Bittern would rise in the Fire and come over I did not say yeild good Spirit of Salt And the Gent. is much mistaken in supposing the Spirit is inconsiderable to what remains or that Bittern has 4 parts of Alkali to one of Acid. For as I said it leaves nothing behind but an insipid white Earth and that is inconsiderable to what comes over if it be skilfully distill'd nor will that Earth cause thirst so much as Sa it in which there is no Bittern I do not believe he ever saw Soap made of Bittern as he says but I know Soap may be made with a very little Alkali But the Gent. concludes he is of the Opinion that I cannot produce a Catalogue of Medicines equaly efficacious in the Cure of Diseases with Mercur. dule Turpeth Min. Red precip Cinnabar Sal Succini Sal Martis En. Veneris Oyl of Vitriol Sp. of Nitre Oyl of Sulphur and Dr. Colebatch ' s Elixir Vitrioli all which operate by vertue of their Acids for if they be divested of their Acid Particles they will never produce those effects And if the use of Alkalies cannot be thus demonstrated he shall remain a Proselyte to the Doctrine of Acids And thus says he he has given his Thoughts in answer to those Objections that seem most material in the Dialogue but has omitted to take notice of what has not a relation to Acids and Alkalies being the Cause or Cure of Diseases and in so doing hopes he has answer'd the Doctor 's Request I answer I can produce the same Catalogue and a better But the Medicines named are not the invention of any Acid Doctor but were common to all Physicians before any such sharp Fancy had turn'd the Brains of any Pretenders to Physick nor are they all Acids nor do any of them except the Spirits operate by vertue of their Acids But I might say if I could allow my self to reason as the Gentleman does by vertue of their Alkalies for if you take away ☿ ♀ and ♂ the Acids now joined with them will never produce the Effects alone But I know better they operate by vertue of their Texture resulting from their Conjuction even as Gun-powder does not operate by vertue of Sulphur or either of its Ingredients but by Nitre Sulphur and Charcoal all together And if the use of Acids or Alkalies either cannot be better demonstrated than the Gentleman or his Master Colebatch have demonstrated their pretended Hypothesis of Acids I shall not be a Proselyte to either The Gentleman has at last answer'd his Doctors request and pick'd out here and there an expression in my Dialogue which he thought he could say some thing to but how well he has answered what was indeed Material and how much he has Omitted I must yet leave to the judicious Reader of my Dialogue wherein I think stands unanswer'd enough to shew the groundlessness and danger of the pretended new Hypothesis of Acid and Alkali as well as the immodest self applause shameful contempt and abuse of all Physicians gross mistakes and great ignorance of the Pretender Which want of Learning and Vertue the Gentleman in his Letter has not so much as excus'd wherefore I hope his Master is also Conscious thereof and will amend And the Gentleman perhaps in a little time may see that he is a Proselyte to so very sensless and mean a Sect he may be asham'd on 't or he may be blown with some less biting or dangerous Maggot or become fond of some newer Fancy since Gentlemen are inclinable it seems to be as well pleas'd with their Physicians for imposing new Fashion'd sufferings upon them as with their Taylors for putting them into new fashion'd Cloaths And for such Gentlemens sakes I have a good mind before I Conclude to start a yet newer Hypothesis that may serve them when that of Acids is out of Fashion which when it shall be strongly asserted by some Man of Confidence I don't question but it will take please as well be more effectual and leâ—s dangerous than the practice of Acids I have been inform'd by a Person of Credit that a certain Doctor in France who was famâ—d for his Cures gave nothing to his Patients but Brick-dust And I have heard of another of considerable repute in another Place who as a Panacea gave all that came to him convenient quantities of common Water These Doctors wanting a more generous Principle both disguised their Medicines they seem to have acted contrary but which appear'd to have the better success I was not well inform'd but some of the Patients of both no doubt recover'd and some of them died those that lived would swear the Doctor heald them but those that pack'd off were left out of the Catalogue of his Cures But let it be how it will the hint gives me ground enough to build a new Hypothesis upon now that of Acids grows old Brick-dust and Water then shall be two Principals into which bodies may be resolved Distillation and Transmutation reduces all into them Whatever is Liquid comes over either in the form of Water the one principle required or in the form of Oyl or of a saline Spirit The Oyl 's Unctuosity and Inflamableness may soon be changed and the sapor of the Salts be destroyed the Vita Media of both may be soon took away and the Liquor reduced into common insipid Water But whatever is solid may be by the Fire reduced either to a Liquid to be wrought on as before said or by burning will be reduced to a Caput Mort. which expos'd to the action of the Air will be rotted and turn'd into common Earth which then by art may be made into Brick and then easily pulverised if you will follow the French Man fine enough for the Stomaâ—h of a Lady How these two Principles are concern'd in the Life and Death of all things in the Macrocosm I could readily teach if an exact Physiology were thought necessary to a Doctor Now let these two Principles be taken instead of Acid and Alkali for the Life and Death of things and for the Cause and Cure of Diseases it shall be all one to me which is the Killer and which is the Curer and I will make out the Aitiologie of all Deseases and their Cures from them But forasmuch as Gentlemen now-a-days are generally great lovers of the Bottle and will rather cause a dose from the Glass than from the Trowel and a Physicians business is to humour them Brick-dust shall be the cause and Water the cure of all Diseases But because we will recommend our selves by talking learnedly as Physicians ought that is so as our Grand-mothers may not readily understand us we will call them Arid and Humid and say Arid is the Cause and Humid the Cure of all Diseases Let us begin at the Mouth as Physicians commonly do at which death is so often let in in this our luxurious and Pharmacutick Age. It is apparent that no
and Acid so that no Acid but an Alkaâ—ous Liquor shall be distill'd from it An Alk. and Acid so that neither Alk. nor Acid shall be obtain'd but a Salsum Again an Alk. and Acid so that neither Alk. Acid nor Salsum shall be obtain'd but an Oleum I must confess these tricks are Legerdemain and till he understands a little Chymical Legerdemain he will never comprehend them and I beg his excuse for not teaching them there is something more than ordinary in them and they must not be profaned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I will demonstrate the truth of any of these Operations when ever I shall have a sufficient Reason for so doing The Gentleman also says The natural or artificial Conjunction of an Acid and an Alkali which I say will make a Salsum he calls an Acid because the Acid is most predominant and does operate as such for Tartar Vitriolat which I call a Salsum dissolved in Water will work upon Steel as manifestly as Sp. of 🜖 which is allow'd to be an Acid. I answer he may call it an Ass-head if he will but I say where the Ass-head is predominant there is not the true Salt savour and Tartar Vitriolat if it be a Salsum as it should be has neither the Ac. nor Al. predominate nor does its working on Steel prove it to be an Acid or to Operate as such as the Gentleman himself being better inform'd and forgetting what he had said asserts pag. 43. Iron says he will be dissolv'd by Acid Alkali or Sal nutrum and instances in Sp. of Vrin Sp of 🜖 Crem Tartar Tartar Vitriolat and Com. Salt The Gent. asserts farther pag. 19. That common Salt by often dissolving and crystalizing will be so deprived of its Bittern as to act as an Acid by dissolving Steel c. But if you would do it at once you must put an Ounce of Sp of 🜖 into 2 Quarts of solution of Salt and then evaporate c. and you will have the Salt much more wholesome and useful in all Cases and pag. 20. having thus proved Sea Salt to be an Acid he cannot imagine how it should be the cause of the Scurvy when there 's scarce a better Medicine known for its Cure than Sp. of 🜖 I answer the Gentleman having quitted his Opinion as before said pag. 43. that the solution of Steel is an Argument of the dissolvents being an Acid I hope he will alter his Opinion in other things where he is mistaken or at least see he hath contradicted himself as his Master Acid used to do But if he adds Sp. of 🜖 to his Com. 🜖 I confess that may work as an Acid in it and do what the Salt would not do but it will not be more wholesome or better in all Cases for Bittern it self is good for something tho' the Gentleman's Master Colbatch hath Damn'd it So if Sp. of Salt were a Medicine good for the Scurvy it does not follow that common Salt too much eaten may not cause it And as to the Gentleman's Assertion that there 's scarce a better Medicine known for the Scurvy than Sp. of Salt I say he talks as old Wives use to do whatever they have heard commended they will say is the best thing in the World But let it be good yet if I thought he would not be angry because I don't tell what I would affirm I know 2 or 3 better Medicines for the Scurvy But he adds The Scurvy being the Symptom of a Putrefaction of the Juices of our Bodies it will still look more like a Paradox that Salt which is the known preservative of dead Flesh should be the cause of Putrefaction in that which is alive I answer a Putrefaction in the Juices of living Bodies except in Sores and Ulcers has not I think been shewn But it is certain that which will preserve dead Bodies would kill living ones as drying for instance and I believe even an Acid Doctor if he were Sous'd or hang'd up in a Chimney a little while with Bacon tho' he were very well salted first would soon be of this Opinion So Sp. of Wine tho' it preserves Flesh being drunk in too large a quantity will make corrupt Work in the vital oeconomy yea I don't question but 🆠of 🜖 Crab Verjuice or Lemons and Oranges themselves may be taken in quantities large enough to kill a Man as I believe some Persons have experimented Nor is the Gentleman 's reasoning more sharp in saying Nor will the want of the spiritual Parts of Flesh and Fish appear to be the cause of any Disease when Physicians prescribe to venerial Patients Flesh roasted or boyled to driness and such other food as yields the least of spirituous and volatile Alkalous Parts as Water-gruel Bisket c. Physicians whether they do wisely or no 't is no matter prescribe things that yield the least volatile alkalous and spiritual Parts in the Pox Ergo the want of spirituous and volatile parts in our Meat can't be the cause of any Disease But I believe the Gentleman's Physician never prescrib'd him Flesh boyl'd to dryness But he rejoyns as sharply that if he did not design brevity he could bring instances to prove that Acids are not the cause of the Scurvy but the only salubrious Medicines in use against that Distemper I answer it is good to be brief but I don't know that I ever said Acids are the cause of the Scurvy and therefore he says nothing against me But to prove they are the only salubrious Medicines in use for this Disease he must know all the Medicines that are in use and their success But instead of this he gives us only a Story that another worthy Gentleman told him that having been long troubl'd with the Scurvy by reading Doctor Colbatch ' s Tracts he was prevail'd upon to eat Lemons stoutly by which method he recover'd after the ineffectual use of the Prescripts of the Physicians of the best repute This is what the Gent. has to say to perswade us that Acids are not the Cause but the only Medicines in the Cure of the Scurvy One Gentleman told another but were Gentlemen infallible in connecting Causes and Effects as Physicians are not yet the single matter of Fact comes to us but upon the word of an unknown Gentleman who 't is said was so lucky as to meet with Mr. Colbatch his Tracts whereby not to omit the best of the Story he became such a prodigious Lemon Eater as that he soon arriv'd to the perfection of eating 30 in a Day this was a perfection the Quaker never attain'd 't is pity he conceals his Name I believe he might make himself as famous as Will. Joy or the great Cock-eater The Gent. shews pag. 21. that he has misapprehended me for I never said as he would make me That we lose more in weight sitting still in a frosty Morning than if we were in the Bagnio or that the coldness and moisture of the
Distich at Mr. Colebatch and hit a Gentleman also And why must I answer for it But the Gent. comes to talk of Experiments pag. 5. He follows Mr. Acid's method first he plays a little and then he comes to work And he says I have not given one Experiment or laid down the process of any one Medicine I would recommend to the World for the good of Mankind or that might overthrow the Hypothesis of Acids I answer as for Experiments to overthrow the Hypothesis of Acids I leave it to the Judgment of the intelligent Reader whether there are not enough to do it in my Dialogue tho' some of them I find the Hypothetick knows not how to make which is a shame whilst he professes himself a Philosopher and a Chymist But he may have more before we have done But as for commending my Medicines or self to the World in the manner some do I count it but Quacking and like it not nor have any necessity so to do The People are fond of Recipe's and the Doctor knows 't is not against his Interest to let them have some his Books will sell the better and if he does not tell them they are to be had at reasonable rates of the Author and prescribe the making them a more chargeable way than he himself makes them the indiscreet administration some Dablers make of them does but breed business for the Doctor but the rich and cautious will have Advice and who so sit to advise with as that honest Gentleman who is so kind as to let them know with what Instruments he does their business I do not esteem it impolitick in Physicians to publish some Medicines to the World or to permit Horse-Doctors or licence other ignorant Fellows since they so frequently make work for one another And I believe Mr Colebatch did not offer his unreasonable method of prâ—â—◠〈◊〉 point of Honour that the Learned might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observe it with any hopes they would do so but that he might get Money of the ignorant which he has profess'd is the only thing he cares for Neither do I think the Learned will spend their time in his trivial Books nor should I had not Philanthropy and my Duty to Mankind not commanding Requests engag'd me to oppose what I saw was likely to be dangerous to those who should have so little Judgment as to admire it The Gent. says pag. 5. He hath confirm'd his Arguments for Mr. Colebatch ' s Doctrine with variety of Experiments but he reserves a far greater number for his Service if I or any for me think fit to answer 'T is well he has a Reserve for his variety is small and not much to his purpose as we shall see by and by But let us have them that are ready and I 'll promise him I 'll never request any Gentleman to answer for me being old enough to speak for my self Well but the Gent. comes first pag. 6. to consider my Arguments whereby he says I endeavour to defend Alkali as not being the Cause of Diseases for thâ—… other Causes that are not Alkalies may be assign'd But I must tell the Gent. there is no such Argument in my Dialogue and had there been such I should have been asham'd of it as he ought to be of saying so It would be but a poor Argument that Alkali cannot be the cause of Diseases because other Causes may be assign'd But that Alkali cannot be the cause of all Diseases when other Causes must be assign'd is that which I think I have demonstrated The Gent. says my Definition of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho' granted no way militates against the Hypothesis of Acids For when we speak of the Cause of a Disease which Physicians are said to discover and remove we always suppose the proximate Cause which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can never be But the Gent. almost perswades me here that he is more like to be a Gentleman than a Physician because he says we always suppose the proximate Cause that is we Gentlemen when as Physicians know well that the Proximate Cause is not the only Cause to be discover'd and remov'd Of which I need not give many instances The various Aporrhea of the Body of themselves innoxious by undue retention are often alter'd and become hostile which ill qualities are the Proximate Causes of divers Diseases the alterations of which ill Qualities are far from being the only things to be done nor is it enough for a Physician to endeavour even the Ejection of the peccant Matter but the faults of the Instruments of Secretion are to be amended as the prime Causes of the Diseases so that if Alkali it self unduly retain'd or abounding were suppos'd the Proximate Cause of some Disease yet there would be the Cause of that Retention or Abounding as the chief Cause to be known and taken away by the Physician But I fancy the Gent. if not a Physician is so much a Friend to the Practice he would willingly have the proximate Causes only meddled with have the Pump plyed rather than the Leak stop'd lest the Crew should want Employment The Gent. lets the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rest here so that if we will see what he has farther to say that it can't be the Proximate Cause of a Disease and so dispatch the Subject all together we must go to the 10th page where he falls on him again for contending to have a share with Alkali in the Cause of Diseases He says I should have told them what these exorbitant Desires of the Will of Man were whether Desire of Money Women Revenge or popular Applause If I mean these Tyburn gives proofs that by them the Blood comes to be retarded as well as the subtile Liquors disorder'd And I am of the opinion that if the Desire of these would produce or retain such malign Particles as he believes Alkalies to be Mr. Acid had been mortally sick of them e're now and if simple Man-slaying were Death by the Law some Acid Practitioners might e're now have been unable to secrete their own mortal Alkali by reason of the astringency of their Collars notwithstanding the sourness of the Crab-tree But the Gent. says pag. 11. he will not affirm the production of Alkali by the Operation of the Mind but a disappointment of the Mind he knows will of a sudden cause a Relaxation of the whole Systema Nervosum whereby Perspiration and all Secretions are obstructed c. which often happens to Women And by such Relaxation of the Nerves and Constipation of the Pores there are frequently induced Convulsions c. and the Disappointment is but an antecedent Cause which Medicine meddles not with but the Materia ex qua is Alkali's malign Particles whose Secretion is thereby prevented which retain'd is sufficient to produce the most dismal Symptoms Here the Gent. is profound But I would know of him whether a Relaxation of the whole Systema Nervosum which he says is