not bottemed by the Earth as naturalists averre The Water being a lighter Element lib. 2. met cap. 3. it 's proper place is to be above the Earth so as the greater part by far of the superfices of the Globe is covered with water notwithstanding which the higher places of the Earth stand out of the Water 2 Pet. 3.5 and appear above it giving bounds to the Water which it cannot pass over as the Scripture saith Psal v. 9. and so are become habitable for men and beasts It 's Nature Sea Water is Salt and hot in operation binds and dryes the body if it be drunk as do all salt waters according to the judgment of Hippocrates De aere aquis locis which he sayes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De remed l. 2 c. 53. indomicable and hard it rather increases then quenches thirst and hath been found deadly to such as have drunk of it being exceeding thirsty as saith Paulus Aegineta I would not be so understood as if I thought all salt waters were to be râ—jâ—cted from inward use or as if no salt waters would purge the body The Sulphur Well at Knaresbrough a gallon whereof being vaporated away yields two ounces of salt is dayly used inwardly with very good success in many cases and purges the body as I know by experience and as Dr. Dean and Dr. French do both witness in their Books upon that Subject This Spring does the same and hath some salt in it Notwithstanding if salt waters do loose the body it is from other minerals of which they do participate and not from the salt on which account they rather dry up the humours and are singular good even in hydropick constitutions especially in the beginning the truth whereof I have proved by good experience in an Honourable Lady to whom I commended the use of the Sulphur Well before mentioned in the Dropsy with good success Hence it is that Hippocrates in the place afore cited blames them for their ignorance that upon any slight occasion use salt waters inwardly expecting to loose the body with them they having from the salt no such vertue but rather stay the belly and cause the body to break out in Scabs and make the fundament and lower parts troubled with checks De simpl c. 4. as Rasis saith The Sea water hath indeed some sweet parts in it which are thinner and lighter then the substance of the water is from whence it comes to pass that the flesh of those fishes that live in the Sea is as fresh as those that are taken in fresh waters If one distill Sea water in a cold Still it yields fresh water And I have read an experiment in Gamillus Flavius which is worthy a tryal Paraph. in Hip. de aq p. 43. and may be of use to such as go on long voyages and want sometimes fresh water He saith that if a bottle bee made of Wax and the mouth of it be close stopped so as no water can run into it and it be cast into the Sea and made to sink in a few dayes it will be found to have fresh water in it very pleasant and wholsome to be drunk I have inserted this for the Seamens sake to whom it may be beneficial Sect. 4. In the next place I come to treat of Rain water with it's original and qualities Of Rain the product or original is thus The Sun and the rest of the Heavenly bodies do by their heat exhale It s cause and draw forth out of the Sea and other moist bodies that are on the Earth the vapours which are the more rare and thin part of the water and bodyes these by their heat they do so rarify that through their levity they fly upward towards the upper region of the aire next to the Element of fire the proper place of such light bodies where they continue till according to the ordinary course of Providence by the influence of the Moon or some planetary Aspect out of signs of the watery Triplicity or some other cold and moist constellation they become more gross and moist and so by their weight descend into the middle region of the aire where by the excess of cold they are condensed into waters and now being become an heavy body do fall down upon the Earth in showers making thereby a kind of circulation in Nature through the ascent of vapours and descent of showers This I say is according to the ordinary course of Providence when notwithstanding without any of those previous influences of the Celestial bodies Almighty God who is a most free Agent and doth what he will in the Heavens and the Earth doth sometimes by a special Providence cause it to rain Exod. 9.18 and at other times also he doth so suspend the aforesaid influences Jam. 5.17 that it rains not at all Amos 4.7 as in the use of Elijahs prayer Thus as the Prophet observes he makes it to rain upon one City and not upon another and this he doeth that he may keep us in a constant dependance upon himself as upon the first and primary cause without whose concurrence secondary causes can produce no effects at all No this my judgment concerning the causes of rain is agreeable to what is writ upon that subject by the best Philosophers and Physicians the Scripture also being clear in it Amos 9.6 He calleth for the Waters of the Sea and poureth them out upon the face of the Earth to which add that in Job 36.27 28. He maketh small the drops of water they poure down rain according to the vapour thereof which the clouds do drop And that the rain doth falls or is with-held from us in ordinary providence according to the influence of the celestial bodyes is deducible from another place in Job Chap. 38. v. 25. and so forward where God expostulating with Iob concerning his mighty works of providence reads a Lecture to him concerning the Meteors of Rain Lightening Thunder Dew and Frost with their causes and in the 31. Verse he hath this question to him Canst thou bind or restrain the influence of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion with other expostulatory questions The meaning thereof is this Canst thou stay the rain and hinder it from falling or canst thou loose the frost and make it thaw The Pleiades being a moist constellation in the shoulder of the sign Taurus which brings wet and Orion a dry constellation in the last decade of Gemini arising in the evenings in the beginning of the Winter causing frosts I might enlarge concerning Mazaroth viz. the 12. signs and Arcturus which are mentioned in the 32. vers but I hasten Nor is this my own private interpretation but it 's agreeable to the judgment of the most learned Interpreters upon the place and particularly of those that were Members of the late reverend Assembly of Divines in that their excellent exposition upon the
of men And hereby the way I intend nothing concerning distilled waters which are make out of green plants nor to dispute whither they have in them the vertue of the plant out of which they are distilled as Fernelius and Quercitanus think De abdit rer caus l. 2. Pharm restituta or whether they partake nothing of their virtue especiaâ—ly such as have nothing of the sinell or taste of the plant but are onely the flegmatick juyce of them and of the same vertue with our common water and to be used indifferently in stead of it as my learned and intimate friend Doctor Primerose thought it sufficeth that wee have them always ready and at hand in our Apothecarys Shops to be a vehicle to others medicines which we have occasion to use for present indications when wholesom common water would many times bee far to seek Nor do I intend to trouble the Reader or my self with a Phylosophicall discourse concerning the Element of water lib. 2. de gen c. 8. which is one of the four principles which Aristotle saith do necessarily concurre to the making up of every compound body and into which it is to be resolved in it's dissolution whether it be animate or inanimate Neither indeed can that be found any where not being obvious to the externall senses or capable of attaining its qualities of cold and moysture without loosing its form Instead of it we have our common water whose proper place is the superficies or convex part of the earth and is encompassed with the air being also very near of kin to the Elementary water although not the same 1 De Element de simpl med fac l. 1. Parac de Elem. ag as Galen and Paracelsus do assert it being of the number of those bodyes which Aristotle calls imperfect mixed bodyes in his book of Meteors It hath also the same qualities of cold and moisture in which yet it is capable of alteration especially in the former from external causes without any formal diminution This is called by Paracelsus the mother of all generations Param l. 3. de pest tract 1. and the matrix of all the creatures without this there would be no procreation of animalls or vegetables above the earth or of mineralls within the bowells of the earth This perhaps made Empedocles be of the opinion that all things were made of water But water is not only necessary by way of principle and so an ingredient in the constitution of our bodyes but also in Order to nourishment for the conservation of them in their being and growth And therefore Plato called it of all liquors the most precious In Euthydemo although it may be had at a cheap rate Lib. 2. Dypnos c. 2. I know Galen Actuarius and other learned men deny any nutritive quality to be in water although Athenaeus is of a contrary judgment because some creatures feed on nothing else as Grashoppers and so we see Horseleaches that are put into water in our Apothecaryes-shops will grow bigger But as for Grashoppers for ought I know they may feed as other insects do of green plants and it 's probable they do and as touching the growing of the Horseleaches I think the water while it 's new and uncorrupt pines them and makes them hungry not affording them any nourishment till it putrefyes which it doth the sooner by their being in it and so they are nourished aswell as bred by putrefaction which the water hath contracted and not by simple and pure water it self Nâ—t nâ—urishing Now the reason why it adds nothing to the â—ourishment of our bodyes I conceive to the this That which is to nourish the body is in proximâ potentiâ to be blood and in remotâ a member whereas water because of it's super-abundant coldness as also because it is a simple body is not capable to become either the one or the other and therefore it cannot have any nourishing vertue Yet necessaâ—y uâ—to nourishment Notwithstanding there is nothing more necessary unto nourishment it being the best vehicle of nourishment without which those gross meats which we daily eat could not be assimilated and turned into our substance For how should that chyle which the stomack makes by concocting the solid meats which we daily feed on be able to pass into those small veins in the mesentery and from thence to the Liver if it had not a moist watery humidity mixed with it for it's vehicle as saith Galen lib 4. de usu part c. 5. Ob. Sol. If any object that Wine or Beer will serve for this end as well as water I answer Wine and Beer do it by their watery and thin substance which they have from their abundant participation of water besides water is more generally used in the World both by men and beasts then either Wine or Beer and doth better serve for other inward common ends And as for Wine Beer or Ale the more they do recede from the nature of Water the worse and more unwholsom are they to be used for ordinary drink The use of watâ—â— By the help of Water or what is made out of it is our natural heat kept in a mean and our radical moisture repaired so as the latter is not exhausted by the excess of the former Also with this nature is satisfyed and refreshed as much when we are thirsty as it is with meat when we are hungry yet without any addition or increase of the substance of our bodyes as I said before The first common drink This was the common drink both of man and beast during the first age of the World from the Creation till the Flood for above 16. hundred years when mens lives were prolonged to almost a thousand years Not that I think the drinking of water was the cause of their so long living but rather the good pleasure of God for the more speedy propagating of mankind upon the earth was the cause and their temperance a great help a vertue almost lost in this declining age of the World yet certâ—inly it was the most proper drink which man could use in order to the lengthening of his dayes and preserving his health otherwise God would have shewn him a better And if circumstances be weighed we shall see that after the invention and use of wine which the Scripture attributes to Noah after the Flood the age of man began to be contracted to near a tenth part Psal 90.10 and yet still became shorter so as in Moses his time it was accounted but threescore and ten Nay long after Wine came to be known I find water was in ordinary use The ancient Romans used it Julius Frontinus saith that the Romans were content with water as their only drink for the space of 440. years from the building of Rome Yea even to this day not only the common sort of Citizens drink nothing else but the wealthier also delight in it
plentifull Springs near the Sea by reason of the nearness to their Fountain when as to the contrary we find that those Towns which are scituate neer the Sea are more destitute of water then others that are more remote Again those Springs that are upon the Sea shore should probably sympathize in their growth or decrease with the Sea and so at the Spring-Tides should flow more plentifully and at Neap-Tides more sparingly as those Springs I just now spake of the Gypsies are more or less according to the rain whereas no such thing is observable in the other Nor is this Spring of which we treat to wit the Spaw which is upon the level of the Spring-tides and sometimes overflow by them in the least wise altered by them The Spaw not altered by the Tides as ever I could observe to flow more freely at the Spring-Tides and slower at the Neap-Tides when the Sea is at somewhat a further distance nor yet is its taste altered in the least or its efficacy in working notwithstanding which I think it hath some Salt in it from the Sea and is thereby exalted in some qualities Whereas it is very observable notwithstanding it breaks out of the ground within three or four yards of the foot of the cliffe which is near 40 yards high within a quarter of a mile there is another hill that is more then as high again above the Cliffe and a descent all the way to the Cliffe so as the rain water cannot lie long upon the ground I say nevertheless it is observable that after a great rain the water is altered in its taste But is altered by rain lessenened in its operation Indeed a rainy day or two will not hurt it all But to return to the ground of the opinion which is built upon the Seas sole sufficiency to afford so great and constant a supply of waters to feed the Springs I easily grant it to be the best Store-house and do only dissent about the manner of conveyance of which I shall have occasion to speak by and by And for the other ground because the Sea is not increased by the multitude of waters that flow into it daily which it must of necessity be if they had not by their subterraneal Channels a recourse to their Founâ—ains Plato indeed hath a ready answer to it telling of I know not what great Abyss which he calls Tartarus and makes it the original Fountain of all waters into which by Caverns of the earth he will have the Sea to empty it self of its superfluity If this Tartarus be Hell he is surely mistaken for Dives found no water De Sac. Phil. c. 63. Valesius indeed interprets it to be the same with Moses his Abysse or else some hidden part of the Sea But this I pass over as one of the Philosophers dreams being also confuted by his Scholar Aristotle who gives a full answer lib. 2. Met. c. 4. which may satisfie any man with whom agrees Freigius in his Hydrographie An immense quantity thereof Hydrog p. 442. they say is spent in vapours which by the Sun and the heavenly bodies are drawn out of it daily and converted into rain snow and hail as also much is dryed up with the wind to which Mr. Lydiat consents Another large quantity is sucked up by the earth In praelect Astron. as is evidently seen neer great Rivers where the adjacent grounds are so much moistened that neer them there is a more signal fertility then in places more remote Ibid. And then again Aristotle saith that the Sea is not so much the end of the waters to which they run and wherein they are spent as the beginning and fountain of them from which they flow and so what was spent in exhalations is but regained by the descent of showers of rain and snow the Springs and Rivers paying Tribute according to their receit and hence it comes to pass that the Sea is neither fuller nor emptier And besides Valesius gives another answer viz. De Sac. Philos c. 63. The Sea is as much extenuated dissipated under the Zodiack by the exceeding heat as it is augmented and increased under the Poles with rain and snow And this may suffice to be said concerning the first opinion of the Original of Springs to wit the percolation of the Sea Sect. 8. The second opinion is That Spring water is generated in the Earth and that either by transmutation of earth into water or of ayr The second Original Liâ— 3 Nat. quaest c. 7. as others Of the former opinion was Seneca the Philosopher who as he was the Author of that fancy so I think he is alone for I finde none of his judgement That the Elements may be transmuted one into another especially those that are placed neerest one another agreeing together more in quality then the rest is the doctrine of Aristotle Lib 2. de gener c. 8. and agreeable with reason and very obvious to the senses I can easily believe that the thinner parts of earth may be turned into water as also the grosser parts of water into earth so the thinner and more subtile parts of water into air and the grosser parts of air into water and therefore it may be true that Seneca saith although it is rejected by Mr. Lydiat de Origin font but that the earth which is a dry body and accounted by Philosophers Elementum Siccissimum should by transmutation afford so much water or the hundred part of what flowes out of Springs is a thing so voyd of reason as it needs no arguments to disprove it and is not likely to gain many followers I therefore pass on to the other of the transmutation of air into water performed in the Caverns of the earth which by cold converts the air into water an opinion much more plausible then the other having also the authority of Aristotle to defend it 〈◊〉 Mâ—â—◠〈◊〉 who will have it made in the earth as it is in the middle region of the air when by condensation of vapors water is made anâ— he is followed by Dr. Fulk in his book of Meteors and H. ab Heer 's But this opinion leads also into inextricable difficulties and absurdities Spadacr And first he told us in the end of the tenth Chapter that so much water runs out of the earth in one year as if it were kept in a vessell it would equalize the bulk of the whole earth notwithstanding he is sufficiently scourged by Agricola Cardane Scaliger and others for it and reason tells that more then ten parts of air will not serve for the making but of one part of water as Scaliger In subt exere 46. de or font and M. Lydiat do both observe I think twenty would be too little then it would follow necessarily from these premises that the earth should be almost nothing but empty Caverns of air when nevertheless those that
dig mines in all Countries sometime two or three hundred fathom deep do find no such thing but a solid body all along Secondly this implyes such an expense of air as the whole Element of air would not suffice to feed that gulfe Bodinus saith it would not be sufficient for one day and therefore he laughs at the Philosopher Lib. 2. The. at nat But certainly it had been long since extinct out of the mess of Elements if Aristotle had been in the right in this contrversie Thirdly for a continuall supply of so much air as is requisite to bee converted into water to supply all the Springs there should bee found in severall parts of the earth great and constant in draughts and sucktion of air into the Caverns with exceeding great celerity and violence which no man ever did find nor any Geographer make mention of Fourthly how comes it to passe that any winds break out of the earth as Aristotle teaches in his book de mundo which he terms by the names of Apogei and Encolpiae de mund c. 6. and and that all the air is not rather turned into water to supply his constant generation of Spring water And how can two such violent motions of the air stand together especially seeing he tells us elsewhere that it is contrary to the nature of the wind which is nothing but Aer moius to blow contrary ways at once L. 2. meteor c. 12. I shall therefore passe over this Originall also as not soundly principled and proceed to examine the last opinion Sect. 9. The third and last opinion that I meet withall in the controversie about the Originall of Springs and Fountains is that they are caused by Rain and Snow of which I find Albertus Magnus 〈…〉 and Georgius Agricola the most eminent Patrons The sum of what they say is thus The Snow and rain falling from the clouds in great abundancy upon the earth Lib. 2. de ort cause subter c. 3. do by moistning the superficies cause it to bring forth vegetables whereas otherwise it would be barren through dryness The 3. Originall and consequently not habitable The remaining part except what suddenly runs into Rivers sinks down by secret passages into the earth with which the superficies doth abound which are like unto small sibres of veins not discernable by the eye Rain and Snow the true originall of Springs terminating in the skin in all the parts of our bodies and in rocky ground it runsthrough the clefts and by them is conveighed to the subterraneall channells more or less deep in the earth where it is concocted by the earth and moves as blood in the veins receiving many times a tincture according to the nature of earth and the Mineralls or Metalls by which it passes helping forward also their generation What a Spring is This water at length in its passage through the veins of the earth finds vent and runs forth which place of eruption we call a Spring or Fountain Whence its ebullition And this springing forth or eruption of the water I conceive to bee made not by any forcible Agitation compuâ—sion or violence that is put upon it ab extra within the earth or by suction from the Sun and the heavenly bodies or by heat which which may be in the earth or by any spirits that are in the water it selfe but from its own naturall inclination and tendency towards its proper place assigned to it by the Creator which as I said in the second Section is the convex part of the earth it not resting till it meets with its naturall correspondent the Air. And this I think to be the naturall reason of its ebullition out of the earth and I find scaliger in his subtilities of the same judgement Exere 100. it freeing nature from a violent force which the working fancies of men would put upon it who yet cannot agree among themselves Subterraneall lakes contribute nothing But as for subterraneal lakes that are found in the bottome of great Caverns of the Earth they are standing waters oftentimes of poysonous quality as I hinted in the 6th Section which having room enough and supplyed with air above them I think they incline not to motion and do contribute nothing to Springs nor can any subterraneal heat which Dr. French supposes to be in these Caverns extract a wholesome water out of them And this Rain or Snow water in the Channells where-ever it finds vent it continues to flow so long as the Channells by which such a Spring is fed have any water to supply it and that is more or less according to the wideness or length of the Channells or otherwise according to the number that meet together it not resting till it meets with the air And therefore it is observable in pipes that convey water from one vessell to another the water will flow till all its store bee spent whether the motion bee upward or transverse till it meet with air and then it ceases to flow for if one bore a hole in the pipe and let in air the motion is done These Channells also are furnished according to the quantity of Rain that falls and the advantages they have of receiving it by the small and secret passages that come from the superficies of the earth which concenter in those Channells Now this opinion of Rain and Snow water to bee the Originall of Springs ArgumeÌ„ts to prove is illustrated with many arguments of demonstration by the Authors before mentioned and others of this judgement the principall whereof are these First Because it is found by experience that fountains and consequently rivers are greater and do abound more with water in Winter and moyst weather then in Summer Secondly in those years when great Rain do falls in Summer and great store of Snow in Winter wee find Springs durable whereas in droughty seasons when there is but little or no Rain or snow the Springs dry up A sure proof whereof we had in England in the years 1654 55 and 56. when our climate was dryer then ever any storyes mention so as we had very little Rain in Summer or Snow in Winter most of our Springs were dryed up even such as in the memory of the Eldest men living had never wanted water but were of those sorts Springs which we call fontes perennes or at least were esteemed so which if they had received their supply of water from the Sea or from the air in the earth converted into water they could not have failed of water A third reason which perswades to this Originall is because in those Climates and Countries where little Rain falls few or no Springs and Rivers are seen As in the deserts Aethiopia and in most parts of Africa neer the equinoctial they have little water and many times in two or three days journey can hardly find enough to quench their thirst and their Camells as Historians
relate and so in Egypt where it rains very seldom but they are supplyed instead of it by the overflowing of Nilus there are no Springs at all Whereas in Britain Germany and France and other Northern parts of Europe there are great plenty of Springs and Rivers in regard they do abound in the moysture of the air and great falls of Rain and Snow To the first our Carpenter object Object Georg. lib. 2. c. 9. that the abounding of Rivers with water in Winter is from the store of Rain or Snow water that runs into them from the higher grounds and not from any great quantity of water that falls into them out of Springs and Fountains I deny not but the Rivers are instantly heightned in Winter from Rain Sol. so as on the sudden they will often overflow their banks but that water is soon spent in the Sea It is sufficient for defence of the point in hand if after that water in reason should be spent they be yet maintained more plentifully by the Springs then usually they are in Summer at which season of the year though they be filled with a sudden flood of Rain yet wanting the constant benevolence of the Springs they suddenly fall as low as they were before Another Objection I find started by Seneca Object Lib. 3. Nat. Quest c. 7. as also by M. Carpenter in the place before cited to wit that the greatest Rain that can fall never sinks above ten foot into the ground and Seneca cites his own observation for it in the digging of Vineyards and he gives this reason for it because when the earth is once satisfied with showers it opposes it self against the overplus by shutting its pores I own it thus far Sol. that into the solid earth the Rain sinks not above ten foot although learned Cardane allows it ten paces or fathomes his words being non ultra decem passus descendere De var rev c. 6. But what becomes of that immense quantity of rain which often continues for many weeks together nay oft times some months wherein we have scarce a fair and dry day besides the infinite quantity of wet and Snow that is falling all Winter long causing inundations of water over all the Country round about not only upon higher grounds neer unto rivers into which it may run per declive but in plains from whence it can have no current at all can it be supposed that ten foot of earth will drink up all this water which who so shall dig soon after the water is drunk up shall not find it very moist or muddy which it would assuredly be if it had not some secret passage into the Caverns of the earth much deeper then they speak of And therefore Cardane in the place before cited adds that the earth is sadned with the Rain so as it lyes above unless by some empty crevice or cleft it sink deeper into the earth which is all I contend for and which being granted will be sufficient to quicken and continue the Springs And to Seneca's observation before mentioned let me oppose Albertus his experience Lib. 2 met tract de orig slum who tells us that at the bottome of a solid rock 120 fathome deep he saw drops of water distill from it in a rainy season Another Objâ—ction that Seneca makes against the point in hand is this Object â—ib 3. Nat. quest c. 7. on which he layes much stress That the great mountains of Rock and Stone which have little or no earth on them and on that account not capable of receiving much rain do nevertheless yield great and lasting Springs which are never drawn dry This makes nothing against but rather for the point in controverfie Solut. There are no Rocks but they have their Commissure joints or clefts now the Rain and Snow water can run more plentifully into those joints and clefts of the Rocks and and more speedily then when it falls upon the solid earth And in that he faith they are not covered with much earth they are the less robbed of what falls from the clouds and so are better supplyed To this I 'le further add that Rocks have more large and spacious Caverns that are fit receptacles for the water the solid earth hath Adde to this that Rocks are usually many together covering much ground ordinarily a whole Country is nothing but Rocks and so can receive much wet and their store by their nakedness of earth hath a fresh supply from every shower that falls And therefore on all these accounts as they have advantages of speedy reception of what falls without diminution and ca pacities for admission of greater quantities of wet then other soyles have so they may very well afford more plentiful and durable fountains Besides it is observable that in the solid clay soyles it is very rare to find any eruption of water because such are sad earth and have few or no Caverns or Channells in them but our Springs break out ordinarily in Rocky gravelly ground especially the best water and most lasting Springs such as we call fontes perennes Another Objection that Seneca makes against it is this Object Ibid. that in the dryest soyle where they dig pits two or three hundred foot deep there is often found great plenty of water which no man can suppose to have come from the clouds but he thinks it of that sort which is wont to bee called living water From whence then should it come Solut. from the Sea perhaps the Sea is as many miles from that water as the superficies of the earth is feet from it and may much more bee questioned But we may remember Seneca's judgement concerning the originall of Springs is that they are generated by transumtation of earth into water de Origin font an assertion so ridiculous as he is laughed at by M. Lydiat and never had any as yet to take his part Perhaps it may come from the transmutation of air into water for such transmutation I cannot deny wee see Churches become wet before rain falls from this cause But it s most probable to come from Rain which may possibly peirce by its crannyes much deeper then he speaks of as I have shewen already Our Miners will tell him that in Winter after great inundations of Rain they are much troubled with water in the bottome of their Mines finding it frequently distilling through the solid earth upon their heads by the secret capillar veins as I may call them that come from the supersicies of the earth whereas in Summer or dry seasons they find no interruption at all Touching the terme living water which is used by Seneca I think no more is meant by it then such as flowes from ever-running fountains which therefore in English we commonly call quick Springs But to preceed Object York Spaw p. 4. Dr. French Objects concerning the increasing of Springs in Winter that it s not universally true
distempers of the Nerves as the Palsie and Convulsion and is good to be put into the Bread of such as are troubled with the Palsie of the tongue If any require further satisfaction concerning the vertue of Nitre let them consult Galen Dioscorides P. Aegineta Oribasius Aetius and Serapio Salt or Melch as the Arabians call it is of two sorts â—alt viz. Fossile such as is digged out of Mines and Marine such as is made of the Sea-water or other brackish water the former is of a more gross earthy and compact substance then the latter yet they are both of one nature of a detersive cleansing resolving purging quality drying up superfluous humours and preserving from putrefaction kills all manner of worms and being heated becomes bitter in taste Many other vertues are reckoned up by Galen Serapio Dioscorides and others to be in Salt to whom I will rather â—efer the learned Reader then trouble him with a large recital at present because there is not much Salt in our Spring yet some there is which I think it receives from the Sea rather then from any salt Mineral It sufficeth to have said somwhat concerning the nature of these Minerals severally doubtless there must some qualities arise from their mixture and that with water which was not before in any one particular I shall now therefore hasten to Treat concerning the nature effects of this most excellent compound Mineral water and then say something concerning preparation to it and right ordering of the body in drinking and so conclude Sect. 13. Of the Spaw THe Spaw water according to its manifest qualities is cold moist and being drunk doth immediatly cool and moysten the body and quench thirst having those qualities which simple water hath as I have reckoned up at large in the second Section may indifferently be used for it Although having imbibed the aforesaid Minerals of Vitriol Iron Alom Nitre Salt it is impregnated with the qualities natures of the said Minerals consequently is hot and dry in operation being found by due and daily use thereof to correct cold moist bodies and cure such diseases as proceed from the excess of cold and moysture It s nature Nor let any startle at this assertion that I affirm this Spaw water to be cold and moist and also hot dry which are contrary qualities since it is cold moist actually in the instantaneous use of it but doth heat and dry virtually in process of time Who knows not that wine though it be cold moist actually yet is potentially hot dry the ordinary use whereof doth heat dry the body Now as all bodies incline to a preedominancy of these four qualities and most diseases consist in the excess of some one or more of them each quality so exceeding is tempered by its contrary in the water so as nature which is ever sollicitous for its own preservation closes with those qualities in the water as also in all other remedies which correct its own excess and arms it self unless it be very feeble against those other qualities that might increase its malady hence it is as D. French well observes that a distemper will rather be altered by its contrary then increased by its like But because these four first qualities are found in this water but in a remiss degree the heat and dryness being so corrected with cold moisture and the contrary that a forcible operation in respect of any of them cannot be expected from it I think sitter means may be found out for those intentions As if a man would only cool and moysten it may be better done with simple water which has no potential heat or dryness in it and may be found in every village or if he would only heat and dry up humors it may better be performed by other Medicines that are more eminently hot and dry then by this cold moyst water so as no man need goto Scarbrough for these intentions I therefore pass on to the other qualities of this water in which it doth eminently excell through its participation of the aforesaid Minerals An operation It is of thin parts peircing into the most narrow and secret passages of the body is excellent in opening obstructions which are the causes of most diseases It doth attenuate cut and dissolve viscous lentous clammy flegm in the stomack bowells mesentery reins and bladder and is also cleansing and deterging casting them forth both by siege and urine as it findes them by their position most to encline For such humours as are in primis viis in the bowells it purges out by siege and such as lye in the mesentery veins or venae lacteae porta liver reins or bladder it cleanses by urine and both ways so plentifully as if all the humours went but one way for it purges so well as if it would leave nothing to pass by urine and yet passes so plentifully by the bladder as if it found no vent by stool performing these two operations the more plentifully by reason of the quantity that is to be drunk And of such working it doth very rarely fail nor scarce ever unless in exceedingly constipated bodies although it be taken without any preparation as very many do though not so safely as shall be said in the next Section and this it doth without any griping at all casting forth plentifully both it selfe and the excrementitious humours wch I have often experimented both in my self and others An inâ—â—ance I drank one morning without taking any preparative at all three quarts of the water factâ prius retrogradatione matutinâ pro solito having also weighed my self before I drank that I might discern what alteration it would make in my weight I drunk a pint every halfe hour walking about betwixt one draught and another till I had taken all the three quarts After I had taken three pints it began to work and so continued an evacuation both ways viz. seven times by siege liberally within eight hours I also measured the quantity of Urine which I had kept by it self so as within the space of five hours I had made a pottle of Urine within less then halfe a gill as clear as the Spaw Water it selfe having neither smel nor tast like Urine I took the Urine and evaporated it all away that I might try whether it had yet remaining in it any of the substance of the Minerals but it afforded nothing but a filthy slimy Sediment of a sandy colour Hence it may appear how diuretick this water is when two third parts or near hand should in so short a space passe through those secret crannyes of nature by Urine and yet at the same time work by siege so freely as I could not have expected from Pil. Coch. dram one Herein exceeding if I mistake not most of the waters of Europe not excepting the German Spaws some of which passe very well and
which England doth abound more then any Country such as this at Scarbrough do certainly require more heat and concoction then any ordinary potable waters do of which since England affords so many if not better then others do it is without reason to question the concoction of other waters 6. And lastly the waters of England do agree fully and exactly with that description and those tokens of good water which I find laid down in the writings either of Philosophers or Physicians Grecian Arabian or Latine If any man require further satisfaction concerning this point I referre him to my ever honoured and intimate friend Dr. Primerose his Book of popular Errours lib. 3. c. 1. The sum of what they all say accounts to this Tokens of good water that there must be a concurrence of the Verdict of 3. Senses to prove the Water to be good viz. Sight Taste and Smell I will not trouble the Reader nor my self with many quotations To the Sight it must be exceeding transparent and clear without any sediment when it hath stood long and which being shaken hath no shreds of any shape whatsoever or motes or sand flying about To the Taste it must be void of all qualities neither sweet nor sowre nor salt nor acide nor must it have any other tast that can be discern'd by the tongue the formality thereof consisting in cold and moisture To the Smell it must have no smell at all nor yield any quality that can be discerned by the most accurate nose Paulus Zachias a learned Roman Physician l. 5. Med. leg qu. tit 4. will have the other two Senses to give verdict also even the sense of hearing accounting that bad which being poured from one vessel to another poures like oyle with out noise as being thick and unctuous on which account â—accius discommends the Water of Tiber lib. 1. de Tib. aq as also because it is thick and oyly to the touch To the which I will add one tryal more that which being boyled yields no scumme on the top nor sediment at the bottome but all evaporates into air there are other tokens which I shall reserve for their due place This saith Montanus is the common matter of all those things with which it is mixed And as the Astrologers say of Mercury among the Planets so I may say of water it is good with the good and bad with the bad it heats with hot things and cools with the cold yet it is to be observed it ever dulls the heat of hot things and such as do attenuate Good in many cases Now cold simple water is not only the common drink which the God of Nature hath provided for all his Creatures for the sustentation of them in their being but also it is most healthfull being taken inwardly and is prescribed by Physicians in many cases both to prevent and cure diseases and tends much to preserve us in our well being Concerning which one Hermannus vander Heyden a Dutch-man of very good worth hath writ a peculiar Tractate well worth the reading It tempers our natural heat Meth. med c. 5. which otherwise would scorch and dry up the humours of the body as saith Fernelius and doth excellently correct that preternatural heat which is caused by Fevers as Galen and Avicen do affirm and they both allow it to be drunk in a large quantity especially if there be signs of concoction in the veins which a learned Physician is able to judge of and then it helps the critical evacuations of nature by sweat seige or vomit Aristotle saith that they that use to drink water do see the most clearly which is agreeable to reason because it sends no hot fumes up into the brain but rather allayes them Eubulus commends it to help the invention and saith that such as drink water are the best inventers of new things whereas all strong drinks do dull the understanding lib. 2. din. c. 2. as Athenaeus cites him It is good against vomiting when it proceeds from bilious humours stayes the Hicket when it arises from choler that corrodes and vellicates the Tunicles of the stomach and stayes the flux and being drunk warm it causes vomitting A glass of cold water being drunk after meat is good for an hot stomack that concocts too fast and for such as Hippocrates calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it is not safe when a man hath been toyling and is hot as Cornelius Celsus saith lib. 1. c. 3. nor can I approve of cold water for such as are old and have very feeble stomacks least it overcome their natural heat and they find the same fate that Aristophanes relates of Tiresias who drinking of the water of Tilphosa a famous Spring in Baeotia when he was very old Ath. lib. 2. cap. 2. dyed immediately the coldness of the water overcoming his feeble natural heat Water furthers procreation of the Species and therefore it is observable in those Countries where they drink altogether water they multiply more then else where and hence was the Law which I read of in Plato Dialog 2. de leg that those that were new marryed were to drink nothing but water They indeed that drink Wine are more salacious yet they are less prolifick Crato in Scoltzius tells of one Cons med 143. that by drinking every night and morning cold water found very much benefit in freeing him from his usual violent tormenting pain of the stone in the morning he swallowed some grains of Pepper in it unbruised to correct it's coldness which may very well be because it tempers the excessive heat of the kidneys and corrects the sharpness of urine Hermannus vander Heyden commends it highly against the Gout as a most soveraign remedy in his Book before cited It tempers the heat of the Liver but it hurts the Spleen being taken in too great a quantity and fills it with serous humours and therefore when we would use it for the hot distemper of the Liver we should have respect to the Spleen to remove it's obstructions as Capivaccius sayes well In Scoâ—t Cons med 156. And let this suffice concerning water in general to beget it a little more credit among us because of it's antiquity and usefulness Sect. 3. I come now to speak concerning the several sorts of water in particular as they lye in the order of nature and are or may be the causes of each other And first of Sea water Of Sea water as that which was first in Nature and very briâ—fly not being of use to be taken inwardly yet falling into our consideration in the subsequent discourse The Sea makes one Globe with the Earth being yet not confused with it but divided from it and gathered together into one place by it self on the third day of the Creation Gen. 1.7 The Earth is the center of the Globe and contains the Sea water as in a vessel there being no water which is
exegeticall and interpretative to the former to wit He layeth up the deep in store-houses Unless they will have the Prophet to hint also at the Spherical Figure of the Sea to which I can easily assent Besides the words themselves are worthy our considering he doth not say on an heap but as an heap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 congregans sicut acervum aquas maris Whereas in the story of the Israelites passing over Jordan when the waters were divided before them stood up in an heap the same word in Hebrew for a heap is used to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iosh 3 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 steterunt acervo uno The Septuagint Translating that in the Psalm according to this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gathering as in a vessel the water of the Sea Job 38.11 clâ—aâ—â—d As touching that place in Iob I conceive it makes nothing for their opinion of the Seas elevation above the earth I deny not Gods miraculous and extraordinary working in some things to manifest the glory of his wisdom power yet I suppose the Sea to be confined by his providence within the ordinary bounds of nature for it were very strange to imagine that God in the first institution of nature should impose a perpetual violence upon nature seeing we see the Creator in other things to use nature as his ordinary servant to administer the regiments of matters by second causes I conceive no more is meant in that Scripture but that Almighty God hath set certain limits bounds which the waters should not pass these bounds and limits I take not to be supernatural as if the water restrain'd by a miraculous word of coÌ„mand should be forced to contain it self within its circuit prescribed to it but natural as cliffs hils within which the water seems to be intrenched for we may see there is no such force put upon it but if the natural bounds of the Sea to wit the cliffs be removed the Sea overruns the Land and turns all into it self But the Authors of this opinion urge further Object that according to the order of the Elements among themselves the earth should be lowest and the water above it I Answer if we consider these Elements among themselves Sol. we must give the height to the water for as much as the greatest part by far of the Earth lyes drowned for that which is above bears no sensible proportion with that which lyes under the water But here we are not comparing the two Elements intirely betwixt themselves but the superficies of the water with the parts of the earth that are uncovered and are habitable which supersicies of the Earth notwithstanding this reason may be higher then the water But they object further because Marriners coming from the main Ocean to the Land Object seem to see the Land far lower then the water This may easily be made out of Opticall principles Sol. that it must appear so by reason that the Sphericall sigure and convexity of the Sea interposed betwixt our sight and the lower part of the Land doth hide some parts from our sight whence it must needs appear lower being couched almost under water The like is discernable in another Ship at Sea which seems to be depressed underwater at som Leagues distance so as nothing appears but her top Sails Besides at distance all things seem lower even upon a levell at Land which when we draw nigh unto do better discover their height I read that in Noahs Flood God brake open the springs of the deep and opened the Cataracts of heaven to pour down rain continually many days together upon the Earth of which there had been no necessity at all had the Sea been heaped up in such sort as they imagine for the only withdrawing of his hand and letting loose the reins that the water might have run to an evenness would have been sufficient to have overwhelmed the whole earth Again we find by experience and our Mariners do all agree in it that a like gale of Wind will serve to carry a Ship out of the Port to the open Sea as from the Sea into the Port which could not be if the Sea were higher then the Land for they would need a great and stiffe gale to carry them up the bank of the Sea and none at all to run into the Land And thus I conceive wee are free'd from that absurd consequence which their Doctrine of the Seas Elevation at distance and depression on the shore doth necessarily infer to wit that the water which runs out of Rivers in the ebbe as soon as it reaches to the Sea must run up the hill in its own naturall motion which is against the nature of heavy bodies whose motion is ever downward to the Center of the Earth as also Aristotle's own Doctrine else where Lib. c. de coelo c. 4. Besides as Dr. French well observes a man would think so many great Rivers terminated in the Sea might be a sufficient moysture for the taking away of the termination made by the dryness of the Earth and to make the Globus Sea sink to an evenness Moreover tht manner of conveyance of the Sea water to the heads of Springs fancied by Dr. Jordan through the secret channells of the Earth requires a man of much credulity to believe him to wit that the water in those his subterraneall crannyes should without any force upon it leave its naturall figure and correspond with its levell and yet the same water being exposed to the open air near the shore should both make and abide in a valley It further implies much easiness of peâ—swasion in him that can believe that those Springs which are two or three hundred miles from the Sea as some are in great continents must yet be supplyed with water from the Sea by Channells of that length Besides if there were such Channells from the Sea to the Springs as he fancyes that are hollow like pipes the water of the Springs would certainly be brackish according to the nature of the Sea water which in such length of time would have tainted the Channells through which it passes Nat. Hist cent 9. exp 882. as the Lord Bacon observes that although pits digged near the Sea will bee found in time to have fresh water in them yet afterwards they will become salt the sand through which the water is transcolated coÌ„tracting saltness so as new ones must be made and so I think of Dr. Jordan's subterraneall Channells As for Divines who are of the opinion of the Seas height above the Land I desire them to consider of that place in Psal 107. ver 23. where it is called going down to the Sea in Ships the words being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descendentes ad mare Psal 107.23 coming from the same root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descendit with that word which is used Micha 1.4 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies locus declivis or a steep place Yet I deny not but there may bee some Springs which at some small distance have a supply of water from the Sea but this makes nothing for their opinion concerning the supply of Springs at great distance and upon the high mountains lib. 2. c. 56. Pliny tells us of a Spring in the Gades which observes the Seas motion in ebbing and flowing and I am credily informed there is another in the Peak in Derbyshire which ebbs and flowes every twelve hours So the Spring at Giggleswick in Yorkshire ebbs and flowes many times a day even to the admiration whether that of Plinies may have any correspondence with the Sea or no I know not Lib. â— Nat Qâ—â—st I am sure the other two have not and I had rather with Seneca look on such as these as wonders of God then trouble my selfe curiously to enquire into their causes that are too hard for me Seâ—â—â—l concetâ—s But these that are of opinion of the Seas percolation to be the cause of Springs are not all for this way of conveyance they say the water of the Seâ— is conveighed by transcolation into huge Caverns in the body of the earth indeed but then they differ again in finding its passage to the Spring heads each propounding a way according to their fancy Of agitation by subtterraneall winds as Socrates in Plato In Phoed. Compulsion by a Spirit or breath that is in the water as Pliny and Valesius Pl. l. 2. c. 65. of compression De sac phil c. 1. 63. and that either through the weight of the Sea it self Nat. Qu. lib. 3. a great part whereof he supposes to be out of its place in the air as Seneca ib. 2. The at nat Or of the earth as Bodinus and Thales Or rarefaction and condensation as Dr. Fludd and Mr. Carpenter Geograph Or rarefaction and condensation as Dr. Fludd and Mr. Carpenter Or attraction by the heat of the Sun and the heavenly bodies as Thomas Aquinas held Or Belmonts Sabutum or Virgins earth Ag in Sum. p. 1. q. 69. all which as they seem at the very naiming to be nothing more then empty conceits besides the disagreement that is among themselves tenders it the more questionable so they are sufficiently confuâ—ed some of them by Mr. Carpenter in his Geography Lib. 3. Nat. Qu. and the rest by Dr. French in his discourse upon the Spaw of Knaresbrough There is another account given by Empedocles an ancient Greek Philosopher Spaw p. 21. 22. c. as also Seneca for theebullition of Springs to which Gabriell Fallopius lib 1. de aquis medicatis c. 3. Mr. Carpenter Mr. Lydiat and Dr. French adhere the last taking a great deal of pains to make it out and that is by heat wheareby he will have the water which is conveyed from the Sea into the Caverns of the Earth to be elevated to the heads of Springs after the same manner as from the Sea to the middle region of the air and that is by resolving the water into vapors Dr. French opinion nor matters he whether that heat be above or beneath the waters if so be it turneth them into vapours and maketh them ascend as high as is requisite they should And this heat he will have maintained by subterraneall fires that are kindled and fed by Naphtha or some bituminous matter And he makes two degrees of heat one more intense in the deep Caverns to rarefie the waters in the Caverns into vapours the other more remiss nearer the superficies which must condense them again into waters which he illustrates by the head of an Alimbyck and the cover of a boyling pot whose more remisse degree of heat turns the vapours into water Although Aristotle who also will have water to be generated in the Earth L. 1. Meteor c. 11. says it is condensed by cold and the Philosopher seems as much to bee believed especially since its more agreeable to their own parallell of the middle region where certainly the vapours are condensed by cold That there are bituminous fires our own reason besides the testimony of good Authors doth sufficiently evince Sol. they being the efficient cause of hot Springs such as are those mentioned by Plato and Pliny the one in Sicily the other at Somosata and our own at the City Bath in Somersetshire besides many others from whence also are those burning mountains Aetna and Vesuvius besides others that we read of in Athours But first Dr. French supposes great Caverns of waters to be in the earth which come from the Sea pag. 16 17. pag. 23. the heat also to be of like proportion with the water what a conflict this would make in nature wee may easily judge when these two enemies fire and water must be so immured together I wonder the water being of like proportion which the fire doth not quench it or that the fire consumes not the water and so in both cases we should want water in our Springs and the world would be destroyed but it seems they do better agree and combine to bring about his end and he tells us how they both dwell together in the Caverns Secondly L. 1. meteor c. 10. this supposes the earth to be almost nothing but Caverns for if that be true that Aristotle saith concerning Springs that if all water that runs out of them in one year could bee kept in a vessell it would almost equalize the whole bulk of the earth and Dr. French tells us there is a like proportion of fire and water in the Caverns and reason tells us that fire cannot be kept in without a greater quantity of air which it continually consumes then what may wee judge concerning the Caverns Thirdly this implyes the Earth to be almost nothing but bitumen or Naphtha nor will his new generations be enough to maintain the expence Fourthly this supposes all the Earth to be on fire since almost in all places there are Springs and consequently contradicts the whole suffrage of Philosophers who call the Earth Elementum Frigidissimum Fifthly the Earth would in time be consumed by so many fires as saith Agricola it being of a calcinable and combustible matter Sixtly If it were so then the water would have a bituminous taste or smell which we know it hath not ordinarily it not differing in quality from those waters which are wont to break in the manner of Springs after great rains of which sort we have many break out yearly on the Wolds in York-shire commonly called by the name of Gypsies Lastly it s not probable that there are so many fires in the earth because those that dig in Mines in several Countries do meet usually with water which molest them but no fires But to proceed if the percolation of the Sea were the cause of Springs then we should usually have the most
Rain that falls on high places runs into plains and from thence into Rivers and where it cannot so run it remains upon the superficies till it be exhaled by the Sun I answer we see a great quantity of water runs into Rivers after great Rains when they are nigh at hand but what becomes of all that which falls in a whole Country far from Rivers and of the infinite quantity of Snow which covered the surface of the ground and sets all the Country in a flood when it melts so as a man would think it could not be dryed up in many months and this where there is no current at all into Rivers The moderate heat of the Sun in rainy weather especially in the Winter months is such as it cannot be thought to exhale the tenth part of it into vapours and yet in a few days its all gone and no footsteps of it left save in the roads whereby the continual beating of the horses it is so sadned that it cannot sink of a long time As for that place of Seneca which he urges I have answered it already in this Section And for the digging of the Well where sometimes no water can be got two or three hundred foot deep before we come at Springs That may be and yet make nothing against the waters sinking much deeper since though there be many Channells of water in the earth yet it is possible to miss them in such a narrow compass as a Well and yet there may be store of water near hand Nor can the dust or dirt which he saith may be conveyed by the water into the veins or crannyes by which it should pass down into the earth hinder it any more then the excrementitious humors that are in the bowels do hinder the chyle from passing into the Lactaea or Mesentery veins and so to the Liver both which may be thereby hindered in part so as they cannot pass so speedily yet it is not so in all bodies nor all over the ground only in some places it lyes above the earth a while before it can finde passage down Another Objection which some make against this opinion of the Original of Springs by Rain and Snow is this Object that although all this should be granted yet they think there doth not so much Rain and Snow fall as may suffice to supply them with such abundance of water as they vent I would have such to consider what hath been already said concerning the immense quantity of wet that falls in Winter besides the great Spouts of Rain that ordinarily every year at some time or other are falling in Summer which often sets the whole Country in a Flood together with other frequent showers and whether there is not a reasonable proportion of wet for supply of the Springs especially while we consider the paucity of great Springs and the distance that is betwixt one Spring another sometimes two or three miles of ground affording but a few Springs and those perhaps of very smal currents most Towns being supplied with Well water of which very little is lost Again it is very observable that a great quantity of that water which runs out of Springs that are placed on high ground neer hillâ— is in its passage sucked up by the earth as is also the waters of Rivers and so is conveyed by secret veins into the subterraneal chanels and serves to give being to nether Springs that break out in lower grounds Nor need this assertion seem strange to any seeing we read of great Rivers that hide their channels in the earth for many miles together sometimes and break out again as the Rhine in Germany cited by Seneca Lib. 3. Nat. Quest Erasenus in Argâ—lica Padus in the Alps but more remarkable Grimston States and Empires is that of the river Guadiana in Spain which runs under the ground for the space of thirteen leagues neer to a Town called Villa Horta breaks up again which gives occasion to that brag of the Spaniards concerning a bridge in Spain on which is daily fed ten thousand sheep Nor doth our own Country want such presidents the river Rye in York-shire runs under ground a quarter of a mile together and breaks out again neer Helmsley and I am informed of the like neer Grantham in Lincolnshire Yea and those great Seas in Asia are thought to have subterraneal passages from one to another the Caspian into the black Sea that into the Aegean and this into the Mediterranean Sect. 10. Having thus weighed and answered the most material exceptions that are made against this Original by learned men I cannot but joyn in judgement with Albertus and Agricola yet not altogether excluding the other two especially that of the percolation of the Sea to Springs neer adjoyning but how such as break out on high Lands and at great distance from the Sea can be thought to be supplied from thence or otherwise then by the showers that fall from heaven I confess I see not notwithstanding the Arguments they produce to make it out And therefore learned Dr. Jordan notwithstanding hee inclines strongly to the Seas Originall pag. 19. nat Baths as wee have heard already yet is forced to grant at length that if any Springs bee higher then the Sea and I have proved they art all so they may then proceed from Rain and Snow Nevertheless we must not forget from whence Rain Snow do naturally proceed that the Sea is the principal storehouse for the generation of vapours out of which they are made by condensation the Earth and the moyst bodies thereon not affording any proportionable quantity to the wet that falls from the clouds I shall now hasten to a period of this dispute being only willing to illustrate what hath been said by a quotation out of learned and laboborious Dr. Heylin Cosmog p. 677. in his Cosmography the second Edition p. 667. where treating of Cyprus an Island in the Mediterranean Sea in length two hundred miles and sixty miles broad he tells that in the days of Constantine the great there was an exceeding long drought so as for thirty six years they had no rain in so much as all the Springs and torrents or Rivers were dryed up so as the inhabitants were forced to forsake the Island and seek for new habitations for want of fresh water Now if the Sea had been the Originall of the Springs they could not have wanted water it being an Island and not very great or if the transmutation of air into water in the Caverns of the Earth there could have been no defect since the Caverns were the same so that its evident the Springs proceeded from the Rain which failing they were dryed up Likewise whosoever shall compare the water which flowes out of Springs with that which immediately falls from the clouds shall find such a full and perfect agreement betwixt them in all qualities perceptible to the senses as its hard to
distinguish the one from the other Besides that exâ—er identity of the water of ever flowing Springs and of the Gypsies I mentioned before which break out in the Wolds in York-shire and else where after a great inundation of Rain which if they proceeded from several causes must probably differ in their qualities and effects Lastly the two rarities I mentioned in the beginning that are to be found upon the Castle hill in Scarbrough to wit the deep Well that reaches to the bottom of the Rock which hath no water the Spring Well which is within half a yard of the edg of the Rock towards the Sea which never wants water do somewhat illustrate the point in hand For the deep Well being so neer the Sea should probably have water in it if there were any such percolation as is spoken of or if air were so plentifully transmuted in water it should not be dry which yet it is there being no Channells that empty themselves into it while the other which is upon the top of the Rock not many yards deep and also upon the very edge of the cliffe is supplyed which doubtless is done by secret Channells within the ground that convey the Rain and showers into it being placed on a dependant part of the Rock near unto which there are also Cellars under an old ruinated Chappell which after a great rain are full of water but are dryed up in a long drought I now proceed to confider of the nature of Spring water The nature of Spring water De simpl med fac c. 4. which doubtless is the best of all others for general use eminently excelling in the essentiall parts of water viz. cold and moysture as Galen saith Nevertheless some Springs are better then others Hyppocrates prefers such as flow out of Rocksand Hils of gravell or stone as more clear and white then what coms out of other soyls as also such Springs as are cold in summer and warm in Winter which is assuredly sound in them if their fountains be deep in the Rock and this is a sure token whereby wee may distinguish of Well water also And to this of Hyppocrates I might join the whole suffrage of all Philosophers and Physicians that may have writ upon this Subject To sum up all in a word besides what was said in the second Section The principall token of good and wholesome water is that it be simple or unmixed and then it loads not the stomach and easily passes through the Hypechondres being also soon hot and soon cold I find some of the Ancients were wont to weigh their water and accounted that the best which was the lightest and for this cause it seems it was that the Persian Kings would drink of no water but of the River Eulaeus an Attick saucer whereof weighed lesse by a Dram then other waters as Strabo saith Now Pliny tells that an Attick saucer was a measure of fifteen drams Lib 15. Geograph c. ult Lib. 21. c. ult so then it was a fifteenth part lighter then the other waters of Persia And the Parthian Kings on the same account drank of the Rivers Choaspes and Eulaeus as the same Pliny witnesses And thus Athenaeus commends a Spring neer Corinth Lib. 31. N. Hist cap. 3. which he calls Pirenes for its levity above all the waters of Greece Lib. 2. dup c. 2. And there seems to be good reason for it because its levity is a token of its purity and simplicity and that it bath no earthy parts and consequently is easier of concoction Now among the severall sorts of fountains Hyppocrates commends most those that open towards the East Aph. 26. Sect 5. as the lightest and fittest for all ages and constitutions and next to them such as run towards the West but as for those that open towards the North he thinks them to be cold and hard of digestion in that they want the heat of the Sun and he accounts those the worst that run southerly because their thin parts are exhaled by the heat de aquis and so the water becomes grosse But we need not fear that in this our Climate where the Sun is not so hot nor need those that are healthfull bee so scrupulous concerning their water if it bee Spring water espeâ—ially nor whether it runs East West North or South they being all indifferently good and wholesome Now sometimes it happens that Springs break out where there was never any before The Reasons of the breaking forth of new springs as in great floods of Rain and Snow which the subterraneall channells canâ—ot receive but these are but of short continuance Lib. 3. Nat. qu. c. 11. So after Earthquakes as Seneca mentions and so Theophrastus that in the mountain Corycus after an Earthquake many Springs broke out And thus after the cutting down of Woods and Groves as Pliny tells us in his Nat. Hist Spadac p. 1â— And H. ab Heer 's cites a passage to this purpose out of Ambrosius Perez who writes that in the City Baja a great Tree being torn up to make room for the building of a Colledge for the Jesuites there brake out a Spring of good and wholesome water a channell of water running under it was it seems broken up So also the stopping of the mouth of a Spring in one place may cause it to break out in another as wee see by ordinary experience Of like nature with Springs is Well water onely not so good and among these such as are open to the air are better then those that are shut whose water is fetched up by pumping and the more they are drawn the better and more wholesome is the water Many â—ratities in Springâ— There are also many rarities to be discovered in Springs both in their operations on those that drink them as Dr. French hath observed and I might multiply out of good Authors as also in their motions in ebbing and flowing concerning all which its very hard to give a reason There is a fountain in Idumaea called Job which is every three months of a severall colour to wit duskie red green and clear Another among the Troglodites which is three times a day bitter sweet again The Fountain Silva that flowes out of the foot of Mount Sion runs not continually but on certain days and hours A like to which we have at Giggleswick near a Market Town called Settle in York-shire which I mentioned before that ebbs and flowes many times a day whether such as these proceed from a spongious earth which resists it a while being but a slow Spring till it rally new force and break through the obstruction or it bee from a Spirit in the water whose impulse puts it forward but being a penurious Spring it settles again as Saxo Grammaticus thinks In praefat Daâ—iae suae I will not undertake to drtermine having not seen it till when I will bee content to admire it as a secret
plentifully by siege others of them by Urine but scarce any so well both ways as I have from the testimony of divers persons of quality that have tryed them Having thus observed the through operation of the water both ways for that one day I weighed my self again the next morning as before I had lost two pound and a half oâ— my weight now I think the humours being rarified by the water some of them were evaporated by insensible transpiration And although I was in my ordinary state of health when I drank this one dose yet I found after it a better agility of body and alacrity of Spirit then before I have caused others to make tryall also as I did and it hath in some fluid bodies wrought more plentifully both ways then it did with me Now this water doth not onely thus throughly cleanse the body by siege and urine in the parts through which it passeth but doth also draw from distant parts as the head joints and breast and helps to the preventing and curing their distempers moreover to this evacuating is also joined a corroberating or strengthening quality wheâ—â—â—â— it fortifies the parts and so armseâ—â—ture with new strength to the preventing of relapses It is found to be good against diseases of the head as the Apoplexy Epilepsie Catalepsie Vertigo inveterate head ach especially when they proceed from Sympathy with the stomack or lower belly as many times they do in cacochymick constitutions It is good against the diseases of the Nerves as the Convulsion especially when it proceeds from sharp and bilious humours which do vellicate the tunicles of the stomack or the beginning of the Nerves or from worms as is ordinary in Children and others of the younger sort also against the Palsie especially if it proceed from the scurvy which therefore is called Paralysis Scorbutica and is observed by our modern writers occurring dayly in our practise although not observed by the Princes in Physick or the Ancient writers And of this particularly I have had good experience in serverall Mr. K. especially of late in a Minister who found much benefit in the use of it against the Palsie although not without other specisicall remedies which I added to fortifie the Nervs and the animall faculty It cleanses the stomack from tough and slimy flegm sometimes causing vomit if the stomack be prone thereto otherwise not unless one drink too fast before it hath time to go down It furthers concoction of the meat by strengthening the digestive faculty and provokes an appetite as large experience shews so as many that have come hither with feeble stomacks either in craving or concocting meat have in a very few days found themselves with hungry appetites to crave and ability to concoct any meat that could be set before them It opens the Lungs and cleanses them being good in all diseases of the breast that need or can admit purgation It s good against difficulty of breathing provided it be not accompanied with an Ulcer in the Lungs It cures the Asthma if the patient labour not under the incurable disease of old age or an exceeding feeble and cold distemper of the bowels Mr. H.D. I know a Gentleman of Hull that had been long and sore afflicted with the Asthma who was perfectly cured with drinking of it in a few days Mr is B. A Gentlewoman of York had been much troubled with Rhumes which had resisted all remedies found very much benefit by the use of this water more then all other methods that had been prescribed It cures the Palpitation of the heart and helps such as are subject to frequent fainting through Melancholick vapours that oppress the vitalls and such as are troubled with the Night-Mare or finde an opressive load at their brest It is good against indisposition of the body unto motion which wee call Spontanea lassitudo which some that otherwise are healthfull are troubled withall that they have no lift to stir or not without short breathing so as I have observed some who at first coming have not been able to walk a quarter of a mile upon the plain ground without weariness have after a few days drinking been able to walk up to the Castle hill without a rest It is singular good in opening even the old and inveterate obstructions of the Liver and Spleen and consequently prevents a Dropsie or cures it if it bd taken in time or before the Liver be too much weakned It prevents or cures a Schirrus of these parts if it be taken in the beginning before it be confirmed it corroberates the naturall faculty of them exceedingly and strengthens the Liver in its work of sanguification and corrects its intemperate heat It purifies the blood and cures the Scurvy even such as have been tainted with it in a high degree a large triall whereof I had in the late wars when the Garrison that was kept by Sr Hugh Cholmley on the top of this Castle hill after a few weeks siege whither from the air of the Sea or a bad dyet or want of exercise were most of them â—allen into the Scurvy especially the Country Gentleman who had fled in thither who were miserably troubled with it as many of them as drank and the Spaw Water were perfectly and speedily cured which some of them used without any other means It cures the Jaunders both yellow and black the Leprosie in which case its needful the patient should bathe in it and cleanses the body from the remainders of the French Pox and consummates the cure I have known Inveterate Quartanes often cured by it and other sorts of Agues also which have long resisted medicine have been conquered by the use hereof in a short time but it must be drunk only upon their days of intermission It is very good to purge away the reliques of the Small Pox Agues and other diseases and consequently to prevent relapses which are wont to ensue through a new fermentation of their matter It is a most Soveraign remedy against Hypo chondriack Melancholly and Windiness suppressing the vapours which fly up to the head and cheering the heart as I might instance at large I know a reverend Minister who for help in this disease hath travelled through all the Spaws in England Mr. L. till at length after tryall made of this hee found so much benefit that leaving all the rest he comes yearly one hundrâ—d and fifty miles to drink of it Mr. B. Likewise another Minister in York-Shrie that was a long time both in his own apprehension and others in a languishing condition through a Melancholy distemper being full of fears and fancies was perfectly cured with it and is become a very healthfull and cheerful man It helps the Colick and Iliack passion if it doth not proceed from a cold distemper of the bowells but in this caseit should be drunk a little warm and the patient shâ—uld also bathe in it It helps such as are subject to
of their acquaintance and lead a more chearfull active life which will help to refresh their spirits and promote the more speedy passage of the water But as for such as through feebleness of body or estate are not able to travel It may be carried abroad they may get it brought to them into the Country having been incouraged to the use of it by some able Physician and they need not doubt its operation it being impregnated not only with the spirits of the Minerals which being carried far are subject to evaporation but with the substance of them or concrete juyce which will continue as long as the Water it self remaines sweet Compared with the Germane And this seems to be of like nature with the principal Spaw in Germany called by the name of Powhont which is wont to be carried into several Countries and was brought into England to Count Bellemont when he was sent Embassador from France to King James and was found as good as at the Fountain which might well be supposed to be done in less then ten days And they both arise out of the bottom of a great Rock having imbibed almost the very same Minerals only I think this has no lead and I suppose is not the worse for it having also more strength of the Minerals then the Powhont For when Doctor Paddy our Countrymen and Doctor Heer 's distilled it they found nothing but Rubrich Ocher and a little Vitriol as Doctor Heer 's himself relates whereas three quarts of this affords when the Rubrick is separated from it well nigh two drams of other Minerals The other which they call Sauvenir partakes much of the spirits of the Minerals but hath very little of their juyce or substance so as it is good at the Fountain but looses its spirits and vertue being carried abroad in as much as Frambesarius after two days journey found it like common water whereas that of Powhont was strong and quick There are two other Spaws in Germany not long since discovered viz. Geronster and Tonnelet but they are short of the other in vertue the former causing vomit often and dizzyness in the head as if a man were drunk and the other muddy and slimy and nauseous to the Palate yet they do each of them also purge the belly These do the inhabitants of the Towns neer adjoining make use of inwardly both for the preparing of their meat and drink as ordinary water especially the two first and it s observed by the German Writers that in no place of Germany are there to be found older and more healthfull people then thereabouts It is observable that the Stones by which this water passes at the Fountains as also in all other Spaws I read of are of a reddish colour as also it turns the execrements of such as drink of it into a sad green or blackish colour both which Doctor Heer 's thinks to proceed from Rubrick or mater ferri because all chalybeat Medicines after what manner soever they be taken inwardly do the like Cap. 8. p. 79. But Doctor French though he grants Iron may and doth cause a black tincture yet he seems rather to impute it to the Vitrioll For better satisfaction in this scruple both to my self and others I made a separation of the Rubrick from the test of the Minerals with gall and drank the clear water which though I find it purges not a whit the less yet the excretions were not changed at all which is an experiment observed by neither of them so as it plainly appears that change of color proceeds from the Rubrick or Iron And I also think it is the colour which receives the Tincture which if it be awanting the excrements are not tinged at all as in those that have the Jaunders whose Choler by reason of obstructions doth not passe into the guts they do find their excrements black till after they have drunk a day or two the obstructions begin to open and the choler is sent down into the bowells So also they that tarry long at the waters observe their excrements that before were blackish to become more pale which arises from the greatest part of the choler which hath been purged away except what is daily generated which being but little cannot give so deep a tincture Leave off by degrees My advice to them that drink long of it is that they leave by degrees as they began taking a lesse quantity every day then other for two or three days and to purge watry humours as soon as they have done either at Scarbrough or when they come at home It any after the use there of find a watry moysture upon his stomack more then ordinary Wine and Water correct each other or some other moyst distemper which happens to those whose stomacks and concective faculty are feeble it may easily be corrected by drinking a glasse or two of Wine more then ordinary at meals for some little while Wine and water fitly amending the distempers that proceed from a more then usual drinking of each other as Herilacus observes well De vinor qd effect 2. so as he that is inflamed with Wine may be cooled with water and all cold distempers that come by the immoderate use of water may bee amended with Wine And whereas perhaps there may be some that think it an empiricall thing and to exceed belief that this Spaw water should cure so many maladies as I have reckoned up and severall of them of contrary qualities I refer such to the writings of Fallowpius Solenander Geringus Ryetius Bezansonius H. ab Heer 's who have treated of the Waters of Germany and else where as also to several of our own Country men as Dr. Dean Mr. Stanhope Dr. Fiend and many others who have writ of severall Spaws in England moreover let them inform themselves well concernig the cures that have been done by the waters at Epsam Tunbridge Barnet Bristol Knaresbrough c. This of ours coming not short of if not much exceeding the best of them all either Germane or English Felix qui potuit boni Fontem visere lucidum Boeth de consolat Philos metr 12. l. 4. READER Through the Authors great distance from the Press some gross Errours have escabed the Printer which do break the sense He begs so much ingenuity that these following being some of the principall may be corrected by thy pen before thou begin to read PAge 2. l. 12. read Coroners p. 5. l. 10. r. having the p. 11. l. 14. r. skie p. 12. l. 2. r. it doth p. 16. l. 21. in the marg r. Sect. 2. p. 18. l. 8. r. other p. 19. l. 5 r. altering p. 34. l. 13.1 superfices p. 38. l. 2. c amounts p. 39. l. 14. r. Baccius p. 48 l. 2. r. indomitable p. 67. l. 3. r. purifies p. 67. l. 10. r. converted p. 15. l. 4. r. meal p. l. last r. vehicle p. p. 69. l. 14. r. know p. 70. l. 9. r. pestileutiall p. 72. l. 13. r. up with it p. 73. l. 4. r. of my discourse l. 10. r. concerning Springs p. 74. l. 4. r. transmutation p. 77. l. 15. r. redound p. 78. l. ult r. figure p. 90. l. ult r. distance p. 106. l. dele the p. 108. l. ult r. renders p 112. l. 19. r with the frre p 113. l. 12. r. all the water p. 115. l. 7. r. break out p. 117. l. 1. r. overflown p. 123. l. 21. r. where p. 127. l. 3. r. aboundance l. ult r. of the Earth p. 128. l. 15. del which p. 130. l. 3. r. suppply them p. 131. l. 15. r. Rains do falls p. 132. l. 5. r. sorts of Springs l. 16. r. of Athiopia p. 133. l. 11. r. M. Carpenter p. 137. l. 7. r. Commissure l. 18. r. thee solid