do not immediately appear to the Taste but by taking of the Bodies asunder appear to be such There is an Axiom that Unumquodque in id dissolvitur unde compactum est Every thing is dissolved into that whereof it is made Now if this Axiom be true as I think it is an infallible one a Man may reasonably conclude that those Bodies which upon their Dissolution are reduced into Acid Substances are Acids tho before their Dissolution they did not appear to be so Most Vegetables upon the Dissolution of them or analyzing by the Fire appear principally to be composed of Acid Substances and therefore I think are to be accounted Acids altho they are so differently specificated and have such different Operations upon Human Bodies that a Man who has not nicely examined them would be tempted to believe that the original constituent Parts of them were much more different than they are Now the more perfect and durable any Vegetable is the greater quantity of Acidum and Sulphur it affords and less of excrementitious Alkaly And from the different Combinations of the two Sisters Acidum and Sulphur I believe it possible to give a very probable Account of all the differences in Plants as to Colour Taste c. And as these two perfect if it be lawful to call any natural thing perfect Principles are more or less clogged with excrementitious Allkaly so they are more or less durable as to themselves and more or less friendly to Human Bodies for whose use they were principally created so that here you may see that when I preach up Acids it is not only Vinegar Lemons Oil of Vitriol Oil of Sulphur c. that I recommend but all the perfect Parts of the Creation and decry the use of those things that are the Principles of Death and Destruction in Bodies viz. Alkalies From what I have before said I think I may without Presumption reckon Oak-bark amongst the number of Acids and yet Oak-bark being given in Substance or a Decoction of it is so far from making the Juices over fluid or thin that it will reduce them to a Consistence when they are so the same may be said of Bistort Tormentil and abundance of things of that Tribe the same thing will Comfry Roots do and all the things of that Tribe the same I could say of many more but here I have not room to expatiate Asparagus Parsley c. will make the Juices fluid when they are over thick and viscous and so will a multitude of things more of that Tribe I could range my self out into the mineral Kingdom but the different Operations of them are so well known to every body that I think it needless to take any particular notice of them yet this much I will presume to say altho it be foreign to my present Design that after having made all the Enquiry into the Nature of Metals that Human Industry is capable of I am perfectly satisfied that they differ one from another only in degrees of Purity and therefore for ought I know the Business of Transmutation is not so ridiculous a thing as some People would make it As to those Acids that are manifestly so they greatly differ in their Operations upon Human Bodies I have before observed that there are those which may properly be called Acido-sulphurea and others Sulphureo-Acida but in Nature I don't know a simple Acid or a simple Sulphur there being such an indestructible Bond of Union and Friendship between them that they are never one without the other Now those Acids that have most Sulphur united with them are Aperitives Openers of Obstructions and keep the Blood and Juices in a proper state of Fluidity Those that have little Sulphur mix'd with them are Stipticks and bring the Blood and Juices to a Consistence when they are over fluid What I have said upon this Subject is not the effect of Fancy but of a Series of several Years strict and nice Observations Letter Besides if Alkalies did always offend and cause Pain it must follow that Acids must give ease But I assure you I have often experienced the contrary for upon the exhibition of Rhenish White-Wine and other Acids I have found the Pains immediately exasperated and many times it has been a long while e're they went off Answer If Alkalies cause Pain I do agree with you that Acids of consequence must give ease but I don't suppose that an ill habit of Body that has been perhaps some Months or Years a contracting is to be altered with a few Doses of the most exalted Medicine in the World let it be Acid or what you please But supposing Acids to be the most proper Medicines in the World to ease Pain as I believe they are yet it is not improbable but upon the giving a small quantity of Acid in such cases where there is a large quantity of Alkaly lodged upon any Part so as to cause Pain it may only in part dissolve the Alkaly which was before more fixt and so by accident may exasperate the Pain whereas by continuing the use of the Acid the Alkaly would be perfectly dissolved and extirpated and so the Pain would altogether vanish But Pain being sometimes exasperated upon the first giving of them in too small quantities has I doubt not been one great Cause of deterring people from proceeding in the use of them and also of attributing to them the Cause of Pain But in great Pains it is my constant Practice to apply Acids externally to the Part affected as well as give them inwardly and there are but very few Pains especially Gouty and Rheumatick ones that I am not able to overcome in a small time And for the Pain you say you have often found to be excited upon the giving of Rhenish and White Wine I have assigned a Reason for that if they are drunk in too large quantities both in my Essay of Alkaly and Acid and in my Tract of the Gout and therefore shall not again repeat it but refer you thither Letter Again if the Gout proceed from an Alkaly what is the reason you use so much Sassafras in its Cure Is Sassafras an Acid and so proper to subdue this Alkaly Answer I can cure the Gout if there were no such thing as Sassafras I only use Sassafras in Apozems as a proper Vehicle to dilute other Medicines in the Stomach But however Sassafras is no contemptible Medicine and if you will but give your self the trouble of Distilling a Pound or two of it in a Retort per se if you afterwards reckon Sassafras amongst the number of Alkalies I am mistaken and if I am so I shall willingly own it Letter I have only a word or two to speak concerning the green Colour of Syrup of Violets and so I have done I believe it may be turned green without an Alkaly On the exhibition of it to Infants it comes away green very often and brings away a great deal of green Matter
Candid Ingenious Persons even those who are my greatest Enemies whether all the Excrements of our Bodies are not Alkalies When I speak of Excrements I don't mean that which is carried off by Stool I having told you in another Place that my squeamish Stomach would never yet give me leave to make Experiments upon that to know what Parts it contained but every Body knows that the Bile is the greatest part if not all of it carried off that way and that the Bile is an Alkaly I suppose no Body doubts I know there are a great many who will reply That we will allow you that the Matter or at least the Saline Substance that is discharged by the Glands of the Skin by Urine the Bile Tears c. are Alkalious but there is another Excrement the which you take no notice of which is a very considerable one and that is the Matter discharged from the Glands of the Mouth called Spittle which in all respects seems to be an Acid. To which I answer That the Saliva or Spittle is so far from being an Excrement that it is one of the most noble Juices that our Body affords it being the only Menstruum that Nature hath furnished us with for the dissolving of the solid Food we eat and turning it into a nutritious Juice For by chewing of our Meat we compress the Salival Glands and cause them to throw out a sufficient quantity of the Juice contained in them which being mixed with the Food is along with it carried into the Stomach where the Office of Digestion is performed But those People who swallow their Meat without chewing seldom or never digest it and are always lean Now when I speak of Saliva or Spittle I don't mean that inviscated coagulated Substance that People hauk up in a Morning or discharge when they have a Cold as they call it that being a degenerate Saliva but I mean that thin Limpid Substance that some great Tobacco-Takers lavishly let run from them which is the only reason that the smoaking of Tobacco takes away most Mens Appetites for would they smoak Tobacco as a great and worthy Prelate and my self do and as all the Turkish Nation do which is to swallow their Spittle they would rarely want an Appetite But that I may return to my proper Business which is to prove that all the Alkaly we have in our Blood is an Excrement and in a way of being carried off as such or for want of being carried off would cause a Distemper of some kind or other And here give me leave to acquaint you that according to the best of my Apprehension the Matter of all our Distempers is the same but according to the difference of the Part immediately affected the Distemper differs And indeed when I consider the wonderful Structure of our Bodies of what Multitudes of minute Parts it is composed instead of being surprized at our being sick and out of order so often as we are I am almost amazed to think we are ever well All Alkalies that I know of will presently cause Rottenness and Putrefaction in Animal Substances as may be seen in making of Glovers Leather an Instance of which I have given in my Tract of the Gout from a very good hand Nay it is a thing very easily to be experimented by any one for let but a Piece of Flesh of any kind be put into a Liquor well impregnated with Alkaly and in a small time tho in the Winter when things are not subject to putrefy it will turn to a meer Putrilago a Mass of Rottenness and Corruption Whereas let a Piece of the same Flesh be put into Liquor impregnated equally strong with any Acid and it will preserve it from Putrefaction Alkalies whether Volatile or fixt being applied to the Skin will either cause a Mortification or destroy the Tone of the Part whereas Acids of equal Strength will prevent Mortifications where they are actually beginning and frequently restore the Parts to their Tone where it is lost But it may very reasonably be askt where is the Acid in the Blood that does us all that Service you speak of or what becomes of all the Acid we take in you owning Bread to be an Acid and several other things that are every day used by all Mankind when in your Analysis of the Blood you mention no such thing and seem to intimate that altho People take them in never so great quantities yet they never abound so as to cause a Distemper This is what may reasonably be offered and is very necessary that I should clear as well as I can The Life of Man I take to be a Fire or Flame and all we eat and drink together with the Air we draw in to be as Fuel for this Flame and that which is not proper Fuel for it is cast off as Excrement Now I appeal to all Mankind conversant in Chymistry whether the Excrements of Fire or of the Fuel of which it is made viz. Ashes and Soot be not Alkalies and that our Lives are nothing else but a Flame or Fire of the same Nature with that commonly used or very analogous to it I think is plain It is the Nature of all common Fire to consume whatever is a proper Pabulum or Fuel for it and to leave its Excrements behind it which as is before observed are Ashes and Soot in the Ashes is contained a fixt Alkaly and in the Soot a Volatile one It is very plain that the Body of Man would soon be consumed unless supplied with proper Food and how could this be unless there were something to consume it Common Fire cannot subsist where there is not a due Access of Air to it Is it not the very same thing with the Life of Man let him be but inclosed in a Place where the Air is not capable of coming at him and immediately he expires It is well known that it is the common Practice of Miners and those who have occasion to go into subterraneous Vaults or Passages to carry Candles Torches or some such things along with them not more for the conveniency of the Light they afford them in such dark Places than for the Security they are to them against the most imminent Danger viz. the Loss of their Lives for as soon as they once perceive their Lights begin to grow dim common Prudence and Experience teaches them to retreat and whoever has chanced to be so fool-hardy as to advance after the Light hath been extinguished has scarce ever returned either to repent or give an account of his Folly A fatal Accident of this kind happened to two Men in a great Vault in a Yard belonging to my Father's House into which Vault if we put a large Pan of Charcoal well lighted they would be extinguished in a moment and the two Men before mentioned as near as we could guess lost their Lives in as small a time Heat and Warmth are the constant Concomitants of Fire
Bodies especially Animal ones that they are mixt with In Animal Bodies there is no such thing to be found unless in the Bile which is an Excrement and seems to be as genuine an Excrement of Fire as any thing whatsoever both from its burne Tast Colour c. and I am sure if it be detained in the Body will play the Devil As for Volatile Alkalies they are to be found in Soot in Plants after Putrefaction in Urine in Horns and Hoofs of Animals and in Blood and altho Sweat abound with a great quantity of it yet that is not to be obtained in quantities sufficient to draw Volatile Salt from it Soot is the Volatile Excrement of Fire or of the Matter of which Fire is made Urine is an Excrement of our Bodies and the Volatile Salt in it the Excrement of Animal Fire or of that which is its Pabulum or Fuel The Horns and Hoofs of Beasts are generally allowed to be excrementitious Parts of their Bodies and they afford the greatest quantity of Volatile Salt of any thing besides As for Blood the Volatile Alkaly to be obtained from it is only the excrementitious part of it or rather of the vital Flame or the Pabulum of it in a way of being carried off by some of the Emunctories which if it chance to be obstructed in its Passage affects the Body with some Distemper or other As for the Volatile Salt to be obtained from Plants after Putrefaction I shall give you a particular account of it by reason that some Men have made a great stir about it and spent a great deal of time in quest after it supposing it to be one of the grand Medicines of Nature Most if not all Vegetables do principally consist of a Volatile Acid and a Sulphur which make them a proper Fuel for Fire Now let any of the Aromatick Plants such as Rosemary Sage Lavender Mint c. be well dried and afterwards be put into a Hole in a moist Cellar and rammed down very hard let them lie without a Cover till they grow hot after they have done so some time and the Acido-sulphureous parts are exhaled which is much the same as if they had been burnt they will then contract a stinking ill Smell when they are in this state put them into a tall glass Bottle with a glass Head and in gentle Heat of Sand you will obtain a Volatile Alkalious Spirit and Salt good for nothing else that I know of but to bring other Bodies into the same state of Corruption that the Plants from which it was extracted were before it was drawn from them Thus I have let you see what is my Judgment concerning Alkalies and how they are produced But as for the Acid that we take in as Food and otherwise that together with the Sulphur are made use of as a Pabulum or Fuel for the vital Flame and were not the sulphureous Particles in some measure suppressed and detained by the means of an Acid the Thred of our Lives would be but very short Dr. Andre of Caen in Normandy in his Discourse of Alkaly and Acid speaking of Acid pag. 21. Engl. Translation he saith There is nothing in this World which owes not its birth to an Acid Salt Nothing can live nor be multiplied without it It is that Soul of the World of which the Antients have so often told us Tachenius in his Clavis Hippocratis Medicinae from pag. 3 to pag. 11. gives strange Encomiums of it some of which I shall here transcribe Speaking of Acid he brings in Lullius Nos multi alii inquit vocamus illum Filium Solis nam primò per Solis influentiam fuit generatus per naturam sine adjutorio scientiae vel artis ideò Aristoteles vocavit Solem patrem Terram matrem omnium vegetabilium c. He afterwards says Acidum itaque est pingue antiquissimum principium omnium rerum vita fons quod variis nominibus nominarunt Scriptores ut ignem solem aurum spiritum sulphur forma sexcentis aliis nominibus quae omnia synonima sunt estque eadem res cui tamen diverso respectu diversa nomina imponuntur nobis tamen eam hic ubique commodiore opportunitate Acidum vocare libet Again A Sole itaque ut a fonte defluunt Acidum naturale lumen vitale quae reipsa sunt idem sed officio distinguuntur Acidi enim munus est ad interiora Naturae penetrare luminis verò exteriora patefacere utcumque solis radii operentur adeoque Sol est primum naturale organum cujus accessu recessu omnes naturae operationes variae reguntur intenduntur ac remittuntur Hinc Cosmopolita ingeniosissimus si non esset vis vegetabilis sulphuris id est Acidum pingue filius solis non coagularetur aqua in herbas si itaque Acidum à sole fluens infunditur in materiam ex gr mineralem statim recipit determinationem naturae virtutis mineralis sic de caeteris animalibus de Vegetabilibus rebus dixit Luilius proptereà quòd haec aciditas naturalis omnibus mundi Materiis copulatur Mercurii nomen à sapientibus adepta est Et licet oculus vulgi quotidie videat Acidi naturalis multiplicationem nec non incorporationem attamen illud non cognoscit exempli loco sit minera salis petrae Patavii jam evacuata quae quinque vel septem annorum decursu rursus repletur est enim terra ejus nutrix Hermete teste unde hic spiritus in illa corpus assumit atque fit inflammabile nitrum Acids are without doubt the most perfect Bodies in Nature since they cannot undergo a Putrefaction and what we take in by our Mouths is so far from being too much for us that besides it we are not able to live without drawing in fresh Supplies from the Air every moment and that the Air is filled with Acid Salts a Multitude of common and obvious Experiments do evince as for instance Let Vitriol be distilled with the most violent Fire imaginable so that it will not yield the least drop of Acid Spirit more do but take out the Caput mortuum or Colcathar and expose it to the open Air under a Shed where it may not be rained upon and in a few months time it will become good Vitriol again and yield as much Acid Spirit as it did at first time and this it will do ad infinitum The same thing may be done by the Caput mortuum of Sea-salt Nitre c. Now if the Air did not abound with Acid Particles from whence came those insipid Bodies that were totally deprived of the Acid they had in them by the first Distillation to regain the same quantity of Acid that they had before they were distilled If you expose the Caput mortuum of those things that by Distillation had afforded an Alkalious Spirit or Salt that Caput mortuum will never regain its Alkaly
is observable that those Particles you term Alkalies the more the Blood is saturated with them the more thick consistence it is of as we see in Pleurisies Rheumatisms and other inflammatory Cases in which Distempers if in any these Alkalies abound is not then its Tenuity rather to be imputed to Acids Do not Acids immediately put the Blood in a Fusion and render it thin Answ In most inflammatory Cases where the Blood is immediately affected there the Serum is viscous and sizy being overcharged with Alkalious Particles but in those Cases you mention and in some others where the Blood is over thin it is not the over Thinness of the Blood which is the only Cause of those Diseases but a Destruction of the Tone of the Parts and where the Tone of any Part is once spoiled the great quantity of excrementitious Matter is soon thrown thence and so the Violence of the Malady is increased Besides in Dropsies the Quantity of fluid taken in they being always thirsty is so very disproportionate to what is carried off they always making Water but in very small quantities in proportion to what they drink that it 's no marvel that their Blood is over thin I have frequently in Dropsies known People drink three Quarts in a day when they have not pissed a Pint And that Acids should occasion the Thirst that attends Hydropical People is ridiculous to imagine when they are the only things in the World that will quench Thirst Besides do but consider the Nature of the Medicines that are most effectual to bring the Blood to a Consistence when it is over thin I have scarcely ever met with any thing equal to Calibeats and that Steel is an Acid I have elsewhere endeavoured to prove And as a farther Proof of it I shall produce the Testimony of Beckerus no contemptible Man in his Minera Arenaria pag. the 88th Non recensebo jam qualiter ille spiritus esurinus in aquis subterraneis latitans varia sibi Salium Aluminum Vitriolorum Sulphurum Realgarium mineralium compositionum species producat nec demonstrabo quâ ratione supra terram in Aeris regione tractus quidam hujus Acidi spiritus de uno Polo ad alterum perillum acus Magnetica feratur Hoc tantum hic loci allegabo omne Acidum substantiae martialis esse in quocunque oleo pinguedine fuligine limo silice arena imo etiam ipsa flamma reperibile ac ad oculum demonstrari posse quaecunque ergo naturae Acidae martialis sunt illa potestatem habent Alkali tanquam substantiam metallorum mercurialem alterandi transmutandi Now if this Thinness of the Blood be to be taken off and the Blood brought to its due Consistence by the means of Acids it is not reasonable to suppose that Acids should be the cause of its fusion But then I confess here lies a great Difficulty viz. how is it possible for Acids to make the Blood thin when 't is too thick and viscous and to bring it to a due consistence when it is over fluid To which I answer That should I pretend to give an account what Acids taken in the proper Latitude would do I should be guilty of the greatest Arrogance imaginable for that would be to pretend to as much Knowledg as Solomon had who knew the Virtues of Plants even from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hysop which grows upon the Wall And Divine Providence had determined him to be the wisest of Men that had ever been before him or that should come after him All Plants from the greatest to the smallest are principally composed of Acido-sulphureous Particles for what Comparison is there to be made between the small quantity of fixt Alkaly that is to be found in the Ashes after burning and of Volatile Alkaly in the Soot in relation to the great quantity of Acido sulphureous matter that is spent in Flame Or to come nearer to the matter let a Pound of any Vegetable which affords the greatest quantity of fixt Alkaly viz. Broom or any such Plant be sufficiently dried so that the superfluous Humidity may be evaporated after that is done let it be committed to Distillation per se and it will afford between two and three Ounces of an Acid Spirit with a good quantity of Oil when all the Art of Man is not able to procure from the Caput Mortuum above two Drams of fixt Alkaly and as is before observed Broom is one of those Plants that affords the largest quantity of fixt Alkaly Now the Acid Spirit and Oil are those Substances which in burning serve to supply the Flame and from the Caput Mortuum unless it be afterwards burnt there is no fixt Alkaly to be obtained But here again to obviate the Objection before taken notice of viz. that the Fire may produce new Substances which were not existent in Bodies before or that for instance the fixt Alkaly to be produced out of the Ashes of the Caput Mortuum of the Broom is only the Product of the Fire If this were so why then the Ashes after all the Salt has been once extracted being again committed to a Violent Fire must produce more Salt whereas on the contrary let it be committed to the Fire in the most violent degree of heat and continued there for never so long a time yet it will never after afford the least quantity of Salt of any kind But that I may return to answer the former Objection viz. how Acids are capable of making the Blood thin when over viscous and also to reduce it to its consistency when it is over thin All the Bodies in Nature are differently specificated by the all-wise Author of Nature and at the same time are all animated by one Universal Acid Spirit which is what the Antients were wont to call the Soul of the World and I think not improperly Now the more any Bodies are impregnated with this universal Acid Spirit and its beloved Sister Sulphur the more perfect they are and Gold which is one of the most perfect and durable Bodies in Nature seems to be composed of nothing else but a pure Acidum and Sulphur as I think has been sufficiently made appear by some of the most strict Enquirers into Nature's Secrets Now the more perfect any Bodies are the more Acidum and Sulphur they contain and afford the least quantity of Excrement viz. Alkaly that being the only Destroyer of all Bodies and is what brings them to a state of Putrefaction and Corruption Well but what 's all this to the answering of the Objection twice started Why it 's only to make my way clear But I shall now apply my self to it There are two general sorts of Acids viz. manifest and inveloped ones the manifest ones are such as immediately appear to the Taste and these altho originally the same proceeding from the same universal Fountain yet have different Operations upon Human Bodies The inveloped ones are such as