World and that without having their Letters of Advice or Bills of Exchange Translated by an Interpreter out of one Language into another or of being confin'd to have one of their own Language imploy'd as their Factor And to conclude all liberal Sciences Ingenuous Arts and thriving Manufactures with Mechanical inventions would receive no small improvement by this way of communication through the help of the Universal Character and by observations in Physiological Essays from all parts abroad the Structure of a body of true Genuine Philosophy might in a little time be raised to the great use and benefit of mankind in all sorts of useful learning both speculative and practick So that thereby in a few years more might be done as to the Compleating thereof then hath been in whole Centuries of years before And here concluding this Digression I re-asume my first intended matter and further assert That THus would Physiology be advanced in every part and branch thereof becoming more facile certain and grateful by being grounded upon experiments then by any other conjectural Hypothesis though as I said it is but Scientia naturalis à posteriori being as far or more short of that intuitive knowledge which Adam had in Paradise as conjectural Hypothesis is of it yet is this very acceptable because it joyns issue with our Senses whence we now after a Preposterous manner assume most of our knowledge of natural things A considerable part of this Book of Philosophia Naturalis would be spent in the Physical or Medical Science By which we should know what concrets how us'd and by what means they become helpful for the reliefe of our infirm and diseased Bodyes in which that improvement made in the Laboratories by various preparations and trials thereof upon sick persons would be of great importance And this brings me to the third and last thing I propounded to my self to discourse of viz. to signifie the use and efficacy of Chymical remedies I mean how much more assistance nature hath by the help of Chymical Medicines in order to the cure of diseases then by the vulgar Shop-preparations and here me thinks the Cabinets of natures rarities are opened and by this noble Art we are let into the grand Mysteries and choyce Secrets of medicinal Preparations which being seperated from their terrene Faeces and corrected from their annexed virulencies penetrate into the very intimate recesses and secret Meanders of the Body helping nature at every turn both to manifest what is useful by solution incision and abstersion of the peccant Sordes as also by fortifying the vital powers and functions and that corroboration and restauration of the vital Principals No Ingenious Person can longer satisfie himself in the common practice of the Galenical Physick when he once begins to reflect upon the uncertainty of the Method and unsuccesfulness of his Curing Diseases especially when he comes to consider the reasons thereof viz. the rawness and incongruity of the dispensatory Preparations the Farraginous mixtures whereof render them less effectual then if they were more simple and puts the young practitioner to a great loss whilst the elder and therefore accounted the more experienced Physician jogs on right or wrong according to his methodical rules of Art for when he expects as wel for his credit sake as his desire of doing good some great Cures he finds nothing considerable done And this gives cause to many Industrious searching Physitians now of late to begin to throw off this Galenical yoak and fall to work themselves making some neat Preparations according to the Chymical Art for their own practice by the efficacy of which they are encouraged to proceed further to the Preparation of more noble Arcana which they must do whilst they are young other wise when they grow old they either become too lazie to begin to work or too much settled upon their Lees then they think themselves to old to enter into the Chmycal Matrix to be born Philosophers by the fire The Chymical Preparations have these following advantages of the Shop-Medicines first they are commonly much less in bulk than the other are and therefore they less offend the Patient in taking them What nauseating Potions are frequently prescribed not to say that they are in their taste inferiour to Horse-Drenches which are apt to make the stomachs of some who have taken thereof even at the sight of the next Potion to Vomit whereas a few drops of a Spagyrical Liquor given in a proper Vehicle or a Mineral Powder given in a few grains which in some Preparations hath some taste in others none operates effectually enough according to the intention of the Physician 2. Chymical Medicines if rightly prepared are less dangerous than the Galenical I shall not here vindicate the confident boastings of some quacking Pretenders to Chymistry who presume to cure all Diseases with some secret Powder Oyl or the like which when known is but a meer trifle and scarce worthy the name of a genuine Chymical Preparation and yet forsooth these Medicasters boast themselves though you shall scarce hear it from any of their Patients what great wonders they can do vilifying all others that are more modest than themselves and yet are Possessors of more noble Medicines I am not ignorant how the Galenists have designedly insinuated into the Vulgar the great danger as I said before of Chymical Medicines which hath been no small Remora to the progress of Chymical Physicians till their unwearied diligence hath with time mostwhat worn off that apprehension of danger and they now begin to observe by ocular demonstration the great efficacy together with the safety of Spagyrical Remedies For where the Galenists in their Dispensatories ends there the Chymical Physician begins both to correct what they have done by making their compositions more homogeneal and to proceed further to what they have not done witness the elaborate Chymical Animadversions on the Augustane Dispensatory by the ingenious Swelfer who undoubtedly doth correct most demonstrably the errors of the vulgar Galenical Preparations shewing very evidently their incongruous and farraginous mixtures and besides adds other dexterous Preparations both Vegetable Animal and Mineral which they have not In whose Book of Animadversions with his Mantissa Hermetica and Appendix thereto the Reader may view plainly as in a glass the errors of the received opinions of the vulgar Practice of Physick 3. The Chymical Remedies are more purified and refined from their terrene feculencies than the Galenical for in Decoctions Syrups Conserves Electuaries Lohochs and some other Shop-Preparations there are but very small separations of the terrestrial Faeces little depurations made as for Decoctions either the Menstruum which commonly is water perhaps with the addition of some Wine is not proper for extracting the virtues of the Ingredients or by too much boyling they let the volatile and therefore most effectual parts flie away so that the virtues of the Concretes are not sufficiently hereby extricated from
as an auxiliary to the Scorbutick Pills in the cure of many diseases it is also exquisitely proper for most diseases in women and that whether the disease be from the Splene Matrix or mother or Genus Nervosum yea if I should comprize all these in one and say from the Stomach and its Regimen upon all the parts at the remotest distance I should not I think much say amiss For otherwise why doth a proper remedy while yet in the Stomach give help to other parts as for example to the Splene Matrix Genus Nervosum c. not but that the Matrix hath a proper Regimen of its own which being discompos'd puts the Stomach and other parts by the Links of the Animal Chain out of order The Elixir I say gives help to most diseases incident to women whether with Child or not for it appeaseth Wind very much which accompanieth most diseases women are troubled with It is a very good remedy against fits of the mother which is an incoercible Flatus or Wind arising from a reluctancy between the recremental Faeces of the Matrix and Archeus or Spiritus impetum faciens thereof especially if taken after a gentle evacuation made by our Scorbutick Pills which may be done very safely to women breeding or with Child as I have further treated in my Hydrologia Chymica To both viz to women breeding and to others with Child I have given the like yea stronger purges and that did its work not onely innocently but also with good success both to the woman and Child and that too not without very good reason For whence is it that women frequently during the whole time of their breeding and being with Child are so tormented with Pains Vomitings Gripings Faintness Sickness and the like but cheifly from a great foulness of the Stomach and plenty of recremental Sordes heap'd in the Womb and that from causes not pertinent here to speak of which often procure feverish Fermentations in the Blood gripings weakness of the Back illness faintness of the Stomack and by any sudden passion of the mind rouseth up the Splene and Mother to the great discomposure of the whole fabrick of the body Now what is more pitiful than to see miserable women groaning under the weight of these real diseases while they are with Child and under that colour of being so they fancy to themselves they are to take nothing of Physick for their assistance least they harm the Child and so willingly languish under distempers that might easily be helped and they themselves live more cheerfuly and bring forth the Child more livelily For if they take sometimes 1 or 2 of these gently purging pills over night or â—n the morning onely taking some broth at noon and eat a little warm meat without any further trouble to keep their body open carrying off thereby the dross which oppresseth the Stomach causing wind sickness and faintness and withall if they take often of the Cordial Elixir according to following directions they would I say find them selves more healthful and cheerful and might thereby be inabled through the blessing of God to bring forth with more strength and that not onely for their own good but also thus doing together with an orderly diet it helps to make the constitution of the Child to be more sound and healthful For if the blood and humours wherewith the Embryo is nourished be tainted with impurities and distempers may easily thereby lay the foundation of a weak constitution and make the Child prove sickly and diseased and all for want of help in curing the Mothers infirmities That these pills and Cordial Elixir are safe and harmless in this case yea and stronger Medicines than they not to say vomits themselves which I have sometimes ordered to women in that condition and that with good success is evident First from the mildeness of the vegetable Ingredients having not a grain of a Mineral in it and next from the experimental good effects thereof so that if women at length would admit of taking some thing for their own and Childs good they might live more comfortably and cheerfully during that time than otherwise they do Also these Pills and Cordial Elixir are proper for the infirmities of young women as the Green-Sickness Asthmatical Cachexies and other diseases depending upon the Aliquid amplius viz. upon the obstructions of the Menses For those obstructions are originally from a rejected Sordes of the blood which furs up the Orifices of the vessels of the Matrix whereby the blood being prevented of its natural critical evacuation flows back and causeth a Plethory and sometimes Fevers and Stagnation of the Blood in the Lungs and other parts whence short-windedness stuffing and stopping of the Stomach want of appetite indisposition to action with other Symptoms pains swellings and the like which are the sequels of this obstruction of the uterine vessels Towards the correcting of which Enormities these Scorbutick Pills and Cordial Elixir avail much For the essential Salts wherewith these preparations are impregnated are aperient of the vessels and with the other Ingredients are abstersive with all thereby answering the chief Indications of these diseases And as to the Diaphoretick or sweating Pills their use is of pretty large extent as an auxiliary to the other two and that chiefly in all Fevers whether continued or intermittent in all colds and coughs which require to the cure thereof sweatings and breathings of the blood also in all Colicks Loosenesses Vomittings bloody Fluxes Defluxions of Rheume Head-aches and generally of most pains to which they certainly give ease especially if they are taken after an opening of the body by the Scorbutick Pills for so taken they frequently give ease in the greatest torments and gripings as also stay violent vomitings and purgings by composing the inragements of the Archeus or regent spirit of the Stomach and putting the Pylorus in good order makes it observe the due seasons of its opening and shutting Now as to the directions for the manner of use of these three Medicines take as followeth and first as to the Scorbutick or Cathartick Pills the Dose is from one to four or five but two or three is the common ordinary Dose swallowing them down in a spoonful or two of Posset-drink or any other liquor alwaies beginning with a less number as one or two and as they work so accordingly to keep to that number or to take more to four or five according as the body is more difficult to work on or the disease more radicated If you take but one that may be done over night last to bed-ward which will give one stool or perhaps two the morning following if you do so you may go about your occasions the day following But if you take two or three then you are to take them betime in the morning in bed or up if you take them in bed you may lye two or three hours after and when you get up take
but specificks will doe such I mean as hath power not only of correcting and preventing the enormous flatus but also of abstersing the subtle cadaverous sordes reposed in the inward chanels of the animal spirits by inclining them to a transpiration sweetning also the concomitant spurious acidities which is particularly done by some noble vitriolin Arcana's The Elixir Propâ—ietatis and volatile tincture of Coral of Paracelsus and Helmont per spiritum sanguinis per lac perlarum per appensa c. 9. The same circulated cadaverous recrement sometimes settles upon the spongy parenchyme of the Lungs at which borret Archcus flatum suffocativum extimulat which suddainly obstructs the porosities thereof and causeth an Asthma which often intercepting the air hinders the ventilation of the vital fire in the Heart if prevalent suddainly puts out lifes taper 10. This is not curable by the Spaw being too languid in its virtue to reach the Lungs especially when it is come on to the ripeness of an Asthma is curable by the former specificks and that because an Asthma Epilepsie Apoplexie and Palsie are identical in their material and efficient causes viz. The same circulated anodynous cadaverous recrement settling in different places cause the foresaid Diseases in the brain the Epilepsie in the membranous and nervous parts the Apoplexie and Palsie If it only vitiate the organs of motion salvo sensu then it 's the Palfie but if both motion and sense be deprav'd and that with a vibration upon one side or through the whole body then it is surely an Apoplexie 11. But if by a transmigration of this peccant matter it become coagulated in the Lungs then an Asthma of which as also of the other syncritical Diseases I may say as formerly hath been of the Quartain That they are ludibria Medicorum and therefore to be found only in the Catalogue of Incurables And what 's the matter Nothing but we want well prepared Medicines which either our idleness or our ignorance or both will not suffer us to attain to 12. These Disease being congenial in their causes are the same in their Cures therefore none of them curable by the solitary assistance of the Spaws but by the power of abstersive and restorative Arcana's such as the aforesaid remedies and the like 13. It is true Dr. Wittie brings in two instances of the virtue of the water in the Palsie but if you observe The Disease in both Patients was at the declining hand and probably nature by degrees might have wrought it forth without the help of the waters It 's very probable the change of air and the exercise of the body by riding might contribute as much to the Patients assistance as the water Besides it may be The paroxysm of this Disease might be hastened by the exorbitancy of the stomach and foulness thereof which being rectified by the abstersive property of the Spaw might be alleviated thereby 14. He gives one and but one instance of help in the Epilepsie by the water He tells us of an excellent success he had seen in that one that was Epileptick but how or after what manner it appeared we must not know though he doth indeed ingenuously confess if the Diseases of the Palsie Epilepsie Vertigo be idiopathick be radically in the head or otherwise though the malady arise from sympathy if it be in the begining of the paroxysm or in its state the morbid humour being fixed in such cases he acknowledgeth the improperness of the water 15. Where by the way take notice that those three Diseases have not always the head for their principal seat for though in the Epilepsie and Virtigo in the one there be a vellication of the membranous and perhaps nervous parts of the brain and in the other a consternation of the animal spirits lodg'd there and that either by a deuteropathy being disturb'd from other parts or by an idiopathy in the very membranous and nervous parts themselves yet notwithstanding the Palsie hath not its original seat in the head but in the genus nervosum and the inhabitants thereof viz. the animal spirits and therefore may be and is in other parts of the body salvo capitis regimine For it is the catastrophe of these spirits that gives being to the paroxysm of these Diseases viz. of the Epilepsie and Palsie c. and when ever they are found smitten with a flatus arising from the antipathy of the putredinous cadaverous recrement and the aura vitalis there to be sure is the Disease in what part soever of the body it is found To confirm which viz. that the head is not the chief seat of the Palsie I shall bring in a considerable instance of a paralytick Patient to whom I had the hap to be called after seven or eight other Physicians and pretenders to Physick had been consulted he lives in Fernedale belonging to the Duke of Buckingham This Patient had lingred most part of two years under his Distemper the occasional cause whereof was as far as I could learn either from the damp of the earth being imployed to over-see and sometimes did work in an Hough as the Country-People call it of Blacomoore for some suppos'd Mine of Plute some treasure deeply lodg'd in the earth but found none or else by going into the water in the Summer time to Fish either of which might occasionally give being to his Disease He was gradually taken of all his joynts and sometimes had neither sense nor motion in most parts of his body but most frequently if not altogether had little or no sense especially from the lower parts of his body downward insomuch as if any weight lay heavy on those parts or any great heat from the fire scorched them he was not sensible nor at all complain'd He could mostwhat move all his joynts as he sate or laid and that pretty nimbly but when he came to stand his knees shaked under him his legs bended and he glad to be held up from falling in ones arms His hands and arms he could move very well but when he came to take up any meat to put in his mouth he always either left it or let it fall so was helped by another both for his meat and drink taking Yet all this while salvoregimine capitis had all his senses in his head for saving a glimmering of his eyes whereby he could not read distinctly which might very probably be from the weakness of the optick nerves together with some alteration of the texture of the vitreous and cristaline humors thereof I say excepting this weakness in his eyes he had his memory as perfect as ever could cast Account as well as before had his hearing taste and smelling in good order could eat his meat pretty well without the least trembling or shaking of his head The Physicians he had consulted had ordered him Vomits and Purges in great plenty Unguents not a few and Baths too many for he was alway the worse after
to the Galenists proceeds from an hot and dry Distemper of the stomach to answer which indication they most frequently order cool and moist things which if the cause of thirst were as they suppose they would have a most facile ready way of Cure in case that were true Contraria suis contrariis curantur viz. That every distemperature were curable by its contrary for then supposing such and such degree of heat and dryness of stomach in a Fever it is but applying the same answerable degree of cooling and moistning liquors and the Cure would forthwith be effected If so Why are not the thirst in Fevers presently quenched That after great draughts of cooling Julips and the like are drunke down they yet cry out Drie Drie as thirsty after a while as ever 50. What Can the elementary properties of cold and moist so much conspire the Patients prejudice as to forget their own natures of cooling and moistning Surely these qualities if they may be so call'd of heat and cold of dryness and moisture must act one upon another upon the very contact and no sooner can heat be encountred with cold but the heat must be abated and if the degree of cold be proportionable must become quite extinct so neither can driness meet with moisture in the like degree but the driness will cease 51. So that indeed a Feverish thirst hath not these elementary qualities for its efficient and so is not curable by the contrary qualities but hath a more abstruse cause and that is from a depravation of the ferment of the stomack which not being able to digest after the wonted manner what is upon the stomach turns it into recrement which by the heat of the part having lost its curb the ferment is burnt into a kind of Alkali or friable mass which being fast impacted in the tunicles of the stomach becomes the efficient cause of a febrile thirst 52. These burnt Alkalizate sordes parch the very membranous parts of the stomach oesophagus and tongue which membrane is but as one continued web overspreading all those parts thence the intollerable thirst foulness roughness and parchedness of the tongue which by abstinence from drink as is the foolish custome of some Physicians who understand not the Disease too strictly prohibit the Fever becomes the more increased the thirst the stronger and all the symptomes more exasperated For there must be some liquid thing of necessity to dilute and soften these burnt sordes though it do not satisfie and quench the thirst or else all things go the worse but if the skill of the Physician be such as to mingle with these diluting potable liquids something to absterse these sordes and to satiate these Alkalizate recrements then he effects something as to the real quenching of thirst which otherwise proves obstinate and rebellious to all simple liquids 53. For if all simple water or fermentally married to a vegetable juyce viz. Beer Ale or Wine be thrown into the stomach upon these friable sordes they do but and that scarcely for a moment quench the thirst but by the untameable heat of the stomach are cast into vapours and by sweat or insensibly are driven through the pores of the body and in the conclusion encrease the heat cause cold sweats faintness debilitudes and wasting lassitudes after the manner of water poured on an hot stone is presently dispersed vapore tenus or as Spirit of Wine poured upon an Alkali of Tartar causeth a great heat more than was before 54. But if these adust sordes be absters'd by the well prepared Salt of Vitriol or other proper emeticks or some proper solutive that may cleanse downward the recrement of the primary digestions and be seconded with Spirit of Salt Sulphur or Vitriol acuating the Patients common drink together with the use of some anodynous Diaphoreticks not only the thirst will be abated and quenched but the Feverish fermentation and consequently the Fever it self I have often wondred the Galenists should not more seriously take into consideration the efficacy of Diaphoreticks or sweating Medicines in Fevers in as much as in the whole round of their Practice they find not a more effectual means to quench thirst and to abate a Fever than by Sudorificks which is most obvious both to them and to ordinary People and yet there is nothing they less frequent If it were no more than observing the operation of a Dose of Laudanum methinks it might convince them of the excellency of Diaphoreticks and put them upon ingenuous enquiries how they might promote and improve that stock of Diaphoreticks they have in the Shops might I say put them upon enquiring how a few grains of Laudanum should so quiet the Spirits for a time quench thirst and allay pains and all this as a Diaphoretick which surely if the narcotick Sulphur was castigated and the power of the volatile Diaphoretick Salt thereof exalted would prove a much more effectual Diaphoretick than any Laudanum in the Shops 55. As for Antimonium Diaphoreticum because it is Chymical they are afraid of it and if they order any it is in so inconsiderable a quantity as the effect cannot answer the Patients expectation They will prescribe 3 grains it may be 4 5 6 or 7 grains and a great Dose too and this forsooth must be clogg'd with some other farraginous mixture which together makes such a confus'd jumble upon the stomach that the Archeus or vital regent knows not what to make of it for by their mixtures they miss the mark of Specificks and thereby of the best Diaphoreticks In effect do nothing sincerely viz. without mixtures in the whole course of their Practice They will wonder perhaps if I tell them that of this Antimonium Diaphoretick which they scruple to give 6 7 or 8 grains I can and do with good success give from one scruple to an whole dragm which is 60 grains and that without scruple or danger but with great satisfaction to the Patient Bezoardicum Minerale another as dangerous anti-febrile Diaphoretick as they account it as the former of which they scarce dare give above 3 4 or 5 grains of which I with the like success as the former give from half a scruple to 24 grains Indeed they are both of my own Preparation and therefore dare more confide in them 56. Now the conclusion of all this is That Diaphoreticks whether Vegetable or Mineral after a previous abstersion of the primary digestions are the only quenchers of thirst abaters of pains allayers of Feverish fermentations composers of the Spirits and in fine the chief Curers of Fevers and therefore whether duely to be considered let the World judge seeing it conserves thousands of Lives Thus far as to particular Diaphoreticks Besides which Helmont speaks of an universal Diaphoretick or Panacea by the name of Mercurius Precipitatus Diaphoreticus which is a fixation of Precipitate by the cohobating the Elementum ignis extracted out of the Vitriol of Venus at last
the Disease rather than against the Disease it self For unless the Theory of the Diseases were certain and infallible the method of practice grounded thereon cannot be satisfactory to any ingenuous man for if he espy a flaw in the method by observing it for the most part not answering his expectation in the cure of Diseases it will give him just cause to suspect an error in the Theory and by that time begin to question both yea and lay them aside too if he can but discern another more probable Theory whose consequent practice doth more certainly inable him to cure Diseases more happily Now to be better convinced of the inefficacy of the Galenical method in the curing Diseases Let us consider how often in most Chronical Diseases for in acute they have not that time is their method baffled How frequently do they run over the same course of Physick even till the Patient is tired out and out having their vital Principles more really weakened and linger in an hopeless manner under the tyranny of the Disease and after all this that the Methodists have spun out their longest thred and left them some honest Country-man or good old woman hath a specifick Remedy which they have known by experience to have done good in the like case and the Patient is now though not before at leisure to try it takes it and though his or her skill is not so good as to give it with such advantage as some congruous circumstances might second it withal yet I say often succeeds and cures the lingring Patient of his Disease made worse by a method Now because he which gave this Remedy did it without the formality of a method if by the good success thereof he be encouraged to give it frequently he gains the name of an Empirick viz one who gives a Remedy at random without a method or without being able to give a reason for the operation of his Medicine Whereas indeed if we make a scrutiny into the essential reasons of the operation of Medicines I am apt to question whether any Methodist can give a solid satisfactory reason of the operation of any one Medicine he gives in his whole method and that because the reasons and causes of things are so very abstruse as Jurare in verba Magistri to subscribe to the placets of other men is not enough to any ingenuous man to satisfie himself in the reasons of things attainable thereby And if I should Query why the infusion of Stibium or of Crocus Metallorum should operate by Vomit and Stool And why the same if further prepared by the fire and salts should operate by Sweat And to the first it be answered That it provokes Vomit because it hath an antipathy to and disagrees with the stomach This would be no sufficient reason because many other things may have an antipathy to the stomach and yet not cause Vomit but may either rouze up an incoercible flatus or may march off by Stool So that for things to disagree with the stomach is neither the real cause of Vomiting or Purging though it is true there must of necessity be a concomitant disagreement of the thing with the stomach But what that is that makes the antipathy is the thing in question To say that a Vomiting meeting with vitious humours upon the stomach dissolves them and provoking the expulsive facultie of the Stomach forceth them up by Vomit is still no sufficient reason or answer to the Question For What can one Ounce of Wine only impregnate with a Mineral odour do as to the dissolving of corrupt humours upon the Stomach and to provoke the expulsive faculty with such violence as by the convulsive motions of the stomach to throw up what is in the concave thereof What are the humours of the stomach to it It 's in taste and colour almost the same with so much simple Wine How should the expulsive faculty become thereby concern'd unless we have recourse to what we said before viz. the antipathy thereof with the stomach or Regent powers thereof And so be at as great a loss still as to a true Solution of the Query as before As to what the Atomical Philosophers say in this case I am not satisfied that they give a resolve to the Point who would have all such actions of Vomiting and Purging to be performed by the concourse of various siz'd particles acted by different motions which impressing the like motions upon the nervous and membranous parts cause that Systole or convulsive motion of the stomach which by compressing and contracting it self throws up what is contained therein Who though they go on slily and cunningly in the weaving their Atomical texture of bodies and make all Creatures to be but as so many Automaton's who like a Clock or Watch-work being once wound up keep going from their Springie power of motion Methinks they do as much petere principium as the former in that they take it for granted that what we call Life is nothing else but a result of motion and figure in all bodies For though all bodies as to the whole and to every seperable part are constituted of form or shape and acted by motion as the body stands inclined to its Genesis or Analysis whereby all things are in a perpetual Flux and constant transmutation Yet this evinceth not motion and figure to be the cause of that we call Life or as they say that there is no other existence of any Anima sensitiva than that but rather that motion and figure are the sequels of Life Besides methinks the niceties of vital function are too curious to be solv'd by so slight an Hypothesis Again if we endevour to answer the Query according to the Chymists viz. That it is the odour of the combustible Sulphur of the Antimony wherewith the Wine being impregnated becomes hostile to the Archeus or Anima sensitiva which hath its chief residence in the stomach which being provoked ceaseth not by opposition to that which offends not only to through it off but also the depraved humours which lie fast impacted in the tunicles of the stomach Which indeed is a fine notion and very probable to be near the truth yet to me the same Query remains as indemonstrated as in the former viz. How rationally it gives a satisfactory account Why the infusion of Stibium should act as an Emetick rather than any other way What do we know what this odour of the Sulphur of Antimony is And why the Anima sensitiva should rather be offended than pleased thereat I say how difficult a thing would it have been to have given a rational account of the manner of its operation so as to have said so and so according to reason will it work and this before an experiment thereof had been made for when we see a Medicine to work by Vomit or Stool or Sweat we then presently fall to conjecture the reason thereof But for one to have
I may say split it self I mean as to its uniform texture towards the Poles where it causeth a constant pressure upon the Northern and Atlantick Ocean and upon the Mare del Zur or Pacificum towards the South as also driving the Clouds whilst he is Northern into the South side of the Aequator enough almost alone to give Being to Springs by forcing the water along the Subterraneal Chanels up at great distances upon the Continents Seventhly That Air attenuated in one place of the Atmosphere is as much condensed in an other part thereof and what it is deficient of force in that thinn'd part so much more it is of force in the other so as to give a proportionable pressure answerable to the weakness of its Spring elsewhere 58. Now the natural pressure of Water by Air and of the upper parts of water upon those below is by perpendicular lines and that by Vorticles as Archimedes and after him Des Cartes and Kircher demonstrate Natural I said because accidentally by Winds or Storms the motion may be oblique so that supposing the Seas to be at their bottom perforated in many places with Subterraneal Chanels and secret Vortices the surface of the Sea being press'd with Winds Clouds and Storms the circulated and condensed Air which recoyls from the other thinner part of the Atmosphere where the Sun-Beams have attenuated it together with the oblique motion of the Flux and Re-flux of the Sea begins the motion towards the grand Circulation 59. For the Superficies of the Ocean being press'd by the foresaid weight sends down its water by Subterraneal Chanels into the Hydrophylacia or common Cisterns of water which are the Springs of the Deep where it not only comes to a level with the surface of the Sea keeping a Horizontal Parallel therewith which any water will do in a Syphon or duplicated Tube though unassisted by any considerable pressure of the Air but also by the force of the pressure upon the surface of the Sea it is easily carried up above the level thereof into Hills Mountains and high Heaths which breaking forth give Being to Springs and Fountains which run into many Rivulets and from those into larger Rivers especially joyning issue with Rain and Snow-water and from Rivers are again carried into the Seas 60. That this is a Circulation whereby water is carried in a round is apparent because the Seas being pressed by the foresaid natural Causes are carried by Subterraneal Chanels along the Sabulum bulliens breaks forth at Spring-heads in Valleys Hills or Mountains runs along into Rivulets which with showers moisten the earth and then carried up again by Aereal Syphons in droughty Seasons into the Clouds makes the Atmosphere ponderous which together with Winds out of Subterraneal Caverns and the strong Spring of the Air recoyling from the rest attenuated by the heat of the Sun together with the Current of all Rivers into the Sea All these I say joyntly together conspire the pressure of the Seas again into the heads of Springs and so still more on in a circular motion and that in order to the supplying the grand Concerns of the Terraqueous Globe both for Mineral and Vegetable productions 61. That the Air doth press is evident in Pneumatick Engines as that of the Wine-Coopers Bellows which will by the meer pressure upon the surface of Wine from Air force forth the Liquor into other vessels the same happens in Pumps which by forcing forth Air carry up the water as also if a pair of Bellows be so contriv'd as to be plac'd over a vessel of water closed up on all sides with two Pipes going to the bottom of the vessel so ordered as whilst the one Bellows is drawn up the other falls down with its flap which pressing upon the surface of the water makes it yield which finding no other way will mount up suppose two Pipes which are carried into a Cistern at a competent distance above the vessel which again being let forth by an other Pipe at the opposite side falls into a chanel which carries it upon a Water-wheel and gives motion suppose thereto the Axis of which turns about a square handle to which is fastened the handle or pole of the Bellows poys'd upon a leaver plac'd equally betwixt the two Bellows so that as the water runs out of the Cistern it turns about the wheel and that moves the Bellows which pressing the water in the vessel forceth it up again into the Cistern and so in a round whereas if it could so be contriv'd that this water which moves the wheel about should by an other chanel be conveyed into the top of the water-vessel it might give a good probability of finding out at least fairly hinting a Perpetual Motion A Type of which may be seen in Kircherus his Mundus Subterraneus 62. So in like manner the surface of the Seas being press'd by the foresaid causes which joyntly together conspire its pressure as the bellows doth the water in the Vessel they force it up along Pipes or Subterraneal Chanels to the Head of Springs and Fountains Which Pipes by how much the more they are oblique in their windings by so much the more easily the Water is carried up to the tops of Hills and high Grounds 63. And as the Air by its own innate Spring doth press so sometimes it becomes more weighty by having the burden of Clouds lying and pressing upon it which also contributes to the former pressure upon the surface of the Sea For we see that when the Clouds are about to discharge themselves in Showers and that in large drops that they so compress the texture of the Air as they cause a Wind commonly to go before each Shower which is nothing else but a Latio Aeris or Motion of the Air from the pressure of the Clouds and the greatness of the drops which compress the Air and bear it down till it hath made its thorough passage to the Earth whereas when the Rain comes down in small drops and thin threds it passeth gently through the Vehicle and Colander of the Air without any considerable pressure thereof â—â—g i. pag 320 Fig ii pag 321 65. So in like manner the Air in the Atmosphere preffeth by its Spring set on work by the foresaid causes upon the Surface of the Sea which lyes in Right-Lines with the Hydrophylacia according to the Line F G which may represent the level-surface both of the Sea and springs of the deep Which being press'd at G towards I raiseth up the Water from F towards C which represents high Hills and Mountains where Springs break forth either at C or E. Hence we see that as the Spring of the Air is invigorated or weakned so its pressure upon water is more or less 66. The second Figure See the 2 Figure of the Scheme is the same save the Oval which it wants having instead thereof a small Concha where the Air from without has a free pressure
may mutually promote the motion of an other that all the parts and motions thereof may joyntly conspire the good and intirenes of the whole But that we may in some few particulars view the Wisdom of God in ordering this Circulation of Water and that it is not done in vain but hath its various uses and those of larg extent for the benefit of man and other Creatures and that as followeth 75. First Waters by this great Circulation are kept from putrefaction and corruption motion being to Waters as it is to the vapours in the Air viz. hinders them from corrupting and as wind fan the Air from putrid vapours so motion keeps Water from Stagnating and consequently from putridness and therefore a peice of raw flesh laid in a constant current of Water will keep from corrupting a considerable time 76 Secondly In times of drought when Land-Springs are mostwhat dryed up These viz the Springs Rivulets c. contain'd in the great Circulation serve for the use of Man and Cattle and that in places at great distance from large Rivers for the Quick-Springs constantly moving in the great Wheel are never dry and that by reason that where the cause doth perpetuate the effect must do the same but the causes as aforesaid are alwaies at work therefore Springs I mean Quick-Springs must never fail as long as the Fabrick of the World is upheld by the same Fiat as at first 77. Thirdly By great Rivers which are made of Rivulets and Fountains which in the great Circulation run thereinto we can easily pass from one Place and Country into an other and that by Oaken vessels which if the Water whether in Rivers or Seas were Stagnant could not move thereon half so well so that in Ships by the motion of the Sea and Winds we visit forreign Countrys and the Merchants Traffique abroad and that for a general good of Mankind 78. Fourthly By this grand Circulation all Mineral Springs for the health of man are produc'd For the Water circulating in the bowels of the earth being pressed by the foresaid causes as it meets with various Mineral Earths and Salts becomes impregnated with the Tinctures or tasts thereof making some slight solutions of the Mineral juyces into it self passeth on to the head of the next Spring where breaking forth makes Spaws of different sorts as Vitrioline Alluminous Nitrous Salinous Sulphureous c according to the nature of the mineral Glebe the Water passeth through to the Spring-head whence is the great variety of Waters 79. Fifthly Water by this great Circulation in the bowels of the Earth being dispers'd as I may say by capillary veins into the whole habit of the earthy body is coagulated by various Ferments and Specifick Mineral or Metalline Seeds into such like Bodyes For as we have else where demonstrated Water is the Material subject of all Minerals and consequently of Metalline Bodyes and that it needs onely different Seeds with their various Archeal Ferments to shape it into all sorts of bodyes found in Vulcan's shop each according to its Seminal difference For from whence proceeds the great variety of all Stones Marcasites Minerals Mineral Earths Metals c. but from Water shap'd by Seeds and Ferments into bodyes under various disguises Which here by this grand Circulation is alwayes at hand and ready for the Seminal Faber or Vulcan to work upon 80. Sixthly This circulation joyning Issue with that lesser one of Rain and Snow Impregnated with Coelestial influences doth make the ground fruitful and makes the Superficies thereof bring forth all manner of Seed Bearing plants and Trees according to the kinds of the first Seeds or Seminal Principles implanted by God therein at the first and so being impregnated with the Salt of the Earth promotes vegetation upon the green carpet thereof For when when I view Plants and Trees in their Verdure in the Spring or Summer times methinks I see nothing but Water altered by Seeds and Ferments which thereupon Proteus like puts on various Garbs and appears in different diesses and to me it s as easy to apprehend how Water moved by the foresaid causes riseth up into Hills and Mountains there breaking forth into Springs as to conceive how Water riseth up into the tops of the highest Trees and there to bud forth into leaves Fruit and Seed or how between the Bark and bole of the Tree Water should ascend up like as in Syphons and that in some Trees without any considerable alteration of tast or consistence from simple distill'd Water save a sleight touch of a Medicinal Odor as for instance cut a Vine in January or February but especially in March and you shall find it weep forth a deal of insipid Water at the knots or joynts where it 's cut so if you wound a Branch of the Birch Tree or lop the bole thereof in March if it be done below near the ground the Latex thence issuing is a mere insipid Water but if a Branch of about 3 Fingers thickness be wounded to the Semidiameter thereof and fill'd with Wooll it Weeps forth a Subacid Liquor in great abundance insomuch that in one day such a wounded Branch may give 8 or 10 pound of that Liquor concerning the vertue whereof Helmont saith Qui in ipso lithiasis tormento solatur afflictes tribus quatuorve cochlearibus assumptis viz. that it gives help in the torments of the Stone being taken to the quantity of three or four spoonfulls which he saith is Balsumus Lithioisis merus which great quantity of Water must come from the root and that must receive it by its Fibers from the Capillary Veins of the earth carryed thither by the grand Circulation of Water with its included circle of Rain and Snow which the one meeting with the other becomes the material subject of all Plants Trees and Fruits of the earth which earth is onely the Matrix where water becomes coagulated by the Fracedinous Odor thereof and by the Fermental operation of Seed into all sorts of Vegetable Concrets which spring up in the Superficies of the Earth Now the Medicinal virtue that this Liquor hath is from a Ferment which it receives from the Tree as it passeth along the Channels thereof for the same Liquor weeping from a wound of the bole near the Earth hath not that virtue Therefore it must be from a Medicinal Ferment it receives from the Tree above that place also if a Pompion be cut while it's growing will as a Friend of mine told me upon his own triall run a great deal of a limpid Water which by the heat of the Sun will be congeal'd into a pulpie substance and that because the Water which comes for the nourishment thereof hath received a Specifical Ferment from the Pompion which if it were intire would presently be coagulated for the growth and increase thereof but being let forth by a wound is at last by the heat of the Sun coagulated into somewhat Analogous thereto so probably Melons