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
again let it lie never so long which argues plainly that the Particles of the Air are not Alkalious And therefore were Acids so injurious to Mens Bodies as some would have us believe they are every Draught of Air we take in must poison us since the Air is full of Acid Particles and I believe no body doubts but that the Air has a free Communication with the Blood if not by the Lungs at least by the receptory Pores of Skin But I think it 's plain that there is a Communication with it both ways By all the ways I could yet contrive I have not been able to procure one Grain of pure Acid from the Blood of either healthy or sick People But in the before recited Experiments you find there is always a proportion of fetid Oil with which Oil the Acid is imbodied to make it a proper Pabulum for the vital Flame and when once Acid and Oleaginous Bodies are well united which they will very readily do it is no very easy matter to cause a Separation of them Now the reason that this Oil hath such a very ill Savour is from its coming over the Helm along with the Volatile Alkaly all Alkalies whether Volatile or fixt giving a very ill Smell to sulphureous oleaginous Bodies especially if together they are exposed to a great degree of Heat and the Heat that is required to bring them over the Helm is much greater than that of our Bodies tho in a burning Fever Yet from the Action of the Volatile excrementitious Alkaly upon the sulphureous parts of the Blood may I think a very good reason be given for the Symptoms that attend most if not all Fevers for all Alkalies destroy Sulphurs as may be seen in the making of Soap Hepar Sulphuris c. Sulphurs are the active Principle in both Animal and Vegetable Juices Alkalies by breaking and dividing the Particles of the Sulphurs excite Fermentations and by degrees cause a total Dissipation of them Acids are a sort of Vinculum to Sulphurs and therefore they suppress Fermentations and keep the Sulphur from Dissipation From whence I infer that a true Oleosum must be the great Medicine but it must not be such a one as commonly goes under that Name which is only a Combination of Volatile Alkaly with Spirit of Wine and Aromatick Oils or Spices instead of which it must be an Acido-oleosum an exalted Acid combined after the foresaid manner The Life of Man it self being principally supported by an Acido-oleosum If any one asks me what I mean by Sulphur My Answer is whatsoever is inflammable And with such kind of Substances the World is almost every where filled For without them neither the Lives of Men nor Beasts could be any way supported and therefore those places that are best supplied with them are best stockt with Animals of all kinds whereas those that are deficient in them such as the Desarts of Arabia c. are almost wholly destitute of all kinds of living Creatures Letter But secondly there is another way of discovering an Alkaly besides that of its Appearance and that is by its effects to wit its Fermentation with Spirit of Vitriol Now I aver this green Serum will not ferment with the foresaid Spirit Wherefore if it be an Alkaly it is an Alkaly of a particular nature It must be granted that we oftentimes find in the Blood some Particles of a very warm nature predominant in which cases I have found Acids to be of great use but whether they are of an Alkaline Nature or not I leave to the Learned to determine If they are Alkalies then either fixt or Volatile if fixt how comes it to pass that on the Dissolution of the Texture of the Blood they claim the highest place and nothing will serve their turn but they must needs swim in the Serum if Volatile how is it that we many times find this warm Serum to be little better than insipid Volatile Salts you know are aculeated and affect the Palat strongly May they not rather be of a sulphureous nature since it is the Nature of such Substances to sit uppermost on the Dissolution of Bodies Answer I own it is one of the genuine and constant Effects of an Alkaly to cause an Effervescency when mixt with Spirit of Vitriol or any other Acid Spirit but whether this Effervescency be to be accounted a Fermentation I greatly question Tho Alkalies will excite Fermentation in fermentible Liquors as is well known to many Mechanicks and I fear too well by the Brewers about this City As for what you mean by the green Serum which you say will not ferment or effervesce with Spirit of Vitriol I cannot tell But sure I am that if you put a little Spirit or Oil of Vitriol into a small Bottle and upon that pour some Serum of Blood that will turn Syrup of Violets green it will immediately become intensly hot and a great many Bubbles will immediately rise which looks very like a Fermentation if it be not one therefore when you made this Experiment upon which you are so confident there must needs be some Error committed for upon your urging this thing the first Opportunity I had I made the Experiment afresh and it succeeded the very first time and I doubt not but if you will give your self the trouble of making this Experiment again it will not fail of succeeding As for those warm Particles that you say are often predominant in the Blood I must confess I don't understand what you mean by them the Blood whilst we are in a state of Health is always warm the reason of which I have before given you If we have a Fever upon us the Blood exceeds its natural Temper according as the Fever is more or less violent Now the Cause of this Excess of Heat in a febrile state I take to be as follows in most Fevers especially in the beginning of them there is a Constipation of some of the Emunctories so that the excrementitious Alkaly which should be carried off by them is detained in the Blood which by breaking of its Globules and dividing of the sulphureous Particles which are the Pabulum of the vital Flame does either excite what we call a Fermentation or rather by dividing the sulphureous Particles and subduing the Acid that held them together does increase the Flame to an intense degree An Instance of which we have in common Fire as I have elsewhere taken notice of and shall here again repeat viz. let the Matter of which Fire is made be laid close together and then kindled and it will consume leisurely and by degrees whereas let it be laid at some little distances one from another and it will consume with a rapid and intense Flame Salt-Peter also and Brimstone being mixt together will burn with a gentle and easy Flame but by adding a Proportion of Charcoal-Dust as is the Method in making Gun-powder wherein is contain'd the fixt Alkaly of the
doth so it is for the most part in the Caput mortuum of the Blood of people in a state of Health Experiment VII THe same day I committed to Distillation the Blood of a Gentlewoman who for many Years had had a short convulsive Cough and always subject to an Obstruction of her Menses she was then big with Child and besides her Cough she then complained of a Sickness in her Stomach and a loss of Appetite with a lurking Fever and an Inflammation in her Face It weighed seven Ounces six Drams and afforded four Ounces four Drams and a half of Phlegm impregnated with a highly Volatile Alkalious Gas that would readily turn Syrup of Violets green and in quantity would effervesce with Spirit of Niter Sea-Salt Vitriol c. It afforded also one Ounce four Drams of highly exalted Alkalious Spirit one Drop of which would turn a considerable quantity of a strong Solution of Syrup of Violets as green as Grass about ten Grains of light Oil that swam upon the Spirit and three Drams of a heavy fetid Oil that sunk to the bottom of it and two Drams two Scruples of Caput mortuum Experiment VIII AUgust the eleventh I committed to Distillation three Ounces two Drams of the Blood of a Man of a black swarthy Complexion and of a highly scorbutical habit of Body It afforded one Ounce three Drams and ten Grains of Phlegm with a little volatile Alkalious Gas mixt with it one Ounce fifteen Grains of a highly strong Alkalious Spirit two Drams of fetid Oil which all sunk to the bottom and two Drams of Caput mortuum Experiment IX AUgust the twelfth I committed to Distillation the Blood of a Maid of a pale Complexion who had what we call the Green-sickness It weighed three Ounces six Drams and afforded one Ounce seven Drams of Phlegm unmixt with Gas one Ounce two Drams and a half of a strong Alkalious Spirit one Dram two Scruples and a half of fetid Oil which all sunk to the bottom and one Dram and a half of Caput mortuum Experiment X. I Committed to Distillation three Ounces two Drams of the Blood of a very worthy Gentleman who was very Hypocondriacal and had had a very great Pain in his Back and Hips of many Years and once a month had violent distending Pains in his left Side and at that time was much troubled with Wind. It afforded me of an insipid Phlegm one Ounce six Drams of a highly impregnated Alkalious Spirit one Ounce two Drams and a half of fetid Oil which all sunk to the bottom one Dram seventeen Grains of Volatile Alkalious Salt which stuck in the Neck of the Retort in a dry form seventeen Grains and of Caput mortuum one Dram five Grains Experiment XI SEptember the ninth I committed to Distillation three Ounces of the Blood of an Honourable Lady who had had for two Years a scrophulous Tumor in one of her Breasts and of a very scorbutick habit of body and subject to wandring Pains and nervous Obstructions It afforded one Ounce six Drams of Phlegm six Drams of strong Alkalious Spirit one Dram seven Grains of fetid Oil and one Dram ten Grains of Caput mortuum I could add a multitude of Experiments of this kind but they belonging to another Piece I have thought fit to trouble you with no more and in relation to these few I think it necessary to premise a few things that I may make things as clear as may be To avoid the grand Objection that by exposing things to violent Fires there are new Substances produced which were not existent in the Concrete before which Objection I shall take occasion to make appear to be but a very trifling one I took the following Method as the only one by which I could most clearly satisfy my self being the most plain and easy one imaginable I first of all put the Blood as it came out of the Veins Serum and all together into a glass Retort with a very wide Mouth to which I had a Receiver adapted as fit as possibly I could I afterwards put my Retort into a sand Furnace under which I made a very gentle Fire which I increased by degrees till the Drops began to fall at about a Second's distance one from another in which state I continued it till the Phlegm was all come over and unless in one or two very extraordinary Cases I have always found the Phlegm come over first which perhaps to some may appear a Paradox that what we commonly call Volatile Spirit and Salt should not rise before the Phlegm but upon trial I am sure whoever will give themselves so much trouble will find it true When it had dropt so long that one Drop being dropt upon two Drams of a strong Solution of Syrup of Violets would turn it green I then changed my Receiver and continued my Fire till nothing more would come over and this last I call Spirit having always a proportion more or less of a fetid Oil mixt with it Now what we call Spirit of this kind is only a proportion of Volatile Alkalious Salt mixt with so much Phlegm as will well dissolve it Therefore I confess the most nice way of making these Experiments is to separate the Volatile Alkalious Salt by it self without any mixture of Phlegm but every Experiment requiring a fresh Vessel and the Vessels themselves being very chargable it would be almost impossible for any private Man to make a sufficient number of Experiments without the assistance of the Publick which occasioned me in the Preface to my Tract of the Gout to propose a Publick Stock to carry on this Work to bring things to an absolute certainty if possible However altho these Experiments are not the most accurate that might be made yet they are plain and easy and are capable of being made by those who want the common Apparatus for a Laboratory An Iron Pot set up in the Corner of a Chimny with a few Retorts and Receivers are all that are necessary for the making of these Experiments whereas for the other sort there are required long bolt Heads each of which will serve but for one Experiment with nice Furnaces and so much other charge and trouble that few private Men are either capable or willing to be at to make such a number of Experiments that are requisite But by the way I have set down a Man may make a vast number of Experiments for a small charge it is but going by one Rule in the making of them and I don't see but a Man may act with as much certainty as in the other only I must confess it is more liable to the Objections of Cavillers but for such I have no value it being only for such candid ingenious Persons as your self for whom I am willing to take pains Let a Man but nicely observe to change the Receiver when one Drop will turn the Syrup of Violets green and that
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