due and suitable fermentation of the humors in our bodies and that within a certain latitude So if the irregularity of the said motion or fermentation be great enough to become the cause of the manifest abolition or weakening only of any action of our bodies the party so affected is said to be sick or diseased and as all diseases may be divided into acute whereto are those of short continuance to be referred though they are not usually termed Acute taking the word more strictly and Chronical affections or else which comes to the same thing they may properly enough be divided into diseases participating of heat or of cold The former of which we have already defined to depend upon such an irregular fermentation of the blood and Mass of humors wherein the same are more violently moved than is consistent with health of which kind are all continual and intermittent Fevers all Inflammations most Fluxes and several other distempers and contrariwise all Chronical or cold affections seem to depend upon such an irregularity of the foresaid Fermentation whereby the humors are not so sufficiently moved and agitated as is requisite to health of which kind are the Scurvey the Rickets all Dropsies some Fluxes most affections of the Spleen and probably the Gout and other Arthritical distempers Now the method of using this Domicil or Air-Chamber in general will be this that where the disease seems to depend upon a deficient Fermentation of the humors in such case the Patient being put into the said Chamber and the door close shut shall by degrees discharge the same or force the air out till having considerably alter'd the tone and rarified what remains he still finds himself to breath freely or at least with no great difficulty at what time he may observe how low the water is descended in his Register or Weather-glass which will shew him how far he may safely at another time discharge the air without danger of Cramping which uses to ensue if the air be too exceedingly rarified On the other side if the disease be Acute and seem to depend upon the too violent Fermentation of the humors then it is necessary the Chamber be well charged with air to what degree of Toleration shall seem convenient And here we are principally to provide that no difficulty of breathing ensue which oftner happens in this practise of condensed than attenuated air Now the term of the Patients continuance in the Chamber at one time is to be defined in Chronical diseases as well from his own occasions as other circumstances and generally two three or more hours may seem sufficient and that especially in the morning when the use of other Remedies are found most conducible But in acute diseases it should seem necessary that the Patient continued in the said Chamber during the whole course of the disease and that the tone of the air be prudently altered after the directions of some able Physitians according as the times of the disease shall seem to require especially in intermittent Fevers where the time of the whole Paroxisme must be spent in the Chamber and the cold fit requires to be treated as a cold disease with rarifying the air as the hot fit by condensing it which must be carefully observed Now though there may be many diseases as the Stone the French Pox and some other which do not depend so immediately upon the aforesaid irregularities of the Fermentation of the humors yet I should not doubt even in these to commend the use of this Domicil or Air-Chamber for that while Nature is thereby much strengthened in all her Natural Functions it must needs follow that she will from hence at least be enabled the better to endure the conflict with those diseases if at last she do not wholly get the better of them It will farther be necessary here to add that in maligne diseases and where we require an amendment of the insensible transpiration we are as in cold diseases to rarifie and not condense the air in the Domicil where the Indication is rather preservative than curative as Physitians use to speak 12. To say something of the use of this contrivance in time of health we shall only propose it as a good expedient to help digestion and especially insensible transpiration and facilitate breathing and expectoration and consequently as of excellent use for prevention of most affections of the lungs where they are feared and that generally what ever the benefits of changing the air are may be reasonably expected from the use of this Domicil and that after a more certain regular way than without it for that by the means of it a person may serve himself with such air as were not otherwise to be found but on the top of the Pike of Teneriff or some other very high Mountain nay if it were convenient as perhaps it may in some very contumacious affections he may rarifie the air to a far higher degree and make it such as is not again to be found upon the face of the whole inhabitable world But as well in sickness as in health those great excesses are not to be ventured upon but by degrees The use of this Domicil may be farther extended for preventing the