in the Cure of some sorts of Fevers When I considered the thing as an Exalted Acid I could scarce give the least Credit to what he said tho at the same time I knew he had no design to impose upon me however considering the fatal Success that frequently attended the Use of Alkalies and Alexipharmicks which however at that time I durst not attribute to the Medicines but the Malignity of the Distempers I was resolved upon the first poor Patient I had in a Fever to try what the forementioned Acid would do and after a Multitude of Trials both upon Poor and Rich I found I could by the means of my Acid cure most sorts of Fevers much more effectually and certainly than ever I before could by the means of Alkalies and Alexipharmicks The Effects of this Medicine which is a very cheap one and known to every body back'd with some other Observations put me upon thinking that Fevers and other Distempers did not proceed from the Blood 's abounding with Acid Particles but on the contrary with Alkalious ones for if it had abounded with Acids the giving of more Acids must have aggravated the Symptoms whereas on the contrary I found by the means of my simple Acid which however was communicated to me as the greatest Secret I could take off the most dreadful Symptoms attending most Fevers with all the Ease imaginable Upon which being greatly in love with Chymistry and Chymical Operations and having a convenient Laboratory and all Necessaries at hand I was resolved to examin the Blood of Persons in all Distempers as fast as I could conveniently procure it to see what Substances abounded and after a multitude of Experiments in most Cases I could never find any reason to charge Acids in any one And that I may not be defective in my Duty to so friendly and ingenious an Objector I shall here trouble you with some of my first Experiments Experiment I. JUly the fifteenth I committed to Distillation the Blood of a corpulent Lady of a sanguine Complexion who eats and drinks highly and who had formerly had for some Years together an inveterate Leprosy which I cured by Cinnabarine Medicines c. But at that time she had a severe Fit of a Rheumatism occasioned by Cold taking This Blood and Serum as it came out of the Veins weighed two Ounces one Dram I obtained from it nine Drams of a clear Phlegmy Liquor a little impregnated with Volatile Alkalious Salt which altho it was scarce manifest to the Taste yet it might readily be discerned by pouring a little of it upon some good Syrup of Violets which it presently would turn green Besides which Phlegmy Liquor I obtained five Drams ten Grains of a strong Volatile Alkalious Spirit as strong as the Spirit of Harts-horn usually sold in the Shops sixty five Grains of fetid Oil and in the bottom of the Retort there remained seventy Grains of a light Caput Mortuum Experiment II. JUly the thirtieth I committed to Distillation seven Ounces three Drams of the Blood of a Woman who had for about three Weeks laboured under great Obstructions of her Nerves she had a Lassitude and Faintness upon her and in this time from Fatness she became very lean and so weak as not to be able to go about the House she likewise complained of a wonderful Coldness and Numbness in her Head and was so deaf as not to hear any thing unless People spake very loud to her She had always before this Illness been used to eat and drink well and was of a Constitution somewhat Phlegmatick This seven Ounces three Drams of Blood Serum and all together such as it came out of the Veins without standing to putrefy afforded four Ounces five Drams of Phlegm and in the Neck of the Receiver that caught the Phlegm a few Grains of Volatile Salt in a dry form with which the Phlegm was so impregnated that it would readily turn Syrup of Violets green One Ounce five Drams and 15 Grains of a strong Volatile Alkaline Spirit two Drams six Grains of fetid Oil and in the bottom of the Retort there remained two Drams two Scruples of a very light Caput Mortuum Experiment III. AUgust the first I committed to Distillation two Ounces and a half of the Blood of a Person in a deep Consumption who had a constant Hectick and coughed much bringing up by Coughing a great quantity of purulent Matter He was worn away to a meer Skeleton his Appetite quite gone and so short-breathed that he was not able to walk at all He sweat much for the first part of the Night and when the Sweats left him he burnt prodigiously It produced one Ounce six Drams of Phlegm three Drams and a half of a strong Alkaline Spirit thirty five Grains of fetid Oil and sixty two Grains of Caput Mortuum as light as a Feather Experiment IV. AUgust the fourth I committed to Distillation the Blood of a Gentleman who had scrophulous cancerous Tumours in two parts of his Body which at some times would be ulcerated and at other times after the use of a certain Remedy the Ulcers would be healed but the Tumors still remained This Blood weighed three Ounces six Drams and a Scruple It produced two Ounces one Dram of insipid Phlegm seven Drams and a half of Volatile Alkalious Spirit of fetid Oil forty Grains and of Caput Mortuum one Dram eighteen Grains Experiment V. AT the same time I committed to Distillation the Blood of a Gentlewoman who had for many Years been afflicted with the Stone in the Kidneys and at that time laboured under the most terrible Fit of the Gout that ever I saw It weighed two Ounces seven Drams two Scruples and seven Grains It afforded two Drams of a most volatile Alkalious Spirit before the Phlegm one Ounce four Drams of Phlegm and six Drams twelve Grains of Volatile Alkalious Spirit of the common sort two Drams of fetid Oil and one Dram and half of Caput Mortuum The Volatile Alkalious Spirit that came over before the Phlegm in this Experiment was what I never saw before but her Fit of the Gout was also the most extraordinary that ever I met with there being scarce a Joint of any of the extreme Parts that was not at one and the same time affected Experiment VI. AUgust the tenth I committed to Distillation four Ounces two Drams of the Blood of a young Man of a sanguine Complexion and in a state of Health It afforded two Ounces six Drams of Phlegm that was perfectly insipid and so destitute of Volatile Alkaly that an Ounce of it would but just discolour a very small quantity of Syrup of Violets It afforded also five Drams of an Alkalious Spirit three Drams of heavy Oil and two Drams four Grains of Caput Mortuum which being broke into small Atoms each Atom appeared in my Microscope to be so many little Bodies of Fire This Phaenomenon very rarely appears but when it
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
Hour but Col. Cornwel's Man knockt at the Door and desired to speak with me When he came to me he told me Mr. Turner was much worse than when I left him that Dr. Fry was discharged and he begged me that I would come down again to him for that he would take nothing more from any one but what I should direct Upon which I got a Calash and four Horses as soon as possibly I could and went down again I got to Winchington on Thursday about twelve a Clock and when I came there I found the poor Gentleman in the most profuse Sweat imaginable his Breath short to the last degree and almost no Pulse at all But the Pain in his Side was gone which his Lady who was then with him and those about him took for a good Sign But I told them that his Shortness of Breath continuing and his Pulse being so very low it was rather a bad one and that he was in a most deplorable condition and I appeal to every one of my Lord Wharton's Family who askt me how he did whether I once gave them the least Encouragement to believe that he would recover His Shirt that he had upon him was as wet as if it had been dipt in a River and as cold as Ice and so were both the Sheets therefore the first thing I did was to free him from this cold wet Linen in order to which I got as large a Fire made in the next Room as the Chimney would bear I then set a Shirt and a pair of Sheets that had been before used to be well aired and heated in the mean time his Lady and her Maid with hot Napkins rubbed him and made him as dry as they could after which with all the Caution imaginable we put on a hot dry Shirt and took away the cold wet Sheets and put those that we had well heated and aired in their room This matter just as I have related it I can have sufficiently attested altho it be positively said about the Town that I took him out of the Sweat and put him on clean Linen without airing it at the Fire at all He being prodigiously thirsty begged of me that I would give him something that might allay it upon which I ordered them to make him a Mixture of four Parts small Beer one Part VVhite-wine some Juice of Lemons to make it grateful and to sweeten it with Loaf-sugar and he being a great Lover of Nutmeg desired that a little of it might be grated into it which considering the Stupidness in his Head I agreed to Of this Liquor I allowed him to drink as plentifully as he pleased considering the Profuseness of the Sweats he had had I durst not then venture to bleed him altho his Fever was as violent as ever But to the Apothecaries I prescribed as follows For Mr. Turner Sept. 2d 1697. ℞ Oximel simp Unc. quatuor Aq. Lactis Unc. sex Cinnamomi fort Dracm. sex M. f. Mixtura cap. Cochleare unum frequenter ℞ Oximel squillit Unc. duas Sig. Oximel of Squills ℞ Crem Tart. Unc. sem Tart. Vitriolat Dracm. unam Sach Alb. unc sem M. f. pul in sex Chart. distribuend ex quibus cap. unam tertiâ quâque horâ in Cochlear Syr. Aceti superbibendo haust Apozematis sequentis ℞ Fol. Hederae terrest Flor. Hypericon ana M. unum Rad. Altheae unc duas Bals tolutani Dracm. unam Aq. Font. lib. tres bulliantur ad tertiae partis consumption coletur colaturae adde Oximel simp unc duas sp Nitri dul gut 30. M. ℞ Sp. Nitri dul Dracm. duas Sig. dulcified Spirit of Nitre I afterwards sent a second Prescription which was as follows ℞ Sem. Psillii Cydoniorum ana unc sem ponantur in Chart. separatim ℞ Electuarii Lenitivi unc duas Crem Tart. unc sem M. f. Elect. This last Electuary was for Mr. Turner's Man who had sate up several Nights and complained of a great inward Heat and Costiveness but however because it was inserted in a Bill with Mr. Turner's Name to it I thought it convenient to take notice of it tho it is no Poison and if Mr. Turner had taken it himself it would not have murdered him The forementioned things with Directions were taken as directed and as to those for the use of which there was no Direction given I shall here give an account how they were taken Once in about two Hours I mixt half a Spoonful of the Oximel of Squils in a small quantity of the Apozem and gave it him Of the dulcified Spirit of Nitre I gave him ten Drops in almost every Draught of Liquor he drank As for the Flea Bean and Quince seeds I had one half of them boil'd in two Quarts of VVater to the Consumption of one half and of this mulaginous Decoction I now and then gave him a good Draught it being a great Promoter of Expectoration In the House I got made up a Lambative of fine salad Oil and Syrup of Vinegar and of this I sometimes gave him a Spoonful But all I could do availed nothing I could by no artifice make him expectorate in any quantity only sometimes he would discharge a green putrid Matter He continued to be short breathed to extremity his Fever no whit abated his Pulse low and irregular and sometimes would totally intermit for two or three seconds with a Stupidness in his Head About nine a Clock he again broke out into a most profuse Sweat which I did by no means like at which time I laid me down upon a Field Bed that was in the Room to sleep choosing rather to lie so than go to bed that I might be the more ready to be called upon occasion but having travelled near sixscore Miles in three days and been two Nights upon the Road I was very sleepy About eleven a Clock my Lord VVharton called Madam Turner into the next Room to consult about sending for Dr. Babo she left his Man sitting upon the Bed by him I being fast asleep upon the Field Bed Whilst Madam Turner was in the next Room with my Lord VVharton Mr. Turner in the midst of this profuse Sweat leaps out of the Bed and walkt round it to the Close-stool without any thing but his Shirt upon him Madam Turner hearing some body walk in the Room barefoot run in to see what was the mattter and found him in this posture she was immediately followed by my Lord VVharton and some others as soon as Madam Turner came in I awaked and got up to help her to get him into the Bed When he was put into Bed he laid himself into a Posture out of which he never moved till he died which was within a very few Hours Whether this last getting out of the Bed was a shortning of his Lise I cannot be positive but it is very probable it might It is to be observed that the Night before about eleven a Clock he was in such extreme Agonies that