Eastern Countries To conclude from all the recited Phaenomena if we will but appeal to our Senses it is evident that Moses's Narrative of the Deluge is not only the most true but the most compleat I cannot therefore but admire at the Theorist and Mr. Whiston who affirm that before the Deluge there were no Mountains In the first place the Arguments they offer are no way conclusive but barely Hypothetical a meer begging of the Question they have indeed supply'd us with polite Schemes and witty Allegories and where they do not by dint of Reason convince us like Sirens by their Wit they charm us but it is not Paint that can long preserve the Features after that is once discover'd the Face appears more deform'd I can no more think the World before the Deluge was form'd like an Egg or that there were no Mountains or that upon the breach of the Shell the Waters gush'd out and overwhelm'd the Globe than I can espouse that wild Notion of the Philosopher who fancy'd himself an Egg and dreaded lest the Heavens should fall and destroy him What Moses has deliver'd upon that Subject exactly quadrates with Nature and from his History it is very clear that there were Mountains before the Flood in the seventh Chapter of Genesis he says the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail and the mountains were covered Whence it is plain that before the Deluge there were Mountains otherwise how could they be cover'd he may as well reconcile the contradiction of a Man covering his Head with his Hat when he had none upon his Shoulders and the one Absurdity is as easily defended as the other In the same Chapter that inspir'd Philosopher very clearly conveys to us the beginning progress and conclusion of the Deluge all which throughly consider'd one would think to any unbiass'd Person are Arguments too plain and convincing to be obviated for let us take him barely and literally as an Historian where he acquaints us that the fountains of the great deep were broken open the windows or the clouds of heaven poured down their waters for it rained forty Days and forty Nights What can we imagin those Fountains to be but the Freshes separated by the Earth from the Sea which upon those Convulsions of the Earth when it was broken open issued forth upon its surface And then that great fall of Waters from the Clouds which doubtless incessantly and vehemently pour'd down Night and Day joyning with them might easily cause that general Inundation To those that alledge the deficiency of the Waters to accomplish so universal a Flood let us by plain Text and Demonstration answer in the first Chapter of Genesis when the earth was without form and void then darkness was upon the face of the deep which plainly shews as was asserted before that this Globe was a meer immense Liquid for the Earth surely would have had a Form tho' Darkness had been upon it had it then been separated from the Waters but upon their subsidence dry Land appeared and received a Form wherefore then by a very reasonable Consequence could not that Power that made the first great separation of Fluids from Solids once again cover all with Fluids or why could not the same proportionate quantity of Liquids that could dilute such a Mass of Solids once again overwhelm them but where was then the necessity of a total dissolution of all the Strata of the Earth at the Deluge or why must all again return to its primitive Chaos without form Besides the Evidence of all the recited Phaenomena Moses very readily clears that difficulty for Chap. 7. he tells us that the Ark was lifted up above the Earth that all the high hills and mountains were covered which lifting or floating of the Ark above the Earth and covering of the Hills and Mountains seems to be very dissonant to a Dissolution not but that a strange Catastrophe occur'd to the superficies of the Earth by the resistless motions of the Waters which gave so many evidences of their Power and Universality at that time Again Chap. 8. The waters returned from off the earth not separated as at the Creation and again that they decreased continually till the tops of the mountains were seen Upon the whole I can see no reason why any should so elaborately endeavour to answer Difficulties where none present themselves and that by so quaint a Method as to amuse the Reader by starting greater Having now from Observations in Nature and Divine History given an account of the Deluge that we may form some Idea of it I thought it not inconsistent with my Design to insert the following Phaenomenon About three Years ago near Hyde in Cheshire happen'd an unusual Flood which overwhelm'd the Banks of the River and violently broke in at the Eye of a Coal-Pit the Water in its impetuous Current thro' the hollows forc'd the Air before it which when pent up in the Extremities of those Passages by its Elasticity divided a solid Rock at least 20 Yards perpendicular the Water over the greatest part of the Field appear'd in large Columns not much unlike the Spouts in Africa when having spent its force the Rock clos'd again and all over the Field were to be seen various pieces of Coal scatter'd Hence we may imagin when all the Springs of the Deep were broken up and the Clouds pour'd down their Waters in continued Cataracts for forty Days and Nights in so strange a Convulsion I say from the recited Phaenomenon we may form some inadequate Idea how that terrible Destruction was accomplish'd And since we are treating of Floods I think it a pardonable Digression if I give an account of a Spout seen by my Brother within these two Years in his Voyage to Virginia The figure of it as he affirms was like a Spire-Steeple inverted and hung for a considerable time from the Clouds to the surface of the Sea it afterwards divided and then the Sea was in a most violent Commotion which was observ'd by the flowering of the Water as he stiled it the lower Pillar hung for a considerable time upon the surface of the Water but at length vanished the upper part from the Clouds remain'd longer His Conjecture is that the Spout was not a Column of Water that ascended out of the Sea but a Cloud only that hung down to the surface of the Water and he gives these Reasons for it first because the upper part of the Pillar continued much longer than the lower part after its division in the second place before the Spout appear'd the Air was extreamly dark and by that the Sea-men predicted the appearance of a Spout What former accounts we have of Spouts in Authors are different from this whether therefore there may be various sorts of Spouts I shall not determine as being forreign to this Undertaking Dampier confirms
being much greater and consequently the pressure more To these I shall add what has been observ'd by our Learned Warden the Rev d Dr. Wroe who for several Years has kept an exact Diary of the Weather-glass He always observ'd the Quicksilver upon its ascending to alter its Surface insomuch as in very dry Weather to become perfectly Convex and upon an Alteration of the Air to a wet Temper to alter to a plain Surface and in extreme wet Weather to a perfect Concave the Mercurial Particles hanging on the sides of the Glass By this it should seem that besides the Ascent made by the Pressure there is another also made by the intestine Fermentation of the Quicksilver and in this I am the farther confirm'd since Quicksilver in Glass Tubes Hermetically Seal'd has been observ'd to Rise and Fall which could not be was the Ascent by Pressure wholly upon the Surface of the Quicksilver contain'd in the Cup. Another thing remarkable in the Air is the exposing openly dry'd Leaves of Tobacco which in the hottest Days do soonest grow Moist for which no other Reasons can be assign'd but the Exhalations in hot Weather are far greater and consequently the aqueous Particles more numerously ranged in the Atmosphere And this I take to be the reason why the Drops of Rain are then usually larger and perhaps for the same reason the Bigness of Hailstones may in some measure be solv'd CHESHIRE a County Palatine and amongst other Things Famous for its Earls who had a Palatine Jurisdiction belonging to them and all the Inhabitants held of them as in Chief and were under a Sovereign Allegiance and Fealty to them as they to the KING This County was anciently Inhabited by part of the Cornavii The Air there may be said to be more Healthful and Mild than in Lancashire this County not so much abounding with Fens Salt-Marshes and Mosses What is said more of the Air in Lancashire may serve as to this Place and as to its farther Antiquities the following Account may be added According to Sir Thomas Elliot the First Name given to this City was Neomagus so call'd from Magus Son of Samothes Son of Iaphet its Founder see Lambert pag. 17 th about 240 Years after the Flood Were this Account true for ought I know it may stand in Competition with the most antique City in the Universe Its Second Name was Caerleon see Albion Mareoticus so nominated from Leon Vaur or Gauer who as some will have it was a Giant in Albion and One of its Restorers The reason of this Conjecture I suppose may in some measure be grounded upon the following History i. e. upon a Giant 's Skull being dug up in Pepper-street with the rest of the Bones Upon the Britains coming over and settling there it was afterwards call'd Caerleil and afterwards Caerleir because these Two British Kings were Enlargers and Beautifiers of it according to Iackson Stow and others Before the Arrival of the Romans here it is probable this City was call'd Genuina or Gunia as will more fully appear from the Inscription of a Votive Altar dug up in this City and Dedicated to Iupiter Tanar that is in the Welch Language the Thunderer which language it is likely the Romans might make use of in this Inscription to demonstrate their Conquests over the Britains After the Romans had six'd here their conquering Legion stiled Valens Victrix it was then stiled Caerlheon Caerlegion or as 't is otherwise commonly call'd Ardourdwy and Caer by way of Excellence as Mr. Cambden observes to distinguish it from the other Caerleon or Caerusk in South Wales The Latin Historians stile it Cestria that is a Castris which the Romans had fix'd there and Leincestria that is the City of the Legions It has likewise been stiled as is evident from the Roman Tiles dug up there Deunana Deva and Devana Civitas and these Names I presume to be attributed to it from its Proximity to the River Dee In later Ages it was stiled Legan-Chester Lege-Cestre but in these Days West-Chester or Chester as the Greeks express it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to denote its Preference to Dorchester or Rochester By Ptolomy it is sometimes call'd Oxcellum Uxcellum Plegimundham and Leogria or Locrinus Land of which the Three first denote no more as Hollingshed observes in the First Volume of his Chronicles of England than a Rock an Island or Place of strong Defence by which we may easily observe that this was the Boundary of King Locrinus's Kingdom Westward This was the chief City of the Ordovices before the coming in of the Romans as most of our ancient Historians do affirm those People were the Inhabitants of North Wales The Greatness of this ancient City is still the more conspicuous from those stately Remains of its Ruins I mean the subterraneous Vaults in Cellars through Free-stone Rock the Entrances into them are ranged into several Angles and by what I can learn from the Descriptions of the Catacombs in Italy we may reasonably conclude these to have been made for the same purpose This Instance sufficiently demonstrates the Greatness of the Roman Power at Chester and likewise that it is probable since by their Conquering Legion there they had Block'd up the Britains in Wales that they were resolv'd not only to keep Incorporated while living but likewise to preserve even their very Ashes together In these Passages have been found several Roman Coins as I have been inform'd which more fully illustrates these Vaults to have been Heathen and not those subterraneous Passages made use of by the Monks which may be observ'd in various Monasteries This may be seen in a Cellar in Bridge-street belonging to Mr. Iohn Minshull DERBYSHIRE was anciently Inhabited by the Coritani who these were as well as the Cornavii is uncertain The Air in the Peak of that Country is more subject to Rains and Winds than in Lancashire and Cheshire and it s not unpleasant to see the Clouds riding after the sides of the Mountains which by dashing upon them are frequently forced down in Showers and by the sudden Rarefaction of the Meteors in the Air pent up betwixt the Hills and the Clouds and getting vent in the spaces betwixt the Hills I think may fairly illustrate why Winds are in those Parts so frequent but this will be more easily conceiv'd if we consider those Artificial Winds which are made by an Aeolipile which Instrument it was gave me the first hint of Dulcifying Salt-Water which Experiment I shew'd to the University of Oxford some Years before Mr. Fitz-Gerald had a Patent for doing it who Communicated this Experiment to him I know not but it s most certain it was not his own Having now given Account of what is most remarkable in the Air I shall proceed to consider the next Element and that is Water But before I enter upon that must beg leave to add Two remarkable Observations The first is to illustrate the Elasticity of
two Miles from Lancaster which Seat is now in Possession of the R t Hon ble the Lady Gerrard of Bromley from a white Marle issues a pleasant and smooth Water remarkable for its agreeable Tast and Lightness This Water is lighter by an Ounce in a Pint than any I have seen in these Parts Now all Waters containing more or less of Earthly Particles and in the various Consistencies and Quantities of those differing one from another in Gravity it may be imagin'd this Water to receive its Oily Tast and Lightness from the white Marle that being an Oily and light Body and the best Tillage this Country affords A Spring remarkable for its Perspiration is that near Stalo-Bridge in Cheshire This Water if put into a Glass Bottle closely Corked will force its way thro' the Pores of the Glass or the Water by emitting cold Effluvia upon the external Superficies of the Glass condenses the aqueous Particles of the Air and so forms that Dew or Sweat so often observable there For my part considering how difficult it is for any Menstruum whatever to penetrate the Pores of Glass nay even for Air it self as is sufficiently evidenced by the Experiments in the Air Pump I must own my assent to the latter and this may be farther illustrated by the Dews upon Bottles in Wine-Cellars which are wholly insipid and consequently cannot be spirituous Liquor that perspires through the Pores but the aqueous Particles of the Air there condensed Springs remarkable for their Coldness in these Countries we have none save One near Larbrick which is a Water extreamly Cold and of which I shall treat in its proper place this Water is the Coldest I have seen in these Parts and may no doubt answer the ends perform'd by that of St. Mungus in Yorkshire We have only One Spring that Ebbs and Flows and that is call'd Tideswell in the Peak in Derbyshire tho' nothing so Noted as that near Gigleswig in Yorkshire where I have seen the Water to ebb and flow several times in an Hour and always upon the subsiding of the Water heard a gutling Noise within the Mountain not unlike that obvious to us in pouring Liquors out of Bottles only it is much louder Conjectures about this Flux and Reflux are various some imagining it to be caused by the return of a Stone that in an Aqueduct hangs in aequilibrio as the Learned Mr. Hobbs others that a large Receptacle fill'd with Water by subterraneous Winds from the opposite part is blown over as LeGrand and others of the French Virtuosi Tho' Mr. Hobbs's Hypothesis seems to carry the greater stress of Reason along with it yet at the same time if we consider the Effects Water has upon Stone upon which it continually falls or runs over in diminishing its Superficies or over-turning those of a prodigious Bigness upon Floods or other Eruptions it will be as difficult to conceive how a Stone should be so exactly poised in an Aqueduct so long a space of time as this must needs have been so as to occasion a Flux and Reflux of the Waters as is observable in these Fountains Wherefore I shall venture to form a different Hypothesis and that it may be perform'd with all the Perspicuity so dark a matter will admit in the first place I will describe the Spring and its situation as exactly as I remember The most noted Spring of this Nature is at Gigleswig in Yorkshire as above-mention'd The Well lies at the Bottom of a Mountain of a considerable Height and is almost contiguous to a great Road betwixt Settle Lancashire and Westmorland The Diameter of the Spring as I think is about a Yard and the Perpendicular near the same dimension The Flux and Reflux is not always certain being sometimes only once again twice sometimes thrice an Hour and I think the Water upon the Flux may subside about three quarters of a Yard and then you always hear an hollow gutling Noise within the Mountain as is above recited From these Phaenomena it seems reasonable to conjecture that within the Mountain is a considerable Cavity impleted with Air from which the Aqueducts that form the Spring run and that those and their Exits are but small and it is very probable from this Cavity they do not run in direct but spiral Lines like those in a Worm used in Distillation Now when the Water that ascends out of the Earth which composes these Springs reaches this Cavity they must necessarily as it fills gradually press the Air into the spiral Aqueducts and force it forward to the end of the Aqueduct it is there then obstructed by the Water in the Well only a little Air and Water getting vent raises gradually the Spring the Duct still continues to fill higher and higher with Water till at length by its Gravity the Air is forced through and then it is the Flux happens and the hollow gutling Noise is heard occasion'd undoubtedly by the external Air rushing in and strugling with the Water to supply the Cavity of the Mountain which is now discharg'd of that Water but still impleted with Air it is now the Flux ceases and again renews as before and so it reciprocally succeeds Such spiral Aqueducts I have frequently observ'd in the Mountains in Derbyshire particularly near Tideswell where that other Spring ebbs and flows hence it seems rational the same may be here also However here is not any thing dogmatically asserted nor am I so bigotted to this Hypothesis but can easily quit it when any more reasonable is offer'd and more exactly quadrates with the Phaenomena of these Springs Now as these Aqueducts are more or less Spiral or of different Dimensions from the Sinus within the Mountain impleted with Air or as the Spring that fills the Duct with Water is but easy or rapid so its probable the Flux and Reflux becomes so uncertain for in some it flows not once in several Hours as in that call'd Tideswell the Water perhaps being sometimes diverted by other Aqueducts and reaches not the Cavity or Sinus within the Mountain this may happen by several accidents as the falling in of Earth or Pebles which for a time may divert the common course of the Spring till by a continual currency it forces its passage again Several Springs we have which are only at certain Seasons as some near the Manour in Furness these are occasion'd by Rains or an hazy Atmosphere At this Abbey are the most stately Ruins I have any where observ'd as most beautiful Pillars spacious Windows noble Arches and subterraneous Vaults Near this place is a considerable Salmon Fishing and a large Park in which are variety of Deer as Red Fallow and White and is by much the most curious Seat in these Parts It was formerly possest by Sir Thomas Preston who quitted it and as I have been inform'd is one of the Religious and amongst them one of the meanest Order But is now possest by the noble and virtuous Lady
to Bathing or Drinking and no doubt by the addition of Rock Salt might be made an advantageous Salt-work having Coals so convenient The Salt at the first boyling is brown and foetid but dissolv'd and evaporated again makes as good a Salt as any I have seen it springs out of Bass and has I presume from that its sulphureous and saline Particles The various Kinds of Bass I shall discourse of in their proper place and there shew how they are impregnated with different Principles There are other Springs that arise out of Bass and are sulphureous and saline yet different from the former as St. Anne's and the hot Baths at Buxton in Derbyshire here the Waters are sulphureous and saline yet not foetid but very palatable because in these Waters the Sulphur is not united with any Vitriolic Particles or but very few saline it tinges not Silver nor is Purgative by reason its saline Parts are dispensed in such small proportions which saline Particles make up a compound Salt constituted of a marine Salt and the Sal Catharticum Amarum which indeed is the Nitrum Calcarium that impregnates Epsom Northall Dulech and the rest of the Purging-Waters in those Parts These Waters if drank create a good Appetite open Obstructions and no doubt if mix'd with the Chalybeat Waters that are there may answer all the Intentions of the Bath Waters in Somersetshire and that of St. Vincent's near Bristol so noted for Curing the Diabetes of which I have seen several Instances in these Parts and likewise for Curing of Bloody Urines arising from the weakness of the Urinary Vessels of which I saw a most noted Instance in Leverpool This Bath is of a temperate Heat and without question by reverberating the Halitus might be brought to any degree of Heat but I think in its own natural Heat it may in general be said to be more agreeable to the Constitutions of those Parts and where the hot Baths cannot be safely used this may This last Summer I saw remarkable Instances of its Effects in scorbutick Rheumatisms in Persons that could not go before without the help of Crutches who came from thence to Manchester on Foot without them distant from Buxton full sixteen Northern Miles But the Virtues as well as Use of Bathing are so particularly described by my Honoured Friend Sir Iohn Floyer of Lichfield that for your further satisfaction I refer you to his elaborate Piece and shall only abridge those Cases he recites These hot Baths spring out of a Bass not unlike Marble and it is pleasant to see in what Bubbles the sulphureous Halitus breaks out of its Matrix and impregnates the Waters After our worthy Author had given us a most exact Account of Perspiration from his Own and Sanctorius's Observations in rightly considering which consists the Basis and Usefulness of all Bathing in the first place he enumerates the Mischiefs of the hot Baths In his 2 d Part p. 2. I observ'd says he that many Persons came to the hot Baths at Bathe without any good Advice or they who came with it used it indiscreetly and imprudently manag'd their Bathing by using it without any due Evacuation or continuing it too long that they went from thence worse than they came some having enflamed their Blood and thicken'd its Serum so as to renew their Rheumatick Pains others Died of Fevers Consumptions Convulsions Bleeding and Imposthumes Instances of these I have seen in several in these Parts but this Point Dr. Pierce is pleased to touch as tenderly as an Hypothesis about the Waters of which he seems afraid but wou'd have us rest satisfy'd without asking Questions and bring the Ingenuity of the most polite Parts to an equal level with the most unthinking Animal For my part I shall not fear to deliver my Sentiments since I have no other end in it than to inform the World in the Phaenomena I observ'd in Nature and if these be exposing One's self to be thrown at like a Shrove-tide Cock as he observes if I escape the terrible Blow of being Neck'd and survive the Combate the Comb shall be at his Service These Instances as he proceeds may convince all considering Persons that we ought not to use hot Baths for Pleasure especially where there is a fulness of Humours and a hot Constitution and since the following Accidents frequently happen upon Bathing they will certainly over-balance all the Pleasure of it the Inconveniencies he reckons are profuse Sweats and Haemorrhages Apoplexies Sleepiness Vertigo's Convulsions Asthma's debility of the Sight Swooning a general lassitude and dejection of the Appetite Torpor of the Mind and Effeminacy of the Flesh pag. 4. My Journey to Buxton this last Year discover'd to me a Bath very different to that at Bathe it being a very temperate one producing no Sweating after it but rather a Coldness and upon a due Consideration I found the Bath very useful in many Cases in which that of Bathe did Injury as in Comsumptions hot Scorbutick Pains and all Defluxions of Humours and Bleedings and all hot inordinate Flatulencies of the animal Spirits in Hysteric and Hypocondriac Cases The farther Particulars may be seen at large in his third Chapter to which I refer you as likewise to his Extract out of Dr. Iones and the Observations annex'd to his ingenious Treatise Before I close the Discourse of this Bath it may be enquired why the Sulphur in one Bath tinges Silver a Copper colour as that at Knarseborough and Maudsley why others of a Golden or Yellowish colour as those in Somersetshire and why others impregnated with Sulphur tinge not at all To these I answer Where Sulphur tinges a Copper colour it is from the addition of a Vitriolic Salt as is common to observe from the solutions of Sulphur and Vitriol but where a Golden colour ensues it is from a greater proportion of mineral Sulphur and but little of Vitriol as in the sulphur Auratum of Antimony and the golden Pyrites But where they Tinge not at all it s from Sulphur only as that at Buxton which seems to arise out of a Bassy Marble The Waters we shall next consider are the Acidulae or those commonly call'd Chalybeats with which these Counties abound The most Notes are those near Lantham Wigan Stockport Burnley Bolton Plumpton Middleton Strangeway near Manchester Lancaster Larbrick Chorley and of these Stockport is much the strongest these Waters spring out at the Bottom of a great Rock in strength are much the same in Winter as Summer which is a Conveniency very few in England besides them have these Waters give as deep a Tincture with Galls as any I ever saw and where Chalybeats are indicated exceed those of Knarseborough and Tunbridge they will in twenty-four Hours by being expos'd to the Air become insipid and then yield no Tincture these Waters lie very light not heavy upon the Stomach which is a Convenience the Drinkers of Knarseborough and Tunbridge have not These Waters are impregnated
shoot into any regular Chrystals have a smell much like that of Natural Balsam which to me seems to be the scarlet Sulphur that precipitates in the Water by exposing it to the Air this Water has a vitriolate Taste and with Galls yields a Tincture of an Agate colour has been experimented in scorbutick Cases and answered the desired end The Hanbridge Water a small Spring which lies betwixt Burnley and Townley yields a Natron or natural Alcali as those Bourbon Waters in France cited by Monsieur Du-Closs and another alcalious Salt which like a Terebinthinate or Resinous Body will melt with a small degree of Heat it is plain the Reason why this Salt melts by Heat is only from a volatile Bitumen united with it for the Salt being long kept in a glass Vial will not melt by any moderate degree of Heat but is then purely Alcalious the Bitumen being wholly evaporated as I found in my Observations at Townley This Water at the Fountain with Galls yields a Tincture inclining to a faint Orange if kept any considerable time in Glass Bottles a perfect Citrine contains the greatest quantity of Natron of any in these parts purges by Stool and Urine and is of great Use in the Stone and Scurvy as hath been found by several Persons who in those Cases have try'd them with great success The Water near Emmet which is about two Miles distant from those fore-mention'd Waters is of a vitriolate Taste and sulphureous Smell which with a solution of Sublimate yields a white Precipitate which no other Waters in those parts will do nor any in France as the French Virtuosi have observ'd and indeed only those at Spada in Germany and if so it may be highly worth our time by frequent and strict Tryals both in Cases in Physick and Experiments in Chymistry to find out the Principles and Use of it which may perhaps save us the Expences of a tedious Fatigue to Spada At the same time I saw there a Salt prepared from a Water in Yorkshire which had exactly the smell of Hipposelinum or Horse-Parsley a Phaenomenon never yet observ'd in any Salt before this smell proceeds from a certain proportion of bituminous saline and terrene Particles for what remain'd after evaporation was of a Yellowish colour and contain'd a great deal of terrene Matter but the Salt when separated is perfect concocted Vitriol Dr. Lister may here again be satisfy'd of his Error for not only the Waters in Lancashire but those likewise in Yorkshire contain perfect concocted Vitriol Nay in the same Coal-Mines near Burnley there are Springs of perfect Vitriol and under these others that contain Natron or Aegyptian Nitre as the above-mention'd ingenious Gentleman fully demonstrated to me when I was last there Another Salt the said Richard Townley of Townley Esq shew'd me which was perfect Salt-petre prepared from a very rapid Spring a Gallon of which contain'd half an Ounce of this Salt which upon Chrystallization shoots like Salt-petre from India into long Striae and fulminates with Sulphur This Salt he had from a Gentleman that discover'd the Spring but at present conceals the Place So that what my self and others have alleged in affirming no Waters in England to contain Salt-petre is erroneous let others retract when they think convenient for my part I fairly own my Error and from repeated Observations can positively affirm there is no marine Salt but what contains more or less of Indian Nitre but the proportion is so small and the method of preparing it so tedious it wou'd not be of any farther use than to satisfy the curious Enquirer but the Advantages that may accrue from the before recited Spring may for ought I know be one of the greatest Treasures as well as Secrets in Nature The next Mineral-Waters I shall consider are those springing out of Bass and Sulphureous only of these the most Noted is One near a Place call'd Inglewhite this springs out of a Black Bass which by Calcination I found to contain Sulphur the Water has a very sulphureous Smell as strong as that near Harrigate in Yorkshire but contains little or no Salt which is the reason it is not Purgative like that but by adding the like proportion of common Salt to it viz. about a Dram to a Pint of Water that Inconvenience is remedy'd and then you have either sulphureous Baths or purging Waters for my part I shou'd rather choose to add the bitter purging Salt as being most agreeable Having now examin'd all the various Waters springing out of Bass we proceed in the next place to give Account of saline sulphureous Waters arising out of other Minerals And I shall begin first with the sulphur Water near Wigan call'd by the Inhabitants of that place the Burning-Well this is a very diverting Phaenomenon and for its Rarity is visited by most Persons whose Curiosity leads them to Natural Enquiries It is about two Miles from Wigan in a Village call'd Aucliff in the Ground of William Mollineux of that Place Esq The Well is at the Bottom of a Tree the Water Cold and without any Smell when any Person comes to see it a Man clears the Well from all its Water that done you will immediately hear a hissing Noise in a Corner of it and by holding a lighted Candle near to it the sulphureous Halitus immediately takes Fire and afterwards spreads it self upon what Water has issued in and 't is only then indeed it ought to be call'd the Burning-Well 'T is observable tho' this sulphureous Halitus continually mixes with Water yet the Water continues Cold nor will it tinge Silver wherefore I imagine this Halitus is purely sulphureous consisting only of Oily inflammable Particles without any mixture of Vitriol or if any but inconsiderable and 't is reasonable to suppose this kind of Sulphur to impregnate the Baths at Buxton 'T is plain from these and the sulphur Wells at Maudsley and those at Harrigate in Yorkshire which are all sulphureous and yet all Cold Waters that it is only by accident that sulphur Waters become hot viz. by Collision of the sulphureous Particles when in the Spiracles of the Earth they have not a free open passage they beat and dash one upon another and by that Collision grow hot as we may observe in the rubbing of the Phosphorus which immediately takes Fire likewise in new Hay and in Wheels taking Fire by Motion only For to imagine the Heat of the Baths to proceed from Fermentation in the Waters or from subterraneous Fires is no wise consistent with Experience which after all our Hypotheses must be the true Touchstone of our Reason The foregoing Instances may convince the World that sulphureous Particles grow hot without Ignition and that there are sulphureous Particles in all hot Baths is abundantly demonstrated But for a farther Illustration of this Hypothesis take this following Experiment Let some Brimstone be set on Fire in a Glass Body immediately upon its taking Flame stop
a great measure depend upon the Magnitude and Number of their Pores and according to those variously subsided Conformable to these Phaenomena is Moses's History of the Creation where in the first Chapter of Genesis he tells us that the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and that the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters But these last Words are more aptly expressed by Iunius and Tremellius those two great Masters of the Hebrew Language who from the Hebrew Text translate it not Movebat but Spiritus Dei incubabat superficiei aquarum that is the spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters a Metaphor taken from a Fowl hatching her young ones The Explication of which Text further evinces that at the Creation before any thing was reduc'd to form this Globe was an immense Liquid consisting of all sorts of Particles Hence not only from Phaenomena in Nature but likewise from Divine Writ it is evident that these prodigious Mountains were the subsidence of a Fluid wherefore how rugged soever these may appear to the Eye yet even these if we pry into their innermost Recesses undeniably evidence the Power of Nature and the Existence of an omnipotent Being so that tho' there was not an universal dissolution of their Strata at the Deluge as was before manifested yet to account for the various Phaenomena observable in those Mountains it is certain that they must once have been fluid Bodies and successively indurated into these hard Consistences by their own Gravity and the Heat and Salts of the ambient Air upon the receding of the Waters as Moses clearly evinces in the same Chapter where God said Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and the evening and the morning were the first day Which brings me to a small Digression in enquiring what in those Antediluvian Ages was meant by a Day an Hour or a Year The Latin word Hora has been judg'd by some to be deriv'd from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to limit or bound because it is the measure of Time so in Mathethematics comes the word Horizon because that terminates the sight but Macrobius and Pausanias both alledge that its original is owing to the Aegyptians because the Sun in their Language was stiled Horum the Septuagint Interpreters would have it indifferently to express a short space of time hence in St. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for Supper-time some are of Opinion that Hours anciently signify'd the four Seasons of the Year hence the Greek Annals call'd them their Hori and their Writers Horographici some there are that think the Greeks call'd that part of Time an Hour wherein the Dog-star arises hence Galen in his Book De Alimentis calls those Horean Fruits which spring up at that time wherein the Dog-star arose In general by an Hour the Ancients have signify'd an Age and by the twelfth Hour Old Age as some would have it hence in that Dialogue of Marcus Crassus and the K. of Galatia comes that Expression What Man says he art not thou now arrived at the twelfth Hour and yet talkest of building a new City but I am apt to think this might rather be Metaphorically spoken because in the computation of Time for the greatest part so many Hours terminate the artificial Day it might therefore not unaptly be compar'd to the Period of Old Age. Herodotus relates that the Grecians from the Aegyptians receiv'd the use of the Pole the Gnomon and the twelve parts of the Day and the original of that Use among the Aegyptians was because their Priests in those Days were accustomed twelve times a Day to make a noise to their Cynocephalus and Cicero takes notice of such a Ceremony to Serapis from which it seems clear that an Hour in those Days was the same as now in the computation of Time and that Dial of Ahaz where the Miracle was wrought of the Sun 's going back ten Degrees seems to confirm that the Iews in those days computed Time in the like manner for all Interpreters agree those Degrees were the Indices of such parts of the Day and the description that Pancirollus gives us of an Instrument amongst the ancient Romans farther evinces the truth of this Hypothesis They took says he a Vessel made of Glass in the bottom of which was a narrow Hole done about with Gold lest the Water should wear it away on the other part of the Vessel was drawn a right Line having the 12 Hours set upon it after which they filled the Vessel with Water which issued drop by drop out of the little Hole they thrust a Cork into the Water fastned to a little Wand the end of which pointed at the first Hour and as the Water decreased at the second and third Hour and so on this the Greeks call'd Clepsydra From all which both from the Practice of the Iews Aegyptians Greeks and Romans it is most probable that the Antediluvians computed Time as we do now and that Noah very likely transmitted those Instructions down to his Posterity The next thing therefore to be consider'd is to illustrate what is meant by Days Days by all Nations are divided into two kinds the one natural the other artificial the one consisting of twelve the other of twenty-four Hours having therefore fully explain'd what the Ancients meant by Hours I need not farther to insist upon this Point I shall then proceed to explain what is meant by a Year The word Annus or Year in the three ancient Languages is deriv'd from a thing that turns round or a Circle for so much the Hebrew word does signify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hence the Aegyptians represented the Year by a Snake biting its Tail but whether a Lunar or Solar Year is meant by the Patriarchs is next to be consider'd The Turks and Arabians use the Lunar Year and the same Custom is observed in Tartary Siam Iapan Peru and in other Places but Kepler alledges that the Iews after their departure out of Aegypt used only the Solar Year The Patriarchs says he used the Aegyptian Year of 365 Days and divided them into 12 Months and it is certain the Jewish Year until the Grecian Monarchy was wholly Solar that all their Months save the last consisted of 30 Days and Iosephus writes that there was no Innovation in their Rites as to their Year wherefore from the afore-recited Authorities and likewise from the Iewish and Aegyptian Hieroglyphical representations of a Year it is highly reasonable to conclude that the Years spoken of by the Patriarchs were Solar Years or 12 Months in which the Sun perfects its Course in the Zodiac So that what some have offer'd to prove an Hour or Month to be a Year amongst the Ancients is groundless and is only a metaphorical Allusion to a Custom very frequent in the
which hath a fermenting virtue and leav'ns a Past exposed to the Air and at that time saith Pliny and Le Chambre the Nitre Pits grow full of Nitre and sands Vanssebius and several say that though 500 in a day die at Grand Cairo of the Plague before the beginning of the Inundation of the Nile yet the very day after there does not one die which doubtless cou'd not proceed from any other reason than because at that time the Air was impregnated with this volatile Alkaly for at that time the Nitre Pits grow full and this dew falls This I think may sufficiently hint to us the great use of its volatile Spirit Especially in Pestilential Distempers Lastly about that time the Nile begins to o'erflow those Specimens which we had here grew heavier by being exposed to the Air Here it is to be noted that this Alkaly is not made so by Fire I cannot therefore conclude with Helmont that all Alkalies are made so by that Element The next thing to be consider'd is its seperation from the Water in Latron of which the Learned Dr. Huntington who was at Nitria gives us this account There is a Town in Aegypt called Nitria which gives name to the Nitrian desert where there is a Lake called Latron taking up an Area of six or seven Acres situate about thirty Miles West and by South from Terena a Town lower upon the Nile than Grand Cairo and about the same distance Northwest from the Pyramids From the bottom of this Lake ariseth this sort of Nitre call'd Natron to the top as they do apprehend and there by the Heat of the Sun condenseth into this kind of substance that all the Nitre comes from the bottom to the Top I dare not affirm I shall therefore premise some Phoenomena it afforded in Evaporation before I give you my conjecture about it I took an Evaporating Glass which held about four Ounces and pour'd into it two Ounces of Nitrian Water this I set upon a sand Furnace giving it Fire by degrees as soon as the Water was warm the particles of Nitre began to swim upon its surface in stragling and uneven numbers these after a while United and afterwards there arose a Salt sufficient to Colour the whole superficies of the Water I took then a thin Glass and skinn'd off this Ice but cou'd scarce take it all of before it was seconded by another and thus the Salt did rise successively in Films as long as there was any Water in the Glass these Films had the Colour and taste of the Nitre that came from Nitria and did like it ferment with an Acid And these are they which by Pliny are called Flos Salis and if I mistake not the same with that which Herodotus saith they make their Mummy with if therefore by the Languishing heat of a Digesting Furnace the the Nitrous Particles cou'd seperate themselves from the Water and over that spread themselves in an Ice it may be as probable that by the greater heat of the Sun the Nitre of Latron is seperated from the Water after the same manner and as in the Evaporation of other mineral Waters when the Water is not strong enough to hold up the Salt it is generally cover'd with a thin Film so I suppose in the Evaporation of Natron some Particles of the Water being flown away the Particles of the Sal Marine branch one into another and so incrustate upon the surface of the Water In this Hypothesis I was the farther confirm'd by this Experiment I took some of the Natron and dissolved it in Water and set it to Evaporate and I found that the Salt did not incrustate upon the Water till three parts of the Water was Evaporated it did not therefore seem probable that all the Nitre came from the bottom to the top and so condensed by the heat of the Sun but that they incrustated when the saline Particles branched one into another some of the Aqueous parts being exhaled The reason why its volatile Alkaly in Evaporation does not fly quite away is because it is held there by the Sal Marine The next thing to be consider'd is its use in Physick by Pliny it is commended in Ulcers and Inflammations Palsey in the Tongue Consumptions Cholick Haemorhagies Purulent Ears and Intermitting Fevers By Galen it is said desiccat digerit Multo autem majus ejus spuma By Agricola its prescribed in the same cases commended as a Cephalick of wonderful success in the Griping of the Guts intermitting Fevers and the Leprosy Mathiolus commends it in the same cases By Hypocrates it is commended when the Menstrua are obstructed and again saith he purgat humores albos convenit in abortionibus ubi puer haud exierit he likewise commends it in some kinds of barrenness and to this Kircher in his Mundus subteraneus alludes when he says Nili aqua in potum redit non modo saluberrimum sed faecundandis mulieribus mite opportanum and Petrus Giurius gives us this memorable story out of Caesius that when Philadelphus King of Aegypt Married his Daughter Berenice to Antiochus King of the Assyrians he Commanded his Daughter to Drink of the Water of Nile that she might make her Husband happy in a numerous Off-Spring By the Testimony therefore of Hypocrates Galen Mathiolus Diascorides Pliny and Agricola it appears to have been of great use in Physick But here it is to be noted that when Nitre is prescribed by the foremention'd Authors that Nitre which is an ingredient in Gun-Powder is not to be understood Amongst the Moderns we have this account of it Monsieur du Closs is of Opinion that most of the Mineral-Waters in France are impregnated with this sort of Nitre and that all their Cures are done by it Molenbrochius affirms a Tincture of Aphronitum to be of wonderful Efficacy in the Stone this I the rather Credit because it is said by Iunken in his Medicus the Nitre of Nitria is of so piercing a Spirit that it will not permit either Stone or Rock to be thereabout And Ten Rine in his Meditations de Veteri Medicina affirms it to be of wonderful success in the same Distempers The next thing to be consider'd is its use in Agriculture and in Treating of this I think it convenient to premise one Phaenomenon which it afforded in Evaporation when the Salts had spread themselves over the Water in an Ice those thin Plates after a while wou'd break and ascend in perpendicular lines to the top of the Glass I do say therefore that Nitre may be said to fertilize the ground after this manner It s volatile Particles being by some subterraneous Fire or else by the heat of the Sun they do quickly ascend into the small Tubes of the Plant and by their Elastick Nature carry along with them or force before them those Particles which as they differently convene constitute the different parts of the Plant. But this conjecture will be made
Philosophy the Second chiefly Physick and the Third the British Phoenician Armenian Greek and Roman Antiquities of these Counties As for the First There is an Account given therein of the various Temperatures of the Air in those Parts with the different Effects it has upon Humane Constitutions and other Animals The Pressure of the Air is likewise fully examin'd and it 's made highly probable from various Experiments that the Ascent of the Mercury in Glass-Tubes is not made by an External Pressure upon the Surface of the Quicksilver contained in the Cup but by the various Elasticities of the Air in the Top of the Tube The Rise of Rivers Meeres Lakes Ponds and Springs with the Origin of them is here accounted for the Principles of Mineral Waters from divers Experiments demonstrated a full Account of Hot and Cold Baths and in those Waters the different Causes of Heat and Cold assign'd with their various Effects upon Humane Bodies Likewise there is an Enquiry made into the different sorts of Earth and Coals here met with with the Methods of Improving them and the several Manufactures that are or may be made from them the Mosses or Morasses in respect to their Nature and Vegetation from the Plants that grow upon them are examined with the different Trees found in them and divers other Phaenomena ' s An Universal Deluge is fully demonstrated from several Topicks but that there was a total Dissolution of the whole Strata of the Earth at that time is proved impossible both from Scripture and Observations in Nature Whence 't is evident Dr. Woodward ' s Hypothesis is Erroneous as is likewise that of the Theorist I have farther considered the different Minerals and Mettals made various Experiments upon them and have not past over the Methods of discovering an Essaying them the Mineral Damps are also examined with a full Account of their Causes and Effects so are the Diamonds cast up by the Moles and the Vegetation of Sea-Plants briefly but fully illustrated There is a concise Account given of the Physical-Plants with a Rationale of their Effects and Tastes and the Poisonous Plants ranged in their different Classes with an Account of their Causes The Generation of Fishes with the different Kinds of them the Formation of Shells and the Vegetation of Pearls are enquired into and solved besides which you have a Description given of Mineral plants Shells Fish Bones Teeth and Formed-stones with the Causes of them to which is added an Account of Animal-Shells and Subterraneous Skeletons Foreign to this Island as the Stag of Canada the Elk Hippopotamus or Sea-Horse together with some American Canoes found upon the Draining of Martin Meer in Lancashire Neither have I overlook'd the Reptils Infects and Birds of these Parts particularly the Barnacle And for the Quadrupeds they are likewise described and divers Experiments and Observations made upon them The Second Book treats chiefly of Distempers both Chronick and Acute besides which it contains an Account of Persons that have been Eminent for Arms Arts Professions Sciences and Trades for Erecting Hospitals Colleges and other noted Acts of Charity The Third and Last Book relates to Antiquity wherein you will find divers Heathen Altars Sacrificing-Vessels Coins Fibulae Lamps Urns Tyles Fortifications Signets Pagods c. found in these Counties described and explain'd Likewise it's next to a Demonstration from the Armenian British and Phoenician Languages compared together and examined their Deities the Asiatick Manner of Fighting the Eastern aud British Way of computing Time the Reverse of a Coin and divers other Things that not only shew these Counties but the whole Island was chiefly and primarily inhabited by Colonies from Asia long before either the Greeks or Romans came hither As for the Cutts of the Coins and other Curiosities contained herein which will be found to be numerous I have not declined the Charge of having them drawn and engraven by the best Artists I could meet with and I do not doubt but it will appear to be so to the Iudicious Eye I hope I shall not be reputed guilty of Tautology and Impertinence because I have recapitulated some Things now and then for the further Illustration of other Matters And for the Language I have only this to say that I have endeavour d to adapt my Expression to the Nature of my Subject and that in writing of Philosophy Physick and Antiquity the Embelishments of Classick Eloquence is not much to be expected since those must be exprest in Terms peculiar to themselves and to do otherwise were to grasp at a Cloud instead of Juno and instead of reciting the Fact only express the Shadow But after all that has or could be said I know there are some Men of that assuming Temper that there is nothing grateful to them which is not their own but how unjustly they usurp that Authority I leave to their own Consideration and shall only desire the Impartial and Unbiassed to satisfie themselves with the Truth of any Observation recited in this Book and I shall not then despair of their favourable Opinion of me There is one Thing more that I cannot but take Notice of and that is the Unfairness of some Modern Authors in laying down Theorems upon Experiments which were not their own and not acknowledging from whom they had them And this may be observed in the Natural History of Staffordshire and a late Latin Piece concerning Digestion as will appear by Two Letters inserted in this Book I might enumerate more Failings incident to the Humours of the Age but I shall endeavour to evade the Calumny of erecting a Porch larger than the Building and shall therefore proceed to the First Chapter To his Ever-honour'd Friend Dr. CHARLES LEIGH upon his Natural History of LANCASHIRE c. WHen by the pow'rful Sanction of a God From shapeless Nothing and a dark Abode This new-born World and early Nature rise Those shining Lamps and you expanded Skies Then Man was dropt on this capacious Ball Large in it self a Point unto the All His wise Creator never did design His Life a lazy Round and him supine Large Scenes he drew as Subjects for his Pen Worthy th' Almighty Author and of Man The whole Creation in a Choire does move From Plants below to spacious Orbs above Those twinkling Lights we ken in yonder space For ought we know are Globes of Earth and Seas But above all Man is alone supreme Vast in himself he forms a finish'd Theme Thro' all his Structure shines a Pow'r Divine He speaks a God in ev'ry Stroke and Line To him subservient the Creation bows And all its Blessings for his Health bestows Of old what Aegypt and Arabia taught And what learn'd Greece to more Perfection brought What high Improvements After-Ages gain'd And what Industrious Moderns have attain'd In you compriz'd we all their Knowledge trace And new Additions do your Volume grace From Paean's Shrine fresh Laurels are design'd To pay you Homage and your Temples
by an easy corruption may be reduced to Britannia As to the Brigantes it is reasonable to conclude a greater part of them Phoenicians a People of Syria very industrious Improvers of Navigation since we have a remarkable River in Lancashire call'd Ribbel by Ptolomy stiled Bellisama which word undoubtedly he derived from the Phoenician words Belus and sama signifying in that Language the Moon or Goddess of Heaven she being suppos'd to have a particular Influence over Waters and at that time the Deity they Adored Hence it is evident That before the Greeks Traded into Britany the Phoenicians had been there and no doubt discover'd the greatest part of the Island Since therefore a River in this Country in those early days retain'd a Phoenician Name as the Greek Geographer Ptolomy makes it manifest it did to me it seems an undeniable Conjecture to suppose that that Name must be attributed to it from the People of that Country viz. Phoenicia that resided near it probably in the pleasant and beautiful Town now stiled Preston To this we may introduce one reasonable Allegation more That these People were of an Asiatic Origin that is from their manner of making War which was in managing their Chariots as the Eastern Nations practiced a Custom not made use of in any European Kingdom save this Island only This Iulius Caesar found upon his Invasion of the Isle which way of Fighting he had not met with either in Germany Gaul Belgium or other his conquer'd Countries To these may be added the Reverse of a Roman Coin of Asia minor which shews the Expertness of those People in Navigation above all the World which may still more easily induce us to believe they were a great part of 'em a People of that Nation but that will be explain'd in its proper place viz. in the Chapter of Antiquities However thus far we may venture to conjecture since the Asiaticks were so great Masters of that Art that they might easily Transplant themselves hither For the further Confirmation of what is here laid down I shall only produce one Instance more and so close this Head It is affirm'd by Strabo and several others that the most Northern part of Britany was anciently stiled Thule which at this Day the Scots term Orkney and the Latins Orcades Now Thule being a Phoenician word signifying Darkness by an easy Train of Thought we may reasonably infer the Phoenicians might give that Name to those Islands either from the great Shadows of their Woods which were then numerous or the Shortness of their Days many of which are but Five Hours Since therefore we may reasonably suppose the Phoenicians were in those more Northern parts to me there appears no difficulty to conceive how they might Transplant themselves into Lancashire and other Counties Inhabited by the Brigantes Having now accounted for that River stiled by Ptolomy Bellisama and likewise made it highly probable that the Phoenicians were in those Parts it remains in the last place that I assign some Conjectures why afterwards that River was call'd Ribbel Concerning this the Suppositions are various some deriving it from the Greek Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which to me seems irrational since Bel which is a Phoenician word cannot be accounted for in the Greek Language Others would make it British but I do not see how in that Language that can be made out since in British Avon or Savon are the Names for River which Words cannot bear any relation to Ribbel Wherefore with submission to the more Knowing in those Languages it is my Thoughts that since from the preceding Topicks we may reasonably infer the Phoenicians were in those Parts and cohabited with the Britains who being a People of vast Industry and Experience in Navigation might from their Neighbours the Persians with their Colonies send hither several of that Country The Persians as well as they in those Days Deify'd their Rivers sometimes stiling them Heaven and the God and Goddess of Heaven Wherefore Arribel in the Armenian Language which is the Language commonly spoke in Persia signifying Heaven thence Ribbel may be accounted for and not otherwise So far as from the Harmony of Languages I am able to conjecture the radical Letters in the Armenian Tongue and in the River now stiled Ribbel being in a great measure the same and the Rivers then by those People being sometimes stiled Heaven I do not see how that consent of Languages and History can be reconciled but by supposing People from that Country inhabiting amongst the Britains The more clearly to illustrate that the Brigantes were a mixt People of Phoenicians and Britains I shall produce but one Instance more and upon that Head not further presume upon the Reader 's Patience The Instance is taken from a Rivulet a Branch of that River before treated of stiled Ribbel this Rivulet is at this day vulgarly stiled Savig Now ig in the British Language being a Diminutive to shew the distinction betwixt a River and a Rivulet which is therefore added to Avon which in that Language signifies a River Afonig and Savonig in the British Language signifying Rivulet from thence may easily be accounted for the Name of that Rivulet now stiled Savig Since therefore in those Parts we find a mixture of Phoenician Armenian and British Languages we may thence make this reasonable Corollary that those People lived together And why they were stiled Brigantes I presume may be accounted for from Tacitus who very likely might take 'em to be a People from Gaul or Belgium that is from the Brigantines Rovers and Pirates since in those Countries to this very time the Vessels commonly made use of for expedite Sailing are stiled Brigantines The Air for the most part is mild serene and healthful excepting on the Fenny and Maritime parts of the County where they are frequently visited with malignant and intermitting Fevers Scurvies Consumptions Dropsies Rheumatisms and the like occasion'd by Sulphureous Saline Effluvia sometimes extremely foetid which I have frequently observ'd to be so before the approaching of some extraordinary Storm and it is most certain the Inhabitants upon the Sea Coasts from the hollow murmuring Noise which is frequently heard from the Ocean and the offensive Smells perceiv'd from those Coasts will make as early and certain a Prognostick of the Change of Weather as the Modern Virtuosi can do by their Mercurial Tubes It is observable whilst this Noise is heard in the Ocean the Surface of the Water is elevated after an unusual manner and upon the subsiding of the Water it is observ'd the Storm immediately succeeds From which Phaenomena it is reasonable to conclude the following Tempests to be occasion'd by Eruptions from the Bowels of the Earth strugling with that mighty Element till they had forced their way through its immense Body which afterwards flying about in the circumambient Atmosphere frequently occasion tempestuous Commotions and sometimes pestilential Distempers These being the Phaenomena which are almost each
Year observable I hasten to more unusual Accidents and first shall begin with those of Lightning and Thunder and other Appearances in the Heavens About Eight Years ago in a small Village call'd Elswick upon a Sunday about Three of the Clock in the Afternoon happen'd a terrible Tempest of Lightning and Thunder which produced very dismal Effects The particulars of it were these After several amazing Claps of Thunder and dreadful Flashes of Lightning at last struck thro' the Air a Blaze not much unlike that of an artificial Serpent it took its course into a Chimney and beat down the Bricks outwardly seemed to burst like a Squib upon the ground and afterwards clouded the House with Fumes which had exactly the smell of Sulphur A Man lying in the Range of the Chimney was Killed and lay as if he had been sleeping the Bench upon which he lay was split under him and under that an Hound-Bitch Killed near to him was sitting the Wife of the House with a little Child upon her Knee the Mother afterwards was wore away with the Fluor Albus and the Child fell into the Rickets which distorted the Spine and after some Years being confined to his Bed died of that Distemper Behind a Table several Persons were sitting and from amongst Four or Five only One was struck off his Seat into the midst of the Room and was for some time Paralytick in his lower Parts but I afterwards by a due Course of Physick and Bleeding and Blistering him immediately upon the Accident restored him to his former Health Another Gentleman sitting in a Chair near him was struck out of it and lay upon the Ground in most violent Torture in which I saw him but by Bleeding and Blistering in some Days recover'd him In the outward Porch were sitting several Persons and a young Man Kill'd out of the midst of 'em none of the rest being Injured or sensible of any Disturbance only one Woman perceiv'd a Waft like a Gust of Wind under her Coats but receiv'd no damage In the Rooms above I observ'd the following Phaenomena The Chamber Door was thrown off the Hinges into the midst of the Room the Curtains of the Bed were singed and its two diagonal Posts split in pieces the Windows tho' fix'd firm in a Brick-Wall were forced from their stations but no Glass broke upon the out-side of the Glass I observ'd a black Steam which was insipid and had no smell the Brick Pillars in which they were fix'd were pierced through with the Lightning the Holes were about an Inch diameter and seem'd as if done Artificially From these its plain the Matter of the Lightning was in part Sulphureous and in this I am further confirm'd by some Phaenomena communicated to me by several who had made Voyages to the West-Indies who do all affirm that in those Parts are frequent and terrible Lightnings in which dreadful Hours the Smell of Brimstone is very distinguishable and sometimes upon their Hats and the Decks of the Ships they find perfect Brimstone collected Wherefore it may suffice us Mortals to be satisfy'd what is the material Cause of Lightning and Thunder but Mechanically to explain how they produce these wonderful Effects I do judge is not in the Power of Human Understanding But in general by the Symptoms in the Instances recited we may conclude there was a total Dissipation of the Animal Spirits and a Coagulation of the Blood Wherefore Bleeding and Epispasticks if any thing be to be done must certainly be the Method that ought to be taken Many more Instances of this kind might be produced but it has never been my Temper to swell a Book with unnecessary Quotations or to trangress so far upon the Reader as to tire out his Patience with Instances of Authors tending to the same purpose unless something occurr'd that might clearly and fully evidence the Truth of an Hypothesis or some wise conduce to the Good of Mankind If therefore this History be compris'd in a smaller Volume than perhaps some might expect let such be satisfy'd 't is for the Reasons alledg'd and as that hitherto has been so shall still continue my Resolution Mock-Suns or Parhelii and Moon-Bows have been observ'd in this Country but as they have not happen'd in this Generation I shall pass them over and proceed to give an Account of some Damps which Infect the Air in which no Creature can live It is observable in several Cellars especially against hot Weather a suffocating Damp arises out of the Earth this is usually most violent when any Quantity of strong Liquors are fermenting in this I have seen Candles extinguish'd Creatures render'd Lethargick Asthmatical and their Tongues lolling out and salivating and Boys thrown into Swoonings or Deliquiums The time I stay'd in the Damp which exceeded not one Minute I found a very unaccountable Chilness seize my Spirits and was sensible of an universal Weakness was deeply Asthmatical and could abide it no longer This is removed by Opening the Cellar-Windows and putting Fires into the Place which will not Burn till Vent first be given Of this I shall have occasion to treat more fully in the Discourse of Mineral Damps wherefore shall in this place pass it over The next things remarkable are Hailstones of which the Year 1697. afforded us a pregnant Instance The Wind blowing high at North-west happen'd a violent Storm of Hail several Stones were Nine Inches in circumference others were Six Seven and Eight In this Storm several Rooks were Kill'd in their Nests some Hares upon their Seats vast Quantities of Glass broke and all Kinds of Cattle in a general Consternation Before the Storm happen'd several Birds were taken up never before that time seen in these Parts from this its probable to conjecture the Tempest arose from the more remote Northern Climes and spent it self when it came into a warmer Climate but was driven by the Wind For it was observable it was almost forced directly cross the County in a direct line from the Sea Coasts Allowing Nitrous Saline Particles to be the Cause of Snow and Hail it is easy to solve the rest of the Phaenomena by alledging a greater quantity of those Particles collected in the Atmosphere at those times when these Storms invaded us Wherefore I shall not form unnecessary Schemes of Reasoning upon that matter but proceed to what I next design and that is to give an Account of the various Alterations observ'd in Quicksilver upon its Surface in the different Tempers of the Air and shall then close this Chapter The Learned Mr. Boyle in his Hydrostatick Experiments and Linus and Torricellius in theirs upon Tops and at the Bottoms of Mountains have sufficiently demonstrated by the Quicksilver ascending the higher by how much the more it was immersed in Water and likewise by rising higher in the Valleys than on the Tops of Mountains The ascending of it in the Weather-glasses to be by pressure the weight of the Atmosphere in those Cases
positive is true that Objection vanishes wherefore I shall not expatiate further on this Topick but leave every Man to his own Conjecture CHAP. II. In which is accounted for Waters remarkable for their Levity those that have their Flux and Reflux Mineral Waters of all sorts those that have been thought to Transude through Glass Bottles Subterraneous Eruptions and the most Remarkable Rivers and Ponds AS these Counties are more subject to Rains than some of the more Inland Ones they likewise afford us greater Variety of Waters than any One or indeed than all the Counties in England The most Remarkable are either Ponds which they vulgarly call Meers Rivers or Springs The most Noted Ponds are only Two and both of them call'd by the Name of Martin-Meer The Larger of which is now Drein'd by that Ingenious Gentleman and Generous Undertaker Thomas Fleetwood of the Bank Esq and will no doubt turn to his extraordinary Advantage Part of it being a fat muddy Soil and containing a great Quantity of Marle It s Circumference is about Eighteen Miles its Diameter Two In it were found great Quantities of Fish as Roach Eels Pikes Pearch Breams and the like Upon the Dreining of this Meer were found no less than Eight Canoos in Figure and Dimensions not much unlike those used in America And in a Morass in Sawick about Nine Miles distant from the Meer was taken up a Stone not unlike a sort of Whetstone tho' different from any other Stone I yet saw and with it an Instrument of a mix'd Metal resembling the Securis or Roman Sacrificing-Ax tho' somewhat less nor unlike that which the Native Indians of Old used form'd of Stone in making Hollow their Canoos after Burning and in Barking their Trees which they call a Tomahoke how therefore in these Places these came to be lodg'd is next to be enquired into As to the Kinds of Boats the Ancient Britains made use of we have only this Tradition from Iulius Caesar that they used Wicker-Boats cover'd with Hides that his Ships of War and Galleys were an unknown Terror to the Inhabitants here He likewise tells us the Britains on the the Maritime Coasts Traded to Belgium and Gallia by which he probably means Holland Flanders c. that their Buildings were very Eminent their Manners Customs and Politeness like their transmarine Neighbours that they made use of Brass Imported that Iron was a Product of the Country but in small quantity but that Lead was discover'd in the Inland Counties and so proceeds As to these Canoos One of which had some Plates of Iron upon it 't is my Opinion they were made use of by the Ancient Britains in Fishing these Meers and passing Rivers not that the Inhabitants were so long in forming them by burning them hollow and shaping them with sharp Stones as the American's were before the European Metals came amongst them which as the Missionaries inform us with One of our Instruments cou'd in One Day dispatch as much as in Six Months before The Brittains doubtless had the Use of Iron c. and were furnish'd with it from the Maritime Ports and they from the forein Merchants these Canoos might probably be sunk here that they might be render'd of no Advantage to the Romans when the Natives were forc'd to quit their Habitations by their prevailing Arms nor can I imagine these an Effect of the Deluge neither the Metal Instrument nor Stone found in the foremention'd Moss but that they further confirm what I shall make out afterwards that Morasses Vegetate and that they proceed and encrease from the Plants that grow upon them and notwithstanding the Subterraneous Trees found there tho' we consent to omit them in the Argument there are yet so many others of different Species together with Marine Shells and other Exotic Exuviae found many Yards in Marle in the Inland Counties that without supposing Morasses to proceed from the Deluge as many contend they may fairly and fully be otherwise accounted for As to the Instrument and Stone they might casually be lost there and lie absconded for successive Generations I had almost slipt one thing which may give us a clear Idea of the Greatness and Difficulty of this noble and useful Enterprize the Dreining of this remarkable Meer in effecting of which there were sometimes no less than two Thousand Hands at once employ'd so that to surmount all the natural and artificial Oppositions of the Work there was highly needful a Person of so generous and piercing a Spirit and so extraordinary a Temper as the worthy and successful Undertaker Besides these sorts of Canoos it is unquestionably true the Britains made use of another kind of Boats the use of which prov'd of great Service to Iulius Caesar as we find in the first Book de Bello Civili cap. 11. for when he had pitch'd his Tents betwixt Sicoris and Cinga two Rivers in Spain over which he had the Convenience of two Bridges a sudden Inundation broke them both down and overflowing the Banks cut off all Communication betwixt his Foragers that were sent out and his Friends marching to his Assistance and his distressed Army He was reduc'd to great Extremity nor could he possibly repair the Bridges by all the Efforts he made the Opposition of the Enemy's Cohorts were so vigorous on the other side His last Refuge was for building these light Boats the use of which he had learn'd in Britain and which prov'd of high Advantage to his perishing Army Imperat militibus says Caesar ut naves faciant cujus generis eum annis superioribus usus Britanniae docuerat Carinae primum ac statumina ex levi materia fiebant reliquum corpus navium viminibus contextum coriis integebatur And Lucan speaking of the same thing expresses himself thus lib. 4. ver 130. Utque habuit ripas Sicoris camposque reliquit Primum cana salix madefacto vimine parvam Texitur in puppim caesoque inducta juvenco Vectoris patiens tumidum superenatat amnem Sic Venetus stagnante Pado fusoque Britannus Navigat Oceano sic cum tenet omnia Nilus Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro The Commentator upon the Place quotes Pliny lib. 4. c. 16. Ad eam Britanni vitilibus navigiis corio circumsutis navigare From the whole it may seem probable the Britains upon the Ocean might make use of their Wicker-Boats in Meers and standing Waters of their Canoos Lucan's Verses may be thus render'd Caesar the Champain leaves and spreading Ground When Sicoris Waves his daring Troops surround The twisting Willows to the Keel he joins And reeking Hides cement and close their Lines Proud of their Crews they waft them to the Shore Such Venice knows such Britain taught before Such Boats has Nile it self to Memphis bore The other Meer is about Two Miles in Length and One in Breadth and is famous for Pearches and vast quantities of Fowls as Curlews Curleyhilps Wild-Ducks Wild-Geese and Swans which are there sometimes in great
Numbers There was kill'd upon that Water an Asper of which I prepar'd the Oyl but did not find that it answer'd the Character generally given of it for taking of Fish These Meers lie in low Grounds have Rivulets or little Rivers that discharge themselves into them and having but little Vent out form themselves into these large Area's In the Meer that was drein'd were found great Numbers of Firr Stocks and Firr-Apples so that Mr. Cambden is certainly mistaken when he asserts those Stocks not to be really Firrs but other Woods only made Resinous by a Bituminous Earth in which they have been lodg'd as is commonly conjectur'd since the noted Deluge however the Woods might be alter'd its certain the Apples could not belong to any other Tree But I shall have occasion to treat more fully of these when I come to treat of the Mosses The Rivers of most Note are the Mersey Ribbel Lune and Wire the Dee and the Dove in Cheshire and Derbyshire Mersey runs by Warrington anciently remarkable for its Lords the Butlers who obtain'd for it the Privilege of a Market-Town in Edward the First 's Time and is now a Town famous for its Trade and Market where I think I may safely affirm Maulting is brought to as great Perfection as at Derby or elsewhere the Liquors brew'd from it being no ways inferior to the most noted Ales in England From Warrington the Mersey grows broader and soon after contracts it self again but at last opens into a wide Mouth very Commodious for Trade and then runs into the Sea near Leverpool a Town formerly but mean but now the Third Sea-Port of England and as well Built as any I have seen In this River are taken vast quantities of Sparlings or Smelts a Fish remarkable for its Smell as well as Tast. Ribbel called anciently Bellisama has its Rise from amongst the Mountains in Yorkshire and runs by Ribchester and Preston from thence grows wider and in the Meales empties it self into the Sea This River affords us plenty of Salmon Codfish Flounders Turbut and Plaise but a River by reason of its Sands very unfit for Trading The Lune from what will hereafter be observ'd may take its Name from Luna the Moon or the Goddess of Heaven runs by Lancaster and arises from the Mountains in Westmorland Upon this River is a noted Salmon-Fishing the best I have eat any where and is very Commodious for Trading which is there now blooming Wire issues from the Mountains in Wiresdale runs not far from a Market-Town call'd Poulton as Commodious for Trading as any of the rest This River affords us a Pearl-Fishing which are frequently found in large Muscles call'd by the Inhabitants Hambilton-Hookins from their manner of taking them which is done by plucking them from their Skeers or Beds with Hooks but of these I shall have occasion to treat more fully when I come to speak of Shell-Fishes and the Germination of Pearls The River Dee is the most Noted in Cheshire in Latin called Deva as appears by the Roman Tiles dug up there upon some of which are these Letters in Roman Characters COLL. DEVA LEG XX. V. V. In British it is called Dyfyrdwy as springing from two Fountains in Wales from which some believe it had its Denomination dwy in the British Language signifying Two Others say those words signify black Water but why that Epithet should be apply'd to this River I see no ground for it the River being large and open and the Water clear and pellucid Some allege these Words signify a divine Water and hence a Fountain sacred to the Gods was call'd Divona and upon some Roman Tiles dug up at Chester I have seen that word in Roman Characters Nor is this Conjecture altogether improbable since in those Days divine Honours were paid to Rivers as Gildas informs us the Thessalians paid them to Peneus upon account of its Pleasantness the Scythians to Ister for its Largeness the Germans to the Rhine because it was their Judge in Cases of Jealousy betwixt Married Persons It is said moreover of this River Dee it seemed Holy to the Christian Britains for when they were drawn up in Order of Battle ready to engage the Saxons they first kiss'd the Earth then devoutly drank of this Water in Memory of the Blood of their Holy Saviour The River Dove in Derbyshire called so by the Inhabitants from its Transparency I imagine as resembling the silver Feathers of that Bird is remarkable for a Fish call'd the Grailing and likewise Trouts said to be the best in England It runs for the greatest part thro' a Lime-Stone which renders its Water so fertile a Manure that even in Winter the Meadows on both sides of it appear fresh and green and if it overflows them in the Spring like another Nile it enriches them In Commemoration of which high Improvements the People have this Saying In April Dove's Flood Is worth a King's Good But of this River in a far loftier Strain the Ingenious Charles Cotton Esq writes for by his witty Flights on these Streams one would rather conclude they wash'd the Banks of Helicon than the rugged unpolish'd Mountains in Derbyshire This River swells sometimes so much in twelve Hours time to the great terror of the Inhabitants that it carries down their Sheep and other Cattle yet in the same Compass of Time falls again and returns to its old Mounds whereas the Trent when it overflows its Banks keeps the Fields in float four or five Days these Reasons are manifest because in one the Country is Mountainous the other is a large extended Flat This River runs to Ulcester seated upon an Hill of easy Ascent where it draws to the Trent it inclines towards Tutbury-Castle formerly very large and also called Stutesbury commanding as it were the lower Country by its high Situation on an Alabaster-Hill where there is a little Monastery built by Henry de Feriers a Noble Norman to whom William the First gave large Possessions hereabouts but they were all lost by Robert de Feriers Earl of Derby upon his Second Revolt from Henry the Third There are now Proposals for making the River Dee Navigable which if effected will doubtless be very advantageous to that ancient City where that Honourable Legion viz. the Twentieth was fixed stiled by the Romans Valens Victrix which was of those by Tacitus term'd Emeriti or Veterani Having done with the Meers and Rivers according to my propos'd Method I come now to treat first Of the Springs not properly to be call'd Mineral-Waters but yet remarkable either for their Lightness Coldness Perspiration Flux and Reflux and of these some are continual others at certain Seasons as after wet Weather and some are remarkable for throwing up several Marine Shells Secondly of mineral-Mineral-Waters and the various Kinds of these with an Account of their Principles and Uses and of those these Counties afford us a great Variety Near to a Noble Seat call'd Ashton-Hall about
Madam Katharine Preston Daughter and Heiress of Thomas Preston of Holker Esq Tho' this Digression be foreign to a Natural History yet I hope the Reader will pardon it since I could not well pass by so considerable a Building Some Waters we have which cast up Marine Shells as Latham Spaw did formerly but that being troublesome to the Drinkers has been prèvented by laying Mill-stones upon the Spring so that the Sand and Shells cannot boyl up so high as formerly This is one of the best sorts of Vitriolic Chalybeates and is remote from the Sea or any Salt Rivers whence therefore these Shells come may be worth our enquiry and a clear decision of that may farther illustrate those other Marine Shells found in Marle as the Echini Cochleae Torculars Whilks and Periwinkles of which I have great Numbers by me and took them my self out of firm Marle at three Fathom deep some being entire others broken but all soft and friable yet grew hard as Coral being expos'd to the Air. The Decision of this Phaenomenon in a great measure depending upon the Origin of Fountains I think it a pardonable digression if I a little expatiate on that subject before we descend to the particular Case Springs by the French Virtuosi are suppos'd to flow from the Dews Rains and Mists imbibed in the Earth and afterwards form'd into various Currents which are those we commonly call Springs Now this being a Notion inconsistent with Reason I cannot adhere to it for were this Hypothesis true it would hence follow in the various Seasons of the Year as Summer and Winter they would vary very much in their Currents as to quantity which in several Springs is not discernible Secondly Several Springs are found in Mines in the Bowels of the Earth deeper than the Dews and Rains are suppos'd to descend Thirdly Some Countries abound with Springs where Dews and Rains are never known to fall from all these it is evident continual Springs can never be imagin'd to be caused by Rains and Dews it remains therefore that they either proceed from the Ocean or a subterraneous Abyss The latter of these the Learned Dr. Woodward adheres to and could such a thing be made out his Hypothesis would be undeniable but such a thing as an Abyss being no where to be discover'd in Nature and that what Notions we have of it are only from Moses that divine Philosopher In what sence the inspired Legislator might take the Abyss we pretend not to determine whether the Ocean in general or a subterraneous collection of Waters equal to it and keeping a Communication with it as Dr. Woodward supposes Wherefore we rather assert what the great Aristotle supposes concerning Springs that they have their Rise from the Sea of this Caesar had a clear Demonstration when he Invaded this Island and Encamp'd upon the Sea Coasts where by digging in the Sands he was instantly supply'd with a sufficient quantity of fresh Water which by filtring through the Sand became sweet the saline Particles sticking in the Sand. A Phaenomenon like to this was observ'd when that great General Duke Schomberg Encamp'd upon a Plain call'd the Mels near Hile-Lake This granted then that Springs have their Rise from the Ocean it is easy to imagin how they may bring up Marine Shells and unless this be allow'd I think the Phaenomenon cannot otherwise be fairly illustrated but how this becomes a Mineral Water is from the Mineral Bass from which it springs Against this Hypothesis there remains yet one material Objection viz. If Fountains have their Rise from the Sea how comes it to pass that there are Springs upon the Tops of Mountains which are higher than the Sea since it is evident from Hydrostatick Experiments Water will not naturally rise above its level To this I answer in the first place it is no wise demonstrable that there is any Mountain higher than the highest part of the Ocean since it is suppos'd to be a Globe of equal Magnitude with the Earth Secondly Granting it were so yet it is probable those Mountains lying in the middle Region a sufficient quantity of aqueous Particles might be imbibed by the Earth to produce Springs there and yet this particular Instance does no ways invalidate the general Hypothesis in which is meant the generality of Springs and not each particular Fountain It is true subterraneous Eruptions of Waters especially after Earthquakes as at Port-Royal in Iamaica and at Kirby in Furness in Lancashire have happen'd which have drove down Houses and Rocks of that magnitude that many Teams of Oxen could not move by which it may be concluded there is a subterraneous Abyss of Waters To this I say it is not certain whether these come from the Ocean or from an Abyss and shall not therefore pretend to determine it but shall proceed to what I next propos'd and that is to treat of Mineral Waters In doing of which I begin with those impregnated with Vitriol The Vitriol Spring in the Kennel-Pits at Haigh when I first try'd it yielded an Ounce of Vitriol from a Quart of Water nay it was so highly impleted with Vitriol that any common Alkaly wou'd raise a Fermentation with it and cause a Precipitation The Vitriol it yields is White for the greatest part tho' there is some Green mix'd with it it is not now of that strength several fresh Springs having broken in which yet might easily be diverted of this the Rev d Dr. Wroe our Warden has been frequently an Eye-witness Notwithstanding this Dr. Lister with unequal'd Assurance tells the World Vitriol is not to be found in any Waters in England but that all Waters of a Vitriolic Taste are only impregnated with a Pyrites which we vulgarly call Fire-Stone Germinating in the Waters and this must be impos'd upon the World as implicitly as if it was an Article of Faith in Philosophy For any Man to oppose him he brands him strait with the Character of Mean and Impudent and such like opprobrious Epithets a Language if I mistake not unaccountable for one of his Gown and Dignity For my part what I relate is matter of Fact and the Dr. may be fully convinc'd if he pleases if not it is no fault of mine and since I cannot as firmly believe the Germination of the Pyrites in our Chalybeat Waters as they are commonly called to be like that of Mint in Bottles of Water I hope the Dr. will pardon my Infidelity till he give me better grounds for it at which he has not yet offer'd any farther than a capricious ipse dixit Adjacent to a Place call'd Humblesco-Green in a small Farm in Maudsley is a Spring impregnated with Sulphur and a Marine Salt the Water is extremely foetid tinges Silver a Copper colour by its Sulphur in Distillation a Quart of Water yields half an Ounce of sulphur Salt This Spring no question would answer all the Intentions of the sulphur Water near Knaseborough in Yorkshire either as
with Sulphur Vitriol and Ocre a little of the Lapis Scissilis and a marine Salt united with the bitter purging Salt as in the Chalybeat Water at Latham but these Two last it yields in small quantities a Gallon of Water not affording many Grains of Salt but Ocre and Vitriol they contain plentifully the Ocre is impregnated with Iron and for that reason and no other may these Waters be call'd Chalybeats the Sulphur is only discernible early in the Morning and that chiefly by their smell tho' there is a Chalybeat near Manchester whose smell is very Sulphureous at all times these Waters most commonly spring out of a Bass that is impregnated with Sulphur Ocre and Vitriol which I demonstrated to the Hon d Sir Iohn Floyer at Buxton I shew'd him the Shale or Bass and by infusing various Proportions of it in common Water you may have all the various Colours of the Acidulae viz. A pale Red a deep Red a Violet and a Purple As therefore the Acidulae are differently impregnated with this Bass their Colours are likewise different At the same time I shew'd him an Acidula springing out of this Bass and likewise that the Bass was impregnated with Sulphur Vitriol and Ocre tho' Dr. Lister vehemently affirms no Stone but the Pyrites contains Vitriol but when a Man writes only what he fancies and not what he sees it cannot be imagin'd but he must assert many Paradoxes and by too tenaciously adhering to a well woven Hypothesis in effect makes himself one of the meanest of Philosophers It is not the mechanisme of Reason and the espousing of a Word which sounds pleasantly that illustrates the Phaenomena of Nature but that which is plain easy and intelligible and what may rationally from Experiments be deduced that gives a Man a true Gust in natural Learning The Dr. then may rail as long as he pleases but he can never make me disbelieve my Senses or assent to that which is contrary to the common Reason of Mankind Of these I have given a full Account in my Tentamen of Mineral Waters and my Exercitations to those therefore I refer my Reader I shall only presume so far upon the Reader 's Patience to annex the following Experiments and shall not expatiate further on this Subject The First is to shew Why Galls Oak-leaves c. will give a Tincture with those Waters vulgarly Chalybeats and why other Acids will not The Second is to illustrate How by mixing Acids with those Waters before you put the Galls to 'em that then the Galls c. will not To clear these Phaenomena we must premise these Hypotheses viz. That several of the mineral Particles are suspended in the fluid perhaps as near to an Equilibrium or Balance as can easily be conceiv'd so that the least addition of another Body to 'em must instantly cause a Precipitation and consequently then give a Tincture to these Waters by impleting their Pores and so in different Angles transmitting the Light which must needs introduce a Diversity of Colours viz. A pale Red Agat Violet Purple or intense Red according to the various Proportions of the Mineral impregnating the Water Hence therefore it is that the Galls containing a volatile Acid or rather austere that by their hooked Particles they easily clasp themselves about the mineral Particles and must therefore as is evident from the Premises laid down necessarily cause a precipitation of the Mineral which I shall more fully illustrate by making it probable that the mineral Particles are suspended in the fluid in the manner recited It is observable that the Earth over which these Springs run is always cover'd with an Ocre which to me seems evidently to hint that the mineral to the fluid retains so equal a balance that the least motion occasions a separation and thence it is that in those places where they have their currents they constantly drop an Ocre and colour the Earth as before observ'd The second Experiment is this If before you put in the Gall you add an Acid to the Water as for example Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur the Gall then gives little or no Tincture to the Water and the Reason I take to be this the Acid you mix with it being specifically heavier than either the mineral Particles or the fluid by their rigid inflexible Particles keep the Mineral suspended so that consequently the acid of the Gall being volatile it is not powerful enough to bring 'em down and thence it is that by this method they usually hover upon the surface of the Water in an azure Cloud the Mineral as well as that being Volatile which is abundantly evident both in the Evaporation of those Waters and likewise by exposing them to the Sun which in twenty-four Hours makes them insipid and in that space of time so sequester'd of the mineral Particles that then they will not yield any Tincture with a Gall or if any but a faint one So volatile is the Vitriol in those Waters which no doubt is carry'd off by the Sulphur which from its Volatility might justly be drawn like the Statue of Mercury wing'd and still pointing upwards To these I thought necessary to add the following Experiments that I might do Justice both to the publick and to that most Learned and Ingenious Gentleman Richard Townley of Townley Esq who Communicated them to me In the Water at Burnley in Lancashire he has observ'd the following Phaenomena First That if that Water be expos'd to the Air there will subside a Scarlet sediment This being a Phaenomenon never observed before in any Water in England I ever heard of it may therefore justly challenge our Conjectures about it Ocre and Lapis Scissilis which are the usual Hypostases of those kind of Waters it is most evident it cou'd not be the one being of a Yellow the other of a Greyish colour but to me it seems to be a Bituminous exalted Sulphur and this will more fully appear when we come to examine its Salts of which it contains Three different species First A small proportion of Natron or Aegyptian Nitre which if exposed to the Air will like that or Salt of Tartar dissolve per deliquium will ferment with any Acid and has a strong lixivial Taste After the Natron has run per deliquium there remains another Salt entire which if dissolv'd in Spirit of Wine or Water totally flies off by which it is plain the Salt is volatile and most probably the volatile Salt of the Natron which is the only fix'd Alcali in the World I know of that by this method or by the fix'd Salt of Tartar will yield a volatile Alcalisate Salt From which Phaenomena it is undeniably evident Dr. Lister was mistaken when to use his own words he violently affirms No Waters in England contain'd Natron a Gallon of this Water contains about twelve Grains of Sediments and four or five of Salts the Salts when separated from their Earths are White but will not
the Mouth of the Glass and the Flame expires yet by the sulphureous Fumes dashing upon each other the sides of the Glass wax warm a certain signal this must needs be that where sulphureous Particles are deny'd a passage or where they force their way through uneven Sinuosities by beating upon and encountring one another an Heat must be produced as is apparent by the Sun-beams in Convex Glasses And this is farther confirm'd by the Learned Dr. Browne in his Treatise of the Mines in Hungary in some Places of the same Mine it was extreamly Cold in others so intensely Hot that tho' his Cloaths were never so thin the Heat would be troublesome to him The Miners work all Naked and Eight Hours are as much as most can endure The Heat in these Waters cannot arise from Fermentation because no fermentation can be discover'd in them nor by any Experiments either in Distillation Precipitation or any other Method cou'd I ever observe such a Contrariety of Matter in them that one part wou'd ferment upon another so as to cause any sensible Heat From subterraneous Fires they cannot proceed because in these parts such were never known or were there any cou'd not but discover themselves since no Fires will burn without admission of Air and there must likewise be Flues and Chasms whence they vent their Smoke and foeculent parts but since none of these were ever disclos'd in these parts it is not probable the Baths should grow hot by any such cause and when the Heat of the Baths may be sufficiently explain'd by the Collision of sulphureous Particles what necessity is there we should have recourse to any such unwarrantable Hypothesis as a Fermentation in the Waters or to subterraneous Fires Those two Notions are lately espoused by Dr. Guidot and Dr. Pierce of Bathe but I am apt to think those Gentlemen rather fancy than observe the Phaenomena of Nature For I am very well satisfy'd had they made strict Enquiries into those Waters they wou'd never have troubled the World with such Chimerical Hypotheses Dr. Pierce indeed does not much trouble himself or the World with any Scrutiny into the Contents of the Baths or the Causes of the Heat of them but only gives you an Instance from Savoy which is as remote as that place to his Undertaking And as for Dr. Guidot he is so Inconsistent with himself that unless he have the Art of reconciling Contradictions I am sure his Thermae Britannicae are not to be accounted for I do not speak this as any wise arrogating a greater Genius to my self or to lessen those worthy Persons but only from the Phaenomena I have observ'd in Nature and if they please to do the same I despair not of their Pardons Having now done with the sulphureous saline Waters in the next place I shall proceed to treat of saline Ones only as those at Northwich Namptwich Middlewich Dunham in Cheshire and Barton in Lancashire Various have been the Notions concerning the Rise of these Springs some imagining they proceeded from the Sea others from subterraneous Rocks of Salt which have of late Years been discover'd and first made Useful by my self in refining that Rock to a White granulated Salt which is now practiced in many places These Springs sometimes break out in the Rock but oftner either above or under it some of them in a Quart of Water contain about seven or eight Ounces of Salt whence its plain that quatenus Salt-springs they proceed not from the Sea because a Quart of the best of that Water affords seldome above an Ounce and Half of Salt Some of these Springs will tinge with Galls but most refuse it whence its plain Dr. Lister in his usual manner is much mistaken in forcing the Pyrites upon us 'T is true from the sulphureous Smell that may be observ'd in the Fermentation betwixt this Salt and Oyl of Vitriol that there is a Sulphur contain'd in the Salt but that no wise warrants a Pyrites since that is an aggregate of different Principles viz. Ocre and Vitriol besides Sulphur which Bodies by the Dr's own Confession Salt does not contain which is the only true Notion he lays down about those Waters and that he may assume as an Observation of his own It is likewise observable that the Salt made from the Brine-springs and the Rock-salt dissolv'd in fresh Water that these Salts will shoot into different Figures whence it is evident the Brine-springs proceed not from the Rocks of Salt that are discover'd but from Rocks of Salt that lie deeper in the Bowels of the Earth Besides in different Springs I have observ'd the Figures of the Salt to differ as some in Middlewich from those at Northwich where by Chrystallization they shoot into quite contrary Figures so that the Sal Mediterraneum as the Dr. stiles it is like to lose its Character Nay Rock-salt it self will never shoot into any regular Figure at all whence it may be averr'd these Salt-springs have not their Saltness from any subterraneous Rocks of Salt yet known it follows therefore if they are not saturated either from the Sea or from subterraneous Rocks of Salt we may then form another Hypothesis and conclude them to arise from Aerial saline Particles impregnating a proper Bass and so by various Solutions and Impregnations keeping a continual Circulation and so constantly supplying us and what chiefly gives umbrage to this is the Renascence of marine Salt which is so prodigiously made out by Untzerus in his Account of those Mountains of Salt that supply Russia Persia Mesopotamia Media and those vast Countries which as he affirms every Year Vegetates and the places whence the Salt was digg'd is the Year following as full of Salt as before Phaenomena like to this may be observ'd in the Vitriol-stone near Hesse-Cassel and in those Iron-Mines belonging to the Duke of Florence as is related by Fallopius Besides the marine Salt these Springs do likewise contain the Nitrum Calcarium Its observable the Salt of some of these Springs will not easily precipitate but a little Allum and fresh Butter will effect it and then it makes a larger Grain and stronger Salt than any of the rest In the Evaporation of these Salts there is likewise observ'd a white Sand which is thrown to the Corners of the Pan and this by frequent Evaporation and Filtrations I found to be the Particles of the Bass out of which these Salt-springs arise The most noted purging-Purging-Waters in these parts are those in a Village call'd Rougham adjacent to the remarkable Sands which are the great Road into Furnace nine Miles in breadth and at each Spring-tide entirely cover'd with Water these in calm Weather afford us very pleasant Travelling but in tempestuous Seasons no less dismal than we can suppose the wild Desarts of Arabia From the bottom of an high Rock near these the Water issues forth in a very plentiful Current it is a little brackish taken inwardly it purges both by Urine
and Stool and no doubt by a due preparation of the Body they become of extraordinary use in the Scurvy Worms crude Digestions and Distempers of that Nature the Water by Evaporation at the last becomes lixivial and is then extremely brackish as the Water evaporates there successively arise Films at first reddish and afterwards of a grey Colour these Films will ferment with any Acid and contain a little of a natural alcalious Salt which I take to be the Natron of the Ancients the Salt which remains after Evaporation seems to be a Marine but by frequent Filtrations and Chrystallizations I found it likewise contain'd a bitter purging Salt which is truly Dr. Lister's Nitrum Calcarium and is that purging Salt which impregnates Epsom Dullech Northall and other purging Waters in England as is hinted above besides the Salt there likewise remains a greyish Earth which will ferment with any Acid. When the Water is evaporated to a lixivial Colour if you then drop Spirit of Harts-horn into it it immediately makes a Coagulum and precipitates which Phaenomenon is only observable in those Waters that contain the Sal Catharticum Amarum which demonstrates that Salt likewise to contain a natural Acid and if in the like Water you drop any acid Spirit as that of Sulphur and Vitriol you will then perceive a very sulphureous smell From these it is plain these Waters contain three different sorts of Salts as the Natron the Marine and the Sal Catharticum Amarum likewise two sorts of Lapis Scissilis either of which will ferment with an Acid and Sulphur too From a mixture of such Principles as these what Effects may not be hoped for in Scrophulous and Leprous Persons and other Distempers of that nature Nay I have been assur'd by some of the Inhabitants there that some Persons by drinking these Waters have been recover'd from periodical Epilepsies but again I say the Body ought to be rightly prepar'd before the drinking of them and that Consumptive Persons ought not to meddle with them at least very sparingly some Persons by drinking of these have been freed from the Jaundice others from Quartan Agues and in the Pica Virginis if the Patient be not emaciated you may reckon it a specifick by drinking of these prodigious Worms as the Cucurbitae the Ascarides and Bunches of Worms have frequently been voided and I do not think in that Distemper the like to these are to be had There are other Purging-Waters which arise out of a Morass in a Village call'd Witherslack these Waters contain a marine and a bitter purging Salt but are inferior to the former There is another purging Water which springs out of the Sand near a Place call'd Mine-End which is the Mouth of the River Wire This no doubt is the Sea-Water which filters thro' the Sand but by reason of the shortness of the Filtration the Spring lying so near the River or the looseness of the Sand the marine Water is not perfectly dulcify'd but retains a pleasing Brackishness not unlike that which is observable in the Milk of a Farrow Cow or one that has Conceiv'd this Water purges a little but is much inferior to either of the other These Waters give no Tincture with Galls tho' Dr. Lister violently affirms all saline Springs will do it These are the most noted Purging-Waters that I have seen in these Parts I shall therefore in the next place proceed to those which may be ranked amongst the Acidulae but do likewise contain Natron and those are the Waters near Burnley and Emmett which were first discover'd to me by that most Learn'd and Accomplish'd Gentleman Richard Townley of Townley Esq The like to these Mons. du Clos affirms are in several places in France for a full Account of which I refer the Reader to that ingenious Author From the Experiments made by the Royal Academy in Paris in the Bourbon-Waters and the parallel Observations those in these Parts entertain us with we may make a probable Conjecture of their Principles and I think may safely affirm that in the Cases where those are proper these as a most natural Succedaneum may be made use of and will I question not answer what Intentions may be expected from the former These Waters with Galls give a Citrine Tincture and the Gall immediately precipitates in white perpendicular Lines but you must note these Experiments were made in the Waters remote from the Fountains I evaporated several Quarts of the Water and towards the latter end found it to have a little of a lixivial Tast after the surface was cover'd with a thin greyish Film this Film consisted of saline alcalious and terrene Particles and would make a brisk Fermentation with any Acid afterwards the Salts rise in perpendicular Lines upon the sides of the Retort The like Phaenomenon I observ'd in evaporating the Water that came from Nitria in Egypt and the like may be observ'd in Evaporation of other alcalious Salts After the Water was wholly evaporated there stuck to the sides of the Retort a greyish Matter of a very lixivial tast and would ferment with any Acid. By Filtration the Earth is easily separated from the Salt and then you have a natural alcalious Salt the true Natron of the Ancients as is manifest from those Specimens of Egyptian Nitre brought from Nitria to the Musaeum at Oxford by the Learned Dr. H. and likewise by the Description of Natron recited by Dioscordes tho' our Countryman Dr. Lister boldly affirms there is no such Salt in any Waters in England but this is not the first piece of Boldness he is pleas'd to arrogate and if his Reason be not totally screen'd he may if he pleases be satisfy'd he 's mistaken These Waters are of great use in the Stone Scurvy and other Chronical Diseases of which I have seen several Instances There are other Waters of an austere styptick Tast that will coagulate Milk but give no Tincture with Galls as some Pumps near Bury and Chorley these I conjecture arise out of Allum Ore or Marle they lather not with Sope but make a perfect Coagulum from the Acid and the Alcaly fixing together Some Springs we have that petrify as one in a Wood near Bury and another by the side of a Rivulet near Manchester these Waters superficially incrustate as the Chymists call it stratum super stratum are of an austere Tast like those in Yorkshire in Evaporation they yield a great quantity of a greyish Earth that will ferment with an Acid and some little proportion of Salt By these Phaenomena I do conjecture the terrene Particles are dissolved in Minimis by the natural Acid or as Helmont calls it the Esurine Spirit and when on the surface of any Body they are united they form these Incrustations I am the farther confirm'd in this Hypothesis because I have observ'd Petrefactions where only there could be an Acid halitus as in several Plants and Roots adjacent to the petrefying Waters near Knarseborough These
Waters inwardly taken are commended by several in Dysenteries and for the same reason they are proper in those Cases I do judge them of use in the Cure of a Diabetes These are the most remarkable Phaenomena I could ever observe of the Waters in these Parts having therefore examin'd those I shall according to my propos'd Method in the next place proceed to give an Account of the various Earths these Counties afford us An Appendix to the WATERS AFter I had finish'd my Experiments of Mineral Waters I had the fortune to meet with an elaborate Tract entituled The Natural History of the Chalybeat and Purging Waters in England with their particular Essays and Uses with likewise Observations on the Bath in Somersetshire dedicated to the R t Hon ble the Earl of Manchester by Benjamin Allen Med. Bacc. Thâ—se I shall examine in their Order and shall in the first place take notice of his Observations concerning the Rise of Chalybeat Waters Pag. 14. he says the Earth and Soil of these Springs is ever a Sand or Gravel and that the Water issues from or rather makes a Rock cemented of Stones which are never to be found but where the Water is Vitriolic How true this is the World may judge from the following Observations In the Rocks at Strangeway near Manchester in Lancashire three or four Yards in Free-stone Rock are several Chalybeat Springs which with Powder of Galls give a deep Claret Tincture and will answer all other Experiments usually try'd upon the Acidulae Eight or nine Yards within a Free-stone Rock near Stockport in the same County are several Chalybeat Springs which with Galls yield a purple fully as deep as Tunbridge or Knarseborough and will turn green with Syrup of Violets in these Rocks are found sometimes small Vitriol-stones a small quantity of which scrap'd into common Water instantly makes the artificial Chalybeat Waters but there is not the minutest Particle of the Pyrites to be found here It is plain hence that these Springs proceed not always from Sand and Gravel nor are they as he alledges Marcasitical that is Springs impregnated with the Pyrites for to satisfy his Curiosity farther the Pyrites here is neither discoverable by Ocular Demonstration nor by dissolving the Rock in Aqua fortis which he asserts if it contains the Pyrites will turn to a Gelly and yet that very Assertion is without ground for because the Pyrites will turn to a Gelly does it thence follow all Bodies that will do so participate of the Pyrites By the same reason he may aver That because Bones and Harts-horns with a little common Water in Mons. Papin's Digesting Instrument become gelatinous that either the Bones contain the Horns or vice versa the Horns the Bones Now since these Rocks answer not this end it is evident these Springs according to his own Notions cannot be deriv'd from the Pyritâ—â— but this I presume he only asserted as a Compliment to an eminent Physician and if he prefers his Friendship before strict and true Observations in Nature I envy not his Choice His other Experiments upon the Acidulae are no more than what have been before observ'd by other Authors I shall therefore pass them over As to the Purging-Waters he derives them from the Pyrites Selenites and Loame and are as he alledges impregnated with purging Salts of various kinds form'd into a saline Nature by an acid Mineral Juice in the Loame Hence pag. 117. he has this Period So I conclude the Salt of these purging Waters to be of a middle Nature betwixt Nitres and Vitriols and form'd out of the Loame by the help of a Vitriolic Juice or liquid Salt and collected in most Cavities As to this Hypothesis from the following Phaenomena I doubt not but to convince him that he is again mistaken that is that there are Springs which do contain the bitter purging Salt and yet arise not out of Loame e. g. At Rougham in Furness in the County of Lancaster at the bottom of a Rock issues a purging Spring at least twenty Yards perpendicular from its Summit where there is neither the Pyrites the Belemnites nor Loame the Spring flows in a luxuriant Current This Water upon the first Evaporation affords a Salt not much unlike Sea-Salt but the marine may be easily separated from the bitter or purging Salt and then you have a Salt which affords Bacilli or Stiriae which will easily dissolve even by the heat of the Hand nay even by the Air it self and answers all the Experiments Dr. Grew made upon Epsome-Salt It is hence evident that these Salts have not their Origin as he alledges from the Pyrites Selenites and Loame the Earth after distillation was light and of a greyish Colour and would strongly ferment with an Acid. But to give him an ampler demonstration of his Error I shall produce him another Instance or two At Thernham in the County of Lancaster there is an Earth which contains Loame and a great quantity of Selenites and the same Phaenomena may be observ'd upon the Ridge of Hills that run upon the Sea-Coasts towards Rossall in the same County out of both these Earths issue several Springs which will neither tinge with Galls nor are they Purgative hence it is evident tho' the Principles he lays down do all concur yet that thence does not necessarily follow a Marcasitical or Purging Water nor are the Salts as was observ'd before collected so superficially as he alledges 't is true indeed I have seen the Salt Bass by being expos'd to the Air shoot out various Efflorescences at the same time from a Spring issuing out of the same Bass at least 20 Yards within the Earth may be prepar'd the true bitter purging Salt So that what he has inform'd us in relation to the Purging Waters is as groundless as the former As to his Method of preparing a Salt from Loame by Spirit of Nitre it is no wise convincing since the Phaenomena he recites may happen barely from the Spirit without a Salt congenite to the Loame the different Salts he prepared from the Purging Waters may for ought I know be true and exact but what I alledge is that neither the Chalybeats are always from the Pyrites nor the Purging Waters from Loame Marcasite and the Selenites His other Experiments are but what were before observ'd by Dr. Plot and Monsieur du Clos to whom I refer the Reader I shall in the next place examine his Observation upon the Bath in Somersetshire P. 178. he says that The Salt contain'd in this Water appear'd fully to be Salt-petre in that it did not disturb a solution of Sal Saturni in fair Weather But this is no Demonstration at all of Salt-petre for the bitter purging Salt will do the same which is not at all Nitrous altho' it bears the same Bacilli or Stiriae with Nitre for since the Salt is not inflammable there is no reason to suppose the Existence of Salt-petre It now appears his Attempts
upon Bath-Waters are as fruitless as his other Experiments and in his reasoning about them he is inconsistent with himself I shall only remark one thing more that when this Purging Salt becomes stiriated if it be dissolv'd in a small quantity of Water in a few Days it drops an hard pellucid Salt which will not dissolve in the Air is bitter and pungent the Figures of it are various sometimes Cubical sometimes Pentagons and Parallelopepedons so that it is manifest it is very difficult to reduce Salts to their distinct species by determinate Figures It is certain by these Experiments that the Salt in this Purging Water which at first by its Tast and Figure seem'd only to be a common marine Salt consists of three different Kinds why therefore it should be stiled a Nitre I can see no reason I have often wondred why some Persons ambitiously affect the Imposing of Terms assuming to themselves Titles of New Discoverers without any ground at all For if from the mere Trunk of a Mole I should go about to prove it was the species of an Elephant the World would doubtless conclude me the blinder Creature I shall beg leave to add to this Appendix one thing more relating to Cold Springs in which as the Moralists assure us of the two contrary Passions Ioy and Sorrow that the former is an Expansion the other a Depressure of the Spirits so it is no less probable in these two opposite Qualities Heat and Cold that in one the Nerves are dilated in the other shrivel'd or contracted But since the Cause of intense Coldness is the Subject of this Paragraph I shall only expatiate on the latter in order to that I shall lay down a general Hypothesis and afterwards illustrate it first by the Effects of Cold and afterwards by parallel Experiments that produce it Coldness therefore in Waters I suppose to proceed from volatile saline Particles which by their Points contracting the Extremities of the Nerves obstruct the Spirits and thence proceeds an Horrour or Trembling and if the Cold be intense a Stupor or Numbness hence it is that the Capillaries in the Skin by the Punctures of those saline Particles corrugate and the Blood thereby stagnates and by the distention of those Vessels the Skin appears extremely red That Coldness in Waters proceeds from these saline Particles is evident from solutions of Snow in common Water in which those Particles are so volatile that upon Distillation I found them wholly to evaporate It is not therefore as the Peripateticks imagine that Coldness proceeds from dull unactive Principles but from volatile saline ones which by their Inflexibility or Rigidness like so many Barriers fix the Particles in Water which are of a softer Temper and thence it is that it freezes and is turn'd into Ice In Springs therefore that are naturally intensely Cold I suppose the Loam from whence these arise to have Pores so configurated as constantly to imbibe these saline Particles from the circumambient Atmosphere which doubtless are of as Volatile nature as those of Snow for I never could find in the Distillation of Cold Baths any Salt that could be reduc'd to a Chrystal except a marine one and that in so small a proportion that it is impossible to suppose that the Coldness should proceed from thence 'T is true indeed in artificial Cold Baths the Water is made violently so by solutions of marine Salt and Salt-petre but then to effect that there are those quantities of Salts that are never to be found in Baths naturally Cold whence it is evident the Coldness in them cannot proceed from a solution of those Salts but from a Volatile Aerial Nitre doubtless brought into the Atmosphere by particular Winds for it is evident in opposite Parallels from the Line in the one you have violent Frosts in the other intense Heats as the Ingenious Dr. Munday of All-Souls College in Oxford beyond contradiction has made evident The most remarkable Cold Spring in these Parts is that at Larbrick of which take the following Account Upon immersing your Hand into it the Part immediately grows extreamly red and you will then perceive a most violent Pain Fishes of several sorts I have seen put into this Spring which make but one Effort and instantly expire It is an Acidula or Chalybeat Water and therefore is accounted for in another place as likewise the Effects of Cold Baths which are consider'd in the following Treatise of the Scurvy and Rickets But more fully to illustrate the unaccountable Penetrancy Agility and Rigidness of those Particles that produce Cold take the following Experiment Let a Thermometer of a Foot long and Hermetically seal'd at both ends and about half fill'd with Spirit of Wine be immers'd in a Cold Spring for Instance in that at Larbrick and continue suspended in it about half an Hour in that space of Time the Spirit in the Tube will subside a full Inch which Instance fully demonstrates how penetrating those frigorific Particles must be that thus enter the Pores of the Glass and force the Spirit to subside to that degree This Instance likewise demonstrates their Inflexibility that by penetrating the Pores of the Glass they should so fix their Points upon the superficies of the Vinous Spirit which being of a softer Texture must necessarily give way and subside By this Experiment you may easily find out the various Degrees of Cold in Springs and by comparing those with Observations of the like nature made in the two noted Baths Holywell in Wales and St. Mungus in Yorkshire may easily find of what use the Springs in these Counties may be in the like Cases which these are eminent for I must needs own that in Leprous Distempers Scorbutic Rheumatisms the Rickets and Scorbutic Atrophies before the Hectic heat is grown too intense I have not seen any Medicines perform the Effects which these Waters frequently do CHAP. III. Of Earths Clays Boles Marles Improvements by Shells Shell-Fishes Hares and Rabbit-Skins Sope-Boylers Ashes and Putrify'd Ferns of Morasses and their various Improvements THese Countries afford us various sorts of Earths but the most noted are the Black Soil the Foxglove-Earth and the Clay-Earth which indeed is a mixture of Clay and Marle The Black Earth is commonly rich Pasture or Meadowing or good Corn-Land the Foxglove-Earth which is a tender Earth and of a brownish Colour is usually good Pasture and by Improvement brings plentiful Harvests of Corn the Clay-Earth is chiefly for Corn and in that either for continuing long or producing a well fed Corn exceeds both the other Sometimes these Earths abound with great quantities of Lime-stones and other Stones which mightily contribute to their plentiful Productions as is observable in the Closes near Lancaster and other parts in the North the Country People imagine it proceeds from the Warmth they impart to the various Earths but I rather attribute it to their Nitrous or Alcalious Salts which as I shall demonstrate hereafter conduce to the
those luxuriant Springs of Acidulae that it would be impossible ever to make them serviceable if they lay not in this shelving Posture For did they ly in an Horizontal Plane they wou'd most commonly not be found under some Hundred Fathoms and then the Quantities of Water wou'd be too great for any Engine to discharge It was therefore no doubt the wonderful Providence of the Almighty at the universal Deluge in the Disruption of the Earth that as the Psalmist terms it They started aside like a broken Bow to remain as everlasting Monuments of his Power as well as Kindness to Mankind And a farther Argument of his infinite Goodness is that they are most commonly found in cold Climes and not in those Regions where they have a more kindly Influence of the Sun To pretend to solve the Postures of these in so great a Confusion as was at the Deluge by specifick Gravity is I think but to trifle in Terms For Mechanically to account for these wonderful Phaenomena wou'd be an Undertaking equal to that Genius who so easily discover'd a Pacing-Saddle or preserv'd Antiphthisical Air in Bottles brought from Montpellier In these Mines it is plain no specifick Gravitation is observ'd for Coals Strata of Marle Coal Slats in all the Mines I have seen always ly promiscuously for sometimes you come to a Stratum of Marle afterwards to a Stratum of Free-stone Iron-stone or the Pyrites then to a Coal or Kennel-Mine then to a Stratum of several Kinds again and then to Coals or Kennel again and sometimes to Coals above them all from which it is evident that in their subsidence they were not determin'd to any specifick Gravitation but as Dr. More terms it were solely govern'd by an Hylarchic Spirit These things premised I shall proceed to the Phaenomena frequently observ'd in them As the constituent Principles of Coals their Mineral Waters Damps and Pyrites Coals may be said to consist of Bitumen or Sulphureous parts Vitriolic and Ferruginous sometimes interlarded with a mixture of Ocre and Terrence parts the sulphureous Particles are easily distinguishable by their Burning viz. By their Smell and the azure Colour of the Flame the Vitriolic parts are prov'd two ways first I have sometimes seen Native Vitriol in these Mines secondly By Distillation as more particularly in the Kennel near Haigh from which by Distillation in a Retort will come over a very austere Vitriolic Water Besides the Springs that issue out of these do sometimes afford us quantities of Vitriol as I have before remark'd Their ferruginous Particles are discover'd in the Cinder by their adhesion to the Magnet which I take to be a Pathognomonical Symptom of Iron in that case tho' Dr. Lister is pleas'd to stile it one of the Pyrites But when the Dr. is framing an Hypothesis he is no Slave to his Senses and by the same Parity of Reason he might put forth Comments upon Transubstantiation Ocres frequently adhere to Coal as do the Bass and Terrene parts As to the Pyrites that darling Proteus of the Dr. which at a dead-lift helps him to a Solution of any Phaenomenon and which has given him the Character of a profound Naturalist amongst several Persons perhaps because they were incapable to apprehend him nor indeed can I think he apprehends or believes himself those Assertions he lays down concerning this Pythagorical Gentleman the Pyrites This Pyrites is frequently found betwixt the Lamellae of the Coals and sometimes in Fissures and Strata These by their Configuration to the Receptacles in which they are disclosed appear to have once been fluid I have seen some Cubical others in Pentagons and some rolled up in Magdalons and Striated like Cockle-shells in lines exactly like those a Collection of these I have by me and design them for the Musaeum at Oxford Others I have seen in the Shape of the Pectinites The Pyrites consists of Sulphur Vitriol Ocre Metallick parts as Iron Copper c. Of this there are various sorts as the Aureus Argenteus Ferreus Cupreus The Sulphur is distinguishable in it by the Detonation it makes with Nitre as likewise by the sulphureous Smell which by Collision may be observ'd in it The Vitriol is known by its Germination which it frequently emits expos'd in the Air. The Ocre and Metallick parts are discover'd by Calcination and Fusion and of these I have seen several Essays These are the most noted Phaenomena I cou'd ever observe in this Minion of Dr. Lister but if he wou'd have greater Matters credited of it he surely writes not what he has seen but what he fancies Let him first oblige the World with more ample and convincing Discoveries of its Merit otherwise why should we Attribute to it more than its Value It may be freely said of this as of most of the Dr's Notions All is not Gold that glisters Sparrs there are of several sorts but the most Noted may be reduced to these Classes the Rhomboidal Pellucid Spar the Sapphirine Rhomboidal or Azure Spar the Opace Azurine Spar the Alabastrites and the Stalactites the Pellucid irregular Spar the Diamond Spar so denominated from its figure These all will run and are commonly made use of by the Miners to run down their Ores These are a Composition of Vitriolic Salts Sulphurs and Terrene Particles The Sulphur is discernible by Calcination as are likewise the Saline and Terrene Particles which are very austere and like a Bole will adhere to the Tongue The Rhomboidal Spar is frequently found in the Mines in Derbyshire and is constituted with various Lamellae which are all Rhomboidal which figure no doubt proceeds from a particular mixture of Saline and Terrene parts Sometimes I have seen Sparrs consisting of various Parallelograms these are Pellucid like Diamonds and will cut Glass and are frequently found in Mole-Hills at Downham in Lancashire These are not to be found by Digging as I have been inform'd by several of the Neighbouring Inhabitants from what Depth therefore these Earthy Pioneers do bring them up is uncertain they are call'd by the Names of Downham-Diamonds The Sapphirine or Azure Spar is frequently found in Copper and Lead Mines in Lancashire and Derbyshire some are more Opace than others which no doubt proceeds from the different mixture of Saline and Earthy parts The Alabastrites and Stalactites are found plentifully in those most noted Cavities Pool's Hole and the Devil 's Arse in the Peak in Derbyshire These are not so pellucid as the other therefore seem to contain a greater proportion of Terrene and less of Saline Particles The Figures which these Stalactites shoot into are Wonderful and to a Thinking Man the most diverting Objects in the Universe In some places the Cavity is scarce a Yard deep in others an Hundred Fathoms perpendicular of a most magnificent Arch From the Top of this vast Roof there continually drops a Water which forms various Lamellae of the Stalactites in the shape of Hay-cocks Lyons Men Fret-work and several other diverting
Phaenomena Dr. Woodward supposes the Stalactites to be form'd by the Water in some Strata of Earth filtring from the Spar and so according to the position of Particles to constitute various Lamellae of Spar. I shall not deny but this in part may be true yet in those Cavities it is most certain the Water forms various Lamellae of Spar after it is fallen from the Rock as is very discernible in those little Hills call'd Hay-cocks upon which the Water is continually dropping and each Year forms various Lamellae of the Stalactites the Water is clear and of a pleasant Tast and in Distillation yields a good quantity of this Sparry Matter Wherefore it is most probable there is a continual solution of this kind of Matter by some acid Esurine Halitus which may likely be the Effluvia of some of the Mines or Minerals in those parts I am farther confirm'd in this because the Sparrs by Calcination are of a very austere styptick Tast therefore it is most rational to think that they may be some Vitriolate Effluvia which make this solution but are not to be discern'd in the Water because the Saline Particles are sheath'd in the Terrene and so cannot exert their pungent Qualities until they are disentangled And hence it is that the Water tho' it be highly saturated with these Spars is yet of a pleasing Tast and no doubt but a thorough Discovery of the Principles of these Waters wou'd give us a satisfactory Account of the Formation of Gems and might likewise be of Use in Physick There are different Kinds of these Sparrs as to their internal Qualities some if taken inwardly will Vomit and Purge most violently as that in the Lead Mines near Andlesack in Lancashire and this no doubt consists in a great measure of Salt and Sulphur which I take to be the reason that it is Emetic But the Nature of this Spar will be more fully made out from the subsequent Instances and the first is by Calcination in which you may easily discover that a Pound of this will yield a Dram of Arsenic at the least lying betwixt the Lamellae of the Spar. Whence therefore this comes to be of so Poisonous a Nature is plainly evident Notwithstanding this the Neighbours thereabout will frequently take a Scruple at least of this in Fits of the Stone in whom it vomits purges and works violently by Urine in this Case as they have frequently assured me they have found great Relief Whence the Vomiting and Purging proceed is evident as we have before observ'd viz. from the Arsenical Sulphur as likewise from that profuse quantity of Urine which may sufficiently hint to us what kind of morbifick Matter it is that causes the Diabetes both from the Quickness of its poysonous Quality and likewise the Sweetness of the Urine There are some have been so daring as to venture to take a Dram of this particularly One Iames Barns's Wife and Child but alas to their woful Experience they found the sad Effects of it for in about Nine Hours afterwards they both Expired The like Quantity of this in about Three Hours time will Kill a Dog and it is observable that the Dog while living is deeply Lethargick which may farther illustrate to us in malignant Feavers attended with those Symptoms what kind of Matter probably it is that causes those Symptoms but that is more fully Discussed in its proper place Nay so spreading is the Poyson of this Spar that it has not only been fatal to the Creature that has taken it but a Dog by licking the Blood of a Swine which had accidentally taken it mix'd with Meal and Butter expired likewise and it is farther observable that the Flesh of the Swine was afterwards Eaten and did no mischief tho' the Blood was poysonous because as we may reasonably conjecture the Arsenic had not spread it self farther than the Mass of Blood There is likewise in the same Mine a Black Spar which affords a diverting Phaenomenon or perhaps by some may be esteem'd a melancholly Scene which is in the following manner If you calcine this Spar in a Crucible its sulphureous Particles so diffuse themselves in the ambient Air that the Persons standing by by their Paleness resemble the Corps of so many deceas'd Persons It is further remarkable that there are sometimes Cavities in the Body of this and likewise in the Lead-Ore which are impleted with Water tho' there are no apparent Aqueducts leading to them these by the Miners are stiled Self-Loughs Whence this Water is deriv'd may merit our Consideration but it is most probable it is rais'd from the more remote Bowels of the Earth by a subterraneous Heat and collected in those Cavities so that it is undeniably demonstrable that the aqueous Particles must penetrate the Pores of the Rocks Sparrs and Ores which will more plainly illustrate to us how sometimes in those kinds of Cavities there are found living Toads which some have had the vanity to fix there ever since Noah's Deluge but from the Ova or Eggs floating in the Particles of the Water it is most probable to conclude they bred there Others are Diuretical and are frequently taken with success in the Gout and Stone which no doubt they effect by their saline Particles inciding the Lentor in the Blood and so consequently give ease in those Cases Instances of this kind I have seen several but to insert them here is forein to this Undertaking These are the most remarkable Phaenomena I have observ'd of Sparrs I shall therefore in the next place hasten to Talcs and Amianthus or that which is call'd Feather'd Allum The Talcs are pellucid and frequently found in Marle and will easily calcine into brittle white Lamellae and would no doubt make a very good Plaister which in the Malt-Kilns might be of great use being far better than those common Clay-Floors this is not at present made use of any farther than a common Mortar but its farther Improvement succeeding Generations may discover The Amianthus is likewise found in Marle it consists of various Filaments and is that which the Ancients made their perpetual Lamp with I have seen Cloath and Paper made of this which would stand Fire and doubtless it would be highly worth the while of some of our ingenious Mechanicks to make farther Essays upon it It is call'd by some the Salamander's Wool because as I imagin like that it is able to withstand the fury of the Flame Iuncker and Etmuller give us an account of its Principles and likewise of some Tryals they have made upon it I shall therefore refer the Reader to those Authors It is used by some Physicians in Unguents in Distempers of the Nerves but for my part I cannot see what use it can be of in those Cases I cannot conceive how so sluggish and unactive a Body can penetrate and open the Obstructions of the Nerves nor is it likely that its Particles should be absorb'd by the Capillary Vessels
and so destroy that Acidity of the Blood that may occasion the Distemper The next thing to be consider'd are the Allum and Vitriol-Ores and of these there are various sorts Vitriol is a Salt so denominated from its being like Glass pellucid and of this there are three sorts White Red and Green The Red is found in the Mines in Hungary and the White and Green in Lancashire and Derbyshire The Green is either Natural or Artificial Natural such as is that in the Kennel-Pits at Haigh in Lancashire and in some Lead-Mines near Castleton in Derbyshire Artificial such as is prepar'd from the Pyrites by Calcination and Fermentation Of the Green there are two sorts the one spongy and the other solid but with Galls all yield the same Phaenomena Of the White likewise are two sorts the solid and the Trichites the solid is found sometimes in Laminae betwixt those of the mineral Bass or Shiver as the Miners term it the Trichites is an Efflorescence from the Ores in the form of Hairs and for that reason so stiled from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies an Hair the Ores of these are commonly Bass and as I suppose have their Pores so configurated as not to admit of other Salts and with these Salts we do imagin they may be impregnated from the Bowels of the Earth by the ascending Effluvia or by those Particles which fall from the Atmosphere as is evident from those Stones near Hess-Cassel in Germany which by exposing them to the Air afford at several times a greater quantity of Vitriol than the whole substance of the Stone amounts to The white Vitriol is frequently found mixed with Allum which I suppose might give occasion to some to make no difference betwixt those Salts but they may easily be distinguish'd for the vitriolic Particles will spend themselves in Efflorescences in the Air but the alluminous remain fix'd and then it is and not till then that the Allum ought to be prepar'd Roch-Allum we have at Brindle and Houghton in Lancashire where great quantities might be made those Parts being most modious of any in the Kingdom for this Business since they may be so easily supply'd with that Sea-plant which the Arabians call'd Kali and we in our Idiome Kolp Allum as well as Vitriol is most commonly found in Bass and as we suppose may challenge the like production they differ likewise in their Figure in Chrystallization yet neither of them do at all times shoot into one and the same Figure Here one Question of moment offers it self to our Enquiry viz Whether or no green and white Vitriol be specifically different or only differ in Colour as they are differently saturated with some Ore or Mineral It is certain I have in the same mineral Water observ'd both green and white Vitriol and likewise out of the same Ore both green and white Vitriol make their Efflorescences wherefore it seems probable to me that these two are not specifically different but that the one consists of a more compact and close Texture and the other of more loose Particles I am farther confirm'd in this Opinion because I find that they will both turn black with Galls and are both Emetic The Ores of Vitriol are either Marcasite or Bass the Methods of making Vitriol have been before recited both in the Philosophical Transactions and in a Piece of Mr. Ray's I shall not therefore transgress on the patience of my Reader As to marine Salts they either make their Efflorescences out of some kind of Limes or Bass as I have observ'd upon several Walls in Lancashire and upon the blew Bass in Cheshire sometimes upon old Walls may be observ'd Salt-petre and oftentimes an alcalious fix'd Salt which I take to be the Natron of the Ancients and which we likewise find in some Waters in Lancashire as in those near Townley and Burnley If the Use of this Salt was fully prosecuted it would doubtless be of great Benefit as far surpassing all our artificial Alcalies if we may judge of it either by the Phaenomena observable in it or from those Accounts which the Ancients give of it as Hippocrates and Dioscorides and Vauslebius a modern Author in his Account of the Plague at Grand Cairo assures us of the wonderful Efficacy of this Salt of which he himself was an Eye-witness for tho' Hundreds in a Week constantly expir'd of the Plague then raging yet so soon as the Nitre falls which they know by the Turgidness of the Nile and the fermenting and rising of the Nitre-Pits the Sickness immediately ceases Polyd. Virgil informs us that the first Invention of Glass was by an Accident which happen'd from this Salt viz. Some Merchants who had been at Nitria a place in Egypt where it is collected in greatest quantities taking several large pieces of Natron on board their Vessels and having a mind to go on Shore for their Diversion order'd some Piles of it to be rais'd on the Ground upon which they might fix their Kettles as on Furnaces to boil their Meat but when the Fire grew to an intense heat the Salt and Sand flux'd together and ran into a transparent Glass a Method not much unlike that which is practic'd from the Ashes of Kali how far therefore it might be useful upon this Account deserves our Consideration Rocks of Salt of a vast thickness are frequently found in Cheshire some of them twenty-five Yards or more thick but whence these came whether from the universal Catastrophe of the World at the Deluge or have been since form'd in the bowels of the Earth admits our next Enquiry It is observ'd that such a quantity of Water will only dissolve such a proportion of Salt nor will the Salt after dissolution precipitate if then we imagin these Rocks to proceed from the Deluge we must conclude that vast Globe of Water that drown'd the World to be more saturated with Salt than any of the Brine-springs in Cheshire and if so the Rocks of Salt had been universal over the World Wherefore to me the most rational Conjecture is That upon the Rupture of the Strata of the Earth Islands of those Salt-Rocks floated in the Flood and so for a considerable time might be tossed to and fro undissolv'd and in that general Confusion upon the subsiding of the Water might settle with the rest of the Mines and Minerals and so have continued in the Posture we find them ever since I have before demonstrated that the Brine-springs do not proceed from the Rocks of Salt that are already discover'd but from the Rocks that lie deeper in the Bowels of the Earth or it may be from none at all because the Figures of the Salt are different I shall not therefore insist further upon that Point but pass on to what I next propos'd and that is to give an Account of Allum and its various Ores Allum may be divided into three Classes the Roch the Feather'd and the Trichites the which
Creatures but pretend that besides the Eight Persons included in the Ark Og the King of Basan was preserv'd But to these I reply that whoever considers those prodigious Mountains of marine Shells in Ireland Virginia the East and West-Indies cannot but conclude that they were deposited there by the Deluge and then considering the height of the Mountains and the vast remoteness of the Places one from another that the Deluge must be Universal also But this particular is fully discours'd of in a preceding Chapter The third Opinion relating to a Deluge is that of the Scholasticks who are of Opinion that Enoch who they say at that time liv'd in Paradise was not involv'd in the Deluge But since the holy Writ is silent in that matter and that neither the Aegyptian Chaldee Hebrew or Greek Versions of the Old Testament take any notice of that Opinion I cannot but conclude it erroneous and unwarrantable There was a fourth Opinion of the Jews who maintain that not only a few Persons but whole Nations never felt the Effects of this great Inundation but that the Jews only and other Inhabitants in Palestine perish'd in it but what has been said in answer to the preceding Opinion may serve for this There was a fifth Rank who affirm'd that there was a total Destruction of Mankind at the Deluge yet so as that the whole Terrestrial Globe was not overwhelm'd by the Waters which Opinion is founded on two other Hypotheses viz. That at the time of the Flood the Earth remain'd for the greatest part desolate and without Inhabitants and that all the Waters in the Universe were not sufficient to cause so general a Deluge Abraham Mylius pretends to demonstrate that if all the Waters of the Universe had been sent down upon the Earth they could not have cover'd the tops of the highest Mountains Isaac Vossius approves of both these Hypotheses but since from the vast Beds of marine Shells even upon the tops of the highest Mountains it is undeniably evident that the highest Mountains were cover'd it thence follows that the Deluge must be universal and that Mylius and Vossius are both mistaken The sixth and last are those that have chosen the truest Opinion and maintain that the Deluge was universal both in respect to the Terrestrial Globe and its Inhabitants because the Motive that induc'd God was universal God complains that the Imaginations of mens hearts were only evil continually his Threats likewise were universal I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast and every creeping thing and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made them Hence therefore it is evident from the holy Scriptures and from the Phaenomena in Natural History that there was a Deluge and that this Deluge was universal too wherefore I cannot but admire that the great St. Austin should be so far mistaken as to affirm that there were not the least foot-steps of the Deluge either in the Greek or Latin Writers since the contrary is so clearly demonstrated by Hugo Grotius I shall now in the last place lay down some Hypotheses concerning the Qualities in Plants and so close this Chapter and by drawing a Parallel betwixt Chymical Preparations and the Qualities in Physical Herbs endeavour to give a Rationale of their Effects But this having in a great measure been attempted by Pechlinius Wedelius Sr. Iohn Floyer and others I shall but briefly treat upon that Head and that in the following Method First By giving an account of Emetics and the Rationale of their Qualities afterwards of Cathartic or Purgative Plants Antiscorbutics Balsamics Diuretics Antistrumatics Stomachics Cardiacs Anti-hydropics Anticterics Antepileptics Restringents Opiates Paragorics Alexipharmacs The Emetic Plants are only two Squills and Asarum and both are of a bitter and nauseous Tast first therefore we shall enquire into the Cause of the Bitterness in these and then how that becomes Emetical Bitterness consists in rigid pungent and inflexible Particles pointed upon terrene ones hence the Points by their continual Irritations contract the Fibres of the Stomach and still pressing it by their Inflexibility at length they throw it into Convulsions and so become Emetical or Vomiting Thus we see in a solution of Silver in Spirit of Nitre that the Points of the corroding Spirit being sheathed in the metallic Particles it not only becomes extremely bitter but likewise Emetical the like may be observ'd by pouring Spirit of Nitre upon the Lapis Calaminaris and doubtless thus it is that the Leaves of Asarum are so famous an Errhine and of so great use in inveterate Head-achs viz. Their acrid saline Particles continually pressing the Glands of the Nostrils force them to discharge that acrid Serum which occasions that Distemper The most noted Cathartics are Buckthorn Monks Rhubarb Elder Damask Roses Iris Soldanella Spurge Mezereon Buckthorn is extremely bitter and affords an Oyl and a pungent Spirit neither of which are bitter or in the least Purgative whence it seems evident to me that its bitterness and Purging quality consist in its saline Particles being strictly united with terrene ones and so by that means contracting the Fibres of the Bowels they become purgative Roses Iris and the rest are likewise bitter but they all differ in their Pungency Mezereon Spurge and Iris are both Emetic and Cathartic which sometimes not only cauterize the Coates of the Stomach but the Skin it self if externally apply'd No doubt but by due Corrections these might be made most noble Medicines and the likeliest Method to effect this as far as I can conjecture would be by obtunding their saline Particles by the Lapis Calaminaris or some such Alcaly or if their Vertues consist in an acrid Alcaly a proper Acid might be thought on and I think it would be highly worth our while to make strict Enquiries into these Matters that being the likeliest Method to bring us to a Certainty in the Practice of Physick Before I close this Head I shall only offer two Experiments and then proceed The first is concerning Aloes which by being infus'd in Spirit of Wine loses its Purgative quality but yet retains its Bitterness the second is concerning a solution of Aloes which being injected into the Veins of a Dog will inevitably purge him From which Observations naturally arises this Question Whether Cathartics effect their ends in the first passages or by working Elective in the Mass of Blood as the Physicians stile it I affirm the former and to the first Experiment make this reply The volatile acrid saline Particles in the Aloes being dissolv'd by the Spirit of Wine it must of necessity for the Reasons before alledg'd be depriv'd of its purgative quality yet so as still to retain its Bitterness because it is probable some saline Particles are so inveloped with the oily and terrene ones that a separation is not easily made perhaps not without Distillation or Calcination so that the Aloes in
some measure may retain its Bitterness yet be depriv'd of its purging quality To the second I reply thus A solution of Aloes being injected into the Mass of Blood it is most probable its Particles are again separated from the Blood by the conglomerate Glands of the Bowels it is not therefore that they work Elective in the Mass of Blood but by their contracting of the Bowels upon their separation for it is undeniably evident that several Purges will operate before they could possibly be suppos'd to have mixt with the Mass of Blood In the next place Anti-scorbutics may be said to be either Bitters Acrids or Nitrous Plants The Bitters are Lapathum acutum Mountain-sage and Water-Trefoil and these all afford an Oyl and acid Spirit and a fixt alcalious Salt but the Salt in the greatest proportion next to that the Oyl and then the Spirit hence it is that these Herbs by their saline and oily Particles attenuating the Serum of the Blood coagulated by its Acids restore it to its due Circulation and are for that reason of great use in Anti-scorbutic Cases The Acrids are the Cresses Asarum Scurvy-grass and Radishes and do all of them afford Oyls and volatile alcalious Salts wherefore for the Reasons before alledg'd they may properly be stiled Anti-scorbutics The Nitrous are the Aparine Vetches Ground-Ivy and Nettles these all yield a volatile nitrous essential Salt as may be seen in the freezing of their depurated Juices and hence it is that by tempering and diluting the bilious Particles in the Blood they allay those Scorbutic heats and are of great use in violent Bleeding particularly Ground-Ivy which by its saline Particles not only deterses and quits the Breast from an oppressive Phlegm but likewise by its Balsamics consolidates Balsamics do all of them afford terebinthinate Oyls and the chief amongst these are St. Iohn's-wort Herb Robert Tutsal and Pennywort Diuretics are generally Anti-scorbutics and those being treated of before I shall not enlarge farther on that Head Cardiacs are either mild Acids that temper too volatile a Bile which continually irritates the Spirits as in several Fevers and of this sort are Wood-sorrel Berberries Rasberries and the like or those that yield volatile Aromatic Oyls and so disentangle the Spirits strugling in a Viscid Serum and of this sort are Butter-bur Angelico Eringo Balm and the like Antistrumatics are Whitlow-grass Herb Robert stinking Gladdon and Dropwort and no doubt but they effect their Ends by terebinthinate Particles since most of them emit Effluvia of that Nature which doubtless correct the Acid that make the Gland scrophulous by coagulating the Lympha as may be observ'd in scrophulous Glands Anti-hydropics as Alteratives are in the Class of Anti-scorbutics Stomachics for the most part being Bitters I shall not enlarge further on them Anticterics consist of volatile acrid Particles which attenuate a foeculent Bile and the chief of these are Celandine Pilewort and Madder Pectorals are Maiden-hairs Ferns and Bitters the two first are Nitrous Opiates and Paregorics are the white and red Poppies and Cowslips but how these bridle the impetuous Tumults of the Spirits shall be accounted for in its proper place Poeony Misleto are Antepileptics and I am apt to think that it is by a Mucilage which contains a volatile alcalious Salt that they are of use in that Case viz. by the innate Heat of the Stomach and Bowels the Salt sublimes from the Mucilage and is there immediately imbibed by the Extremities of the Nerves and hence they become of use in Convulsive Cases whereas other volatile Salts are spent before they can reach the Nerves Restringents are all of them either of a mucilaginous or austere Taste as Comfry Horse-tail Sloes c. The one by sheathing the Acid which makes a Disruption of the Vessels and the other by austere vitriolic Particles pursuing them up no doubt effect their Ends. The poysonous Plants it is plain consist sometimes of saline corroding acrimonious Particles such as inflame and sometimes sphacelate the Stomach and contract the Branches of the Par vagum and then produce Tremors and Convulsions as is evident in the Dissection of those Creatures that have been poyson'd with these Herbs Of this sort are the Cicuta aquatica Ranunculus flammeus Solanum lethale Aconitum hyemale c. Some poysonous Plants are of a Narcotic Quality as Poppy and Henbane these are of a bitter Taste and no doubt contain a volatile acrid Salt which by fixing its points upon the Fibrillae of the Brain and the Extremities of the Nerves occasions a Corrugation in them and by that means hinders a Separation of the animal Spirits from the Mass of Blood and consequently their Dispensation into the various parts of the Body Hence they being taken in too great a quantity become poysonous Lettice likewise Melons and Cucumbers consisting of a mucilaginous Water doubtless entangle the animal Spirits and hinder their Expansion hence by being too liberally taken the whole Oeconomy of the Body is disorder'd the Spirits receding like the Sun-beams which being screen'd by thick interposing Clouds leave all in Darkness An Appendix to the Chapter of PLANTS HAving compleated my Hypothesis concerning the Vegetation of Sea-Plants I shall in the next place propose some Conjectures about the Vegetation of River and Land-Plants and give an account of the Experiments on all sides and add some Trials which I proved my self and amongst the rest offer my own Sentiments The most material Hypotheses relating to this Topic are reduc'd to Two the one asserting that Vegetation is from Earth the other from Water only A Suffragan to the latter is the L d Bacon Nat. Hist. Cent. 5. Par. 411. Where he asserts That for Nourishment of Vegetables Water is all in all that the Earth only keeps the Plant upright and guards it from too great Heat or Cold. Others in this Hypothesis are more positive as the Hon ble Mr. Boyle Helmont and his Followers these back their Assertions with the two subsequent Experiments the first is that concerning Mint and several other Plants which prosper and thrive greatly in Water the other which you have in the Sceptical Chymist writ by Mr. Boyle is as follows Take a certain quantity of Earth bake it in an Oven then weigh it and having included it in an Earthen Pot well water'd make choice of some fit Plant as a Pompion which being first carefully weigh'd and set in it there let it grow continuing to water it till it is much advanced in Bigness then take it up and tho' the Bulk and Weight of the Plant be much greater than at first yet the Earth will be found little or nothing diminished in Weight therefore it may be concluded that it is not the Earth but Water that Nourishes and is converted into the Substance of the Plant. Thus far likewise proceeds the ingenious Dr. Woodward but had the Dr. given us a full account of his Sentiments on those Authors he might likewise have
observed that they not only took Plants and put them in the Earth prepared as he recites it but likewise the Seeds of Cucumbers and Pompions which acquired their due Magnitude and yet the Earth was not diminished in Weight these Experiments indeed considering the minuteness of the Seeds of those Fruits with the largeness of their Size when grown to perfection and yet no decrease of the Earth might give them very pregnant Reasons for their Conjectures but these I shall examine in their place The other Hypothesis is that of the Ancients which Dr. Woodward asserts for the confirmation of which the Dr. has offer'd the following Experiments Common Spear-Mint was set in spring Water the Plant weighed when put in Iuly 20 th just 27 Grains when taken forth October 5 th 42 Gr. so that in the space of 79 Days it had gained in Weight 15 Gr. the whole Water expended during the 79 Days amounted to 2558 Gr. and consequently the Weight of the Water taken up was 170 8 â—5 as much as the Plant had got in Weight Common Spear-Mint was set in Rain-Water the Mint weighed when put in 28 Gr. ¼ when taken out Gr. 45 ¼ having gained in 79 Days Gr. ½ the Dispendium of the Water Gr. 3004 which was 171 23 35 as much as the Plant had received in Weight Common Spear-Mint was set in Thames Water the Plant when put in weighed Gr. 28 when taken forth Gr. 54 so that in 77 Days it had gained 26 Gr. the Water expended amounted to Gr. 2493 which was 92 21 26 times as much as the additional weight of the Mint Solanum or Night-shade was set in Spring-Water the Plant weighed when put in Gr. 49 when taken out 106 having gained in 77 Days 57 Gr. the Water expended during the said time was 3708 Gr. which was 65 3 7 times as much as the Augment of the Plant this Specimen had several Buds upon it when first set in the Water these in some Days became fair and Flowers which were at length succeeded by Berries Lathyris Sea-Cataputia Gerhardi was set in spring Water it weighed when put in Gr. 98 when taken forth Gr. 101 â—â—â— the additional Weight for this whole 77 Days being Gr. 3 〈…〉 the Quantity of Water spent upon it during the Time was Gr. 2501 which is 714 4 7 times as much as the Plant was augmented It is to be noted that the Orifices of these Glasses were covered with Parchment perforated with an Hole adapted to the Stem of the Plant. Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Conduit Water which weighed when put in 127 Gr. when taken forth 255 Gr. the whole Quantity of Water expended upon this Plant amounted to 14190 Gr. the Plant had run up two Foot in height and had shot one considerable collateral Branch to the Fibrillae of the Roots adhered a terrestial Matter Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Conduit Water in which was dissolved an Ounce and half of common Garden-Earth the Mint weighed when put in 76 Gr. when taken out 244 Gr. Water expended was Gr. 10731. Mint was set in Hyde-Parke Water with the same Quantity of Garden-mould as the former the Mint weighed when put in 92 Gr. when taken out 376 Gr. the Water expended was 14950 Gr. the Earth in both these Glasses was very sensibly and considerably wasted it left a green Substance here as above Mint was set in Hyde-Park Water distilled off in a great Still the Mint weighed when put in 114 Gr. when taken out 155 Gr. Water dispended was 8803 Gr. this Plant was pretty kindly had two small collateral Branches and several Roots with terrestrial Matter adhereing to them the Water was pretty thick had many and numerous terrestrial Particles swimming in it and some Sediment at the bottom of the Glass this Glass had none of the green Matter abovemention'd in it the residue of the Water remaining in the Still was very turbid high colour'd and reddish like ordinary Beer the Mint weighed when put into this Water 31 Gr. Water expended 4344 Gr. This Plant was very lively and had sent out six collateral Branches and several Roots I took Hyde-Park Conduit Water in which was dissolv'd a Dram of Nitre the Mint set in this suddenly began to wither and decay and died in a few days as likewise did two more Sprigs that were set in it successively In another Glass I dissolv'd an Ounce of Garden-mould and a Dram of Nitre and in a third half an Ounce of Wood-Ashes and a Dram of Nitre but the Plants in these succeeded no better than in the former In other Glasses were dissolv'd several sorts of Earths Clays Marles and variety of Manures Mint was set in distill'd Waters and other Experiments I made of several kinds in order to get Light and Information what hastned or retarded what promoted and impeded Vegetation but these do not belong to the Head that I am now upon In Hyde-Park Conduit Water I fix'd a glass Tube about 10 Inches long the Bore about one sixth of an Inch in diameter fill'd with very fine and white Sand which I kept from falling down out of the Tube into the Vial by tying a thin piece of Silk over that end of the Tube which was downwards upon the Immersion of the lower end of it the Water by little and little ascended to the upper Orifice of the Tube and yet in all the 56 Days it stood thus a very inconsiderable quantity of Water had gone off viz. scarce 20 Grains tho' the Sand continued moist to the very top to the last the Water imparted a green Tincture to the Sand quite to the top of the Tube and in the Vial it had precipitated a greenish Sediment mix'd with black to the bottom and sides of the Tube as far as it was immers'd in Water adher'd pretty much of the green Substance describ'd above From these Experiments the Dr. draws these Corollaries That Earth and not Water is the Matter that constitutes Vegetables that Improvements by Nitrons and Alcalizates are only by the saline Particles attenuating the earthly ones and preparing them to be carried up by the Water and dispos'd of into the substance of the Plant that Water serves only as a Vehicle to the terrestrial Matter which forms Vegetables and does not it self make any addition to them Now if I mistake not if we must make Earth a meer simple Body and that to be the Matter only that is converted into the substance of the Plant this Hypothesis will labour under more Difficulties than the former if according to the Doctor 's Notion the saline Particles contribute no farther than in preparing this Mould for we may undoubtedly assure our selves that the Manchinello in the West-Indies that irresistable and deceiving Poyson must needs consist of more Bodies than Earth alone otherwise how comes its Fruit to be so fatal that not only the Eating of it is present Death but the very eating of the Creatures that have fed upon it produces
the same Effect nay even the drops of Rain that fall from its Leaves are of so poysonous a Nature as to blister and inflame the Skin Here doubtless is more than a bare Contexture of Earth and without question the most corroding sulphureous and penetrating Particles we can have any Idea of Besides were Vegetation from Earth alone I cannot see how one Plant could be distinguish'd from another wherefore to me it seems rational to infer That the Body which the Dr. calls Earth consists of as many different Bodies as that which the Chymists call Water so that from either of these two Bodies simply consider'd as such it is equally absurd to derive Vegetation but these two Bodies do indisputably consist of variety of Corpuscles e. g. Saline Terrene Aerial and Bituminous and as the Vessels in Plants by their various Orifices and Contextures admit of different proportions of these so accordingly the Plant is differently modify'd and from their different digestions and proportions receives its Form Colour Substance and Virtues And by this Hypothesis we may account for Plants physical poysonous fragrant foetid and of other kinds hence Ialop and Scamony a sort of Spurge in the West-Indies by their resinous saline Particles become purgative and if taken in too large quantities poysonous the same may be affirm'd of Laureola Aloes Spurge Senna and Agaric It is manifest from the Dissection of those Creatures to which Night-shade Nux Vomica Calculus Indicus and Water-Hemlock are given that the Poysons of these consist in acrimonious saline Particles corroding and inflaming the Stomach of which the learned Wafer gives us various Instances others by exalted Sulphurs quit from saline Particles doubtless become Fragrant Aromatic and Cordial being by their size and figure which we presume to be Spherical the more readily adapted to assist the animal Spirits by their activity When these Sulphurs become pointed with Salts 't is most likely that the Plant becomes foetid and unpleasant as the stinking Garden Orach and Herb Robert I might likewise account for the Heat Blisterings and other qualities of Herbs but those being in part done before and not properly within the Verge of this Undertaking I shall not recapitulate but to the ingenious Sr. Iohn Floyer of Lichfield on that Head refer the Curious in whose Works they may find variety of Experiments on those Subjects I must confess that the Experiments which Dr. Woodward has made relating to Vegetation are exact as well as learned he having besides the dispendium of the Water in so many Days fully demonstrated the Plant to have gain'd a considerable Weight which he affirms to have been from Earth but then as I affirm'd before the question is what he calls Earth for if by that he means a pure simple Element viz. a Body consisting only of one size and figure then from what has been hinted before it is as absurd to deduce Vegetation from that as from Water I shall only beg leave to add an Experiment or two and so conclude I took the Seeds of Nymphaea or Water-Lilly when full ripe and put them in glass Vials in which they continued twelve Months I added fresh Water to them as the other evaporated the Seeds at the bottom of both Vials stood erect and emitted a pellucid Mucilage which stood in opposite Globules near the upper end of the Seed the Water deposited a great deal of green and earthy Matter but the Seed never vegetated or sprouted at all tho' this be a Water Plant. From this Experiment it is evident that besides Earth and Water barely consider'd as such other Bodies are necessary to the Vegetation of various Plants and probably to this a fat sulphureous Ouze in which it usually grows and has Roots of an immense Magnitude some I have seen as thick as the Thigh of a Man which were taken out of the Pond at Tabley in Cheshire when it was drein'd where the remaining Earth or Mud which was black and foetid was wholly over-spread with them This Instance I think may fairly serve to illustrate the Hypothesis that I have laid down concerning the Vegetation of Plants To these may be added those extraordinary Improvements made by Chandlers Ashes consisting of oily and saline Particles as likewise the Impost of Malpighius prepared with an Infusion of Sheep's Dung Pigeon's Dung and a small quantity of Nitre of which I saw an Instance the last Year at Edgecroft in Lancashire by which from a fourth part of Seed in the most barren part of the Field I saw a very luxuriant Crop It might do well for our Gentry who inhabit their Country Seats and Husbandmen thorowly to consider this since the right application of it to a proper Soil may be of so great Advantage and who knows what this even in the most cold and barren Ground may effect which hitherto for the greatest part hath lain useless but besides what is here offer'd their Interest may be a more inciting Argument to induce them to Tryals of this Nature But can there be had a more ample Demonstration of this Hypothesis than even from Water and Earth themselves How common is it to observe Earth by being long pent up to emit sulphureous Effluvia Hence we have foetid Smells by opening of Ditches and Sluces and hence probably it is that in Consumptive cases from plowed Grounds that have for a considerable time been Pasture many persons have received Benefit which must assuredly proceed from sulphureous benign Particles loosen'd from their Cells and convey'd to the Mass of Blood which by their activity obtund the saline Particles that make the Coagulum and in short prevent the putrifaction which brings on a Phthisis or Consumption And as to Water nothing is more common than it to grow nauseously foetid by long keeping which Phaenomenon sufficiently evinces the Existence of sulphureous Particles in that Element besides some sulphureous Waters in four Days by being close stopt become extremely foetid as St. Ann's at Buxton in Derbyshire which expos'd to open Air alters not at all nor has the least ungrateful smell The reason is because those sulphureous Effluvia which have spent themselves in a free Air are now forc'd by their confinement to unite with saline Particles and thence by their Points grate upon the Organ and are foetid and offensive It is likewise to be observ'd that if these sulphureous Particles are pent up in any Aquaeduct that then by their Collision upon one another they become excessive hot hence it is that the hot Baths at Aix la Chappel in the Bishop of Leige's Country are caused by retarding the hot Spring with a Stoppel and in a little time after by giving it Vent the Waters are render'd very hot and even too intense to be endur'd This Instance farther confirms our Hypothesis concerning the Heat in Baths and by this Phaenomenon it is evident that if the same Essay was put in practice at Buxton the Bath there might be brought to any
this Account by the Description which he gives us of a Spout in his first Volume pag. 451. he says It is a small ragged piece or part of a Cloud hanging down about a Yard seemingly from the blackest part thereof commonly it hangs down sloping from thence or sometimes appearing with a small bending or elbow in the middle I never saw any hang perpendicularly down It is small at the lower end seeming no bigger than ones Arm but it is fuller towards the Cloud from whence it proceeds When the surface of the Water begins to work you shall see the Sea for about 100 Paces in circumference foam and move gently round till the whirling Motion encreases and then it flies upward in a Pillar about 100 Paces in compass at the bottom but lessening gradually upwards to the smallness of the Spout it self there where it reacheth the lower end of the Spout thro' which the rising Sea-Water seems to be convey'd into the Clouds this visibly appears by the Clouds encreasing in bulk and blackness then you shall presently see the Cloud drive along altho' before it seem'd to be without any Motion the Spout also keeping the same course with the Cloud and still sucking up Water as it goes along and they make a Wind as they go thus it continues for the space of half an Hour more or less until the sucking is spent and then breaking off all the Water which was below the Spout or pendulous piece of Cloud falls down again into the Sea making a great noise with its fall and clashing Motion in the Sea Pag. 452. he adds farther ' One Capt. Records of London bound for the Coasts of Guinea in a Ship of 300 Tuns and 16 Guns call'd the Blessing when he came into the Latitude of 7 or 8 Degrees North he saw several Spouts one of which came directly towards the Ship and he having no Wind to get out of the way of the Spout made ready to receive it by furling his Sails it came on very swift and broke a little before it reach'd the Ship making a great noise and raising the Sea round it as if a great House or some such thing had been cast into the Sea The fury of the Wind still lasted and took the Ship on the Starboard-Bow with such violence that it snapt off the Boltsprit and Fore-Mast both at once and blew the Ship all along ready to over-set it but the Ship did presently right again and the Wind whirling round took the Ship a second time with the like fury as before but on the contrary side and was again like to over-set her the other way the Mizen-Mast felt the fury of the second Blast and was snapt short off as the Fore-Mast and Boltsprit had been before it came on very swift making a great noise and raising the Sea round it as if a great House or some such thing had been cast into the Sea From these Instances it is undeniably evident that a Spout is rather a Cloud than a Pillar of Water rising in a pyramidal form out of the Sea as some affirm in their Voyages upon the Coasts of Africa or such a Column of Water occasion'd by a Commotion in the subterraneous Abyss as Dr Woodward in his Philosophical Essay alledges To these I will only add an Instance or two more which might easily slip an undiscerning Eye and tho' the Observation to some may seem trivial yet I doubt not but the Matter when rightly consider'd carries weight along with it and may justly challenge our Enquiry I have in some Parts several Leagues from the Ocean two Yards within Marle seen Stones of a considerable magnitude most exactly divided yet adapted to that height of Symmetry and nice proportion of Parts when join'd that no Tallies nor the most curiously divided Bodies could more exactly close their Fissures and in an horizontal Line betwixt these 8 or 10 Yards of Marle interposing Considering therefore that those Stones in all probability were originally but one the distance betwixt them and their depth in the Marle it must surely be most consonant to Reason to conclude that they were only split not dissolved in that unaccountable hurry at the Deluge and embalm'd there to perpetuate its Veracity betwixt these are often to be found marine Shells which sufficiently evidences this Hypothesis Nor have we those Disports only of Shells and fossile Plants in Bodies that are impregnated with Spar Alabaster Bitumen and the Pyrites but likewise other Phaenomena of the like Nature particularly at the Kennel-Pits at Haigh in Lancashire in several Slates of which I have seen long parallel Cylinders join'd together and running in direct Lines imprinted in solid Stone twice the length of a Man's Finger and the breadth or more of his Hand an evident Demonstration that this firm Substance must originally be a Fluid which allowed it will be no difficulty to account for the various representations of Shells and Vegetables These were first communicated to me by that honoured and learned Lady the Lady Guise Mother to the present Lady Bradshaw of Haigh But farther to demonstrate that Solids were originally Fluids a more convincing Instance cannot be produc'd than in the Stone call'd Buphthalmos or Ox-Eye so stiled from the analogy it bears to that Organ In this there is a Pebble of a sable Colour included in an Alabaster Spar and the Spar so strictly adheres to the surface of the Pebble without the least unevenness and composes so exactly a Convex figure like that of an Eye that it is impossible they should come into that shape but as the Chymists term it In statu fluoris These are found on the Sea-Coasts in Lancashire and Wirehal in Cheshire CHAP. VII Of Fishes THE Curious here have a large Field of Philosophy to range in since both the Seas and Rivers in these Counties present us almost with an infinite variety of these Creatures I shall not expatiate upon each particular Species of Fishes but only take notice of the most remarkable which have occur'd to my Observation in the Seas Rivers Ponds and Meers The Seas frequently afford us Seales or Sea-Calfs and those of different Magnitudes they are often thrown up in Salt-Rivers form'd by the Tides some I have seen eight some twelve Foot long but these are most common in the Baltic Ocean where the Russes take them in great quantities the Method is very remarkable They generally go out in great Numbers to hunt them sometimes they find three or four Thousand together basking themselves upon the Ice these then they surround which when the Sea-Calfs discern they pile themselves upon an heap as it is probable by that means to break the Ice and quit themselves from the Enemy which they sometimes do and frequently so bend the Ice that they are oblig'd to wade to a considerable depth to attack them so remarkable is the Principle of Self-preservation in all Creatures whatever Their Food is upon Fish but I found by one
such a Bed The Oyster and Lobster are very common and likewise the Shrimp and Prawn the Prawn is a Fish not much unlike the Shrimp but much larger and far better Meat and in my thoughts the most pleasing of any Shell-Fish whatever it generates in Eggs and of these it deposites an infinite number which by a clammy Matter it fastens to the Rocks and piles them one upon another till they look like a Pyramid inverted and hang like Icicles on the Verge of a Penthouse We have the best and largest Cockles in England here and Muscles in that number that upon the Sea-Coasts they manure their Ground with them The Pearl-Muscles are very common Which leads me to give an account of the Germination of Pearls The Formation of the Shells of Muscles I have observ'd from the bigness of a Pins head to 2 Inches in length and find in their first Formation that the Shells are pellucid but afterwards as the Lamellae are constantly formed they become opaque their substance at first seems to me to be a Gluten thrown off from the Fish and indurated by the Air as the Fish grows in bigness it still emits a greater quantity of this and so the Shell continually encreases till it arrives to its full hardness and maturity In these Shells and likewise in Oyster-shells I have frequently found Pearls some just appearing thro' the innermost Lamellae others half thro' some hanging like Fruit upon a Pedestall others dropt from the Mother of Pearl and sticking on the out-side of the Fish whence it is plain that Pearls are not form'd by Dews as some have observ'd nor within the Fish as others but in the Shell it self I find the Pearls as well as the Shells to consist of various Laminae wrapt one within another and betwixt the Mater Perlarum and the Pearl I could never observe any extraordinary difference only I think the Pearl makes a greater fermentation with an Acid whence it is most probable that the most Volatile part of the Mater Perlarum protrudes it self from the rest of the Laminae and so constantly presses forwards till it forces its passage into the Shell it self and so forms the Pearl They are generally of a Sphaerical figure made so I conjecture by the figure of the Shell these Pearls are of great use in Physic and did the People industriously apply themselves to the getting of them considerable quantities might be acquired at a less Price than Crabs Eyes which they infinitely surpass tho' they were genuine but for the most part they are adulterated and instead of Crabs Eyes we have meerly a Composition of Chalk and Mucilage or perhaps Tobacco-pipe Clay to the infinite prejudice of the Patient From what has been observ'd in the Germination of Pearls it is evident that what Christophorus Sandius from Hamburgh transmitted to the Royal Society at London must necessarily be a Mistake which that the Reader may more easily apprehend I shall transcribe the Account he gave to that learn'd Body and leave it to any unprejudic'd Person to judge of his Error since any of the most Curious may any day in the Year in the River Wire near Hambleton in Lancashire have a full Demonstration to the contrary The first Letter runs thus being translated by the Publisher of the Philosophical Transactions March 25. A. D. 1674. Touching the Origin of Pearls of which I formerly gave an Intimation be pleas'd to receive the following Account The Pearl-shells in Norway and elsewhere do breed in sweet Waters Their Shells are like to those which commonly are call'd Muscles but they are larger the Fish in them looks like an Oyster and it produces a great cluster of Eggs like those of Cra-Fishes some white some black which latter will yet become white the outer black Coat being taken off these Eggs when ripe are cast out and being cast out they grow and become like those that cast them but sometimes it happens that one or two of these Eggs stick fast to the sides of the Matrix and are not voided with the rest these are fed by the Oyster against its Will and they do grow according to the length of Time into Pearls of different bignesses and imprint a Mark both in the Shell and Fish by the situation conform to its figure Upon which I cannot but remark in the following manner and indeed in doing that can scarce confine my self within the Rules of Decency there being not one true Line in the whole Letter For in the first place they do not always breed in fresh but likewise in salt Waters as is evident in the River Wire where the Water is continually salt and when the Tide flows little less brackish than the Sea it self in the second place the Shell is not only like that of a Muscle but the Fish also is a real Muscle and not an Oyster in the third place in those Fishes never any Eggs are discern'd consequently it is not possible that the Pearl should be the Egg of the Fish but on the contrary it is demonstrable by the Instances above-recited that the Pearls are various Protrusions from the Laminae of the Shell and those I have observ'd as well in the black as in the chrystalline Laminae having frequently seen black Pearls as well as the chrystalline ones which are so many Envelopments of the Mother of Pearls Fourthly by what is alledg'd it is evident that these are not fed by the Oyster against its Will and that they do not any farther imprint a Mark into the Shell than by dropping out of it but indeed after that they do commonly leave a Bruise there by which you may easily discern how many Pearls have vegetated from each particular Shell A Phaenomenon not much unlike this I once observ'd at Oxford in a Water-Rat that was pregnant upon a Dissection of her for by opening the Ovaria we found as many Knots in those as there were young ones in the Uterus His second Letter was dated the 27. of February 1674. and is as follows As to the Authority I have to assert such an Origin of Pearls as I have done in my former I here declare that a certain Dane call'd Henricus Arnoldi an ingenious and veracious Person having by his own Experience found it so at Christiania in Norway did in that manner relate it to me as I imparted it to you he having with great seriousness assur'd me of the truth thereof besides the thing seems highly probable neither do any considerable Objections appear against it if I should chance to go into those Parts or at least into the Country of the Duke of Brunswick where also Pearls are found not inferior to the Oriental ones of the same size I should not fail to endeavour to make the Observation my self From what has been before observ'd it is plain his Hypothesis is not probable and that there are unanswerable Objections against it so that his very All centring only in a Relation
Years subsisted only on Roots and Fish and never went to Bed but is now dead What farther may be said in relation to the Char was communicated to me by my honour'd Friend and Relation Sr. Daniel Flemming of Rydall in the County of Westmoreland Winder-Meer says he according to the English Saxon is Windal-Meer which some think to be so denominated from the great Winds frequent there others from its winding and turning in and out and others from a Person 's Name as well as that of Thurston-Meer now call'd coningston-Coningston-Water in Lancashire and that of Ulfes now stiled uls-Uls-Water in Cumberland which are both near thereunto which makes the last Conjecture the most probable This Lough Lake or Meer is about a Mile in breadth and ten Miles in length with great variety of crooked Banks which afford an agreeable Prospect it is in several places of a great Depth and produces many kinds of Fish as the Char Salmon Pike Bass Pearch Eeles c. This Lake by some is plac'd in Lancashire but by others in Westmoreland which is the more likely since the Fishery thereof belongs to the Barony of Kendall a Town of great Trade particularly for Cottons and the most noted in that County This Meer is the largest in England and looks as if it was pav'd or flagg'd at the bottom with square Stones a sight diverting enough in Fishing Our learned Clarenceux was impos'd upon when he was inform'd that the Char was a Fish peculiar to Winder-Meer since in Coningston-Meer within five Miles a Char much fairer and more serviceable is caught The Char is a sort of Fish about a quarter long somewhat like a Trout and generally red belly'd there are three sorts the Male which is large with a red Belly but the Flesh thereof somewhat white having a soft Roe and is call'd the Milting-Char the Female Char is large but not so red-belly'd the Flesh is very red within being full of hard Roes or Spawn which our Philosophers in their Discoveries sufficiently demonstrate to be the Ova or Eggs of the Fish which are fecundated by a Milk injected on them by the Male and perfected by the kind influence of the Sun the Ova thus impregnated are buried by the Female in Slutch or Sand near the adjacent Banks and so receive Invigoration these are commonly call'd the Roving Charrs the third sort having no Roe is commonly call'd the Gelt Char. These Charrs differ from the Welsh Torgough a Fish taken in Carnarvan-shire and the Switzerland Rentel these being probably the same with the Case a sort of Fish something like the Char but spawning at a different time and caught in the River Brathy that runs into Winder-Meer The Char is not to be caught by Angling or any other Method but by Nets they keep generally in the deepest parts of the Water and are most commonly caught in the coldest Weather when the Banks are cover'd with Snow the Char never swims out of the Meer but the Case is taken in divers Rivers The River Erke is remarkable for Eeles which I think I may affirm to be the fattest in England and indeed to that degree of fatness that they almost nauseate and this a late Author a Gentleman of a considerable Estate near Manchester chiefly attributes to the Fat Grease and Oyls which by the Woke-Mills are expressed from the Woolen Cloaths and so mixed with the Water And indeed considering the number of these Mills standing upon that River and the extraordinary fatness of the Eeles I do not think the Conjecture amiss It may now be worth our time to make Enquiry into the manner of the Generation of this kind of Fish I could not in these by any Dissection I ever made observe the distinction of Male and Female which has given occasion to some to conjecture they came from the middle Region since Ponds and Pits are found frequently full of them in w ch none had ever been deposited and therefore 't is concluded that their Ova being so small as not to be discern'd by ocular Inspection they might be exhal'd with the Waters and consequently fall down with the Rains and when these happen'd to fall into Rivers and Ponds they by the influence of the Sun begin and compleat their Generation But whence arose those Ova to be thus exhal'd they must needs claim some Origin or Formation before they ascended to the middle Region there is no doubt but the Rains are oftentimes saturated with Ova of divers Species as may be seen by Putrifaction of the Water in which an infinite number of small Worms are discern'd these indeed may be small Ova wafted up by the Winds and descending with the Rains It is affirm'd in Russia and Lithuania after excessive Showers that the Ground is almost cover'd with Creatures not unlike Mice which often produce by their corrupting pestilential Fevers which in some occasion'd the like Conjecture yet this Phaenomenon may admit of another solution for why may not those Creatures be there generated and after the fall of those Rains desert their Cells or Latebrae to bask upon the surface of the Ground as we daily see here in Frogs and Worms and other Reptiles However it is the Ponds that were never stored may be supply'd other ways for it is usual for Eeles to quit the Pits and creep into the Grass and Ditches and this I have often observ'd having found Eeles in the midst of Fields remote from any Pit by which means other Ponds may be replenish'd with this kind of Fish for my part I shall not determine the Point but these being industrious Ages by the assistance of Microscopes which are daily improv'd others may give us farther satisfaction in this Matter But I cannot here omit that remarkable Experiment of the most ingenious Lewenhooke who in this Creature was the first that gave us an ocular Demonstration of the Circulation of the Blood and beyond contradiction has made it manifest that the Vein and Artery are one continued Canal shewing a Pulsation in one part of the Vessel and none in the other but that the Blood slowly creeping on the Arteries at their Extremities form a kind of Semicircle so that the strait Line being terminated the Systole of the Heart at so great a distance is not able to affect a Curve for we must imagin the Pulse to be extreamly weak at the Extremities of the Arteries for when a Vessel deviates from the direct Line of the Power it thence ceases to be affected with it and hence it is that the Veins tho' they are continued Vessels with the Arteries have no Pulsation at all What is said of this Fish generating with Vipers is trifling and ridiculous for whoever examins the Parts of these two Creatures subservient to Generation will find it wholly impossible the Male Viper containing a Penis and the Female Ova and Ovaria but in Eeles neither are discernible The next remarkable Experiment in this Fish is the long continued Systole
entire without the least Perforation Now I say considering the minuteness of the Vessels that convey nourishment to the Kernels of the Apple which are much smaller sure than those that bring Milk to the Breasts in human Bodies by the same parity of Reason we may affirm that the Ova are introduc'd into the Body of the Infant by the Chyle W ch it receives from the Breasts But perhaps it may be objected if the various substances of Creatures are included in Minimis in their distinct Seeds what necessity is there for these Ova To this I reply Tho' Malpighius and Lewenhoeck have discover'd Animalcules in the Seeds of divers Animals and in a late Transaction in human Seed there are delineated different growths of them that altho' I should grant this yet I affirm that these Animalcules could never arrive to Perfection until they are deposited in their proper Ova and there they receive their Nutriment and this is not only evident in Insects but even in Fishes Birds Quadrupedes c. and Mankind it self As to Frogs they generate in Eggs the first formation of the Foetus is in a black Speck adhering to the Ovum after they are enliven'd they have long small Tails and are then call'd Bull-heads in a little time this shapeless Covering is thrown off and their perfect shapes are disclos'd they have a peculiar Membrana Nictitans with which they cover the whole Eye which preserves them from the points of Reeds Rushes and Prickles which otherwise might injure them they will lie with their Lungs expanded a long time squeezing out the Air by degrees and so it is they continue under Water so long at a certain time of the Year they have a Membrane which closes their Mouths it is wonderful how long a time they sleep in the Water without any Food their Mouths being still clos'd by this Membrane but Iacobaeus a Danish Physician assures us that they have two peculiar Vessels which carry nothing but Fat which he imagins nourishes them in that Interval but this being spent the Blood grows sharp and then by its Irritation they immediately awake In Consumptive Cases the young ones are frequently made use of in France and as I have been often told by the Inhabitants of that Country with great Success I do judge that for the same reason that Snails are prescrib'd in those Cases these may be also both of 'em consisting of a viscid Mucilage which probably may sheath the acid Salts of the Blood which in the first place coagulated the Serum converting the Lympha into a Size as may be frequently seen upon the surface of the Blood taken from Consumptive Persons and so having reduc'd it to that cross Consistence it is very probable that it may raise Obstructions in the Lungs whence ensue Nodes Tubercles and at last Imposthumations many of the small Bladders of the Lungs being distended beyond their natural tone and at last breaking one into another There is a Water distill'd from the Spawn of these frequently and with success likewise us'd in Spitting of Blood for which in some measure the same Cause may be assign'd as in the former Case But I have often wondred why Plaisters of these are so frequently prescrib'd in most of the scrophulous Cases not only in our own Dispensatories but in forreign likewise but it may be that in the Mucilage of these there may be invelop'd volatile alcalious Salts that may destroy those Acids in the Blood which so incrustate the Serum that it obstructs the Glands and so makes 'em scrophulous This I rather surmise because I know by repeated Instances that from the Mucilage of several Plants whose Virtues have been always suppos'd to consist in that because 't is easily prepared from them a Volatile alkalious Salt may be separated and if it be so in a Vegetable why not in an Animal likewise There only remains one Observation more relating to this Creature upon which I shall descant a little and then not trouble the Reader further and that is to shew what that Substance is which is vulgarly call'd Starr-Slime whether the Frogs spawn as some imagin or a Meteor that falls from the Air as others alledge or lastly a Body that arises out of the Earth And these I shall examine in their several order That it is not the Spawn of a Frog is evident from the subsequent Argument because it is frequently found in those seasons of the Year in which the Frogs do not spawn as in Winter nor does it seem probable that it should be a Meteor because I do think that no Man can Experimentally aver that he ever saw such a Substance fall from the Air upon the surface of the Earth which doubtless in some Generation would have happen'd had the Production of it been in that manner it remains therefore in the last place that we conclude it to be a Mucilage arising out of the Earth which is usually in low moist Grounds and what is said in relation to this may in a great measure be apply'd to that Substance vulgarly call'd Faries Butter both of which as I suppose may in small portions be rais'd by a subterraneous Heat but successively condensed into that Body in which we find 'em by the intense coldness of the ambient Air. Having finish'd my Observations in reference to Frogs I shall in the next place proceed to what I propos'd and that is to make some Remarks upon the Toad As this Creature like the Viper contains one of the greatest Poysons in the Universe so like that also it supplies us with the richest Cordial I have in the late pestilential Fever seen repeated Instances which demonstrate the truth of these In a low vermiculating Pulfe so call'd from the analogy it bears to the creeping of a Worm a melancholly Hieroglyphic to shew a Man by what Reptile he is just a hurrying to be devour'd by giving plentiful Doses of a Powder prepar'd from these many have been snatch'd from the very brinks of Eternity Nor has it less frequently in more lingring and tedious Distempers afforded us an easy and a large Reprieve I having by the repeated taking of this Medicine in Hydropic Cases seen the Lives of many for several Years protracted so that as in the former Case it saves us from perishing by the scorching heat of a Fever so it does in the latter likewise keep us from sinking in the Waters of a Dropsy The Tast of it if rightly prepar'd is a little Acid which I take to be the Effect of a volatile alcalious Salt and it is I presume in these Cases by attenuating the viscid Serum of the Blood that it produces these wonderful Effects I have been lately inform'd by Persons of great Learning as well as Integrity that in the Fever before recited large Doses of Laudanum have effected the same thing a Practice modern to what has been formerly laid down but the reason of the giving of this in so large
quantities was grounded in a great measure upon Experiments try'd with a solution of Laudanum by injecting it into the Mass of Blood which was always found to make it fluid and if so to me the Method seems rational Some Years ago I laid down some Arguments in the Exercitations I printed at Oxford accounting for the Cause and Cure of that Distemper from which it is evident beyond contradiction that the Mass of Blood in that Distemper is coagulated and this may fully hint to us what I shall afterwards make out viz. that Opium by its acrid Salt making the Mass of Blood too fluid becomes poysonous or else because the Points of this too much contract the Fibrillae of the Brain and so obstruct the separation of the animal Spirits it is not to be imagin'd that by crass faeculent Particles it should effect these Matters since it is abundantly known to be a most noted Diaphoretick and consequently a Medicine whose Ingredients are volatile and 't is therefore I doubt not that in the confluent Pock it is of that extraordinary use viz. by attenuating the Serum of the Blood which was almost converted to a putrid Pus Much more might be added in relation to this but I hasten to some other Observations and so shall close this Chapter and those are chiefly concerning Butter-flies Bees Hornets and the Heminens or the American or Humming Bird. The Butter-flies by the ingenious and industrious Mr. Iames Pettifer of London as to the Descriptions of them are rang'd into that accurate Order that it would be but superfluous to add any thing in relation to that Matter wherefore since the Preparation from 'em yield us not any thing material and their Generation having been fully accounted for by others I shall pass 'em over as likewise the Bees their Government Generation Stings and Honey having been before accounted for by so many various and learned Hands however I shall make some few Remarks by what a wonderful but natural Chymistry they elaborate their Honey and how tho' seemingly dead they revive and lastly the difference betwixt them and the Heminens So wonderful is the structure of the Organs of these Insects and so differently modify'd that the various Juices which they suck and extract from Plants that the greatest Bitter they convert into one of the sweetest Extracts and the rankest of Poysons into one of the most balsamic Medicines with what little reason therefore do some so vehemently inveigh against our Chymical Preparations as not safe or agreeable to human Constitutions since we see one of the meanest of Insects does so fully evince the contrary Can I see that Creature imbibing the Juice of the most poysonous Vegetable and converting it to a safe and a palatable Medicine and not allow to Man that he shall with all his exalted Reason be able so far to correct the Poyson of a Metal or Mineral that it shall become a safe Medicine Surely he that of human Kind has these Apprehensions either wants a publick Genius to exert its Faculties for the good of Mankind in general or that he has a mind to rest satisfied in the ignorant Traditions of his Ancestors and at last be entomb'd in Cimmerian Darkness I shall now in the next place assign some Reasons how after being seemingly drown'd in Water or suffocated by the steams of Brimstone they will revive It is certain that Air is not convey'd into the Bodies of these Insects either by the Mouth or any Nostrils they not being supply'd with Lungs but has its admission thro' the Pores of the Body if these therefore either be impleted with Water or their Orifices pursed up by the Restringency of an Acid as in that of Sulphur it is then that the Bee lies as if dead the animal Spirits in her wonderful Vessels being depriv'd of a fresh supply from the Air but as soon as the humid Particles are either scatter'd by the heat of the ambient Air or that the Orifices of their constringed Pores recover their natural tone it is then if the Spirits expand themselves again that this Insect seems as it were re-animated The Heminens or Humming Bird tho' it seems to ply about a Flower after the same manner as the Bee and has a Proboscis like that of a Bee and is much about the size of the largest of that fort yet this Creature never produces Honey and the reason I take to be this because that Bird has Viscera and Bowels like other Birds which the Bee has not and therefore the Digestions being different so must the Effect be likewise The Sting of the Hornet and Bee are fully accounted for by others wherefore I shall close this Chapter CHAP. IX Of Birds THESE Counties afford us great variety of Birds and in some places even clog the Inhabitants with their Plenty Amongst the rest the Barnacle being very common and the manner of its Generation having been a Matter of Controversy I shall recite my Observations upon it and endeavour to reconcile that Point It is observable of our Ships which Trade to the West-Indies that upon their return home an infinite number of small Shell-fishes often adhere to them at the first view not much unlike young Geese these for several Ages have pass'd for Barnacles not only amongst the Vulgar but Men of Learning likewise wherefore to set things in their true Light I shall in the first place give the Anatomy of this Shell-fish resembling the Barnacle and afterwards that of the real Bird and then lay down some Reasons to shew the Impossibility of their being bred after the manner formerly receiv'd This Shell sticks to the outward Planks of Ships by a glutinous Matter it resembles the Head of a Goose to which there is a Neck annex'd yet this Neck is not conserted to the Body but terminates immediately within the Shell whence it is impossible that this should be the Barnacle in Embryo Within the Shells are Claws with Hairs like those of Lobsters wound within one another in spiral Lines and are not very unlike the Wings of a Goose but these I found to be perfect Shells and not Quills or Feathers whence it is plain that they could not appertain to the Barnacle that being of the Feather'd Kind These Shell-fishes are observable upon several Sea-weeds in the Gulph of Florida and are there chiefly pick'd up by our Shipping I never yet could meet with any Seaman who could affirm that he had seen any fall from Ships and swim which must have necessarily happen'd had they been converted into Barnacles besides in the Anatomy of Barnacles I found them as other Geese Male and Female the one having a Penis the other Ovaria whence it is evident that their way of breeding is no wise different from that of other Birds what therefore has been asserted by Speed and others concerning this Bird is only a vulgar Error and they only wanted a thorow Enquiry to give them satisfaction in this Matter The Sea-Crow is a
the Sea-Coasts and are very good Meat The Water-Hen is common in Ponds and Meers but not much regarded because esteem'd unpleasant Food The Rale is a Bird about the bigness of a Partridge and is common in these Parts it hides it self in the Grass and is discover'd by the snarling Noise that it continually makes it is very excellent Food and doubtless of extraordinary Nutriment The Quails are likewise common and generally extraordinary Fat and eat delicately The Rasor-Bill is sometimes observ'd upon the Sea-Coasts so call'd from the similitude which its Beak bears to a Rasor but this Bird is more common in the Isle of Man than here The last Winter at a Place call'd Durton near Preston in Lancashire I had a diverting Relation of a small Bird in shape resembling and about the bigness of a Water-wagtail which was as follows A Troop of Dragoons having been Quarter'd in that Town some of the Soldiers were constantly commanded to attend the Horses it was in the Summer-time and they generally lay and repos'd themselves upon the Grass The Bird wou'd frequently fly towards them and make its approaches to their Bodies and at length reach'd their Faces and offer'd to their Mouths what it had convey'd out of the Grass and then would return and come and offer its Food as before but what is most remarkable is that the Bird wou'd not approach any Person but those in a Soldier 's Habit which was Red This was confirm'd to me by several of the Soldiers whom the Bird had attack'd in this manner and likewise by a great Number of Persons of undoubted Credit who were Eye-witnesses of the Fact so that the truth is not to be question'd From this Passage many Conjectures arose but that not being a Matter relating to Natural History I shall not trouble the Reader with them whoever pleases may make their Presages from this as the Romans did of old from the Pecking of Chickens However 't is probable that the Redness of the Habit might be to this Bird as a Cloth of that Colour is a Lure to an Hawk and here all their surprizing Interpretations may center Sea-Gulls are of Two sorts the Great and the Less the Great Gull is near as large as a Goose the Lesser about the bulk of a Partridge they both live upon small Fish which they frequently take up in the Shallows and it is a very diverting sight to see them mount and hover in the Air spying out their Prey which discover'd they strike instantly into the Water take it up in their Pounces convey it to Shore and there feed upon it these Birds frequently pursue one another in their flights and if in pursuit one Gull happens to Mute the Excrement is frequently caught by the other and swallow'd it is my opinion That oftentimes the Apous a Fish not wholly digested may be ejected which is the allurement of the Pursuer so eagerly to devour their Foeces There are vast Quantities of these in the Isle of Walney particularly in the Breeding-time the whole Island is near cover'd with Eggs or Young-ones so that it is scarce passable without injuring them their Tast is very strong and ungrateful and therefore not much regarded The Sea-Pyes are very common they are Birds of the Colour and about the size of a Magpye and are a very agreeable Food The Red-shanks and Perrs are common likewise upon the Sea-Coasts and are relishing Food Wild-Ducks Geese and Teal are very plentiful but the most remarkable thing of the Wild-Ducks is their way of feeding them at Bold in Lancashire Great quantities of these Birds breed in the Summer-season in Pits and Ponds within the Demesne which probably may entice them to make their Visits in the Winter they oftentimes adventure to come into the Moat near the Hall which a Person accustomed to feed them perceiving he beats with a Stone on a hollow Wood Vessel the Ducks answer to the sound and come quite round him upon an Hill adjoyning to the Water he scatters Corn amongst them which they take with as much Quietness and Familiarity as Tame ones when fed they take their flight to the Rivers Meers and Salt-Marshes Swans are common in these Parts but more particularly upon the Sea-Coasts and upon Martin-Meer near Poulton in Lancashire The Cygnet is very good Food but the old Ones not tolerable Sometimes there are Birds not common in these Parts brought hither by Storms as was hinted before particularly about Two Years ago by a violent Hail Storm amongst the rest there was a Bird all White except only a short Red Beak about the bigness of a Pigeon and by what I observ'd of it I cou'd apprehend it to be no other than what our Travellers call the Tropick-Bird met with usually in crossing that Line The Kings-Fisher and Heyhough are likewise common enough as are the Fieldfeir and Woodcock which visit us in Winter-time and then return Northwards they are said to breed in colder Climes as in the High-lands in Scotland Norway Russia and Sweden and such like Parts It is probable therefore when those Countries are bury'd in Snow and the Brooks and Rivers frozen up that they take their flights hither The Cuckow and Swallow leave us in Winter the Opinions of some are that they sleep during that Season and they ground their Conjectures upon finding many of them in hollow Trees and subterraneous Vaults but why these may not as well pursue the Heat as the other is the Query I have not dissected any of them taken from their profound Dormitories so I pretend not to decide that Controversy ERRATA in the First BOOK IN the 2d Epistle Dedicatory l. 2. for Respest r. Respect In the Preface l. 3. for Coals r. Boles Pag. 2. l. 9. for Cerialis r. Cerealis p. 3. l. 17. for Britany r. Britain and so where-ever you meet with it p. 5. last l. after Brigantines r. of Rovers c. p. 8. l. 26. for wise r. ways ibid. l. 30 before shall r. it p. 10. l. 8. after Mountains a Comma instead of a Colon. p. 13. l. 11. for after r. by ibid. l. 33. for Yorkshire r. York p. 18. l. 9. for nor r. not p. 19. l. 5. for nor r. neither ibid. l. 6. for neither r. nor p. 20. l. 6. dele for and r. the building of p. 23. l. 35. for easy r. easie p. 24. l. 17. after Lightness r. or Coldness c. p. 32. l. 32. after considering r. of which p. 33. l. 35. for Comsumptions r. Consumptions p. 36. l. 6. after vulgarly insert called ibid. l. 20. dele that ibid. l. 21. dele they p. 40. l. 6. after tedious insert that p. 41. l. 23. for wise r. ways p. 43. l. 5. for wise r. ways p. 44. l. 1. dele that p. 45. l. 3. for Furnace r. furness p. 50. l. ult for stiriae r. striae p. 51. l. 16. after thence insert it ibid. p. and l. after follow insert to be p. 52. l. 2. for
called the Chairs formed after the same Manner M. Is the Place call'd the Needle 's Eye which is a small Hole that goes quite through the Rock so that from thence a Person standing with a Light to the Person that stands at the Bottom near the Water the Light seems to resemble a Star The Current through the Cavity is in a great measure made by the Dropping of the Water and likewise the Fret-Work that resembles a Choir An Explication of the Cutts contain'd in the Seventh Plate mark'd Tab. VII relating to the Devils Arse near Castleton in Derbyshire c. THE First Figure on the Right-hand is a Piece of the Nautilus found in Lancashire in this the Disports of Nature are wonderful as may be observ'd by the various Figures included in the Shell and the curious Lines upon its Superficies The Second Figure is the Cheshire Woman who had Horns an Account is given of her in the Plate so that a further Relation needs not to be inserted here The lower Part of the Plate is that wonderful Arch commonly call'd the Devil's Arse near Castleton in Derbyshire the Area where the Persons and the Houses are where a great many of the poor Inhabitants live is within the Arch and reaches to the first Water which runs cross it as you may observe by the shadowed Figure stretching in that Line The Second shadowed Figure is the Second River and then the Rock opens again as may be observ'd in the Figure The Third shadowed Figure is the Third and Last Water where the Rock and the Water closes and then you cannot pass further TAB VII The next Thing to be enquired into is whence in this prodigious Cavity these Subterraneous Rivers have their Origin It is observable in several of the Mountains in Derbyshire that at the Bottoms of the Mountains there are several Cavities which the Inhabitants call Swallows into these run several Rivulets of Water but where the Water has its Exit is not known It is therefore my Opinion that in large Subterraneous Cavities as in that at Castleton several of those Rivulets convening it is from them these Subterraneous Rivers are formed and am apt to think that those Springs which issue out of the Mountains in such rapid Currents as some near Castleton do are from them also From all these the wonderful Disports of Nature are not only discernable as is fully demonstrated in Minerals Metals and Plants but in Animals also Why therefore some Persons should spin out such elaborate Hypotheses to amuse Mankind when these Phaenomena's may otherwise be familiarly enough solved I cannot apprehend But those Heads having been fully enough discuss'd before I shall not therefore recapitulate but shall desire each Person to make his Observations accurately and weigh the Whole together and could heartily wish some Persons of no mean Character would not violently espouse Hypotheses which are not warrantable and not fly into violent Passions when they are not opposed in any thing but what is not consonant to Experiments and Natural Observations How these Gentlemen may resent these I am in no wise uneasie and whatever their Opinions may be of themselves is not my Business to enquire into but when from Persons of Learning in Answer to the Experiments I fully try'd I receiv'd no Answer but Opprobrious Calumnies and Supercilious Arrogance let those Gentlemen be assured that I am ready to justifie what I have recited and when ever they think convenient to make and Reply either to them or these if any thing material be offered or more probable Arguments be produced I will either acquit my self or fairly drop the Argument for I am not so bigotted to any mean Performances of my own but when more probable Conjectures are offer'd can easily relinquish them but in those Matters which I have recited as Experiments or Observations I dread not their Criticisms TAB Y E I. OF BIRDS An Explication of the Plate of Birds mark'd Table the First of Birds 1. THE Sea-Crow its Food is upon Shell-Fish and its manner of Feeding is very wonderful as is observ'd in the Book These Birds are said to breed in the Hollows of Rocks in the Isle of Man and though common upon the Sea-Coasts in these Counties yet never known to breed here their Flesh is not grateful and therefore not eaten 2. The Brasilian Magype this was driven upon the Coasts by the violent Hale Storm described in Mr. Burgher's first Plate and found dead upon the Sea-Coasts in Lancashire 3. The Tropick Bird driven in at the same time 4. The copped Wren that fed the Dragoons near Durton in Lancashire of which an Account is given in the Chapter of Birds 5. The Asprey or Sea-Eagle See likewise an Account of that in the same Chapter 6. The Barnacle or the Anser Bassanus in these as in other Geese there are Males and Females and they breed after the same manner as may be observ'd in the Chapter of Birds that Species of the Shell-Fish they have formerly been said to proceed from is a Species of the Pectunculus resembling that contain'd in the second Plate Number 15. which I found in the Copper-Mines in Lancashire These Shells are usually lick'd up by the Ships in the Gulf of Florida and do not breed in these Seas which Phaenomenon still further confirms to me these Petrifactions to be nothing but different Concretions of Fluors Sulphurs Salts and Earths and may justly be styled Lapides sui generis FINIS The Author's Vindication of himself from some Calumnies lately cast upon him SO strangely Opinionative are some Persons and fondly link'd to the Wild products of their own teeming Genius that an Ocular Demonstration to these amounts not to a thorough Conviction nay so prodigiously over-weening of those are their Sentiments it is so far from attaining of it that against the most evident Truths they wilfully shut their Eyes and fall into such extravagant Expressions that they almost exceed the rudest Offals of Billingsgate and that for no other reason but because I do not as they suppose that at the Deluge the Globe was Universally dissolv'd or as some will have it converted into a Pudding and instead of Plumbs was larded with Cockles which are since petrified Those Gentlemen may be assured I shall not concern my self with their Missionaries but when they themselves judge it convenient to make a Reply that is material I shall then be at their Service Some of these have indeavoured to traduce me both at the Engravers and the Press but have in some measure been disappointed in their Expectations They have indeed out of their unexpected Candour been pleas'd to acknowledge that there was somewhat of Stile in the Work but for that reason were pleas'd to allege it was not my own in Answer to that I have only this to say in Vindication of my Self that in Composing the Work I had not the least assistance from any Person whatever and have not in any wise been defective
that it is not in the least subject to shake The other end of this Screw is by another little Screw whose small point fills the Center or hole made in the end of the longer Screw for this purpose render'd so fixt or steady in the Box that there appears not the least danger of shaking upon the Head of this Screw without the springing Plate is put on a small Index ee and above that an handle mm to turn the Screw round as often as there shall be occasion without at all endangering the displacing of the Index it being put on very stiff upon a Cylindrical part of the Head and the handle upon a square the Screw hath that third of it which is next the Plate bigger than the other two thirds of it by at least as much as the depth of the small Screw made on it the thread of the Screw of the bigger third is as small again as that of the Screw of the other two thirds to the grosser Screw is adapted a Socket f fastned to a long Bar or Bolt gg upon which is fastned the moveable sight h either a Thread nearer or a Thread farther of from the fixt sight i the kk which will not admit of any shaking There are Sixty of these Threads and answerable thereto are made Sixty divisions on the edge of the Bolt or Ruler gg and a small Index l fix'd to the Box aaa denotes how many Threads the edges of the two sights h and i are distant and the Index ee shews on the circular plate what part of a Revolution there is more every Revolution as was said before being divided into an hundred parts at the same time that the movable sight h is moved forwards or backwards or more Threads of the courser Screw is the plate pp in Fig. 2 so as the middle betwixt the sights may lie in the Axis of the Glass however the Screw be turned the midst betwixt the sights will always be in the Axis and the sights will equally either open from it or shut towards it Figure 2. Represents the moveable cover containing the Screws to be by the Bookseller cut off by the pricked line xxx from the Paper and to be fitly placed on Figure 1 according to the pricked line yyy answering thereto that by the taking off as it were or folding up of this cover the inward Contrivance of the Screws and sights may appear And because it is conceived by some Ingenious Men that it will be more convenient instead of the edges of the two sights h i to employ two sights fitted with hairs therefore is added Figure 3 Representing the two sights r s so fitted with Threads t u that they may be conveniently used in the place of the solid edges of the sights h i The fourth Figure represents how the Screws are to be put on The Table A. D. is divided into three lengths of which as in ordinary ones B. C. is to lengthen or Contract as the object requires But A. B. is here added that at A. you may put such Eye Glasses as shall be thought most convenient and to set them still at the distance most proper for them Indexes or Pointers which here are supposed to be at B. which length also alters also in respect of divers Persons Eyes E. is a Screw by which the great Table can be fix'd so as by the help of the Figures any smaller part of it can immediately be found measuring only or knowing the Divisions on B. C. the distance of the object Glasses from the Pointers F. is the Angular piece of Wood that lies on the upperScrew of the rest this rest is represented by Figure the 5th As for a description of the uses of this ingeniously contrived and very curious Engine the Reader may understand it by the preceding Letter To this may be annexed another Letter of the same ingenious Gentleman containing Observations on the quantity of Rain falling Monthly for several Years successively which is as follows Ian. 9th 1693 4 I Have now completed this last Years Observations which I was very desirous shou'd accompany the others I now send you and I hope you will be pleased upon that score to pardon my delay in obeying your Commands I wish they had been more exactly made and shou'd have been so had they been intended for any thing but my own satisfaction and enabling me to give some Conjecture at the Proportion of Rain that falls in this Country with that at London and in other parts of this Kingdom but in this I have not yet attained my desired end not having heard of the like made in any part of England tho' a Friend or two had promised to undertake and afford me an Account of their Observations but it may be they did not think it worth their while or that it wou'd prove more troublesome than I found it For I only fixed a round Tunnel of 12 inches Diameter to a leaden Pipe which could admit of no Water but what came through the Tunnel by reason of a part soder'd to the Tunnel it self which went over the Pipe and served also to fix it to it as well as to keep out any wet that in stormy Weather might beat against the under part of the Tunnel which was so placed that there was no building near it that wou'd give occasion to suspect that it did not receive its due Proportion of Rain that fell through the Pipe some nine Yards perpendicularly and then was bent into a Window near my Chamber under which convenient Vessels were placed to receive what fell into the Tunnel which I measured by a Cylindrical Glass at a certain mark containing just a pound or twelve Ounces Troy and had marks for small parts also I preferr'd this way of finding the Contents of my Vessel for measuring the Water before any other of gaging of small Cubical or Cylindrical ones where an inconsiderable and almost indiscernible Error in the dimensions will prove much greater in the content whereas in the other way provided the Cylinder it self be small or like a very small Neck at the marked place for a pound one may easily come to as great exactness as may be wished by the help of this Cylindrical Glass I thus kept my account of what Rain fell and generally twice or thrice a Day when I took several other Observations both of the Thermometer Barometer Winds c. what Rain I found in the Receivers if not more than made what was left in the Cylindrical Glass a full pound I again left in it but if there was more than that quantity I filled it just to the pound mark which I threw away and did the like with the remaining Water as often as it wou'd allow still keeping an account of the pounds thrown away and noting also the parts of a pound remaining in the Glass by the help of which latter and the parts remaining at any time before by numbering
had been no Section made at B. but the part below b. to the Body increased not at all Figure fifth represents a young Hazet cut into the Body with a deep gash and the Parts of the Body above and below cleft upwards and downwards and the Splinters a. and b. by wedges kept off from touching each other or the rest of the Body these in the following Year were observed to be in the State represented in the sixth Figure that is the Splinter a. above the gash was grown very much but the Splinter b. below stood at a stay and grew not but the rest of the Body at c. grew as if there had been no gash made Figure seventh represents a like gash made just above the lowermost knot and the part Splinter'd or Cleft and Wedged off from each other and from the Body as before but there is left a Branch upon the lower Splinter to see what will be the state there of the next Year or in October next when it is probable by the other Experiments the lower Splinter and Branch upon it will be found to have grown and increased as the Splinter in the former Experiment did above the gash though not in the same Proportion Figure eight represents four young Poplar-Trees A. B. C. D. all of equal bigness growth situation and soil as near as cou'd be found these were order'd as is represented in the 9th Figure that is A. had all its Branches and Top cut off B. had all its Branches pruned off but it was left with a small head at the Top C. had its Branches cut about half way and those of the upper half left growing D. was left growing without being at all pruned or lopped the event was expected the success was found to be thus A. in the following Year shot out many Twigs round about but the Body encreased but little in height or bigness B. shot out likewise many Twigs where it had been pruned and the top Branches and top also encreased considerably and the Body also increased much more in height and bigness than did the former A. C. increased much more in all its parts than B. But D. increased in Limbs height and bigness most of all swelling in bigness and stretching in heighth and spreading in its Boughs much more than C. and in about ten Years time was more than four times as big as A. The same worthy Person also observed that all the Poplars that has been pruned died in the Great Frost 1684. in so much that in 25 that were so order'd he observed 19 to be killed by it and remaining to be very weak and hardly able to recover and increased very little in the following Years These Poplars were about 30 Foot high and had only a small head left at the Top unlopped of about 4 or 5 Foot and were pruned the Spring before the Great Frost He observed also that divers of those that had been pruned two Summers before the Frost were killed by it but not one of those that had been pruned at all were hurt by it He took notice likewise both in Lancashire and Cheshire that Trees of 60 Foot in height that had been pruned and had only a small top left were also killed by the said Frost whereas those of the same kind and heighth which stood near to them and had not been pruned continued to flourish and suffer'd no harm thereby Several of those Branches of about an inch Diameter and Trees that had been barked round as above theSpring before the Great Frost out-lived the Violence of the same and the preceding Winter Where these prunings had been tryed upon Trees Twenty Foot high the difference of their increase was sensible the following Summer but in 7 or 8 Years time the difference is Prodigious the unpruned Trees growing several times bigger than the others that were pruned both in Body and Branches ev'n to Admiration He hath often observed also that when the top Branches wou'd shoot out and grow two Foot or more in length the lower branches wou'd not shoot above four inches and farther that in the Branches of the Scotch-Firr the joints above the Rings barked round wou'd increase and grew much bigger in three than they wou'd in five Years if the said Rings were not cut of The same reason upon discoursing some other particular enquiries about the spreading and increase of the Roots assured that he had observed a very large Pinaster about two Foot and half Diameter and of an height proportionable viz. of about 20 Yards the lowest Boughs of which were about 30 Foot above the ground did spread and flourish on every side alike though it had no Root at all towards three quarters of its Situation but only toward one quarter into which it spread its Roots very far and large divers of them reaching above 70 or 80 Foot from the Body of the Tree the Reason of which spreading was occasion'd by its being Planted just within the square Angle of the Corner of a deep thick and strong Stone Wall which was a kind of Banking or Warfing against a River that ran by it this Tree I say though it had nourishment only from one Quarter of four to its Roots yet did the same flourish and spread equally on every side Upon consideration of these and divers other Observations and Experiments Mr. Brotherton is of Opinion 1. That the sap most of it if not all ascends in the Vessels of the Lignous part of the Tree and not in the Cortical part nor between the Cortical and Lignous Parts 2. That increase and growth of a Tree in thickness is by descent of the sap and not by the ascent and if there were no descent a Tree wou'd increase but very little if at all 3. That there is a continual Circulation of the sap all the Summer Season and during such time as the sap is stirring and not a descent at Michaelmas only as some have held To me it seems very probable that the Bodies of Plants as well as those of moving Animals are nourished and increased by a double Food the one an impregnated Water and the other an impregnated Air and that without a convenient supply of these two the Vegetable cannot subsist at least not increase these do mutually mix and coalesce and parts of the Air convert to Water and parts of Water to Air as some of these latter are rarify'd and freed from their Chains and become Spiritual and Airy so others of the forementioned are clogged and setter'd and become debased To this purpose all Plants as well as Animals have a twofold kind of Roots one that Branches and spreads into the Earth and another that spreads and shoots into the Air both kinds of Roots serve to receive and carry their proper nourishment to the Body of the Plant and both serve also to convey and carry off the useless Recrements Useless I mean any farther within the Body of the Plant though useful to it
and burst the Vessels as is above recited One thing in this kind of Dropsy is worthy our taking notice of that the Patient is not disturbed with Thirst the Urine in quantity and quality laudable the Appetite rather too craving than dejected no pains invade save that of bearing about so heavy a mass of Water and this sort of Dropsy is more incident to Women than Men and though it has hitherto been mistaken for a Timpanites it is truly a Dropsy of the Peritonaeum the Lymphaeducts of which Membrane are burst and its Glandules highly tumify'd hence and no otherwise ensues the Timpanites as shall be render'd apparent by the following Histories For a farther confirmation I refer you to Nuck Ettmullerus and Iuncken From what has been said the causes of the Ascites and Anasarca may be easily deduced wherefore I shall not insist longer on their Aetioligies but shall proceed to illustrate our Hypothesis in the following cases The first shall be of Mr. Iohn Leeds Bachelour of Physick who practised many Years in this Town of Manchester he was seized with the Black Jaundice upon which ensued an Ascites and Anasarca no endeavours were wanting to relieve him and no Methods of Physick unessay'd to Cope with the Disease but in vain generally Belov'd and now as generally Lamented he Expired through the whole course of his Distemper his Digestion was good his Thirst little or nothing at which I wonder'd his Urine but small yet for Colour and Consistence like Brumswick Mum with a Black Sediment his Body was Emaciated and his Countenance Ghastly and Wan towards his latter end a Cough was very troublesome to him His Body being opened thirty six Pints of a Yellow bitter Water was discharged from the Abdomen there was little or none of the Omentum remaining the Stomach was some what contracted but no ways inflamed the Spleen retained its Natural Colour and State the Conglobate Glandules were of a sutable Magnitude neither schirrous nor fumify'd the Lacteal Vessels as much as I observed of them no ways alter'd But when the Liver was exposed its whole substance was indurated inscision being made into it those Glands first discovered by Malpigius were turgent and large as common Hail Stones all impleted with a faeculent CrassBile from the whole it is undeniably apparent this must be a Bilious Dropsy and Challenges no Original either from the Stomach inflamed or the Conglobate Glands indurated but only from a faeculent Bile obstructing both the Glandules of the Liver and its Lymphatick Vessels How the Bile becomes thus degenerated is before Explain'd The next instance Parallel to this is of Lieutenant Collonel Iohn Williams in Her late Majesty's Regiment of Dragoons he was seized with the Black Jaundice at his Quarters in Manchester the same Ominous Symptoms ensued as in the preceding Case he swelled gradually in the Belly his Urine in Colour and Quantity as is above recited yet his Digestion was laudable enough and his Thirst not troublesome the Ascites and Anasarca came on a pace all our attempts in the Physical way gave only some intervals of ease alleviated indeed but removed not the main Obstructions for several Weeks he kept regularly to a course of Physick and Diet towards the end of his Distemper his Cough was violently tedious and the swellings of his Thighs and Legs fatigued him with a constant uneasiness insomuch that all Rest interrupted ev'n Life it self grew burdensome thus every Day declining his Manly Soul at length took flight About twenty four Pints of Water were taken out of the Cavity of the Abdomen the Omentum was not so much consumed as in Mr. Leeds the Stomach Spleen and all the other Viscera were genial enough except the Liver where the same Scene was represented to us as before and from whence unquestionably all that Tragick Series of Mortal Symptoms arose It was easy to account for many more of the like cases where the same unhappy Train of consequences attended but these being particular Dissections I fairly in them appeal to a Demonstration I shall now descend to illustrate my Hypothesis of the Lymphatick Dropsy by the following instance Mrs. Heywood living at the Roades near Manchester aged about Fifty Eight for four Years was afflicted with the Tympany all along she Eat her Food and Digested it will was clear and free from Thirst her Urine was plentiful enough nor was her Countenance any ways alter'd from an healthful Complexion and save for the increase of the Tumour of the Abdomen she was other wise very hearty and sprightly she had gone through all the Classes of Physick but alas The Numerous Prescripts of a multitude of Physicians were all unsuccessful Her case was sent up to the London Physicians where different Opinions directed different methods whether they had not rightly the Case stated to them or that the distance of place precluded their nicer Observations I cannot be positive but all endeavours were in vain Her Belly still encreasing to the Magnitude of a large Globe she sunk beneath the Load Full seventy Pints of Water the greater part very Viscous were discharg'd from the Cavity the Muscles of the Abdomen were all Emaciated and the Omentum totally consumed The Peritonaeum was full five Inches thick whose Duplicature formed a very large Sacculus all repleted with Schirrous Glandules highly tumify'd and pellucid Vesicules as big as the common bunches of Grapes the Liquor contained in these Bladders was like the Whites of Eggs clear and Gelatinous The Stomach Spleen Liver Mesentery as much as I cou'd perceive of them were in a pure Natural State nor were the Ovaria impleted with those Vesicules but appeared very sound These were the most remarkable things to be taken notice of and doubtless the case was what is generally call'd a Timpany which notwithstanding if we 'll but Credit our Eyes arose neither from a Tetanus of the Stomach nor as the Ancients wou'd have it from the flatness or vapours of the Abdomen But meerly from the Lymphatick Vessels of the Peritonaeum distended and burst I had two cases sent me by the Learned Dr. Griffith who resided at Warrington in Lancashire in the Year 1696. since removed to Dublin the one was in all Circumstances like the last mention'd so I shall forbear to relate it In the other the Uterus proved to be the seat of the Tumour from whence about sixteen Pints of very putrid Water were Emitted his account may be seen at large in my 54 Exercitationes Printed at Oxford From all which it is abundantly Demonstrable that this Lymphatick Dropsie arises from the Lympha renderd Viscid by Saline Particles for did it proceed from the Inflammation of the Bowels or Glandules the Patients wou'd assuredly be afflicted with thirst and complain of Heat whereas neither was a grievance Yet mistake me not as if I imagin'd every Lymphatick Dropsy to arise from the Peritonaeum I only assert that Dropsy which is commonly call'd the Timpany The other
but in dry Weather and we may reasonably suppose there was a great Number of Boats of all forts belonging to so large a Fort and City the Anchor-Hill so called being as it were a little Dock or Hithe for the Building or Repairing them and that the Anchors Rings and Nails there found were only for then use and not for Ships they being far too little either for Ships of Burden or War We cannot rightly make out what Legion of the Romans was planted here by any of the noble Ruines we disclose however by what has been discover'd both the Antiquity and Grandeur of the Place will be clearly represented and our modern Observations be no small Supplement to the more ancient Ones where Mr. Cambden and others have saved me the Trouble I shall fairly name them in order and in Conclusion add my own The first Inscription Mr. Cambden takes Notice of is at Salisbury-Hall on the Pedestal of a Pillar which is as follows Deo Marti ET VICTORIAE DD. AVGG ET CC NN. And in the Wall adjoining to it is another Stone with the Portraiture of Cupid and another little Image and in the backside of it is this Inscription SEOSEAM ROLNASON OSALVEDN AL. Q. Q. SAR BREVENM BEDIANIS ANTONI VS MEG VI. IC DOMV ELITER These Mr. Cambden supposes to be British Names of Places but I do not see how that can be made out but rather look upon 'em to be the Names of Officers in a Wing of the Sarmatians AL. Q. Q. SAR denoting the Ala Sarmatum or a Wing of the Sarmations of which Tacitus gives a full Account Osalvedn may probably signifie Oswalds Town the noble Family of the Osbaldstones still residing there so that these Names may not only be British but likewise Roman and Sarmatian His next Account is of a fair Altar with this Inscription DEIS MATRIBVS M. INGENVI VS A'SIATICVS * DEC AL. AST SS LL. M. The Signification of which as Cambden himself is silent so I refer it to other Antiquaries to discuss However upon my being last at Oxford I receiv'd there the Satisfaction to find that Iuno and Diana were constantly called by the Romans Deae Matres And the further Explication of this Altar is that Ingenuis an Asiatic one of the Decuriones of the Asturian Wing dedicated this Altar to the Mother Goddesses Iuno and Diana Another little Altar he saw cast out amongst the Rubbish with this Inscription PACIFE RO MARTI ELEGAVR BA POSV IT EX VO TO This Altar from its Smallness Mr. Cambden takes to have been some poor Man's Altar to carry about with him and to have been for offering Incense Salt and Flower But to me this Interpretation seems more reasonable from the very Words themselves at length that Elegaurba doubtless a Commander there dedicated this Altar to Mars after some signal Overthrow of the Enemy and thence Peace ensuing he styles him Pacifero but who this Elegaurba was or what Country Man I pretend not to determine He speaks also of another Stone dug up with the Portraiture of a naked Man on Horse-back without Bridle or Saddle brandishing his Spear with both Hands and insulting over a naked Man prostrate who held out before him a kind of square Piece between the Horse and the Person prostrate stand the Letters D. M. under the prostrate Man are GAL. SARMATA There were other Letters too defaced to guess at one would imagine says he both from the former Inscription and this that was found many Years agoe that a Wing of the Sarmatae had their Station here HIS TERRIS TEGITVR AEL MATRONA QV VIX AN. XXVIII M II. D VIII ET M. IVLIVS MAXIMVS FIL. VIX AN VI. M III. D XX. ET CAM PANIA DVBBA MATER VIX AN. L. IVLIVS MAXIMUS ALAE SAR CONIVX CONIVGI INCOMPARABILI ET FILIO PATRI PIENTIS SIMO ET SOCERAE TENA CISSIMAE MEMORIAE P. This Inscription as I take it may be thus translated Aael a Matron who lived 28 Years Two Months and Eight Days in this Earth lies entomb'd and Marcus Iulius Maximus her Son who lived Six Years Three Months and Twenty Days and Campania Dubba her Mother who lived Fifty Years Iulius Maximus and Alae a Sarmatian Wife to her incomparable Husband erects this to perpetuate the Memory of Simo the Son of a pious Father and his Father in Law Now the Word Asiaticus in the Inscription beginning with Deis Matribus and in that preceding it beginning with Seoseam and in this last of all that Word Sar being repeated it makes it more probable to me that Sarmatia being a Part of Asia and likewise Part of Europe containing Poland Russia Muscovy and most of Tartary from which vast Country the Phoenicians being an industrious and trading People transplanted several Colonies hither and on the Portraiture of the naked Man these Words Gal. Sarmata being found too does farther illustrate these People called Brigantes residing here to be for a great Part Asiatics of which Mr. Camden takes no Notice Thus far and no farther Mr. Camden proceeds in the Antiquities of this noted Station but as to the ancient Name of the Place he says Ptolemy stiles it Rigodunum and that being corrupted from Ribodunum may not be unlike Ribbochester It is his Opinion likewise the Town of Preston called so from the Religious quasi Priest Town sprang from the Ruines of this remarkable City which might be ruined by Wars or Earthquakes I shall now acquaint the Reader with my own Observations made in this present Year 1699 when I was upon the Place which gave me a new and different Prospect of Matters above what he has recited The first remarkable Piece of Antiquity I took Notice of was a Fortification called Anchor-Hill because Anchors have sometimes been found there under Ground with Rings and Nails of small Vessels Roman Paterae of a Mettal like that of our China Tea-Pots with the Effigies of Wolves and Flowers upon them and at the Bottom of some these Letters Fab. Pro. which doubtless must be in the Time when some one of the Fabii were Pro-Consul or Procurator From Anchor-Hill there goes a Way to Preston and a Road to Lancaster where there was another Fortification and a Roman Wall another Road likewise directs to Mancunium or Manchester where was a Fortress called the Giants or Torquins Castle and doubtless that was their High-way to Devona or Chester where the Twentieth Legion stiled Valens and Victrix was fixed Chester was then a Blockade to the Britains in Wales Not far from this Fortification called Anchor-Hill at Ribchester I saw a Common-shoar and a Floor composed of Roman Tyles which absolutely demonstrates the River there was never Navigable for had it been so that City must unavoidably have been under Water together with in that Country commonly call'd the Field from its resemblance to a Field being all Champaign Near this Shoar I saw a Pillar about Seventeen Inches Diameter with Letters upon it but those in a great
have such a Tooth though scarce so ponderous in Manchester yet it weighs Two Pounds and a Half having been found in Derbyshire with a Skull and Limbs resembling those of a Man reported to have been found with it though those are long since lost the Tooth it self is a Surprize to many Beholders who after their superficial Eyeing it conclude it absolute Bone and stand amaz'd at its Bulk and Weight when in truth it is only a Sparry Substance imprest with such a Form For do we not daily discover the Forms of Plants and the seeming Beaks of Birds Effigies of the Bones of Beasts and Fishes all of solid Stones Why Nature therefore shou'd be tied up only to these and not in her Sports and Interludes divert her self and Mankind with Humane Shapes I can see no Reason for I shall now first begin with the Baths at Buxton but having sufficiently treated in a preceding Chapter of Hot Baths in general the Cause of their Heat and their Uses I 'll refer the Reader thereto and here first give you the Distick of Verses made by Mary Queen of Scots who honour'd this Place with her Presence as Mr. Cambden has them Buxtona quae calidae celebrabere nomine Lymphae Forte mihi Posthac non adeunda Vale. Buxton whose Fame thy Baths shall ever tell Whom I perhaps shall see no more Farewel That these Baths were eminent in the Times of the Romans is most certain Lucan and others acquaint us they were extraordinary hot the high Road called the Roman Bath-gate as Mr. Cambden says further confirms it but it is especially evident from a Roman Wall cemented with red Roman Plaister close by St. Ann's Well where we may see the Ruines of the ancient Bath its Dimensions and Length This Plaister is red and hard as Brick a Mixture not prepared in these Days and indeed the white Plaister the Romans used was much firmer and harder than any made in these Times being harder than the Stone it self the red Plaister appears as if it was burnt exactly resembling Tyle but I rather am inclined to think it was a Mixture of Lime and powder'd Tiles cemented with Blood and Eggs which acquir'd that Hardness Nor is it unlikely but the white Plaister was effected by some such Method only instead of Tyle they might use Chalk I shall briefly now take a short Survey of the Wonders of the Peak tho' I confess they do not directly fall within the Heads of this Chapter however being so universally remarkable I cannot well omit them Pool's Hole within a Quarter of a Mile of the Well may be thus described it enters in at the Foot of a large Mountain with a small Arch so low that for several Paces you are compell'd to creep upon all Fours but it then opens to a considerable Height not unlike the Roof of some large Cathedral on the Right-hand stands an Hollow commonly called Pool's Chamber where by striking with a Stone upon the Walla noisie Eccho rebounds From hence you march forward over Ridges of Stones and Rocks conducted with a Guide and a Candle and in that rough unequal Passage we receiv'd the Diversion of beholding various Representations produced by the petrifying Water continually dropping from the Roof and Sides of the Rock Here indeed we must use more Caution than the Star-gazing Philosopher who being taken up with a profound Contemplation of the Heavens was surprized by a Stumble into a Ditch Here you may see the Representation of most curious Fret-work Organ and Choir-work in other Places the Figures of Animals as the Body of a Man a Lion and many other Things which a pregnant Fancy may suggest here is one Thing called a Font by others Esquire Cotton's Hay-Cocks a Chair and Flitches of Bacon with many more Varieties Now you arrive at the Queen of Scot's Pillar clear and bright as Alabaster beyond which is a steep Ascent near a Quarter of a Mile high which Terminates near the Roof in an Hollow call'd the Needle's-Eye in which a Candle represents a Star in the Firmament The whole Prospect indeed in this remarkable Cavity is augmented by the Light of Candles Near the Pillar we fired a Pistol which redoubl'd like the Noise of a Cannon You return the lower Way where there are many small Currents of Water These are what I observ'd remarkable here Elden-Hole is a terrible Chasme it was plumm'd Eight Hundred Fathom by the Ingenious Charles Cotton Esq but no Bottom found if a Stone be cast in you hear its Sound a considerable time it is about Seven Yards in breadth and double that in length and very astonishing to look into That call'd the Devil's-Arse is a large and most graceful Arch from whose Top continually drops a Sparry Water which like that in Poole's-Hole petrifies within the Arch are several small Buildings where the poorer sort of People inhabit and I cou'd not but fancy them to be like the Troglydites or Cunicular Men describ'd by Dr. Brown that liv'd not like Men but Rabbits From this Arch I passed to a Water which almost closed with the Rock however this Water may be pass'd and then the Arch opens again when you come to very large Banks of Sand at the third Water the Rock closes and is impassable any farther Mam-Tor is another Thing remarkable in the Peak this is an high Hill near Castleton under which there are several Lead Mines this Hill is almost perpetually shivering down Earth and great Stones yet never visibly grows less and has thus continu'd for several Generations indeed the Hill extends a great way in breadth so that altho' it constantly diminishes it is not discernable by the Eye The next Thing to be noted is Tide's-Well that ebbs and flows but that being accounted for in another Chapter I shall not recapitulate here Having now given an Account of the Natural Wonders of the Peak I shall proceed next to the Artificial ones which occur and are not less surprizing What I have observ'd before in the foregoing Rarities are the rough Draughts of Nature yet being nearly view'd they are of so admirable a Texture and manag'd with so unerring a Conduct that they justly challenge the Skill of the most daring Artist In what follows Art sits Triumphant and bids fair for a Corrivalship with Nature Chatsworth like a Sun in an hazy Air adds Lustre to those Dusky Mountains and attracts a general Congress to be Spectators of its Wonders It is the Seat of His Grace William Duke of Devonshire the Passage to it is of an easie Ascent the Gate it self is very remarkable adorn'd with several Trophies the Hill composes a stately Square from which through a Gallery upon Stone-Stairs so artfully contriv'd that they seem to hang in the Air you have the Prospect of a most beautiful Chappel as likewise of the Hall in both which are choice and curious Paintings perform'd by Seignior Vario Master of that Art in the Hall is the History of Caesar
stabb'd in the Senate and in the Chappel an admirable and lively Draught of the Resurrection Hence we were conducted into the Chambers which are Noble and Great and most richly Inlaid with the choicest Woods and Compose a very stately Gallery At the upper End of it is his Grace's Closet richly beautify'd with Indian Paint where there are various Figures of Birds as Drawn by the Native Indians Here stands a stately Looking-Glass which when you approach it reflects the whole Gallery back again and so deceives the Sight that the Walk seems to continue to the Eye though you have reach'd the Bounds of the Gallery The next Curiosity were the Gardens very delightful pleasant and stately adorn'd with exquisite Water Works the First we observe is Neptune with his Sea-Nymphs from whence by the turning of a Cock immediately issue forth several Columns of Water which seem'd to fall upon Sea-Weeds Not far from this is another Pond where Sea-Horses continually rowl and near to this stands a Tree composed of Copper which exactly resembles a Willow by the turning of a Cock each Leaf distils continually Drops of Water and lively represents a Shower of Rain From this we pass'd by a Grove of Cypress upon an Ascent and came to a Cascade at the Top of which stand Two Sea-Nymphs with each a Jarr under the Arm the Water falling thence upon the Cascade whilst they seem to squeeze the Vessels produces a loud rumbling Noise like what we may imagine of the Egyptian or Indian Cataracts At the Bottom of the Cascade there is another Pond in which is an Artificial Rose by turning of a Cock the Water ascends through it and hangs suspended in the Air in the Figure of that Flower There is another Pond wherein is Mercury pointing at the Gods and throwing up Water besides there are several Statues of Gladiators with the Muscles of the Body very lively display'd in their different Postures The Pile is not yet finish'd but will assuredly be a very compleat and magnificent Structure and worthy of so illustrious a Family Haddon-House is a stately Building with noble Gardens the Seat of the Right Honourable the Earl of Rutland and worthy the Sight of the Curious I shall now in the next place proceed to give an Account of the Earls of Derby the First of whom were the Peverels Earls of Nottingham and Derby as Mr. Cambden transmits it to us from good Authorities Afterwards King Richard the First gave and confirm'd to his Brother Iohn the County and Castle of Nottingham Lancaster Derby c. with the Honours belonging to them and the Honours of Peverel After him those of the Family of the Ferrars are allow'd to be Earls whom King Iohn created Earls of Derby with his own Hands but his Two Sons William and Robert in the Civil Wars were stripp'd of this Dignity and many Possessions of Robert were given by King Henry the Third to his younger Son Edmund and Edward the Third by Act of Parliament gave Henry of Lancaster the Son of Henry of Lancaster the Earldom of Derby to him and his Heirs and likewise assign'd him a Thousand Marks yearly during the Life of Henry his Father From that Time this Title continu'd in the Family of Lancaster till King Henry the Seventh bestow'd it upon Thomas Stanley who had not long before marry'd Margaret the King's Mother afterwards William the Sixth Earl of Derby of this Family a Man of great Worth and Honour enjoy'd it when the Author Mr. Cambden writ this William departing this Life Anno Dom. 1642. was succeeded by Iames his Son and Heir Eminent for his good Services to King Charles the First as was also his Excellent Lady Charlote who with a true Masculine Bravery sustain'd the Siege of Latham-House against the Parliament's Forces when my Grandfather Colonel Chisnell Commanded under her He receiv'd Two Commissions One from His Majesty King Charles the First for a Regiment of Horse the Other from his Highness Prince Rupert for a Regiment of Foot in which are these Expressions For the Desence of the True Protestant Religion by Law establish'd the Liberty and Property of the Subject and Defence of His Majesty's Person which is an invincible Argument of the Degeneracy of the contrary Party who wou'd calumniate these worthy Patriots with being Abettors of Popery and Arbitrary Power The worthy Earl after the Fight of Worcester being unfortunately taken in Cheshire was on the Fifteenth of October Beheaded at Bolton in Lancashire He was succeeded by his Son Charles and he by his Eldest Son and Heir William the present Earl he had Issue Iames Lord Strange by Elizabeth Grand-daughter of the late Duke of Ormond and Daughter to the late Earl of Ossory This young Gentleman in the ripening Bloom of his Years had all the Marks of a sweet Temper real Honour and solid Judgment that in those Years cou'd possibly be expected but to the unspeakable Loss of his Parents and the universal Sorrow of the whole Country he unfortunately died the last Year at Venice of the small Pox in the Course of his Travels The present Earl has now Two Brothers but no issue Male Persons of great affability true Conduct and Bravery as the World is sufficiently convinced of by their repeated Actions in Flanders in the Service of his present Majesty King William the Third Having thus far proceeded in the Antiquities of these Countries which unquestionably add to the Glory of them in laying before us the Regard the Romans had by erecting their Colonies and forming their Stations for the Security of these Parts of Britain it remains now for the Satisfaction of the Reader that I give him an Explanation of the Reverses of the Coins dug up in different Places here I pretend not hereby to add many to the numerous Catalogues collected and explained by the Care of preceding Antiquaries but that I may give what is due to these Parts of our Isle esteemed indeed obscure and barren by many one may by these Reverses form some Idaea's of the Extent of the Roman Empire and their wondrous Transactions carried on in those Times One thing is observable here that as it was an universal Custom in Egypt and China to deliver their Sentiments by Hieroglyphical Representations so in those Days the Roman Emperors were no less devoted to that Piece of Vanity I shall not observe any strict Method in the Successions of the Emperors but give you the Coins indifferently as they came to my Hands On the Reverse of one of Iulius Caesar's Coins was Mars with a Spear or Scutum or Target which doubtless denoted his Warlike Temper On one of Augustus Caesar's was Pallas with these following Letters DESID P. R. thus interpreted the Desire of the Roman People which sufficiently evidences to us the great Encouragement given to Learning in those Days at which Time it was those great Masters of Eloquence and Poetry flourished viz. Cicero Virgil Horace c. Others of his
Greeks that I ever yet saw along with this there was another of an odd kind of mix'd Mettal such as the Romans never used that I know of it had no Letters or Stamp but look'd like a Piece of Money and seem'd to be a Composition of Tin and Copper Since therefore that Matter so far as I am able to judge cannot be fully determined I shall leave every Man to his own Conjectures and in the next Place proceed to the Explications of the Plates and not transgress further upon the Reader 's Patience but close the Whole FINIS Postscript I Desire the Reader would be pleas'd to observe That when the Armenian Language is mention'd that he would likewise take notice of the great variety of pronunciation of the same words amongst those People in this our Lexicons and Manuscripts are so far from informing us that though a Man should be Compleat Master of most of their Idioms yet their variety of Elocution is so great that should he discourse the different sorts of People from the distant Parts of that Country he would scarce be able to apprehend their common Conversation I have been Conversant with several Natives from different Parts of that Country and find in some measure the difference of their Elocution to proceed from a mixture of Sclavonian and Persian as they differently Border upon Russia and Persia To illustrate the truth of this assertion I shall produce but some few instances which in this Book are recited relating to those Antiquities that it may be the better apprehended and doubt not then but by a thoroughObservation of those and the Arguments before premised to satisfie the Unbiass'd from what Continent this Island was in a great measure Inhabited The words are not many but are as follows The Moon some Armenians pronounce Lune others Luce others Lucen Note here that Lune is the Name of that River from which the County of Lancaster is denominated A great River some pronounce Keat others Geat some Kear others Kent where observe that the Names of two great Waters upon Kent Sands are Kear and Kent Wherefore for any Person to derive the Names of those Places as Mr. Cambden and others do from the Saxon word Can denoting a Corner to me seems to be a manifest Errour and I do with a great deal more reason surmise that they are the small Relicts of the Asiatick Colonies This to be incerted after the third Book ERRATA in the Third BOOK PAg. 10. l. 16. after Aelius dele the Comma p. 14. l. 16. for 1692 r. 1612. p. 38. l. 19. for Wallingham r. Walsingham p. 46. l. 22. before the sixth instead of after the Comma should be before ibid. l. 30. for Chisnel r. Chisnalle p. 68. l. 17. for Principii r. Principi p. 69. l. 4. for Tribunae r. Tribunitiae p. 72. l. 3. for there r. then p. 74. l. 10. for Lotium r. Lorium p. 90. l. 20. for underneath Iudea r. Iudea underneath p. 89. l. 5. after Peacock put a Comma p. 95. l. 1. for VII r. VI. TAB I. AN EXPLANATION OF THE CUTTS TAB I. 1. A Ruby found at Ribchester in Lancashire as the Earth shelved down near the River-side a Signet doubtless of some eminent Roman The Figure is Mars holding a Banner in the Left-hand with a Scutum or Target at the Bottom of it in the Right-Hand a Thunder-bolt this doubtless was one of the Genii of the Place 2. A Signet found near Standish in Lancashire in a Copper Urceolus with Two Hundred Roman Coins and Two Gold Rings of the Equites Aurati or Roman Knights these were found by a Country-man as he was plowing The Figure is Mars leaning with his Left-hand upon a Spear holding in his Right-Hand a Victoriola or small Victory with a Target at his Right-Foot 3. An Idol found near Up-holland in Lancashire by a Country-man as he was plowing this I take to be Victory the Genius of that Place 4. An Altar dedicated to the Genius of the Place found at Chester 5. An Altar to Iupiter dug up at Chester 6. An Altar to Coccius Nerva dug up at Ribchester 7. Another Altar found at Ribchester dedicated by some Asiatick one of the Decurions of the Asturian Wing 8. Another Side of the Altar at Chester dedicated to the Genius of the Place 9. An Altar to Caligula found at Ribchester 10. An Altar to Apollo found at Ribchester holding his Plectrum in his Right-hand pointing with his Left to a Quiver upon his Soulder on the other Side of the Altar are Two of his Priests in their Habits sacrificing to him holding the Head of an Ox in their Hands 11. The Vessel in which the Coins were found near Standish in Lancashire 12. A Roman Discus or Sacrificing-Cup found at Ribchester when one of the Fabii was Proconsul or Propraetor 13. The Bottom of a Sacrificing-Vessel 14. The same both these probably belonging to some private Soldiers 15. A small Altar found at Ribchester 16. A Piece of a Simpuvium 17. A Simpuvium out of which they drank by small Draughts as they sacrificed to their Gods 18. The Finger of a Copper Statue dug up at Ribchester 19. A Piece of a Roman Tyle taken out of the Common-shoar at Ribchester 20. A Roman Pillar several Yards under Ground at Ribchester 21. The Ring of a Boat found under Ground at the Place called Anchor-Hill in Ribchester 22. A Piece of the Top of a Roman Urn found at Ribchester 23. One of the Roman Fibulae found at Ribchester 24. The Ring of a Roman Boat found under Ground at Anchor-Hill in Ribchester TAB II. 1. A Piece of a Sacrificing-Cup to Iuno found at Lancaster 2. The Bottom of it 3. Two Sides of the Sacrificing-Altar found at Ribchester shewing the Thuribulum the Vessels out of which the Frankinsence was smoaking while they were Sacrificing the Vessels they melted it in with the Securis and Dolabrum the Sacrificing Ax and Knife 4. Two other Sides of the Altar at Chester to the Genius of the Place on one Side of which is a Flower-pot on the other Venus holding a Cornucopia 5. An Amethyst Fibula found at Chester 6. The same these doubtless were the Fibulae of very eminent Romans 7. Another sort of Fibula in Copper 8. Another kind of Fibula in Copper both found at Chester 9. The Horn of the Rane-Deer found under the Altar at Chester TAB II. Tab 3 RIBCHESTER AND LANCASTER COINS An Explication of the Cutts contain'd in the Plate mark'd Tab. 3. FIG 1. AUG GERM. COS. This is a Coin of Augustus Germanicus who had been Consul The Reverse is erased Fig. 2. HADRIANUS The Letters on the Reverse are AUGUS denoting Augustus a Title assum'd by most of the Emperors The Letters S. C. denote Senatus Consultum The Figure is naked standing holding in the Right-Hand a Cornucopia I take the Figure to be Quies a Goddess amongst the Romans Fig. 3. AEL ADRIANUS The Figure is standing with Two Infants
the Atmosphere The second is a Description of a Noted Echo at Norton-Hall in Cheshire the Seat of my Honoured Kinsman Sr. Richard Brooke Baronet The first was Communicated to me and Experimented by Christopher Dauson of Langcliff in the County of Yorkshire Esq which he did in the following manner At the Bottom of a prodigious high Hill call'd Engleborough in Yorkshire he took a Bladder about a quarter blown and tyed the Neck of it very close as he ascended the Hill the Cylinders of the Atmosphere growing shorter and consequently pressing less upon the sides of the Bladder the internal Air expanded it self so far that when he came to the Top of the Mountain it was fully blown and as he descended the Hill again gradually subsided so that at his coming to the Bottom it was but a quarter blown as at first from which Phaenomenon the Elasticity or Spring of the Air is manifestly evident At Norton in Cheshire there is a remarkable Echo where at about 60 Yards distant from the Hall Stairs the sound of a Flute can scarce be discern'd but may be heard exactly in an opposite Gate about 30 Yards from the Place above-mention'd but moving some Six Yards further in a direct line towards the opposite Gate the Sound then vanishes from the said Gate but may then be very clearly heard from the Place where the Instrument is sounded The Sound is doubtless reverberated from the first Gate-house and then repercussed again by the opposite Gate-house and forms a Triangle as near as I cou'd think by the opposite and parallel Stations I observ'd by distinguishing the sound in this the sphere of Activity in Perception is evident and cannot be more aptly compar'd to any thing than that of Sight in which to have a true Idea of an Object a due distance is necessary both as to Proximity and Remoteness otherwise the Object is not adequately discern'd as we may observe by holding any Object too near or too remote from the Organ To these may be added an Experiment no less diverting from Two Chymical Preparations e. g. From Spirit of Harts-horn and Elixir of Vitriol prepared by Vigani Open Two distinct Vials of these neither of them will emit any visible Effluvia but by bringing the Glasses near to each other you may then perceive a continu'd Cloud hang over them I do not remember the like Phaenomenon to be observ'd from any other Two Liquors in distinct Vials which Experiment may demonstrate to us the strange Propensity there is in Matter to separate or unite but it is most probable the Volatile Alkalious Particles of the Harts-horn and the Volatile Acids of the Elixir even in the Air by their Points and Pores united by their magnitude become visible which before cou'd not be discern'd separately And this I think is the first Experiment that presents us with a Fermentation hovering in the Air and likewise demonstrates to us abundantly how Saline Particles may and do invisibly float in the Atmosphere but are undiscernible till concreting into Moleculae and adapted to the Figures of the several Pores of their distinct Ores where they form Efflorescences this granted it will be no difficult matter to account for Renascences of Salts and may likewise hint to us how by such Concretions of Saline Particles Distempers are frequently caused in Animals I have in some Persons in acute Distempers order'd the Patient to hold his Finger upon a Thermometer or small Glass Tube impleted with Spirit of Wine but perceiv'd nothing further remarkable than a quick and considerable Ascent which I might have expected from the like degree of Heat in any other Body These following Observations of the Barometer were Communicated very lately to me by Mr. Prideaux near Ludgate-hill in London which take as follows It is evident that the Ascent of Mercury in the Barometer is in a great measure made by pressure but whether that pressure be from the circumambient Atmosphere upon the superficies of the Mercury contain'd in the Glass in which a Tube containing Mercury is immers'd or from the various Elasticities of the Air that implete the Top of the Tube is the next Thing that merits our Enquiry For my part I cannot but adhere to the latter Hypothesis since the subsequent Experiments seem to demonstrate it As first Let there be immers'd a Mercurial Tube in another of a larger size containing Quicksilver the smaller Tube is to be annex'd to the end of a Trabea the opposite end of which is ballanced by a Weight or Pondus that keeps those Two in Aequilibrio so that the smallest pressure upon the Superficies of the Mercury contain'd in the larger Tube in which the small One is immers'd depresses it thence it must necessarily follow as the Mercury in the smaller Tube ascends the larger must subside and alter the Equilibrium were the pressure upon the Superficies of the Mercury contain'd in the Dish The contrary of which is Matter of Fact For as the Mercury in the small Tube ascends the Ballance rises at the same Time which it could not possibly do were the pressure upon the Superficies of the Quicksilver contain'd in the larger Tube but a different Phaenomenon must necessarily have follow'd Besides it is evident that a Mercurial Tube immers'd in a Cup containing Quicksilver does not considerably ascend so high in the Tube as the Quicksilver in a Tube of the same Length and Diameter suspended in the Air The Reason is the Air contain'd in the Top of the Tube has only that Mercury contain'd within the small Tube to raise and not that contain'd in the Dish which doubtless must clog its Spring or Elasticity To these may be added a Third Experiment and that is Let Two Tubes of equal Size and Diameter be immers'd in Two Cups containing Mercury the one a plain simple Tube the other in the form of a Bicornu at the Top of this last the Mercury ascends considerably higher than in the former the Reason is plain because the Elasticity of the Air in the Bicornu is double to that in the single Tube Now were the Ascent of the Mercury occasion'd by the pressure of the circumambient Air upon the Superficies of the Quicksilver contain'd in the Dish its Ascent in the Two different Tubes wou'd be the same the contrary of which is Matter of Fact Any of the Curious may any Day see these and many other Observations at the aforesaid Gentleman's House I cou'd wish the Gentleman for his ingenious Experiments by an Assent of the Learned to his Hypothesis might receive his due Honour Or that our Modern Virtuosi because the Notion is New wou'd not but upon solid Reasons endeavour to explode it The most material Argument against it is that of Bladders carry'd up to the Tops of Mountains but supposing the Air to be Thinner at the Bottom of the Mountain than it generally is at the Top and consequently the Spring of the Air not so clog'd which I am