for that is no where to be found among mixt bodies but I mean such water as is free from any heterogeneal admixture which may alter either the touch or taste or colour or smell or weight or consistence or any other qualitie which may be discerned either by the senses or by the effects This water therefore must have his proper colour and taste without savour or smell thin light cold and moist if any of these properties be wanting or any redound it is mixed and infected Cold and moisture do abound in water For cold appears by this that being heated by any external cause it soon returns to his cold nature again when the cause of the heat is removed And whereas Air is held by the Stoicks to be most cold and confirmed by Seneâ—a and Libavius yet the reason they give for it doth seem to prove water to be more cold because they make the matter of air to be water and to have his coldness from thence But Aristotle holds the air to be hot from the efficient cause which â—rarified â—it being of more validity to make it hot than water the material cause to make it cold Galen is of neither side for he doth not judge it to be hot neither doth he ever pronounce it to be cold but by reason of his tenuity apt to be altered either by heat or cold I will not here undertake to determine whether all be bred of water or whether it be not a distinct substance of it self and only receiveth watry vapours into it being agreeable in cold moisture tenuity c. with it and so lets them separate in rain and so exonerate it self of these vapours as also of dry exhalations by winds thunder c. or whether air be only the effluâ—â—um of the inferiour globe being within the orbe of his virtue as all Dominion hath not only a place of residence and Mansion but also a vergâ— and territory where it exercifeth his authority and government so the inferior globe of the earth and water hath his dominion beyond his own globe as likewise may be thought of all other globes of the Planets c. But these points are impertinent to my purpose It is enough for me to shew what I judge of the temperature of the air concerning heat or cold And to me it seemâ— most probable that the air of it self should be cold as may appear by this that it is only heated by external causes which being removed the aâ— returns to his former coldness again So we seâ— that within the Tropicks in Zona torrida as long as the Sun is within their Horizon and beats thâ— air with his perpendicular beams it is exceeding hot especially in the vallies where the reflection is most insomuch as Aristotle held those parts of the World to be inhabitable in regarâ— of the extremity of heat But after the Sun is setâ— the air returns to his natural coldness until the Sun arise and heat it again Josephus Acosta urâ— geth this argument against Aristotle about the habitableness of the torrid Zone that the daieâ— and nights being there equal the presence of the Sun in the day-time may well heat the air bâ—â— his absence for twelve hours more in the night reduceth the air to a better temper and upon this and divers other arguments and experiences which cannot be denied concludes that if there be any Paradise upon earth it is under or near the equinoctial The like reason may be drawn from the coldness of mountains which being near to the middle region of the air and wanting that reflection of the beams of the Sun which is in the valleys are continually cold and often covered with snow which would not be if the air were hot As for the conceit that the middle region is made cold by an Antiperistasis the element of fire being above it and the reflection of the beams of the Sun beneath it it is an idle conceit For these heats on both sides would rather heat than cool the middle region by their working upon it Also take away the element of fire from under the Moon which is an opinion now exploded by the best Philosophers and then what becomes of your Antiperistasis But I shall speak more of this Antiperistasis cap. 13. And as for the reflection beneath it is a weak thing and will hardly extend to the top of a steeple wherefore this coldness of the middle region is not from any Antiperistasis but from the nature of the air which there is not altered either by any influence from above or by any vapours or reflection from beneath Neither would it be so cold neer the Poles if the air of it self were hot But the long absence of the Sun in those parts and the oblique beams when it is present do permit the air to enjoy his natural coldness And as the airis of it self and in his own nature cold so is it probable that it is more cold than water seeing it hath a greater power of condensation than water as we see it congeals water into ice snow hail c. which the water cannot do of it self For in the bowels of the earth where the air cannot freely pass water is never found to be congealed unless it bâ— compasled by some other substance equivalent to air in coldness as Quick-silver Nitre c. where cold is drawn into a greater compendium than in water by reason of the density of their substances and in ice and snow the cold maâ— be greater by reason of the admixture of air Iâ— is likewise probable that earth is more cold that water if we consider it as it is in it self and noâ— mixed with other heterogenities For as motioâ— causeth heat and levity and rarity so want oâ— motion which is in earth causeth coldness density and ponderosity But it is enough for oâ— purpose to prove both air and water to be cold As for moisture Aristotle holds the air to be mosâ— moist and water most cold Galen holds wateâ— to be most moist Aristotles reason for the predominance of moisture in Air is because it is moâ— hardly contained within his bounds but the termination of things proceeds from their opposite qualities as moisture is terminated by dryness and dryness by moisture and dryness doth aâ— easily terminate moisture as moisture doth terminate dryness And this difficulty of termination in air may more properly be ascribed to hiâ— thinness and tenuity of parts than to his moisture For dry exhalations will extend themselves aâ— well as moist vapours and as it is density that compacts so it is rarity that extends Fire it self is more hardly bounded than air and yet not moist Those that would reconcile these differences do alledge that Galen speaks as a Physitian and meant that water was bumidissimum medicamentum Aristotle as a Philosopher meant it to be humidissimum elementum But this reconciliation gives little satisfaction For how
former and more rare Qnick silver was not well known to Galen for he confesseth that he had no experience of it and did think it to be meerly artificial and not naturally bred in the earth Dioscorides makes no mention of the temperature of it but holds it to be a pernitious venome and to fret the entrails although Matthiolus affirms that it is safely given to women to further their deliverance and we find it so by often expcrience both in that cause and in Worms and in the French Disease and Leprosies if it be skilfully prepared and with judgement administred Fallopius holds it to be one of the miracles of nature Those that take upon them to determine of the qualities of it are much distracted fome reckoning it to be hot and dry and some cold and moist and both in a high degree But in this account they consider not the qualities of the ingredients in the preparation whether it be sublim'd or precipitated For my part I know not how to reduce 〈◊〉 to the Elementary qualities neither am I ashtmed of mine ignorance in it seeing no man hitherto hath given true satisfaction herein And if it be true that the elements do not concur to the generation of mixt bodies as I shall shew cap. 11. we need not marvail if we find theâ— not where they be not But for our own use where reason fails us let us be guided by experience We find by experience that it cuts attenuates penetrates melts resolves purges both ad centrum a centro heats cools c. and is a transcendent beyond our rules of Philosophy and 〈◊〉 monster in nature as Renodaus faith For our purpose it is enough to know whether it will imprâ— any quality to water which Fallopius Baceiâ—â— Solinander Banbinus and Felix Platerus do acknowledge But it gives no taste to it neither have we many examples of Baths which continâ—â— it In Serra Morena in Spain near the Village Almedien is a Cave where are many Wells iâ—fected as is thought with Quick-silver because much of that mineral is extracted from thence out of a red stone called Minium nativum About fifty miles from thence in V alentiola then is another fountain called La Nava of a shaâ— taste and held to proceed from Quick-silver and these waters are found wholsome So are 〈◊〉 waters at Almagra and Toletum and others by the River Minius which are hot There are man venomous springs attributed to Quick-silver 〈◊〉 the red fountain in Aâ—thiopia others in Boetia Caa in Trigloditis Stix in Arcadia Stix in Thessalia Licus in Sicilia c. which perhaps are from other minerals feeing we find some from Quick-silver to be wholsome For Mines of Quick-silver we read of many in Baetica Attica Ionia out of a stone which Pliny calls Vomica liquoris aterni In Germany at Landsberg at Creucenacbum Schenbach Baraum above Prage Kunningstien c. In Scotland three miles beyond Barwick I found a red stone which I took to be minium nativum seeing Agricola makes mention of it in Scotland but by a mischance could not try it Sulphur attracts contracts resolves mollifies discusses whereby it shews a manifest heat though not intense yet the sume of it is very sour and therefore must cool and dry and I perswade my self that there is no better sume to correct venomous and infectious air than this of Sulphur or to remove infections out of rooms clothes bedding vessels c. We must acknowledge differing parts in all compounded bodies as Rhubarb hath a purgative quality in the infusion and an astrictive in the Terrestrial substance where the salt hath been by infusion extracted The substance of Sulphur is very fat Sulphure nihil pinguius faith Felix Platerus and this is the cause of his easie taking of fire and nor any propinquity it hath with fire in the quality of heat for if it were very hot Dioscorides would not comment it purulenta extussientibus the next door to a Hectick Also Galen faith that fat things are moderately hot and are rather nutriments than medicaments Now for Sulphurous Baths they are very frequent and if we should believe some there are no hot Baths but participate with Sulphur but they are deceived as shall appear hereafter when we come to shew the true causes of the heat of Baths Neither are all sulphurous Baths hot Gesner reports of a Bath by Zurich very cold and yet sulphurous Agricola of another by Buda in Pannonia In Campania by the Leucogaean Hills are cold Springs full of Brimstone Also there are hot Baths without any shew of sulphur that can be discerned as the Baths of Petriolum in Italy the Baths Caldanelloe and de Avinione in agro Senensi de Gratta in Viterbiensi de aquis in pisanis collibus Divi Johannis in agro Lucensi in Alsatia another not far from Gebersallerum c. All which are very hot and yet give no sign of Sulphur either by taste or smell or effects And yet no doubt there are many Baths having a sulphurous smell from other minerals as from Bitumen Vitriol Sandaracha Allum c. which are hardly to be discerned if at all from Sulphur So we commonly say if a house or a tree be fet on fire by lightning that it smells of Brimstone when there was no Brimstone there Mans things combusted will yield a nidorous smell not discernable after burning what the things were But there are divers truly sulphurous Baths which contain Sulphur although not perfectly mixt with the water without some medium but only confused for perfect Sulphur will not dissolve in water no more than Bitumen The spirit of Sulphur may be communicated to water and so may the matter of Sulphur before it hath attained his perfect form and consistente otherwise it is only confufed with water and alters it into a milky colour Sulphurca Nar albus aqua Nar with Sulphurous water white At Baia are divers hot fulphurous Baths and every where in Hetrnria in Sicily in Diocesi Panormitana the Baths of Apono as Savanarola Muntagna and Fallopius avevs although John de dondis denieth it the Bath of Astrunum of Callatura S. Euphemie Aquisgran Brigenses thernmae in V alesiis Helvetiorum Aqua sancta in Picenis and an infinite number every where Baccius reckons our Baths of Bath among fulphurous Baths from the relation of Edward Carne when he was Embassador to Jnlius tertius and Panlus quartus I will not deny some touch of Sulphur in them seeing we sind among bituminous coals some which are called metal coals with certain yellow vains which are Sulphur But the proportion of Sulphur to Bitumen is very little and therefore I do not hold them Sul-phurous pradominio This is enough for Sulphur Concerning Arsenick it is a venomous mineral and therefore I need speak noth ng of the Baths which proceed from it but that we take heed of them It is likely that those venomous waters and vapours which
Alexander Aphrâ—disiensis for this opinion and saith that he had poysoned our Philosophy herein Venenavâ—â—hanc Philosophiae partem So both he and others derive the sense motion understanding growth and the natural faculties of our souls and the peculiar properties of every thing from this original turpissimo errore as Severinus saith And Scaliger in another place concerning this Dâ— intelleclu ratione ipsaque anima quae â—ontaminarunt istoe nebuloe Aphrodisienses pudet dicere piget meminisse I am ashamed to speak and grieved to think how this Aphrodisiensis hath polluted our reason and understanding and our very souls with his foggy doctrine in ascribing all these unto the Elements By the same reason they may ascribe the barking of Doggs the singing of Birds the laughing and speech of men to the Elements Their opinion is more probable which hold animam ex traduce and to be communicated as one light to another as Timoth. Bright proves in Physicam Scribonii and not to ascribe it to the Elements nor to miracles or new creations But there is far more reason to derive from the Elements the tastes colours smells sigures numbers quantities orders dimensions c. which appear more in corporal substances and yet these are not from the Elements For how can they give these affections to other things when they have them not themselves Si non est ab elementis gustare quare sit gustari What taste have any of these Elements Fire or heat which is the most active Element hath none And whereas it is thought that bittterness proceeds from heat we find that many sharp and tarâ—fruits being also very bitter before they are ripe as Olives for example yet let them hang upon the tree till they be ripe and they lose their bitterness and also their sharpness by reason of their better concoction by heat The like difference wefind between our oleum omphacinum and therpe oyle So likewise opium which is held to be very cold yet it is extream bitter so as the cold parts in it are not able to master the bitterness but this is still predominant wherefore heat can be no cause of bitterness unless it be in excess or defect as Scaliger confesseth Wormwood is very bitter being hot and dry in the second or third degree if heat were the cause of it then all other simples which are hot and dry in the same degree should be also bitter As I have said of tastes so I may say of all the other affections of natural things that they proceed not form the Elements but from the seeds and forms of every thing So for fat and unctuous substances as Sulphur Bitumen Oyle Grease c. unto what Element shall we ascribe them Not unto fire because this is extream hot and dry that is temperate in heat and very moist Moreover fire would rather consume it then generate it and Physitians judge the generation of fat in our bodies to proceed rather from cold then from heat Air if it have any ingenerate quality as some do make doubt out of Aristotle it is cold and moist as I have shewed before cap. 2 5. and therefore as it cannot agree with fire nor be a fuel to it so it cannot be any material cause of fat or oylie substance being more agreeable to water from whence it is thought to be made by rarifaction and into which it is thought to be reduced by condensation Wherefore being of a watry nature it cannot agree with oyle or fatness nor be the matter of it The like we may judge of water which doth terminate both water and air and therefore must be opposite to them both As for earth being cold and dry and solid it cannot be the matter of this which is temperate and moist and liquid Neither can all the Elements together make this substance seeing there is no unctuousness in any of them and they can give no more then they have So as I cannot see how this oylie substance which is very common in all natural things and wherein the chief faculties of every thing doth reside as their humidum radicale should be from the Elements So likewise for the substance wherewith every thing is nourished and increased and into which every thing is resolved it appears not how it should be from the Elements Hypocrates of whom Macrobius saith Nec fallere nec falli pâ—tuit hath two notable axioms for the clearing of this point The one is Vnumquong in id dissolvitur unde compactum est Every thing is dissolved into that whereof it was made The other Iisdem untrimur ex quibus constamus we are nourished by such things as we consist of Aristotle also hath the same If this axiom be true as I hold it to be and I know none that contradict it then we must consist of such things as we are nourished withall But we are not nourished by the Elements and therefore we consist not of them Fire nourisheth nothing water nourisheth not as Physicians conseâ—s Air is too thin a substance and Earth to thick And as they do not nourish them when they are single so being compounded they can do as little Aristotle saith that some Plants are nourished with water alone some with earth alone and some with both together But if earth and water be mixed for our nourishment they making but mud would make us have muddy brains We will grant the Elements to be matrices rerum naturalium the wombs and nurses of natural things but we will not grant them to be material causes Neither can we attribute more dignity unto them then we do to our Mothers who depart from their substance whereof they consist as flesh bones sinews veins arteries c. to the nourishment of their Infants but only prepare blood for them from the nutriments which they receive And all the Elements in the world cannot make this blood neither as the matter nor as the efficient But as the Mother is furnished with blood to nourish the Infant and with convenient heat to foster it withall so are the Elements stored with all manner of matter sit for all generations so as the seeds or forms of natural things will never want matter to nourish them nor will ever want forms So that it is manifest that if natural bodies be not nourished by the Elements they are not compounded of them but being nourished by other substances then the Elements they must be compounded of the like Simile simili nutritur composit a composâ—â— constant nutriuntur Thus much for the Genesis or generation and naration of natural things that thereby we cannot gather that they are either mad or nourished by the Elements Now let us examine whether by the Analysis or dissolution of them we may find the four Elements according to the former axiome that every thing is dissolved into that whereof it was made and is made of than whereinto it is
beams which must carry it passing thorow the middle region of the air which is alwayes extream cold and cannot but cool those beams before they come to us And if they were able to pass that region without losing their heat yet they cannot but warm that region being nearer to their fountain of heat as well or better then they can warm our waters in despite of any Antiperistasis But it is doubtfull whether the Sun be hot of his own nature or no. The Peripateticks hold it to be hot and dry moderately yet it must be extream hot if in this manner it do heat our Bathes And if the Sun be capable of heat they must also make it capable of cold elementary qualities and then they make celestial bodies obnoxious to generation and corruption which they are not willing to grant Although in this respect they need not fear the decay of the Sun no more then of the globe of the earth which though it suffer in his parts many alterations yet the whole remains firm and perpetual as Mr. Doctor Hakwell proves in his learned work upon that argument and will so do untill it be dissolved by that omnipotent power which framed it If they make this heat to come from the motion of the Sun we must consider how the Sun by motion may get such a heat The Sun is either moved by his own motion or as he is carried in his Sphear wherein he is fixed If by his own motion it must be either by volutation upon his axis which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by circumgyration which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 round about the globe of the earth and this is the common opinion which if it be so he must be carried more swiftly then a bullet out of a peece of Ordnance I read in the Turkish History at the siege of Scodra of a bullet of twelve hundred weight called the Prince and it seems a great matter But to have such a bullet as the globe of the Sun which is held to be 166 times bigger then the globe of the earth to be carried in a swifter course and that perpetually is a monstrous furious and mad agitation insaâ—â—motus as one termeth it The like may be said of the motion of the Sphears but I will leave the confutation of this to others But admit it to be so and that this violent agitation is not repugnant to the perpetuity of the Heavens and that it is able to breed an extream heat in the Sun and celestial Spheres notwithstanding their tenuity c. which is unapt to breed heat by motion or collision for that is proper to solid substances yet this heat must be conveyed to us by the same beams of the Sun and must be subject to the former impediments Wherefore the beams of the Sun by their motion must make this heat by the collection a many beams together For if they be dispersed no fire will be kindled but only some moderate heat as we see in a burning-glass which will heat a white paper or cloth but not burn it Other things it will burn which are apt fewels but the whiteness of the paper or cloth it seem disperseth the beams But no doubt the Sun by his light and beams do warm these inferiour parts especially where they have free passage and reflection withall and it is to be judged that the heat not being essentially in the Sun is an effect of the light by whose beams it is imparted to us So that where light is excluded heat is also excluded And if we can exclude the heat of the beams of the Sun by the inâ—rposition of a mud wall or by making a Celâ—r fix foot under the ground how is it likely that these beams can pierce so deep into the earth as to heat the water there as Lucretiusâ—aith â—aith Qui queat hic subter tam crass corpore terram Percoquere humorem calido sociare vapori Prasertim cum vix possit per septa domorum lâ—sinuare suum radiâ—s ardentibus aestum Under this massie bulk of earth how shall The Sun boil water and there raise a steam Whereas we see it scarce can pierce a wall And through't into a Chamber dart a beam And if the beams of the Sun be not able to heat a standing Pool in the midst of Summer how should they heat a subterranean water which is alwaies in motion especially in the winter time Again if this heat come from the Sun then in the Summer when the Sun is hottest the waters should be so also and in winter cold because of the absence of the Sun but we find them always alike Also why should the Sun heat some few Fountains and pass over an infinite number of others which are left cold And why should there be hot Fountains in cold Climates where the Sun hath little power to heat either by reason of his oblique beams or by reason of his long absence and yet in hot Climats they should be so â—re wherefore it is very improbable that our Springs are heated by the Sun Others have devised another cause of this actual heat of Bathes more vain then the former which they call Antiperistasis where by reciprocation or compression any quality is intended and exalted to a higher degree As where heat or cold are compassed by their contrary quality so as the vapours or effluvium of it is reflected back again the quality thereof is increased Hypocrates gives us an example of it in our own bodies where he saith ventres hiâ—calidiores our stomachs are hotter in Winter then in Summer by reason the ambient air being then cold doth stop the pores of the skin and repell those fuliginous vapours which nature would breathe forth and so our inward heat is increased whereas in the Summer by reasoned too much eventilation our natural heat is diminished and therefore we concoct better iâ— Winter then in Summer And although it be not simple heat which concocts and makes ebylus in the Stomach Blood in the Liver Seed is the Spermatick Vessels or Milk in the Breast c. as Joubertus saith yet heat attending upon the faculties of those parts doth quicken them as cold doth benumb them But if we examine this example aright we shall find a great difference between this and our hot Bathes For the heat in our bodies is continually fed and maintained from the Heart by his motion that a Bathes hath no such supply according to their doctrine from any cause to make or continue this heat And therefore the repelling of vapours cannot make water hotter then it is and being naturally cold and without any heat where heat is not how can it be pend in or repelled Again in Hypocrates his example there is an interstitium our skin between the fuliginous vapours and the external air which keep them from uniting but in our Bathes there is nothing to hinder the
meeting and conjunction of these qualities and then the one must dull the other Moreover we see that any thing that is naturally cold as Iron or a Stone if it be made hot accidentally by fire or otherwise it is sooner cold in cold air then in a warm place So that the Antiperistasis doth rather diminish then increase the heat of it Wherefore unless water were naturally hot or the heat maintained by some continual cause this Antiperistasis can do no good but by his opposite quality would rather cool it Nay heat it self cannot make any thing more hot unless it be greater then the heat of the thing it self But to ascribe the generation of heat to cold and so to make it the cause of his contrary is against the law of Nature No quality of it self is increased by his contrary It is true that a pot of water set over the fire will be sooner hot being covered or otherwise the vapours kept in then being open but there must be fire then to heat it and to continue the heat otherwise the Antiperistasis will do nothing unless it make it more cold and congeal it into Ice if the air ambient be more cold then the water Some may object that they find some Fountains warmer in Winter then in Summer and to reak when they break forth into the air as I have seen at Wercksworth and Bakewell in Darbyshire and therefore this doth argue an Antiperistasis Galen thinks that these waters do but seem so to our sense our hands being hot in Summer and cold in Winter as our Urins seem cold in a hot Bath But I will grant with Valesius that many deep Fountains may be so indeed and not in appearance only as partaking with some warm exhalations especially in Mineral Countreys as Darbyshire is Moreover if our Bathes were heated by aâ— Antiperistasis then they should be hotter in Winter then in Summer but we find them alwayes alike Also if a cold ambient be able to make cold water hot why should not a hot ambient make it more cold especially seeing the vapours are cold which being repelled by heat which doth terminate cold should increase the coldness of the water Also if we should grant this Antiperistasis we must deny the reaction and resistance between the qualities of the Elements and so overthrow all temperaments which arise from thence and also our composition of medicines were in vain Wherefore this Antiperistasis is an idle invention to maintain this purpose Others attribute this actual heat to quick Lyme which doth readily heat any water call upon it and also kindle any combustible substance put into it this is Democritus his opinion To this I answer that Lyme is an artificial thing not natural and is never found in the bowels of the earth Besides if it were found one fusion of water extinguisheth the heat of it and then it lyeth like a dead earth and will yield nor more heat So as this cannot procure a perpetual heat to Bathes neither can the Lymestones without calcination yield any heat to water nor will break and crackle upon the affusion on water as Lyme doth Wherefore this opinion is altogether improbable Others attribute this actual heat to a subterranean fire kindled in the bowels of the earth Let us consider how this may be Fire is a quality and the highest degree of heat which cannot subsist without a subject for I define it to be intensissimus color in corpore cremabili The highest degree of heat in a combustible body And it is received into his subject either by propagation or coition as when one candle lights another or by motion as collision concussion dilatation comprission putrefaction fermentalion reflection c. yet all motion doth not kindle fire although it heat neither are all substances apt to be heated by motion Air and water are rather colder by motion but this rule holds in such things as are apt to receive heat by motion as solid substances combustible substances c. And the heat of animals vegetables and minerals which they have for their generation and nutrition is from motion although this heat is not in so high a degree as fire is for then it would consume them but as the motion is moderate and agreeable to each nature so is the heat This motion in natural things proceeds from their seeds or forms and may be called internal or natural External motions are violent agitations concussions c. which commonly kindle fire in apt matter As for the element of fire which should be pure not shining and therefore invisible and subsisting without a subject or fewel let them find it who know where to seek for it For my part I know no element of fire unless we should make it to be that which is natural to all creatures and their seeds causing their fermenting heat whereof I shall speak anon And this interpretation we may well make of Hypocrates where he faith that all things are made of fire and water and that these two are sufficient for all generations fire giving motion and water nutrition And it is not likely that this fire should be fetched from a remote place and downwards against the nature of fire for every generation but that it be near hand and inbred in the seeds themselves as the principal ingredient into every natural thing whereas if it were remote what should bring it continually and unite it with the other elements in these generations Wherefore this is most likely to be the element of fire Our burning fire is all of one nature not differing in kind but only in degree according to the quality of the fewel Some fewels will make a manifest flame as all thin and light substances Sulphur liquid Bitumen Oyle Fat c. Some only a glowing coal with little or no flame as some forts of Stone-coal Yet all fire doth send forth fuliginous vapours which would choak it if there were not vent for them into the air as we see in the making of Char-coal although they cover their fire with lome yet they must leave some vent for the smoke though not so much as may make it to flame yet enough to maintain the fire Of the first flaming fort there are divers degrees as that of Straw Brimstone Spirit of Wine Naphtha Petroleum c. Some of which will scarcely take hold upon other fewel as one may wet a linnen cloath in Spirit of Wine and being kindled he shall hardly find the cloath scorched The like hath been observed in that exhalation which is called ignis satuus being of a very thin substance for Bitumen or Naphtha Some reckon Comets among these fiery exhalations but I can hardly believe that they are any kindled substances First because their flame is not pyramidal as it is in all kindled substances Secondly because if they be of a thin substance from Sulphur and Bitumen the flame would be greater seeing it
Lightnings can do it For the same reasons that exclude the Beams of the Sun and exhalations will likewise exclude lightnings Thirdly for the fuel there are only two substances in the bowels of the earth which are apt fuels for fire Bitumen and Sulphur Sulphur is in such request with all men as they think there can be no not Bath without it nay many hold that if water do but pass thorow a Mine of Brimstone although it be not kindled but actually cold yet it will contract from thence not only a potential but an actual heat But we do manifestly find that neither all hot waters are sulphurous nor all sulphurous waters hot as is said before in Sulphur The Bathes of Caldaneila and Avinian in agro Senensi de Grotta in Viterbio de aquis in Pisano Divi Johannis in agro Lacenss Balneum Geber suilleri in Halsatia c. are all hot and yet give no signe of Sulphur either by smell or taste or quality or effect Contrariwise that all sulphurous waters are not hot may appear by the Bathes in Zurich in Helvetia of Buda in Pannonia at Cure in Rhetia Celenses in Germany In Campania between Naples and Pateolum are many cold sulphurous Springs At Brandula in agro Carpensi c. All which Bathes shew much Sulphur to be in them and yet are cold And no marvel for if we insuse any simple be it never so hot potentially yet it will not make the liquor actually hot Wherefore this Sulphur must burn before it can give any actual heat to our Bathes and then it must needs be subject to the former difficulties and also must be continually repaired by new generations of matter which actual fire cannot further but rather hinder The fire generates nothing but consumes all things The like we may judge of Bitumen that unless it be kindled it can yield no heat to our Bathes as Solinander reports of a Bituminous Mine in Westfalia in agro Tremonensi where going down into the Grove he found much water having the smell taste and colour of Bitumen and yet cold Agricola imputes the chief cause of the heating of Bathes unto the fuel of Bitumen Baccius on the other side to Sulphur But in my opinion they need not contend about it For as I have shewed before in the examples of mineral waters there are many hot Springs from other minerals where neither Sulphur nor Bitomen have been observed to be John de Dondis and Julius Alexandrinus were much unsatisfied in these opinions and did rather acknowledge their ignorance then that they would subscribe unto them I need not dispute whether this fire be in Alveis or in Canalibus or in vicinis partibus c. because I think it is in neither of them CHAP. XIV The Authors opinion concerning the cause of actual heat and medicinal virtue in Mineral Waters VVHerefore finding all the former opinions to be doubtfull and weakly grounded concerning the causes of the actual heat of Bathes let me presume to propound another which I perswade my self to be more true and certain But because it hath not been mentioned by any Author that I know I have no mans steps to follow in it Avia Doctorum peragro loca nullius ante Trita solo I travel where no path is to be seen Of any learned foot that here hath been Which makes me fearfull in the delivery of it But if I do err in it I hope I shall not be blamed seeing I do it in disquisition of the truth I have in the former Chapters set down mine opinion concerning the generation of minerals that they have their seminaries in the earth replenished with spirits and faculties attending them which meeting with convenient matter and adiuvant causes do proceed to the generation of several species according to the nature of the efficient and aptnes of the matter In this work of generation as there is generatio unius so there must be corruptio alterius And this cannot be done without a superiour power which by moisture dilating it self worketh upon the matter like a ferment to bring it to his own purpose This motion between the agent spirit and the patient matter proceedeth from an actual heat ex motu fit calor which serves as an instrument to further this work And this motion being natural and not violent produceth a natural heat which furthers generations not a destructive heat For as cold dulls and benumbs all faculties so heat doth quicken them This I shewed in the example of Malt. It is likewise true in every particular grain of Corn sown in the ground although by reason they lie single their actual heat is not discernable by touch yet we find that external heat and moisture do further their spiring as adiuvant causes where the chief agent is the generative spirit in the seed So I take it to be in minerals with those distinctions before mentioned And in this all generations agree that an actual heat together with moisture is requisite otherwise there can neither be the corruption of the one nor the generation of the other This actual heat is less sensible in small seeds and tender bodies then it is in the great and plentifull generations and in hard and compact matter for hard bodies are not so easily reduced to a new form as tender bodies are but require both more spirit and longer time to be wrought upon And therefore whereas vegetable generations are brought to perfection in a few months these mineral generations do require many years as hath been observed by Mineral men Moreover these generations are not terminated with one production but as the seed gathereth strength by enlarging it self so it continually proceeds to subdue more matter under his government so as where once any generation is beguâ— it continues many ages and seldome gives over As we see in the Iron Mines of Illua the Tin Mines in Cornwall the Lead Mines at Mendip and the Peak c. which do not only stretch further in extent of ground than hath been observed heretofore but also are renewed in the same groves which have been formerly wrought as our Tinners in Cornwall do acknowledge and the examples of Illua and Saga before mentioned do confirm This is a sufficient means for the perpetuity of our hot Springs that if the actual heat proceed from hence there need be no doubt of the continuance of them nor of their equal tenor or degree of heat Now for the nature of this heat it is not a destructive heat as that of fire is but a generative heat joyned with moysture It needs no air for eventilation as the other doth It is in degree hot enough for the hottest Baths that are if it be not too remote from the place where the water issueth forth It is a means to impart the qualities of minerals to our waters as well as heat by reason the minerals are then in solutis principiis in their liquid
is no generation for any thing And this heat continues so long as the work of generation continues which being once begun doth not cease in many ages by reason of the plenty of matter which the earth yields and the firmness and solidity thereof And although after that the minerals have attained to their perfection this heat ceaseth yet the generation extends further then where it first began and enlargeth it self every way the works of nature being circular so as the water which was heated by the first generation cannot avoid the other succeeding generations but must meet with them either behind or before beneath or above on the one side or on the other especially seeing no generation can proceed without water and yet keeps the same tenor and degree of heat according to the nature of the minerals fermenting and to the distance from the place of eruption And this is a far more probable cause of the continuance of our Bathes then any subterranean destructive fire can be or any other of the supposed causes can yield I do not deny but that hot Bathes may cease and become cold as Aristotle saith of Salt Fountains which are cold that they were once hot before the original of their heat was extinct which I interpret to be when the work of generation ceased and the Salt brought to his perfection But I do not read of any hot Bathes that have ceased unless near onto some Vulcano where either the sinking of Rocks hath altered the course of them as at Tripergula and Baia or the flaming fire which heated them at their eruption being extinguished as in the AEolian Islands These Vulcanoes are far more subject to decay then our generative heat because they consume their fuel this doth not but increaseth it daily viresque acquirit eundo Of the other Ovid saith Nee quae sulphureis ardet fornacibus AEtna Ignea semper erit neque enim fuit ignea semper AEtna with its sulphureous flames will dy And as a kindling had will want supply But of this we can hardly bring an Instance of any that have decayed because where a generation is begun there seldome or never wants matter to propagate and enlarge it And seeing minerals have not their seeds in their individuals as animals vegetables have but in their wombs as hath been shewed before it were to be feared that there would be a decay of mineral species and so a vacuum left in nature if these generations should be no more durable then the other Animals are propagated by begetting of their species the power whereof is in every individual which no doubt will not give over this trade as long as the world lasteth Vegetables are also fruitfull in their kinds every one producing 100 or perhaps 1000 seeds of individuals yearly to perpetuate their species Minerals have no such means but only have their seeds in their wombs whereby they are propagated and if these generations being longer in perfecting of their species were not supplyed with a larger extent for their productions nature had been defective in not providing sufficient means for their perpetuity as well as for others and might easily suffer a decay and a vacuity of mineral species which agrees not with the providence of nature and the ornament of the world The necessity hereof depends upon the first benediction crescite multiylicamini which no doubt belongs as well to minerals in their kinds as it doth to animals and vegetables and by vertue hereof we see that they are propagated daily as I have proved before Cap. 11. And this is that necessity whereof Hypocrates speaks and that fatum naturale inharens rebus ipsis Natural fate inherent in things themselves as Lipsius faith and that Lex Adrastiae mentioned by Aristotle and Galâ—â— Locis aute citatis so firmly established as nothing can contradict it Arithmetick Geometry and Logick which are but attendants upon nature have their principles so firmly grounded as nothing can shake them and shall we think that nature it self is grounded upon weaker foundations wherefore we need not doubt of the perpetuity of these generations but that as some parts attain to their perfection so other puts will be alwayes in fieri or in via ad generationem whereby our Bathes will never fail of their heat or their virtues This I hope is susficient for the confuting of other opinions and the clearing of mine own from all absurdities concerning the degree of heat which is as much as the nature of water can endure without utter dissipation concerning the equal tenor of the heat the duration of 〈◊〉 the participation of mineral qualities c. The other kind of confirmation which we call Apodeictical is also here and there dispersed in this Discourse as that all minerals have their continual generation that this generation is not without heat and moysture which do necessarily attend all generations that few mineral substances or qualities can be imparted to water but whilst they are in generation and yet we find them much impregnated with them that our Miners do find an actual heat and in a high degree in the digging of Minerals where the fermentation is not throughly extinct that we observe the like course of nature in the generations of animals and vegetables that we are led to the acknowledgement hereof by many artificial conclusions and artifices c. Wherefore I forbear to make any larger repetition hereof And this is in brief though plainly delivered my opinion concerning the actual heat of Baths and of the mineral qualities which we find in them which I refer to the censures of those that be learned There are two other motions which resemble this fermentation The one is Motus dilatationis the Other Antipatheticus Motus dilatationis is evident in Lime in Allum in Copperass and other concrete juyces whereby the affusion of water the Salt in the Lime or the concrete juyces being suddenly dissolved there is by this motion an actual heat procured for a time able to kindle any combustible matter put to it The like we observe in those stone Coals called metal Coals which are mixed with a Marchesit containing some mineral juyce which receiving moysture doth dilate it self and grows so hot as oftentimes great heaps of those Coals are kindled thereby and burnt before their time as hath been seen at Puddle-Wharf in London and at Newcastle But this is much different from out fermentation Another Motus resembling this fermentation is that which is attributed to Antipathy when disagreeing substances being put together do fight and make a manifest actual heat as Antimony and Sublimat oyle of Vitriol and oyle of Tartar Allum liquor and Urine Lees Chalk c. But the reason of this disagreement is in their Salts whereof one is astringent the other relaxing the one of easie dissolution in water the other of hard dissolution c. where one mineral hinders the dissolution or congelation of another
tastes numbers proportions distempers c. Also from hence proceed the Transplantations which we find in animals vegetables and minerals In animils these Transplantations are not very frequent yet all our monsters may be referred hereunto as also the issue which comes from Dogs and Wolves Horses and Asses Partriges and Hens c. Some do think that the destruction of Sexes is a Transplantation and that all seeds in themselves are hermophroditical and neither masculine nor feminine but as they meet with strong and weak impressions from supervenient causes From hence come our Androgyni or masculine women such as Horace speaks of Sabellis docta ligonibus versare glebas That dig the ground themselves stout Jades Managing well Sabean Spades Among those Animals which we call Insecta these Transplantations are more frequent because their seeds are more equivocal and easily transmuted from one species to another as we may see in Worms and Flies and most evidently in Silk-worms called Cavallieri In Vegetables these Transplantations are very frequent when one species is grafted upon another as Virgil faith Et steriles platani malos gessere valentes Castaneae fagos ornusque incanuit albo Flore pyri glandemque sues fregere sub ulmis The barren Planes did Apples bear The Beeches Chesnuts th' Ash a Pear And Hogs did under Elm-trees Acorns tear Thus by commixtion of several species the first seeds do oftentimes being forth other fruits then their own Miranturque novas frondes non sua poma And stand admiring double mute To see new leaves and stranger fruit But all as Hypocrates saith by divine necessity both that which they would and that which they would not So likewise Wheat is changed into Lolium Basil into Thyme Masterwort into Angelica c. In Minerals we find the like transplantations as Salt into Nitre Copperass into Allum Lead into Tin Iron into Copper Copper into Iron c. And this is the transplantation whereupon the Alchymists ground their Philosophers stone This Seminary Spirit is acknowledged by Aristotle Continent inquit semen in se cujusque faecundit atis suae causam and by most of his Interpreters and Morisinus calls it Elphesteria not knowing how to attribute these generations to the Elements And this is the cause why some places yield some one vegetable or mineral species above another Quippe solo natura subest Non owsnis fert omnia tellus It is the nature of the ground Not in all Soils are all things found This seminary spirit of minerals hath its proper wombs where it resides and is like a Prince or Emperour whose prescripts both the Elements and matter must obey and it is never idle but alwayes in action producing and maintaining natural substances untill they have fulfilled their destiny donec fatum expleverint as Hypocrates saith So as there is a necessity in this depending upon the first benediction crescite multiplicamini and this necessity or fatum is inherent in the seeds and not adventitious from the Planets or any other natural cause And this is the cause of uniformity in every species that they have all their proper figures dimensions numbers of parts colours tastes c. most convenient and agreeable to each nature as Moses saith that God saw that every thing was very good and Galen saith Deus in omnibus optimum eligit And this I take to be the meaning of his Lex Adrastia which he alledgeth against Asclepiades For it he should mean it as commonly it is understood of punishment which alwayes follows sin nemâ— crimen in pectore gestaet qui non idem Nemesiâ— in tergo No man though privately commits a fault but is degg'd by revenge in this sense he could not apply it to the confuting of Asciepiades There are also other laws in nature which cannot be altered both Mathematical in Arithmetick and Geometry and Logical in the consecuting of arguments c. But these serve not for Galens purpose in this place He must mean it of a natural necessity or fatum or predestination that frames every member part of the body to the best use for the creature And therefore where Asclepiades propounds an inconvenient frame of parts he confutes him by this inbred law of nature which he saith no man can alter or avoid nor any subtility elude as also Aristotle saith Thus much for the generation of Minerals and other natural substances CHAP. XIII Of the causes of actual heat and medicinal virtue in Mineral Waters divers opinions of others rejected NOW I come to shew how our mineral waters receive both their actual heat and their virtues I joyn them together because they depend upon one and the same cause unless they be juices which will readily dissolve in water without the help of heat other minerals will not or very hardly This actual heat of waters hath troubled all those that have written of them and many opinions have been held of the causes of them Some attribute it to wind or air or exhalations included in the bowels of the earth which either by their own nature or by their violent motion and agitation and attrition upon rocks and narrow passages do gather heat and impart it to our waters Of their own nature these exhalations cannot be so hot as to make our water hot especially seeing in their passage among cold rocks it would be much allaied having no supply of heat to maintain it Moreover where water hath passage to get forth to the superficies of the earth there these exhalations and winds will easily pass and so their heat gone withall and so our waters left to their natural coldness whereas we see they do continue in the same degree and tenor many generations together If by their agitation and violent motion they get this heat because no violent thing is perpetual or constant this cannot be the cause of the perpetual and constant heat of water Besides this would rather cause earthquakes and storms and noyses in the earth then heat our springs Moreover we daily observe that exhalations and water are never heated by motion or agitation as in the Cataracts of the Rhine by Splug the agitation and fall of water upon rocks is most violent and makes a hideous noyse yet it heats not the water though it be very deep in the earth Neither can any attrition heat either air or water or any soft and liquid thing but rather make it more cold Others attribute this actual heat of Bathes unto the Sun whose beams piercing thorow the pores of the earth do heat our waters If this heat which heats our Bathes be caused by the beams of the Sun then either they bring it intirely from the Sun as a quality proceeding from thence or they make it by their own motion If it come from the nature of the Sun the Sun must be extream hot that can heat these inferiour parts at such a distance especially the
must be plentiful if it continue so long in burning as we find them to do Or admit that this matter be kindled by succession yet it is incredible that it should continue burning above a year together as that Comet Xiphian which lasted a whole year Another Anno 1572. under the constellation of Cassiopaea lasted a year and a half others six months others three c. If the Sulphurous or Bituminous matter be thick it will melt in burning and rain down Brimstone and Bitumen upon us Thirdly if Comets were kindled substances what entertainment could they find above the Moon and among the spheres where they say no corruptible or elementary substance can be indured But many of our Comets have been observed to have been above the Moon and some among the fixed Starrs as hath been observed by Tycho Brahe and Clavius and upon due observation they could find some of them to admit no Paralaxis or diversity of aspect to any star in different Climats This argumnnt may be good against a Peripatetick but a Platonist or a Pytnagorean who hold the Heavens to be made of elementary matter and subject to generation and corruption will not allow it no more will many of our Divines For glowing fires we have none but they must be kindled and then they must have vent for their fuliginous vapours and they must be kindled either by propagation or coition from some other fire or by violent motion able to kindle them which we shall hardly find in the bowels of the earth where all is quiet and no space for any such perturbation But they say there is an ignis subterraneus which being kindled upon Sulphur and Bitumen disperseth it self among other Mines of the like nature and sets them on fire Now we are come from Heaven to Hell or to Purgatory at the least which Pyhagoras calls materiam vatum falsique pericula mundi The dream of Poets and a forged fear The largest description of it is in Virgil from whence both Divines and Philosophers derive much matter and Beccius doth believe that there is such a thing in the Center of the Earth But if we observe Virgil well we shall find that he propounds it but as a dream for in the end of that Book he saith Sunt gemina somni portae quarum altera fortur Cornea qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris Altera candenti perfecta nitens Elephauto Sed falsa ad Coelum mittunt insomnia manes Dreams have two gates the one is said to be Of Horn through which all true conceits de flee The other framed all of Ivory rare But le ts out none but such as forged are Now saith he when Anchyses had led AEneas and Sibilla through Hell he lets them forth at the Ivory gate Portaque emittit Eburna As if he should say all that I have related of Hell is but a fiction and thus Ludovicus Vives interprets it in his Comment upon this place I hope none will think that I deny a Hell but I approve not of the assignment of it to the center of the earth or that that fire should serve as Baccius would have it to further all generations in the earth and as others to be the cause of Fountains Winds Earth-quakes Vulcanoes Storms Saltness of the Sea c. nor of the actual heat of our Bathes although it be the most common received opinion First for the place it is not likely that the center of the earth whither all heavy things do tend should be hollow but rather more compact then any other part of the earth as likewise Valesius thinks but if there be any concavities they are between the Center and the Superficies and these concavities being receptacles of water from the Sea cannot also receive fire These two will not agree together in one place but the one will expel the other for whereas some hold that Bitumen will burn in water and is nourished by it it is absolutely false as experience shews and I have touched it among the Bitumina Moreover if the heat which warms our Bathes did proceed from hence there must be huge vessels above the fire to contain water whereby the fire might heat it and not be quenched by it Also the vapours arising from hence must be hotter then water can endure or be capable of for as they ascend towards the superficies of the earth they must needs be cooled as they pass by Rocks or else they could not be congealed into water again and after this congelation the water hath lost most of his heat as we find in our ordinary distillations of Rose-water c. where we see our water to descend into the receive almost cold so that they cannot derive our hot Bathes from hence Secondly for the fire it self although water and air may be received into the bowels of the earth yet there is great difficulty for fire For the other two need no nourishment to support them as fire doth If there be not competency of air to nourish the fire by venting his fuligious vapours howsoever there be fewel enough it is suddenly quenched and such huge and flaming fire as this must be will require more air then can there be yielded a great part thereof passing away through the secret creeks of Rocks and little or none entring through the Sea And therefore daily experience shews that our mineral men are fain to sink new Shafts as they call them to admit air to their works otherwise their lights would go out Although one would think that where many men may have room enough to work there would be space enough for air to maintain a few lights The like we see in Cupping-glasses where the light goes out as soon as they are applied Also there are no fires perpetual as hot Bathes are but are either extinct or keep not the same tenor Wherefore fire cannot be the cause of this constant heat of Bathes It must be a continual cause that can make a continual heaâ— Also where fire is there will be smoak for as it breeds exhalations so it sends them forth But in most of our hot Bathes we find none of these dry exhalations Moreover fire is more hardly pend in then air yet we see that air doth break forth wherefore fire should also make his way having fuel enough to maintain it So they say it doth in our Vulcanoes at Hecla in Iseland AEtna in Sicicy Vesuvio in Campania in Enaria AEolia Lipara c. But it is yet unproved that these eruptions of fire do proceed from any deep cause but only are kindled upon or neer the superficies of the earth where there is air enough to feed it and means enough to kindle it by lightnings or other casual means Whereas in the bowels of the earth there is neither air to nourish it nor any means to kindle it seeing neither the beams of the Sun nor Wind or other Exhalations nor any Antiperistasis nor Lyme nor
plentiful exhalations as those must be which procure lightning and thunder and the vanity of their Antiperistasis to kindle these exhalations as hath been she wed before it is a sufficient refutation to take away the subject of the question that is all subterranean fire as I hope I have done and then we need not dispute about the means of kindling it c. these momentary meteors being produced only to kindle and not to maintain this fire From the water no man will derive this fire being a cold and moist Element and apt to quench it unless it be by dilating the seminary spirits of natural species and then they concur with us and renouncing the actual fire do confirm our heat of fermentation From the earth some have imagined an inbred heat ingenitum terrae calorem whereby it seems they had some glimmering of this light which we have given but have left it in as great obscurity as the Antipenstasis or Antipathy and earth being a cold and dry Element cannot be the cause of this heat as it is earth So as it is manifest that naturally the Elements cannot procure this heat of Bathes and by violent motion they can do as little For the earth being immovable cannot be stirred by any violent motion and the other three Elements as Fire Air and Water being thin and liquid substances can procure no heat by any motion or collision either upon themselves or upon the earth especially in the bowels of the earth where all is quiet and no room or scope for any such motion as this must be So that neither the other three Elements nor the earth either in the whole or in the parts can be the cause hereof by any violent motion From mixt bodies if this heat come it must be from animals vegetables or minerals Animals are not so plentiful in the earth as to cause this heat of Bathes either alive or dead We read of subterranean animals which have both motion and sense and understanding in Vincentius in speculo naturali in Lactantius in Agricola de animantibus subterraneis in Bellonius Ortelius Paracelsus c. who calls them Gnomi the Germanes Bergmaenlin the French Rabat the Cornish-men Fairies The Danes are generally perswaded that there are such creatures But if any such living creatures be able to procure this heat it cannot be by their hot complexions but it must be by violence and striking of fire Perhaps Democritus hath hired them to make his lyme there or some other to erect forges for thunder lightning and such like fire-works Brontesque Steropesque nudus membra Pyracmon But these opinions deserve no confutation From dead animals in their putrefaction some heat may appear but such as neither for the degree nor for the continuance can be answerable to our Bathes For vegetables there is the same reason as for dead animals neither doth the earth breed such plenty of these in her bowels as to procure a months heat to a tun of water in one place Wherefore we have nothing to ground upon but mineral substances whereof the earth affords enough For there is no part of the earth but is replenished with mineral seeds And although some may think that because minerals are not found or not wrought in all places and that some waters are also found which do not participate of the virtues of minerals that therefore our hot Bathes proceed not from the fermentation of minerals but from some other cause they are mistaken For although metals are not frequent in some places or at the least not discovered yet a man shall hardly dig ten foot deep in any place but he shall find rocks of stone which have their generation as well as other minerals or some of the Salts or Bitumina or Spirits or mean metals c. And how can Bathes receive mineral qualities but from minerals Therefore where Bathes are there must be Minerals although where Minerals are there are not always Bathes But perhaps they are not so accumulated as by their contiguity they are able to yield any manifest heat their matter being dispersed as grains of corn sown in a field which by reason of their lying single do not shew a sensible heat in their fermentation or most metals breeding between a Hanger and a Lieger which Agricola calls pendens and jacens are seldome above a foot thick and therefore cannot yield much heat to our waters And this is the cause why we have so few Bathes from Gold Silver Tin Lead c. But where much matter is accumulated together the very contiguity one part lying upon another will make a manifest heat untill it grow to a corpus continuum when the generation is perfected and then the heat is extinguished Or perhaps they have not water so plentifull as may yield a living spring although they may have sufficient for the use of their generation Or perhaps where they break forth they meet with desart sands as in Arabia China Africa c. Which drink up the water and hinder the eruption of it And whereas there are some hot springs found which do not shew any mineral quality in them the reason of this may be the want of concrete juice which as I have said before is the medium of communicating mineral qualities and substances with water For without them water is as unapt to imbibe minerals as it is to unite with oyle So as water may of it self receive actual heat from the fermentation of minerals but not their qualities without the mediation of some of the concrete juices as contrariwise we find some Fouutains that receive mineral qualities and yet are cold whereof I have given many examples The reason whereof is either for that they have passed a long way and by many Meanders from the place of generation to the place of their eruption and so have lost their heat or else the concrete juices which will dissolve in water without any heat being impregnated with other minerals do impart them to water and yet without heat But to say that there is any earth without mineral seeds is to make a vacuum in rerum natura and to destroy the use of the Elements It is true that the seeds do do not alwaies meet with opportunity to display themselves and sometimes they are fain to serve under other colours which are more predominant but there is no part of the earth without some seeds or other And from hence we must derive the original of the actual heat of Bathes for nothing else in the world will serve our turn to procure so lasting and so uniform a heat unto them and that not by kindling any actual fire about them for most of our minerals whereof our Bathes consist and from whence they receive both their actual heat and virtues will not burn neither have any actual heat in themselves being all cold to the touch but receive it by a fermenting heat which they have in their generation without which there
in his native vigour and strength that it may breed good nourishment for the whole body But the much use of cold drink although it seem to refresh us for the present by dulling the appetite and the sense of thirst and hunger as a stupefictive narcotick will do yet it destroys the faculties of the stomach which are maintained and quickned by heat and thereby breeds crudities in our bodies from whence many diseases proceed The East-Indans are seldome troubled with the Stone or the Gout and it is imputed to their warm drink the like we may judge of obstructions cholicks dropsies rheumes coughs hoarsness diseases in the throat and lungs c. in which cases and many more which proceed from ill concoction and crudity of humors no doubt it is an excellent preservative to drink our drink warm I know a worthy Gentleman of excellent parts who in his travels observed the benefit hereof and for many years hath used to take his drink hot and being now above 80 years old enjoyeth his health of body and vigour of spirits beyond the ordinary course of men of his age Likewise in the cure of diseases I perswade my self it would prove very profitable if it were in use For example in feavers I see no reason but it would do more good than our cold waters juleps posset-drinks c. which I approve well of but if the patient did drink them hot the stomach would be less offended thereby the moysture which we chiefly desire in them would penetrate more and the eventilation by sweat or insensible transpiration would not be hindred Hypocrates is very plain in this point and reckons many inconveniences of cold drinks to the teeth bones nerves brest back lungs stomach c. I will not insilt longer hereupon being a practical point of Physick only I thought good to intimate it to our learned Physitians to contemplate upon for the benefit of our patients Our Bath Guides do usually command the drinking of this water with salt to purge the body perswading the people that the Bath-water hath a purging quality in it when as the same proportion of spring-water with the like quantity of salt will do the like Our Baths have true virtues to commend them so as we need not seek to get credit or grace unto them by false suggestions The Bitumen and Nitre which is in them although it serves well for an alterative remedy yet it is not sufficient for an evacuative and therefore we must attribute this purgative quality either to the great quantity of water which they drink and so it works ratione ponderis or unto the stimulation of salt which is dissolved in it or unto both together Our Common salt hath a stimulating quality as is shewed before Chap. 7. and Erastus saith that it purgeth much Bulcasis gives it to that purpose from 3 ij to 3 iiij Mesue also prescribes it to purge gross humors and so doth Avicen Wherefore there is no doubt but salt will purge of it self being dissolved in our Bath-water But I should like much better to dissolve in it some appropriate syrup or other purgative for this purpose as Manna Tartar Elaterium syrups of Roses of Cichory with Rhubarb Augustanus or to move urine Syr de 5. rad Bizantinus de Limonibus Sambuclnas de Altzhca c. And this course is usual in Italy according as the Physitian sees most convenient but with this caution that when they take it in potion they must not use the Bath because of contrary motions Inwardly also Bath-waters are used for Broths Beer Juleps c. although some do mislike it because they will not mix medicaments with aliments wresting a text in Hypocr to that purpose But if we may mix Diureticks Deoppilatives Purgatives c. with aliments as usually we do I see no reason but we may as well use mineral waters where we desire to make our aliments more alterative by a medicinal quality alwaies provided that there be no malignity in them nor any ill quality which may offend any principal part And thus much for the use of them by mouth By injection they are used also into the Womb to warm and dry and cleanse those parts into the passages of urine to dry and heal excoriations there into the fundament for like causes as also for resolutions of the Sphincter and bearing down of the fundament c. And thus they are used either alone or mixed with other medicines according as the Physitian thinks most sit and we daily find very good success thereby in uterine affects depending upon cold causes Thus much for the inward use of our Bath-waters CHAP. XVII Of the outward use of the the Hot Waters of Bathe first the general use of them to the whole body in Bathing secondly the particular use of them by pumping bucketing or applying the mud OUtwardly our Bath-waters are principally used because they are most properly for such affects as are in the habit of the body and out of the veins as Palsies Contractions Rheums cold Tumors affects of the skin aches c. And in these cases we use not only the water but also the mud and in some places the upour The water is used both for his actual and potential heat as also for the second qualities of mollifying discussing cleansing resolving c. which the minerals give unto it The use hereof is either general to the whole body as in bathing or some particular to some one part as in bucketing or pumping which antiently was called Stillicidium The Italians call it Duccia The general use in Bathing is most antient for our Bathes were first discovered thereby to be wholsome and soveraign in many diseases Nechams Verses concerning the use of these Bathes are four hundred years old Bathoniae Thermas vix praefero Virgilianas Confecto prosunt Balnea nostra seni Prosunt attritis collisis invalidisque Et quorum morbis frigida causa subest Which I will English out of Dr. Hackwels learned work of the perpetuity of the world Our Bains at Bathe with Virgils to compare For their effects I dare almost be bold For feeble folk and crazie good they are For bruiz'd consum'd far spent and very old For those likewise whose sickness comes of cold We have antient traditions famae est obscurior annis That King Bladud who is said to have lived in the time of Elias did first discover these Bathes and made tryal of them upon his own Son and thereupon built this City and distinguished the Bathes c. But we have no certain record hereof It is enough that we can shew the use of them for 400 years and that at this day they are as powerful as ever they were Cambden gives them a more antient date from Ptolomy and Antonine and the Saxons and saith they were called Aquae Solis and by the Saxons Akmanchester that is the town of sick people and dedicated to Minerva as Solinus faith The opinion
see in a cup or bowl of water filled to the top we may put in a great bulk of silver in pieces and yet it will not run over but be heightened above the brims of the bowl The like we see Ãn a drop of water put upon a Table where the edges or extremities of the water being terminated by the dry substance of the Table are depressed and lower than the middle likeâ— half globe but take away the termination by moistening the Table and the drop sinks 〈◊〉 this be evident in so small a proportion we may imagine it to be much more in the vast Ocean and our Springs being commonly at the foot oâ— Hills may well be inferior to the Globe of thâ— Sea if any be higher they may perhaps be feâ— from rain and snow falling upon the Mountains But if Josephus Acosta his assertion be true thâ— the Sea towards the Equinoctial is higher thaâ— towards the Poles then the level of the Sea mâ—â—â— be much higher than the top of our highest Hillâ— but this is a doubtful assertion yet I dare believe that if it were possible to immure a Sprinâ— without admission of air which might break thâ— continuitie with the Sea our Springs might bâ— raised much higher At Saint winifrids Well iâ— Flint-shire though there be no high land neer iâ— yet the Springs rise with such a violence and iâ— plentifully that within a stones cast it drives â—â— Mill. It is likely that this Spring might be raised much higher And whereas we see that Riverâ— do run downwards to the Sea per decline it doth not prove the Sea to be lower than the Land but only near the shore where it is terminated and in lieu of this it hath scope assigned it to fill up the Globe and so to be as high as the Land if not higher For if a measure should be taken of the Globe of the earth it must be taken from the tops of the Mountains and from the highest of the Sea and not from the Valleys nor from the Sea-coasts This conceit of mine I was fearful to publis h and therefore had written unto Master Brigges mine antient friend for his advice in it being a point wherein he was well studied but before my Letter came to Oxford he was dead But now I have adventured to publish it to stir up others to search out the causes hereof better than hath yet been discovered Exorsipse secandi fungor vice cotis Anothers edge though blunt I set And with the Stone that 's dull I whet CHAP. IV. Division of Mineral Waters Minerals descrâ—bed Their kinds recited Of Earth simplâ— and mixed Whether it give any medicinablâ— qualitie to Water And so of the rest in thâ— following Chapters THus much of simple waters and their originals which may serve as Polycletus hiâ— rule to judge mixed and infected waters by Galen in many places speaks of an exact and sound constitution of body as a rule to disceâ—â— distempered and disproportionated bodies Anâ— thus much in explication of the Genâ—s in the definition of Mineral Waters Now I come to Mineral Waters and to the other part of the definition which we call difference c. from Subterranean Mynes by Imbibition These Mineral waters are either simple oâ— compound simple which partake but with some one Subterranean Mineral compound which partake with more than one And theâ—â— waters partake with Minerals either as they aâ— confused with them or as they are perfectly mixed Also these mineral waters whether simple or compound are actually either hot or cold the reason whereof must proceed from some Subterranean cause as shall be shewed hereafter Wherefore we must first know the nature oâ— these Subterranean Minerals and their generation A TABLE OF MINERALS WITH THEIR QVALITIES 1. Earthly Simple Dry Cold Astringent or mixed with Nitre Fullers Earth Marle Abstergent Allum Coperas All sorts of Boles Astringent and Desiccative Turfe Bitumen Pex c. Fat and Unctuous Vid. p. 24 25 26 2. Stone vid. p.27 3. Bitumina Solid Terra â—mpelis Succnum Gaâ—aâ—es Amâ—a Canphora Boneo Châ—a Titantrax five Carbo fosslis Liquid Petroleum Naphtha Potentially Hot and Dry in the 2. or 3. Degree Except Camphir concerning the Nature and Qualities of which Authoâ—sdisagree Vid. pag. 34. 4. Concrete Juyces Salt Astringent Detergent Purging c. Vid. pag.47 Nitre Sal Amnoniacum Borax Altincar Vid. pag. 44.51 Allum Vitriol Very astringent and cold Vid.p. 57 58. 5. Spirits Quicksilver Various in it Qualities vid.p. 61 62. Sulphur Moderately Hot and Dry and somewhat Cooling vid. p.63 Arsenick Auripigmentum Risagalum Sandaracha Rusma c. Venomous vid. p.65 Extreme hot and putrifying p. 66 Cadmia Natural Liquid Dangerous and a strong Corrosive Factitious Moderately hot and cleansing vid. p. 66. 6. Mean or half Metals as Bismutum or Tin-glas Qualities not mentioned vid. p.67 Antimony purgeth vidently upward and downward ib. Bell-metall not used n Physick vid. p.68 7. Metals Perfect Gold Qualities unâ—ertain vid. p. 69. 72. Silver Esteemed Cold Dry Astringent Emollient vid p. 69. 74. Imperfect Hard Iron Opening and Astringent vid. p.70.74 75 76. Copper Temperate in heat less Astringent and morecleansing than Iron vid. p.70.77 Soft Tinn Cold and Dry yet moving Sweat P. 72.77.78 Lead Cold and Dry vid. p.72.78 79. Place this between page 24 and 25 where the 4th Chapter of Minerals begins â—â—â—om whence Mineral waters receive their â—â—â—rence from common simple water before â—â—â—n judge of the nature and quality of them â—er Actual or Potential â—â—â—y Minerals we understand all inanimate â—â—â—ect bodies bred in Mines within the bowels â—â—â—e earth I dare not undertake to muster these â—â—â—ue order by Dichotomies seeing neither â—icola nor Fallopins nor Libavim nor any â—â—â—r that I know have exactly done it nor satisfied either others or themselves in it and seeing there are divers Minerals lately discovered perhaps more may be hereafter which have â—een known in former times and therefore mentioned as Calaem in the East-Indies â—â—â—ma and Terra ghetta in Turkey c. Whereâ—â—â— I will make bold to reckon them up as they â—â—â—e to hand in seven ranks The first shall be earth Earth whether it be bred ab exbalatione sicca Earth â—â—â—igerata or ex mistis per putredinem in fimum â—â—â—versis or ex lapidibus sole aut â—alore cockis â—â—â—de aqua solutis c. It is all inconcrete As â—â—â—tle water gleweth it together in Lutum so a â—â—â—t deal dissolves it But this is no proper disâ—â—â—tion but only a disjoyning of parts by Imâ—â—â—ng the moisture which conjoyned them into greater proportion of water for waters do â—â—â—urally run together like drops of quick-silver melted metal Wherefore seeing the moisture â—â—ch is in the earth is not natural but advenâ—â—â—ous not united essentially but only mixed â—â—â—identally it may well be called an inconcreteâ—â—â—stance â—â—â—stance whose moisture is easily drawn from it being ready to unite it self with other moisture and