their Virtue two hours which yet will scarce be lost in ten days if headed with Oyl They all give a purplish Red with Galls which upon standing a while turns to a purplish Black Tunbridge Water in Kent THIS Water gives a deep Green with Syrup of Violets as Vitriols do and in the quantity of about seven Ounces and a quarter weigh'd ten Grains lighter than a River-water near me which was lighter than Spring-water and as much lighter than rain-Rain-water and about four Grains lighter than the German Spaw to which it is preferable on that account The Ground above and about this Spring is a cemented Rock and the Spring is large of long use and much celebrated and frequented Wellenborow VVater in Northampton-shire THIS Water weigh'd at the Spring eighteen Grains lighter than common Water in a quantity of about twelve Ounces with a few drops of Tincture of Logwood gave a Black with Syrup of Violets a deep Green with Syrup of Cloves blackish with Galls a Violet Islington VVater THIS Water as the rest makes no Alteration in a Solution of Sublimate and with Sal Saturni dissolv'd in fair Water became milky a little and a little curdled and not clear as with a Saltpetre with Lignum Nephriticum it remain'd pale but clouded a little with a thickish dusky White near a rain-Rain-water and weigh'd two Grains lighter than Tunbridge Water in the same quantity which I thought might be owing to the difference of the Season Felstead VVater in Essex THIS Water lies in a Moor the bottom whereof is a cemented Rock the Earth where the Spring rises is Fat and Bituminous or Unctuous and very Ferrugineous no Incrustation in the boggy Hole where the Water stands but the Water that passes through the Meadow begins to incrust as it touches this Ground It is of the same weight exactly with Tunbridge it becomes milky with a Solution of Sal Saturni and with Lignum Nephriticum suffer'd no stain but only a milky cloud swimming in it This is but a small Spring scarce more than a Land-drain Of the Virtues of the Chalybeat VVaters THE Virtues of Steel are so very great and large and in many cases so contrary as not to be explain'd by what are grosly call'd the first second or third Qualities but to help us to a Notion of them we must consider the Essence of this Mineral in its Affections that are apparent And thus we may conceive of it as a hard body of the Mineral Kingdom and so qualifi'd with Firmness which is apt to enrich the Blood being easily convertible into Fat or Sulphur the nature of whose Sulphur is to preserve Fluid Bodies and the Temper of whose Acid Spirit is such as raises and yet restrains or rather adjusts the Fermentation of our Stomach Soluble Friendly to our Nature and some-how Correspondent to the Mechanism of the Air we live in by its Magnetism and then we may intelligibly add the more Simple and other evident Qualities as cooling potential Heat Drying Balsamick or Healing Quality c. which I shall take notice of under these Heads in these Waters 1. They Invigorate the Blood and Juyces as a Chalybeat 2. They Astringe 3. They Incide and Attenuate by their Acidity 4. The Acidity is Connatural and agreeable to the Ferment of the Stomach and other Offices which these Waters promote 5. On the same account and partly in that it is Sulphurous it is a Fraenum or Curb to Fermentations and Flatulencies and performs more effectually what Oxycrate does in the Vapours in Women and Spirit of Sulphur or Vitriol in Men whence the Acid seems adjusted to the Temper of our Bodies which can preserve the just Fermentations as it destroys or reduces Exorbitant ones 6. They depurate the Juyces of forreign or grosser parts lodg'd with the Nourishment in the Body as is evident in the Stone which is but the same thing which they effect in gravelly Waters at their Springs 7. The Acid being Spirituous passes where other Medicines cannot and so are Diuretick and Exterminate and discharge the offensive Matter by Urine and the rest it Volatilizes 8. The Vehicle of this Mineral and Spirit is not apt to Elasticity or Fermentation And on the account of these Qualifications the Chalybeat Waters warm strengthen heal open Obstructions absterge invigorate and thus are capacitated to stop Fluxes of all sorts and remove many Diseases among which the Stone and Affectio Hypochondriaca stand at the Head But although all the sorts of Chalybeat Waters have some Qualifications in common as to invigorate the Blood and cleanse the Viscera yet as they differ in their Salt so likewise in their Virtues which I shall particularly treat of The Virtues of the Acidulae Which Name I would make proper to those Waters that are lightly Chalybeat THese have a fine Acidity not collectible into a Salt the residue upon Distilling being an Insipid Ferrugineous Earth and as I said before give only a Claret red with Gall. That which is proper to this sort of the Chalybeat Waters is That they are free of any gross Salt and have plenty of a Vitrioline Acid with little of the body of the Steel and that Acid more fix'd than in the light Chalybeats In order to understand the Benefit of this I shall observe that there are Cases that require a Water so qualifi'd either on the Score of the Distemper or Constitution of the Patient such as we commonly call Complexion in which a quantity of Steel may do more harm than the Vitrioline Spirit can do good And this must be allow'd me to be in all Cases and Persons where the Blood offends in quantity Floridness and Fluxilness by every one that observes the power Steel has to heat and invigorate the Blood in the Chlorosis And when I consider the opposite Nature of Chalybeat Acids and Nitrous Salts as I observed before I fansie I have a clear Reason for all this One Case that the Body of Steel agrees not in is that Indisposition of fresh-colour'd florid-complexion'd Persons about the last grand Climacterick as I call that of 49 who are liable to Fluxes of Blood or great Tumultuations of it It is very easie to discover the Alkalisat state of the Blood in aged Persons by only tasting the Urine which in those grows almost Caustick The Diseases that this sort of Water is a peculiar in are Apoplexies Phrensies and Fluxes of Blood and because the first of these is a Distemper that has strangely rag'd of late and extraordinarily this last Winter beyond what has been observ'd perhaps ever before to explain the reason of it so much as to give light to the Effect of these Waters may be no unacceptable a Digression Of the Apoplexy THE Reason of an Apoplexy and the Cause of so sudden a Deprivation of Life that great Judge the Prince of Physicians Hippocrates resolves into a Stagnation or Station of the Blood whereby all Motion and Action of the Spirits is taken away
Cap. 5. Part 2. dug in Marle pits These are less transparent and as a Species of Gypsum may be called Selenites Gypseus To the second sort which I take only to be the proper Selenites belong those of these Purging Wells This distinction I think necessary to be observed for though I am inclinable to believe that the Waters wherein the others are found may Purge yet the Selenites as they are related to another sort of Stone and have some variety in the Matrix may vary reasonably enough in their Qualities as the Talceus being produced at a Stone-Quarry the Waters can scarce be supposed to want the Coldness or Hardness such Quarries are wont to communicate And so of the rest The Origine of the Salt of these Waters appears most evidently in the Salt of this Species or sort of them which I shall therefore inquire into by examining the Reason of their Production and compare with the Salt that is nearest in resemblance The Salt contain'd in the Waters which I call Selenitical hath these Qualities or Properties peculiar to them To be soft and melt in the warmth of a Hand to be unfigur'd and â—ret the parts of Excretion besides the middle Nature of it and its being void of Corrosiveness which are common to the other sort In its Softness and Fluxilness Nature and Manner of Production it exactly resembles the Salt that damp Cellars produce and is fix'd in the middle to Cobwebs being the steam of the Earth and more liquid part of what is extracted from it and flows in the moist Air there condens'd And no known Salt in Nature hath the Quality of running in so easie a Heat beside the Selenitical but that And as this confirms its Original so the Reason it further complies with this Account For this soft Salt in these Wells is the flowing part of the Matter produced in them the more solid Particles and figurable being detain'd at the Loam and employ'd in forming the Selenites Now that the Lime-stone which is concern'd in this Production naturally effects this separation by shooting the more dense parts is evident in the use of it to precipitate Metalline parts but more plainly in boiling Sugars The slackning quality of this chalky or limy Salt I hinted before to agree with the Earth of these Wells and it is to be noted That the Salt of the Selenitical is accordingly more uniform not so thickning with Gall nor varying so much towards Nitres and Vitriols as the others do but nearer the Spirit So I conclude the Salt of these Purging Waters of a middle Nature between Nitres and Vitriols and form'd out of the Loam by the help of a Vitrioline Juyce or liquid Salt and collected in moist Cavities The Tryal of the Stones THE Stone which I have before describ'd and is common to all the Wells hath when broke the Loam hardned and is invested with a Gypsum or Trichitis Richmond stone is of a light colour and pale near an Ash-colour not divided by the Gypsum but coated with it some Ferrugineous stains were in one piece In the Air weigh'd two Ounces and 50 Grains on the Water one Ounce two Drams and 26 Grains Epsam a more lax stone like a hardned clod incrusted with a grey chalky coat which Acids wrought on with Ebullition but did not slack in the Water weigh'd in the Air two Ounces and 47 Grains in the Water one Ounce one Dram and 26 Grains Dulwich a darker stone and very hard as Flint and inclin'd to a greenish in the body of it in several places and the Cellulae smaller than Woodham-Ferrys or Harwich or any yet observ'd by me where not greenish it had many sparkles of shining small Particles and when beaten fine was whiter than any In the Air two Ounces and 47 Grains in the Water one Ounce two Drams and 39 Grains and a half Woodham-Ferrys Cells as the former but larger the body oft greenish where expos'd to the Air else Loam-like but the Gypsum seem'd to have penetrated the body of the stone In the Air two Ounces and 46 Grains and a half in the Water one Ounce two Drams and 17 Grains Common Loam in the Air weigh'd two Ounces and 49 Grains in the Water one Ounce and 67 Grains Chalk in the Air two Ounces and 47 Grains and in the Water one Ounce one Dram and one Scruple besides four or five Grains lost by its sâ—ackning The Salts extracted from the Stones they all smelt Lixiviat in boyling Richmond stones Lixivium with Lignum Nephriticum took the colour of Rhenish or White-wine or near a Buff-colour With Tincture of Logwood a Red tawnyish Gall a faint Tincture of Red but clear Turnsole Liquor sharpned with Spirit of Vitriol it brightned the Red a little Oyl of Tartar per deliquium no alteration but did not readily mix The Lye of the Roasted Richmond Stone With Tincture of Logwood brighten'd the Red higher than Pump-water With Turnsole preserv'd the Red. With Gall a high Lemmon colour and clear Lignum Nephriticum clear and not colour'd as Spirit of Vitriol does Oyl of Tartar p. d. thick large curdle The Lye exceeded not Pump or common Water in weight Aqua fortis wrought violently on this Stone but extracted no Tincture but jelly'd but not so firmly as the other no Precipitation could be obtain'd from the Jelly No Efflorescence when mix'd with common Salt and expos'd to the Air some time as mineral bodies do Dulwich raw stones Lixivium remain'd thickish white and of taste brackish With Lignum Nephriticum a deep Malaga Sack colour and not very clear as Alkalys Redded the tawny of Tincture of Logwood deep as Alkalys though not so purplish but near that of Acids Gall yellow like small Beer and very thick did not precipitate though it stood a night the cloud gather'd upward and at bottom more clear like common Salt Tunsole it dull'd as Alkalys toward a Blew Liquid Salt of Tartar it curdled large and precipitated as Sal Marine Upon the whole it resembled common Salt especially with a little of the Nature of Sal Gem or withall somewhat Allkalisat The Lye of Dullwich Stone Roasted With Tincture of Logwood a dull Ale-colour as Cellar-Salt and â—laubers Salt Gall a pale Red not more cloudy than the Lye Liquid Salt of Tartar a thick curdle Syrup of Clove Gilliflowers took away the Red and rendred it durty and dark as Alkalys effect With Lignum Nephriticum a pale yellow and clear which grew thicker upon standing six or eight hours like Spirit of Salt Solution of Sublimate no alteration as Vitriols About six Drams with an Ounce and half of Aqua fortis made considerable Effervescence and thickned in two or three hours to a Jelly of a grey dirty colour the powder of the Stone not settling to the bottom Aqua fortis on Chalk wrought thickned a little but not Jelly'd on common Loam did not work Brick Earth only a small Effervescence Cimolia purpurascens
of Nitre does upon long Infusion but thickish as embody'd Salts I saw some Salt boyl'd up in Copper without any Verdigrease Tincture so mild is the Acid. Acton Water in Middlesex THE Earth of this Well afforded Rhomboid Tale as a Gentleman that liv'd at the place and inform'd me express'd it Much Nitrous Efflorescence appears in the Clay about the Well The Spring opens Northerly is reputed one of the strongest Purgers about London It is noted to occasion a great Soreness of the Intestine and Fundament which is reasonably refer'd to the quantity of Salt they wash from the Body but the Penetration of the Salt of the Water may make it more pungent and keen The Water was whitish not so clear as Epsam not saltish but rather to me seem'd sweet with a little of the Bitterness of Epsam It curdled with Soap as do all The Salt of this Water is soft and not christalliz'd wherein it agrees with Epsam Salt though I thought scarce so soft The distinct Nature of this Water or Salt of this Water consists in that this Salt is more Calcarious or of the Nature of Salt of Lime for the Water boyl'd high disturb'd a Solution of Sublimate in fair Water whence it precipitated a yellowish Sediment a little more yellow than the Water which it left white And this Salt is likewise more Nitrous or hath more of the Nature of the Salt of the upper Soyle as appears in that it takes a pale Yellow from Gall but dusky and disturb'd as common Salt doth effect not so dirty nor so apt to precipitate as Sal Calcarium With Syrup of Violets it took a Green with Tincture of Logwood made with Brandy a deep Red and purplish as Nitrous Salts do with cold Tincture of Logwood which hot would give a full Purple The Salt did not precipitate fine Silver out of Spirit of Nitre which common Salt would A Pint and half of the Water yielded forty eight Grains of Salt in which was six Grains and a half of reddish Earth on which Acid Spirits wrought The Earth precipitated in Boyling Colchester Water from the North end in ESSEX THE Water boyl'd Meat without discolouring the Flesh which it rather whiten'd The Water was much the same with Acton giving with Tincture of Logwood a purplish Red a little Tawny and with Gall a clear Yellow and pale but in half an hour grew turbid with a whitish Cloud But with Lignum Nephriticum it became a little darkish but clear a little toward what Spirit of Vitriol does Woodham Ferrys in Essex being a Chalybeat is reserv'd to that Class The Water at 〈◊〉 THis Water claiâ—s the principâ—l Place being made Illustrious 〈…〉 in which His Majesty hath 〈…〉 his Mansion Palace The 〈…〉 at this Well hath much the 〈…〉 cluster'd Columns form'd at 〈…〉 this difference that this at Kensington is depress'd and flat on one side as they are prominent on the other and at the base or flat side are more truly separable than the Sâ—â—â—nites of these Waters usually are and so nearer resemble the â—uscovy Glass The Pyrites which I received from this Well was very hard of a greenish Gray or Hazel colour and 〈◊〉 it differ'd from all in wanting the crust of Gypsum or Trichitis so upon infusion of Aquaâ—ortis it did not coagulate into a Jelly but yet after the working of the Aqua fortis which was very violent the Powder settled not but remain'd of a yellow or Iron rust colour Flâ—ing or turbid though it stood some days The Mineral Matter therefore being reâ—â—iv'd or taken up by the 〈…〉 with fair Water and 〈…〉 and not much 〈…〉 â—â—rrosive Acidity This Liqâ—or which remain'd 〈…〉 the Settlement of the Powder or Dust upon further Diluting sent down no Mineral parts but upon mixing a little powder'd Gall turn'd immediately of a blew Black as is the Property of Iron to produce Distill'd Vinegar on this Stone made no Effervescence yet extracted the Chalybeat parts as appear'd in the Taste The weight of this Stone was one Ounce and one Grain in the Air and just six Drams in the Water which was the weight of the piece which I had The Water was clearer than these usually are and less bitter than Epsam but of a more manifestly Saline Taste In the Quantity of nine Ounces and five Drams and 48 Grains it outweigh'd common Water 37 Grains It s Alkalisate Nature appear'd in giving a Red inâ—lin'd to a Purple with Tincture of Logwâ—â—â— in that Spirit of Nitre did not disturb it in that it troubled and rendred Milky a Solution of Sublimate in fair Water and sent down a white Precipitate as Salt of Chalk doth and in giving the same Green with Syrup of Violets It became dark and sooty with Syrup of Cloves as Alkalys yet not so much Alkalisate as to turn greenish nor indeed to lose all the Red. It had an Acidity in that it curdled Spirit of Harts-horn and the same it produced with the Lixivium of Salt of Plants With Gall it became thick and white as the Salts of Earths that are not perfectly Nitrous but of a mix'd Nature or where the Acid and Salt disturb each other or oppose Earths as they approach to Nitres or are more Alkalisate darken this white With Lignum Nephriticum it took a deep Yellow or Orange and clear as Alkalys produce With Iron and Gall it took a reddish Black and rusty as Alkalys and not apt to hold it without Precipitation I found in two Quarts about 40 Grains of Earth light leafy and gray which Distill'd Vinegar wrought on The Salt was soft and unfigur'd mostly but had some Stiriae form'd in it flat and not pointed at least most of them This Salt melted not easily as Epsam Salt but bore a good Heat and had a much greater quantity of Earth in it the hardness of which was felt on the Tongue in tasting the Salt Much Earth precipitated in boyling as others but it bore not readily a Scum till near boyl'd up at least as in making other Salt till the falling of the Salt I judged this Salt of the Nature of an Alkaly and of kin to Epsam but yet to differ being not so resembling the Spirit of Nitre in the Tryal with Gall and accordingly that Water increas'd Ink-making without turning it Red so that this seems more related to the gross or embody'd Salt which accordingly makes it disturb a Solution of Gall. This Water differs from the rest in that it troubles but very little a Solution of Sal Saturni in common Water in which it resembles more Saltpetres which doth not disturb it at all The Salt of the Water did trouble a Solution of fine Silver in Spirit of Nitre which in a long time precipitated the Precipitation was neither so quick nor so full nor in so large Curdles as common Sea-salt or Rock-salt doth it Puring Waters in an even Loamy Clay more Simple and not variegated Richmond Water in SURRY THis
I have been pleas'd with the evidence of Art when I could not readily cure a Disease viz. an Epilepsie that came on at 27 in the true Prediction of its declining and departure at 30 and of the Diseases that assaulted at 14 superceded at 18. The Apoplexy which is cured by the more acid Chalybeats and reliev'd by the light ones transcends the common Notions of the other glandular Diseases as it is an Affection of the very Root of Life it self and requires a particular Consideration in order to inform us how and where this Remedy is proper for although it is evident that it is an Affection of the medullary part of the Brain whence Sense and Life is distributed yet with submission to better Judgment I conceive the Accounts of this Disease are at a loss about the Production of it when they come to the immediate Cause and the long Excursion this Enquiry demands as it is unavoidable so is so seasonable also by reason of the Increase and Frequency of this Disease here especially in the Country where this Year it has insulted more than ever that I question not but the Acceptableness of the Disquisition will excuse it I shall distinctly view the Nature of an Apoplexy and Disposition it consists in The Causes of it The Differences and lastly The suitable Intentions and Indications The general Phaenomenon upon Dissection of those that dye of this Distemper being an Effusion of Blood upon the Brain Authors do generally agree in placing the Production of this Disease in an Obstruction made at the Brain and must be allow'd to be produced in the Cortical part and conceive this to be made by some Congestion in the Blood-Vessels and which the Learned Dr. Cole supposes may be of viscous or serous Matter as it is either in quantity or freshly excited or else Polypous Concretions or any other obstructing Matter to admit which the Brain is pre-dispos'd by its Laxity or Openness in which likewise the bare Distention of the Arteries may suffice to produce it I shall with all Deference to those great Authors and particularly the last humbly offer my Conception though more grosly yet as it appears to me and best explains the Benefit of the Mineral Waters in this Case thus That an Apoplexy is a Disease of the Cortex cerebri not founded in any Obstruction though often attended by them but consisting in the Ruin of its mechanical Crasis and Temper which is such as Steel restores and Niters destroy the Causes and Nature of which is common to other Glands and produceth a Paroxysm by a Hamorrhage or Admission of Flatulent Parts consequential to this which Distemper the Suicus nutritius may arrive at either by Age or Qualities contracted upon Congestion and grossness of the Chyle or receive by Particles communicated from the Air or all joyntly besides violent Causes and so may truly be said to be seated not in the Sanguinary Vessels but Glandular Ducts But as they wrongfully charge the Blood-Vessels with the cause in that an Apoplexy may be produced without any of this as is clear from Dr. Willis's Instance so they seem incumbred in the explaining the Reason of the Abolition of Sense and Motion and in the place and nature of this Congestion the Mistakes in the Nature of this Distemper seem to me to be owing to the ill Notion of Animal Mechanism and use of the Brain wherein they suppose a Circulation or passage of Animal Spirits so necessary to Life as that the Interruption of them sufficeth to abolish it The Difficulties of which way of Solution are taken notice of by all the Writers on this Subject rather than explain'd My Sense in this Matter I shall give by considering first the Inconveniencies the Brain can suffer without this Deprivation 2ly The Vital Mechanism of the Brain And 3ly The necessary Cause or Reason of its Production as appears in the Brain And to be brief first it appears from the Dissections in Wepfer Willis and others that all the passes of the Animal Spirits at once cannot be obstructed nor a Compression of the Brain and Cerebel nor an Inflammation of the Brain or its Meninges produce it there are as just Exceptions lye against plenty of Blood nor is it from Stones generated Abounding Serum may be without it and Water beap'd within the Cranium and Ventricles And Plater's Instance proves that a Carnous Schirrhous and Fungous Tumour on the Corpus Callosum produced Stupidity and Death without an Apoplexy 2ly I shall consider the grand Design of the Brain and its vital Mechanism of which though it be inextricable in its private and more recluse Motions yet thus much appear Although Animal Mechanism is compound and Respiration is necessary to the Motion of the Blood to which the Lungs are accordingly framed and upon which Motion Life depends yet as the Pulse of the Heart is perform'd by the Nerves so the Air Atmospherical upon whose obstructing or fixing so as to hinder its Elasticity Life so suddenly ceaseth in some Animals seems to act only on the Nerves as in those that have membranous Lungs where no more Blood circulates in their Lungs than is necessary for the supply of the part whereby the Air seems to serve the Circulation in other Animals for greater force and greater Heat for those Animals first nam'd are colder and live long without Food and so both Air and the Niter of it is useful with equal Pace and in equal Degree to the Motion necessary at the Lungs to the fury of the Circulation of the Blood and to the Nourishment to be consum'd and it is observable that the Par vagum and intercostal Nerves which are the Instruments of involuntary Motion serve both Lungs and Ventricle The use then of this Heat in the Blood seems to prepare a due Elasticity in the Chyle that is to serve the Brain or parts of it be it the Spirituous part in what sense soever being accommodated to some Disposition of the Brain for in the external Air there is besides all this but answerable to this a due degree of Elasticity or quantity of elastick parts or compressure of them necessary to Life which is proportion'd to the coldness of the Animal perhaps but certainly adapted to the Spring of Life in the Brain as is seen in Fish which live by the Air yet dye in the open Air and is confirm'd in Whitings which swim deep in the Water aâ—d so with us are not liable to be taken by Nets and dye instantly upon being taken out of it The Brains of Animals are accordingly adapted to this use those who use the greatest force of the Air as Birds have the Cortical part vastly larger in proportion than men no doubt to separate the Air and perhaps corroborate the Brain and their Lungs fix'd accordingly and Fish have least Brain and Cortex too The Nature of Life and use of the Brain being thus stated to consist in the justice of a Spring
And by this insight I cured others of the same Disease by Emulsions of Alkalys first to remove the Acidity and then by a Sudorifick Decoctum amarum and closing the Course with Chalybeats At the very same time Apoplexies insulted in a strange degree and Colds affecting the Head These all held in 97 which ending in a long and gentle Frost upon this in 98. This Disease became Epidemick in that it seiz'd so frequent and was the issue of other Diseases and from the general invasion of Vertiginous cases Acute Diseases of this Year proved to me the Matter to be an Acid Nitre dispos'd to corrupt and exulcerate by which the Diseases seiz'd usually with a Catarrh and ended with some Abscess Putrid Feavers began with the Spring and Catarrhal yet reigning from the declining Summer great fluor of the Blood appear'd at the same time with Dysenteries Gripes and ill-natured putrid Pains in the sides To all which the Cures happily succeeded that were directed by this reason of them and confirm'd to me that the matter in the Air was advanced to that Nature as to be more dispos'd to Putridness and Corrosiveness which I therefore assert to be the Nature of the Air in the present case in many these Vertigo's and Pains in the Head blinded the sight almost my opinion that in this the Nature of the Niter consisted and that it flow'd together with grosser parts of the Air was favour'd by the Observation of the Retinue of his Excellency the Earl of Manchester in their return from Venice this Spring who upon their passing the Sene suffer'd from the Wind which blew in their face an unusual effect of common Cold which was a Tumor of the whole Face and universal Scabbiness agreeable to the before observ'd Qualities of it I shall only add one Particular more which is that I have observ'd that those places that have been most troubled with Apoplexies have been level and moist so as in one Village so situate these that dy'd went off mostly on a sudden Having thus asserted the containing Cause of this Disease and shewn the Procatarctick to proceed from a Congestion of Chyle in this as in other Glands and to consist in the spoiling of its due Temper and Crasis by inducing a Corrosive and Nitrous Quality The Disposition to this Distemper appears likewise to be contracted by Replentia and Otium and which ruins the Tone and Temper of the Glands the same way but soonest thick Fermented Liquors especially the stalest The dexterous Effect of these in all Diseases of the whole Glandular kind is sufficiently known How much by this Observation we may hope to have this Disease within our power though we cannot mend the Air may be understood by considering that the Air hath no power to change our Bodies but as it hath a Delinquent Chyle to work on as I note afterwards But as this plainly exhibits the best method to prevent so also that the Chalybeat Waters are the best Cure Their power in Diseases of the Glands to remove Obstruction and restore the due Crasis and Temper of them I have shewn and as the Steel is the only proper Body to do this which mechonically serves our Life at least in preserving this Tone and Crasis which Alkalys and Niters destroy So it seems to affect the Glands only since in a Chlorosis it is not easie to conceive the so sudden raising the Blood by so small quantity of even a Tincture of Steel otherwise but to keep to experience as it appears that in these Distempers of the Glands the Chalybeat Waters are the only Remedy and as the light sort deobstruct best so the more Acid sort are peculiar in this Disease more powerfully resisting and correcting the Nature of the Chyle and rendring it more fluxile and suppressing Haemorrhage and to strengthen and make firm the Brain which is observable in their Virtues recited But to remove a Disposition to this Disease the Time or State or cause of it may either make the use of these Waters exceptionable or require a particular regard either before or in Conjunction with them I shall consider the differences thence arising and the distinct regard they claim that these may be distinguish'd with some certainty and may be of use to direct us there is the highest reason to believe that since in all the Cures recited by Authors the Nature of the Disease is ever found answerable Now considering that an Apoplexy consists in the Admission of parts to the Brain that either are Aerial as is what the Blood conveighs or Elastick and Flatulent as is the Matter in the Aged and that the admission of both is owing to the Crasis and Temper of the Brain as of the other Glands destroy'd or degenerated which is perform'd in the Chyle by the Air or degeneracy of the Juyce by other means as may abundantly be prov'd to be the Case of Hemorrhages in general we are hereby help'd to understand the reason of the variety of the Remedies that have been observed to set aside Apoplectick Fits And although in a Case of such danger Applications are justly made of universal Intention yet they usually succeed as they attend the State and Nature of it as well as are commanded by the strength of the part and Intentions are thus best urg'd that respect the Matter as confirm'd when Old 2ly When capable of Revulsion by Bleeding when that confines it as in the Plethorick by Vomits in full Feeders 3ly By promoting the Secretion by Catharticks as in the Phlegmatick Blisters c. 4ly By thinning and lessening the Flatulency of the Matter and driving it forward either into the Secretory Vessels or at worst through the Brain on which strong Apoplectick Waters are observ'd to effect when the Fit is without a Procatarxis or changes into a Hemiplegia being small in quantity Again Bleeding may be the only Remedy which ought to be urg'd from the Nature of the Disease impelling joyning and indicating as a Disposition to Haemorrhages or stopping of one and thus I have more than once by Bleeding chiefly made an Apoplexy remove and change it self into a Gout in the Foot Lastly Some Cures have been perform'd by Medicines that regard only the Nature of the Matter by resisting the Flatulency and Coldness of it and perhaps by strengthning the Brain withal And that is to be further and more nicely considered for beside the general Intentions which the State of the Matter requires to be particularly insisted upon with reference to the Fit either to be remov'd or prevented There are also some Conditions of this Disease particularly to be respected in curing a Disposition to it which it receives from the Constitution of the Part Confirmedness of the Matter Quality of the Matter and lastly the Causes original or concurring of this Distemper For although these Waters are experienced a compleat if not sole Remedy in the two common Cases of Apoplectick Persons a Haemorrhagious Disposition and a
Metalline Parts and Nature and in differing Climates is advanc'd toward an Alkalisat or Urinous Salt in proportion to the Heat of the Country and Situation of the Soil And I never found any Metalline Bodies or Juyces yet but what were embrac'd in Stone or Loam and not in Clays 4. Hence Waters that wash this upper Soil or Rivers and Springs that lye in Clays are Saline Gravelly Waters yield little besides some stony parts unless they have wash'd off some Salt from Neighbouring Soils which discovers its Original in the Essays 5. Not to take notice of the Qualities of Humecting or Moistning c. the most considerable Affection of Water is that it is void of Elasticity and igneous Particles and unapt to Fermentation Yet these Observations of mine I offer not otherwise than to submit them for better Judgment and Experience to inquire into The Waters under Examination are the Saline namely The Purging ones and the Acidulae or Chalybeat ones Of these first PART I. Of the Chalybeat Waters of England THE Chalybeat Waters are preferable not only for Antiquity of Discovery but also for Virtue being an effectual Refuge for many deplorable Diseases that no other Remedy prevails in They are quick Springs ever flowing in a Sand or Gravel I shall first state their Characteristicks or Signs by which they are distinguish'd from other Waters and then explain those Circumstantial Signs and their Reasons in an account of their Nature Their Characteristicks are 1. To shew the Mineral they bear which is Steele in their Taste and with Galls to evidence it in the blew or purplish black Colour proper to Vitriols of Iron as also by dropping a Ferrugineous Ocre at the Spring 2. The second is The Lightness of the Spirit that holds the Tincture which vanishes upon exposing to the Air and leaves the Water without the Mineral Tincture The lightness of this Spirit so affects those Waters of this kind that are more void of Salt as to render them lighter than Rain-water distill'd 3. The Spring ever proceeds from a Rock usually consisting of gravelly Stones cemented together 4. If it joyn any other common Water immediately near the Fountain it thence incrusts the Stones and Sticks which it washeâ— with a Mortar-like crust The notice of this Incrustation has made many Learned Men and particularly Domâ— Panarolus erroneously to entertain an ill Opinion of the Water because as he observed in that four Miles from Rome extra Portam hostiensem vulgo S. Pauli of the stony Matter the Water leaves where it passes and this through the Mistake that this Matter is in the Water at the Spring 5. To bear an Oyly or Bituminous Film on it like a Scum 6. To give a Green upon the Mixture of Syrup of Violets These Waters differ on account of the Salt of the Water in the Quantity or Quality of it or proportion of the Steel they bear and so may not have the second Qualification which is proper to the simple ones For the Nature and Reason of these Waters we must examine these particulars not only since most of them are the Indexes but also are effected by the Essential Properties of these Waters and shew the Metalline parts and the Nature of the Menstruum or Spirit The Metal is evident from the blew black they take with Galls from the Taste and lastly the Okar which it casts out at the opening of the Spring which calcin'd with Salt and expos'd to the Air shews none of the Verdigreese Colour that Hungarian Vitriol gives upon the same Trial. The Menstruum or Spirit is a distinct thing from the Salt of them and of a differing Original being contrary in Nature not held by it and being found in those Waters that want the Salt for the Salt of those that have any is wash'd from the Earth by the Water and the Spirit is only a Steam that comes along with the Gravel The Spirit or Menstruum that bears this Tincture is Volatile and continues not with the Water many hours scarce well one in the light sort though well cork'd up What effect Hermetick Seal might have I never had encouragement to attempt as never believing that a fair Trial where the power of the Fire came so near and so naked and the Chalybeat Waters that abound with Salt are often Nitrous and so may mortifie the Spirituous Acid which may make it in vain look'd for in the Receiver This I mention for caution sake for that this Spirit is Volatile yet that it can be detain'd by a cover of Oyl for ten days I lately try'd with a Light Chalybeat at Felstead The Original of this Vapour is pointed out to be low and to proceed with all Gravel as is evident in free Springs that upon laying Iron at the Eruption of them will Tinge with Galls which power the Water loses at a Rods distance but in these it is less in Quantity The Nature of this Spirit is Vitriolick They disturb not a Solution of Sublimate in fair Water and with Lignum Nephriticum thicken a little with a Cloud but do not the least change yellowish as Pump-water and Nitrous but near that of a Solution of Vitriol or its Spirit upon the same though scarce so clear because all these Waters have a touch of the Salt of the Soyl as appears in the green with Syrup of Violets They all likewise render a Solution of Sal Saturni in fair Water milky by which the Spirit is distinguish'd from Saltpetre or its Spirit Note That though these Tryals are fairly made only in the lighter simpler Waters in order to make a Judgment of them yet they hold in the heavier Waters except that Tryal with Lignum Nephriticum in which they discover their Salt by the yellow colour they give Now the Nature of Salt of Vitriol appears upon examination to differ very little from common Salt if any thing more than in the Qualities impress'd in it by the Metal and it is worth our notice that Vitriols and Nitres precipitate each other being the Product of two several Regions which will enlighten to the Understanding the next Particulars observ'd to attend these Waters The Earth and Soyl of these Springs is ever a Sand or Gravel and the Water issues from or rather makes a Rock of cemented Stones which are never to be found but where the Water is Vitriolick This sort of Rock is open to view at Tunbridge and has never yet fail'd where the Ground in which these Springs are found has been open'd as at Notly Felstead and other lesser Springs I am apt to think that Iron may have a particular Qualification for the cementing of Earth and Stone but that I may follow my subject more closely I shall only consider it as the next Particular illustrates it These Waters when they joyn another Water at least a gravelly one e'er they have ran so far as to lose their Spirit precipitate a Mortar-like substance wherewith they incrust the
or of the Nature of Spirit of Vitriol which is Essential to the Precipitations Marks-Hall Water in Essex THIS Water joyning another in crusts as do the rest it is much the same with the preceding containing little Steel but a large share of an Acid not so Fugitive as where it is in less quantity or ill coupled with a Salt It gave a bright Red a very little purplish not so deep as the preceding The Colour it advanc'd with Gall it lost again two days after without Precipitation of any Ferrugineous parts in which it differs from other Chalybeats It rendred a Solution of Sal Saturni troubled but not very milky much as the rest and it tinctur'd a high Yellow with Lignum Nephriticum as do Nitres and a little clouded It weigh'd likewise as the other just the weight of common Water Ilmington Water in Warwickshire THIS Water of Ilmington being of the same heavy kind and which as I observe above require less Accuracy I shall give the Examination of it out of Dr. Derham's Account of it With Syrup of Violets it turned Green with Galls Purple like Martial Vitrioline Waters It exceeded common Water in weight near half a Dram in a Pint being weigh'd in a dry Season Indeed it is much the heaviest of this kind in England for it purges not as he informs us p. 53. but by Urine However That it cannot vie with the lighter Chalybeats in Virtue I shall explain in treating of their Virtues The Water in an open Bottle drop'd its Ocre and with that its power of Tinging with Galls in twelve hours time that is a great part of it which it did not begin to do in a Bottle well stop'd under a Fortnight p. 88. It yielded a Salt of an irregular shape upon the residue after distilling Acid Spirits wrought with great Effervescence and not Alkalysat p. 82. The Salt was pale and would not flagrate p. 60. nor coagulate Milk p. 77. The Earth like Red Ocar and is contain'd in great quantity a Quart yielding near a Spoonsul It appears hence that the Salt of this Water is of an Alkalisat Nature and that it differs from the Salt of Fat Mellow or Loamy Earths which Purge as we shall find in the latter part of this History Aylesham Water in the County of Norfolk THIS Water is in a Gravel it has prevail'd in Fame and Resort over Oulton Water in the same County which is a lighter and far more effectual Water partly from the more convenient Situation of the place and partly from the wrong Estimate that is made of Chalybeat Waters by those that jndge of their Goodness by the depth of their Tinging with Galls It is heavier a little than ordinary Gravel Water with Galls or Oken leaves takes a blew black and makes a direct Ink as do those Waters whose Salt has somewhat of the Nature of common Salt That the Metalline parts of these Waters are purely Chalybeat I inform'd my self not in all but in some as that at Leez and some other smaller ones by exposing to the Air the subsident Okar lightly calcin'd with Sea-salt which would discover Copper if any were in it and besides by the colour they give upon Tryals with Gall the blew black colour being proper to Vitriol of Iron The lesser Springs of this kind are very numerous in Gravelly Countries scarce a Village without one upon the preceding Instances of them I shall make Observation of their differences and the Classes they must be reduc'd into whereinto yet I did not adventure to digest them lest in the Sense of others the difference should appear only gradual These weighty Waters are either 1. the more pure and simple Acidulae which bear less of the Steel retain their Acidity longer and have not their colour with Gall dark or disturbâ—d as the other sort nor contain any Salt collectible of this sort seems Knaresborough and which is yet the higher of this kind Marks hall Water which gives a thin and bright Red with Gall scarce beyond a Rasberry and loseeh its quality of Tinging without Precipitation of Okar is of a pleasing acid Taste as it were winy and yet gives not the proof with Lignum Nephriticum that Vitriols do or Spirit of Salt but thickish reddish and cloudy as the Seminitrous Salt shot in Cellars Or 2ly Atramentous which give a full Black with Gall and with respect to the colour they give they are either blewish or reddish the reddish as that at Wittham kept a Week will be thickish and turbid with Gall but disturb not a Solution of fine Silver in Spirit of Nitre which the Leez Water which gives a blew black being more related to common Salt did in a great measure precipitate Another difference that is considerable in these Waters is the bulk or quantity of Salt they contain as the Illmington Water proves which is not only much heavier than other Waters but varies in its Effects and equally to the grossness of the Salt neither reaches the recesses of Nature so far nor passes so well To obviate some Objections I shall observe that the Reason why these Waters which are equally with the other sort capacitated to precipitate the earthly parts out of gravelly Water are not likewise equally qualified with Lightness by the same Vitrioline Spirit is because the Salt of these Waters is so far Vitrioline as to be apt to joyn a Chalybeat Acid and consist with it but yet to be separated by Heat and is in some small measure of Nature the same with that which is an Ingredient in Vitriols for the Liquor of Vitriols if boyl'd with too great a Fire will precipitate their Ferrugineous parts which the Boylers cure by adding more Iron to it And these Waters after they have drop'd the Okar and cease to tinge Galls with Iron will become Atramentous again the first Alteration being chiefly perform'd by the Mortification of the Esurine Salt by the Nitrous For besides the Argument drawn from the not abiding of the Steel in these Waters the Nitrous Nature of the Salt is conspicuous in its high colour it takes with Lignum Nephriticum which Vitriols give not nor do the light Chalybeat Waters that proceed from a Ground where the Soyl is Fat and Bituminous as I observ'd that at Felstead to be and which yields little or no Salt Of the Waters that are Light and purely Chalybeat I Have clear'd the Reason of the Lightness of these Waters and with that have asserted the Nature of the Spirit to be Vitrioline since all those Waters are found to be so where these Incrustations are found And as the weighty Waters take a full high yellow Tincture from Lignum Nephriticum so this light sort take no slain with the same Wood but retain their colour only disturb'd with a light white Cloud flying in it Lignum Nephriticum makes no alteration in a Solution of Vitriol nor in Water sharpened with Oyl of Vitriol These Waters do not well conserve
and on which it operates partly by the Insinuation of its Elastical and other Irregular Particles partly by the Interposition as well as Lancination of the Nitrous Raâ—ous Parts which promotes the Comminution of it whereby the Crasis of it may be alter'd if such Air be admitted as shall over-check this Agitation 2. The Nervous Juyce which he supposes lyable to Impressions in some degree analogous to what are made on the Blood from Substances mix'd with it He supposeth some of the admitted Substances of the Air may be deposited into the Nerves at their Original or that it must communicate with the Blood in receiving some of the Viscous parts produced in it by the Air and that some more subtile Particles must be admitted through the Pores To which the same worthy Author adds That he conceives them in some due Proportion necessary to the due Spiritualization of this Juyce Again The solid parts are lyable to the same Inconvenience and to retain them longer Lastly The Brain may be affected not only by the Mediation of the Blood but also by the Airs affecting the Mammillary Processes or the Ears or the Extremities of the Nerves in all parts of the Skin And this pressure of the Air may be unequal some part of it being mov'd with greater Violence where is greater Dilatation or a part kept warmer And this Injury of Air Tenderness and ill Digestion through want of Exercise makes the Body obnoxious too And thus the Brain may suffer in that Continuity due Confirmation and Repletion of its parts wherein this Author supposes the tone of the parts to consist So that in the Author 's own words as well as Sense The part affected may either be the whole Brain or any considerable part of it and either the Cortical or Medullar but especially or at least first the Cortical from whence the disaffected Matter is transmitted to the parts of it which lye deeper where the Animal Spirits principally exert themselves the Nature of the Distemper to consist in the sudden Abolition of the due Excrasie and Distribution of thâ—â— thence the immediate Cause most usually when unavoidably fatal an Effusion of Blood out of its Vessels upon the Substance of the Brain Though I conceive says he a bare 〈◊〉 of the Arteries there may occasion it as also may perhaps a Congestion of Viscous or Serous Matter when it comes to a considerable degree and becomes freshly excited or else Polypous Concretions or if we can suppose it any other obstructing Matter deposited in it may at last produce it and the Pre disposition of the Brain to it to consist usually in the more than ordinary Laxity or Openness of it And whatsoever either first causes a Congestion of Blood or 2ly otherwise so Indisposes it that it cannot readily and duly circulate through its usual Vessels in the Brain or 3ly disaffects the Brain whether by weakning its Tone or altering the Figures of its passages or straitning them too much may occasion Apoplexies And the greater Urgency or Violence of such antecedent Causes may introduce a greater Frequency of them than ordinary Thus I have given the Notions of this Distemper distinctly for these Reasons 1. It sets the Distemper as we do a Picture in all Lights to try which way we may see it best And 2. As it prepares to the understanding of Apoplexies so in my further Inquiry in many particulars Repetition will be sav'd and less intelligible Parentheses avoided 3. We may by this means observe the Specifick Symptoms of this Distemper and what hints they gave these Authors Information being not to be gain'd by Controversie I shall not inspect the Particulars of these Accounts in which they are not Satisfactory as why after that Frost and not preceding ones why the Aera should be then fix'd and yet the Increase began long before Why the Head should be affected and not other parts rather it being necessary to account for the Reason why Air afflicts one part particularly as we see the Fauces and Throat at the Alps the Lungs at Rome So likewise of the Changes of the Distempers which are temporary and many other things but shall offer some Observations which I submit to the Judgment of the last cited Author and others which if approv'd give a more natural account and may carry on the Inquiries and they are such as answer two Questions or Inquiries 1. Of the Reason of the sudden and accidental Death 2. That may inform us of the Indoles of the Morbifick Matter and how much is observable in the Air that can answer for this My Notion as to the first of these is deduced from these Considerations 1. That the Motion of the Blood is necessary to Life 2. That this is owing to Respiration 3. That Respiration is necessary to Life 4. Both Motion of the Blood and Necessity of Respiration consist in the Elasticity of the Air. 5. I observe that besides the Atmospherical Air that is exhausted by a Pneumatick Engine there is a finer Elastick Air or Matter contain'd in this Atmospheric Air which in an exhausted Receiver hindred the parting of the Marbles which is Elastick too the pressure being ad modum or in Proportion to the force that is capable to separate the cohering Bodies and may be surmounted by a force superiâ—â—â— to it 6. There seems to be a Nitre in the Air necessary to maintain and share in produciâ— the Elasticity of the grosser Atmosphere which being consum'd an Animal dies 7. There are certain Termini fines of the Tenuity and Grossness of the Air on this side of which or beyond the Air becomes 〈◊〉 for the Respitation of Animals Thus Fish that die in an open Air yet are choak'd for want of it if a Pond Freeze and accordingly are provided with Pipes that strain the 〈◊〉 Matter and are stronger and not lyable to the Inconvenience from the force and weight of the Water And lastly as the Matter drawn is finer so there is no need of the Contraction and Opening or Conquassation of the Air to get the Matter out they want which is strain'd by the Water 8. I observe that Animals which have a Crasis of Blood to which less Nitre is requisite as they can be long without Food so can live a considerable time without Air as Tortoises Adders c. and therefore have membranous Lungs in which no more Blood circulates than is required for their Nourishment and so not the whole Blood as in those that have fleshy Lungs 9. This Elasticity is requisite to Life as it keeps in a Springy Motion and so Life ceases either upon a Stoppage of the Air Externally as in a Glass or Internally as we see is the Effect of Damps which by some and those great Men have by mistake been conceiv'd to contain Poysonous Matter and to perform it on that account but the contrary is evident since in Pump-wells the Water is wholsome and a new built House from the
innumerable delirous Fancies that are consequent to it but in the Diseases of the Body as Obstructions of the parts before mention'd with Cephalick Diseases as Convulsions Epilepises Apoplexies c. the last nam'd of which is so often owing to the Pre-disposition of this Distemper as much confirms the account I have before given of it Now although the reason of the Hypochondriac Affection as it gives a reason of the effect of these Waters may make this account satisfactory enough yet it is farther serviceable in discovering the Cure more clearly and perfectly and by giving a right Notion of it may assist in setting the Understanding to rights and help those that are afflicted to make a true Judgment of their Disturbances as well as incourage them to a Cure With respect to a Cure we may observe the Benefit of Exercise and a moderate Diet without fermented Liquors and that Action and Attention are required to Health of Body and Mind That Action is necessary to due Thinking all studious Men may and do observe and the reason is That the Tumults of the Chyle or Stoppages of the Vessels by it are remov'd by the hurry of the Blood which together with steadiness of Mind which I call Attention gives our Engine its free Exercise and Working And as the same thing that Exercise doth with moderate Living is effected artificially by these Waters so the pleasure of an even Life void of these Hurries and Inconveniencies recommend a preventional Method of this way of Living for its Rectitude and Generosity before the Flights and Extreams of the other that must seek for Remedies to Art And it is to be noted That as this Distemper in all its Symptoms and Consequences is effectually cured by these Waters and as it is moderated by the foremention'd means so all that are affected with it find their Error in drinking Wine and strong fermented Liquors as an artificial Support by the great sinking of their Spirits if not other Symptoms likewise about six hours after and by the increase of the Distemper by that means To which I may add what may be no small Information and hath not been taken notice of by Physicians usually That the Distempers that seize the Body at the Climactericks if they be moderated so as to be kept from making any mortal breach will usually in two or three Years time depart of themselves upon moderate living I could give many Instances of Epilepsies themselves as well as Giddinesses Convulsions a beginning Phthisis c. that abated without any means two or three Years after But as this Remedy viz. these Waters relieve variety of Diseases that are induced by the power of distemper'd Chyle or Nourishment and Weakness of Constitution at the Cardines of our Life or Climactericks so the Observation of this may turn to account if we consider That many Distempers that are not usually distinguish'd are of this Original For the enlarging therefore of this Benefit we may observe That the Affectio Hypochondriaca is in this respect but a Species of Distempers which we may call Climacteric or Cardinal For the better understanding of my Sense in this matter I must take notice That though I cannot admit the receiv'd Notion of them fully either as to their Fatality or superstitious Original from Numbers yet that at the Septenaries or near the Body receives its Changes is not to be denied and that then many Diseases have their Original which may execute not fully till some Years after But although every Septenary may be in some sort considerable yet I judge from Experience that some may be reputed Cardinal and that not from the Efficacy of Number which runs the grand Climacteric upon 63. Those that I find reason to name Cardinal are those on which our Life receives a considerable Change of State and though the fourteenth Year on this account cannot be excluded yet Observation of Distempers or Mortality makes me with respect to Diseases to make or name three grand Climactericks and to fix them on those Years when the Body receives its grand Alterations in its Cuspis and declension and these are 21 27 and 49. The Diseases of the first are Hemorrhages and Consumptions which are frequent at that Age to enter the Constitution and not to yield to Remedies till two or three Years after though the Prevention of Exulceration render it curable The Distempers of the second are Cephalick Nervous and Flatulent Those of the third again are Phthises Gouts Stone Hemorhagies Rheumatisms and other Inflammations that proceed from an over Alkalisat Crasis of the Blood as hot burning or smarting running Pains and the like In all which cases these Waters may be expected to be highly serviceable by the same Qualifications that capacitate them to relieve the Hypochondriacal viz. by Astringing Deobstructing Invigorating and taking off either the Orgasm or Degeneracy of the Chyle And I speak not this without some Instances that favour it But from Hypochondriacal Distempers I pass on next to Ulceration of the Kidneys which I have known cured in more than one by Tunbridge Waters which I must make this Remark on That they were Women of the last cardinal or grand Climacterick But yet must not this confine the use of these Waters to that case only or forbid their proper use in like Ulcers in other Ages Thus according to my design I have recited what I have experienced of their Virtues but I must not pass the Cure of Periodical annual Colds and Feavers which I mention above without this useful Observation that as it is the Peccancy of the Chyle or Faeces of it that makes the Body obnoxious to the Effects of the Air so it may be reasonable to expect the use of the same Remedy to be successful in some other Distempers that come under this Consideration Of some general Directions to be observ'd in the Vse of the Chalybeat Waters THE Directions that emerge from the Nature of the Waters and of the Distempers they are used in vary in some measure with the Constitution of the Drinker the State and Nature of the Distemper and Season they are drank in And although the Choice of the Species of Water is directed by the Distemper yet nice or infirm and cold Constitutions make exactness necessary in choosing those that have least Coldness on which account some have found in the light sort Wellenborow and Islington less safe to be drank or to require more caution from their ill Effects on those that have drank them when out of Temper The Season that one would wish to drink these Waters in is a dry Time and Summer the Waters being then strongest and the Season favouring their exerting their Astringency and inspiriting Qualities yet as Distempers do not wait always for the conveniency of the Remedy so the Waters have been found effectual at all Seasons likewise And the incommode of the Season may be help'd by a Glass of somewhat more Generous after the Waters
same abstemious living with Exercise ought to be continued for two Months in which time the Body may be suppos'd to be a little confirm'd And for the same Reason though some Distempers as Stone Jaundies and Melancholy particularly may require some other Intentions to be satisfied and so make a Course of Physick necessary at the same time yet the use 〈◊〉 the Waters is so much the less beneficial by how much it is disturb'd by Purging or any other Medicines and therefore Reason and Experience place this means last But in Apoplexies and some watry Distempers as Dropsie and Chlorosis an Astringent more potent is very necessary to close and strengthen the Parts The most proper and powerful of this kind I intimated above to be the Ens Veneris of Mr. Boyle which if it succeed the Waters as the other Detersives and Purgers are to precede make an entire Course in the surprizing Distemper that I there apply it to and in the room of it I have sometimes used Chalybs Preparat with equal Success if the Apoplectick Symptoms were mild These Waters as they suffer by warming so are apt to bring some Disorders especially in an ill Season or Constitution as Cold Nauseousness difficulty of Urine and Giddiness which are usually provided against by drinking a Glass of Wine after every three or four Glasses of Water for the first few Mornings But because the two last Symptoms do sometimes prove more considerably obstinate I shall take notice that it is good for those that are obnoxious to Cephalick Diseases to provide against the Giddiness procur'd by these Waters by chewing of Nutmeg and indeed Bisket or a Crust of Bread chew'd do the same the motion of the Jaws seeming as necessary as the warming the Stomach And for the Stoppage of Urine shall acquaint the Drinker that where it is not occasion'd by the Stone though Glysters and Purgers may be requir'd sometimes yet it may soon be remov'd without usually only Ol. Terebinth guttis iij. in umbilicum instillatis And the same I have known done by a plentiful Glass of Rhenish But in all these Rules I must make this reserve for the Heavy Chalybeat Waters That Purging is absolutely necessary during the taking of those which are not so clean nor pass so well and may bind the Body too much I have nothing more to add but for a Conservative of Health to recommend the drinking of Tunbridge Waters with Wine in Winter to the Hypochondriacal which are easier to be had than the German Spaw and are as much better than those by how much they are lighter and which in Flasks headed with Oyl will keep well THE Natural History OF THE Purging Waters OF ENGLAND With their Uses PART II. THE Purging Waters of England for their Pleasantness easiness of Working and extraordinary Effects in many Distempers have been justly celebrated but as their Original hath not been yet prov'd but remains a Question among Learned Men so the Varieties of their Natures not having been examin'd have rendred the differences of them unuseful The due Examination of both I shall therefore propose with their Uses which we shall find great and very distinct The Method I shall use shall be to set apart their Principles and then inquire into them and then make Essays of the Waters In order to this I shall distinguish their Characteristicks and proper Signs and trace their Original And that we may proceed surely I have examin'd the Waters at the Wells and the Earths of the several Wells my self except those that I had as sure a Conveniency of inquiring into by some accurate and unquestion'd Friends The Purging Quality of these Waters then resides in the Salt which is peculiar to Wells that have these Qualifications These Purging Waters are all found above the dead Loam in a Loamy Clay that is the same continued to the Foundation or dead Loam This I have found common to the Selenitical Waters as well as others and in this Loamy Clay the Water hath only a level Spring And though the Waters by the Surface may seem to be in a Gravel as those of Richmond yet the Earth as I was there inform'd by those that sunk the Well proves to be a continu'd Clay and without mixture of Gravel down to the dead Loam The Scarborow Waters by an Exception against this being a running Spring and in a Gravel but the Earth of all others that have had a gravelly Surface proving upon Inquiry a Loamy Clay as that of Richmond and that near Colchester it is reasonable to allow me it here where the Spring is not lyable to enquiry and since in my examination of that Spring I shall prove it a complicated one of a Saline Water as the rest joyn'd with a Chalybeat Water which sort are ever running Springs 2. A Nitre ever appears on the Earth about the Springs where it is expos'd to the Air so at Scarborow Woodham-Ferrys Acton c. at Epsam it shews it self like a white Incrustation yet these Nitres all differ from the Salts contain'd in the Waters 3. The Matter impowering these Waters is a Salt of which they contain a great quantity some in a dry Season affording near a Dram in a Pint The Quantities may be collected from the weights of the Waters and this Salt not Volatile 4. They have universally one common Index that is a Stone form'd out of and bearing the face of Loam within when broken At Epsam it is more mellow from the quantity of Chalk that that Soyle affords else it is naturally hard as I observ'd it in all the other Wells almost to striking of Fire with Steel At Alford my Friend inform'd me the Stone would strike Fire but not strong enough to kindle Tinder This Stone is is a sort of Pyrites as the great Naturalist and Learned Physician Dr. Martin Lister rightly names it but that being a name of a Genus of Marcasites and so too large an Appellative I shall particulary describe this which is peculiar to this sort of Mineral Waters This Stone then which is found in these Wells at the bottom near the dead Loam where the Water ooseth in outward crust resembles a Pibble and as unform'd and as differing in bulk most amounting to the size of a Man's Head and more of them are found bigger than less It is heavy and very hard when broke it appears coated with flakes of Gypsum some white some yellowish some Alabastrine not exceeding in thickness the eighth of an Inch and from its breaking and thready Composition is distinguish'd by Naturalists by the name of Trichitis This Coat invests some wholly some are cased here and there only some this passing into divides into parcels The Matter or Body of these parcels too differ in hardness and some in colour containing Iron either of the natural colour as in most or rushy as in Richmond but most of these Stones are pure Loam hardned Richmond Stone had this peculiar to
prove the Salt of these Waters to be the genuine and natural Product of these Principles To all which add That the Purging and Medicinal Qualities resides in the Salt and that the open nature of Clays would discover any Mineral or Metal concern'd and not conceal more than we may observe That we may understand whence or to what is this Salt owing the Original of the Salt and nature both of the Earth and Juyces concern'd in the Production of it I proceed now to examine the Principles The Principles or Ingredients that impregnate the Purging Waters examin'd HAving thus traced the Production of this Salt and determin'd it to the Earth through which the Wells are sunk and Mineral Stone or Juyce contain'd in these Stones we come now to examine these their Nature and what parts of these enter the Composition or how they are concern'd in the Production of this Salt And upon due Essays of these Earths and Stones we shall find in general an Earth rich of Salt Chalybeat or Ferreous parts a Mineral Juyce out of which this Salt seems form'd and we may observe the Salt of the upper Soile somewhat concern'd in and that on the Varieties of the two last the Varieties of the Waters do depend And these I shall enquire into as to their Original and Nature The Earth in which these Wells are and which yields this Salt is a Loamy Clay more mellow and more of a Clay toward the Surface but more loamy toward the bottom The inner Earth is such as our Tiles are made of at Richmond at Epsam they dig both Brick and Tyle Earth too as I remember out of the Hill yielding these Springs So I need not describe the Earth it being known that the ponderous close and fat is used for Tiles and the looser for Bricks The colour of these Earths vary a little and though usually Brown yet in some that colour is brightned near a Gray The Earth of these Springs is sound of these two kinds constantly either a meer Clay of the same face to the bottom as are the Wells where the Salt is Christalliz'd or firm and figur'd or the same Clay mix'd with Veins of Iron and pleasantly Acid Juyce like Spirit of Vitriol and interspersed with Selenites which are form'd in it The Wells where they dig only a pure loamy Clay ever toward the bottom which is seldom more than twelve Feet and I think never more than twenty in depth receives the Water from the sides issuing from between the Stones before describ'd and nothing besides is observable in these Wells Now not only the face and figure of the Salt but its Nature likewise acknowledge this Earth as its natural Patent and all is confirm'd in the manner of its Production The form of the Salt of the Wells usually resembles the Salt shot about them upon the Surface of the Earth which at some is in Stiriae at some appears only like a soft mould The Nature of it is middle between a Nitre and a Vitriol which agrees well with the Earth it is form'd of Nitrous Earths requiring slackning in the open Air. And the manner of the Production of this Salt is fully as agreeable to this account for it is not only at these Wells that this sort of Earth shoots this Nitrous Efflorescence but at all other places it is observable as frequently in Ditches and where-ever it is cast up by the Tile makers and which is worth a Remark as discovering the Reason or Manner of its Production it is to be noted That this Efflorescence appears only where the Air is moist or damp and confin'd This I observe not only to account for the Production of this Salt in Subterraneous Channels but also for the difference of the Salt of the Water from that shooting on the Surface that the Salt of the Water is more Fusil and retains more of the Acid part of the Salt which is collected in proportion to the Closeness and the Moistness or Coldness of the place And as a further Illustration and proof of what I assert I shall give the Reader one or two Essays of Loam taken from common Pits for the making of Tiles which prove that this Earth contains a Salt that may be extracted and hint the manner of its Extraction For although no Loam yields any Salt to an Infusion of boyling Water yet I found that Water sharpened with Oyl of Vitriol or common Salt or Spirit of Salt would extract a Salt and which is yet more that Lime water would slacken it and make it yield one I shall give the Examen of Loam opened by Spirit of Nitre and Spirit of Vitriol Loam Water made by Infusion of common Water sharpned with Spirit of Nitre gave with Tincture of Logwood a pale dusky Tawny Gall a faint blewish Black not thick Syrup of Cloves a dusky Red and palish Sal Absynthii a white curdle which easily dissolv'd in washing and left little Earth Syrup of Violets a bright Red. It differ'd little in taste from what the Spirit of Nitre gave Loam Water two Pounds with Spirit of Vitriol two Drams infused a Week had the maâ—kish taste of the Purging Waters With Tincture of Logwood a sooty dusky colour a little reddish Syrup of Cloves a red not bright Sal Absynthii a white Curdle not easily soluble Syr. of Violets a purplish Red. Sublimate Water no alteration Loam Water made with common Salt With Tincture of Logwood a bright Red. The Salts of these Infusions were collected by evaporating I shall note that these Infusions will detect some Ferrugineous parts in Loam and which seem separated in the Selenitical Earth rather than added The Salt that these Loamy Clays yield as it is of a common Origine with that of common Earth or upper Soile so it seems to vary much on that account with the neighbouring Earth but that this should be so very rich in generating it must be from the more Saline Nature of this Earth or from plenty of some Menstruum to extract it the first may be from the continuation of this Earth with the grand Matrix which in others in intercepted by Lays of Gravel or the like The latter may be from Juyce which is in a sort Vitrioline And the closeness of this Clay does much contribute to this Collection as well as the coldness of it But the Nature of this Juyce comes next to be examin'd under the Essay of the Stones which are Parcels of this Loamy Earth The Stones then which are the proper Index of these Wells and which from their Nature are apt to receive Mineral or Metalline parts must be supposed to contain part of the Ingredients at least of this Salt The Stones I prov'd severally from the several Wells whence I took them my self the Hydrostatical weight of which with some other Essays I shall more conveniently place at the end of this Account I proved them by Ustion or Roasting by Calcination by Sublimation by
alter'd not I essay'd Tinore Cellar-Salt and Lapis Calaminaris which last communicated only a dry â—aste more Corrosive Half the Jelly dissolved in a great quantity of fair Water precipitated not any heavy Powder the dirt flying about in it light The other half distill'd sent over a Liquor near the scent of Spirit of Salt but no Butter The Earth expos'd to the Air had no Efflorescence Dullwich stone melted with Glass did not tinge the Glass but penetrated the Vessel it was melted in which was of Tobacco-pipe Clay which broke smooth like China an effect which the other stones melted at the same time had not Woodhâ—m-Ferrys stones Lixivium tasted sweetish Redded Tincture of Logwood near a Claret but deeper and darker With Gall whitish and turbid as Nitâ—es Note that this was made of the burnt stone but with some Gall flying in it and curdled which is the effect of Salâ—petre Lignum Nephriticum it took a clear Tincture from and of a Canary colour The stone wash'd Jelly'd in Aqua fortis from which nothing could be separated by Sublimation or Precipitation no Efflorescence upon the exposing it to the Air nor was any Metalline Tincture discover'd by Fusion with Glass Epsam stones Lixivium with Oyl of Tartar per deliquium grew white and thick with Gall a fine and clear Yellow With Tincture of Logwood a dull pale Tawny It slack'd not in Water it jelly'd not in Aqua fortis the Powder remaining heavy and close at the bottom I boyl'd some of the Stain in Lye and in Water sharpen'd with Spirit of Nitre I infus'd some but from neither could make any discovery by Colour or Precipitation So now I come to the Essays of the Waters and Nature of the Salts therein contain'd Selenitical Waters Ebbisham commonly Epsam Water in SURRY EPsam Water was the first of the Purging kind discover'd in England viz. 1630 or soon after The Hill is a Clay of a brown colour and reddish and where the Wells are more grey The Well is about twelve foot deep the Earth where the Spring is afforded the Selenites plentifully at a private Well they were Columns the sides and superficies of which were inequilateral Parallelograms posited with their edges downward and their ends meeting in the centre In a Well a few feet distant and at the publick Well they were Rhomboid At both ends of the Town is Châ—lk dug and the Hill here and there hath veins of blew Loam Of the private Well which was newly sunk I inform'd my self by examining the Earth cast out of it which I receiv'd of the Owner Mr. Symonds together with this Account The upper Earth for two Spit deep was the same then they came to a harder and Loamy which lasted about seven feet then to a looser which sparkled with small Selenites as at the publick Well this held for two feet where they came at the Stones and Water together The Water in Summer-time flow'd in at the rate of an Ale-barrel in 24 hours Below the Selenites they came at a dead heavy Earth and black partaking of Iron under which was the common dead Loam or Cortex of the Mineral Region And though they dug three or four feet deeper yet neither was Water or the former signs found As the Selenites had somewhat of the shape of Vitriol of Iron so where they lay were veins of Iron and colour'd Earth the Iron was pure and obey'd the Load-stone the Earth which was either of a Brimstone colour or that of Iron rust I prov'd by washing to be the same only joyn'd by an Acid Juyce like Spirit of Vitriol which in the yellow had no taste of the Iron but a distinct pleasant Acid which with the Jellying of some parts of the Earth in Aqua fortis especially of the whiter part of it where the Selenites lay is what I observed there I shall not therefore repeat my Tryals of the Earths which were fruitless The Water is moderately clear of Taste bitter together with a muakish Saltishness not manifestly Lixiviat but a little of the taste of the second Salt of Salt Marine and of that Cellar Salt that is gather'd by things hanging in the middle of Cellars and not what fixes to the Walls Epsam Water precipitated not Vitriol dissolv'd in it but promoted its atramentous Quality as doth the Salt not precipitating the Colour as Salt of Lime or Chalk nor turning it red as some others particularly Salt of Cellars Notwithstanding this it agreed with that sort of Alkaly particularly which is calcarious in that it restor'd the blew of Tincture of Turnsole sharpen'd it took a Purple with a Tincture of Logwood in common Water lively and full not dull red a little purplish and dusky as Salt of Tartar made with Saltpetre and Alkalys produce nor tawny as Salt of Cellars Further as Salt of Chalk it troubled a Solution of Sublimat in fair Water and sent down a white precipitate which Alum doth not With Syrup of Violets a Grass-green as the same Salt Yet it peculiarly differ'd from the Salt of Chalk and all grosser Salts in taking a high Yellow and clear Tincture from Gall which is peculiar to Spirit of Nitre it being not of the Nature of Saltpetre which is the only Salt that takes a pale but clear Tincture With Syrup of Cloves it became dark â—ooty and greenish as do Alkalys and Fuligo of Vitriol that adheres to places where the Fume of boyl'd Coporas comes ☞ The peculiar Nature of the Salt of this Water is to be Calcarious yet agreeing with Vitriols and particularly to resemble Spirit of Nitre rather than Nitre it self yet to resemble the Salt of Chalk in precipitating a Solution of Sublimate which Spirit of Nitre will not The Acidity that came over in Distilling was little and pleasant The Salt Grey near a White and unfigur'd or uncapable of Christallization but soft like Barbadoes or Lisbon Sugar It did not cast up a Scum till it was near boyled up and the Salt precipitated in boyling This Salt was wrought on by Acids yet it coagulated Salt of Tartar rendred Liquid called Ol. Tartari per diliq it did not inflame with Sulphur but blister'd on a hot Iron and was not Caustick either burnt or unburnt The Earth of this Salt was white and dissolv'd in part in distill'd Vinegar and was about an eighth of the Salt The Salt of the Water which is said to amount in some dry Seasons to the proportion of seven Drams in a Gallon scarce then exceeded the half of that quantity after a wet one when I had it indeed not so much The Salt purged pleasantly in the quantity of half an Ounce as I try'd it but it seems to require a very gentle Evaporation to the due Preparation of it that Acidity of Alkalisatness may be preserved entire This Salt dissolv'd in some of its own Water deepned the yellow colour of Galls to a Pink and at last to a Red or very near as Spirit
Fluxile and not of the Nature of common Salt which precipitates not Vitriols North-Hall Water in Hartfordshire WEigh'd heavier than Epsam and pleasant not so nauseous to taste It preserved the blew of Syrup of Violets which Nitres and Alkalys chang'd to a green It disturbed not a Solution of Sublimate in common Water It was not acid enough nor Alkalisat enough to give either a red or dirty brown with Tincture of Logwood but gave it a yellow which grew paler upon standing as I judged somewhat like Glaubers Salt which is made of common Salt and Spirit of Vitriol and which likewise purgeth It took very little yellowness from Galls and what it took it would not hold but suffer'd to precipitate presently The first being the effect of Spirit of Salt the last of Spirit of Vitriol It curdled soapy Water in large Curdles and Ol. Tartari per deliquium the same and upon shaking this Water rais'd a great Froth which it kept a great while I judged therefore this Water to contain a Salt resembling common Salt and that part of it which is condens'd and christalliz'd through Cold in a Humid as in Cellars the Coagulation with Liquid Salt of Tartar being not so universal as with the other part of common Salt Lambeth nearer Well in Surry THIS Water beside the Virtues which it hath in common with other Purging Waters has the Property of caring Leprosies and cleansing and clearing Scorbutick Scurss and Spots which how the Nature of the Salt accounts for is worth Observation This Water try'd at the Well after a dry Season was clear but not so Limpid as common Spring Water having somewhat of the colour of Rain-water it was of the taste of Saltpetre or nearer Saltpetres second Salt but left a Vitriolick brackish or nauseous taste on the Palat. Half a Pint and half an Ounce of this Water exceeded common Water in weight 24 Grains it made no alteration in a Solution of Sublimate in fair Water which Nitres and Alkalys disturb it agreed with common Salt in changing the Red of Syrup of Clove Gilliflowers into a cloudy pale colour in which the Red upon 24 hours standing was wholly lost but was restored by a drop of Spirit of Nitre it had the Effects of the same Salt in curdling strongly with Ol. Tartar per deliquium in giving a pale yellow not very fine with Gall and with Tincture of Logwood a brown exactly resembling Ale that is not fine a little browner if any thing than what common Salt produceth But in this it agreed with Saltpetres second Salt and it disturb'd a Solution of Sal Saturni in fair Water just to that degree that Saltpetres second Salt does and with Lignum Nephrâ—ticum gave a Whitewine yellow and clear quickly as Saltpetre does common gravelly Spring-water gives near the colour but upon longer standing It agreed besides only with Glaubers Salt in the Essay with Gall and Logwood The Water standing on Iron 24 hours gave with Gall a reddish Purple which turn'd Inky and although the grosser parts precipitated as where there is a mixture of Nitre and in the Vitrioline Waters impregnate with the Salt of the upper Soil yet the colour remain'd in the clear Liquor much deepâ—â— than a Violet though it stood open some days This one drop of Spirit of Nitre turn'd â—â—een as it doth Ink made with English 〈◊〉 A drop or two of this in common 〈◊〉 a Gravel resumed the Red. This Water precipitated fine Silver out of Spirit of Nitre but not so quick and strongly I thought as Rock-salt and Sea-salt This Water accordingly changed not the colour of Syrup of Violets neither doth common Salt Thus the Salt of this Water agreeth with common Salt but comes not up to its power of Precipitating or Coagulating which Properties would rather set and fix the Humour and so promote the Distemper as appears in the Effects of Bay-salt to produce the Scurvy which Property is observ'd to lye in the hardness of the second or less coagulable part and not to be found in the Salt when purified It agrees in some Tryals with Saltpetres second Salt which is not wholly differing from common Salt But because Salts differ I examined the Water more nicely It disturb'd a Solution of Hungarian Vitriol which common Salt did not Rock Salt very little but the second Salt of Saltpetre readily effected likewise but scarce in so high a Degree for this sent down a yellowish Precipitate forthwith yet it did not trouble a Solution of Mercury Sublimate as Sal Gem. nor precipitate it as do the Nitres and Lime-salt of a yellow or as Salt of Chalk and Marle white The Salt was gray near white mostly near Cubes or in thick plates as common Salt some scurfie light parts with it which was the Scum which precipitated in Boyling no Stiriae or pointed parts could I observe The Water did early raise or bear a Scum The Salt readily ran per deliquium and leâ—t a leafie Earth and grey about 24 Grains out of a Quart of Water This leafy Earth was very light and made a very small Effervescence with distill'd Vinegar nor would it wholly take away its Acidity This Salt precipitated fine Silver out of Spirit of Nitre in hard large Curdles Saltpetres second Salt only whitens and disturbs the Solution which at last precipitates it Ol. Partari per deliquium works on it but does not precipitate the Silver But this Salt I thought did scarce so fully precipitate the Silver as Rock Salt ☞ I therefore refer the Nature of the Salt of this Water to that of common Salt whose power it hath even to the depurating a Solution of Vitriol but without either so gross and strong an Earth or so severe and coagulative an Acidity The Diseases that have been cur'd by these Waters as I found them registred in a Table at the Well were as I remember Leprosie Scurvy Vertigo's Jaundies Worms Stone and Colick To understand on what account this Water exerts its power beside Worms which every one knows to be destroy'd and the flatulent putrid matter suppress'd by Sea-salt I think the Leprosie may well illustrate To have a Notion of the Nature of this Disease It is not necessary here to inquire into the particular Juyce it is seated in and Vessels serving it it is sufficient that the Nature and Genius of the Humour or Salt is toward an Alkali exulcerating and dry seated or produced by too thick and luxuriant Chyle in too nitrous or scorching a Climate That the Cure of this Disease consists not only in somâ— Qualities that mortifie it but in some pungent parts that can retain their Nature and are apt to separate the grosser parts we are taught by the success of Vipers in this Disease which have a Faculty of separating Tartar from Canary in which they are infus'd which else yields none On which by the way I must observe the Error in choosing that Wine for the Infusion on which the
fair water Barnet Water in Hartfordshire WAS very clear had much the taste of common Pump water but with an addition of bitterness though less than in the other in the quantity of ten Ounces this Water taken in Summer-time as were the others surmounted common water in weight near a Dram or within a Grain of a Dram. The Salt of this Water exactly answer'd a Salt Alkalisate particularly that of Chalk in all Tryals with Gall it became thick disturb'd and whitish not free of the yellow Tincture with Syrup of Violets a deep Verdigreese green with Syrup of Cloves a sooty dusky colour with Tincture of Logwood cold an Orange tawny with Lignum Nephriticum yellow and clear It rendred a Solution of Sal Saturni in common water milky It rendred a Solution of Mercury Sublimate milky It disturb'd and made thick a clear Solution of Hungarian Vitriol and did not precipitate fine Silver out of Spirit of Nitre The same in all these doth Salt of Chalk only Moreover this curdled the Deliquium of Salt of Tartar and also Spirit of Harts-horn but both fine Stretham VVater in Surry OF Odour sweetish of Taste it was nauseous and Saline not so bitter as Barnet taken at the same time and was lighter by ten Grains in seven Ounces and a half It answered the same Essâ—ys with Barnet water only with Syrup of Cloves a little more blew like common Salt or Saltpetres second Salt when near boyl'd up the Salt on the sides in the cold shot in long and flat Bacilli not ready to melt in heat and had the cold taste of Saltpetre but with a sweetness The bottom had three sorts some being flat broad and grained like common Salt and some soft like Epsam which had flakes in it four Scruples of Salt had about eighteen Grains of Earth the Earth and flakes were white and clearish they burnt white and Distill'd Vinegar wrought on it but did not take up any considerable quantity of it The Purging Chalybeat VVater of Scarbourgh in Yorkshire SCarbourgh Water is Chalybeat and Purges it has Qualifications of a Purging Water the Salt of it is figur'd approaching to a Nitre and which is really Nitrous and the Earth over the Spring shews the Nitrous Efflorescence that at other Purging Waters is an Index of the Earth whence the Salt is derived As Chalybeats it is a running Spring and proceeds from a Gravel and expos'd to the Air some days loses its power of making a black with Gall the Salt remaining being purely Nitrous It has the Virtue of both Waters and is sufficiently celebrated by the Frequenters of it And I hence conclude it to be either two Waters joyn'd or a Chalybeat Water washing a Nitrous Vault The Spring is upon the Sea-shore and flows from or near an Alum Mine It is observable that other Springs that flow over Alum Mines here in England yet differ not the least from common Water the black slaty stone not yielding the least Aluminous Taste before Ustion I shall clear it from partaking of Alum or Sea-salt by Tryals which will confirm my Account of the other Waters since it is clear of participating any thing with the Mine over which it runs and the Mine would probably discover any other Minerals joyn'd if such there were and the same Nitrous Earth here sound that is common to the others makes this more plain The proportion the nature of this Salt bears to the Nitre of common Water and true Nitres is discoverable by the quantity of time the Water retains its Ink-making quality Alkalies and so the true Nitre of the Ancients precipitate their dirty black presently The 〈◊〉 was examin'd at the Spring at my direction by the accurate hand of my worthy Friend and Ingenious Gentleman Mr. Edward Carter of Scarbourgh in whose own words I shall deliver their Tryals of them only adding to each a Corollary of the use I make of them Quest. 1. What Colour Nutgall gives it and whether Turbid or Clear Answ. A Grain of Gall strew'd upon the Surface of eight or ten Ounces of the Water doth without any farther mixing immediately strike a deep reddish purple colour which presently becometh turbid if you let the same stand all night the Water will in a manner recover its pristine clearness and a Powder of the colour of colcothar will precipitate to the bottom in a large quantity Or if a few drops of Spirit or Oyl of Vitriol be instill'd into the foresaid Tincture it will presently be clear as at first without the Precipitation of any Powder The reddish Purple is effected by Alkalisate parts united to the Acid distill'd Acids to the like but that the Salt of this Water is Nitrous is observable in its turbidness but chiefly in the Precipitation of the colour upon standing which Precipitation Spirit of Vitriol prevents though it destroys the colour Quest. 2. Has the Water any Scum or bituminous Film Answ. When it stagnateth in any place or stands a few hours in an open Glass there is an Azure colour'd bituminous Film or Scum upon it and if the same be expos'd to the Air for about a Week there is one riseth up much like that which swims upon Lime-water The first is common to Chalybeat waters which appears upon the separation of the Nitrous and Vitrioline parts by the Air but the latter a peculiar of the Salt which being not calcarious I judge to be of such a Quality as complies with the Corruption of the Water so far as to suffer its grosser parts to be thrown up which Lime-water does by the motion of its own active Salt so far it differs from those of the Nature of common Salt which preserve Liquors Weal water has the same Disposition Quest. 3. What Colour the Water kept three days in an open Glass will take with Nutgall turbid or clear Answ. Galls give it a colour then much as before yet something more remiss but if it stand longer as about a week they cause no such alteration changing it only into a milky colour like Barly water as Salt of common Earth does which is not Alkalisate Quest. 4. What Colour with Syrup of Violets Answ. A light Green which may be turn'd into a reddish Purple by adding some Spirit or Oyl of Vitriol To these Remarks I have added some which perhaps may not be unacceptable touching the quantity of Salt and stone Powder contained in those Waters its Taste Odour and Figure when Christallized According to my nearest Computation it hath about an Ounce in four Gallons and almost as much of the stone Powder which is of the colour of Sand made use of in Hour-glasses I never could discover any of the blew Clay which some pretend to have found The Salt hath a very remarkable Bitterness and when newly made a strong sulphurous Smell The Christals are very clear and transparent comprehended under eight plains two of which are Sexangular and the other six are Rectangular Parallelograms which are disposed
in two Quarts was about forty Grains The Water retain'd its power of Tinging with Galls many days in Glass-bottles only cork'd It did not readily raise and bear a Scum in boyling The Virtues and Vse of the Purging Waters THE Original and Genius of the Salt of these Waters being thus arrived at their successful Effects in Distempers and how these are agreeable to the Nature of the Salt comes now under consideration that hence we may be directed to the right and proper use of them Diseases or more truly Symptoms are so various in their Causes that without the Knowledge of these Observation and Experience it self will be uncertain and unserviceable Now the Diseases which are observed to be help'd by Purging Waters as ill Concoction Pain at the Stomach Heart-burning lost Appetite Vomitings Cholical Pain of the Stomach Cholick Iliaca Passio Worms Nephritick Pain Gout Rhumatism Heat of Urine or Suppression of it Scurvy and its Symptoms as Itching Pustles and the like Jaundies Vertigo Headachs Hysteriâ—k and Hypochondriacal Passions are all cured by the Waters only as they fall under this Notion and consideration That they proceed from a vitiated or delinquent Chyle and want of due Ferment of the parts and that the Matter is seated in the first ways or larger Secretory Vessels It is so very material to observe this as not only to improve the use of them in other Cases but may likewise help us to avoid the Misfortune of the Empirical use of them in cases where they are ineffectual Errors of which kind I have observed in the use of the Waters and indeed of all other Medicines as the Jesuits Bark and the like That the Matter ought to be fit for exterminating I might prove in almost all the Distempers these are proper in The Jaundies are often cured by the Waters when they have proceeded from Melancholy or have been otherwise produced by the foulness of the Viscera or are a Symptom of obstructed Menses or a Plethora but when Essential can be as little expected to have a Cure from these Waters as when it is Symptomatical of a Feaver or a Venenate Disease Vertigo again may proceed from Melancholy a flatulent foul Stomach or tough Flegm in the Blood as in the Rhumatism or from the nature of the Salt of the Blood as in Scurvies and in that Crasis which attends Women chiefly at the grand Climacterick of 50 or from a Plethora and so may be subject to the reach of these Waters else in Cephalick Distempers such as Apoplexies Dispositions to Lethargies Palsies and even in Dropsies Purging Waters in a general consideration can never be supposed to be applicable From the same Chylous Recrements Convulsions often take origine and may have place among Cures of this kind and Pains in the Head but ought to be mark'd with the same Proviso Accordingly Cautions against the use of them in a Chlorosis Feavers Cholera morbus and Suppression of Urine from Stone or confirm'd Obstruction our Reason readily suggests which too forbids the use of them in Women with Child The Qualifications that give these Waters an extraordinary capacity for these Cures are their Acidity agreeable to that of the Stomach and which indeed is Vitrioline their abstersive Salt of a middle nature between Vitriol and Nitre quantity of Liquor and not only their Purgin but as it is easie without Sickness or Griping or other flatulent Disturbances raised usually by other Purgers and which hinder those calm Effects that are necessary to the relief of some Distempers to which some would add Coldness and agreeable bitterness but this holds not in all From all which we may reasonably expect success when a preternatural Salt is to be wash'd away the Ferment of the Stomach to be restored Viscera to be cleansed or cooling is necessary Indeed the Purging Waters or their Salts are much the finest Purgers in Nature and in many of the preceding Cases often perform Cures alone They are the best Preparatives to the Chalybeat Waters and the only Purge proper to intervene in the use of them where Purging is expedient because these do it without disorder and are of like nature Of what general use these Qualities make this Purge I need not discourse especially for prevention since so near all Diseases are owing to the Vice of the Stomach or Recrements of the Chyle But besides this general nature of the Salt of these Waters it is found of some Specifick Qualities in many of them which frequently differ from each other and to have distinct Virtues accordingly That besides the Purging Quality and what that can contribute there is so much in the Nature of the Salt as may give the Waters the force of a Medicine may be very easily believ'd by any who will consider of what Energy the Qualities are that these Salts differ in The second part of Sal Marine is known by Sea-men to produce the Scurvy and a Salt nearly affine to Nitre the Itch. It is known that Nitre and Vitrioline or common Salt precipitate each other and must be allow'd to do as much in the Body and may be observed in the reason of the different Cures wrought by these Waters Alkalisate Salts and Nitrous produce a fluor of the Blood and in the present State of the Air which I intimated to be Nitrous or Alkalisate I have found Fluxes frequent I mean Sanguinary and have as certainly found Chalybeats and Vitrioline Salts effectual and observed Sal Prunellae to increase them when used by the less thinking Administrer You may observe in Lambeth Water a common Salt without the severe Coagulum which accounts for the Virtues In Weal a particularly opposite Nitrous one In Kensington near a Saltpetre In Dullwich a Salt related to common Salt but very penetrative and fluxile fit to command a Stubborn Antagonist but mischievous to a tender and over-heat Body and accordingly I have observed it I might go through all the Waters The good Effects of the Chalybeat Purgers in Asthma's a Dropsie make them a Peculiar over and above what their Salt would And in Salts of the same nature as Nitres some we shall here find of a more open nature approaching a calcarious one and so more apt to correct Acidities in the first ways some more lock'd and so fit to reach them when digested and remote In Weal Water I find an Alkaly joyn'd with a severe coagulating Acid the first raising the Floridness of the Blood the last apt to fix the Humour and obstruct and may have a good use to those Complexions that need both these Qualities as those do that are pale and inclinable to be loose body'd And although in passing of right Judgment the Consideration of the Constitution and Complexion of the Patient is necessary and as Tunbridge Water doth in some provoke the Menses in some stop them so this Water might produce the Obstruction before named in a Person of a Sanguine Complexion on that account which