Dean of Durham's Counsel and Directions Divine and Moral in Letters of Advice to a Young Gentleman soon after his Admission into a Colledge in Oxford Arch-bishop Stern's Logick The Pope's Bull concerning the Damnation Excommunication c. of Queen Elizaheth with Observations and Animadversions thereon By Thomas Lord Bishop of Lincoln There is also Printed with it the Popes Bull for the Damnation and Excommunication of King Henry the Eighth The Catholick Balance or a Discourse determining the Controversies concerning 1. The Catholick Doctrines 2. The Primacy of St. Peter and the Bishop of Rome 3. The Subjection and Authority of the Church in a Christian State According to the Suffrages of the primest Antiquity Written with most Impartial Sincerity at the Request of a Private Gentleman ΦΑΡΜΑΚΟ-ΒΑΣΑÎΟΣ OR THE Touch-stone of Medicines c. VOL. II. Containing Four PARTS Part the Third Of the Tastes and Virtues of Minerals and the similitude of their Principles to those of Vegetables Part the Fourth Of the Tastes and Virtues of Animal Medicines and the Origine of Animal Humors Part the Fifth Containing the Classes of Specificks distinguished by their Tastes and the Humors which they Correct Part the Sixth Contains a new Method for distinguishing Plants into Classes by their Tastes and Smells In the Appendix The Animal Medicines are reduced into a Scheme by their Tastes The Minerals are also digested under their several Tastes and many Observations are added which were omitted in the preceding Parts TO THE Right Honourable WILLIAM Lord Digby Baron Digby OF Geashil in IRELAND My Lord I Designed the subject of this Essay at Coleshil-Hall in Warwick-shire whilst I attended there as a Physician And therefore I humbly apply my self to your Lordship for the Patronage of it The great Favours I have received from your Honourable Family oblige me to make this Dedication but especially your Lordship's curiosity in reading the Philosophy of this Age and your Ingenious Studies which have given your Lordship the advantage of judging of a greater Subject I am much obliged to many Gentlemen of your Country who have Tasted many Plants with me and I desire to make this Tract more acceptable to them by this Dedication of it to your Lordship whom they justly Honour and Esteem for your Zealous concern for the Preservation of our Church and State. I will give your Lordship this short account of the design of this ensuing Book I shall assert that Minerals Animals and Vegetables have Water Earth Oyl and Acids for their Principles Of these they are compounded and into these they are ultimately resolved Generation being the mixture of Principles and Corruption the separation of them This Opinion agrees with and illustrates the Antient Hypothesis That all Bodies are compounded of Moist Dry Hot and Cool Principles The Humidity depends on the Water the dryness on the Earth the Oyl is Inflammable and the Matter of Fire in Vegetables In Minerals the Oyly Sulphur burns in Animals the Oyly Fat is Inflammable The Oyls Fat 's and Sulphurs are the same Oyly Principle but they differ by their several States Mixtures and Digestions The Acid Principle produces Coldness in Animal Humors according to Hippocrates's Observation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it is observable that Nitre which is Acid tastes very Cool and the Sulphureous Acid which abounds in the Air is esteemed the Principle of Cold. The Oyly Principle is the Hot Principle in Animals as Hippocrates affirms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because the Ancients observed these Qualities to abound in Earth Water Fire and Air they called these Elements and supposed all Bodies to be compounded of them Those Constitutions they called Dry in which Earth abounds those Moist in which Water prevails the Oyl high digested makes the Constitution Hot and a great Acidity renders the Constitution Cold. Galen describes Choler as Bitter Acrid and Detergent Phlegm as Crude Slimy and Cool The Atra bilis is described as Acid which Galen says is evacuated into the Stomach and there becomes Styptick Hippocrates affirms the Atra bilis to be Viscid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that by Atra bilis the Ancient Physicians understood the Slimy Acid of the Spleen which when the Spleen is obstructed is carried by the Arteries of the Stomach into its Cavity where this Slime and Acidity abounding produce the Flatus Hypochondriacus and this Acidity descending into the Guts turns the Choler it there meets into a black Colour from whence it has the name of Atra bilis From the taste of these Humors Bitter Acrid Choler Acid Lympha and Viscid Slime the Famous Sylvius deduces his Notions of all Diseases as the Ancients did from Choler Phlegm and Atra bilis But I will in this Treatise present your Lordship with a larger Scheme of Animal Humors I shall endeavour in this Tract to explain the Virtues of Mineral and Animal Medicines by their Tastes and Smells as I have done that of Vegetables Though Galen did exactly describe the Tastes of Vegetables yet he was wholly perplexed about Minerals and the same is the general fault of the Chymists who attribute wonderful Effects to their Gold Medicines but observe no Taste though the sweet Stypticity is evident in Tincture of Gold from whence it has its Vertue That Vegetables Minerals and Animals have the same kind of Taste at first may seem strange but we must consider that Vegetables receive their Juices from Minerals to prove this I need only instance in Hepatica Terrestris which smells of a Petroleum and Minerals have their Acid Sweet Slimy and Bitter Tastes Out of these the Juices for Vegetables is prepared by Fermentation and the dissolving Power of the Sulphur-Acid in the Air If this Nourishment be ill prepared it keeps its Mineral Nature and petrefies Plants hence Stoney parts are observed in Oaks whilst growing and Coral smells Earthy and Sulphureous like a Flint if two pieces be rubbed together I must farther observe that Animals have their Sweet Bitter Salt and Acrid Tastes from Vegetables which by Putrefaction acquire an Animal Nature yielding Urinous Spirits and all Vegetables become fit Nourishment for Animals by their Fermentation in the Stomach Many Marine Plants such as Sponge have a middle state of Principles betwixt Vegetables and Animals and therefore yield a Volatile Salt like Animals and Fixt like Vegetables I will give one Instance from the greatest of our English Physicians Dr. Willis to shew his Opinion of the usefulness of a Rational from the taste of an Empyrical Medicine in the Chincough from whence he framed his Methodical and Rational Cure of it He examined the Virtue of Cup-moss by the Taste and says Virtutis astrictoriae est atque particulas nonnihil acres salis volatilis copiam redolentes in se continet unde conjectari licebit usum ejus esse sanguinem figere serique fluxiones sedare ac insuper succum nerveum volatilizando diathesin spasmodicam tollere The Virtues of Medicines were first known by the Tastes
Dead-Nettle These may therefore be placed as Bitter Astringents with a Fetid Smell Verbascum Tapsus Digitalis Scrophularia Betonica aquatica Cynocrambe XII Strong Bitter Sweet Tastes in the Bark and Berries being Purgers Rhamnus catharcticus whose Bark is very Acrid or burning in chewing Alnus nigra baccifera of the same Taste and Vertue XIII Herbs of a bitter sweet slimy sub-acrid Taste and Purging Aloes Quaere Whether this is referrible to the Grasses it is Astringent in the Leaves Gratiola Lysimachia galericulata Quaere Whether these be not referible to the Lychnis Bitter-Sweets The Fifth CLASS Of Aromatick Plants PLants of an Aromatick Taste are either Sweet-Aromaticks or Bitterish-Aromaticks There are some Aromaticks both Bitterish and Sweet and there are also mixt Smells of Aromatick and Fetids The Sweet-Aromaticks have their Sweetness from the Juice in the Bladders which is of a smooth Oyly Nature but their Acrid-Aromatick from a Milk which in Fennil may be dryed into an Oyly Balsam in which is a Volatile Salt mixt with the Oyl And hence all the Aromaticks are Acrid and Hot in Taste All the Umbelliferous Plants are Milky and in Angelica the Milk dryed looks like Blood-clutters which is observed by Dr. Grew The digestion is higher in the Bitterish Aromatick than in the Sweet which I call of the Fennil-Class because that is most known and a savour of it is observable throughout that Class boyled Fennil-Roots savour of Parsneps The Oyly Salt is spread through the whole Plant and gives the same Taste to each part This also produces the Effluviums which affect the Smell and Taste In the Bitterish-Aromatick as Rosemary and Lavender the Balsamick Turpentine is like a Resin which gives the Bitterish Acrid Taste and is lodged in Oyly Vessels but an Astringency is in the Bladders In the Aromaticks of a mixt Smell the Oyly Juices are highest digested First Sweet Acrid Aromaticks 1. Of a Parsnep-Smell Pastinaca latifolia tenuifolia Aquatica Sisarum Sium Sison Oenanthe aquatica Ballatis Sisarum Peruvianum whose Roots taste Sweet and Mealy Slimy and so fit for Food the Flowers and Leaves smell Fragrant like a Parsnep Daucus Pimpinella Saxifrago major minor Or of a mixt Smell of Parsnep with Fetid Sphondylium Cicutaria vulgaris 2. Of a Fennil-Smell Aromatick Foeniculum Anethum Dracunculus hortensis Anisum Carum Crithmum lignum Sassaphras by the taste is of this Class Or of a Fennil-Smell mixt with Fetid Peucedanum has a Sulphur-Smell Ferula Panax Libanotis Cuminum Meum Coriandrum Ammi Levisticum Siler montanum which smells like Lovage and tastes Acrid by the Taste and Smell arising from a Volatile Salt and Oyl these are Vterines as Strong Fetid Diuretick Pectoral and Carminative as all other of this Class are 3. Of a Parsley-Smell Caucalis Petroselinum Macedonicum Sativum Bulbocastanum Smyrnium Percepier Hipposelinum Opium and the last has a strongness or Fetid 4. Of a Chervil-Smell Chaerefolium Pecten Veneris Gingidium which is described Bitter-Aromatick Seseli Hartwort of Candy smells like Chervil as Gerard affirms Of a mixt Smell of Chervil and Fetid Myrrbis Sylvestris Seminibus asperis 5. Of a Sweet Aromatick Acrid Astringent Taste as Cinnamon Cassia Lignea but these I have placed with the Laurel-Aromaticks but by the Taste they are of this Class 6. Of a Sweet Bitterish Acrid Aromatick Taste with the Smell of Angelica Angelica hortensis Imperatoria Herba Gerardi Petasitis which sweats out a Balsam instar Balsami Capaivae 7. Sweet Acrid Aromatick in a very high degree Cubebae Cardamomum Amomum is reckoned like Cardamomum or Acorus To this Class the Aromaticks in the Sweet Tastes are most properly referible Secondly Species of Aromaticks are Bitterish Acrid Aromaticks Sub-astringent 1. Of a Mint-Smell pure or mixt Mentha spicata Calamintha Mentha crispa Mentastrum Sisymbrium Fetid mixt with a Mint-Smell Nepeta Dictamnus Pulegium 2. Of a Smell of Citron Melissa Ocymum 3. Of a Marjoram-Smell Marum Syriacum Origanum Majorana Clinopodium Acinos 4. Of a Sweet Resinous Smell Rosmarinus Lavendula Stoechas Arabica Thymus Serpillum Epithymum Of a mixt Smell with Fetid Hyssopus Satureia 5. Of a very great Acrimony Zinziber Galanga Acorus Vide The Class of Sweet Tastes where they are placed more by their external similitude to the rest of that Class but must here be placed by the Taste Cortex Winteranus is referible to the Laurel-Bitters Of a mixt Smell Zedoaria Camphora Vide Bitter Astringent with a Burnet-Smell Bitter Sweet Astringent with a Clove-Smell Laurel-Bitters Aromatick Terebinthinates Aromatick Aromatick Austeres I generally find the Roots of Bitterish Aromatick Plants to be only Bitterish Astringent the Aromatick is more evident in the Leaves as in Balm Marjoram Clary Sage The Roots of Mint taste not so Acrid and Aromatick as the Leaves therefore the Juices are higher digested than in the Root which taste only Bitterish Astringent and the Acrid Aromatick is produced from the Bitter of the Root I compared the Taste of Mint which had been long kept growing in Water with fresh Mint it was not so strong in Taste and Smell as the fresh Sprig got out from the Garden there was some difference but not much The growing of Herbs from Water shews that Water is no pure Element but a compounded Body having some mixture of Oyly Acid and Earthy Particles which are contained under the form of Water and nourish both Plants and Fish Water long kept tastes Acid and is Fetid which are sensible proofs of an Oyl and Acid dissolved in it In many Bitters as the Smoaky the Roots taste stronger than the Leaves because of the greater plenty of the Bitter Milk Vessels but in the Leaves there are the same Milk Vessels and besides them in the Bladders of the Leaves is contained a crude slimy Juice which is not capable of any farther digestion by the heat of the Sun and hence it is that the Leaf tastes most of that crude slimy Juice with a mixture of Bitter from the Milky Bitter Gum in the Specifick Vessels The Root of St. John's-wort tastes Bitterish Astringent with a lower savour of Turpentine than in the Leaves in which the Oyly Juice is more exalted and Volatilized and smells more of Turpentine The Wormwood-Bitters as Feaverfew Mugwort Chamomile have less Bitter in the Roots than in the Leaves they have a sweetness like the Root of Wormwood which sweetness is digested in a bitterness in the Leaves The Sixth CLASS Of Fetids I Find that the Fetids will not easily be distinguished from the Aromaticks because of the likeness of the Plants in Figure and Taste of Sweet or Bitter and the mixt Smells of Fetid and Aromatick are to be placed in the same Class I mentioned many Fetids which are placed in other Classes by other remarkable Tastes with which they are joyned as 1. The Fetid Earthy-Tastes 2. The Fetid Rank Oyly in the Pea-Class 3. Fetids of a Lamium-Smell 4. Elder-Fetids 5. Terebinthinate-Fetids 6. The Laurel-Fetids 7.
are that very Thing by which we are nourished so without a Paradox every Vegetable may be said to be a Mineral as being nourished by something Mineral And a Treatise of Minerals may very aptly be joyn'd to One of Vegetables without any Fault in Coherence or Absurdity in Method For Vegetables receive their Earth Oyl and Acid from Minerals And I must further observe That the Soyl from which Vegetables receive their immediate Juyce is a Congeries of Mineral Bodies viz. Sand which looks like Gems in a Microscope Clay Marle Chalk Flints Lime-stone and divers other sorts of Earths in Distillation yielding an Acid Spirit which is the Product of some Sulphur in them And the same Sulphur gives an Oyly Fatness to many Earths as Marle Clay Bole c. It is observ'd that Salt-Petre abounds in all Fertile Earths and has a Mineral-Acid in it So that if it any ways conduce to the Production of Plants it must be allowed that in the Production Vegetables receive some Acid from it Sulphureous Damps are most evident in some particular Places arising from the Superficies of the Earth and Boggy Grounds have always an offensive Air which is not vitiated by the Water only but also by some Sulphureous Effluviums which upon standing Water shoot into a bluish Cream like that on standing Vitriolate Waters I cannot but mention those Bodies which have a middle State betwixt Minerals and Vegetables from whence I inferr a great Analogy betwixt their Principles and a gradual Transmutation of Mineral Principles into Vegetable Oyls Acids and Earths Water is a common Vehicle necessary for the Mixture of those Principles in both Kingdoms and it may be the Earthy Part is the same in both Vegetables are changed towards Minerals sometimes Coral grows as a Plant and afterwards has the Hardness of a Stone when full grown to which the Astringent Liquor observ'd in it conduces for from a drop of it new Coral is said to spring So in other Vegetables some Seed-Cases become Stony which lie in the middle of an Acid Pulp as in Cherries Plumbs c. Gromwel-Seed is Stony though it have no exterior Acid Pulp and the Seeds of Apples and Lemons which have an exterior Acid Pulp are not Stony Pears have a Stonyness in them Patrification in Vegetables depends on an Acerb Juyce in which the Acid and Earth are mixt in a certain Proportion for all Acids will not produce it for want of the due Proportion of Earth to them and of that particular Texture of both which is necessary for Stones So that when Coral and the Cases of Fruits become Stones there is no Change of the Principles but the Vegetable Acid and Earth acquire a new Texture The Bitumens in the Mineral Kingdom are in a middle State betwixt Minerals and Vegetables They are produc'd from Mineral Principles otherwise mixt than in Minerals and in a near Disposition to become Vegetable For the Bitumens in Minerals and Turpentines in Vegetables are very like in Smell and Taste and yield the same Chymical Principles in Distillation The Soot of Coal is of a smoaky Smell and tastes Bitter and Acrid in which it is like to the Soot of Wood and also both of them yield the same Volatile Salt and Oyl The Narcotick Quality of Sulphur Anodyn Vitrioli resembles the Fetid Narcoticks in Vegetables The Ashes of Minerals and Plants may be Vitrified alike by a strong Fire and therefore there is no great Difference betwixt them The Fixt Salts of Plants have the Nature of Mineral Salts as appears in Lime-Water which tastes salt and both are the Product of Fire for neither Minerals nor Vegetables have any Natural Fixt Salt. It is not improbable that these Fixt Salts of both Kingdoms agree in the Figure of their Crystals and both may be Cubical as Common Salt or of some Irregular Figure near to a Cube The Reason why all Minerals cannot be calcin'd into Salts as Plants be is the indissolvible Texture of their Parts which not being perfectly destroyed by the Fire they cannot thereby acquire New Mixtures as it happens in Plants for the Production of Fixt Salts But this Dissolution of Principles and Re-mixture happens in Lime in the Production of the Fixt Salt evident in Lime-Water I have mention'd the most known Bodies which have their Rise from Minerals and afterwards become Vegetables as Bitumen and those which from Vegetables become Minerals as Coral and the Stones of Fruits And I might here add the Petrification of Vegetables by petrifying Waters which contain a Nitrum Calcarium as the ingenious Dr. Lister has evidently prov'd by which Plants are petrified having the Nitrous Lime-Stone Particles closely united with their Earthy Parts I shall have a further Occasion of comparing the Nitrum Calcarium with the Tartarous Earth in Plants by both which Plants are petrified by the last Naturally and by the former Artificially and Externally Minerals are produc'd out of Juyces like Vegetables which sometimes grow into Figures resembling perfect Plants and have Branches and Joynts like them as if they had been petrified Plants but are really Natural Stones From this Likeness of Stones and Plants it is not improbable that there is a great Similitude in Principles and a propensity to change from one to the other In the Discourse about Fermentation I have more fully compared the Oyls and Acids of Minerals with Vegetables Vide. CHAP. II. Of the Similitude betwixt Mineral Principles and those of Vegetables THE Principles of Minerals are of the same Kind and Number as those of Vegetables Water is distilled from Salts and Mineral Earths and is necessary for the mixing of the other Principles Therefore Liquors are found in Mineral Stones and Stones had at first a Liquid Form. Water is the same in all Bodies but if extracted by Distillation it retains some Tincture from that particular Body from whence it is distill'd An Oyly Principle is manifest in Sulphureous Bodies as Antimony which may be reduc'd into a Butyrose Form by Distillation And all the Mineral Sulphurs may be easily extracted by Oyl of Turpentine with which they readily mix because of the Similitude of Oleous Parts The Oyliness of Mineral Sulphurs is more evident in the Distillation of Coal which yields a black Oyl Fetid like Harts-horn and as black and smoaky The Bitumens which have the Nature of Turpentine do most clearly convince us of the Oyliness of Mineral Sulphurs So that I need add no more to prove this Principle of Minerals The Third Principle of Minerals is an Acid which is acknowledg'd by all being evident in the Distillation of Sulphur and the Clyssus of Antimony This Acid adheres to the Oyly Sulphur in Minerals and locks it up thereby making it appear in a dry Form and therefore this may be compar'd to the Tartar in Vegetables which has always some Oyl in it By means of this Acid the Oyly Sulphur and the Earthy Parts are readily united in Mineral Bodies and therefore This is that
fixt in the Silver so that in the Spirit of Vitriol mixt with the Oyl of Tartar some Authors have observed a Bitter The Oyly Acid in Saccharum Saturni has a Smoothness of Parts produced by the fixing of the Acids in the Lead and the Bitterness in the Crystals of Silver come from a Rough Texture of the Compounded Parts resembling the Texture of Bitters The Acid in the Composition of Saccharum Saturni makes it cooling CHAP. VII Of Minerals and Mineral Earths and Stones FLowres of Sulphur taste Dry Sub-acid Fl. Sulphuris and smell strongly Fetid There is a great Acid in Sulphur and an Oyly Part By the Acid it cures the Itch corrodes Minerals and fixes Volatile Salts By the Oyly Part it is a Balsamick Pectoral and cures the Acid stagnating Lympha Oyl of Turpentine and Oyl of Vitriol mixt and distill'd yield a Sulphur vivum And being the Bitumens and Petroleum are so like Turpentine in Taste and Smell I thence argue That there is a great Agreeableness in Sulphur and Turpentine which last seems to be only the Oyly Part of Sulphur depriv'd of much of its Acidity and therefore less coagulate by it Which Opinion I shall farther confirm by observing that Turpentine is compos'd of the same Principles as Sulphur of an Oyly Part and an Acid and besides has a great deal of Water to make it fluid Sulphur easily mixes with the Oyl of Turpentine both are Inflammable have the same Physical Vertues and are the Causes of all Smells the One in Minerals and the Other in Vegetables Ettmullerus says Anthrax distill'd yields an Oyl like Petroleum therefore out of Sulphur Turpentine-Bitumens are produc'd And I have instanc'd above that out of Turpentine Sulphur may be produc'd Which are convincing Experiments that Turpentine and Sulphur have the same Oyl and Acid only in different States and Mixtures From hence it is evident that Chymists speak not much amiss when they call the Oyl of Vegetables their Sulphur but I do not think it proper to explain the Nature of Vegetables by Mineral Principles though Galen calls all Bitter Plants Nitrose because they resemble the Bitterness of Nitre and not for having any Nitre in them For the same reason I might call Acerb Tastes Aluminous because they resemble that Taste but none will allow that any Alum is in the Plants of that Taste I will give an Instance of Sulphur's Fertility in producing all the Salts in the Earth as well as the Acids in Vegetables which I have above intimated the Sulphur-Acid being one Part of the Composition of Mineral-Salts Vitriol is known to be the Product of the Fumes of Sulphur which corrode Iron into an imperfect Vitriol But the perfect Vitriol is only made in the Air out of a Pyrites Spirit of Sulphur put upon Iron produces a Vitriol and so does the melting of Brimstone with it and likewise the mixing of Flowre of Brimstone with Filings of Iron and sprinkling them with Water this put into fair Water with Galls turns Purple Alum is produc'd from the Acid Fumes of Sulphur dissolving some Stony Matter for Spirit of Sulphur will with Chalk constitute an Alum and Alum-Stones are full of Sulphur as Dr. Lyster informs us and where there is most Vitriol and Sulphur bred Alum abounds most Sea-Salt is compounded of an Alcalizate Body or Vitrious Earth and a Sulphureous Acid Hence Flowres of Sulphur are sometimes gather'd in the Neck of the Retort in distillation of Spirit of Salt as Ettmullerus intimates Spirit of Salt being re-affus'd upon an Alkaly becomes perfect Sea-Salt again and shoots into Cubes after the distillation of Sal-Ammoniack with Salt of Tartar. All Sulphureous Waters have a Sea-Salt in them which is an Argument of the Acidity of Sea-Salts being the same as Sulphur-Acid which coagulates with a Stony Matter into a Fixt Salt. Sea-Salt will be fused in a strong Fire by reason of the Alkaly Nitre consists of a very Sulphureous Acid which in Places impregnated with the Vrines or Dungs of Animals has a Volatile Salt for its Alkaly In Old Walls and Stony Places Nitre has some of the Stone or Lime for the Alkaly In the Springs of the Earth the Sulphureous Acid fixes on Sea-Salt whence after the burning of Nitre a Sea-Salt remains Cinnabar corrects Acids by the Sulphur Cinnabaris Nativa and Quick-silver of which it is made It smells Sulphureous and tastes Gritty The Acid of the Sulphur fixes the Mercury which happens also in the making of all Amalgamas in which the Quick-silver is fixt by the Sulphur of the Metal Cinnabar is given inwardly for all Distempers depending on Acids and outwardly dries Vlcers and cicatrizes Antimony is compounded of much Sulphureous Antimonium Acid and Vitreous Earth Antimonial Medicines have either Sulphur-Flowres in them of which the Tincture plainly smells or else an Acid in them most manifest in the Clyssus from a mixture of both the Flowres and Acid of Antimony the Vomitory Faculty arises For Sulphur in Minerals answers the Resin in Vegetables having both an Oyly Pungency and both may be produc'd from the Oyl of Turpentine and Oyl of Vitriol Verdegrease is very Corrosive good for Aerugo stopping Putrefaction in Vlcers and for cleansing them and is produc'd from the Acid of Grapes corroding and giving a Green Colour The Vrine added in the Preparation gives a Blue Colour and helps the Dissolution of Copper Ettmuller Lapis Lazuli Armenus They partake Lapis Lazuli Armenus of the Nature of Copper and very little of Silver by which they are purging The Sulphur-Acid in Copper being offensive to an Animal Body and most of the Preparations of Silver which are purging have their Vertue from Copper mixt with it Lapis Lazuli besides the Copper contains some Gold. Ettmuller says They have their Earthy Part from Marble and are found in Copper-Mines and Gold-Mines Tutia and Pompholyx are the Products Tutia Pompholyx of Copper and very drying in Vlcers They are the Soot of Copper Lapis Medicamentosus is of a Salt Astringent Lapis Medicamentosus Taste by which it cleanses and heals Vlcers The Pumice-Stone burnt and quenched Pumex in Vinegar is a good Dentrifice The vertue of Stones that have neither Taste nor Smell are only absorbent of Acids and drying in Vlcers But Pumice yields a Green Tincture with Spirit of Vinegar and therefore contains Copper Lime-Water tastes Saltish and is of a Calx mixt nature partly Alkaline because it gives a Volatility to Sal-Ammoniack which is a Salso-Acid and it precipitates Minerals dissolved by Acids But it has also an Acidity and coagulates Oyls into Butter So Oyl of Roses grows Thick and Butyrose if mixt with Lime-Water Spirit of Salt distilled from Lime yields a Volatile Vrinous Salt like Spirit of Vrine which shews the little difference betwixt Volatile and Fixt Salts and that an Acid is an Ingredient of both sorts An excellent and useful Salt may be drawn from the
by Acids Raddle distilled smelt a little Acid but the Phlegm which was in great quantity tasted like pure Water The Raddle lost not its colour but turned deep Purple in the Caput Mortuum Raddle is given to Ê’ss for two or three Doses in the beginning of the Small-Pox to stop and prevent Looseness and too great Putrefaction It tastes like Bole and has the same Virtue as an Antidote against Infectious Fevers 3. Earths of a bituminous fetid Taste which give a bitterness to some purging Springs as North-hall-Waters The Fires made of Boggy Earths smell Sulphureous and Fetid as in our Pea-Turfs Hence it appears that Sulphurs are lodged in Earths as well as other Minerals Bituminous Earths are of a discussing nature because Fetid 4. Aromatick Earth Samos Earth mentioned by Dr. Grew 5. Acrid Earths and sweet Earths and bitter sweet are mentioned by Kircher 6. Salt Earths may also be observed as well as Salt Springs for all Physical Waters have their Tastes from Mineral Earths I observed a white Salt on new Brick-Walls which tasted cool and saltish like Nitre This seems to come from the Burnt-Brick whose Volatile Salt is made Nitrous by the Acid of the Air. I distilled Marle and Clay but had nothing but Phlegm but they turned Syrup of Violets green which is a sign of a Volatile Salt. And Bartholin mentions an argilla flava which yields a Volatile Salt in Glass Vessels but it is lost in Earthen which caution I did not observe And Le Mort affirms That Argillae variae species praebent sal volatile mediante distillatione The Phlegm of the Marle looked Oyly and smelt very strong of a particular Smell not unpleasant From hence I suppose some Oyliness is latent in Marle as well as because it improves Sandy ground By these Experiments I found how difficult it was to resolve the common Earths into their Principles by the Fire but nature easily dissolves all her own mixtures by a gradual Fermentation by the Sulphureous Acid in the Air And the constant agitation of the Materia subtilis which flowing from the Sun gives motion to Fluids and vegetation to Plants Tho' Plants spread their Roots in common Earth yet thence neither their Oyl Acid or Earth is drawn but only from the rain-Rain-water impregnate with the Sulphureous Acid of the Air and also saturated with the Bituminous Fumes lodged in the common Earth The bituminous Oyl and sulphureous Acid unite in the Water and are capable of the Vegetable Ferment which changes the Mineral Principles into a Vegetable State and the particular nature of each Plant. The stronger the Oyl of the Plant the higher is the Fermentation of this bituminous Nutriment of Plants and the weaker Fermentation depends upon a crude Oyl When the Nutriment of Plants which is a Mineral Juice is become of a Vegetable nature it receives no new Fermentation in any part of the Plant but in the Bladders of the Root all the alteration which happens afterward is only from its digestion by the heat of the Sun the agitation of the Plant by the Wind and the long conservation of its Juices in large Vessels as in the Bladders of Fruits and the Leaves of Trees Of the Taste and Smell of Stones STones may be observed in Animals Vegetables and Minerals I. Animal Stones of a chalky Substance and of a dry gritt in Taste and earthy Smell These ferment with Acids like Chalk and thereby become Styptick but with Spirit of Salt they acquire a saltish Taste and are Diuretick And by their unequal rough Particles they cleanse the Teeth in Dentifrices and probably rub off the Gravel in the Kidnies Crabs-Eyes is a chalky Animal Earth and smells like Chalk when powdered Egg-shells and Oyster-shells have the same chalky Substance Egg-shells burnt taste Saltish and burning like Lime and Oyster-shells burnt have a Saltness Bezoar-Stone tastes Gritty and ferments strongly with Acids Since petrified Animal Substances are dissolvable by Acids as Spirit of Nitre by this they resemble the Gypsum or Lime-stone Petrified Animals also burn into a Caput mortuum like Lime and have a little ebullition like Lime upon the effusion of Water I may hence conjecture That the Stony Particles which petrifie Animals is from the Lime-stone which joyning with the natural Vitriolick Acid of Animal Blood produces the petrifying Principle which is like Nitrum calcarium in petrifying Waters Petrified Lime-stone Icicles hang naturally on Lime-stone Rocks Petrified Animal Parts distilled as Pearls Bones Crabs-Eyes and human Stones yield Volatile Salts and Oyls and have a Lime for their Caput Mortuum which being intermixt with their Animal Principles petrified them The Calculus humanus contains little fixt Salt but much Volatile and therefore it is not bred out of Tartar but the Lime-stone Particles associated with the Ammoniac Animal Salt coagulates into a Stone which is much lighter than Minerals but heavier than Animal Bones II. Vegetable Stones petrified as the Stones in Fruits of Dates Haws Peaches c. These Stones distilled yield an Acid Spirit like the Spirit of Wood This Acid combining with the Lime-stone Earth constitutes the petrifying Principles in Vegetables The Stones of Pears ferment with Acids therefore these Vegetable Stones may imbibe the Animal Acids and become Diuretick So the Seed-cases of Gromwel ferment by Acids Malpighius has observed some Turpentine-Vessels in the Stones of Peaches whence their Diuretick Vertue may be increased Petrified Vegetables as Coral ferments with Acid and the Powder of it smells Earthy like Moss If it have any Fragrancy it may resemble that of some Mosses or is ground by the Apothecary with fragrant Waters Coral distilled yields a smoaky Acid Spirit like that of Wood and an Empyreumatick Oyl which are its Vegetable Principles and the Caput mortuum is like Lime which equalled the quantity of the Acid Spirit but it did not effervesce with Water as Lime From the distillation of petrified Animals and Vegetables it appears That their Principles are not changed by petrification but only Nitre mixt with a Lime-stone or chalky Stone by which they acquire a greater hardness and solidity And it is observed in Bonetus That Coral may be dissolved in Rubicundissimam mucilaginem by reason of its Vegetable Principles which I believe remain unaltered by petrification III. Mineral Stones These are either of the nature of Lime-stones or Flints or Metalline Stones or Bituminous I call all those Lime-stones which burn into a kind of Lime and these may be divided into Stones of a chalky Substance or those of a harder Substance as common Stone c. 1. Stones of a chalky Substance as Lapis Spongiae which smells like Chalk and dissolves with Spirit of Salt This grows in Sponges Osteocolla It looks like the inward part of a Bone Spongy and Porous and therefore the Powder of this was given to supply the petrifying Earthy part necessary for the solidity of Bones which are not far from the nature of Minerals Knitbone grows